I've been spending most of the past few days offline gardening or rather pruning my severely overgrown rhodenderons. I'm shocked at how much stuff I've got off them and even more shocked at how much more I've got to go. I'm sure that when it's chipped I could fill a 7 meter skip. Truth be told I'm impressed with how much I've gotten done with Bubby La interrupting me every five seconds to tell me of the important matters of the world. Important matters include: there is a cow, the cow says moo, the dam is still filled with water, the cow thinks grass is yummy, the sheep say baa, pum (lambs) like bibi (milk), there is a tree, a BIG tree, a BIG pretty tree, another tree, it is hot/cold, Hope/Sierra/Cade/Verity want cookies, La would like bibi, bibi is gone, La wants (jelly)beans, beans are gone, ALL gone, still gone, there is a car, the car goes VROOM, a truck, two trucks, a BIG truck... all kinds of stuff I desperately need to know! ;-)

Since the weather was so gorgeous, I also bought a heap of flowers and seeds in the past two days and have been enjoying reconnecting with my inner mudbug. For me, the gardening is kind of a zen thing. I've always loved flowers and plants but I also enjoy the actual planting, weeding, watching things grow and evolve. I love the action/rhythm of it and when La is down for a nap I'm out gardening and thinking or mucking with the dogs and La is like me - prefers to be outside to inside, so he and the dogs enjoy running around or "helping" most of the day.

The other day though, La somehow got out of the fenced area. I have no idea how still really. The fence isn't pretty but is secure and the front gate is not able to be opened - chained shut as we only use the driveway gate. I'd sat him down next to me, gave him a pear to eat and in the time I stuck the spade in the ground and looked back up to tell him to watch how we plant the flower... like maybe 2-3 seconds, he was gone. If you've gardened you know exactly what I mean, if not it's no more time than scouping a spoonful of yogurt or cereal. I went around the corner to see if he'd gone to see the lambs or mud puddle as I knew he had NOT come past me, which was the only way he could have accessed the driveway. He was NOT out back but out front though. I checked the fence, there's no holes. The only thing I can think is he must have climbed it... my going around the wrong way to look for him thinking he'd gone to the lambs probably gave him just enough time to make it over instead of helping. It's the only thing that makes sense... which he's never even hinted at thinking of attempting before and I wouldn't have thought he could even get to with the hedge stuff being that thick. Either way I've called half a dozen fence contractors and called the council to find out about height regulations as we are getting a new tall, unclimbable fence asap, I have been so freaked out by this I still don't think I'm done shaking.

I'd actually had a whole post typed about how well things were going before that too. We're up another four lambs - two sets of ewe lambs to the Gold Tag girls.

Random bits of La cuteness: "Mum, I want a cuddle!"
"Mumma, I drink tea!" (Water in a coffee mug.) "More tea mumma?" And upon being given a refill of a few centimeters of water, "Oh WOW! Water! Ta!"
"Mum, where is Hopie? I want Hopie! HopieHOPIEHOPIEEEE!!! Awooooooo!!!"
"Mum, Hopie wants a cookie! *pauses to think* FOUR COOKIES!!!"

Random thing to avoid teaching a 2 year old: Fox - it sounds a lot like F--k and an astonishing amount of people have been offended until I bring out the toy fox we got him and weakly laugh. I should have let him keep calling it a dog! I'm sure they don't believe me.

I also *still* need to pick up my cockrel. Jeeze... that's been over a month of waiting now! Or two possibly! We missed the Seymour show, which I was seriously bummed about, on account of everyone feeling under the weather.

And I need to find a few nice vanilla dog-broke sheep to build confidence. My mummas have proven why we've had no losses from foxes - they head butted, stomp and CHASE (yes, seriously...) the poor dogs quite aggressively across the pasture! Miss Verity decided to suprise me though, after having previously told me in no uncertain terms the sheep were weird and rather creepy she spent about fifteen minutes casting around in big circles around the lambs and me... she's not quite sure what she was supposed to do but sure she was supposed to be doing something!

Speaking of Miss Verity, she has been coming along nicely. She's fit in here so neatly and is just generally such a happy dog, I can't remember not having her really. She's been doing a good bit of socializing and coming along slowly and steadily as I'd expect. We make it a point to go to the markets around here as well as walking around town when I pick Nic up from the train station and taking her with me when we are going out. She had her first distraction class (not the same as socialization classes) Sunday after Gembrook Market, so we kept it really brief (being as she'd already had quite a big morning and only about 30 mins downtime to process) just rewarding for eye contact and calmness in the face of the class going on from off the mat. She'll start the socialization classes in a few weeks, with Dr. Calnon, which I'm really looking forward to and my Freestyle class also rather fortuitously ordered Control Unleashed which Jahz's owner Sam had recomended. I'm just started into it and already really liking what I'm reading and I think a lot of it will fit in with Verity supurbly!

