Little Bear-ism's

LB: Mummy, do I look boo-ti-ful?
M: You look absolutely gorgeous!
LB: Just like you!

Awwwww - I take back what I said the other day about selling her on e-bay.

LB (upon noticing my bedroom door was open): Mummy, I'm just going to go in here to buy a fat pig!

Not quite sure what to say to that one.

LB (seeing an ambulance drive past with lights flashing): Look Mummy, Fire Truck!
M: That one is an ambulance.
LB: An-nu-nanch
Cheetah: Not An-nu-nanch, Ambulance.
LB: NO Cheetah, Not An-nu-nanch, it's a An-nu-nanch

(of course Cheetah thought this was hilarious and the last two lines of that conversation was repeated for several minutes).


On another note, Joe our Cockatiel (yes Donut has a proper name now) has learnt to whistle for my attention (the whistle like a yankee hailing a cab). I'm trying to teach him to wolf whistle but only for me. We'll keep working on that one. I was quite impressed actually, that one day he was only making bird noises & the next day he was whistling & it was almost indistinguishable from our whistles. And he's only about 9 weeks old. Maybe that's normal for cockatiels, but I'm still impressed. At the moment Little Bear is listening to a Shaun The Sheep DVD so I am waiting for him to start whistling the theme song to that.

Bed Time

Believe me, this is not how 99% of our evening looked/sounded:

Just before I took this, they were sitting in near darkness with the light of the TV the only light. Cheetah was watching Nanny McFee and Little Bear was nuzzled into his neck with her eyes closed. Of course they didn't stay that way when I pulled the camera out, but it's still a lovely photo none-the-less.

Earlier this evening, I had been unable to find the volume knob on either of them, and it seemed like it was stuck on full ball. Maybe it's just that they had to yell to feel like they were being heard over the incessant croaking of the frogs outside.

Bits & Pieces

Conversation on the way home:

Mummy (to Little Bear): Are you my girl?
Little Bear: NO!!!
M: Are you Daddy's girl?
LB: NO!!!
M: Oh, OK. Are you Cheetah's girl?
LB: NO!!!
M: Well whose girl are you?
LB: I Ma-Mar's girl ! Hmph!

Hours later:

Mummy: Come and get dried
LB: I don't want get dried!
M: Don't you want your Scoobie Doo jammies on?
LB: I don't want Scoobie Doo Jammies on!
M: Don't you want a bottle?
LB: I don't want bottle!
M: Well what do you want?
LB: MA-MAR !!!!!!

(Ma-Mar is Grandma in Little Bear language).


And this little gem from Cheetah tonight (who is in Grade 5)

Cheetah: Mum, how long is there between grade 7 & grade 8?
Mum: What do you mean?
C: I mean how long between grade 7 & grade 8?
M: You'll have to explain what you mean. Are you talking about the holidays?
C: Kind of, I mean between finishing grade 7 & starting grade 8. Do I get like a year off or something?
M: No.

I think there might have been some disappointment that he didn't get a year off, but I'm not sure what he intended to do with his gap year when both his parents work ???

(For non-Queenslanders, Grade 8 is the first year of highschool here).

You might also notice that Cheetah's explanations leave a bit to be desired. He thinks an explanation is to repeat the question word for word, slowing it down, emphasising the important words & raising his voice.

Update on Little Bear

Back at the doctors today with Little Bear - this time the Pediatrician.

We saw the GP on Tuesday who diagnosed ANOTHER chest infection (that's 3 in less than 3 months), prescribed antibiotics, requested a chest x-ray, and referred us to the Pediatrician, Dr J.

Dr J was booked out until the new year, but was lovely enough to make room for us so we had our appointment today.

Dr J did a very thorough workup (we were in her office for a bit over an hour). She thinks the chest infections (which are bronchitis) are a seperate issue to the recurring fevers. She has given us a prescription for stronger antibiotics & told us that Little Bear will need to take them for at least 2 weeks, maybe 3.

We have to get another blood test done in a couple of weeks & this time we need to get it done when Little Bear is relatively healthy.

She thinks the recurring fevers are something called PFAPA, which means they will keep occuring until Little Bear grows out of them, but they are treatable & not life threatening, just annoying. Prior to dealing with the fevers though, she wants to get this recurring bronchitis sorted out.

