Dear Wiggles,

I’d like to say it’s not you, it’s me. But, it’s you. You’re messing with my head.

OK, first up, I get it that you retired. Mum worded me up on it and I went to your farewell concert. Which, by the way, the scraggy looking Santa totally rocked. I guess you got Santa in to make up for the fact Sam wasn’t there. You forgot to say thanks to Sam for all his good work too, but I’m sure you apologised to him about that after the show. Right? You no doubt booked in a spot on the Today Show to do that.

Anyway, I saw the new Wiggles there. Well briefly, I was too preoccupied watching Murray make his way through the crowd collecting bones and roses for Wags and Dorothy to pay them too much attention. You know, Murray’s my favourite. Then Sam, then Jeff. So I gave Murray, Jeff and Greg a wave goodbye. Although I kept calling Greg Sam. Wishful thinking I guess.

I hadn’t actually missed you guys though as you’re still on all my DVDs. But then the other day Mum turned on ABC Kids and the new Wiggles were on. Except there, up the back, was Jeff too! He was playing the keyboard and may not have been wearing a purple skivvy, but there was no getting him past me.

And I’ve got to say Jeff is looking a lot better these days. Maybe it’s got something to do with the fact he’s no longer woken every time he falls asleep. Just an idea, after all sleep deprivation is a form of torture. I know, I’ve tried it out myself with much success.

OK, so Jeff’s back, and Greg came back once too, so that means Murray can’t be too far away right? I watched the whole show waiting for him to appear. But, for all I could make out, he’s no longer in the backseat rockin’ on his guitar.

You Wiggles are really messing with my head. You go from old to new to old to new to old and back again. I was willing to let the Sam fiasco slide, after all if you squinted your eyes and just concentrated on the yellow skivvy it could have been Sam. But like I said, that’s all water under the bridge now. All I really want to know is when will Murray be back?

Yours in anticipation,

Mr 2

Improvise.

The Little Gs enjoy a bit of baking. Cake is their thing. Nothing too extravagant – added fruit for flavour, icing if they can hold off on devouring the cake as it cools.

For awhile now Mr 4 has been wanting to get a little more adventurous with his baking. Sadly for him there’s no chance of me letting him add icing sugar to the cake mix, but I was more than happy to indulge his other cake baking desire – cake pops. Indeed, ever since Mr 4 first spotted a cake pop set in a shop he has been just itching to take his cake baking to the text level. And so you could say he was pretty happy to see this…

Yep, pretty happy.

The Kambrook Little Chefs cake pop maker received a very warm welcome from both Little Gs and was promptly put to use. It worked a treat, with cake pops ready in a matter of minutes much to the Little Gs’ delight. And no cake pans to scrub afterwards, much to my delight.

While the prep time and cooking time were great, clean up time is another story. But there are two little chefs (rather than a Little Chef) to blame for that.

You've got no one but yourself to blame for those dirty hands Mr 2.

Voila! Although next time we'll follow the icing instructions.

Mr 2 has taken to operating a farm. In the middle of the lounge room. He is not willing to pack it up and neither am I, it keeps him busy and he’s been doing a lot less sneaky re-washing of dishes of late. It is fair to say the farm is taking up a lot of his time.

It might be time to check on your livestock Mr 2.

There are times when destroying the farm in the middle of the lounge is just too tempting for Mr 4. Especially when he’s just itching to try out his latest Ninja Turtle moves on something. But not to worry, being a true farmer Mr 2 pushes on through adversity.

His farm management skills are a little questionable. Only the horses are permitted to eat the hay while the sheep, pigs and cows are fed rocks. He’s not great on the fencing and there seem to be a lot of fires. The police car is also a constant presence.

Hay carting time... again.

Mr 2 does seem to have his hay carting down pat though, stacking and storing it to his heart’s content and clearly taking after Mr G.

For a long time I was completely sold on the Navigator (the second seat’s sun hood aside). Sold on its lovely padded seats, fantastic second seat recline and just, well, pretty much everything about it. It was just like the Explorer, except better.

But then, a little while into my love affair with the Navigator, and at the then Mr 3′s request, I went to attach the Freerider and couldn’t. The connector just wouldn’t attach. At least not in the way it had to the Explorer.

Thankfully Phil & Ted’s promptly came to the rescue with instructions. With pictures. And I discovered it attaches nothing like it had to the Explorer, but that it did attach. All was good again.

That was until I went to put the second seat on. And couldn’t. You see, while the Navigator looks to have the same frame as the Explorer, it doesn’t. On the Explorer the Freerider connector sat close to the ground allowing for both the second seat and connector to be attached to the pram at the same time. On the Navigator the connector sits high, blocking the second seat from attaching. So you can only have either the second seat or connector attached at any one time.

With a just turned two year old and a just turned four year old I still like the option of either the second seat or Freerider. On trips out and about with the Explorer I’d pack the second seat under the pram and attach the Freerider, alternating them as the then Mr 3 requested. It was great, he could skate or he could relax and maybe even sleep (in between instructing me on just where he’d like to be chauffeured).

Now though, it’s either the Freerider or second seat as it’s too impractical and time consuming to carry the connector and attach it as Mr 4 requests. Especially when we’re out and about.

And so I’m missing my Explorer right now, but am hopeful the Phil & Teds design team will have this problem fixed come their next pram release.

Ready to explore, pre-Navigator.