Little Builders

Read an architectural analysis, comparison and grade of these couch cushion masterpieces by bBuild here, you wont look at the couch in the same way ever again.

Dummy

What a dummy I've been.

With B, the hospital tried to get him to take a dummy to aid with his sucking reflex. He wasn't into it and was never a sucky put-things-in-the-mouth type of baby. Which all turned out really good in the end. Why didn't I learn from this? Why didn't I leave the dummy alone?

I have no idea what I was thinking, but Little Miss was a sucky one. She loved the dummy and it soothed her. At any sign of unsettledness the dummy really helped. But at seven months of age, it all went a bit pear shaped. She would wake up 10 -12 times a night wanting the dummy that had fallen out. Putting a gazillion dummies in the cot with her didn't help, so when the husband went interstate overnight, I took the dummy away. And it wasn't really all that bad. In fact it was good. Little Miss slept well, deeper and longer than ever before.

But then teething started to happen and Little Miss was NOT happy. Special numbing gels, baby Panadol, messy rusks and teething rings - cool or room temperature, were not enough for Little Miss. It was my friend the dummy that did the trick. I decided not to stress about the dummy. Hey she is my baby after all. You go with what works at the time. Well I did anyway.

So dummy has been a part of our lives and a big part of Little Miss's life ever since. "Have you got the dummy?" has been the big question in our house. But when Little Miss was around 2.5 I thought this is enough. Dummy looks horrible, and when its in your mouth we can't understand what you say, and it can't be good for your teeth. So I introduced the bed only rule for dummy. Little Miss went with this and it was relatively easy. But then she thought a rest on the couch might warrant the dummy, or a quick sleep in the car would also fit the bill. Eyes held shut. We held our ground, no dummy unless your are in the cot.

But slowly she has started waking up more at night. And guess what she is after? Yep, the dummy. "I want my dummy" is heard at least once if not twice a night. So here we are, I've taken it away altogether. As much as I don't want to admit it, my Little Miss has to grow up. I've explained, "Dummies are for babies. Your a big girl now."
"No, I'm a little girl" Little Miss corrects me.

Its day two. The first night was great, she only woke up once, made a squark type noise and then went back to sleep. However the day sleep has not happened. She wanted her dummy and she wanted it bad. She cried on and off for her dummy for 30 minutes. That is a long time. I had to close the windows so the neighbours would not hear her. I tried to reassure her, I tried to pat, rock and sing to her. She yawned and closed her eyes, but without the dummy she wasn't having it. Sleep was not on the agenda. Only the dummy was. I rang the husband for reassurance, then I gave up on the day sleep. But I didnt give in there was a no show for the dummy.

Hopefully the lesson is learnt, and she wont want the non existent dummy again. But it is only day 2 and we haven't got to bed time yet...


I would love to hear your views or tips on dummies. Do you love or despise them?

Rattled

I am woken up as the word "Earthquake!" is shouted out into the dark. I jump out of bed and yell, "Get the kids."


From the dim light of the bathroom down the hall I see that everything is moving. Shaking. There is a low rumbling noise and rattling. I run to B's bedroom and lift him as though he is a feather out of his bed. I hear the words, "It's over." 
I stand B up in the hallway and he asks, "What are you doing Mum?"
"It's fine go back to bed" his father says.


Then I realise my heart is in my throat. A hard lump is beating away inside and its hard to breathe. I feel faint. I've got to sit down. I swallow, but the lump stays lodged in my throat. Sitting on my side of the bed I see with the light on that everything is normal. Everything is as it should be. 
"It's all over now." My husband tells me. I take several deep breathes and the beating lump  melts back down into my chest.


"Was that an earthquake?" He asks me
"Yes what else could it be?" I ask him
He leaves the room for a moment, I think he is going to check the house for damage or something. I go and check Little Miss. She is sound alseep. B has also gone back to bed. Then I hear him yell out from the living room, "Yes, earthquake, Twitter is going nuts with it." He walks back into the bedroom with his phone.


