Toddler No More

Bree is no longer a toddler. How time really flies? Turning 3 meant that she is now typically labelled as a preschooler. It will be official by the end of January when Bree starts attending Kindergarten once a week. Everyone is excited to see how she will go.

For this birthday, I have decided to buy a few little things for her. I selected a spiral bound drawing book, a pack of lead pencils and a pack of coloured pencils for Bree to keep a pictorial ‘journal’. I am hoping to encourage her to make an ‘entry’ regularly. It may not work but I would like to give it a try and her parents are supportive of the idea.

Picture books have always featured in gifts I buy for my charges. This year, I selected “Belinda” by Pamela Allen. Bree loved it and has requested everyone to read it to her over and over. With repetition, she is starting to recite bits and pieces as the story is read to her. For instance, she likes naming the vegetables that Old Tom has in his garden. Today, she pointed at the illustration of a tomato plant in Old Tom’s garden and said, “He grows tomatoes too!” and then followed that with, “I love tomatoes.” She probably wondered why the text didn’t mention the tomatoes specifically. LOL.

What I have bought for Bree are not the only things she has received for her birthday. As in previous years, she received plenty of gifts from family and friends. I think I will blog about them in another post.

The Little Card Maker’s Little Dilemma

Stella aka The Little Card Maker, her little apprentice and I have now successfully completed the card making project. There is however a minor hiccough. Stella is suddenly reluctant to give the cards and lollipops to a particular few classmates. She voiced her opinion after school today and I suggested that she better discuss such matters with her parents. She even said that she will tell them that they won’t get any! Her mum and I did have a phone chat this evening after the Supergirl had gone to bed. We, the adults all knew why she was reluctant but because the cards and lollipops weren’t to be distributed immediately, Stella was asked to reconsider later. She was told that she might change her mind on the day. It is obvious that she is still quite angry at some of her classmates’ recent antics. The teasing is now on and off, depending on the mood of those horrible children.

Bree ‘Scissorshand’

Bree is in love with a pair of special scissors of mine. She will sit for long periods of time snipping paper using these scissors. Bree’s coordination is still pretty clumsy and she is struggling to use basic scissors, including those that are made to fit small hands. In my ‘tool box’ is a pair of Bounce Back scissors that I bought years ago. Many young charges have used it with great success. This pair of Japanese scissors has a ‘lever’ that can be flicked upwards to act as a spring for self opening. The spring makes it easier for the child to maintain constant control of the cutting process. Once the child gets the hang of the movements required to operate a pair of scissors smoothly, he or she will no longer needs to use the spring feature. The spring feature can be deactivated by returning the ‘lever’ to its original position. I just love little gadgets like this that makes life easier.

Bree has access to a stack of used office paper. She enjoys cutting them up in no particular order for now. (The document shredding machine must be worried sick that it might be made redundant soon.) The only thing she is expected to do is to sit down on her chair for this activity. She is reminded to not run around with a pair of scissors in her hand even though this pair has rounded tips. As a result of regular practice in recent weeks, I now noticed an improvement in her posture as well. She is less tense than when she used to be riddled with frustration every few seconds. Soon I will be able to introduce her to a simple but purposeful cutting activity. I am hoping to invite her to cut out pictures of fruits from supermarket catalogues for pasting. She had pasted pictures onto paper after seeing me cutting them out from catalogues before. So, I am hoping that she will initiate this but if she doesn’t, I will. One day Bree will be ready to cut along printed lines (straight, zigzag or wavy) and I will print them out onto light card stock for her to practise. Stella used to enjoy doing this. Following the lines is trickier than just simply cutting around a desired object.

The Busy Little Card Maker

Stella’s mum recently asked her little girl about how she would like to farewell her classmates. The Supergirl had grand plans but we all know that she will never be able to achieve them all, so she was asked to seriously trim down her plans. After much consideration, she decided to give each classmate a homemade Christmas/Farewell card and a small lollipop from Suga (a lolly shop). She had originally wanted to make star shaped ginger biscuits but her mum steered her to the idea of store bought lollipops instead. The Supergirl and her parents worked together to come up with a suitable message and had it printed on sticky labels. My job was to help the little card maker make the cards. She and I didn’t come into agreement immediately. Stella had wanted to make complicated 3D pop-up cards but I simply couldn’t see how she or I would stick to the repetitive work of making multiple copies of them. In the end we agreed to decorate a card with glitter and sparkly sequins, an idea we got from a book that Stella was thumbing through for ‘research’. Using a Christmas theme stencil set of mine, we painted a chosen shape with PVA glue on each card and then sprinkle glitter on it. Before the glue dried, we had to shake the excess glitter off. On the next day, the little card maker and I would begin decorating the previous day’s batch by sticking on some stickers and sequins to dress up the card a little bit more.

We have now been repeating the same two day cycle on the days that I worked, churning out 3 or 4 cards every two days or so, for nearly two and a half weeks. Results wise, that may look quite poorly but this little card factory is only operational for around three quarters of an hour after school per day. And just like big name brand factories, this production line also experienced a few minor bumps along the way. A card or two were ‘accidentally’ damaged during manufacturing process and another two were withdrawn because the little card maker reckoned that they were unsatisfactory. And yet another one was also damaged by an over enthusiastic young apprentice (Bree). All of these had to be replaced ‘painstakingly’ by hand, taking up even more precious time. LOL. Today is the last day of production. We have successfully created enough cards for the whole class plus a couple to spare. Except for the message printed on a sticky label, the spare ones are left blank without the name of a recipient. I breathe a sigh of relief now that they are all ready for distribution. The girls are probably happy that this project is now over for good.

Teasing Miss Stella

Little Miss Stella was teased incessantly recently. It all started when she was told that she was not invited to a certain Queen Bee’s 6th birthday party. Little Miss Stella was fine about that because she was already invited to another birthday party and was looking forward to going to that one. Unfortunately, a couple of the other ‘wannabees’ were determined to not let Little Miss Stella forget the fact that she was not invited to a cool party. The teasing went on even after the party date. At the other party that Little Miss Stella was invited to, a couple of the little party goers (one of the busy ‘wannabees’ and that Queen Bee) attempted to start another bout of teasing but this time the birthday girl’s mum and aunt was quick to put a stop to all the nonsense. The birthday girl’s mum reported to Little Miss Stella’s mum when she came to pick up the Supergirl. Her mum was grateful for their kindness in looking out for Little Miss Stella. The birthday girl’s mum also said that Little Miss Stella will be sadly missed next year and wondered aloud what the class will be like without at least two of the friendlier members.

What Is It With Bree’s Sandpit?

The sandpit that Grandma Ettie recently bought for Bree is gone. LOL. Bree doesn’t seem to have much luck when it comes to her favourite pastime. Some family friends came to stay last weekend. After the children used the sandpit no one remembered to put the lid back on and a feline or two promptly dropped by to use it as a toilet. The children discovered what was left behind in the sand on Sunday and the adults dragged the plastic sandbox and its lid to the driveway to remove the soiled sand and to give them a proper hose down. They were left to dry on the driveway. On Monday, one of the family friends was in a hurry to get to the bakery to buy some croissants for the kids. As he reversed his big Toorak Taxi down the driveway, he ran over the sandbox and its lid causing them both to crack beyond repair. So, that was the end of Bree’s hobby again for a second time. The poor man thought that he ran over a kid and was completely beside himself.

Free Lectures at Safeway @ QV

The Safeway supermarket in QV at the city is undergoing renovations. The products are all over the place and this makes it hard to shop ‘systematically’. The aisles also seem narrower than ever and I hope this is only temporary. Narrow aisles won’t do in this particular Safeway because many shoppers like to shop in groups and spread out to take up as much space as possible to chat or to discuss the quality / the use of the products on the shelves.

I was there a few days ago and bought only 4 essential items that came to a measly total of just $10. It was either because I was drop dead tired or that my ageing memory chips were playing up, as I had forgotten all about the newly installed self-checkouts. I even filed past them on the way to be served by a checkout attendant. When the young checkout attendant saw the items I unloaded from the basket, she asked, “Only 3?” I fished out a small pack of lollies under the bread and answered, “No, there are four actually.” Up to that point, I was still my cheerful self despite being very tired and longing to get home ASAP. Then I was given the lecture of my life. I was asked if I had ever used the new self-checkouts. She then went on to explain how to use the self-checkouts and why I should use them. I don’t mind gentle suggestions but this checkout chick was bombarding away very loudly. She asked a few questions but there was no way I was allowed to answer them because there never was any intention for her to allow me to do so. She was too busy bombarding away as she checked out the items that I had bought. If anyone saw me looking very guilty for taking up her time, they should have tried looking at the two customers after me. The woman after me bought only two items and the man after her bought only one! To avoid a similar predicament, the Asian students after them wisely moved to another checkout. Those kids are unusually quick in sniffing out a potential ‘loss of face’ situation. I just put up with her verbal spray and even thanked her before I left. There was no point in complaining. This store is making a roaring trade. People living in the city rely on it.

I recently heard that some supermarkets were trialling the idea of charging customers for plastic bags. In fact, Borders is already charging customers for plastic bags. Now, I am all for greener living and I personally use calico bags for all of my shopping. Even the girls, Bree and Stella are taught to use a little green bag whenever we go shopping. So, I am not totally against the idea of paying for the use of plastic bags, but if they can start charging this to promote greater environmental awareness, I can’t see why they won’t dig up some reasons to start charging for other services that are still free to customers today. For instance, with the installations of these self-checkouts, these shops would probably one day find a reason to charge a small service fee if a customer instead chose to be served by a checkout attendant.

