Neighbours

We have been living in our house for nine years now. It's on a main road and lacks that sense of community spirit that one tends to find in the quieter back streets. Across the road from us are several blocks of flats and units, many of them rental properties so there is a high turn-over of residents. Immediately to our East is a single story, ugly, brown brick, nouveau-wog house. The shutters are almost always down. And on the Western side is a large, two-story, brown brick, ugly nouveau-wog establishment; so large that our guests to mistake it for a block of flats.

to our East

to our West

When I say large, I mean enormous - the monstrosity fills most of the block. It's windows overlook our driveway and have a view straight into our bedrooms. At the front, the house has 'classy' white balustrading around the balcony and a driveway paved with large orange tiles. Not pretty but fortunately we usually can't see too many tiles as they are covered by the fleet of cars that belong to the household. A household of 3 people! There's the dad 'G', his wife 'C' and their adult son 'M' who really ought to have flown the family nest while he was still in his early thirties. They are frequently visited by their adult daughter who has married and spawned and now lives around the corner.

I first met G soon after we had moved in. A friendly-enough chat over the fence. This happened a few more times, and sometimes just a quick wave hello as we passed in the street. But things started to go a little bit wrong. One day I came outside to find G up a ladder painting the balcony of his house, on a ladder which had it's base in our driveway. He was positioned right over our car. Luckily no paint had dripped on it yet. I told him that he had no right to come onto our property, especially without asking first and told him to leave. Another time, I came home to find him in our driveway, digging around in the garden bed along the fence line - apparently the dirt from our garden bed was coming under a gap in the fence and he was trying to plug the gap or something. Again I told him not to take the liberty of coming onto our property. After this incident, we put a padlock on our gate.

Then we started renovating our place. First step was the garage which we extended to create room for DeepSpice's planned woodworking workshop. The original garage had an annoying 30cm gap between the fence line and the side of the existing garage. On his side of the fence, G had years of hoarded crap piled up - old timbers and sheets of corrogated iron, etc., high enough to be covering the gutters of our garage, which were now rusted out as a result. He seemed annoyed at having to move it when we started building.

We were told by Council that our new garage wall extension would either have to be right on the fence line or we would have to leave a 1 metre gap between the wall and the fence. We chose to build on the fence line (our yard is not big enough to allow the luxury of a one metre gap). This seemed to annoy G and his son, and from this point, he started making our lives difficult. Our building works were held up while we attempted to discuss the issue with G. Then G would not allow the builder to remove the fence so he could access our garage from the other side of the fence during the building works. So our builder had to do everything over the garage roof. Once the building was finished, there was just a small gap between the fence and the garage wall of about 10 cm. A week later we discovered that G had pulled down the fence and claimed this 10cm gap for himself. He also took the liberty of painting our Colourbond downpipe and guttering in a horrible shade of brown to match his house.

Several more annoyances have occurred since. For example:

• Visitors to G's house frequently park in the driveway blocking the footpath, which apart from being illegal, is simply annoying. When I am out with Thumper in the pram, I am forced to walk on the busy main road, around the offending car. Despite asking the drivers of these vehicles not to block the footpath, they keep doing, because they are too lazy to park in front of a neighbouring house and walk 20 metres along the footpath. 
• G places his rubbish bins in the middle of our shared driveway crossover, so that once the truck empties them, they end up in the middle of our driveway, blocking the way if we need to drive our car out. 
• Cigarette butts end up in our driveway, a long way back from the road. So I have my suspicions that they throw them over our fence. 

The way things are now... we don't like 'em but mostly we just ignore them and can speak civilly if the need arises. So DeepSpice and I were very puzzled a few days ago when a letter arrived from the Department of Justice (DoJ) inviting us to a mediation session at the Dispute Settlement Centre regarding 'an issue of concern' with a 'Mr D'. There was no mention of what the issue of concern was and we had no idea who this 'Mr D.' was. I looked the name up in the telephone directory and discovered that it was in fact G, our neighbour. And finally after two days of telephoning the DoJ, DeepSpice finally got hold of a real, live human being who could tell us what was going on. Apparently G has a problem with the pittosporum trees we have planted in the garden bed along the fenceline! He wants us to cut them back, or more likely he probably wants us to cut them down and concrete over the entire area. We could not believe he would go to the DoJ rather than just talk to us! DeepSpice does recall G having asked on two previous occasions for us to cut back the trees branches that extended over his fence line. We told G that if he wants to prune the trees he can (legally he has the right to do so as long as he does not damage or kill the trees). 

So that is the f-wit who lives to our West. 

Turns out, we have one on our East as well. An Italian family of nona, mother, father and their two kids have lived there for about 4 years now. I have often spoken to C, the nona, as she has seen me outside with my babies (when Thumper and BallFiend were still babies), and everyone knows that old Italian women love babies! However, I have barely laid eyes on the rest of the family. The household is a bit strange too, they seem to own a taxi business and there are always taxis arriving, getting cleaned and then leaving again. 

The man also has an expensive hobby of restoring vintage cars, and he likes to take them for a drive now and then. That is fine, except that he warms up the engine in his driveway, in a spot that is about 2 metres from our lounge room window. Our house is an old weatherboard, not particularly well-sealed. So all the smelly exhaust fumes find their way in through the gaps, and the noise of the engine resonates throughout the house. Very unpleasant and not helpful when trying to settle a screaming baby. So a few years ago, when BallFiend was a baby, DeepSpice went around and politely asked if he could please warm up the engine out in the street. The man begrudgingly complied and has mostly done so ever since. 

Over the past year or so I haven't seen the kids or their mother around, so I suspect they might have separated and the mother and kids have moved out. After recent issues we have had with father, I would not be surprised. A few weeks ago, at about 10 pm, a noisy power tool started up, a sander or something, in the garage at the back of their property. By 11.30 pm when we were definitely ready for bed, it was still going. DeepSpice attempted to go around and ask the neighbour to be quiet, but couldn't gain access - ringing the doorbell was unlikely to be heard by the man all the way down in his shed and the driveway gate was locked. So we put up with it and DeepSpice went around to speak to him the next day.

This guy had a serious chip on his shoulder! He carried on about 'you and your perfect life' and that if he was doing something illegal (which he in fact was) we should call the cops. We would never consider bothering the cops with something like this, especially if we had not first tried to speak with the neighbour. After all, for all we knew, he may not have been aware that he was bothering us. Anyway, DeepSpice convinced him to stop the noise by 10.30 pm (which is 2.5 hours later than EPA noise rules allow for).

