NYE 2011

Ever since BallFiend came on the scene, my night-time social life has been somewhat curtailed. (Actually, I can't really blame BallFiend... I'd stopped being a party animal soon after I finished uni and got a full time job). Anyway, I can't actually remember the last time I went to a New Year's Eve party. That might be because I had such a good time. But more likely it is because it was so long ago. 

So I was very exciting to receive an invitation from RedJo and CT:

Hi Everyone,

To save (us) finding a babysitter, We are going to have a NYE party at our place this year. We'll start with a kid-friendly BBQ and red cordial at say 5 or 6, then put progressively more exotic animals on the BBQ and less water in the cordial until we all fall over.

Hope you can come!

CT and RedJo 

The party was heaps of fun... just like those all-nighters we used to do when I was in my teens and 20s, except:
a) the grog was soooooo much better quality,
b) we had proper (and yummy!) food, not just packets of Twisties, and
c) we had to leave by 12.15 pm with our very over-tired children (but I was super-impressed that they managed to stay awake until midnight! By 10.30 pm, Thumper was walking like she was drunk.)

Once home, I became a whirlwind of activity and had the kids into PJs, teeth brushed and into bed within 10 minutes! I have never done this before, even when completely sober, so I have no idea how it happened this time.  Even more amazing: I achieved it all on my own, with no help from DeepSpice (who, he told me later, was simply looking on in amazement and trying to stay out of my way).

It was a fantastic way to usher in the new year, and 2012 could have only got better if Thumper hadn't decided to wake us up at 6.45 am.

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Wine, women and books

I've heard it said that we all destined to become our mothers (or fathers, as the case may be if you are male), and it seems I am already following in my mother's footsteps. Not simply in the sense of spawning two human beings (at least one of which is destined to become like me by virtue of her sex). No, I have joined a book group... exactly as my own mother did when she was around my current age.

It all started some months ago (back in April) when, at the invitation of The Bibliophile, I agreed (with some trepidation), to join in a monthly meet-up of other women who also all happen to be mothers of pre-school children. The premise was to read books and then chat about them.

Our book list, so far... 

April: Unpolished Gem by Alice Pung 

May: Carpentaria by Alexis Wright

June: Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali 

July: Joe Cinque's Consolation by Helen Garner

August: The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas 

September: On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

October: The Weather Makers by Tim Flannery

However, The Bibliophile had a secret agenda to create an excuse a reason for us to get out to the pub for an evening of good company, good food and good wine; and as a way to continue the friendships we had formed through our childrens' playgroup as our children get older and move on to other things.

For the first few months, we met at the Edinburgh Castle Hotel. Then, when we had tired of that menu, we moved on to The Post Office Hotel (which has recently been renovated and has just opened it's kitchen...  fantastic menu!). However for our most recent meeting, ArizonaGal invited us all to her home for our book group evening because her hubbie BotanyBoy is a bit of a sustainability guru and was interested to join in the discussion on Tim Flannery's The Weather Makers.

The evening was notable because:
(a) The Adel-Lady was present for the first time (with previous absences to be fairly attributed PainterSam's ever-increasing notoriety since getting all famous and stuff);
(b) we welcomed a new member, K., bringing the number of our group to nine;
(c) the presence of BotanyBoy was the first time we have had a male in our midst; and
(d) we weren't at a pub.

Indeed, the highlight of the evening for me was the lovely atmosphere created by ArizonaGal and BotanyBoy. When we arrived, the scene was set for a garden-party, with lawn chairs set out ready for our discussion. With drinks in hands, we gathered under the hills hoist to commence proceedings. Discussion was robust, and we all seemed to find plenty to say (despite the fact that the majority of us had not finished -- or in some cases even started -- reading the book). As dusk fell, we paused to spray ourselves with insect repellent (drat those infernal mosquitoes) and to say goodnight to LittleMissL and MasterS who were off to bed after watching Mary Poppins.

As night fell, we adjourned to the outdoor dining table for dinner, surrounded by candle-lit lanterns scattered around the garden. BotanyBoy looked quite comfortable seated at the head of the table, surrounded all of us mums-on-a-night-off. Several empty bottles of wine were cleared away, making space to serve ArizonaGal's delicious vegetable lasagna (made with BotanyBoy's home-grown pumpkin). Dessert was a choice of yummy cakes (lemon or chocolate) brought by E. and L. (OK, OK, there was no choice involved, I had a piece of each!)

