Smiley Baby Nicholas

I didn’t have to work again today. I was over the moon and having already prepared my studies well ahead of schedule, I had the time to visit my close friend, Bonnie. It was nice to see how little Nicholas has grown.

The little guy was lying on a sheepskin in the living room when I got there. He looked like he was about to doze off. As soon as he saw me when I got down to his level, he suddenly sourced some spare energy fuel hidden somewhere in his little body to greet me with beautiful smiles. He watched us as we chatted next to him. He stared and tried to join in the conversation by making gurgling sounds. After I excused myself to go clean my hands, I heard him fussing. Well, I did say that I can be quite a clean freak and I really hate to transfer germs to someone else. When I got back, Bonnie was changing his nappy. He focussed in on his mum, ‘talking’ to her and kicking his legs vigorously. I saw that Bonnie was still using the cloth nappies as planned. After the nappy change, I got my chance to cuddle him. Nicholas almost fell asleep in my arms as we chat. Just as he was about to dozed off, I was asked to place him back on the sheepskin. He slept right there as we continued to chat. I have to admit that I wanted to place him in his cot. He was not bothered by us at all. At some point, we walked over to the kitchen to make drinks and for something to eat. Our footsteps on the floorboards didn’t wake him either. He just carried on sleeping blissfully.

Bonnie has decided to not return to work for now. She had been doing consultation type work on the side for a couple of years and has now decided to continue doing that rather than to go back to work. She reckons that being a consultant is far more flexible than the commitments required at work. She wants to spend as much time as possible looking after Nicholas. This means that they have to live pretty much on a single income while she has no work. Luckily her parents are able to help look after Nicholas if she has to see a client. I hope that her plans work out. It is not easy to see where we are all heading in the current financial climate. The interest rates rise over here and the collapse of the Mc Mansion market over in the US are all turning life pretty precarious all of a sudden.

What Happened To My Blog?

This is weird. I am here publishing another post but again, I can't pick font colours, font style, font size or upload any links or photos. Some buttons are missing!Is this the new look? Is this temporary? Did Cameron do something to my blog without consulting me first? Should I go wake him up? I hope that this is not permanent or else I won't be able to do paid posts. Is this somekind of repercussion? Oh no!

I am starving. Should I have something to eat at this time of the night? Serve me right for not eating dinner! I am pretty sure that I won't die if I wait till the morning.

PS. I just learned that nothing happens when I click on the Show all button to reveal all of the labels I can normally pick from. Bizzarre!

Playing with Lachlan Again? (Take Two)

The girls had a lovely time playing with Lachlan at the park today. He was already there when we got there. He wasn’t with his nanny. His mum was with him instead. Unlike other mothers who usually do not socialize with nannies, she immediately approached me to re-introduce herself and made us feel comfortable. Lachlan was a completely different little boy. Gone was the frightened crying child. The cheerful but slightly shy Lachlan that I know was back. I got to introduce him to Bree and Bree tried to call him ‘Lochie’. Bree just followed the older two kids around. They didn’t ignore her and tried to include her most of the time.

I have always assumed that Lachlan’s mum is the type who delegates most child care to helpers but I was wrong. She seemed to be pretty hands on today and looked like she was enjoying the time spent at the park. I was dying to ask her about the other nanny but I was worried that she might be offended. She eventually brought up the situation with the nannies. She said that they have been in between nannies since just before Christmas. They have tried a few but have not found one they really like. She said that a couple of the girls were actually University students on their Summer break. It has become increasingly difficult to hire them. I suggested that she try a different agency. She then told me that the nanny they had last week was from an agency but she said it is impossible to get someone desirable on a temporary basis. It was around this time of the conversation that she revealed that Lachlan’s nanny (referring to the one that I know) is overseas. She will be back looking after Lachlan soon! Anyone who had been reading my posts should really see the invisible weight lifting off my shoulders when I found out that she was OK!

Before we parted, Lachlan’s mum joked about hiring a new permanent nanny if his previous nanny didn’t come back soon. She also confirmed next week’s play date at the park even though she was unable to confirm which nanny would accompany Lachlan on the day. To that, Lachlan, who was already strapped into his car seat, began to request repetitively that his mum come to the park with him again.

I have to say that I felt great relief knowing that the other nanny was OK after all. I am aware that she has family in the old country but I am pretty sure that the last time I heard of her plans to return was like last August. She was talking about planning a big trip including some of the family members who are already here. She used to joke about how her niece was more interested in shopping in Italy and insisted on including that country as an extra stop-over. She also worried about not having enough time to soak in her old home if they all travelled in such a large group. I didn’t think she was going so soon and for so long. She didn’t even talk about it in the weeks before I had my break.

Bree’s Favourite Foods

Here is a quick post outlining a current list of Bree’s favourite foods:

Breakfast:
· Sultana Bran & Milk
· Pancakes

Lunch:
· Grilled Cheese Sandwich
· Ham Sandwich with chopped Roma Tomatoes

Dinner:
· Pan-fried or Grilled Salmon (marinated in some kind of home-made honey, mustard & mayonnaise sauce)
· Honey Soy Chicken Mini Drumsticks*

Vegetables:
· Asparagus (well-cooked)
· Mushrooms
· Roma & Cherry Tomatoes
· Eggplant

Fruits:
· Mango
· Watermelon
· Honeydew
· Rockmelon
· Strawberries
· Sultanas

*The Honey Soy Chicken pieces are not considered nutritious by Bree’s mum but the child is completely in love with it since it was ‘accidentally’ introduced on a Sunday BBQ. Bree’s dad buys the stash every now and then from Safeway. Upon learning that, Cameron and I bought them too and yeah, we got hooked too! LOL. It’s probably the MSG that makes them so delicious.

