This Melbourne Nanny

Toddler No More

2008-12-03T23:43:00.000+11:00

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

2008-12-03T23:38:00.001+11:00

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’

2008-11-29T17:51:00.000+11:00

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

2008-11-27T20:57:00.000+11:00

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

2008-11-09T22:21:00.000+11:00

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?

2008-11-08T23:31:00.000+11:00

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

2008-11-03T18:37:00.000+11:00

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?

2008-10-28T23:55:00.000+11:00

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

2008-09-15T18:56:00.000+10:00

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

2008-09-11T18:55:00.003+10:00

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!

2008-09-10T23:15:00.000+10:00

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

2008-09-01T19:11:00.000+10:00

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

2008-08-26T20:14:00.000+10:00

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

2008-08-23T15:11:00.000+10:00

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

2008-08-17T23:15:00.000+10:00

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

2008-08-11T21:16:00.000+10:00

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

2008-08-06T18:51:00.000+10:00

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)

2008-08-04T18:07:00.000+10:00

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

2008-07-30T20:26:00.005+10:00

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)

2008-07-26T09:34:00.001+10:00

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)

2008-07-23T17:31:00.000+10:00

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)

2008-07-18T16:30:00.000+10:00

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

2008-07-02T23:49:00.001+10:00

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

2008-06-29T22:49:00.000+10:00

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

2008-06-24T18:22:00.000+10:00

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

2008-06-21T22:01:00.001+10:00

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!

2008-06-13T22:33:00.002+10:00

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

2008-06-13T22:30:00.000+10:00

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

2008-06-12T23:24:00.000+10:00

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

2008-06-11T23:14:00.000+10:00

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??

2008-06-03T01:23:00.003+10:00

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?

2008-06-01T03:07:00.003+10:00

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

2008-04-13T12:55:00.004+10:00

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

2008-04-12T21:32:00.000+10:00

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

2008-04-11T23:29:00.000+10:00

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

2008-04-07T22:48:00.001+10:00

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

2008-04-04T22:52:00.000+11:00

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?

2008-04-04T22:28:00.002+11:00

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.

Abandoned Blog?

2008-04-04T00:12:00.002+11:00

I have managed to stay away from this blog for more than a week! No, it has not been deliberately abandoned. Not yet anyway. I have been very busy completing an assignment on top of my usual work commitments. I didn’t think that anyone would miss me because no one reads this blog anyway.

On Good Friday, Cameron and I went down to the gardens (Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne) to do a bit of reading outdoors. It was a nice change, even though I do prefer doing my work at my desk. I love my big desk.

The following is a photo of the Old Melbourne Observatory. Here is where we normally enter the gardens, which is located at the back.

A Surprise DVD for Stella

2008-03-20T23:03:00.000+11:00

Stella received a surprise package last Friday. She went with her mum after school to the post office to pick it up. It was a DVD of ‘The Fairies’ – a popular children’s TV show. Now, one would think that a child of Stella’s age would be pleading to rush home to put the DVD on; the Supergirl actually did the opposite. I wasn’t looking after her that day. After getting her hair cut and dropping by the home of her mother’s client before picking up the fish n’ chips order, Stella had forgotten all about the DVD. It was after she had gone to bed that her mum remembered, when her dad asked about the parcel.

Stella’s mum offered to put on the DVD for her after lunch on Saturday. She took the DVD case to study it. She loves reading anything and everything these days. According to her mum, Stella probably watched 10-15 minutes of the show. When her parents emerged from the study, Stella was over at the art area painting. They asked if she would like to have it turned off and watch it later. Stella replied that she would like to have it on. While her mum was reading the day’s newspaper, she also observed Stella. She told me that Stella didn’t pay attention to the DVD at all. After the painting, Stella went on to play with her doll and then begged her dad for a game of Uno. While waiting for her dad, she chatted to her mum. And when her dad finally came out to join them, the family played Uno. At some point, the show finished. Stella went over to turn it off. She was heard saying, “Oh, it’s finally finished!”
The TV is turned on all hours in many families. It is used to entertain children all day long. Stella’s parents limited TV viewing since she was born. They do this by limiting their own viewing while she is awake as well. A friend of mine who lives in northern country Victoria did the same. Her six year old never acquired the taste to watch TV all day or for long periods. He too has a tendency to quit, preferring to ‘work’ outside after just 10-15 minutes of viewing. A family that I used to work for years ago live in a big house with only one little TV in the family room. The mother made it a conscious effort that TV would not play a big role in their family life. The family can well afford their own mini cinema if they wanted to but the mother told me that she purposely bought the smallest TV available to make it look unimportant. It must be hard planning for children living in Mc Mansions equipped with their own personal in-house entertainment room and TVs or other electronic entertainment fitted in almost every other room throughout the house. That’s a nightmare! Imagine sitting down with 4 children to organize their weekly TV/Media schedules. People actually do this. I read about this suggestion somewhere. I guess being prepared in advance is way better than to fight the children over movies and time permitted every night.

Decorating Easter Egg Shapes

2008-03-19T19:07:00.002+11:00

After last week’s mental block, this is the Easter theme craft that I planned for the girls to make. It is similar to the bauble shapes that Stella and I made for Christmas except that I cut out the shapes at home. Stella’s mum bought some blank ready made bauble shape cards after Christmas. So, I am pretty sure that there are stores out there selling blank ready made egg shape cards to make life easy. Well, since I have surplus cardstock at home, I decided to trace the egg shapes and cut them out myself. Because I also have pink cardstock leftover, I also punched out some circle shapes for the activity. This saved me a few $$.

I originally planned to do this activity on Thursday because it is the last day of work for me this week. We had to do this activity today because Stella is invited to a birthday party after school on Thursday. The following are the steps to how we decorated the eggs.

1. Have the children dab a little bit of Clag glue on each little pink circular shape and then sprinkle each with some glitter. These are then left to dry. (Bree didn’t want to do it because she didn’t like the glitter getting stuck on her fingers while Stella can’t have enough glitter.)
2. At the table, have the children decorate the egg shapes with crayons. (I offered only darker colours. I cut out only 9 egg shapes for the 3 of us to decorate. Bree’s attempts were mostly scribbles going back and forth, and some irregular circular scribble. Stella’s attempts were of course more advance. Hers included her own name, heart shapes, multi-coloured confetti marks, uniform stripes from left to right, etc.)
3. Explain to the children that we are going to paint the egg shapes with runny paint and explain the need to wear a smock. (Luckily, I remembered to bring Bree’s smock to Stella’s house!)
4. Mix the paints with a little help from the children. (Stella suggested green. The girls took turns adding a little water into the bowl that I was stirring. As predicted, Bree added too much water despite being told to stop pouring and laughed her little head off. LOL. I ended up halving that and then added a bit more paint to achieve what we needed.)
5. Encourage each child to paint the egg shapes with the runny paint. Assure them that the patterns they drew earlier on will show through even if they paint over them. (Bree needed no reassurance. She painted not only the eggs but the newspaper lining the table as well. LOL) (Note: Because the egg shapes weren’t cut out of heavy cardstock, I had to watch the amount of paint each girl applied on each shape to prevent it from curling later on.)
6. The shapes are then left to dry and clean up can begin in the meantime. (It took a little longer than expected for the shapes to dry up. The girls left to play with Stella’s felt storyboards.)
7. Once the egg shapes and the circular shapes sprinkled with glitter were all dried, invite the children to dab a little bit of glue at the back of the glittery circles and paste them onto the eggs to make them even more beautiful. (Bree pasted only one circle per egg and she decorated 3 eggs altogether. On the other hand, Stella the glitter girl had to curb the urge from pasting the rest of the glittery circles on the eggs she decorated. I had to remind her that if she covered the eggs with too many glittery circles, no one will be able to see her artwork on the egg shapes.)

I wasn’t very optimistic about this activity at first because I didn’t think Stella would enjoy something like this again but I was wrong. This activity turned out to be fun for both girls. Their parents gave the thumbs up approval as well. It is easy to please some parents.

Note: For this activity to work, it is important that the children do not colour in the entire egg shape, leaving no blank space with their crayons. When painting the egg shape with the runny paint, they are actually painting the spaces in between their drawings – areas not covered by the crayons.

Play Dough Easter Eggs in a Basket

2008-03-19T18:53:00.002+11:00

The girls didn’t venture outdoors on Monday. It was just too hot. I suggested to the girls that we could make Easter eggs using the play dough in the fridge. This is an easy activity for Bree and she loves playing with play dough. The fact that Stella’s dough is always kept refrigerated in the warmer months also made the activity more fun. It is easy for anyone to learn to roll a piece of dough into a sphere shape but it is a little trickier to create egg shapes. Most of the girls’ eggs were spherical and a few were actually pretty well formed ovoids. The eggs didn’t have to be perfect. I was most happy to see the girls enjoying themselves.

While Bree was still happy playing with the play dough, Stella and I looked in her art cupboard for some construction paper to make simple baskets for the eggs. Bree didn’t participate in making the baskets but she did pick the colours for her basket when I asked her to. Bree picked yellow and orange, and Stella picked red and yellow. We needed two pieces of construction paper for each basket because they are not as strong as cardboard/cardstock. Stella was in charge of her own basket, following my suggestions as I made Bree’s. We used double sided sticky tape to adhere the two pieces of paper together to become one and then drew lines like I did. This was done step by step and Stella enjoyed every bit of it. Then I showed the Supergirl how to fold along the lines on all sides. Bree stopped playing with the dough and came over to have a look at what we were up to. After that we got the scissors out to cut the areas near the corners that needed to be cut. Bree sat there mumbling, “Sharp. It’s sharp.” LOL. Once the cutting was done, we had to put away the scissors again. We never used to have to do this in the past but now that Bree is here in the afternoons, we have to be careful. In doing this, Stella is learning to be neat, considerate and thoughtful. The final step to completing the basket’s body was to bring the corners together to be stapled together. As a precaution, I used normal sticky tape to cover the staples inside the baskets.

