Daddy to 3 girls
4 July 2008, 19:04
With Calista was in the sling, David thought he would try to carry the other two girls as well. Easy peasy.
Anatomy help: can you name this body part?
4 July 2008, 08:24
What is the double-pointed bit directly below the uvula? Does your child have it too?
(David is calling it the dinosaur in Aïcha’s mouth.)
Winter nights
3 July 2008, 19:55
We have so much wood left over from the small forest we felled in order to build David’s shed, that we can leave our fire roaring without worrying about running out of fuel. Even though our house is open-plan, with the fire going, the heat disperses nicely.
Personification
2 July 2008, 09:40
I’ve been maintaining that it’s a “girl thing”, but maybe I’m wrong… let me know if I am.
My girls love to personify any- and everything — usually into a family very much like ours.
While eating grapes, if they come across a tiny grape, it becomes Calista, and then the next size up is Brioni, etc. Large ones are Daddy (of course).
When playing with spoons, a teaspoon is Aïcha, and the tablespoon is Mummy. Or a fork becomes Daddy.
This personification seems to be based solely on size, and it doesn’t have to happen with like objects. If the girls see David’s tools, a screwdriver can be Brioni, a spanner Aïcha, and the hammer is “Daddy”. (Try telling me that boys would do this with tools...)
Pillows, cushions, books, chairs, teddies, cups, shoes, hairbrushes, rocks, leaves — anything and everything is personified and played with accordingly. All-the-time.
Do your kids do this too?
Cabin fever
30 June 2008, 07:48
Today is Day Five without a car, and I’m feeling antsy. We had to leave the car at a repair place for very minor damage. (Our car was hardly scratched, but we had to go through our insurers because we didn’t want to pay the other party’s bill.)
My hair has also started falling out in handfuls (it’s a natural, post-baby hair-loss), so I’ve been feeling a bit down (David would even say “spikey”).
We laugh when we think about how we’re planning to live on a property where it’s likely I’ll only get into town once a week. I better get used to a more sedentary lifestyle!
So this morning I decided to at least get the girls active and happy. Look at us, it’s not even 8 o’clock yet, and we’re already into the craft.
I expect I’ll be pulling out all the tricks Manou has taught me to keep the girls occupied and amused while we stay at home for the next couple of days!
Dress-up scuba divers
28 June 2008, 16:01
David’s gear has been drying out, so it didn’t take long for the girls to find it and dress up in it!
While Aïcha was wearing flippers, she was talking to Brioni about how divers go to the edge and jump off. Fearful that she could easily fall out of the fins, I cautioned her not to get close to the edge of the deck.
A: What would happen if I fell off the edge?
L: You would hurt yourself. It would be very sad.
A: What would you do?
L: I would cry.
B: Would you suck your thumb?
L: No, Brioni, I don’t suck my thumb.
B: Do you suck your thumb while you’re sleeping in bed?
L: No, I don’t suck my thumb while I’m sleeping.
Intersection of Dilbert and motherhood
27 June 2008, 18:56
Do you work in an office? If so, you can probably relate to Dilbert.
I have a friend at work who saves the Dilbert cartoons off his daily calendar so I don’t miss out. When I was in at work the other day, he handed me half a year’s worth of the funnies. I think they are hilarious — probably because they’re so close to the truth.
But they’re about working in a system, and now that I’m full-time at home, Dilbert makes me nostalgic for my desk-job.
However, while working my way through the pile of cartoons, I came across this gem that I can relate to as both an office-worker and a mother.
Do you find it as funny as I do?
3 months already
26 June 2008, 18:30
At three months old, Calista has just stretched into 4 x four-hourly feeds in a day, waking at between 6 and 7 in the morning. She has started rolling from her tummy onto her back while in the cot, but she cries until she is rolled back again.
Calista has learned how to hold onto objects dangled in front of her and likes to mouth her hands and fingers.
She smiles easily when bouncing up and down and likes to be in the same room as her sisters. Calista enjoys riding in my Baby Bjorn sling and fits in easily with all our activities.
It’s fantastic to have another easy-going baby — that’s sure encouragement to make me want to have more!