"What are people saying?" I ask
"Was that an earthquake or a hippo on my roof?"
"Knew I shouldn't have had beans for tea"
"Look out for Wednesday Advertiser where they report on the Adelaide earthquake. Cutting edge journos."
"Some people are quick on the uptake. There is already a facebook group called 'I survived the Adelaide earthquake'."
"Can we get out of the bath now?"


Twitter's instantness comes into its own for an experience like this. We laughed at the tweets, they were amazingly reassuring. We learnt that the epicentre was at Mount Barker and measured around 3.8 on the Ritcher scale.


"I feel strange" Said my husband

"Me too" I said, "when you have kids it changes everything, it wouldn't be so scary if you didn't have them to protect."


We struggled to sleep well that night, feeling small and at the mercy of a planet in a spin. My thoughts go out to the all the families in the world who have experienced real devastating earthquakes, ones that do much more than just rattle.


There is nothing like an earthquake to put you in your place.

Happy

When my kids jump on the bed I try to remember that...

I have had the most wonderful time these Easter school holidays with my kids. In the past I have got stressed about how I will keep B entertained day in day out, what will we do and how much T.V. we will watch.

These holidays I didn't stress, particularly about time. Time has meant nothing. Which has enabled me to take my time, go slow, and go with the flow. Live in the moment. Pause take a breathe and not look at the clock.

It is a relief not to be somewhere by a certain time, we will get there, when we get there.

Without time there is liberation.



And thankfully no one was left waiting for us...

Free puppy

I love a cafe with a play area for kids, it makes going out with children possible and even enjoyable. At Warrawong wildlife sanctuary this sign made me laugh out loud.

The albino kangaroo (in background) was a little surprising for B and Little Miss, I think they preferred the regular variety of kangaroo.

i

Hello autumn

The nights are cooler, we all sleep soundly

The days warm up slowly, the sun doesn't burn anymore

I feel like making soup, and poached pears are calling me

Leaves crackle under my feet and run away on the streets

The rain has come at last

Our Buddy

My sister and I have an arrangement.

I look after her rabbit (Buddy) when she goes away, and she looks after B and Little Miss occasionally. Its a win win situation, as B and Little Miss just love their Auntie and her rabbit. Little Miss can often be heard saying "I want that Bunny" when the rabbit comes to stay.

This Easter my sister is going away to talk to some Tasmanian Alpacas (don't ask) so we are very pleased to be getting a visit from a real live Easter Bunny. I am planning to hide chocolate treats in his hutch and just can't wait to see B and Little Miss's faces.




Buddy is an exceptional rabbit. He's a spirited lad not afraid to mess in. Buddy loves time out of his hutch to run jump and explore. He just loves to eat apple. He will nudge you with his nose for a pat, and has even been known to pick up toys with his teeth and move them around. Recently we found out that he just loves the sand pit, he seemed to want to play with the sand. Instead of just digging in it, Buddy pushed the sand forward with his front paws, something I had never seen a rabbit do before.

One teen

While happily counting one day, I listened with interest to Little Miss, wondering where she would stop.
"One
two
three
four
five
six
seven
eight
nine
ten
oneteen
fourteen
sixteen" and she stopped.



"That is fantastic counting Little Miss" I said

I just love the logic and thinking behind oneteen. She knows the pattern and it should be oneteen. Where did eleven come from anyway?

According to Wikipedia the word eleven has Germanic origins meaning 'one left'. Read more about this strange number here

Something I learned today

 













Two children on one couch equals problems


One child on one couch, the other child on another couch equals no problems


Children's sofa available from furnitureseen.com

No Virgin

Dear Virgin Pacific Blue,

We were excited to be flying with your airline recently on a long awaited overseas holiday to Fiji. We were joined with some of our dearest friends making up a party of 4 adults and 4 children. The children were particilarly excited to be aboard the plane. Us adults were a little disappointed to be at the rear of the plane, but as this seemed to be the 'kid zone' with many other families we thought at least we were surrounded by other understanding parents.

