a different world

Mia's vocabulary is through the roof! The other day she 'clambered' into the bed with me, 'scurried' to breakfast...and told me: " 'I love you, Kanga', said Piglet to Kanga, giving her a cuddle..."

All day long she gives you (or anyone listening) an account of all her actions and intentions, and it's relentless. Adjectives and adverbs abound! Hooray!

When turning down to come to our place, you pass this revolting building with 3 (pointless) 'towers' on it - I can't believe it was ever passed in the planning stages. I hate it, I think it's a blight on the landscape! Anyway, when driving past, Mia pointed out the 3 towers as 'the 3 robbers' and it didn't take long to see the connection between them and the characters (the three robbers) in the book by Tomi Ungerer. It's a book about three robbers who transform into semi-respectable people. They rob carriages and one night they make a mistake, stopping a carriage that had only one passenger: an orphan named Tiffany -instead of a carriage full of rich people with money or jewellery. Since the robbers don't know what else to do they take her home to their hide-out where she asks them what they plan to do with their wealth. Realising that they are doing nothing with their horded wealth, they decide to buy a castle and bring to it all the `lost, unhappy, and abandoned children they can find.' These children grow up and marry, but as a testament to their benefactors BUILD THREE TOWERS. Now that I see this building as the three robbers, I don't mind it. Thank goodness!

The redwood forest in Rotorua is actually the 'Hundred Acre Wood' where Pooh and Piglet and all the others live - a short stroll to visit Mia in her Rotorua house. Today we drove past on our way to the Blue Lake and Piglet and Pooh et al all joined us - Mia was 'exclaiming' there's Pooh and Piglet in front of us! They've come to see us! I had to hurry to let her out of the car so she could join them.

I wish I could see through her eyes just for one day.

Friday

Last night, for the first time in a long time, I knew it was Friday. Every day is the same, more or less, when you're an at home mother...a continuous Monday, or Saturday, depending on your mood, or your commitments. I knew it was Friday because firstly. there was nothing to watch on TV, and secondly, because I could hear the low bass -boom boom- of some party music in the near vicinity and some shouts and shrieks to accompany it. For the last four months we've marveled at how quiet our neighbourhood is, especially for being so central - weekends go by and all is quiet, except maybe for the voices next door (behind the wall) who are enjoying a barbecue. But mostly it's nice and peaceful and quiet. Today is definitely a Saturday - the boom boom bass started in the early evening...just when we were trying to get the children to go to sleep. I'm not complaining - really! The music's already stopped anyway, it's not like it carries on all night.

No...but what is getting me a bit worried is the plot next door, which is going to be redeveloped into 3 double story houses. I know it's progress and all that and there's nothing I can do about it...no, what's worrying me a bit is that the developers seem to have offered the fire service the current, single storey houses, to burn down. For training purposes. I can't say I'm very keen on the idea. Especially since it's all going to happen in February or March - hot hot hot weather. And what about the wind? What if it's blowing our way? I wonder if it's even legal. I suspect the fire service are wondering too - they've been around twice (that I'm aware of) to have a look around and walk around the property. That's when I asked them if there was a problem and they explained their situation. My jaw literally dropped when they said they might burn it. The logistics of it were still being discussed at that time.

The wily developers! When we spoke to them (we had to come to some agreement about the fence that's going up) they weren't sure whether they were going to tear down the buildings or 'relocate' them...some bright spark obviously had an idea... (!)

fright

After living in New Zealand for over a year, I finally came face to face with a WETA.

I was just going to check the post, when I saw it...sitting in the top section of the postbox where the paper (and junkmail) gets rolled up and stuffed through. It was all I could do not to scream, or yelp...but I did neither, opting to save face in front of any curtain-twitcher neighbours or impressionable toddlers behind me. At first I thought it was a huhu bug - equally scary on the big bug list - but after some research I've ascertained it was a tree weta.

My curiosity got the better of me: I needed to know if there was a letter waiting for me... The best form of defense, apparently, is attack, so I tipped the lid abruptly so he would slide out the far side while I bravely shot my hand in to receive a bill of some sort, but the tenacious bugger was still hanging on. I sort of swiped at it with the furthest edge of the envelope, but it was unimpressed and equally unfazed. So I bid a hasty retreat and let him (or her) inhabit my postbox.

