Sickies

This week has been hard. Very hard. Markus and I have been unwell. With no breaks, no babysitter, no family close by to latch onto... Oh, woe to us. Oy.

Thankfully, the girls are fine! With the exception of minor coughs (nothing worrisome), they are a-ok, happy as clams...well, if you also make an exception for the fact that their parents are lame ducks. They are themselves, and we are very pleased they have escaped relatively unscathed from whatever bug we have. The only presence of it in Stephanie we detect is trouble going to bed at night, a common thing with her when she doesn't feel good. She wants someone there until she falls asleep, but she doesn't fall asleep well when someone is there. It tends to drag on for quite a while (6:30 bedtime dragged on til close to 9 some nights), but all in all, that's not so bad.

On Sunday, we made our first ever trip out to Rottnest Island. Our fantastic neighbors and friends across the road had arranged a weekend holiday stay over there, and we missed booking on time to join them. We did take them up on the suggestion of a day trip meeting, and it was lovely.

Rottnest is just a 30 minute ferry ride from Fremantle harbor. The explorers who found it discovered its resident quokkas, small marsupials they mistook for large rats, and thus dubbed it a Rat-nest (Rottnest). Quokkas are awfully darned cute, and our little Jungle Jane adored them (as she does any animal).

Rottnest allows no cars (thus the girls' bike helmets), making it a great vacation spot for young families. It has pristine beaches with crystal clear water that is excellent for snorkeling. Not that we'd know. I got so seasick on the ride over that I barely recovered. I was happy to take the early ferry home again, a truly rough ride back, which was fortunate in that the seas got even rougher later in the day. By the time we got home, my body was so out of whack that I was still rocking and rolling while stationary. I also could not get warm. I burned myself with hot water in the shower but still felt cold. I shivered so much for so long that my abs hurt. It felt like the flu. Perhaps it was. Bad timing for the Rotto trip, I guess. I just hadn't felt that coming.

By Tuesday, I was feverish (all day) and fairly miserable. Thanks to an ENT appointment for Ellie*, I had both girls home with me at a time when I really needed to lie down. Markus promised he would try to come home early to help me, and come home early he did...more ill than I was. Miraculously, I woke up yesterday without this bug in my system, but he hasn't been back to work yet. It has knocked him over.

Add onto this a ridiculous house viewing we had to allow today. We will start our move next week. The owners decided not to renew our lease because they had to do major renovations involving asbestos, thus could not have tenants. Ha. The house is listed online. The estate agent called me Monday, all sweet and lovey, trying to get on my good side before asking for a viewing for particular prospective tenants on Thursday, which she then advertised online as an open house. Grr. That d*mn house viewing sent me over the edge. Proverbial straw, as it were. I won't go into details of my not-so-little breakdown today, but let's all agree that next week will be a good time to get a fresh start and finally do this move!

Anyhoo...the girls are fine. We are doing the best we can to keep life normal for them, despite our own funk and stress levels. Of course they notice and behave accordingly ("climbing the walls" is an expression that comes to mind...), but they are little children and are doing the best they can too. Next week will be different. Next week will be very different! Be sure to note the change of address in the previous post. That will be in effect from Monday onwards.

*While my mom was visiting, the school nurse called to express concern about Ellie's ears. She had participated in a routine eye and ear screening at school, and the nurse found her ears to be "full of fluid". After berating me for ignoring my daughter's health (she made me cry), I took Ellie to our friendly GP who assured me the nurse had gotten a bit carried away. He prescribed a nasal spray to strengthen her eustachian tubes to aid in drainage and told us to come back in a month to follow up, which we did. He referred us to an ENT because one ear was still not clear. The school nurse called two days later, demanding to know why I had ignored her referral to the GP, as she had tested Ellie again and found fluid in both ears. Grr. Anyhoo, the wait for the ENT was nearly two months. I called this week to try to reschedule, and the next day had opened up. Fantastic! Ellie went in to see the ENT. He found no infection though there was indeed fluid in both ears. He wants to try to dry it out with antibiotics before he resorts to inserting grommets. We are to go back in mid-December for a full hearing screen and a follow-up visit, at which point he'll decide about grommets. I'll keep you posted on that. The good news is that there is no infection and Ellie doesn't seem to be bothered about this at all. He says this is really common, and we are lucky to be among the few in whom no infection is present.

