Check it out: http://inezgarcia.com

An ingenious story of belief and perseverance, the travels of Piscine Patel and Richard Parker were certainly deserving of the Man Booker Prize it won in 2002. Briefly, it talks of the self guided religious start for Pi, and then his mammoth journey on the Pacific from India to places he never expected to see, along with some interesting companions and destinations.

One to hang onto and read again in the future I dare say.

Freddie, you’re a little champ more than ever. There’s been many exciting developments, mainly around your increased understanding and ability to communicate. Right now you can say such varied things as ball, ball, and ball. Actually, you say a lot more than that, but you’re so addicted to basketball that it’s all we really hear about. Other bits of vocab include: down, up, gone, cheese, shoes, spoon, bin and animal noises. And you understand probably fifty times what you can say.

You’re loving childcare, and particularly your little buddy Maverick. Having a best bud is quite unusual at this age we’re told. You also love your cousins Tia and Kai, they’re always a lot of fun to hang out with. You’ve also appeared in photo shoots for Country Style and Sunday magazine (having a connected mama pays eh!)

Great fun. Love you lots,

Mama & Dada

One of my all time heros. So far ahead of the game.

You’re more a little boy every day, with all the running and yammering and activity. Your favourite word is “up!” (or “ball”, it’s a close race.) You also MUST have a rubber band or two in your hands at all times. You’ll even wake up and start crying if you’ve let go of the rubber band in your sleep.

Possibly the funniest time of day is after dinner each night. You’re energised, but also tired, and you become CRAZY. So much fun, but hard to get you into the bath and off to bed. You get a cheeky, slightly wild look in your eyes.  Cheeky little devil.

My favourite new thing is the amount you mimic what we do, including:

• holding a hose and making a “pshhh” sound as if watering plants
• grabbing a piece of paper towel and running around wiping things down

You’re loving daycare, and Fridays with Grandma.

Looking forward to lots more new experiences with you!

Lots of love, Mum & Dad

Every day you are more of a little boy. I’m certain you can understand a whole lot of what we tell you, even though you’ve only got limited ways of communicating with us.  You’re quite tall now, and people who haven’t seen you in a while say how much you’ve changed.

Here are some highlights over the last two months:

• Walking! We were lucky enough to both be there when you took your first unassisted steps. Coming up to the start of your fifteenth month, you’re getting quite fluent, and can balance and walk with heavy things such as an outdoor broom and a basketball.
• More communication – mainly “no”, “nein”, “ja/yeah”, “look”, “book”.  And plenty of pointing!
• A Christmas where you knew something special was going on (your first Christmas didn’t mean much to you.)
• The swimming pool is now a go to destination. And you’ve started swimming lessons. Your first lesson today was brilliant, you loved it!
• You’re loving daycare. In fact, some days you don’t want to leave. And Friday’s with Grandma are a real treat too. This week she took you to the Art Gallery of NSW and the MCA, in the one day!
• Generally being fun and charming! Though you can be a bit of a fussy eater.

Good times Freddo, good times.

Lots of love,

Mum and Dad

• “uh oh” – you repeated this back to Nick last night, and our jaws hit the floor! Not sure if this counts as a first word, but it was pretty neat.
• You started day care, which has actually been a lot easier than we expected. The carers there love you!
• Crawling really fast, and standing all the time. You even “push-walk” things, so real walking is probably only a couple of months away at most.
• Fridays are with Grandma, which is fun. She likes it (we think), and you like it too!
• Exploring the garden. We try and keep it pretty neat, but you always seem to get to the parts we’re trying to keep you out of.
• No swaddling at bedtime anymore. So now you try out a whole heap of different sleeping positions. Very entertaining for us.
• You also love the dust pan and brush. Can’t explain this, aside from you watching us clean up so much. Whatever makes you happy, kid!

And here is a birthday note from your Aunt, which is worth keeping for later:

One year old today! Happy birthday little fella!

It sounds like you’ve had a massive year. I can’t wait to see you at Christmas and catch up on all of your news. I know, I was a tiny little bit scared of breaking you last time we hung out, but I think I’ve gotten past that now. I have spent a lot of time hanging out with kids this year. And I’ve discovered that kids are a lot tougher and less breakable than I thought they were.

You should see what the kids in Timor get up to! They work so hard, pushing big carts of water bottles from the village water pipe to their homes, going to the market at dawn to buy food for their families’ breakfast, collecting firewood, walking five kilometres to school everyday. But they also find time to play. They don’t have many toys, but what they do have brings endless hours of joy. Often it’s something as simple as inner-tube tyre races down the street, or little cars made out of a water bottle body and bottle top wheels tied to a piece of string that they will run up and down the road pulling behind them. They will play hacky sack with a flower or marbles with bottle tops for hours on end.

And boy do they love to swim. In the river, in the sea, in the fast-flowing irrigation channels in Maliana, where the kids have just as much fun, if not more, than your Dad and I used to have at the Amazons waterpark when we were kids. When it rains it pours, and the streets are full of kids running around going nuts for the big fat raindrops which wash all the dirt and dust away.

One of the great things about being a kid in Timor is you’re never alone. You always have a gang of friends, cousins, brothers and sisters to play with. And goats and monkeys and roosters and dogs.

I’m not sure about goats and monkeys and roosters in Stanmore, but it sounds like you’re going to have lots of big friends and little friends to celebrate your birthday with tomorrow. I hope you have an awesome party! Birthdays are the best, aren’t they?

I’m looking forward to celebrating many more with you.

Big hugs and big kisses,

Aunty Sal