Biscuit maths

As much as I hate to admit it, I am one of those people who takes a look at the heavily discounted items in the supermarket. You know the shelves in the back corner that have the dented cans, returned items, yesterday's bread or discontinued stock. I have rarely bought anything, but the bargain hunter in me has to have a look, just in case. Well the other day, while I was there just checking, I came across some very interesting biscuits.

These biscuits were not broken into crumbs, or past their use by date so I put them in the trolley. Best of all these treats were chocolate flavoured, reduced to $2 and were in the shape of numbers.

Yeah I thought.
Isn't amazing how the simple things in life can make you so happy.

So one day after school I broke open the pack and got B and Little Miss munching their minds on these mathematical flavoured treats.

When I opened the pack I was overjoyed to see little plus, minus  and equal symbols as well as all the numbers including zero in the pack. I decided to set up some sums with the answer hidden under a cup. The kids would be allowed to eat the biscuits if they got the sums right.

For Little Miss I made the sums easy and offered her some numbers to recognise.

For B I made the sums appropriate to his age.

B worked hard for his treats.

And really enjoyed them, all at once.


I also had some fun with these biscuits, offering up age related treats to my Dad and husband. But it would seem that men can be difficult to amuse and a little bit age sensitive.

Learning

I have this expectation that B and Little Miss are learning everyday. Its just what they do. They are naturally inquisitive and questioning like all children. They learn in lots of different ways, with play, formal lessons at school, mistakes they make, natural consequences of their actions, and also just by being the sponges they are, observing and absorbing the world around them.

But B and Little Miss are also learning through what I do, not just what I say. (This is a scary thought). So if I expect them to be always learning, shouldn't I show them that I can learn something new too?

Well yes! Of course. So what do I want to learn?




Crocheting.

Crochet might make you think of your Granny, or unreliable bathers at the beach, but I am really loving all these hand made goodies available on Etsy...


Flower embellishments from here

Blanket from here

Chicks from here

My Mum taught me how to knit a long time ago so crocheting can't be much harder than that. Can it?
With thanks to YouTube and the many generous people who have videoed themselves crocheting. I have started to learn. It is quite fiddly to begin with, but I have learned it's easier to use a large needle and thick yarn as a beginner.

I started out really wanting to make some flowers as hair ties for Little Miss. But my attempts at flowers didn't go so well, I never ended up with the right amount of petals. Then I bought a larger hook at Big W for about $2.50 and found a very simple hat pattern on YouTube. I must have watched and paused that video a hundred times. And B and Little Miss kept coming into see if I had made anything yet.

Once I got the hang of the stitches this hat was done in a couple of hours. (Thanks to B and Little Miss's Dad who gave me some child free time) I also finally mastered some flowers through lots of trial and error.

As I needed buttons for the flower centre we searched and rescued some from the bottom of our meager sewing kit. Then I had a small revelation, suddenly a button collection seemed very important to me. I can remember visiting my Granny and playing with her button collection. It was kept in an old lolly tin. I would spread out all the buttons on the floor and arrange them into colours and sizes, often loosing them in her heavily patterned carpet. So many memories, smells and sensations came flooding back to me as I watched B and Little Miss get excited and engaged by our own misplaced buttons, bought together at last to become their own collection of memory makers. Did you know that buttons really rock?

Learning something new is a wonderful path to take, opening new and old doors along the way. I love being able to make something that Little Miss can wear, it feels all very warm and fuzzy inside.

But now B wants me to crochet him something Army!

Winter hues

Despite the morning mist a blue sky teases me.

This is winter and the sky moves fast.
Rain refreshes everything, but forces us in.

So we snuggle up and occupy ourselves inside.

But why not craft, cut, stick, and glue instead of looking at screens?
I love this photo, looking at each other for ideas, wide eyes with the possibilities.

We need to get out for a change of scene. So I take Little Miss out to craft, cut, stick and glue at the local library's storytelling session. The story teller rocks, she sings, plays games and makes everyone smile. Little Miss refuses my help with the car themed craft. I feel a bit redundant.

Finally the weather gives us some respite and B wants to explore. He kits up. What is it with boys and accessories? The creek offers much amusement.

