School Camp - grade 1

Strangely at BallFiend's school, they don't just take kids from the older year levels on camp, they even take the grade ones! For about the past six months, you could listen in on parent conversations just about anywhere in the school grounds and hear parents agonising over whether to send their little seven-year olds to camp. The teachers however were adamant, they insisted that they could handle it.

There was no (or at least very little) agonising on my part. As soon as I heard that camp for the grade one, two and three students was going ahead, I was lining up Gran and GrandPaul to mind Thumper for the same two nights that BallFiend would be on camp and looking forward to two child-free nights with DeepSpice (but that's another story).

The day before camp, I helped BallFiend pack his bag, so he'd know what was in it. We chose his clothes and BallFiend placed them into the bag. We packed his toothbrush, toothpaste, soap and sunscream (yes, that's what he calls it and who am I to correct him?). We packed his pyjamas, blankie and Moo-Moo (he still has his blankie and menagerie of soft toys that he likes to sleep with). We practiced unpacking his sleeping bag, climbing in and out, then re-packing the sleeping bag. We talked about looking after his belongings, where to put his dirty clothes, practiced turning the torch on and off... and so on.

Finally the big day arrived...

Excitement builds as the kids wait for the coach to arrive.
(It finally turned up 30 mins late!)

The aftermath

When DeepSpice and I arrived at school to collect BallFiend today, we found him sitting under the rain-water tank, reading a Tashi book. He refused to stop reading to say hello, he barely even looked up from the book to acknowledge us. So we waited about 5 minutes until he finished reading and then he announced "But I wanted to go to Gran and GrandPaul's house". (Usually on Wednesdays, BallFiend's grandparents pick him up from school as both DeepSpice and I are at work but we'd made special arrangements to take leave from work so we could collect him after camp... coz, you know, we thought he might have missed us and would want to see us.) 

When unpacking BallFiend's bag, I discovered he had worn the same clothes for three days running. He had changed his underpants but that was only because he got wet paddling at the beach.

BallFiend's brand new 'angry birds' toothbrush (that he selected himself and was so excited to show off to the other kids) came home in it's same, brand new state. Yep, he had not brushed his teeth for three days straight.

BallFiend told me that he went to sleep wearing his glasses on the second night because he forgot to take them off... "and they didn't even get squashed Mum!".


I didn't bother to ask him too much about camp, knowing that the answer would be "I can't remember". Instead I asked him to draw me a map of the camp to show me where his cabin was. The flood-gates opened...

"I was in yellow cabin, in bed in the back left corner. I was on a bottom bunk and (starts wimpering) I really wanted to go on a top bunk). There was a games room and they had two pool tables and air hockey table and three table tennis tables, and A. (another child) let me watch him play on his iPad but he wouldn't let me have a turn.  Outside the games room there was the real, actual cross that Jesus was put on. I know because B. (another child) told me. It even has the real nails in it."

--

An alien with flowers for hands

BallFiend came home from a day with Gran and GrandPaul with this rather interesting drawing:

He said it is an alien with flowers for hands and sickles for feet (although he later revised this to 'crescent moons for feet'). The cross-section of the head illustrates how it's eyes and mouth connect to the brain.

The text to the right reads: "separate from rest of body, but glued back on"- it is a legend to explain what the little bumpy line symbol refers to.

Just for good measure, the drawing also includes a ball bouncing down some stairs... a signature of the artist one might conclude. 

Now, I'm not sure what has inspired BallFiend to draw a semi-cyberpunk / semi-aboriginal x-ray art / Davros-ish alien with flowery hands and moon/sickle feet, nor what gave him the idea that a separated head can be glued back on to a body. But I can honestly say that he has never ever licked the lead paint on the doors in our house.

--

Chocolate moose

Today, Thumper, BallFiend and I visited StompyDad who has been busily 'decluttering' as a result of the xmas gift that I gave him (a book called Sorted). A gift that has sadly backfired upon me as StompyDad now requires that I spend many, many hours at his house to look through the piles of stuff that he has determined to be clutter. Presumably so that I can shift it all to my house and ultimately end up with an equivelent clutter problem in 30 years time.

And so we were all off to see StompyDad and his clutter. (Except for DeepSpice who got to stay home and attempt to recuperate from the dreadful night's lack of sleep that we both had, courtesy of Thumper waking and wailing multiple times. DeepSpice did most of the getting-up, so I thought this was fair enough).

We stopped on route at a bakery to pick up lunch supplies to take to StompyDad's house - just some pastries and a few sweet treats. I chose lemon tarts for StompyDad and me, BallFiend opted out, and Thumper choose a chocolate mousse. (Both kids also decided to chuck massive tantrums in the shop so that by the time I left, I was completely embarassed by them and furious with them. BallFiend was very contrite afterwards. Thumper not so.)

We arrived at StompyDad's house, ate our lunch and then I was given a grand tour of all the recently decluttered sites around the house... "Open that cupboard. Look in here. Now I just want to show you this, it's important..." and so on for about an hour and a half. Eventually StompyDad left me to actually look through the boxes of stuff. There were some fabulous finds, in amongst the many things that should have been thrown out or sent to the op-shop years ago. The best prize was finding my and CutLuce's Wind in the Willows audio-book, on three cassettes. You know, the kind with actual magnetic tape in them! Recently I've been reading Wind in the Willows to the kids (and Gran and GrandPaul took them to a performance of it at the Royal Botanic Gardens last week). So I have been wishing I could get my hands on that audiobook again. Now I can. All I have to do is work out how to get it transferred onto a CD-rom. Piece of cake.

