Anzac Day

Today we took Ari to his first Anzac Day parade.
Well, actually, we took him to the Botanical Gardens and ended up catching up with a mate who had come down to Melbourne for the parade.
I am so glad we did. It was wonderful.
Not only was Melbourne bathed in glorious sunshine, the event was such a fabulous and moving experience.
I had covered many a dawn service and parade as a journalist, but had never been to one of my own volition.
While Ari was fascinated by the roulette flyover and piles of fallen leaves, we clapped the parading diggers and hummed along to the bands (it takes a long time to get Its A Long Way To Tipperary out of your head, believe me).
We then joined my friend Johns family at a short service for his grandfathers regiment.
As we walked away, we were both a little choked up.
I defy anyone NOT to get a bit teary when they hear those immortal words "at the going down of the sun, we will remember them." Ditto for The Last Post or Amazing Grace.
The one emotion of the day that resonated most of all was respect. Those men and women marching commanded our respect and deserve it wholeheartedly.

A fast-talkin' career lad*

*Reference to Jennifer Jason Leigh's famous line in The Hudsucker Proxy.

What I hate right now

That it's already April. Where did this year go?
Cold winter hands. Damn, I have bad circulation.
Public transport. I usually struggle to get a seat.
The Grand Prix. Over for another year, but what an absolute toss it is.
Sick baby (see below)
Real estate agents (why don't they ever really say how much a house is expected to sell for?)

What I love right now

Winter woolies
Red wine
Easter eggs (still!)
Love My Way (yes, the obsession continues)
Repeats of This Life
New CDs from The Grates, The Flaming Lips, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs
My new Converse Chuck Taylors (my old pair finally gave up after 2 years of near-daily wear).
Gold 104 - yes, I am a dag
Triple J - I've rediscovered it after a few years in the wilderness, but only if they are NOT playing the freaking Hilltop Hoods.
Clive Owen - check him out in The Inside Man. Charisma has to be his middle name.
My new winter coat - a black hooded duffle coat. Already a winner.

Operation Find Coat

Regular Little Prince readers will know that from time to time I've been totally baffled at the difficulty of buying simple things for Ari - like affordable clothes that are NOT NAFF.
The latest instalment is the Great Coat Hunt.
All I want is a little parka or hooded jacket that is slightly waterproof. Can I find it? Nope.
It seems major retailers assume no 14 month old boy in his right mind would be out in the cold weather where is the possibility he could get a bit wet.
The hunt continues. Any suggestions are more than welcome!

Head Full of Goo

It's been a rough couple of weeks in the Danaflav house.
As well as the flurry of teeth, Ari's got an awful cold and has been waking up during the night a bit.
I'm not sure if it's just the cold that's causing him to wake, or if we need to face the inevitable and get rid of the Dreaded Dummy.
Will give it a few weeks and see if it improves. The last time we tried Operation Ditch Dummy it failed in a nightmare of screaming (Ari) and broken hearts (us).

Teeth Week

In the past week and a half, Ari has grown five new teeth (possibly six, he'll never let us look in his mouth long enough to be sure).
Total number of sleep-hampered nights - 3. Not too bad really, considering he also had a mild case of the measles (we think) as well.
It seems this is the way Ari gets teeth - in clusters of five (or in the last case, 7), along with some kind of illness.
The illness this time around was a little more scary. We rushed Ari to the doctor last week with a temperature of 40C.
It's interesting how you change when your child is ill. You just seem to shift into this weird dimension - nothing else matters in the whole world. You just wish the cars in front of you would go faster, that's all...