Life with an almost 6 year old

Learn to expect the word "poo" to drop into every conversation, as in:

"What should we do this weekend?"

"Poo on everyone's heads!" [deranged giggling ensues]

Also, expect regular use of the word "fart".

Hilarious!

Rainy day funtime

Miss Ellie

It's close to 7am, and the sun is starting to assert its presence. I'm sitting at the dining table with a cup of tea, listening to Ellie read "Lost and Found" to Stephanie in the playroom. Over the weekend, Markus erected our super-cheapo tent in there, and those girls have filled it with toys, blankets, cushions and books. It is their current reading spot. Ellie has exploded into reading. Just as she does with everything else from walking and talking onward, she goes ages, tarrying over a skill to the point I start to wonder if there's a problematic reason why she won't do it...and then BOOM! SHE'S GOT IT!


In true Montessori fashion, writing exploded first. She began to write on everything. I bought her a notebook and her own pen (oh, the joy!), and when she failed to pack it, I bought her a new one in Bali so she could continue her important work while on holiday. She wants to write on the computer all the time, but I still restrict that quite heavily as I still view it as screen time that should be minimized. Perhaps I can find her a typewriter... I bet she'd love it! Birthday idea just sprung up here...


Since moving up to Middle Primary, we've watched our Ellie blossom again. In the Montessori environment, the classes are mixed-age. She is in with the kids from age 6-9 now (though they tend to move them up again by or just before that 9th birthday). At first, we had serious reservations about moving her up two terms early. We were concerned the kids would tease her about her age (she's not six until September), and she is so incredibly sensitive. Most kids don't move up until they are reading and writing well, but Ellie was doing neither. We envisaged this as a starting point of endless teasing. One of her older friends was already in the class but had formed a tight friendship of two with another girl, and I was afraid their exclusivity would keep her from integrating. I've been half-tempted for months to pull her out of the school entirely and homeschool her, though we were never big in the homeschooling camp before. We had been watching Ellie wilt for so long, and we weren't at all convinced the move to the next age group was well-timed. I am so happy to be wrong!

While we still maintain that the school moved her up for its own purposes (not for her readiness as it claims), she has really come into her own again since the change. She loves going to school! She has been so unimpressed with these winter holidays, asking every day if it's a school day and seeming quite disappointed when it is not. Rather than being phased by that tight friendship I worried about, she hasn't really noticed. She jumped right into friendships with other kids, and she has reported none of the teasing that had us so concerned.

Academically, she became a huge fan of maths. Every day she was telling us tales of her math notebook and all the pages she is filling with her math work. She enjoys addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. To pass time on the drive from Ubud to the airport, Markus fed her word problems and she didn't want to stop! Looking at the traffic, he would ask questions like: "There are two motorcycles on the road. Then, four more motorcycles turn onto the same road. How many motorcycles are there?" Six. Correct! "Now, three of the motorcycles turn left and one turns right. How many motorcycles are still going straight?" Two. She'd nail it every time! After nearly 30 minutes of this, Markus was running out of ideas about motorcycle math, so she had a simple solution: "Let's do shirts!"

And now, we're getting into reading. Her world will never be the same again.




She does pick some lovely spots, doesn't she?

Back on the job

Today was our first day back to routine after two weeks of change. Markus went back to work. The girls were home with me since school is out on winter holidays. The weather was cold and rainy.

After the girls were in bed asleep, Markus asked me what we did today. "Did you play with them much?" he asked. "Not really," I answered, a bit puzzled at what we had actually done all day...so I started to list out loud our day's events.