I also found my old Barbies and a toy rubbish truck (my favourite toy vehicle when I was a kid) and Pick-up Sticks, and a wierd maths toy that you stick rubber bands on and make symmetrical and mirrored patterns with. BallFiend took to these immediately, especially the maths toy. "Now I have something to use my rubber band collection on" he remarked with great joy.

After many hours longer than I had intended to stay, we headed home, the car boot filled with newly rediscovered treasures.

Once home, we sat down to dinner (thanks DeepSpice) and began to tell DeepSpice about our day...

Thumper mentioned that she had had a "chocolate reindeer". I corrected her: "No, you had a chocolate mousse." As soon as the words left my mouth I made the connection: chocolate mousse > moose > reindeer. Of course DeepSpice was way ahead of me and had already sussed out Thumper's thought process...

A few weeks ago we went up to Mt Buller for a couple of nights. While we were up there we went to the cafe at Mt Buller Chalet where they have a large stuffed (ie. taxidermied) Canadian Moose on display. At the time, Thumper was pretty obsessed with reindeers (due to the whole xmas-Santa thing), so we mentioned to Thumper that a moose is a bit like a reindeer.

For a three year old, this kid has an amazing memory and an amazing ability with words!
--

Little grammar nazi #2

Thumper wanted a drink of milk and put her request to Gran...

Thumper: "Milk".
Gran: "Thumper, please ask politely."
So Thumper begrudgingly added: "Please."
Gran: "You need to say 'Can I have some milk?'"
Thumper, rolling her eyes then said: "May I please have some milk?"

--

Little grammar nazi #1

When driving somewhere with Gran and GrandPaul recently, BallFiend noticed a promo painted on the window of a local pub: ‘Kids eat free Mondays’.

Upon seeing this, BallFiend commented: “Kids should eat free everyday… but it should say ‘Kids eat free on Mondays’”.

--

Portrait of Zoe

BallFiend's drawings are almost always very technical, usually they are aerial views of pipes with various marbles or other objects rolling around in them. Or cross-sections of plumbing...

BallFiend's drawing of the bathroom sink in cross-section, done in early-2012.

He almost always draws in pen or texta and usually only uses one colour, occasionally two or three.

So I was amazed to discover this picture whilst going through BallFiend's school bag yesterday afternoon (during the daily check for important school notices):

"Zoe", portrait by BallFiend, 24 October 2012.

He said proudly: "It's a 'self-portrait of Zoe". Zoe is a girl in his prep class and someone who he has become quite friendly with recently.

We showed it to DeepSpice when he got home, and after some discussion, DeepSpice established that this wasn't actually a self-portrait and that BallFiend was in fact the artist. BallFiend assured us he drew it all himself... though I do wonder if he worked on it with Zoe - the eyes and nose are very much in BallFiend's own style, but I've never seen him draw a mouth/teeth, or a Sun, and he's never done sky and grass like that before.

The picture is also interesting because he rarely even does any representative drawings and I reckon I can count on one hand the number of times BallFiend has drawn a representation of a person that he knows!

There was the time he drew Gran, back when he was 3-and-a-half. Then there was this picture he did of "Mum and me":

"Mum and me" by BallFiend, 28 May 2012.

There is also this picture he drew on Mother's Day earlier this year, while we were dining out, but it was just a face, not of anyone in particular:

A face, by BallFiend, 13 May 2012.

These pictures show how he has been focusing on how to represent facial features (it took The Librarian, with her fine art background, to point this out to me!)

It's lovely to see all BallFiend's thinking about how to represent a face come together into a whole drawing. It's also great to see BallFiend developing new friendships. I just hope Zoe doesn't take having a green nose and yellow teeth the wrong way!

--

DNA

BallFiend was showing Gran something that he and I had made recently out of his toy (a recent birthday present): a model of a DNA double-helix spiral. 

This is how it looks in the instruction booklet and ours looked pretty much the same. 

Gran: Do you know what DNA is?

BallFiend: Yes! It’s the stuff in your cells that tells the cell how to make another cell. 

That's my little science nerd!

--

Super Lego Mario

BallFiend has been fascinated Super Mario ever since DeepSpice and I started playing Super Paper Mario on the Wii about a year ago. (Thanks CutLuce and DesignerMonkey for the super-extended loan of the game). Well, he got some new Lego for his birthday (thanks Gran and GrandPaul and StompyDad) and ever since, he has been busy re-constructing the 2D-flip-into-3D Super Paper Mario world... 

That's Mario, at the front to the right - with a yellow core and a light blue bit on top.

The peaceful street-scape of Flipside, with the tower looming over-head.

--

Land of the Roaches, part 1

This post comes to you live from Sydney, where we have been holidaying for the past few days.

Day 1 - Thursday 5th April

The trip began on Thursday morning with the kids' first time on an airplane. This was was soooo terribly exciting for BallFiend that he uttered nothing but "oh my god!" and "I just can't believe it!" for about the first half-hour (and that was just while we were in the car park and walking to the terminal).

