Party exhaustion

This is my first laptop blog. We have a temporary surfeit of laptops at work, such that I can take one home for the weekend. I am typing in front of the telly, as Richmond flog Brisbane.

Yesterday was quite gripping at work, We have a bit of intrigue going on. Roar Film are in a shotgun marriage with a small Melbourne multimedia studio. We both pitched for a federal government job and the public servant in charge decided to give us two-thirds and Thingo Media one third of the job. Now Thingo are trying to crib back some parts of the job that were awarded to us, by stealth. We feel like we have the high artistic ground, as the design they have submitted (unasked) is hideous. After a flurry of emails they seem to have conceded defeat. We are determined to wear the design pants on this one. It promises to be a lively collaboration over the next three months.

The boys piled into bed with us this morning. They are getting bigger and its getting squeezier. Once we were all crammed in with a bit of doona and a bit of pillow each, Michael said (through his dummy) "This is nice". He said it in a wonderfully offhand grownup small-talky way.

It was a gorgeous sunny day today, and we had back-to-back birthday parties. Eve Kerschbaum turned three, and her party was at the same lovely riverside church hall in Sandy Bay as her brother's a couple of months ago. It has glorious large windows overlooking an expanse of the Derwent, with yachts at anchor you could easily swim out to. Our Michael was delighted by the ripples of light on the ceiling reflected off the water. As usual for Greta's parties the food was terrific and plentiful, with the occasional oddity. There was a plate of crumbed chicken schnitzels. '"Croatian party food" said Michael Kerschbaum.

Then we went to a quite different outdoor party up at the Waterworks Reserve, a great place to be on a nice day. Taylah from Marcus' kindergarten turned five today. She is partially blind and has few other difficulties due to a very rare congenital condition.

When I was a kid there was no-one like Taylah for me to learn about face-to-face. She seems to be a nice kid and gets on pretty well with everyone, but I also think its a great learning experience for everyone who gets a chance to spend a year in her class. I hope the kids are getting to know her as a person, and her disability (which is still the first thing I see) will just be a secondary aspect to them.

Her mum did a good job with the party. Taylah has a couple of loudmouthed girl cousins (or older sisters ?) who on cue would shout "Getoverhereyouse! 'Stimeferpasstheparcel!" and so on. Kids threw bread to monster geese and normal ducks. I gave Michael an aeroplane spin, One of the big cousins was on the spot as soon as his Michael's feet hit the ground demanding a go. Once I got her off the ground it was fine, but takeoff was hard work.