I’m so incredibly grateful for our big 3 year old boy.  His imaginative play has taken on new bounds and his ability to communicate brings a whole new level of fun to our lives. He doesn’t cope very well with being overtired and it’s the one thing that can really push him over the edge at the end of a busy day.  We had 2 parties for him yesterday.  One in the morning with a bunch of little friends and another in the early evening, a bbq with our adult friends and 1 little cousin.  He loved the party decorations, I think this was the first year he really seemed to get that it was his special day.  He was showered with gifts, sweet treats, love and attention and managed to cope with the busy day very well with only a few little outbursts.  The morning highlight for Marley had to have been the orange jellies and the evening highlight was probably bubble blowing with 3 adults blowing copious amounts of bubbles for him.  Tim made him a fantastic Thomas the Tank birthday cake which was a great delight too.  Tim’s certainly the birthday cake artist in our family!  Marely was given a Buzz Lightyear for his birthday and we’d set up a scene involving Woody and Mr Potato head discussing what Marley might be getting for his birthday.  Tim then brought Buzz out.  The scene was perfect and Marley continued the dramatic play with punches to Buzz’s face just like in the movie! Marley slept with Buzz and Woody and played with them again first thing in the morning.  Both parties went really well and today I’ve decided that Marley and I needed to stay home and rest after such a busy period.  What the parties reminded us is that Marley has some wonderful friends and so do we.  It was our first real get together in our new home and we really enjoyed ourselves. 
Stats..
He’s 96.5cm’s tall (60th percentile)and weighs 14.8kgs (50th percentile). 
Can say pretty much anything
Is incredibly affectionate
Can be a great eater but goes off his food for short periods.
Loves dramatic play, each one of his fingers are used as characters who can pop out for a conversation with you at any stage.
Makes up songs.
Adores his Mumma and Dadda followed closely by Uncle Jon, Aunty Kathy, Bailey and Aunty Cathie.
Believes most food should be accompanied by condiments (just like his mum).
Plays well alone or with others.
Looks great in green and black
Still loves Wiggles, Nightgarden, most shows on ABC children’s tv, Wallace and Grommet and Toy Story.
Is compelled to look at himself in the mirror and tends to ‘act up’ when he does so.
Likes showers and baths, doesn’t like getting his hair wet.
Prefers to drink than eat and manages to drink more than I can.
Is completely toilet trained except for his night nappy.
Has a huge number of people in his life and amazes me with his incredible memory for names. 
Is a great actor.
Knows he is the dearly loved.
Understands the boundaries and is happy to do surprise boundary checks at any point.

Happy Birthday Marley, we are so lucky to have you in our lives surprising us each day with all that you know and learn.  We love you baby.

Happy Father’s day Buddy
XXX

Marley’s imaginative play has really taken off.  He puts on voices for characters and has us talking to inanimate objects about how their days have been.  He has a song for every occasion and it usually follows the tune of twinkle twinkle little star, if not, it’s something he’s made up and completely commits to.  He’s affectionate giving the most beautiful cuddles and kisses and telling me everyday ‘it’s nice to see you Mumma, I love you’.  He’s able to relay stories to us now.  If I asked what happened at creche he’ll concoct a series of words that hint toward who he’s seen and some of the activites he’s been involved in.  He answers questions and can be understood on the telephone now too. 

Marley’s memory is brilliant and always astounds me.  He remembers people and places and has real opinions about things now, not just what he’d like to eat or drink but what he wants to wear and do.  This morning while lying in bed Tim and I were discussing what we’d do today, ‘Marley what would you like to do today?’, ‘Go to the park’.  Oh, well, you can’t argue with that!  He has developed some sympathy and understanding of emotional states, sad, happy, angry, plus tired, hungry and sick.  While I’ve been sick he’s been coming to me saying ‘Oh Mumma’s sick’ with a sad look on his little face.  His favourite toys right now include a Dr’s kit, Mr Potato head, Barrel of monkeys, his white board and textas, Woody, his guitar and a car carrier truck his aunty Kath and uncle Jon gave him. 