Bobby Came To Play

I have been hearing a fair bit about a little girl called Bobby since school started. Stella talked about her positively and I thought it was nice for her to find a new good friend. On the other hand, Stella’s mum had been whispering to me about the two (Stella & Bobby) being like chalk and cheese. I believe that Bobby is the child who refused to believe that Stella can already read. Since she is so fond of Bobby, Stella immediately suggested asking her, when asked to invite a friend to come over for a little play. The following is what I heard from Stella’s mum.

The child was supposed to popover at around 10:00 am on Saturday but her mum didn’t drop her off until around 11:00 am. Stella’s mum tried to call them and was prepared to offer to pick up Bobby but she couldn’t get through. When they finally arrived, Bobby looked like she had only just woken up. Her mother had a hard time rounding up all of the rest of her children because they kept begging to stay. Stella’s mum told me that while she wanted Stella to have many friends to play with, she actually thought that she might not be able to cope with so many children running around the house. When I found out that there were 5 children in that family, I instantly thought about the school fees. OMG! Imagine raising so many children and sending all of them to an expensive private school!

Stella played the little hostess that she is so capable of by showing the house to her friend. Bobby didn’t look groggy for long. In fact, as soon as her mum’s people mover was out of sight, Stella’s mum said that Bobby became very energetic almost all at once. She was definitely not shy when Stella’s mum was not around. She jumped on Stella’s bed. She checked out her collection of books by pulling all of them off the little bookcase in the bedroom. When she was done playing upstairs, she asked for something to eat. Stella’s mum offered them one banana muffin each. Then, Bobby was heard talking to Stella about chocolate sauce and asked Stella if they had any. Stella knew what she was talking about but had to ask her mum first. Her mum’s answer was that there was none left. Meanwhile she tried having a conversation with Bobby, but the child was like the cat caught her tongue and answered only using a minimal number of words. Through her volunteer speaker, Bobby continued to ask for various things via Stella. Stella’s mum had to refuse most of these requests because she was in the middle of making lunch for the both of them.

After struggling through lunch because Bobby was allegedly allergic to rocket spinach and other greens used in the sandwich, Stella’s mum offered the girls an art and craft activity. By the way, Stella’s mum did call Bobby’s mum to check if she had any allergies to any food and she learned that the child has none. As the girls worked together, gathering supplies to set up the activity at the table, Stella invited her mum to play with them. Being an only child, Stella spends a lot of time doing things with grown-ups like her parents and I. We didn’t think that she saw anything wrong or weird in working with grown-ups. Not on this Saturday though. As Stella’s mum was looking for her pair of scissors in the cupboard, she overheard Bobby whispering, “This is for kids, Silly! This is not for grown-ups.” When she approached the table with the scissors in her hand, she saw that Stella looked somewhat confused and embarrassed.

Before long, it was time for Bobby to go home. Her mum arrived with her siblings and one of the siblings that sat in the front passenger seat couldn’t help but beep the horn numerous times. Stella waved them goodbye and called out, “Come and play again, Bobby!” Stella’s mum told me that her smile nearly vanished in a split of a second when she heard her little girl say that. Did Stella say it automatically because she is friendly and polite or did she really like the little girl and would like to play with her again? After the play date, Stella fell asleep on the couch and her mum discovered a bomb site in her little girl’s bedroom. That wasn’t even the worst discovery. She later found Stella’s toilet unflushed and brown marks smeared across the wall above the toilet roll.

Stella’s parents do not like Bobby very much but they do not want to interfere with their little girl’s choice of friends for now. They worry about Bobby’s influence on Stella. The Supergirl is turning 5 in April. She is a highly intelligent child but is she capable of making her own mind up with little influence from other children? Stella’s parents have a very close bond with her. On the pretext of filling his father in on her day of playing with Bobby, the little family had a chat about a few issues bothering Stella’s mum. She said that through the conversation, she got to learn of Stella’s response. They told me that they tried to keep things as neutral as possible because they didn’t want Stella to see Bobby in a bad way just because they don’t approve of her. It seemed that at this stage, Stella is not that easily swayed. Her mum said that it is good that Stella has good relationships with adults that she can trust and ask questions. I do agree with that and she has been asking me a few interesting questions since school started.

My Stressed Out Neighbour

My neighbour Winnie has been looking stressed out since her return from Singapore. On the Australia Day Weekend, I wrote a piece about the recent antics of Winnie’s son, Michael, but that was never published because I didn’t think it was fair to her since she confided in me privately. Although the family has been in Melbourne for a few years now, she still misses her old home from time to time. I think this is made worse because she is home on her own for most of the day. Hopefully her plans to help out at Michael’s school are going to happen soon.

Winnie may be a stay-at-home mum which to some people seems to be a lazy option, but she is not at all lazy. Winnie plans her family’s meals religiously, cooking up all sorts of fancy foods for her husband and son’s lunch boxes and dinners. Her husband appreciates her daily efforts and maybe one day her little boy will grow to appreciate these delicious little parcels. Michael may wish to eat vegemite and cheese or tomato, ham and cheese sandwiches like all the other little Aussiemites now, but he may soon enjoy the little surprises that mum has carefully handmade for him every morning before he wakes up for school. When I first met the family, Winnie even used to make and deliver Michael’s lunch before lunch time. She only stopped because she was made to feel like she was causing an inconvenience to the school staff.