After a time, the discussion wandered away from the topic of climate change and onto more mundane things (including our children, which is a topic that is supposedly banned at book group) and the evening slowly drew to a close.

It was without doubt, a lovely evening, full of style and sophistication. And although we didn't manage to solve the problem of humanity-induced climate change, The Weather Makers made a strong impression on me. I am now inclined to read Here On Earth: a case for hope, Tim Flannery's new book.
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How to make 5 o'clock rock

Arsenic hour. Crying hour. Witching hour.

Call it what you will, every mum knows that when the clock hits 5.00 pm, kids everywhere go mental.

I was warned when BallFiend was a baby: "newborns are known to cry more in the late afternoon and early evening... maybe they're overstimulated by the day's events or something... just feed 'em more and they will settle down eventually". I learned from a Breastfeeding Education Class run by the Australian Breastfeeding Association that this behaviour of frequent feeding is called 'cluster feeding'. I suspect it has very little to do with the Witching Hour that strikes kids as they get older.

And I used to think it I had it bad when BallFiend was a toddler - 5 o'clock brought out his inner-demon and he would try to simultaneously play with scissors, stick his head in the oven, stick the scissors in a powerpoint, have a cuddle, scream and/or bang his head on the floor when what he really needed to do was eat a quick dinner then go to bed. Trying to prepare dinner was challenging. Trying to get BallFiend to eat it (in less than an hour) was even more challenging. Getting him to bed after dinner was a little more straightforward, usually because DeepSpice arrived home from work in time to help out take over.

But I really learned what the Witching Hour is all about once Thumper came along. It is not just that there are two kids hitting the wall at the same time; it's worse because between them, they amplify things and play off each other. At first, Thumper just did the typical newborn cluster feeding, and BallFiend was relatively easy to deal with because DeepSpice took 7 weeks leave from work so one of us could prepare dinner uninterrupted. Piece of cake, I thought. Then Thumper grew up, got mobile and got attitude!

Usually DeepSpice doesn't get home from work until 6.00 - 6.15 pm, and my aim is to feed the kids 5.00 or 5.30 pm, so Thumper can have her final breastfeed at 6.30 pm and be in bed at 7.00 pm. So getting dinner prepared with two kids underfoot is horrible. No matter how early I start preparing dinner - even if it's 3.00 pm - they seem to know what I am doing, and they just start the Witching Hour early.

So when The Adel-lady invited BallFiend (along with Thumper and myself) and LittleMissL (along with MasterS and ArizonaGal) over for 3.00 pm playdate last Friday with LittleMissP and LittleMissA, I was expecting nothing more than an hour or two of play-time, a cup of tea, a chat, then home in time to rush through the dinner-then-prepare-for-bed routine.

But once there, I realised that The Adel-lady had much more bigger plans: forget the cup of tea - we had a bottle of sparkling wine instead. The kids had a riot, literally, but no one got (seriously) hurt. We didn't end up leaving until 6.00 pm, so when I got home DeepSpice was already there, ready to share the joys of the Witching Hour... which, I might add, hit with full force! But at least we only had to endure it for an hour-and-a-half as the kids were packed off to bed at the usual time. And a glass or two of wine really does help...

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Have a ball at the Zoo

Went to the Zoo today with several other playgroup mums (ArizonaGal, The Bibliophile, The Seamstress, The Librarian and HM) and between us our eleven!!! offspring (BallFiend, Thumper, LittleMissL, MasterS, MasterW, LittleMissIz, MasterF, LittleMissF, MasterL, MasterM and MasterT).

The main purpose of the visit was to see Mali, the baby elephant, but also to have a change from 'the usual' (a local playground). The plan was to meet at the Elephant Barn at 10.30 am and see Mali when she was brought out at 11.00 am.

I was aiming to get to the Zoo by 9.30 am and see a few things beforehand. However, despite rushing around the house since about 8.00 am, we only just managed to make the 9.59 am train. On our way to the elephant area, we stopped off to see a few animals - the platypus, the meer cats and the tiger. Then, whilst walking along the Elephant Trail, just as we were passing the tiger enclosure, we met up with The Seamstress and her boys MasterL and MasterM.

We continued on together, past some very inquisitive pelicans, and arrived at the Elephant Barn right on 10.30 am, to find ourselves at the end of a very long queue. In the queue ahead of us were Jovial Jo with MasterW and LittleMissIz and even closer to the front of the queue ArizonaGal with LittleMissL and MasterS.

