Monday 30 August 2010
I wonder how many children will grow up without ever having climbed a tree? More and more in the city I am seeing tree-less backyards. Children aren’t allowed to climb trees in the vast majority of childcare centres or schools either, and kids today just don’t have the free outdoor time we did a generation or two ago. As a result I’m guessing some children will never know the triumph of conquering a tree, or the pleasure of dreaming in the branches.
I have fond memories of tree climbing as a child. My sister and I climbed trees in our own various backyards (we moved around...
Tuesday 24 August 2010 -
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Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best, aren’t they? This week I put a piece of string up and over the branch of a tree, and tied a coloured bucked to each end. Genius. Mr Almost-Two has played with these buckets constantly.
Blue bucket down, yellow bucket up.
Yellow bucket down, blue bucket up, up, up!
And if you’re very, very clever – you can get both buckets to stop half way
and fill them...
Friday 20 August 2010 -
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What an exciting day! For the kids, I mean. Not only did we get brilliant seats at Justine Clarke’s Great Big World concert, but we got to go backstage before the show to meet Justine!! (Just one of the perks of being an Aussie mummy blogger, and it probably helped that I have reviewed and given away copies of the Great Big World CD and DVD as well as interviewing Justine online.)
Justine is an absolute delight...
Thursday 19 August 2010 -
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In reflecting on our lovely day at the local show, one thing has really stayed with me.
The highlight of the show this year for me was the woodchopping. Up there with the big blokes (and ladies!) was a little tyke the tender age of 5. He stood on his block like the others, one foot on either end of the wood, and chopped right through between his feet. I couldn’t help but notice how sharp and shiny his...
Tuesday 17 August 2010 -
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My little man watches his big sister construct all manner of creations with boxes, junk mail, scissors and glue. She can whip up anything from a bird to a robot in no time. The other day while watching her create some masterpiece, Mr-Almost-Two discovered glue. Glorious, magical glue.
I grabbed a junk mail catalogue and chopped out pictures of items he knows and can identify. Truck, shoe, camera, train, baby,...
Sunday 15 August 2010 -
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Mr Almost-Two is enjoying putting pairs of words together at the moment, often featuring the word ME.
Every time he falls over, which is quite often given that he is an almost two year old boy, he says “Alright me?“ Then he picks himself up and carries on with whatever he was doing.
It never fails to make me smile.
As a mum, I fall down sometimes too. It wouldn’t hurt to take a moment and ask “Alright...
Sunday 08 August 2010 -
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My bird-loving daughter (yep, she gets it from me) found an egg at kindy. According to her the egg is “creamish with brown speckles” and she found it on the concrete under a few trees. We took a photo on the iphone, then googled it at home.
Turns out it’s quite tricky to identify eggs online. We tried looking for an identification guide, but no luck. We tried searching for the eggs of common...
Thursday 05 August 2010 -
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I get approached by a lot of companies about a lot of products for babies and children. Some of them are big companies, some are small, but I was so surprised to find one request by a mum I know from the playground. And I have to say – her product is great! There’s something cool about knowing the person behind a product. I can see the time, love and dedication that has gone into making her idea a...
Tuesday 27 July 2010 -
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Music has a special place in our home, and I’ve shared before about singing together. We sing a lot, but we also have music in our house in other ways. You see SquiggleDad is a great guitarist. He doesn’t get to play much any more, but he still has an impressive collection of guitars. Classical, acoustic, electric, bass. I think around a dozen instruments all up. Except now the collection is growing…
If...
Tuesday 29 June 2010 -
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I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the times we don’t let kids play outside. Most schools here in Australia have a wet weather policy, and children stay inside during rainy lunch times. At home I can, and do, let my kids play in the rain as you will know if you’ve read a few posts! In some areas schools also have hot weather policies. I remember when I was a child that if the temperature...
