Name calling

I managed to offend an Aussie mum today.

When I picked up Ellie at school, her joined-at-the-hip friend was standing with her at the door, watching her own mum and I approach. She gleefully shouted, "Hi Mummy!" which Ellie echoed just as gleefully. I gave Ellie a cuddle and kiss and said something like, "Silly girl! I'm not your mummy! I'm the mama!"

Of course, a third mum was nearby and seemed shocked. Full of disapproval, she demanded to know if I'd really just told my daughter I was not her mummy. I told her, yes I had because I'm not; I'm a "mama". Mummy is an Aussie term, and I'm not Aussie. Wrong response. It increased her huffiness ten-fold, and she walked away, mumbling "it's used all over the world, not just Australia." My just-as-huffy response (which I was too dumb to keep to myself) was "Yes, in all Commonwealth countries, but I'm not British either. For the record, I don't want to be an American 'Mommy' either." She shook her head woefully and glanced sideways at me with undisguised distaste. Sigh.

I know it may seem puzzling why this even matters to me. Most people who don't understand it happily go by the most prevalent term in their culture. My home culture is American, but I've moved so often (every 2-4 years my entire life!) that there is no one term that seems obvious to me (even though my own mother was "Mommy" and now "Mom"). After four years in New Orleans (where Ellie was supposed to be born), I felt a strong affinity for Southern hospitality, and there it's always "mama." Living internationally now, the most multicultural term we've encountered is "mama". "Mama" just seems to fit me.
Really, truly NO OFFENSE MEANT! I did get riled by her huffiness and unfortunately fostered the incorrect anti-Aussie impression with my poorly-chosen responses, but I'm not anti-Australian or -British or -what-have-you. With all due respect to "mummies" (and "mommies") out there, I have fought to keep "Mama" and I'll keep fighting as needed. It's the name I prefer, and it's mine to keep. I'm just "Mama". That's who I want to be.

Hooray for First Aid!

When Markus and I took a refresher First Aid class just before baby Stephanie was born, our teacher opened with a story of two young mums she had encountered recently at a local cafe. Talking and gesturing with her hands, one of the women knocked a freshly filled hot cup of coffee off the table and into the pram with a baby. Neither of the mothers nor any of the cafe staff knew what to do to help the poor screaming infant. Thank goodness our First Aid teacher was there!
That story stuck with me. Knowing first aid and remembering it at the crucial moment are often different things, and I have worried from time to time that my memory would fail me when I needed it. Today, I got a good test, thankfully on myself and neither of the girls. I reheated a cup of tea in the microwave while chasing kiddos, and clearly, the cook time was too long! When I reached in to lift out the mug (with baby Stephanie wrapped around my leg), I immediately noticed how over-hot the mug was. Not wanting to make any sudden moves and slosh the liquid onto either of us, I as-quickly-and-carefully as possible moved the mug to the countertop...but that took enough time to sear the everlivin' crap out of my thumb. I immediately turned on the sink to ice cold water (thank you winter pipes!) and let it run over my thumb and fingers. The thumb was stiff and turned white instantly. So there I stood with the ice cold water running over my thumb, thinking, "Well, this is the moment! And I don't remember what to do! What did she tell us to do for burns? I can't remember!" After several minutes, I switched to a glass of ice water with some ice cubes floating in it so I could get a phone and call Markus to ask what he remembered. And the answer?
Submerge the burned area in cold (ideally) running water for 20 minutes.
I really didn't think I remembered what to do, but clearly I did remember. I acted instantly and, although the burned area is still white and very damaged, I probably saved my thumb from extreme nastiness, as the cold water dissipates the heat and prevents the burn from getting worse (did you know that burns continue to worsen well after the heat source is removed?). I highly recommend everyone take a basic First Aid course if you haven't recently done so.
Oh, and don't grab too-hot porcelain with your bare hands. That's a good take-home tip too.

My life as an adult

Some adults are sleeping in.
Some adults are reading a newspaper and sipping coffee.
Super husbands are watching the kids while their wives go see Harry Potter and munch popcorn at 9:30 on a Saturday morning.
Thank you, Markus!

Re-vamped playroom and new art box

Any organized parent or teacher of littles will tell you of the importance of rotating toys. Leave a minimal number of toys available at any one time, and then rotate those out on a regular basis. Rotation makes old toys new again. Too many toys out at once is just overwhelming, and ironically, it can lead to too many new toys entering the house as kids stop seeing what they actually have. While we weren't adding any, we certainly had too many out. When I sat dejected in the middle of a very messy playroom one afternoon, I took a good look around and realized that if I were a kid, dumping everything everywhere would be my first inclination too. How else could you see what there was or decide what to choose? Once something was dumped on the floor, it wasn't even obvious where it should be put back. Too much!!!

Unfortunately, knowing this didn't translate into making the time to fix it until this week, mostly because it was definitely not a task that could be completed with children watching. The other night while the girls were asleep, I went through and took it all down to a minimum level. Now, each shelf space holds one or two items at appropriate heights for their users. A cleared desk is topped with a pad of paper, a sketch book, and a tackle box/art box for Ellie (and an unplugged phone for important business calls). The room became inviting, interesting, and fun again. I expected backlash at the absence of most of their things, but there hasn't been even a hint of objection. Instead, both girls happily entertain themselves without any hesitation or deliberation, and they can easily see where toys need to be put back. Ellie is enraptured with her new art box, so much so that this morning she bypassed my sleeping body and was busily engaged with it when I woke up who knows how much later.


I plan to rotate some contents of the tackle box weekly too. Right now, it contains twist-up crayons, muffin tin rainbow crayons, feathers, goggly eyes, colorful pompoms, scissors, glue stick, beads and string, stickers, paper strips for cutting or gluing, and a small blank book I made with card stock and computer paper.

Sunshine-y girl

In the weeks leading up to Ellie's school holidays, Ellie's behavior was becoming more and more difficult to manage. Her teacher called me in for a meeting, because Ellie had become so challenging at school. She had latched on to a friend in an obsessive way, becoming teary if separated even by one friend between them at circle time. She didn't want to work anymore; she only wanted to cling to her friend...and her friend wasn't enjoying the over-attention. Ellie claimed to be "too tired" to learn, which was a red flag for me since she has always loved to learn new things (that has been her idea of a good time since she was a wee bub). She became so difficult at home that I was truly at my wit's end, even succumbing one weekend to abject misery and the desperate need to escape my life for just a few hours. It was not pretty, and I really didn't know what to do. The idea of two and a half weeks of school holiday seemed monstrous in some ways. What on earth would I do with this person who resembled my Ellie but really wasn't my Ellie anymore?