He likes to play trains with his Dadda, likes to involve either one of us in his play. ("Come on Dadda, Come on Mumma") As I write this he is currently working on a toy sculpture of musical instruments he’s brought out like a soldier ant from his room one at a time to lay on another favourite toy, his black shower curtain on the kitchen floor rather than play with them alone in his room.  I’ve had his musical instruments packed away for a month, their first break from him since he was a small baby.  Yesterday he requested them out and is really enjoying playing with them like old friends again.  He’s undeniably musical.  One of his favourite tv shows is ‘So you think you can dance’...and he does!  He has us in fits as he busts a move integrating skids, twirls and ‘da-dah’ like hand poses in his dance. 

He refers to baby ‘Farky’ (Sparky) everyday and is very affectionate with my bump.  He’s started to play more with his baby doll and pretends to be a baby at times too.  He’s even pretended he needs a dummy which is hilarious since he hasn’t used one since he was a tiny 6 mth old baby.  Marley has been receiving training in scratching my back but is happy to apply the “Skatch” to anywhere really, my face, arm, hand, tummy, what ever.  He uses this very funny creepy little old man voice saying “Skatch skatch skatch” as he ‘Scratches’ me.  Luckily the scratches don’t scratch at all otherwise I’d look like I’d been attacked by someone. 

For me, I’m so deeply in love with this child.  I dread the thought of anything bad happening to him and just delight in his funny ways.  He feeds my soul so completely that it feels selfish to get so much from parenting and makes me fearful of how sad I’ll be when he leaves home, fearful I’m too dependent on him.  He’s just such a perfect little ray of light full of energy and love and I adore him so deeply.  I’m 15 weeks pregnant now and loving that this pregnancy is something Marley has been so aware of.  He and I lay in the spare room yesterday discussing it as ‘Sparky’s’ room.  He played with the baby toys and understands they’re for baby Sparky.  To see my child play alone on the 2 seater swing is no longer sad but exciting.  I think of the years ahead and I just know Marley will delight in his baby brother or sister.  I’ve felt guilty that Marley won’t have our undivided attention when the baby comes but my more logical side knows that he will have had such a wonderful introduction to life in his years as an only child, nurtured so completely and abundant in confidence, he’ll be so ready for a sibling that Sparky’s arrival will only add to Marley’s world.  All of this makes me feel incredibly happy and lucky. 

Marley speaks to ‘Baby Farky” (Baby Sparky) while looking directly at my belly.  He has on a couple of occasions pretended to have a baby in his own tummy too.  He seems to think that anything either Tim or I eat or drink is rightfully his and will make a huge fuss if he can’t have it.  He fights holding my hand and prefers to walk rather than go in the pusher.  Today he went missing in the shopping centre and I heard the call over the PA system...little lost boy, would his mother please pick him up at the information counter! He has a happy disposition and is mostly easy to manage but he does have a few wobblies every now and then.  He wears size 3 clothes size 7 shoes and is 14.4kgs.  He had his first hair cut this week and sat very still during the cut.  He was very good.  He generally is very good.  An easy and gentle little boy.  The other night we were watching Elvis Costello in concert on TV and Marley played along with his small guitar only stopping to get the scooter which he set up to use the handle as a microphone on a scooter stand.  He loves dancing and loves helping us cook.  He is very much the typical boy in relation to his toys, with clear preferences for cars, trucks, fire engines and anything that goes.  Today I bought him a doll but honestly he held little to no interest in choosing one.  The only dolls he paid any attention to were the ones that did something like crawl, sing, talk or yawn.  I ended up getting him a plain boring old cute doll and now we’re home with it he’s a little more interested in it and is presently pushing it around in his shopping trolley. 

Marley loves cuddles on the couch and early morning cuddles in bed.  His love affair with Sandy our dog continues but he’s getting rougher with her.  He see’s her as a toy of sort and I have to fight for his attention when Sandy’s involved.  He refers to time spent with Sandy rather than me as, “No mumma, I want to pway”. 

