Charm School

It seems Ari's charm knows no bounds.
I'm reminded of Ray Liotta's young Henry Hill in Goodfellas when I frequent our local shops. The kid just has this neighbourhood wired.
Every day we visit a local Baker's Delight, where in exchange for a few blown kisses, Ari receives a free hot-cross bun (or fruit bun when it's not Easter).
At the Italian deli up the road, he's handed free pieces of ham to sample.
A few days ago, Ari was in the shopping trolley at our local Coles when an older couple in front of us in the queue were quite taken with his smiles.
They cooed over him before handing him one of a dozen Lindt easter eggs they'd bought. Then another. And then another.
Ari has never eaten chocolate that I can recall, so this presented quite a situation. The couple clearly wanted him to tuck in straight away, but I made some feeble excuse about it being close to his lunchtime and tucked them away in a shopping bag.
The kid's already learned the incredible power of a smile. And I'm (really) not talking about the free food here. I love the fact that he's already figured out he can make people happy by being a nice boy and smiling at them.
It's a lovely, lovely trait that I hope he never loses.

Ari update: 2 years, 1 month old

Name: Ari Murdoch Danaher-Flavell
Age: 2 years, 1 month.
Favourite past-time: Using his new toy drill to help Rob fix up an outdoor setting, watching "diggy-digging" (eg: any kind of roadwork, construction), dancing and clapping.
Favourite TV show: Doesn't have one yet, but likes to dip into a bit of Ernie (from Sesame St, on DVD).
Favourite book: "Construction" (basically a picture book of every kind of digger, tool and dump-truck), "Share Said the Rooster" by Pamela Allen, "Crazy Colours" by Dr Seuss.
Favourite food: rice, chicken, watermelon, mango, ice cream (a rare treat).
Favourite drink: orange juice or milk.
Favourite toy: new toy drill and screwdriver.
Favourite song: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Do the Rubber Duck by Sesame Street gang, Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear.
Favourite outfit: Well, mine is his Meredith Music Festival t-shirt. Nothing like rock cred on a 2yo and I can't tell you how many comments he gets when he wears it. He once had a table full of drunk English backpackers in a pub fawning over him because of it.
Favourite playground: Coburg Lake, Hays Paddock, Melbourne Museum playground.
Favourite pool: Fitzroy.

At Scienceworks

More party pics

This boy was made for talkin’

After a slow start, Ari is now talking a LOT. It’s as though a little switch has been turned on and his mouth is finally in gear with his brain.
For months and months he was stuck on a fixed vocab of “mummy”, “daddy”, “nanny”, etc. Now, he doesn’t stop. And it’s lovely to finally have someone to talk to who will answer back.
My favourite of his new sentences is "Mummy, car, bye-bye!". I know that must sound a bit lame to the adults reading this, but believe me, when you've been talking to someone for 2 years and they finally talk back, it's exciting!
Every day we go through his little alphabet book and he has a decent crack at most the letters. But the most exciting part of all this is that every single day he understands a new concept and is really starting to figure out his place in the world. He has started to interact with other children in the playground. All this has happened in the past few weeks.

Party!

Ari’s birthday was a big success, despite the fears of a perennially-nervous party planner (ie: me).
We hosted a morning tea for 30 guests, featuring Rob’s legendary cupcakes and his now-legendary chicken sandwiches.
Despite the gloomy skies, the rain held off and it turned out to be a lovely morning at Hays Paddock. The kids (all four of them – can you tell hardly any of our friends have children?) enjoyed the playground and the adults enjoyed the food.
Ari was a little bewildered by all the people, but loved all his new toys and hoed into the cupcakes with gusto.
But I’ve learned a valuable lesson for next year’s party – don’t host it on the Australia Day long weekend! (Ari’s actual birthday is Jan 25). Less than half the people we invited could attend, with lots of events over that long weekend, including a christening, a wedding and the Big Day Out.