A week or so later, we received a scrawled note in our letterbox:

  

So now it turns out we also have a f-wit who lives to our East. 

I have been talking to DeepSpice about moving house on and off for the past year or two. This really makes me want to move sooner rather than later!

PS. Sorry for the very long post (rant), but I feel marginally better now.

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Is this thing on?

A while ago, I dropped my Palm Tunsten T3... actually, it was about a week or two before Thumper was born.

So, anyways, I finally got around to replacing it. I am now the proud owner of an HTC Desire smartphone. So far, I'm loving it!

I have just downloaded Google's Blogger app, and the whole point of this post is to try it out!

Postscript: I had to delete the post that was sent from my phone and re-post it using the web browser, because for some reason the Blogger app on the phone requires my GPS position and then automatically adds this to the bottom of the post. I don't particularly want my address published on the internet... even though Google got the address wrong. Screw you Google. 

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Thumper's report card - 17 months

Despite my best intentions to ensure that Thumper gets an equal billing on this blog, the fact is she doesn't. At present, she has a mere 74 posts compared to BallFiend's 152. While this can in part be explained by the fact that BallFiend was born first and therefore has the advantage of having had more time to accumulate posts about his antics, it is also simply that she has the mis-fortune of being the second child. Sorry Thumper, that's your lot and you will have to live with it! And I will do my best to ensure you are not forgotten in this important historical record. 

So Thumper on this, the occasion of your 17-month-a-versary, here is your report card. 

According to the Raising Children web site, by the end of this month, your toddler:

… should be able to:

• use two words - certainly can, a whole lot more than two in fact, and there are a whole lot of sign language words as well;
• drink from a cup - yes, both with a lid and without (though the latter is only done under close supervision);

… will probably be able to:

• build a tower of two cubes - indeed, you did so yesterday using small cubes of watermelon as blocks and built a tower 3 cubes high (that was all the watermelon you had left so I don't know if you could have gone higher); 

… may possibly be able to:

• walk up steps - you do this when holding an adult's hand, but we don't have a lot of steps around, so I haven't noticed you do this on your own as yet; [Update, 8 February 2011: you can definitely walk up steps - you did so today when we took BallFiend to his first day at kinder.] 
• remove an article of clothing - oh, yes! You remove your bib, getting food in your hair in the process, you take off your top if you don't like it and every now and then you slide out of your pants with such ease that I wonder if they have satin lining. Your most recent skill in undressing is undoing the velco tabs on your nappy covers. This is bad news! I do not want you taking your nappies of yet! 
• ‘feed’ a doll - another yes. On Saturday (5 February) you placed two dolls (your 'baay-bees') in your high chair and feed them using a bowl and spoon. I was amazed! Having never seen BallFiend exhibit this behaviour we can be assured that this is something you have come up with on your own. Unfortunately you have just reinforced the idea that there are innate behaviours relating to one's sex and that gender is not entirely learned behaviour. 

… may even be able to:

• build a tower of four cubes - maybe, see 'build a tower of two cubes' above. 
• identify two items in a picture by pointing - yes, at least two
• combine words - yes, for example you have signed 'more food' and you have used the phrase 'I want...'
• throw a ball overhand - sure can, in fact just this morning, you were throwing BallFiend's blue football into the tub of ball over and over again. I love the way toddlers are entertained by such simple things.
• speak and be understood half the time - well, you certainly speak a lot and are really good at making yourself understood using a mix of words spoken and signed, combined with lots of pointing. You frequently launch into long monologues that sound like you are speaking in a foregin language with your own consistent vocabulary and grammar. Unfortunately DeepSpice and I do not understand a lot of it... but it's very entertaining and cute! Overall, I'd say 'yes' to this point, but I doubt anyone apart DeepSpice and I can really understand you. 

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Melon BallFiend

BallFiend made morning tea for Thumper and himself today. He had seen a Play School presenter using a melon-baller on a watermelon and decided to have a go.

The end result was impressive: a bowl with about 3 ball-shaped pieces of watermelon and a whole lot of little, decidedly-not-ball-shaped slivers of watermelon. Plus watermelon juice everywhere! But he had a great time and also enjoyed serving the fruit into a little bowl and taking it over to Thumper in her high chair. Thumper, being the little piggy that she is, ended up eating about 90% of the watermelon - she had the unfair advantage of being able to sit and eat whilst BallFiend did the preparation.
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Happy New Year to me

Tuesday was my new year, the anniversary of my emergence into the world, thirty-something years ago.
It is also not long after the ten-year anniversary of my mother's death from breast cancer (on 14 January 2001).

I find that being motherless has a whole new dimension now that I am a mother myself. There are so many times when I ache for my mum and wish she was here to help me, to understand what it means to be a mother and to ask about her about her experiences of raising me. But this cannot be. All I can do is accept the way things are and do my best to remember my mum.

So I decided to mark the occasion of my birth and of the day that my mother became a mother with a small gathering at my place, with family (DeepSpice, CutLuce and DesignerMonkey, DesignerSis and Wigward) and a few friends (VolubleK and AussieG with PetitAmi, The Bibliophile with MasterW and LittleMissIs, The Librarian and The SchoolMaster with MasterF and LittleMissF).

In addition, I haven't had a birthday party since my 30th, and given that my 40th is only a few years away, I thought it would be a good idea to sneak in at least one more party before the big 4-0. (Which is going to involve a trip to France where VoluableK and I will celebrate out birthdays together in style... but that's another story for another post).

The evening was good fun, somewhat over-catered(!) and a just little chaotic, with 7 kids running amok. I am grateful for everyone's help with cleaning up (AussieG did the dishes - what a star! And a magic fairy tidied the toys up in the kids bedroom. Thank you!). I am yet to wash the watermelon juice off the deck and clean up the watermelon pieces slowly dessicating on the garden path. Though the snails seem to be helping with that! And we still haven't found the icy-pole that LittleMissIz lost somewhere - hopefully outside the house! But this is all just proof that a good time was had by all... especially me.

Thank you everyone for an enjoyable evening!
--

More questions

BallFiend: Where did space come from? Where did the cow come from? Why did the dinosaurs live if they just died? How do trees grow?
Me: Oh! How many questions can you ask?
BallFiend [in a cheery, upbeat voice]: I'm full of them!
--

Pick-up Sticks

Thumper: 3.  Toothpicks: 0

It has taken me three times today to learn my lessons: 

1. Do not assume that just because the first baby was not into exploring through kitchen cupboards and drawers that the second baby will follow suit.
2. 16-month-old babies do not (or choose not to) understand when you tell them not to empty the contents out of a drawer in the kitchen. 
3. Never leave 16-month old babies alone in the kitchen, even with a very-responsible-for-a-four-year-old big brother supervising... even for a second!