Leon returned to Melbourne before Winnie and Michael did in January. He brought back some books for Michael. The mother and son also came home later with lots of books. Winnie aspires to see Michael excel at school. She bought these workbooks for Michael to learn and complete at home. (I am not really into workbooks for children under 9.) Completing the workbooks is part of the family’s pathway to securing a scholarship for Michael in a couple of years’ time. It is one thing to plan for a child; it is truly another thing to get him/her to comply, especially if the child doesn’t see the point of switching to another school if he/she gets a scholarship. Michael’s little attempts to refuse paperwork after school is giving both parents headaches and thus contributing more stress to his already stressed out mum. During my recent holiday break, I watched a documentary from the UK about a migrant family’s efforts in trying to get their youngest son scholarships to some of England’s best schools. We thought that the whole process was pretty stressful for the child and he was not the only person affected. The whole family was involved to make it work. There was good news at the end of the story for this hardworking child. He scored full & partial scholarships to a few very good schools. When I see Michael these days, I see a child who will have to work just as hard to score a scholarship. The extra work after school could be stressing him out also. Winnie might not be the only member of the family to be stressed out!

I Want to Buy a Personal Shopping Trolley. Anyone Have Any Ideas?

I would really like to get a brand new set of ‘wheels’. No, I don’t mean a new car. A highly functional and reliable shopping trolley is what I am talking about. We are after one with the following features:
· Strong, sturdy construction
· Foldable for easy storage
· Handle height designed for people over 5 foot 6
· Durable wheels
· Capacity to hold at least 2-3 ‘green bags’ of groceries

We also dream that it has the following features:
· Ability to manoeuvre tight corners and handle moderate off-road conditions (aka cracked footpaths)
· An aluminium frame
· Air filled tires to ensure more comfort for the pusher

Does anyone have any ideas? Do you know of any good websites where I can view personal shopping trolleys?

Stella’s Mum Called

I didn’t have to work today. Bree’s mum planned to spend at least two Fridays a month with her precious little one. This doesn’t mean that Bree will have Mum to herself all day. They still have to drop by the office in the morning. Stella’s mum has a similar arrangement as well. She prefers to spend Friday afternoons with Stella unless something comes up, requiring her to be at the office for longer. This is all good to me because I miss my long weekends. Twice a month is better than none at all. The two freed up Fridays give me ample time to get things done. For instance, I got to properly plan my study unit today. If I didn’t do it today because I am working, I will be doing it tomorrow and that will take up the time I had planned for other things. It is not easy trying to achieve a balance. Imagine if I have kids and work full-time!

Okay, sorry that I got a little side-tracked. The topic of this post is meant to be about the phone call from Stella’s mum. Stella’s parents were running a little late yesterday. They came home at the same time as Bree’s father arrived to pick his daughter up. They were all late but that was no big deal because it doesn’t happen very often and I had nothing planned for the evening. They were all very chatty and I didn’t have my opportunity to brief them about their girls. Stella’s mum was very apologetic about being late and sent me on my way. Bree’s dad offered to drop me off but I declined as usual. A lot of things bothered me on my way home and not briefing the parents was not one of them because they can always read the girls’ diaries to learn of what happened in the day.

Stella’s mum rang around 2 pm this afternoon. She asked to chat about what happened at the park yesterday because Stella was very down after I had left. Stella had been going to bed earlier than in the past lately because she is still adjusting to the new school schedule. So, when Stella went to bed early, they thought that she was just exhausted. Then she went to check the diary to see if I have left any important notes, she was surprise to learn that Stella didn’t have a good time at the park. Because I didn’t go into great details in the diary, I had to tell her more about what happened over the phone. After she heard what I told her, she sounded a little annoyed when she told me that Lachlan’s mum called her on Thursday morning to arrange for the play-date at the park. She was told that Lachlan will be there with a new nanny. In return, Stella’s mum told her that Bree would also be accompanying us to the park. Despite the new nanny’s attitude, I refrained from telling Stella’s mum everything. I didn’t tell her that the new nanny was a little rough. I don’t know the nanny enough to judge her harshly. All that I saw was just the short duration they spent at the park. She probably had a bad day with Lachlan and may possibly be a doting carer most of the time but no matter what, I didn’t like the way she treated the charming little boy at the time. So, I will just observe for now. Ultimately, it is up to the parents to decide if a candidate is suitable to be their child’s nanny. They may have reasons why they hired her. When I saw Lachlan at QV recently, I heard the possibility of more than one nanny. So, this nanny might well be job-sharing with other ladies.

Playing With Lachlan Again?

Bree and I were waiting outside Stella’s front door when the Supergirl arrived with her mum in the car. As they drove down the driveway, Stella’s mum lowered the excited little girl’s window so she can pass on the good news to me. Still strapped to her car seat, we could hear the Supergirl calling out, “@#%*-@#%*, we are going to the park to see Lachlan!” Yes, Stella (soon to be turning 5 in April) is still strapped into her very stylish looking booster seat for every car ride. Unlike some other mums, they will be continuing to strap Stella in for a while. This was why they invested in a car seat that fitted older child passengers.

