Sunday 20 January 2008

'De Egg O' and more funny quotes...

I have been writing down children's funny quotes in a book since I started working in Childcare centres in 1996. I find their innocent language mistakes and comments are so refreshing and genuinely funny.
I left a few books of funny quotes behind at the first couple of childcare centres that I worked at, but kept the last one from my preschool class and added to it when Teddy started talking.
This book was packed away when we moved here, so it was time to start a new one.
While flicking through our Norfolk funny quote book yesterday, I couldn't believe how many pages that we have filled up in a year.
So, Now it is time to share some of our favourites.

* When we told Teddy that we were going to play squash, he look at us blankly, we asked him if he knew what it was, he replied"it's what you do to playdough".
Later we heard him telling Mary and Bernie, "we're going to play squash, it when we jump on each other(squash)"

* I changed Sienna and said"there you go, a nice, clean nappy" she got excited and said "ice ceam".

* When I dropped Teddy to his first day of preschool this time last year, he said Bye Bye Aunty Mary,I'm going now, see you next time, you may email me!"
Later in the year when I picked him up from Playcentre Ted said "Mum, something got stuck up a tree" I asked " what got stuck up a tree darling?" he replied "ME!"

* When Ted was crying once, Sienna gave him her book and said "here you go Ted" I said to her" that was very nice of you Sienna to share, what can I get you now to make you feel happy?"
She pointed to a bag of potting mix and said " DIRT".

* At the A&H show, Teddy asked the blacksmith who was demonstrating making horseshoes, if he could make some shoes for his ducks as he doesn't have a horse.

*Sienna was playing with some plush toys in the post office, my niece Alyssa asked Sienna what sound each one makes, we heard, moo, baa, oink, meow, woof, neigh, but when she got to the goat, she was quiet for a moment, then in a little high pitched voice said "Gooaaaaaat".

*I asked Teddy if he wanted some 2 minute noodles, he said " Yes, I would like too many noodles".
A few months ago, Teddy's friend Ada came to play, she told me she was hungry so I asked if she would like me to cook some 2 minute noodles, she asked "how long will it take to cook?"

*Brandt said to Sienna in September "it's your birthday tomorrow Sienna"
Sienna said "No, Daddy, No"
Brandt said " It is"
Sienna again says " NO, Daddy, NO!"
Brandt asks "Are you the no girl today?"
Sienna says "YES!"

*And lastly (for now) As you saw in Previous blog, our cat Jane scratched Sienna and we are looking for another home for her.
During a love wrestle, Sienna bit Teddy's shoulder. Ted told her " you're not my lovely sister anymore......... we're going to have to find somewhere else for you to live!"

So, what is De Egg O? I wondered that too, as Teddy keeps mentioning the word like a friend.
I thought it was the name that he gave to a Sea bird's egg that he found on a cliff top near Anson bay when Granny and Alyssa were here.
This egg was carried everywhere like a precious baby for a week or so until it rolled off his bedside table in the middle of the night. Splat!

I finally found out this morning what it means, when I was woken by Teddy who asked me to come and see Egg O.
On Tv was Dora the explorer which has been a favourite of ours for over a year now, since Sienna started walking, she became a wanderer that we nick named 'Dora the explorer'
Now on TV, Dora has an older cousin called Diego! ( De Egg O!!!!!!) Strangely Diego looks a bit like Teddy. So My own Dora and Diego(Sienna and Teddy) have been exploring all day and saving animals, like our plastic farm animals from the danger of the sandpit and the fig tree.
At least one mystery is solved, we now know who De Eggo is.

Saturday 19 January 2008

Summer has returned and kids club was a blast.



After a wet to start to the year, a Sunny Summer has finally arrived, so Summer will be shorter than usual, but it is always lovely here in March and April too and very mild all winter long.



Teddy went to Norfk kids club and Teddy had a ball.