Going to the zoo
25 June 2008, 20:31
We have been trying to get to the “zoo” for six months now. David and I have been living in the theme-park-centre of Australia for nine years now, yet we haven’t been to any of the parks. Some of it is because we think they’re over-priced, and some of it is that the main-stream entertainment options just don’t appeal to us.
However, occasionally half-price vouchers become available, and so I decided that we should try to get to Seaworld to mark Aïcha’s 3rd birthday. (Actually, I wanted to go before she turned three, as she would have received free entry.) However, David’s work just didn’t fit in with the timing, so our visit was delayed until today.
Because we didn’t have any experience from other theme parks, I think I was expecting a small sort of aquatic zoo that we would wander through before getting back home in time for David to do some more renovations work. However, we were busy having such a good time that we didn’t leave until closing time.
We actually went on the same day as two other families, but apart from two brief encounters, we just couldn’t make our other rendezvous because it was too hard to pull ourselves away from whatever was keeping our interest at the time!
Aïcha spent the whole day asking lots of questions, and David (to his surprise) enjoyed himself tremendously. We have already talked about going back — that’s how good it was. Here are some photos from our day out.
Calista update
23 June 2008, 13:47
David's family
22 June 2008, 19:22
David was able to pop down to Grafton for a quick visit this weekend. All the Fisher boys got together at their parents’ house to celebrate their granddad’s 90th birthday.
How much can you fit in a bucket?
22 June 2008, 13:44
The Tiger who came to tea
22 June 2008, 08:24
This is a delightful, out-of-print British book with its notion of “tea” and a well-mannered English family, but it’s still widely available online.
Sophie and her Mummy sat down to a “tea” of buns, sandwiches and cakes when the doorbell rang. A tiger was at the door, and he was hungry. So, of course, he’s invited in to share their food. Except he doesn’t politely take one or two buns, he eats them all up. And then the tiger’s still hungry, so he goes through their kitchen and eats everything else, including the water in the taps.
When there’s nothing left to eat or drink, the tiger leaves, and Sophie and her Mummy realise there’s nothing left for dinner and Sophie can’t even have a bath because all the water was drunk by the greedy tiger. But when Daddy comes home and hears what happened, he takes them out for dinner, and Sophie and her Mummy go shopping for more food the next day.
Every time I read this book, I wonder what the author’s intended message was. Is it really about a greedy tiger eating all the nice family’s food? Or is it about a Mummy who doesn’t want to cook dinner with a daughter who doesn’t want to have a bath so they concoct a story to tell Daddy?
Either way, it’s great fun to read — every time — and that’s what makes it a choice book!
Meet Benjy
21 June 2008, 07:42
Once again we have someone staying in the Blue Room.
Train ride to the city
19 June 2008, 17:44
Today I braved the wrath of the daily commuters and took my three girls on an early train into the city to meet up with my colleagues at my office. Originally, I had planned to drive in, but the train ride is theoretically easier, as it travels express from my station into the city and only takes 40 minutes.
I forgot how slow everything is with children. I left the house 23 minutes before the train arrived at the station, and I barely bought my ticket in time before it arrived. Trains are also not wheely-friendly. There’s a huge step up to the train from the platform, and with Calista in the pram and the rider attached, plus two small people in tow, it wasn’t a smooth move.
The other thing with taking wheels means you have to wait for the lift to move up from the platform to the concourse and back down to the road, so getting out of the train station was very slow. And then crossing the street…
But we made it! I had a lovely time catching up with my friends at work, though Brioni was quite needy and wanted to climb into my lap while I was feeding Calista. Taking the girls meant I wasn’t able to relax as much, as I felt under pressure to keep my girls well-behaved and happy.
My manager may ask me to do some work over the next couple of weeks while my colleague tours Europe, so just when I think my career is over, it jerks back to life with a gasp.
Going back into the office reminds me how much I enjoy life outside this small family, but that’s something I will have to sacrifice to build the proper foundation for a sound relationship with my children that lasts my whole life.
On the train ride home, we missed our express train by two seconds. The doors to the train closed just as our lift doors opened (t’was those slooooooooooow children again). But because we caught the next all-station train, we didn’t have to share our carriage with many other passengers, and they soon got off, leaving us alone.
