Snacktime proclamation

The following dialogue began this afternoon when Ellie looked up from her afternoon tea of hot scones...

Ellie: I’m not going to marry Zephyr.

me: Why not?

Ellie: At corroboree, he pulls my hair. When I work, he distracts me. When we’re on the playground, he chases me. I tell him all the time “Stop! I don’t like that!” but he keeps doing it and he’s a naughty boy and I don’t like naughty.

me: I’m not sure he’s naughty. Sometimes boys do those things to get girls’ attention.

Ellie: Well, he doesn’t need attention. He’s a little bit annoying.

**For the record, she also proofread this post before I was allowed to share. It has been given her approval for accuracy in reporting.

Kiddie lyrics

Songs often get changed around here. Right now, Stephanie is singing to herself "The Farmer in the Dell":

The farmer runs away.

The farmer runs away.

No more Cheerios.

The farmer runs away.

Ellie is 6

So, yes, there was (coffee) cake this morning AND "real" cake in the afternoon. Birthdays are special! I'm with Marie Antoinette on this one: "Let them eat cake!"

Stephanie placed the Smarties in between the icing flowers. She did a very careful job (also very carefully placed one Smartie in her mouth for every Smartie on the cake...). In case there are any foodies reading this, the cake was the buttermilk layer cake from Nick Maglieri's Perfect Cakes and the frosting was the instant fudge frosting (minus the chocolate, plus pink food coloring gel) from Smitten Kitchen. OMG. That's all I'm saying.

This morning after I dropped the girls off at school, I zipped over to the party store and bought six helium balloons in 3 shades of pink. Oh yes, she did notice and appreciate. That girl loves pink!

Stephanie was impressed with the decor too.

After school, we had invited our current and previous neighbors to join us for cake and ice cream. Rosemarie made Ellie a new birthday crown, and I had decorated the shirt for her to wear today. Look how excited she is!

Ellie was thrilled to have so many friends celebrate her special day! She could hardly contain herself! She also seemed to quite enjoy having a second cake...

That one last candle would not go out, no matter how much she huffed and puffed. Ever helpful, Will (seated across from her) took care of it for her in the end, though I don't think she noticed through her laughter.

After we tucked the little darlings into bed tonight, Markus said he suspects this is the best birthday (perhaps best day) Ellie will say she ever had. She was excited excited excited for weeks ahead of time, and she stayed that excited right up until all her energy was completely burned and she passed out in her bed. And she still has her joint birthday party to look forward to this weekend! What a happy girl! What a happy day!

Good morning, Birthday Girl!

(I love that we start our birthdays with cake for breakfast...and it seems I'm not the only one)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ELLIE!

We can hardly believe you are six years old today! We're so excited to celebrate you!

Chopsticks breakfast

I'm behind on my shopping, so there was no obvious go-to breakfast item in the pantry this morning. I decided to bend my own rules about sweets on a school morning and baked up some cinnamon biscuits with a wee bit of icing (I did serve with strawberries).

Ellie was excited and tucked right in.

Stephanie, on the other hand, believed more complicated means of food acquisition was required...

Spring day

What's not to love about a relaxing weekend, especially one with beautiful sunshine following a night's hard rain? This morning, we left the house for a walk on the beach, packed with raincoats and galoshes. Drizzle fell from the grey sky...until we pulled up near the shore. You can see the clouds moving on in the first picture (taken with my phone, since I'd expected it to be too wet for my camera).

The storm last night churned up a swarm of "blue-ies", the super-nasty bluebottle jellyfish not typically found around here. Most of the blue-ies we spotted were tiny (and man, were they everywhere!), but some, like the one below, were quite big with their 2+ meter tentacles still attached and strung along the sand (shiver at the thought of touching one in the water...).

We had a blast, walking and discovering, and of course, tossing small children who just need tossing...

What a beautiful place!

Life at home is pretty good too. Especially if you are pint-sized, enjoy nudity, and fit inside buckets of water in the garden...

Singer and dancer

It begins...

Last night, the girls were starting their dinners as I finished up in the kitchen, when Ellie looked up with an excited grin and announced:

"Mama, I kissed Zephyr on the lips today!" (Zephyr is a gorgeous little boy in her class)

Not wanting to overreact (or laugh), I said something intelligent and probing, like, "Oh, yes?"

