Eli meets Jaffa.

Eli keeps telling me that he's a 'big boy' these days. He's always claiming to be bigger than his friends at daycare (even though he clearly isn't - most of them are at least a couple of centimetres taller!), which means that I'm constantly reminding him that 'it's not about being bigger, it's about being better'. Whilst I'm not sure that my advice is necessarily good in terms of tempering his competitive nature, he's at least buying into the idea that being big isn't the be all and end all of his (and everyone elses) existence.

Despite not being a giant, he certainly is trimming down and muscling up these days, and he knows it. So when I casually suggested on the weekend that we might go to Lone Pine and see if he can hold a koala (his favourite animal) he was very excited, not to mention 100% optimistic of being up to the task. So off we went to the zoo...

After grumbling in the very slow moving line for a little while, Eli's moment of truth arrived. It turns out that he was big enough, but the handler put him up on a seat just to make sure that he was high enough (koalas don't like being held too close to the ground) and strong enough (the koala sat on his lap). Here are some photos of Eli holding Jaffa, or should I say Jaffa holding Eli? I'm not sure which of them was holding on tightest.



It turns out that Eli was certainly better than some of the other people (adults and kids) that were holding koalas, because he sat perfectly still and listened to everything that the handler told him to do. (I'm sure that it helped that he'd also been well drilled by his ex-koala handler Dad too!).

He was very happy with the experience and he also enjoyed patting a snake, a kangaroo and a dingo too!

To finish off the post, here's a photo I took of the professional photo that is now on our fridge door...

Our last Tallowwood Christmas Party!

I may have mentioned this before, but I still find it hard to believe that Eli will be starting school next year. Even more unbelievable is the fact that our daily routine of heading off to Tallowwood Childcare Centre will be relegated to the history books, but that's the reality we'll be facing in 2012. For what it is worth, I think Eli is certainly ready for school and it's more about me adjusting to the change than the other way around. I'm so used to dropping him 'down the bottom of the big hill' and I've really loved the closeness of his daycare centre to my work (on the same Griffith University campus)...but I promise not to cry!

Last Friday marked the end of an era as we attended our last Tallowwood Christmas party. Because Eli is one of the big kids now it also meant that he and his classmates from 'the big room' were going to put on a show for everyone. Everyone (adults included) was pretty excited as the big day approached and I made sure that I got down to Tallowwood early - just in time to see the customary jumping castle being filled with air - this alone had the kids excited, but thankfully one of their teachers, Mel, had them under control.



After some frantic and very energetic jumping, followed by some frantic and very energetic dancing to some tunes from a much loved kids performer called Brett Campbell, a nice refreshing ice block was the order of the day (we all enjoyed one!).



Then, after a bit of a delay owing to some of the big kids being difficult to locate in the crowd, it was time for the show. Over the preceeding weeks I'd pressured Eli into giving me some sneak previews of the performance, so I knew what to expect and I knew that he wouldn't disappoint - he's certainly not afraid of performing for a crowd (in fact I think he thrives on it!). The group performed 5 songs, which included a song about a dog called "B-I-N-G-O"...



...a couple of Christmas-time favourites - "Jingle Bells" and "Santa Claus is coming to town"...



...a lovely song about friends (beautifully choreographed with the kids throwing their arms around each other)...



...and finally, a song called "Mr Clickety Game". For the life of me I can't really explain what that song is about (knowing the words doesn't really help), but I hope you enjoy the video as much as I enjoyed capturing it.



In my opinion, Eli was without question the star of the show (look at that showstopping finish of his in the photo below, not to mention the fact that he's standing in front of all of the other kids!). After a big afternoon of fun, Eli and the rest of the "graduating" kids were presented with a certificate showing the date of their first day at Tallowwood. Eli's first day was August 7 2007...which seems like a very long time ago. We'll miss Tallowwood, but we're really looking forward to new adventures in 2012 (I wonder if Eli will sign up for the school choir?)!

Tree up for Christmas!

Eli was super keen to put our Christmas tree up this year - 4 year olds are acutely aware of Christmas - even to the point that he remembered the little song he created around the icicle decorations last year. As it turned out, he pretty much did it all by himself (with just a little help from Grandma Susan) as I got a phone call and just watched as he got to work...




Not a bad job at all I'd say and you can tell from the last photo that he's pretty happy with his handiwork.