The 5.5 hour flight to our destination included two offerings from the food and drinks trolley. We saw a fully loaded trolley make its way to the front of the plane and as our hunger grew we examined the menu and made our choices ahead of time. Tempting food smells actually filled the cabin and the kids started to sing out,"I'm hungry." Snacks from home kept them occupied as we waited and waited.

Finally when it was our turn to make our choices, we heard no a lot. No hot food left, no ham and cheese sandwiches, and no chocolate muffins in fact there was really only a choice between pot noodles or egg and lettuce sandwiches. Suddenly the snacks from home looked really good. We arrived safely at our destination thank you, albeit hungry.

Holiday fun over none of us were looking forward to the return flight home. We were all tired and sad to be leaving. With no snacks from home left and only an inadequate airport meal of hot chips in our children's tummies, we wondered what we would feed our children for dinner on the plane. Again we were seated at the rear of the plane in fact the very last rows of seats this time. But this did give me the opportunity to ask a very friendly and helpful looking steward exactly what the hot meal situation was for this flight. He informed me there were about 25 hot meals.
"That wont go far between 90 people" I said. "We missed out on our last flight, as we were near the back then too."
"What meals did you want? I'll keep them aside for you" He said.
"Thanks we would really like the pasta that would be great." and I thought that it is really worth asking for what you want in life. I also wondered what kind of airline would put all the kids in the back of the plane and then starve them?

While we waited for the trolley to make its way down the plane again my husband thought of a great idea for your business. In these hard economic times why don't you auction off the meals. You will make much more money that way. Or you could just provide enough meals for everyone or at least half the people on the plane. It just doesn't make any sense as to why you don't supply enough food for your passengers. We are a captive hungry paying market.

True to his word we were able to eat a hot pasta meal, however the plastic cutlery was in short supply so we had to share one fork between us. The stewards were embarrassed and we were all shocked by this oversight.

But sadly food isnt my only gripe. I would like to talk about water too. I was not permitted to take on board my large water bottle (purchased within the international departure lounge) as 200mls is the liquid limit for each passenger due to internnational security reasons. Of course I am not going to argue about security. But I just dont think it is ethical to charge passengers for drinking water. With about 10% humidity in areoplane air we all need to drink water to stop becoming dehydrated and the only drinking water available is $2.50 for a very small bottle. After spending $10 on water for one round for my family I just couldnt do it again. What a rip off.

I cant help but view water and for that matter food as a basic human need, I am very dissappointed it was your airline that brought me and my family back to longing for our basic human needs.

I have now vowed I will not fly with your airline again. It is hard enough travelling with children, but starving hungry children is simply miserable. I don't care if your flights are slightly cheaper. I need to think about my children - they do need to eat during a 5 hour period. (And remember how much you charge for water)

It would have been helpful at checkin if you had warned passengers of the lack of food on the flight.

Unfortunately a little girl on the flight had the pot noodles, she struggled without a fork and ended up spilling boiling water over her lap. Even the childless people at the front of the plane heard her screams.

We feel dissappointed and let down by your brand, which previously we stood by.

Yours faithfully and without prejudice,

from no Virgin.

Jaw dropping

We have been having way too much fun lately





Taking off on the water in a seaplane

B and Little Miss take it all in their stride

The colours!

One equipped little girl

One happy Mum

Dear Future Self

Dear Future Self,

This letter is to remind you that your children love you. In fact it feels right now that they can’t get enough of you. But just in case they are the kind of horrible teenagers who only grunt and groan at you and can’t stand to be seen on the same street as you, remember that right now they adore you.

As a 6 year old, B wants you to play with him, sing to him, read him stories and do up his buttons. And Little Miss at two and a half simply can’t get enough of you, she comes up to you and says at least every day if not every couple of hours, “I want you.” As she cuddles you she pats you gently on the back. Your kisses heal every little hurt she has. She loves you to do her hair, complete puzzles and dress up the dollies with her. And both of them absolutely love their backs to be gently scratched.