He’s not really ‘naughty’ cheeky but more charming, cute, push the limits cheeky although he can be a bit naughty at times.  He has these funny walks and dances that mesmerise us and knows just how to make us laugh.  He is incredibly loveable but doesn’t have that much time for cuddles these days, he’s all too often on the run.  He thinks it’s hilarious to announce ‘Mumma farted’ at any given moment having been well taught by his father who delights in these outbursts which leave me pleading my innocence.  Marley’s talking more and more and we’re able to understand much of what he says although I’m fairly sure most people couldn’t.  He’s friendly and outgoing.  He adores books, riding his trike and playing with Sandy.  His greatest love would be music and dancing, so much so that I’m considering putting him into dance lessons as soon as possible.  He’s great with catching and throwing and is an incredibly expressive child.  He loves creche and is well loved by his friends and carers at creche also.  We went back for a visit to Moruya where Marley delighted in seeing his cousin Bailey and his aunt and uncle who he remembered obviously very well.  It was really lovely to see him and Bailey together again, they’ve always been such great mates.  He also got to catch up with some other friends he hasn’t seen for a long time.  It was a lovely visit.

I suppose the only ‘new’ thing to write about here is that Marley is going to be a big brother Happily after 2 years of trying for another child I’m pregnant and although I’m sure Marley has little to no concept of this, he points and waves to my belly and calls the baby by his/her nickname ( “Sparky” pronounced ‘Farky’ by Marley).

Marley’s going to be a beautiful big brother full of love and confidence.  There will be a 3yr and 5 mth gap and I’m confident he’ll be a big helper to me but will always be my baby boy.  I long to see him play with a sibling and am just ecstatic to know it’s going to happen.  While I was still trying to conceive I was so frightened by the age gap, fearful that the gap would be too big but now I’m sure that Marley will have had almost 3.5 yrs of one on one nurturing that will help him to be confident in himself and his position in the family.  I’m sure that he will adore having a brother or sister.

Marley’s speaking more than ever before.  He lapses into bouts of complete jibberish from time to time but repeats simple words and phrases all of the time.  He’s still a little bugger when it comes to eating.  He will happily eat if I spoon feed him but will otherwise go hungry.  I’m using the TV to bribe him to eat.  If he sits with his food untouched the tv goes off until he eats something.  Actually, I have come to a point where I feel totally unprepared to deal with him if I don’t have some kind of bargaining tool.  I give him disposable gloves so that i have something to threaten to take away from him if I need to...he LOVES gloves!  He kicks the back of the car seat and if I was clever enough to give him a rubber glove before he got in the car, all I have to say is ‘Marley if you keep kicking the seat I’m going to take your glove away’...that’s enough to stop him in his tracks.

He has a little dance for every mood.  He’s much (for want of a better word...) NAUGHTIER for me than he is for his carers at creche.  He loves me to play by his side and is at just such a wonderful age when it comes to interacting.  He and Sandy have got into playing hard and fast with the 2 of them running around the yard together like crazy.  Sandy barks wildly and Marley laughs and generally they both end of lying down with Sandy’s tongue inevitably somewhere near Marley’s mouth..YUK!

Marley listens to stories as he goes off to sleep.  He makes requests (demands).  He likes ‘Nanas a jamas’ and lately he’s been calling the Wiggles ‘Woggies’.  He get’s a bee in his bonnet about pretty much anything that doesn’t go his way.  He’s constantly asking to watch ‘DDD’s’ which drives me insane as I’m constantly trying to discourage him from watching them.  He just doesn’t stop whinging and asking for what his heart desires OVER and OVER again!! Honestly, sometimes he drives me crazy.  I find myself getting cross with him.  Today he cried and cried because I refused to let him watch a DVD and in the end I yelled at him ‘Stop it Marley! just STOP IT’ to which I replied with the same cry ‘STOP IT!’. 

He calls Sandy in the mornings… ‘Sandy ..Come’ , ‘Sit’.  He adores that dog and she loves him too.  The terrible two. 