We call this "burning the fumes"

This is what pre-bedtime mayhem can look like:

Update on Stephanie

Some of you have been asking about Stephanie lately. Updates on Stephanie are harder than the rest of us, because Stephanie is harder to capture in words. What words could contain that self-sufficient, tender, hilarious little dynamo? Life with Stephanie looks a lot like this:

• The first is her very calmly, carefully pushing my sewing pins into the ironing board in a lovely, decorative fashion.
• Then, there's her ballet class, which she loves with a passion that both amazes and inspires (and makes me giddy with the cuteness).
• Moving on to the third popsicle of the day. She thinks she's getting away with something; I know all that is in those homemade treats is pureed mango and strawberries.
• We see Zuzu has found a nice resting space. I think that drawer in our dining table is meant for silverware; Stephanie thinks it is a crib.
• As for the laundry basket photo, need I say more?
• That last one was taken this morning. I followed the smell and found her hiding behind my desk, painting her toenails and her feet with my new nail polish (thank goodness it's the least nasty-chemicals one available). Unperturbed at my interruption, she calmly finished the job and set up her toenail drying spot as I hid the polish away. Her feet are propped on a stack of Australian animal books, and she is sitting in a pink basket, reading. This is Stephanie at 7am. Stephanie in a nutshell (and a pink basket).

Update on Ellie

I know this will be someone's mind, so I thought I'd share a little update on Ellie now that school is underway again. I am happy to report so far, so good. She is happy and plowing on with words, though still at a reserved pace for her capabilities. At least she is not asking to stay home, which is where we were before the break and on the first day back.

There was a seriously rocky start. One of my big enticements to lure her back into school excitement was to give her a new lunchbox (fantastic stainless steel by PlanetBox), and she loved the pink bag and rainbow magnets. She could hardly wait to show everyone! Then, on the very first day, her teacher told her that the magnets were not appropriate for school. The Montessori environment prefers realism to fantasy, and there is a winged unicorn on the largest magnet. I scoured the school handbook and did not find any way this was against policy, but the damage had been done. Although Ellie put on a brave face and nodded her assent at the time, she was in tears by the time we reached the car. She was heartbroken that even a small part of her new pride and joy was not allowed. Rules and order are so important to Ellie, so her perceiving that she had somehow violated them even without meaning to...she was devastated. She cried about it multiple times through the evening and again at bedtime. I WAS FURIOUS!!! I had a meeting with her teacher. To her credit, she had no idea how upset Ellie was (again, that brave face). At home, Ellie and I made new magnets for her lunchbox. I bought magnetic printer paper and I scanned one of Ellie's paintings onto it. We cut that up, and that has been fine. I only wish we had done that from the start, because she is very aware that it is an allowed substitution rather than a source of pride.

Anyway, other than that, things are okay for her at school. At home, she has become quite the toilet reader, taking those darned fairy books to the potty with her every time. She is so into them that now Stephanie carries them around too (always wanting to be like the big sister!). Thank goodness for the library. I am not willing to fork out money for this series, but at the same time, I am thankful Ellie has found a series of chapter books that she looks forward to with great anticipation. We go to the library every week, and she is always so thrilled to find new books on the shelf!

Moving day approaches!

After nearly five months of looking, we settled on a house (to rent) in Mosman Park, the same suburb where Ellie's school is located. We think this choice will be even more appreciated next year when I'm taking them both to school, then picking Stephanie up earlier than Ellie. That's six school to's and fro's, five days a week! The commute from Mosman Park to Perth city for Markus is double the time from our house in Claremont, but he only does that twice a day versus six times. It's a drag, but reason wins!