Thinking that the baskets were complete, the overexcited Stella rushed off to gather the play dough eggs she made earlier. Bree copied her. I asked Stella, “Hey Stella, come and have a look at the baskets. Do you think something is missing?” She came back to have a look and answered, “Oh, I forgot to write my name.” Before I got a chance to say anything else, Stella added, “I will use the new pink pen mummy bought me. I will write Bree’s name, okay? I know how to spell it. She has two ‘e’s in her name. It is like the word ‘green’.” When she came back with the pen, I asked her if there is anything else we can add to the basket to make it easier to hold. I suggested that she think about baskets holding chocolate Easter eggs and proceeded to the art cupboard. She came over and asked, “Do you mean we should add a loop, @#%*-@#%*? We will need ribbons for that.” In reply, I said, “I think the baskets could do with some handles. Shall we try making them with the same construction paper to see if it will work?” (Duh, I already knew it would work!) I didn’t have to invite Bree to pick a colour this time; she was already right next to the cupboard. She found a piece of green cellophane inside Stella’s useful box and was looking around the room through it.

The handles for the basket was easy to make. We just folded the paper lengthwise four times and then stapled each end to opposite sides of the basket. Again, I sticky taped the sharp ends of the staples as a precaution. Before stapling the handles, I demonstrated to Stella how each would look and only then did I invite her to use her new pen to write their names on the handles. While we were folding the paper, Bree wanted to join in. I got her a piece of paper for a bit of folding as well. She didn’t quite get what we were doing and was happy to simply fold the paper without following any directions. I try my best to involve Bree as much as possible. The things that I do with Stella are often not developmentally appropriate for Bree but I do try to allow her to do something similar on the side without following the same directions as Stella. To me, it is important that she is having fun and has the opportunities to observe what others are doing and to work with her hands.

Note: I did try to include a template for the paper basket in this blog but it is not working. How annoying!

I Can Hear The Concert!!!!

2008-03-16T20:04:00.002+11:00

I am not kidding but I can hear the Kiss concert from my balcony. I really should bash myself silly for not going to the Grand Prix. This is so not fair!!!!!!

Hamilton Won the Australian Grand Prix 2008!

2008-03-16T19:47:00.003+11:00

I am so over the moon that Hamilton won the race. Yipeee! We didn't go to the Grand Prix this year and missed out on witnessing my current favourite driver winning the race. We didn't even go down to the Federation Square to watch it on the big screen as planned because it was simply too hot to do so. My favourite part of the race was when Heikki Kovalainen (sorry, if I got the spelling wrong) overtook Alonso during one of the final laps. The feeling was like throwing a pie on Alonso's pretty face. Unfortunately Kovalainen was unable to hold on for long and the current driver I dislike most over took him again. Oh, it was like someone just hit me in the stomach. It would have been such a good start to the year if Kovalainen held on. I can't wait to see what Hamilton will do in Malaysia next week.

PS. We really should all say Omedeto Gozaimasu to Nakajima of Williams. He hung in there and finished the race to pocket 2 points. LOL.

Thoughts about Autocratic Parenting

2008-03-16T19:44:00.000+11:00

(Sorry, I just can’t stop ranting.)

I have seen many examples of parenting styles throughout the years of working as a nanny. Most families do not stick solely to just one style. The autocratic parents that I have worked for are mostly inconsistent. In fact, most of the parents I have worked for are just plain inconsistent when it comes to caring for their children. They are brilliant parents at times but they can go nuts over minor problems on some days. Suddenly, they expect their children to do as they were told. Once the bout is over, these parents are back to being relaxed and laid back again. It can be confusing for the children. I just find the ‘psychotic episodes’ educational. LOL

The visitors to Bree’s house got me thinking. I do not know them well. In fact, it was the first time we met. I therefore have no right to assume that the mother and son have episodes like the other day all the time. As a nanny, I have however worked in households where battles were a common occurrence. I find that autocratic parents, who subscribe to the ‘do-what-I-say’ approach, can make their children feel useless and/or terribly angry. Children growing up in such households can become super defiant towards anyone; especially people they think have some kind of authority over them. They bring with them a loaded bag of tricks to their school or the local playground to unleash their peers with hostility they have mastered from being on the receiving end at home. A typical reaction is to ostracize the offender but such a move can further damage the child’s social development.

Luckily, not all children go down the same road. Some just back down and become ‘good’ kids. These children behave like robots, doing everything as told with little to no resistance. This can lead parents into thinking that they have achieved some sort of success in creating an obedient child. Despite appearing fine, upon closer observation, these children lack self-confidence and do not view themselves positively. How could they possibly see themselves for what they truly are when they have been totally over-powered? Sometimes I wonder if such children want to even look at themselves or think for themselves. Why bother? Is it possible for them to become accustom to the rules controlling their lives?

An autocratic parenting style can also create sneaky children. They behave wonderfully in the presence of people they deem as ‘important’ but are actually the total opposite in ‘private’. They probably worry about not being loved or accepted by their parents if they behave not as expected. At the same time, they also learn to cover up their ‘tracks’ when they are up to no good. They probably also seek opportunities to be in situations where they can let their real personalities shine. If the relationship between parents and child is not strained because the child prefers the company of others, it can be ruined when the child’s ‘secret life’ is revealed. Someone I knew was like that. She was such a lovely girl. My mum used to talk highly about her. Behind our parents’ backs, she was the first to swear like a sailor, smoke, drink alcohol and dropped out of school at the end of Yr 10 because she was sick of playing her parents’ games. Her relationship with her parents has been rocky to this day.
There is a bit of a rebel, goody-two-shoes and sneaky weasel inside each and every one of us. It is typical for a child to display a minimal amount of defiance. This is especially common among toddlers and teenagers. In terms of being good, many busy adults have trouble seeing it, but the opposite of defiance happens more often than we give children credit. And who wouldn’t find at least one attempt to be sneaky if we search our own childhood recollections? Unfortunately, children who are genuinely affected by autocratic parenting display a greater amount of the behavioural issues mentioned above. It doesn’t just occur during specific developmental stages. In Alexandra’s case, her mum used to say, “It’s like there is no end to the terrible 2’s.” Alexandra was then approximately 5.5.

Trying all sorts of things (e.g. humiliations, rewards) to control children so they will do what we expect of them will not work. It may look like it is working but it is not effective on the long run. Apart from the problems mentioned above, others surface, including the possible destruction of the bond between parents and child. The parenting style of my current charges’ parents is very similar to mine. We believe in working cooperatively with the child. We try our best to guide them but at the same time we are also sensitive to the choices they make. For instance, before the visitors arrived, I did prep Bree about greeting and saying ‘Thank you’ but I never made it a demand. The little tot is free to decide. It was great that Bree behaved well but if she had refused or forgot to do what we discussed, I would have stepped in and greeted the visitors or thanked them for us. In doing that, I would have modelled to my young charge the kind of good manners we should all adopt. Our similar practice makes it very easy for me to support the parents’ hard work when it comes to the care of the children. I believe that our consistent approach also makes it less confusing to the children. Unless you have worked in households where your work is constantly undermined, you wouldn’t understand how relieved I am to be working for these two wonderful families.

Got Me Thinking about Alexandra

2008-03-15T22:16:00.000+11:00

Warning: This is another long post!

The behaviour of the little visitor that came with his mum to Bree’s house reminded me of an ex-charge of mine. When I was looking after tricky Alexandra, who can be very rebellious at times, her mum used to force her to thank me or to apologise to me in applicable situations. At times, Alexandra stood defiantly rebelling against her mum’s requests and then demands. Her mum used to react to this by pleading, threatening and then embarrassing the child. What did this nanny do? I stood with a blank facial expression or acted like I was bored. There was nothing I could do. In that household, I was not expected to take up the role of Supernanny and start giving suggestions, especially in situations like this. When the parents were in the mood to ‘listen’ to me, my suggestions were usually rejected or they just went in one ear and out the other. At times Alexandra would give in to her mum and say what was expected of her but this was usually done without sincerity or meaning. In my opinion, that type of response was meaningless but her mum would usually accept them and move on. Other times, Alexandra would do battle to the end and refuse point blank to do what was expected of her. Her mum would usually back down especially if it was time for me to leave. On at least two occasions, she explained her daughter’s personality as stubborn, a highly valuable trait if she was to grow up to work at her dad’s business. She said the same when explaining Alexandra’s bullying tactics at the Early Learning Centre she attended at the time. On another occasion, she said that hired help shouldn’t be expecting to be thanked all the time because they are just doing their job. She looked a little embarrassed after saying that and tried to smile. I wasn’t smiling. In fact I was fuming!

In Alexandra’s case, I didn’t think she lacked knowing when to say what. This is referring to when Alexandra was 4 – 5.5. When handling hot situations like these on my own, I would usually give her 15-30 minutes to cool off by herself (making sure that her younger siblings were out of her way) and when she was ready; she would usually approach me to say what she wanted with sincerity. I have observed many other instances when Alexandra behaved like a polite little lady. The battles happened more so because she enjoyed getting into loggerheads with anyone she fancied at the time. It was like a game to her. Alexandra’s problem had more to do with the anger generated from being forced to do something but her parents preferred band-aid solutions. I sometimes suspected that they didn’t really want to fix the problems at all.

As I have said in another post recently, threats and humiliations won’t do. With headstrong children like Alexandra, doing so is just going to invite them to rebel even more. With children who are more passive and have a tendency to hide their feelings, humiliations can seriously lead to long term damage. They can hide so well that the effects don’t start to show until they are in their teens (or later); freaking the parents into wondering what happened to their quiet one. We do not want the child to say thank you or do certain things just because she is afraid that the adult might ridicule or punish if she didn’t. Neither is it a good idea for the adults to be inconsistent and settle for meaningless responses from the child. I am not urging adults to fight fire with gasoline but in most cases, giving each other a break of a few minutes will cool down the situation to create a better outcome for all. The child’s responses and good intended actions have to come from the heart and it takes time for them to learn and feel that.