She doesn't think Little Bear has asthma, but she said we do need to keep an eye on that given that both her parents & her brother all had childhood asthma. She said it is possible that there is an asthma component to the bronchitis but it seems unlikely at the moment, as she couldn't hear any wheezing & I haven't noticed any wheezing.

So the game plan is stronger antibiotics, a blood test in a bit less than 2 weeks, doctors appointment in 2 weeks & we'll see what happens from there.

Blood Tests Today

Little Bear is sick ... Again ... It's been on average every 2 weeks for the last 5-6 months.

This morning we go for blood tests. We are visiting Grannysaurus straight after & then Aunty McTavish & the clan this afternoon to try and help us (both) forget about the blood tests.

Please pray for answers. Little Bear gets so sick each time it's heartbreaking to watch and not be able to do anything.

More doctor's

I was back at the doctor again today, this time for myself.

I think I have tonsillitis. The doctor never actually confirmed this (or denied it). He told me that my tonsils are inflamed & that I have an ulcer on my uvula (DH asked if I had to bend over for him to see that - DH is lucky I had the self control to not throw my shoe at him).

He has given me antibiotics for it. I feel like I am swallowing razor blades at the moment so I hope they kick in soon.

What I have is different to what Little Bear has. Her tonsils looked fine & I haven't had a fever like she did.

While I was at the doctor's, he told me that Little Bear's test results came back inconclusive. There was something there, but not very much & they couldn't get anything to grow on a culture. This means we have to do another wee test as soon as she gets another fever, while she is NOT on antibiotics & before it goes to her chest.

The doctor said "if" she gets another fever. Considering we have had at least 9 episodes of this thing since June, I say "when" not "if". Antibiotics haven't got rid of it in the past, I am doubtful that they alone will do anything this time.

The doctor still wants to see her again on Monday, so I might talk to him about getting other tests done as well as the urine test next time she gets sick. I really want to find out what's making my baby sick (& stop it), and I don't see how an inconclusive urine test could be bad enough to give her 9 episodes of very high (over 40 degrees C) fever in the last 4 1/2 months. Especially as each time it is getting worse & this chest infection doesn't seem to be clearing up as quickly as the last one, even though she is on two types of antiobiotics this time.

Fully Sick

OK, here's the update on Little Bear.

After an absolutely woeful night, I took her to the doctors today. She has a chest infection & has 2 lots of antibiotics (+ repeats) to be taken at the same time. That doesn't explain why the fevers keep recurring.

Doctor has said it could be a urinary tract infection & we had to get a wee sample. Easier said than done on a 2 year old who is still in nappies.

Finally got it at 7pm tonight. Path Lab closes at 6. Guess what I'll be doing first thing in the morning.

Have another appointment in a week. She will need seperate antibiotics again if it is a UTI. If it isn't, then the next step is blood tests.

In the meantime, I really hope that tonight I get SOME sleep.

What's wrong with Little Bear

Poor Little Bear is sick again.

Every 2-3 weeks since the start of June she has come down with a high fever that lasts 3 days. Initially Panadol seemed to keep it under control, but each time she catches it again it is a little bit worse. Last night Panadol wasn't doing much at all. She had a temperature of 39 an hour after taking Panadol.

A month ago she had this & it turned into a chest infection. 2 weeks later, just as she took the last dose of antibiotics, she came down with the fever again but it only lasted a day (I guess because of the antibiotics). This time (2 weeks later again) she is starting to sound very chesty so I am hoping it doesn't go to her chest again.

When she gets really high temperatures, she throws up. We were able to prevent this by setting our alarm to go off every 4 hours in the night to give her the next dose of Panadol. Now that the Panadol isn't working as well, we were still up all last night cleaning up vomit & consoling Little Bear.

Whatever she has doesn't seem to be contagious because not one time that she's been sick has anyone else seemed to catch it from her.

I feel so frustrated & helpless. We've been to the doctor countless times, but because it's just been a virus, they haven't been able to do anything (except when she caught the chest infection). I will probably take her again tomorrow but I am hoping that they will order some tests to see if there is something else going on. I don't want them to poke my baby with needles, but I don't want to see my baby so sick either.