All the kids took off on the Bounty bus, every morning for 2 weeks,singing songs on their way to different parts of Norfolk Island. Finally, the sun came out to play and the kids got to go to the beach. Building Sandcastles and dams, snorkelling and eating homegrown watermelon were all favourite things to do there.
I went to join the kids club bus there one day and caught Ted in action on a boogy board as he caught wave after wave on a shallow stretch of sand as the tide was coming in.

Teddy learned to make incredible sand cities, which he practised in our sand pit at home.
He also loved Mini golf, water bomb fights, Mr Lettuce's hand made pine pencils, but mostly Peter and Margaret Christian's place with their trampoline, and Khan taking him for rides on the motorbike, and the grass tobogganing behind Khan's ute.


Thankyou Taan, Kath, Mr Lettuce and Khan for a wonderful 2 weeks, we had a SMASHING time and we are looking forward to the next one.

And then with the return of the summer came the return of Nippers, Norfolk Island style at Emily bay.
Brandt who was a sunshine beach nipper himself was looking forward to helping out.

The water was Crystal clear and it was a glorious day, Teddy was learning the ropes in more than one way, and of course, Sienna wanted to do whatever her brother did, so it wont be long before she is grabbing the beach flags too.

Another beautiful day in paradise!

Tuesday 15 January 2008

Cobwebs, waterfalls and muddy puddles.


During our fantastic weird weather phenomenon recently, we were all a little house bound due to wet rainy days and then the thickest fog that I have ever seen, that didn't last for an hour or two like we have experienced on the Sunshine coast, before it burns off to reveal a hot sunny day. This fog lasted for a week and a bit, blotting out all but a tiny peek of sunshine that would tempt us on rare occasions.
But when it did mostly clear away to reveal an overcast day, we all thought it was a lovely clear day and set out to enjoy it.


I got to resume my early morning walks, and the different views that went with it, my favourites are the dew covered spiderwebs, they are easy to spot when they glisten.

They always look pretty, whether the webs are spun in plants,flowers on houses or barbed wire fences. It is when the dew dries up that they start to look a bit ordinary and in need of a broom to sweep them away from the eaves.

I have been having camera trouble lately, with both of my well loved cameras needing some R and R at the camera hospital before their 1st anniversary of living with me, I missed alot of perfect shots, and only managed these couple.

When we came out to play, we really came out to play! Kim suggested that we go mud sliding at cockpit waterfall with the kids, we had driven in to the reserve before, but not actually walked to the waterfall. We were well rewarded for doing so as it was beautiful. The goat trail that let us there was a touch precarious as we had a tight clasp onto our children's hands till we got to the top, but wisely ventured no further down.
Rob, a professional photographer here who owns a fantastic gallery across the road called 2899( Norfolk Island's postcode) was right at the bottom taking photos of the waterfall, so I cant wait to see how his photos turn out.

Brandt wished that he could climb down and have a swim in the pool under the waterfall, but was content to take the kids one at a time in a smaller pool further up the rocks.


Teddy wanted to go in first and loved it, Sienna will do anything that Teddy does, but found it a bit cool in the pool and clung to her Daddy like a baby possum.

She ended up loving it, especially with a cuddle from Daddy.

When they were dry, both kids had another go at grass sliding down the hill on my boogy board, but the grass wasn't slippery enough to go really fast and there weren't any muddy tracks left by other kids.
Charles took baby Liam for his first go and wanted to take him right to the top of the hill, they compromised on half way, but stopped still on a patch of grass, so resorted to Kim pulling them down the hill.


We didn't get as dirty as we thought we would or go as fast as the boys would have liked, but it was still tonnes of fun to shake off any wet weather blues.



As always a big rain shower leaves my children's favourite outside plaything, 'Muddy Puddles'.

There is a particular favourite one where you park the cars at Mary and Bernie's house.

They always end up wet and a little muddy after running through the puddle, but it is always lots of fun.

A nice warm bath and a cuddle after all that puddle jumping.


Of course with tropical lows and then the edge of Cyclone Funa, Norfolk Island had some big seas which provided fun for anyone with a board.

Here is Brandt on some waves at Kingston, before the seas rose.