Then, school holidays started, and she has been the happiest camper from the first minute! How did I miss it? She needed a break! She was overtired, overstressed, and generally overcooked. Since she's not even four, it didn't really occur to me that she'd be needing a break from school. Before she started school, I thought five days a week from 8:30 to 1:30 would be quite a lot, but once we were doing it, it was just what we did. I forgot. It was simply getting to be too much. When she told her teacher she was too tired to learn, it's because she was too tired to learn! Hello? How did we miss that?! She needed a break. Now, she wakes up happy every day and stays that way. Yes, there are still little I'm-three-and-I'm-nuts breakdowns here and there, but nothing big enough to make me flinch. She loves her cubbyhouse and the revamped playroom, and she is happy to play on her own or with her sister or with me. We have played and played and played. We have enjoyed trips to the beach, to the animal farm, to the indoor playground, to the zoo. We have invited friends over for playdates and have been to other friend's houses for more playdates. And we have had lots and lots of downtime. It's been wonderful! My happy girl is back, and I'll be more mindful in the future.

Pink-clad little person

When Ellie was born and mountains of pink clothing were gifted to us, I hated pink. I dreaded pink. Why, oh why, did there have to be that gender-stereotype of pink? I refused to buy pink for her or for myself. There would be no pink, unless someone gifted us something unavoidably adorable. Pink was NOT going to define us! Here we are, nearly four years and two girls later, and I am a pink convert. I doubt it will ever be one of my favorite colors, but I have an appreciation for it that I never expected. Yes, pink has even found its way into my own wardrobe. Thanks to small European front loading washing machines, I wash whole loads of pink laundry. I do buy some pink clothes for Ellie (at her request), and baby Stephanie wears all of Ellie's too-small pink. And this morning, a pink-clad little person is sitting next to me.


It may never be one of my favorite colors, but sometimes pink melts my heart and steals my breath away.

A performance piece

I'm making up for a lack of consistent video posting with a payload! Here's yet another, shot today by Markus during cubbyhouse playtime, and I cannot wait to share it. Ellie love love loves Julie Andrews, most likely because of her gorgeous, crystal-clear, easy to understand voice. Her two favorite movies are (predicatably) "The Sound of Music" and "Mary Poppins", and both soundtracks get heavy use in the car. We are always listening to one or the other when Ellie is strapped into her seat, and she has worked hard at learning the lyrics. She doesn't always understand all the words (and there is no correcting her once she's decided what they are!), but her singing is downright adorable. I have never been able to get her to sing for the camera, but Markus managed it today. This little clip made me so happy that I got teary too, and I hope you will enjoy it. Here, she's singing "The Perfect Nanny" from "Mary Poppins", which is the nanny advertisement composed by the children and sung by Jane. Ellie emulates the British accent and substitutes lyrics as needed. My favorite adaptation is when they sing about not putting toads in the nanny's bed, Ellie has changed that to "dudes in your bed". Enjoy!

Blessed

I woke up this morning with another (the same?) cold, this time with all the obvious symptoms: sore throat, cough, headache, etc. Markus recognized my need to sleep in and took the girls out for a fun morning along the beach to ensure peace in the house. They came home again, smiling and happy. We enjoyed cups of tea in the sunshine and put baby Stephanie down for her nap, where she snoozes still. Markus and Ellie are playing in the cubby house. She carefully carried out her tea set and prepared him delicious tea and a birthday party. I could hear chants of "Hip hip HOORAY!" floating across the backyard. Then more trips into the house for Lolo, Lolo's crib, Lolo's favorite books...signs of a busy little girl making the cubby house her home. Markus carried out a little rocking chair, and the two (three, counting Lolo) of them sat there reading, and I sat inside smiling, listening to them until Ellie shut the door to keep out the cold breeze, and I felt how truly blessed I am with this life.

Pindle

As promised, the moderately lengthy movie of Ellie's play in the backyard, slightly modified from a private monologue to interact with her audience. Prepare yourself for a vocabulary lesson. Today's new word is "pindle."



p.s. How cute is the cubbyhouse after Markus spent last weekend painting it?! We love the cheerful yellow!

Fun Saturday out

So, what did Markus do with the girls while Jennifer was flat out in bed this past Saturday? Zoo and beach, of course! As Ellie would say, "How fun was that?!"


I often wish we had a sweet photo of the girls together, but you see above why this does not happen. They are awfully cute just keeping themselves busy, though!


And we cannot neglect a video posting. Baby Stephanie is such a dog lover, and this past Saturday she found that love reciprocated big style by an adorable yellow lab puppy:

American invasion

When we pulled into the carpark last Thursday morning before school, we peered across the ocean and saw this awesome sight:


It is the USS George Washington, an aircraft carrier normally stationed off Japan that is now docked off Cottesloe beach for a week of shore leave. There are American sailors all over the place, which is giving me freaky flashbacks to my military brat upbringing. The funniest part of this new addition to the shoreline was how it influenced school drop-off on Friday. We were tickled to note the number of dads who volunteered for drop-off and made their kids a bit late to school due to oogling the ship from the shore.

Doings

I just uploaded photos from our camera starting with the past weekend when Markus had the girls out of the house, and lemme tell ya, there's been a whole lotta cuteness goin' on! I have to admit that I was secretly dreading Ellie's winter holidays a bit. She had been so tantrum-y for the past few weeks that I didn't know where I'd find the stamina, but these first three days have been amazing! Thanks in no small part to the awesome cubby house, she has been happy as a clam, and her happy-go-lucky baby sister has been quick to follow the lead. Before I get carried away with the easy living (and hallelujah, it's been good these days!), I'll just move straight on to the photos. I'll do one day at a time so it doesn't get too confusing. Here's yesterday:

The day started with extended play in the backyard, which has been totally transformed by the presence of the cubby house. Ellie now has an entire play worked out involving Lolo, her stroller, and the cubby house as "home" after a series of errands all over the yard. I've got a movie of that to be posted soon, but it's a bit long and only for die-hard fans.

Then, we headed off to O2H to buy fruits and veg. Stephanie feels very comfortable there from our weekly trips, and she likes to do a bit of re-arranging (note the potato on the seat cushion).


Both girls enjoy the fabulous fresh produce and usually can't escape a visit without eating some onsite.

After that, we visited the local plant nursery to choose plants for the cubby house windowboxes. Ellie wanted everything, but she eventually settled on some blue lobelia and some white "fairy flowers" (they are fairy-crazy here in Oz!).


We also chose some strawberry plants for her to tend in a pot outside her cubbyhouse. She is very excited and checks them multiple times a day to see if any strawberries have appeared.

The afternoon was more play outside. Ball rolling back and forth, children rolling in the grass, bird watching, and definitely more cubby house. Papa came home early to relieve a still-recouping Mama and take the girls to the playground. What a fun day!

By the way...
I'm often asked the secret to my photo collages, and it's no skill of mine, believe me. Once again, the credit goes to my beautiful friend gail, who is not only blessedly responsible for the beginnings of my foodie ways but also should take credit for any decent blogging I do. She guided me to picnik, which is super-easy online photo editing like Photoshop for those of us without a clue. I highly recommend it!

