Sunday Picnic

We had a great picnic last Sunday with Simon & Sarah and Scott at Rocks Riverside Park (where we'd had Julia's 1st birthday party). Sarah and I sat in the shade with Liam watching while the boys played croquet with Julia.

They quickly learned to modify the game with the "Julia Rule." Basically, if Julia picked up the ball (as she liked doing), you had to hit it from wherever she put it down. Of course, you could also encourage to get closer to the wicket (if it was your turn) or to run away with the ball (if it was someone else's turn). It definitely turned croquet into a better spectator sport!

After eating, Liam became the centre piece of the picnic table (pants got lost somewhere along the way as it got hotter in the day). Scott followed suit, stripping down to boxers as well (I've spared y'all those photos). We think he's spent to much time in Europe-- Matt and I always found it bizarre that so many European men found it perfectly acceptable to lounge around in parks in their underwear!

We had fun letting Liam practice his rugby skills, and we think we might have a footy pro on our hands. The first video is his practice time.

The second time around, he did actually kick it off the table!

Julia meanwhile was very excited to discover an open bag of chips right at her level, and while our attention was momentarily diverted, she quickly devoured much of the normally off-limits food!

All in all, a great (and relaxing) afternoon!

Baa Baa Baa (My Proud Mama Moment)

At Gymboree Music class today, all the children were told to take turns singing into a play microphone to Old MacDonald's Farm. The whole class (i.e. the teacher & all the parents) would sing the song and each child would take a turn making the appropriate animal noise. Julia's animal was the sheep, and when it came time, she said a very clear "Baa baa" right on cue...I was so proud! Now I know it's just a little thing, and she's getting to be nearly two, but (aside from just being cute seeing her holding a microphone in front of an audience) let me back up and explain why this is a really big deal for us...

Julia started speech therapy last Friday. Despite being an incredibly "talkative' child, Julia's language development is not on track for her age. Apparently, she's put all her energy into staying ahead of the curve for physical activity (walking early, running early, climbing on every available surface, including full size ladders and other things that freak her mother out...you get the picture), and meanwhile she hasn't put much focus on learning how to formulate real words. Don't get me wrong. She babbles constantly & she's definitely trying to communicate! We just have a lot of head shaking, finger pointing, and other hand gestures to go along with her "words" which are just vague representations of what she wants to say (some of it sounds almost like Pig Latin, e.g. "ish-fee" is fish).

I'd been mentioning that I was a bit concerned about her language development at every doctor's visit since about 12 months old, but I kept getting told "all kids develop at different rates, just give it time" and with the medical system being what it is here, I couldn't just book in to see the specialist right away (GP has to refer to a pediatrician who has to refer for a hearing test and THEN a speech pathologist!). I was starting to feel like just a paranoid mother getting worried over what the books say is "normal", but I trusted my instinct and kept pressing the GP. We finally got the referral to the pediatrician.

Now doctor's appointments are usually all of 5 minutes long, and no toddler can be expected to act like her usual self in that amount of time (Julia usually just stares at the doc like he's an alien). But this time, I asked a million questions (trying to take advantage of the time with a specialist), and while the doc and I were talking, Julia got distracted playing with a big box of Legos in his office. She became completely comfortable and started "talking", so he was able to see exactly what I was describing, and he immediately referred us to a speech pathologist.

Leith Johnston, our speech pathologist, is fantastic! Julia actually enjoyed the (2 hour!) session, probably due in part to the fact that there were great toys there...not the usual doctor's office toys (you know, books without the last 5 pages, second hand mechanical toys that no longer do what they're supposed to do, etc.). Leith spent the first hour talking to me about Julia's milestones and observing while Julia had free run of the toys, and then she spent the second hour on the floor with Julia while I did the observing. Julia was very attentive and was attempting many more words than usual. Leith said that Julia is right on target in her understanding of words (yay!), but that she has "low oral tone" (muscles in her mouth and jaw are weak). We left the session exhausted (Julia slept the whole way home and for 2 hours after that!) but with some very concrete suggestions for how to work with Julia.

Matt and I have been really working hard with Julia all weekend, though a lot is about changing the way we talk to her and not vice versa. Which leads me to the excitement at Gymboree today...

I was worried that Julia would be the only child in the class not "singing" for the group or that her sheep would say "daa, daa" (for Julia, "b's" have usually been "d's"). Instead, all but one other child was overcome with shyness and said nothing, while Julia confidently said her very clear, "baa baa". I am one proud mom!!

[I know the photos don't go with the post, but I thought they were cute!]

Easter Weekend at Wivenhoe

Judging from her complete exhaustion upon their return, her chocolate-stained clothing, and the photos and video clips Matt took, Julia had an absolute blast over the Easter long weekend. Jon's (Pop's) cousin, Peter and his wife, Jenni, have a beautiful house and acreage (that's increased since the drought) at Wivenhoe Dam, and each year for the Easter holiday, the McCarthys all gather there to camp out, eat tons of delicious food and lots of chocolate, ride bikes or horses, go for long walks or cool swims, and just generally relax and enjoy the company. I opted out of the trip because Liam's a bit too little for camping, but Matt and Julia went and enjoyed themselves while I caught up on some much needed rest. Matt's cousins all have kids who are between 5 & 10 yrs old (or so), and they all (the little girls especially) kept Julia thoroughly entertained, so Matt got a bit of a break too. I'll try to post some of the video soon (I've figured out how to post video from our normal camera but not from the actual video camera yet). In the meantime, here are a few pictures from the weekend.