Not Dora

Conversation this morning between DH, Little Bear & her Poppy:

DH: Do you want to listen to some Nora, Little Bear?
LB: Dora!
Poppy: Not Dora, Nora !
LB: Not Dora, Dora!
Poppy: No, not Dora, Nora !
LB: NOT Dora, DORA !
Poppy: 'N' 'N' 'N' 'N' NORA !

LB: 'N' 'N' 'N' 'N' DORA !!!!

Random Birthday Photo's

Seeing as I missed posting about Little Bear's birthday like I promised, here are some of the better photo's of her birthday at home.

This one deserves the top honours. Little Bear is showing her appreciation to Aunty McTavish for making such a beautiful birthday cake. Feel free to leave Mummy McTavish/Aunty McTavish some comments on this blog oohing & aahing over such a beautiful cake. She will read them & she deserves it !



The favourite toy of the night - a Bubble Machine. Also thanks to the McTavish clan.

Little Bear & Dragon were in raptures over the bubble's.



And of course, how better to play with bubbles than with a racquet of some kind. And even better than 1 racquet is 2. Lion is showing off his Bubble Badminton skills. That's my ambidextrous nephew !




And how better to finish a birthday than falling asleep on Daddy's lap. This is a special treat reserved for those really special occasions. (For those who regularly visit, you might notice the wear on this couch getting more obvious with each post it features in. We are hoping to get a new one really soon)

I love this man !!!

Little Bear's New Bed

Yesterday Little Bear was very sick.

She was fine at kindy, then at about 7ish she threw up. As she had been coughing a fair bit before hand, I put it down to that & still let her have Macca's chippies for dinner. She didn't have a temperature, seemed fine & as my kids throw up when they choke (we try not to let that happen too often), you can see why I wasn't too worried.

She ate about 2 chippies & mostly just sucked the sweet & sour sauce off them & kept double dunking (I was sharing the sauce with her).

After that, she began to develop a temperature & then it was all on until 1am. I lost count of how many times she threw up, but it seemed like every 20 minutes or so. Due to a number of tummy bugs in our family recently, I am becoming fairly adept at handling them efficiently. We put a clean set of sheets under her current set of sheets, then folded up a bunny rug to lie under her head. Several bunny rugs later & I didn't even need to strip the bed down to the clean sheets (however once more would have been the kicker).

This morning, she still wasn't well & I was completely knackered, so we stayed home together. After taking Cheetah to school, she seemed to be OK so we came home & had brekky. That stayed down so we went bed shopping. As she was in her pram & dosed up on Panadol it wasn't too difficult.

It took 4 hours to find a bed, a reasonably priced inner spring mattress & pillows, quilts, sheets, mattress protectors etc. (That doesn't count the hours on the internet searching, the numerous visits to various bedding shops over the last few weeks & time poring over catalogues).

I can't believe I spent as much on the linen as I did on the bed (after much shopping around too I might add)!

The mattress we have to pick up tomorrow, we don't have that yet, but we borrowed Cheetahs mattress tonight so she could still get to sleep on her new bed.

I think she is pretty pleased with her new bed!






Let's hope it gets us all a better nights sleep than last night. Seems to be working well so far ;-)

Cheetah doesn't mind lending his mattress. He gets to sleep on a camp bed tonight which he thinks is great. & tomorrow he will also be getting a new mattress too as his old one is getting a bit long in the tooth (& when your mattress bites you, you know it's time for a new one).

(Did you notice the disney princess theme in the room, with the wall art, sofa chair & quilt cover? Not intentional but comercialisation can be handy sometimes when you are trying to co-ordinate pieces bought years apart. Little Bear picked all of those things herself. She is starting to pick up on some of my OCD traits partiality for orderliness I think).

Women Drivers

No comment needed for this one really.

I should point out though that she was driving down the incredibly long driveway of the house we stayed at in Atherton, not on a public road. (And as you can see, she had some help).

Hopefully I will get a chance to post photo's tomorrow as for the three nights after that I will not be able to post as I will be living it up in Bris-vegas. (read living it up as sleeping as much as possible)

Of course during the day I will be training (in what I don't know because they are 'surprising' us. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate surprises.)

Water Bear

These were taken from Little Bear's shower tonight.

She has always been very good in the water (however, like her mother, she isn't fussed on the swimming pool if it's under 30*C).