I find it easier to teach good manners to 3-6 year olds via short informal chats because they have short attention spans. Long lectures put everyone off (including the readers of this blog who may find that this post is getting too long) and to ensure that I don’t embarrass them, I create situations with characters of the same age so they don’t feel like I am picking on them. I may use puppets, figurines or soft toys to act out these short stories. If possible, I will use picture books with similar themes. It is important to demonstrate to the child the right way to handle the situation being discussed. It has to be clear and obvious because a young child is unlikely to read the real message if the explanations are done too subtly. If the child is up for it, we will role play and a few of my creative ex-charges used to come up with their own scenarios. This type of play is not only demonstrating to the adult of their understanding but is also good for language development as well. Children do make mistakes or forget and when they do, I just take them aside to gently remind them, preferably soon after the incident. It has to be done in private without sounding like a scolding. Right or wrong, the child deserves a decent amount of respect.

When dealing with 6-10 year olds, I might tell them scenarios of what is inappropriate and then what is appropriate before asking them which is acceptable. There will always be a few cheeky ones who will insist on the inappropriate behaviour as being appropriate to stir things around. Another way to encourage good manners is to ask the child how they feel if someone thanks them, apologises to them or simply behaves in a caring and polite way. The child’s response is likely to be positive. I sometimes also switch the question around by asking how another person would feel if the child behaved in a polite manner. Older children who are capable of abstract thinking can better handle this type of questions and are therefore likelier to give an honest response to this question. To this, I would encourage the child to do the same to people around him/her.

Easter Eggs Delivery

2008-03-14T23:52:00.000+11:00

A family friend and her son dropped by to deliver some Easter eggs for Bree today. In return, I was instructed to encourage Bree to give them a small basket of Easter eggs. They dropped by today because they were driving down this way and the family is leaving for Queensland tomorrow. As soon as I got the front door opened to let the visitors in, the little boy of about 4 – 4.5 barged in like he was the young master of this house. Bree greeted everyone with a ‘Hello’ and happy smiles. Okay, I did prep her for it. Earlier, we talked about visitors dropping by and I reminded her to greet and to say ‘Thank you’ if she was given something. The family friend was cheery and polite but was unsuccessful in her attempts to try to get her little boy to be the same. He refused to greet us, preferring to fiddle with the little pewter ornaments on the hallway table. Telling us that she was aware that it was time for Bree’s nap (she had probably spoken to Bree’s mum), she informed us that they weren’t staying for long and that they were here to give Bree some Easter eggs. She called out for her son to give Bree a gift bag. He came over reluctantly, snatched the bag off her hand and then thrust it to Bree and said, “There!” Ignoring Bree’s ‘Thank you’ (without any prompting from me), he then turned to me and asked (referring to the ornaments), “Are those hers?” “No, those are just decorations.” I answered as I walked Bree down the hallway to get the basket of eggs for him. Bree was pretty engrossed with the contents inside her gift bag but she didn’t forget her ‘job’. I was very proud of her when she presented the little boy the basket of Easter eggs. He didn’t thank her despite his mum’s initial encouragement. He too checked out the basket and was disappointed that there was no toy included. By this stage, his mum’s cheerful expression gave way to an angry one. Using a stern voice, she demanded his attention so he could thank us properly and say goodbye. She scolded him but to no avail. The boy just ignored his mum and told me that the Easter bunny will leave him some ‘Cars’ eggs. As they stepped out, I tried to get Bree to say “Thank you for coming.” The first two words were loud and clear but the rest of it was more like a mumble of some sort. LOL. I am not sure if it is her personality or maybe she hasn’t yet entered the dreadful rebellious stage, Bree is still happy to do as requested most of the time. She is just so adorable.

Mental Block

2008-03-14T00:01:00.000+11:00

Next week, the week before Easter weekend will be Stella’s final week for Term 1. Time really flies! The Supergirl has been in school for nearly a term. I have been searching my head for activity ideas with an Easter theme to do with the girls next week. It is hard to plan for two children who are at different stages of development. It has to be something that is not too easy for Stella or she might find it boring. At the same time, the activity must be easy enough for Bree to participate in at least part of it. I normally have tonnes of ideas but this mental block just won’t shift and it is hindering me from planning ahead. I wonder if they will enjoy making hats. Everyone in my group made hats for the Easter Parade when I was at Kindergarten. My mum had to help adjust the paper bag opening so my hat won’t fall through and cover my eyes. LOL.

The Easter weekend marks the start of Stella’s first school holidays. The family will be going to the country for the weekend and Stella won’t be back until the following Thursday. We have already discussed what she would like to do for the school holidays. She told me that she wanted to cook because we haven’t been doing much of that since she started school. We have even proceeded to picking out some things we want to make and the mother and daughter had already bought some of the required ingredients. Stella even proposed to let Bree do some of the cooking as well. LOL

Bree and her parents will be away for Easter as well but they will be back earlier. I will be back at work on the Tuesday, looking after Bree only until Thursday when Stella joins us again.

I think I will go surf the net to see what other Easter theme craft ideas are out there. There must be something that is simple enough for a toddler to do and yet challenging for a preppy. They have to make something similar because I think Bree’s parents weren’t very happy when Stella made some bangles using fluffy pipe-cleaners the other day. I think they feel that Bree was left out but that wasn’t the case. I just didn’t think the little toddler was developmentally ready to make the bangles and I didn’t want her to accidentally poke her eyes out with the pipe-cleaners either. Bree spent the time drawing. She absolutely loves to scribble with crayons these days.

$60 Poorer

2008-03-11T19:23:00.001+11:00

We finally went to Moomba on Sunday evening. The heat kept us away in the day. After less than 15 minutes of wandering around, we paid $60 to go on the Slingshot ride, an exciting burst of a journey that lasted no more than a couple of minutes. It was a scary ride at first but after being flung upwards really high and then returned to bounce really high again; the ride just fizzled out afterwards. The second half of the ride felt like Cameron and I were just strapped side by side bouncing in a giant Jolly Jumper. LOL. Was it worth it? No, of course not! We walked away feeling like fools for wasting our money. My legs were a little wobbly after the ride and luckily, Cameron caught me just in time or everyone who stood around watching would have a big laugh witnessing me tumbling down the stairs to get off the platform. It was $60 for the ride but there were also t-shirts ($25 each) and DVD available for purchase. Luckily we didn’t pay for the extras. From memory, I think the ride was $90 last year. Nevertheless it was unbelievably crazy of me to waste money like that. No more! Moomba may be over for another year but come this weekend, we will be spending money again – the 2008 Australian Grand Prix is on again at Albert Park. Although I dislike the warm weather, I am secretly hoping that it will be so warm on the weekend that we don’t have to go. We haven’t bought tickets yet. Some warning bells have been ringing on and off inside me for the last couple of months. I kept thinking that we will be in some kind of financial turmoil. I even had a nightmare of Cameron buying a new car last night! This is why I am reluctant to part with any money lately.

I Love Being a Nanny

2008-03-10T14:05:00.001+11:00

Spurred on by a few insensitive comments made by someone I barely knew, I decided to write this piece to broadcast to the world my passion in working with little children. Let me just remind the world one more time that being a nanny is not just about changing nappies. There is more to it. I love being a nanny, caring for little children in the security of their own homes. In my opinion, little children should ideally grow up in a small family setting until they are at least 3 or 4 before they are gradually introduced to regular organized programmes in the wider community. Ideally, children should also be cared for by their own parents but sometimes this is not possible if they both work or are operating some kind of business. The parents I work for can afford nannies and they prefer to have one other regular carer looking after their child or children in the comfort of their own homes. Little children are better cared for by a few regular carers (e.g. parents + nanny) as this will help them to establish strong bonds and trust. Babies and toddlers are very generous, loving little beings. If encouraged, they love their nannies just as much as their other primary caregivers (e.g. parents).

Before reading the next part, I just would like to remind everyone that I am aware that most people can’t afford to hire a nanny and there are people out there who are strongly against the idea of having a ‘stranger’ looking after their own precious little ones in the family home.

Sometimes, people argue that it is important to drop their children off at a day care centre for socialization purposes. In my experience, I find that the socialization aspects of my charges are not compromised just because they spend most of the weekdays with me. They do play with other children in the park and on days spent with their parents when I am not there, my charges do play with the children of family friends. Most have some kind of regular get togethers with other children. My current charges are single children without siblings and yet both Bree and Stella are sociable little beings. Each child has a strong natural bond with her parents and bonding with their nanny is just a natural extension of the same process. The parents and I work together to foster good self-esteem and independence in the girls to prepare them for when they join other children in the outside world. Already we are seeing how Stella is not easily swayed by the opinions of her new friends at the primary school. Interacting with people of different ages (e.g. me, siblings and other people) is a form of communication that I strongly encourage all of my charges to do. (How often do we see a work environment where everyone is of the same age?) Such experiences will give children a feel of what is comfortable and what is not while still being supervised. Imagining young children being cared for long hours in a large noisy setting where everyone, except the carers, is of similar age group is nightmarish to me. They deserve to spend at least a few of their early years discovering themselves, connecting with their home environment and practising social interactions in small ‘controlled’ doses. Children who are too young or not yet ready to handle such situations are not only immersed in chaos each day but are also likely to become preoccupied with conforming to gain peer acceptance or become easily confused by conflicting values. Again I must stress that I am aware that not everyone can afford a nanny. Parents have to make the most out of the options available to them.

One of the insensitive comments I received compared a nanny like me to servants working in neighbouring countries. I find that very hurtful considering that it came from someone I barely knew. This was not a comment left in my blog. The person was a friend of a neighbour. She knew very little about what my work entails. She definitely wouldn’t have a clue of what I offer my charges. I do not just mind them, feed them and keep them clean and out of trouble until the parents come home. That is easy work but I do more to teach my little charges, helping them to become independent individuals. For instance, instead of serving them like they are totally helpless, I observe and provide developmentally appropriate opportunities for them to learn to help themselves. Let me tell you that teaching a little tot how to prepare her own jam penny involves more work and preparation than just shoving a ready made one in front of the child during snack time. Despite the extra work, I absolutely enjoy teaching children little things like this. It is such a delightful sight to see a happy child beaming with pride because she learned to make her own simple snack and made more to share with me or with her parents. I wouldn’t have done it for so long if I didn’t enjoy what I am doing. I can honestly declare to the world that my current position is not a form of modern day slavery. Mind you, there are parents out there who are capable of turning a job like mine into hell simply because they are in the position of hiring a nanny. It is the parents, not the children that are usually the troublemakers and I have seen quite a few ugly parents.