We have a much needed play in the park, the reflections on the water are beautiful. I'm loving that wisp of hair

Our neighbour shares his special olive recipe and shows us where to find the biggest olives I've ever seen. We go collecting together and the kids worry they will have to eat these bitter black things that stain our fingers.

Coming in from the cold, finally we seek the comforts of a warm home and a warm lunch. I really enjoyed this steaming hot chicken noodle soup with broccoli. Made from 2 minute noodles, barbecue chicken, chicken stock and broccoli.

This is how we winter.

Winter beach work

There is nothing quite like the energy and exhilaration of a winter's beach. Granted it is not the most comfortable of environments, but the beach offers a free thrill for the family, and a most important change of scene that works magic on moods.



B and Little Miss waste no time and get into some serious sand construction. Ideas flow and an objective is formed. "Let's make a sand garden with a moat." There is plenty of cooperation, sharing and compromise that delights me and never seems to occur in the confines of a room. Tasks are delegated, resources are distributed and work commences.

Team work miraculously occurs.


B and Little Miss make do with what they have. Invention and imagination prevail as they look hard and investigate their environment.

Never loosing site of the goal, they stay focussed on their tasks.
And when they reach their objective, celebrations are fleeting...

...as mother nature has a mind of her own.


So the children learn that change is inevitable. Adaptation is required.
"It's a water garden" B declares.
"Wow" thinks their mother, we need to go to the beach more often.

Spray painted memories

We did spray painting what seems to be a lifetime ago, but for some reason I never got around to posting it. It was actually about seven months ago, but since then we have moved house, said goodbye to my Mum, had Christmas, started at a new school and established ourselves in a new area. So life's been a bit stressful really, it's no wonder I forgot about the spray painting afternoon. In fact that afternoon was before we even knew that my Mum was facing her last days with us.

Looking back to that afternoon is like looking back to another life. A different time, when we lived in the old house and I could ring my Mum up on a whim. That was when I didn't have a gapping empty hole inside me to carry around. I am slowly getting used to the hole, and somedays I have moments where I forget about it completely. Which is good. But the hole is all about my love for my Mum so it is strangely reassuring and sort of special that it is there.

I am surprised the spray painting activity has bought back sentimental memories of another time. The spray painting was intended to have a Christmas theme to use the paper as gift wrap, however with all that faced us it never got used. I've got it stored somewhere and maybe we will use it this Christmas.

B and Little Miss were given some card to draw something Christmassy. B drew a tree and Little Miss an angel. I drew a star and tree too, then cut out the drawings with a craft knife to make stencils.  We placed long sheets of butchers paper outside on the deck and secured it so it wouldn't blow around. Then we made up the spray paint using water and a little food colouring. The spray bottles were .99c each from Ikea.

We all loved using the spray bottles, they were easy to manipulate, and gave us instant satisfaction. The watery mix bled under the stencils unless it was sprayed only lightly. B and Little Miss preferred a really wet approach and we had to be careful about the paper ripping. But simply spraying the paper was fun alone. And notice the bear legs and arms? That was incase anyone got ideas about spraying people instead of paper.








































The food colouring gave us some interesting effects as it dried. However the yellow was the least intensive colour and should have been less diluted.







































As we were outside, leaves were collected and used as stencils too.



































































Spray painting was most enjoyable, a hit with my children and produced beautiful gift paper, but most importantly a nostalgia for an easier time.
For more ideas to create big artwork and happy memories visit Its Playtime

Boys and girls

Are boys and girls really all that different?

Yes, or so I thought.

B is so active, he thinks on the run. B jumps with a great big leap into whatever takes his fancy. He never walks, but runs to get where he wants to go. B strives to figure out how something works, he'll take it apart, examine the mechanics, look, spin, touch, test, stretch, bang and hammer components then move onto the next mystery at a gallop.

Whereas Little Miss is happy to sit and be focused on one task. She will sit and be still. Her attention is focused on the one skill she is practising like beading, dressing a doll, or colouring in. Little Miss will get absorbed, she will be intricate with her task and examine the details, quietly and gently making her mark, nurturing the objects to her satisfaction and is she happy to do the same thing over and over again.

So I thought my boy and my girl were very different, but last weekend all that changed. I found out something they are both really good at and have in common. We went to watch B play at a football carnival on Saturday, then attended Little Miss's ballet demonstration on Sunday.

