christmas pressies anyone?

Cracked.com has a list of 20 Baby Products Great for Traumatizing your Infant.

I may, or may not, have snorted my tea. Just sayin'

cross-posted at my blog

Potty Training With Dr Phil

Someone sent this to the Beijing list I am on today: http://www.pottytrainingconcepts.com/Dr-Phil-Potty-Training/Dr-Phil-Potty-Train-in-One-Day.htm

Actually, they linked a different part of the website, so once I waded through all the paraphernalia, I finally got to this spot.

Not sure how I feel about it as it seems over the top. But hey, here's some tips in case anyone's interested.

Hope everyone's well and happy,
Wenchi

Looking for a good kids book?

You may not think much of our current Premier, but he does have a fantastic list of books under the Premier's Reading Challenge (I know, it's all the hard work of public servants). The list is here and is divided into K-2 and so on. I haven't been able to get the PDFs to download (I think they are fixing it) but if you click on the links in the purple sections you should be all right.

Be surprised at how many books you already own, how many are familiar from your own school days, and how many you immediately want to buy. Or maybe that's just me. Some really great kids books here, and it may take some of the hassle out of choosing a special book for a special little person. Or give you too much choice. Happy book hunting.

Dear Zoo

The young miss is into letter writing at the moment. She declared that she was writing to the zoo. Word was set up, wingdings added in for decoration (with my help) and the resulting letter (in 48 font) was emailed off to the general contact address at the zoo. I wasn't actually expecting a reply and had said that "they might be very busy looking after all the animals".

To our utter delight the following came back the next day:

....the little lady who sent the letter to us,
Thank you very much for your lovely letter. We are very pleased you love your visits to the zoo so much.
We hope you continue to visit, and enjoy and learn about the many animals here at the zoo.
Kind regards....

How sweet was that?

Boobies!

G demanded Boobies last night as Daddy was putting her to bed. 'G has boobies', she was told (when she is tired she likes to slip her hand inside your shirt and onto your chest, a hangover from breastfeeding). 'No, boobies!' she demanded. 'No, G I'm not going to give you boobies' Daddy replied. Then she points to her shelf of teddys and dolls. 'Okay, which one do you want?' asked Daddy. 'Boobies!' was the reply. Then sensing that Daddy had no idea what she was on about she added 'hat!'.

All was revealed. She wanted a very strange little doll that has tiny pink thread knot nipples and a large hat. I think the doll is designed to go in the bath and the splotches of colour on her fade so that she is 'clean'. We haven't put her in the bath because not all of the other toys which would then immediately follow her would be so forgiving of a bath.

Some mothers dress their daughters as fairy's and princess's but not my mum.

Poor Gabriella, We attended a fancy dress 1st & 2nd B'day party for Peter's side of the family and as I suspected everyone dress their daughters as fairies and princess but Oh not us. Though she was a hit and everyone loved the hat.

not wrong at all! nooooo

via Modern Mechanix

Blue Steel!

Blue Steel!
Originally uploaded by Wenchilada

Zoolander has nothin' on her!

Snotty, grotty and completely beautiful...

and two today.

Oh, the joy!

Of being by the sea

For discussion...

How independent do we let them and when does that start.

Go here and read what prompted this question

having a Darling Baby is never enough.

sanity helps too.

I know the Food Whore is linked over at For Battle, but I thought her latest post just fitted right in. Go here and have a chuckle, shake your head, and know that you'll (most likely) never be that freaky ;-)

I have survived...

a two hour 5th birthday party with 8 (including Charlie) 5 year olds. There was screaming, tantrums, laughter and lots of fun. There was also lots of junk food, then we sent them home to their parents. Only one child turned up unexpectedly (he was invited but hadn't RSVP'd). It took longer to clean up than it did to hold the party. It took almost as long to work out which bit of plastic went with which little thing that had to be assembled and have stickers stuck all over it. We didn't count on the almost two year old being so razzed up on sugar that she wouldn't go to sleep until 10.30pm when we went to bed and then only after threats from Daddy of being put in her own bed if she didn't stop kicking him.

I think I'd do it again. Maybe. We were worried what to do to keep them occupied, but I realised that hey, they're in kindergarten if all else fails we'll read them a book. Fortunately an Easter Egg hunt, a pinata, and a pit stop for drinks and scoffing food took care of all their needs. I had help, one lovely Mum stayed the whole two hours and apart from a short coffee break played with the kids all the time. A couple of other Mums stayed and were an extra pair of eyes which was great since I was still trying to make the icing for the dodgy Woolies sponge I was trying to turn into a birthday cake. The kids didn't care, half of them didn't have room for cake.

I'm so grateful that I'm at work today, Gemma is at daycare and Charlie is at school. I don't want to have to deal with the come down from all that sugar and excitement. I'm a coward.

and you thought Torbenspang Huntington-Smythe was bad

How about Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116" (pronounced "/ˈalˌbin/")

Freaks

My Tiny Astronomer

On the slide with the baby.

Baby points into distance.

"Ball!"

"Ball!"

"Where's the ball honey? I can't see any ball."

This goes on for twenty minutes.

As we're leaving the park I finally realise that the ball he's talking about is the Moon that's visible in the afternoon sky.

"No honey, I can't get that ball for you. That's the Moon."

"Ball! Ball! Ball! Ball! Ball! Ball!"

"Sorry sweety, that's, like, a quarter of a million miles away (must Google that fact)."

"Ball! Ball! Ball! Ball! Ball! Ball!"

Baby proceeds to bitch and cry about the fact that I can't get the ball for him.

He's still obsessing about the moon after his bath and dinner.

It's funny, though, to think that in our age there is at least a very remote possibility that my little boy will one day stand on the moon.

SCA frocks to a good home - size 1

I've got two quite nice frocks that neither of my girls can use. If anyone knows of a good home for them let me know. There are two frocks, 2 linen shifts and a cap suitable for size 0-1.

Modern Dilemma

We were sitting outside in a pub beer garden with the kids. With the new anti-smoking laws, the beer garden is now the only place people can smoke within the pub grounds. When we went out there we were the only ones, and we decided to sit outside and have a drink because it was a nice day, and the kids could run around without being a nuisance to anyone.

Then someone came and sat at an ajacent table, and lit up a cigarette. Immediately Charlie started announcing loudly that someone was making poor choices and that smoking made you sick. We were trying to get him to be quiet, because although we don't smoke and would prefer that the gentleman in question wasn't smoking in our vicinity, we could hardly ask him to stop when we were sitting in the designated smoking area. So we found ourselves in the strange position of defending, to our almost 5 year old, this man's right to smoke even though it's a bad choice and makes you sick. Mostly we were just trying to get him to stop talking about other people at the top of his lungs. Each time someone else came out and lit up he was off again.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation? Apart from moving away from the smoker, what did you do?

