Monday, March 17, 2008

Reading

Well not really reading but its pretty good for a 2 year old!

Everynight before bed myself or David read Mali a book (or 3). The obsession with Santa is still going strong in our house and for the last 4 nights we have been reading a little lift-a-flap book call Christmas Kitten. Tonight Mali wanted to read it to us.

Heres how it went :

Book: Christmas kitten you stay here while I pack the sleigh
Mali: Santa, Christmas kitten, time to go
Book: try to catch me (its a mouse)
Mali: Mouse. Catch me, Catch me!

Book: Where did christmas kitten go?
Mali: Christmas kitten where go?
Book: follow the paw prints
Mali: paw prints. Kitten hiding.

Book: Is christmas kitten in the toy shop
Mali: Christmas something something (yes she actually says "something something")
Book: Suprise (its a jack-in-the-box)
Mali: No...Jack in box

Book: Is christmas kitten in this stocking?
Mali: Christmas
Book:Oops! Thats a doll.
Mali: Nooo...Thats a doll

Book: Is christmas kitten hiding here?
Mali: Christmas hiding something something
Book: No, not here. (its a bear)
Mali: No christmas...teddy bear

Book: Is christmas kitten on the train?
Mali: Christmas on train?
Book: Not in here. All aboard!
Mali: No thats a man on train. Choo Choo

Book: Is christmas kitten under the tree?
Mali: Christmas tree
Book: No, thats a present (its a fire truck)
Mali: No christmas. Its a fire truck

Book: Is christmas kitten in the stable?
Mali: Is christmas kitten something something?
Book: No, just the reindeer.
Mali: No, just the reindeer.

Book: Christmas kitten its time to go!
Mali: Santa Ho Ho time to go
Book: Here I am
Mali: Christmas kitten

Book: Christmas kitten, you will be someones special present.
Mali: Christmas kitten ho ho boxes
Book: Here we go again (the mouse again)
Mali: Mouse time to go!

So obviously she is not reading as such but she makes up the story close to what it is and it is just too cute. I swear she has grown up so much in the last few months and her language just continues to astound me.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Itsy Bitsy Spiders

We have a spider obsession going on right now.

Mali loves to make me draw spiders, not just one but multiple spiders in every colour available. It doesnt end with drawing either...

She also pretends to be spiders. She will go to the other side of the room and say 'how about spider come get you?' and repeat it until you say 'oh no, not a spider, please dont get me spider'.
The crawling spider (aka Mali) will growl its way across the room with creeping fingers and come and attack you leg. Rinse and repeat 20 times with a different spider each time. We have coloured spiders, stripy spiders, floor spiders, wall spiders, foot spiders...all the spiders you can wish for.

At first I was a little concerned that when she ran across a real spider she was going to want to play with it. I was quickly proved otherwise whilst doing the dishes one day. She was in the playroom and I hear 'A spider!! Oh no a spider!!' and lots of screaming. She is standing there bawling and pointing at a spider (not a little one either, eck) that has dropped down from our fan. I grabbed her and moved her to the lounge room and went back and killed the spider. When I returned to get her she was still upset so I said 'Mummy squished the spider' but that was not enough 'Mum clean up spider, mum spider rubbish? Mum spider??' I took showing her the squished spider in the rubbish for her to settle and yet occasionally I still catch her staring apprehensively at the fans in our house.

Now any time she sees a spider or thinks there may be a spider her instant response is 'Oh no spider hurt me owwie...naughty spider'. And no, the spider did not hurt her, but she certainly has not forgotten that real spiders are not good and that playing spiders is much more fun.

Drama

I have been really slack...yes I know it.

BBC decided in their infinite wisdom to start a new board and invite (some) people over. Turns out my July08 board is now owned by a dictator and for the last 2 days I have taken it upon myself to out her. Well, not so much out her but make her see reason.

It hasn't happened so we just all left and made our own group. I guess I can get back to spending time with my daughter and perhaps getting this shit hole of a house cleaned up. The house itself is not bad, Ive just been really (read: REALLY) slack about cleaning and its getting to the point where I cant stand it but I don't know where to start.....Maybe I'll start tomorrow, somewhere....