Ellie was up early today. Stephanie woke up after Markus had left for work, sleeping late because she napped yesterday and thus went to bed late. At her request, I played games with her in the playroom as best I could through her grumpy-sleepy haze. Once she was awake and happy, I started chores while they played together. I washed our sheets, went through every piece of the girls' clothes to weed out what fits and what doesn't and reorganized. We went to three grocery stores this morning to complete my week's shopping list (sheesh!). They were so patient with that process that we stopped in for a cookie at a cafe after shop #2. After grocery shopping, we came home and ate lunch. They played for a while and then we baked a chocolate cake, as Ellie insisted at the break of dawn that today is Lolo's birthday. While the cake was in the oven, I gave the girls a bath in the indoor pool and cut their hair. While the cake cooled, we wandered across to grocery store #4 across the street to buy extra cake decorating goodies Ellie had deemed absolutely necessary after consulting a cookbook on children's birthday cakes (a book she kept on hand for five hours and declared was actually her copy, not mine). Back home again, whip up some chocolate buttercream frosting and decorate the cake. Host Lolo's birthday party, although Ellie remains unimpressed with me for not inviting other guests from school at her last minute request. The girls played and danced to some music while I cleaned up the kitchen. Then, we all had story time for about half an hour. They were both starting to get tired and teary when I heard Markus come home.



Amazing. It didn't feel like a big day, but we were so busy all day long! I wanted to record it, this glimpse into the day of this mama and this family. Nothing special, yet everything special. It's good to be home.

Getting ready

It has only really just occurred to me this afternoon that I will be boarding a plane tomorrow. I am completely unprepared for this. Truthfully, there isn't much preparation to be done. I am traveling alone and headed towards summer, so I'll be traveling very light. The thing is, I'm not used to Markus being home all day in my disarray. I'm afraid he will organize it while the girls are at school, and then I will never find anything ever again (though there's always the chance I'll see it when we move). So, I've spent the day cleaning. It takes a lot of work to clean this house, lemme tell ya! Now, I'm supposed to be organizing my desk. The computer is on my desk...and you can see what I'm doing. Ahem.

Apologies for not updating about the girls as promised. Stephanie has a little cold (mostly just nose, no fever or anything awful). She has been an incredible little trooper, and the days are pretty normal. The nights, however, don't bring much sleep. Her nose is stuffed and wakes her continually. She wants me to sleep with her for comfort, but she's a light sleeper who cannot sleep if someone is with her. We were awake-though-trying-to-sleep from just past midnight until 4:30 the other night. At around 4, Ellie finally heard us and woke up too; I nearly cried and possibly wasn't very pleasant at that point. I'm so run down that now I have a headcold too, though I'm fighting it. I just wanted to sleep all day (not going to happen as a mama!) but figured I could unwind when Markus came home...except he came home more ill than I am! Poor man. What timing! Oh well. At least my version of it doesn't seem too bad, and Stephanie's hasn't turned into anything nasty yet.

Wish Markus luck and good health as he becomes Mr. Mom for the next 10 days! I leave tomorrow night! US of A, here I come!

Good to be thorough

I was hanging up some washing yesterday afternoon, and my little companion noticed the bird feeder was full of dirty rainwater. She dumped it out in the garden and hung it up to dry, complete with requisite clothespin.

Little Aussie

Looking at a library book cover, Ellie announced,

"It's Heath-ah the Violet Fairy. Her name has a silent '-er' at the end."

Well, yes, with the Aussie pronunciation, it does.

Ellie's writing

I've been meaning to update about the girls' development. Both of them are growing and changing so much these days that it's time to record it! Last night and this morning, Ellie worked on something in my notebook that got me kick-started on this new series of posts: she wrote a little story!

Much to my surprise, Ellie hasn't been inclined to read and write much up to this point. While we don't doubt her ability one bit, we haven't put much pressure on for a few reasons. Ellie is so perfectionist that she hates to demonstrate a skill until it is mastered (not particularly good when it comes to reading but...). If pushed, she may abandon the skill entirely to avoid this. We don't want her to feel a strong aversion to reading or writing. Although most of her peers are reading now (Montessori gets 'em early), we recognize that this is still quite a young age for reading and it isn't necessary that we push it yet. Her school also insists on cursive, and we suspect she might find that too hard though she wouldn't dare going against a rule and writing in print instead. All that being said, I was thrilled when she took possession of a notebook on my desk and produced this:

Ellie went to

a shop and

got cookies and

the cookies had

Smarties and the cookies

had sprinkles and

everyone got one

cookie. One day Ellie

was driving and

Ellie was getting cookies

and Stephanie got

one cookie. Papa went

on holiday and when

he comes back he got

us a birthday

cake it was baby's

birthday cake.

