Wandering

Today we stayed in our pyjamas until 3pm, and when we did all wake from our afternoon naps we got active. We went for a drive to the Anstey Hill Recreation Park. Today I looked for a different entrance and as you can see (click on the picture for a clearer image) we were rewarded with spectacular views. The whole of Adelaide spread before us. Next time we will go when the weather is fairer. We'll take a picnic rug and some company to share the view.

Attitude

Zac usually thinks about a complex task or tricky situation and gives up before he has begun. This week Zac has not done this in two situations when a drama is most likely to have developed in the past. One of these instances is pictured above. He made a complete train track with multiple lanes all by hisself. And to make the train track game less dramatic he has gone back every day and quietly repaired any track damage before playing some more.
The other instance of damn this week has occurred during homework time when Zac has to read his reader. Usually this part of the night starts with a while lot of drama. This week he has just knuckled down and read. No excuses. I don't want to jinx it, but I hope this is the beginning of a new attitude. A new Zac.

Language Warning

Zac spent tonight washing walls. He had been busted for scratching graffiti into our kitchen table. The positioning of said graffiti was most unfortunate as it sits just above the dinner plate position at the head of the able. Through a stroke of luck, however, Mick was not sitting in his usual position at the dinner table this evening. I was. My first reaction upon seeing the offending indentation was to draw in breath sharply. Zac's knee jerk reaction to my uncharacteristic dinnertime behaviour was to announce "I didn't do it." How could he know what he hadn't done if he had in fact not done it. Clue number one. Clue number two was the repetition of the phase "I didn't do it." I didn't need any micro expressions to tell he was lying to me. Clue three came by way of a spelling test. I asked Gus to spell the offending word and he had to ask if it had a big 'c' or little 'c'. (It's not that word) Gus was exonerated. Zac made an attempt to cover his tracks by writing a lower case where the graffiti had an uppercase, but his 'k' gave him away. His handwriting was a match. Now to the punishment. This was no ordinary misdeed and so needed a less than ordinary consequence. So I gave Zac the Enyo washer and told him to wash walls until bed time. With a minimal amount of posturing he did and in the process confessed his crime and entered into a productive discussion about restitution. An hour later and many walls washed he went to bed and I avoided a dramatic meltdown, his and mine. Some time today I was asked to ponder the question 'What have you done today to make you feel proud?' I can now say that I feel proud that I handled a stressful family situation without threats or raised voices (screaming) or smacking. So that when my Visiting Teachers came over (I had forgotten they were coming) as the children were all going to bed I did not have to explain the tension in the house. Instead they were surprised that I was already laughing about the matter.

Exhibit A:
Do not scroll down if you are easily offended or if me posting this will change your opinion of me for worse.

Lost

this is a picture of me 60cm (2feet) from the computer screen

I am blind.
It's official (self diagnosis).
I need my glasses to get me through the day.
I've been without my glasses for two weeks now as I wait for them to be repaired. I broke the arm while trying to clean them.
In the last two weeks I have been managing with a distinct squint. (Is it noticeable?)
This post is decidedly snappy as my attention span is significantly decreased because of the energy required to edit text.
Now for the viewer survey:
Do you think the squint will leave me with any lasting facial creasing?

Birthday Girl

Poppy had her 3rd birthday on Saturday with fairy cakes and princess dresses. She was definitely princess for a day (or two). She loves her 'Punzel dress all the way from 'Mareica from Ailish and Aunty 'Wistie'.

Having Poppy in our family has been such a joy and a surprising blessing.

I have been watching her closely these last few weeks that I have been at home on holidays and seen her mature from toddler to preschooler. She dances and sings her way through every day. Her repertoire of songs has increased from Twinkle Twinkle and Baa Baa to self composed pieces about love.

I was not allowed on her party boat last week coz I made her super mad but after I made her awesome birthday cake (see Kristie never too poor for birthday cake) I'm certain I'm back on the party boat.

Seriously thanks to family and friends who helped make Poppy's picnic a fun affair. Poppy got a present from her friend Mia and she insists on carrying it with her every where. The horse, Maximus, comes in the car just about everywhere. Sadly he has suffered a sex change and is now an unnamed girl horse. However seeing Poppy play and sing and laugh has made me grateful for the good memories I have of my childhood and made me remeber how great it is to be a child. I hope to be able to preserve her innocence and childhood for a good while longer. Tough to do, I'm sure, but well worth the effort.

New rules

For 4 years I've been feeding Gus what ever he wants for dinner. Nuggets, frankfurters, plain pasta, with a small piece of broccoli or cucumber to appease the veg gods. This has been working for him. Of late it has been working for me less. Gus' iron levels are sickeningly low and lets face it he's 5 now and can do with a little more variety in his diet.

So Sunday night the new regime was brought in.

No yelling - Children or Parents

No smacking.

Mum will serve everyone a reasonable portion of the same meal.

Everyone will eat a reasonable portion of said meal.

Bread and butter are the alternative when a reasonable portion is less than sufficiently satisfying.

Not eating a reasonable portion will result in 'bed time'.

Four days in and we are experiencing a level of success that, quite frankly, I thought was not going to be possible in such a short time.

Tonight Gus ate 1 whole ladelful of vegetable soup. I wont kid you there was much discussion about how he didn't like the look of it and how he wasn't hungry and how he was going to go to bed if he had made no effort to eat/taste the soup before everyone else was finished their meal. About 2 3rd's of the way through the meal Gus broke and tasted the soup. Hallelujah. One small bite deserves another and before too long the meal was finished.

Gus is stubborn but most of it's for show. While he was eating he would make faces to show his apparent discomfort in eating the soup but there was a definate twinkle in his eye that told me it was just for show. Cheeky.

Summer Fruits

The holidaze have been a real treat.

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I have had time to regenerate and reflect. The regeneration part has worked so well that I am fealing more energetic and more positive about me in my body. Feeling positive has definately been aided by a successful first week on the scales. I lost 2.2 kg this week. And thankfully birthdays have never bothered me so turning 34 last Sunday was nothing but a reason to get together with family and celebrate. Good times.

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The time for reflection has been positive too. I've been inspired by a friend who writes at 7 cherubs to be more conscious of my relationship with my children. I've been making some plans (nothing concrete yet) to make time for relationship/family building activites. I'll let you know how it goes.

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Now we are on the count down to the school term and I'm beginning to panic that there are so many things that I haven't made time for and now have to find a way to fit them into the last two weeks of the holidays. It's a good thing I have a new found energy. Mutiple play dates and morning teas are on the agenda.

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I'll be in touch.

Cheeky Chops

A couple months ago Zac was interested in taking some picture. This is not the amazing thing because he often enjoys photo journaling his life. What made this photo session memorable was that Gus and Poppy were so amenable to being models. Gus became especially creative with his posses. I've made some of the better pictures from this day into a collage.

Watching my weight

I (Mick and I) got an awesome treadmill for Christmas. I've totally been working it but maybe I've also been working the Christmas cheer just little bit harder.

So now I'm watching my weight with the help of the inter-web-thingy.

I signed up for Weight Watchers and now we can all watch my weight together.

Go team Dee!