Squeaky shoes?

He doesn't get gardening

Crankmaster J and I did a bit of gardening this afternoon.

He loves dirt. Dirt is good. Can't eat enough of it. But he didn't like those annoying bits of green that were in his lovely pot of dirt. They got picked out.

Eventually I had to insist that the seedlings were supposed to be there.

Silly boy. When I do give him his own pot of dirt he only tips over himself.

Dirt, dirt, glorious dirt....

Clever babies

We all know our babies are the most beautiful and clever babies in the world, naturally, but did you know they were this clever?

I do so love Noni

Crappy kids TV is akin to 'child abuse'

hmm it made me laugh waaaay too much...lack of sleep will do that I suspect :)

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

In case it's escaped you so far...

Here's the litany we'll all share (slightly American slant but truths are universal in so many ways...)
Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anSpBUxsgAU

(because I haven't worked out how to embed the videos in here as yet...)

Spare Parts for Babylove Car Seats

On the off chance that you might be able to get spare parts for Babylove seats I emailed them the other day and told them what the problem was with my car seat and asked if they sold spare parts. The good news is that they do. All I had to do was call their customer service line (1300 303 330) and give them the part number, which they looked up on their computer there and then confirmed that they had them in stock and took my credit card details. Two days later I had my replacement buckle for the second hand car seat we have. Since the car seat was made in 1998, I was pretty impressed. Their email is custserv@britax.com.au.

who needs the fort at festival...

... when you can make one of these??




out of cardboard boxes. I found it at this site.
bring on the children's parties, I say :-)

check out their gallery to see what other people have done, it's pretty cool. I cross-posted at ForBattle! because I couldn't resist whacking up a piccie of the armour.


carry on.

Pocoyo!

I've Torby has caught the Pocoyo bug. I blame Meg & Jamie.
It's too too cute and we now own one of the dvd's and a few of the books, one of which Torby lurves (it came to the supermarket with us.)

Just thought I should share :)

Farmstay...

Hi All

Keep this website in your favourites for a while - http://www.countryroads.com.au/. We have just spent a divine 4 days on the farm and I would really recommend it as a holiday option once your kids are about 5ish. Patting the animals, feeding the chooks, goats, alpacas, checking for eggs, pony rides, quad bike rides, tyre swing, cuddling the goats, lambs, rabbits, campfires, solar heated pool, decent size cabins... the list goes on.

We will be heading back up there again!
cheers

Gym membership, anybody?

Seeing as we're sodding off, does anyone want a Fernwood gym membership? I'll be using it until we go, but it would be great if I could transfer it over to someone.

Let me know if you're interested yet. We have no rock-solid timeframe, probably in Beijing by March. I've had the membership since August so there'll be at least sixish months left on it.

Kids books at Australia Post

A tip from one of my mother's group mums who is also a primary school teacher.

Australia Post is selling sets of kids books really cheap at the moment. 4 Mem Fox books for $10 (author of Possom Magic) and 4 Graeme Base books for $20 (Animalia) and a bunch of other sets.

I found them in the Burwood Plaza post office but not in the Westfield one.

It's something to do with literacy week and it happens every year for a short time.

Good value I think.

The new season tie-dye

Sometime in the near future, I'll be doing some dyeing. I've got some white singlets but I need to collect a few more bits and pieces before I'm ready. I figure I'll at least be doing a green. Other colours dependant on what I've got.

If you are interested in throwing a few things into the bucket (tied or not), then let me know and we can arrange a good time.

Book Party

We are having a book party to celebrate Dafydd's first novel- Eaglehawk
It will be held at Banjo Books Unit 4/ 2 Oxford St Epping 2121
Sunday the 14th of October from 2-4pm.
This is after the Star gazing event, we are trying not to clash.
If you are interested in coming or would like to get a copy of the book then leave an RSVP at eaglehawk_dafydd@hotmail.com before the 25th of September.

Hmmmm

So is it a sign that Toilet Training is iminent when she lifts the lid on the toilet, drops the phone in and flushes?

Size 1 clothes for summer

Hi guys,

Yes. It's me begging again.

Anyone got any clothes in size 1 and even size 2 that you no longer need. Sadly, I think the Crankmaster J has caught up with a few kids so you are probably still using the clothes.

Ah well. I shall have to go shopping. I'm getting better at it.

Thanks

Listen lady, I don't want to hit you with the pram anymore than you want to be hit by it!

I have to get this off my chest, it's been bugging me for quite a while now. Even before I had a kid in a pram of my very own.

So today at Westfields (big mistake, I should confine myself to never leave the house on weekends, apparently), I didn't lose my temper when:

a) The first lady stopped right in front of the escalator while I back peddaled to try not to hit her.
b) When another lady did the same thing.
c) When people going the same direction almost wandered into me
d) When I was constantly cut off
e) When I couldn't get into the lift because it was jam packed full of people who could have taken the escalator, or at least someone could have gotten out to let the person in the wheelchair in
f) When people walking towards me walked into me, couldn't work out where they were walking (I'm walking in a straight line here, people, it's not hard).
g) When the people in front of me suddenly stopped or slowed down so much I wanted to punch them in the head.

p, q, r, s, t!!!!!!!)

No. Didn't lose my temper at all. Was very good, you all would have been so proud.

But I did express some frustration, when the two Little Misses with their 80's rocker hairstyles, arse cracks and ughboots, cut me off, then slowed right down and I had to pull up so I wouldn't hit them, I had nowhere to go to get around them. It went down like this:

Me: "Oh, come on!" (Hardly a John McEnroe tantrum, no really, I was just exasperated at this point and it was almost a breathed sigh)
Little Miss Bumcrack glared then slowed to walk beside me, with her be-ughed grrlfraynd still moseying along infront of the pram "Well, you could have said "Excuse me", you know and been polite about it at least!"
Me: "I could have sworn at you, but that would have been impolite, you guys could at least watch where you are walking".
LMB "Redneck".

Yes. That's right. I'm a redneck apparently. I wasn't the one in the ughs, honey. And I'm slightly more classy than to show my arse-crack in public. Nice comeback, sweetheart (which is what I thought, after the whole thing happened. Tch! Hate that!)

And I almost stopped, handed them the pram and said "Fine. You navigate your way around a mall full of idiots then". But I didn't, because I was pretty cranky and it was time for me to go and be somewhere else before I gave them both a bitch-slap to the head, so I just twitched, sucked it up and walked off.

Redneck. Hmph...