Marley helps himself to the fridge, another one of my bug bears.  I seem to be constantly telling him no to dvd’s and to get out of the fridge.  To be honest I’m a little sick of being so mean all of the time.  It feels like I’m constantly reinforcing the rules and trying to distract him out of his mood over my last ‘No’.  He’s all cry first, listen later.  I point to my ear and my eyes and I have to say ‘Marley listen to Mumma, Look in my eyes’, that helps to get his focus when he’s throwing a fit.  The funny thing is that he doesn’t do this at creche as far as I can tell.  He spends a lot more time crying in an effort to get his way when he’s at home with me, it’s very tiring but thankfully he’s incredibly gorgeous and his little personality just makes me love him all the more.  He’s made me giggle too many times recently when my defences were down. He’s just too cheeky.  He likes to get under the blanket with me and make a ‘house’.  He gives the most gorgeous cuddles and kisses and he simply adores his Dadda.  Tim and Marley are closer than ever before.  Marley idolises his Dad and stampedes to the door each night when Tim arrives home.  Tim and Marley spend more time alone together than they used to.  Now that I’m working, Tim brings Marley in on public transport to creche and at the end of the day he puts him to bed at night.  Marley knows his way around the hospital where we work and is so confident now at creche.  He’s doing really well over all and I’m loving seeing more and more of his personality.  He’s really going to need a hair cut soon, he still hasn’t had his first hair cut yet and has long and strangely tufts of hair combined with shorter newer hair. I’ve been afraid of that instant little boy look that comes with the first hair cut.

Thanks to all of the social contact we’ve had since our move back home to Melbourne, Marley’s learnt to show off.  He has lots of funny tricks to make people laugh and is willing to use them at any time.  He has the ‘I’m not looking at you but I know you’re looking at me’ thing down pat.  He tends to do things in a ritualistic manner following patterns, for example, he had a wonderful game going on with our friends Jon and Kath where they would fish a little piece of ice out of the jug while he was looking away with his eyes diverted comically to the right, they’d give it to him and he would put on a big show of surprise and then gobble the ice, tap the glass jug with a fork and quickly divert his eyes again to give them the opportunity to get the next piece out for him.  He loves to look at himself in any reflective surface.  The oven, the glass doors at night, the mirror, the toilet roll holder that has a tiny chrome ball on it.  I’ve had to start pulling the back blinds down at night because when he’s able to see his own reflection he becomes super silly.  Today he was patting Sandy… pat pat pat and then jumping in the air with his arm doing a bowling action.  This little game went on for quite some time until I eventually split the two of them up. 

Sandy (our Jack Russell) and Marley are great pals but I do have to split them up quite often.  If it’s not Marley giving her kisses, it’s Sandy giving him kisses! I find I’m constantly calling out Sandy or Marley or ‘You two!!!’.  Sandy spent the day at the vet’s the other day and I had such a restful day in comparison to usual.  I love that they love each-other but I’m ever fearful that Marley might hurt Sandy and end up being bitten.  Sandy’s never shown any sign of biting and is such a sweet girl but I just know she’s a dog and that there’s always that chance of her having to defend herself.  Marley also loves outside time which is mostly proceeded by my running out and picking up the dog shit.  Marley knows that’s what I do and so the other day when I hadn’t yet done the job he came to me with a piece of paper towel holding a dog shit! Urgh!!!
His interest in cleaning up after the dog continues and I am very much on guard.  It’s one thing to have a toddler who MIGHT step in some as opposed to a toddler who goes looking for it!  Oh well.  Just means I’m on the job.

A major thing for me this month has been Marley saying ‘I love my Mumma’.  I did believe a very long time ago that Marley said ‘I love you’ but since then I’d heard not a whisper.  I was starting to think how odd is was because I constantly tell him I love him and so I did what any musical mother would and I brain washed him in the form of a song.  I made up a song in the tune of the farmer in the dell and it goes like this…
“I love my Mummama, I love my Mummama, Marley Moochy Coochy Moochy loves his Mummumma” and then low and behold he said what I had believed for the past 6 months to be ‘hello Mumma’ !!!!!!! I couldn’t believe that he’s been trying to tell Tim and I that he loves us for ages and every time he’s said it we’ve responded with ‘Hello Marley’!!!

Just have to mention his walks.  He does this crazy little scamper when he gets out of bed when he shouldn’t.  He kind of tip toe jogs with his hands held like paws. He comes out fast and laughing.  He really is quite a monkey!  He’s learned the traps of our house too, he knows that if he circles around the kitchen island it’s not easy for us to get him.  He’s also worked out the shower wall and the two back exits work in the same way.  He’s quick and clever and can only be handled with reverse psychology in such situations.  ‘Do’ is pretty much always a ‘Don’t’ and ‘Don’t’ is ALWAYS a ‘do’ in Marley world. 