I am just so tickled with this dog, she has her issues but she is just such a love! I'm not really sure I can pick specific things to define why I love her as the way I do, it's a lot of little things I think. She has a good bit of the mischiviousness, cheek and sense of humor I like but she is a sweet dog, she gets a lot of joy out of life and does everything with her heart fully in it, very much a velcro child. She is actually pretty eager to please but her intrepretation of things can be quirky... for example, we've been working a lot on Doggy Zen (self-restraint, self-control, asking please etc.) and she knows that despite the plate of food looking temptingly available unless she controls herself well enough to ask politely and wait for permission she will not get it. This was one of the first things we started in on because she saw absolutely no reason not to simply hop on the table when I set the bowl of training treats there. She looked a bit puzzled at my unconventional placement of what was obviously meant for her but... well, humans do lots of things that are incomprehensible, so she was charitably willing to indulge me my quirks and calmly hopped up. She was quite pleased with having figured out what I'd wanted! With the zen work, she's stopped attempting to take it out of the bowl herself and request it, wait for the click and permission but sometimes the excitement and anticipation of the reward after having to contain yourself for AGES (like,15 seconds...) in the face of a bowl of high value goodies is just SO much that with the click she literally explodes upwards, lands on the table and stands there waiting for me to hand her the goodie! She gets down as soon as I point out she's not supposed to be there and is controlling herself by not simply going straight for the food, so it's really just an expression of the high excitement from having succeeded and getting a reward! LOL

So I've been mentally making lists of everything I need to do and everything I want to do in the next few weeks (aside from fences, which are now priority one)

La's birthday party reservations made, food plans made, invitations made and sent, gifts ordered. The plan is a ride on Puffing Billy, with a picnic/bbq at Emerald's park. (Not sure if I want to cater or do catering ourselves this year. Need to decide on cake designs, colours etc though.) I also need to decide on photos for the photo puzzles we're having made (these are so cool!) and get a good photo of him as we're having an artist do a picture this year instead of the photographer last year. (No comment on him, I just really liked this ladies work and wanted one!) Unfortunately I can't get a photo I LIKE for it... darn quick moving child! ;-p

And other than that
* rugs for livingroom, hallway (runner), La's room, our room, guest room, study
* paintings up in all rooms
* catalogue all art and antiques for insurance and put into a binder
* frame for photo of house in 1911
* front verandah wood ripped up, replaced and oiled
* rear verandah oiled
* chairs and wicker table for decks
* floors tiled with actual tiles instead of lino
* bathroom completely redone, refurbished also toilet redone
* laundry area completely redone and restructured
* mudroom finished, painted and tiled
* antique fireplace mantels in and done up nicely
* skirting around house installed
* lavenders around back
* veggie garden (raised beds, sleepers) installed
* compost bins installed, worm farm installed
* clean up all the deadwood around the front garden, mulch
* gardens changed from modern succlents to cottage garden style, change where the cement stuff is to pretty rock edging, so sourcing/buying the rocks and then installing
* fence in front yard, paint front fencing and the gates, get the gates working and safe
* fence off two areas in first paddock - one as round pen to gather livestock/workducks/segregate alpaca, one around the shedding to contain them
* my study to be fixed, ceiling fixed, repainted, built in desk and storage for scrapbooking, door dealt with etc
* Catch up on my dreadfully behind e-mails, including contacting about spinning classes, yoga classes and knitting classes, postal correspondance etc etc etc etc

Had an old friend of mine google me and post me a PM on AB after I'd apparently not remembered to send her the new e-mail after moving. *erp* Jeeze I suck! X_x'

More La sentence blurbs

Yesterday we started saying "water" and applied it to "water in glass", water in raindrops (pointing to drops falling down), "water in the dam all full", "water in bucket" and "water in puddle".

He pulled me over to the door and asked me to, "put ona Hopie neckwace (collar... makes sense I guess), go OUTTIDE!" complete with emphatic pointing at the door.

Verity has also gotten her La-Name. She is "VEE!!!" I have no idea how he got that one really because he pronounces it like the letter, which is different than how I call her. (Veri, Veri-eri, Verity-erity or if she's being silly "Very-Airy Off With The Faries"!)