Stephanie and Ellie

and Mama and Papa

was going

to Bali at Bali

we had lots of fun

and saw monkeys

and got cookies and

the cookies had Smarties

and had sprinkles

and the sprinkles

and Smarties were

chocolate.

Did you notice a cookie theme here? Guess what we're baking today.

Winter has come (inside)

Cold weather has come to Perth. Well, cold weather by Perth standards, anyway. The days cap at around 20C and the nights have gotten as low as 7C, though they are closer to 12C on average. What this really means is the house has become cold.

It started a few weeks ago. One Friday, we experienced a big rainstorm, the first in months of drought and it felt like a blessing. We awoke the next morning to cold. We were so cold in the house that we all dressed up in our thermals and we were still cold. Markus dug one of the space heaters out of the garage and set it up next to the kitchen table, but with expansive marble floors radiating cold in all directions, we didn't feel the heater at all unless we sat on it (which was attempted). He finally decided to take the girls out, given that it is often warmer outside in Perth winters because of the sun. He chased them around for a while before giving up, returning to the kitchen where I was tidying up from breakfast and was amazed to find it WARM. "What happened in here?" he demanded to know.

I had turned on the central heat.

In our two winters in an old Perth house, we had forgotten about this radical new technology of central heat. What a concept!

And oh, what instant warmth!

Still, we are left with the huge house dilemma of not wanting to pay to heat the entire place. The system here allows us to select six different areas to heat/cool or not. We are all fine with cold bedrooms (such great sleep!). Thus far, we only heat the kitchen/dining/playroom. The living room remains tricky, as it is open to the huge two-story entryway. Unless we heat the entire house, any heat in the living room goes immediately out and up into the void, leaving us to shiver our way through our nightly wind-down on the couch.

Last night, Markus came up with this particularly elegant solution:

And yes, he was indeed nice and toasty.

Best sound in the world

Confession

For years, I've been a blogger and a blog reader.

Not lately.

At the moment, I'm ridiculously hooked on pinterest! I joined a few weeks ago, and there is no end to its fascinating array of images and its potential as a time-suck. Oh my. This must be what it's like for people who love facebook.

In case you are curious, let me know and I'll send you an invite.

I have only just begun to pin...

Bay of Islands

Hi everyone! I saved the best New Zealand spot for last, and then I left you hanging. My apologies. I mentioned before that we came back with colds, specifically Ellie came back with a chesty cough. After several days of coughing in my face, it seems the germs successfully transferred. I lost my voice a couple of days ago and have since done my best to be useless once Markus comes home in the evenings. Nothing serious. Just a cold. In the meantime, I uploaded almost 200 photos from our trip to our flickr account for your viewing pleasure. I haven't added comments yet, but if you want more visuals from the trip than you are finding here, head over there and check it out!

Now, Bay of Islands!

As the person who booked and planned the trip, I was most keen on Bay of Islands. It's the area at the northern tip of the north island. It is "perpetual summer" there, though it's New Zealand summer so it's not too hot, not too cool. We were lucky on our first day because the hideous cold rain followed us from Auckland, but the first day it was crystal clear and absolutely breathtakingly beautiful! We drove out of the rain about 2 hours north of Auckland, and I started snapping away with the camera as we drove. The light was simply stunning!

To treat ourselves big time, we stayed in one of four holiday cottages on a 150-acre organic pastureland about 25 minutes from Kerikeri.

The Takou River runs through the property, and the owners (Anna and Ian Sizer) keep a boathouse filled with kayaks and assorted goodies available at any time. Of course, we had to get out in a canoe first-thing. The girls had never been in one, and it was pretty hilarious. It was low tide as we paddled upriver, meaning we got stuck on some rocks more than once. While stuck: Markus and I laughed as we pushed and pulled and scooted to free us; Ellie clutched the gunnels until her knuckles were white, screaming and wailing until her face was red as if we were going down on the Titanic; and Stephanie stood up from her post in my lap and grabbed hold of my paddle, calmly announcing that she would get us out, don't worry Mama. I wish I could have a video of it, because it makes me giggle just thinking about what a picture we must have made.

