The last time I tried some swimming lessons it didn't go well. I resisted getting in the water, and when I did get carried in I spent more time crying than participating in the lesson. In fact, turning on my waterworks was about as close to an aquatic experience as I had then.
So it was probably with some trepidation that, two years and some cool Paw Patrol togs later, Mummy and Daddy enrolled me in another series of swimming lessons in this new pool complex close to home.
Fortunately for everyone, I'm much more confident around the water now. I look forward to my lessons, eagerly hop into the pool and am always putting my hand up to go first with practicing something. In fact, I'm so excited about it that my biggest problem is not always being attentive to the teacher, as Mummy and Daddy often call out to me from the side.
So far I've done lots of fun things with paddle boards and noodles. The teacher has also had us practicing diving from the steps towards her, although when I do it I always seem to go for height instead of distance, and end up jumping at her rather than diving!
I'm also likely to get a bit carried away with over-splashing when kicking my feet; quite often when I've finished this, the teacher has to wipe water off her face like someone's thrown a bucketful of water at her.
But one of the most fun parts of the whole swimming lessons experience is being able to play in the big pool and go down the waterslide afterwards. Now if only we had a pool at home I could practice in too; somehow the bath just isn't the same.
You'd think William and me would have a lot in common. We both have the same Mummy and Daddy, both grow up in the same house, both are slowly taking over that house... But as William gets older it turns out we have quite a few differences as well; things that William has started doing that I didn't when I was his age.
Like the fascination he seems to have with the toilet. Not that he's a fast learner and is keen to use the toilet like a big boy. Oh no, he's fascinated with putting things into the toilet. Any time the lid is accidentally left up, you can be sure the next time you check there'll be a little surprise floating in the water. It could be his bedtime cukky, or any one of my toys.
One thing we both do is make a bit of a mess with our toys, normally just because we've been playing with them and they've got spread around the house a little. But William takes this even further and actively seems to want to create mess where there isn't any, like with his habit of unpacking cupboards, shelves or toy boxes to throw the contents all over the floor.
When he's not putting things in the toilet or strewn across the floor, William also loves putting things in his mouth. Pretty much anything he can get his hands on is a target, from toys to bottles, but his favourite is his cukky. It's been in his mouth so often that it's now permanently discoloured.
I wonder just how similar or different we'll be as we keep getting older? Only time, and my blog, will tell!
Just a few weeks before my birthday, little William had his first birthday. A whole year has flown by since I first visited him in hospital and we packed him up to come home. He's been growing and learning so much since then, but it's important that he gets the best tutelage and learns from a master. That's where I come in; I'm training tomorrow's rascal.
Walking is something I'm helping with. Well, encouraging. After a few weeks of faltering steps made while holding onto the couch, coffee table or people, William is getting more confident every day, while I egg him on. True, I do sometimes tell on him if he's tottering his way over to something he shouldn't (like my breakfast), but soon it'll be a case of look out every ornament that's within reach!
I'm also helping encourage him with some new tricks. Mummy has taught him what the answer to the question "What noise does the lion make" is (answer: "rarrhhh"), and we're now moving on to clapping hands and waving goodbye. He hasn't quite got the waving right yet - when he tries it looks a bit like he's trying to get something sticky off his hand.
People have told me that my vocabulary is pretty good, so this is something else I can try to pass onto William. He's only just said his first word ("mama") though, so that could be a long road.
Mostly though, the things I'm teaching William are those things Mummy and Daddy wish I wasn't. Like when we're eating dinner and I slouch back in my chair, letting bits of food fall off my fork onto the carpet. William looks across at me, finds it hilarious, and before you know it there's food being dropped from two sides. Which is normally where threats and curses ensue from Daddy, but neither of us pay much attention. Being a rascal is just far too much fun.
One of the best things about having a birthday in the middle of the year is that you're never more than a few months away from having a celebration and getting presents. Getting warmer? Must be near Christmas. Getting colder? Hello birthday!
