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My mother stitched these two Holly Hobbie needlepoints for me when I was.... young, over three decades ago.  They hung in my room for many years and then, when I was too grown up for such things, they waited, lurking, in a dark corner of my parents home for a time when a little girl may appear again, interested in such things.

The two pictures have hung together in Ella's room for the past number of years, but recently Ella and Leila had a negotiation which resulted in them having one each in their rooms, with the very clear proviso made by Ella that it's "just for a month".

I'm glad these survived so well.  Mothers know how much these things mean as the years pass, but the young often don't, so as mothers we need to protect and cherish these items for a time when our own young come around to truly appreciating their worth.  I guess there will be a time when I will have to secret these away and perhaps one day my own grandchildren will remember my mother, my childhood and that of their own mothers, through these lovingly stitched works.

Coincidentally I noticed Kate has one of the same on her own wall, I wonder if her own mum stitched it for her?

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Not perfectly focussed, but I like this one too.

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Our gorgeous blondey babe. Your tangled curls, may you always look so sunkissed. You came late to the idea of birthday celebrations, but in the past year have caught onto the benefits of being the centre of attention for the day. This year you've embraced the festivities and it's lovely to see you enjoying the attention and love of those most important to you.

5 years old today - I can hardly believe it. You still come into bed with me every morning and snugggle in, you still need many cuddles and kisses during the day. I probably baby you, I know I do, but there is a shared experience with many other mothers that they want to hang on to their youngest when they know there won't be another.

I'm not worried about you my love. You're such a tender hearted soul, but there is strength to your character as well. I believe you know your worth in this world and won't accept anything less from anyone, it's a wonderful strength to have.

You are a funny girl, making us laugh. You are extremely generous, tender with those you love most, ever considerate, a care for us beyond your years.

Happy Birthday Leila babe. I couldn't love you more.

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Ella's school have a secret Santa every year, with a limit of $5.00. It's quite challenging to find something good for that price and this year Ella was determined to make her gift.

The fabric and thread we had, but lavender we no longer have in our garden. We happened to venture to the Prahan market on Saturday and there they were selling bunches of lavender for ..... $5.00!

I hope the gift is received with the same warm heart with which it is given.

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After school snacks.

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I find food and small children quite, quite frustrating.

Both our girls were really good when small, up to the age of about 2 1/2 I would say. They would pretty much eat anything in front of them. Then they got fussier and I got more weak willed and we've found ourselves where we are.

We've given them too much choice at times. I don't remember choice as a child, it was what it was, take it or leave it. I'm well aware that sometimes there is simply too much conversation on some things and food is one of the main ones.

So, last week the girls and I made a decision (or I made it and they agreed to go along with it). Every Monday night (the one night we don't have after school commitments) we three, the girls and I, will have family dinner together at the dining table (rather than me sitting watching them eat their dinner in the kitchen). I will eat with the girls but we will eat something new to them and they have to try it. We discussed what try means and I said that I wouldn't make anything I knew they would dislike, but it would be things new to them. I would therefore expect them to eat as much of it as they liked, but give it a red hot go.

So tonight we had macaroni cheese with bacon in it. It's not a complicated dish, but the girls aren't good with sauces, so this was a way of introducing them to something different. My rationale - you like butter, you like flour, you like cheese, you like milk? Yes, well then you like cheese sauce.

Was it successful? Well they didn't complain and they ate a very small amount without fuss. I have to be in a very patient mindset, very accepting and encouraging and not exhausted. We'll persevere because honestly, we have to move more towards shared meals as they get older, so the groundwork has to go in now.

I know I could argue that dessert shouldn't figure in the scheme of this new arrangement, but honestly, I'm trying to coax them, and if a little cheats apple tart helps them on their way, I'm all for it.

A special car ride

Leila was very unwell this week. A fever overnight turned into a quiet Thursday, little activity, lots of dvds. That turned into violent vomitting, more temperatures, sore back and neck, then a meningal like rash on her face and neck. This resulted in a mad dash to the GP, a shot of pencillin there, leaving with a referral in hand for the emergency room with us having instructions about blood tests and "better to be safe than sorry". That led to a rather scarey experience at our local public emergency room. The waiting room was like something out of ER - an old man on a gurney just lying in the waiting room, another old lady with a flu mask sitting in a corner in a wheelchair, a guy with a bloodied leg and a lot of dissatisfaction in the air. We both looked at each other and decided "uh uh" and left. We came home and called an ambulance. Our GP once said that if in doubt and really concerned, call an ambulance and you'll get care straight away.

