Ah...after a long day, this prayer seems so apt. I came across it at breastfeeding.com.
A Parent's Prayer
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray my sanity to keep.
For if some peace I do not find,
I'm pretty sure I'll lose my mind.
I pray I find a little quiet
Far from the daily family riot
May I lie back - not have to think
about what they're stuffing down the sink,
or who they're with, or where they're at
and what they're doing to the cat.
I pray for time all to myself
(did something just fall off a shelf?)
To cuddle in my nice, soft bed
(Oh no, another goldfish - dead!)
Some silent moments for goodness sake
(Did I just hear a window break?)
And that I need not cook or clean -
(well heck, I've got the right to dream)
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray my wits about me keep,
But as I look around I know -
I must have lost them long ago!
Somewhere else on that site there was a comment that if you can't get your child's attention, just sit down and look comfortable.
True isn't it. Alternatively, sit in front of the computer. It makes them drop everything and come.
Still, those tiring little energy balls are cute and right now, both of mine are peaceful angels in bed.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Monday, October 11, 2010
First Time Paper Mache
Aaron and I have been working on our first big-gish crafts project. We've always done little things that took 30 mins but this mask took us three days. So there was a lesson in patience in it as well.
Initially, he was very keen and wanted to do everything. That lasted for about three rounds of the sticking the newspaper on. So, we stopped and then picked it up again later in the day - thats why it took us two days to complete.
Here we are getting our fingers sticky with the tapioca starch glue. When we were kids in Malaysia, I remember calling this 'gum'.
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I fully expected him to paint the mask in some dinosaur color but he insisted on pink - because thats the color of humans (according to him).
We used a balloon as our oval mask mould so here he is popping it with a needle. I was a split second too late with the camera.
His intention was to make a scary face mask but I'm not a very good artist and he doesn't have a very steady paint brush yet...Just imagine fierce bushy eyebrows and a big curly mustache.
I think we'll try doing this again and get Richard to help us when it comes to the painting. He's good that all that arty stuff...
Initially, he was very keen and wanted to do everything. That lasted for about three rounds of the sticking the newspaper on. So, we stopped and then picked it up again later in the day - thats why it took us two days to complete.
Here we are getting our fingers sticky with the tapioca starch glue. When we were kids in Malaysia, I remember calling this 'gum'.
.jpg)
I fully expected him to paint the mask in some dinosaur color but he insisted on pink - because thats the color of humans (according to him).
We used a balloon as our oval mask mould so here he is popping it with a needle. I was a split second too late with the camera.
His intention was to make a scary face mask but I'm not a very good artist and he doesn't have a very steady paint brush yet...Just imagine fierce bushy eyebrows and a big curly mustache.
I think we'll try doing this again and get Richard to help us when it comes to the painting. He's good that all that arty stuff...
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Toys and Us
Guess what? Today, for the first time, I walked into Toys 'R' Us here in Brisbane. I've also been to the huge chain a couple of times in Penang, Malaysia but we've never bought anything from there. Today was no different. We went in and Aaron had a good time looking at everything. I did too! I love looking at toys, and can see that there are plenty that I would enjoy playing with. Still, no matter how much I want to grab those toys and rush home, I don't.
One of the most habits we've cultivated since Aaron was born is to never buy any toys for him while he is around. The rationale was that if he was never given the choice of toys or given the experience of going into a store, picking out what he wanted and going home with it, he would never turn into one of those kids that threw tantrums in toy stores when they didn't get what they wanted. It may make us sound like incredibly controlling parents or that we're depriving him of some joy but so far, it has worked. He has never asked, begged, whined or threw a tantrum about buying a toy. He will ask beg and whine about going to a store to look at toys but so far, he just says things like "I wish I could have such-and-such." And, he leaves peacefully once we've looked through everything. If there is something that I think we really want to have in our house, I'll just go back to the store some other time, without him, to get it. At least it gives me the opportunity to decide.