For the third time today, w are picking up toothpicks off the floor after Thumper has emptied them out from the fourth-drawer-down. 

The toothpicks are now moving house to a higher-up drawer. 

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Dex +10

Thumper has extraordinary fine motor skills for her age - a few weeks ago, she learned how to do up the buckles on her high chair and the outside swing. She would stand in front of the chair or swing and fiddle around for a minute or so until the buckle was clasped. Then she would throw a tantrum about not being able to undo it.

Now, as soon as I place her in the high chair, she finds the two ends of the strap and buckles herself in. Handy, but I hope she doesn't learn how to undo them too soon!

PS. Just discovered that Thumper had also got to the buckles on her pram. There is 4 separate buckles on the seat harness - Thumper's perfect toy! And it would appear that Thumper has saved us some cash by finding her own BucklePuzzle toy.
--

Beware STOP Leeches in the village STOP

Received this message from StompyDad who is spending a few weeks adventuring in a far off land (Sri Lanka) for a lark. 

------ SMS ------
From: +44********68
Received: 7 Jan 2011 3:40 AM
Subject: Hi.
Hi. Stompy was eaten by 2 leaches 2ay. Saw a 500 year old village. Xx stompydad

I never felt a thing, honest!

Just goes to show that all those Baby Boomers who complain about Gen Y and their use of txtspk causing the standards of grammar and punctuation to slip should perhaps refocus their attention on their elders, the so-called Builders. StompyDad precedes the Baby Boomer generation by just a couple of years, but I reckon this message gives Gen Y a real run for their money. 

--

Toddling tot

The toddler has started toddling. Just a few days ago, Thumper went from taking just one or two steps at a time, from coffee table to couch,  to taking many steps in a row... covering a good few metres in a stretch. She and BallFiend spent the day with Gran and GrandPaul today, and when we picked the kids up, Gran and GrandPaul enthusiastically told us about how Thumper has been "walking everywhere!" today.

Thumper is still perfecting the technique for her cute little toddler-waddle, so she lifts her feet unnecessarily high up for each step and a walk across the room frequently ends with her plonking down on her chubby bottom as she loses her balance.
--

Nonsense

"Stop the nonsense!!!" 

- BallFiend's latest catch cry. We hear it at least 20 times a day. No idea where he picked up this one from.

--

Mega-onion!

BallFiend was very excited when he discovered this onion in amongst the regular-sized onions at the shop. He said we had to buy it, and proceeded to show it to several other customers standing nearby.

When we got it home, BallFiend showed DeepSpice, who in turn got excited enough to want to weigh it and take photos. Enjoy.

For comparison, regular onions are about 175 - 250g.

--

And this time forwards

Thumper just took her first steps in the traditional forwards manner. DeepSpice was opening up one of those infernal hard plastic packages containing some little people (a chrissie pressie from the aunties and uncles), and Thumper looked up from her playdough creation on the coffee table, then stepped across for a closer look.

I was in the room, but wasn't watching her at the time, so didn't actually see it. And DeepSpice only looked up from his plastic packaging wrestling in time to see the end of her walk.

The funny thing is she didn't even seem to realise what she had done; and she certainly wasn't going to repeat her new party trick for a quick video recording. So it could be a while before we can offer concrete evidence.
--

The universal question

"Mum, does space ever end?"
- BallFiend

--

Side-stepping the matter

Another first in baby-land today for Thumper, although she has left it so long that it's actually ended up being in toddler-land (she is now 15.5 months old). Anyway, she took her first steps.

She has been standing on her own for up to about 20 seconds at a time quite a lot recently. The strange thing is she doesn't do this the way most toddlers to (ie. by holding onto a piece of furniture until they have their balance then letting go). Thumper's method is to balance herself into a squat then with great control, slowly stand up, look around the room grinning proudly, then slowly lower herself back down into a squat. I've never seen any other toddlers learn to stand in this way - it's quite strange.

Anyway, her first steps today happened while we were visiting VolubleK, PetitAmi and her two older siblings for lunch. I was sitting next to a recently-vacated dining chair which Thumper was happily cruising around when she decided to make the move across the gap to hang onto my legs. It was just a large enough gap that she couldn't cruise from the chair to my legs. But without even seeming to think about it, she made it across the gap by side-stepping about 3 steps. I guess making her first steps sideways (rather than the traditional forwards) is in keeping with her unique way of learning to stand.

So, sadly the sight of her little crawling bottom racing away from me will soon be a distant memory. Especially since she is starting at creche in about 4 weeks. She will definitely want to walk once she gets there - too many other kids to keep up with.
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Changing dogs mid-stream

A long time ago, when BallFiend was about as mobile as a rock, but much more cute, he was showered in gifts, most of the soft toys - teddies, cows, dogs, dolls, elephants, orang-utans, lions, etc. Dunno what it is about babies makes people want to bestow stuffed toys on them. Anyway, one of specimens from this plush menagerie, which arrived after following CutLuce home from an op-shop, was a little tan dog. According to the tag on its rear-end, its name was 'Dolly'.

For a long time, Dolly sat on the shelf with all the other soft toys and generally stayed out of trouble. Then there was a phase when BallFiend was somewhere around 2 years old when he nominated several of the smaller soft toys to be his 'friends'. The 'friends' consisted of Moo-Moo (the cow), Ava-lant (the elephant), blue teddy (a blue teddy) and white teddy (a white teddy). Dolly was not one of this in-crowd. They got to sleep in his bed overnight but were usually ignored during the day time when balls are the companion of choice.

Then came a night when we had a grown-ups party to attend - specifically Gran's 60th birthday. And because Gran had most inconsiderately decided to invite all our usual babysitters (ie. CutLuce/DesignerMonkey and DesignerSis/Wigward), we had to look for other options. Luckily for us Wigward's parents love little kids and were more than happy to have our nearly-two-year-old BallFiend stay the night with them and their other family member Delphi the dog.

Whilst BallFiend liked the idea of a dog, he didn't like the actuality - Delphi unlike her owners was not  particularly enamoured with little kids. And in truth I don't even think BallFiend really liked the idea of a dog... he was just using the dog for her toys - namely various balls of interesting shape, texture and degree of chewed-ness. So to help him get used to the idea of spending around 36 hours in the presence of a dog, I dragged Dolly off the shelf and re-branded her 'Delphi' (OK, the real Delphi is black and Dolly is tan, but this didn't seem matter to BallFiend). Immediately after his stay with Wigward's parents, BallFiend showed little more than a mild interest in the toy dog, but it has continued to be known as Delphi ever since.