We've discovered the concept of "all gone" as well. After having a feed, he'll inform me "all gone", pat the side in question and return it to the bra! PMSL! Cheeky imp! Then, give a kiss and repeat, pointing to the empty one (in case I forgot), "Mum, 'at side gawn. All gawn. Other? Ta!" This has extended to other items he wants that he's finished or at least had enough I'm not going to give him any more but unlike bibi they don't magically fill up with a bit of time again. So we're sitting in the car waiting to pick Nic up from the train. "Mum? Bean?" (That's jellybean btw.) "No bubba, beans all gone." I hand him the empty bag to inspect. He holds it a moment, peers inside, closes it, waits and after a round of peek-a-boo opens it back up to inspect. The most disappointed little voice pipes up, "Ohhh.... 'TILL all gawn!" (Still all gone)

I've got shows again tomorrow and Sunday. I'm not planning to do anything other than have fun. I got a MASSIVE amount of undercoat off Hope the last few nights and she's spazzed out after the alpaca came from across the freaking pasture and stomped her again. This one has really decided me against having them I think! He's cute but not tame and is nasty to dogs. Normally I just lock him up before letting the dogs out but with all the damage the wind has done to the fences (after knocking over mature trees) the back is completely unusable for alpaca or sheep till we get it fixed. After the alpaca attack, at our class the other night she was just all over the place, not helped by my feeling tired and icky from a bad day. So I'm still going as these will be our last shows for a few weeks again but after that we'll probably just sit back and wait for her chest to arrive. I keep looking and fretting myself silly over when it's coming in and will give her some width and push her toes into position. Hard to be patient though, I like it when we're out there and she does well for me and our training comes together too much!

The magic counting elf child...

So the last month or so La has been 'counting'. At first it was "one, two" or "un, deux" which was pretty cute to hear numbers come out in that little squidgey toddler voice. More recently he added "three" and "four" to that list while requesting more jellybeans than the one that was on offer and he used them contextually enough that I wondered if maybe he didn't actually have a grasp on the concepts rather than just parroting the words.

This morning he was sitting in the carseat and chirped, "Mum, one tuck, two tuck!" Quick check and yes, he'd counted as two trucks had went past. He did it again on the drive home. "Mum ONE tuck!" Yup. Just the one. A moment later, he spotted another one and chriped, "More! One tuck!" A little while down the road he spotted two together and chirped, "Mum TWO tucks! One, two! TWO TUCKS!" It's likely he is thinking perhaps 1 is single, 2 is anything more than 1, with 3 or 4 simply meaning "lots!" as 22 months is young but it's interesting to hear him using it fairly contextually correctly!

I also snapped this shot today. I was *trying* to get a photo of him with our lovely rhodenderons. It's one of many but the only one blooming at the moment. Suffice to say he was NOT cooperating, hopping down from the chair as quickly as I could ploink him upon it, so I only managed to get one. I didn't notice at the time that the angle I caught him on makes his face look rather elvin, his ears rather pointy and his hair was blown up into a little pixie peak by the winds!

Cow obsessed...

Not the dog (though she's not far from it) but the kid. He has a serious cow obsession going on which has taken firm hold since we mvoed here a month ago. All. Day. Long. I hear about the cows and how they go moo and eat the grass which is very yummy. Repeatedly. Ad nauseaum. In the store every time we add to his plastic animal collection, he chooses a cow. Not the horses, not the bunnies, not the dogs or any of the other animals - nope, it's gotta be a cow.

He's also a bit chook mad, because he thinks they're pretty fun to feed... but even that is a distant second to the all mighty cow.

At the moment he's abducted Nic's mobile and is pretending to talk to someone (at least I hope it's just pretending and he hasn't hit the speed dial) telling them all about the chooks today said cluck cluck and the ducks said "duck duck duck" (yes, they say their name, just in a lower and more quacky voice) and somehow in the midst of this all we have, "Cow said MOO... mooooooooo!!! The cow-cow MOOOO, ate grass yum yum!" every other sentence even though he hasn't seen a single cow today.

Am pretty chuffed to say I am almost done with renovating the chook and duck pens. Now I just need to find money for building or buying a house. (Aside from the small one they are staying in that is okay for 3 small ones to sleep in but not for any more chooks than that.)

Am also pretty chuffed to say that I found a breeder of the most gorgeous silvery-blue-lilac coloured versions of my duckies I'm going to get some from when he has ducklings in spring. They are apparently very rare to the point there's only a few in the country and I just fell in love. They're the colour of a long hair Weimarianer!

