Wherefor art thou Bloggers?

I'm sorry... I've been MIA again... I can only apologise and stride ahead, hoping that my latest entry will re-enlist my faithful readers. :oD Dramatic?  No, not me...

Well, HI!  I'm back, and boy oh boy, we have had a good time!  Since my last blog post, I've been camping, had some really wonderful times with my husband and Eli has begun taking some very confident solo steps!  I honestly thought my list would be longer, it seemed longer in my head, but I guess those few things are enough for now... :o)

First things first:  Eli's walking!  My little treasure is stepping his way to toddlerdom, each day he gets more and more confident.  It started literally about 3 weeks ago, he let go of the chair in the lounge room at mum's place and took 3 giant steps towards the cat.  He likes to pin the cat down and rub his face on her belly...  Anyway, I missed it.  Looked away at the wrong time kinda thing.  Happily, though, since then he's done it a million more times, each time he gets further and further.  Now, he'll climb up onto my lap, grasp my fingers and pull my hand to take him for a walk.  It's adorable, if not somewhat annoying.. (when all you want to do is sit and relax and a 1 year old keeps tugging you for "walkies", you can't help but feel bittersweet about it...)  Needless to say, this is a major turning point for all of us... or at least that's what I'm told.  You know what though?  Long, long, long gone are the days I could put him somewhere and know he'd still be there a few minutes later.  At least if he's walking I'll get more exercise...!?

I firmly believe that while you cannot predict and pre-empt every move a toddler will make, if they're well disciplined (and Eli is), you can ensure that if they do run off on you, they will return swiftly at your call.  I was in Aldi yesterday, buying Eli lots of plastic and wooden things to play with (aka: toys) and there was a 5 or 6 year old running around away from his mum.  The mother resorted to bad language beckoning him back - which obviously didn't work - and I stepped forward, looked him right in the eye, and quietly said "Get back to your mother... Now."  He eyeballed me for a second and when I repeated myself ever so slightly louder and clearer, he ran for his mum so fast I saw smoke coming off his shoes.  This kid was laughing at his own mother while she shouted obscenities from 10 metres back.  I can't help but think that if he was my child, he'd not be all that brave to laugh at me when I tell him to do something.  Poor parenting.  That's all that comes down to...

Rant over.  :o)

In other news, the camping trip was fantastic!  We went for 5 days/4 nights to Caliguel Lagoon near Condamine, Queensland.  The actual spot was free to camp at, which was groovy, and it was right on the water.  The lagoon was just beautiful, I was almost a little sad that it wasn't warm enough to swim in, but having said that, the days were so warm, if it had been warmer, camping wouldn't have been too fun.  Eli thought it was warm enough to swim in though... we had trouble keeping him out of the water to be honest.  But he's crazy... Anyways, we went exploring and found a really cool historical village in Miles, which was nothing less than extraordinary.  The whole thing was completely set up to be a 30's-50's town, complete with a jail, milkshake shop and hospital!  You've gotta go see it if you're in the general area... or even if you're not, GO!!  Miles is about 2.5 hours from Kingaroy, which is where I am.  So that wasn't too bad.  It's probably the same sort of distance from Brisbane, perhaps slightly longer.. but it's worth checking it out.

I think that's all I have for now.  I'm debating whether to do a post about the Birqa and the Mining tax issue... but we'll see how much energy I can muster for that loaded discussion...

Don a snuggie and bunker down peeps... it's getting cold! :o)

A. xo