Jump forward 2 years and suddenly Delphi (formerly Dolly) is now the hottest soft toy on the scene. The toy has undergone a sex change (even though the original Delphi dog is female) and his namesake is completely forgotten. But BallFiend does not go anywhere with out him. Delphi has attained a status equal to BallFiend's balls (ie. he always walks around with a ball in hand or under his arm and now Delphi occupies the other hand or arm!) As a result, the toy dog that was once tan-coloured has quickly become a colour much closer to that of the real Delphi.

Before now, BallFiend displayed none of the traditional trappings of childhood: no imaginary friends, no special teddy. He was just content with balls, balls, balls as his companion. Easy to wash, easy to replace. In bed he does have two comfort items: a dummy (recently re-titled 'dumby') and a blankie (of which there are three cut from the same fabric so there is always a spare when one is in the wash).

But now that Delphi is on the scene, I have to do those things that I thought only 'other parents' have to do:

• talk to the toy dog, 
• offer the toy dog food,
• find the toy dog when it is missing,
• train the toy dog not to climb up on the table ("BallFiend, for the thousandth time, dogs eat on the floor!"), and most arduous of all,
• wash the one and only beloved toy dog and deal with the pining pre-schooler while they wait for said toy dog to dry. 

So when DeepSpice and BallFiend returned from a walk to the local supermarket, having been caught in a sudden downpour of rain, I was very surprised to hear of BallFiend's comment:

"I think I will have to change dogs - this one is all wet!"

And now, if you will excuse me, I have to go and wring out a wet dog and peg him out on the line.

BallFiend and Delphi, 18 December 2010,
at the train station on our way to the Zoo.

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Mind your language

It is amazing to see how quickly Thumper is learning to communicate with words. We have been doing baby sign language with her (as we did with BallFiend) and she first signed back when she was about 7 months old, signing 'mum'. Unfortunately I rarely see her do this one as she only tends to ask for me when I am not around. After using few signs since then, suddenly in the past month, her vocabulary as exploded...

Things Thumper can sign:

• mum (started about 7 months)
• goodbye (started about 8 months)
• more (started about 9 months)
• drink (started about 9 months)
• food/eat (started about 9 months)
• dad (started about 9 - 10 months)
• milk - the Auslan version (started at about 10 months)
• sleep (start about 12 months)
• dog (started at 13 months)
• ball (started at 13 months)
• hurt (started at 13 months)
• hat (started at 13 months)
• lion (started at 13 months)
• bath/wash (started at 14 months - first signed when I said 'dad is going to have a shower', she signed bath)
• milk - stopped using the traditional sign and has made up her own which mimics me undoing the clasp on my maternity bra (14 months) 
• elephant (started about 14 months)
• poo/nappy (started about 14 months)
• telephone (started at 14 months)
• hot (started at 14 months)
• fish (started at 14 months)
• bell (started at 14 months - today when I heard the school bell ring and said so, she signed bell!)

Added to her signing vocabulary is her increasing interest in mimicking sounds and repeating words...


Some of the things Thumper can say:

• more ('mah')
• hello ('elo' or 'el-ah')
• mama
• dada
• lion/tiger ('raah')
• BallFiend's name
• dog ('da-') 
• car ('brrm-brrm')
• shh! ('sss')
• monkey ('ooh-ooh')

And while I'm here...


Funny things Thumper does: 

• gives kisses
• blows kisses
• pats people on head or shoulder, as if saying 'there there'
• high-fives
• blows raspberries (and has about five different ways of doing so)
• point to various body parts - nose, head, toes, fingers, tummy.
• she attempts to put own socks on
• completely empties out the drawers in the kitchen, dispersing plastic containers and tea towels all over the floor
• Power-crawls! I literally have to run to catch her.
• crawls up to me and tugs on the leg of my pants when she wants attention 
• does funny poses, such as when she is mid-crawl, she will stop and lift one leg up, point her toes and half-twist her body around, then grins like a maniac
• dances by bobbing up and down on the spot

Life's purpose explained

CutLuce (on picking BallFiend up for a cuddle): You're heavy! Why do you keep growing.
BallFiend: So I can keep getting bigger.
CutLuce: Why do you need to get bigger
BallFiend: So I can get old and die.
CutLuce: (pauses to laugh) Are going to do anything in between?
--

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.
--

Sewer Gator

See you later toilet paper. Don't forget your crocodile!
- BallFiend's comment when flushing the toilet.

--

Wasteland

A few weeks back, on a bit of a whim, I signed our family up for a 'zero waste for a week' challenge that the local council were promoting. The idea is to put nothing in your rubbish bin for a week - all waste has to go in the recycling or compost. The council sent me a few freebies as an incentive to participate:

• a reusable coffee cup;
• 5 reusable produce bags; and
• a reusable sandwich container.

We had already been doing a few things to avoid waste, like recycling packaging as much as possible, re-using plastic bags or taking non-plastic bag alternatives when shopping. Thumper has been in cloth nappies since birth (except for when we went on holidays and had no access to a washing machine). However, we don't have a compost bin, so for the challenge week, I sent our food scraps to GrandPaul's compost bin.

Overall, we did OK, but I don't think we're going to be winning any prizes - we definitely didn't manage zero waste. But considering we didn't really try all that hard, I reckon we didn't do too badly. At the end of the week, there was so little rubbish in our bin, that we didn't need to put it out for collection that week: we could easily go another 2 or 3 weeks before the bin is full. (Although, this is actually pretty normal for us).

It is interesting to take a bit more notice of what does get chucked away. Most of the packaging we do have is recyclable - but manufacturers will persist with using non-recycleable packaging. Particularly annoying ones are:

• bread bags and the little plastic tie
• tablets in foil packaging, but with plastic bubbles on one side
• deli ham/sandwich meat comes in a plastic-backed paper wrap
• breakfast cereal - the inner plastic bag
• all my favourite chocolate biscuits and lollies come in flexible plastic wrap that cannot be recycled (although the plastic tray inside the biscuits can be recycled) 
• toothbrushes and toothpaste (while I didn't have any that needed discarding this week, they are not recyclable) 
• other health/personal care items (eg.sunscreen, nappy rash cream) comes in tubes doesn't appear to be sold in recyclable packaging.
• meat from supermarkets (and sometimes from butchers) is packed on foam trays
• clothing (both new and secondhand from op-shops) always seems to come with those annoying tiny plastic strips to hold the tag/label on.