I have learned a lot from being a nanny. One day, all the hands on experiences of dealing with little children will no doubt become handy when I am blessed with my own little ones. As for the ugly parenting that I have witnessed, I am adamant to never apply them to anyone’s children, let alone mine. Despite my enjoyment, my career as a nanny will not go on forever. The biological clock is ticking louder than ever. Hopefully my side project will take flight making it possible for a smooth transition to a new career in the near future. The road ahead is likely to be bumpy but we are becoming readier than ever to take on this next adventure that we have been working on for so long. Meanwhile I will just enjoy the rest of my time playing nanny to Stella and Bree.

I apologise to those of you who find this post long and too full of rants. I just need to get it off my chest. I do not wish to offend parents of children in day care centres or child care workers out there but those are my opinions and everyone is entitled to have their own. If you disagree with my views then let’s just agree to disagree.

Moomba 2008 It's On Again!

2008-03-08T23:35:00.005+11:00

Who doesn't love long weekends? I absolutely look forward to them these days. I was itching to go to Moomba all day but stayed home to get some studies done. We did go and have a little look on Friday evening when we were on our way out for dinner in the city but there wasn't much going on at the time. It was like no one was aware that Moomba is on again. We will definitely be going tomorrow. I am quite tempted to go on the big slingshot ride. Sorry, I don't know the name for the ride but it does look like the riders get blasted from a giant slingshot. That is just so cool!

Here Comes the Competitions, Bonnie!

2008-03-08T23:27:00.000+11:00

Bonnie and baby Nicholas went to a get together at a friend’s house last weekend. Everyone invited turned up with their babies or toddlers. Another friend and I were also invited but we stayed away. I didn’t feel comfortable turning up without any children of my own. It was nice of them to include those of us who have not started a family yet.

Bonnie gave me a call that evening. There was literally no greeting and the woman just started yakking away. The following is roughly part of the conversation that took place.

Bonnie: At what age do babies begin to roll over?
(I didn’t respond because I was wondering why she was asking about this without even greeting?)

Bonnie: Hellooo, are you still there @#%*-@#%*? Please don’t even try to be PC about it.

Me: What?

Bonnie: Oh just tell me. I can handle it.

Me: Both you and I know that each child is an individual and will therefore develop at his or her own rate.

Bonnie: Oh! I just told you not to be PC about it.

Me: I am not trying to be PC. Why?

Bonnie: I can’t find my copy of Baby and Child book. I think I left it at mum’s house. Do you know in which month do babies begin to roll over?

(I decided to annoy her further. LOL.)
Me: Well, like I said, it all depends on the child.

Bonnie: Ok, so I gather that you can’t remember. When did Bree roll? Do you remember?

Me: Why? Is Nicholas rolling? LOL

Bonnie: R* said that her little boy was rolling at 4 months. Do you believe that? Nicholas is three months now and he is definitely not showing any signs of rolling. I am pretty sure that babies are not rolling until around 7 months. Am I right?

Me: Does it matter when he starts to roll?

Bonnie: You are beginning to **** me. I know you are doing this deliberately to **** me. Just why do you ****** do it? Go on, just enlighten me, genius.

Me: Hey, where is Nicky? I thought you didn’t want to sound like the mum in the Ingham Chicken ad. (I laughed so hard that Cameron came to see what was going on.)

Bonnie: R* said that my honeymoon period will be over soon because if Nicky is anything like her son, he will get into all sorts of mischief once he is mobile. I told her that it will be a while yet and she repeated that her little boy began to roll at 4 months and also added that he started to walk at 9.5 months! Someone else in the group dismissed what she said but she then turned to me, suggesting that I should consult the nurse to see if Nicholas is developing properly. That woman is just so annoying. You would think that she would have quit this type of **** by now.

Me: Don’t worry Bon-bon. R*’s little boy is probably going to grow up to be a gymnast or wrestler. Just look at how Nicholas can focus very well. He might grow up to be an Astro-physicist! Don’t let her bother you too much. Did you call someone else before calling me with your question? I feel great that you consider me even though I have no children. What can I possibly know?

Bonnie: Stop putting so much pressure on my little boy and stop putting yourself down. I actually wanted to pull over on the way home to call you but Nicky was fussing in his car seat. It is no fun driving with a crying baby. So, are you going to answer my question?

Me: From what I remember reading, babies usually start to show the urge to turn when they are around 5 – 5.5 months old. They then spend the next month or two practising to perfect the trick. Remember when I told you how I lost A* for a few minutes when she rolled under the couch and got stuck. She was watching me as I was looking for her everywhere. She was close to 7 months then. Bree only started to show interest to roll at about 6.5 months and no one was worried. So, don’t worry.

Bonnie: Hey, that happened to V*’s bubby as well, remember? I think she was under the coffee table. So, why didn’t you just answer me before?

In the rest of the conversation, Bonnie told me what else our friends have been talking about. The tendency to compete was never far away. Eventually the topic of choice was the importance of socialization. R* revealed that her little boy has a girl friend at the day care centre and that they get on very well because they learn to socialize from an early age. By the way, I think R*’s little boy is about 15-18 months old. Someone else talked about how her daughter has a roomful of little friends to grow up with. Then someone asked about the day care centre that R*’s little boy attends and the selling began. Bonnie was targeted particularly because Nicholas is still very young. Bonnie was told that if Nicholas was to have the type of social skills like that of R*’s little boy, she will have to act quick because the waiting list to good day care centres is long. R* even volunteered to enquire for Bonnie. When Bonnie declined, citing that she preferred to keep him at home until it is time for Kindergarten, she was told that she would live to regret for not prepping him. A couple of others suggested that she should at least consider gym or music classes! Why are parents rushing to all these structured lessons? Why do little children have to be entertained by the TV at home and then attend some kind of organized play outside? Why can’t we just leave children alone and let them discover the world gently in the years before they have to go to school? Do parents think that little children will learn nothing or miss out a lot if they don’t attend such classes? There are so many things that we can do at home with the toddler to help them learn and understand the world around them. There is no need to rush. All we (the carers/parents) have to do is to observe the child and offer him / her activities we think they are ready to experience. Mothers do not need a degree in Early Childhood Education to be their child/children’s first teacher at home. There is so much information available free online.

I Love South Melbourne’s Safeway

2008-03-08T23:23:00.000+11:00

It is timely for us to say goodbye to our weekly shopping at Safeway @ QV. We have been shopping at QV since they opened their doors, even before the builders finished their job back in 2003. We love looking around Big W before popping over to Safeway for our groceries. The service at the award winning supermarket has been very good most of the time.

There is now a new Safeway in South Melbourne. It is a bigger store with wider aisles. Above the supermarket is another store that I love visiting, Spotlight. Across from the roundabout outside is the old South Melbourne Market. The strategic location of a variety of stores comes in handy depending on what I am hunting for at the time. We have already shopped at the new Safeway supermarket a few times. Despite minor hiccoughs at the checkouts due to less experienced checkout chicks (a couple of times only); this shop has won us over because it is much less crowded.

From our apartment, the walking distance to Safeway @ QV is roughly the same as the walking distance to South Melbourne’s Safeway. Getting to South Melbourne on foot may involve crossing the mighty busy Kings Way at the lights, but that beats jostling the crowds on the way to Safeway @ QV and then jostling with more people inside the supermarket. Safeway @ QV is like a permanent expo for products Australians use in their daily lives. It is not uncommon to find 5 or more people in a group studying and discussing a pack of Tim Tam or 6 people filing in to buy a litre of milk. What we find most amusing is when people can’t help but study not so discreetly the contents in our trolleys. I am not kidding. That really has happened at least 4 times! We recently enjoyed some relative peace at QV for nearly two months around Christmas time. This is an annual phenomenon. (I know why but do you?) The final straw came in the second week of February. We have had enough jostling with so many people. We need a break and luckily we have another Safeway nearby. We will definitely shop more at South Melbourne’s Safeway. It is just less stressful. Shopping shouldn’t be so stressful.

Smiley Baby Nicholas

2008-02-29T23:43:00.000+11:00

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?

2008-02-29T01:02:00.000+11:00

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)

2008-02-28T22:53:00.000+11:00

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

2008-02-26T23:58:00.000+11:00

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

2008-02-26T23:45:00.000+11:00

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

2008-02-24T22:51:00.000+11:00

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?

2008-02-23T23:13:00.000+11:00

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

2008-02-22T19:19:00.000+11:00

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?

2008-02-21T23:44:00.001+11:00

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

2008-02-19T23:06:00.000+11:00

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’

2008-02-17T20:16:00.000+11:00

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

2008-02-17T20:15:00.001+11:00

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

2008-02-17T10:22:00.004+11:00

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

2008-02-14T23:20:00.003+11:00

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

2008-02-14T23:12:00.000+11:00

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

2008-02-13T00:01:00.000+11:00

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

2008-02-12T23:18:00.000+11:00

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.

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

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

2008-02-09T09:19:00.000+11:00

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

2008-02-08T22:11:00.000+11:00

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

2008-02-07T23:52:00.000+11:00

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

2008-02-06T23:55:00.000+11:00

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

2008-02-02T01:25:00.000+11:00

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!

2008-02-02T01:18:00.000+11:00

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.

Buying Prescription Glasses Online

2008-01-30T21:32:00.000+11:00

The festive season is well and truly over but I find myself needing more and more stuff. I need new jeans because most of the ones that I have are falling off me if I don’t use a belt and I really don’t like using one. A duffle coat is also on my wish list. I think I also need new glasses too. My next check up is due around the middle of the year. I have been checking out what other people are wearing and I desperately wish to get myself a pair of those that gives me a more mature look. I know that I am being greedy because I mostly wear contact lens.