I was almost just as eager to get to the park as Miss Stella. While she was eager to see her little friend, I was eager to check out his nanny. No, don’t get me wrong. LOL. I just want to see if the nanny that I knew was really gone. I also wondered if I would get along with the new nanny. Stella looked around everywhere for her little friend but Lachlan was no where to be found. The girls went to play without him. After 15 minutes of running around the toddlers’ area, I sat them down for their afternoon tea. The girls and I sat at a picnic bench munching Marie biscuits while Stella filled me in on what she did at school. Then I heard crying and instantly looked up. Children’s crying at the park is quite common and it didn’t bother the girls one bit. Other than us, there were approximately 5 groups of adults & children at the park at the time but I could hear that the crying was not coming from their direction. As I turned back to look at my charges, I noticed the child crying. He was in his buggy and was coming our way. It was Lachlan! Stella saw my reaction and turned instantly to look behind her. Normally, she would have approached him to warmly greet her little friend and his nanny. Today, she turned to look at me for reassurance. I am still not sure if it was because she couldn’t recognise him (because of his new hair do) or if it was because he was crying and that frightened her a little.

We waited for them to come over but we were wrong. He was pushed past us, heading towards a bench not far from behind me. As he passed us, Lachlan put out both hands for me, gesturing as he cried for his nanny to join us. He was truly miserable. I have never seen him like that before. As soon as he was off his buggy, he ran over to us. His nanny barked at him to not disturb us. She came over to him and ‘bribed’ him back to their bench. I wanted to explain to her that we knew him but I was caught up with Bree asking for more biscuits. I had to remind Stella not to give her biscuit to her because not only do I not allow food sharing, Bree has a pretty strict food ration around this time of the day. So, as soon as I got the girls cleaned up, we went over to greet him. I tried to introduce myself to his nanny but she wasn’t all too chatty. Supergirl Stella is usually very chatty and would usually invite him to play but she was all quiet. So, I did the talking, inviting Lachlan to play with the girls when he had finished his biscuits.

The girls went on the swings together. There was one junior seat and one baby seat; perfect arrangement for the girls. After a while, Stella went over to this equipment that was closer to Lachlan. Despite years of working as a nanny, I never found out what this piece of equipment was called. It’s like a type of see-saw except that it looks like a balance and hanging off the ends of each arm is a disc swing for a child to sit on. Younger children need help from adults to get it going. Lachlan and Stella love this equipment. In the past, they have had lots of fun hanging on for dear life as the swing swung around going up and down at the same time. LOL. Stella stood near this piece of equipment watching the boy and his new nanny. Just when I was about to distract her, she summoned up the courage to ask him if he wanted to play on the see-saw. They call it the see-saw. The equipment has 4 arms and therefore 4 disc swings for up to 4 children. I helped them to get on and got it going for them. Scared that Bree might get stomped if she walked in under the moving swings, I put her on one of the empty disc swing without a partner. I had to support her from behind to prevent her from falling out accidentally. This see-saw/balance (whatever it is called) is not made for little tots. Bree was just as happy. She was probably thinking that she was part of the game with her big friends. LOL.

A few minutes later, Stella and Lachlan got off and ran over to the play structure for older kids. Bree wanted to go as well and I had to follow her to keep her safe. We all went down the tall spiral slide. (By the way, I love slides!) There waiting at the foot of the slide was Lachlan’s nanny. It was time for him to go home. Stella didn’t want him to go. He didn’t want to leave either. I didn’t know why he had to leave so soon. Lachlan sat down on the ground crying like it was the end of the world. The new nanny is not very tall. Instead of lifting him, she just ‘propped’ him up from behind and ‘walked’ him back to his buggy. As he continued crying, he tried to stop what she was doing and she ended up lifting him. Once he was strapped in, he kept calling out for me. This frightened Bree and she began to cry. Stella, a sensitive child, was very quiet. Seeing that Lachlan was leaving, she walked back to Bree’s buggy thinking that we were leaving too. Lachlan’s cries and the look of Stella’s facial expressions saddened me terribly. As the nanny pushed Lachlan’s buggy past us, she gave me a faint smile. The weird thing was that she hardly said anything to give him any comfort. I don’t know what came over me but I took Bree with me and stood in front of his buggy and told him that we will play again next week if it is OK with his parents. As I said that I looked at the nanny’s face. I also told her that it would be nice for Lachlan and Stella to play together like they used to. The nanny just gave me a blank look. Stella remained seated on Bree’s buggy this whole time.

Before the girls and I left the park, a parent came up to ask me what happened to the other woman looking after the little boy. I wasn’t able to answer because I really didn’t know. The girls were very quiet on the way home. Lots of things went through my head. Lachlan’s crying, Bree’s crying, Stella’s reaction, the nanny’s action (or lack of it) and the whereabouts of the other nanny were all playing in my head over and over. I was even surprised that a parent noticed the change of nanny. At this park (as in most places in my opinion), nannies and parents (especially mums) do not mix. All that had happened at the park bothered me all the way home.

Note: I did try to call the old nanny again but it went straight to a message informing me that her mobile phone was not turned on.

No Sandpit for Bree

Bree doesn’t have a sandpit anymore. When I arrived at work on Monday, I was welcomed by a little tot eager to show me that her sandpit was gone. She seemed ok about it. I thought that the tears would flow later but it didn’t happen. When we played in the backyard, she walked around it, inspected under the covers and then went back to her swing. The sandpit was still covered but there was no sand in it. Bree’s dad removed it all on Saturday. With her favourite feature in the backyard gone, Bree suddenly took an interest in climbing up to the platform again. There are multiple ways of getting up and she focussed on the ladder today. Even though that seemed to be the easiest way, it wasn’t as easy for a little tot. The steps attached to play forts at the park are easier for her but this one at home (designed for older children) does not have that type of steps/stairs. She needed lots of encouragement and she did a little dance every time she got on successfully before sliding down the wave slide on her tummy. Aren’t toddlers just so adorable when they slide down on their tummies?