Thus far, I've been pretty displeased with the entire situation. We've been so plagued with issues in our current house, but on the whole, we really like living here. We also really hate moving within a posting unless it's absolutely necessary. It doesn't feel absolutely necessary, so when the owners decided not to renew our lease, I was rather put out. They did so on the pretense that they were going to start the major renovations it will take to get this house in good shape, which they cannot do with tenants because of asbestos (true). We always suspected that they were lying, that this house would be turned around and rented out again (perhaps for more rent) as soon as they can replace the carpet in the mushroom room. It turns out we were right, though the speed is even faster than I'd anticipated. Our house is already listed online on rental websites. It is listed as "available now" (real estate agent lingo for "unoccupied"), which really raised my blood pressure when I saw it Monday morning. I've been infuriated by the injustice of it all. We report things to maintain the house, they don't do it, they don't adjust our rent accordingly, then they kick us out and look for new tenants who won't know...but will soon find out. Grrr. It made my blood boil. I wanted to write a letter to the local paper, naming names and our address just so everyone will know what they are getting with whom.

But that doesn't serve any purpose, other than exponentially increasing bad will (my own included). Markus advised me to let it go, to be happy we are moving to a nice, new house that should (ideally) be relatively problem-free. And I was, sort of. I know he is right, and I want to move on. I am frustrated to be waiting out this move. The new house is unoccupied. We are still here, waiting, but that will end soon. The movers show up on November 1st, and the show will get on the road.

And then, yesterday, it rained. It rained like it hasn't rained in months. It poured cats and dogs! And you know what? The house leaked like a sieve! The kitchen skylight poured water onto the floor. The "repaired" gutters never caught the water, which instead seeped (as always) through the boards, bypassing the drains and sink wells, flooding the backyard. The ceiling of the laundry room was damp. I was overjoyed! VINDICATION!

So thank you, God, for sending that soaking rain. The plants needed it, and so did I. It washed away my frustration and replaced it with gratitude that we have a new place waiting for us. I am really happy about our move now. I am ready.

Incidentally, since this blog is friends and family only, I can share our new address. As of November 1st, our address will be:

Klingbeil family

134 Wellington St

Mosman Park WA 6012

AUSTRALIA

Back to school

Ellie went back to school on Tuesday after two-plus weeks of between term holidays. She didn't much want to go, and truth be told, I didn't much want to send her. We had a great holiday this time! She was so happy to be home, and she started getting excited about learning again.

For much of this year, I've been questioning the decision to send Ellie (and soon Stephanie) to school. I am a Montessori trained teacher, and I have always been a huge advocate of Montessori education for ages 3-6. Sending Ellie to Beehive was an obvious choice. It hasn't played out quite as I anticipated. At first, she took to it like a duck to water. She loved the order, the precision, the detail...and in many ways, those things continue to make it a great fit for her personality. But the precision seems to have taken her natural tendencies of perfectionism to a new level, a level where it interferes with her desire to learn new skills (namely reading and writing) because that would mean making mistakes along the way that she is unwilling to make.

Her school insists on cursive writing at this age, and her teacher requested I discourage printing at home. I did that, so as not to give conflicting messages, but I have regretted it. Cursive just doesn't appeal to Ellie, and she is put off by it. Not being "allowed" to print, she has lost the drive to write at all. In the Montessori environment, writing comes before reading, so she is being held off from reading progression. She is a frustrated and saddened kid. Her love of learning has withered. Her desire to attend school has faded. Her enthusiasm for new skills has disappeared. It hurt me to see it, though it took me until the recent school holidays to figure out all the whys behind it that I just explained.

Once I clearly saw what was happening, I was able to start putting it right for her. She is a clever girl, so although it is against my usual to give mixed messages, I told her she should feel free to write in print at home as long as she remembers to stick to cursive at school. I told her I missed her writing (true!!!) and I wanted to see it again. I told her I didn't care if it was print or cursive, and she should write whatever made her happy to write, as often as she wanted to do it. THIS HAS MADE ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD. Her writing has taken off like wildfire again. I just had to fan that smoldering little flame. I made her a little purse with a notepad and a multi-color ink pen inside, and she keeps that with her in the car to jot down words as she thinks them up. This morning on the way to school, she and Stephanie were taking cafe orders (a favorite game in which they usually draw whatever you order), and Ellie wrote "PESTO" all by herself without even a hint from me! Naturally, this has led to her trying to read more things too. She is regaining confidence and enthusiasm because that pressure for perfection and correctness is off, at least at home. I've also had specific, direct talks with her about how it is okay to make mistakes, that it is part of learning and is no problem at all, that we should expect to make mistakes and learn from them rather than worry about them. Mistakes help us learn, and they shouldn't stop us from trying. Although perfectionism is central facet of her personality, she is a smart girl and my words are getting through. She hears the message and has even transmitted it to others in a loving way when she sees classmates struggle, so I'm thankful I am being heard.