I know, one day he might get wise and just cut to the chase and throw a tantrum for something he wants. Fingers crossed that it won't happen.
So of course, we're going to try to do the same with Adrian. In fact, after having some experience with Aaron and watching Adrian play so far, I haven't even gotten him any toys. I did get quite a few teething toys but that was a mistake.
I believe that babies play with everything in their environment. And from what I've seen, they're going to treat a Fisher Price toy the same way as they treat and old ice cream container with a few little bottles inside. Everything is about exploration - pick it up, turn it over, give it a lick, shake it, repeat several times and move on to the next item. I am tempted to buy him things but I think I'll hold off for a few months. He has all of Aaron's early days collection to play with for now.
Having said all that, Christmas is barely two months away and I have my eye on a few items that I can't wait to get. I really do enjoy playing with the new toys as much as Aaron does.
One of the most habits we've cultivated since Aaron was born is to never buy any toys for him while he is around. The rationale was that if he was never given the choice of toys or given the experience of going into a store, picking out what he wanted and going home with it, he would never turn into one of those kids that threw tantrums in toy stores when they didn't get what they wanted. It may make us sound like incredibly controlling parents or that we're depriving him of some joy but so far, it has worked. He has never asked, begged, whined or threw a tantrum about buying a toy. He will ask beg and whine about going to a store to look at toys but so far, he just says things like "I wish I could have such-and-such." And, he leaves peacefully once we've looked through everything. If there is something that I think we really want to have in our house, I'll just go back to the store some other time, without him, to get it. At least it gives me the opportunity to decide.
I know, one day he might get wise and just cut to the chase and throw a tantrum for something he wants. Fingers crossed that it won't happen.
So of course, we're going to try to do the same with Adrian. In fact, after having some experience with Aaron and watching Adrian play so far, I haven't even gotten him any toys. I did get quite a few teething toys but that was a mistake.
I believe that babies play with everything in their environment. And from what I've seen, they're going to treat a Fisher Price toy the same way as they treat and old ice cream container with a few little bottles inside. Everything is about exploration - pick it up, turn it over, give it a lick, shake it, repeat several times and move on to the next item. I am tempted to buy him things but I think I'll hold off for a few months. He has all of Aaron's early days collection to play with for now.
Having said all that, Christmas is barely two months away and I have my eye on a few items that I can't wait to get. I really do enjoy playing with the new toys as much as Aaron does.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
How did I become this mother?
I visited three schools and rang up another one today because I've recently added a new worry to my list - Which school to go to? BIG QUESTION for me at the moment even though Aaron is still a little guy.
I don't know what it is. Maybe its because I'm Chinese. I understand that play and socializing is important but at the same time, I want him to also do the serious learning. Y'know, stuff like reading, writing and arithmetic. (Yes, now, when he's four years old.) One of the great things about having nowhere to go in Palembang was that I got to spend a lot of time doing stuff with Aaron. We played a lot but we also read a lot and did a lot of pencil and paper work. I want a school that will do that with him - Play and Learn.
Of the four schools I checked on today, two were Catholic primary schools, one a state school and another a Montessori school. None of them were bad, but none of them stood out either. In fact, they were so 'bland' that I came home and looked up 'homeschooling'.
I'm chiding myself now. It shouldn't be such a big deal. He's only going into Prep in 2012. Thats a preparatory year for Grade one in 2013. But then again, I would feel a lot better knowing that somebody will be paying attention to his particular needs. I don't want to find out that they're trying to teach him his ABCs a year from now when he's already reading at the moment.
Anyway, I don't have any answers yet. They don't even tell you if you have a place at these schools until sometime next year. They're going to keep me in suspense...keep me browsing the homeschooling website.
I don't know what it is. Maybe its because I'm Chinese. I understand that play and socializing is important but at the same time, I want him to also do the serious learning. Y'know, stuff like reading, writing and arithmetic. (Yes, now, when he's four years old.) One of the great things about having nowhere to go in Palembang was that I got to spend a lot of time doing stuff with Aaron. We played a lot but we also read a lot and did a lot of pencil and paper work. I want a school that will do that with him - Play and Learn.
