My brother was at the shops yesterday with Lara.

Brother - "Lara, please don't play with the hats."
Lara - "I'm thinking about a new hat...."

*

Liam adores Shaun the Sheep. We regularly hear him saying, "Shau shee," over and over again. At home he carries the dvd case around while saying it. When we had them for the day a bit over a week ago, not long after he arrived he was pointing at the dvd player, "Shaushee shaushee". We've got a lovely Shaun the Sheep soft toy, mum got it out for him and his face lit up, and he spent most of the day carrying it around.

Mum said later in the afternoon she was getting the dvd out and Liam appeared from nowhere. She's not sure whether he heard her opening the cabinet or what. He was trying to help her open the case and "Shaushee shaushee". He then sat on the floor and just stared at the tv with Shaun on his lap :)

Mum had the kids from 1.30-8.30pmish.

Fun getting dressed for work with Lara keeping me company. "You're wearing a skirt like mine. My skirt has flowers. What does your skirt have? You've got a bra. My mum's got a bra. Are you wearing that top? It has buttons. That's your lip balm. And your makeup. Can I take the lid off for you?" And when I dropped and caught the comb - "good catch!"

In her pretty light green skirt with flowers, and her little green top, and her hair back in a ponytail after swimming, and the sunlight in my bedroom making her eyes even bluer as she looked up at me, she was the most gorgeous picture.

Liam (16 months) cracked me up tonight - he was "reading" out loud some books, just nonsensical babbling, and then came out with "blah blah". And he does love that near sheep. And Shaun Sheep. He has quite the hip movement to music.

We've got Lara and Liam from middayish today (Friday) through to Sunday afternoon. We're going to be dead.

When I got home from work, I was reading Liam 'Where is the Green Sheep?', and when I got to the appropriate page, he said something that sounded very much like "near sheep". I asked dad whether he'd heard it, and he said yes. After we'd finished, I went back to that page, and Liam definitely said, "near sheep". Pretty sure he said "red sheep" as well. Not bad for 15 months old :) Lara always loved the near and far sheep.

After Lara got out of the bath, she 'read' it herself. She knows green sheep off by heart. She was also pointing out some of the letters - 'h is for Hannah and helicopter', 'b is for bubby', 'm is for my mummy'.

Mum babysat Liam for a few hours this afternoon. Sister-in-law said that when they turned onto the main road to our place, Liam started saying, "Kasey Kasey Pa Pa" :)

He knows his Kasey is the one to go to. He'll go and grab mum's dress and try to climb. He's such a cuddly kid, whereas Lara has always been more standoffish.

He often walks around with his hands clasped behind his back. Brother said they call him 'The General', inspecting the troops.

Lara started preschool a couple of weeks ago. She loves it. S-i-l asked mum whether she thought Lara would be a leader or quiet at preschool. Mum said definitely a leader. She's a little bossy boots (classic first child!) :) She's taken charge. The teacher said that the other queen bee is away at the moment, but they'll either be enemies or best friends. And if it's best friends, god help them all ;)

We've got the kidlets today/tomorrow. Liam just let out a few cries and I rushed in...it's surprisingly difficult to find a little boy's dummy and then his mouth in the dark.

I'm highly amused that one of my work friends was so anxious to see me today. I saw her on my way out at 7pm, and she had been wondering where I was all day, because she had to tell me that she'd just discovered Timmy Time.

Yes, we're Shaun the Sheep tragics.

I have a Timmy plush toy which cries and shakes when you take his dummy out. I let Lara play with him carefully ;) She dropped him on his head this morning and he cried. She said "got sore head" and gave him a cuddle and patted him on the back.

I have things I should post about it, and photos of Lara and Liam, and maybe even a fic to post if I can find the courage. But I'm really lazy and can't even find the enthusiasm to give Yuletide feedback. I'm terrible.

*

Sister-in-law called late this arvo, asking mum to go round and bath Lara. Brother was at work, and Liam is really windy and screams if put down. The other possibility was to hold Liam. And mum heard a little voice in the background, "Kasey bath Lara, mumma hold Liam." The princess had spoken :)

As it turned out Liam was perfectly behaved ;) But Lara got bathed by her Kasey.

I probably should mention Christmas while it's still 2008.

Pretty good day, though a little strange. Started off with me only having about 2 hours sleep...then being panicky for about half the day.

There was a snake out the back of the house - green tree snake. About a metre long and skinny. We haven't seen it since, might've just been passing through. We were hoping it might get the bloody rat.

Brother, sister-in-law and the kidlets arrived about noon. Lara went to bed, but screamed for about 15 minutes. Apparently she's been doing that a lot lately. Once she realised she wasn't coming out of the bedroom, she settled down and went to sleep.

Brother still wasn't well, hadn't eaten for 4 days. Every time he tried, he got diarrhoea. Our feeling was that it wasn't the virus anymore, but his digestive system being over-sensitive. He didn't look good at all. He finally had Immodium before they left and started getting better.

Lunch was melted ham/cheese/pineapple on croissants. Had a bit of difficulty eating unfortunately :(

Lara wasn't that interested in the rice yoghurt, so ended up with grapes/cheese stick/turkish delight chocolate. Liam slept through most of the time.

Lara got to open all the presents, and was very serious about it. Very good at opening the presents, though she couldn't have any pieces of paper on the chair with her. She'd stop and pick up even the tiniest bit and put it on the floor. She loved her Little People car, handed it straight to Pa to get it out of the packaging. She also got a (very fancy broomstick-type - press its ear and it makes sounds) horse, and as mum had bought one for here too, she was riding around the house with both her Aunty Rinne and Kasey. She'd been using the broom at home, and had also stuck a sea-horse puzzle piece between her legs :)

Lara and Liam were very spoilt :)

They left around 4pm. Dinner was prawns, ham and salad, pavlova. Mum, sister & I watched Enchanted.

Christmas has been a lot more enjoyable since Lara came along. Should be even better next year with Liam being able to be involved.

I got a credit pass in my Payroll assessment (not sure if there was a higher grade). Only got the one thing wrong, which I already knew when I finished it. I was so bloody anxious this morning before going to tafe.

I'm now finished my Statement of Attainment in Bookkeeping. Only took ~15 months.

Any further study plans are off the table at this stage. Can't cope with it energy-wise, and my ability to cope with my anxiety has slid this year, so I need to concentrate more on dealing with that.

*

My brother dropped around today with the kidlets for a number of hours, so sister-in-law could sleep. Liam's still very unsettled, and now he and Lara have colds.

Liam has rolled over - around 3 weeks old.

We took Lara shopping with us this afternoon for her birthday present (will be 2 in 5 days). She's fun to shop with. We had her in the trolley, and mum was racing up the aisles, saying "wheeeeee!" and then "whoa" to stop. Lara's, "More whee!"

We were looking at dolls in Kmart, and I heard this quiet plaintive, "Kasey". I looked over to find Lara's lip trembling and tears welling. She'd caught her hand down the side of the trolley (my brother said she does that all the time). I got her hand out and she got cuddles. Probably sounds mean, but the tiny voice and the face was the most gorgeous thing.

I had to leave them at a couple of stages, and Lara's calling, "Kate," after me.

She has her new favourite toy - a lawnmower. She mowed all the way up to the registers in Target. People were smiling. She got to take that present home.

When I was pushing the trolley, I was saying, "round the corner". And she's leaning over sideways saying, "more corner!"