Uninvited ‘Guest’

It doesn’t matter if it is the weekend; it sure is a good idea to be prepared 100% of the time because you never know when a visitor may drop by. I learned this lesson well today. Instead of having a shower and getting properly dressed for the day, I had my breakfast, brushed my teeth and then proceeded to surf the net; totally neglecting my chores. Cameron went to have lunch with his family, giving me time to do whatever I wanted. I wasn’t expecting him to be home before 5 pm but he came home around 2 pm with his dad! His dad needed to use the loo urgently. I was absolutely furious because they came into the apartment and I was still in my pyjamas (crappy shorts and singlet) and the whole place was still in a mess because I didn’t do my chores. The embarrassment sent me hiding in the bedroom. It was then that I realised that I hadn’t cleaned the toilet for a week! Oh no! I felt totally bad for not doing my chores. I wonder how fast, far and wide this latest news will be circulated about this black sheep now. Can someone drive me to the beach so I can bury my head in the sand?

My New Study Materials Arrived

I received a box from the university on Friday. The contents inside the box are my new study materials for the next study period. I love it when universities send out the materials promptly before the starting date to give students like me the time to prepare and plan. This unit will start in March and this means that I will be very busy again. Study + New Work Schedule = Little Time Leftover for Blogging. Is it timely to give this blog a break? I think that other than Cameron and I, only one other nanny from the US (Preemie Twins’ Nanny) reads this blog. This is probably because I rant and sound much too negative. I shouldn’t let this bother me for now. The focus should be on my studies. I will continue to blog on during the duration of this study unit and decide what to do next after its completion.

Sandpit Evacuation

Note: This post was orignally written on Friday evening but was not published because I was in a hurry to leave. I thought I did but have only just found out that it didn't appear on the blog at all. Blogger was probably not working properly or something.

Bree and I were ‘evacuated’ from her sandpit for a second time this week, today. A mysterious feline had left another surprise, carefully hidden under the sand. This time, I found it while I was inspecting the sand with Bree’s toy rake. I immediately covered up the sandpit again and this made Bree very upset. She loves the sandpit and couldn’t understand why she was not allowed to use it again. The whole thing turned into a full-scale temper tantrum. She refused to come into the laundry to pick up a plastic bag for the removal of the ‘offensive material’ and kept wandering back to lift up the cover. She had to come with me because I couldn’t leave her to explore the sandpit whilst I ducked into the laundry. She then decided that she needed to take the toy rake from my hand. I couldn’t give it to her because it had touched the cat poo and I had to clean and disinfect it properly. Suggestions to do something else were offered but all she wanted was the sandpit. We eventually ended up back in the house. Once she calmed down, I offered her my pack of threading spools. She spent more than half an hour trying to thread them using the plastic tubing. Great concentration! It was only when she was napping that I got my opportunity to remove the cat poo and to wash & disinfect the toy rake.

On Monday, Bree jumped into the sandpit as soon as I took the cover off. She absolutely refused to wait for me to inspect it first. I was still trying to place the sandpit cover under the slide when I saw Bree picking up something that didn’t look quite like a clump of wet sand. Upon closer inspection, I realised it was cat poo. There was also the tell tale smell. I told her to let go and shook her arm to encourage her to release it from her grip. Bree obviously sensed that I didn’t approve of what was going on and dropped it. The confused look on her face was a clear indication that she was unaware of the reason of my disapproval. As I scooped her up to wash her hands in the laundry, I tried to explain what went wrong. She agreed too that it was ‘Yuck!’ LOL. As a clean freak, I even took her t-shirt and shorts off in the laundry! I am absolutely afraid of Toxoplasmosis!

When Bree’s dad found out what happened on Monday evening, he removed at least the top half of the sand and topped it up again with new bags of sand. Bree’s dad was talking about buying more sand this weekend because there wasn’t quite enough. After finding out what happened again today, he gave up. Apparently, Monday’s incident wasn’t the first time. He had repeated the same procedure on two other occasions and after the first time Bree’s mum bought the tarpaulin to cover it. The tarpaulin didn’t do an adequate job because it was not designed to fit properly and it was not tied down snugly to prevent the cat from going underneath it. A cat used to visit the backyard but we have not seen it for more than 6 months because the family has moved away. Someone must have acquired a new cat since Christmas.

Australia Finally Apologised

Wednesday, 13 February 2008 was a happy day for many Aussies. The government, on behalf of the nation formally apologised to all indigenous Australians, especially those who were removed from their own communities by force. I wished to turn up at Federation Square to witness history in the making but I had to go to work. Nevertheless, I went to work with my head held high knowing that this newly elected government didn't let many of us down. Saying sorry will not instantly wipe out the problems in the outback but it is one important step for all Australians to work together for a better future. This long awaited formal acknowledgement of our ugly past will certainly help many people to move forward and truly start the healing process that has been ignored for so long.