I heard from someone that it is now possible to buy prescription glasses online. I love the savings by buying directly from the manufacturers. An up to date prescription issued by the Optometrist is required to buy prescription lenses online. Most Optometrists do issue one to each customer but I have been to one company that refused to issue one. That was the 90’s. I bought one pair of spectacles from them and that was it. They still send me offers to this day! LOL.

Zenni Optical is one such place to buy online prescription glasses. Zenni Optical: Sell Rx Glasses $8 with case! They manufacture their own fashionable glasses using modern materials. I just had a look at the website and I find their prices very affordable. This is because the customers are buying straight from the manufacturers without going through middlemen. With the option to now buy glasses online, affordability and variety are suddenly more widely available to everyone.

I Got Tagged!

2008-01-28T17:59:00.000+11:00

I was tagged by Preemie Twins' Nanny last week. This is the first time something like this had happened to me. She could be my only regular reader of this blog. Since I have not done this before, I will have to ‘study’ what she did with hers!

It looks like I have to list the rules first:
1. Link to the person that tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4. Tag at least 3 people at the end of your post and link to their blogs.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the fun begins.

Here are my 6 responses:
1. I love to collect shoes – no, not just shoes for myself. I actually collect children’s shoes – no, not just any children’s shoes. They have to be Start Rite Brand and they have to be made in England.
2. I prefer to use only white coloured pegs!
3. I don’t like green pickles inside hamburgers but I love the yellow pickled daikon used in Japanese foods like Sushi.
4. I prefer not to kill bugs like spiders. I just catch them if they come into the apartment and then release them alive in the lawn areas downstairs.
5. I love to play pranks.
6. I would like to keep a McDonald’s Cheeseburger to see if it is true that it doesn’t decompose like normal.

There, there, I have done it. Unfortunately, I do not have 3 other people to tag. I read blogs regularly but other than two other people (including Preemie Twins' Nanny who already tagged me for this) I do not know of anyone else online to tag. I really should start networking by dropping comments.

The African Village @ Southbank

2008-01-28T14:18:00.000+11:00

We visited the African Village, erected temporarily as part of Australia Day celebrations on the grassy area next to Hamer Hall. It was absolutely good fun. I have been wanting for someone to organize something like this for a while. I know so little about Africa and judging by the reactions of some people to some incidents that occurred at the end of 2007, they are a misunderstood lot just like previous generations of migrants from various parts of the world. This type of cultural experiences help everyone to understand each other a bit better. Cameron said that there was also a Bollywood thingo going on at Fitzroy Gardens. We gave that a miss because we have already been to a Bollywood event a couple years ago.

Here are a few photos I took at the African Village. Most of the photos didn't turn out as well because of the glare from the sun. Here are the better ones:

The top photo is of a guy making the roof of a hut.
The same guy then joined his mates to play some music. Check out the other guy's hat!
This little guy decided to join in as well. I desperately wished that he would turn his head my way but he didn't.
According to a board, this is a display of Southern Sudanese Weaving Craft. A lady came over to greet us when she saw that I took an interest. I desperately wanted to ask if they use them as a platter to display fruits at home but was too shy to.

My Yummy Start to Australia Day

2008-01-26T10:43:00.000+11:00

To everyone who celebrates Australia Day, Happy Australia Day! The picture above is my breakfast: Vegemite on Toast with a slice of Aussie shaped Bega Tasty Cheese. Hey, look at the picture closely. I even included Tasmania! My Aussie cookie cutter does not include Tasmania but I made a point to include it even though the shape might not be accurate. Cameron and I went for a 4 and a half hour walk yesterday and now we are ready to start the long weekend celebrations with less guilt. There are so many celebrations and events (involving lots of foods) around this time of the year. I sometimes wish that they are all happening in Winter. I don't enjoy food as much in Summer. It will hit 32°C today and I am already feeling the heat when I was taking the photo. The slice of cheese was already beginning to 'sweat'. LOL. I don't know about you but I find 'sweaty' cheese a bit unpalatable. I just love well presented foods - which is probably why I am so drawn to Japanese foods (not whale meat or anything involving endangered animals). I just looked out of my balcony and saw a funny sight. A dad is trying to do synchronize swimming to amuse his baby. LOL. The baby being held by his/her mum didn't laugh. So, he is now trying to be a seal instead. LOL.

PS. If you are anywhere near Melbourne CBD on this long weekend, do make sure that you visit the area under the Arts Center Spire (where the 'waves' are). The area has been transformed into an African Village. One of the things suggested by The National Australia Day Council for all Aussies to do is to visit a community of different ethnic populations and share the cultural influences they bring to Australia.

A Box of Sultanas

2008-01-26T10:09:00.000+11:00

This is a box of Sunbeam Sultanas. I really should use the word ‘pack’ but the word ‘box’ has stuck because that is how I have always referred to it since I was probably Bree’s age (2). This is a 40g pack and we usually allow Bree a serve of about a third of the pack. If she has eaten 2 Marie or ANZAC biscuits, I will usually give her less than a third.

Sunbeam also makes mini packs of Apple & Sultanas, Apricot & Sultanas and Pineapple & Sultanas. As a little child, I used to dig into my mum’s handbag to see what she had hidden. Depending on where we were living at the time, more often than not, a small pack of sultanas would be found.

A Trial Run

2008-01-23T23:38:00.000+11:00

We gave the children a trial run of being looked after together in the last three days (including today). We were at Bree’s house on Monday and Tuesday, and spent today at Stella’s.

Bree played well with Stella. She wanted to do everything that Stella did. This included wanting to eat Stella’s packed lunch. It was her turn to eat a packed lunch today. She was given a lunch box set by someone for her birthday in November and Ettie bought her a backpack when she was in Sydney. All of these were put into use. Bree came to Stella’s house today all decked out like she was going to crèche. Her backpack was filled with a set of spare clothes, including a nappy for naptime. Wearing a nappy for naptime at Stella’s might confuse her because she has already begun to nap without a nappy at home. Her lunch box and drink bottle were placed in the fridge immediately, to keep them cool. It was very nice for Stella’s mum to offer Bree the use of Stella’s old portable cot. This means that there was one item less for Bree’s parents to bring along. Apart from the backpack and lunch set, Bree also came with her buggy and a potty. The logistics of transporting a child is not all that simple.

Stella played the role of big sister happily. Since Stella’s new fan was so happy to follow her around and enjoyed her company, she got the opportunity to care for someone younger that she would otherwise have little chance to. She helped to put on Bree’s sandals. She pushed Bree on the swings and played together in the sandpit. She was caring and gentle with the little tot. At her own house, she shared her toys with Bree without an incident between them. She even picked a simple book to read to Bree. The little tot looked at Stella’s fingers pointing at each word as she read. I think she was more fascinated by Stella’s actions than the content of the story. Bree probably wondered why Stella focussed so much on the print rather than the pictures. Somewhere along the way, Stella ended up reading to herself (because she was struggling with some words) and Bree ended up snuggling up to me. Bree clapped anyway when Stella finally finished reading. I think Stella felt pretty good that someone else ‘enjoyed’ her reading. LOL.

This arrangement is all new for both girls. They got on very well. There is no way for me to predict for how long this will last. Of course I wish that they will get on well most of the time. Realistically, they can’t be perfect little ladies all the time. I am at the ready for little squabbles once the novelty of being look after together wears off. Right now, I am just enjoying the honeymoon period.

Stella will be going to school from next week. The schedule for Preppies is quite ‘weird’ at first. It is designed to gradually ease the child into the world of school. Bree and I will have to work around Stella’s schedule until some type of regularity is established. There is also talk now about signing up to gymnastics after school. The extra-curricular activity does not really affect my workload because if I wasn’t at Stella’s, I would be at Bree’s.

Good Manners like Saying Thank You

2008-01-20T21:40:00.000+11:00

Warning: This is a long post!
In my years of working with families, taking care of little children, I have seen things people do to get their children to behave in a certain way and to say certain words to at least look like they are well behaved. For instance, some new parents are so eager to either be good examples right from the start or for fear of being judged by another adult (especially a nanny), they ask the baby of only a few months old to say thank you when something is handed to him or her. I think that in many of these instances, the parents were doing it for show because the child is way too young to be aware of such social rules and when the right timing comes along, few parents actually consider spending time teaching the child the fine details of good manners. And by the time the house is filled with additional children, some parents are so exhausted; they either give up on these ‘little finer details of life’ and may even delegate the job to teachers or resort to threats and humiliation.

Threatening or humiliating a child is definitely the wrong way to encourage them to practise good manners. I am certain that it will backfire and depending on the child’s personality, it can be quite damaging. The example I gave before does not mean that I am against the idea of setting good examples. Role modelling is the most effective way but it shouldn’t be done as a show and if the child is expected to participate, then it should be age appropriate as well. The child’s adult carers, older siblings, other family members and friends are the role models. They need to be consistent because the young child is learning by observing what and how others behave in different situations. There is little point in teaching values like saying Thank You when no one around him follows that through in real life.

‘Ta’ is the easy word used widely in Australia as a way to say Thank You casually. This is not allowed in a few households because it is considered inferior to them. This is not a problem in the two households that I work for now. Stella is growing out of it while Bree has just begun to use it in the last few months.

One afternoon, Bree got up from her nap asking for ‘tanies’ (her word for sultanas) for afternoon tea. I decided right then that I was going to show her how to say Thank You. As she was sitting on the potty, I simply told her that when I give her ‘tanies’, she should say ‘ta’. She looked at me with a funny facial expression. I wasn’t sure if she was concentrating on what she was doing at the time or if she was having trouble understanding what I just said. LOL. Once she was seated at her little table, I handed her the opened cookie jar for her daily allowance of two Marie biscuits. (By the way, Bree has been able to count to two since before Christmas!) Before I got a chance to prompt her, she said, ‘Ta’. Half way through the first biscuit, I was at the kitchen counter pouring her half a cup of milk; she remembered her earlier request for ‘tanies’ and asked for it. I came back to her table with her milk and a small pack of sultanas. She didn’t thank me when I placed the milk in front of her. She must have forgotten because she was totally focussing on the pack of sultanas. LOL. I then reminded her by simply saying that Bree should say thank you or ‘ta’ when @#*-@#* gives her something. She didn’t say it but she was clearly listening. When she finished her last mouthful of biscuit, I placed two little sultanas on her plate. She thanked me before eating them. We repeated this until she ate about a third of the little box of sultanas. Bree is allowed to have half a box at a time and her allowance is normally placed on her plate except that I decided to play this little game with her that day to encourage her to say Thank You. She had less that day because she also had those two Marie biscuits. Even though little toddlers prefer small meals throughout the day, her parents prefer that she is not overfed during morning and afternoon tea times because food served at proper mealtimes (e.g. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner) is far more nutritious than biscuits. Since then, we have also role played the sequence using props like her red puppy dog (a soft toy that looks rather like Clifford) and toy food. We have also branched out to other nice things to say (e.g. ‘please’). This is a long process especially with Bree partly because she has only just begun to use short sentences. Practice is the key to success. Apparently her dad didn’t quite know what to make of it when his little girl thanked him. LOL. He wasn’t expecting it and I think Bree is still pretty much the miracle baby that they brought home a little over two years ago.