Of the four schools I checked on today, two were Catholic primary schools, one a state school and another a Montessori school. None of them were bad, but none of them stood out either. In fact, they were so 'bland' that I came home and looked up 'homeschooling'.
I'm chiding myself now. It shouldn't be such a big deal. He's only going into Prep in 2012. Thats a preparatory year for Grade one in 2013. But then again, I would feel a lot better knowing that somebody will be paying attention to his particular needs. I don't want to find out that they're trying to teach him his ABCs a year from now when he's already reading at the moment.
Anyway, I don't have any answers yet. They don't even tell you if you have a place at these schools until sometime next year. They're going to keep me in suspense...keep me browsing the homeschooling website.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Domestic Duties Made Easier
Last month, I mentioned not liking being called a housewife or a homemaker. Bilbo suggested I just call myself a domestic engineer. Well, in true engineering fashion, I do try to do things like improve efficiency and cut down time.
I came across this book, "1001 Little Housekeeping Miracles" and borrowed it for a few laughs. It turned out to be a very helpful book. I knew of a few of the tips but there are probably another 990 that I didn't know about. Here are a few random ones for today's post:
The Kitchen
- Vinegar Descaler: Cover the element of your kettle with a solution of half cold water, half distilled vinegar. Leave for a couple of hours then rinse.
- Stain Free Tupperware: Tupperware stains can be bleached out by strong sunlight. Put containers in the garden and leave for several hours.
The Bathroom
- Cola Cleaner: Toilet bowls come up shiny when cleaned with old flat cola. Pour a can into the bowl then leave at least an hour and flush - lime-scale dissolves easily.
- Mirror miracle: Make up a solution of equal parts of vinegar and water. Wearing rubber gloves use old newspapers to wipe the surface of the mirror with the mix. Add extra shine by rubbing with a clean blackboard eraser.
Children's Rooms
- Bread Line: Although it sounds obvious, most pencil marks can be removed with a white eraser. Alternatively, press a piece of fresh bread into a wall stain to extract it.
- Pristine Prams: Clean buggies and prams with a sprinkling of baking soda on a damp paper towel. Wipe down and rinse with warm water. More persistent marks can be removed with the suds (not water) from a solution of washing up liquid.
Try them out and let me know. The only one I have tried is the Vinegar descaler and the mirror miracle and they worked.
I came across this book, "1001 Little Housekeeping Miracles" and borrowed it for a few laughs. It turned out to be a very helpful book. I knew of a few of the tips but there are probably another 990 that I didn't know about. Here are a few random ones for today's post:
The Kitchen
- Vinegar Descaler: Cover the element of your kettle with a solution of half cold water, half distilled vinegar. Leave for a couple of hours then rinse.
- Stain Free Tupperware: Tupperware stains can be bleached out by strong sunlight. Put containers in the garden and leave for several hours.
The Bathroom
- Cola Cleaner: Toilet bowls come up shiny when cleaned with old flat cola. Pour a can into the bowl then leave at least an hour and flush - lime-scale dissolves easily.
- Mirror miracle: Make up a solution of equal parts of vinegar and water. Wearing rubber gloves use old newspapers to wipe the surface of the mirror with the mix. Add extra shine by rubbing with a clean blackboard eraser.
Children's Rooms
- Bread Line: Although it sounds obvious, most pencil marks can be removed with a white eraser. Alternatively, press a piece of fresh bread into a wall stain to extract it.
- Pristine Prams: Clean buggies and prams with a sprinkling of baking soda on a damp paper towel. Wipe down and rinse with warm water. More persistent marks can be removed with the suds (not water) from a solution of washing up liquid.
Try them out and let me know. The only one I have tried is the Vinegar descaler and the mirror miracle and they worked.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Free Range Kids!