Remember most importantly how lovely it is to walk along the street with your little children holding each one’s hand. How proud you feel, it’s a wonderful feeling. “Look at us,” you think, “a little family devoted to each other.” I don’t know what your teenagers are like, but I am guessing they don’t want to hold your hands anymore.

But don’t get too sentimental I am sure you are enjoying some of your own space and time, perhaps you don’t have to remind them to go to the toilet anymore, wash them, choose their clothes and don’t have to tell them which room of the house you are in. You can probably go out at night with their Dad without having to organise a babysitter. Organise a haircut anytime you want, go out to dinner without having to take bags of entertaining play dough, textas, toy cars, teddies and drawing paper. In fact you are gaining back most of your own life aren’t you?

I hope your teenagers talk to you. Make sure you are making time for them and giving them plenty of opportunity to tell you things, without you butting in with a lecture. Please remember to really listen to them. Encourage their independence with your trust. Take pride in your young adults as they gain their independence. Remember that inside those alien teenage people in your house are those loving little children. Your children who right now in 2010 can have their every need met by you.

With love from your present self
xxx

PS I hope there has been a major breakthrough with wrinkle creams so you’re not looking too old.

Good advice

I think us parents need all the help we can get. Good advice seems to be like a needle in a haystack of old wives tales, bad recommendations and competitive monitoring from other mums. So while using the staff toilet at a wonderful kindergarten I visited recently I couldn't help notice some advice to the kindergarten teachers that I thought was wonderful and should be shared.






1. Have fun.


2. Change own behaviour and this will change the child's.


3. Never ever ever argue with a child, they will always win.


4. Act rather than talk.


5. Catch children being good and give positive reinforcement.


While taking note of these I couldn't help picture a stressed out teacher escaping to the toilet for a bit of a break, reading these words of advice to come back to the children with a new perspective.


Image is of a potty toy we will NOT be purchasing. 
"Modeled on a grown up loo, this potty features a fully functioning seat and lid and offers great encouragement with fun phrases, music and sound effects. There’s even a realistic flushing sound when handle is pulled. Great sound rewards for a ‘successful’ visit too."

Great Expectations

“Is it my birthday yet?” B asks each and every morning

“No, not yet. Lets mark the date on your calendar and you can cross of each day.” I come up with a mechanism for him to measure the time and stop him hassling me every day.

As we get close, only a week to go. B seems to be bubbling over with excitement. We have to talk at the dinner table every night about the plans for his party.

“How was your day B?” We ask him.

“Good, can we talk about my party?”

“It’s at a gym, with foam pits to jump in, big trampolines to jump on, huge foam mats to tumble on, balance beams to walk across and a basket ball court to play ball games on.” I say.

“Will there be a cake?” He inquires.

Oh my God, I forgot about the birthday cake, a week away it’s too late to order a custom one, I hope he just wants an ice cream cake. I try to hide my mistake and just ask him,

“Yes, you can have an ice-cream cake?"

“I would like a pirate ship cake” he states

“The gym place does ice cream cakes, you don’t want one of those?” I ask hopefully.

“No, a chocolate pirate ship cake with cannons” B says.

Before it gets too elaborate I stop asking. But I am thinking, what the hell!

The next afternoon after school I look on the internet with B at Pirate ship cake pictures. Dad takes and interest and we come up with a simple plan. A slab of chocolate cake will be bought and cut into a rectangle and triangle, to make a basic boat shape. Sails cut from paper will be added and attached to satay sticks. I feel myself get slightly anxious at the thought of this, but Dad promises to help. It will all be fine. I say to myself.

B has invited 15 friends. He was particular about who he chose, they had to be people he talked with or played with. I was surprised he didn’t want to invite the entire class. The RSVPs start rolling in. B’s excitement is growing. He is finding it hard to sleep through the night. He wakes up and wanders into our room and asks,

“Is it my birthday yet?”

After nights of interrupted sleep, on the eve of his birthday he gets up at 2am, and at 4am. We are not amused.