Stella All Dressed Up

2008-01-16T20:50:00.000+11:00

Today is my first day back at Stella’s. She was waiting for me at the front yard all dressed up for school! She called out for me, rushed up to me and gave me a big hug. As we walked to the front door, I asked if she was going to school. Stella was in full Summer uniform from head to toe. She said, “No but I really want to show you my uniform. I will be wearing this to school soon. Do you like my dress?”

Inside the house, her hardworking dad had already left for work. Her mum was busy clearing the mess in the kitchen. She gave me a warm, friendly hug to welcome me back. She asked if I saw the big girl in her school uniform. It was obvious that she was just as happy as her daughter was about school. When Stella appeared, her mum quickly asked her to show me her big backpack and the little girl rushed down the hallway to retrieve it. She commented on how big the bag is on her little girl. It is pretty big. In fact, her uniform is big too. I think they bought a larger size hoping that they can still be worn again come term 4.

It is tricky buying school clothes that will fit for term 1 and then again in term 4 because the child might have a growth spurt in between. The son of a friend of mine wore his first uniform for one term only. When it was time to wear Summer uniform again in term 4, they were too small and my friend had no option but to buy a new set. I remember how she was worried that he might put on weight over the Summer break and might have to buy more in the new school year. LOL. It is worse if a school has a specific uniform for use in the Prep year only.

Something funny happened when I was at Stella’s. She went to her cupboard of art supplies and retrieved a box containing paper art materials. She reached into the box and pulled out something. I wasn’t paying much attention because I was trying to figure out the painting that Stella’s mum had just started. I thought what I saw was a little rude to be placed on display like this. (The art stations for both mother and daughter are right next to each other.) Stella showed me a little package and said, “Look @#*-@#*, we don’t need to cut Christmas decorations again. Mum bought this for us to make more next time, but Christmas is a long time from now…” I turned to take the package from her for closer inspection and saw that it was a pack of blank bauble shaped cards, all ready to be decorated! Poor Stella had to cut the shapes I traced manually to decorate her Christmas tree when I could have easily bought some of these. LOL. Stella can be very chatty and the next thing I heard coming out of her mouth was: “I won’t get sore hands from cutting those decorations again.” At the time, I thought the cutting exercise was great for Stella but she must have been suffering in silence. LOL. I do agree that the pack of bauble shaped cards will make things easier and because the shapes were pre-cut professionally, I think they will look heaps better too. Why didn’t I think of that? I am now pretty sure that I have seen them in shops before. Stella could have spent more time decorating each rather than cutting each one out with great difficulty. She had trouble cutting the curvy outlines and was quite bothered by the quality of her cutting.

Back Looking After Bree

2008-01-16T20:25:00.000+11:00

I went back to work on Monday and it was with Bree only. She was still in her pyjamas, having breakfast on her own when I got there. They were all running late and everyone welcomed me back warmly. Bree was reminded by her mum that there was something she had to tell me. She came over, tugging at her pyjama top and said, “Ta, @#*-@#*.” I responded by giving her a big squeeze and said, “You are welcome, little one.” She repeated the words ‘little one’ and squealed. I haven’t seen her for roughly a month and that’s a long time in a little toddler’s world. I was very happy that she was happy to see me and was wearing the pyjamas that I had made her.

Bree’s mother was busy getting herself ready to see a business client and didn’t have the time to properly give me the latest on Bree. Her father was also in a hurry to leave but he must have been feeling chatty because he stayed a bit to tell me about Bree’s stay in Sydney at Ettie’s home. Apparently she was spoilt rotten and almost needed a new suitcase to pack her loot when it was time to come back to Melbourne. Luckily there was room in her father’s suitcase. Bree’s mum did eventually have a proper chat with me over the phone when the tot was having her nap. She spoke about Ettie’s attempt to turn Bree into a shopaholic. Apparently Bree received at least one gift per day. Ettie just couldn’t resist introducing the tot to everyone and taking her everywhere to meet people.

Bree was clingy in the last two days. She just wanted to be physically close to me. When I sat somewhere that was a metre or two away from her, she would pick up her toys and move next to me. She was especially cuddly as well. I felt like she cherished the time spent with me since we had not seen each other for such a long time. I had a similar break at the end of 2006 and Bree had just turned 1 then. Although she was happy to see me when I came back to work after that break she wasn’t as affectionate. I like the attention I am given. I am not complaining. It is a good start to the year.

Strange Maman

2008-01-13T23:13:00.000+11:00

Beware: This is a long post!
I will be returning to work tomorrow. Cameron went over to his parents to help them with their computer, so I took the opportunity to go down to the new Spotlight store in South Melbourne. It is better to go without Cameron tagging along because I need to have a good look at the range of fabrics they have.

I was a bit lazy because I stayed up till around 5:00 am and so I decided to take the tram there. This meant that I had to take two trams when I could have quite easily walked. Believe me; I truly regretted not walking after the weird experience that happened at the tram stop.

When I was approaching the tram stop that is virtually outside my building, a mum and her girls were crossing the road heading to the same tram stop as well. Being a kid magnet that seems to attract children’s attention all the time, I chose not to wait for the tram at the stop and proceeded to the stop’s shelter on the other side of the road. This move didn’t stop the girls from greeting me. I sat at the shelter deliberately looking at the city’s skyscrapers to avoid eye contact with the little girls. The older child would be 3 or 4 while the younger child is about Bree’s age. The younger one kept saying hello to me from her stroller. The older one joined in and asked for my name and whereabouts I was going. I just smiled, waved and refused to engage any further. (I am not heartless or unfriendly. I have my reasons as to why I do not respond to children I do not know. I am well aware that I am not practising what I preach.) Because they were talking quite loud, I could hear that mum was talking to them in French and they responded in either French or English. That is not a problem to me. I am all for bilingualism or multilingualism. Some people get very offended by the sounds of people (including strangers) speaking in a different language.

(Get back on track, This Melbourne Nanny!)

Just when I thought the tram was never going to turn up, I heard its screeching wheels rumbling down the bendy part of Southbank Boulevard. I then walked over to the stop to wait for it. By then the younger child was no longer sitting in her stroller and was standing on the tracks. The stroller too was on the tracks. Mum and older child stood behind the white line and all were watching the approaching tram that had just turned into our street. I wanted to say something to warn the mum. She turned to look at the shelter (where I was) and then turned around and saw me at the stop. She had this unfriendly facial expression like she didn’t like me being there. I pointed at the tram and told her that the tram was coming. She turned towards the tram again. The older child was waving at the tram and the younger child was still on the tracks. The tram started to slow down and the driver could be seen waving at the young family to get out of the way. He was also sounding the horn/bell. Instead of moving her little tot and the stroller from the tracks, she turned to give me a nasty look! The tram was less than 10 metres away and I gestured frantically as I asked her to move the child. She picked up the kid and shook her head in disgust like I was causing her a lot of inconvenience. The tram came to a stop at the end of the stop. It was quite a funny sight when she beckoned the driver to come forward while the frustrated driver was gesturing her to remove the stroller from the tracks. The children were entertained, laughing away at what was happening. I said, “The stroller is…” and she put one hand up to block me like she wasn’t interested with what I had to say. Eventually, the driver had to use the loud speakers to tell her to move the stroller. She did that shaking her head again and the tram moved forward slowly. The front doors opened and it looked like I had to go in through the same entrance as them because I couldn’t get to the other doors. Despite being rude to me, I offered to help her. Being a nanny, I am well aware of the difficulties of taking two small children plus a stroller onto a tram. She yelled at the tram driver, asking, “Why did you stop so far away?” and then turned to block me by raising her hand right in front of my face. It was like, talk to the hand because the face is not responding to your offer to help. I gave up and ran up the road (which was free of traffic) to the end of the stop to hop on the tram via the back doors. The driver was clearly offended by being yelled at that he didn’t come out of his cockpit to help them. She was left struggling on her own and no one else came to her rescue either.
I took a seat near the middle door. An old lady kindly left her seat to take up another seat nearby to allow the family the seats closes to the front door. She didn’t thank the lady either. The younger child started to interact with the old lady. Instead of holding on to her for safety, she allowed the tot to stand up holding onto a pole. In my opinion, the pole is too thick for the child to hold on to securely and I would never let my charges stand around like this on a moving tram. Just as predicted, the child fell over as soon as the tram started to move. Imagine if she was the nanny!

I was only on the tram for a few stops before changing over to another tram for another few more stops. During the whole time that I had to share my tram ride with this interesting woman and her girls, she made me feel horrible. She kept turning around to check her fellow passengers on the tram paying particular attention at me and another guy who was sitting right behind her. Her searing stares made me feel very uncomfortable. I was travelling light and didn’t have a book or even my diary in my bag to keep me occupied. I tried to look out of the windows but every time she turned around to stare at me, I became self conscious wondering what I did wrong. The guy she was also staring at got off one stop before me. When I stood up to pull the cord for the next stop, she virtually jumped out of her seat for some reasons. I decided not to get out via the front doors to give her some peace. Besides, the middle doors were closer to me anyway. I was getting stared at even as I was getting off the tram.

