Monday, October 31, 2005
birthday
The birthday boy in all his glory. Jacket by Mancare (op shop, Salvation Army) Badge by birthday...
In the background you can see the NEW BIKE which has been a great success. Some other presents of note: A chess set from my dad; a music box from his friend Jenara; a pair of spring loaded 'guns' that shoot out little foam discs; some magnetic construction thingys; a watch; and a lot of books.
The party was huge - lots of kids, lots of parents - a bit too big really. Neither his dad nor I got to actually talk to people much, we were too busy in the kitchen, organising.
It didn't rain (much) so the multitudes could go outside and play - we didn't have any organised games much, though we were going to play "pin the tail on the Nippy"(cat) but time got away from us...
We had lots of food, put on a barbie, and ate 3 cakes: my batman one, and Nick made a pav, and Nick and D'Arcy made a sour cherry and coconut one too. All eaten.
I'm buggered. Been working way too much.
In the background you can see the NEW BIKE which has been a great success. Some other presents of note: A chess set from my dad; a music box from his friend Jenara; a pair of spring loaded 'guns' that shoot out little foam discs; some magnetic construction thingys; a watch; and a lot of books.
The party was huge - lots of kids, lots of parents - a bit too big really. Neither his dad nor I got to actually talk to people much, we were too busy in the kitchen, organising.
It didn't rain (much) so the multitudes could go outside and play - we didn't have any organised games much, though we were going to play "pin the tail on the Nippy"(cat) but time got away from us...
We had lots of food, put on a barbie, and ate 3 cakes: my batman one, and Nick made a pav, and Nick and D'Arcy made a sour cherry and coconut one too. All eaten.
I'm buggered. Been working way too much.
cake
D'Arcy has just turned 5 and had his party on Sunday. He wanted a Batman cake, so my task was set. Annoyingly I couldn't find any of the gel stuff to decorate cakes, especially I couldn't find any in black. So I turned to liquorice to make the logo. Looked good in the end, but made the cake hard to cut, I had to take the logo off. The other disaster was that when it came to ice it, I had to pay the hippy tax. I'd bought some unrefined icing sugar, which looked great, but when I added the liquid, it went dark, so when I then added the blue food colouring it went GREEN. Bugger. Of course it needed to be blue, D'Arcy is a devotee of the old camp 60s Batman, and blue would not do. It was too late to get more icing sugar (and butter) so I had to wait until the morning. All worked out well in the end, as you can see.
Ycrad
Sunday school a few weeks ago, this happened. One of the readings was about the commandments - the first one is love your god, the second one is like it, love your neighbour etc. So the topic for sunday school for the littlest ones was to make a furry toy to love and care for, and make a house for it.
D'Arcy has been talking about reading for a while and spelling things out with his fridge letters, including his name, One trick is to rearrange the letters and ask "What does it say now, mummy?" On one occasion he reversed his name completely, so I said 'it says Ycrad'. Ycrad has now become a sort of alter ego, so when he had to think of a name for his furry toy, Ycrad was an obvious choice. Interestingly, when he wrote it on the house, he reflected the C and the D, so it is really mirrored, and he put in the apostrophe. Getting ready for school.
D'Arcy has been talking about reading for a while and spelling things out with his fridge letters, including his name, One trick is to rearrange the letters and ask "What does it say now, mummy?" On one occasion he reversed his name completely, so I said 'it says Ycrad'. Ycrad has now become a sort of alter ego, so when he had to think of a name for his furry toy, Ycrad was an obvious choice. Interestingly, when he wrote it on the house, he reflected the C and the D, so it is really mirrored, and he put in the apostrophe. Getting ready for school.
Cowbell
Yes. Hello. Back from a long busyness, still busy, but made some blog time...
So, the beloved went to Switzerland earlier this year. He sent us some cowbells as souveneirs. D'Arcy asked how the cows wear them, and when told they hung from collars, his only question was "where can we get one?". So when the cat needed a new collar, he purloined the old one and strung a bell on it. Then demanded that I take a photo. "Hold me back!!" I replied, and here we are.