The Safeway supermarket at QV opened its doors around September 2003. The staff members were mostly friendly. Most of the checkout attendants were Australians. They were probably students from universities nearby. Cameron and I used to have our favourites and would prefer to be served by the ones we liked. I can vividly remember one guy that looked like Ian Thorpe but shorter. Then some were gradually replaced by more people from the subcontinent of India who were just as friendly. I think they too were mostly university students and I often wondered why the others were replaced by them. Cameron and I too have our favourites among the ‘foreign workers’. A few of them seemed happy and would make small talk – something of a rarity in the city. With the influx of these machines recently, I think even the friendly and probably cheaper overseas born checkout attendants are finding themselves a no match in this fierce competition. I wonder if any were given the boot or whether some were retained to help stock the shelves. What is obvious is that this is one example of how it is becoming harder for students/unskilled workers to earn a small living and with the global financial crisis looming ever so close, it really looks like there is going to be a tough period ahead.

Abandoning the Blog Again?

Yes, yes, I am absolutely guilty of abandoning the blog again. I actually wanted to blog about the wonderful things I did with the girls during Stella’s third term holidays but I just kept putting it off. My lack of enthusiasm is because I just don’t think that there are people out there interested in reading about what a nanny does with her charges. They probably are more interested in what a mummy does with her little ones. My writing could also be a problem. The writing style and contents may not be engaging enough. Someone once complained that I carried on a bit. People may also be put off because I may be coming across as harsh and mean.

Another reason that I temporarily abandoned the blog is because I was away from home for 10 days recently. I played the role of being a temporary live-in nanny to Bree when her parents were away. They first went to Sydney for a few days of work and then flew overseas to attend a wedding. Looking after Bree around the clock was fun. Her parents were so satisfied with how everything turned out; they are hoping I will do it again when they plan to go away without Bree. While I enjoy caring for this little girl and loved the fatter pay check (who wouldn’t in this financial climate?), I hope her parents are not taking up the habit of leaving their precious child with me. They have been great parents so far.

As for this blog, I will keep this blog going for a while. I think I mentioned in a recent post that I am aiming to post at least 8/10 times per month but my heart is simply not into this anymore. There are other things that I enjoy doing more now than maintaining a blog that serves little purpose. Maybe I should start considering deleting this blog and start afresh with another one that is not related to my work as a nanny.

Red, Blue & Yellow

Conversations with Bree are less and less one way these days. I did a lot of the talking in the past. Her input was minimal when she first started talking. A lot of the things we used to talk about daily were pretty much the same stuff. The intention was to recycle words and reinforce concepts. Today, Bree does just as much, if not, even more talking than I. LOL.

Through describing things, Bree has learnt the names of basic colours like red, blue and yellow. She learned from real examples around her and blue is the first colour she recognised. Red was quite easy for her to identify as well but for some reason, Bree found it hard to say ‘yellow’. It just sounded funny. When we are out and about, we are always on the lookout for things of a certain colour, e.g. a red car, blue sky, a yellow taxi, etc. Recently, she has taken an interest in identifying brown, black and green.

In the previous post, I mentioned the sorting game Bree and I played using the bear counters. I still bring the bears to work with me at least once or twice a week. To make it more interesting, I try turning up with bears of a different colour for a surprise. So, instead of bringing 10 blue bears of two sizes, I brought with me 10 red or yellow bears of two sizes. Ten green bears of two sizes are next to visit the little Miss. After that, maybe next month I will introduce sorting by colour. For that, 10 baby blue bears and 10 baby red bears will be needed to sort them into two colour groups. Bree will be concentrating on sorting the bears into two groups at first and will be encouraged to sort up to 4 colours later on. Since the idea is for Bree to sort by colour, it is important that the bears’ size remains constant and thus is the reason that only baby bears will be used for now. As Bree’s powers of observation and concentration increases, I might eventually throw in the big bears for her to sort by colour and size but that won’t be for a while yet.

Helping my charges learn is one of the best parts of being a nanny. In the process of helping them learn, I too become a learner. Studying the intricacies of how children learn is something that I am totally passionate about.

Big and Small

Bree and I had a little conversation about her Blunnies a while ago. She had placed hers next to her dad’s and I pointed out that her father’s work boots were big and hers were small. Later, we also compared other things around the house. Soon, it was very obvious that she knew what was big and what was small. That was a mini milestone indicating that she was ready to be introduced to my pack of Bear counters. I did not introduce the whole pack of 80 counters right away. The first game we played was sorting the bears by size. We used 5 big bears (aka Papa Bears) and 5 small bears (aka Baby Bears). To minimize distractions, the game was played using only the blue bears at first. Blue was selected because that is one colour that Bree could identify at the time. At first, she watched how I sorted the bears by sitting the big bears onto one plastic plate and then the small bears onto another plastic plate. I deliberately slowed down the process and sorted the bears one by one while Bree watched attentively. By the time I had only three small bears left, she more or less got the idea and helped to place them among the other two small bears. After that, she sorted them again over and over. In the weeks afterwards, Bree asked almost daily if I brought the bears with me. LOL.

I bought this pack of counters years ago. They have been used by many children in my care. I remember vividly when I bought them from this snobby toy shop; I was told by the shop assistant that preschoolers were too young to use these counters. Funnily, she even told me that she knew what she was talking about because she too is an ECE teacher. LOL. Pretending that I was also buying for older children, I just politely disregarded her comments and continued to purchase other items associated to the pack of counters. It is true that Bree is too young to work on many of the suggested activities but as can be seen here, she was clearly ready for the basic level work. I prefer to observe children to see what they are capable of than to simply write something off as too challenging. Like the other children before her, other activities related to these bear counters will be introduced to Bree gradually. It is very important that we always offer learning experiences that not only offer opportunities for success but we should also offer that little bit of extra challenge to stretch the child’s imagination. Imagination is probably not the right word because what it means to me is very different to what others have in mind. Does anyone have a better word?

Note: Photo of the bear counters has been removed.

Wagging School @ Age 5!

Stella is wagging school and her parents are helping her to do so. LOL. She isn’t the only one from her class doing it. Another child, one of the New Gang of 5, is also wagging school for the same reason as Stella. Nope, she is not wagging to go shopping with her mum and nope she isn’t going to Europe for a holiday. It was however a fact that she was to wag in August to go to Beijing with her parents but that idea had to be shelved back in June because her dad couldn’t get away from work. So what is Miss Stella up to or should the questions be: What are these parents up to? Why are they encouraging Stella to wag?

LOL. Stella is not exactly wagging school. She is testing out another school. Her friend is also testing out yet another school. Fed up with the lack of support at her current school and tired of mingling with people with more money than sense, it is now almost certain that Stella will be attending a new school next year. The school they have selected for her this time is an alternative school known to offer an excellent academic programme in a different way that also allows her lots of room to grow. This school had accepted Stella last year but her dad backed away because he wasn’t familiar with alternative education. I think Stella’s mum was also put off by the school’s distance from their home but after nearly 3 terms of lousy service, they have had enough. Stella is now getting ready to move. Arrangements have been made for Stella to visit the school between now and the end of the year – a transition process to prepare her for full time attendance next year. I wonder how her parents got her accepted when such schools usually have long waiting lists.

Stella went with her parents for a short meeting after school a couple of weeks ago. She told me that the ladies were nice and how one of them reminded her of her favourite Kindergarten teacher, Miss F. Miss F was just a trainee teacher who was at Stella’s Kindergarten for a term when the Supergirl was 3. The relationship between the two must have been very good because the Supergirl still likes her very much.

This last Friday, Stella wagged school to attend this other school. She had a great time and told me all about the things she could do at the new school. She was also inspired by a discussion on mammals and begged me to go online to look for pictures of mammals with her. She had wanted to write a book on mammals.

I don’t know how the arrangement for Stella to ‘attend’ two schools will work out in the next term. There are always a lot of events scheduled for the fourth and final term of the year. I do however hope that the new school will live up to the family’s expectations next year. I really do sincerely hope that they have found Stella a learning community she can belong to. Children like Stella are often misunderstood and are sometimes deliberately ‘forgotten’ because their needs can increase the teacher’s work load and drain resources/attention planned for the rest of the class. And in some rare instances, not to say that this is happening at Stella’s current school, people with insecurities of their own are also intimidated by people like Stella. If I have a magic wand, I too wish to say a spell and get her out of her current school ASAP.

Bree’s Vocabulary Explosion

Bree is talking more than ever. She talks to her parents and I all the time and when she is playing with her toys, she talks to them as well. I have been talking to her since day one. Everything we did together, I always talked her through the process, even when she was too young to understand all of the words that came out of my mouth. She loves my company and will sometimes drag her chair to the breakfast bar to join me when I cook at the kitchen. I tell her what I am doing and what I am making for dinner/lunch. It’s easy to assume that this lonely single child is just seeking human contact but you won’t believe how much she is learning through all these mini conversation sessions. Recently, I made her a vegetable omelette for lunch. As I was beating the eggs, Bree hopped down from her chair and begged me to open the kitchen utensil drawer. That drawer still has a safety latch to prevent Bree from playing with sharp objects. I asked her what she wanted and she pointed at the egg beater and said, “Here @#^*-@#^*, use an egg beater.” LOL

On some mornings, I arrive to find Bree under the care of her dad because her mum has gone to the market. She usually comes home not long after Bree’s dad has departed for work. Since she is always in a hurry, we (Bree and I) usually help her to store away the fresh produce. Through the simple process of unpacking and sorting, Bree learns the names of vegetables. Some people think that their precious little children are too good to be doing work like this but if given the opportunity, such work is not only educational but it also satisfies their urge to help out. Children of Bree’s age are keen to help around the house.