She was probably relieved that I was gone but I think that I am more relieved that she wasn’t heading to Spotlight too. I wonder what her problem was. She looked healthy. The kids looked clean and healthy too. I hope I won’t be bumping into them again. The rest of my trip was fun. I bought some material that I may use someday. I think I am like a lot of sewers. We just can’t help spending money on nice fabrics and the nice collection just keeps piling up over time. LOL.

Unique Book Sale

2008-01-13T05:18:00.000+11:00

I just got wind that there is going to be a book sale at a Salvation Army Church Hall on next Friday & Saturday (18/01/08 3 pm – 9 pm & 19/01/08 10 am – 5 pm). The exact address is at 61 Guildford Road, Surrey Hills. Victoria. It is a joint effort between two online bookshops (Credo Trust and Chariot Press) catering to parents who educate their children at home. I have nothing to do with this book sale but I believe the collection on display will be interesting to those who are interested in the education of young children. They sell books that are not available in typical bookshops and there may be children’s books with a Christian flavour that may not be palatable to some, but I am open minded. I can’t wait to see if they have anything interesting that I can add to my collection. I will post an update after I have been.

Customised Stationery

2008-01-13T04:34:00.000+11:00

Ooh this is my first opportunity to blog about a website for sometime. Do you like personalised cards, stationery or calendars? I certainly do. Have a look and see what VistaPrint have on offer. They make Christmas cards that look more professional than my handmade ones. I know that the next Christmas is approximately another 11.5 months away but VistaPrint have other products as well. They print business cards, marketing / promotional materials, business stationery like letterheads, sticky notes, rubberstamps and sticky labels. They also carry a range of complimentary products like card holders and ink pads. Customers can upload their own design through the website following 4 steps. There is also an interesting range of logos to choose from. Has anyone seen those personalised sticky address labels with caricature of each member of the household printed also under the address? Well, I just found out that VistaPrint prints them also. For business operators interested to better market themselves, this print shop also prints
Postcards that can be sent to loyal customers to notify them of new offers or events. This is one way to improve sales. There are hundreds of designs to choose from and there is also the option to upload a personal logo or photo. On top of that, they are offering a 25% discount off the regular price. So, instead of paying $41.99, 100 full colour postcards now cost only $31.49.

A Thank You Note from Stella

2008-01-12T14:19:00.000+11:00

I received a Thank You note from Stella last week. There was a stamp on the envelope but it wasn’t postmarked. I assumed that they must have dropped it into our letterbox in person. They must have returned to Melbourne early or at least her dad did. Stella and her parents spend this time of the year in the country. It was just a simple note thanking me for the pyjamas and picture book. I could see that she tried to be neat in her writing and spotted two spelling mistakes for the words: pyjamas and picture. The y was missing in pyjamas and the word for picture was written as pikch. LOL. Give the kid a break, This Melbourne Nanny! Her mum probably saw this as the right time to introduce the art of letter writing now that she is starting to write and read.

Seriously, I appreciated Stella’s effort. I was very miserable that day because it was very hot and the note cheered me up a little. I wonder if she was made to make thank you notes or did she eagerly take it up after it was suggested? Is it possible that she came up with the idea herself? I think I will bring it up in a conversation when I see her next week.

It really is nice to receive a Thank You note but it is not something I aim for whenever I give someone a gift. I just think that it is nice to thank someone properly if he or she has taken time and trouble to get me a gift. A young child of say between the age of 3 & 4 can be asked to draw a nice picture to thank someone. An adult can help the child to write a simple message. Older children may be able to do both themselves. Because there may be quite a few people to thank, children do get tired of doing the same thing over and over. I have two solutions to this.
1. Spread out the work over a few days. They don’t have to be all posted on Boxing Day. Encourage the child to do a few each day. It is the thought that counts.
2. Now, I am not big on introducing the computer to a child too soon but many parents are big on it. So, if the child has access to the home computer, make use of a simple software like MS Paint for a child to create a picture for the Thank You note and then type a simple message under the picture before adding the child’s name. Just print out the required amount (one at a time) and make sure that each is addressed to the right person because you don’t want to print out 15 copies addressed to Uncle Greg!

The second solution sounds like cheating but it is an easier option to keep the young child motivated and interested. It is far better than forcing the child to churn out multiple copies by hand, under duress.

Just A Few Days Left!

2008-01-11T20:38:00.000+11:00

I will be returning to work on Monday. My break went so quickly. There were moments when I thought I would be bored, stuck without a thing to do. How untrue? I found plenty to do and there are still plenty of things waiting to be done. I now find myself wishing for extra time away from work. I really shouldn’t be so greedy. I had a good break doing the things I enjoy doing. Instead of dipping into the pool at the end of a working day, I got to swim whenever I felt like it. I got to spend time with Cameron during his break without having to rush like crazy. I had the time to catch up with dear friends, sew, read books and blogs (including a few that made me really angry) and eat yummy foods. What more do I want? I think the only thing that I really regret not completing is my failure to make these paper dolls because I was unable to download them properly online. I don’t know why but we quite often have trouble opening PDF files.

Please Find Someone Else To Be the Voice of Knut

2008-01-10T14:15:00.000+11:00

I heard that a movie is going to be made about the life of Knut – the ice bear baby from Germany. I also heard that a certain actor and his daughter are likely to be selected to be Knut’s voice. I personally think that this was a lousy choice. I am pretty sure that there are other actors out there who are better candidates to be Knut. I hope the producers will consider other actors. I am pretty sure that I won’t be watching it if this actor is really going to be the voice of this super famous polar bear. Sorry, I am just not interested. I hope I won’t get sued for voicing my opinion. Notice how I didn’t even name the actor? LOL.

Had a Chat with Batboy (Lachlan)

2008-01-09T16:24:00.000+11:00

Saturday was too hot for grocery shopping. We went on Sunday instead. The cool change was a welcome relieve. Cameron popped over to Borders to pick up a book he had ordered and I waited for him at QV’s food court trying this really delicious pudding in a lovely Orange shape container from Bread Top. As I thumbed through the Big W catalogue, I noticed from the corner of my left eye, the figure of a little person eyeing me. I don’t know why but I am quite a kid-magnet. I made a conscious effort to not make any eye-contact and I might one day write a post about why someday. After a minute or two, I could see the little person approaching towards my direction. I wanted the adult in charge of him to call him back. I didn’t want to engage in any conversation and I definitely didn’t want my day ruined. The little person came over to my table and sat down on one end of the bench. I was still refusing to make eye-contact but I knew I would have to soon. The child spoke first. He greeted, “Hello @#*-@#*.” His voice was familiar and he knew my name! I looked up and made eye-contact but I didn’t instantly recognise him until the adult in charge of him called out, “Lachlan.” To that he said, “Bye” and went back to stand by the man’s side. They were ordering Puffy, a type of cookie with a soft filling.

After a brief chat between the two, the man turned to smile at me. Lachlan came over to my table again. I didn’t recognise him before because he had a haircut. He used to have longish hair. The new look made him more boyish and less babyish. I greeted him politely and explained that I didn’t recognise him at first. He was also wearing this black Spiderman suit which was padded to give him ‘muscles’. As expected, he asked about my orange pudding. He didn’t say much after that. He is a lot less chatty than Stella. I am amazed that he actually came over to greet me though. Lachlan’s father came over to introduce himself. He was surprised too that Lachlan came over to me because he is usually quiet around unfamiliar adults. Before they left, Lachlan’s father urged his son to introduce to me his new nanny when Stella and I meet up with him again at the park. A new nanny? I didn’t know his nanny was leaving. She didn’t talk about leaving. “Which one, Daddy?” Lachlan asked. “All of them. You can introduce all of them.” his father answered. Is there more than one nanny? What is going on? I didn’t ask because I didn’t want to appear nosey but I was curious though.

The first thing I did when I got home was to call Lachlan’s old nanny. Was she sacked? I needed to know if she was alright. I only have her mobile number and I dialled multiple times but I kept getting this message notifying me that she was not connected. I hope she is okay. She seemed to be a good nanny and Lachlan liked her. I wonder what the new nanny is (or nannies are) like. I wonder if Stella and Lachlan will still meet up to play at the park on every Thursday. I was actually anticipating introducing Bree to the duo now that she comes along to be cared for at Stella’s house in the afternoon.

A Name Change for a Certain Somebody

2008-01-04T23:55:00.000+11:00

We have decided to give a certain somebody a name change in this blog. The Good Samaritan appears in many of my posts but he is unhappy with the nickname I have given him. He doesn’t see himself as highly as I do even though he truly is a very nice guy. From now on, the Good Samaritan will be known simply as Cameron.

Fire Bombed!

2008-01-04T23:48:00.000+11:00

Bonnie and her husband + baby Nicholas came over to our apartment on New Year’s Eve to watch the fireworks. We had a lovely evening and Nicholas was of course the main topic of conversation even though he spent most of the time sleeping in his carrycot blissfully unaware of his popularity.

At 11:58 pm, we (minus Nicholas) gathered on our main balcony to wait for the countdown. Many of the balconies in our building were occupied like ours. Larger groups also gathered on the lawns downstairs. Even the security officers (hired specifically to control crowds on special days) were happily waiting for the fireworks. It seemed like everyone was focussing on the roof of the Eureka building. Well, I was!

The fireworks started right on the dot at 12:00 am. I wasn’t sure which way to look. From the main balcony, we were able to see the fireworks at Docklands, from the roof of the Eureka and the ones on the Yarra near Southgate. Because Nicholas was sleeping in the spare room, I was not able to access the other little balcony to view the fireworks on the Yarra near Federation Square. Okay, I admit it. I love fireworks and we see a lot of them throughout the year.