You know how there's the whole "never a door closed without a window opened" saying? Well I'd been kind of bummed because Nic's looking for a job put my getting sheep on hold. Granted there are other concerns that come before sheep by far and even with that, the length of time things are put on hold is likely to be quite minimal anyhow... so it's not a big, huge, depressive funk or anything... just feeling a big disgruntled because it's a delay at a point where I'm close enough to this dream to taste it and waiting is no fun! ;-)

I told myself, well, it kind of works out because I can get better quality sheep and less expensive if I wait until the lambs are dropped and buy some ewe lambs and a young ram. They're unproven, empty and the breeder hasn't had to run them on hence the cheaper but you can go by their parents stats to get a good picture so it's not a huge risky thing really. And it'll give me more time to look into this whole cell grazing thing further and see how financially feasable it is, which promises to raise carrying capacity three-fold. On the other hand, I really didn't want to let the pasture sit that long without something grazing it. So. Today I'm at the petrol station and see a paper taped to the door. A family has sold their farmlet and is looking for another one but in the meantime they are having to move out and don't have a place for their animals: 12 sheep, a donkey, a gelding and an alpaca. They're looking for someone willing to effectively board the animals till they find a new place. They're also willing to pay for it. Hn.

It sounds good... I could have sheep here without them being mine and I wouldn't have to pay for them - instead I'd get paid for them. Even if I wasn't able to work them with the dogs I'd still have sheep here. They could even help finance my chook shed. They wouldn't officially be my responsibility, as their owners would have to take care of any vet care and arranging feed (beyond pasture) needed etc. so basically I'd get all the fun bits without the responsibility bits and get a bit more real life experience with horses and alpacas. The time frame they'd be here is about right for my getting the ewe lambs and would be well after I attended the ram sale in mid-July I wanted to see which will have a big selection of bloodlines represented.

The only thing I'm not sure about is the liability issues. I'm not sure our insurance would cover having large hoofstock here since horses are notoriously bad insurance risks. Boarding other peoples animals might mean we'd need special liability insurance above and byeond our regular policy. There's also the questions to be worked out about who'd be responsible if, say, one of the animals got tangled in barbed wire and needed care: their cost because it's their animal or my cost because I'm "boarding" them and it's my property? Also there is the issue of if they default on payment or the like. Or if they're visiting and injure themselves or an animal injures someone visiting my property. So it could potentially work out to be a big expensive mess as well.

I do feel for them though. I was in their spot two months ago with my dogs and cats and birds and ferrets all needing a place to go and it sucks.

Not a huge lot to report. Last week we moved out of the hotel because even with the extended stay costs it was just too expensive and I was going nuts without my animals. We ended up moving in with Jayne's ex-partner where at least I can have Cade again. (Who was a rotten little scoundrel the whole time from the sound of it.) Cade is being my little lap fungus.

I think Jayne will find that Frank regards taking care of Liam and Sienna MUCH easier now that he's lived the experience that is Laurent. *WEG* La is a tornado of a child, who often fervently makes me wish he had a pause button. He's into e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g, afraid of nothing, persistant, insistant and he never ever ever stops. Ever. Those traits will serve him well as an adult but are a real pill at 19 months!

Poor Frank keeps looking just a bit overwhelmed and muttering, "Doesn't he STOP?"... "I'm sure Liam and Sienna never did that."... "Geeze, doesn't anything slow him down?"

Laurent is in the midst of major tanty territory. Teething (molar). Off balance from seeing the only home he's ever known torn apart, moved into the motel, then again to here. He's also missing Hope tons... I'm sure he missed Cade and misses Sierra too but while they all like him, they're my dogs. Hope is HIS dog though, or he's her kid or something like that. Either way there's a special bond and he misses her like crazy. Not a day goes by without him asking for her repeatedly. He's taken to cuddling my coffee mug with a black tri Aussie picture on it and the other day found the spray bottle I use to mist her coat down at shows and came RUNNING over to me, shoved it in my face and bounced chanting, "MUM!!!!! HOPIE!!! HOPIE!!!! MUM HOPIE!!!!" He was so excited and upset when she didn't magically reappear... must have thought he'd found where she'd been packed away too like everything else. It made me smile and broke my heart at the same time.

Hope and Sierra are by all reports fine. The kennel (and y'all can gasp with me) is shocked that for an in-tact bitch she's not aggressive at all and they've been able to let her stay with Sierra without fights. *rolls my eyes so far back into my head they get stuck*

One week to go.

He *needs* a sibling... a human one!

A selection of stories from the past week or so.

1.) The sound of La playing in the hall has gone suspiciously quiet. Quiet is NEVER ever a good thing. I walk past my dining room and notice on my dining room table is perched my toddler, in the middle, with the dogs treat jar. Below him, politely sitting are three furry bums, neatly parked. Laurent's hand dips in the jar. One for you. Dips in the jar. One for me.
"LA! Yuck, what are you DOING?!?"
He looks at me, clearly not seeing the problem... sheesh mum, haven't you ever see a kid eat before?

