narrating kayoz

Baby monsters to cuddle in bed

The children have just got to bed, a little later than usual (it's 7:25 as I write, Kaely's asleep, Liam's light's just gone out, after he finished reading me a chapter (and a bit more, because I am weak and wanted to know what came next just as much as he did) of his current book), because they were playing so well after dinner. You might think that means we hated to disturb them, but really it means we hated to disturb ourselves when they were playing happily in the other room!

Mikaela took two baby monsters with her to bed tonight. At first she was playing a game of running away from the monster, "It's going to get me. Quick!" But then suddenly it became a baby monster who she had to hold in her arms and rock to sleep. And then the baby monster wanted to sit on her shoulder while she made a bed for it on Liam's bed (where she thought she might sleep too.)

What I found particularly interesting was that she evidently told Liam they could share the baby monster, but then when he wanted it to sit on his shoulder (this is a bit later on, after teeth cleaning when we were all in his room), and she wanted to hold it, it took him quite a while to come up with "Oh, here's my other baby monster under the bed, he wants to sit on my shoulder." For a while it looked like it may all end in tears because both of them wanted to hold their new imaginary friend at the same time.

Then Mikaela was suddenly holding both (they wanted to be together you see, and Liam was busy reading to me), so I told Liam that was another one, and as she took them away to her room he got another one (or two?) out from under his bed to sleep with him.

Also, Mikaela did not want to go into her room, she wanted to stay in Liam's bed, but when I said, "The baby monsters want to go into your room now, they told me," she ran off happily.

Mikaela rides

Yesterday Kaely rode a bicycle for the first time.

We were given a hand-me-down bike for her a while ago, but needed to add training wheels and lower the seat right down. Chris did that yesterday, and Mikaela was very pleased. While Chris and Liam went on a longer bike ride (2 hours, with stops), Kaely learnt to ride on our driveway. Even with the seat all the way down it is a wee bit high for her, but she did really well, even managing to peddle some of the way back up the hill.

Kids' first trick or treat

As Australian readers know, trick or treating is not particularly common in Australia (although it is becoming more so) - nor is celebrating Halloween in general.* I started going trick or treating as a child after (I think) we did some Halloween things in school and I got all into writing spells and drawing ghosts. But not many of my contemporaries did it, and most houses were visited we less than prepared (but perfectly congenial, for all that).

I don't think we've ever even mentioned Halloween to Liam, much less the idea of trick or treating, but it must have come up at school, because on Friday night at dinner he piped up with "Can we go trick or treating tomorrow?"

I don't know what came over me, but I said sure. So at five o'clock on Saturday night we had to come up with costumes and bags. Liam dressed up as a pirate, with a bit of face paint, a bandana, and a stick for a sword. Kaely decided she wanted to be a fairy (I thought she'd be a pirate with Liam), but then changed her mind when I produced wings out of a secret hand-me-down bag. She didn't like them, but she did like the wand. So she went as not-a-fairy with a wand.

We went very, very local, only knocking on doors where we knew the people, up and down the street from us. We ended up finding six people home, out of about nine doors knocked on. The first (one of our immediate next-door-neighbours) said abruptly "Oh, sorry, we don't do that." (See footnote below for probably explanation.) Which led Liam to say "I'm a bit scared," when knocking at the next house. But happily, everyone else was more than friendly. About half were prepared, but everyone came up with something for the kids. 

We don't really see much of our neighbours. We had a street New Year's Eve party two or three years back which was the first time we met most of them. Many of them have been here since the suburb was built thirty odd years ago, and they told us that way back then - when they were mostly young couples with children - they did this every New Year, blocking of part of the street and having a grand old time. Now most of their children have moved away, and so have many of those original owners, and the community has become more disparate.

So it was nice to stop and chat with some of them as we made our rounds. We visited, as I said, six houses, yet it took us about 45 minutes. And as well as the requisite lollies and chocolates we came home with a bag of broad beans and two tomato seedlings ("the best cultivar in the world").