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Random Thoughts

So, since becoming pregnant I have had good days where it seems like this was the right decision and not so good days where I wonder what the hell I was thinking.

Yes, it will be great to give Mali a sibling. Yes, they will love each other. Yes, I will love this baby just as much as Mali. Yes, this will be one more step towards completing our family.

BUT...

Will I be as good a mother to two children?
Will my depression be worse? Will I cope with even less sleep?
Will we ever get our lives on track financially?
Am I ready to do the whole baby stage again?
What if this baby is not as easy as Mali was?
What are the odds I will have another girl that is as clever and funny as Mali (not that I wont love her all the same)?
My house is a mess now, what on earth will it look like when I have even less time?

So many what ifs? Im pretty sure these are normal feelings, but I still worry.
Maybe if we can just agree on a name for this little girl I will feel better about it all. And since Im being honest Im still a little dissapointed that we arent having a boy, and I feel guilty that I even feel that way in the slightest.

Ughh hormones, and the worse part is the post partum ones are far harder on me.

Friday, March 7, 2008

Turn the TV off!!!

So maybe I need to do this occasionally....Maybe

Mali and I just made Apple and cinnamon muffins to take to Dave's Aunties tonight. She had fun with the mixing and made a huge mess so I threw her (well not really threw) her in the bath which resulted in me being soaked, but that's a whole other issue. I brought her out to the lounge room to dry her off before her nap and Sesame street was on. She sees Cookie monster and exclaims "Cookies Monster eat letter of the day!'. Its a bit sad, we all know the Cookie monster eats cookies but his current stint on Sesame street involves him trying to eat the letter of the day whilst Prairie Dawn tries in vain to stop him. In Mali's mind, this is what he does, he eats letters, not just any letters but the one of the day.

Obviously I need to explain what were watching to her a bit more, find some good old episodes of Sesame street where he does eat cookies or turn off the TV. I think we all know the last one isn't likely to happen.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Speaking of the little Monkey



What is up with kids cartoons these days?

In any given day in our house you can view 4+ episodes of Dora the Explorer. Or perhaps you might prefer a dose of Poco or Fimbles, you may even enjoy a trip with the Teletubbies or the questionable Boom Bahs. Yes I let my toddler watch TV, yes she watches it for more than half an hour, yes the TV is pretty much running all day.

Now, I know that these cartoons are not new things, in fact they are not that different from cartoons when I was a kid, but where is the common sense? Dora relys on a monkey, some other furry critters, a talking back pack and a know it all map. How old is she, like 5? Do her parents worry about her wandering around the jungle without a clue as to where she is going? In one episode she has to ask the map how to get to her OWN house.

Besides the fact that its just dangerous, the monkey is a moocher. EVERY time coins are required for something, he never has any and poor Dora forks over more money for him. I really think she should drop the monkey.

Don't get me wrong, I would prefer Dora to Boom Bahs any day (I still don't know what that show is about). I have a two year old who yells things in Spanish at random times, can now count to five in Spanish and sings the theme song every morning when she wakes up. But at least when I was a kid it was teenagers (like in Scooby-Doo) running around unsupervised. Maybe we should just spend our time watching Oprah or Days.

Getting things started

So, Ive never been good at starting things, its taken me about 6 months to actually bother starting this, and this is something I actually wanted to do. Even worse, Im hopeless at finishing things I start so the chances of this being left with two posts, sitting in some cache (is that even the right term) slowly dying, are pretty high.

I'll give it a shot anyway.

I thought it would be important to document the quirky everyday things that happen when you have kids. Some of the things that are done and said should be recalled at 21st parties like they happened yesterday, not like some vague ramblings of an aging mother who cant remember which kid said what and if they were 2 or 12 when it happened. Hopefully one day my daughters will read this and laugh at themselves and their mum.

On that note - I have one daughter, Mali, and we are having another little girl in July. I also have a wonderful fiance, David, a cat and a dog.

Now we have the fun of rehashing all the things I have thought would make good content for the last 6 months in the next six days. My thought is that once I get all of that out of the way, this may actually be a good read. So 'Lets Go' as Mali (and a certain cartoon character who is followed around by a monkey) likes to scream at every opportunity.