2.) Laurent toddles up to me holding and shaking an unopened pack of dog-treats.
"Mum?"
"Yes La?"
"Sisi 's goo gurl?"
"Yes Sisi is a good girl."
"Mum?"
"Yes La?"
"Yum yum?", shaking the bag for emphasis.
"Yes La, Sierra does think those are very yummy. Do you want to give her one?" (Heh. At this point I'm entirely wary of his motives. He does like to give them treats but he also likes to EAT them himself.)
He nods. "Sisi, goo gurl!"
So I open the bag and hand him one. "La, this is for Sisi you understand?"
I catch a glint in his eye. "Sierra's yum yum, not La's."
He stares at me, eyeballs the treat, eyeballs me, grins and.... *chomp* (SIGH.)

3.) Hope has a little quirk, in that when she gets a ball or stuffed toy she likes to show it off and goes, "Awwooo woo woo!" howling muffledly with the toy in her mouth while parading around. It's cute and we all laugh when she does. Laurent eyeballed her, picked up one of his plastic ball pit balls, stuck it firmly in his mouth, tossed his head back and went "Awwoooo woo wooooo!"

4.) I'm brushing the dogs and have my combs and slicker brush laid out on the floor, dogs sprawled across my lap in various states of limp bliss, getting rolled (yes, rolled... I just kind of grab a leg and flip) at intervals when I finish brushing one section. La is watching the process intently and picks up a slicker brush. He starts brushing Sierra.
"Sisi goo gurl." he praises her.
"Yes Sisi is a good girl. Are you brushing her nicely La? See how she likes it when you brush her? Make sure you use the brush very soft okay?"
Intent upon his mission, he merely continues. At length, he deems his job finished and starts brushing Hope.
"Very nice, Hope likes being brushed to hmm?"
After a period of brushing her in random patterns, he deems her done. He turns to me, brush in hand.
"Mum?" he asks, holding the brush up.
"Yes La? What do you want?"
"He stands up, puts his left hand on me, standing on my legs and reaches up to brush my hair.
"Goo gurl." (SIGH. It seems I also need to explain to him daddy and I are not dogs either.)

5.) We're playing with the tennis ball inside, gently throwing it in the back room. *chuck* it goes to Hope, *chuck* it goes toward Sierra who chases it but lets Hope actually fetch it, *chuck* it goes to Hope again. *chuck* it goes... into the hall, past my craft room. La toddles after it and I hear his feet pitter-pattering back down the hall toward us, then pause. I peek my head around and he's gone into my craft room. He's standing at the edge of my desk, holding the tennis ball in throwing position.
"Mum?" he asks, eyeballing the aquarium on my desk where my Siamese Fighting Fish is front and center in his tank hoping for food, "FISH?"
"No dear. The fish can't play fetch."

6.) PS After 18 months (!) of breastfeeding, the girls have an official cute pet name! They are "bibi". We'd figured we might get "didi" since that seems popular but nope, we gotta be a little bit unique!

Last but not least, a non-La story, in which I amuse myself (but only myself) at Freestyle class. In my current class we have another red merle Aussie (Jaffa) and Jaffa's mum is talking about competing in teams (ie. instead of just tripping over myself and my dog, I trip over another handler and their dog too... for even more Australia's Funniest Home video material) and jokes how she'd been thinking the two gorgeous red merle Aussies should do a team! Now Jaffa has a gorgeous heel... backwards, forwards, speed changes, sideways, these nifty little back-turns... gosh it's nice! Sierra's heeling by comparison is muck. She forges forward, to the side, angles her bum at a curve and crabs. So I said, "Are you kidding? Have you SEEN Sierra!?" She says, "Well, there's always hope!" And I said, "Yeah but she's a black tri!" Unfortunately it was across the room and she didn't hear me. Figures. One time I say something kinda clever (vs thinking of it 10 minutes after the person walks away) and no one hears it! :-p

Clicker is the new word

Today Laurent rolls out of bed, nabs my i-Click from the floor (it was sticking half-out my jean pocket) holds it up under my nose just below my bleary eyes and pronounced, "Mum, clicker!"

I rolled over and uttered an intelligent, "hm?"

"CLICKER!"

I rolled over, my brain trickles the information of the state of affairs slowly through until I jump up. La has my clicker. LA has my CLICKER. Baaddd things happen when La has my clicker. Namely he'll click it madly for minutes which sends the dogs into a state of fenzy that can only be surpassed by a mob of pirahnahs before he pries the clicker apart into small little pieces. I rolled up and out of bed, intending to grab something attractive to trade and it had to be something GOOD as the clicker, being something I so jealously guard from him, is also his holy grail.