Flat out

I spent the best part of the gloriously sunny weekend lying flat on my back in bed, sick. Yuck. I have no idea what it was (such deep exhaustion!), but I seem to have skimmed over the top of something nasty. Now the rain and clouds are back, but I'm thankful at least that if I had to miss the sun, it happened over the weekend when Markus could play with the girls. Ellie is out of school for two and a half weeks for winter holidays, so being sick before instead of during that time was helpful too. Not that it's ever fun to be sick. These are the times when you can't help but fervently wish you lived within 20 minutes of family. Having some extra help on hand would be fantabulous, but the lack of it is part and parcel of this wild expat lifestyle. Hope whatever it was/is will clear my system soon!

Happy 4th of July!

In the US, the 4th of July is a celebration of our independence, though this year we will have to add a syllable to that for my sister and her new husband! They celebrated their wedding at his family's farmhouse in marvelous country style, complete with requisite 4th of July barbeque, beer, and cupcakes! Sent off in a cascade of sparklers, we wish we'd been there to see them shine!


Happy Interdependence Day, Elizabeth and Matthew!

Anniversary prezzies

As our very first anniversary approached, I was at a loss for what to give Markus. He is ridiculously tough to buy for because he is not a stuff guy, he doesn't want much, and his needs are pretty well covered. Birthdays and Christmas drive me mad scrambling for ideas, and forget suggestions when other people ask me for help! So an anniversary gift was looking really tough. I turned to tradition. In the US, tradition dictates a specific gift for each year of marriage. I don't know anyone who follows this list anymore, but it gave me a great starting point and we've stuck to the list ever since. This year was "wood". Despite teasing on both sides, saying we'd wrap up sticks from the backyard, we both came through in style!

Markus gave me two beautiful, local art (my favorite!) gifts. One is a collection of miniature treasures (the frame is wood), and the other is an aboriginal carving on a nut from the boab tree.


I gave Markus a wood kaleidoscope, and I wish I'd made a video of him opening it. First, he unwrapped the base. He looked at it very carefully, set it gently on the table, and gave me a very polite "Thanks, honey, it's really nice wood" comment. That's not the gift, it's the base, I assured him. Oh, the look of relief! Then, he opened the main gift, carefully unwrapping to reveal a tube of wood with a glass bead on top and a small metal plate with a central hole on the bottom. There was an unmistakeable "WTF?" look on his face, which he was valiantly trying to suppress. You could see the wheels turning: "Did she give me a pepper grinder? What the hell?" Then, he lifted it to his eye and became a boy again: "WOOOOOW! WHOOOOA!!! Looooooook!" and so on for many minutes, as I lost him to the simple joy of a kaleidoscope. Thanks to the miracle of technology, I can share it with you too:


Last but not least...wouldn't you know that the cubby house fits right in to this grand scheme? Delivered and assembled on our anniversary, it is only natural that it also be a gift of wood.


Note: the music on the kaleidoscope video is "El Corazon" by Arno Elias from the Buddha Bar Nature CD

Parenting lesson #5782 (or #1): EMBRACE REALITY

At 3:30pm on the afternoon of our fifth anniversary, I was sitting on the kitchen floor, sobbing post-tantrum (mine). The day had gotten off to a very rough start. Ellie has been an unusually tough cookie to manage for almost two weeks, and she had eaten through my patience reserves before 8am. Baby Stephanie, normally so easy to please, wouldn't nap. She was too tired to eat but too hungry to sleep, so she just fussed and wanted 110% of my attention. Each time I tried to do anything I wanted to get done, one or both of them would throw a fit or cry. All I'd hoped to do was clean up the house and myself, bake a yummy dessert, and look nice when Markus came home from work for our date at home after the girls went to bed. I didn't think that was too much to expect, but clearly I needed to let go. I picked myself up off the floor, called our favorite restaurant to book for the next night, found a babysitter, and then invited the neighbors over for some craft and play time. EMBRACE REALITY. Life is seldom perfect, and even more rare are the moments that go smoothly when I really want them to. I can rail against it (i.e., cry on the kitchen floor) or I can shrug it off and accept the blessings I have along with the challenges. And you know what? Markus and I had a really nice night. No, the house wasn't clean. My eyes were puffy from my crying (I'm thinking there must be some PMS mixed in there), I was wearing pajama pants, and I hadn't brushed my hair...but it didn't matter. I made a super-quick-to-prepare and delicious dinner, we opened a bottle of wine from our trip to Cullen Vineyards, and we gave each other anniversary presents as well as shared time. It wasn't at all how I'd planned it, but it was every bit as enjoyable. Embrace reality. Here's to many more wonderful (busy, challenging, unpredictable...) years to come!

Mouse in the house

Oma affectionately dubbed her "Ellie Maus" when she was a baby, and she continues to live up to the name:

Novel idea

I have spent almost an hour catching up on seriously back-logged work on the computer (looking ahead to hours and hours more to get it done!), and I am not a popsicle. Why? This morning, baby Stephanie and I visited an electronics store and purchased a small space heater for this room. Why the heck didn't I do this before now?

A purchase to celebrate!

The deal has been finalized and a move-in date arranged. Next Wednesday, on our fifth anniversary, we will be able to move in to our first new home! It's pre-fab and very basic, but it's ours! Okay, actually, it's the girls'. We bought them a cubby house, which will be delivered next week. But we're still excited! We're going to paint it, make curtains for it, buy little furniture for it...it is still all the joy and excitement of a first home and we'll take it! Happy Anniversary to...them.

No water

On the way home, I drove through a huge puddle at the bottom of our street. It seemed to be growing by leaps and bounds as water gushed from some unseen source into the road. Well, it seems that would be the water that's supposed to be in our taps. No water at home. Nothing like the lack of something to make you appreciate it! I feel so thirsty, just knowing it's not there. I also feel incredibly wasteful, thinking of all the water I used to rinse dishes and handwash laundry this morning without saving any. It's been raining all week, but no water outside either (unless we raid the swimming pool, which is about to overflow anyway). Water. Appreciate it. Respect it.
Hopefully, ours will be back soon.

Winter Down Under

Winter has come to Australia, sort of. I say sort of because the sunny days are still glorious! The sun heats the air to a beautiful 70 degrees or so, usually with no wind or a warm breeze. Once the sun sets, temperatures plummet to around 40-50 degrees, though some nights have been even less. The real "wintry" days are the rainy ones (no sun, no warmth!) with the nasty winds coming up from the south. Think about what is south of Australia: Antarctica, and there's nothing warm about that! On those days, dropping Ellie off at school is no picnic. That gorgeous spot across from the beach means exposure to gale force winds first thing in the morning (last Friday brought gusts up to 125 kmph). Yikes! But the worst of it: it's cold inside the house. Australians forgot about seasons when they built houses. Our house is old and beautiful, with wood floors and high ceilings. No sun gets directly in the windows, which keeps it livable in summer...but ooooo the winter! No sun means no warmth, so the average temperature in the house hovers around 60 degrees. That temperature is lovely for sleeping, but not so great for waking hours. We have gas heaters in the kitchen and living room that work wonders (lovely warmth in 5 minutes or less), and the girls have space heaters in their bedrooms. We also installed a safety heater in the bathroom; it doesn't do much, but it does take the bite out. In the other rooms, you'd better grab a sweater and some thick socks. Back here in the "study", the temperature ranges from 57-64 degrees (depending on clouds or sun outside). One of the reasons blog posting has been sporadic lately is that it's just too darn cold! My hands are turning into little popsicles as I type this entry. Oh, woe to me.

