I'm having a rare moment of solitude right now. Both the Bear and the Butterfly are fast asleep, knocked out by this sudden and intense heat I think. Poor little Butterfly feels it the most, last Summer she was only 3 months old so didn't really notice much but this time round, at the grand old age of 14 months and with all the walking, running, jumping and climbing that comes with it, she is noticing it BAD. Her little curls stick to her forehead and her neck in a sweaty mess, her chubby cheeks are continually flushed red and her little hands clammy. She's been living in a nappy and singlet, quite often ditching both to run around naked (which amuses the Bear no end - if you can hear shreaks of "Nakey Baby Bottom, Nakey Baby Bottom, I can see a Nakey Baby Bottom!" it's coming from my house).
I'm determined to embrace the heat this year though. Normally I start whimpering as the temp creeps closer to the 30s, hugging my air conditioner remote close and taking a hell of a lot longer to choose things from the fridge, simply for the blast of cold air it provides. This year though, with two little ones watching every move I make, I'm going to tackle it head on so they see that Summer can be fun (there's a sentence I never thought I'd say). We've got an awesome sand and water table on the back deck which is filled and refilled multiple times a day, we've got a water ring that connects to the hose and shoots water a metre or so high and we've got a freezer full of iceblocks. And you know what? So far it's working. The Butterfly has added "deck" to her never ending list of words and now calls it out as soon as she wakes, jumping up and down with excitement and inevitably empting the entire water table over herself within a few moments.
One thing I do love and have always loved about Summer time is it's promise of Christmas just around the corner. Have you been in the shops recently?? When we first walked in and saw all the decorations all three of us gasped (much to Hubby's amusement). We have already been and visited Santa and are planning a great deal many more visits (he was on first-name basis with both little ones last year) and Christmas arts and crafts have started with earnest. Hubby insists that we can't put up the tree untll December 1st so instead I'm hanging up all the kids Christmas craft - just being a proud Mumma, nothing to do with decking the house out festive style of course ;)
Speaking of which we went to the video shop this afternoon and Bear picked out three Christmas movies. To anyone unfamiliar with us this is a BIG deal - we don't really watch tv in our house so him getting to choose and then watch movies? Big time baby! I must say I'm as excited about them as he is. I can remember a certain Christmas movie from my childhood, well actually I can only remember one scene from it. There is a little boy standing in front of a barn, to the left of the sleigh as it's being loaded up. There is a stripy pole behind him and naturally, lots of snow. I have no idea what the movie was, what its plot was or who was in it, but I remember I loved it! I'm hoping I might just stumble across it, you never know!
Oh and in other news, I've finally decided what I'm going to do study wise and what career I want to have when the little ones are in school! I don't want to go back to teaching, I want a totally new direction and I think I've found it. Wahoo! I'll go into detail later, right now I'm off to check my sleeping babes. xx