At Stella’s house, the girls and I enjoy play acting. This is something that Stella really likes doing and Bree is beginning to show an interest in it too. Now that Stella is reading, I will write down examples of situations for her to act out. For Bree, I whisper a simple command in her ear for her to act out so that Stella can guess what the little imp is doing. One day, Bree’s and Stella’s dads arrived at the same time at Stella’s home. The two grown men decided to sneak in as quiet as possible to see what we were up to. They stood there watching for quite some time before Stella realised the two intruders were there. LOL.

Bree’s mouth doesn’t shut either when we go out for walks on most days. Never mind if she is naming the same things on the way out and again on the way back, she just has to yak and yak along the way. She used to describe things using only single words but nowadays she tries to construct ‘complex’ sentences of 4 words or more. When we do go out in the morning, we almost always walk past an elderly gentleman and his German Shepherd. She had been introduced to the dog when she was very small and called him ‘Rex’. When going to Stella’s in the afternoon, we also walk past a yappy little Jack Russel that lives on the same street as Stella. The elderly couple who own the Jack Russel introduced him as ‘Chip’. When we were out walking one day, Bree announced to me that Rex is big and Chip is only small. I instantly thought: “Oh, how wonderful. Bree knows the difference between big and small.” Recently, I decided to tell her that Rex is a German Shepherd after we saw him at the shops and did the same by telling her that Chip is a Jack Russel after walking past him on another day. Later when she was playing with Stella’s plastic animals, she found a Jack Russel and came rushing to tell me that she found Chip. She then turned to Stella and taught her that Chip is a Jack. LOL. Stella corrected her and proceeded to gather up all of her plastic dogs to teach Bree a few different breeds. I overheard what they were up to and I didn’t expect Bree to retain anything. The idea is to expose her to as many words describing as many concepts as possible.

Bree’s New Sand Box

Bree always receives something fancy when Grandma Ettie comes for a visit. During her recent visit, Grandma Ettie came empty handed! Well, if you compare this visit with previous occasions, she did come almost empty handed because she brought only two long sleeved t-shirts. Apparently she had been asking the little tot what she wanted over the phone and apparently, all Bree wanted was to go to the beach to build sandcastles. I totally believe that too. Since the sand was removed from her sandpit earlier this year, Bree has been asking quite regularly to go to the beach. We haven’t been doing much of that recently because it has been too cold. Although she loves the sand and would stay in the sandpit for a long time, it’s not quite the same as when we visit the beach. At the beach, Bree not only loves playing with the sand, the cheeky little one also loves chasing after the waves. After that ear infection, none of us are too keen for her to get soaked outdoors until the return of warmer days.

I heard that Bree thanked Grandma Ettie for the two t-shirts without being prompted. Her parents were happy with how Bree behaved around Ettie. Bree’s parents prefer smaller presents because they wanted their daughter to appreciate simpler gifts but the t-shirts weren’t the big surprise. So, while I was away taking my short break, the whole family visited a large toy shop because Grandma Ettie wanted to buy a sandpit for Bree. It was the first* time that Bree visited such a large toy shop. (By first*, I meant that she was walking on her own two feet and the toy shop is bigger than the typical toy shops.) Before the shopping trip, her parents wondered if Bree might run around like a wild child and discussed possible ways of handling the situation if she became uncontrollable. Grandma Ettie was more positive. She already knew that Bree could behave like a perfect little lady when expected. She had apparently taken Bree to an even bigger toy shop when the tot stayed with her in Sydney late last year.

The trip to the toy shop was a success. Her parents decided at the last minute to leave the buggy in the car and the little girl walked maturely like the rest of the family. She was happy to hold the hand of an adult most of the time. At the toy shop, she wanted to ride a tricycle that was left on the ground but for some funny reason the pedals weren’t working. After picking the blue plastic sandpit with her mum’s help, they walked past a short table displaying Thomas the Tank Engine trains. There was already a little boy playing with the trains and Bree joined him and attempted to start a conversation. LOL. The little boy was painfully shy and kept to himself. Before parting company, Bree decided to not only say ‘Bye’ but offered him a hug as well. The little boy got so frightened that he cried.

Ettie made a big fuss of the delivery time for the sandpit. She wanted to make sure that the store would deliver it while she was still in Melbourne. She also complained about the model they picked because she wanted something more expensive. Bree is not complaining. She is super happy with the sandpit. She plays in it almost daily. I am just glad that this one has a proper lid to keep the sand clean.

It’s a Breeze to Cook for Bree

Note: Here in this post, the term ‘cooking’ means cooking a meal from scratch and it is an activity more complicated than heating up leftover soup or making a Vegemite Sandwich.

I don’t really enjoy cooking but I do prefer doing it on colder days rather than in the middle of Summer. Cooking for my charges is part of my work requirement as a nanny. So, there really is no way of avoiding this chore at work. I do however make it an important point to mention during job interviews that I do not specifically cook for the rest of the family. Some people expect nannies to whip up a proper 3 course dinner for the parents, but I don’t do that. They don’t have to hire me if they are not happy about this.

At Bree’s home, I now pre-cook at least a couple of her dinners each week. When Bree was younger, her mum cooked almost all of her dinners because she wanted me to keep an eye on the little one. Now that Bree is more mature, her mum is beginning to relax. I do most of the cooking when Bree is napping. Most of the meals that I do cook for her are quite easy to make. Her mum picked them not just for our convenience but also because they are suitable for freezing. Soups like Chicken Minestrone, pasta sauces like the good old Bolognaise Sauce and things like meatballs or rissoles are all examples of food that can be divided into smaller portions for freezing. Frozen or refrigerated home cooked meals make it easy for Bree’s parents at dinner time. Since Bree started to spend the time after nap at Stella’s home, I no longer serve her dinner each night. My cooking must be pretty good because little pots of frozen meals happen to go missing quite often. I might need to set a giant mouse trap to catch the two big mice. LOL. It is actually quite funny to witness one of them thanking me after owning up to it.

I have been blessed with many good eaters throughout my career as a nanny. Bree is one of the very good eaters. This means that she is willing to try anything you set in front of her. She may not eat everything on her plate but she will at least try something new without any protest. When she was down with an ear infection recently, she was off food for a while and when she was on the mend, she wanted only porridge with a drizzle of honey. We (her parents and I) also noticed that if Bree had been in the company of her dotting grandma Ettie, she would have a sudden increase of cravings for all things sweet. Among my charges from the past who happened to be good eaters, a few of them have parents who encouraged them to regularly enjoy (more like abuse) junk food simply because they live in an era of abundance. Bree’s mum does allow her daughter to enjoy a bit of junk food every now and then, and she is a tad less strict as she used to sound like in the past.

Allegedly Hot-Housing Stella

Stella has now returned to school for a third term. While she seems to enjoy her friends there more and more, her school experience has been quite a different one for her parents. They are not happy with the ‘service’ and I think (I have a strong feeling on this) that Stella will switch to another school if not next term, then she will likely start afresh in the first term next year.

Stella has been coming home with readers that are way too easy for her for more than two terms now. Her teacher is aware of Stella’s abilities but for some reason the Supergirl keeps coming home with readers that are for beginners. The school can’t possibly be under resourced. The fees that they charge for Preppies are one of the highest in the country. I am not implying that the teacher did nothing. After Stella’s parents spoke to her in first term, she did make some changes in the classroom. For literacy, she organized for Stella to work with a reading buddy who is more or less reading at the same level. This same issue to do with super easy readers was brought up again when Stella’s parents met up with the teacher in the final week of term 2. They were told afterwards that Stella apparently needs plenty of practice and the readers that Stella took home were chosen to ensure success to boost confidence.

Stella is still reading the readers she brings home dutifully but it is obvious that she seems to enjoy her own books or books from the library much more. She seems happy to go along with the literacy program at school but it is quite a different story when it comes to the maths on offer. The Supergirl, as well as her three other maths buddies, are simply bored beyond belief. I knew long ago that this was going to be the case for Stella. Learning about shapes, patterns, sequences, basic addition and subtraction, sorting, grouping and counting from 1-10 are simply no longer challenging to a little girl who has already been doing work like this for the last two years. The teacher did organize for Stella to work with 3 other children. She offered the children extra work but it was pretty much the same kind of work the rest of the class was doing. When given the opportunity to work together, the children worked diligently all through the 2nd term. The friendships between the children grew. In this blog, I call the group ‘The New Gang of Four’. This term however, the children are getting restless. They no longer enjoy doing the extra work. Even Stella is beginning to whinge about doing the same thing over and over. She doesn’t have a habit of whingeing and I wonder if she is influenced by the others in the group. There were plenty more choices when she was at Kindergarten. Now that she is at school, she has to do pretty much what the teacher has planned.