Before we left home I told the kids that any lollies they collected would be put into a joint family bowl when we got back. This was partly to head off any comparisons on who got what or how much, and partly because the 'fairy bag' I found Mikaela was tiny (though as it turns out, it was big enough).

They got little enough (five houses, after all), that when we did get back I decided to let them eat it all then and there and get the sugar rush over in one go. This worked like a charm. Liam doesn't like chocolate, so although he tried one mini milkyway, he ended up giving it to Chris and was happy for Mikaela, Chris & I to divide the rest. But then, Kaely ate maybe half a dozen lollies, one chocolate, and ended up giving the rest away. She had a butter scotch, which was probably the first really hard lolly she'd ever had, and did not like the effect (I had to dig it out of her teeth for her!), so I think it was partly that put her off.

In any case, they both had a smashing good time, were perfectly happy with their tiny haul, and very keen to do it again next year. And we had a lovely time catching up with some neighbours, so we'll be happy to as well.

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*Which could lead to a whole discussion on how some snotty Aussie's get annoyed by Halloween celebrations, complaining that we are taking on more US culture, when in fact Halloween goes back a lot further than the US does, right back to Pagan culture - but lets not bother going there right now. I'm happy with simply saying that Chris is half American, so trick or treating is letting our kids explore their American heritage.

Kaely's blanket

This is Mikaela at about three weeks old, snuggled under the blanket I knitted for her. The one for the next baby will probably be about the same size or a little bigger, similar in colour but with a strand of light blue angora replacing the darker purple mohair in this one (they are both knitted with three colours of wool together. Liam's - which is more than twice is big (lucky first I guess) - was with four.

Liam and Mikaela now both love to snuggle under their blankets when they are building cubbies/watching TV/reading or being read to. Which is rather gratifying. So far Mikaela doesn't mind that hers is so much smaller than Liam's, but I'm preparing for the possibility of having to knit another half to it and sew them together - because as she grows it might not be quite as satisfactory. Which is why I'm thinking of making the current one a little bigger, but we'll see how I go!

A perfect day

I have had such a lovely day today.

After dropping Liam at school, Mikaela and I went to my mum's, where we spent the day hanging with her, along with my cousin & her two little girls (4 months older and 12 months younger than Kaely).

The three girls see each other almost every Monday, but this was a particularly good day. There was some squabbling, of course, but there were also tea parties, taking turns playing drums and piano, racing around squealing like crazy people (okay, that did get old fairly quickly, but my wonderful Mum put a stop to it by reading them a story or two while I got lunch), feeding the fish in Mum's backyard, hiding under bed clothes, building train sets, and so on. Most of which was done in remarkable harmony.

It was 32 degrees today (90F) so after school (and a few errands) Mikaela, Liam & I hung about outside in the shade for nearly an hour, the kids having a cool outdoor bath (in a clam shell), me sitting with my feet dangling in the water. Liam actually spent most of the time out of the water, just popping into it to cool down from time to time, so it wasn't much of a bath for him, but it was a lovely way to spend an hour. And then later the water can be bucketed onto the garden, which it needs.

When we came in I sat knitting* for another half hour or so, while Liam read to me (his idea - we went to the library before we left school), and Kaely pottered around, making beds, reading books to 'Baby Purple Teddy' etc, and Chris cooked dinner.

And after dinner, we spent another half hour outside enjoying the evening cool, playing with Lochie, and watering**/weeding the vegie garden (not as much as it needs though, of either one).

Now the kids are in bed, and I'm off back outside to bucket the water from the clam shell onto the new plants we've put in out the front.

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*I'm knitting a blanket for the baby, to match the ones I made for Liam & Mikaela (a bit like this one, but it I gave to my best friend's baby, who was born first - Kaely's is not even half this size, and neither will this new one be), but while I'm more than half way through the pregnancy I'm only maybe a third of the way through the blanket, so I really need to get on with it!

**With rain water, of course, though that is fast running out.

Kids, garden, worms and more!

A post in dot points.

What? It's Spring, and I'm pregnant. I don't have time to do better than this! But lots of things are happening.