I grew up with central heating. We never were one of those families that kept it so warm inside that you could wear short sleeves (too wasteful!), but I never remember being cold in the house either. This has been an adjustment. Long johns have become pajamas. I own my first requisite pair of Uggs, native to Australia and now I know why! (Thank you, Leonie, for tipping me off to their necessity!)

The trickiest part has been dressing our most incredibly determined CEO, who insists not only on dressing herself but dressing herself for summer. You couldn't pay her to wear a sweater or her pink Uggs (thought the pink would work, but NO). For the past several weeks now, she has had an outfit of choice that consists of a long sleeved t-shirt, thin cotton pants (leggings), a thin cotton summer dress, and one of my t-shirts...in that order (you can see the ensemble in the posting about mealtime). I knit her a cute little vest-like top, which I've managed to wedge into the daily assembly between the t-shirt and the cotton dress. Witness the peril of the first morning I enforced the wool layer:


You can see the other two layers clutched tightly in her hands. Forget trying to make her wear anything else, and heaven forbid one of the outer pieces is declared too dirty to wear. I have learned stealthy overnight laundering techniques.

Food and Friends

When we went to the Caversham Wildlife Park a few weekends ago, Markus took a lot of short video clips, but I just got around to watching them this weekend. This one of baby Stephanie cracked me up:


She had a fistful of kangaroo food that she'd taken from my hands, but she clearly didn't know what it was. The kangaroo did. Their interaction is pretty funny! It also reminded me of this favorite video of Ellie (shared before but new to you newcomers), a bit younger than Stephanie is now (taken back when we were in Qatar) and on the theme of (almost) sharing food with friends:

Mealtime

We make it a point to eat dinner together as a family. Everyone starts out sitting in his or her own chair, but that doesn't tend to last. Baby Stephanie must motor. She can only sit for so long before she has to get up and wander around. Often, she migrates to Papa's lap. Ellie is quick to follow. They often eat the bulk of their meals there. So, no matter how we start out, our mealtimes often end up looking like this...

Attending a Christening and 1st birthday

Today, we attended the Christening and 1st birthday party of our little friend Connor. The Christening service was apart from a full mass, but there were many families being baptized at the same time. The service lasted about half an hour, which was about 25 minutes too long for our intrepid explorer.



Ellie, much to our great pride and amazement, sat calmly, quietly and paid rapt attention to everything that was happening, even after Papa and baby Stephanie had to go play outside.

Afterwards, the family celebrated Connor's first birthday with a great party at the Subiaco Playgroup. Such a smart choice of location for kids, as there were tons of toys and lots of great playspace outside. Ellie loved the playhouse (called "cubby house" here) and the dolls in prams, but she really loved the birthday cake. She had been waiting patiently for a slice literally all day long, since Mama made Connor's birthday cake. Ellie watched me create the icing, smooth and pipe the different colors onto the cake, asking every once in a while if she could have a bit...and waiting so nicely when the answer was she had to wait for the party later (she did get to eat bits I trimmed off and squeezed icing on for a treat). Oh, was she happy when cake time finally came!



How convenient that the icing matched her dress! Maybe I should plan it that way for parties in the future...

Sneaky

This afternoon, Ellie requested we bake cookies together. She chose peanut butter cookies, and after the first batch was in the oven, we remembered to add chocolate chips to the rest of the dough. As soon as the first batch was cool enough, baby Stephanie happily wandered around the backyard munching on a cookie, but Ellie was determined to wait for one with chocolate chips. Or so she said.
When the girls wandered outside, I went into the laundry room to transfer a load of clothes to the dryer. I looked out the window just as Ellie coaxed the cookie out of baby Stephanie's little fist and took a huge bite. "Ellie! I saw that!" PITUEY! She spat that bite out before starting to chew and began looking around wildly to see where I was while trying to stuff the stolen bite and the remaining cookie back into a bewildered Stephanie's hands.
I wish I had caught that on camera!

Caversham Wildlife Park

On Sunday, we drove out to Whiteman Park to visit the kangaroos at the Caversham Wildlife Park in the Swan Valley. We'd been there once before, and the weather has been so glorious lately that we were happy to do anything outside. At the Caversham Wildlife Park, there are lots of opportunities to see and meet Australian wildlife (including adorable wombats), but the kangaroo pen is the best. You are free to walk around with the kangas, feed and pet them. The kangaroos in the park are very docile, friendly and so so soft! Baby Stephanie loves animals and has no fear, so she had a great time making new friends. On the other hand, Ellie seems to get more and more reserved around animals as she grows older.


Anything bigger than she could comfortably cuddle in her lap is too big in her book, so she didn't seem to enjoy it so much this time. She surprised us by not wanting to pet or feed them, whereas Stephanie pet them, fed them, and ate a bit of their food herself (yuck). Most of the pictures are available for your perusal in the flickr sidebar, but this picture tickles me to bits:



At one point, Stephanie sat down to have a chat with a lounging wallaby, and a large group of Asian tourists rushed over to take her picture. A few of them wanted to pose with her, which caused great distress in our wee one and consternation in the tourists themselves. Not all wildlife enjoys paparazzi.

Feminists, avert your eyes

I might as well come straight out with the worst of it: I just spent nearly an hour scrubbing the kitchen floor on my hands and knees. Not pregnant and not barefoot (it's colder inside the house than outside), but it's still a capital offense, I know. And guess what else? Yesterday I spent two hours raking the yard, gathering leaves and sticks into four huge green waste bags in time for city collection. Sunday night, I finished a knitted top for Ellie. This morning (before the kitchen scrubbing), I signed up for a sewing class. Will the insanity never end?

Okay, calm down, ladies. There's a simple explanation for all of this: I DO IT BECAUSE I LIKE IT. The raking was tremendously satisfying in the beautiful autumn weather. I wish I'd taken before and after photos to prove the accomplishment. You have already heard much about my newfound joy of knitting. The sewing has been a long time interest, one that now feels more important since clothes are ridiculously expensive here and frankly (no offense to any Aussie readers) I don't like the styles or the materials. Ellie is horribly low on cool weather clothes, and I can't bring myself to buy her pants that cost $60 (or more!) or those that are cheaper but won't last for Stephanie too. And scrubbing the kitchen floor...well, I just wanted to feel like it was really clean, and now I do. At least it will be until Stephanie wakes up from her nap and smears her snack around, but that's a story for another post entitled "Cleaning with children in the house is like shoveling snow during a blizzard."