For lunch, we stopped at the Ake Ake Winery and enjoyed to a beautiful meal while the girls played happily in the grass and stones.

Later that afternoon, Markus couldn't resist another paddle, so he went for a solo kayak ride while the girls and I relaxed in the cottage. In her hallmark of comfort, Stephanie stripped bare the moment we stepped through the door. She hid under the table with the iPod for a while before joining Ellie on the fantastic fluffy yellow beanbag chair (it looked like a giant dandelion).

Markus got some incredible shots--some of my favorites of the trip--on the point-and-shoot camera he took along with him. We don't use PhotoShop, so what you see is what he saw. The light has a magical quality to it. Our assessment is Middle Earth is every bit as stunning as the movies portray it.

Of course, the rain started not long after sunset and lasted until we left. Good thing we maximized that first day! A highlight (despite the rain) was when we drove to a nice forest walk and checked out the ancient Kauri trees.

The rain was a bit of a bummer, but the Bay of Islands was our favorite spot nonetheless! We feel lucky we opted to stay there. It was a toss-up for a while. It meant a fourth place to stay, the most driving for our non-driving girls, and it wasn't on the beaten tourist track most people follow on their first visits to New Zealand. I'm so happy I was insistent, because it was beautiful! We can only imagine how fantastic summers there must be. Apparently, Aucklanders just sail up there and hang out. Lucky dogs.

Auckland - Waiheke Island

We have a distinct lack of enthusiasm for city travel with kids, so we opted for a short stay in Auckland. It was a transition from Nelson (direct flight) and a good starting point for the drive to the Bay of Islands. I didn't want to fly in and drive out immediately, so we stayed for two nights. We arrived on a beautiful sunny afternoon, but it was pouring cold rain by nightfall and rained until we drove two hours north, two days later.

The part of Auckland I most wanted to see wasn't Auckland at all; it was Waiheke Island. Waiheke Island is only about a 30 minute ferry ride out of Auckland. Ferries leave very regularly and are not expensive. The island has a population of around 4000 people year-round. That population explodes during the summer months because of the beaches and the fantastic wineries.

Once we arrived on the island, we hopped on a hop-on, hop-off touring bus/van that took us around the populated section of the island, pointing out various spots along the way. The driver recommended we eat lunch at Wild on Waiheke because it was the most kid-friendly. There was a playground and pizza oven. Done. The driver was a big fan of the fruit beers there, so we sampled the beers and wines on offer.

Of course, it was raining so Stephanie got soaked going down the playground slide (there was no stopping her). A man who worked there kindly offered to pop her clothes into their dryer along with the tea towels, so she was mostly dry by the time we left. From there, we visited an art gallery for the island local artists and then enjoyed seriously gourmet desserts at the Mudbrick Vineyard restaurant (the girls had ice cream sundaes).

As much as we love good food, we aren't gourmet people and are skeptical of artsy food. Markus didn't know what to make of his dessert (the latter one above), but he could not stop raving about the flavor. He still lists that as the highlight of our Auckland visit, so there you go. The wines at Mudbrick were outstanding. We brought two bottles home with us (one is already gone).

While we enjoyed our desserts, we enjoyed a little visitor who had flown in through the nearby open door. He's a fantail, probably related to the Willy Wagtail we have in Perth. He talked to us quite a bit and stayed atop the mirror near our seats almost the entire time we were there, much to the girls' delight.

Stephanie concentrated heavily on her ice cream. Not a drop was wasted, I assure you.

The next day, we stopped at the Auckland Zoo before driving out of town. Did I mention it was raining and cold? Okay then. Still, it was a really nice zoo. I wish we'd been able to enjoy it more. It was there that we saw the only kiwi bird of the trip. The conditions in his nocturnal house were so dark for his comfort that we only made out his silhouette, but I can say he was bigger than we expected him to be. The zoo also has two hand-reared cheetah brothers. They are so accustomed to people that they go for walks with the staff each morning before the zoo opens. When all other animals are in their indoor enclosures, the cats are let off their leads to run! I can't imagine what it would be like to see that, but I'm guessing I'd need clean pants afterwards. I'm just saying.

Since you know I have to talk about food...