As I roll up, I hear *click click click click* He grins at me. "Mum!" he chirps. "Yes La?" I reply, only half paying attention as I'm still looking at stuff in the room for something attractive to trade that isn't even more untoddlerproof than the clicker. "MUM GOO GUUL!!"

Complete with a piece of kibble from the pocket the clicker came from held up for me.

I know several people out there have been going through difficult times in their lives lately and just wanted to let everyone know my thoughts are with you. Wishing you everything you need, at exactly the time you need it to see you through the darkness.

Not much to say other than that... L and I are still buggered getting over this thing. I'm feeling better, just reeeeally wiped. Took the dogs to the front of Safeway and sat on a bench where the dogs could watch the stream of different people. Worked on sits and eye contact for Chibi Pup, backing up for the Red Fuzzle. Cade held down the couch which was in dire danger of floating away. Laurent spent the day alternatingly nursing and trying to pry the clicker from my hand (NO way bubba, not my i-Click you don't!) and seems to still have a touch of it but I'm getting glimpses of my cheeky lil' man too. He woke me up playing peek-a-boo with the bed covers, pulling them over my face, off my face and giggling madly. Showed off his newfound ability to stand and take a few steps. Hundreds of cheeky gap-toothed grins. Hugs. Belly flops into my lap. Serious conversations held in baby babble. Gotta love this mum gig...

Bubba Conversations

Every day should be like today. Woke up to gooey bubba smiles and chirpy chatter. Breakfast with STRAWBERRIES. (Nic is sucking up.) Watch bubs as he alternately motors about and comes for hugs; chattering, smiling, laughing madly, attempting to stand alone before plopping on his bum with a giggle.

We had the Gena thing today, which was pretty cool if not stuff I was already aware of. Reminded me of some stuff I knew but need to work on all the same. Had fun with the other people there and taught Sierra to stick her head in a bucket and walk around like that just for fun in a few minutes. Nic watched Laurent, bringing him in when he needed cuddles and food. Lala ate an half his weight in watermelon and rockmelon and spent the rest of the time crawling about showing off how clever he is to his audience - the little HAM! Came home to regroup and let the dogs romp. Ended up having this little conversation, like ones that we've been having lately with L's growing understanding of the world around him and they're just so darn CUTE!

Laurent points excitedly to Sierra who is outside wiggling at the window and waves, laughing and exclaims "Dahg dahg!" I nod, agreeing. "Yes, that's Sierra, she's outside." He signs "want" and chants "Sisi!", *signs 'want'* again and cheers "Sisi! Sisi! Sisi!" while bouncing enthusiastically.

"You want Sisi inside?" I ask. He laughs and repeats the 'want' sign* "Sisi!" At this point kitty comes wandering by and I point down to her. "Look La" He looks at her, "Tasss! Khee!" and then immitates a miaow sound.

Bwhahahahahahah!!! I have turned him into an animal nut!

(For those needing La to English translation:

Dahg=dog

Sisi = Sierra, our dog, Sisi is a nickname

Khee= kitty

*want* sign = hand held out, opening and shutting to indicate he wants whatever he's pointing at. I am hard-of-hearing so I do use sign language with him too!

My life mottos:

"Playing chicken with deadlines and working under stress and pressure is fun." (Apparently, cuz I keep doing it and seem to thrive on it even when going nuts.)

"When you see something you want to go after, jump first, plan the landing on the way down."

These are not perhaps the wisest life mottos but they certainly do make things interesting. I have everything pretty much ready for Laurent's birthday except for picking up a few odds and ends, a long over due hair cut for myself (bless Mary, she's a saint and a miracle worker...), pick up the fresh produce the day before for all the various food items, bake/cook/frost and decorate and then pick up stuff that has to be done just before like the balloons. Invitations, hand-made and DONE, ready to go for tomorrow! Photographer booked. Venue and question of permits dealt with. Speeches written and organized. Tree for tree planting and pot taken care of. Guest gifts taken care of. L's gifts taken care of.