Several months ago, I received a letter from a friend who expressed her extreme distaste for how domestic I've become. I have a Masters degree, I've traveled extensively...and yet I spent my days in a way she cannot comprehend. Essentially, she accused me of chucking my brain along with my placenta. I'm still struggling with an appropriate response. I myself cringe when I read conservative mommy blogs by women who include phrases like "serve my husband and family" (shudder shudder cringe), though when I reflect on my days, that is really what I do. The difference is in the intent. I don't stay home because it is expected of me or because there is nothing else I could do; the truth is quite the opposite. Markus and I have made deliberate choices to put our young family first. He works hard so I can stay home with them and do work that makes our downtime much more like downtime. I have a wonderful partner who respects, appreciates and supports me fully. He does not come home expecting a spotless house and a smiling, freshly made-up wife. Sometimes he comes home to a total mad house and a wife who cannot wait for him to pack the children off to the playground or anywhere for just 2 minutes of peace I tell you I need to have some peace before I go crazy...you get the idea. But I do try. Being a homemaker (not the most PC term but to the point) is my chosen profession at the moment, and (as with anything I give this much time) I want to be great at it. It involves many thankless tasks (such as scrubbing the floor) and tons of opportunity for personal growth. I don't regret a minute of it, even when I'm losing my nut. Will I do this forever? No, which is even more reason to work at it extra hard while I can. Making a home and raising a family is not about giving up (or worse, devaluing) oneself. It's about using all your talents to make it fulfilling and meaningful. I can cook delicious meals from scratch because I enjoy it and I really enjoy eating good food. I like creating with my hands, and I enjoy seeing the fruits of my labors. I'm pretty crap at spotless housekeeping, but our home is by no means unclean. My days are full of many tasks, many trials, and lots of hugs and love. It's a great life, and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

All that being said, I must stress that I don't believe this is a choice that is appropriate for everyone. I'm not here to judge or say staying home is the best way to parent and I certainly don't believe it's a requirement for every woman. It's really not the best choice for everyone, but it is the right choice for our family. It's a gift, and I appreciate it as such.

Side note: By the way, for another take on the homemaking topic, this post makes a good read.

Laundry sprite

Baby Stephanie likes to help with the laundry. The front loader is a perfect height for her, and it is a sure-fire way to keep her entertained. These days, I always have to check the machine before I wash a load, because you can never be sure what she might have put in there. This weekend, I tried to capture a video of her taking care of the laundry. Alas, the clip is a bit lame since she didn't want to be filmed. You can still get an idea, and you can check out the hysterical socks she is wearing. Enjoy!

This morning

Ellie's school is across a busy road from the beach, which means 5 days a week we start the day in sight of the Indian Ocean. Its beauty never ceases to amaze me. I hope there will never come a point when I take that view for granted. This week, the weather has been patchy transitional autumn weather, meaning rainshowers on and off throughout the day (side note: the temperatures are still quite lovely (low 50s in the morning, 70s in the afternoon), and the wind has died off considerably). With so much sun in the presence of patchy rain, you get RAINBOWS! This is the view that greeted us this morning when we parked the car before school:


The rainbow seemed to enter the ocean somewhere ahead of Rottnest Island. The cargo ships you see are on their way to the port at nearby Fremantle. Ellie hoped to see a ship pass through the rainbow, convinced something amazing would happen when it did. Unfortunately, the rain over the sea stopped and the rainbow faded away before we could test her theory. At least we were treated to a magical view, even for just a few minutes.

Update on the switch to cloth nappies

It's been two and a half months since we made the switch to cloth nappies, so I thought I'd update those of you who are interested on how that is going. All in all, I'm very pleased! I still cannot comment as to how green the switch is (jury is still out on landfill v laundry), but I do appreciate how much less I am throwing away and how less stinky our trash has become. It seemed to me that we were always filling our trash to the brim when using disposables, and now that's definitely not the case. I find it pretty easy to toss a load of that day's diapers in the washing machine after the girls go to bed. They are ready to air-dry by the time we go to bed, and most of the time they are dry by the next morning (now that it's gotten so cool in the house, they do better to dry in the sunshine). Once a week, I run a hot wash with baking soda and no clothing to clean out the washing machine and avoid any poo residue that might be lurking. The particular brand of nappies we bought hasn't given us much trouble. You know I couldn't resist one of every color, and that has made it easy to remember which ones have started to leak (3 out of 14). I'm pretty disappointed about that development, given it has only been less than 3 months of use. I am going to contact the company and see what they say (I'll let you know).

Also on the green front, I am embarrassed to admit I haven't pursued composting any further. I keep meaning to, and I keep forgetting. Rather poor form on my part! I will remedy that this weekend. I have a feeling I will do bokashi instead of worms, because I am afraid it will be too cold for the worms soon and I don't want to do worm composting in the house. Baby Stephanie loves playing in the dirt almost as much as she loves playing in water, and I can just picture her toddling down the hall with fistfuls of composting worms. No thank you.

Another project on the pile

I have too many interests. On my creative to-do list alone, there are at least 10 started-yet-unfinished projects, and knitting has added a whole new dimension to my madness. The possibility of creating something beautiful and wearable with my own two hands...well, it has led to a yarn buying spree of ridiculous proportions. Although Australia is the world's biggest producer of wool, it actually processes very little of it, meaning most yarns are imported and quantities are small and irregular. If I find a yarn I love or a project I want to try, no one can tell me if the yarn will be available in a few months' time or if that color will still be around. Once a supply runs out, they don't reorder, and that has given me justification for my ever-growing stash. Of course, back in reality, I am a NEW knitter, which means I'm very slow. I know I have the skill, so I am all enthusiasm about every project I see, but they take me ages to finish. I have four projects on needles right now, the latest of which I just began yesterday. Check it out:


The two yarn colors are so different that I didn't know how it might work, but I am amazed at the color array this far. This is going to be one colorful piece! Assuming I ever get it done...so far, I average 4 rows every 30 minutes, which isn't looking very promising in the completion department. At least I'm enjoying myself!

Ellie was sitting with me, coloring, as I cast on. When I came to a stopping place, she asked me to spread it out so she could see. She gave it a thorough examination and pronounced, "I like the colors! Maybe you should make one for you too!"

Philanthropy

This morning, I hosted a Biggest Morning Tea to raise money for the Cancer Council of Australia. I invited about 20 people (most of them were moms from Ellie's class), about half of whom were able to make it. Ever the DIY hostess, I let everyone serve themselves tea (obviously), spiced coffee cake, white batter bread with butter and jam, fruit salad (kindly prepared by my gorgeous redhead girlfriend), and the other goodies that trickled in with attendees. One of the mums from Ellie's school runs an online eco-clothing site, so she set up shop in our living room to add to the enticement. My bedroom became an impromptu dressing room, and I think she did a pretty mean trade this morning! Nearly everyone left with fabulous new goodies, and everyone seemed to have a great time...all for a wonderful cause! Cancer is a nasty beast, and it seems to be affecting just about everyone I know, either within their families or among friends. As you know, my dad died of colon cancer at 54. My dear girlfriend's husband was diagnosed with leukemia at age 28 and had a stem cell transplant just short of his 30th birthday; today he is doing well and building on a new life with his family. Research is well worth supporting! We raised $145 this morning, and I'll be proud to send that in.