When I got back home, I was exhausted. I’m not sure exactly why, except that it’s probably the combination of mixing my two lives plus the oh-so-slow-going of what I am used to doing very quickly. At work, I know I can I get from my desk to the train station platform in under three minutes. Also, I feel under pressure to have well-behaved kids. And we had to walk quickly, which is quite difficult with a little almost-two-year old. So all of that has worn me out.
Whew!
Ear piercing
18 June 2008, 17:24
Now I have three girls with earrings. The desire to get their ears pierced was very strong, though with Aïcha I had to work hard to talk David around to the idea.
I was seven years old when I finally convinced my mum to let me get my ears pierced. We were back in Australia for a couple weeks in December 1984, and I was desperate to get them done.
Back “home” in Niger, the Africans thought I was a boy. I was living in a culture that primarily distinguished the gender of children by the holes, or lack thereof, in the ears. All girls — and I really do mean all — had their ears pierced. Girls from poor families sometimes only had a piece of straw or thread keeping the hole open, and some women didn’t wear earrings, but the holes remained for all to see.
The length of my very straight hair didn’t distinguish me as a girl. The Nigeriens weren’t yet as familiar with Western people through media such as television, and they didn’t see hair as a feature of gender.
Even when I wore a dress, I was mistaken for a boy. It definitely didn’t help that until I went off to boarding school in Nigeria, I often got around the Bible School compound wearing just shorts. After all, that’s all the African kids wore — but the girls wore earrings too.
So when we went past a chemist in Armidale where ear-piercing was advertised, I begged and begged. My mother’s mind must have already been made up (or was it just the conclusion from a long, drawn-out, late-night discussion with my dad?), as she and my two sisters also got their ears pierced at the same time.
I realise that the culture we currently live in doesn’t distinguish between boys and girls in the same way. However, I do, and it’s part of who I am and who I choose to pass on my girls.
Other people may decide to wait and let their daughter request to have her ears pierced, but I prefer to do it to my daughters when they’re still young babies. At this age, Calista hasn’t yet “found” her ears and can’t “worry” the new earrings — increasing the risk of infection. Also, she is easily placated with a quick breastfeed after the earrings are in. She’ll never remember the pain, and she certainly doesn’t know enough to baulk after only one ear is done.
And I think it looks pretty! Looking at this photo of Calista, do you agree?
Practical parenting advice
18 June 2008, 13:47
Before I had Aïcha, the ladies at the church put together a folder of snippets of advise and cute poems to encourage me as a new mother-to-be. Most of the pages were filled with pithy phrases or advice like “Listen to your heart as a mother — you’ll know what’s best.” (What rot!)
However, one true gem of practical parenting advice was hidden among all the nonsense. The writer of the letter told me this: Teach your children to always eat sitting down.
I thought this was great wisdom and have put it into practice. As adults, we usually eat sitting down. Think about how you eat. Sure, it may not always be at the dining table, but it would rarely be while you’re running around the place.
Also, who wants to encourage more mess than necessary? Teaching your children to always sit while eating at least contains the food-mess to one location.
It works great when you’re out and about. Especially when visiting someone else’s house, asking your children to sit first reassures the host(ess) that the food won’t get smeared all over their VERY white couch.
I also find it’s a useful way to keep my children contained to one location if I’m busy or say, at the hairdresser. I sit my children down and give them something to eat. They know not to move until they have finished eating.
In our house, I keep a couple small stools near the kitchen, so the girls always have a ready place to sit if they want to eat something without having to climb up to the dining table.
Of course, I’ve had to initially put in a lot of work. I’ve had to chase after small children who think running away with their food is a terrific game. And I’ve had to take food away from a child who refuses to stay seated. Lots of tears and tantrums, let me assure you. But it has all paid off. Why not give it a try?
Sleeping like a baby
17 June 2008, 15:02
ISO: Rollerskates
16 June 2008, 15:15
I’ve been looking for rollerskates in the secondhand shops, but in the meantime, the girls have been inventive.