STILL HAVE TO DO:
* pick up extra potting mix for the tomatos, salad greens, snap peas and cape daisys, pick up native potting soil for pine, drool over water trays, water displays and all the gorgeous plants I WANT but must resist until I'm actually moved or I'll have more to deal with leaving behind.
* print everything out so it's not just living on my computer or Murphy will make me pay by crashing it five mins before crunch time
* pick up the pram from repair shop in Sunshine West (shudders)
* foam board and ribbon for the rosemary rememberence thingie for L's bday
* hearth tiles so we can get the heart done
* find a place that sells doors and mantles which fit Edwardian houses as we want to take ours with us cuz they're pretty and would cost a mint to buy again for a new place... unfortunately the doors we've found to replace them are slightly different dimensions than circa 1911 when things were not-standardized
* pick up table and heating elements for food dishes that need warming at the party
* beat the idiot spa repair person who hasn't figured out the concept of showing up when scheduled. Again.
* check out and book a storage place for moving, start boxing up the extra 'stuff' we don't want around for showing or auction

In addition to this, Cade is going in tomorrow morning for surgery to remove 2 histiocytoma tumors. They'll basically have to snip off the tip of his one ear. This type never metasize so removal is due to their persistance and ulceration rather than worry of cancer. He's going to have a dental (scaling/polishing) as well, so we're going to remove them at the same time. He will have all the standard bloodwork, plus heated fluid IV so recovery is easier and they have a line already in if anything does go wrong. But it's Cade, my heart-dog who has been with me through everything since highschool. And it's a lump. Which automatically equals Amanda-worrywartness. His sire Dimitri had lipomas, which are typically harmless, for years until one killed him at age 11. That is quite young, as the breed averages 16-17 years. Cade is almost 9, just a little younger than Dimitri. I worry over every lump and bump he gets and the older he gets the more I worry even though I know it's nothing and his litter siblings are fine even half-siblings through his father are fine at 13 years old. Doesn't matter, I'll worry anyway.

Dogs aren't the only ones who generalize fears or develop superstitious behaviour from them.

Buggered, tired and just flat out whipped... TMI warning!!!

A pretty accurate description at the moment. I am just flat-out, plain, deep down bone tired.

To make up for bombarding everyone with the following lovely mental images, I give you with this... Hope, at 4 weeks old. It was the puppies first introduction to the wonders of cheese! I mentioned to her breeder that she is going to be one busy little puppy since we've got a camping trip not long after I'll have her and have so many people waiting to meet her. She wrote back that she was going to be very well suited to it as she had the temperment for it so far and was the easiest and kissiest to work with with. :-) Aw. Puppy breath. Would you look at that? This kind of day and all I can do is grin a goofy grin and think how much I love my baby, family and dogs.

Now, to the blech... this is where the TMI warning kicks in, turn back now if you don't want to read it. Turns out Laurent's nothing-is-going-to-comfort-me behaviour is a tummy bug. This morning started when I heard a tummy rumble, he squirmed and promptly puked his guts up, not once but twice.... all over me, the pillows, the bedding, his blankie and everything but Nic who somehow managed to avoid it all.

Changed the bedding, showered us both, finally got him to fall back asleep, flomped.

Woke to the sudden sound of another noise, more squirming and a sudden torrent of yellow diarrhea exploding out his nappy and covering him up to his shoulders, the spare bedding, spare pillows, the quilt, his other blankie and yeah... me who he was snuggled up to.... from hip to shoulder. And again somehow managing to miss Nic completely while hitting everything else within a queen sized mattress radius. Another shower.

The rest of the day was lather, rinse, repeat. I've been puked on and pooed on through exploding nappies more times than I care to remember, gone through no less than 8 outfits, 4 sets of bedsheets, 12 pants for him after nappies exploded, 2 blankies and 2 slings.

In the middle of this we're still working on moving, solicitor details for moving, Dept of Immigration crap, planning his party etc etc.

Picked up a few more of his gifts which I'd ordered and had a nasty time of it with this awful person who owned the store.

Have to go back tomorrow because the hammering peg bench I got for him is damaged: paint flecking off one of the pegs and a broken bit with splintery edges. The rest are pretty cute. Picked up his tree for the tree planting yesterday.

The send off was when one of Nic's friends came over for dinner and we went out to Red Bean to get some take-out. By that point I was seriously wanting out of the house since I'd filled out one too many forms today and we walked up there. While waiting for the order to be ready he looked mildly uncomfortable. Oh no. *BLECHHHHHHH* All over the floor, me, himself, his blankie, Nic (HAH!) and the aforementioned friend... in full view of the cooks, counterstaff and other diners. Everyone froze.

*BLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECCCCCCCCHHH* Fire two.

Poor Laurent has been feeling obviously miserable, just wants to cuddle and lean into me. He has been falling asleep in my arms all day, very quiet and subdued albeit very whingey and whimpery with every little thing upseting him.

I am so, so, so, so, so, so tired. I think I could sleep for a month and -still- wake up exhausted. *yawns* Heading to bed now, as soon as I take yet another shower, do the laundry and feed the dogs, clean up from dinner etc.