Long weekend away (and a long post about it)

Warning: I am making no attempt to keep the post to a reasonable length, so skim as you will and remember there are more pictures in the flickr sidebar if you're interested.

I know, I know. It looks like I apologized for not posting last week...and then I didn't post again. What the hey?! My excuse is this: we weren't here! When Markus returned from KL, we realized how badly we wanted some time away from Perth as a family. We hadn't gone anywhere since we arrived over 8 months ago, and if you've been following this blog for a while, you will know how unusual that amount of time in one spot really is for us! Frankly, we've been so happy not to get on a plane or pack a bag because everything we needed for the kids is right here at our doorsteps...but it was time for a change of scene. Perth is the most isolated capital city on the planet, and it was starting to feel that way. Markus took a day and a half off work to make our own long weekend, and we headed down south on Thursday afternoon for a weekend in Margaret River.

Margaret River is the famous wine region of Western Australia. Nearby Swan Valley (where the Cuddly Animal Farm is) also produces lots of wine, but Margaret River wines are held to be world class. The drive takes about 4 hours of non-highway driving. We hadn't been before now because it's the place EVERYONE from here seems to go when there is a holiday, and it's always packed at those times. We wanted our first visit to be off-season, and we managed it big style: our trip coincided with the first winter storm. Cold cold gale-force winds, driving rain in on-off showers...joy! Can we pick 'em or what? Oh well. To be honest, we didn't really mind. Our goal was to get away and see/do something new, and we did that. The weather was the same here as it was there, so at least we weren't trapped in the house. Despite the nasty weather, we did manage one big fun thing each day, and we all enjoyed ourselves the whole weekend! Hooray!

So...what did we do?
First off, we booked a self-catering villa at Clearwater Retreat in Dunsborough for the weekend. Being off-season, we got a great deal! It was clean, in great condition, and the place was perfect for our needs (if a little big). Three bedrooms, two baths (one of which had a big bathtub for our thrilled girls; we have no tub at home), kitchen, laundry room, huge living area with TV/DVD and lots of space to run around inside (which was very useful considering the weather). It is in walking distance to the beach, and we did take a stroll on day 3 when the rain eased. We arrived at dinnertime Thursday night, so we just made a trip to the grocery store and cooked dinner ourselves, watched a movie, and headed to bed.

Thursday's nasty cold gale-force winds and rain continued on Friday, so we decided to keep out of the weather by touring a cave (lots of them in the area). Ngili Cave was the closest to us, and it was a great choice! The tour is partially self-guided, which means a guide is inside to answer questions but there is no tour per se. The route was mildly challenging and some of the passages were a bit too narrow for my liking (I'm claustrophobic), but being the only people there made it great! We could go at our own pace and enjoy. The climate in the cave was a welcome retreat: 20 degrees Celsius (around 70 F) and humid, obviously no wind or rain. At first, Ellie was very nervous and wanted to be carried, but she soon eased into the fun of exploration and did the rest on her own (baby Stephanie was strapped snugly to my back). Ellie really enjoyed looking at the crystals the guide had on display, and she keeps talking about how much fun she had in the cave, telling everyone that the cave had "lots of pointy things" (stalactites, stalagmites).


By Saturday, the storm had eased a great deal, and though it was cold and windy, it wasn't nearly so rough outside. We made a visit to the Yallingup Shearing Shed, a working sheep farm with a demonstration of the sheep dogs as well as the shearing. The girls seemed stunned into silence by such busy, active dogs...and so many sheep! Of course, there was a Border Collie to bring the sheep in from the pasture, but then his work was done and the Australian Kelpie took over. The farmer simplified it for us: a black & white dog brings sheep to you, a brown on brown dog runs on sheep. That he did! He got those sheep where he wanted them to go by running on them. That was a new sight for us!


Ellie wasn't so sure about the shearing process. We constantly narrated the process, reminding her it was just a haircut for the sheep. It was pretty funny to watch the sheep be dragged limply out of the pen and passively accept his shearing. He didn't seem to mind one bit. The farmer sheared him in one piece and spread the wool out for us to see. All his sheep are merinos, and the wool was beautifully soft. He let the kids touch it and they each took home a little piece. Ellie's absolute favorite part was a surprise ending: the farmer opened a little gate and let in several lambs, and he handed out bottles for us to feed them. It was really sweet!


We stopped for lunch at Swings&Roundabouts Winery since they'd billed themselves as family-friendly and offered wood-fired pizzas at lunchtime. I did a wine tasting there with a rather testy pourer, and we didn't get a very friendly feeling. After the pizzas were gone, we skedaddled. Saturday afternoon, we took a drive down the length of the cape instead of returning to the villa for naptime. It made the evening a bit hairy, but the drive was nice. We went far enough south that the vegetation changed to more forest than field, which was beautiful to see. The Cape Leeuwin lighthouse is the tallest lighthouse in Australia, so we checked that site off the tourist list, though we weren't allowed up with kids under 4. We explored the beach area around it instead until the wind drove us back to the shelter of the car.


Sunday dawned bright and clear (of course, since it was our last day, and a half-day at that!). We drove to the playground at Yallingup Beach so the girls could run around outside.


Before heading home, we stopped in at Cullen Winery, the only stop that was key on my list. We had missed it the other days due to weather or timing, so we decided to make it our last Margaret River experience of this trip. What a great choice! Cullen Winery is completely organic and biodynamic, so their food is amazing and the wines are outstanding. I did a tasting there, and there wasn't a single wine I didn't like. I am no connoisseur, but those wines are beautiful. I don't know how easily you can find them outside of WA (their bottlings are small due to the high production standards), but I highly recommend you bring home a bottle if you find one! We bought three different wines and took home an order form for more. The vineyard itself is lovely. The setting couldn't have been nicer for our lunch, and the staff were incredibly friendly to us and the girls. Cullen has a homestead available for holiday rentals, so we hope to snag that on some future visit. It was definitely a high point on our trip and sold us on Margaret River for good!


All in all, we had a fantastic weekend, much-appreciated time away despite the crappy weather. We are so happy we visited during off-season and we already have plans to go back sometime this winter. Just not during another storm. Brrrrrr!

Castledare Miniature Railways

We apologize for the absence, Meghan! Thanks for the kick in the pants! I'm finding it increasingly challenging to have computer time these days. For the record, I'm posting this close to midnight, well past my bedtime. I got a second wind by staying up just late enough (two hours ago) that now I can't sleep. The good news is there is a new post at last! Without further ado...


