Messy boy

I uploaded one of these earlier when I first grabbed them off the camera. At the time I was trying to chat on Austprem at the same time but I opened the first photo and loved it so much I uploaded it before I even went through the rest.
Well I have some more now. These were all just snapshots but they are of Alex so naturally I love them :) I did a storyboard too but photoshop crashed before I saved and I can't be bothered doing it again (yet).
OK an explanation. Alex has been difficult (impossible) to feed all day. He didn't want, food, milk or water. He had 4 spoons of cereal and 4 spoons of chicken and rice and chewed on a bit of bread while we had dinner. It's been driving me mad all day. I know toddlers go through stages and have days when they wont eat but I can't believe he wasn't hungry at some point today. He was just too busy to eat, all he wants to do is walk around and get into everything. Anyway tonight I just gave up and said 'feed yourself', plonked him in his highchair, parked him on some open floor against a beige wall and gave him some beige food. At first I held on to the bowl so he couldn't throw it but he didn't attempt to pick it up so I ducked for cover and let him feed himself. He got quite messy before I thought to take photos :)
I have a special shaped spoon for babies to feed themselves but Alex had a definite preference for using his left hand and the spoon is shaped for right handed eating so we didn't get to use it. Most of the time he didn't bother putting the spoon in his mouth because he really wasn't interested in eating. He licked it a few times but really he was just playing.
I didn't mind him getting messy because he'd already got food on his jammies from my attempts at feeding him and before his Grandmother asks why he didn't have a bib on, there wasn't any point getting a clean bib dirty when his suit already needed soaking.
Well that is I didn't mind him getting messy until I remembered that he couldn't have a bath because we have to use minimal water because WE STILL HAVE A SEWERAGE LEAK !
Yep that's right. Got up this morning and all looked dry out the front so I put the washing machine and the dishwasher on. Half an hour later the hole out the front had become a pond and water was running across the drive and down the footpath again.
So I called the plumber and he repeated that it was a Sydney Water problem because the blockage wasn't on our property. OK so we called Sydney Water again. Meanwhile the plumber came around anyway. He said he couldn't sit at home wondering what was going on. So he poked around again with his eel and Sydney Water agreed to come out again and this time run an eel down the street to our place rather than up from further down. Paul's eel couldn't get through, Sydney Waters could so back to the same scenario as last night. We have a sewerage blockage, not on our block but not in the mains so no solution.
Paul dug a big hole and checked the pipe, our sewerage pipe is underneath the stormwater pipe, just to make things more difficult. Without digging up the driveway and the footpath to check the length of the pipe there wasn't anything else Paul could do so he has left us with a sewer pit in the front lawn (roped off) and instructions not to use too much water, so no washing, dishwasher, bath or shower except for Graham who can have a very short shower for work tomorrow.
Paul will arrange for someone to come 'round tomorrow with a camera so we can have a look down the pipe and work out just where the problem is. Dunno what we are supposed to do if it is under the footpath considering the footpath is councils responsibility but they wont have anything to do with piping, Sydney Water wont touch anything except the mains and we certainly can't go around digging up and then resealing the councils footpath. Fun, fun, fun!
Alex enjoyed watching Paul at work though so it was fun for him and despite the costs I am interested to see this camera at work tomorrow. I might even take some photos :)
Alex also has discovered a joy of drawing. Not with the crayons I bought him but with a pen. I think it's easier for him because he doesn't have to apply pressure with a pen. He was having so much fun with the pen he even picked up a notepad and walked everywhere with them. He only tried to eat the pen once and didn't get too much ink on his face but I had to take the pen off him after he drew on the lounge.
I finally got the soup cooked today, after we had to get out the hacksaw and fix up the dodgy lamb shank (replacement for yesterdays green ones). I don't know what Woolworths is doing but for 'fresh food people', their food literally stinks sometimes.
Graham's tax returns are all finished now so that's us both done.
Now for my backwards catch up. What happened on Friday, ummm nothing really. Alex and I had a day in, trying to get him back into some sort of routine. We played outside with his new shoes and his new lawn but he wasn't interested in the lawn or the plants. He kept going back to play on the concrete.
Thursday was more interesting. We went to Castle Hill with Mom and Dad to get shoes for Alex. Now he is walking well he needed some shoes that fit properly and he has such wide feet there was no way we were getting out of it cheaply. We ended up with a pair of clarks sandals in 6E. He could do with a wider fitting but these have velcro across the toes so we can adjust them to fit him and we wont have to worry about a wider fitting until he needs enclosed toes. They were $70, that's more than I ever spend on shoes for myself! Let's hope he doesn't develop a thing for shoes like his Grandma or it will be an expensive habit. They are nice looking shoes, navy, red and green, and he walks well in them. He lifts his feet higher with them on and his left ankle doesn't turn in anymore. I must take photos of his shoes.
It was so busy at the shopping center (school holidays) that we couldn't find anywhere to get a coffee so we went to the Cumberland State Forest for lunch. I got a new Grevillea for the back garden. I chose a Grevillea Golden Lyre which should have similar growth to one of the other Grevilleas I have out the back and should fill the corner nicely.
Alex had fun walking around the nursery in his new shoes but he was tired and went to sleep as soon as we got home.
OK that will do for another nights typing. Tomorrow hopefully I'll have a solution to the sewerage problem and I'll flashback to Wednesday.