I think the fireworks went for approximately 15 minutes that night. 10 minutes into the show, Bonnie pointed to two red dots in the night sky and asked, “Are those from the fireworks?” The Good Samaritan said, “They can’t possibly drift that far.” I on the other hand was busy watching this helicopter hovering near us with its search light switched on. When I turned to look at the two dots that Bonnie was talking about, even the crowds in the other balconies and on the lawns have begun to focus their attention on them. One dot was orange while the other one was bright red. As they drifted closer, we saw that each dot was actually attached to a tiny white parachute. The orange dot drifted into our complex first. It suddenly flared up and as it fell to the ground, the parachute itself was also consumed by the flames. One security officer rushed to that corner of the lawn to make sure that the fire was put out. Meanwhile the red one was drifting closer towards the balconies on my side of the complex. Bonnie freaked out and ran inside to the amusement of her husband and the Good Samaritan. The people downstairs were calling up to us, warning us to watch out. One lady yelled out, “Oh no, it is going to fall on my head. I am sure of it. It is definitely going to fall on my head.” I was beginning to worry, thinking that it might land on the roof and somehow start an electrical fire. (Okay, this may not make sense to those who understand the behaviour of fire but I am no expert.) It drifted upwards as it passed by our balcony and then it changed direction, falling towards right where the crowds had gathered. As it fell, it flared up just like the other one and landed right next to where one of the security officers strategically stood. He and his partner put the fire out by stamping on it.

There was a total fire ban imposed on the final day of 2007 and the first day of 2008. That didn’t stop some cheeky monkeys for pulling such a stunt. I believe that the parachutes were released from one of the taller apartment buildings nearby. It was minutes later that I became very angry at what happened. What if the parachutes landed on the roof and somehow started a fire? With the news of multiple house fires incinerating occupants all over Australia in the past month, I sure am entitled to be more than a little angry at these cheeky monkeys.

It’s A Hot Hot New Year’s Eve

2007-12-31T10:35:00.000+11:00

This is just a quick note to wish everyone a Happy New Year. Today is set to be a hot day. It is only 10:32 am but it is already very warm (33.5°C). Apparently it will hit a maximum of 42°C today! I hope they won’t cancel the fireworks. Have a good day everyone. I hope to have a good one too. I wonder when the cold change will arrive.

Myer’s Christmas Windows 2007

2007-12-30T23:46:00.000+11:00

We did go back to view the Myer’s Christmas windows on a weekday evening. The timing was good because we didn’t have to jostle with too many people. The only downside was that the glass of each window was almost entirely covered with fingerprints at eye level down at the end of the day. Although we have never done it before, viewing the windows early in the morning might be even better. That is if the glass windows are cleaned each morning.

This year’s environmentally friendly theme is based on a relatively new picture book called “Uno’s Garden”. The author, Graeme Base, also wrote other famous picture books like “The Waterhole” and “Animalia”.

My favourite Myer’s Christmas windows was the one based on “The Wind in the Willows”, a few years back. I also quite like the one with Gumnut babies. That was from the 90’s. There was a book about the Christmas windows but I refused to buy it and now I can’t even find it. The Good Samaritan really wanted that book at the time. I might go and see if it is at the City Library.

The picture is that of a Snortlepig. It is a character from the picture book, “Uno’s Garden”.

Update (08/01/08): I also like the one based on Charles Dickens book "A Christmas Carol".

Oh No! It’s a Voucher for Chadstone!

2007-12-30T23:43:00.000+11:00

The Good Samaritan received a Chadstone gift voucher for Christmas from one of his clients. I was hoping for another Coles Myer Gift card but it turned out to be a nightmare instead. Neither of us would like to step foot into Chadstone again anytime soon. We are thinking about ‘regifting’ it for someone else. His brother is a good candidate. His birthday is in February and we never quite knew what to get him each year. The only problem is that he might wonder why we are so generous. LOL. If not, we will have to go to Chadstone to shop even if we don’t want to. I guess we could visit Borders at Chadstone speedily without visiting the rest of the fashion capital. The bookshop is located near one of the side entrances. Gee, even this branch of Borders doesn’t sit well with us but that’s about the only store we find tolerable in this huge shopping complex. If we really have to go there again, we ought to select a day below 18°C (with low humidity) to keep me calm. It will have to be one of those pop in and then pop out trip.

Lego – An Easy Christmas Pressie Option

2007-12-24T23:44:00.002+11:00

Stepping foot into specialized toy stores this year, one is likely to hear the following:
· not made in China
· not made in Asia
· made in Europe
· uses only water based paints
· made to strict European specifications/standards
· made with European wood
· it is educational
· approved by child experts
· recommended by kindergarten teachers

These stores must be making a roaring trade since the series of toy recalls that happened in the last 6 months or so.

There is a culture of full on 100% commercialised Christmas celebrations on one side of the family. I, as a nanny just feel absolutely awful to have to buy so many toys for just 5 children. If the Good Samaritan is true to his word, this will be the last time we buy so many presents. I will definitely rock up next Christmas to witness the pressie unwrapping session to see the ‘treatment’ he will receive from them. Despite spending hundreds of dollars each Christmas, this uncle gets negative comments from at least two children. I wonder how he will handle the situation when all five turn on him. LOL. Is this nanny related to the Grinch? LOL.

I absolutely refused to give in to buying anything with licensed characters this year. The bulk of the toys were Lego. I didn’t just choose it because I love Lego myself. I did it because it is a trusted European brand. Fisher Price was a trusted American brand too but have a look at it now. Fisher Price toys have suddenly become very ugly in recent years and I do not blame the Chinese, because many of the toys were already made in China long before they turned ugly. Hopefully complimenting the good quality of Lego is not going to come back to bite me on my bottom.

If you look at the fine print, some sets of Lego do have components made in China. That is scary, huh? I suspect that these are restricted to the motorized parts, electrical parts and parts with simple mechanical features. I can’t be entirely sure but I still trust Lego. I don’t think the Lego Group would risk the good reputation of this toy to start manufacturing crappy components. I think Lego would only go downhill if it was taken over by another company. I can think of at least two toy brands with good reputations that went downhill almost instantly after being acquired by big players in the toy market. The big players will either expand the range of a small label they have acquired to the point that it no longer resembles its original philosophy or they will have the whole range so poorly manufactured that it will become obsolete quickly. How very sad?

Another reason I picked Lego is because of the affordability. Affordable? Are you crazy? In comparison with numerous other toys, it is considerably cheaper. Think about toys like Playmobil, Lundby and Haba. Those are not only pricey; they are almost never on sale. There was a shortage of Lego last Christmas but there is an abundance to choose from this year and I also feel that the price has come down. With stores offering 20% off Lego almost monthly, it is naturally an option I prefer in terms of construction toys.

Friendly Service Again @ MYER CBD

2007-12-24T23:44:00.001+11:00

We went to MYER to buy a few electrical appliances after our brunch at Hungry Jacks on Saturday. As usual, I was somewhat reluctant to go there but I had to complete our Christmas pressie shopping. I was so sure that I was going to get poor service that nerves got the better of me and I began to harass the Good Samaritan. Poor fellow!

We bought a Candy Floss machine, a popcorn machine and a super nice kettle. I looked at a lady walking past us with a wok that I suspected to have a price tag of around $300, I thought the shop assistant would not be happy to serve us because our stuff came just under $200 and there was more for her to pack. To my big surprise, the lady who served us was very nice. She handled our items gently and packed them in bags, making sure that the knots weren’t too tight so we could carry them with ease. I saw that she was so nice that I took the opportunity to ask her questions on an electric urn that I thought my brother might be interested in. She responded politely. This is the kind of service that I love. It was exactly like how it used to be. I felt so good that I wanted to come back to shop on Boxing Day! That nice feeling didn’t last long though. It took only one unplanned visit to the newsagency at QV to ruin it all for me. I just can’t stand bad service!

Improved Service @ Hungry Jacks on Swanston Street (near Flinders Street)

2007-12-24T23:42:00.000+11:00

For some reason we both woke up on Saturday morning craving for burgers. We immediately decided to pop down to Hungry Jacks before the day’s shopping started in earnest. The Good Samaritan was probably still half asleep when he returned to our table with a tray of food. He misjudged the height of the table top and let go of the tray too soon. One of the fizzy drinks bounced off the tray, spilled part of its content on the Good Samaritan’s shirt tail before landing on the floor. It was quite a hilarious sight that I can’t help but laugh at. The Good Samaritan notified a young bloke clearing tables nearby and he came over immediately to try to clean, but he was obviously new and wasn’t quite sure what to do and had to ask another guy behind the counter for assistance. Both blokes looked like newcomers from the sub-continent. (Sorry, I can’t tell Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans, Indians and Pakistanis apart.) The second bloke assisted the first and assured us that everything was OK. They were friendly, helpful and didn’t judge us as being pests. In fact, the second bloke even offered the Good Samaritan a second drink to replace the spilled one but he had to get it himself since the second bloke had cleaning gloves on. I thought that it was fair to make the Good Samaritan return to the counter for a replacement drink. LOL.

We eat this sort of junk food more often in Winter (at least twice a month). We eat a lot less food in the warmer months. We weren’t happy with this branch of Hungry Jacks a few months ago. They had a tendency to get our orders wrong and the meals area was pretty filthy at times (especially upstairs where the emo teens hang out). I have seen marked improvements lately. They have refurbished the upstairs meals area by installing easy to wipe-clean type furniture, and I saw an Asian (Malaysian or Singaporean) lady manager instructing the rookies on how to maintain cleanliness in this very busy fast food restaurant. Sadly, on the day we made a big mess, the Good Samaritan still noticed pickles clinging on the wall behind me. Why do generations of teenagers flick pickles onto the walls? Luckily none of them fell on me. LOL.

I did want to compliment the two blokes who helped us by referring to them with the names on their name tags. Unfortunately I was unable to read their tags because they drooped and were facing downwards.

To non-Australian readers who might be wondering what Hungry Jacks is, let me give you a simple explanation. Hungry Jacks is what Burger King is called in Australia. I can’t remember the full story as to why it is called Hungry Jacks instead. It probably is because it sounded more Aussie. Around the turn of the century, Burger King outlets suddenly appeared in Melbourne. The restaurant I mentioned above was a Burger King. They have a slightly different menu from Hungry Jacks. I also found the Burger King that used to be in Malvern to have better tasting burgers. I believe that there aren’t any Burger King fast food restaurants in Melbourne anymore. Some closed down while others just morphed quietly into typical Hungry Jacks.