An Old Observation of Baby Bree

The posts on Bree’s basket and drawer reminded me of her love of playing with the coin pouch/key ring with keys. The keys (attached to the ring) are revealed once the flaps hiding them are unzipped. She used to like shaking them to make lots of noise. When she began to crawl very well and stand up steadily with support, Bree would go to a cupboard in the family area to try to unlock one of the doors with the keys. She tried and failed again and again because those locks use different style keys. It seemed like fun to her. On the front side of the pouch is a pocket with a snap button closure. Bree would sit for long periods of time trying to unbutton it. Once she managed to learn how to unbutton the pocket, she went through a frustrating stage of not able to do up the snap again. At the top of the pouch is another zipper for the coin compartment. She used to request that I open it for her after some time of fiddling with the zipper. It was the same with the keys. She would ‘ask’ me to stuff the keys back behind the flaps and then zip them up. Again, she would sit for long periods of time trying to figure out how to zip and unzip the zippers. Her success in zipping and unzipping depended very much on the position of the hand that was holding the pouch as her other hand moved the slider. It depended also on how smoothly she moved the slider. I allowed her plenty of uninterrupted time to try different ways. I only helped when requested and even then, I would describe in a simple way what I was doing, hoping to make my ‘instructions’ clearer. Today Bree is capable of zipping and unzipping the flaps most of the time, especially if the keys are left dangling outside without tucking them behind the flaps. She is still struggling with the zipper for the coin compartment. Instead of playing with it on the floor like she used to, she now collects it from her drawer to keep it in her handbag and takes them along with her when she rides her tricycle. This coin pouch/key ring is one example supporting the belief that children don’t always need fancy battery operated toys with lots of buttons to push to make silly noises.

One other thing that I observed my young charges (e.g. 6-18 month olds) doing when they were offered a variety of things (like the contents of a Discovery Basket) to explore, was how they were easily influenced by another person’s actions or choice. Baby may select an attractive object from the basket but his/her attention will turn to what his/her carer picks from the basket. As soon as the other person returns the item into the basket, baby is likely to drop the item in his or her hand to pick up the item returned by the other person. Aren’t they just so curious? This is probably why we have often heard bossy pre-school age siblings of such babies telling them, “Don’t copy me!” or “Nanny @#%*-@#%*, he/she is copying me again!” I am pretty sure mums, nannies and other carers of young children all over the world have observed this happening to their little charges. I just find little things like this interesting.

A Couple More Photos

Here are two more photos from the weekend. These were taken at Crown Casino. Now that I finally got them loaded up, I am off to slumberland. I need my beauty sleep.

Photos & Chinese New Year Experiences

Here are a couple of photos taken on the weekend when we turned up for the Chinese New Year celebrations at Melbourne’s China Town and Crown Casino. The event at China Town was more chaotic than in previous years. There were a few changes that I was not very happy with, but I guess everyone involved was doing their very best. I just wish that Crown would celebrate this fun cultural event on the weekend before or after China Town’s turn. My neighbour told me that Chinese New Year is usually celebrated over 15 days (commencing from the eve to the 15th day of the New Year). So, if China Town is celebrating it on the weekend after the actual date of the Chinese New Year, then Crown should celebrate it before or after that. Then everyone can easily make it to all of the venues. We didn’t even get to the Docklands to see the Dragon Boat race on Sunday. There was just too much happening on the one day. I reckoned that China Town should have top priority because it is after all Chinese New Year we are talking about. People will still turn up even if the events are planned for different weekends as long as they don’t clash with another Aussie event. That happened this time because Sunday was the final day of the St Kilda Festival and as a result, the number of non-Asian Aussies was clearly lower on Sunday evening at Crown.

For free events like these to work it also requires the attendance of some bossy people to ensure enjoyment for all. These days crowd controllers do less, so it is up to bossy people with guts to tell other people to sit down so that everyone else can enjoy the performance on stage. These bossy people were no where to be seen on Sunday night and we ended up standing and getting squashed for around 4 hours. This is made worse because many people do not observe other people’s right to a little bit of personal space. If you think that Cameron and I have an advantage over most of the people around us, my 5 foot 7 inch height can never beat someone an inch or two shorter than me, because they usually have their little 3 year old child on their shoulders as well. It’s not easy trying to sway left and right and ducking the squirming precious little ones just to watch the performance on stage. It was really quite horrible but where else can we experience such cultural events in Australia if we didn’t take part last weekend? Cameron was not bothered one bit but then again, he is well over 6 foot. He was reaching the clouds! I did try to tell some people in front of us to sit down but to no avail. People with precious bottoms absolutely refuse to sit down on the steps (like some lowly coolies) to enjoy the beautiful free entertainment. They prefer to stand. It wasn’t like we were all rocking away at a rock concert. Everyone was just all squashed together in an upright position. Needless to say, I didn’t enjoy the event down at Crown as much as in the previous years. May be it is all in Crown’s interest to have everyone standing up. Those who can’t stand for hours can cut their viewing short to try their hands at a bit of gambling, watch a movie, do a bit of high end shopping or dine at Nobu and the like. People like me who were there for the cultural experience, should really be grateful that we were offered such wonderful shows on the stage despite the physical discomfort.

Ok, enough already! I will stop the whingeing now. Below is a list of brief descriptions of the photos above. I am forever grateful that we have a great education system in place in Australia that requires children to attend schools on Monday mornings. Towards the end of the evening, families in front of us began to leave and their vacated spots allowed some of us (including Cameron & I) a chance to move forward a little. My height became my advantage from then on and I finally got to snap a few photos.

1. Two groups of lions met up and kow-towed to each other. How cute! (Melb ChinaTown)


2. People flocking to checkout the market stalls. (Melb ChinaTown)

PS. I will post a couple of photos taken at Crown Casino in another post. It is not working right now for some reason

2008 Chinese New Year Celebrations @ Crown & China Town

I dashed down to Crown Casino after work last night to meet up with Cameron and Winnie + her family for dinner. Winnie bought us din din to thank us for 'looking after' her apartment while they were away. I told her she didn't have to but she insisted that we join them. Apparently little Michael was over the moon when he learned that we were coming. He was very happy to see us last night, eagerly explaining a few things Chinese to us. (I have written a post about Michael's antics a couple of weeks ago that I still haven't posted. I think I will do that in the next few days.)