Tucking in
14 June 2008, 15:07
Ideas for displaying children's drawings
14 June 2008, 08:43
You know the dilemma — how can you display little Picasso’s artwork without turning your house into a kindergarten?
My kids aren’t yet at the “isn’t that cute picture of Daddy with two heads?”-stage, but as soon as the artwork becomes more interesting, I’ve got my ideas ready to go.
And so you’ve sorted through the artwork and chosen the best… what now? Do you clog up some drawer somewhere and hope that the value of the artwork will appreciate over time?
No, you scan each masterpiece and then THROW IT AWAY. When you have enough outstanding pieces, you can combine all the scans into one big poster like this:
Of course, you could always pay someone else $1200 and upwards to do it for you… but WHY?
Oda Taro
13 June 2008, 09:32
Whenever I find another book by Oda Taro, I get very excited. He (at least, I think the author is a “he” — I haven’t been able to find ANY information about “him”) writes and illustrates short stories about Panda — a “child” who uses ordinary household objects to help him on his imaginative adventures.
Taro’s books take Panda on journeys through perilous circumstances, but Panda always makes it back home safely to his mother, who is usually waiting with something nice to eat. It’s a friendly way to model imaginative play.
Taro’s simple illustration is reminiscent of Dick Bruin’s style, but not quite as annoying. He uses bright, solid colours and clean backgrounds. But the beauty of his illustrations is that they don’t match the text. The script takes the reader into Panda’s imaginary world while the drawing opposite shows the reality of what Panda is doing.
And just when you think these are fantastic, it gets better!
These are out of print, so look out for them in garage sales and secondhand stores and grab them whenever you can!
Three in the bed...
12 June 2008, 10:37
... but the little one can’t roll yet, and even so, I put her in the middle so she definitely wouldn’t be able to roll out.
I’ve finally added some pictures to the story about our Mauritius trip. I’m looking forward to adding David’s narrative about the rest of our journey, especially his jaunt through southern Sudan. If you want to have a sneak peek, you can see photos he took in Sudan here.
Playing with the boys
9 June 2008, 15:59
We’ve had some good times lately with a mirror family. The Thorpes have two boys almost exactly the two ages of our two girls. (Oops, we do have another, don’t we?!)
When Kerrie came over with Alex and Damien, we spent the morning collecting pine cones, stomping in puddles, eating popcorn and playing, playing, playing!
Kerrie spent a number of years as a nanny in the U.S., so we share a nostalgia for certain American foods and chat about the differences we’ve noticed between American and Australian cultures.
Drinking da
8 June 2008, 08:08
While cleaning out some kitchen cupboards, I noticed that I still had some dried da flowers. I believe da is the same plant as the Australian rosella.
I looked up the recipe for da cordial in Wild Boar on the Kitchen Floor. My copy of this West African cookbook is looking pretty tattered, so I sent myself on a hunt for the cookbook online.
Harriet Hill sent me the file, giving me permission to make it available here, so if you’re looking for some favourite recipes, download the Wild Boar cookbook here.
Down memory lane
7 June 2008, 15:43
David’s mother Roselin came up for a couple of days this week. She hasn’t seen the girls since last November, so of course, she got to meet Calista and was astounded by how much Brioni has grown up.
While we were talking, Rosie started remembering a book she created for David with pictures of familiar objects labelled neatly, much like one I had created for Aïcha. I knew that we actually had kept that book, and as it contained some pictures of David as a boy, he enjoyed showing the photos to the girls.
The photos of David weren’t dated, so I’m not sure exactly how old he was, but probably around two years old, much like Brioni’s age now.
The DFF book club
4 June 2008, 15:41
We love books. I love books. And my girls now love books.
I don’t believe you can ever have too many books, and I have been collecting an especially good library of children’s books. I browse secondhand shops for good titles, and when a special is offered, such as fill-a-bag-for-$3, I go crazy.
However, when you have so many books, it’s easy to lose track of the ones you want. So, slowly, slowly, I’ve been adding my books to an online library called LibraryThing.
LibraryThing allows me to add titles just by entering in the ISBN number, and I can add tags that makes it easy to find titles on a particular subject. You can browse my library anytime, and I’ll keep working my way through my books until all of them are catalogued. I’ve currently got 330 books online.