We waited half an hour in order to (eventually!) see Mali for 5 minutes along with 150 other people, before we were moved on so the next 150 people could come and do the same.

Mali, the 6-week old baby elephant, out for a stroll.

Might as well have watched a video really. But I do understand why the Zoo has such limited viewing times... Mali is only 6 weeks old after all! I did the same with my 6 week old babies - tried to protect them from too much excitement and ensure they got the rest they needed. But it was a long time to wait - especially for a bunch of three year olds. I was very impressed with how patient BallFiend was.

After Mali, we went on to see lots more: Orangutans, Seals and Little Penguins with the other playgroup friends. Then we all stopped at the cafe for lunch. After lunch, most of the others went home but The Seamstress and I (with our kids) continued on to see the Gorillas, Monkeys and other primates, a crocodile (of sorts), Lions, and Giant Tortoises.

BallFiend and MasterL

And then there was one - just me with BallFiend and Thumper (as The Seamstress needed to take MasterM home for a nap). We decided to stay and see some more, starting with the Reptiles and Frogs. After a stop-off for a hard-earned icypole, we went on to see the Bears, Big Cats, Turtles, Lemurs and finally the Giraffe and Zebras. By this point I was exhausted so we headed for the train station.

So, with all these exciting things to see - I'm sure you are wondering what was the highlight of the day for BallFiend? Was it the Lions (he is a Leo), was it the Bears (nearly - they had a ball toy in their enclosure and he couldn't understand why they weren't constantly playing with it), or was it the Giant Tortoises, which were 'this big'.

BallFiend explaining
just how big the Giant Tortoises are.

No, of course not... on our way to the exit, along the Main drive, BallFiend found a ball, surprise, surprise. A small, black one about the size of a walnut. "Can I keep it Mama?" he asked. (He calls me 'mama' whenever he is around MasterL or LittleMissZ who both call their mothers 'mama'. He also calls me 'mama' whenever he wants to suck up to me.) He was ecstatic when I said that he could. (It crossed my mind that we could hand it in to Lost Property, but I didn't think a little plastic made-in-China type trinket would be something any sensible parent was going to bring the child back to the Zoo to find and I was too tired to be bothered anyway).

BallFiend's highlight from his day

at the Zoo - a small, black, plastic ball.

When we got home, BallFiend accidentally dropped the new ball on the floorboards and it was then we discovered this was no ordinary ball - it pops open to reveal a little man inside!

The ball pops open to reveal... a man!
BallFiend's excitement at finding the ball
was nothing compared to this discovery!

So when DeepSpice got home and I encouraged BallFiend to tell him about our day, there was not a mention of the Zoo, just a show-and-tell about the new ball.

Sigh.

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Report card - 3 years old!

BallFiend is three years old today, so I thought I would write him a 'report card'... just like teachers at school used to do to me. (Ha Ha!)

According to Raising Children web site, by three years old, BallFiend...

should be able to:
identify four pictures by naming

Yes. Identifies more pictures than I can count. Can also identify many letters of the alphabet, several numbers and even his own name. He also is frequently asking ‘what does that say’ when pointing to a word. Whilst staying with Gran and GrandPaul, he pointed to the word 'party' on the packet of balloons and asked if it said 'party'. But we are not sure if he recognised the word or it was just a good guess based on prior knowledge and context.

wash and dry hands

Yes. Thanks to carers at crèche teaching BallFiend to do this.

identify a friend by naming

Yes. Names and talks about many of his friends, including when they are not present. Especially playgroup friends LittleMissL, LittleMissP, MasterS, MasterF, MasterW, LittleMissIz, MasterL as well as PetitAmi, and various friends from crèche.

throw a ball overhand

Yes. And kicks a ball along the ground, and kicks a ball drop-punt style, and dribbles a ball with his feet, and pat-bounces a ball, and catches a ball... and, and, and...

speak and be understood half the time

Yes. In fact, sometimes he never shuts up! Can be understood about 95% of the time by his parents and most other people as well.

carry on a conversation of two or three sentences

Yes. In addition to conversations, he also does monologues. Recently (last month or so), BallFiend has become extremely imaginative and makes up short stories. He also likes to make up songs.

use prepositions

Yes. Uses many including: about, above, across, after, around, at, before, behind, between, but, by, down, for, from, in, inside, like, near, of, off, on, out, outside, over, to, under, up, with...

