Angus

Mummy versus penguin

Welcome to point form Fridays, my friends!

1) I got jabbed pretty badly today by a pathologist. Not once. Not twice. But three times. The third time hurt so much I think I almost said a bad word in my head.

2) Rick made me the most divine hot chocolate (with pink marshmallows) earlier in the week and since then I have been in love. (With both man and drink.)

3) Pete now says “stop” and “shop.” Future possible occupations: traffic controller, retailer or poet.

4) I found out about Pottermore this morning! Awesomeness.

5) This is not why I’m wearing the owl pendant above.

6) At dinner on Tuesday night, Angus said, “Mummy has big bum and baby penguin (his toy) has small bum.”

7) He also said, “Mummy has big tummy and baby penguin has small tummy.”

8) Clearly mummy wins since big is better than small, right?

9) I’ve started updating Cameron’s blog again.

10) It is 10.15pm and I still need to cook dinner.

Happy weekend everybody!

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The animals we did see

So after four cups of caffeine between the seven of us (you do the maths), we did eventually go and see the animals.

In no particular order, we covered koalas, giraffes, lions, a stripy tiger (tautology?), an ostrich (very fleetingly), gorilla, elephants, a sleeping bear, monkeys, zebras, tropical birds and kangaroos (also sleeping).

And in case you can’t tell the mammals apart in the photos…

1) Lion
2) Giraffes
3) Koala (can you see the little guy?)
4) Rick and Pete (in backpack)
5) None
6) Tiger
7) Peter
8) None

Angus had the best time running around with Nan (who is fitter than all the rest of us combined). The only animal he didn’t see was the bear, because he refused to go into “the bear cave.” Rick’s mum worked out later that it was because of the scary bear that chases the happy family in ‘We’re going on a bear hunt.’ I love how insightful my mother-in-law is and I love how my little boy can put two and two together.

Personally, I was quite taken with the giraffes. They seemed so – novel. Almost cartoonish. Like they’d been lifted straight out of some children’s book. Yup, if I’d won the door prize and had the option of taking an animal home with me, it would’ve been one of the giraffes.

And yes, the answer to my little quiz is five Mason boys. Good work, you guys.

(Hopefully my very kind father-in-law won’t mind that I’ve just referred to him as a ‘boy’ in the blogosphere…)

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Rescuing that polaroid collage (literally)

Remember this polaroid collage that I did for the boys’ room?

Well imagine my surprise one morning when I walked in to discover that Angus had systematically ripped all the photos off the foam core board and had very carefully allowed the photos to slip into the very tiny crack that separates the back of the bed and the wall.

A crack so tiny that I couldn’t possibly squeeze even his fingers into it (not that I tried to do such a thing of course), much less my own.

To make matters more complicated, the bed had a backing board that ran all the way to the floor, which meant that I couldn’t even reach the photos from crawling under the bed (not that that was very successful in itself given my watermelon of a belly at the time).

As you can probably imagine, I was not all that impressed with the situation, considering that I had spent the better half of one entire day putting the photo collage together. Indeed, eight months worth of pregnancy hormones coursing through my body at the time had me almost flying over the edge.

More than anything, I was stumped as to how to retrieve the photos. For two whole weeks, I couldn’t work out how to get those photos out. Moving the bed was not really an option as it was too heavy for me, especially as I was 37 weeks pregnant at the time – I could probably have asked Rick to help me but I was rather determined to solve the problem on my own. I’m stubborn like that, you know.

One late afternoon, however, when Rick had taken the boys out to the park, I was suddenly struck by the solution to the problem: the mini gardening set that we had bought for Angus’ 2nd birthday! Why hadn’t I thought of it before? I raced out the front door, grabbed the mini rake from its hanging place and did a little dance for cheap toys made in China (bless my homeland). [click to continue reading…]

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Play School beats MasterChef

We went to the zoo today and it was simply delightful. A huge thanks go to Rick’s parents (“Nan and Pa”) for coming with us and enjoying the day with us (read: helping us with the boys). I have a stack of photos I want to share, but I don’t think I’ll have time to post them tonight, so a little sneak peek of a big giraffe will have to do for now. I would, however, like to leave you with snippets of conversation that Rick and I each had with Angus tonight:

* * *

Rick: “What animals did we see at the zoo today?”
Angus: “Pa and Nan!”