In fact it's just long enough a gap between the two to work out a new list of things I'd like. The downside is that the weather sometimes isn't very good around my birthday and it's not as easy to go and play outside. But I never let that get in the way of my birthday fun.
Like every year Mummy asked what type of cake decoration I wanted, and this year I chose an Octonauts cake, in the style of an underwater cartoon I watch on TV. She did a great job, with some characters made out of icing and yummy hokey pokey chocolate for the coral.
I even managed to 'double-down' on my birthday cake, because she made another cake for me to take to daycare. Which was great because not only was it more cake-y goodness, it also stretched the birthday period out over a few days.
Lots of cool 'first' presents came my way this birthday, including my first iPad. Word on the street is that it previously belonged to Grandma until she upgraded hers, but it's still all mine now to load up with some fun games. And since he's so frugal, it's actually no older a model than Daddy's. Steve Jobs would never have got rich off Daddy.
Other firsts were my first tool kit and first Transformer toy, plus a cool scribble & write toy to help me with learning letters and numbers. Of course I also received lots of cars, but then I'd have been disappointed if there weren't some of them; the first couple of dozen I got just gave me a taste for more.
It wouldn't be a birthday without a party, so we had the family around to help celebrate and eat Octonauts cake. Do these Hartland cousins look like an awesome foursome or what? I'm the one hurriedly picking the candles off so as to get stuck into the cake quicker. William's the one looking startled because he was about to reach for a fistful of icing.
The next birthday I have will be when I turn 5 and am about to start school. Now that really will be turning into a big boy.
It had been a while since we went away somewhere for a few days; all the way back 18 months ago when we went to Australia, in fact. So it was high time that Mummy and Daddy took me away on an adventure of chaos and glorious misbehaving. In other words - a family holiday.
And just to ensure that we all set our chaos meters at maximum, it would be the first such holiday for baby William. How would he take to sleeping in a different cot? Sitting through long car journeys? Not having all his things around him? Only time and Daddy's rising blood pressure would tell.
The destination this time was somewhere called Waipu. I was immediately suspicious that this was a silly made-up place. Why poo? Sounded like a trick was being played. But turns out it is a real place with a big long beach, and Mummy had booked us a holiday house there. So we packed up our togs, sunscreen and summer clothes, got in the car and headed north.
Naturally the first afternoon we got there it rained quite heavily. Excellent - no umbrella or wet weather gear packed at all. Could be a long holiday... Luckily as soon as the clouds went away, the sun came out for the whole rest of the time. Perfect weather for swmming and playing on the beach.
Waipu's a pretty small place, so there's not heaps to do there, but there was a cool waterfall. We had to drive for what seemed like ages down this rocky road, then walk through a forest track, but the waterfall at the end was cool. Absolutely freezing in fact - the water collected in the pool made my feet feel numb when I splashed into it. There were a few other people exploring at the same time as us, though not all of them were dressed quite like we were; one lady's clothes must have shrunk in the cold...
When we weren't out and about, there was a goldmine of toys and books at the holiday house. Tucked into a cupboard were a couple of big boxes packed with toys. Two minutes after discovering them, the boxes were promptly unpacked and spread across the floor. Now it's starting to feel a bit like home. There was a passionfruit vine in the garden, so we raided that and enjoyed some yummy fruit too.
We had a fun dinner out one night too, at a place called Pizza Barn. It serves pizza and is decorated a bit like a big barn, with huge stuffed animals and fish mounted on the walls - what's not to like? I found the stuffed animal heads fascinating, just imagining them out in the fields a long time ago.
So that was our holiday in Waipu. And we were having so much fun I almost forgot to misbehave. William slept, well, like a baby in his new cot, and didn't mind the car journeys at all. We had a great time and managed to still be friends at the end of it. Pretty good for a family holiday - many weekends aren't that successful!