Saturday
The boys were running around going crazy wearing their special foot ball guernseys. B was so excited, he loved socialising with all his footy mates, they ran around, kicked the ball, and played their matches together. It was all going well until they had a 30 minute break until their next game. They took in water and fuel, and then started to ham around on the stairs to the grandstand. The coach told them off, the grandstand was out of bounds.

"When is my next game?" B asked and I said it was soon. Then I had to remind B to get off the grandstand stairs a second time. But when my back was turned he was up there again, like a dog with a bone. Disaster struck, and he came tumbling down, hitting the concert hard. Football boots are not designed to be used on concert, so he slipped. B is bruised and badly grazed, but he will live. He was much too sore to play football though and missed the next game, as well as training on Tuesday.
But B learnt a valuable lesson - listen to your Mum.

Sunday
At the ballet demonstration the girls were dancing around going crazy wearing their special ballet costumes. Little Miss was so excited to be a part of it all. Waiting in the audience she pointed out her friends and waved and giggled. Little Miss was wide eyed as she absorbed the concert, watching every act with wonder.
"When will it be my turn?" she asked
"There are three more groups to go on stage then its your turn, now would be a good time to go to the toilet."
"I don't need to go to the toilet" she stated
 She fidgeted around. And I tried again suggesting earnestly that we go to the toilet NOW, while we had the chance
"I will miss the dancing" she insisted
"But doing a wee before you go on stage is a really good idea." I explained
"I DONT NEED TO GO" she shouted at me. So I left well alone, but I wasn't convinced.

It was her time to go on stage. She joined her group and ran behind the side curtain. We had to wait 15 minutes while another group did their performance. As soon as she came on stage I could see something was wrong. She crossed her legs and pulled her tutu up and up moving her feet all the time. She danced as best she could.... considering. Then she did the tell tale crutch grab and we worried a puddle may emerge. She had to do a little solo fairy run and it was very rushed, as urgency was written in her body language. All her beautiful fluid movements were gone.  I was in agony for her. She came off stage and immediately said, "I need to wee now."
I rushed her to the toilet where a long line of little ballerinas greeted us. I took her to the unused disabled toilet around the corner and she finally relieved herself.
I said "Next time lets do a wee before we go on stage."
"OK Mummy" she said.

But Little Miss learnt a valuable lesson - listen to your Mum.

Signs of the times

B is growing up so fast. Everyday he seems to be taller and that little bit wiser. Some mornings when Little Miss, B and I are all having a cuddle in the big warm bed together (an absolute favourite part of my day) we do the "foot check" to measure if their feet are as big as mine yet. B's are up to my toes already and he is only 7. I am a bit hesitant to imagine how big his feet will be when he is 16. I hope he will still do the foot check with me then, but I doubt the foot check would occur in the "family bed" as he calls it.

B's reading and writing skills are really improving. Excitingly reading is opening up new worlds for B. I can't tell you how happy I am to see him snuggle down into his own bed with a book. His favourite reads are all non fiction. B just cant get enough facts into his head about stuff, particularly space, transportation and machinery of any kind.

Writing is no longer a chore that I have to encourage B to do. He is writing unassisted for his own pleasure and for his own means. Admittedly he makes mistakes and his writing has interesting motives. But I am impressed. I am also continually surprised by this child. He really values his own space. He likes to have a bit of quiet time on his own, much to the disappointment of Little Miss who can't seem to get enough of him. I wonder if this is the beginning of them growing apart. The signs he makes certainly show a tendency to be left well alone.



B's bedroom door

The wall outside his bedroom

B is a stickler for rules and safety. He likes to make up any rules that go along with our loose household arrangements. Of course he can now express these rules with signs that I find attached to all manner of places.

No drinks in the lego room

Dangerous things

Keep away from the gas heater 







































Lots of literature about boys suggests that boys like to know the rules and have the rules be enforced. We try to respect this in the Chapter Forty house, however Little Miss is very good at reminding B if he is verging on the edge of one of his own rules. The Little Miss Police are not well received by B and conflict seems to be the natural state of our house at the moment. B likes to remind everyone,
"You are not the boss of me."
Then Little Miss says,"No Mummy is the boss."