We've only had one other experience with Ella when she was only 1 - much scarier in a lot of respects. We woke to Ella straining to breathe, crying with the strain of it. The paramedics and the paedeatric unit arrived within minutes, lights blaring. She had an acute case of croup, so off we went, as we did on Thursday night, to the Childrens. In both cases amazing ambos and great care at the Childrens. Benny bear, the subject photo of this post, was a distraction from Ben, our paramedic.

Leila's fine, they observed her for a few hours, then sent us home. Friday she was fine, you wouldn't know she'd been so unwell. Monkeys these babes, but a healthy monkey is far better than any other kind.

Reader

Connections are starting to be made; golden words are being recognised and today our first reader came home. The milestones of learning have never been as measurable as they are with reading, you can almost hear her little mind working the letters around and around. So proud.

Change of plans

On today's agenda was a visit to the Andreas Gursky exhibition at the NGV. We have seen his work at the Pompidou Centre in Paris and it's amazing. Some of the scenes so ordinary (supermarket aisles, forests) which, simply through the scope of the frame, become something else altogether. We arrived only to find "Closed Today" outside the gallery - bother!

So a trip to the gallery turned into visiting some of the landmarks those of us in Melbourne will recall with fondness from our own childhoods.

Then to a favourite place that children of my children's generation will associate as a Melbourne childhood destination ...

10 Pin Pleasure

I'm quite fond of supposedly daggy pursuits. I like a good game of Boggle and I adore Pictionary, although so rarely get the chance to play these games. My husband is not a games man, in fact he is the opposite of a games man - he thinks they're naff.

I arranged to go bowling today with friends as an advent calendar treat. I haven't bowled for years, but there's an alley near us so I booked it. I was never very good (I'm still not), but I am very enthusiastic. The kids all loved it, using one of those ramps to assist. I loved the fact that the lights were off for most of the time (it was only 3pm) and that Jackson Five were playing on the video screen. They were also cool shoes - not the decidedly worn ones I remember from years gone by. I had a great time. I heard Geoff mocking the idea of a Saturday night spent bowling - but I LOVE the idea of it - his daggy is my cool!

Gums

Children are a great motivator. If they show the slightest interest in something you're making for them, it spurs you on to finish when you otherwise would put that button hole off for, oh, another month or so.

Ella's tooth is getting wobblier by the day so if action wasn't taken, the tooth could have arrived with nowhere to go. She saw me sewing and had no idea what it was, so in the time I took to make it we were both kept entertained with her guesses as to what it was (cat, dog, horse!!)

This idea was totally borrowed from HopSkipJump and it was super easy and for some reason so very satisfying. I didn't get a shot of the reverse but I made a very small draw string bag and stitched it on for the tooth to live in until the fairy collects it. My shape, looking at it now, isn't very toothlike - but Peggy is very cuddly and I think rather sweet. Just got to wait it out now.

Gingerbread Architecture 101

Step 1 Read through your plans

Step 2 Have your foregirl assemble the workers

Step 3 Realise that your walls aren't so straight because you really should have cut your "timber" after it had been baked rather than before.

Step 4 Prepare strong concrete

Step 5 Get ready to raise the walls

Step 6 Hold your breath while the concrete goes off

Step 7 The interior decorators can finally move in to complete the process inside and out.



Step 8 E voila! an ooey gooey sticky delicious gingerbread house!

Cupboards are definitely better than boxes

when it comes to childrens craft cupboards.


We're like most families living in an older house - we just don't have enough storage space - anywhere. With our recent renovations however, we now have a functioning laundry with benches and extra cupboards for all the extra stuff. Previously both my crafts and Ella's were stored in boxes which meant every time either of us wanted to do anything we had to hunt through everything to find what we were after.

Yesterday I finally managed to at least arrange Ella's cupboard and as simple as it sounds, it's already made such a difference to both of us. For me it was firstly a sense of relief at finally getting organised. Having stuff everywhere can get so exhausting, so much double handling and feeling that things are never tidy. For both of us though, it's changed our play, which has surprised me. Instead of me dictating what crafts we're going to do, which was previously the case because of all the disorganisation, Ella can now go to her cupboard and choose what she wants to do.

We had so much more fun crafting for most of the day because it wasn't me, I guess guiding, what Ella should do. She had more fun, she was more creative in her activities, more enthusiastic and it lasted longer. I've been a mum for only 4 years now and in some ways that feels so long, but in others I'm obviously still learning the most basic of things.