Another time, I was in the lift, which was quite packed and this woman turned to me and told me I shouldn't be out in public. I looked at myself in the mirror and I was dressed appropriately, my hair wasn't offensive that day and I didn't smell, so I couldn't work it out. But of course, she meant the pram, Persmonster and I shouldn't be occupying space in the lift. Luckily, it was time for me to get out and I didn't have to be trapped in a confined space with yet another idiot, else otherwise, she too, would have received a bitch-slap to the head.

Call me old fashioned, but I've always been the type-o-gal who will hold doors open for people with prams, help them up stairs/onto trains and generally have enough nouse to stay the hell out of the way and be aware of my surroundings enough not to wander aimlessly into someone's pram.

So is it just me or is the population saturation of idiots on the climb? Is that across the board, or is it just Parramatta?

Oh and LMB if you read this? You should get your roots touched up, honey.

Warning - mulberry eating machine

I thought bananas were the ultimate baby food. Mr J thinks differently.

I've been going through the frozen berries in the freezer. Blueberries are pretty good but last season's mulberries are particularly popular.

The neighbours have cut their tree back hard this winter so I'm not sure how well it will produce in the coming season. So I need help in locating other mulberry trees to stock up for next year.

So. Does anyone know someone with a tree in the backyard? Especially if they don't like mulberries... Most people can't eat everything a tree produces. Do you know someone that will let the babies have the excess?

Mulberries season isn't for a couple of months, so I have time to locate trees and beg.

Oh, and come summer, there needs to be a blueberry picking expedition in Murrumbateman. Mindy, you may be invaded.

total recall

I've been reading (as I'm sure you have) about the massive recall Mattel is doing for all of the lead-affected toys it has produced in China... but I've been too slack to find a comprehensive list of all the recalls. luckily, one of the articles I just read has a handy-dandy pdf, so here you go -

Mattel Voluntary Recall Information

and because a post without a photo just goes against the grain, here's a random piccy!


this is from the Play School concert a bunch of us went and saw a couple of months ago. I meant to blog it but caught a nasty bout of Teh Slack. the chick on the left is Angela Moore who used to be Shirley Purvis from the Castanet Club (for those of you ancient and/or hippp enough to remember). the pianist, Penny, was also from CC. they have a children's CD which sounds kinda cute. I might even fork out for it sometime. I heart Angela.

carry on!

I may regret this

I may have started a life long shoe fetish with these little things (they only came in pink). But I thought they were rather cute, and at $5 (BIG W on sale) will do a great job of keeping her socks on and her feet warm. She had a mini tantrum in the shop when I put them on her to see if they fit, then took them off again so I know she likes them.

It's too quiet

Had a job interview this morning, so in anticipation of starting the job, the kids are both at daycare today. It's Gemma's first day. She didn't cry. I don't think she realised what was happening. I was given the impression that if I got the go ahead for the job I could start tomorrow, although that now seems to be changed to next week. Anyway, I'm making myself wait until 3pm to pick up the kids. It's quite difficult. I'm dreading dropping Gemma off tomorrow morning, because this time she will know what's going to happen and I don't think she will be happy. I'm almost hoping that they ring back and say they have decided to go with someone else.

However, if I do get the job, it will pay for both kids' childcare, give me some much needed bling for the CV and it's only four days a week so I still get Friday off. But I don't get to have picnics in the tent on the verandah and chase the kids around in the mud. But I could pay the bills. I hate waiting for the phone to ring.

Update: Gemma cried this morning, so I got feeling guilty and upset so I decided not to wait for the phone to ring and called them. I start Monday. All I have to do now is find something to wear to work. I just realised that I haven't had to dress up to go to the office since late 2002.

I made it to 3.10pm before leaving the house yesterday, and I stopped for petrol. When I arrived Gemma just gave me a sunny smile and an 'oh you came back!' look. Charlie decided to stay until later so he could play with his friends. There was however a lot of cuddling later that afternoon and we had to put Gemma to bed three times before she finally went to sleep. I hope it gets easier.

The handy notebook

We have had an A5 brightly coloured bound notebook kicking about on our kitchen table for about 2 years.... Lately it has become the never ending list of bits of paper that need to be signed and contractors/builders etc that need to be rung. However in it's glory days we would occasionally write down absolute classics that come out of the mouths of babes. I would truly recommend it as a general habit as having a notebook handy to write it down in makes it 3000 times more likely that you will in fact remember it in more than 5 minutes time. I had forgotten these and was looking for any more papers/calls that we had forgotten to do when I came across two of the best:
"We had 2 budgies at kindy - Bluey and Squarky. Poor Squarky died & went to Kevin. Birdie Kevin, not people Kevin. Birdies go to Kevin, not people. After Squarky we had Budgerieguard. He saved people and kept them safe, but he didn't because he lived in a cage." circa Jul 06
and
"There's more love in the whole entire world than words" Jan 07.

And here's one that didn't end up in the book because I was driving home last night:
"Mum - what are booby traps? Do they hurt your boobies?"
try explaining it without laughing while doing 70km on the freeway in peak hour traffic....

Master Dafydd is an author- shameless plugg

David has written two books for the It's True series of childrens books. One of these is 'Bourke and Wills forgot the frying pan'. The other is 'The Vikings got lost'. They are both entertaining books that Alex is just starting to enjoy even though he is a bit too young to really get into them.

http://www.allenandunwin.com/shopping/ProductDetails.aspx?ISBN=9781741144727

It is hard to get hold of the books so I have included the link to the publishers web site so that anyone who would like to get one of his books can. If you do a search for David Greagg you will get both books.

Hi-tech school reports

Yes it's half yearly parent teacher interview time and we have received the school reports... We loooove the school reports and I have been wondering whether teachers have a secret website where they write what they really think and the secret website chucks out the PC-parental version that they can paste into the report cards. No corkers this time round. Last year there was the ever classic "likes to create drama with her classmates" and "is an enthusiastic vocal contributor". It's become a bit tamer this year and almost heading into the stereotypes of our time such as "could apply her/himself more". I prefer the secret website option - anyone know any primary school teachers? Do the senior school teachers amongst us know something we don't?

You know your baby is hungry when...

you are chewing off a broken nail and he cries at you because you aren't sharing!

Because some people need a warning label

Despairware for kids

I particularly like the noise hazard one.

Fund raising goes hi-tech

I got an email from the younger brother on the weekend. The elder neice is doing a read-a-thon to raise money for MS. I'm all for anything that encourages people to read so I signed up for a token amount.

What amuses me is that it is no longer about wandering the local neighbourhood looking for sponsors. You can now fleece family all over the world and you can sponsor them through a credit card.

It seems a little odd, but I'm sure I'll appreciate it when it comes time for me to beg to friends on my kid's behalf.

Time for a new job?

You may have seen this one already - or even signed up!