Stella is at least enjoying the social aspect of going to school but her parents (especially her mum) doesn’t seem to have as much luck when it comes to some of the other parents. There have been a few unpleasant experiences. During one fundraising evening, the topic of ‘Hot-House Kids’ came up in one of the many conversations that was going around, and one mum ‘jokingly’ made Stella’s mum feel uneasy by asking how she managed to get Stella to learn so much. The plans to allow children of similar abilities to work together also caused resentment. The parents of one of the new gang of four heard that parents were asking if their children miss out if the teacher is paying more attention to the ‘gifted’ children. In one birthday party that Stella attended, the mum hosting the party went around ‘introducing’ the child to everyone, telling them that she is the ‘gifted’ one and that she doesn’t know who Diego is. Gee, I didn’t know it was a crime to not know who Diego is. There are no rules stating that each and every child from the birthday child’s class has to be invited to the party. Why did they invite Stella?

I can honestly say that no one is ‘hot-housing’ Stella. The child is just inquisitive and eager to learn anything that fancies her. If Stella is ready and willing, why stop her from learning? We, her parents and I do not force the little girl to complete hours of paperwork. She learned a lot of things through play and games. As I have said before, if something is no longer appealing or fun to her, there is no way we can make her stay and learn the rest of the lesson. Many children of Stella’s age are already enrolled in many after school programmes. I read that some children who aren’t much older than Stella have something scheduled outside school for up to 5 days a week. Now that’s scary! Other than two terms of toddler music programme when she was really little, and swimming lessons in the warmer months, Stella’s parents have not signed her up for extra curricular classes outside her school. This is not to say that they didn’t entertain the idea. They had wanted Stella to learn an instrument but she was not very interested. They eventually agreed that the little girl should enjoy at least another year free from such commitments. Parents who do hot-house their children will not make such a choice. They are obsessed with scheduling something ‘educational’ for every minute their children is awake. That is suffocating.

(Note: Stella’s parents never describe their daughter as ‘Gifted’. The tag was used by some parents to describe the groups of children that were selected to work together and Stella happened to be selected for both the literacy and mathematics groups. Stella’s parents have declined to have her tested.)

Reading and Writing: My Thoughts on Stella’s Journey

Witnessing how Stella blossomed into the avid reader that she is today was amazing. It not only feels great that I was able to offer Stella’s parents suggestions and encouragement throughout the journey, I feel wonderful that they had taken the time to consult me! That means a lot to me. Teaching a child to read is something that I really enjoy looking into. Every Winter when there is less happening outside, I find myself sitting at my desk trying to figure out a magical way for children to learn to read English. Cameron seems to think that I have a bit of an obsession with this. Funnily everything is packed up for another year when Spring arrives. The deep desire to solve the literacy problem vanishes, replaced by the desire to enjoy the sunny days outdoors and on figuring out how to teach the wonders of our Universe to little children.

I am pretty sure that I have mentioned in the past my wish to blog about how Stella learned to read. Well, this is the final instalment and I have been so long winded that it ended up being a 5 part series! Hopefully, this didn’t put anyone off my blog permanently. Do leave me a comment if you have enjoyed it. Please don’t judge me too harshly for I was not born a professional writer. One reason that I have a blog is for me to improve on my own self expression.

A Return to Stability

June was a busy month for me but July was like a roller coaster. The month (July) started with Bree getting better from a nasty bout of ear infection. On the day after Stella and her parents jetted off to New Zealand, Grandma Ettie arrived and my long awaited short break started. Then I returned to work on the day before the start of Stella’s 3rd term. I looked after both girls from Monday – Thursday for two weeks and then it was time for Bree to go to Buller with her parents on the 25th. I had only Stella to look after all week last week but because she attends school, I only looked after her for a few hours each day.

We are beginning a new month this week. It looks like we are returning to some kind of stability again. I will be working from Monday – Friday for two weeks and from Monday – Thursday for the other two weeks. This is pretty much the typical arrangement for most of this year. I am so glad that this Friday is one of the two Fridays I don’t have to work. Cameron and I have planned to watch the opening ceremony of the Olympics in China. We hope that things will be smooth sailing for them. Stella’s parents did originally plan to take the Supergirl to China for the Olympics but plans changed and they ended up taking her to New Zealand during her school holidays.

I have been blogging mainly about Stella lately. So for a change, I will blog more about Bree this month but this will have to wait till I finish blogging about Stella’s literacy journey. In terms of regularity, I hope to write at least 10 posts this month. I no longer have the desire to post more often than that.

Reading and Writing: Stella’s Journey (Part 4)

Stella had become progressively more skilful at digging out the sounds of and building simple words, but it took a tad longer for her to reverse that process so that she could read. I personally did wonder if this was because she was having trouble identifying some of the letters. In fact, I found out later on that she had trouble (on & off) identifying letters like ‘b’, ‘p’, ‘q’ and this was even after she knew how to read simple words. Mixing up these letters is quite common among young children.

Reading did happen eventually. It happened just as suddenly as she discovered ‘writing’. This time, we virtually heard the big ‘Ka-Chink’ from within her head when she suddenly discovered what blending was all about. Stella was in the middle of a late breakfast that very day. I had only just arrived for the day and her parents were busy getting ready to head off to work when she pointed to the cereal box and slowly said, “Kellogg’s”. Sceptics may think that Stella was just recognising a popular brand name but in the days following this first attempt, she began to read more and more words. She was hungry for words to read, looking everywhere for them. Unfortunately, this new found fun activity didn’t last long because not all English words are phonetic. The situation was also further aggravated because her parents stopped the ‘reading lessons’ temporarily due to their busy schedule. This period also coincided with two holiday trips (one to Indonesia and another one to Buller). When she no longer found it fun to just point out simple words in books and proudly read them out loud, she gave up trying and went in search of other great things to do. She had wanted to truly read a whole book by herself but words that can’t be sounded out easily and words with vowels that she had yet been taught were popping up everywhere, ruining the fun for her.

After a long break, the ‘reading lessons’ commenced again. In the days after Stella’s involvement in a fight at Kindergarten, she became quite clingy. Her mother saw that her playful self was returning when she was learning to play the UNO her father bought that she decided to play a game of revising the letters and sounds Stella already knew. Surprisingly, Stella enjoyed that and took up the invite to learn more but the process was slower at the start because all she wanted to do at that time was to play UNO. LOL. She loved that game to bits and still does.

Stella’s mum began by introducing the rest of the sounds that weren’t taught yet. It was a slow process involving plenty of revision to make sure that she didn’t forget the ones she had learned earlier. Armed with a book of mine containing a list of suitable words, Stella’s mum made lists of words for Stella to read. Each list focused on one sound and was then made up of other words sharing that same sound but spelled differently. It is from such lists that a child learns that sounds for spelling patterns like ‘f’ and ‘ph’ are the same and only the more common spelling patterns are introduced. All of the lists were filed neatly into a binder. Stella would take it out to read every now and then on her own. Her confidence to try sounding out a word increased tremendously after this. Another thing that had also helped Stella in reading picture books was a basic list of useful sight words.

By the end of last year (approaching the beginning of this year), Stella began to read better than before. She even dug out and read aloud books that she deemed too babyish earlier. She continued to enjoy being read to but she also preferred to co-read a picture book with another person. You could tell that she was really reading and not reciting like she used to. Today, Stella is beginning to read short chapter books at home. She also enjoys reading books (especially non-fiction) she borrows from the school library. The readers from school are a different story altogether. She kept coming home with readers that were way too easy but she reads them dutifully through. LOL. The content of some of these readers were so dull that sometimes Stella’s dad encourages her to pick something else to read when it is his turn to listen to her reading in the evenings.

Possible Career After Nannying: IT Work

I sometimes sit and wonder what I will do after my long stint working as a Nanny. I wonder if our dream project will ever be realised. If that doesn’t work out as planned another career option is definitely needed to help us stay afloat. The idea of not having anything to do with nasty parents seems interesting, even though the families I work for now are simply fabulous.

Whenever we go to the city, we see a great influx of imported workforce here to work in the IT industry. There obviously are plenty of jobs in this field, if we are brain draining skilled professionals from other countries to fill positions over here. So, IT could be an interesting career option that I should look into. Even if I never score a job, it doesn’t hurt to learn a thing or two about new technologies. We had major problems with our computer about three months ago. Instead of tackling the problems head on, I had a melt down and felt completely useless.

I only ever attended one basic computer training course and that was when I was still attending University many years ago. Before the training course began, all I wanted was to learn was some basic word processing skills to help me complete my assignments neatly. The trainer was so wonderful and supportive that I ended up completing the course feeling like I should ditch my dreams of becoming a teacher for a Computer Science degree so that I could one day work for Bill Gates. Looking back now, that seems mightily immature of me to be so overtly confident but looking at the IT industry now, it really was not a silly choice to move to at the time.

Cameron and I recently had a look at some IT training programmes available while surfing the internet. He was looking to learn more about networking and network security. Acquiring relevant certifications that are current to today’s needs could increase job opportunities and possible pay rise. I joined him to see if there was anything out there for me. Cameron half jokingly suggested that aside from the entry level programmes, the others were likely to be out of my league. I had a look anyhow. The Cisco certification Certified Entry Networking Technician is one such entry level course for people with less experience. Cameron on the other hand was looking at Professional Level Certifications. He is hoping that the extra training will give him an edge over other candidates when looking for jobs overseas.

