Letter to My Aussie Cousins

15.02.2011 Letter to my Aussie Cousins
Dear Ala, Katie and Ruari (and Auntie Susan and Uncle Mark)
I hope you are having fun in Australia. Are you getting sunburnt? I have to wear suncream AND mozzie stuff EVERY day! I hear you have a pool like we have, isn’t it great? I swim nearly every day and have lots of toys in the pool; I particularly like the plastic balls which are endless fun. Me and the neighbours throw them in the pool along with anything else we find!
Mummy says we are writing to say thank you so much for all our toys and books and clothes and shoes and climbing frame. Thank you! Everyone comes to play on our swing and slide and Daddy says it belongs to all the children but I shout at them when they touch it anyway. Not always though, sometimes I like to push Maia when she is in the swing and sometimes I go on the slide with Yasmina. They like my cars and trike that we have outside very much and Daddy says they are for everyone too but still I shout when they touch my things. Yasmina does look worried when I’m around but Maia is getting used to me and just ignores me now. She is my favourite and I shout ‘Maumau’ whenever I see her and try to cuddle her if she will let me. Because she is only a year old she is littler than me and Mummy says I have to be gentle but she is quite strong actually and good at pushing. Yasmina is 4 days younger than me but not so big and not so shouty or vocal as Mummy likes to call it.
In our front room we have a corner with my toy chest which used to belong to Auntie Susan and some blankets that Nannie made and boxes with my toys in, most of which come from you, Mummy says. I’m very grateful! I really like the Thomas the Tank etch-a-sketch thingy and the Little Tikes car is my favourite. I am wearing cousin Ruari’s shoes at the moment and I swim in his old swimsuit and Mummy says she doesn’t know what we would have done without you.
Tell me about your new home; do you have kangaroos in the garden? Now we have the TV fixed I like to watch Animal Planet if I can get in before Daddy puts the football on. Do you have TV in Australia? Have you started school? Is it like your old school and do people wear uniforms? What do you eat for school lunch? We go to the Australian Club on a Sunday evening because they have a barbecue and the best steaks ever for Mummy and Daddy and English sausages for me! Yesterday we went there on our bikes and I have a seat on the back of Mummy’s bike and I’m not sure what to think about that but I look cute in my helmet anyway. We have lots of Australian products in the supermarket (but I hate going shopping after the first 10 minutes!!) and I like to drink ‘Juicy’ for example but usually I eat mostly pasta and would like to eat my own weight in cheese if allowed but I’m not.
The people here are really nice and I really like my nanny Amber and I call her Ambu or sometimes Abba. The boys that work in the compound on the pool and the gardens and maintenance and so on are super nice to me too and play with me all the time and I get to help clean the pool and sometimes I even get to hold the hosepipe when they water the gardens.
I have a stinking cold at the moment which means I wake up in the night all bunged up and miserable plus I have some ginormous teeth coming through which are called ‘molars’ and it hurts. Otherwise I am having a lovely time, thriving Mummy says and I am nearly 14kilos and 80cms tall and people like to grab my chubby legs when we are out and I don’t like it so I shriek loudly at them and Daddy gets cross with them and tries to explain why they can’t poke at me all the time. Mummy calls it cultural differences but I don’t know what that means.
One of my favouritest things to do is look at photos and I make Mummy point and tell me who everyone is; last week I learnt to say Emmee for Auntie Emily and Bapa for Papa because my bestest photo is with Daddy and Bapa and Baby which is me. Daddy is going to print some photos of you three but says I can ask if you have any good family ones or ones with your Mummy and Daddy on because I know who Auntie Susan is but a photo to remind me would be ace.
I’ve got to go now because I’m going to email Nannie and tell her I can say Bapa and also that Mummy and Daddy packed some of her marmalade and they are very happy about that. Sometimes I think all they think about is food!
Lots and lots and lots and lots of love and thanks for all our things.
Alfie xxxxxxxxxxx