* * *

Me: “Oh no, you’ve torn the map of the zoo!”
Angus: “Mummy get my hammer?”
Me: “Hammer?”
Angus: “Yes, hammer!”
Me: “Hammers are for fixing cars, darling. I think we need sticky tape instead.”
Angus: “Aaaah…. tape!”

* * *

A few minutes later…

Angus: “Mummy’s nose has a piece of snot!”
Me: “Piece of snot?”
Angus: “Yes! Piece of snot in mummy’s nose!”

* * *

And another one from a few weeks ago…

Me (at dinnertime): “Can we watch a cooking show?”
Angus: “Yes!”

I turn on MasterChef.

Angus: “No cooking!”

I feign deafness.

Angus: “No cooking! Mummy, no cooking!”

Me (still hopeful): “Are you sure?”
Angus: “Yes! Play School! Play School!”
Me (resigned): “Okay, Play School it is…”

* * *

And here’s a glimpse of the little boy himself, exhausted after all the zoo fun today…

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Highlights and low lights

I ate sushi today. That was a definite highlight. I’d been craving salmon sushi since Wednesday last week, so today while I was child-free after my physio appointment, I snuck into Mitzu and helped myself to the most relaxing lunch I’d had in months (even if it was only for fifteen minutes). If you’re a specifics type of person, this is what I tasted, chewed, swallowed and hopefully digested:

1) Salmon sushi x 2
2) Unagi sushi x 2
3) Prawn parcel x 2
4) Deep-fried prawn sushi x 2
5) Salmon sushi x 2 (yes, that’s right, I went back for more…)

Last year, I used to take Pete along with me to Mitzu on Fridays when Angus was at ‘Play School’ (ie. daycare). He would sit in the high chair munching on his Kruskit (which makes up about 50% of his diet) while I would sip my green tea and savour the taste of salmon and soy sauce in my mouth. It definitely wasn’t as fun without him today but at least there was no floor mess for me to clean up afterwards. Always a plus.

The second highlight of the day occurred at the boys’ dinnertime. Pete had already finished up, so he was in the bath with Rick. Angus, however, was still working on his second course – a piece of crunchy apple. As I bustled around, slowly clearing up the pasta mess that Pete had systematically spread around him (if you escape floor mess at lunch, you’re bound to encounter it at dinner – it’s like some kind of physics law; or if you believe in karma, you might even call it ‘messy karma’), Angus got creative with the apple.

First he took a few bites off and turned it into a star (“Look mummy – star!”). He then decided he would make a moon, and sure enough, after some further bites, a shape that somewhat resembled a half moon emerged (“Mummy – moon!”). He chomped some more, and suddenly he had a “car!” This he drove around on his high chair tray for a bit (“Brrrrrooom, brrrrrooom…!”), before he decided he would turn it into “bottle.”

Such are the moments that make up for messy floors.

As for lowlights, there weren’t any.

But I did snap a few shots of some ‘low lights,’ namely: the red lantern lights while eating at Mitzu, the street traffic lights while waiting outside the local cafe in the evening, our bedroom lamp while stealing a nap before dinner and the pink sunset while driving home during dusk.

A final highlight? I came up with that double entendre all by myself.

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Conversations with Angus

It is evening. Rick has just picked up Angus from my mum’s and they are coming home.

Angus: “Sun go down and moon come up!”

* * *

It is midday. I’ve just arrived home with the boys from bible study.

It is time for Angus to go down for his nap, which he has been resisting for a couple of days.

Me: “I’ll close the door if you get out of bed.”

Angus: “Gor gor stay in bed if door leave open.”

* * *

It is morning, and Angus is watching Play School while I’m feeding James.

On screen, Justine and Matt are drawing a cow.

Angus turns around to look at me.

Angus: “Milk come out of cow…. and mum!”

* * *

I am in the car with the boys.

We are at Carlingford Court and I’m trying to park.

I realise I am about to hit a pole.

Me: “Oh dearie me!”

Angus: “Oh dearie me!”

* * *

It is dinnertime. Angus and I are talking about babies.

All of a sudden…

Angus: “Daddy come out of nan!”

* * *

It is afternoon, and Angus and I are both in the studio.

He is playing with my animal elastic bands from Kikki K.

I point to the rabbit one and ask him what it is.

Angus: “Hop, hop, bang, bang!”

I make a mental note to talk to Rick about the “bang, bang!”

* * *

It is dinnertime yet again, and we are running very late.

I am utterly exhausted.

As I’m trying to get Angus to eat his pork and rice, I burst into tears.