Reading and Writing: Stella’s Journey (Part 3)

When teaching a child to read, many people place strong emphasis on the initial sounds of words. After teaching Stella the sounds of consonants and short vowels listed inside the covers of the workbook they bought, the little family made an Alphabet book. Each page is devoted to one sound and the adults helped Stella in hunting down and pasting pictures of objects sharing that same initial sound on it. They had a ball. I, on the other hand was more curious to find out if Stella was able to hear those sounds if they were in other parts of a word. Sorry that I love complicating things but there is a reason behind this: The ability to hear the sounds inside a word made makes it possible for a child to realise that each word is made up of sounds and the ability to manipulate the sounds within a word will help the child to learn to read later on.

I decided to find out one day during her 3rd term holidays in 2006. So while Stella was busy lining up her plastic animals, I casually asked if she could hear the ‘f’ sound in the word ‘elephant’. (No written word was involved in this little activity.) She looked at me suspiciously, probably wondering what I was on about. It was quite an obvious example as well. She probably thought that I didn’t think much of her! LOL. She didn’t answer the question until after her naptime! Before going to the park that day, she played with her line of animals left there since that morning. Without any prompting from me, she announced that she can hear the ‘g’ sound in ‘tiger’. She even said, “It’s like the ‘g’ in ‘girl’.” In a matter of weeks, she was telling everyone who would listen what she can hear. It was like an obsession for a while and it was all done without looking at any words. She concentrated on saying the words (sometimes slowly) and listening to the sounds. She paid attention to every sound, not just the one at the beginning. You should see how delighted her parents were. Instead of playing I-Spy in the car, they turned this into a game and played it together.

Midway through the first term in 2007, an older child in the same 4 year old Kindergarten group pointed out to her the way to read words of things printed on a set of flashcards that the two were looking at. (This older child was staying for an extra year at the Kindergarten because he was apparently too socially immature to proceed to Prep. He also had a tendency to baby the younger ones in the group – very interesting. (Unfortunately for Stella, he moved to another state.) After learning a few neat tricks from the boy, Stella came home to show me how to ‘read’. I eagerly reported that to her parents knowing that they would definitely be delighted by the news. We soon realised that she didn’t really read but was in fact parroting what was shown to her. Days later, I noticed something interesting. We were supposed to be tidying up but Stella went to look at her alphabet cards. I could see that she was working with them but was too busy to pop over at that instant. When I did, I saw the letter cards for ‘e’,’l’,’f’,’n’ and ‘t’, all lined up next to her favourite plastic elephant. I will admit now that I felt dizzy at the time. She was outside the back door retrieving a painting that she left outside to dry. When she came back in, she wanted to pack them up but I asked her to leave them there to show her mum. She pointed to them proudly and told me that it said ‘elephant’. I was so excited that I nearly fainted right there, right then. The adults’ reaction (including my own) reminded me of the kids in the movie ET when they discovered that the ‘Man from the Moon’ could talk.

Stella’s dad kept asking what I did but I didn’t do anything. That wasn’t the only thing that she ‘wrote’. From then onwards, Stella began to enjoy word building almost every day. The boy didn’t manage to successfully teach Stella to read but I strongly believed that he had propelled her into writing. This must be the power of peer tutoring. No one is sure if the boy ‘taught’ Stella again but according to the teachers, the two had been seen sharing picture books together at the book corner sometimes.

Note 1: In the eyes of many people, what Stella was doing is not accepted as writing because many words were misspelled. This is a matter of differing opinions. To me, that’s a child’s early writing. I am so very glad that Stella’s parents accepted her inventive spelling as a stage that Stella had to go through to truly practise the sounds that she had learned.

Note 2: In the next part, the coin dropped twice and a beginner reader was born!

Reading and Writing: Stella’s Journey (Part 2)

Through trial and error, Stella’s mum learned that her daughter absolutely disliked the worksheets she printed off the computer. Now, Stella has always been very artistic, sharing the same interest as her mum. She loves painting and to a lesser extent, drawing. But, like many other things to do with Stella she doesn’t like to be told what to do with her own art projects. Unless she is making a craft project with me, suggestions may be offered but she may not necessary accept them. So, when the Supergirl is asked to draw another apple or another object on the worksheet, her interest is likely to diminish because she gets very hung up about the quality of her own drawing as compared to the rest of the printed page. Her mind is very precise but her somewhat immature motor skills made it hard for her to recreate it in a small designated area on the worksheet. Stella encountered the same problem when learning to write letters on lines. Many worksheets and workbooks teach children to write on lines right from the start. As these were mostly made for older children, they may not be a problem for them but it was a painful experience for Stella.

Other options were needed to make learning to read and write fun for Miss Stella. I was consulted at one point. Yes, I was. Believe it or not, this nanny was consulted! I have plenty of ideas but unless I am asked, I am not prepared to step in. Years of working with parents, I have learned not to extend any help unless they explicitly wanted me to. What do nannies know? I also felt that I might ruin the mother and daughter’s journey so far if I got involved.

During one of our many conversations, Stella’s mum asked me for my opinion and with the permission via such a question, I stopped being a quiet observer and joined them in their journey. I suggested that they ditch the idea of making Stella write on lines. Instead, she was encouraged to write her letters on paper, in scrapbooks, on the whiteboard or draw them with a paintbrush at the easel; the more room to move the better. Finger painting the letters helped too. I also encouraged Stella’s mum to search the internet for some games to play with Stella. Worksheets are not the only way to learn to read and write. We soon witnessed the fun Stella had sorting picture cards into groups, playing Bingo and Snap. These literacy based games were mostly home made. Her parents also made use of things around the house, especially when they played their version of the treasure hunt game. Another thing worth mentioning is the Alphabet book that the little family made. Stella’s dad was so impressed with the end product that he had it properly bounded at Officeworks.

Most people think that children must learn to write repetitiously on lines to improve their writing skills but for a child to write well, he or she needs good fine motor skills to start with. (I am actually referring to handwriting skills here; not creative composition.) Stella did plenty of lacing/threading activities, very simple sewing, weaving and tracing stencils. She also designed and made simple decorations using Hama Beads and modelling with clay. All of these activities kept her fingers busy. As she had lots of fun, she was also preparing her hands to one day write with flair. When she did attempt to write, we encouraged her to love her own style of handwriting. Tracing dotted letters can be frustrating for the child who wishes to exactly clone what’s printed on the worksheet/workbook. What’s most important is for the child to correctly form each letter.

Note: In the next part of this theme, I will blog about the Sound Games and the unexpected ‘Teacher’.

Reading and Writing: Stella’s Journey (Part 1)

Stella was already reading when school started earlier this year. If learning the names of the alphabet is considered to be part of the process of learning to read, Stella had already begun her journey just before I started looking after her. Someone gave the Supergirl a wooden puzzle of her name for Christmas 2005 and according to her mum, Stella became interested not only with putting the alphabet pieces together on the base plate to form her name, she became curious with the names of the letters. They also used those cheap magnetic plastic letters to teach the other letters to her. By the time I came along, Stella already knew the names of at least 75% of the letters in the alphabet.

Stella’s mum has no valid qualifications in teaching literacy to young children but that didn’t hamper her enthusiasm to teach Stella how to read. She went about it through trial and error. For instance, Stella’s mum did initially buy a workbook to help Stella learn to read and write. The workbook was a poor choice because it was meant to be for older school children and the script used to teach handwriting is not the one used widely in Victorian schools. Furthermore, the then 3 year old just didn’t have the (very) fine motor skills to try writing letters on lines. That’s very restrictive for a beginner. There is however a thumbs-up feature in the workbook. Inside the front and back covers are instructions for the adult to teach the child how to make the sounds for consonants and short vowels. Knowing the names of the letters does not teach a child to read but learning the sounds can be mighty helpful. Stella’s mum also borrowed a good book on teaching reading at home from the library but she couldn’t re-borrow it because it went missing after she had returned it. Later, she came across an informative booklet while surfing the net and bought one for reference. Stella’s dad was also pretty involved throughout the whole process. One of his favourite things to do was to read to his little girl. This includes reading old books from his childhood. Teaching a child to read before school age can be seen as unnecessary but Stella’s parents weren’t hurrying her at all. They are not pushy parents. They have never forced her in my presence anyway. Her happiness is of the utmost importance to them.

Teaching a classroom full of new Preppies is a very different experience to teaching a child that you know since she was born. A learner’s personality is a factor to the outcome of any learning. In Stella’s case, she likes to take charge of what she would like to do rather than be told to do something. I realised not long after I started looking after her that if she was not interested, she would not comply willingly and nothing would be achieved. This is why even if her parents were pushy; they would only succeed in creating an unhappy little girl. She is a classic example of why children shouldn’t be forced to learn anything according to an inflexible schedule. There is a time for everything. Stella also has a strong determination and is able to concentrate for long periods. She probably inherited those traits from both parents. So as long as she had wanted to, she could stay on task to complete any work of her choice. Her Kindergarten teachers used to comment on this a lot. These useful abilities plus a very good memory make it easy for Stella to learn anything, especially things that attract her attention. All that does not mean her journey was a smooth one. There were bouts of frustrations that stifled her interest temporarily. During these ‘breaks’, Stella enjoyed other activities, developed her social skills, created elaborate fantasy play and played home made or store bought games with a bit of mathematical and thinking skills thrown in. There were also breaks that coincided with the family’s holiday or celebration plans. Learning to read didn’t consume every hour and every minute of Stella’s pre-school years. A balanced development in all areas was (and still is) just as important.

