Sushi takeaway

Books July - Dec 2008

Not a producive few months as far as books were concerned....

The Devil Wears Pranda by Lauren Weisberger
The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kingsley
What I talk about when I talk about running by Haruki Murakami
Paula by Isbella Allende - Had to return it to the library (borrowed for too long) and I was only half way through. I'm determined to finish it in the near future.
Under the Tuscan sun by Frances Mayes - only a third way through. I'm leaving this book for now. I'm normally very interested in these sort of "sea-change" books but for some reason found this book boring to read.

[2 years] Alright Mom?

It has been 2 months since I last wrote out Lara's development. I enjoy Lara's little progress, a new word, an interesting behaviour or new likes and dislikes but I don't particularly enjoy writing them down day after day. I try to record them becasue I understand the usefulness of it - to help me remember things in the future or to settle arguements like 'when did Lara learn to do xxxx".

Memory deceives me all the time. When I looked at some of the entires I wrote down here, they seemed so far away (I swear I thought Lara knew her animal sounds long ago but in fact she got some of them wrong only 1-2 months ago).

Lara's progress report:
*Lara sometimes got the animal noises wrong. She told me "rabbit meow meow" the other day. When I picked her up from day care one day, the teacher told me they were learing about an animal then she turned to Lara and asked Lara which animal went "quak quak". Lara picked up a cow on the table and replied " Cow?"

* Lara started saying "Alright Mom?" when she thought I was hurt or unhappy (while she patted my back). I realised that was what I do.

* Loves dresses. Most of the time when I put a pair of pants on her in the morning, she would protest and wanted to wear "dress". She loves to wear "pretty dress" (her fairy dresses).


* Lara say things in sentences - "Lara put it in the trolley". "Mommy cut it up". "Lara don't like it", "don't want it". Sometimes she talks not in sentences but paragraphs!! I asked Lara the other day if the food she was eating was nice. She told me "it's yummy Mommy". She also uses *very very" to describe things, ie "very very cold" she told me one morning. She uses the word "too" a lot. "too fast", "too hot", "too big", "too much".

* I feel like I can hold a conversion with Lara sometimes. The other day I said to Lara "it's so cold today". Lara replied "it's freezing" while crossed and rubbed hands on her arms.

*Will come and give me cuddles or kisses. Says "apple raisin grapes?" when she's tired or unsure. Loves tomotos and all fruit (including dried ones). I askde Lara one day "what do you want? Yoghurt or watermelon?" Lara said " Watermelon, (but) Yoghurt first".

* Very clear about ownership. "da da's shoes", "Mommy's bag". Everything is Lara's though. Quite bossy for someone so small.

*Likes to watch Zeb eat.

Spring rolls

Why does all this filling only yield 30 spring rolls?

Swimming pool incident

I had last week off with Lara after Husband went back to work.

Lara gets very bored if staying at home all day and kids do naughty things when they are bored. I knew If I plan things right and get rid of this 'boredom' energy, I would be rewarded with an enjoyable day with a happy child. I knew I had to take Lara out at least once during the day.

The weather forcast was hot. I arranged to meet a friend at the local pool on Tuesday after a long play in the park on Monday. Lara got into all 3 outside kiddies pools and was generally happy during our stay. Being a little "lady", she didn't like 'boys' splashing water everywhere (she pointed her finger at them and said "no naughty" with a stern face) and of course wouldn't even comtemplate getting her face or hair wet.

I should have taking Lara home much earlier than I did. Being such a hot day and with so many kids around, Lara grew over-tired quickly. She became extremely difficult and had to be dragged out crying and screaming in my arms. It was not my proudest "parenthood" moment.

I couldn't leave things like that and gave Lara a bad pool experience, so I decided to take her back the very next day by myself (also to find the pair of shoes we left there in our haste departure). I made sure I watched the time and only stayed for about an hour. I also further enhanced the "pool experience" by sharing an ice pop with her before we left. Lara was very happy when we left the pool this time.

Who says money can't buy happiness (at least for a short time) and it only cost one dollar!!

Morning tea 2-Jan-2009

We love the beach!

We went to the beach twice between Christmas and New Year.
We didn't plan each outing, it was spur-of-the-moment, letting the weather and our mood decide how we spend the day.

Sandy beach was nice and more kids friendly as the waves were smaller. Lara and her dad spent some time building sand castle and digging sand canal. We had to take turns going into the water as Lara was not keen going into the sea until just before we left. One of us had to be with Lara on the sand and it was very hot.



We learned our lesson and left home later (3.30pm) the second time. The sun was less harsh and Lara spent more time in the water with us. She liked the waves and gave out shrieks of delight when the bigger waves splashed water about. We took turns having a dip ourselves, the water was so refreshing! We forgot Lara's swimming nappy. You could spot a wet patch on Simon's t-shirt even before we arrived at our spot on the beach!

We'll make sure we do this a few times more before summer ends.

Young artist at work

Thanks to some bath crayons, Lara now knows these colours: black, red, blue, green, yellow and orange.

Pecan pine nuts goden syrup chocolate tart

My first homemade shortcrust pastry.
I cooked the cake 10 minutes too long. It was partly my fault because I forgot to take it out. But also the cake still looked wobbly (recipe say to bake until just firm in the centre). So it was over-cooked a little. Si didn't think chocolate shortcrust pastry go with the nutty filling. It's nearly all gone but not a hugely popular desert.