At last the big day arrives. But we are exhausted. Our anger at being woken up at night by an excited child is hard to hide. We go out for breakfast and B unwraps his presents with energy. We eat and drink lots of coffee. B’s mood settles, he has lots to look forward to today. However with a full belly (jam and multiple croissants) B takes a seat on his older cousin’s lap and just about nods off to sleep. This is in the middle of a really noisy busy restaurant at 10am. We can’t believe it. His day is finally here and he goes very quiet and rests! All those great expectations.

At home we make him take a real nap when Little Miss goes for one, and he obliges. A new child awakes, a lovely 6 year old who doesn’t cry at the drop of a hat, scream out for no reason or throw his new toys across the room in frustration. This 6 year old is keen to help, listens carefully and is eager to rise to the expectations of a six year old boy.

The time has come to construct the cake, it has been cut, wrapped in cling film and frozen so it’s easier to ice. Surprisingly, Dad met the cake challenge face on and with a sharp knife, cut what can only be described as a sculptural masterpiece of a ship, all from what was a simple slab of cake.

A ship book is retrieved to check and compare how real ships look. Our pirate ship cake has three decks, and balustrades. We start gluing it all together with icing. The kids watch on in anticipation and get to taste the icing. It soon becomes apparent this is a one person job, I am elbowed out of the way as Dad takes over.

Little pieces of chocolate are sliced up to finish off the balustrades. Fruchocs are glued on the deck as cannon balls. Cadbury caramellos are positioned as cannons. Elaborate weathered black sails are cut and erected into position. The deck is lined with its wooden planks and the wooden sides of the boat are marked out with a fork. Who would have thought that Dad could do this? I state my surprise and he confidently says, ”You can do anything if you put your mind to it.” I love realising there are still surprises in someone I’ve known for 20 years.

We and the cake set sail for the party. The gym party gets everyone jumping, all the kids just love throwing themselves into the foam pit from a trampoline or a diving board. They jump so high on the huge trampolines their little legs are like springs. Parents watch on with worry. The lights are turned off so they can play hide and seek in the dark. What was a room filled with crazy running and jumping children turns into a silent and empty space.

The last child is found wedged in between a mat and a wall. Game over, lights on, music off, it’s time to eat cake in the party room. Everyone wants a drink and they want it now. The Candles are lit, the cake makes it’s entrance.

“Wow” the people say.

“My Dad is a master cake maker” Says B.

Happy Birthday to you we sing. Then we all eat the cake.

Later that night I ask B,

“What did you think of your Birthday?”

“It was too good Mum.”

Food face #5

I think this food face has pretty eyes, a curl in her hair and a lovely big pasta smile. Something is going on with her upper lamb lip though.

True Blue

A summer ritual

Pack the car full with boogie boards, fold up seats, sun shelter, inflatable boat, towels, esky (containing water, mineral water, a couple of beers, a punnet of strawberries, peaches, grapes, apples, a greek style salad, vegemite sandwiches, barbeque shapes and mixed nuts) Don’t forget your hat, and where's the sunscreen? And kids, bring your spades.

A short drive later

We look with anticipation, is there any surf today, how busy is it?

The road changes to soft sand. Where will we make camp?

Park at the end where there’s no through traffic

But the surfs good here

We marvel at how much stuff people bring with them to the beach

Look they have a barbeque

Wow, they have 3 big sun shelters put together

Some families just have their car

Others have tarpoulins doing tricks

A simple umberra there or just a towel parked next to a car

I love checking out each little home by the sea as we drive by

Here’s a gap

Just a bit further up

We finally stop

Up goes the tent

Unfold the chairs

Admire your view, suck in the sea air

Feel the sand in your toes

Lather the children in sunscreen, implant their hats

Dad pumps up the boat

Mum fusses over chair and towel placement

Children are excited moving fast they dig the sand

Enter the water, ahh it’s so warm we can’t believe it




















 Our cares are washed away, we are refreshed

The water is clear as glass, little white fish dart from our feet

Clamor in the boat

Dad rows

Here comes a wave

Weeeeee we smile

It's magic

I feel like a real true blue Aussie doing this

We leave really chilled out

Summer loves

The children and I have really been enjoying summer. It has been unseasonally hot, but it's just such a beautiful time of year. I am just loving the following things...