I'm sure you've all heard of free range chickens and eggs. But, for the first time a few nights ago, I heard the term 'Free Range Kids'. This is actually the title of a book by Lenore Skenazy. She also has a blog and you can visit it here. The term 'Free Range' is used in the context of common sense parenting in a world that is often overprotective. I haven't read the book yet but it does sound very interesting. The author was in Australia last week and I watched an interview with her. Supposedly, she was called America's worst mom last year for allowing her 9 year old son to catch the subway on his own.
'Free Range' probably also mean being raised the way my parents were raised. I must admit that the stories my mother tells of her childhood sound a little harsh at times but more often, it sounded like she had lots of fun and all the freedom in the world as long as she was home by dinner time. So, there was freedom, hence independence, with boundaries.
My own childhood seemed to have a little freedom but more boundaries. The youngest I remember going about by myself was when I was about 9 years old. I remember walking to my piano lessons which were a ten minute walk away. It wasn't far but there was a very busy road to cross and I remember always being nervous about it. When I was eleven, we moved to Brisbane and I caught the train to school each day. However, there was no stopping by anywhere else. Just straight to school and back again. This was the case until I finished high school. I remember that it was also very hard to convince my mother to let me spend the night at any of my friend's houses.
I can't remember if we were ever very interested in what went on in the kitchen but I don't think we were allowed to do any cooking until I was about twelve! My parents did put my brother and I on a plane by ourselves when I was twelve and he was nine. No big deal as the flight attendants look after us the whole way.
Obviously, I don't have all that must experience in the free range style of parenting yet. Or maybe I've automatically moved into the helicopter parenting mode. I do think that I allow Aaron a certain about of freedom for his age. Since he was three, he's been allowed to be out in the garden by himself. I don't hover over him but I am constantly watching him from inside. Since Adrian was born, I've had no choice but to let him spend a lot more time by himself and he's free to go in and out of the house. However, he's not allowed to play in the front of the house.
During my parent's childhoods, they had no TV, no internet and no constant stream of news about the bad bad people out there. During her interview on TV here, Lenore Skenazy said something like crime rates were actually dropping or the world being more dangerous in the past except that there wasn't a constant stream of news back then. That may be true, but its also true that we are so much more aware of the gruesome things that have happened to a few unfortunate kids today. In her website, she says parents today are swimming in 'fear soup' and she's right. I know I am. I want to allow Aaron and Adrian some freedom but at the same time, I have things like the image of a map of Queensland dotted with all the locations of known pedophiles in my mind.
I like the sound of this 'Free Range Movement' and I'm going to try to get my hands on that book but I think I'm still going to be a little on the protective side. Having said that, while Aaron and Adrian are still within the boundaries of this house, I can at least feel that I'm giving them some freedom by not putting either of them in a play pen or putting up any safety gates so far. Don't worry, they're still safe, I just allow them to explore the entire house.
'Free Range' probably also mean being raised the way my parents were raised. I must admit that the stories my mother tells of her childhood sound a little harsh at times but more often, it sounded like she had lots of fun and all the freedom in the world as long as she was home by dinner time. So, there was freedom, hence independence, with boundaries.
My own childhood seemed to have a little freedom but more boundaries. The youngest I remember going about by myself was when I was about 9 years old. I remember walking to my piano lessons which were a ten minute walk away. It wasn't far but there was a very busy road to cross and I remember always being nervous about it. When I was eleven, we moved to Brisbane and I caught the train to school each day. However, there was no stopping by anywhere else. Just straight to school and back again. This was the case until I finished high school. I remember that it was also very hard to convince my mother to let me spend the night at any of my friend's houses.
I can't remember if we were ever very interested in what went on in the kitchen but I don't think we were allowed to do any cooking until I was about twelve! My parents did put my brother and I on a plane by ourselves when I was twelve and he was nine. No big deal as the flight attendants look after us the whole way.