Next task is to organise my own cupboard beside hers - is it sad that this excites me so much?!

Sometimes

you feel grateful for the most simple of things, like your child's empty dinner plate.

Until recently I would never have described Ella as a fussy eater. She has her preferences - separated food items rather than stew type meals. She loves pasta of all types with everything from simple oil, bacon and parsley to carbonara. She doesn't, however, like cooked vegetables apart from steamed kipfler potatoes (no other kind will do). She adores all vegies, but will only eat them raw. She loves olives, proscuitto, mozzarella but doesn't like boiled, scrambled or fried eggs.

Recently though, she hasn't wanted to eat any meat. She doesn't want bacon in anything, she may eat a burger on the bbq in the context of a lovely outdoor family dinner, but otherwise no. A couple of weeks ago she plainly said she didn't want to eat meat. In and of itself that doesn't actually bother me so much as we aren't huge meat eaters in our house, but I find that it's harder to cater for vegetarian meals with children than adults. For us I compensate with stronger flavourings but she doesn't necessarily enjoy them all. I've been soaking more lentils of all kinds but again, when accompanying vegies have to be raw, it can get tricky.

Last night I was not at my finest. After a long very hot day I had made risotto, very plain with stock (I did sneak in some bacon, but come on otherwise it has no flavour) and a few cooked peas for her sister which I fished out and replaced with raw ones for her. As I hope we've all done from time to time I lost it when she wouldn't eat her dinner and kept going on about dessert. Much yelling, unfortunately on both sides and probably within earshot of the neighbours, ensued.

We both calmed down and as usually happens, we discussed what happened during bathtime. We talked a lot about what she does like to eat which included nuggets, plain pasta, fresh peas and carrots. We agreed that one night she could choose what she wanted and the next we'd look together at recipes and try a little harder to have something different.

Tonight we had homemade chicken nuggets, plain pasta, green beans, peas and carrots followed by strawberries and cream. The interesting thing is that when she was helping me crumb the nuggets I referred to them as chicken and she said "not chicken mum, nuggets". I wonder if I've been the master of my own downfall. A while ago she asked me where chicken (that we eat) came from and the discussion subsequently extended to all meat types. I hesitated, but answered truthfully for I didn't see a reason to fudge. I now wonder if this isn't where it all started.

For now I'm going to try the balance between what I know she enjoys eating and isn't honestly bad for her and trying to again coax more into her diet. The other thing she loves is calamari, but heaven forbid anyone should tell her it's actually from the fish family! No-one wants a difficult dinnertime and most of us would do anything to avoid it, such a stressful time of day. In the end though, reflecting last night, why isn't she able to be "fussy" or "selective" about her diet as we all are from time to time, why do I completely inflict on her my selections. Don't get me wrong, I don't ever believe in cooking multiple meals for a fussy eaters, that's above and beyond in my mind, but we all want a simple and happy life.

Does it make me a bad mum

that I not only watched this happen, but that I also took photos of it?

Heading North

Wednesday afternoon we were engrossed in the lovely new foamies that my dear Aunty Anne sent from the US. She's so terribly generous with my girls and Ella loves everything that she sends. We have seen some of the foamies before, in fact Ella received some for her birthday from another aunty in the form of little dolls, but I didn't realise there was such a range of different ones.

Yesterday's task at hand was to make a special card for Alice. Alice is one of Ella's "best ones" from kinder and she is moving back to Sydney with her family tomorrow. The card ended up being crammed on every corner with different foamies and had a little bracelet enclosed that Ella also made. I'm sure life will be very different for you all soon, but it's nice to know that you'll still have a foot in Melbourne with the house here. We'll miss you and hope we'll all keep in touch.

Nuts about Nuts

In this house we are mad about nuts of all types. Ella adores them and is yet to encounter one she doesn't love. Pine nuts are favoured toasted to simply nibble on, bobble nuts (macadamias) are also yummo, although tricky to crack. At the moment we have fresh walnuts and almonds which are extra fun to shell ourselves.

When we're eating all these nuts I do feel for those families who have such terrible allergies to worry about for their children. I can't imagine how it would be to have to worry about every scenario and the harm that could befall your child. An old colleague of mine had a child with a severe nut allergy - so bad was it that she gave me a tube of gorgeous L'Occitane handcream because she hadn't read the ingredients closely enough and as it contained almond oil that could bring on attack for her dear daughter.

We count ourselves doubly lucky that we have no such worries in this house - goodness forbid that Leila has any issues.