Then there are the things we could have made sacrifices for to avoid waste, but chose not to, for example...

• night nappies for BallFiend (he's four years old but not night toilet trained yet and although Thumper is in cloth nappies, BallFiend refuses to wear them, having been used to disposables all his life); 
• pads/tampons;
• disposable replacement-razor blade cartridges (even if you keep the handle part for reuse).

The Zero Waste Challenge was an interesting experience, but not one that is going to get me to completely change habits and adopt a zero-waste lifestyle permanently. It's not really practical to live off the land when you live on a smallish block in the inner city - can't really grow your own everything (ie. it's all very well to have a vegie patch, but what about wheat for bread, cows for milk, animals for meat, etc.). And for some products (medicines come to mind) there is no other option than to buy what is on offer, packaging and all.  

Consumer-awareness campaigns are all very well, but I reckon it is really up to governments to regulate the packaging used by manufacturers and retailers. There are way too many products that are sold with mixed packaging where part of it is recyclable and part isn't, and consumer boycotts aren't going to change this. And a lot more could be done at the retail level to get shop-keepers to stop putting purchases into plastic bags. I know the big stores (Coles, Bunnings, etc.) have been the target of this type of thinking and are now voluntarily avoiding use of plastic bags. But every single greengrocer that I have ever been to has rolls of little plastic bags for fresh produce. Then when you pay, they place all this into another plastic bag! It doesn't matter if you take an alternative like a trolley or basket, they are too damn quick! 

It's really annoying, because there are so many ways were it would be really, really, easy to stop using plastic and creating waste. I think we are all just too lazy really. 

--

Trail of destruction

I left Thumper happily playing with the toy hospital (the Fisher Price Little People Hospital that was mine when I was a kid) in her bedroom and returned to the kitchen to prepare dinner. When I went back to Thumper a little later, she was still in her bedroom. So I had no idea that she had successfully completed a stealth mission in my absence...

It turns out, I must have forgotten to close the door to my bedroom, because when DeepSpice got home a couple of hours later, he found most of the contents of his bedside table on the floor... along with a knob from the chest of drawers in the kids bedroom!
--

Wet paint

I can't claim to have invented a perpetual motion machine (yet!) but I have come up with the perfect perpetual keep-a-four-year-old-entertained activity:

Give BallFiend an old paint brush and a bucket of water and tell him to paint the fence.

It is amusing to hear him call out, puzzled: "Where does it go? It keeps going away! Oh (annoyed), now I will have to start all over again!"
-- 

Hee-haw!

That donkey is winning!
- BallFiend, watching the Melbourne Cup day horse-races.
--

Grrr!

All within 10 minutes of arriving home from kindergarten, BallFiend has managed to:

• tip the sand out of his shoes all over the floor;
• tip the sand out of his pockets(!) all over the floor;
• throw many, many, cupfuls of water all over the bathroom (whilst supposedly washing his hands after going to the toilet); 
• have a tantrum about being told off for the above offence; and
• bumped Thumper on the head (probably not intentionally), causing her to cry.

And now he is in the process of emptying the entire contents of a toy box by throwing each item to a different corner of the room.

Looking forward to the day when he moves out of home and I can go over to his place and return the compliment.
--

Artist in residence

Unusually for BallFiend, he decided to do some drawing and colouring in today. Thumper got incredibly excited and wanted to join in. So I sat her up in the high chair and gave her some paper and a crayon.  

This masterpiece is Thumper's first ever drawing (not the 'W' in the middle - I just did that to give her the idea, but the rest is all her original work):

10 October 2010 - Thumper's first drawing. Crayon on paper.

Not bad for a 13 month old baby who has never held a crayon before. Her only previous drawing-type experience has been BallFiend's magentic drawing pad.

4 September 2010 - Thumper's first scribble.

Maybe we are going to end up with a sporty/science-y one and an art-y one.
--

Just cruisy

Thumper has started cruising. No, not like that. Get your mind out of the gutter. I am referring to that tried-and-true method of transportation, popularised by toddlers around the globe. She wobbles along, holding onto the couch or from the bookshelf to coffee table. A few days ago she got very confident at pulling herself up to standing whilst holding onto furniture. Then this morning, she started moving along whilst holding on for support. The only problem is that she hasn't worked out how to sit down again. So after a while I hear screams of annoyance tinged with fear and that's my cue to help her sit down again so she can crawl off to her next destination.

It's cute but somehow I don't think crawling is going to cut it for much longer. And that means I have to take baby-proofing up to the next level. I'm running out of up-high shelves!
--

Dust bunnies

Thumper is obsessed with eating fibres freshly plucked off my clothing. She usually does her harvesting during a breastfeed or just when I am carrying her from here to there. My blue alpaca wool cardigan is her favourite, but any jumper or cardie with fibres that can be easily extracted will do.

When my clothing isn't available, any dust bunny foolish enough to be lurking in her reach will do. Once she has finished sampling the detritus off the floor, she crawls over to me, plonks down on her nappy-padded bottom and looks at me as her chubby fingers repeatedly go to her mouth in a futile attempt to extract the hair or other fluff that has got stuck in her mouth.

It's really quite disgusting... seems like she might be well-suited to a career as a forensic pathologist.
--

Goin' up country

During the recent school holidays we took a break at Willaura, near the Grampians, staying at the farm of MasterF's and LittleMissF's grandparents ('Pa' and 'Grandma'). The plans were put in place earlier this year when we bumped into The Librarian and The SchoolMaster at a local cafe, popular with parents of small-fry due to it's baby- and toddler-friendliness. They arranged with the SchoolMaster's parents for us to stay in a house that they also own, located 7.5 km up the road from their farmhouse. In the country, 7.5 km is 'just down the road', but to put it into perspective, it's about the same distance that DeepSpice travels to work each day. (Although travelling at 100 kph does make the journey go a little quicker!)

Departure (Thursday)

In a re-enactment of the preparations for our last holiday at Ocean Grove, it took us all morning to get packed and ready to go. Sigh. We finally left at 1.30 pm, about 3 hours after I had planned to leave. We had a few stops along the way and arrived in Ararat at about 3.30 pm. After a short exchange of text messages with The Librarian we worked out they were nearly in Ararat too, so we waited at the tourism information centre for them to meet us. BallFiend and MasterF went completely silly upon first sight and started running laps around the centre, distracting Thumper and LittleMissF from their synchronised-breastfeeding. We all piled back into our cars and drove in convoy to our accommodation: Turascai.

