(LR wanders into Dad’s study, looking very proud of herself…)
LR: I wish mum would talk to me.
Dad: (confused) What? She’s always willing to talk to you, provided she’s not trying to get you guys out the door or something.
LR: (grinning) No, I just wish mum would talk to me.
Dad: I’m sorry your mother wont talk to you…?
LR: But mum wont talk… she just mumbles.
(Over the weekend, I introduced the kids to some Monty Python sketches, which RJ really seemed to enjoy. This may not have been a good idea…)
Dad: What do you want in your sandwiches, guys?
RJ: Toasty cheese!
LR: Ham, Cheese and tomato, please!
Dad: Okay. Toasty cheese for RJ. And for LR, ham, cheese, tomato and spam… without the spam in it.
LR: No spam! Stop talking about spam!
RJ: Spam! I love spam! I’m having spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam…
LR: (yelling, upset) BUT I DON’T LIKE SPAM!
RJ: (yelling, ecstatic)… spam, spam, spam, spam. Spammity spam! Wonderful Spam!
Dad & RJ: (yelling together) SHUT UP YOU VIKINGS!
LR & Mum: Please stop now? Please?
RJ: Mummy, can I tell you something?
Mum: Sure, RJ. What is it?
RJ: (worried) When I grow up, promise that I can go and live at Grammy’s house, with Grammy.
Mum: No, RJ. When you grow up, you’ll probably have to live in your own house.
RJ: But I can’t build a house! I don’t know how!
Mum: You don’t have to build it yourself, you pay someone else to build it for you.
RJ: But I don’t have a wallet with any money in it!
Mum: You’ll have to get a job, so you can earn some money.
RJ: But I can’t do anything!!!
Mum: That’s why you go to school, to learn that stuff.
RJ: But they don’t teach us about jobs there!!!
January was a really busy month! With the kids on summer holidays, we had lots of activities during the week and on the weekends. While down south we also did a bit of fishing, life-size animatronic dinosaurs came to town, we caught up with some friends and grandparents, and lots of wildlife around our house stopped in to say ‘Hello!’
A total of 5 very small fish caught over two nights -- the kids rated it a massive success!
Roachy was looking very feeble that morning; on his back, legs stuck in the air, barely moving at all. RJ spent some time finding the right kind of tree bark “medicine” and carefully placing it next to Roachy. The rest of us had pretty much given up hope. Roachy was well on his way to becoming an ex-cockroach.
The next morning over breakfast, we held our breath as RJ carefully looked into the box. To our dismay surprise, we found Roachy happily perched on his piece of bark, antennae waving jauntily in greeting.
“He’s all better! He’ll need some food!” cried RJ.
After a healthy breakfast of lettuce, tomato and mushroom, Roachy was looking terrific. RJ declared him healed and we sent the two of them off together to school.
The teachers must be getting really, really sick of our ‘pets’.
Today we learn that roaches are TOUGH... After the apocalypse the only things that will survive... Cochroaches... Twinkies... and the remains of things held together with duct tape.
Every day for the past month, LR has given us “The Tooth Report” including full details of amount of movement, rotation and deflection from the standard tooth position. There’s been a lot of pressure to have it out before school goes back so she wont be the last kid who hasn’t lost a tooth yet. Last Friday, with less than a week to go, she gave it a mighty push and it finally gave way.
Her first wiggly tooth! (December 30th)
After one month...
and a LOT of wiggling... it finally fell out!
(RJ has adopted a cockroach that he found outside. It was suspiciously easy to catch… This morning, over breakfast…)
RJ: I don’t think Roachy is sleeping. He just falls over a lot.
LR: He hasn’t fallen over. He’s dead.
RJ: No! He’s moving! See?
LR: I don’t think he’s feeling very good. Cockroaches aren’t meant to do that.
Dad: Hey guys… Yesterday, when I was spraying the outdoor area for redbacks, he might have gotten some of the spider poison on him. I don’t think it’s very good for cockroaches either.
RJ: (nearly in tears) BUT YOU SHOULDN’T DO THAT! YOU SHOULD JUST SPRAY THE SPIDERS.
LR: He’s dying. He’s going to die RJ. We should let him go.
RJ: No! We can’t do that. Roachy can’t walk very well. Something might eat him.
Dad: We can’t keep him, RJ. He’s like all our wild animal pets, we have to let them go after a while. They just aren’t happy inside.
LR: What if we put him in the front yard?
RJ: No. He can’t hide. See? His legs don’t work properly. It wont be safe for him.
Dad: Can we put some mulch or something in the box with him? He’ll be happier then.
RJ: Yes! We CAN do that. And then we can make him some medicine, so he’ll get better.
Australia Day (January 26th) is a national holiday, similar to the 4th of July in the states, with the major (tragic) difference being that we can’t buy explosive devices at the shop just around the corner. We tend to go to the beach, eat a lot of barbequed food, and in most towns and cities there are big fireworks displays.
RJ getting his snack on, just before we head out the door.
It’s summer, so we spend lots of time at or around the water. Having a pool makes a big difference, and so does having summer holidays.
RJ is a cool character while swimming.
Here’s a few water related moments from the past month.
Have a great Australia day everyone!
Happy Australia Day!!!!
We’ll throw an extra snag on the barbie and sink a few tinnies for ya.
Ozzy ozzy ozzy!