JOB DESCRIPTION: MUM
POSITION :Mother, Mum, Mama, Mummy, Mumma, Ma
JOB DESCRIPTION: Long term, team players needed, for challenging permanent work in an often chaotic environment. Candidates must possess excellent communication and organisational skills and be willing to work variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends and frequent 24 hour shifts on call. Some overnight travel required, including trips to primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments in far away cities. Travel expenses not reimbursed. Extensive courier duties also required.
RESPONSIBILITIES: The rest of your life. Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily, until someone needs $5. Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly. Also, must possess the physical stamina of a pack mule and be able to go from zero to 60 mph in three seconds flat in case, this time, the screams from the backyard are not someone just crying wolf. Must be willing to face stimulating technical challenges, such as small gadget repair, mysteriously sluggish toilets and stuck zippers. Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars and coordinate production of multiple homework projects. Must have ability to plan and organise social gatherings for clients of all ages and mental outlooks. Must be willing to be indispensable one minute, an embarrassment the next. Must handle assembly and product safety testing of a half million cheap, plastic toys, and battery operated devices. Must always hope for the best but be prepared for the worst. Must assume final, complete accountability for the quality of the end product. Responsibilities also include floor maintenance and janitorial work throughout the facility.
POSSIBILITY FOR ADVANCEMENT & PROMOTION :Virtually none. Your job is to remain in the same position for years, without complaining, constantly retraining and updating your skills, so that those in your charge can ultimately surpass you
PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE :None required unfortunately. On-the-job training offered on a continually exhausting basis.
WAGES AND COMPENSATION : Get this! You pay them! Offering frequent raises and bonuses. A balloon payment is due when they turn 18 because of the assumption that University will help them become financially independent. When you die, you give them whatever is left. The oddest thing about this reverse-salary scheme is that you actually enjoy it and wish you could only do more.
BENEFITS: While no health or dental insurance, no pension, no tuition reimbursement, no paid holidays and no stock options are offered; this job supplies limitless opportunities for personal growth and free hugs for life if you play your cards right.

Little Bo-Peep - kindof

It's not sheep that have been lost but two bags of clothes. Girl's clothes - size 2. They would have originally been in two white shopping bags and come from Tina originally. Did anyone else acquire them because Tina and I have different recollections about their fate and now we need to track them down before Sophie has to run naked through winter (which if she's like any other small child I know would probably suit her fine but would cause consternation to both her parents and health professionals).

So do any of you girl children owners have clothes that have the size highlighted? (This is Tina's sister's method of marking clothes).

What do they put in Blueberry Starburst lolliops?

I'm pretty sure it's not blueberries.

Take one bowl of yoghurt...

left by a four year old who tired of the novelty of eating it with one finger, one silly Mummy who overheated dinner in the microwave and had to put it in the fridge to cool, and one hungry baby who hasn't quite mastered feeding herself yet. Unfortunately I missed the 'sticking the whole bowl over my face' incident with the camera.

A big day for P

Sunday was huge!

First there was the Christening

(complete with hallelujahs while we were singing the hymns)

Then there was cake!

(I had lots of fun with food colouring!)

And then there were the first steps!

(she knows how to work an audience)

Gemma learns about sharing

What rhymes with baby?

Apart from 'rabies' and that is a tenuous one at best. Or 'maybe', as per the tripod song.

Tops is constantly making up songs for the boy and I'm sure you won't be surprised how much rhymes with poo. His latests songs are lacking in variety for a lack of rhyming words.

Any one got any good silly made up song lyrics they can share. I think my personal best is to "The times, they are a changing"... I'm sure you get figure out how that one went.

The 70's were a scary place...

And if you need any further proof - check this out...
http://www.candyboots.com/wwcards.html

arrrghhhh
fliss

Toys and more - all yours!

Yes - the house is coming down and we're moving very soon. We have soooo many things that are not coming with us. Especially the toys! The 5 year old really doesn't need rattles anymore, nor the dinky and we have nowhere to store the swing set...

And there's a bunch of other stuff going as well - outdoor furniture, sheets, towels etc (all in reasonable nick) older crockery, large glass storage containers (Mouse do you want these?). I know the lead up to Easter is a bit mad - but if you guys aren't keen it's going to the op shops.

So please leave a message here saying if you are interested or mail me privately or better yet - call me, as I am in full chucking out mode from now til the weekend after Easter. If you can drop round and grab what you want that would be fantastic...

Cheers from the depths of a packing box....
fliss

Good home looking for size 00 and 0 clothes

Anyone got some they want to get rid of? The boy has grown and winter is coming on.

I'm not fussy with colour (tie-dying can fix stuff that is stained or pastel but otherwise serviceable).

And I now have a fair amount of 000 stuff to hand to the next baby. There is some stuff he never even got to wear.

And Wenchy. Where's your cunning Bonds store? I want to get the boy more stripeys.

Festival

We have had some rain, Yay!, so we have enough water and we can have visitors over Festival. So if you have a baby, aren't sure about camping with said baby and would like to pull up a piece of floor at Chez Johnson, you are welcome.

We have one guest room with double bed, one room with books in it, but plenty of floor space (and a door), and a large lounge dining room which doesn't have doors on it, so you might get visited by pussy cats. There is also a sofa bed in the family room. I have one portacot. I can supply a bit in the way of bedding, but depending on numbers it some might need to bring their own mattress. We are in NZ for the next couple of days so leave a comment rather than e-mail me.

If you prefer to try camping, you are also welcome to drop over to bath bubby, boil some water, use the fridge or microwave etc. We are about 10 mins from Festival site.

Also, if there is something that you really want to attend at Festival that isn't possible with babies, I will probably be here for most of Festival so some short term babysitting should be available most days. I'll probably pop over for Market Day, but that's about it.

Kids Artwork - handy hints

ok - so some of you might not quite be up to dealing with this yet, but I figured I would write about it while it was still in my brain...

Kids artwork - are you drowning in it? Here are some practical tips I've learnt/made up as we have gone along:

1. Fridge - nice & tradional - depending on strength of your magnets - buy lots of heavy duty ones - give them to rellies & friends who need their fridges livened up
2. blu tack to walls - depends on your taste in decor, but works well
3. frame a couple of particualrly nice ones for their room/ your room/ wherever
4. stick one example (we used to get a choice of 3 or 4 of each variety home from daycare) of other nice ones in A4 display folders - usually some folding required, get child to help pick their own faves (may have a different reason to you - if particularly cute reason or answer to "and what's this one" you can write it on the back...
5. Use larger examples as gift wrap - goes down particularly well with grandparents & other rellies
6. chop up & use as outer cards for birthday cards/party invites etc
7. take digital photos of child & artwork or just artwork before recycling/chucking in bin - works particularly well for the painted egg carton variety of artwork which is hard to fold... Also shows you care about it, but don't have space to keep it all. If you're particularly techy you could even make an album or website where the child can look at their own artwork...

