Sleep trickiness

Ari has clocked up a few days of no daytime sleep. As any parent of a toddler will understand, this is a frightening prospect.
After days of trying to attribute it to The Heat (we've had a shocking run of near 40C days recently), I came to the conclusion today that he may be dropping his daytime sleep.
I may be overreacting (as is my usual style). But Rob and I suddenly have to face the prospect that our blessed 1-3 hour toddler-free time could be coming to an abrupt end.
But, as I remind myself constantly, we have lived a charmed life compared to some other families with little 'uns.
Ari has almost always slept through the night. For some parents of 2 year olds, this is a situation they could only dream of.
We'll see what the next few weeks brings...

Bob the Builder

For so long, Ari was not the slightest bit interested in TV. We rejoiced in the fact that our lives weren't plagued by The Wiggles or Hi-5 (but secretly wished sometimes he was sit still for two minutes straight, even if it meant watching a bit of TV).
This all changed a little while ago when we switched on an episode of Bob the Builder - we figured that he loves all things digging, so what the hey?
We are now hassled for "diggy dig" at least 10 times a day. And so Bob the Builder has entered our lives. We limit his viewing to a little Bob once a day, sometimes twice if it's a rainy or stinking hot day and we're all going a little stir crazy inside.
In truth, Bob ain't so bad. I love hearing Neil Morrissey's voice (he was Tony from Men Behaving Badly) and the stories have a great message. Then there's that catchy song that stays in your head for days and days...

The museum...tot haven

Gawd bless the Melbourne Museum. It's been our home away from home for a good year now, with good reason.
It offers an abundance of indoor running space on cold, rainy days and super hot, steamy days (and we've had plenty of those lately), has a wonderful children's gallery with lots of fun stuff, both indoors and out, and pretty good coffee for the grown-ups.
We honestly couldn't get by without it. I reckon we are there once, maybe twice a week on average. And with an annual membership, it's free for us to go. Free, I tells ya!
I know I sound a tad over enthused about it, but I don't know how any parent could get by without it. Ari particularly loves the "piders" in the insect exhibit, riding the escalators up and down (and up and down and up and down) and the cool outdoor playground.

Our other favourite Melbourne tot-spots include:
1. Hays Paddock - ace playground for kids of all abilities.
2. Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre
3. Fitzroy Pool - beautiful pool, shady trees and very hip people-watching.
4. Scienceworks - a little boy's heaven.
5. Fairfield Boathouse playground.

Ari's hair

Ari's hair, after a few months of post-crappy-haircut hiatus, is fantastic again.
Some days it's a side-parted HG Nelson slick look, others it's a crazy Christopher Lloyd in Back to the Future-style mop. Either way, I love it. It finally has character again.
I'm encouraging a forward momentum in hair growth in a bid to create a Noel Gallagher mop (pictured left).
We'll do our best to encourage some of Noel's sharp wit and songwriting prowess too, of course.

A new year wrap-up

Just to prove that we did pay attention to the outside world and remain parents of a toddler, I present our new year's list of hot and not stuff...

Best album: Joan As Policewoman or the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
Best TV show: We Could Be Heroes, Oz, The Cut.
Best movie: Match Point. Honorable mentions to Brokeback Mountain, Borat and Casino Royale. Best doco: An Inconvenient Truth and LoudQUIET Loud (about the Pixies).
Worst movie: Mission Impossible 3. Even Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the bad guy couldn't save it.
Worst TV show: Australian Idol or Dancing With The Stars.
Best song: One Crowded Hour by Augie March. Sublime.
Gig of the year: The Strokes at Festy Hall.