In these photo's she is lying on the floor of the bath. The water is about 2-3 inches deep. (where her head is, is on a slight upwards slope though).

She would put the plug in while the shower is running, then go up the other end of the tub (away from the shower) and lie herself down in this position without any help from us.

As you can see, the water is over her ears, but it doesn't bother her at all.






In the second photo, her dad tells her to wiggle a bit & she does this kind of jive move & thinks she is just hysterical.

Singing Bear

Finding it hard to find the time to blog lately.

Had a nice easter, but Little Bear got sick on Sunday night. Had a fever since then that panadol took care of. It's gone now & she is back to her happy little self again. Mummy & Daddy are helping out by eating some of her chocolate.

Lately she has become quite the singer. She picks up words to new songs really quickly. She has a few favourites, but the most favouritest favourite at the moment is definitely the song "Open, Shut Them".

Here she is singing the song, and getting her teddy bear to do the actions.

(Sorry, yet again it's sideways. I can't work out if there is software to turn rotate them like the normal photo's, and when I realised & tried to get another one of her while holding the camera horizontal she was not as co-operative).

Here are the real words - with Little Bear's usual interpretation in brackets.

Open Shut Them (Oh-Peh Shu Dem)
Open Shut Them (Oh-Peh Shu Dem)
Give a Little Clap (gi a CLAP)
Open Shut Them (Oh-Peh Shu Dem)
Open Shut Them (Oh-Peh Shu Dem)
Lay Them In Your Lap (Ay dem ola LAP)

Creep Them, Creep Them (ceep dem, ceep dem)
Creep Them, Creep Them (ceep dem, ceep dem)
Right up to your chin (righ-dup ola chin)
Open Wide Your Little Mouth
But-Do-Not-Let-Them-In (Oh-Peh Whyyyyyyy Yooooouuur Mout Budonoledemin)

I found out by her singing this song, that there is another verse I was never aware of.

Shake Them, Shake Them
Shake Them, Shake Them
Shake Them Just Like This!
Roll Them, Roll Them
Roll Them, Roll Them
Blow a Little Kiss

She doesn't sing this verse in the video but I had to look the words up on the internet because all I could work out was that it involved shaking, rolling & kissing. (Sounds kind of like an idea that Elton John might be able to put lyrics to).

She also loves to sing Baa Baa Black Sheep but instead of singing "One for the master and one for the dame" she sung "One for Mummy and One for Daddy and One for Cheetah and One for Poppy and One for Grandma ..." and then she realised that she wasn't sure how to end the song so we had to end in chorus singing "who live down the lane".

Unfortunately she has only done that version a couple of times & now she seems to be singing the real lyrics mostly so I don't think I am going to catch that one on camera.

Cheetah of course is being Cheetah. He is griping at me that his ONLY friend at vacation care is allowed to take his DS (Nintendo for the uneducated) and spends all day playing that so he isn't any fun to play with. This of course is said to try & get me to allow my son who is a hyperactive & forgetful 9 year old (not a good combination), to take his DS as well. The DS is a $200 computer that would fit into a glove (not counting the cost of the games that run about $50 a piece & are the size of a memory card for a camera). Expensive, easy to steal & in the hands of a mad scientist personality. I don't think so kiddo.

This afternoon I picked him up & heard all about what a good day he had (forgetting that he wasn't meant to be enjoying himself because who can have fun without a computer)?

This child cannot believe that I lived a childhood without compact disc's, hand held computer games, or even a VCR

Cheetah - What's a VCR Mum????
Mum - A Video Casette Recorder. It's what they used before DVD!
Cheetah - So what did you have
Mum - Nothing. We even had to get up to change the channel on the TV because there was no remote!
Cheetah - ??????? (the only time I can think of that my son has been lost for words)


So despite his abusive mother witholding the basic necessities of life from him, he is still managing to enjoy himself !!!


Hope everyone else had a peaceful, reflective, blessed easter, however you celebrated.

More Camping

OK, I know you are all dying to hear what else we got up to while camping.

OK, so I am going to tell you anyway !!!

Friday afternoon (I think) it was starting to get a bit overcast - thanks to Cyclone Hamish who we didn't even know existed at that time. We just knew it looked like the fire was going to go out.

