Understanding and Compassion!

Ethan manages to surprise me every single day of his life! I could tell you hundreds of stories about him, like any proud parent! But I won't bore you with them all! Instead I will tell you two stories which really stand out for me! The first is about understanding and the second is about compassion!

Understanding: Recently we have been using a little bit of time out for discipline. As Ethan has only just turned two, and I don't think there would be much chance of keeping him on a time out mat, we put him in his cot for time out. While on the surface it seems to work, we were never really sure that he understands what we are doing and why. Anyway, a week or so ago Jason did something that Ethan didn't like.. so Ethan grabbed Jason's hand, pulled Jason down to his bedroom, made Jason sit on his toddler bed, said "no Dad" and walked out. Ethan put his dad in time out!! Wow.... so I guess that answers my question as to whether Ethan understands what time out it!

Compassion: On Saturday I was having a pretty bad day (for various reasons and none of them important now). Anyway, I walked in the door and was crying pretty heavily. Ethan grabbed me by the hand, took me to the kitchen, opened the bottom drawer and took out a face cloth. He then pulled me down to his level and proceeded to wipe my tears away.... saying "good now mama!". This sweetness and compassion made me cry a little more!

So there you have two of my favourite recent stories about Ethan!

How much is he growing up!!!

Boat, boat, boat...

 A few weeks back we took Ethan on the ferry across to South Perth to play in a cool playground! It was a great outing for us all! The best $5 outing ever!

Ethan really enjoyed the boat ride (even though it was quite short!).

 He got to spot other boats, birds, planes and more!

Ethan started playing peek a boo with his Dad!

 Ethan showing just how much he enjoyed the trip!

Recent work trips

 Ok, ok... so its not such a catchy blog title, but I promise the post won't be too boring!

Over the last couple of weeks I have had a couple of work trips. One a day trip to Collie and the other an overnight trip to Geraldton.

The day trip started with a visit to Premier Mines (my work's main coal supplier). It was a very interesting visit learning all about the ins and outs of coal mining.

We got up close and personal to the action as well. All I could think of was how much Ethan would LOVE the diggers!

 After the mine visit we stopped in at Muja Power Station for a team meeting (part of my Trading and Fuel team is based at the power station). The station has eight steam turbines served by coal fired boilers that generate 800+ MW of electricity.

The following week we headed north to see an entirely different type of electricity generation! 

Our first stop was at Mumbida Wind Farm - a 55MW wind farm with 22 wind turbines based east of Geraldton. 

 Here are some shots of the switchyard.

 To put the sheer size of the turbine into perspective, my workmates are on the ladder at the bottom!

 Always of interest is the difference in terrain for a Western Australian wind farm (left) and a Wellington wind farm (on the right).

Our next stop was at the Greenough River Solar Farm (currently the largest solar farm in the southern hemisphere - at 10MW). There are 150,000 panels contained in a 1km by 1km block!

 There were some great opportunities for reflection photos off the panels!

 The site is manned by just one staff member, and apparently there is a fox which is currently evading capture. I can imagine the fox outwitting this man for many years to come!

After a long days driving we made our way into Geraldton itself. I managed to get out for an 8km run (all I had time for before dinner). It was a beautiful evening as these snaps from my iPhone show!

 It was so lovely and peaceful running through the marina.... I could have run forever and was very disappointed to be on a time limit!

The next morning I ran again, this time around 15km. I followed this up with a 20 min soak in the outdoor spa! What a treat!

 After breakfast we visited the HMAS Sydney II Memorial which honours the 645 Australian Sailors who lost their lives off the WA coast during a WWII battle with a German raider. The memorial features 5 elements - a silver dome of 645 seagulls representing the life of each lost sailor. The Wall of remembrance features the names of the Sydney crew. A bronze female statue of a woman gazing out to sea represents the families awaiting news of the ill-fated ship. There is a monument representing the bow of the ship and finally the pool of remembrance - 644 seagulls line the base of the pool and the 645th seagull stands 2m tall, with its wings indicating the coordinates of where the wreck lies under the sea.