I have been so happy watching her light up again that I almost didn't want to send her back to school at all. I didn't want to see that light get snuffed out again. Ultimately, I figured this is a short term (only 10 weeks or so) followed by a really long holiday (end of school year/summer/Christmas break), so back she went to finish the year. It has only been two days, but hopefully, we will stay on track. I plan to teach her to read myself in my own way over that holiday so as not to conflict with what she's seeing at school or raise her teacher's notice as to why/how Ellie is approaching words differently than expected (I want to avoid the latter more for Ellie's sake, so she never has to be told that's not how it's done). I am far more the wiser for having sussed out the core problem, so I am much more able to help her than I was before. Ellie is such a sensitive soul that we are sure she will always require direct support from us to help her make her way through this world of childhood and adolescence. I am just relieved for now to be able to address the problem she is having and to help her manage it.

Singing and reading

Stephanie is holding a book of German children's songs, singing her version of one she finds. Check out Ellie in the background with a book, reading, rocking, legs crossed... Very cute afternoon moment from today.

Happy Birthday to Mama!

On Sunday, Mama turned 34!
On Saturday night, I let Markus know that he was henceforth responsible for baking my birthday cake. Every year, I bake my own, and it's just not the same. Of course, he had never baked anything before...so it was interesting. And wonderful! I thought a simple coffee cake would be a good start, so he invited the girls to help him first thing in the morning.



I stood by to watch, photograph and provide a bit of quality control (salted butter was put away, flour was scaled back from a tightly packed-down measure...). The girls had a blast, and I loved it too! Just watching the three of them felt like a birthday present right there. This will definitely be part of future Mama birthdays!

When the cake was ready, they brought me their homemade card and a present.



Afterwards, we all enjoyed playing in the backyard for a good while. Stephanie stayed in the swing for ages! I set up a lounge chair in the sun and knitted. Ellie ran amok while Papa blew bubbles (and pushed Stephanie in the swing). It was fabulous! Simple, good, family fun and a very relaxing birthday.






Late in the morning, we piled into the car and drove out to the Millbrook Winery in Jarrahdale for lunch. Alas, they scaled back their outdoors menu quite a bit, so Mama was left cranky with low blood sugar. Oh well. We made the most of the trip by walking a while on a nature trail in Jarrahdale. The girls really enjoyed themselves until they hit their done mark, and then we trekked back to the car and drove on home.





All in all, it was a very nice day. A low-key day was called for given all the mayhem we've had lately, but next year, there needs to be a party! I missed celebrating with friends and family, though as ever am I so thankful for and blessed by my own little family here. Happy Birthday to me!

Family kayaking

Perth is the greatest outdoors location we've lived in yet (and it's hard to imagine beating it elsewhere)! Between the river and the sea, the parks and the playgrounds, we have countless options for outdoor fun (as long as we are sun smart). Almost as soon as we arrived, we purchased our sit-on-top kayak for simple paddling around in the river. Eventually, we added the fancy pants Hobie adventure islander to it. Then, for Markus's 40th, we bought the Hobie cat. We have three boats for four people, two of whom are five and under. Hm. It tends to mean we don't get out nearly as often as we'd like and certainly no where close to as often as Papa would like. For months now, he's had a vision of all of us out on the river together. Yesterday, we finally made it happen!







We had a fabulous time! Granted, it took far longer to set up and put away the kayaks than we spent paddling, but in my book, it was totally worth it! The girls really enjoyed the trial run, which means they'll be happy to go again. Next time, we hope to last longer. Maybe we'll take a picnic and paddle to a picnic spot and back again.

And now chapter books!

For many months, I've been trying to convert Ellie to reading chapter books (with me; she doesn't yet read confidently on her own). If you know Ellie at all (and as a reader of this blog, you do!), you know that anything that is MY idea is NOT HER idea. She was having none of it. Every attempt down the line has been met with resistance. Not even Charlotte's Web (she loves both movie versions!) passed the test. There was no way. I surrendered.

