Big Chief Sittingupbyhimself

Note the very alert mummy right behind him.  If you're wondering whether she was ready to catch him, bear in mind that when he was 3 weeks old, that same mummy decided that he wasn't allowed to play rugby when he was older (in fact he's lucky he's not wearing a helmet in these photos...) DSC_5100

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And a few from the other day - Alice and Harry's gorgeous little boy, Michael:

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Sitting up, falling down, yelling

Kiddo is now sitting up by himself (although his little abs aren't quite strong enough to stabilise him for very long), and as long as he doesn't sway left, right, or backwards... he's quite happy sitting and playing by himself.  Swaying any way but forward will usually lead to him flopping onto his side or back - although he doesn't feel that bothered by it  :) He also seems to have discovered his voice and now yells randomly at things (e.g. his toys, one of us, the ground), which is quite funny really.  He's impressively loud for a little person.

Anyway - a few photos.  One of him about to head to bed (and giving Daddy the "Where is she taking me?" look) and one of him in the bath tonight:

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Lineouts

For NZ$200,000+ per player per year you'd think that we might be able to scrape together a bunch of guys who could catch their own lineout throw (or at least throw the damned thing straight).  It would seem not. Hopefully the second half is better than the first half...

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Find the cat

George gets into the nudey time this afternoon (look closely and you'll see Ben cruising around in the background): DSC_5032

Here's one of George hunting a pukeko (he's doing it naked - it's how they did it in the old days):

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And for no other reason than I'm learning to use the camera on full manual mode (and I quite liked the light... and I'm trying to move away from posting nothing but photos of Bunky...), here's a completely irrelevant photo of a cup on our dining room table:

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It's a lovely little Villeroy & Boch espresso cup (I got Rachel two of them for her birthday a few years ago).  I'd quite like to get the larger sizes for my morning coffee, but can't bear the thought of shopping in Causeway Bay in the summer heat...

George's new roommates

When I went to get Bunky up at 7am this morning, his door was ajar - which could only mean one thing: that someone* hadn't close the door properly last night, and two of our housemates** had decided to head into the "forbidden room" and see what was going on. When I pushed the door open a little more, Ben was sitting there looking up at me with his usual indignant  "What?" expression on his face, and Poppy was fast asleep on George's playmat.  Both of them scarpered when I came in, little chickens.

Thankfully, neither of them had thought to jump into Bunky's cot (although I have caught Poppy in there once before), and Bunky was happily snoozing away with Hiphop.

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* Mummy

** Of the feline variety

A few more from last week

Another from Sunday that I really liked: max1

And one more from Wednesday:

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Photographing little people really is a lot of fun. They certainly aren't as fussy as adults in terms of what they look like in photos...

Sai Kung

If our trip to Sai Kung is anything to go by, Hong Kong road planners throw cooked spaghetti on a piece of paper, and then ask the road construction companies to "do the roads like that." Honestly - it was like driving through a spaghetti-themed maze complete with toll tunnels and psychotic taxi and minibus drivers.  Thankfully we had been given awesome directions and got to lunch without a hitch. Anyway, we had a lovely barbeque with friends Susannah and Sam (along with toddler Max and baby Matilda), and also saw the Hoffpeople there.  Although the weather went a bit poopy on us as soon as lunch was served, we still managed to eat outside and have a great time.  I took a few photos of various little people running around in the rain playing by the paddling pool:

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We managed to get back from Sai Kung without getting lost, and after we got home, Bunky had a little swim and a teeny tiny photo session:

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In other matters, Bunky's late feed is slowly being moved forward.  It's usually 10:30pm, but for the last week or so Rachel has been bringing it forward.  Tonight it comes to 9:40pm, and the aim is of course to eventually eliminate it altogether. So far he hasn't woken up any earlier in the morning, but time will tell whether he can eventually hit the 12 hour holy grail sleep.

Righto - off to watch a spot of tv and then hit the pillow.