• Mikaela, for instance, has been out of nappies (except at night) since last weekend. We picked an awful time to do it, given she was sick - quite sick by Monday - but oh well. It's going reasonably well so far. A few more accidents than we had with Liam, but she is six months younger than he was. I know some people do it about a year or more earlier than this, and put up with accidents for longer, but I just don't have it in me for that. I'd much rather deal with nappies than accidents! But she was more than ready, and the weather is warming, so we've taken the plunge.


• Liam started Hapkido last week. He was over the moon with excitement about it afterwards. He's gone along to his second class today. Chris has been doing Hapkido on and off for a few years (though his real background is in Taekwondo), but mostly off for the past couple due to various injuries (not to mention ankle surgery). However, he is back for his first class in a year today and very happy about it. They have a 'parents & kids' session - two classes side by side - so we're hoping that will work out for the two of them for a while. I am more than happy to have it not be an after school activity that I will have to drag Mikaela and the baby to next year.
  
  Getting Liam into a martial art has been something Chris has always been in favour of, though he agreed with me that he shouldn't start too young, so he's happy too. And I've ruled that it's going to count as his summer activity (instead of cricket, tin pin bowls or basket ball, which were Liam's other plans), so I'm happy. I'm a bit strict about limiting out of school activities - he's always had swimming on Sundays, but aside from that, the AFL this winter was his first regular extra-curricular commitment.
  
  I'm mean about it partly out of a philosophy that really wants to limit those sorts of structured activities, and partly out of an awareness that eventually there will be three of them to ferry around.


• Liam also started knitting at home this week. He's been knitting at school since the start of second term (ie about April), but on Friday he convinced me to buy him some needles (5.5mm) and wool from the Orana shop, and he's been working on a 'stick holder' (don't ask) enthusiastically since. One row at a time (or less), but almost all his own work. I was a bit worried that he would end up asking me to do most of it, but so far so good.


• It is Spring and the gardening fever has hit. Well, in theory anyway. In practice I'm trying not to ask too much of myself, given I'm only just getting over the morning sickness part of pregnancy (despite being 16 weeks now, and a few days).
  
  I was looking at my vegie garden the other day, and realised that if I did nothing but maintain it (weed, water and harvest) we'd most certainly have silverbeet, parsley (both of which are still there from last year), and volunteer tomatoes - at least tom thumbs - peas, maybe snap beans, and probably potatoes. Which wouldn't be so bad. Oh, and cos lettuce, some of which have already come up, self seeded.
  
  However, I don't plan to leave it at that. So yesterday Kaely and I got out and planted some sugar snap peas (seeds) and some rocket (seedlings). Next month we'll get in some zuchinnis and tomatoes, and hopefully between now and then I'll sow some carrot and spring onion seeds. Oh, and I really want to get some basil in this year. And Liam wants corn.
  
  Pretty basic. I'm not going to bother with beans this year - unless maybe one or two plants - because we just couldn't keep up with them last year. We're not really bean eaters, except raw in salads or straight off the bush. And having realised that if I do nothing, we'll still have some harvest, I now feel that anything is a bonus. But I have set myself up for better success this year by not planning too much.
  
  Same with the rest of the garden. We've got weeds galore coming up out the front, so I must get out and pull them up after the next rain, but aside from that if I get nothing but maintenance done I'll be happy. We put in a second apple tree and a medlar at the very last gasp of the bare root tree planting season (or slightly beyond, if the truth be known), and next year we'll try for some more fruit trees. But I remind myself that we will shortly have three young children, and that neither one of us has (or even really wants) a good protestant work ethic. We like to read, rest, sit around and chat, that sort of thing. So if we don't get the garden to look as good as my parents' garden does, well, it's nice to remember that theirs wasn't anything close to what it is now until I was in high-school. So as long as we get some more fruit trees in over the next couple of years, we'll be right.


• Also on the gardening front, I got a garden bed worm farm last weekend, which we are planning to use to process all the poo Lochie produces. Seriously, that dog is just a pooing machine! Obviously we won't haven't put it near any food plants, but I am hoping that we can move it around the garden to a different spot every six-twelve months and really build up the worm population in our soil, as well as deal with the poo problem. The worms supplied with it are a mix which includes both composting worms, and a kind of earth worm which will work more to take the goodness of the worm castings down into the soil. It sits directly in the garden bed, so there's no need for us to remove the castings ourselves. Lovely system. Hope it works!
  