The driveway of Turascai

The house was a cute little 3 bedroom place, originally a soldier-settlement house probably built sometime in the 1950s or 1960s, but sadly had not been shown much love ever since. So the accommodation was very basic, which we didn't mind at all since we were only paying $10 a night, but the bed was rather uncomfortable and Thumper decided to resume 4.00 am wakings while we were away, so I didn't really feel at all well-rested throughout. Nevertheless, the holiday was lots of fun. We spent almost every day with our friends, so that BallFiend and MasterF could keep each other company, thus relieving us adults of the task of keeping four-year olds entertained. This alone made the holiday more restful than it would have been otherwise. However the days were busy, as is dictated by the company of children... 


Sheep (Friday)

On our first morning, I took BallFiend and Thumper (in the Ergo carrier) for a wander around the property where we met MasterF's great-uncle John, who was crutching some sheep. He showed us through the shearing shed, where a recently slaughtered sheep carcass was hanging up - thankfully covered in a bag, but it's skin (hide?) was draped over the rails in plain view. Luckily BallFiend didn't notice this so I didn't have to explain that one. He has been obsessed with death and dying recently so I'm sure it would have been of interest if I had pointed it out to him. 

John dragged out a lamb and a ewe for us to pat. Unfortunately though, BallFiend wasn't particularly enamoured of farm life. BallFiend wouldn't go near the sheep - he stood off to the side cringing. Thumper showed a lot more interest and even touched the sheep. John talked about the ewe, expressed some milk from her teat and then pointed out where she was missing an eye. I asked how that had happened and soon wished I hadn't! Apparently it was pecked out by a crow whilst the ewe 'was down'. I later found out 'down' referred to the time when a ewe is birthing a lamb. As if birth isn't enough to deal with, without being attacked by a crow! John then proceeded to go into detail about all the other things that happen to sheep, including foxes attacking them and eating their tongues or udders, then leaving them alive. Then BallFiend announced that "It's too smelly in here. I want to go out!". I thought this was probably a good idea. Farming is not at all like the sanitised picture that is shown in children's storybooks! 

Next John took BallFiend for a ride on a tractor. Next we went into another shed so John could get us some merino fleece to take home. While we were in the shed, BallFiend spotted a tub of filthy, old golf balls. He immediately turns on his ball-charm. "What are those for?" he asks in a sweet little voice to reinforce the deeper meaning behind his question. "Oh you can have one." says John, falling under BallFiend's ball-magnetism spell. Apparently a neighbour practices his golf in the next paddock and then crows pick up the lost balls and drop them in John's paddock. John hands over a white ball but BallFiend has his eye on the one and only orange one. A swap is quickly transacted. Then I drag BallFiend out of there before we end up leaving with the entire tub. 

We go back to the house, collect DeepSpice (who has finally got dressed!), then drive into Ararat to stock up on some groceries for the week. As it turns out, this was almost completely unnecessary because we ended up having dinner each night with MasterF's family at the farmhouse. 

The Draw (Saturday)

The next day was grand final day. I had sneakily timed this holiday to ensure we were away from all the footy fever, but it followed us. However, on a much smaller scale - just the family and us watching the game with a hot dog in one hand and a beverage of choice in the other. Before the final started, The SchoolMaster led us on a nature walk, down to the dam where we collected some frogs' eggs in a jar, then past the windmill that pumps water back up to the house (BallFiend was fascinated by this, and by all the old broken tyres lying around the place). The boys each picked up a stick and started to whack at everything in sight. Then it started to rain and they were told to put down their sticks so we could all run for shelter. BallFiend fell over and got gravel rash and cried and cried, but mainly about losing his stick. 


When we got back the football had started. I chatted to The Librarian, not really paying it much attention and by halfway through the final quarter The Librarian and I had completely lost interest, so we took the boys outside for a play. 

MasterF and BallFiend play on Pa's bridge
during the last quarter of the grand final.

Moments after the game finished, DeepSpice came out to tell us that it was a draw. When I came back inside all I saw on the TV was forlorn-looking footy players with their hands clasped behind their heads.

Obligatory Minigolf (Sunday)

On Sunday, we drove into Halls Gap, via Pomonal where the monthly Sunday market was on. Of course we had to stop and sample the devonshire tea. I also picked up some homemade beetroot chutney, lemon slice, white chocolate cheesecake, and an everlasting daisy to plant in my garden at home. DeepSpice found a book about aeroplanes, of course. At Halls Gap, we enjoyed a picnic lunch at the park, carefully positioning our picnic rugs to avoid sitting on any kangaroo poo. Then it was time for the highlight of BallFiend's holiday - mini golf! 18 holes proved too much for MasterF and LittleMissF. So they headed back to Willaura early, while we stayed on and finished the course. Then we set off back to Willaura for dinner. Unfortunately we took a wrong turn out of Halls Gap and ended up in Stawell. Oops. The scenic route! 

Volcanoes (Monday)

Our last day was spent touring other country towns in the area, on route to Penshurst where there is a Volcano Discovery Centre (ie. museum). Ever since that volcano in Iceland blew up earlier this year, BallFiend has been fascinated with volcanoes; MasterF is equally fascinated, but from a 'dinosaurs' perspective. We had lunch first, in a little tea room and antiques shop next door. The boys were warned not to touch ANYTHING before we went in, and amazingly they behaved beautifully. BallFiend was very interested in all the 'old-fashioned things'. Next we went into the Volcano discovery centre. Thumper and LittleMissF gave it their seal of approval as a great crawling venue - nice carpet and a few interesting nooks and crannies to explore. Then we went to see the actual real live - extinct - volcano, Mt Rouse, that over-shadows Penshurst. 

Approaching Mt Rouse

Thumper and me on Mt Rouse

BallFiend running amok on top of windy Mt Rouse.
The Grampians can be seen in the background.

The SchoolMaster took us on the scenic drive back to the farm, and it was spectacular. Unfortunately I drifted off to sleep in the car and missed a lot of it. Then the SchoolMaster took us for a drive around the farm in the 4WD. The boys climbed up into the cabin of combine harvester and we drove down to the paddock to look at some sheep. 

Homeward bound (Tuesday)

The next morning, we headed back to Melbourne, leaving early so we would have time to stop in Ballarat to visit Great Gran Billy. (We had planned to stop on the way up as well, but ran out of time.) I also took the opportunity to stop and visit the church where my mum's ashes are buried. Then we grabbed some pies at a local bakery and drove to the nursing home. Great Gran Billy was in fine spirits and happy to see us, although she didn't seem quite sure who we were. Still she is doing well for 94 years of age. 