Obviously, I don't have all that must experience in the free range style of parenting yet. Or maybe I've automatically moved into the helicopter parenting mode. I do think that I allow Aaron a certain about of freedom for his age. Since he was three, he's been allowed to be out in the garden by himself. I don't hover over him but I am constantly watching him from inside. Since Adrian was born, I've had no choice but to let him spend a lot more time by himself and he's free to go in and out of the house. However, he's not allowed to play in the front of the house.
During my parent's childhoods, they had no TV, no internet and no constant stream of news about the bad bad people out there. During her interview on TV here, Lenore Skenazy said something like crime rates were actually dropping or the world being more dangerous in the past except that there wasn't a constant stream of news back then. That may be true, but its also true that we are so much more aware of the gruesome things that have happened to a few unfortunate kids today. In her website, she says parents today are swimming in 'fear soup' and she's right. I know I am. I want to allow Aaron and Adrian some freedom but at the same time, I have things like the image of a map of Queensland dotted with all the locations of known pedophiles in my mind.
I like the sound of this 'Free Range Movement' and I'm going to try to get my hands on that book but I think I'm still going to be a little on the protective side. Having said that, while Aaron and Adrian are still within the boundaries of this house, I can at least feel that I'm giving them some freedom by not putting either of them in a play pen or putting up any safety gates so far. Don't worry, they're still safe, I just allow them to explore the entire house.
Friday, October 1, 2010
The Workshops Rail Museum
We went to a very very cool museum yesterday, The Workshops Rail Museum. The museum is in Ipswich, a city about 40 minutes from Brisbane. The site was originally the Queensland Rail's workshops and has been there since the 1880s. Now, a portion of the place is part of the Queensland Museum and houses all the different trains that have been in Queensland. The remaining areas are still used by Queensland Rail to overhaul the old steam trains. They also still manufacture some of the tools that are used by the railways today.
This school holidays, the museum setup some activities based on "The Great Train Robbery". During one of the shows, Aaron stuck his hand up when volunteers were asked for and he ended up being the robber.
They were both very ineffective and dazed looking robbers!
I liked this display a lot. Maybe its because it has the old sign from 'our' station here.
For me, the most interesting part of the day was the tour of the blacksmith's shop.
The shop has been there since the 1880s but I'm sure they didn't have women working there back then. The person holding on to the red hot steel is a very tough looking woman.
For those of you familiar with the Thomas and Friends characters, here are a few photos of the trains I think they were modeled after.
Thomas himself. Unfortunately, we couldn't step over the yellow line to take a photo from the other side.
Skarloey...
These two aren't trains, but here are Trevor and George. Aren't they cute?
The visit to this museum was so enjoyable because it was catered to children yet still had plenty to keep the parents interested. Its a perfect place for families to spend the day. We enjoyed it so much that by the end of our visit, we upgraded our tickets to an annual membership. They have Thomas and his friends coming during the Christmas so we'll definitely be back.
This school holidays, the museum setup some activities based on "The Great Train Robbery". During one of the shows, Aaron stuck his hand up when volunteers were asked for and he ended up being the robber.
They were both very ineffective and dazed looking robbers!
I liked this display a lot. Maybe its because it has the old sign from 'our' station here.
For me, the most interesting part of the day was the tour of the blacksmith's shop.
The shop has been there since the 1880s but I'm sure they didn't have women working there back then. The person holding on to the red hot steel is a very tough looking woman.
For those of you familiar with the Thomas and Friends characters, here are a few photos of the trains I think they were modeled after.
Thomas himself. Unfortunately, we couldn't step over the yellow line to take a photo from the other side.
Skarloey...
These two aren't trains, but here are Trevor and George. Aren't they cute?
The visit to this museum was so enjoyable because it was catered to children yet still had plenty to keep the parents interested. Its a perfect place for families to spend the day. We enjoyed it so much that by the end of our visit, we upgraded our tickets to an annual membership. They have Thomas and his friends coming during the Christmas so we'll definitely be back.
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