will probably be able to:
use two adjectives

Yes. Uses many adjectives – more than I can count!

put on a T-shirt

Maybe. Probably could do this if he wanted to, but BallFiend has no motivation to dress himself. He does help with putting on tops – if I put it over his head, he will put the arms into the sleeves by himself without prompting.

broad jump

Yes, I think so... if this means jump forwards from a stationary position.

may possibly be able to:
balance on each foot for two seconds

Yes.

describe the use of two objects

Yes. Many more than two.

may even be able to:
copy a circle

Yes.

prepare a bowl of cereal

Maybe. BallFiend probably could do this but has not tried – shows no interest in doing this.
The breakfast routine now consists of DeepSpice or I placing a bowl of dry vitabrits (2 biscuits, crushed up) on his little table and a jug of warm milk.
BallFiend sits down and likes us to push his chair in for him. He will put his own bib on (sometimes, when motivated), and always wipes his own hands on a damp cloth before a meal. He then likes to pour his own milk and does so with full control. Rarely spills any. He then ‘mushes’ the vitabrits with a spoon and gets annoyed if they are not flat and smooth. Then he usually eats them with his bare hands.
Often he will demand a second helping (another 2 vitabrit biscuits). When he finished eating, he wipes his hands on his cloth, and sometimes wipes spills up from the table. Then he runs to me or DeepSpice and asks us to wipe his hands (he is sometimes annoyingly fastidious about getting his hands messy... although after meals his hands usually do need a bit more cleaning up).

dress without help

Maybe. BallFiend shows no interest in selecting clothes to wear, even to the extent that he won’t even make a choice between two t-shirts if offered the opportunity to choose. (Which is the complete opposite of the girls in our playgroup who love to choose their own clothes and even accessorise!)

identify four colours

Yes. Knows red, green, blue, yellow, pink, orange, black, purple, brown, white and ‘clear’ (ie. transparent). Sometimes describes various shade of purple as blue or red.

put on an article of clothing

Yes. Can put on own socks and pants but is very unmotivated to do so... will only do so if heavily encouraged. BallFiend also put on own shoes once or twice, again with much encouragement. I suppose he just has more interesting things to do. Can put on own hat.

Very good at taking off items of clothing – especially shoes and socks, which are usually removed as soon as he comes into the house and are then thrown asunder! (Much to my annoyance.)

To conclude, an obligatory, patronising section...

BallFiend demonstrates great curiosity about the world and continues to apply himself well to task of learning. He does this through unstructured play but also responds well to parental or other carers direction when engaging in more structured activities.

He is extremely interested in balls and all their physical properties, and demonstrates a strong ability to focus at length when investigating the various ways that a single ball can move, be used and sometimes destroyed (the 'face ball' got stabbed in the eye with a screwdriver, the blue and white ball got thrown in a rose bush, the seams of the seahorse beach ball gave up after it was sat on one time too many, and many ping pong balls have been squashed underfoot as BallFiend attempted to backspin them with his heel). His favourite ball at present is the green/blue/pink/clear beach ball; however it also gets sat on frequently and will presumably soon be in ball heaven too.

Whilst it is pleasing to see such a strong ability to focus, BallFiend would benefit from expanding his interests into other areas, for example toy cars or dinosaurs. [I got a school report once that said I spent too much time reading books by a single author and that I should try reading more widely. The school librarian didn't understand that my preference was to read all books by an author before moving on to another author. Something I still do now and don't see any problem with!]

Over the past year, BallFiend has also enjoyed a range of other activities:

• Artistic: drawing in crayon, stamps and ink, playdoh, cutting up paper with scissors. BallFiend's favourite colour is green.
  