When reading books with the girls, I sometimes think, “Wow, this is a really good book. I wish everyone knew how good a book it is!” So I decided to add a book club feature to this blog to allow me to share the great titles we have in our collection.
I know when I discover a cool book on someone else’s blog, sometimes I have to track it down. Maybe I’ll inspire you to add to your collection too.
So, let me introduce you to
This first book is 1 one year old (Counting children 1 to 10).
I don’t intend to feature all the pages of all the books, but this is one exception. The pages show the appropriate number of children at the appropriate age doing something very typical for that age-group. Such a simple idea, and so interesting for kids to look at.
It’s fantastic! Have a look.
Winter hats
4 June 2008, 13:38
I love it when the cooler weather means I can put winter hats on the girls. There are some very cute ones out there.
If you haven’t already discovered it, etsy is the home of all manner of handmade treasures. I got these hats from Lulu’s woobies.
Calista smiles
3 June 2008, 13:34
We interrupt this blog...
2 June 2008, 08:29
... with a service announcement.
I haven’t been able to successfully apply the archive menu in the right-hand column, so I’ve simply allowed all the blog entries to come up in this main page.
At some point in the next year or so, when I finally find the time to fiddle with the programming, I’ll get a proper archiving menu with which to browse past posts.
In the meantime, I apologise if this page takes a LOOOOOONNNNGGGG time to load.
Here we are!
1 June 2008, 18:44
While visiting friends on Saturday night, I remembered to take the camera so we could get a family portrait of sorts.
Playing together
29 May 2008, 11:32
I love to hear the girls playing together. They were cackling together in the blue room, so I snuck in with the camera to see what they were playing.
Today’s hilarious game was “doctor”. The girls would each take turns using all the medical instruments to check the other.
I have recently met women who have had their first two children as close as 11.5 months apart, so I no longer think 18 or 19 months is a close gap.
I also want to note that at 21 months, Brioni is using pronouns better than Aïcha. She has skipped the self-nomination stage and moved directly into correctly calling herself “I” and “me”.
Two months old today!
26 May 2008, 13:58
My girls in May
25 May 2008, 14:02
Playmod
22 May 2008, 14:29
Some of you may know that I’ve started collecting Playmobil toys for our girls. These are little “klicky” toys that have basic movement and allow for a wide scope of creative play. Playmobil has been around since 1974, and they have a good reputation for durability and providing consistent entertainment to children of all ages.
Even at their young ages, the girls are playing with the toys daily. After naming toys for each of our family members plus Manou, they usually set up basic family scenes with everyone asleep or so-and-so cuddling. I expect that the play will become more complex as they get older.
Playmobil offers a fantastic variety of people and accessories, but enterprising fans have taken modification — “Playmod” — to an extreme level. Look at how Little Jo created the characters from the Wizard of Oz! Amazing stuff.
Anyhow, today I tried my first basic modification.
David and I have each given a demonstration of skipping rope, and Aïcha sometimes like to wave a cord around and tell me she’s jumping rope. So I created a little skipping rope for one of her children figures.
Mischief in the making
21 May 2008, 19:27
While I was enjoying a quiet feed with Calista in the late afternoon, our other two girls were getting up to mischief.
I had set them up with the pens and paper for as a quiet playtime activity before tea, but they turned it into something much more fun.
Aïcha has a good grasp of her letters and can draw some simple ones. Brioni recognises her own initial, but when she names colours, her guesses are confident but quite wild.
Neigh
15 May 2008, 20:49
Brioni today showed some creativity in combining a Playmobil figurine with a plastic animal.
Five stitches
14 May 2008, 20:45
Five is the number of stitches it took to sew up my finger when I cut it this afternoon by swiping it across my new-beaut, purchase-once-for-lifetime Felco secateurs. Careful, they’re sharp!
A fantastic present!
14 May 2008, 08:49
This morning we received an unexpected parcel from David’s cousins, aunt, uncle & grandmother. This is the best thing I have received all year!
