“Not Nice!”

Lily has a new catch phrase. It comes in many tones.

There is the “Not Nice” version said in a somewhat normal tone, sometimes slightly elevated. It usually occurrs when she is eaggravated by something you may have done and/or not done.

Then, there is the “Not NICE!” version usually expressed in an aggravated, elevated tone when something doesn’t go her way.

Finally, we have the “NOT N-I-C-E!!!!!” version commonly bellowed at the top of her lungs with some accompanying finger pointing action whenever she is felt hard done by. Now generally, she feels hard done by when she doesn’t get her own way or gets in trouble.

Miss Lily, my placid little pie, is getting a little attitude me thinks. Anyone would think she was 7 not 2.

She’s not always as pretty as a picture…

Yellow. Red. Orange.

In a matter of days Lily has literally learnt her colours. It’s like someone swiped those colour goggles of her eyes that were making her ‘colour blind’ and away she went. Every thing has a colour – like the pink plate; the purple singlet; the blue one; the yellow one. She just loves her colours.

She has many toys but one of her favourites is a Fisher Price pig money box. She sits on the lounge, opens the flap, takes the money out and proceeds to resight the colour of each coin over and over and over again – “The blue one. The Green one. Yellow. Red. Orange.” She pops them all back in the money box to start all over.



At the moment pink seems to be the flavour of the month. I’m not sure if that will change but if she’s anything like my niece, who will only wear pink, I suspect not.

I can already see the typical girl traits coming through – like her favourite colours and what she likes to wear. I suppose it will only get worse in the coming years. Eeekkk!

So there you have it…Lily can sing a rainbow now – she knows all the colours!

Report Card Time

Disclaimer – this is one of my must blog entries from…ummm…a month or so ago. I’ve been carrying Byron’s little Mid-Year Report around for ages in the hope that I might get a chance (god knows what I was thinking) to record its contents. I guess it’s better late then never, so here it is.

If a preschooler’s report card was capable of containing straight ‘As’ then no doubt Byron’s would be it. He is the smartest little cookie going around town and I have proof!!!

His Mid-Year Report card, which proudly sits beside me as I type, has what could only be akin to straight ‘As’. Ok, admittedly I may be somewhat extending the truth some, but he is consistent and achieving all that a four year old can possibly do in his pre-academic year. If ‘U’ (for usually) is the highest ‘grade’ going around Montessori then Byron’s ‘the man’ for he has achieved the pinnacle of what preschool has to offer. He has achieved straight ‘Us’.

The grading (opps…reporting) criteria is made of the ‘usually’, ‘sometimes’ and ‘with help’. So, it’s safe to say Byron is usually doing what he is supposed to. I don’t suppose there is a preschooler in the land that could attain the illustrious status of 'always' – at least not any I’ve met.

Byron USUALLY really enjoys:

• Dramatic play
• Blocks
• Puzzles
• Sandpit
• Climbing
• Games
• Books/stories
• Collage
• Painting
• Drawing
• Music

He USUALLY follows the rules and listens when others speak.

He USUALLY looks after his belongings and is happy at kindy.

He USUALLY shares an idea with someone else and says please, thankyou and excuse me.

He USUALLY helps at tidy up time; helps his teacher; and helps a friend. He has made lots of friends.

He USUALLY tries hard to share things.

In terms of Byron’s Montessori skills he has ‘Attained’:

• Work to 10 - maths
• Work to 1000 - maths
• Colour work - sensorial
• Textures - sensorial
• Sound - sensorial
• Taste - sensorial
• Sounds - sensorial
• 3 letter phonetic words – beginning reading
• 4 letter phonetic words – beginning reading

He is ‘Progressing’ with:

• work to 9999 - maths
• addition - maths
• subtraction - maths
• time - maths
• visual work - sensorial
• shapes - sensorial
• mass - sensorial
• grammar – beginning reading
• beginning reading – beginning reading
• phonetic farm – beginning reading

According to his teacher, “Byron has made excellent progress this year. He is always interested, motivated and exited to learn”.

Byron has truly come out of his shell this year. I was terribly worried about his concentration levels and his in ability to focus. But, with a change of rooms and teacher he has truly blossomed and I just love watching him learn. I love how he sounds out the letters and tries to read what ever he can, when ever he can. He is a sponge sucking it all up. It’s so exciting to be a part of.

So, only one more Montessori report card to go and then my little guy is off to school; big school. Sigh.

I’m just so proud of my little gorgeous, pumpkin pie!

My big catch up

I’m totally struggling with my work, photography, mothering, pleasurable, blog lifestyle balance at the moment. I just don’t seem to have enough hours in the day to do much of anything but work and photos. Argghhh! My fault of course - way too much on my plate. Honestly, I don’t know why I’m doing it to myself.

Take this week for example. I worked a five day week at my real job as always. Yesterday, I second shot a fancy wedding that took me away from the house and kids for pretty much the whole day and all for a hundred bucks (never again – once is enough - no weddings for me anytime soon. Yesterday’s experience sealed the deal in that department – I was totally exhausted when I got home). This afternoon, I have a portrait session with three kids and a newborn, which I have no doubt will be a full on experience – but that’s the kind of experience I love. Then when I get home, I have to prepare for a work settlement conference tomorrow morning – there is another few hours gone.