"Yes! Well, he doesn't really like for me to kiss him in the classroom, so we just mostly kiss in the bathrooms now."

Big grin of triumph.

You go, girl (Ellie has always been ahead of the curve developmentally. Tee-hee).

This afternoon, I retold the story to Zephyr's mom, and she looked a little embarrassed but not surprised: "Yes, well, he's done this before. He picks a nice, sweet girl and likes to kiss her. He is a bit of Romeo, I'm afraid. And he is rather fond of Eleanor."

Well then. As long as he's fond of her, it's all good. I can't have her kissing boys who don't care, now can I?

Ellie's birthday invitations

Soon, our sweet Ellie will be 6. Ellie's birthday is one year and three days behind one of her friends and classmates, Danielle. Danielle was in Ellie's class when we first started at Beehive, and they are in the same class again now that Ellie has moved up. Having friends already in the class is not a given, and it was a wonderful transition point for our sensitive girl. When Danielle's mom realized their parties might be on the same weekend, she suggested we have a joint party. I was reluctant. Our family limits party size: the age you are is the number of kids you can invite. Sharing that party means Ellie can only invite 3 people (unless the guest requests overlap). She wants to invite some younger friends from her old class, while Danielle has been out of that class for two years now. It was if-y, but when we floated the idea to the girls, Ellie was thrilled! How could I say no?

This afternoon, Danielle came over after school so they could make their invitations together. It's going to be an art party, so handmade invitations seemed the only way to go. We gave the girls a pile of materials: markers, colored pencils, crayons, stickers, glue, scissors, collage materials, sequins... Stickers was the only draw.

Ellie is so proud of her newfound ability to read and write with confidence that she was having none of the idea that I write the information on the invitations for her. Knowing older children are invited, this mama was nervous about her phonetic spelling lest she be horribly teased about a great source of pride. She is so sensitive, and I'm such a mama bear. I told her invitations were not like letters, that they had to have the same information, that the moms needed specific details...but she was having none of my reasons. I offered to write it all out for her (and did so), but she had zero interest in copying my work. She wrote her 3 invitations, each identical at the start but incorporating a little more detail than the last until the third looked like this:



I want to keep and treasure this sweet invitation. Of course, I have to send it. Thank the Lord she has addressed it to another sweet soul whom I cannot imagine would ever tease her. Still, I just want to hold it for my very own, a fleeting moment in the growth and development of this darling little girl who won't be little for very much longer.

We heart routine

Markus's sister Ulla and her partner Eckart are here visiting. They arrived last Friday, and the visit has been great from the start. The girls really enjoy playing with them, and all is going smoothly. They haven't even seemed to mind being awoken super-early by a little girl eager to pounce on them and play before sun-up. On Wednesday, they headed out of town, driving north to Monkey Mia to see the dolphins there and enjoy a bit of open country along the (long long) way. They have been missed, but it's funny to note how settled the girls are in their absence.

Because the visit hasn't been stressful or unpleasant or challenging in any way, we didn't much notice the disturbance in routine. We had set up a guest room in my sewing room instead of moving the girls from their beds. School is in session, so their weekday routine remains unchanged as well. But... From the get-go, Ellie used their visit as an opportunity to test every single one of our rules and my firm points. Push, push, push. Test, test, test. Will things stay the same now that there are two more adults here? Let's see what Mama does when...
On the second night of their stay, Ellie started moaning in her sleep quite a bit and waking in great distress. She complained of pain and discomfort, needed to pee, etc...all unusual once she's fallen asleep. Each night it got a bit worse until Markus and I debated taking her to the doctor to check for a urinary tract infection. I was hesitant because she showed no signs of pain or discomfort during the day, but her distress at night was escalating to the degree that "drama queen" diagnosis seemed questionable too. Last night was the second night of Ulla and Eckart being away, and it was the first night Ellie slept through without so much as a peep. Ah-ha.

These girls thrive on routine!

Being so very far from family and friends, our little family routine is pretty iron-clad. We don't stick to it out of parenting philosophy; rather, it works best for us, so it's what we do. A facet of that I do believe applies across the board is children like knowing what to expect. Even when the changes aren't stressful, it's still a big change from a child's perspective.