The next half hour was filled with more fascinations as BallFiend watched our suitcase disappear through a hole in the wall on a conveyor belt, then went through the security screen process three times (the first two times he set off the alarm because he kept insisting on brushing his hands against the sides).

Next stop was for a babycino at the cafe - partly to appease Thumper who was getting annoyed with begin strapped into her toddler harness - but also to have a quick chat with a friend from work (who coincidentally was on her way to Sydney as well with her son and hubby, on the flight immedately before ours). After saying goodbye, we decided to kill time by showing the kids the sights of Tullamarine airport. However, we had barely walked 10 metres before we bumped into some more friends. After a short chat, we continued on our way, checking out the souvenier shop, the toilets and the chocolate shop before going to the Gate. The kids happily watched the goings-on at the airport out the windows and were particularly interested in watching the luggage being unloaded.

The plane ride was uneventful because the kids were (thankfully) well-behaved. BallFiend loved the sensation of 'lightness' as the plane took off. But I was surprised how disinterested he was in watching the view out the window (he was too busy playing with the tray-table). DeepSpice sat next to Thumper in the row behind me. Apparently she was a lot more restless than BallFiend especially later into the flight.

After landing, we collected our bags (more fascination for the kids - watching yet another conveyor belt), found our airport transfer car waiting right outside and were on our way. It was all so quick that we arrived at our accommodation only 35 mins after the plane landed.

The apartment is in a great location - just a short walk from the apartment where Gran and GrandPaul are staying and an even shorter (about 1 minute!) walk from the Lord Wolseley Hotel (which has quickly become the default dinner venue). Our apartment does have a number of shortcomings though... more on that later.

After settling in, and getting Thumper into bed for her afternoon nap (which required me to lie next to her until she fell asleep as it was her first time in a 'big bed' - as we had decided not to bother hiring a portacot for her), I wandered down to the local supermarket to meet Gran and shop for some breakfast supplies. While I was out, DeepSpice told me that he removed the carcasses of some seventy or more cockroaches from the kitchen! (Even so, there were still more to be found later: under the kids' beds and in pots in the kitchen cabinets).
All I could say was "ewww!" and feel glad that I hadn't had to see it.

After dinner, we got some very exhausted kids (and parents) off to bed. Unfortunately though, it was all too much for Thumper and she had terrible trouble falling asleep. So DeepSpice spent about an hour lying in bed with her to try and help her settle down.

I collapsed in front of the TV, with the balcony sliding door wide open (trying to catch some breeze to make the muggy climate more bareable) and was enjoying some peace and quiet when a massive, cockroach came flying in and started buzzing around the room. I freaked out and froze for a few moments, then called out to DeepSpice. But not getting any response, I realised that he had probably fallen asleep next to Thumper and that I was going to have to fend for myself. I grabbed an glass and managed to trap the revolting thing under it, right in the middle of the floor. Not wanting to have anything more to do with it, I tried to ignore it while waiting for DeepSpice to re-appear. It kept scuttling and buzzing about inside the glass and creeping me out.

My Facebook 'friends' were of little help, offering no sympathy and generally unhelpful suggestions like "whack it with a shoe (but gently so it doesn't explode too much)" and "wrap it in paper towel then stomp on it" (there's not a piece of paper towel, newspaper or anything like it to be found in this sparsely-furnished apartment). Not one friend offered to immediately fly up to Sydney to deal with it for me. Some even used my cockroach trauma as an excuse to reminisce about when they lived in roach-infested Sydney flats. I note that all these people now live in Melbourne.

What I don't get is why in the ongoing Melbourne vs Sydney debate, the cockroaches don't ever seem to be mentioned. As far as I am concerned this settles the debate once and for all. Sydney can score as many points as it wants on any scale it likes... whatever. Melbourne doesn't have cockroaches.

When I couldn't stand looking at or listening to the roach anymore, I dared to venture past it and went downstairs to rouse DeepSpice. It turned out that both Thumper and DeepSpice were still awake, so I swapped spots with DeepSpice, sending him up to dispose of the roach while I took a turn at trying to settle Thumper. Either I had a magic touch, or she had just become worn out enough, because she fell asleep next to me in about 10 minutes.
 
Day 2 - Friday 6th April

Our second day started off with a play at a local playground whilst waiting to meet Gran and GrandPaul. Then we all walked over to Darling Harbour. The walk there was bloody awful, across a pedestrian bridge that runs directly under the Western Distributor freeway - it's noisy, grimy, dark and dismal place. In complete contrast, Darling Harbour is great! Full of plants that green-up the whole area so you feel like you are in the tropics, and there's an amazing playground which BallFiend and Thumper absolutely loved!

After a while, we dragged the kids away so we could visit the Chinese Garden of Friendship. But of course being 'Good Friday', it was closed. So we decided to take a ride on the Monorail instead. But after two failed attempts to locate a station - first at the Convention Centre (the Sydney tourist signposting leaves a lot to be desired!) and then at Chinatown (the stop has been permanently closed but they let you walk all the way up two flights of escalators through a ghastly, glitzy shopping mall from the street entrance before they tell you this!) - we took a break at Paddy's Markets. GrandPaul needed to buy a hat, and DeepSpice and I decided that it was about time the kids had some lunch. So we followed Gran and GrandPaul into the chinzy hell that is acres of cheap imported plastic crap and before we could blink, BalFiend had found a ball that he wanted to buy. (And he has barely stopped nagging about it ever since.)