Oddly enough, the whole day I spent mostly thinking how lucky I was to be his mum and how much I love him and getting to be the one there to comfort him when he doesn't feel well. I treasure the fact that even though he still feels poorly, he wants to be in my arms and I can help him just by holding him close and singing softly to him.

Non-Laurent related: DH lost his wedding ring. Has no idea where he lost it either.

Dada!

Just a quick little gush, we got L's first official word the other day. :-) No big shock, it was "dada". We've had lots of sound-strings of mamamama, dadada, bububu, lalala etc but not used as a proper word or rather as a proper title. Yesterday morning when we woke up and were enjoying our time together in bed before starting the morning, L looked over at Nic and with a big smile, patted him on the arm and said, "Dada!" to get Nic's attention. AW! Such a sweet, gooey, melty moment!

Then later when Nic came home again L did his welcome-home-daddy routine which consists of lots of smiling, bouncing, burbling and hand-flapping and once again exclaimed, "DADA!" It's so stinkin' cute, I don't even care that 'dada' gets the first word instead of 'mama'! ;-)

Since the first photo I took of him standing was a pretty yuck one, I had to put up a nicer one instead! He pulls himself up on everything, as often as possible and even pushes the little table around to 'walk'.

The Further Saga of the Green Socks

Okay for those who don’t know the story thus far, basically we couldn't keep any socks on Laurent's feet. After trying (and losing) dozens of different socks, we tried Bonds. We got a couple types, one of which was a green and white pair he glommed onto. The child is seriously obsessed with the color green and wonder of wonders... those green socks stayed ON his feet!

Which brings us to the update. A few weeks back we went to get more except they were out. They did however have them in blue. Same style, same size... only difference is color. They lasted for all of 2 minutes. And haven't stayed on his feet since. So apparently it's really only green socks that are acceptable! TSL is still out so I put in the call to their other stores to send over any pairs they have... but only the green ones! LOL

Speaking of Laurent, he's made out like a bandit recently. I'd put our name down for some stuff pre-out-of-workness which arrived... 3 t-shirts from Beastly Bums, a bead twirl toy, a gorgeous board book, a nice activity table for him to stand up at and a bunch of wooden blocks. Okay so he's too young to build stuff with the blocks now but he enjoys banging them around, dove straight for the green one and Nic finds it amusing to build structures for Laurent to smack down. Still, do you know what the hands down coolest toy tonight was? An empty mineral water bottle which he spent a good 20 minutes chasing around the floor! ROTFLMAO!

I'm thinking about moving some more. (Still. Perpetually.) Our house is just really poorly laid out for a child. That's not the only reason we want to move of course but it's becoming a bigger one the more mobile he gets. There's no where he can really play except for the back room, which has hard slippery floors, folding doors to the dining area he knows how to open (they're impossible to secure) and all glass windows from the floor up among other hazards. I'm rather seriously thinking we may move to Blackburn/Blackburn North/South area later in the year. It's not out in the country like I want but that's just never going to happen no matter how bad I want it. Maybe we could at least find a more child friendly house and a nice back garden for setting up a tiny agility area. The very little I've seen of the area looks nice. Nic might consider it as there's a train station and it's only 15-17 minute drive from Preshil for Laurent. Plus the prices seem to be reasonable. We'd get maybe $550-600 out of this house, minus whatever taxes and stamp duty so maybe we'd even have some leftover to put into other investments. I'd like to avoid having to borrow, as we don't have a house payment now and I want to keep it that way. So something to think about...

In better news, Nic has had a couple of ring-backs and has an interview/trial run at TGI Friday's tomorrow for a position as a grill cook. It'd be nice if so, it's only part-time, not sure how many hours per week but at least it would be some money coming in and qualify for experience as well. Then he'd need a second part time or eventually find a full time. Hopefully he gets a ring back for one of the full time ones as well in case this doesn't go through.

Training is still going really well. Cade is having fun with various things, while we're working on heeling and tricks for Ms Sierra. Caught a snag in the heeling thingie... Sierra apparently was taking away the idea that it only means to come from behind me and into position. She doesn't know it from the front or side short of swinging around me. Opps! So we're working on that as well as lengthening the time she'll keep heeling.

We're at a point where we need to start putting our first routine together. I'm jumping the gun a little bit, it's actually for another 2 weeks the class is going to start but I it's too much fun not to think about. It's going to be a short one and we don't have to do anything but heel around if we don't want to. I'd like to throw in a bit of fun though! ;-) I think I've chosen our music as well. Where do you find a short clip without having to remix? Television theme songs. I was thinking about a couple but as a bit of fun I think I've settled on the theme from Scoobie Doo. I think the tricks are simple to picture and it would be a funny little skit for the audience.

Anyway, that's it for now.