Will gratefully accept any other ideas - the sheer volume has reduced somewhat now that we are into doing "activity sheets" at school - but there is still a vast amount tracking it's way into our house...

I swear I just turned around for an instant...

and he was four. I think he had a good birthday yesterday. He fell asleep on the floor in front of the tv at 6.00pm, stirred briefly when I put him in bed and then bounced in to get into bed with me at 6.30am and seemed quite happy. Daddy is home today (as soon as he gets through Customs and on a plane for Canberra) so we will have more celebrations today.

Happy Birthday little one.

Oh and by the way...

We didn't go for a look.

For a rainy day?

Ok, so there we were, merrily pootling around the gorgeous NZ countryside when this sign leaped (I tell you!) over the hedge at us. Naturally, we spent the rest of our holiday wondering "From what, exactly?" We have come up with a few answers, but we feel the mystery is far from solved...

The first and most obvious being:
Maoris?

Hell, save me from them!

Llary the Llama and his girlfriend Llu-Llu?


They have a mean streak.

Hitch-hikers?

Bludgers, the lot of 'em.

The nine-footed-gumboot-wearing-bumkicker

Last spotted somewhere near Waikikamucau (bootless.)

This mo-fo bunny?

Killer rabbits are a menace over there. Shoot Bunnies.

The nine-footed-gumboot-wearing-bumkicker's distant cousin, "Ca-pilla"?

Yeah, I wouldn't be so sure about him either, Pers!

Wolves?

We all need saving from wolves.

Tilda Swinton?

It's the red mascara, isn't it?

Brussel Sprouts?

And these are the worst offenders, I think.


Moldovian Grandmothers?

Or bad denistry, you decide...

Themselves?

They look sweet and innocent on the outside.

So in conclusion, we're really not sure what they should be saved from, or even for, for that matter. But it made for a rather amusing diversion from "Mordorrrr" everytime we saw some mountains. Which was frequent.

I've got a new trick

Yes, I'm reading!

This one's a harrowing tale of a small white mouse who has trouble identifying his pet dragon. It all ends happily, I'm pleased to report where mouse and dragon are reunited. The text is a little repetative I must say.

No. Actually the new trick is head control. No more face plants for me!

I'm too old for homework - wahhh

Warning - venting contained, once I get it off my chest I'll be fine but....

Yes the above is from me and not my daughter... I was warned (thanks Mim!) but it's hit with a vengeance. I don't mind the reading every night or the take home and do the cut/colour/paste on the letter of the week even - what I can't stand is the ****ing homework diary! In Kindy! You might be thinking - well that's what you get with a private school - but friend's kids in public schools have the same thing.

Not only do you need to add the date, the title of the reader and the running total of the days that reading has been done - you have to come up with a comment! Arrrrggghhhhh...

Now those who have more enthusiasm for this than me are probably wondering what's the fuss. Hmmm let's see. Threw a tanty cos she had to read instead of watch TV - probably not a good look, therefore into homework diary as "wants to go fast therefore looks at pictures not words...".

A kindred heart has written an ever so more elegant version of this rant in the Feb edition of Sydney's Child and I am so exactly there in terms of both the sentiment and the more profound changes noted by the author. Homework standover tactics do not need to start in Kindy - why aren't kids allowed to be kids anymore?

Tips, Anybody?

We have 3 sleeps till our trip for two weeks in NZ. Just wonder if anyone's got any cunning advice or tips for o/s travel with a crawling 10 month old. We're going to Canterbury Faire, so sleeping in a dorm's probably going to be interesting, as we won't have a porta-cot with us.

We survived!

I just thought I'd publicly thank the boy for being so fabulous over the weekend.

We went to Queensland for the weekend to introduce him to the rest of the family. I'd prepared myself for a sleepless two days and screaming on the plane. But there was no trouble at all.

I fed him when the plane was taking off and landing to stop his ears hurting. On the way up he slept in Tops' arms. On the flight home he lay in my lap and made friends with the tray table...at least I think that was what he was smiling at.

He had no trouble sleeping in the porta-cot. I suspect that it being hours past his regular bedtime on the first night helped him to sleep soundly. I also think he was comforted by the fact that we were in the same room as usual.

He charmed the whole family. He puked all over grandma and smiled heaps at the nieces (6yo and 2yo).

Now we are back and having a rest day. But thankfully it wasn't the stressful occasion that I was dreading.

Hooray for well behaved family.

Is it possible to take children out to dinner?

We went out for dinner, with the kids, last night for the first time in years. I think it's fair to say that by the time dinner arrived we were wishing we hadn't. At least without a strait jacket or restraints to hold Charlie in his chair. He was determined to go for a swim in the pool just outside the restaurant (motel restaurant in town that had been recommended). D took him outside to look at the pool, while explaining why he couldn't go swimming (ie you can't swim yet little man) and turned around to find Charlie in the process of stripping off. Finally he got him back into the restaurant with promises that he would behave, only to have him run off again, several times. So I just wanted to ask, is it possible to take small children with you when you go out to dinner, or should we just give up?

Nappies - reviews

Hi people,

I need a new brand of nappies.

We started with the huggies newborns (up to 5kg) since they were the cheapest. We grew out of those in 3 weeks.

Then we used the huggies infants (4-8kg). Now technically we aren't too big for these yet, but they just aren't able to take the ...erm... volume. We've had a few messy blowouts.

We've upgraded to huggies crawler (6-11kg) but these look massive on him.

So I'm looking for a disposable that is midway between these sizes. Also, in the bigger sizes, I don't think huggies is the cheapest anymore but I haven't had the leasure to stand in the shop and do the calculations.

Right now we are in cloth nappies thanks to a nappy service present from my ex-workmates. They aren't too bad but require a little extra attention since they don't have the space age technology to store moisture.

So what have you people used?

I suspect one nappy is pretty much as good as the next these days, but there may be some brands that are better than others.

Youngest mother ever was a 5 year old Peruvian girl

Check it out on snopes

This was one of those disturbing things someone sent me when I was pregnant, in the hope that I might stop whingeing.

I have one of 'those' children

you know the type.
the ones who

bite

I was one and this morning Oliver showed signs of continuing the tradition.
Middle of a temper tanty, I picked him up and held him and he bit me on the shoulder.

Oh yes, he was very popular then.

I had hopes that he would have a lot more of MrNw's temperament, but it appears otherwise.