This past Saturday, we attended a birthday party for Ellie's classmates. Because Montessori classes are mixed-age, two siblings are in the class, and they have birthdays close together. Their parents decided to go all out and reserve a day at Castledare Miniature Railways, and they generously invited whole families to attend. There were well over a hundred people, which made introverted Markus and me a bit queasy until we found out the hidden story: they're Greek. Enough said! Greeks are so famous for their generous hospitality that no wonder the party was huge! And don't you know the hosts made everyone feel so welcome and important, taking time to talk to each person, making sure everyone had everything he/she needed! I am in awe of wonderful hosting skills. I'm more of a buffet-style DIY hostess myself. It leaves a bit to be desired. But I digress.


The party!
Ellie had SUCH a good time! We all did. The trains are really cool. My dad would have loved them! They are big and strong enough to tow around a few dozen people (adults included), but everything about them is mini. The land they are on is reserved for a park, and it felt like we were back in the South. Marsh all around! A huge white pelican flew over. It was lovely! More photos of the day will be in the flickr account if you want to see. We rode the train twice. The party was really all about the junk food. The tables were so low that they were the perfect height for baby Stephanie to scavenge all that was abandoned by other kids in a sugar-induced frenzy.


She was so happy waddling along, stuffing small round Cheetos into her mouth. Ellie's style was (as usual) more orderly. She picked one spot and stayed there, consuming Jello after Jello until we cut her off, afraid she'd make herself ill. I think she ate five. She also had a cookie, a cupcake and a lollipop. Model parents, yes, we know! It was a birthday party, okay?! Our favorite (cringe) moment was when she got up and we could clearly see a very distended sugar belly. Oh my, it's a prize winner! (for the record, we cut her off for the rest of the day once we saw that)


Markus later told me that while he was waiting in the hot drink line, he had a "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" flashback as an older woman made her way down the line, pointing her finger and asking everyone in a strong accent, "Are you Greek?" We've been giggling about it ever since.

Stephanie walking

There are few things I find cuter than a new walker. I love love love watching baby Stephanie walk...that wide-legged stance to accommodate the diaper, the waddle, the enthusiasm, the joy of it all! Now, you can watch a bit of it too, even if you aren't nearly as tickled as I am (though I can't imagine how that could be so). I captured this little video of her in our backyard on day 3 of the great walking experiment. I admit that it seems to capture more of her interaction with Ellie than it does her walking, but that's pretty darn cute too. I hope it makes you smile!

Dining in the restaurant

While Markus was away, I moved the kids' table into the kitchen for dinnertime. The girls were hungry while I was trying to wash dishes and clean, and they tend to roam around like mad things while eating unless there is a parent in immediate vicinity...thus, the table move seemed the ideal option. They could not have been happier! We're so lucky to have a kitchen with ample space, so I think the table will stay. Ellie calls it "the restaurant", as in, "Mama, I want to eat breakfast in the restaurant." As if I didn't already feel like a short order cook.


Still, I have to admit that their enjoyment of the new location is so adorable and the nickname so appropriate, that I even eat there too sometimes.
Welcome to The Restaurant!

Happy Mother's Day!

To all you mothers out there, we wish you a very happy Mother's Day! We hope you are being spoiled and treated and appreciated! We know your every day is all about everyone else, so today is all about YOU...unless you live in this house. In this house, Markus has been away this week for work in Kuala Lumpur and just returned yesterday evening. In this house, Mother's Day is all about PAPA! Before you give me courtesy pity, know that I am happy as a clam. I just spent a week gaining a deeper appreciation for the extreme sport that is Single Parenting, and today is my day off. Since the girls want Markus and only Markus, I've taken two naps, ate a big piece of chocolate cake for breakfast because no one was watching, munched a huge bowl of salty popcorn for a late afternoon snack because they were out at the playground...and was treated to a simple cafe lunch in between snacks where I was the only person who ate because poor Markus returned from KL with a stomach bug (thankfully, it's just a digestion thing. If he'd gotten off that plane with a fever, he would have been quarantined as a swine flu risk!). Anyhoo, it's all good Down Under. Happy Mother's Day to you!

Ellie has always preferred books to toys. In recent months, she has been more and more inclined to read along, and in the past few weeks, she has opted more and more often to "read" on her own. She had been doing that for quite a while to her friends (Lolo and other stuffed animals) in her room while avoiding naps or suffering time-outs, but the new development is her wanting to read to us. Her memory is astounding, and it's lovely to hear her read with inflection and enthusiasm! The last time she read to us from "Are You My Mother?", she asked me to "picture me". With pleasure, this week's video post:

Little Miss Sunshine

Shining through the dark clouds until the dark clouds are no more, here comes Little Miss Sunshine.


After months of teasing attempts and test wobbles, baby Stephanie started walking today.

Stealthy dark clouds

Since about midday, there has been a slowly tightening, clenching grip around my heart. It's squeezing the air out of my lungs and tensing my entire body. I couldn't name it until about 20 minutes ago when I was gazing out the window while washing laundry and suddenly pictured my dad sitting outside our back door in the sun, smoking a pipe and enjoying this gorgeous weather. Tomorrow is the 3rd anniversary of his death. Cancer is a horrible, awful beast, but grief...that sneaky bugger is almost worse.

Pest control

As the weather has turned cooler outdoors, we've noticed an increasing bug population indoors. The most frequent invaders are little grey bugs I know as "roly-polys". I noticed one making its way across the kitchen floor this afternoon as I headed towards the bathroom with a poopy diaper and made a mental note to put him back outside when I was done before Ellie (our resident bug trauma victim) could see him. Too late. I had just started washing my hands when I heard a shrill and urgent cry:
"MAMA! THERE'S A BUUUGGGGGG!!!!! CAN YOU COME TAKE CARE OF IT NOW PLEASE!!!!"
I assured her I'd be there in a minute.
Again, too late. As I reached for the handtowel, she emitted an equally shrill, equally urgent cry:
"MAMA!!!!! BABY STEPHANIE IS EATING THE BUG!!!!!"
That, my friends, is pest control.

At least she's not allergic...

Yesterday afternoon was rather eventful around here. To reward excellent behavior during some boring errands, I decided the three girls in this family deserved some playtime at the river. I parked the car, removed their shoes and socks, rolled up pants hems, and off we went! Ellie ran on ahead, headed straight for a flock of hapless birds that needed scattering. Baby Stephanie and I motored along at baby Stephanie pace...until about 1 minute 45 seconds into our outing, when Ellie began to SCREAM. IN PAIN. I snatched up Stephanie and ran to the spot where Ellie had fallen to the ground, clutching her foot and wailing in agony. If you have any idea of how much Ellie HATES for someone to touch her foot, you have some clue as to the challenge before me. I had no idea what had happened, and of course, it was a massive struggle to wrestle her foot into a position where I could take a look. During the battle, I scanned the area for clues, but there was nothing to see. She was in the sand. There was no blood. It wasn't glass. There was no piece of trash or buried old metal or anything. When I finally got a glimpse of her foot, I could see what appeared to be a splinter near the ball of her big toe. I have no idea how she could have gotten a splinter on the beach, but my task was to soothe Ellie as best I could and get it out despite Ellie's screams of pain and extreme protest against my touching her foot, all while managing to keep baby Stephanie from scooting on her little behind right into the water where she wanted to play. Luckily, there was a larger bit on the end of the splinter that prevented it from going further in. I managed to flick it out with my fingernail before Ellie writhed away from me, but it happened so quickly that it popped off into the sand and disappeared before I could take a look to see what it was. Ellie was still wailing and would not be soothed. The whole situation just seemed wrong somehow. At the swift glance I'd gotten, it did seem to be a splinter, but a splinter should not produce this much mayhem...or swelling. The area around where the splinter had been was starting to swell. I needed to take her home to clean it off better and calm her down. Under extreme duress, I managed to get them both back to the car and strapped into their seats. Ellie was still crying, complaining of pain (which shouldn't be the case since I was sure the splinter was out).