He has a very good understanding of consequences.  If I say “marley, stay in bed or I’ll put your gloves on the fridge” he knows that’s a fact and depending on how much he’s prepared to risk his gloves or whatever toy I’m threatening to put on the fridge, he’ll respond accordingly.  He’s a pretty easy little man but does keep me very busy. He loves listening to short stories when he goes to bed now.  Banana’s in Pyjama’s and Wiggles stories are his favourites right now.  His favourite foods are olives, cake, cheese, apples and sauce then sausage.  He always eats the crusts of his bread first and barely eats anything for breakfast.  He’s able to count to 10, knows his colours, recognises lower and upper case letters of the entire alphabet but doesn’t say the alphabet.  He attempts most words and especially people’s name but still speaks in his own language.  He is physically very strong and his hair is very loopy now. I think he’s starting to look more and more like my side of the family despite being so much like his dad.  He loves making ‘tea’ in his little ceramic tea set and likes to ‘help’ me carry things.  He’s able to follow simple instructions and is becoming a lot more independent.  He still has days of wetting his pants and has shown little to no improvement on taking himself to the toilet but is able to pull his pants up and down and is now happy to pee standing up.  His sleep is pretty good and he’s used to waking up early now for crèche.

Seeing him playing alongside other kids and interacting so well in care is a great feeling.  I’m very lucky to be able to work there with him, it gives me an insight that many parent’s aren’t so lucky to have and offers Marley that bit extra feeling of security having his mum so involved in his crèche.

Marley loves his room and says “Marley’s room” nearly every day.  He disappears into his bedroom and reads, plays with his trains, it’s like a little haven for him.  He’s started creche now, we both have.  I’m working at Marley’s creche but in a different room.  He’s finding it quite hard at this stage but I’m hoping he’ll feel more confident shortly.  I think that my presence makes it a little harder for him but that in time it will be a great set up for both of us.  For me, going back to work is a good feeling. I’m enjoying the stimulation but I am guilt ridden when it’s clear that Marleys struggling with the change.  That’s the thing, we’ve had a huge amount of change in the past couple of months and Marley’s life is very full of people and stimulation. 

Marley’s started saying ‘oh man!’ just recently.  He’s been physically difficult to deal with at times.  If he’s upset and trying to go in another direction and either Tim or I try to pick him up, he slides out of our arms, arches his back, kicks.  Tim used to just put him on his shoulders in this kind of situation but now Marley arches backward and closes his legs shut so that Tim can’t get Marley’s legs over his head.  Gosh it’s a funny sight!

Marley’s favourite toys right now are his black fabric shower curtain that he likes to run around with, Tim’s model VW’s, scissors and buckets of water saved from the shower.  He likes to sit on the plans in our front yard and to sit on the dog. He gave Sandy a dog biscuit this morning and got really very upset when she took it and ran off.  She took off so quickly and started trying to bury it so that Marley couldn’t get it back. I had to bribe him inside with promises of icypoles before he would settle down.  Marley loves using his little watering can to water the plants and has found a particularly dirty patch of dirt that he likes to play in.  He’s been enjoying catching the ball, using the cricket bat to hit balloons and particularly loves the alphabet and his little lap top.  He knows his letters and numbers quite well.  He even drew a partial A on the bath and said ‘A’.  I was most impressed but didn’t want to encourage letter writing on the bath!  He’s constantly snipping away at slips of paper with his little scissors and I caught him snipping at his finger yesterday.  He was sitting naked so I’m thinking snipping his finger wasn’t such a bad thing but that I’ll be sure he has clothes on when he uses the scissors.  Somehow I think if he did manage to snip himself properly it would be a once off (pardon the pun). 

We’ve moved and he’s adjusted really well to our new home and to city life.  He loves the stimulation and he’s well and truly ready for child care.  I’m thinking our little dog Sandy could do with a break from him too.  A couple of days in care would allow me to earn a small wage but 3 days in care would give me a day off for my music (now I’m getting greedy!).  I’m ready now to let him go a little bit.  Just enough to give me a break and to give Marley some further stimulation.  I’m sure this will have a positive impact on his language skills, although not so sure how it will effect his social skills.  He’s actually very confident socially and I hate the idea of his losing that confidence without my being there to protect him.  (For gods sakes Nicholise, let go!)