So, the beloved went to Switzerland earlier this year. He sent us some cowbells as souveneirs. D'Arcy asked how the cows wear them, and when told they hung from collars, his only question was "where can we get one?". So when the cat needed a new collar, he purloined the old one and strung a bell on it. Then demanded that I take a photo. "Hold me back!!" I replied, and here we are.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Genealogy
OK, so my cousin has a daughter who is a few weeks older than D'Arcy (the daughter's name is Laura). I have a question for the genealogists out there....
Are D'Arcy and Laura second cousins? What do you call my relationship with Laura? (We refer to her as 'cousin Laura' to distinguish her from another relative called Laura).
Cousin Laura had a birthday party which was fancy dress. There was a general theme of 'star wars' but I didn't let on to D'Arcy about that - it wouldn't mean much. So I told him it was a dress-up party and asked him what he wanted to wear.
As a 4 year old, he has a range of cool dress ups: Bob The Builder costume purchased in the US last Halloween; a fairy costume - wings, skirt, wand; astronaut overalls from the NASA camp in Tennessee - same as the ones they wear on the shuttle; lots of pretty dresses...
D'Arcy decides, after some deliberation "I want to dress up as a princess".
Foundation garments for a 4 year old boy were a skivvy and tights. Top layer: royal blue velvet dress, pinned up at the front to stop him tripping on it, which created a 'train' effect at the back; lots of strings of beads; little blue satin handbag; purple plastic shoes (rejected in favour of elastic sided boots, as seen in photo); very spiffy plastic tiara.
I didn't get a photo of the whole ensemble before we left home (a dog would learn) and of course when we got there, the first thing D'Arcy saw was the trampoline in the back garden so he took off his dress and started jumping. I only managed to persuade him to put it back on for this photo briefly, and then he took it off again.
Interesting how much like a girl he looks when dressed as one, and how much like a boy he looks when dressed as one. His hair is pretty long at the moment, which adds to the girly effect. My aunt and I were comparing him with other children, and noticing how some of them would never be mistaken for the opposite. While some are still quite ambiguous. At that age I was always being mistaken for a boy, but I did have short hair, and mum dressed me in trousers a lot (much more sensible, as DArcy proved, you can't have as much fun in a dress) and it was the 70s...
Until we got his hair cut for the first time at 2 eveyone thought D'Arcy was a girl, and then he instantaneously turned into a a boy, I have photos of the transformation. it was weird.
Are D'Arcy and Laura second cousins? What do you call my relationship with Laura? (We refer to her as 'cousin Laura' to distinguish her from another relative called Laura).
Cousin Laura had a birthday party which was fancy dress. There was a general theme of 'star wars' but I didn't let on to D'Arcy about that - it wouldn't mean much. So I told him it was a dress-up party and asked him what he wanted to wear.
As a 4 year old, he has a range of cool dress ups: Bob The Builder costume purchased in the US last Halloween; a fairy costume - wings, skirt, wand; astronaut overalls from the NASA camp in Tennessee - same as the ones they wear on the shuttle; lots of pretty dresses...
D'Arcy decides, after some deliberation "I want to dress up as a princess".
Foundation garments for a 4 year old boy were a skivvy and tights. Top layer: royal blue velvet dress, pinned up at the front to stop him tripping on it, which created a 'train' effect at the back; lots of strings of beads; little blue satin handbag; purple plastic shoes (rejected in favour of elastic sided boots, as seen in photo); very spiffy plastic tiara.
I didn't get a photo of the whole ensemble before we left home (a dog would learn) and of course when we got there, the first thing D'Arcy saw was the trampoline in the back garden so he took off his dress and started jumping. I only managed to persuade him to put it back on for this photo briefly, and then he took it off again.
Interesting how much like a girl he looks when dressed as one, and how much like a boy he looks when dressed as one. His hair is pretty long at the moment, which adds to the girly effect. My aunt and I were comparing him with other children, and noticing how some of them would never be mistaken for the opposite. While some are still quite ambiguous. At that age I was always being mistaken for a boy, but I did have short hair, and mum dressed me in trousers a lot (much more sensible, as DArcy proved, you can't have as much fun in a dress) and it was the 70s...
Until we got his hair cut for the first time at 2 eveyone thought D'Arcy was a girl, and then he instantaneously turned into a a boy, I have photos of the transformation. it was weird.