This week, we visited the fancy-pants new library in Peppermint Grove. My girls made a beeline for the children's room, where three little children had managed to commandeer and control all comfortable seating and interesting furniture. Ellie dissolved into tears, and I redirected my two to the non-fiction juniors section where I interested Ellie in craft books while Stephanie happily absorbed farm book after farm book. After a good while, Ellie's attention wandered to the shelf behind us and a whole pile of FAIRY CHAPTER BOOKS! They are beginning readers. Nothing fancy. Not canon literature by any stretch. BUT they are chapter books that she selected, and she cannot get enough of them.

I only took one home that day as a test. She was so upset that we didn't read the entire thing that night! She was really into it! We finished the next day, and she has "read" and reread it to herself, her sister, her dolls... Today, we returned to get more (there's a lengthy series), and alas, almost all were checked out. We managed to find two put away in random spots, and we brought those home. We're already four chapters in to one of them.

So there you go. Chapter books. Her idea. Voila.

Overdue

I know I said I'd post Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and then I skipped last Friday. I had to. Last Friday was AWFUL. The kids were terrorizing me and each other, and I responded by being a short-tempered, harsh mama for most of the afternoon and evening. They went to bed just fine, but I cried myself to sleep feeling awful and guilty. This parenting gig (especially single parenting) is not for wimps. The good news is I vowed not to let any other day be like that, and it hasn't been. We enjoyed a fantastic weekend together. I know they felt happy and loved, and so did I. This is just a case of really bad timing. Markus is away for longer than he's ever been away just after some pretty big changes (which always throw them for a loop) AND it's the last week of school term (which always makes Ellie's behavior a nightmare). It's hard for me because I never sleep well in Markus's absence (true even before we had children), and sleep deprivation compounds the challenge. BUT. It's hard for them too, and I'm working very vigilantly to be mindful of that.

I did spoil them quite a bit over the weekend. Yesterday, we drove out to the "bunny farm" so they could enjoy the springtime baby animals. Stephanie was thrilled to take a pony ride. Ellie was thrilled to cuddle the baby animals, particularly the tiny rabbit babies. We ate a big picnic lunch in the back of the car and then continued at the bunny farm for another half hour or so after that, making it our longest visit yet. They loved it! When we came home, we made cookies together and then took them across the street to enjoy afternoon tea and a play with our kind neighbors. Thank you again, Rosemarie, for inviting us over when you already have three boy mayhem of your own to manage! We appreciate it! And that glass of wine Alan offered me after the tea was well-received too.

One of the best things that has evolved in Markus's absence is a big scale-back on sugar consumption. While we are pretty good at not letting them overindulge on a grand scale, adding up little bits here and there throughout the day (Nutella with peanut butter or almond spread on bread, chocolate sprinkles in the natural plain yogurt, one big sugar snack in the afternoon...) was resulting in a fairly hefty sugar intake. I realized that I was far more vigilant about making sure they had balanced diets when they were infants than I have been doing in the past year or so. I guess all the mealtime battles had worn me down so much that I didn't even know how lax I'd gotten. Since I'm the only one doling out food right now, I have been able to take total command of consumption and greatly reduce their sugar intake. AND HERE'S THE AMAZING PART: Ellie is eating more! I always suspected (and have even outright said more than once) that she is waiting out our healthy food options and holding out for sweets. She rejects food and rejects food until we finally give up and offer her something we see as a compromise, like a bowl of yogurt with strawberries and sprinkles. This week, I've ensured they've only had sugar access ONCE per day and I've even kept that minimal, and it is already showing a pay-off. The most obvious to me example was tonight for dinner. The afternoon was very hard (Ellie started whining at high pitch the second I picked her up from school, typical of the last week of term), we stayed out too long and I ran out of time to make dinner. I put on peas and corn on the cob, and then I picked up cheese pizza from down the street. We have often resorted to pizza dinners in a pinch, but then we haven't required anything other than pizza be eaten. Tonight, I told them firmly that they could have the pizza if they ate their veggies too, and Ellie cleaned her plate! I could hardly believe it! Two slices of pizza, a whole corn on the cob, a big bowl of peas, and two glasses of milk! Wow. I can't remember the last time she ate that much dinner, and I certainly can't remember her eating that much without complaining. And yesterday afternoon, she made her own snack, something we call a "roly sandwich" (tortilla with peanut butter and a small amount of Nutella), which Stephanie could happily eat daily but Ellie has never before eaten voluntarily. All I did was open the jars and offer her the knife to do it herself, and off she went! Holy cats.