The boys came up with a plan (although I think DH would have prefered it if we had been using one of Uncle J's tarps but lo and behold, they didn't have any suitable so Uncle J's idea had to be carried out using our tarp. Anybody who knows Uncle J knows that this is a dangerous situation).

This was their plan !!!

Interestingly, it actually worked (although DH swears his tarp is a foot shorter each side). Since there was very little wind, when it rained, the rain just came straight down & the fire hardly got wet. There were still hot coals in the morning.

You might also notice the 2 door "ensuite" (which when camping means a tent to shower/get changed in) in the background & the hoses running towards the fire.

DH spoke to some fella's at work about his upcoming camping trip & someone told him about this idea they had tried in order to have hot showers. They ran a hose from a large tub of water to the fire, connected it to a spiralled copper pipe that sat in the fire which was connected to another hose running back to the tub of water & a small pump keeping the water moving between the tub & the fire. The water got to a lovely temperature & stayed there because the fire was heating at the same time the rest of the bucket was cooling. The pump also worked to move the water from the tub into the shower head & could do this at the same time as moving it through the fire.

Seeing as DH's works with pump's and at one time his job description was "Pump Technician" I knew he would make it work, but even I was impressed at how nice the shower was. Much better than the usual camping shower.

Anyway, enough about roughing it (yes, we do it tough !!!) here are some that reflect why we enjoy camping.

A butterfly that liked the colour blue. Little Bear & I were the only one's wearing a lot of blue & it kept landing on us, much to Little Bear's absolute delight. Notice my beautifully pedicured tonails (pity about the old woman's feet they are attached to). Those were a birthday gift from my SIL - Aunty J. Her birthday was also this month & she will also get a present .... eventually!

This is a Lace Monitor. I think he is the same one we see every time we come to this place. He is just nosy enough to come up close, but not nosy enough that I worry about him hurting the kids (or us for that matter).

Little Bear 'helping'. (Yes that is a patch of dirt, but how dare it mess up that beautiful green grassy landscape. Unfortunately it was a bit stubborn & she never got rid of it, but not for lack of trying).

Here is why we don't get too many photo's of Cheetah lately. He's usually doing something like this ...

(BTW - Before Grannysaurus & Mummy McT have a fit that I have allowed my son to have a can of coke, that is my can not his ! and to clarify, Grannysaurus & M.McT just know how anal I am about my son not drinking coke or other caffeinated beverages)

Well you can't expect us to give up all life's little pleasures when camping, - can you?

Little Bear when asked "what have you got" showed us. It's a mouthful of M&M's

Mmmmm - Chocolate !!!

Like my new glasses?

Yesterday at Kindy one of the guys that works there decided to give all the kids glasses.

Not toy glasses though....

Check this out
























Every kid in her group had them drawn on (at least all the ones that were left when I picked her up). It was quite a sight to see all the kids peering through the glass door as I walked down the corridor to get her.

They have faded a little bit in these photos. They were only drawn on with white board marker & rubbed off quite easily. There wasn't even a trace of them left this morning.

She thought it was hilarious every time she caught sight of herself in a mirror.

Oh No - It's almost Monday !!!

Following on from my last post - it is back to work tomorrow & I still have much to do.

I have had a very productive weekend though.

Last night we went to Grannysaurus & Mr Sunshines place for Uncle Jingles birthday. Grannysaurus has some pictures on her blog if you want to check them out.

It was a nice night out & dinner was lovely (Grannysaurus cooked a roast dinner).

Unfortunately Little Bear got a bit carried away in all the excitement & while playing a game involving jumping off a step, little bear lost her balance & fell flat on the tiles, chipping one of her front teeth. Her mouth was a bit tender all night & still is today. She hasn't eaten as much as usual today & it took her about 15 minutes to eat a banana today (chopped up) which usually only takes her about 2 minutes (she loves "na-na").

She is a bit reluctant to show off her chipped tooth so I don't have any photo's as yet, but hopefully as it starts to feel better she will smile for the camera.

Today I have done a heap of the usual housework, however I have managed to cross off another couple of things from my list of "things to do before I return to work full time" (maybe I should shorten that to "To-Do by April").