Oh the horror

The gap has started

Yes - wobbly tooth no. 1 has gone (thanks to an extra tough gingerbread man). Wobbly tooth no. 2 is going any day now... And yes the tooth fairy did her bit (thanks to Shirley Barber, my advice - avoid this author as loooong as possible - she can draw, not write).

I'm guessing we'll be singing "all i want for Xmas is my 2 front teeth" next year...

"All babies are in the 90th percentile"

according to Coz.

Which makes my boy perfectly average.

JR went for his 8 week check yesterday and scored 90% or more on all the tests. Yes, I've produced an over achiever. Who would have thought! :)

He looked so cute in the little weighing chair. Damn I wish I had the camera. He's 6kg! Some of that milk must be staying down... He has a tendancy to coat one of us in milk at least once a day...

The nurse remembered us too.... or at least she remembered the tie-dye.

Bugger!

Hi guys, happy new year and all that. I've buggered up. I went to move my blog to Beta and it's moved this one as well (probably clicked somewhere without realising). So now we've got three contributors and everyone else has disappeared. I will send out the emails again to everybody now. Sorry about the annoyance...

Dear Mummy

Dear Mummy

I have been working on a little project for some time now (no it's not in my nappy) and I am pleased to announce that I have produced two teefs. You will find them on my bottom gum in the middle and I will bite hard if you put your finger in my mouth. (Consider yourself warned). I also want you to know that although I haven't bitten you on the booby yet, I reserve the right to do so without notice. Please don't scream too loud or you might hurt my ears and/or upset me. Please note also that any attempts to wean me at this time will be met with shrieks of outrage and big sad eyes. Also any attempt to move my cot out of your bedroom so you can't hear said shrieks of outrage will end in both your children being awake half the night. Face it Mummy, I've got all the aces.

I will also be clamping down on any spoons or other things put into my mouth. Including fingers belonging to my brother, who shouldn't be putting his fingers in my mouth anyway cause who knows where they have been.

I am working on the crawling thing. I quite like the drag myself along the floor 'crawl towards the booby' thing we have going at the moment and think it's silly that you are embarrassed about showing Grandpa and Grandma how I crawl. I like being naked and showing off. I can't see what the problem is.

luv Gemma

She hasn't bitten me yet, but I just know it's going to happen. I'm scared. Those little f**kers look sharp. At the moment the only way I can get her to crawl is to expose her favourite 'snack' and watch her little eyes light up. Needless to say this won't be demonstrated at the Xmas lunch. It's probably a good thing I don't get drunk.

Little sister's revenge

D and I are waiting for the day that Gemma can take on Charlie and win. We suspect it won't be long now. She got in an early victory yesterday when Charlie, lying on the floor, had Gemma lying on his chest and was bouncing her up and down. She giggled and giggled and then 'cheesed'. On Charlie's face who, unfortunately for him, was laughing at the time. You can imagine the rest.

Just one of those difficult times when you are trying to be sympathetic, while trying not to collapse laughing at the same time.

The Great Santa Debate...

Personally, I've never been a big fan of Xmas - but kids naturally are... The excitement, the lollies, the sparkly stuff, the lollies, the holidays, the lollies ad nauseum. Which brings me to the Great Santa Debate - do you, or do you not, perpetrate the whole Santa myth? We don't in house for a variety of reasons - lying to your child, materialism of Xmas being about presents, the threat of "being good" for presents only and not for general contribution to niceness and wellbeing, not being churchy folks, a strange man coming into your house in the middle of the night... We developed our "Santa" answer fairly early on - that Santa is a tradition and represents Xmas which is about showing how much you love each other etc.

Does it work in the face of marketing, school, peer pressure, christmas carols, well-meaning adults, and general chaos of life? Not a chance.

Our daughter knows there isn't really a Santa (or pretty much insert make-belive kid's character - tooth fairy, easter bunny), but she believes in Santa. The classic recent quote was "Mum - you're a grown up so you are not allowed to belive in Santa Claus, but I'm a kid, and kids are meant to."

So on we go with 12 days to Xmas left... ho bloody ho.

A sign of the times, sadly...

I've been meaning to post this for a while, but man have I been busy lately...

So anyway, on the Friday, I took Pers to swimming lessons and one of the mums there had her pregnant sister with her who was taking photos of their little girl. I just happened to have my camera, so I asked her to take some shots, which she did and you can see them over on my blog.

On the Saturday, we went for a make up swimming lesson and my parents were with me and had just bought a new digital SLR, which they were keen to try out. My stepdad's the photgrapher and he got a few lovely shots of Pers and I during the lesson, which are lovely and only have Pers and I and sometimes the instructor in them. We finished the class and went out to the little splash pool and my stepdad took some more shots, when eventually, one of the lifeguards came over and asked him not to.

My stepdad got a bit offended, as we were the only subjects in the photos and no other children had been photographed, not even in the background. I actually thought that no cameras were permitted in the changerooms and didn't realise that this extended to the rest of the pool. But I explained it all to my stepdad and he complied, albeit sadly. He asked the lifeguard "What about swimming carnivals?" to be answered with "No photography is permitted at swimming carnivals." "So, what about the beach?" "If you take photos at the beach and you are seen by a lifeguard, you will be asked to stop."

Wow.

Sad, that the scum of the earth have spoiled it for the rest of us who would like to cherish but a few small memories while our kids are kids.

Armpits.

goodbye gummy grin

a tooth! a tooth!


first suspected around lunchtime at Casa del Torbenspang, when The Delightful Nanna(tm) noticed a tiny scraping sound as she gave the Dinghy a sip of water from her glass.

further audio confirmation was received shortly afterwards upon arrival at home, using a melamine cup.




confirmed sighting at approx 3:25pm Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time. much cooing and appreciation followed from all, with the exception of the Dinghy, who just wanted his custard and fruit, dammit.

a certain melancholy has followed, on reflection (previously noted in diary) of how unbelievably cute toothless gums* are.




current suspicions, based on evidence of bulging tooth buds, are that three other teeth may well surface in relatively quick succession.

and here's another image, because posts with images are always good. this cunning tooth chart is nice, isn't it? it's something I might even bother to fill in, which would be nice, seeing as I have a hankering to do a Baby's First sort of thing one day. has anyone else actually been together enough to do that?




btw, that image at the top is of a Limoges tooth capsule. kinda cute, kinda a couple of hundred dollars. never mind little Dinghy, until you're old enough to browse the archives, you'll never know what you missed out on...


* on babies only. seriously.

Weee!

So have we heard how Team Jasper are doing?

Hoorah for tie dye

I'm feeling accomplished. I've finished my tie-dying for the sprongling. A rainbow of colours.


The photo doesn't quite show the colours to their best, the purple on top is really strong... You know me, if you are going to do a colour, don't do it by halves.