If you are in the city this weekend, be sure to visit Crown Casino. The riverside has been transformed into a Hawker's Bazaar with many interesting things on offer for everyone to enjoy. For those who love food (who doesn't?), do try those pork jerky squares or Maxim's custard tarts. Other than the usual folk dancing, martial arts demonstrantion and lion & dragon dancing, there's also Tommy the Noodleman. The picture above is of Tommy and a volunteer making noodles. Visit also the Atrium @ Crown to see 'The Emperor' - an interesting show of sound and light. I think the Emperor is meant to be the beautiful dragon that comes to life during the show. In my opinion, Tommy the Noodleman actually look like this dragon. Compare the two and tell me what you think. LOL.

While the celebrations at Crown in recent years seem to overshadow the celebrations in other parts of Melbourne (particularly China Town), I reckon this unique cultural experience is not complete without a visit to old China Town on Sunday. I will be there tomorrow to take photos of our Millenium Dragon. I thought his name was Dai Loong. Who changed it? There's also dragon boat racing down at Docklands but I don't think we will manage to get to so many places in one day.

Stella and her parents have also decided to visit Crown. Now that she is learning Mandarin at school, her dad will not give this experience a miss. Hopefully the little Missy do not find the noise overwhelming this time. She loves the lions but not the noise of the fire crackers. She is easily affected by sudden loud noise or movements.

Okay, I have got one email to reply and then I will have to go.

Bree’s Kitchen Drawer

Once Bree became mobile (crawling), she went through a stage where she disliked being left on her own, especially in the evenings. Her mum found it hard to keep her occupied while getting dinner ready at the same time. In situations like this, we moved the basket to one end of the kitchen (near the pantry and fridge) and there Bree would sit and play. Then the child gained confidence in her mobility and once she was walking steadily, she did what many toddlers all over the world do. No longer content with just a basketful of goodies to explore, the child became increasingly interested in checking out the kitchen drawers and cupboards.

Up until that stage, Bree’s dad had installed only one child lock for the cupboard under the kitchen sink and another one for the cooking utensils drawer. Then it was a mad race to install more child locks and electric outlet covers. Ideally, I would prefer to lock the child out of the kitchen but it doesn’t always work for all households. The parents also wanted Bree to be part of everything the family did. Bree’s mum and I agreed that some drawers will be left unlocked because the contents were relatively ‘safe’ under supervision. So, the deep drawer under the oven (where cake pans and the like are stored), a drawer for bibs and tea towels and a drawer for recipes and takeaway flyers were kept unlocked.

One day, Bree’s mum placed the recipes and flyers into a box and kept them in the cupboard above the fridge. She emptied all of Bree’s goodies from the basket into the drawer. From that day on, that became Bree’s kitchen drawer. Even though she is now two and a bit, she loves going to the drawer to have a look at what’s inside. The basket has a new job as well. It is now used to store Bree’s toys for the sandpit. She has learned to request to pick up her basket of toys from the laundry and then return it there later.

Eventually all of the items in Bree’s drawer will have to find a new home or return to where they originally came from. While she is happy to play with our version of ‘Fetch’ for now, Bree will soon be ready for the next stage of independence and I will have a new job for her kitchen drawer. I will need to discuss this with her mum first. So stay tuned for the next chapter in the near future.

Bree’s Discovery Basket

For Bree’s very first Easter, someone gave the family a nice hamper. A month or two later, the basket that was part of the hamper sat unused in the laundry. I thought I could use it to make a discovery basket for Bree who had just begun to sit up properly. My ex-charges: Mathilde and her siblings, used one when they were babies. They enjoyed exploring the things that their mum added into the basket. Before I set out to make a similar one, I went to ask Bree’s parents first but they thought that I wanted the basket for my own use and gave it to me right away.

The basket was given a good clean and dried thoroughly under the sun. The first thing I added into the basket the next day was a pair of Aboriginal clapping sticks that were given to Bree for her first Christmas. Yes, someone gave her those when she was just a month old! I also added this ball made out of fabric, a small empty tea box, a Peter Rabbit egg cup, a tea towel and her dad’s old scarf. To encourage lots of tummy time, little Bree had been ‘exercising’ on a single size doona, on the floor in the family living area. On one end of the doona was a small collection of toys. I deliberately placed the basket of goodies on the opposite end and presented it in front of her whenever she sat down for a little play. I preferred to present it to her after her nap and feed because that is usually when she was at the ready to do some ‘discovery’ on her own. She was able to spend as long as 15-20 minutes picking out items of interest to feel them in her hands and taste them in her mouth. Not all items were return to the basket at first. By the time she was around 11-12 months old, she obviously noticed that I put the items back into the basket at the end of each play session; she began to copy by placing the items back into the basket. Again, it was not perfect at first. Unaware that her toys were not meant to go into this basket, she sometimes placed them in it as well.

Bree’s parents caught up with what I was up to. They too began to add things to the basket. An old handbag, a Chinese hand drum, a pair of maracas and a blue stress ball were some of the things that turned up in the basket. I had to trim the contents from time to time. Some items (e.g. an old mobile phone, a large shell, and a pair of compact binoculars) were just not suitable. One item that Bree liked most was an old leather coin pouch with a zipper opening. The pouch doubles as a key ring and Bree’s parents found three old keys for it. Knowing that I can be quite a clean freak, I remembered them reassuring me that Bree’s dad had washed the keys. LOL.

Today, Bree no longer has a discovery basket. Read the next post to find out what happened to it.

