wild child

As a Montessori teacher I read The Wild Boy of Aveyron a tragic account of a child found living in the woods like an animal.
So this image troubles me somewhat.



I do take comfort in recalling the story a wonderful old friend told me. Assuring me that the best holiday she ever had was the one in which her sons played dogs for the entire duration of the holiday. She said they were impeccably behaved, little trouble, and the only entertainment they required was that she threw a stick for them periodically.

Whacky Woo! She wants to be a "goggy", thankfully she strives to be a "goog goggy" not a bad one so she ate her meal from a plate, rather than directly off the floor!

Thank goodness for small mercies.

say g'day seven!

The day began far too early and had ended too, too late the night before for both Tigs and me.

By midnight the wrapping fairy had fallen asleep and instead of stylish, carefully planned and executed gifts all I managed were a batch of tissue clad and red grid tape parcels.  He had to begin with the 'T' and work  through to 'is, 7 ! YAY'.  YAY containing the pièce de résistance - Lego Atlantis.  Between the end of school and the family arriving for a party all 480 odd pieces had been connected, with very little assistance from me :)  He's a natural Lego dude!  By 9am the following morning Woo had demolished it :(

I'd wrapped each package with something nice, but not stellar, and cunningly hid something guaranteed to float his boat.  The first some cute new handmade jammies with a new DS Star Wars Lego game tucked between the folds.  One that had caused a minor tantrum at Costco some weeks earlier when he'd seen the DS game and the super cool Lego Book on the shelf and had jumped up and down with excitement about them.  We had told him that as his birthday was coming up he should wait and hope and that he couldn't have everything he wanted when he wanted.  Therein the scene erupted and whines of "It's not fair" and "You get everything you want" had echoed around the store. I was less than impressed ...

Greg then, in some unfathomable way, decided that in order to reassure him that we wouldn't let him down come his birthday and to have patience promptly GAVE HIM THE BOOK that we'd hidden with the DS game at the bottom of the trolley.  I stood  wide mouthed and incredulous as this unfolded and I watched one pouty and petulant 6 year old switch on the charm and get away with murder. 

Miraculously - extraordinarily - unbelievably,  it has had an ongoing positive impact.  I know!  Hard to believe, and certainly not a technique described in ANY parenting tome.  I rarely give Greg credit for his parenting but this episode appears to have worked and has infact taught Tiggy that we are always there for him and will do our best not let him down in life.  And to reassure the nay-sayers he usually doesn't get what he wants in terms of material items but he absolutely knows that we love him and that,  he gets by the bucket load!

And he gives love back by the armful too.

More to Greg and me than to Woo so this little moment had to be shared!

Having your birthday on the winter solstice ( I know this is a very late post on the big day!!) has its merits and by 7.00am in the pitch dark, we were outside waving sparklers in a figure '7'!  Can you see it just in there?  I know there is a way of capturing it perfectly but I had a) not read up on how to do it photographically and b) did not have my wits about me sufficiently at that time of day to even try aside from the auto setting. So that my friends is the closest we get - this year.

Our day progressed rather normally and by the evening the most immediate family gathered for his favorite meal, shepherd's pie. 

Floss

Babcia (no Dziadziu he was working late)

Momo and Booboo - currently sunning themselves in Mauritius.

The meal should have been followed by apple crumble but I had to have a cake for his birthday and as he's not a real lover of traditional cake I did my now famous ice-cream cake.  

Take one tub of the recipient's favourite ice cream and invert it on a platter.  Lavishly slather it in Ice-magic and before the topping sets push some juicy fresh strawberries into the chocolate.  Place in the freezer until it's time to sing!!

Then scoop large balls into waffle cones, spray on some cream in a can (come on it's his birthday!!) and plonk a sweet frozen berry on the top. 

YUM!

That weekend I took 13 children to Kung Fu Panda 2! 

 Am still awaiting medal in the mail...

E x

see ya six!

the night before seven, snuggles on the sofa with dad

My beautiful boy recently kissed goodbye to six and welcomed in seven, with great gusto, in spite of going to sleep far too late and waking far too early!
I'll be back with his birthday soon.

We're coming to you live from the bush at the moment - X

winter sweeties!

I have had a super busy day.