I know I am very difficult to buy for. From my matching obsessions to my peculiar sense of style, my likes are eclectic and very particular. Even those very close to me have a hard time finding things that I love. I guess David’s Aunt Bronwyn must share my taste because she chose something so spot-on.
She sent us three matching children’s quality cutlery sets, a very useful gift (always a plus). They aren’t cutesy or kitsch (or even worse — merchandised), and Bronwyn even went to the trouble to get each set monogrammed with the girls’ initials. Wow. I am so stoked! I ran down to the shed to show David right away.
I’ve put Calista’s set away, but the girls will start using their new cutlery right away. This means I can put away the un-matching baby cutlery that I bought in secondhand shops. I know that with each meal, and as I wash each piece up, I will enjoy the style and uniformity of the cutlery. (Feel free to diagnose my condition and call me names.)
Upon reflection, this is probably the best baby present I have received — ever! The gift voucher for housecleaning rates a close second, but it didn’t last very long.
Thank you, Collingridges!
Monday at the farm
12 May 2008, 19:55
We took an excursion today with the local homeschooling group to a small farm.
Chalk drawings
9 May 2008, 17:16
Playing with chalk covers about all the criteria for a toddler, a pre-schooler and mum’s easy and fun activity!
First, it happens outside, which is just what you need in the late afternoon.
Also, children are very forgiving of any mum’s artistic skills (or lack thereof). So you can be as crazy with your drawings as you like. I chose to draw outlines of our family. This gives the girls an opportunity to draw hair, and we label each family member with an identifying letter.
Brioni likes to carry things around, so she collected the chalk into a little bucket and doled out pieces accordingly.
When the girls appeared to be bored with drawing, I brought out some paint brushes and a little tub of water so they could erase their drawings. This doubles the fun and the length of the activity.
Best of all, there’s nothing to clean up! If any chalk is left on the concrete, the rain washes it away.
A superficial comparison
8 May 2008, 20:42
David and I try to avoid comparing our girls, but it’s still interesting to see how they develop…
Here’s a collage of the three girls when they were each six weeks old. Who do you think Calista looks the most like?
An easy craft idea
6 May 2008, 13:03
Today I had to offer the kids at playgroup another craft activity, so I chose to show them how to make crepe paper butterflies and caterpillars.
Most of the time was spent painting the butterfly wings, so it was a really simple activity that proved very popular.
(This camera doesn’t offer the colour-clarity of our usual one, so apologies for the pictures.)
Firstborn
3 May 2008, 17:50
I gave Aïcha a little bit of computer time this afternoon. I set her up and showed her how to move the mouse, placing my hand over hers. However, when left on her own, she switched the mouse over to the other hand.
Almost caught one!
3 May 2008, 07:58
My timing was a little off — but you can see the smile at the corner of Calista’s mouth!
Never short of ideas
1 May 2008, 17:48
I called up my wonderful sister Renée to get some ideas for an activity that I could take to playgroup. She suggested cold spaghetti.
Once you’ve made the spaghetti, the kids can play freely with it, and the older ones can arrange it as hair around a face before drying the portrait in the sun.
And I know Mum will be so proud of my latest addition to the backyard!
Me and my girls
30 April 2008, 12:49
My friend K has just dropped off a CD of photos from her son’s birthday party on April 12. It’s fun to have some photos that show me and my girls, as I’m too often the one behind the viewfinder.
We're missing David
29 April 2008, 17:29
Download the short video to see Aïcha’s special message for David.
I'm still trying to catch a smile
28 April 2008, 17:33
This is pretty close.
Aïcha's first photographs
28 April 2008, 16:48
As I’m currently using a small digital camera instead of our whiz-band SLR one (which has gone to NZ with David), I decided to let Aïcha take some photos. I’m not sure that she really got the hang of it, as she tended to hold her finger down on the trigger button for a long time. But she had a lot of fun, and some of them are quite interesting.
Mind you, after I gave her the camera, I started daydreaming about Aïcha taking after her Uncle James and being interviewed as a successful photographer: “Yes, I started taking pictures at the age of three when my mum let me play with a camera.”
We were outside after rest-time while I did some digging. Here’s this afternoon from a three-year-old’s perspective.