NOTE: I have decided to blog about this in parts. The next part will be about Stella’s bespoke learning. LOL

Non-Stop Work

The end of the financial year came and went and I have been working long extended hours to help the busy parents out. Even the weekends were not excluded this year. I am not complaining. My Uni studies are done for now and I have the extra time to help out. The long awaited break is now just around the corner. Phew!

Bree was not feeling well all week last week. By Friday, she seemed to be on the mend but went downhill again on the weekend. After going to see the doctor yesterday (Tuesday) with her mum, she got herself another lot of antibiotics. Bree, like Stella, is a very healthy child and she seldom gets sick. Hopefully, she will get better in time for Grandma Ettie’s arrival. I heard that she has some goodies for the little girl. The family is lucky that the trip to Buller is not happening till later this month. This will give Bree ample time to recover.

I was very lucky that the girls didn’t have to spend all days together. Stella’s Winter holidays had started and she spent her mornings at her friends’ homes from Monday – Friday, last week. The Gang of Four had plenty of opportunities to catch up and play before going away. Who says the only child is bound to be lonely? Stella had plenty of socialization with a small tight knit group of friends. She also has the luxury of lots of me time at home. Having the time to discover her real self is something many other children do not have. Stella gets to know her personal strengths and weaknesses as well as developing an ability to work independently with fewer distractions. Children who know themselves well are more able to resist negative influences.

With Stella and her parents jetting off to New Zealand tomorrow (Thursday) and Grandma Ettie arriving on Friday, this overworked nanny is finally having her well earned 10 day break. Tomorrow will be my final day. I will return to work on the 14th, looking after both girls. That is the last day of Stella’s school holidays.

Bree Feeling Poorly

I got to work real early on Monday because Bree’s parents had to get to work earlier than usual. She was still in bed and I was told that she didn’t sleep very well overnight and to let her sleep in if she wanted to. She got up just after they left and for the rest of the morning, she behaved as normal. We made a sheep before lunch and went to nap as usual afterwards. Then when it was time to get her up, it took a tad longer than other days. Before this year’s arrangement, Bree was allowed to sleep longer if needed but because we now spend the afternoons over at Stella’s, I have to get the little girl ready when nap time is up. She looked tired, red and hot. I took her temperature and then informed her mum via the phone. She gave the go ahead for a dose of children’s Panadol. As an extra precaution, I took the Panadol and thermometer with us for our short trip to Stella’s. Bree dozed all the way there.

The Panadol worked and she was fine again. She wasn’t 100% though. She preferred to play in the living room. I tried my best keeping Stella away. From the dining table, she read her reader aloud to me. That was done in minutes because again she was given something too easy. After that, she spent quite a long time drawing and making cards for her friends. Bree just played quietly next to me. I took her temperature again and watched to see if she was pulling her ears. There was no runny nose.

When I arrived for work on Tuesday, both parents looked exhausted. That was a clear sign that Bree didn’t sleep well again and this time I was told that she had a temperature and her ears hurt. Before her mum left, she tried to make a doctor’s appointment. The only available spot at the time was for 2:30 pm and that is usually when I get her up from nap and prepare her for the trip to Stella’s. The receptionist promised to call back if someone cancels their appointment. Bree was to be seen by a different doctor because hers doesn’t work at this location on a Tuesday. Then I had an idea and after consulting Bree’s mum via the phone, I called the clinic again to see if Doctor W would be there that day and whether she could see Bree. Doctor W is another doctor at the same practice. I babysat her kids when they were young. I could hear the receptionist talking to Doctor W and when she got back to the phone, I asked her to say hello for me. (How unprofessional, huh?) Again the receptionist politely told me that the appointment at 2:30 pm was still available and that they will call us if there was going to be an opening earlier. At 10:00 am, the receptionist called back and then transferred me over to Doctor W. She told me that she was able to fit Bree into her schedule if we can pop over at 10:45 am. I got the permission from Bree’s mum and set off on foot with the toddler right away. The clinic is on the same street, a block away.

Doctor W was very accommodating. She had Bree’s mum on speaker phone when she was doing the check up so she was kept informed even though she wasn’t there physically. Once she finished the checking up and hung up the phone, she asked about me and talked about her teenagers (yes, her tweens are now in their mid to late teens!). I have always enjoyed working for her family. While some people may not like her no nonsense approach, I found out long ago that she is truly a caring person. The same can also be said of her husband too. They are genuinely nice people.

The antibiotics really knocked out little Bree. I was advised to keep her warm and let her rest. Because Bree was not well, our contingency plan was put into action. Stella’s mum agreed to drive Stella to Bree’s home after school. Normally, Stella’s mum would have opted to stay home with Stella or take the Supergirl with her to the office but she was too busy for either option this time. Again, I tried my best to segregate the two. It was quite easy because Bree slept for most of the time when Stella was there.

Tuesday’s lunch was Bree’s last proper meal. Her appetite was poor after that. All she wanted for days was porridge with a drizzle of honey for lunch, but she hardly ate any when it was presented to her. She did however take a liking to the mini bottles of Yakult that her father bought, and was only allowed one per day. She is slowly on the mend. For dinner on Friday she ate a very small portion of vegetable risotto. Another appointment has already been made for Tuesday. This time, Bree’s mum insisted on taking her little one there herself. She was embarrassed for asking me to take Bree there and felt totally guilty. She also wanted to meet Doctor W.

Knowing another doctor from the same practice is helpful when patients are unable to see their preferred doctor. I was introduced to Doctor W when I was still at my first job as a nanny looking after 3 boisterous English boys. She was their family doctor and friend. After the family left the country, I occasionally babysat Doctor W’s children until they were just too old to have a babysitter. LOL. The children were already 9,10 & 11 when I started. Later when I was looking after two French girls, I made the same arrangement for the older girl to see Doctor W when her preferred doctor was away on a holiday. This was made with the consent of the girl’s parents of course and they were elated that I was able to make an appointment. Coincidentally, the French girls shared the same doctor as Bree.

Less Play Dates with Lachlan

Stella and Bree do not play with Lachlan as often as they used to. The old arrangement was to meet up on every Thursday afternoon. This wasn’t the case at the beginning of the year when Lachlan was being cared for by multiple nannies. Playing with Lachlan became sporadic from then on. Around the time I stopped blogging in early April, Lachlan acquired a new permanent nanny. The nanny I knew has moved on to another job now. I do not know the full story. Lachlan’s mum told me that the nanny went overseas. Replacing her is a younger nanny of around my age. I have met her a few times. She seems alright. She told me not to wait up for Lachlan and her because she finds the distance to the big park a bit too much and may not make it there every week. She spoke highly about this other little park near Lachlan’s house. I know that playground and it is definitely boring for children who need a wider space to run around. Stella misses Lachlan every now and then. Even Bree asks for him! She would ask if we would see Lachlan when we are on our way to the park. So, while Stella still talks fondly of things she and Lachlan did and do, I don’t think she is missing out much. The new friendships she has formed at school are keeping her quite busy. She probably won’t need a nanny for much longer.

The New Gang of Four

Stella ‘discovered’ another child in her class at the end of Term 1. It turned out that this child is also already reading like Stella. On some mornings, the two were given separate literacy activities from the rest of the class and were encouraged to work together. Occasionally, another two children joined the pair for extra maths work. This was how the Gang of Four came to be. They get along very well and I think that’s because they communicate on the same wavelength. The four children aren’t always allowed to team up together for other class activities. I suspect that the teacher wishes to see them interacting with the rest of their classmates as well. From what I have heard, I gather that the parents also get on well. I personally think that these parents have one major thing in common. They all share a deep love and commitment to help their children learn and grow. The parents organize regular play dates for the children so they can meet up after school. On one such occasion, Stella had a ball riding her first flying fox independently from one fort to another. The parents are currently planning to take the four to the Melbourne Museum to see a rare exhibition on dinosaurs. Everyone seems to think that the school holidays would be perfect but everyone is also going away for part of the holidays. I hope they end up going because from what I heard, the ‘Hatching the Past – Dinosaur Eggs + Babies’ exhibition is well worth it. Cameron and I will be going. I did state that we are both young at heart but you don’t have to be young to love dinosaurs. These magnificent creatures are part of the story of life on Earth and every one should learn about them to know more about who we really are. History, including prehistory is important for us to know about our origin. I sense that I am getting sidetracked and should therefore end this post now. LOL.

My Blog's First Birthday!

OMG! My blog turned one yesterday! I can't believe that I have kept it up for 12 months already. I wonder how much longer I will go on. I didn't miss it all that much when I took a break recently. Now that I am recovering from my recent ordeals, I will put in more effort to blog at least twice a week. Fingers crossed.

Update on Bree

Bree is now totally nappy-free. Yes, she is not even wearing nappies overnight. I can’t even remember when she last had an accident. She goes to the toilet independently before bed and when the adults go to bed later, they wake her up again to use the toilet. Easy immediate access to the potty placed in her bedroom probably contributes as well to her success. Her mum is very proud of her. Every time she brings groceries home, she talks about not having to buy nappies. When a family friend brought up the topic of pull-ups (disposable nappies for toddlers or older children) the other day, she realised that her little Bree skipped using them altogether.
In the time that I stopped blogging temporarily, Bree’s parents received 3 letters of acceptance from 3 Kindergarten & ELCs. This is for Bree to attend a 3 yr old Kindergarten programme next year. Her parents were very happy with the news but have yet to decide which offer to accept. Bree’s mum would like to visit the schools again. Instead of just touring the facilities once again, I suggested that she should observe the classroom in progress and to see how the teachers and assistants interact with the children. During each of the interview process, Bree and her parents have already met the principal, teacher and assistant from each school but there is no guarantee that the people they have met will be there when Bree starts Kindergarten early next year. So, they may pick a school because they particularly like the teacher after a round of observations but she may quit due to family commitments before the new school year and another teacher may be hired to replace her. Seeing that Stella’s parents were not happy with the Supergirl’s schooling, Bree’s parents are being especially careful with their final selection.