  Unfortunately Chris wormed Lochie right before we got the farm, so we've had to wait a week to begin feeding them the poo. And that's going to be an issue for one week of every month. But processing the poo to be useful (instead of polluting) three weeks out of four is still a huge improvement over what we've been doing.


• I'm 16.5 weeks pregnant. I *think* I've started feeling the odd movement - as of Wednesday morning - but I'm not completely convinced yet. I know that with both the other kids I had a similar experience, and then later when I was sure I decided that's what I'd been feeling all along. But I also know that there've been times between pregnancies when I've felt some gas moving around in my gut and thought it felt exactly like the baby moving around in later pregnancy. This early it's a different feeling, but still, I'm withholding judgement. It's still exciting though.


• Edited to add: And Liam's reading is coming along in leaps and bounds. I got him some new Zac Power books from the library, not realising these were longer with smaller text. At first he struggled a little (though not as much as with Harry Potter, of which we are still reading a couple of pages at a time in between Zac Power books), but a few days later and he's doing really well with them.

Okay, I'd better start getting dinner organised now. I promised Kaely we would make pancakes for dinner, so she's been agitating to get started for half an hour already.

Baby Mikaela

Some time last year Mikaela went from being a self-declared baby, to a 'big girl' - no little girl time in between.

But for the past few weeks she's back to being a baby. A baby named Baby, no less.

I'm assuming this is something to do with me being pregnant,* although I suppose it could equally be just her latest phase. She also spent quite a bit of time being a baby dog and a baby kangaroo before she decided to be a baby human again - I can't remember if that started before or after we made the pregnancy announcement, but I think before.

A friend (of mine) recently asked Mikaela what was in mummy's tummy, to which Kaely quietly (she's always quiet with people she doesn't know extremely well) replied 'A baby.' So she knows what's going on, moreorless. But generally she's more interested in talking about how she was inside my belly.

Having said that she is keen on having the baby - it's going to be hers, you know. And it's going to be just like whoever the most recent baby she's happened across is. Or, if she hasn't happened across one just lately, it's going to be Charlie (my sister's baby) or Riley (another friend's baby).

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*I forgot, I haven't actually announced that on this blog yet. I was keeping it all sort-of secret - didn't want it on facebook basically - and so started a separate blog called 'Big Fat Positive'. I must import those posts into this blog soon. Anyway, I'm fifteen weeks today.

Birthdays are special

Mikaela came running out of her bedroom this morning to tell me excitedly "It's my birthday again today!" She seemed very pleased with the idea.

"Is it?" I said, "Well happy birthday!" Luckily she hasn't needed anything else (like more presents) to keep her happy.

Early morning song

The last two mornings Mikaela has woken up a little before six and lain in bed chatting to herself. This morning's chatter included the tidbit that she was in need of marshmellows. Yesterday she woke up singing "No, no, no, no, you're not the one for me!" (KT Tunstall) She calls it the 'woo-woo' song.

It's cute, but I could wish it happened an hour later.

Edited to add: Actually I had that wrong, she calls it the 'who-who' song. :)

Is this normal, or is it something special about Orana?

I love Liam's school. Especially in this beautiful autumn weather.  In the mornings at drop-off Kaely and I walk down with Liam, and hang around for a while.*

This morning we got to school about 8:40 and left at 9:15. I chatted with other kids and parents while Mikaela played in the sand, in the various kid-built 'cubbies', on a log. Once the big kids went inside I stood in the sun pushing Kaely in the cloth 'swing',** which she loves above all else at school.

This afternoon, if it's nice, I'll take a picnic afternoon tea and we'll probably stay at school until about 4pm. There may be other kids and parents about, or there may not, but either way we'll enjoy this autumn weather while it lasts.

Are other schools like this? Or is it something particular about Orana - or about Steiner schools - which makes them such lovely and welcoming places to spend time?

