March 2017 – Part 2
Playground Quest
Francis
and I have been making the most of the late arrival of summer and our new found
biking freedom. Hamilton has a number of “Destination” playgrounds, seven so far, and I think more planned. Five of them have been voted the best playgrounds in New
Zealand – so time to go on a quest! They
are all uniquely designed with a bunch of really cool features, everything from
traditional based swings and slides, to sand digging equipment, climbing
frames, water features and play, aviaries etc. We hit up three in the first
week, all easily accessible for us on our bike. In our current order of favourites,
which I am sure will change as Francis gets older….
Parana
Park :
Awesome
water and paddling pool and a big old Banana slide that Francis loves, coming
down head first. I’ve not been fast enough to get to the bottom of the slide to
take video but here’s some pictures. There’s also tons of good crawling frames
for him to go and climb over. Cool advantage of this park is that it’s pretty
close to Duck Island Ice Creamery for a well deserved ice cream after some
playing and to refuel Daddy’s legs for the cycle home. One downside was it was
a bit of a mosquito-fest the first morning we went, so now we always wear long
shirts and pants when we go there!
Hamilton
Lake:
This
WOULD be a real short and beautiful
cycle ride from our home, but since bikes are not allowed on the path around
the lake, the ride is much more boring along a main and busy road. So we use
the footpath, since there is no cycle lane.
A
great playground with loads of cool things to do; lots of water based
activities and dams; sand diggers, music, swings, and awesome climbing and tube
slides! Francis loves these almost as much as his Dad, as he’s not quite up to
going down them by himself. So I sacrifice my dignity, find my inner child and
“weeeeeeeeeeeeeee” down we go. Friggin’ Awesome!
Hamilton
Gardens:
The
newest of the playgrounds and opened in Dec 2016. This is really close to where
we live and in beautiful surrounds. Actually all three of these are. This
playground is designed for slightly older kids as the climbing frames etc are a
bit more advanced than the ones at the previous two, but there’s lots of open
space for him to use his imagination, and a stage for him to explore. I think as Francis gets older, the order of
these three parks will be reversed.
Word Up!
We’re
starting to get some recognizable words from F-bomb these days, so it’s all the
more important to watch what we say in front of him. Usual expletives have been
replaced by Fudge and Fiddlesticks and of course Mother Fudge-cakes. If
anyone has any other we can use, please let me know.
Here’s
some of the words that I currently claim Francis is saying :
Blueberry – a breakfast favourite he
likes to put in his mouth and then spit out as fast as he can!
Helicopter – we see and hear a bunch of
these living so close to the hospital.
Cain – one of our dogs.
Ta – we had been persevering with
“thank you” for months without success. Took him about 2 minutes to pick up Ta!
Garden – he’s been saying this for a
long time and is obsessed with outside – even when we have torrential rain.
Oops - this normally accompanies the throwing of food
off the table.
All done-
following on closely from the above to signal he is done eating.
Baby Sign language –
We’ve
been trying to teach Francis baby sign language since he was born – maybe we
were too keen in starting that early. Anyway, we’re starting to see the
following…
Milkies - he makes a milking like sign to let Ananda
know he wants breast fed – or just stick his hand down her bra or lifts her
shirt up. All three convey the same meaning!
Water - not quite getting this one right, but watching
his stick his full fist in his mouth is always amusing!
Down – one Francis invented all by
himself. Extend both index fingers, jab vigorously downwards into tray of high
chair, or push chair or wherever he is
restrained!
More - he’s mainly uses this when reading books or
playing games with us, but trying to incorporate it into meal times as
well. Sometimes he doesn’t always get
the more he is requesting. Eg. Showing Francis how I pee in to the toilet
whilst he was in the bath the other day, was followed by the more sign….
“Hmmmmmm you’ll have to wait awhile son….”
Banksy
A
rainy day activity gone awry, after I turned my back on Francis, his crayons and
his colouring book…..
It
actually looks quite good, so we’ve left it in place…. For now.
According to Ananda earlier that morning: "Only irresponsible parents who don't watch their children let that happen" QED #1.
Old dog- teaching new tricks.
It
just dawned on me the other day that getting to stay at home with Francis is like
having a new but much more intelligent dog to teach tricks. I’ve gotten such
a kick out of teaching him how to shake hands like a proper English gent (as
opposed to the crass “high-five” his ‘Merican mom is trying to teach him). Next
week I will work on “fetch”, “down” and “roll-over and play dead”.
Injury Report
1) PPTSD
Playground Parent Trauma Stress Dis-order! As
mentioned above, Francis likes to come down slides head first and had
successfully negotiated all the big kids slides without mishap. At Hamilton lakes there’s a smaller
traditional kids playground as well and Francis came down that tiny slide
headfirst, at quite a rate of knots. Although I was standing at the bottom of it, he flew straight
off the end and landed face first in the sand between my feet. QED #2.
Cue much blood from front teeth meeting
bottom lip, a sand covered face and much screaming of pain –short lived. All of
this happened right in front of a mum
and baby group and I felt so embarrassed and could almost hear them thinking
“stupid Dad what was he doing letting that happened”. I retreated to the corner
to attend to Francis’ wounds, only to further add to my embarrassment by having
to remove one of his socks to mop up the blood and clean his face since I had
no wipes or tissue with me.
F showed what a trooper he was by heading right
back to the same slide, and this time not managing to hurtle off the end. I
punched the end in delight and cried out a silent “See I told you so” to all
the other parents there… well maybe not.
2) Man vs Machine
 |
| Finger...... |
 |
| ...plus blender..... |
 |
| .... equals. |
I lost a recent battle I had with a hand blender (maybe they should change the name as I certainly don't recommend doing that). Whist trying to dislodge a clogged tomato - "you say tomato I say instrument of torture" - my finger got a wee bit blended. Wasn't sure if I was going to vomit or pass out or both, and luckily it was a Saturday so Ananda was at home. Took about 30 minutes for the room to stop spinning before I could drive myself to Urgent care.
3) Man vs Man
My
first run out and practice session with an 11-a-side team I hope to play for,
resulted in a broken toe. Didn't stop me from finishing the game though.... Hard as nails me!
Off to Urgent care again then. We're buying shares.
Quote of the Week
"I just ate a bit of rice cake off the couch. I'm not sure if that was the bit that was stuck to his balls". Ananda during nappy free snack time.
