Toddler No More

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

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

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

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

Bree ‘Scissorshand’

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

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

What Is It With Bree’s Sandpit?

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

Abandoning the Blog Again?

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

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

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

Red, Blue & Yellow

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

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

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

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

Big and Small

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

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

Note: Photo of the bear counters has been removed.

Bree’s Vocabulary Explosion

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

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

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

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

Bree’s New Sand Box

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

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

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

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

It’s a Breeze to Cook for Bree

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

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

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

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

A Return to Stability

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

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

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

Non-Stop Work

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

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

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

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

Bree Feeling Poorly

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Less Play Dates with Lachlan

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

Update on Bree

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

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

I Love Slides

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

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

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

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

Week Long Cooking Stint

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

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

Monday: Mini Hawaiian Pizzas

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

Tuesday: Fruit Salad Smoothie

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

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

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

Thursday: Salad

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

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

Friday: Chocolate Banana Bites

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

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

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

A Week of Bree Only

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

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

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

Decorating Easter Egg Shapes

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

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!

Easter Eggs Delivery

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.