Then we finally made it onto the Monorail and did one full circuit, then another half circuit to get back to Darling Habour. Our plans to spend the afternoon at the Maritime Museum were abandoned as Thumper was flagging (admittedly so was I) so we all went back to the apartment for a rest.

Dinner was at Blue Fish and was very good! (And very welcoming of children too.) Then we took the kids home to bed; this time, BallFiend was the trouble-maker but he was finally asleep by 9.15 pm.



Next instalment - Day 3 at the Chinese Friendship Garden and the Powerhouse Museum and Day 4 at Taronga Zoo.
--

Engineering the situation

Thumper went over to the duplo tower that BallFiend had built sometime earlier. She picked it up and smashed it into a zillion pieces. Then she started building a new tower, whilst thinking aloud:

BallFiend's going to be upset I broke his tower.
I'll say 'Sorry it was an accident.'
And I'll say 'I'm fixing your tower for you.'
And BallFiend will say 'Thank you'.

Luckily BallFiend wasn't around when this happened and didn't even notice the destruction and rebuilding of his tower.

In Thumper's defence, I feel it necessary to point out that the duplo was given to Thumper for her second birthday by Gran and GrandPaul. 
--

Just a little help please

At Gran and GrandPaul's house this morning, Thumper had selected a car park/garage toy and a little toy car to play with. She was trying carry them from one room to another, but was having trouble because the car park/garage toy is very heavy. "Gran!" she called out, "Can you help me carry please?"

When Gran went to help, Thumper handed her the little toy car and continued to struggle with carrying the car park/garage toy herself.

--

Secret birthday business

Having just emerged from the post-celebration haze of DeepSpice's birthday week, I am now taking a moment recount the events of the past week...

DeepSpice celebrated his personal new year in early January. Typically, it is a very inconvenient time to have a birthday since:
a) I am always too exhausted after all the xmas shopping to be organised enough to get him a birthday present;
b) any plans of taking him out to a fancy restuarant are thwarted by the fact that just about everything is closed during early January; and
c) it is usually so bloody hot, all either of us can manage to do is lie around in front of a fan with a wet cloth on our foreheads, while eating mangoes.

But this year, several weeks before xmas, I had already acquired DeepSpice's birthday present (a scarf), arranged babysitting with Gran and GrandPaul for Saturday night and, as luck would have it, the weather turned out to be mild throughout the entire week surrounding DeepSpice's birthday.

Cheese!

So on the night of his actual birthday, I held a fondue party, straight out of the 1970s fondue pot that had belonged to my parents. (Highly appropriate since DeepSpice is a child of the 70s!)

DeepSpice demonstrates sword-swallowing during his Cheese-Fondue birthday dinner.

I consulted with VolubleK, conveniently now a fondue expert since her move to France, and on her advice selected a good white wine (since apparently red wine and cheese fondue are not a good mix):  a 2001 Rosevears Estate Sauvignon Blanc (which had matured nicely in our cellar since our trip to Tassie back in around 2002 or 2003). Fresh ciabatta from the Mediterranean Wholesalers and Gruyere cheese from the local deli, plus an assortment of other items to dip into melted cheese sauce rounded out the meal and we (DeepSpice, me, Gran, GrandPaul, BallFiend and Thumper) all ate ourselves to oblivion. The hardest part of the whole event was shopping for the supplies with two small children underfoot. As I commented on Facebook:

"The worst of it when I was at the deli, busy talking to the deli-girl about what I wanted to buy. BallFiend gave the trolley (which contained Thumper) a shove, straight towards the shelf stacked with eggs. The only thing between the trolley and a scrambled-egg disaster was a pensioner on a walking frame."

Trifle!

Then, instead of a birthday cake, DeepSpice got a trifle, partly because I know how much he loves them (whereas I can't stand them! Whoever thought of mixing jelly and custard? Urgh!) and partly because I had cake crumbs to use up (a result of my dropping a lemon sour cream cake I had made a few days earlier for the new year's eve party at RedJo's house). Unfortunately my first ever attempt at trifle-making did not equal my first-ever attempt at cheese fondue making. The cake was a bit dry, the jelly didn't quite set properly and the custard was too runny. But DeepSpice, Gran and GrandPaul were polite enough to eat a bit anyway.

Surprise!

On the weekend after DeepSpice's actual birthday, I successfully pulled off the big surprise (despite GrandPaul nearly giving too much away a few days before): a night away on Mt Dandenong at a Sassafrass B&B, with dinner at a local restaurant, most importantly, sans-kids! In the weeks leading up to his birthday, I had asked DeepSpice what he wanted to do and he had suggested a picnic at the Melbourne botanical gardens. So instead, I took him to William Ricketts Sanctuary and the Alfred Nicholas Memorial Gardens. I had plans to fit in at least one more garden, but a very rainy Sunday morning saw us stay in and enjoy a long and leisurely delicious breakfast instead.

Scones!

We finished off our weekend away with devonshire tea in Olinda (which was overpriced, and came with very average service, but the surroundings were lovely and peaceful) and returned home to collect our little darlings.

Sleep-over!