Using her carseat as my aid to restrain her from further foot-touching mutiny, I took another look before I let her out and I was unhappy to note that now the pad of her foot and her big toe were swollen and red. I called our family doctor, who was of course unavailable. The receptionist advised me to take Ellie to the children's hospital emergency room. I could see it now: "Yes, my daughter had a splinter. No, it's not in there anymore. Yes, we can wait for 5 hours to be seen..." I WAS NOT AMUSED. However, the problem remained and I definitely wanted someone else to see it. I had no choice. Off to the emergency room we went. The children's hospital is in an awful location, at the intersection of a busy one-way road and an even busier main thoroughfare. It took me nearly 30 minutes just to find somewhere to park, at which point my frustration boiled over and I started crying too. Fortunately, it was a slow day for trauma, and we saw a doctor very quickly (how old did I feel to notice she was younger than me?).

I have to say Ellie was AMAZING. She didn't fight the doctor for a minute. She let her look at her foot, touch, poke, prod...shine a light on it to be sure there was nothing left of the splinter. Stephanie had a blast too. She loved the spiral cord that attached the light to the wall. The emergency room visit was a non-event, especially when the doctor decided it was no issue since she couldn't see anything, the swelling should go away on its own and we should just go home.

Last night, Ellie slept fitfully at best. She woke up A LOT. She might have been too hot (it was warmer last night than it has been), but I suspected that darn foot. Wouldn't you know this morning it was every bit as swollen as yesterday afternoon when I rucked up at the emergency room? She had no fever, it wasn't discolored (just red), and she could put weight on it (though she didn't want to), so I let her go to school. There, I ran into a grandma who noticed her limping and thus was treated to the whole story. Without batting an eyelash, she calmly said, "She stepped on a bee."
YES! THANK YOU!!!!!
That is exactly what it was. In retrospect, it all makes so much sense! Even at the time she was wailing in the sand, Ellie kept screaming, "It was a jellyfish!" when I told her it was a splinter. I knew the pain was wrong for a splinter, but I also knew a jellyfish hadn't been the cause. Of course, the pain felt the same to her. It was a powerful sting! She stepped on a bee. I'm off to write a letter to Princess Margaret Hospital now, thanking them for their kindness and quick service, but suggesting they might take a lesson in diagnosis from a grandma.

grandma
Pronunciation: \ˈgran(d)-ˌmä, -ˌmȯ; ˈgra-ˌmä, -ˌmȯ\
Function: noun
Date: 1867
Definition: mama with experience
(all but definition found on Merriam-Webster's online dictionary)

Grumpy day, beautiful night

Last Saturday was a grumpy day around here. The weather was not nice (cold, grey, drizzly), and the girls were taking turns whining and complaining and grumping. Baby Stephanie was exhausted but wouldn't give in to a nap. Every time we put her down, she'd be wailing within minutes. By mid-afternoon, Markus gave up and took Ellie to the beach, hoping the extra peace in the house would allow Stephanie to rest. Less than an hour after that, my neck was two inches shorter (stress of baby wailing!) and we followed.


The grey day had given way to a lovely evening. The water was oh-so-inviting, and Markus suggested a swim might do me a world of good. You know about my ocean fears, but I was so wrecked at that point that I was willing to put them aside. Oh...he was so right! The release of floating free in the gorgeous ocean did me more good than anything. Of course, it was an extra bonus that I wasn't eaten. I might have stayed in there for ages if I hadn't heard baby Stephanie resume her wailing. It was time to go!


The sun was low in the sky as we left the parking lot, and I was sorry to miss the sunset. Little did I expect the sky to be even prettier as we drove away from the shore. The sun had lit up what remained of the storm clouds, and the array of colors was brilliant! Bad day gone! Beautiful night remained!



Oh, and baby Stephanie did finally stop wailing. She caved, ate like a horse, and passed out cold for the whole night. Go figure.

New friends

Here we are at another weekend, and I still haven't written about last weekend. I must go back, because it must be shared! After several weeks of debating and then waiting, our new kayak arrived last weekend. Markus always waffles for ages over items that indulge his interests (though never for a second when he indulges me or the girls), but he has been wistful over the Hobie Adventure Island for quite a while now. Hobie makes unique kayaks in that they don't require use of a paddle. The drive system is pedaled by foot and operates two fins beneath the kayak. The rudder is hand-controlled by a small steering pin, and you wouldn't believe how quickly that thing can scoot! Of course, this isn't just about the drive system. The real draw of this kayak on Markus's outdoor-loving soul is the sail and outrigger system. This kayak has it all! Okay, okay, I know I sound like a salesperson, but this kayak is seriously cool. When you come visit, I promise we'll let you have a go.


Anyway, we picked it up on Saturday, and by Sunday morning, we were both eager to give it a go. Markus went on ahead to the river to set it up, and the girls and I soon followed with a picnic lunch. The day was gorgeous (as ever), and the conditions could not have been more pleasant. I just wanted to try the kayak part, so Markus disassembled all the rest and pushed me off the shore so I could drop the drive system fins. As soon as I started to turn out into the river, there was a large splash off to my immediate right. DOLPHINS! Ever since I first learned to kayak on open water, I have wanted to paddle with dolphins...and here they were! Two of them had been swimming along without surfacing until I pushed out. They must have been curious, so they popped up to see what I was doing. They were off like a flash, but I was so excited that I wasn't about to let them get away. I chased them, and instantly appreciated how quickly that drive system allows the kayak to move. I caught up with them and doing so renewed their interest. They swam with me for several minutes, slowing each time they got ahead so I could catch up again, dancing and turning beneath the water (so clear I could see them well), watching me with their lovely eyes, surfacing on either side of me again and again...I was in seventh heaven! I was laughing and talking to them and pedaling for all I was worth to make it last as long as possible. Soon, we were out near other (large) boats, and my new friends swam away. I was elated. I pedaled back to shore in a euphoric stupor. No, I didn't have the camera. There are no photos to share. But those dolphins gave me such a joyful gift!
I never would have kept up with them in a regular kayak. I may be the biggest fan this Hobie kayak ever had.