One the left, a pile of nappies, in the middle, muslin wraps and two flannelette ones and one the right, a pile of second hand clothes completely transformed.

It may not be to everyone's taste, but for the time being, I will have a fashion victim who can't run away.... Bwa-ha-ha

Halloween is evil, yes evil I tell you

Actually I logged on and expected someone else to have beat me to this particular rant... Why I hate Halloween:
1. Ruin a perfectly nice pagan tradition by hyping it up with marketing
2. Completely appropriate in the US, I'll even go so far as temperate northern hemisphere countries - not subtropical southern ones
3. Teaching children that bullying complete strangers for lollies (sorry) candy is OK
4. Eating your own body weight in candy in one night is ok
5. Marketeers jumping on the bandwagon - thus "creating" a new market through pester power - there is an answer - it's NO

Maybe others think that it's cute and inocuous... I consider it evil and insidious... but hey - I don't like Australia Day either...

Persephone is not popular

At least not as a name anyway.But I kind of thought this was cool

You know that pole in Pers' room? It's not a structural beam...

Actually, I have no idea why it's there. But hell, at least it'll save me having to trawl the net looking for one of these when it is time for Persi to commence her pole dancing classes at the tender age of 5. Dressed as a skanky ho.


Not.

not a real baby

no, really

only a couple of things give it away - the lips, and some of the dimples and folds around one of the hands aren't quite right. also, the other hand is in a real but not sustainable pose, so it looks a little wrong in many poses.

but the skin... bloody hell. holy jeebus, that's talent.

I find the 'reborn' stuff alternates between touching, astounding, and bit freaky.

but, wow.
also: wow.

I believe I can fly

Ready for to taxi down the run way. Requesting permission to take off.
Right Mum, ready to fly. If only I knew how...

Whinge about holidaying with kids

The Good Weekend Magazine has just published it's annual 52 weekends away, 21 of which are in NSW. Of those 21, 11 welcome children, two are okay with children 'by prior arrangement' and two are not suitable for small children. Of the ones that welcome children the prices vary from $140 per night for two people, plus $35 for extra adults and $20 for each additional child to $829 for a two night package for two people (0 - 12 yrs free if using existing bedding). So you are looking at a base cost of $160 for two adults with one child if you want one of the featured weekends away. So now starts the bitch. I find $160 a bit steep personally and I'm never going to want to spend $829 for a weekend away, even though it's a Peppers Resort. Where is all the nice weekend away accommodation for parents with kids that doesn't cost the earth?

Victoria is more child friendly,of the 21 featured 15 guest houses welcome children, and 4 accept children by prior arrangement except for the one that only allows children if other guests won't be disturbed - why not just say no children and be done with it? I know that my kids aren't everyone's cup of tea, screaming toddlers do tend to do your head in, that's why I need a holiday.

Prices are much the same as the lower end of the NSW scale, although some of the accommodation looks and sounds quite flash. I especially heart the one that provides a cot, high chair, change mat, linen and baby bath. I could almost pay the $180 per night high season, especially since it includes bed and breakfast basket, and would definitely be tempted by the $150 per night low season just because of the thoughtfullness of the proprietors for families with children.

I'm sure that there are places out there that cater for kids, are budget friendly and in places you want to visit. I just haven't found them yet. If you have been anywhere nice lately, make a comment. Please I need a holiday. Or if you think I need a reality check about quality accommodation and kids please let me know that as well.

Attatchment Parenting

So, did anyone see the segment on 60 minutes last night? I didn't, but I did hear about it on the radio this morning. So, what's the go? Were the people featured picked out for their fruit loopyness, are they the one or two twits or is it all like that?

Personally, breastfeeding until they're five is just wrong on so many levels I mean would you really lunch swap at Kindergarten? Yeah, I'll have the breast milk...not... and what about inviting your friends around after school? Milk and a cookie, anyone?

And I don't know about this not wearing a nappy business either... sorry, but I much prefer the sanitary approach to it all. Yurk. Not on my garden!

Those were two of the examples I heard about. Now I'm hoping that maybe 60 Minutes were a bit sensationalist about it all and that maybe there is more to it and that maybe it's not all fruit loopy. I took a look around and the websites didn't seem to go on with all the fruit loopy stuff. Sure, infact some of the information I looked at seemed logical and some of it seemed a bit hippy new age tree hugging sort of stuff.

But meh, it's one of those water cooler conversation points, I spose...

"Corporate Paedophilia"

Go and grab a cup of tea, this is a long one...

Thank goodness someone's given it a name - and, trite as a catch phrase can be, "Corporate Paedophilia" is a lot easier to say than The "I'm really sick of seeing all that Skanky Ho crap in the shops, aren't you? And what's with all the suggestive posing of little girls?" Phenomena. I know some of us have been bemoaning the hideous 8-year-old bralettes in chain stores. At least we're not alone.

Thankfully, several people have written lucidly on this. To start, check out the summary of Dr Emma Rush's report from The Australia Institute (TAI), the media release, and the ammendment they made when they pulled some of the images of children from the report at the request of the parents.

Tigtog posted on the topic at Larvatus Prodeo (cross posted here) and her own site; there's an article on 'sexy kids' on the ABC site and a transcript from the 7:30 Report about the legal action against TAI by David Jones; a short but pertinent article I found interesting; and finally Phillip Adam's article from back in 2003.

The site that I pulled Adam's article from, Young Media, is a great resource, by the way.

To be able to see some images which have been talked about go to Tig's post, or try here, there, and everywhere (also try this and that). Most catalogue sites have been pulled, but even though the front page was pulled, once you've got a link to a specific page, you can see the whole collection. Some photos I think are fine; some I don't.

The P-word is certainly provocative - but as with many touchy topics, you have to overcompensate and make headlines in order to push the envelope. Perhaps there should be an alternative, but what should be used instead? Any ideas?

In the defense of some of the skanky merchandise, it has been pointed out that children like to copy their parents and role models. So why shouldn't they want to dress like, and imitate, their elders? Of course they want to, and they should. Role playing, and dress ups, are an enormous part of children learning who they are. However -

Dress ups are meant to be children dressing up in cast-offs, and playing pretend. Mum's old nightie, dad's old waistcoat, a policeman's hat, long sparkly gloves, enormous cloppy shoes, nanna's wigs, a tool belt, a hard hat, mum's cast off makeup that she's still got at the back of the draw (a big thrill when I was about 5 was getting some old makeup from a lady down the street. she was very groovy, and her makeup was amazing!).

You dress up, you play, and then you get back into your normal clothes. Children's clothes. You do not, by default, wear a tiny denim mini skirt which shows your knickers and a crop top which says something charming like "Get It Here", then pester mum endlessly for your own tweenie (I hate that word) makeup like the range you saw in K Mart.


