Merry Christmas

Lets start with an update on Owen - He's now a regular 2 year old who says, "no!" a lot and likes to negotiate everything eg. Us: "Do you want a biscuit?", Owen: "TWO biscuits". Us: "Would you like some sultanas?", Owen: "FIVE sultanas" (with a grin and an affirming nod) or Us: "Let's take your temperature", Owen: "Owen do it. Owen's turn!". It's "Owen's turn" very often. He speaks reasonable well (says speech pathologist mummy) but he's discovered that other children his age don't respond much to "bike/(or other toy) please" and just tug it away or don't give it to him. He is now quite efficient at swiping a toy from someone else or just prying it from their fingers. He's also very smooth at wedging his body in between someone else and a toy in order to play with it. Unfortunately, he's such an easy going kid that more aggressive children do pick on him.

Now a couple of videos. First is Owen dancing to the wiggles again - this time as a ballet dancer! And here is a sample of what Owen sounds like in the morning when he wakes up - Nathan was trying very hard to tiptoe to the door, but Owen has very sharp hearing!

So what's been happening the past month?

It was pretty exciting for us that Jo's brother Richard made a brief visit to Sydney at the end of November. It was a surprise for the rest of the family that we had kept secret for a few months. Owen loved it - he gets to "see" Rich every now and then on Skype (once he even bossed him around - "Come back Richard... hurry up Richard" he shouted, when Richard had to leave the computer for a couple of minutes), but it's not the same as seeing him person. Here they are at the airport. People still say that Owen looks alot like Rich - what do you think now?

Richard got Owen a football top (Dawkins of the Philadelphia Eagles), and Owen thinks it makes him stronger!

The rest of the time (which has been very cool and wet by Sydney standards) has been dominated by the Christmas season.

Nathan's work had their Christmas party at an Indian restaurant - with a Bollywood theme! Two of his colleagues had recently had babies, and they both decided to bring them along to the party. How did they go? Well, they survived the loud Bollywood music and even managed a short sleep or two!

There have been a few Christmas Carols. First was the joint West Ryde community Carols at the local public school. Our church was one of several who organised it, and unfortunately it was absolutely pouring with rain throughout the entire evening. The following week was our church's "Carols on the Corner", where Jo played the keyboard. Jo is playing again for tonight's 11pm Christmas eve service, and for the 9am Christmas service tomorrow. Needless to say, we are a bit 'carolled-out'.

Then there's the traditional family gatherings on Christmas Day and Boxing Day (that means 2nd Christmas day if you are German). These were all organised - lunch with Jo's family on Christmas day at our house, and a clan gathering at Nathan's parents place the day after. We were really looking forward to it all, when disaster struck (ok, a small hiccough). On Christmas eve, the doctor diagnosed Owen with "hand, foot and mouth disease". In case you are wondering, this is not at all related to the animal "foot and mouth disease" that can be fatal. It's a very common viral infection in little kids - fever, rash and mouth ulcers. As a result, Owen is to be quarantined in the family residence for the next week. So no big Christmas gatherings for us this year :(

We'd like to wish everyone a blessed Christmas as we celebrate the first coming of our Lord Jesus.

Matthew 1:23 - The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel --which means, "God with us."

Floriade (Canberra)

In September we visited the capital of Australia - Canberra. It takes about 3 hours to drive there from Sydney, and on the way there, we stopped at a cafe in Mittagong. We happened to sit next to some very friendly people with a very friendly dog. Owen loved the dog, but what was really funny was that Owen would obey the commands the dog owner was giving to the dog. This is a photo of Owen obeying the "sit" command. He also responded to "stay", and "lie down"!

One of the main tourist attractions in Canberra is the annual Floriade. Thousands of flower bulbs, mainly tulips, are planted in intricate designs that only become visible when they flower. The theme this year was "aussie icons", such as the iced vovo (a type of biscuit) and the hills hoist (a rotating clothes line). Here are a couple of photos of us all enjoying the the sights and smells.

The flowers can get boring after a while, but there's nothing like a Magnum ice cream to spice things up. Owen also used some of the chill time to share a drink with his friend Alysha.

This trip Owen discovered that he was big enough to climb out of his travel cot! Good fun for him, but bad news for us. How were we going to get him to go to sleep? In the end we had to post a "guard" in Owen's field of view. That was enough to keep him in his cot long enough for him to succumb to his tiredness.

Another feature of Canberra is the Cockington Green Gardens. It's a garden that features miniature buildings from around the world. Owen was most attracted to the things that moved - like this miniature train.