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*Very occasionally I drop Liam off without coming down from the carpark to his class - at his request - but when I do I usually feel a little bereft. He really wants to start taking the bus to school, but I'm not quite ready for that yet.
**This is a swing made out of a very large piece of material which has three ends tied to a horizontal poll. Little kids like Mikaela can climb right inside it, bigger kids make sort of a scoop seat for themselves with their legs hanging out.

"I want to puke in the bucket"

The first thing Liam told me when I got home from work just now was how he puked (on himself and on a shop floor) a couple of times today from coughing. I then got him a bucket, since I've come home to find him sitting on the couch watching TV, still coughing incessantly.

Mikaela: Is Liam going to puke in that?
Me: Hopefully not.
Kaely: I will puke in it too.
Me: Why don't you and I not puke at all.
Kaely: No, I want to puke. I want to puke in the bucket.

Conversation between Kaely and the Window

Mikaela: Open now Window!
Window (sounding suspiciously similar to Mikaela): I am opening!
Mikaela: No you not.

I also keep getting caught when she says "Mama!?" and I say "Yes?" And she says "Mama!" as though she hasn't heard me, and I say (sometimes without looking), "Yes Mikaela?" And then "Mama!" to which I reply again, at which point she looks at me annoyed and says "No - she's saying it," indicating some animal who is talking to some other animal. Or perhaps a pen who is talking to a shoe.

She don't like it

It's raining - a thunder storm in fact. I love it. The garden loves it. Liam and Chris love it. The animals aren't so sure. Mikaela says:

"I don't like it. I cover my ears, make it go away."

She says it very matter-of-factly mind you, with no hint of distress in her voice. And then she falls asleep in my arms.

Kaely on a hypothetical sibling

The possibility of another baby in the family came up the other day, I can't remember why, but this was Kaely's response to the idea of being a big sister. When asked something like, would she like a little sister in the family:

Mikaela: "Yes. Tahli."
Me: "Tahli? like Tahlia?"
Mikaela: "Yes."
Me: "What if it was a little brother?"
Mikaela: "No."
Me: "But what if the baby was a boy baby?"
Mikaela (emphatically): "No."

So I guess we're pretty clear on where her preferences lie, at least for the moment.

And as for me - well yes, this is a completely hypothetical baby, there is no pregnancy in sight, but I do quite like the name Tahlia - it's not been on my list before, but I might just add it.

On the other hand, I just googled Tahlia (Hebrew) and it means 'Dew of god' - sounds a bit like sperm, somehow, doesn't it? But Thalia (Greek) means 'to flourish', so that's definitely better...

Mikaela on school

Everyday this week there was a 'parent cafe' from school drop-off until midday, in what used to be a kindergarten room & playground (now used for playgroups, craft group etc).

We went there are drop-off on both Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday after dropping Liam off at his classroom, Kaely said very hopefully "My class now?"

At the beginning of the week Mikaela was very determined that she was going to school with Liam, but was placated by going to a 'playground' (at the parent cafe). Now she's convinced that that's her class, and I fear is going to be sorely disappointed next week, when there is no cafe on.

Mikaela dreams

Mikaela: You got stuck in that garden yes'day, didn' you mummy?
Me: I got stuck in the garden?
Mikaela: With parrots on you.
Me (guessing): I had carrots on me?
Mikaela: Yes. But you got out by yourself.
Me: Did you dream that I got stuck in the garden?
Mikaela: Yes.
Me: You dreamed it while you were asleep.
Mikaela: In my cot!

Her language isn't as good as that makes it sound - the words are there, but the pronunciation still calls for a lot of guess work. However the guesswork was reduced in this case by the fact that she repeated this dream - especially the first line - on and off all day, sometimes to the point of three or four times in a ten minute slot: "You got stuck in that garden, didn' you mummy?"

We talked about it a bit more and it was clear that she assumed that I had also dreamed it (and why wouldn't you think that?), and also that it was a bad dream - because of the stuckness, rather than the carrots. Also it was "Not Daddy. Not Mimi.* Not me. Just mummy."

