crouching diaper, hidden tantrum

wow. well, that threatened to be the shortest-lived blog ever. sadly, my australian basketball career was even shorter. after two games - where i didn't even sit bench because they had no uniform for me - where there was a full team plus subs, i finally asked if they really needed me. i was politely informed that, no, i think we're good, but thanks for scoring our game tonight.... so, i am again on the hunt for some sort of sport team to join up with. i think payton should play footie (he's got the perfect background: cross-country endurance mixed with battering ram mentality, and he mostly understands the game already).

regardless of our club recreation, we have spent the past couple weeks playing "the price is right" at ikea and following up with some rigorous furniture building. the ozito (we did not name that one outright, it is the brand name, but still we refer to it as though it is its given name), the ozito is a tiny little hand drill that kept us from screwing a thousand little screws in by hand. our forearms are thankful.

we've also finally been able to unpack the boxes we shipped - those things go through hell! boxes were burgered left and right, they hardly needed any encouragement to collapse into the recycling bin - with only a single casualty (a rocking horse rocker). nova unearthed her fuzzi bunz diapers and was beside herself. she has since been carrying them around with her, trying to put them on her stuffed animals, trying to put them on herself, wearing them on her head (don't worry, they're all clean), using them as blankets, transporting them from drawer to wardrobe to drawer to mama and daddy's bed to various meals to the grocery store (she's only allowed to take one on stroller outings), etc. she is also enamored with a pair of red patent leather lug-soled mary jane hand-me-down shoes (kb callari, you might recognize them) that will probably actually fit her when she is three or four (i can't judge sizes that well yet). so, she insists we put them on her first thing in the morning and she clomps around in them in her footie pajamas until one of us finally gets around to changing her diaper and putting her in some real clothes. she is also starting her terrible twos early and can throw a tantrum to rival any two-tonne opera diva you can name. this is made slightly more embarrassing when you live in a "unit" - i.e. share a common wall with the family RIGHT next door.

we went for a hike/walk up in the adelaide hills at norton summit (of note because supposedly there is a great pub there) and saw - hooray! - kangaroos!!! payton and i were like giggly little kids. we got all excited pointing and whispering like you do when you need to keep impressing the fact that you're seeing something great even though the person standing next to you is seeing the same image and does not require further assistance from the little jabs of your forefinger aimed at the scene or the urgent, rather loud whispers repeatedly naming what it is you are both seeing - as if the alert, wild creature staring back at you in fluorescent-got-it-at-the-patagonia-outlet-sale-orange raincoat hasn't noticed you yet. i'm not sure nova got to see the first few roos due to getting rapidly slung from side to side in the backpack as payton twisted and turned trying to get her a view. nonetheless, we (including nova) actually got to see quite a few kangaroos... and it was made readily apparent just how new we are to the country.

we (rather, i - everyone knows payton - who is curretly sacked out next to me - does not do much blogging) love hearing everyone's comments - it's like getting mail at camp. only it's electronic and this is a substantially longer camp than ones we remember as kids. and farther away. we've finally got internet again, so i'll try to be more regular with this. as it is, i'm just going to post all the photos i finally uploaded to this here posting. provided i can figure that out. afterwards, i'll try to keep the right photos with the right words.

cheers
lindsey