I had 3 more outings back to the postbox once the initial heart rate had subsided, just to have another look at this monster of a bug. Yup, still there. Just hanging out. Just next to the postbox. On the fence. Not moving much - maybe it was ill? Glad I didn't kill it in my initial state of fright...actually it's too big to kill- too solid, if you know what I mean. And it seems to have a bit of a death grip anyway. Wouldn't want it clinging onto me. -Shiver.-ew.

The most unsettling thing about it, is that it wasn't there the next morning...which means it's SOMEWHERE ELSE...and I don't know where...it could be anywhere! My days of gardening ignorance are...behind me. -shiver-

and if you're watching this Kyla...

I just wanted to say a LOUD happy birthday and to let you know that I am thinking of you LOTS and sending you a ton of love.

Routine

Well, life is starting to get some routine going for the first time in a long time. All because Mia is now off to 'school' three times a week for the morning. Now I have to be organised to drop her off at 8.30am - which means organising Mia and Joshka AND myself to be presentable by then, not something I've achieved for a long time! I remember when my mom was here last year she struggled a bit to find a system as to what was going on. She didn't know what followed what or when to do what, and I remember feeling frustrated that I couldn't explain - there was a kind of a metaphysical system going on, but it was hard to decipher and hard to explain. Now I'm back in the real world of routine and getting dressed and fed by a certain time - I tell you what though, 'Kanga' achieves a lot more than 'Mommy' ever did. Piglet is very agreeable to anything Kanga says, and will gladly eat porridge, brush hair, clean teeth, go to the toilet, get dressed, fetch her school bag and lunchbox and waterbottle...only the finding-of-shoes was a problem this morning. Of course it helps that 'Roo' wakes up at 6 and is therefore changed and fed(milk) by the time Piglet gets up at BANG-ON-7am.

As Christopher Robin (Ben) is at work again, Kanga is back in favour - almost an overload of affection and love coming my way at the moment. I made the most of the situation last night by getting to wash Mia's hair in the bath - Piglet obediently and happily reclined so Kanga could wash her hair, and condition it, for good measure.

Being out the door and walking along the street, pushing a pram, at 8.30 in the morning, does feel good. Cheery 'good mornings' are exchanged when passing others by and it's not yet too hot. It's the beginning of my freedom and I feel liberated! Joshka is asleep by the time I get home, so I have 2 hours to 'blog' or work or... READ THE NEWSPAPER! With a cup of coffee. And I don't have to rush anything. I can actually savour the taste! Not just get-it-down-before-it's-knocked-over or sampled by a curious little person.

Of course, this is Monday to Wednesday. It'll be interesting to see if I can keep it up Thursday to Sunday.

double drat

After experiencing a taste of the good life of broadband, gliding over all terrains in google earth, effortlessly navigating my way from website to website, trawling for inspiration and feeding my curiosity about this and that - wherever I may find myself, following link to link...I have been sucked back to dial-up reality. It turns out I should most probably have switched off the router at night and perhaps I overdosed on the pretend-glider-plane-google-experience. We've already exceeded out monthly cap and have been pulled back to dial up speed. It feels slower than it ever was. But at least I know things are still possible - after all we have been dialing up for um, uncountable years now.

In other news, the rain continues and the children have been grouchy for the last 4 days. It's probably a good thing we didn't go to the island - they have been torturous. Today, however, things seem to be shaping up since both of them slept well, for a change. Mia is reading and telling stories and told me this morning , "I don't want to be called Mia." Oh. How about Janet? "No." Tabitha? "No." Um,..."I want to be called 'Kanga'". OK! Now I know! I sometimes can't tell the difference between Mia, Kanga, Piglet, Pooh or Noddy. It's best to ask so as not to offend. She continues to give a running commentary on Kanga's escapades - always in third person: "So off she went to visit Tigger and Roo and Piglet. 'Hello Roo,'she said, 'what are you up to today?'she asked..etc" I seriously can't do it justice. And if I want to record her, she stops. But she's at it as I type. Wonderful. She babysits herself.

Joshka is a speedy crawler who takes enormous delight in smashing down Mia's block tower creations. Only Mia's. We can make towers specifically for him to bat over, but he speeds on by, legs a blur, to get to Mia's creation. Over legs, under legs, always pushing (would do well in a scrum) with a frantic determination. Not happy to be diverted at all. If he's not crawling furiously about, he's pooing (5 a day) or pulling himself up to a standing position, holding on to the couch, the chair, the cupboard, my shorts, Ben's legs - he has an extremely strong little grip and would do well in nipple wars - I've heard Ben yelp a few times with Josh pulling himself up on Ben's lap. He can copy sounds now : BA BA, DA DA, MA MA, SSSSSSSSSSSSSS being the most prominent on his repertoire. At least I won't have to wait 19 months for 'mum' like I did with Mia (da da was all she needed.)