He’s tall! I don’t know exactly how tall and have been meaning to measure him but keep forgetting but he just looks so tall to me.  His hair is wild ala Krammer styley these days.  He weighs 13.3kgs and is now having day sleeps without his nappy.  He eats with his knife and fork, loves lemon, ‘sauce’, olives, ham and cheese.  He always eats the crust off his bread first often leaving the middle bit naked and alone.  I tend to give him bread without butter because he really just wants the plain bread as I’ve learnt from watching him steal slices from the bread bag when he gets hungry.

I had forgotten the mutter-cry that I used to do when I was a kid and was upset with the world.  It’s a cry that involves a lot of talking out loud to yourself about how unjust the whole situation is while you continue to cry loudly.  I was reminded of it in the past week when Marley’s started with the mutter-cry.  The funniest thing about Marley’s mutter-cry is that for the life of me I just don’t know what he’s saying but I can tell he’s totally pissed off!  Actually, with the ongoing topic of Marley’s language development, there’s been some more progress but it just seems to get funnier and funnier.  As my sister described after her phone conversation with him tonight, it’s like he’s become really good at a foreign language.  His expression is excellent, his eye contact and his melodic tone matched with the hand gestures, head nods and waving arms are all amazing but the words! He’s hilarious to watch and listen to and I’m sure (as is he) that it’s our problem and not his.  He really does have his own language.  He does use recognisable words quite regularly now but he talks much more than his present English vocabulary can possibly cater for.

Tonight when I told him “you’re such a monkey!” he said “NO, Mumma!!!” as he pointed back at me.  I said “NO, Marley’s a monkey” and he said, NO!! MUMMA!!! LOL god I had to laugh.  Later in bed he started calling out “HELLLO MUMMMMMMA, HEELLLLLLOO DADDDDDDDDA”.  Who’s the monkey? I ask you! 

He knows most of his colours and says them by name...’Blue car’, ‘green colour’.  He recognises every letter of the alphabet and will point to each and every letter in any order if I ask where it is.  He’s learnt that from his little toy lap top which I often hear him playing with at night when he really should be sleeping.  He’s obviously musical.  I sing a little song to him each night and all on his own he’s made up a little tone that he uses in just the right spots during the song, I’m really so pleased by this; it’s a clear sign to me that he’s quite musical which of course I was hoping he would be.  He uses the word ‘Ni....ce’ in a very sleazy tone which makes me giggle very easily.  He LOVES talking on the phone.  He is now fascinated by trams and trains and anything that has wheels.  He is a cuddly little pumpkin who gives the most gorgeous kisses and cuddles.  He loves dancing and has started singing.  He sings old MacDonald’s farm and Toot Toot chugga chugga big red car over and over again. 

We took Marley to his first game of cricket.  A 20/20 match between Australia and India.  This was important for us.  While in the last days of pregnancy with Mar, Tim and I religiously watched the Ashes in the UK and talked about how we wanted to take our child to see the cricket when we move back to Melbourne again one day.  Marley was so good throughout and loved the charged atmosphere.  Since that day he has been doing wild running bowling actions around the house.  A week or so later we bought him a tiny wooden cricket bat and the first thing he did with it was tap it to the ground like a professional cricketer.  I took him to the local park where they were playing a game of cricket and again a few days later when the pitch was empty he got to explore the pitch and do some of his crazy bowling.  More giggling from me.  He’s very much into balls at the moment.  Enjoys catching and throwing little bean bags, balloons, actually any kind of ball. 

Around the house if I’m not in view and he’s lost interest in what he’s doing I’ll hear a massive “MUMMA!!” said quickly, loud and punctuated, it’s like as though he’d forgotten about me and has to quickly make sure I’m still here.  We can’t drive past a playground these days without a big whiney request to “PWAY” and he insists on blowing me down ala Captain Feathersword at least 5 times a day.  Marley also loves to give Eskimo kisses, sniffy nose kisses, butterfly kisses, ear to ear ‘ding’ kisses and kisses on the mouth.  He loves it when I drag him along the wooden floor to music and when I twirl him around as we dance.  He loves to sit on our shoulders and likes to walk to the toilet on my feet.  He’s a beautiful, gentle little boy with a very cheeky personality that fills my heart to overflowing with love.  Gosh I’m a lucky girl to have 2 such gorgeous men in my life