Great Gran Billy tries to get Thumper
to look at the camera.

Most of the other residents enjoyed seeing some children, but when BallFiend nearly knocked one over with his ball, we decided it was time to go. 

Thumper slept most of the journey home and BallFiend nearly slept, so we had a nice quiet drive. After a quick dinner - spaghetti bolognese, of course! - we put the kids to bed and I couldn't wait to follow. After a week on a lumpy mattress, my own bed has never seemed so good. I was asleep by 9.45 pm. 

It really was a nice holiday - being with another family made it much more enjoyable than when we go away on our own. Now to catch up on all the washing! 

--

Atoms

"I want to be a scientist and study atoms." 

- BallFiend, during dinner tonight when asked what job he would like to do when he grows up. 

--

Cujo

Thumper is getting more and more vocal - mostly it's lots of cute baby-babble, but today she clearly said her brother's name, it came out sounding more like that evil dog from the Stephen King book. Somehow it's very cute, despite being a little bit creepy.

Her crawling has improved too, even after just a day and half, she is faster and much smoother in her movements.
--

R.I.P. Simpson Minimatic heavy duty agitator action

We've had death in our household: our 25-year-old clothes washing machine. I knew it was old, but I hadn't realise it was that old... we had toyed with the idea of upgrading, but decided not to. It was so simple - just one dial for the programs and one for the water level, and so reliable - in the 13 years we have had it, it has never failed us.

But then it started having problems a few weeks ago, just before Thumper's 1st birthday actually, when it wouldn't spin/agitate properly. (In truth, it has been having a little problem for quite a while - every now and then it would trip the mains power switch on the fuse box cutting power to the whole house. This was annoying but the machine kept on going, so I didn't worry about it.)

So DeepSpice pulled it open and tightened up the drive-belt which had come loose. Then we tried a load which got most of the way through but wouldn't drain. So I pulled all the sopping wet washing out and tried to get it to drain when it was empty of clothes. Thankfully, it did, but very slowly. So I switched it off and decided it was time to call a qualified washing machine repairer.

Luckily we had someone in mind, because a few weeks ago Gran and GrandPaul had to get their 15 year old washer repaired. The repair-man (Craig) had told them it was worth repairing old machines because the new ones are rubbish - they are designed to fail after about 5 years so people are forced to buy a new one. Apparently he was really good at breathing life back into their old machine. So I called Craig and he said he would come 'either tomorrow or Thursday'. I was happy to wait because I was quite confident that he would be able to work his magic on our old machine too. However, two days with no washing machine when there are two kids in the household (one of which is in cloth nappies) is a long time. So when he still hadn't shown up by 3.30 pm on Thursday, I was really annoyed. I gave up on Craig and rang another repair-man (Paul) who had been recommended to me by one of the mums I know through BallFiend's kindergarten.

When Paul arrived he took one look and I could tell he was trying not to laugh as he thought: 'why on earth would anyone bother to try and repair such an old machine?'. He turned on the machine and set it running, it made a horrible noise while spinning and then we saw a big spark from the motor, then the mains power went off. He shook his head, and started unplugging it whilst telling me that it was gone... not worth fixing, "...and you see how it tripped the power, well that's an earth-leak. You can't use this machine again until that's been looked at, and it's not worth the cost of fixing it - both the motor and the pump have failed."

I mentioned Craig's comment about old machines being better-made than the ones available now. Paul agreed. He said our old Simpson machine was made by Malleys, and that Malleys went out of business because their machines were too good so people didn't need to buy new ones often enough, "not a good business model". However, to fix our machine was going to require a new motor ($200) and a new pump ($300) and he could sell me a reconditioned top loader for $250-300 (or a front loader for $400-450) and take away the old machine.

So DeepSpice and I took a day to think about options, then came to the conclusion that we would get a front loader and that we would buy a new machine rather than a reconditioned machine. We could get a bigger capacity machine that will fit in the space available, and even though the initial purchase price will be higher than a top loader, it will cost less to run as they use less water and electricity. The downside is a longer cycle (the old machine took about 30 minutes, whereas the front loaders take 2+ hours for a standard cycle) and that all the new machines have fancy new fan-dangled electronic controls (which, Paul the repair-man had warned me, can fail if you use a hot wash and get them all steamed-up). Our old machine had a mechanical timer and not much is ever going to go wrong with that.

Then we had to work out what machine to buy, and in the interim, find a way to wash our stuff. The latter being much easier than the former...

Gran and GrandPaul mind BallFiend every Thursday so when I took him over, I took all our washing too. I put the first load on and Gran insisted that I leave the rest and she would do it for me. That night, when they dropped BallFiend home, he was accompanied by all our clean, dry washing (which made me think that maybe we don't need a new machine after all, even though Gran stridently disagreed.) However, when it came to Thumper's stinky nappies, I decided that rather than transporting them to Gran and GrandPaul's laundry service house (and risking a nasty mess in our car), BallFiend and I would take them up to the local 'Rainbow Bubbles' coin laundette. We had recently read a Mo Willems book 'Knuffle Bunny' which features a toddler and her dad going to a laundromat, and since BallFiend had never heard of, let alone seen, a laundrette before reading this book, it seemed like a good opportunity to address this crucial gap in his education.

Needless to say, it wasn't quite as exciting as BallFiend was anticipating. But he still managed to find things of interest to ask plenty of questions about. Luckily for me, there was an old Greek woman there, washing her husband's smalls, so she got to bear the brunt of the questioning instead of me. Most questions started with 'why', including 'why is it spinning around?' and 'why are you using that one (pointing to the dryer she had selected) instead of that one (pointing to a dryer that she had considered then rejected). Once the nappies were in the machine, $6.00 in $1.00 coins deposited and the machine was spinning away, I took BallFiend for a walk and we bought a biscuit each from one of the many local middle eastern bakeries that line Sydney Road.

Then it was home and back to the more important task of trying to decide which machine to buy. After much deliberations (ie. a week's worth) and visits to a couple of large retail stores, we finally decided on a size, brand and model (Bosch WAE24271AU Maxx EuroWasher). Then I hunted around for the best price and found a suitable machine through AppliancesOnline.

Our new washing machine is to be delivered on Monday, and included in the purchase price is free delivery, free installation and free removal of our old washer. I'm happy so far... and I am looking forward to using cloth nappies on Thumper again: we have had to use disposables for the past two weeks and in that time we have had three major poo-leaks. This is compared to a grand total of one cloth nappy leak over the past year (and this only happened because I took too long to get around to changing her and the nappy was already very wet). Most of all, I am looking forward to a time when BallFiend and Thumper can do the washing, and with a front loader, they will even be able to reach the controls.

