You may have heard that we got a fair walloping by Cyclone Gita (or is it ex-Cyclone Gita now?) last week. The South Island was hit far worse than we were, but we still did not escape unscathed.
At our place the beautiful liquidambar in the front yard, with several terrifying cracks, lost a huge limb on Tuesday afternoon as we watched. Miraculously it missed the fence, the powerline, the house, and even most of my plants. It basically rolled onto the lawn. If it had to fall it really couldn't have gone any better.
Luckily, we had also invested in a chainsaw literally the day before. And even more unbelievably luckily, the chainsaw shop had left a few drops of fuel in it. B set to work chopping up the tree so we can dry it out for firewood.
That was the worst that we copped at our place. Unfortunately for our local town though, a very big tree fell on a very big water pipe which cut off the water supply. We - luckily (the most overused word in this post I feel) - have a tank so no water shortage for us, although since we have a trickle feed from the town supply we have to boil our water for drinking, cooking, and tooth-brushing, and will do for another week or so.
The chopping up of the tree was excellent entertainment for the little girls. Looking at the photo of A above I can see how much her stance has improved even in the past week or two. She's still not walking a lot, and absolutely refuses to do so outside which is really tiresome, but the improvement is there.
And check out the bonfire we're going to be having in spring!
And check out the extra firewood that'll be keeping us warm in a couple of years' time.
The scene of the crime below. You'd hardly know it happened.
And look at all the extra light streaming into the living room!
My sweet little J turned three. Or nine. Or two. Depending on the day that you ask her.
I used a >gasp< cake mix to make her a unicorn (which she pronounces as "warnicorn") cake, which turned out exactly as I'd hoped. Food colouring for all!
At three, J is verbose, funny, and affectionate. She loves her bunny, Rainbow Dash ("Wainbow Dash") from My Little Pony, Rubble ("Wubble") from Paw Patrol ("Paw Tratrol"), playing mummies and babies with A where A is the mummy and J is the baby, changing her clothes (upwards of four times a day), jigsaw puzzles, baking with me, helping B in his shed, peas, tater tots, roast pork, and marshmallows.
Dislikes... I've sat here for a couple of minutes and can't think of a single thing she dislikes. She's not super keen on dogs, I guess. She doesn't really like having her hair tied back, even though it's wild and flyaway and gets in her eyes.
She is such a sunny little girl. She goes to bed between 6.30 and 7pm, usually reads a book or two. She stays in bed until one of us gets her up around 7am. She still has milk in a bottle morning and night. She still naps for two hours on the days she's at home with me, but has never napped at kindy. She sucks her thumb when she's tired or bored. She's been toilet trained for several months but is going through a stage of wearing a pull-up when at home. She's obsessed with clothes and on the very rare occasion that I'm allowed to assist with selecting her outfit, her first question is always "Does it match?".
For some reason, turning three feels big, for me. She's able to express herself verbally more than ever before, the toilet training, the beginning of truly independent play, it's all the start of childhood and the end of babyhood. I'm glad I've got those dimpled knuckles recorded above because I doubt they'll be there much longer.
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