I managed to get the house and car vacuumed.
The car and laundry washed. Even the skirting boards got a going over.
I took the children to the dentist - with a clean bill of health :)
It was Woo's first trip and Tiggy was the most marvelous role model, thank goodness.

I completed a dozen other little tasks, pharmacy, grocery store, returning goods, collecting office supplies, meal preparation, flower buying (and arranging - fun) bill paying, plant watering, mothering, homework assisting, feeding, bathing, reading and putting to bed of the littlies - repeatedly!

Interestingly with a list like this I often feel exhausted but tonight I feel buoyant and happy that I was able to get so much done.

And finally, I managed a little online shopping which I cannot wait to play with, hopefully it'll improve the blog too!

The rest of my week is scheduled to be similarly busy. I only hope that by the end of this week I'll remain as upbeat and energetic. This week will culminate with the start of the school holidays and us going on a little holiday :)

That's about all I have today. Sorry it's just a boring run down of tasks but it's a rare event to get so many items struck off the list in one hit so it really should be documented ;)

My challenge to you is to get something really boring tackled.
You know, the item that seems to get left on every list and carried over to the next, day after day after day?
Yep, that one. Go on just do it!!

E x

winter cheer

We're headed for a few grey and chilly days I think.
I love winter, I mean adore it! I don't particularly like being cold but I definitely love getting warm after being cold. I love hunkering down inside, heating on, snuggly socks warming my frequently cold feet.

I love soups and hearty stews. I love puddings. I really love the beach in the winter.
And I love the kind of huddling that we do in the winter. But even for this enthusiastic winter-phile the grey can sometimes benefit from a bit of balance. In preparation for the next bought of 'bleak' I popped to the florist and grabbed a big bunch of creamy white jonquils.





And then I spotted these adorable old milk bottles.

It's a subtle lift but makes all the difference to me!

Stay warm this week - or cool if you're over the hemisphere!

Thanks for dropping by,

E x

the old phone in the banana trick

Since Cyclone Yasi hit Queensland earlier this year bananas have been a rare and costly commodity.
They are currently around $13 per kilo, which is about four times their usual price.

Woo likes to eat bananas but usually manages about half of one before mangling the remainder. Very naughty I know. Anyway I think my remonstrations must have partially sunk in as rather than eating this golden treasure, ,I found her engaged in an extremely animated phone call ordering take-out for the family and some imaginary friends too. At one point she asked the caller to, "Wait a second!" and then "Mummy, what you 'yike'? A 'yatte'? Yes? Sugar? Okay!". This went on and on until everyones orders were placed. She was madly flicking through my recipe folder checking things off as she talked on the phone.


It was hilarious and I wish I'd recorded it.

I did later discover a banana with two pen holes right through it -grrrr - how did I know it was a pen that was the weapon?
Mmm, well it was the grossly slimy one lying right next to the banana!

Thanks for dropping in and I hope you have the chance to go completely bananas this weekend!
E x

attempt no 1

All the gear...



...and no idea!



But I'm actually reasonably pleased with my very first attempt at 'proper' card making.

I have made cards for a long time now but mine have always been, well, a little unorthodox! I suppose there really isn't a wrong or right way but mine have usually been created on the computer.  I tend to favour a more contemporary clean cut style usually, the more white the better in my book.  They've always been nice, I think, and seem to have been received with pleasure.

My alter ego however, tends towards a pared back French Provincial influence. And in spite of my best efforts, with the assistance of my trusty laptop, I always knew that there was another way to make cards.  The 'proper way'. But I've had absolutely no clue as to how to go about it. That was until one of my most favourite bloggers recently offered me, and her other readers, some indispensable advice - the essentials of card making.  Carly utilises a wide range of techniques and tools in her  magnificent and drool-worthy studio .  She has a great talent, an eye for detail and a clean and simple style that I love. 
Her cards are really very lovely.

So as a result of Carly's fab video I had a little shop yesterday, and then a play with my new toys while Woo napped.

I'm not really sure what the pros do with their cards.  Perhaps they're never sent and are kept as works of art.  However, I figured that any of my attempts, particularly if they're nice, should be sent out.  This card went to my darling sister Flossy, who is the most extraordinary friend and inspiration to me.

I hope you have a super weekend and that you have some happy mail in your postbox!

Thanks for visiting,

E x