 After that we began our LONG journey home! We stopped for lunch at Lancelin - not a bad spot to enjoy a bite to eat!

Vegetables galore!

We planted our vegetables yesterday (well I chose the vegetables and Jason planted them!). I am very excited to watch them grow over the coming weeks and months. We have carrots, red capsicum, cherry tomatoes, brocolli, beetroot, garlic and strawberries!

Watch this space for progress!

Ethan turns 2!

Well our little boy has turned two... seriously where did that time go! Its been a whirlwind and a steep learning curve but Jason and I are so proud of the little boy that we are raising!

Ethan 27 May 2011, 19 May 2012 and 26 May 2013

This year Ethan's birthday fell on a Friday, but as he had nearly a month off daycare with holiday and surgery we didn't want to give him his presents and then send him to daycare for the day 30 minutes later. So we celebrated Ethan's birthday on the Saturday instead! That way we could all really enjoy the day without all the added stress of work and daycare etc.

Ethan was excited to see the pile of gifts for him!

He loved his new tractors and diggers!

He has built many a castle with his new castle building blocks as well!

Ethan is starting to get the idea behind puzzles too... so this present will come in very handy over the coming months!

Ethan loves birds so he spent AGES "reading" the card that his Nanny got him!

He was just as transfixed by the card that sang "The Wheels on the Bus" everytime he opened it!

We left the biggest surprise for last... Ethan's very own train table! He loved it a lot and has spent many an hour playing with it since!

Later that day we enjoyed some boat cupcakes (white chocolate mud with a whipped ganache icing)....

We also enjoyed Ethan's Boat cake. The look on Ethan's face when he saw his boat cake was priceless and I will treasure it forever!

And here is the big two year old on his birthday celebration day! You will notice we get very few photos of Ethan face on... he turns away from the camera every time one of us gets it out!!!

The last 12 months have been amazing, tiring, frustrating and rewarding... I can't wait to see what the next 12 months brings!

What I got up to while recovering from surgery... by Ethan Papps

After my surgery I wasn't allowed to go to daycare for two weeks! My Mummy and Daddy are both in new jobs and don't have a lot of leave available so my Grandma came all the way from New Zealand to look after me while I was recovering! It was great spending time with my Grandma!

The first few days weren't too bad, but my throat was way too sore to swallow my dribble... and I was quite tired so I could only play for short periods off time!

Watermelon, yoghurt, water, ice blocks and juice were nice and easy to eat when my throat was sore!

 When I was getting better I needed lots of cuddles with my mum because I didn't feel that amazing!

My Gran and I went for lots of walks, but one day the pram tyre was flat. So I got the pump out and showed my gran how to fix it! My Gran was so impressed with how clever I was!

Each day I had bursts of energy, but would tire quickly. One of the days me and my Daddy played in the rain! I loved it and it reminded me of my trip to NZ.

Mum, Gran and Dad tried thinking up lots of indoor activities for me. We had puzzles, books, movies, building blocks, duplo, played with all my animals and stuffed toys and more.

One of the days my mum made me some play dough food to go in my pots and pans! Yum, Yum, Yum!

My Mum also found a recipe for edible finger paint. So we made it one day and had heaps of fun! Of course I likes to eat it as well!

 My Gran and I played in our sand pit lots!

And we made a gravel pit for all my diggers and trucks!

 My Gran took me to lots of parks and as you can see I was looking better by the day!

I decided that I wanted to play "house" with my mum! It was fun, my mum LOVED it! 

Here I am just having a good time and loving spending more time with my Gran, Mum and Dad!

 On one of the weekends we went to the Zoo. It was the best trip ever! I saw more animals there than I have ever seen!

 We also went to the beach, and as you can see I was basically back to my old self! I had a ball running around on the sand!

 So as you can see I had a great two weeks with my Gran looking after me! My breathing has been much better since my operation and generally I have been feeling better. My sleep has not been so good, but I promise my Mummy and Daddy that I will work on getting better at sleeping during the night for them!!!