Thumper fared well on her first-ever night away from both DeepSpice and I. And of course BallFiend loved his 'holiday' with Gran and GrandPaul. Unfortunately, Gran and GrandPaul didn't fare so well, both having taken their child-caring responsibities extremely seriously meant they got very little sleep overnight. But they still functioned well enough to bake a chocolate cake, even with the help of two kids...!


Now that birthday celebrations are done with for this year, I will have to start planning for next year. And even more importantly for the big 4-0 in two years time, when DeepSpice and I will be visiting VolubleK and family in France, perhaps for an authentic French fondue. Yum!
--

Thumper's first (real) spew

Despite her proficiency with 'spewing' as a baby, Thumper has never actually vomited in her two-and-a-bit years. That all changed today...

Gran was walking home with Thumper in the stroller after visiting Auntie Isobel, when Thumper (who had complained of feeling uncomfortable earlier) vomited all over her blankie, the outside of her clothes, the inside of her clothes and the stroller.

Not sure why she got sick - she had been fine in the morning when Gran collected her (I was taking BallFiend to school for his final orientation session then going to work, so Thumper was spending the day with Gran and GrandPaul).

Apparently she didn't eat for the rest of the day, but when I got back to pick her up after work, she was starting to perk up. She ate a full dinner (which worries me a little... what sort of a night am I in for!), had a bath, and seemed almost back to normal - though was quite a lot more snuggly than usual.

And so another childhood milestone is achieved. We've done well, considering BallFiend had his first vomit on his first birthday.
--

Nearly a school kid

I took BallFiend to his new school today for the fifth and final orientation session. So far, he has been twice in August (a one-hour music session, and a one-hour library session), once in October (a one-hour 'hang-out in the classroom' session) and once in November (for another 'hang-out' session). Today was a slightly longer (90 minute) session for the kids met their home group teacher and the other kids in their home group*. BallFiend has been placed in a home group with several other boys from his creche, including one boy that he is particularly chummy with, MasterN and his teacher is Nerida.

Gran collected Thumper at 8.30 am (because after dropping BallFiend off at school, I was going to a 'planning day' at work). The orientation session started at 9.30 am, so it was almost like the real thing... I was taking BallFiend to school, then heading off to work.

We left home at about 9.10 am, caught a tram 5 stops down the road, then did the short walk to school (about 10 minutes). I took BallFiend into his classroom, settled him in, kissed him and said goodbye. Then I walked out of the school gate, back to the tram stop (only took about 5 minutes this time) and went to work.

I didn't really feel sad when I left BallFiend at school but it all felt very surreal... just leaving him there like that. The doors are open and the gates are unlocked. There was nothing to keep him in. Someone had warned me about that a while ago... at creche there's two doors to get past, both with pin-code locks. At school... nothing!


GrandPaul picked BallFiend up at 11.00 am and apparently BallFiend 'couldn't remember' anything about his time in the Prep room. I got the same story when I got back from work:
"BallFiend, how was your day at Prep? What did you do?"
"Oh, I can't remember." replied BallFiend.
A bit later he came up with a few sketchy details (after quite a bit of prompting on my part):

• "There were no balls."
• "I played blocks that had plastic inside and wood outside."
• "There were no toys because they forgot to put them out. But there will be toys next year."
• "We read a story."
• And most importantly: "I did farts with MasterN".

*The school doesn't have 'classes' or 'classrooms'. Instead a group of about 20 kids is a 'home group', and there are 2 - 3 Prep home groups in the learning community (the physical space, kind of like a classroom). The whole of Prep (there are 5 home groups in total) form the Prep learning community. It sounds very different, and it is. At the school information evening, the Principal used the RSA Changing Education Paradigms video clip to explain the school's philosophy and approach.
--

The big dry

Went in to wake Thumper from her afternoon nap today at about 3.45 pm. She had been a bit difficult about settling down to sleep when I put her in the cot at about 2 pm - I had heard her playing for a while and moving about. So I was, at the very least, expecting to find her asleep upside down in the cot with a foot or two hanging out between the bars.

I certainly was not expecting to find a completely naked child, curled up sound asleep in the top corner of her cot, with her nappy in another corner of the cot and her dress thrown out on the floor! 

My first thought was: wet sheets and blankets! But to my surprise, she hadn't even wet the nappy, let alone the sheets. She had been changed into the nappy at about 12.45 pm (just before I left StompyDad's house, where we had been visiting that morning). It was now several hours later but she was completely dry.

So I got her up and put her on the potty. Still the drought did not break. Back into a nappy and off to Gran and GrandPaul's house for swim then dinner. Even more surprising, when Gran removed that nappy, at about 4.30 pm, it was still dry too.

I can't help but think this child is cleverer that she is letting on: that she knows exactly how to use a potty, but she is just choosing not to. I admire her spirit.


--

Puddle

This morning, both kids were still asleep at 8.00 am, so I had the pleasure of being the one to wake them up... it's nice to be waking them up when it is usually the other way around! Sweet, sweet schadenfreude!

This morning was a rush-around morning as I had to get Thumper to Gran and GrandPaul's house by 9.00 am, then BallFiend to kindergarten by 9.30 am.

