Daddy's birthday long weekend

For some reason, Daddy always gets a holiday on his birthday or, if it's on a weekend, a long weekend. Lucky man.

This year his birthday was on Saturday. First he opened the present from his sister, which turned out to be presents for both Daddy and Louka: matching t-shirts. I made an ice-cream birthday cake and we took it to my parents' place to celebrate. Louka enjoyed it but did make a bit of a mess.


On Sunday we were invited to a house-warming party. Louka ran around and practiced her stair-climbing skills, and played with the toys of the only other child there, a boy about 7 months older.

On Monday we took Louka for a bushwalk in Lane Cove National Park. It was part of the Great North Walk, which is where Graham and I first met. She enjoyed the walking and the plants, and didn't try to eat any of them.

Catching up with an old friend

A few weeks ago, on an internet group I belong to, there appeared a name from my past. The name of a girl I went to high school with, and had only seen once or twice since then. I took a punt it was the same person, and sent her an email. And it was her!

Today Louka and I went to visit her and her 7-year-old daughter. Their house has a huge gated deck, overlooking a lovely little creek, and we sat out there and had morning tea, then lunch, while the two girls played and we talked over everything we'd done since school. We had a lovely time, until Louka started to get tired and easily upset, so I took her home.

Sick little girl

We took Louka to the doctor this morning. She'd been less energetic than usual yesterday, and refused ice cream for dessert! Then this morning she had a slight fever and vomited the little bit of rice she'd had for dinner.

In the doctor's waiting room she seemed fine, playing with the toys and getting books to read. But when the doctor tried to examine her (stethoscope, thermometer, otoscope) she kicked up a major stink and had to be forcibly restrained. The doctor couldn't find anything other than fever, and commented that she seemed to have plenty of energy. She said to give her panadol and come back in a few days if she wasn't better.

Orange weekend

Graham's brother John is leaving soon for a new job in Zambia, so he and Meagan gave a farewell party in Orange. We drove down first thing on Saturday.

John and Meagan were roasting a whole pig on a spit for the party. When we asked Louka what it was, she said "pig, pig".


While we waited for it to cook, Louka decimated the potato crisps. Oh well, she doesn't get them often: in fact I don't think she's ever had them before. When the other guests arrived, Louka "entertained" a 10-month-old boy by giving him spoons, forks and bottle-openers, and putting his drink to his mouth just long enough for him to try to suck, then snatching it away. He took it all with great good humour.

Even though she'd only had a half-hour nap, she was showing no signs of wanting to go to bed. The excitement made it hard for her, but eventually she fell asleep.

For breakfast we went to the café at the botanical gardens, right next to the award-winning Orange Adventure Playground. When we got there we were disappointed to find it shut on account of a family wedding. We took Louka to the playground while we decided where to go instead. Despite the amazing array of play equipment, as usual she was only interested in the swings. Fortunately there were plenty of them. After a while we decided on an alternative café, then after a rather late breakfast headed home.

New cousin

Louka's new cousin was born on New Year's Eve. Graham's sister Deb hadn't found out beforehand whether she was having a boy or a girl. Graham predicted a girl, on the basis that his brother Bruce's three are all boys. And it is a girl.