Most of the stuff being written is about the objectification and sexualisation of little girls. What of little boys?

Well, I know that lately, walking into a chain store leaves me pretty cold. The girl's fashions are pink, pink with a bit more pink, oh, and would you like glitter with that? And don't forget the ponies. While the boys fashions are just fine, as long as you want khaki, mud, slime and puce, printed with tanks, helicopters, and violent robot-on-robot action.


I'm sick of seeing little boys in head-to-toe cammo. The Delightful Nanna(TM) found an old army jacket at the Salvos and it's going straight into the Dress Up Box because - it's a prop. You can pretend to be a soldier, little Dinghy, but you won't be dressing like one every day.

Reading 'Raising Boys' by Steve Biddulph recently reminded me of another thing which really gets my goat (btw, thanks again for the lend, DV). I remember when I was working in child care, there was one teacher who'd always, when she saw a little boy holding hands with a little girl, giggle like a freakin' schoolgirl and say, "Oooh, is X (little girl's name) your girlfriend?"

Little boys hold hands with little boys.
Little girls hold hands with little girls.
Little girls hold hands with little boys.
Little boys hold hands with little girls.
Can we get that straight?

It's about friendship. It's not about bloody sexual relationships. They'll come sooner than most parents want. Can children be children first? The realisation of gender occurs early enough, but the sexual connotations can occur much, much later, thank you very much. Realising that you're a girl like mummy or a boy like daddy doesn't mean that you need to be attractive to the opposite sex. It means you're a girl or a boy, now get on with being a child.

There's an older lady I know who always looks at the Dinghy and says things like, "Ooh, he's so sweet, I'll bet he gets all the girls when he's older." I know it all sounds innocent while they're babies, but I don't like it much when people flatter children like that. Giving and receiving compliments is an art we should all cultivate, and you can say a child has a lovely feature - but why add that this is the way they'll attract the opposite sex?

Why is that the way to define a baby? Why is that the way to define anyone???

I want to extend this to the way some boys get called "Little Man." I know some won't be with me on this one, but sometimes, I don't like it. My baby is a baby. He's not even a boy yet, although he is male. He's a baby. Then he'll be a toddler, a little boy, a boy, an older boy, hopefully never a tweenie (have I mentioned I hate that word?), a teenager, and finally, a man. But at the moment, I still dress him in handknits and booties. Because he's a baby.

Finally, someone found this horrid piece of clothing. I'm not going to put the image up here, it annoys me too much. I think it's urban kiddie culture gone too far, a shame, because some of it is clever and bloody funny. If you don't know what the acronym means, try here.

"In honour of all the beautiful mothers out there" - my arse.

Okay, enough rant. I like a good cathartic rant sometimes, and I hope you got something to think about out of it. Even if it is just, "Oh dear, Speedy is a humourless loony, isn't she?"

Heh. Bugger orf.

Ta-da!!!

What do you think?? good, bad, hideous or the loveliest template you've ever seen.

Also, if you don't know how to add links in, send them to me and I'll update the page.

North v South...

Back home today after the meeting in Copenhagen... The airlines managed to lose my luggage again so I had to go shopping in town to get stuff to wear (always fun - but at least I know where to go in CPH and what the money actually means...) which had me walking through the inner city suburbs about 10-11am, and I realised with a bit of a start that i was wandering through a public park where the school kids were playing, supervised by a few teachers. It took me a moment, cos school kids don't wear uniforms... and i bumped into again that if Australia was serious about the whole sustainable development of cities/suburbs and encouraging workplaces to be family friendly and for people to have more kids they should take a closer look at common things in the Danish way of life.

• special spots on buses with lower entry for prams - tick
• space to secure pram and the mum to sit down next to it on buses & trains - tick
• all train stations with lifts or ramps - tick
• tricycle and buggy style carts for lugging kids around with your bike - tick
• bike lanes (real ones! safe enough for kids to ride in) - tick
• teachers and child care workers respected and paid decently - tick
• paid maternity leave = 1 year - tick
• accessible childcare - tick
• lots of parks and playgrounds, walking, cycling, picnicking etc - tick

It's quite a different way of life in many ways - catering to families as part of the package, not just as an afterthought. There are of course down sides (9yr olds wearing maek up to school) - but even a few of the small changes (eg the bus thing) would make it so much easier for young families to use public transport instead of the car...

Wouldn't trade it for the beach though!
cheers
fliss

If anyone ever wants to make this blog look better than it does, please, feel free...

Charlie makes brek-skist

Charlie made me brek-skist. Raspberry jelly and Special K. Yum.This is what he had planned for lunch, but we had chicken nuggets instead.
This is the cute little outfit that does up at the back that I decided to put on Gemma yesterday. Then while playing with her on the floor I happened to glance down the back of her outfit. Oh my goodness. On the left, that dark shadow? It's not a shadow. It's brown and sticky and all up her back. Fortunately the cute outfit that does up at the back was much easier to get her out of than I imagined. So practical for everywhere poos, but impractical for a wet nappy because you have to strip the baby to get to their nappy.
Then I went under the house and had the bejezus scared out of me by a spider. Today is going to be a better day. Or else.

v. v. funny

why waste a temper tantrum

Stuff to do...

Hi All

I realise this may be a little ways off for some... however just thought I'd pop my 2c worth in about stuff to do, places to go etc as I am yet again faced with school holidays (arrrgggghhh).

If you haven't already invested in the Sydney for under Fives book (Seana Smith) - stick it on your Xmas list - it's bloody brilliant (or ask for a lend of mine). Lists a fair whack of the attractions/parks/beaches/play centres etc of Sydney & surrounds geared to how easy to access with prams or clinging toddlers, how close the nearest decent coffee/loos/food/transport is etc. Have found a number of great parks/playgrounds tucked out of the way with this book. Also http://www.sydneyforkids.com.au/ is handy (but for a slightly older audience).

This hols I'm also trying out a few new vacation care options - as I was deeply unimpressed by the vacation care program run at the local childcare centre. They managed to lose 4 kids at the zoo on the first day - including mine! Only for 2min and nothing dire happened... but the whole thing did not inspire confidence let me tell you. For names - send me an email as I don't want to be sued for slander... So I will report back on the others!

The new playground at Queen Elizabeth Park in Concord is great for your 3-8yr olds. Climbing frame, swings, twisty pole, water pump, wobbly bridge, fun paths with interactive bird noises & crazy mirrors, fantastic chime made out of old tyres plus in-built mini-soccor goals. We spent 2 hours there this afternoon. Bayview Park (end of Burwood Rd, near the water) is also great, though parking can be a pain...

Shall stop blathering now and see if I can search out the web address for the under 5s author as it seems to have disappeared...