So I went into the kids' bedroom, opened the curtains and kissed them both good morning. I lifted a sleepy Thumper from her cot and carried her to the change table. When I removed her nappy, I discovered it was completely dry! She is well and truely still in nappies during the day, so a dry night-nappy is extraordinary. Being the opportunist that I am, I suggested that she might like to go on the potty and she readily agreed.

As much as she loves taking off her nappy and having a nudie-run, and as much as she loves pulling BallFiend's undies out of the clean washing basket and trying them on, and as much as she loves the idea of sitting on the potty, getting her to actually stay on the potty for more than a split second is near impossible. But this morning, in her sleepy state, she happily sat on the potty for several minutes. Upon rising, there was one teeny, tiny drop of wee. So we clapped and cheered and danced; and Thumper decided that she had now earned the right to a nudie-run and ran off down the hallway.


Despite knowing that there must be a whole night-time's worth of wee yet to come, I didn't chase straight after her - I paused to gather up her pyjamas first. I was only a moment behind her, but in that time she had let the flood come forth: a massive puddle was waiting, right in the middle of the hall-runner. We have floorboards throughout the entire house, but she made sure that she picked the only available piece of carpet available to wee on.

On the positive side, this mornings events tell me that:
a) she can hold on,
b) she knows how to choose where she wants to wee, and
c) she may well be out of night nappies before she is daytime toilet-trained!

--

BallFiend's Birthday Week Bake-a-thon

Last week was spent celebrating BallFiend's 5th birthday...

• On Friday, I sent BallFiend off to creche with a green-and-chocolate swirl cake to share.
• On Saturday, we held a party with his friends.
• On Sunday, we hosted an afternoon tea with the extended family.
• On Monday (his actual birthday), we chilled out at home.
• On Tuesday, I made gluten-free, egg-free, nut-free (flavour-free!) cup-cakes for him to take to Kinder to share.

Saturday's party was held at the local scout hall with 10 of BallFiend's kinder, creche and other friends, including MasterF, MasterW, LittleMissIz, Thing1 and Thing2 (daughters of FunkyOrganMan and ThingMaker). The party had a green-theme (a really simple theme to do - I can highly recommend it!). We had green balloons, a green table-cover, green napkins, plates, cutlery and of course all the food was green:

• pea and ham soup served in green cups;
• avocado dip with celery sticks for dipping (also some corn chips in green tubs);
• green jelly; 
• green-and-white coconut ice (which DeepSpice and I between us took four attempts to get right and then the kids didn't eat it anyway, but that was OK because all the groan-ups loved it!);
• a fruit platter of green(ish) fruits - Granny Smith apples, green pears and green grapes;
• the birthday cake was a butter cake with a green swirl through it and iced in green icing.

I also got 3 metres of neon-lime green tulle from Spotlight (on the discount table... I wonder why!) and made the kids green headbands to wear. We played a few games involving green straws but mostly the kids just played around in the hall. It was the easiest kids birthday party I've ever organised. Although I have to give fair credit to all the parents who hung around and helped out. I was assuming that being a five-year-old party, at least some of the parents would drop their children off for the 2 hours. But none did, and all were roped in to help with blowing up balloons, party games, food preparation and sorting out disputes! I was really glad that they did all end up staying.

Sunday's afternoon tea was attended by Gran, GrandPaul, StompyDad, CutLuce, DesignerMonkey, Cuz1, DesignerSis, Wigward and Great-Aunt-F (GrandPaul's sister) and her husband Great-Uncle-M. BallFiend and I made yet another birthday cake (banana with chocolate chips at BallFiend's request), and we ate party left-overs as well as Gran's chicken sandwiches and Great-Aunt-F's scones. Yummo!

By Monday (BallFiend's actual birthday), we were all too exhausted to do anything much at all. So after going to his usual swimming lesson, we came straight home so BallFiend could get down to the serious business of playing with all the toys he received as gifts. Highlights were:

• the mega-mega-soccerball (about 60cm diametre) from his aunt CutLuce and uncle DesignerMonkey.
• the gi-normous Earth beach ball (68cm diametre) from his aunt DesignerSis and uncle Wigward. (I'm sure DeepSpice would beg to differ with the promotional description that "It only takes a few huffs and puffs to fill this globe full of air" - he spent the first half hour of Sunday's afternoon tea blowing it up!)
• the foil "Happy Birthday balloon" on a stick from Cuz1.
• the green helium-filled balloons from Gran and GrandPaul.
• all the green balloons left over from the birthday party.

He also received several Lego kits and has been enjoying them a lot (as has Thumper), books, games, a marble run, construction toys, outdoor adventuring tools, dinosaur kits, a watering can and more. Some of the toys have been packed away so I can bring them out in instalments. There's easily enough to last him until Xmas time!

Overall he was totally indulged and doesn't really (know how to) appreciate it, but it doesn't matter... I loved seeing him so excited as he ripped open presents and how he got even more excited if they turned out to contain anything vaguely spherical. 
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Pasta, Plonk and Puzzles

Took the family on a one-day road trip today to visit Great Gran Billy in Ballarat. Due to the section of obligatory roadworks on the Western Ring Road and the usual stops along the way to respond to the various demands of our back-seat complainants, the journey took us around two hours instead of the 1 hour 20 minutes that it should have taken. 