Talk about a pleasurable weekend!

I really am struggling with everything. Something has to give and I just hope that it can be a day in my ‘real’ job because that is probably (ok it is) my least favourite thing to do. It’s not that I hate my job or anything. I just hate working full time! I hate that I have to commute up to an hour and half each way (that includes dropping and picking up the kids) - 2 to 3 hours per day!

I am hoping to cut back to four days very soon but I am just waiting for Trevor’s stupid work to sort out his damn pay – that is a whole other story that I just don’t have time to pen. Sigh. Story of my life in the blog world huh?! I have so much that I need to talk about…the list just keeps getting bigger and bigger. I want to blog it all because these are my memories and I want to share them with my children at some point in the future. It disappoints me that I’m so far behind. My list includes (naming a few):

1. The sale of the house way back on 18 August went through. Wooohoooo! Let me tell you that at 3:05pm when I got the phone call that all had gone well I let out one big sigh. Finally, after god knows how long, we would have some relief financially; no longer paying two mortgages and personal loans and credit cards. What a relief.

2. The fence. We managed to get our fence erected on the 21st of August. Might I add, it’s a mighty fine looking fence too. Although, I wish it matched our house a little more. You see, it’s the same fence as everyone else has – it’s cream with navy trim. Not exactly the colours I would have chosen. Oh well. At least the kids are now trapped safely in the yard by 2 meters of colourbond.

3. The front garden. It took Trevor and I four hours on Saturday (23 August) to dig the front two gardens. We had to dig through clay. Oh my god did I feel it in my shoulders and every aching muscle in my body that night. On Sunday I (read - NO TREVOR who decided to play football and then go and watch it) organised the garden. I got the edging. I got the plants (which included some Lillipillies and Tiny Trevs he he he). I dug the holes. I planted the plants. I did it all. I was so proud of my self hosing it down at sundown. Hard bloody work but so worth while to see the end product!

4. Grandma day. I’ll get to that one soon enough – every Wednesday is Grandma day.

5. Byron. You might have noticed that it’s been a little light on in the Byron department lately. His antics will get their own special attention shortly. Can I just say though…he is reading. My boy is reading those little readers. Sigh. He is just the cleverest, handsomest, darlingest little guy around!

6. Lily. There is still more I need to add about her. She is a crack up!

7. Me. Sigh. So much to say about me. My feelings and my fun.

I hope to, from now on, get back to my daily (ok maybe second daily) blog posts; if only for me. It’s my outlet and perhaps I’m just bottling too much up at the moment. No outlet to speak of really. I always feel so good when I have managed to document something for future prosperity. Otherwise, the something just gets lost into the abyss of the past, compounded by the present, until it is all but a distant, faint memory.

So, it’s a deal. I’ll be back tomorrow night talking about something!

More Photos

We met with a group of photographers this afternoon in the hope of getting some family shots taken down the Coast at the beach.

It was bloody windy to say the least and Lily didn’t really want a bar of it because (1) there were no M&Ms and (2) she hardly slept because we were rushing around today. She looked so darn cute too. Sigh. I was hoping to get some other photographers to take some shots of her but alas it didn’t happen.

I personally hate having my photo taken but I am hopeful that we got something out of the session which I’d be happy to put on the walls. I’ll share in due course – when I get to see the outcome. In the meantime, here are a few I took of the kids…

And one that I'm happy with as I never seem to be able to caputre the kids together, despite my efforts....

Party Time...

We had a little party – just a little one – for Lily this year. Nothing fancy, I mean we don’t even have any grass yet! We have a fence of course, but no grass – its coming!

Anyway I digress; she had a few little friends over for morning tea. There was Ella, Sarah, Cody, Alex, Grace, Noah and Suliman. Not to mention Byron and Lily, some parents and few other ‘siblings’ to boot.

I made cupcakes, fairy wand biscuits, and fairy bread. There was fruit, lollies and chips as well as ‘healthy’ pop top juice things for the kids.

My Lily is such a piggy. She sat at her table, with her little friend Ella, and literally ate for half the party. If she wasn’t eating or roaming the food table she was jumping on the jumping castle. I thought for sure I would be seeing a whole lot more of ‘that’ food if she kept on with the jumping. Thankfully I was lucky in that department. Phew! We all know how much I HATE vomit.

After all was said and done, the children went home and Lily had a long sleep – that was of course after I wrangled a packet of lollies out of her fingers that she somehow nabbed from a party bag. That girl and food...sometimes I wonder.

I was a little disappointed with the photos I took...there weren't many. Sigh. Maybe next year. There was however one corker which will make it out for the 21st. Can you spot which one that might be?

This years cake...

It doesn't matter how busy I get, there is absolutely no way I couldn't NOT make my kids a birthday cake. I started the trend 'last' year (wherein I made a total of 4 cakes - 2 for each child) and I would be a complete failure if I didn't successfully keep it going for at least two years in a row, now wouldn't I?!.

I love the sense of accomplishment with seeing the final product. I'll admit this year I opted for a more simple design because I left the run too late. Hey, Lily's two - she won't remember. I'll pull out all the stops next year.

So this years cake for Lily is a ladybeetle. I love ladybeetles....