The other big change I've implemented has been chores. While I've always believed in fostering their independence, I haven't required much contribution around the house. I've been reading a (great!) new parenting book, and one of the many assertions in that is kids need chores (without compensation) to feel that they are valued and valuable members of the household. If you do everything for them, they are not needed, which isn't a nice feeling for anyone. I haven't implemented chores military-style or anything. I've put it to them (particularly Ellie) in terms of needing help. I need your help. We can't eat if the table is covered in drawings and toys. Please work together to clear the table and set it for dinner. I've talked them through the steps (first we put the toys and whatnot away where it belongs, no not there please but where it belongs...now we need placemats, napkins, plates...) Although it took ages longer than it would have if I'd just done it, it was a good process for all of us and in the end, Ellie was spotting what was needed without my prompting. By the time I was serving dinner, she had independently fetched the milk from the fridge and carefully poured for herself and Stephanie. Amazing.

I have been completely drained at the end of each and every day of Markus's trip. The girls really struggle at bedtime, when our normal routine is one parent per child. Stephanie takes ages to settle. I don't get dinner until the whole process is over. It's quite exhausting. I feel like he's been gone for over a month rather than a week. The days are hard, but we are all doing as well as we can be. And I'm really proud of these girls.

I'll take and post some new pictures soon, but in case you haven't already visited there, I uploaded a lot of recent pics to our flickr pool. I haven't made the time to comment on them yet, but they are all there if you'd like to see the girls in recent action.

From the weekend

I returned from two nights in Sydney to find a new game: "Haircuts"




Apparently, the girls spent a lot of time "cutting" each other's hair with chopsticks. Stephanie in particular loves this game. Given her proclivity for mischief, I am waiting until I find the chopsticks have been replaced with scissors... At the same time, I am very thankful that she usually asks before she tries something she thinks will be off limits. A "no" answer doesn't necessarily stop her, but she does usually ask first.

On Sunday, we sucked up the family time. We laughed and played all day! Love it! In the afternoon, we decided to go for a trail walk in Perry Lakes. We couldn't have been more than 100 feet from the car before Ellie was whining that her legs hurt and she couldn't walk, she needed to be carried. Oh, the drama. Stephanie, of course, needed to be carried too. Thankfully, they got into the spirit about halfway through the walk, and by the end, they were running ahead and bounding around and generally having a blast!






Later at home, Stephanie's impish side was still in full swing!



We really think her true nature is fully captured when wearing this hat (photos from this afternoon):




Markus is away in India for work until the end of next week, so this Mama is flying solo since yesterday afternoon. The girls have been handling it really well, especially considering the numerous big changes that happened all in a row. First, Mimi here for the first time in a long time. Then, Mimi goes and Mama goes with her. Then, Mama comes back and we're all together for a couple of days before Papa goes. It's a lot for them. They need extra love and patience, and I am doing my best to give it to them. These days are quite draining, and I find myself checking the clock for my bedtime by around 8:30pm. When Markus is gone, I sleep very lightly. It's like my body responds to every tiny little noise, just to be sure all is well when I'm solely responsible. I imagine by the end of next week, I'll be too exhausted for this response, but for now, I'd better shift to earlier bedtime to compensate.

Lost in translation

This morning, Ellie popped her head into the bathroom while I was taking a shower and asked my favorite color.
"I like all colors," I replied. Her displeased expression made me add, "But I often choose blue because I really like blue."
"Well, I'm going to choose pink for you because girls like pink."
I nodded my assent, and she returned to the kitchen, where I heard her announce, "She said, 'Pink'!"
Ah-ha.
Now I know how the press works.

Ellie's birthday party

Although her birthday isn't until tomorrow, yesterday we hosted Ellie's birthday party! She invited five girls from her class. The party went beautifully! The girls all play together at school, and the mums all know each other well. That made everything so easy and fun. The party lasted from 10am until just past noon.

