Here's a pic of Eli on his mat this morning, enjoying a bit of peace and quiet away from his noisy big sister. He's starting to build up the strength in his neck and continues to put on the weight.

Our (not so) Green Credentials...

We've always talked about using terry nappies. Unfortunately talking is as far as we've got. Although easy to use, disposable nappies are terrible for the environment - there's probably about two cubic miles of waste nappies on some tip in Canberra for which the Hickman family are responsible. We can console ourselves with thinking that it'll biodegrade sometime before the next ice age, or perhaps maybe not.

Our guilt was compounded last week when Babies R Us (surely they could have come up with a better name than that for a shop?) ran a half-price offer on our favoured brand of nappies. We therefore spent most of our savings on the things.

Our garage now has a pile of over 1,000 nappies in it. After they have 'passed through' our family they too will be transported to some far off tip where they'll fester for another 200 generations. If you're reading this 500 years in the future, circling the planet in a spaceship while looking down on the diseased and stinking planet earth. we're sorry.

Vaka Moana

It was a lovely sunny day, so we took a trip to the National Museum of Australia to see Vaka Moana a free exhibition charting human settlement in the Pacific Islands. It was a really nicely presented exhibition and pretty interesting.

It's always tricky trying to read/look at things with a couple of kids in tow, but Audrey became fascinated/distracted by shadows cast on the floor by one of the display lights and Eli fell asleep, so we managed to catch the general gist of the exhibition.

Afterwards we enjoyed a picnic lunch in the seats overlooking Burley Griffin (no sign of the Burley Beast though).

the excitement of mirrored glass!

view over the lake

Not such a Smartie?

The ones on the left are Smarties the one on the right was found in the same packet - an alien Smartie?

See also

Weston Park

Yesterday was a really sunny day so the four of us enjoyed a picnic in nearby Weston Park. Here's a couple of pics...

Justine Clarke is Great!

One of my earliest childhood memories is being taken to my parents to meet the Goodies at a local bookstore in Wolverhampton. The Goodies were huge at the time - probably bigger than Elvis, though given it was the mid 70's Elvis would have definitely had the edge of them in terms of calorie intake. I remember being speechless when I met them. Bill, Graeme and Tim all there in the flesh - astounding!-I was lost for words...

Fast forward 30 odd years and I'm in the Canberra Theatre with Amy, Eli and Audrey. We're watching Justine Clarke and I'm similarly in awe as I had been with the fab-3 all those years before.

Justine is a big-deal in Australia - especially in the under 7's market. She's done it all, from actor to jazz singer to long-term Play-School presenter (yes - Play School's still going strong down under whilst the UK Big Ted, Humpty et al are all drawing their pensions). She's here promoting her second (tricky?) album and heavily pregnant with her 3rd child.

And what a show she puts on - despite her maternal size, she leaps around the colourful stage. I'm clapping, Audrey is clapping, two hundred other tots are clapping - then I'm shouting and people are just looking at me.

We know all the songs, we should do as been listening to them in the car for weeks. 'I like to Sing', 'Making the Garden Grow', 'Gumtree Family' they're all there. The crowd loves Justine, and she's a great performer. Despite this I seem to be the only one at the end chanting 'More, more, more!'

At the end there's a chance to meet Justine in the reception where she's signing t-shirts and posters for kids and parents alike. I'm prepared to say a few clever witty words to her, but like the 6 year old facing the Goodies all those years before I'm lost for words. Justine Clarke is great!



The video is a bit dark, so you might need to adjust the settings on your monitor

Eli on His Change Mat

A short video of Eli taken on his change mat.



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