I am looking forward to next month. I will have a bit of a break when the family goes away to Mt Buller. Bree’s father bought a brand new toboggan for her last week and she has been dragging it out to the backyard to give her toys free rides. It doesn’t snow here in Melbourne. So, she was just dragging the toboggan on grass and at the same time, breaking in her new gumboots. These gumboots are made for cold weather. They have removable insulated liners. I think they are still a tad too big because she keeps tripping over. Winter started on the first day of June and the official ski season started last weekend but apparently there is hardly any snow. Hopefully there will be a big dump of the white stuff by the time the family gets there for Christmas in July. Aren’t Aussie kids lucky to celebrate two Christmases in one year?

The Downs and Up of Stella’s Birthday Party

The Supergirl is officially 5 years old. She has been 5 since the end of April. It is very important for Stella to be 5. She told me that she is finally the same age as her class mates. Being 5 is important in playground politics. While she thought that she had caught up with the others, I refrained from telling her that most children in her class are likely to turn 6 later in the year. In fact, a few had already turned 6! Children can be cruel. Many learn early on how to spot differences or ‘weaknesses’ to use as excuses when the need arises to exclude or bully someone.

After attending a few birthday parties earlier this year, Stella’s mum toyed with the idea of ‘outsourcing’ Stella’s 5th birthday party. Stella’s mum wanted a party with pony rides but Stella (almost half-heartedly) wished for a fairy to visit her party. I still wonder why she picked the fairy. Fairies seem to play a big part in many childhoods but Stella has never been really fond of them. After making phone enquiries and discussing the matter as a family, they all decided to throw another arts and crafts theme party just like when Stella turned 3 and 4, except that the guest list was different this time. Most of the foods were ‘outsourced’ because Stella’s mum had to entertain the children and lead the activities. Unlike most fathers (I know) who mysteriously have to work on the day of the party, Stella’s dad was in charge of drinks for both the adults and the kids. A family friend made the party food and the cake was specially ordered from a bakery. The family friend made most of the party foods for the previous two years as well. The lady made them from her home to bring in more income. Where was the nanny? I didn’t attend the party. I never play a part in almost all of my charges’ parties. Such gatherings are a time for the children to interact with their parents and guests.

In the years of looking after children from ‘better off’ families, I have observed the extent that parents will go to throw a party to outdo a previous party they have attended. It is like the Olympics. The children that attended Stella’s party this year were her classmates plus Bree, Lachlan and another little family friend. Like her, they must have attended quite a few wonderfully expensive parties since entering the world only just a few years ago. Despite being the tender ages of 5 or 6, the ‘partygoers with experience’ were capable of rating parties out loud. While we should all take pride in children who speak confidently in public, it is quite unacceptable when they speak rudely. Adults who are not such children’s carers have to bite their tongue and pray that the carers (e.g. parents) will handle the matter when they have the privacy to do so. It is quite shocking though that many adults just let this sort of behaviour go on; ignoring what was happening and hoping that it will go away without offering any form of guidance ASAP. Please do not misunderstand me. I am not calling for carers to smack or scold offending children right away.

Seeing that I am getting side-tracked as usual, I better get back to the negative side of Stella’s party. Among the children that attended the party, 5 were unsatisfied. 4 of the 5 usually play as a group at school. The 4 girls are like the ‘Pink Ladies’ in the class. The other girl was Bobby. I have mentioned this Bobby in another post. The ‘Pink Ladies’ were supervised only by one mum (parent of one of the 4 girls). Although I wasn’t there, they were what I would have considered to be ‘girly girls’. They were being difficult right from the beginning. As soon as one found out that there won’t be any shows (because no entertainers were hired), they began to talk non-stop about parties they have attended recently. Stella’s dad noticed how they spoke to Stella in a condescending way and I can tell everyone now that he was quite troubled. The ‘Passing Parcel’ game was my idea only because they had invited younger guests like Bree and the other little boy. Lachlan didn’t stay for long because he wasn’t too well. Half way through the ‘Passing Parcel’ game, one of the ‘Pink Ladies’ stood up in a jealous fit and told Stella, “You will get the big toy at the end because you are the birthday girl. It is not fair!” With that she walked off and flatly refused to re-join the ‘baby game’. Stella’s dad told me he was fuming and made sure that his employee’s little boy got to unwrap the last pressie and not Stella. LOL.

With the help of a couple of parents, Stella’s mum led the activity to make finger puppets using felt pieces. The pieces were pre-cut to make it simple for the children to assemble. The idea was to reduce frustration but it didn’t help when some children decided to increase the adults’ frustration levels. Bobby was happy to join in when invited to the activity but before long she had decided against the idea. She interrupted the children when they tried to listen to the instructions, reminding them that “This is not school. This is a party” over and over again. Someone told her that it was OK if she didn’t want to participate and offered her some ‘Monsters Jelly’. Instead of taking up the offer, I was told that she replied, “Nah, I can do what I want.” Then she went over to the ‘Pink Ladies’ who were working quite cooperatively and successfully got them to her side. Together they joined forces and declared that they didn’t need help from adults and will do ‘Whatever’.

Not all was bad at Stella’s birthday party. She had the opportunity to strengthen her emerging friendships with three children. The group only discovered each other towards the end of first term. Today, the four play together everyday. The parents also arrange play dates for the four to get together at each others’ homes regularly. It is wonderful that the parents themselves also get along well. The children are polite and inventive. Stella’s parents talk positively of them. When it comes to Stella’s school experience so far, she is happiest when telling me about these friends. I am truly happy for her. Let’s hope that her parents do not make any hasty decisions by pulling her out of the school at the end of this semester. Just as I will blog more about these 4 little friends on another day, I will also blog more about the dissatisfaction of Stella’s parents over her schooling later.

Open Book Exam

In my opinion, open book exams are more cumbersome than turning up at a certain venue to sit for a proper exam that usually last only a few hours. While the extra time allowed to complete an open book exam is valued, I find that the work is more or less an extra assignment. I am glad that I only have half a question left. Once the answers are emailed back to the University, I will have the time to really reflect on the two sad events that have happened since early April. Hopefully I score well enough to proceed to the next stage even though I am not exactly sure if I want to do another unit this year. If I do choose to exit now, I will still gain myself another piece of ‘paper’ but it isn’t exactly what I originally aimed for.

What Happened To My Alexa Ranking??

Just check out my Alexa Ranking. It is awful! I think I was ranking 11 before I stopped blogging. It wasn't like I was lazy. I wonder what I have to do to bring it down again. How very annoying! Can't stay up any longer to whinge. I have got to go to bed or I won't wake up for work.

Abandoned Again?

This is just a quick post to let everyone know that this blog is not deliberately abandoned. A number of things had happened since I last blogged. I will start blogging again soon. There is so much to share about the girls. That photo of Sir 'Weary' Dunlop should really be taken down. Anzac Day was quite a while ago!

Ten Favourite Picture Books for Toddlers

Here is a list of picture books that I always use when working with little children of Bree’s age (29 months). I usually read them aloud to children from around 18 months to around 3 years of age. Older non-readers enjoy listening to them from time to time as well. Occassionally, beginning readers also enjoy practising their new found skills with these books. This is especially true if they have younger siblings and would like to read to them for fun.

1. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
2. Peepo by Janet and Allan Ahlberg
3. Where’s Spot? by Eric Hill
4. Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell
5. The Baby’s Catalogue by Janet and Allan Ahlberg
6. How Do I Put It On? by Shigeo Watanabe
7. Rosie’s Walk by Pat Hutchins
8. Hattie and the Fox by Mem Fox
9. Mr Brown Can Moo! Can You? by Dr Seuss
10. Toddlerobics by Zita Newcome

This has been fun. I think I will make another list of books on another day.

Appointment with the Photographer

Believe it or not, Stella is nearly 5! Her birthday is at the end of this month. The family has an appointment with the photographer today. They have arranged to have photos of Stella taken professionally for each of her birthdays. In some years, they also arrange for an appointment with the same photographer for Christmas shots but they didn’t do it for last year. They have arranged for a studio sitting this time. In addition to photos of the Supergirl in a nice outfit, her parents wanted the photographer to take photos of Stella in her school uniforms because they weren’t happy with the outcome of the individual shots of her school photos. I didn’t look after Stella on Friday. The mother and daughter must have gone out to buy a new outfit for the photography session. I can’t wait to see them. One wall in the family room is slowly being covered up by beautiful photographs of the whole family.

I Love Slides

I have loved slides for as long as I can remember. There used to be a metal one (without sides) in our backyard when I was little. A well used metal slide (without sides) is still my favourite type but due to safety concerns, there are not many of them around anymore. The downside of these types of slides is that one can possibly burn his/her bottom on hot days. LOL. I also loved our blue pool slide but just like the metal slide, this has long disappeared.

During one of our walks to nowhere, I rediscovered this park that I sometimes used to take the English boys from the first family that I ever worked for all those years ago. I instantly noticed that the whole place looks wonderfully new; quite unlike what it used to be. It used to be pretty run down and not very well looked after by the council. They have done a pretty good job refitting the entire playground and it was given a new name as well.