• Culinary: baking with me, chopping up vegetables with a proper kitchen knife (mainly zucchini and onion), grocery shopping, and of course squishing and throwing food.
• Music: singing songs, composing his own songs, playing harmonica (especially if jamming with DeepSpice on guitar or playing along to Sugar Blue with GrandPaul also on harmonica), strumming guitar (again with DeepSpice's help). His favourite music is 'rock and roll' (by which he means the Queen Greatest Hits album) and in particular "mama mia" (by which he means Bohemian Rhapsody).
• Literacy: BallFiend shows great interest in learning to recognise and write various letters and numbers. Favourites are "H" and the number 8. He likes to 'do writing' using pens, biros and markers and not just on paper (furniture, walls and balls have all been popular media). BallFiend loves to read books and be read to - especially books that feature balls or anything ball-shaped, like balloons or eggs. At last count he had well over 100 books.
• Science: recognises various planets and other astrological bodies (Earth, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter), naturally of interest because they are ball-shaped; is interested in physics - can describe a synchotron ("It goes round and round and round and round and BANG!"); likes to experiment with gravity particularly using toys such as marble and ball runs; interested in various materials and their properties ("is this rubber? is this plastic? is this wood?" etc). Understands some aspects of human physiology and is particularly fascinated with the digestive system (ie. he giggles when he farts!); interested in observing blood come out (when watching me have blood samples taken for testing) and speculating on what colour it is.
• Consuming media: watching TV (favourite shows include PlaySchool, the Upside Down Show, Curious George the Monkey and Shaun the Sheep), playing Peggle, watching video clips on YouTube (especially the Pinball Song from Sesame St), watching our Tim Minchin DVD (we had to curb that one, as he was learning some very colourful language!).

Overall, BallFiend, you are a delight to be around almost all of the time. It is only when you are grumpy due to being tired and/or hungry that you display some of the more difficult behaviours typical of your stage of development. You show great maturity, empathy and intelligence for someone so little and both DeepSpice and I look forward to watching you grow and develop.

A+

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It's party season!

Last weekend was the official opening of "Party season"... in my world at least. We had a pre-season warm up when LittleMissIz had her first birthday party on June 14, then things really got underway last week. Here's the birthday schedule for the coming few months:

• DesignerSis - 25th birthday dinner on June 25,
  
• LittleMissP - 3rd birthday party on June 27,
• MasterS - 1st birthday party on June 28,
• FunkyOrganMan's daughter - 1st birthday party on July 4,
  
• GrandPaul - 60th birthday party on July 4
• LittleMissL - 3rd birthday party on July 19,
• Gran - 61st birthday on August 1; then
• BallFiend - 3rd birthday party on August 9.

There are a smattering of other birthdays for family, friends and playgroup mums and and bubs in August and September, but the majority are in June and July. Then there is a bit of a break before xmas brings on the next round of festivities.

Of course, this party-season phenomenon is hardly surprising, given that our 'mothers group' was set up by the maternal child health nurse specifically for mums who all had their babies within a 6 - 8 week period. The addition of second babies also born at this time of year only increases the party-season atmosphere!

It's all great fun - especially for BallFiend. Unfortunately he overdosed on party food at MasterS's party and was incredibly hyperactive for hours afterwards. He also got itchy rashes all over his body. So clearly something in the food wasn't good for him. I suspect it was food additives added to things like chips and 100s & 1000s (on fairybread).
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Bye bye toes

It's lucky I got my maternity wear sorted out the other day because in the past week (at 14 weeks pregnant), my belly has just popped out! I went from looking a bit 'thicker' around the middle to suddenly having a pregnant bump. I reckon when I was pregnant with BallFiend, my bump didn't get this big till I was about 4 to 5 months pregnant. Now I am a bit nervous about just how big I might end up being at 9 months!

Went to the playground this morning to meet ArizonaGal, LittleMissL and MasterS for playgroup. A lovely surprise too when The Bibliophile, MasterW and LittleMissIz joined us too.

I also arranged to meet MidwifeS, a student midwife who I found via an online pregnancy forum, at the park -- our first meeting in person after several exchanges via email. She was very easy to talk to... we chatted for about two hours, on-and-off, while I chased BallFiend around the place, fed him and changed his pooey nappy, etc.

I think I am going to like having a student midwife 'follow' me through my pregnancy, birth and the post-natal period; after all, who doesn't love the opportunity to talk about oneself for a couple of hours on end?! Assuming MidwifeS also attends my birth I am going to have quite a team in the room: with DeepSpice, VolubleK, MidwifeS plus the other hospital midwives. Just as long as they make sure I am the centre of attention and they don't all chat amongst themselves!

Back in the routine

BallFiend and I went to playgroup this morning with The Adel-Lady, LittleMissP, LittleMissA and ArizonaGal, LittleMissL and MasterS. Fairly impromptu... everyone feeling tired and worn out after all the hot nights and lack of sleep. Still, the kids seemed to enjoy it. The playground was thick with ants - too many people leaving food scraps around.

Although none of our littles are school-aged yet, we felt a sense of relief that we are back into school term time and everything is getting back into a routine again.

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