Once daycare has finished for the year and Santa has gone back home again, it means it's time for summer holidays to start. It's the best time of year to kick back and relax; to get rid of all those things you didn't really want to do. Like wearing clothes. So why not get the holidays underway in comfort and style - riding my bike without wearing any clothes, just a sweet pair of sunnies.
When it was time to take some of this coolness away from home, we all packed up and went off on a few daytrips. On one of these we met up with another family and went to the zoo. I said that I wanted to see the tigers first, and we got there just in time to see one up close, walking right past the window. I enjoyed seeing all the anmals, except the spiders; Daddy's right - too many legs and too creepy.
Another day we visited the Silverdale Adventure Park, where I got to ride on a pirate ship and a rocket with Daddy. The only ride Mummy got was on the drive there - she looked after William all day. There was also a cool indoor playground with lots of things to climb up and slide down, plus a trampoline tucked away in one corner.
I got to feed some animals at the Matakana Farm Park on another day out. Well, I had a little bag of food, and was standing by the fences ready to give it to the animals, but every time they would come close my courage deserted me. There would either be some big-horned goat or sharp-beaked chicken ready to peck at my hand, so in the end the feeding was more like me throwing bits of food through the fence for the animals to scavenge from the ground.
The holidays weren't all about heading away from home though. One of the things I got for Christmas was a cool new pool, so after waiting for half an hour while Mummy and Daddy struggled to put it together (not sure why it took so long - it was only a few pieces then adding some water), I got to have a splash around in it. Handy timing too because some days were very hot, so were perfect for a dip without leaving home.
So those are my summer holiday highlights so far. Luckily there's still plenty of summer left, so lots more opportunities for swims and getting out to fun new places. And Daddy tells me we're going for an overnight holiday soon too!
I enjoy a good song, especially if there’s a bit of silliness included. It’s fun to sing along to silly words, maybe even incorporate a silly dance to go with it. Most of the songs I learn at home are silly ones, mainly because Daddy makes them up to make me laugh I think. For example, here’s one he made up that we sing together:
Two little turds, swimming in a stream Front door, back door, never to be seen
We learn new songs at daycare too, but they tend to be a bit less silly. They’re also more polite though! One of the earliest songs I learned was called Two Cupcakes; here I am doing a rendition of it.
Every day I’m watching the things going on around me, listening to the things people say, and picking up new things I can say and do myself. Since I spend so much time with Mummy and Daddy it’s natural that a lot of what I pick up comes from them. Which is a shame, since sometimes they say such silly things…
Here’s one example: When the sun’s out I love to play in my sandpit, getting little piles of it into my pants and hair that I can then distribute by walking through the house. I also enjoy building little piles of sand outside the sandpit, so that my cars can drive over it or diggers can lift it. One time when I was in the middle of tipping sand out of my sandpit Mummy warned me with, "When the sand is gone, it's gone".
That’s not much of a revelation really. If she’d said “When the sand is gone, it will magically refill itself”, that would be impressive. But knowing that it’s gone when it’s gone – I could work that out for myself.
Another silly thing they say is when they’re trying to get me dressed. They’ll get as far as changing my nappy, then try to convince me to put on something I don’t want to wear by saying, "It’s pants or nothing".
That’s the surest way of me always picking "nothing", since it gets me out of wearing the thing I didn’t want to put on anyway. It’s not quite the reaction Mummy had in mind, so she probably should have thought that one through a little better.
Dinnertime is another occasion when silly sayings tend to come out, especially if they’re trying to convince me to eat something that looks like it belongs more in one of the cat’s dishes. Often there will be bribes involved to get me to eat more.
A week ago we all went to the daycare Christmas party, and when we sat down to have our picnic dinner I wanted to eat a yummy roll instead of the sausage they’d given me. Mummy pointed to a part of the sausage about half-way down, and said, "You can have a treat if you eat as far as that". So I then skipped most of the sausage and took a bite out of only where Mummy pointed. There you go – I ate exactly where you told me to, so pass me the treat please.