One thing I have been doing in small bits & pieces is cleaning up all the stationery that was beginning to accumulate in Cheetah's room. The stuff I took out managed to fill a 48L plastic tub. I am trying to sort it out so that he can have what he needs back in his room & the rest can get tossed or stored in the appropriate places.

Today I worked on sorting out his colouring pencils. A couple of weeks ago, I put them all in one container & sharpened them all, throwing out a heap of bad ones in the process. Today I sorted what was left by colour & found that he had enough to fairly evenly fill 4 pencil cases so that each pencil case had an assortment of colours without too much doubling up or lacking of any particular colour.

That done, I just have to work out what to do with the other nine tenths of the stuff - Baby steps is what gets the job done though.

The other thing I did today was to sort Little Bear's baby photo's, putting a collection into a folder ready to be printed for scrapbooking purposes. She is 20 months old now & I have almost completed the first page of her baby book :-)

Now the trick will be keeping that folder updated as I take more photo's.

Thankyou to Mum-me & Queen Stuss who gave glowing reviews to fly-lady. I actually came across her website years ago & still go there from time to time for good ideas. My problem however is not so much my lack of ability or motivation to organise - it's my lack of time to do it & for a long time too, it has been lack of storage in this house. It really has been a case of shifting the mess from one place to another because there wasn't anywhere for it. It is extremely hard to keep a clean house when you can't even put all the towels away at once because there just isn't the space. At one point, the only wardrobe we had in the house was a kids wardrobe. Now DH & I have a built-in & so does Little Bear. Cheetah will be getting one soon as his room is the next to be renovated as soon as we have the money.

We are gradually overcoming the storage problem as we renovate, borrow cupboards & buy things like plastic boxes & other things to keep our stuff organised, but it will take time.

I now have to go & iron hubby a shirt for tomorrow, as because I was doing those other things, I haven't finished my ironing.

A mother's work is never done

Today I had a very very busy day.

To start with, I got to sleep in until 7:18am so that wasn't too bad, but it was not indicative of how my day progressed.

I took Cheetah to school at 8:00 & then came home, did some dishes & tidied the house a bit.

Dragon & Mummy McT came around mid morning sometime. We then went shopping - which seems to have become the thing to do on Friday's now. Sometimes we shop just for coffee & a look around. Sometimes we actually have to do it. Today it was a have to!!

We did have an early lunch at the shops which was nice & the kids were actually really well behaved during lunch.

I got home just after midday, gave Little Bear her bottle & put her to bed & then did more dishes, lots of organising & then I did the folding. A few weekends ago, I had a busy weekend (that's most weekends lately, but that one was particularly hectic). Since that weekend, I have managed to get the clothes washed & dried, but haven't managed to get them all folded before I have to go to work. Once I start my working week, my nights are taken up with getting everyone organised for dinner, bed & work/school the next day (this takes most of the evening). Therefore I am doing the folding the weekend after it was washed.

Hopefully now that I have caught up on last weekends washing, I will be able to get all of this weeks clothes washed, dried & folded by Monday. Here's hoping.

Now that all the essential stuff has been done, I am trying to organise the rest of my house ready for when I go back to work full time. At this point, I am expecting to be full time in April & there is only so many Friday's between now & then.

• I have about a years worth of filing that needs to be done - I haven't touched that yet.
• Today I took the first step in organising all my digital photo's on the computer. I made sure they were all saved in the correct folders on the correct computer (we now have 4 computers in our house). I also got rid of the unnecessary copies.
• I still have to go through the photo's, delete the cruddy ones & put the good ones onto CD so that we have a backup copy of them all.
• I have to go through a mountain load of stationery that has come from my cleanup of the rest of the house. I am not sure where I will put it all, but at the moment it is sitting on the floor of the study until I find a home for each bit.
• I want to get something going with our garden beds. At the moment they are just a mass of weeds. I don't think I will get them all planted out by the time I return to work, but I want to have a plan of what plants will go where so that I can get them a few at a time & plant them on my weekends.
• I also want to go through all my old files on the computer, getting rid of all the stuff I don't need or want anymore. I have stuff in dozens of folders split between 3 of our 4 computers (all of which have more than one hard drive in them) which means a lot of unnecessary garbage floating around.

There are also a stack of other odd jobs I want to get done before I return to work.