The girls had their hands full with Julia and little 9-month old Sophia

The McCarthy clan's starting to look like a bikey gang (Jon's really started a trend with his motorcycle)...

Julia and Taylor -- this was a game played a lot throughout the weekend -- Julia was the passenger and the older girls were the horses pulling the hula hoop "carriage"

Julia and Malia hunting for Easter eggs (in Australia, all the Easter eggs for the hunt are pure chocolate -- none of those plastic eggs or colored real eggs -- and y'all Americans think your kids are on a sugar high at Easter!)

A soccer pro in the making...

More photos from Nana's visit

lots of cuddles

lots of sleep (for Liam)

playtime & story time with Julia









sweet big sister until Matt suggested she share her teddy with Liam






playtime & tummy time for Liam

Unwrapping Presents & Older Boys

Gran & Pop (Matt's parents) came over and took us all out to dinner before Nana had to fly back to Mississippi. We sat around at our house first so they could play with Julia and Liam while we waited for Matt to get home (he'd been on a "fishing trip"-- aka "boys weekend"...don't think the fishing poles actually made it out of the car!). Gran and Pop had brought us back a present from Japan, but I'd put it on the coffee table, waiting till Matt got back to unwrap it. While we were all talking, though, Julia decided it was too enticing and unwrapped the gift...beautiful sets of chopsticks. She was very proud of her handiwork but disappointed that I wouldn't let her play with the chopsticks (I could just imagine what fun she'd have poking Liam with those!).

We went to the Spring Lake Hotel that's just around the corner from us...great food and a wonderful kids' play area with a big open space, video games, tunnels and a climbing structure. Usually Julia likes to play in there but only if one of us comes in with her. However, this time there was a 3 year old boy, Ethan, playing in there, and Julia immediately forgot about us as she stared at this older boy amusing himself with the video games and crawling through the tunnels. Julia's always in awe of older kids, but she doesn't usually interact...she usually just stares. Ethan was really sweet though and quickly got her playing a game of tag with him (they were even alternating who was "it"). She was really tickled by all the attention, and we actually got to sit down and have a civilized conversation without jumping up every two seconds to chase after a rowdy toddler (we were sitting right next to the play area though, so I had an eye on her the whole time). Ethan even tried to teach her how to play one of the video games (that didn't really take...Matt's tried that with his xBox too with no success). Julia was so disappointed when he had to leave the play area to eat dinner with his family!

Shopping Spree

Julia, Nana, Liam, and I had a shopping spree to the new factory outlet mall in Jindalee. As usual, Liam slept through most of it. Julia, on the other hand, was wide awake and loved the outing. She happily wandered ahead of us, babbling excitedly (to herself or the passersby or us, I'm not sure), and occasionally rushing to the windows of the shops to exclaim over items on display (particularly the shoes, purses, and jewelry). She was completely in her element (and in her own little world), although she would turn around periodically to check on Liam asleep in the pram. My mom and I were having the best time just watching her! One scene in particular (the one I didn't manage to get on video but there is a picture) was really funny-- a shoe store had these mannequin legs upside down with shiny patent leather shoes on them. Julia ran up to examine them closer, but when she touched one of the legs it moved a bit. She was so startled that she actually jumped and came running back to us, but curiosity got the best of her and she went back three more times and tentatively touched the leg (each time jumping again when it moved).

Here are my first attempt at video clips. (Brittany, I'm jealous of your cool new video camera!). You have to hear the audio on the first one...it's Julia getting excited over the purses in the accessories store (she's obsessed!).


The second one I thought was particularly funny because of the end. Nana is calling Julia to come out of the store as she walks out of the store herself thinking Julia might actually follow, "Hey Julia, let's go this way" (instead of to the rows and rows of shiny watches and jewelry behind breakable glass cases). Surprise, surprise...Julia didn't follow, so filming had to stop. Gotta love our innocence when we parents and grandparents think we have ANY power to entice the toddler away from forbidden objects!

New Wheels

Nana gave Julia her first tricycle...complete with a basket and streamers! Julia's feet don't quite reach the peddles yet, but she could not be more thrilled about her new wheels! It was inside the house after we had first put it together (like all kids' toys it was "some assembly required"), and Julia would hope on the trike and say, "more, more?" to be pushed around the house. Outings on the trike are a little slow going since Julia's still learning about steering. She's got the concept of pointing the handlebars in the direction you want to go, but she just doesn't have the attention span for it! We'll be going along nicely and then suddenly veer into the curb because she got momentarily distracted by some passersby or a neighbor's dog or the sound of a distant lawnmower (it doesn't take much to distract her!). I let her ride it through the grocery store the other day (it has a parent handle, so I'm still in control), and I overheard this little girl who was about 4 years old, whining to her mother, "But Mummy, SHE gets to ride her bike in the shops!" The response was something along the lines of "yes, dear, but her bike is only little," but I think even little Julia picked up on this other child's envy because Julia's grin seemed to get even bigger as she sat proudly on her new trike! Of course, for the photos, she decided not to smile!

Good Morning Liam

I think I've mentioned this before, but it's just so cute. Every morning I get Julia from her room and then we go say good morning to Liam who is usually still asleep in our bed. She has has her own little language for him. She crawls into bed and babbles away while patting his head.

BBQ Lunch

This post is really backtracking since this was before Liam was born. I thought some of these pictures were really cute though. While Cam & Sims were still in town, we had a BBQ get together at our house. Flynn had a great time chowing down on the lamb chops and hamming it up to his audience at the table. Julia warmed up to Simon and Scott (she's usually wary of males...Matt's hoping that continues when she's a teenager ;-) and had fun playing with them in the backyard.