Ben is trying to get me off the computer so he can go and get his hair cut. Always interesting. (Unruly hair with loads of cowlicks).

drat

We had this great plan...Ben took annual leave...he sacrificed playing in THE Touch Rugby tournament that was held last weekend...We were going to 'the island': a magical place all Ben's family have talked and talked about - how they went there every summer and lived off the fish and crayfish they caught. Stories abound about this legendary, privately owned, uninhabited little island. When I first heard about it, it was a goal to get myself over there! Of course, I had no children then, just myself to think of...Anyway, we had this plan to go there this week. I was wondering about the logistics of having a 2 year old and a nine month old, but Ben's parents have been going since their children were teeny, so they assured me it would be fine. The last thing we did in England was to buy 2 tents, specifically for an island adventure - not just any tents mind, these are special '2 second tents'. You throw them in the air and by the time they've landed on the ground they're all set up, ready for the pegs...taking all of 2 seconds. We've been waiting to impress! But alas, alack...there seems to be a hurricane of sorts approaching. I didn't believe it. In any case, 'huuricane' or not, the weather forecast is all about rain and wind for the next week, so we've abandoned our island holiday. And now, I guess, we have some free time to fix the rest of the house? Put up some pictures? Bake a cake? Hmmm.

back on track

I know I've been neglecting my blog. I've been thwarted by the festive season and the 'Things To Do' list. My new computer is just lovely - so stylish, and I've been playing with google earth quite a bit. It's like the time I went flying in a little Cessna over Cape Town, only I don't need to put on a seatbelt since it's unlikely I'll encounter any turbulence and bang my head on the roof... I've been visiting all my old spots, finding my mom's new house, looking at the old one - finding where we are in the world...even revisiting some of the places we've travelled to. The Nasca lines in Peru were a treat - especially since we didn't opt for the plane ride over the desert to see them when we were there. Easy to see the destruction too.

Ben is on leave now for a bit, which is nice. We can get a few things done on the house. He spent a bit of time under the house the other day putting in underfloor insulation - a tricky and time consuming job, especially on this house which has no consistency (built in 1930 with random other additions). Also a dirty, muddy, grubby job. He equipped himself with my old. cracked, skigoggles to protect his eyes from all the falling insects, dust, spiderwebs and bits, and is now sporting a bit of a bouffant hairstyle after vigourously washing his hair, and conditioning it. He also has more time to devote to the children, which can free me up to do a bit of work, or to update my blog. At the moment Ben is busy reading 'Hums of Pooh' to Mia, while lying on the floor so she can walk up and down his back - a fair trade I think: massage for story.

Joshka is having his morning nap. He's been a bit of a pain lately - at night (so what's new!?). We think it must be his teeth that are coming through and hurting. After a bit of paracetomol (for babies) he seems fine and will go to sleep, but without it he needs constant soothing to go to sleep. After much trial and error, we have ascertained it must be teething. The doctor confirmed his normal temperature, 'pristine' ears, perfect throat - thriving baby. When he's awake he's better, but extremely clingy to me. If I'm not around he seems to be fine, but the minute he sees me it's like he realises he's been without me all this time and on go the tears! A real mommy's boy. Mostly I don't mind - I like being so popular, but it does get a bit claustrophobic with a boy on my hip trying to get things done.

I'm still popular with Mia, but not nearly as much as Ben. A real daddy's girl. She's getting big so quickly and still amazes us with her observations. She's a sponge. Very clever! She makes us so very proud.

christmas quotes

There were a lot of truly wonderful little quotes from Mia, but unfortunately only 2 have remained stored in my head:

After decorating the Christmas tree with her grandfather, Mia was so excited: " Oh look! Now the tree has HAIR!" (Tinsel decorations)

And...after putting Joshka down for his morning nap, Mia and I went down to the beach to look for shells and get our feet wet. Mia just had to check we had everything first: "Have you got the baby vomiter, mommy?" I replied that I had, showing her the baby monitor. It's great - you can venture 200m away from a sleeping baby.