It's been really hot on and off. Christmas eve was bad, and we went out and put Erik in a bucket to play. He had a great time, and I had to refill it several times. I think we'll do it again, as it's a really easy way for him to have some water play.




Erik was demonstrating his readiness for a ride-on toy by trying to ride his fire engine.




Fortunately we'd anticipated this and he got a Bob truck for Christmas. It has a little mobile phone handset (just under te steering wheel) and that's a big hit. Today while I was on the phone with a friend, Erik was wandering around with his phone at his ear, dragging on my hand. Very cute, for sure. We had a lovely Christmas with my family, who are all here.




It's been a hard holiday period. D'Arcy came to us on Christmas day with the news that his step-sister was sick, and sure enough, by the 28th he had a lovely high fever, followed by vomiting and all the rest. Fortunately for him it only lasted 24 hours and he was able to go with his dad to the coast for a while, but he kindly passed it on to Erik. Erik's manifestation was slightly different though - high fever, but no vomiting, then a very impressive rash that started on his hands and feet and around his mouth, then spread up his arms and legs and on to his face. It took about 5 days until his fever was gone, during which I got totally stir-crazy. Now I have a sore throat and the beloved has a runny nose.

Today I when I rang to talk to D'Arcy his dad said he was sick again, this time with something flu-ey so I'm not looking forward to that. Poor boy. I think they'll hang on to him for a bit longer though. He'll be extra annoyed as he's been asking me every day "is my bike ready?". His Christmas present from us was a new bike, which we went to the shops to choose just before he got sick, and the shop said they'd ring us when it was ready. Today it was, and I went to pick it up, but when I rang to tell him was when I got the news of his latest sickness, and he was asleep.

His knee has healed up nicely, but with a good scar. So that's something I guess.