Looking after only Bree today, I decided to take her on a little adventure in search of this little park. It is situated quite far away from her home but we went anyway. When I first saw the two wave slides side by side, I told Cameron how the girls would definitely enjoy racing down them together. Secretly, I was hoping to try it out for myself. LOL. (I have always declared that I am very young at heart.) Today turned out to be a fine day for such an outing. There was no one around when we got there. Bree was happy to run around and try the swings even though they are the same as the ones at the other parks we frequent and similar to the one at home. She has a habit of going on each swing seat at a park unless she is distracted by Stella and her playmate Lachlan. Only after a round on the two swings did we go over to explore the big fort. We did climb all the way up and race down the slides together. I think she was very amused that there was a slide for @#^*-@#^*. Bree is at a stage where she is constantly declaring to everyone around her what belongs to whom. Right after our first ride down the slides, she declared that the left one was hers and the right one was @#^*-@#^*’s. After a few rides, there was a change of ‘ownerships’. LOL. Before we left for home, a woman and her baby arrived. The mother was friendly. She introduced her new baby to Bree. She told me that she was glad to see people in this park because she had hardly seen anyone using it.

(I am recording a documentary on TV for Cameron. Even though I know the content of this historical event very well, I am somehow quite disturbed by what I am hearing. It is timely though to refresh my memories on this horrible period of 20th century history. Even though it takes time to forgive, such events should never be forgotten. It is saddening to see how the whole incident has been removed from a certain country’s text books.)

Week Long Cooking Stint

Note: I wrote this yesterday and was meant to post it. I obviously pressed the wrong button again and ended up saving it as a draft. LOL.

This last week was the second week of Stella’s first school holidays. I looked after the girls at Stella’s home for the five days. As planned, we spent the whole week doing a bit of cooking on each day. It was very nice of Stella’s parents to pre-purchase the ingredients we required. We did have to go to the local grocery shop to pick up a bottle of milk on Tuesday, but that was easy and both girls behaved beautifully at the shop. We actually went there without strapping Bree into her buggy. I needn’t have worried. She was no trouble at all.

Monday: Mini Hawaiian Pizzas

This was made on Monday because it is something that Stella really likes. Stella is a champ and required very little help from me. The only things I did were opening the fiddly pack of shredded ham, opening & draining the can of pineapple pieces, popping the made up mini pizzas into the oven and then removing them again 15 minutes later. Stella showed Bree how to spread tomato paste on the English muffin slices and how to top up each slice with the ingredients available. Bree enjoyed spreading the paste but she also enjoyed pinching pieces of pineapple every now and then. LOL. To show how considerate Stella’s mum can be, she even pre-sliced a small block of cheese and placed it in the grater container for the girls to use. I really love this grater that they bought from IKEA. Each grater comes with its own container. This makes it easy for everyone because the grated food goes straight into the storage container.

Tuesday: Fruit Salad Smoothie

We set off to make yummy drinks right after coming home from the grocery store. Bree and I had a banana & honey smoothie while Stella had a strawberry smoothie. The girls enjoyed chopping up the fruits. Bree has only just started to slice bananas at home. She needed supervision even though she was slicing using a standard dinner knife. Because I was also having the same drink as her, she had to chop an extra banana as well. Of course she didn’t mind the extra work. I don’t think she even realised that she was chopping my share of bananas. LOL.

Wednesday: Apricot Muffins (Teddy Bear’s Picnic Cancelled!)

We originally planned to have a small picnic outdoors for Wednesday but it turned out to be a wild day. The weather was just horrible. It was super windy and when it did rain, it was like a big downpour that I have not seen happen very often in Melbourne these days. Bree arrived at Stella’s wearing her new quilted jacket to keep her warm. Her mum must be particularly pleased with the sudden chill. Despite the wild weather outside, the cooking continued indoors. We made apricot muffins. We started off making just 12 but the girls enjoyed the process so much that we unanimously decided to make another batch. Of Course we didn’t eat all of them at once. We are not that crazy! The leftovers were evenly divided to be shared between the two households. The muffins were a hit among the adults. The children and I got plenty of compliments.

Thursday: Salad

The cooking clinic continued on Thursday without Bree. We made salad for the day’s dinner while Bree was napping soundly upstairs. Stella loves to chop things with a knife and I felt that salad making involves far too much chopping to be suitable for a little tot like Bree that I decided not to include her. The Supergirl got to slice mushrooms (after I cleaned and peeled them), zucchinis, a green capsicum, tomatoes and parsley to her heart’s content. Later, she reluctantly let me boil and drain the zucchinis. While I am quite happy to let her use the electric frypan (with strict supervision) at her little table, I am still not quite sure about letting her cook anything at the stove. We also ventured bravely into the backyard to look for some mint leaves and parsley for the salad. Despite what the weather people said, the weather was still quite wild on Thursday. It was great spending a bit of Stella + @#%*-@#%* time making this lovely salad. Stella said that she missed spending time with me. It is true though. Since school started for the Supergirl, she has hardly any opportunity of having me all to herself.

Note: I do think that knives can be dangerous. I only allow such tools to be used by children under strict supervision. The children’s parents are aware that the children sometimes use such tools while with me and support the idea of letting them practice. While Bree had only just started to chop her own banana using a dinner knife and buttering bread with a small spreader, Stella has had plenty of experience doing that over the years. She now yearns to chop different things using a small paring knife. While I can easily and quickly make the salad for the family’s dinner, Stella truly enjoys chopping and cooking. She couldn’t wait for her parents to arrive on Thursday. She just wanted to tell them that the salad had already been made up.

Friday: Chocolate Banana Bites

To celebrate the end of a wonderful week of cooking, we made chocolate banana bites. These were made by dipping chopped bananas into melted chocolate before covering them with chocolate sprinkles by rolling each one on a tray filled with a generous layer of sprinkles. The girls and I had fun making them. There were funny moments when the banana pieces slipped off the skewer and sunk deep into the bowl of melted chocolate. I tried to rescue one of Bree’s but once I got it back on her skewer, the tot stuck it back into the bowl and the same piece of banana slipped off and sunk again. It was just hilarious! There was also a minor hiccough at the end of the activity when Bree absolutely refused to wait for the banana bites to set. She just wanted to eat them right away. We had to leave the tray of banana bites to set on the kitchen bench to keep it away from Bree. She ended up crying of course. We ended up leaving the kitchen – out of sight, out of mind. Later, the girls and I enjoyed every bite together. They were heavenly delicious. We didn’t keep any for the others because I didn’t think that they would keep that long. The bananas might turn all black by the time the adults arrived.

Note: Since spending a few weeks with Grandma Ettie in Sydney at the end of last year, Bree has acquired a permanent sweet tooth. She loves chocolate but her mum is trying really hard to keep it to a bare minimum.

That was the week. It went so quickly! I am just so greatful that we didn't experience any power outage like some other Melbournians.

A Week of Bree Only

After the Easter weekend, I returned to work on Tuesday and looked after Bree only for the rest of the week. I think she enjoyed having me all to herself. Bree can now pedal her trike really well and is now allowed to venture outside on the footpath provided that I hold on to the stick from behind. Her father warned that she is like a girl version of Speedy Gonzalez on a tricycle. LOL. She remembers to put on her helmet without needing me to remind her each time. We rode around the block each morning last week. I think we can ditch her buggy soon and she can ride all the way to Stella’s house each afternoon during the school term. LOL.

Since painting the egg shapes the other week, Bree has also become very interested in painting. We did that everyday. She also ‘helped’ in setting up and cleaned up afterwards. Most children love water-play and Bree is the same. She loved washing the brushes. She would leave them outside to dry and then return to them minutes later to bring them back into the laundry for another wash. LOL.

On Wednesday last week, the postie came when we were still at home. He delivered a big parcel from France. Luckily we were home when he dropped by or else I or someone else would have had to collect the parcel from the post office. When Bree’s mum got home, she requested that I stay to see what was in the box. She knew that I would like the contents in the box and warned me to not hyperventilate. LOL. I recognised the brand but I wasn’t sure if she was buying for herself or for Bree. Once she got the box open, the little tot was encouraged to dig in and out came clothing and tissue papers. I was so excited that all I could see were the colours of red (rich red that reminds me of Radio Flyer), sky blue, brown and white (the colour of the tissue papers). Bree didn’t look as excited as we were. She laughed along with us but I am pretty sure she didn’t see what the big fuss was all about. So, in the parcel was a red quilted jacket with a hood, a sky blue duffle coat and a pair of brown corduroy knickerbockers. The jacket and the coat are for Bree while the knickerbockers belong to an older boy. His mother ordered only one item and chose to put it in the same order as Bree’s mum to save on postage costs apparently. On my way out, Bree’s mum crossed her fingers and said to me, “I hope it will be a cold winter or these clothes will go to waste!” “I really hope so too.” I said.

What are they growing at the Children’s Garden?

Here are a couple of photos of one section of the Ian Potter Foundation Children’s Garden. It is located just inside the gate that we normally enter the Botanic Gardens, behind the Old Melbourne Observatory. It was closed on Good Friday and quite a few groups of disappointed young families congregated at its little front gate when we walked past. I will return on another day to take more photos and possibly blog about this little natural gem created for children to enjoy.

Note: I think I can see dead Sunflowers in one of my photos. LOL. I love the scarecrows.