Sometimes when there's a lot going on, I find it a lot harder to write than when we are plodding along not doing anything out of the ordinary. The last couple of weeks have been a mix of big events and quieter days. Here's a bit of summary (in no particular order)
- LiAM turned 9. He had a lovely quiet day at home, playing with lego and playing Halo on the PS3, and playing with his Minecraft and Terraria figurines. He had a friend come over for a little while in the afternoon. For dinner we had a family meat pie and a family apple pie - his favourite tea, and some chocolate cake.
- We had a birthday party for LiAM. The kids played on the trampoline and with the lego and on their iPads and with soft toys (that was mainly Millie and her friends) and the adults chatted and relaxed - a very easy party to organise and to host.
- On a cold morning Millie and I saw hot air balloons taking off in the paddock next to our house. We walked down to watch them go from close up, and chatted to the ground crew. On the way back to the house we looked at the way the frost had formed on different types of leaves and blades of grass and the vines.
- We had an extremely cold morning, still below 0 at 10am (the morning of LiAM's party). There was ice everywhere outside which was lots of fun to explore.
- We have had 3 new chicks hatch. One of them died on the first day, the other two have survived that very cold night and morning and are being well looked after by their mother. One is black and one yellow and as always we can't believe how tiny and incredibly cute they are.
- The kids and I went to Bounce, finally, after talking about it since at least early last year. All four of us had a very fun time (I didn't jump, I wandered around watching and talking to the kids, and giving encouragement when they were trying something new and/or difficult (like Caitlin learning to jump up on to the wall in the performance trampoline area. She hasn't quite made it yet, but she made a lot of progress in this first session of trying)
- Caitlin had 2 performances with Victorian Youth Theatre. We all (And her friend S, and Grandma and Grandad) went and watched the first one, and F and I went to the 2nd one. As with last year, the productions were professional and very impressive, and Caitlin was great in her roles.
- We've been going to karate
- We've watched lots of movies
- We've started learning Auslan (Australian Sign Language)
- Caitlin and I have both (separately) learnt how to crochet a beanie, so we've been making those. I've also been crocheting head bands and I'm working on a scarf, Caitlin has been making beautiful flowers (she made one for each kid in her acting classes and took them in on the night of the last class)
- We've been to friend's houses and had friends visit here
- We've played with lego
- We've played big imaginary games with Millie's toys or LiAM's animals or the Skylanders or combinations of them all
- We've been to homeschool group
- We've been to the playground
- We've hung out at the library
- I've played the piano a lot
- I went to a rally, #bringbackasha, protesting against having babies sent back to offshore detention centres
It's the end of school term today so most of our regular activities will stop for a couple of weeks. As always at the end of term I am looking forward to some time with less scheduling and more going with the moment.
Friday 26 June 2015
Tuesday 9 June 2015
Millie is turning 6!
Today is Millie's 6th birthday!
She's currently watching 'Tinkerbell and the Secret of the Wings' which she received this morning - she's been wanting it desperately for weeks and is very excited to finally own it.
I'm trying to think of words to describe Millie as she turns 6 and nothing seems to do her justice. She is still tiny, like a little elf. She skips and runs as much as she walks. She loves cuddles and still enjoys being carried places, or going in the sling on someone's back. She has an amazing sense of humour and has recently started to get a lot more jokes, recognising word plays and abstract associations that make things funny.
Millie operates on her own time, and I have learnt a lot from her about living in the moment and assessing what is really important. She has strong interests and can focus on them for hours, and flits over things that don't interest her so much. She sees patterns everywhere and plays best when she can create a pattern or a system out of whatever she is doing. She currently loves My Little Pony (she got a box of ponies this morning!) and Tinkerbell and Littlest Pet Shop and Skylanders and Toy Story, as well as doing lots of pretend play where someone is usually an animal. She loves puzzles, listening to books, watching movies, going on the swing, jumping on the trampoline, playing with Winky the cat, playing on the iPad or her iPod or the computer, playing Minecraft and Terraria and a whole range of other games. Her favourite animal is the zebra. Her favourite song is Roar by Katy Perry. She loves to dance and often sings to herself while she is playing.
I really love her confidence in herself. She knows what she wants and asks for it. She is sensitive to noise and will do what she can to protect herself when she feels overwhelmed. It's great to see that while there are many things that make her feel uncomfortable, she is learning more ways to manage herself and her environment so that she is not impacted too much.
I feel so blessed every day to have Millie in our lives, she keeps us all grounded and creates so much happiness and I love everything about her.
She's currently watching 'Tinkerbell and the Secret of the Wings' which she received this morning - she's been wanting it desperately for weeks and is very excited to finally own it.
I'm trying to think of words to describe Millie as she turns 6 and nothing seems to do her justice. She is still tiny, like a little elf. She skips and runs as much as she walks. She loves cuddles and still enjoys being carried places, or going in the sling on someone's back. She has an amazing sense of humour and has recently started to get a lot more jokes, recognising word plays and abstract associations that make things funny.
Millie operates on her own time, and I have learnt a lot from her about living in the moment and assessing what is really important. She has strong interests and can focus on them for hours, and flits over things that don't interest her so much. She sees patterns everywhere and plays best when she can create a pattern or a system out of whatever she is doing. She currently loves My Little Pony (she got a box of ponies this morning!) and Tinkerbell and Littlest Pet Shop and Skylanders and Toy Story, as well as doing lots of pretend play where someone is usually an animal. She loves puzzles, listening to books, watching movies, going on the swing, jumping on the trampoline, playing with Winky the cat, playing on the iPad or her iPod or the computer, playing Minecraft and Terraria and a whole range of other games. Her favourite animal is the zebra. Her favourite song is Roar by Katy Perry. She loves to dance and often sings to herself while she is playing.
I really love her confidence in herself. She knows what she wants and asks for it. She is sensitive to noise and will do what she can to protect herself when she feels overwhelmed. It's great to see that while there are many things that make her feel uncomfortable, she is learning more ways to manage herself and her environment so that she is not impacted too much.
I feel so blessed every day to have Millie in our lives, she keeps us all grounded and creates so much happiness and I love everything about her.
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