April 2014

I can't even remember what this bonk on the head was from!

Fun and games with Dad.

Augie and Mick talking to the baby.

Getting ready to make chocolate bean brownies.  Augie is opening the medjool dates.  He is the 'date man' in the making of the brownies - takes the pits out of the dates and puts the dates into the food processor.

hard at work  

One day after Jungle Sports we went to see Augie's friend Maya (daughter of one of my friends from work).  Maya is a month older than Augie. 

Augie had a big play with Maya and crashed out in the car (with Chester Raccoon) on the way home.

Climbing the spider web to get to the slide.  Augie was tenuous at first but with a little bit of help on the first try, was blasting up the thing within a couple of tries.

Doing obstacle courses in Kings Park with the children of another friend from work.  Augie really had a ball with these kids, all of whom are older and all of whom are active, fun kids.  Shame they just moved back to Brisbane!

Here they are in action on an obstacle course.

We met up with our old neighbours Erica and Dan at the Bayswater Autumn Festival. They've got a son Jack, who is only a few months older than Augie and who also likes rough-and-tumble play.  Augie and Jack had a big wrestling match.  This was a great outlet for Augie because not many kids his age are as big or as strong as he is.  Augie outweighs Jack by a couple of kilos but Jack is strong and quick so they were quite a good match.

We did have to referee some of it as they are both quite competitive so it got a bit heated a few times!

Silly faces watching the RC cars race around the track.

more silly faces with Jack.

Mick took Augie to a kids' cushion concert at the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra. 

Augie started dropping most of his day sleeps and by April was only having about one actual nap a week.  However we still get him to go into his room for a rest which happens just after lunch and lasts 45 minutes to an hour.  He can read books or do any other quiet play.  He really enjoys 'reading' his books (he has most of them memorised verbatim) during this time.

Augie also enjoys looking at his globe and trying to understand where things are.  He's particularly fascinated with the concept that when it is light at our house, it is dark at Grandma Carma's. And on this particular day we were trying to explain why this is to him.  He also has some curiosity about gravity.  Every other question is why at the moment!

And here I am trying to explain these difficult concepts to a  3-year-old and smarty-pants in the background feels the need to point out that I have inadvertently spun the earth the wrong way during my explanation.  Pardon the rude gesture at the end :)

Putting together a puzzle.  He's really starting to enjoy puzzles.  This one is a particular favourite - it's a series of magnet shapes that you have to use to recreate a picture.  He is very good at it.

He's also very good at riding a bike.  This is one of his first rides with no training wheels!

The last day of Jungle Sports was a dress-up theme so Augie went as a train driver.  The other option he wanted was a dinosaur but I couldn't find a costume in time. 

Augie the train driver at Jungle Sports.

He didn't want to go up by himself and get his certificate at the end.  This is very unusual for him and he was the only kid in the class who didn't want to go up by himself.  Me going with him was the only way we could get him up there!

I WANT TO DO IT MY-SELF!!!!!!!  And so he did - every Sunday evening he'd put the bins out all by himself.

We visited the dentist for a routine check-up of his dead front tooth (all is well there) and they did a cleaning as well.  Augie was excellent for this visit - did everything they asked and did it so well. We go to a Paediatric dentist and they are just fantastic with Augie.

Then after Augie was finished Chester the Racoon got his teeth checked and cleaned.

Having a bit of fun at the skate park, without a skateboard.

Mick wanted to play catch but ball sports aren't Augie's thing (you can tell this by his first throw) and he would much rather tackle or wrestle.

Jamie, Ciara and the twins Zoe and Charlie came over for a visit one day while the inside of their house was being painted so we had a picnic lunch in the backyard.

Augie wanted to record a video message for Jasper which, much like his time with Jasper, descended into complete silliness.

We played the fishing game at the Saturday Subiaco Farmers Market.  This was a source of nearly-endless entertainment for Augie.

Augie loaned Jasper his three-wheeled bike.  Here we are at Tomato Lake going for Jasper's first ride on it.

This was Jasper's first ride on the three-wheeled bike and we had a good giggle at his riding style.

When Augie sees a phone or camera pointed towards him now, he just automatically says cheese.

We recorded a birthday message for Augie's cousin Jordan.

Just before Easter, Mick undertook the huge job of trimming back the overgrown bushes in our backyard.  They were so thick they harboured a bunch of mosquitoes and midges, which made being in the backyard very unenjoyable or just downright impossible on some days.  Augie was, of course, a great help with this project. The following pictures and video are all from this big day of chopping, carting and putting in the big bin.  Our neighbour Steve came over for a couple of hours and gave us a big helping hand as well.

stomping down the pile to make more room in the bin