This was a NY's eve dream, so the conversations happened yesterday, but she brought it up once again today. It really haunted her that dream. And she did wake up crying yesterday morning, so maybe that was why.
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*This is still what she calls Liam mostly, although sometimes she calls him 'Iam'.

Things I would be blogging about if I wasn't so tired...

• Web 2.0 in government - it is fun to be getting to be part of this conversation (in my work, not on my blog - because of the tiredness y'see). Interesting post from Lindsay Tanner (and some interesting comments) on his blog at fairfax digital.
• Funny things Mikaela is saying these days - like how she says 'Munooz' for both muesli and music. I keep meaning to record all this for the 'baby book', but I am not doing very well lately.
• How Liam thinks he is going to be Joseph in his school nativity play on Friday morning - he's pretty sure, he says, because he was Joseph again in the practice today and he can carry the candle really straight. This is a sweet little play they do in kindergarten where all the kids sing the whole thing, but some kids also have 'parts', while others are the angels who file in around the outside. It lasts for maybe ten minutes (including the procession in), and then we all get morning tea and school is over for the year.
• The vegie garden, which is finally starting to look like one - we are picking silverbeet and snow peas and stacks of parsley and will very soon be picking zucchinis and cherry tomatoes as well.
• How Liam decided he wanted to get involved in the garden and so he has his own little patch in which we (he and I together) have planted potatos and cucumbers (I know, not really a match companion planting-wise, but they were two things we hadn't been able to fit into the main garden).
• Our littlest Silky chook who has (I think) Mareks disease, which I am treating with, I kid you not, a mix of cranberries, brazil nuts, garlic, plus to drink pomegranate juice and gatorade. I got it from a chook forum (okay, I'll find the link... Backyard Poultry forum), and it seems to be helping.
• Out new car, which we've converted to run on LPG which I'm pretty sure is a good thing (and was helped by a $2000 government rebate) (but how we have to hurry up and sell the old one so I don't get into the habit of driving to work like I did today).
• How hungry I am right now
• But how I need to go to bed and so I think food - and more blogging - will have to wait for another day.
• g'night.

More Kaely-talk

Been meaning to blog this for ages... a few funny little things Kaely says, for the baby book:

Mu-nooz (think mu as in music and news in an American accent - ie without the 'y' sound we aussie's put in front of the e) - she uses this both for muesli and music.

Molk for milk

Damn, I can't remember anything else...

She hardly signs at all any more, she has become very verbal - still not that easy to understand but getting easier all the time.

"I wuv you."

"I wuv you." Yesterday was the first time Mikaela said that to me (or anybody). And she quickly followed it with "No, I wuv you too," when I said I loved her too. It was very cute. And she seemed very proud to get the words out.

She says it with a slight hesitation between each word - which is how she says all new sentences. She can say quite long ones now (by which I mean five or six words), but she's by no means fluent even with shorter sentences. She often seems to really think about which word to use next.

I was getting her ready for her nap and picked her up for a cuddle before nursing like I always do when she said it the first time. Which makes sense because I often say I love her then. She hasn't said it spontaneously like that again - without me saying it first. But she still seems very proud today of her ability to say it at all. She's definitely enjoying her language development as much as we are.

Vegies.

Until recently Mikaela hated mushrooms. She's okay with vegies generally - just so long as they are served separately. She doesn't like the 'all in one pot' style of cooking Chris and I prefer. She likes to be able to identify each item on her plate, and prefers not to have too many choices. She'd rather focus her efforts on one or two types of food - maybe chicken pieces and sliced tomato, or steamed carrots and broccoli. If you give her all four options, she'll just eat all of one (probably the carrot) and then ask for more of that.

But until recently she despised mushrooms and zuchinni. Zuchinni is still not on her list of favourite foods (and she definitely doesn't like it raw), but she will eat it now. But mushrooms. Yum! As long as they are sauted moreorless on their own. So that's what she's having for lunch. a bowl of sauted mushrooms (with basil). I steamed some broccoli too, which she usually likes, but she's leaving that to one side. Maybe she'll eat it when the mushrooms are all gone, maybe she won't. She's a funny thing.