Auckland itself provided the best restaurant for our family of the entire stay. Prego on Ponsonby was a hit with all of us, but most especially (and remarkably) with Ellie. She loved the garlic bread and the pizza. She couldn't get enough! Luckily, it was the first place we tried. We ate there again on our way out of town, and then again on our way back in days later. Food that goes over well with our non-eater should not be ignored.

For everyone else, I tell you not to miss the 20 minute pancake at Kokako in Parnell. Yes, it does take 20 minutes. YES, IT IS WORTH IT. Amazing. My normally polite and selfless husband stole my food. It was that good.

The day she adopted the word "fart"

Over a year ago, I read in a parenting book the following analogy about sending your children to school:

You have a canary who sings beautifully. Because you believe it is a healthy choice and the canary will enjoy it, you place the cage outside in the fresh air for a few hours each day. After a while, the canary's song changes as it starts imitating the other birds. Sometimes, you find the sounds quite crude, and you may experience pangs of regret for placing your canary outside in the first place.

This analogy was brought to mind this afternoon. Ellie has been zooming around the house on the balance bike for over 30 minutes (no, I'm not exaggerating), chanting (incessantly):

Mickey Mouse had a house

Beside the movie

When the movie started,

Mickey Mouse farted.

What color was it?

Joy.

Happy Mother's Day!

Nelson

On to Nelson!

We took a brief flight from Wellington (at the bottom of the north island) to Nelson (at the top of the south island). Most people make this trip by ferry, and the views are said to be spectacular. However, the ferry ride is three hours long and if there are swells (and there often are), the seasickness is also said to be spectacular so we opted for the 30-minute flight.

We checked in right away at our motor lodge, which has a very different connotation in New Zealand than it does in the US. It was really nice! Everything was brand-new and tastefully decorated. Each room had a kitchenette, a large bathroom with eco-friendly products, flat screen TVs and DVD players, and free wi-fi (the only free wi-fi of the trip). We opted for a suite with lounge and a separate bedroom. Standard hotel rooms just don't work for us for many reasons, but mostly for one very cute reason: Stephanie (she simply cannot rest when we are all in one room at bedtime).

From there, we set out on foot to find some lunch and explore Nelson. Markus commented that it was like being inside a miniature railway. There were large hills (small mountains?) all around, covered with trees that were turning their autumn leaves.

The area greatly appeals to artists, and there were galleries throughout the town. The first one was passed was a small jewelry shop next door to a glass blowing studio. This small jeweler, Jens Hansen, was the creator of the One Ring for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. We're big fans, so that was fun for us. He had to create 40 rings to fit all of the different people who wear it during the movie (the magic ring adapts to fit the wearer perfectly), including one huge ring for the opening sequence so the cameras could film it well. That one was made of gold-plated steel, to make the size possible. Just a bit of trivia for you.

On our last day, we drove up into the hills around Nelson and got this view of the town:

There's no getting around the fact that it rained A LOT, and we weren't able to do as much as we had hoped. The trip was saved by coloring and the great magnetic toy "Ball of Whacks", which the girls brought out every time we sat down.

Still, we made the most of it, despite the drizzle. From Nelson, most people head over to Abel Tasman National Park. There is only one road around the perimeter. The rest is trails or access by boat, neither of which was a real option for us. Instead, we drove about 1.5 hours to Nelson Lakes National Park to walk around Lake Rotoiti, one of the twin glacial lakes at the northern tip of the Southern Alps. Among the more accessible trails, there was a 15-minute walk which connected half-way to an hour-long walk. The girls did so well on the short trail that we carried on and did the bigger loop with them. This was their first real nature walk, and it was fantastic (though toward the end Ellie did become rather obsessed with a fear of being eaten by a large ferocious beast; funny because there aren't any in New Zealand, not even snakes)!

We drove to the area of the other lake, but the girls were too annoyed with the car travel to attempt another walk. The day involved a bit too much time in the car for everyone, though we were able to make a beautiful scenic stop on the way back to Nelson:

There, Markus was engaged in a serious debate with Ellie about the fairness of him carrying Stephanie on his shoulders and making her walk.

There was only one resolution possible: tickling.

It worked.