--

Living (crawling) doll

At about 8.00 am this morning, Thumper worked out how to crawl on her hands-and-knees, you know, traditional-style.

She started crawling commando-style back in May, at 8 months of age, which is very cute to watch but makes clothes very hard to wash (although does a good job of dusting the floors).

She's pretty slow and clunky-looking when she crawls on hands-and-knees - it looks just like one of those battery-powered crawling dolls; so she reverts back to commando-style when she wants to move somewhere fast. But I'm sure she will master it in no time and then it will be fun for one (Thumper) and all (BallFiend) as they play a higher-paced game of crawl-chasey around the house.

It probably also means that Thumper is not that far off walking, maybe only a month away - as much as I hope not! This prediction is based on a very scientific study with a sample size of one: BallFiend spent months commando-crawling, then after about four weeks of learning to crawl on hands-and-knees, he progressed to standing and walking.

--

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...

--

Beware of poos at the door...

Knock Knock

Who's there?

Poo.

Poo who?

No, poos don't say who. They fart!

- BallFiend tells his first-ever joke... during dinner, of course! Charming.
--

Happy Birthday Thumper!

It's been a whole year since Thumper emerged into the world (well actually it will be a whole year in about 1 hour's time, since she was born at 4.49 pm).

Her birthday celebrations began on Sunday when we had a lovely little party with family and friends. It was to be a teddy bears' picnic at a local park but the Spring-time weather was not at it's most cooperative, so we invaded Gran and GrandPaul's house instead. In attendance to honour the birthday girl was: DeepSpice, me, BallFiend, Gran, GrandPaul, CutLuce, DesignerSis, Wigward, DesignerMonkey, The Bibliophile, MasterW, LittleMissIz, The Librarian, MasterF, LittleMissF, GreatAuntF and GreatUncleM and ElspethR.

The birthday cake was a raspberry butter cake - raspberries because Thumper is an expert at blowing them!

Today, Thumper's actual birthday, began at 6.30 am, when we woke to hear BallFiend yelling at the poor child: "Be quiet Thumper! You are being too noisy!" Apparently, Thumper was murmuring in her sleep and it was loud enough to rouse BallFiend; he in turn woke Thumper by yelling at her. Sigh.

The morning went by as usual: breakfast, getting dressed, etc. then waving goodbye to DeepSpice. Thumper has recently become very attached to her dad and she always cries when he leaves. Today was no exception - I stood with Thumper in my arms, waving bye to DeepSpice, whilst she attempted to lurch from my arms after DeepSpice, saying "Da! Da!" (no, not channeling our Russian ancestors... she does actually mean 'dad').

Next, it was time to take BallFiend to his Kinder Circus class, so as usual, Thumper was dragged along. During the class I took her for a walk in the pram so she got to have her morning nap. (Essential for today, because she had an important birthday lunch date ahead!).

After Kinder Circus, I took BallFiend for a stroll to allow Thumper to have a full hour's nap. BallFiend wasn't too impressed with having to wander around for a while, but he did enjoy seeing a fire engine, a water-company worker opening up a drain, a local primary school and the opportunity to ask me question after question about the street trees... Why:

• does this tree have a post [stake] next to it?
• does that tree not have a post but it does have a broken post?
• are these little pebbles on the ground around the tree?
• is there a hole there? [a spot where a tree used to be]

At 11.40 am it was time to wake Thumper up so we could head off to lunch at Heide with VolubleK and PetitAmi. Lunch at Cafe Vue was an experience, very nearly civilised... if it wasn't for BallFiend's (lack of) table manners and Thumper throwing her food all over the floor. But Voluble K and I enjoyed ourselves anyway... once we had a glass of bubbles in hand, nothing much else mattered! :)

After lunch, PetitAmi and BallFiend ran amok in the sculpture park whilst Voluble K and I took turns pushing the pram around... until PetitAmi realised she was missing her chance and took over the pram-pushing duties.

Then it was time to go home, where I got the news that Australia now has a (very, very, very minority) government. What a great birthday present for Thumper!

For the record, here's the other gifts that were bestowed upon you:

• a jack-in-the-box (actually a monkey-in-the-box);
• Playmobil 'coastal search and rescue' boat and car, with two people to drive them;
• a stacking ring ball toy;
• "Where is the green sheep?" by Mem Fox;
• "Can you Moo too?" by David Wojtowycz (a board book);
• clothing: a Sooki Baby wrap-around top, socks, hat;
• Miffy blocks that both nest and stack;
• a Roll Along Ball (a large inflatable ball with little bell-balls inside);
• Wooden letters that spell her name (for the bedroom door);
• an oil painting of a teddy bear (a shared family heirloom from VolubleK);
• a soft-toy snowman.

And guess who has had the most enjoyment (so far) out of all the toys? Yes, of course it is BallFiend.

So, happy birthday Thumper! Over the past year you've made us laugh, kept us company on countless nights (sigh), and despite the exhaustion, brought us lots of joy. We love you and we are looking forward to watching you grow up despite feeling sad that your babyhood is fast disappearing.

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Look who's talking

Thumper has spoken her first words, and I do mean words, not word. She very clearly said "there you go" several times yesterday. DeepSpice and I couldn't believe it, but we have heard it again a few times today and now we are sure. We are also sure that she is just parroting us when we say this to her (ie. she hasn't actually worked out how to put a sentence together!). She has learned the 'there you go' phrase whilst playing her current favourite game 'pass the toy', which involves:

1. mum/dad passes a toy to Thumper and says 'there you go',
2. Thumper passes the toy back and mum/dad says 'thank you',
3. repeat steps 1 and 2 until Thumper gets bored, or your head explodes (whichever comes first).

The use of thank-you in this game also explains her other new utterance: "gang-oo" for thank you.

She has also been using sign language for several months now, after first signing 'mum' at about 7 months old. Her signed vocabulary now includes 'mum', 'dad', 'sleep', 'drink', 'more', 'hello/bye' and 'light'. Not bad for a kid who is not yet one year old.

However, when she wants something right away, she still just shrieks or cries. Sigh.

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Famous last words...

"Is this too much glitter?"

- BallFiend, decorating with the glitter-glue pens.

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Beware of robbers

"I'm just locking the door to stop the robbers taking balls from my shop."

- BallFiend, closing the velcro tabs on the door-flaps of his play-tent which is currently being used as his Ball Shop.

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