The activities were largely dictated by one of Ellie's favorite books, Conni hat Geburtstag. In it, Conni celebrates her birthday and Ellie wanted hers to go off the same way. She wanted to make her invitations like Conni did. She drew on folded paper, and I wrote the invitation text inside.



Conni and her friends played dress up, as did Ellie and her friends.


Ellie wanted to have a treasure hunt like Conni did. Conni's dad made chalk arrows outside to lead the kids to the treasure, so Markus took care of that. We even made up little treasure bundles just like Conni's (only Conni's were red and Ellie's were pink, naturally). The treasure hunt was a HUGE hit! Ellie loved it so much that she still hasn't opened her little treasure pouch. She did the hunt again on her own while her friends were all happily engaged beading necklaces (the treasure), and she did it at least four more times throughout the afternoon.





Ellie loved the decorate-your-own-cupcakes activity we did last year, so we repeated that with "lollies" (that's Aussie for "candy").


She also really enjoys playing "pass the parcel" at other birthday parties, so we added that game. Small treats are wrapped, one per layer, in a multi-layer parcel, which is passed around the circle of kids to music. When the music stops, whomever is holding the parcel unwraps a layer and keeps the treat inside that layer. It continues until all the kids have found a treat. Not wanting to indulge in too much sugar (mean mama, I know), our treats were tiny vials of "fairy dust" (superfine glitter we use with face paints) and stickers.


The final treat was a book exchange we held in lieu of gifts. Each child was asked to bring a new, wrapped copy of her favorite book. Ellie and Stephanie did likewise. We put all the books in a pile, and each child chose a new book from the pile that she got to take home.


All the girls and the mums were huge fans of this one, and we'll definitely do it again. We really want our girls to grow up thinking more about the celebrating and enjoying with friends rather than the getting stuff usually associated with birthdays. That goal seems to have been well-met yesterday. Ellie really enjoyed her party. We all did! And tomorrow, she will be FIVE YEARS OLD! AMAZING.

Hello again!

Wow, this blog is suffering serious neglect! I just haven't felt that I've had much to say, or when I have, I haven't made the time. I think the only way I'm going to correct this is by setting out a plan. I will blog here on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I try to post on my public blog every weekday. You can still catch our (but mostly my) antics over there, but this blog is just for private audience, so it will be more specific and personal about the girls. Given that today is Thursday, I'm already starting off schedule, but we'll ignore that and press ahead!

Mimi arrived safe and sound this past Saturday. We are thrilled to have her here! She hasn't seen the girls since Stephanie was five months old and Ellie was the age Stephanie is now (2.5 years old). That's amazing. We all know that our lifestyle takes us far away for long stretches, but you can really mark that time in the children. They are completely different from the little creatures she last saw, and they are all having fun together! They go visit her in her room each morning and at just about any time she's in there throughout the day. Ellie has commented on how much she likes Mimi's sweet, nice voice. The girls have been completely charmed! Needless to say, I've been over the moon to have her here. I may be forced to hide her passport in a week's time. Don't tell her it was me.


Ellie is excitedly gearing up for her birthday party this weekend. Five is so much different from four! She is really her own person in a new way lately. She is so composed, so much older somehow. This is all completely unauthorized, of course, but I do marvel and enjoy it. I'll write a separate post just about her soon.


Her birthday party will be on Saturday. It's hard to get her to narrow down her invitation list. To simplify this, our guideline has been the number of kids is the age of the birthday child. This year, that means five invitees. While three of the names of that list were fixed from day one, the remaining two slots rotated on an almost hourly basis until the invitations were handed out. I worried a little that she would be upset about the omissions, but she was remarkably logical and diplomatic about the process. I wasn't convinced about the remaining two she settled on (she plays with others a bit more frequently), but she assured me that anyone who didn't come this year could come next year or the year after. "Actually," she calmly and matter-of-factly told me ("actually" is very big in the vocab of both girls these days), "next year I can have six, and then seven and then eight...so everyone will get a chance to come to my party sometime." So true (yet remarkable for a child of her age, don't you think?!).