So we arrived in Ballarat right on midday and decided to stop for lunch first. As always, BallFiend insisted on having pasta and therefore Thumper got the same (we have learned to always get her the same, otherwise she won't eat what she has and demands to eat BallFiend's food). 

As can clearly be seen, all was going quite well, until Thumper finished her meal. I carefully shifted my half-finished glass of wine out of her reach and then proceeded to wipe her hands and face before she left the table, only to catch my glass with my elbow and turn just in time to see it crash to the floor. It was just like in the movies... I watched as the glass seemed fall in slow motion, tumbling end over end, then the slow motion stopped as it hit floor and shattered into about one billion pieces. 

We made a hasty exit, stopped at a bakery for some afternoon tea supplies, then continued on to visit GGB.

Poor GGB had been ill last week - taken to hospital with vomiting - and being 95 years old, it really knocked her around a bit. CutLuce and DesignerMonkey took Cuz1 up last weekend to meet her great-grandmother for the first time and on their return, CutLuce told me how frail GGB had looked. So I felt quite relieved when I arrived to see her looking better than I was expecting... though she is definitely not the lively woman she was a few years, and even a few months, ago. 

GGB enjoyed watching Thumper and BallFiend play and even helped out with a puzzle that I had brought to keep Thumper entertained. 

We consumed our bakery treats. BallFiend and Thumper shared a croissant and GGB particularly enjoyed the lamingtons, so I got the snot-block all to myself and DeepSpice got the jam tart that had been intended for BallFiend. 

At 3.00 pm, we left GGB and gave the kids a quick run about in the playground across the road. It all ended in tears when Thumper decided to live up to her name by running into a pole and thumping her head, causing a good-sized egg to swell-up. So we loaded everyone into the car and went on our way home. 

Much like the journey to Ballarat, the journey home was plagued with slow patches due to roadworks. The recently-built Bacchus Marsh by-pass is now in operation, but obviously 'they' don't want the new road to get worn out, so one lane was blocked off, causing the traffic to dawdle along at 10kph for a couple of kilometres. Most of the rest of the journey was uneventful, apart from BallFiend kicking my seat, and Thumper repeatedly dropping her blankie and waterbottle, making me reach around awkwardly to pick them up for her. BallFiend did a reasonable job of keeping Thumper entertained by tickling her foot with his foot - bringing about endless rounds of giggling. And the colourful music of Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass kept BallFiend in good spirits.

Eventually we reached the dreaded Western Ring Road, and of course, the traffic slowed to a crawl. It took about 25 minutes to travel around 2 kilometers! Finally we reached our turn-off and stopped by Gran and GrandPaul's house where a nice glass of red bubbles awaited us. The kids were offered dinner, and refused on the grounds of cake already consumed. Then once again, we packed everyone back into the car and finally got home at about 6.00 pm.


Though it was lovely to see Great Gran Billy, overall, it was a rather exhausting day - especially for DeepSpice who did all the driving. ...if only we could teleport to Ballarat.
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Conflict resolution 101

Another new word from Thumper today. It happened when I was visiting a local primary school, the one that BallFiend will most likely attend.

The school tour was organised by The Librarian and when she told me about it, I asked if I could tag along. She was there with LittleMissF and The Bibliophile and LittleMissIz also joined the tour. Both MasterF and MasterW were at kinder. BallFiend was also meant to be at kinder, but was home sick, with Gran minding him.

So the six of us were in the Principal's office, listening to him talk about the school, or at least trying to with three active toddlers mucking about. I had taken along a magnetic drawing toy to keep Thumper entertained and when she left it unattended on the table, LittleMissF started to play with it. Moments later Thumper noticed and started to throw a tantrum... and then I heard it: "Mine!".

It seems we have arrived at the terrible twos, about 5 months early.
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Fully sick

The name of today is Monday. BallFiend has been learning the days of the week at kinder. He came home one day and said to me, "Mum, did you know there are seven days of the week?" and proceeded to recite them to me: "Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday, Friday". A few days later, he had it down pat: "Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday".

Anyway, Monday is swimming lesson day, and an exercise in logistics requiring military precision:

• 7.00 am: Get up out of bed (harder than it sounds when Thumper has woken us up at 3 am and kept us up till after 4 am). Get myself showered and dressed, leaving DeepSpice to tend the young'uns... that is, start on getting them dressed and fed.
• 7.30 am: Discover that DeepSpice has got as far as getting breakfast cereals into bowls on the bench and milk out of the fridge and on to the bench, but not actually poured onto cereal yet. Spot kids playing, and still in PJs. 
• 7.35 am: Find clothes and dress the slippery eels kids. Dressing Thumper is relatively straight-forward, except for those times when she does her over-cooked spaghetti impersonation and goes all 'boneless'. Thankfully, she's decided to be al-dente today. BallFiend takes a lot longer because: (a) he dresses himself; (b) he has to hold a ball whilst dressing himself; (c) he has to run about the house playing with said ball in between putting on each item of clothing. 
• 7.45 am: Sit Thumper in the highchair with a bowl of Vitabrits. Place BallFiend's breakfast on the table. Sit down and attempt to eat my breakfast.
• 7.46 am: Get up to replenish Thumper's bowl of Vitabrits. 
• 7.50 am: Encourage, cajole, nag, suggest, nag, remind, nag and shout at BallFiend to: (a) come to the table; (b) eat his Vitabrits; (c) 'turn around and eat facing the table and stop dropping food on the floor!'; (d) 'keep eating and stop playing with your spoon/placemat/ball/other distraction'; until a sufficient quantity of breakfast has finally been eaten... 
• 7.59 am: Hand damp face-washer to BallFiend and use another to wipe up Thumper, the mess on and under the highchair. Extract Thumper from highchair. Quickly wipe up mess on floor before Thumper walks through it. 
• 8.00 am: Start packing kids bags, making snacks to take to pool. No sandwiches for lunch today because there's no bread, again. 
• 9.30 am: Encourage, cajole, nag, suggest, nag, remind, nag and shout at BallFiend to put shoes on, go to toilet, get ready to go, etc., etc. Change Thumper's nappy.
• 10.00 am: Departure, Take 1. Strap Thumper into car seat, ask BallFiend to get into car. BallFiend announces "I have a poo!". Unstrap Thumper and return to the house. Assist BallFiend with wiping up after the event. Encourage, cajole, nag, suggest, nag, remind, nag and shout at BallFiend to put his pants back on, flush toilet, wash hands, dry hands. All things that he would be able to do much more quickly if he would only put down that ball for a moment! 
• 10.15 am: Departure, Take 2. Strap Thumper into car seat, ask BallFiend to get into car. BallFiend rants that he wanted to be strapped in first. Briefly consider unstrapping Thumper then decide to weather BallFiend's tantrum instead, in the vain hope that he will learn an important life lesson (which he probably will, but that won't come back to benefit me for another 25 years). Strap BallFiend in. Strap myself in, start engine. Drive down driveway. Realise I have forgotten Thumper's blankie. Turn off car and return to house (leaving kids strapped in). If someone is fool enough to kidnap them, then so be it.
• 10.30 am: Departure, Take 3. Return to car with blankie. Drive off to Gran and GrandPaul's house. Deposit a protesting Thumper. On our way again.
• 10.45 am: Arrive at swimming pool. Quickly help BallFiend change into bathers (amazing how cooperative he becomes when it is all about getting into a swimming pool). Time for 10 mins of playtime until the lesson with Nuccio. 
• 11.00 am: Lesson starts. Quick chat with The Bibliophile, MasterW and LittleMissIz before nicking out to cafe to start reading the next book for my bookgroup. 

After the swimming lesson, I dragged a protesting BallFiend to the change rooms. He wants to play in the pool longer. But I know he needs to go and get fed, ASAP, before a hunger-induced meltdown occurs. We join The Bibliophile, MasterW and LittleMissIz at a local eatery, as we often do. Today it is Al-Alamy for some Lebanese pizzas. Part way through his cheese calzoni, BallFiend announces that he won't eat anymore because he feels sick. Not like him at all, as he loves cheese and simple carbs, which is all that the cheese calzoni is, and he is usually starving after swimming. But then he and MasterW start running around the store, so I dismiss the idea that he is really sick. They go up and down the aisles with all the loose nuts in tubs. I chase after him and tell him not to go near the nuts (BallFiend has a serious nut allergy).

Then BallFiend and MasterW settle in front of the drinks fridges and start rolling BallFiend's "soccerball beach ball with a bell in it" back and forwards, continuously getting in the way of passing customers. ThePupperMaker arrives with her son MasterD (whom we know from 3 year old kinder) and the ball rolling game gets taken up a notch, then it is back to running around the aisles next to the nuts.

We decide to make a hasty exit and The Bibliophile suggests that I drop BallFiend off at her place so that he and MasterW can have a play while I do my shopping. We wander back to our cars, with our cute little boys holding hands and chattering away to each other. Then head back to The Bibliophile's house. Once there I stop for a cup of tea and shortly after, BallFiend resumes his complaint about feeling sick and wanting to go home.

I dismiss this at first, as he often gets into a sullen mood these days with no obvious reason and/or claims to be sick as a means of getting his way. But as I watch him over my cup of tea, I can see him looking more and more pale. His posture looks awkward and uncomfortable. He says he is cold, yet it is a beautiful 24 degrees. I touch his torso and feel heat radiating from his skin. OK, so he has a temperature and he really is a bit sick. So I ask him to lie on the couch and wait while I finish my cup of tea and get ready to go. He refuses at first, insisting that he needs his dummy and blankie to rest. Five minutes later, he is sound asleep.

I carry him to the car and drive home. Then carry him to his bed. Seconds later he starts vomiting... I catch it in the only thing to hand: his precious blankie. I clean him up, take his temperature (just under 40 degrees) and give him some Panadol. Then he vomits again. But he feels marginally better now and lies down, falling straight back to sleep. By now it is about 3.30 pm and I ring Gran and GrandPaul to ask them to drive Thumper home.

At 7 pm, I wake BallFiend and check his temperature again. It's come down to 37.8 degrees and he is much chirpier, but still feels sick. So I get him ready for bed and convince him to drink a little bit of water (he refuses a Hydralyte iceblock or apple juice) . He's asleep again by 8 pm, and Thumper not long after.

Thankfully, has DeepSpice put on the washing, so I don't have to deal with cleaning up all the vomited on things (including my pants!). Here's hoping that he is all better tomorrow and more importantly, that Thumper doesn't catch it.
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