I have done some of the things I wanted to, like the major cleanup of Little Bear's wardrobe, cleaning out our junk spare room, a stack of sewing (some things that had been sitting there for a year), and other things that will help keep the household running smoothly for a while once I no longer have that day off.

I am not really looking forward to returning full time. In a perfect world, I would probably choose to work 3 days per week, but unfortunately that is not an option. I am finding 4 days a little bit of a struggle sometimes (most times) but if I can get my home organised to a point where I don't have a seemingly insurmountable to-do list, this will make life somewhat easier.

Am I asking too much?

Lovely weather .... for ducks that is !

Yet another exciting day in the life of us.


OK, maybe not ... but it had it's moments.


Today it rained again ! Yesterday DH mowed most of our yard (it took him over 1/2 hour just to mow the footpath the grass was that thick & the ground that mucky). It looks a bit better, but because of the conditions, it also looks very interesting. Lots of brown muddy grass & some of the grass seems to be mown at different heights.


With the rain comes the black cockatoos and the ducks.


Today I witnessed a rather surreal moment. I had Mummy McT & Dragon in the car, as well as Little Bear, & we were on our way to pick up Cheetah from school. On a 4 lane road with a traffic island in the middle, the car two ahead of us suddenly stopped. Thankfully everyone was driving carefully (unusual in Townsville) & there were no crashes, but next thing a family of little ducks waddles out from in front of that first car. They made it safely to the traffic island, but some of the littlest had a bit of trouble getting up on the island. It was so cute watching them flap their wings & try to run & propel their fluffy little bodies over the step. They then slid down the sloping traffic island to the two lanes heading in the opposite direction to us. I am happy to report they made it safely across the road & into the gully on the other side. Let's hope the water really is wetter on the other side of the road & they stay there.


Unfortunately that incident happened so quickly that M.McT & I did not have time to even grab our camera phones to take a pic.


Here is something I did manage to capture though. Little Bear throwing one of her tantrums. There was about 2 seconds of crying followed by this....

(Sorry it's a bit dark. I don't have a video camera, only the video option on my regular camera).


Most of her tantrums at home are very similar. There is usually a bit of crying, sometimes screaming, and very very occasionally she might stamp a foot or two, but it almost always ends like this. What you don't see in the video is her crying as she lies herself prostrate on the floor, pulls her hands in & starts sucking her thumb, & then crawls her legs in towards her tummy so her bum is sticking up in the air.


In the shops it's a different matter. She can scream for as long as it takes to change Mummy's mind & as mummy doesn't give in to tantrums, that's a lot of screaming !!! I stood in line one time at the checkouts for 20 minutes with her screaming for at least 15 of them because the nasty mummy that I am, I wouldn't let her jump all over my fruit & vege's in the bottom of the trolley. (I tried to lift the bags out of her way, but she would grab them & actually put them on the floor of the trolley specifically to jump on them. Charming child).




Something that was much more charming than tantrums in supermarkets was Little Bear looking after her dolly at lunch time. My little girl is only a baby herself and yet she is so gentle & loving of her baby. She wraps the baby up in a blankie, pats the baby on the head, brushes her 'hair', kisses her (lots & lots & lots & lots), and makes sure that baby is well fed.

Today baby got given a bowl of Macca's fries. Little Bear is only 19 months old, but no-one else had anything whatsoever to do with this setup.

Much as she loves her baby, Little Bear quickly decided that she couldn't let baby gorge herself on all those chippies alone so Baby was lifted up to the coffee table to share with Little Bear.

Don't you think baby is looking very expectantly at that chippy?

Little Bear thought so too, so offers the next one to her.

"Chippies are all gone baby, but you can suck the salt of my fingers now"

(OK, so she didn't really say that, but she might have been thinking it)

Dancing Bear

This video was taken on Friday when Dragon & M.McT were visiting.

I turned on a Veggie Tales CD for the kids. Little Bear likes their version of 'Modern Major General', sung by Archibald Asparagus, and began dancing wildly as soon as that song started.

Unfortunately by the time I got out the camera, she had been dancing for long enough that she was starting to slow down, but you can still get the gist of her dance.

We tried to encourage Dragon to dance too, but obviously he just isn't a Gilbert & Sullivan fan. (I'll have to keep working on that one).