Fresh raspberries (especially Nana's)

 Little legs in shorts

Just a light sheet covering me at night

Salads, but I have to expand, recently we have eaten caesar salad, tandoori chicken salad, lamb with yoghurt and garlic dressing salad, chickpea, roast pumpkin and spinach salad, any salad with sticky balsamic dressing, chicken and mango salad, and any Asian style salad.

Sun bleached blonde beach hair (particularly on the kids)

Entering cool fresh crystal clear sea water

Home grown tomatoes that taste real (particularly with basil)

Sporting bare feet

Feeling the rush and power of catching a wave

Being outside everyday

My husband's seawater kisses

Warm juicy peaches

Cool shade

Sand between my toes

Sun kissed skin

Catching a cool breeze

A mouthful of sultana grapes

The smell of someone elses BBQ 

No socks

Eating alfresco

Cool showers

And particularly time all together on holidays

More good stuff

Some more good stuff that happened on holiday that is too good not to make a record of.

The scene:
We are lying in bed early Christmas morning, Little Miss lies in her cot next to us with her Christmas stocking left by Santa, as she reaches in and pulls out the contents, we were more than a little surprised by what she found.



She states,
"Ringlets” as her hand pulls out a colourful bead necklace.
“Snappers” as she reveals a pair of children’s scissors. I am sitting up looking to watch this unfold.
“A book for drawing” she wisely states
“Santa Ice cream” Dad sits up with a “What the?” But she grips a Chocolate covered marshmallow Santa.
We are looking at her in anticipation as to what will be revealed next.
“I found a frog” as she brings out a foiled covered chocolate frog
“Space shooter busy bee” she states as she holds a yellow wooden toy bug with wheels. We are now in fits of laughter. Nice descriptions I think and wonder if its just a little early for her to find the right words, but I reach or a pen to write them all down anyway, then I hear,
“Christmas, Father Christmas” and I look to see Little Miss sitting up in her cot surrounded by her loot eating up some chocolate.

Now that is Christmas bliss.

NOTE: We don’t have any scissors in our house anymore. From 25/12/09 they are now know as snappers.

Boring

I can’t help but feel daunted by the next few weeks of school holidays. With Dad back at work and the grandparents overseas, I feel I am flying very solo in the main parenting role.

At two and a half Little Miss is relatively easy, amusements are simple, brother B is her idol that she follows everywhere, and she does and plays as he does. But the boy himself is another story. After the last few action packed weeks away his expectations are high. Every day he wants something to be planned and organised.

"What are we doing today?" He inquires first thing over breakfast cereal.
"Nothing, staying home" I reply.

I am eager to get back into a normalish routine. After living out of suitcases and being relaxed about the “routine” I need to get a grip on this parenting life again. And after being away, I really want to stay home. The washing is at crisis point (Little Miss sported a pajama top the other day, then had to wear B's huge pajamas to bed) plus the housework sadly beckons.

I am liking that little Miss is having a regular daily one and a half hour sleep after lunch. The better she sleeps during the day the better she sleeps at night. Plus I am making sure I use this time to spend one on one with B, but part of me wants him to get bored. I want him to use his own imagination and be inventive. I think it is important for him to not be entertained with activities all the time. He needs to learn to find his own way, to make up his own games, to use his brain, to be active in his own entertainment and not just a passive audience in someone else’s ideas.

Given some time with the TV off, B rediscovered old forgotten toys, an obstacle course is made for his bike, drawings are done and he wants to make biscuits. We do this together, he eats way too much icing.

I am telling myself it’s ok for him to get bored, he has to learn that life is what you make it.

Food face #4

Big nose food face made from, carrot, capsicum, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, corn on the cob, baby spinach leaves, rice and steak.