Sharing this is not my way of saying no more houseguests please. We simply found it remarkable to see what differences have emerged in our big girl over the course of a week, all based on a change at home. I share here more out of accuracy in reporting than any other motivation. Markus and I were a bit flabbergasted to notice at our own bedtime last night how quiet the house was for the first time in days. That's when it hit us (yet again): children heart routine, big style.

Kee-koo, kee-koo

As we pulled out of the driveway on our way to pick-up Ellie from school, we noticed the gardener's truck parked on the verge, hazard lights flashing. We drove a bit down the road before Stephanie piped up from the back seat:


"Mama, I know how to make the kee-koo noise."
Umm...?
"I know it. I know the kee-koo noise."
Okay.
"It goes like this: kee-koo, kee-koo, kee-koo."
Yes, it does (I'm still not following this...).
"I know how you do it. Just press that red button right there (hazard lights), and it makes the kee-koo noise."
(Ah-ha!) You're right! It does!

How to pass the afternoon...

As you do

It's winter in Perth. I'm sure you can tell. If we sit inside longer than five minutes, our fingers and toes start to go numb. The secret is not to sit inside...











We've been pelted with a lot of rain and battered by strong winds lately (ah, winter storms!), so this weekend's weather seemed especially sweet! The girls are always happy to just be at home on the weekends. Normally, Mama and Papa are good with that on Saturday but get itchy feet by Sunday. Not so this weekend. We just soaked up the easy life, enjoying a delicious picnic lunch on our table outside before realizing it was warm enough to head to the river for some fun. Dolphins greeted us as we walked to the shoreline, but alas, they swam away before we could get the kayak in the water.

This afternoon, the weather was still beautiful so I treated the girls to ice cream cones and playtime at the beach. Life in Perth (in winter!) is so tough...

She put tears in my eyes

A family we don't know in our school has experienced a horrible tragedy. The father (in his mid-30s) suddenly died at work last week (aneurysm). The children are similar ages to our girls. It is unimaginable.

Markus and I were discussing it quietly when Ellie overheard and asked what we were talking about. I decided to tell her in the gentlest but most honest terms I could. I asked if she knew a boy named Saxon. She did, though vaguely we could tell. I asked what class he was in, and she told me. Then, I calmly explained that Saxon's daddy had died and it was very sad. She wanted to know why Papa and I were talking about it if we didn't know them, so I explained that her school had notified all the parents in case children wanted to talk about it. She was quiet and thoughtful. Then, she asked if that meant he and his sister didn't have a daddy to play with anymore. I told her yes, that was it meant. She thought for a moment, and then she smiled reassuringly and said, "Well, if they don't have a daddy to play with, we could share our daddy and they could play with him too."


I want to leave it there, because I am so moved by my girl's sweet, tender, loving heart...but there's more and I bet you'd want to hear it too. When you are prepared to move from touched to tickled, I have to add...

Noticing how warmly we received her suggestion, she thought up a second one after a while:
"You know, Saxon is kind of brown. His skin is kind of brown. Maybe there is another brown family with two daddies, and they could just give the extra brown daddy to Saxon's family, and then they will have a daddy again!" (huge grin of satisfaction)
We explained that they were probably a bit too sad to look for a new daddy right away, but we would be sure to pass on the advice when they were ready.

Setting Figaro loose

You may or may not recall our little canary, Figaro. When we first brought him home, he was silent for nearly 3 months. We assumed he was broken...or maybe a girl in disguise (sorry, Figaro). Who knew he would start to sing so joyfully at such a deafening volume? We love his cheerful song, although I admit we've already come to take it a bit for granted. He's such a sweet little bird.

Markus has been feeling guilty that Figaro lives in such a small cage. We've priced big cages and can't justify it ($250+!), so Markus decided Figaro needed to come out into our home for brief flight and exploration excursion. These pictures are from this weekend, on Figaro's third such excursion. Trying to catch him again is The Devil, but he seems awfully pleased with the freedom while he has it. We are delighted to notice that he tends to stay in the same room with us, even when given free reign of the house. It's rather endearing.






After a while, I grabbed the opportunity for a short nap. Figaro flew in to see what I was doing. He flew away before Markus caught a picture of him at the foot of the bed.


Sweet little guy.

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!