The sun was shining brightly, the sky was blue and cloudless; what's the best thing to do savour it? Daddy and I may have said stay inside and read a book, but since it's been raining so much this winter we thought we'd do something even more fun - an early morning walk along the beach.
So we hurriedly got ready and went up to Long Bay. It's a lovely, long stretch of sand that's perfect for riding my bike along or splashing among the waves. I was having a great time, but the longer I splashed about I became just a little less careful...
You'll notice how as soon as I kissed the sand both parents rushed into action to help; Mummy kept filming me and Daddy laughed heartedly behind her. Not that it worried me though, I just got straight back up and splashed back into the sea again.
It was a plan that none of us quite thought through properly thought, because after I'd finished and we were heading back towards the car again I started feeling cold and a bit miserable.
A rub down with a towel and a quick change of clothes back at the car, and I was all happy again. And looking forward to more fun trips to the beach when summer arrives.
Things I've picked up from Mum & Dad (or why it's not my fault)
Originally published 9 October 2016
When you're a growing young boy like me you're learning new things all the time. When I'm out in the car I learn the names of things by asking the other passengers incessantly what they're called until they give in and shout the answer to me. When I'm at daycare I learn about how to play with others and how to wangle extra lunch by scoffing each course so quickly that the teachers don't think I've actually been served yet.
But the way I learn most of my new things is at home, and specifically from Mum and Dad. There are always new books to read when Dad orders them from the library, so that helps me pick up new words. But it's not all good learning like this. There are a whole range of other less laudable habits that I'm picking up from them. They might not even realise I'm learning and copying them, until I start doing them as well. So basically, none of these are my fault...
In an earlier blog I mentioned that my vocabulary was better than William's; not altogether surprising given his current level is gurgling and dribbling. But my vocabulary doesn't compare with Dad's; shame that most of his are naughty words that I'm starting to pick up. For example, after we've woken up and had a cuddle in bed, Dad will sometimes have a big stretch and say "ah, shit", so naturally I copy him and say the same thing. The repeat it again when Mum comes in later, which normally ends up with a rebuke for Dad.
After that we'll get our morning drinks to have in bed while reading a few of my books; Dad has his coffee and I have my milk. Dad loves his morning coffee so much that following a particularly satisfying mouthful he'll say "ahh, this is the tits" (which I think = "delicious"). Which then means I learn that phrase too and say it myself after a swig of milk. Cue another stern look from Mum in Dad's direction.
Something they're both guilty of, and which I've also picked up, is excessive eating of biccies. The sort of eating where they open a pack, pour them all into a container, then munch on them after dinner, until 10 minutes later someone reaches for the empty container and says "we'll need to add biscuits to the shopping list". So naturally I'm also now in the mindset of wanting biccies after dinner; sometimes I won't even have finished dinner before I'm asking for biccies.
And this one is especially not my fault because the biccies are actually supposed to be mine in the first place. They're an Oliver snack, not a parent snack. If I helped myself to something of theirs, like walked into the kitchen and poured myself a nice gin & tonic, I'm sure they'd not be best impress either. So they've only got themselves to blame for me demanding biccies after meals.
Another bad habit I've picked up is being mean to cats. That's actually another one I learned from Dad, which seems to be where most of the bad habits come from (did Mum actually do her diligence on this guy before they got married?). Dad and I both love cats, but at the same time seem to like torturing them. Come summer time when Dad's unrolling the hose to water the garden you just know one of the cats is going to get soaked. And not just with the gentle setting either - the full-on jet of water one. Suddenly there's a "meow" followed by a ginger streak as a cat goes tearing across the lawn to hide amongst the trees.
All of which goes some way to explaining why I pounce on the cats with such regularity; lying on them when they're trying to eat or forcing myself into their space on a chair when they're trying to sleep. It's probably a sort of tough love type of thing, it's just that in the Hartlands we tend to make it very touch on the cats.
So that's pretty much the case for the defense - blame these things on Mum and Dad, because they started it. And naturally in time-honoured fashion I'll now be doing my best to pass these bad habits onto William...