Angus: “What’s the matter mummy? Mummy sad?”

Me: “No, mummy’s very weary.”

Angus: “Kiss mummy?”

Me: “Yes please…”

Angus kisses me on the cheek.

Angus: “Mummy happy now?”

Me (heart melting): “Yes darling, thank you.”

I kiss him back.

Me: “I love you little man…”

(*Gor gor is Cantonese for older brother.)

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The banana song

Remember how I mentioned that I broke my favourite pair of glasses a couple of months ago? Well, the store managed to replace them for me and here they are once more gracing my rather wide big head. Can’t begin to describe how happy I am about this – no more silly purple frames that look like I’m trying to colour co-ordinate my glasses with my outfit.

I know that I’ve been posting a lot of photos of Angus rather than Pete lately. Don’t worry, the little guy is still around. It’s just that he’s constantly on the move now and it’s next to impossible to try and get him to be still enough to take a photo that doesn’t blur (except when he’s strapped into the car seat, as he is below). Tornado Pete, I call him.

And if you’re an avid Play School fan like me, that’s “one banana, two bananas, three bananas, four….”

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From here to there

This is the path from the boys’ play room to the front of the living room, where the television resides and the windows overlook the front yard.

Many times a day, Angus and Pete will walk past the danish teak cabinet, past the large black bookcase and past the black vinyl chair to reach one of their favourite spots in the house: the place where they get to watch Play School.

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Photo booth Wednesdays

One thing you should know about us Masons – we’re not ashamed to use that Photo Booth application! I hereby declare Wednesdays a photo booth day – a day where you get to see just how silly and shameless (and oh so very fun) we are here at casa Mason.

Today, Angus turns two and a half! So I thought I’d kick off the photo booth series by digging up something from the archives that always brings a smile to my face. It’s amazing how much these shots of Angus remind me of James, especially the head-propping technique that Rick is so skilfully showcasing here.

Life has definitely been much more colorful since Angus came into this world two and a half years ago. Just yesterday in the car, he called out, “Mummy! No roof!” I looked over to where he was pointing and sure enough there was a red convertible driving by.

And when Rick and I confuse Pete and James’ names (which I am ashamed to say happens every few minutes or so), Angus is always there to correct us: “No daddy – baby James!” or “No mummy – Peter!”

Thanks little man – what would we do without you?

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The colour red

Red is the colour of strawberries, which I love to blend with milk and honey to make thick and tasty smoothies.

Red is the colour of my two favourite Japanese restaurants – Mitzu in North Ryde and Jugemu in Neutral Bay. One serves the freshest salmon sushi and the other does an utterly delectable spinach salad.

Red is the colour of Rick’s old schoolbag when he was in kindergarten. It is actually a small suitcase, and inscribed on the inside is the word “Junk” in Rick’s youthful handwriting. We still have it in our home today – we use it to store Angus’ wooden train set.

Red is the colour of Peter and Mary’s Range Rover. They lent it to us when we needed to drive down to a wedding in Wagga Wagga with our friends Mike and Nikki. I remember clearly Rick’s excitement at finally being able to drive his dad’s Land Rover. Nowadays, Angus calls it “Pa’s big red car.”

Red is also the colour of Angus’ toy motorbike – a present from my friends to him on his first birthday. To me, the red motorbike is a novel reminder of the motorbike that Rick used to ride when we first started dating…

Red was the colour of my roses bouquet the day Rick and I got married. They were a rich, wine red and they stood out starkly against the ivory white of my wedding dress.

Red was the colour of my ‘qi pao’ which I wore to our Chinese banquet the next day. I remember how the ‘qi pao’ fitted me like a second skin and how I never wore it again after that night.

Red was the colour of the twelve roses Rick gave me on our first Valentines Day together as husband and wife. It was the first time he’d ever bought me flowers.

Red was the colour of Cameron’s lips. They were a dark, crimson red. For the rest of my life, I will never forget those beautiful, precious lips…

Red is the colour of the dress I wore on Christmas day, three months after Cameron’s death. The colour and vibrance of the dress masked the heavy grief that weighed down my heart.

Red is the colour of the spare chair in my studio. When Rick comes home on Friday and Sunday nights, he often finds me working at my desk. He sits down on the red chair, I swivel around in mine and then we talk and share and catch up on how each of our evenings went. I looked forward to those chats a lot. They are the rare moments of the week when it’s just the two of us.

Red.

One of the many colours of life.

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