Those Poor Polar Bear Cubs

I just learned that another zoo in Germany is pulling the same stunt as when Knut was born. They are letting nature to take its course, opting to starve 3 polar bear cubs because their mum was not very interested in her new role. That is just truly insane! In the wild, animals may abandon their young but when a zoo animal abandons its young and we humans are aware of this, then something should be done to save these vulnerable little ones. Opting to not do a thing is like refusing to help the children of deadbeat human parents who fail to offer basic care, subjecting the poor kids to life’s extreme vulnerabilities and exploitations. There are heartless people out there but most people are unwilling to let a litter of puppies to die simply because their pet pooch decides to snub the little ones. Caring people are likely to at least care for the puppies until they can be given away or sold. Honestly, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out why zoo animals may struggle a bit more to take up the nurturing role of becoming a parent. Let’s give these three little ice bear babies a fair go. There are no lessons to be learned by allowing them to starve and there are only so few of them left on Earth now.
Note: I had wanted to post the above for weeks but chose to wait a little to see if I will hear some good news about the cubs. Well, I can now reveal the horrible news. The cubs mentioned in this post are now dead. They were all eaten by their mum, Wilma. This happened at Nuremberg Zoo and all because they don’t want another Knut Mania. Just where is the zoo’s duty of care?

My Basic Plan for Bree

Bree is only 2 and a bit. It is very important for her to have uninterrupted playtime. I am intending to offer this on most mornings at her house. This helps Bree to be independent and creative. Reading a book or two just before lunch is a must every day. I am going to restrict ‘structured’ type play to just once or twice a week. I prefer to offer this in the mornings as well but I want to make sure that they do not interrupt her Free Play. When Bree pops over to Stella’s house in the afternoons, the little tot gets to play alongside an older child. This will be beneficial to her social development and it is a perfect way to introduce the idea of cooperation. Toddlers are pretty self-centred and there are plenty of things for them to explore and master independently for now. I therefore do not expect Bree to socialise like 4-5 year olds when she is in the company of Stella. People tend to see that being self-centred is bad but I actually think that this is an optimum stage in the child’s life to learn to focus or concentrate independently.

The word ‘structured’ sounds pretty serious but no, the activities I plan for Bree are very simple and no, I do not force her to participate. For example, she had been ladling beans from one large cake mixing (metal) bowl to a smaller salad bowl this week. She concentrates for 10-12 minutes per session. Because this activity involves large beans, I have to supervise closely to prevent choking. Last week, Bree and I played ‘Fetch’. For this activity, Bree had to fetch an item from her kitchen drawer for me. She had to listen to my request before going to the kitchen to fetch the item and then brought the item back in her empty ice-cream container to me. I sat on an armchair in the family area and had full view of the kitchen area that she was heading to. This may be a boring game for someone like Stella and may seem simple but it is not as easy for a toddler. To fetch the right item, Bree had to listen to my request, remember it and then look for it in the drawer to bring it back to me. It is not as simple as the doggy version of fetching a tennis ball that has been thrown. It is also an opportunity to model saying ‘Thank you’ and for her to ask, “What’s next, @#*-@#*?” By the way, she sounded very funny when she said the word ‘next’. It just occurred to me that Bree’s kitchen drawer is an interesting thing to blog about. I think I will do that this weekend.

What a Busy Week!

This week has been a busy and eventful week. Stella started her 13 year long journey to become ‘educated’ and I officially started on my new schedule of working in two houses each day. Bree just went along with the new programme but I am pretty sure she wasn’t quite sure what’s coming and what’s going. All of these must be exhausting for both of them because they are for me.

Stella the Supergirl started school without tears. She wasn’t even frosty to anyone. She was frosty when I started looking after her and she was very frosty when she started at the Kindergarten. Stella’s mum took ages to decide on her little girl’s move to ‘big school’ and because of that Stella missed out on many of the activities design to help ensure a smooth transition. Her parents went along to some activities organized to inform them of the Prep program and to mingle with the parents of other children. Stella didn’t visit the school again until the end term 4. I was absolutely surprised that they actually kept a place for her!

On Tuesday, Stella visited the school for a short time. Only new children were expected on the day. They were divided up into groups and they got to reintroduce themselves to each other, met up with their teacher again and given another tour around the school. Stella’s mum was happy to learn that two other children – siblings in different grades but one is in the same class as Stella, didn’t make it to all of the orientation activities last year. Those kids actually have a legitimate reason – they were still living overseas at the time!

On Wednesday, the official first day of school, Stella came home on a high. She couldn’t stop telling both Bree and I about her day. She said that they didn’t do any reading at all. All they did was play games. I could tell that she was very happy. She spent a day going to school and was then welcomed home by a little tot who was looking forward to playing with her. It was more or less the same on Thursday except that she told me that one of her new friends didn’t believe that she could read and called her a liar.

Today, Stella got home from school looking tired. She was obviously running out of puff. LOL. I swear I saw circles under her eyes. After three and a half days of school, the Supergirl had prematurely morphed into an old lady? I got her out of her school uniform and gave her an early bath because I didn’t think she could make it to the park. After that, all she wanted to do was to chill on the couch. She also wanted Bree to chill on the other couch but the little tot wanted none of it. The tired little girl fell asleep a couple of times. We heard her snoring a little but we had to wake her up because she wasn’t allowed to nap as it was too close to dinner time. I spoke to her mum about Stella being tired, mentioning to her that the first few weeks of Prep are a busy time. She agreed that if Stella falls asleep on the couch again, she should be allowed to nap for no more than 30 minutes for a slight recharge.