Linguistics

Don't you just find the development of language amazing.  I really wish we had some access to a second language because what a blessing for a child to learn 2 or even 3 languages at this time when their mind is so extraordinarily capable.

Noah is talking now - really talking.  I couldn't possibly record his language by number of words - he can say everything.  He can copy any word he hears although he does struggle a bit with 'F's' and words with 'L' as the second letter.  I am amazed every day at the development of his vocabulary.  He talks constantly - essentially Noah is the commentator of his own life.  "Noah saw a truck" "Noah saw/did/want (insert word here)"

It's exciting to hear words that have been around for months and months improve to be perfectly comprehensible -  'nana' has become ba-nana', 'dater' is now 'water' family and friends names have been practised and perfected.  Not all words are good - as I hit the brakes a little hard yesterday I exclaimed 'jeepers' Noah said 'oh shit' - hey at least it was used in perfect context. I chose to pretend I didn't hear.

He has some funny expressions - in particular "Noah want it" - which actually means that he doesn't want to do, eat, go whatever or wherever I'm offering.  I can't help but giggle as he yells it at me with such vehemence.

We've never shortened or cute-ified (that's a word) any words so as a result he says rhinoceros and tyrannosaurus and all kinds of words even the best of us can get tongue tied over.

Every day there are new words, life is such an adventure for him and I feel so lucky to be invited along for the ride.

What funny expressions or words do your kids use??  How about the swear words - have any snuck in? How did you handle it?

I can see clearly now...

We have finally emerged from the dense fog of winter sickness.  The weather is glorious (oh my god I've become an old person!!) and we hope we've truly farewelled winter and all the nasty colds and flus.

I have been so extremely grateful for feeling well, after nearly a week in bed, that Noah and I have traipsed all over the place and had a really fun filled week of sunshine and play.  Being housebound for 2 weeks really makes you appreciate things when you get up and about again.

We started with a weekend of park visits and a great day in Whiteman Park for the Thomas the Tank Engine day.  They do one of those family days twice a year but this is our first visit.  Luckily for us Noah is not really a 'Thomas' kid (he just loves trains) because it wasn't really very 'Thomasy' despite the advertising. Sure there was plenty of Thomas merchandise being pushed at us but other than that not much besides a guy dressed as "The Fat Controller' telling everyone to stand behind the yellow line.

It was a great day though -Noah's Nanny and Poppy joined us and we rode the train twice, visited the petting zoo, climbed on fire trucks and had a lovely picnic.

When Monday came we were very sad to send Daddy back to work after such a fun weekend.

Tuesday being my work day I decided to be brave and drag all 3 kids to the aquarium (AQWA).  When I'm out and about with the 3 of them so close in age people always give me looks of sympathy or look at me like I'm some sort of crazy person who just needs to learn about contraception!!!  Little do they know I send two of them home at 5pm.  The kids are always so fabulously behaved for me though - in fact without fail Noah is the one that causes me the most trouble!  We had fun exploring and then had a lovely lunch of fish and chips at the boat harbour and finished off with time in the playground and an ice-cream - perfect day.

Yay for ice-cream - let's cheers to that

Tuesday was made even more exciting by Daddy's impromptu gift of a shiny new kite when he came home from work.

Wednesday Noah and I headed off just the two of us for an adventure in the city.  I was lucky to receive an email from the WA State Library letting me know that for story time this week it was going to be The Gruffalo and the creature himself was going to be making an appearance.  We are Gruffalo mad in this house so I knew immediately that we wanted to be there.  

The event started with a reading of the book wit all the kids shouting out the words (obviously we are not the only household that has read the book six hundred and fifty thousand times!!)  While the kids were listening to the story the mums had to make them a special crown with all the animals from the story.  All the kids donned their hats and The Gruffalo arrived.  Surprisingly Noah was actually a bit frightened and kept telling me "Noah a bit too scared Mummy" (yes he talks about himself in the third person!)

The boys felt much safer with this Gruffalo (Reuben on left & Noah on right)

After the morning at the library Noah and I couldn't resist a bit of exploration of the city arts precinct and enjoyed a lovely lunch in the urban orchard.

Website Blurb ( a place to celebrate the importance of growing  fresh, healthy food where we live. Once a neglected area on the rooftop of a car park, the urban orchard is now the perfect spot to eat lunch and meet up with friends. It’s also a new destination for events and activities in the Perth Cultural Centre. In the garden beds you will find fruit, vegetables, herbs and companion plants.  The planter boxes are made from recycled waste from other parts of the building works, the plants are managed organically and will be harvested and planted seasonally. This is the embodiment of sustainable community gardening and is a resource for all.  The orchard will provide nutritious and tasty crops throughout the year and you can be involved in community planting, harvesting and education events.)

Oh Yeah - rockin' those shades

Checkout the reflection

Finally yesterday after our usual morning at playgroup we spent the whole afternoon on the beach.  It has been an action packed week of adventure and fun.  Mummy really needs a rest but instead we are hurtling towards a long weekend filled with grand final parties, BBQ's with friends and more than likely a visit to the Perth Royal Show and we can't wait.

What adventures have you had this week or what are you looking forward to on the weekend??  Please share - it's fun. Happy Weekending everyone.

Winter's Last Stand

The week in Perth started with sun shining and I was raring to go - crossing jobs off the list at a cracking pace.  Tuesday afternoon and winter decided to make it's last stand.  The rain came down and the winds howled.  The washing pile grew.

Then Wednesday the return of winter made itself known not only as bad weather - I became suddenly ill with a flu/gastro/migraine thingy that quickly sent me crawling into bed. So what started as a great week has ended with me being in bed almost constantly since Wednesday lunchtime.  I have never been in bed sick for that long except post surgery.  I think I'm feeling better today but I am also hopped up on cold and flu tablets so the truth of the matter remains to be seen.  Unfortunately Noah started to go downhill last night so it could be a rough weekend too.

My husband has managed to still go to work (and so far has avoided the lergy) but has been wonderful in sorting us out in the morning before he leaves and taking care of us both in the evenings.

Last weekend we visited a friend who had a new baby - her second baby girl.  I figured that she would already have every conceivable baby item required so decided that our gift to her would be food.  I cooked up a double batch of  Pumpkin Cannelloni - one for her family and one for mine and a yummy raspberry coconut cake and off we went.  I truly think these practical and homemade gestures are received with so much more appreciation than another baby outfit.

Anyhow it turns out that the cannelloni was also a godsend for my family this week and we've survived on it for lunches and dinners for most of the week.  A little bit boring sure but what a relief to have it ready to go.

Pumpkin, Spinach & Ricotta Cannelloni

Ingredients

•      800g kent pumpkin peeled and roughly chopped
•      1 garlic clove finely chopped
•      2 x 400g tins diced tomatoes
•      Pinch dried chilli flakes
•      250g frozen spinach (thawed and excess liquid removed)
•      400g low-fat ricotta
•      Pinch ground nutmeg
•      200g cannelloni tubes
•      100g grated mozzarella
•      1-2 tablespoons pine nuts (if desired)

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius

Roast Pumpkin in oven (keep oven hot after roasting to cook the finished cannelloni)

Heat oil in saucepan and sauté garlic until aromatic.  Stir in tomato and chilli.  Bring to the boil. Season with salt and pepper.

In a bowl mash cooled pumpkin and add spinach, ricotta and nutmeg – stir well

Spread a thin layer of the tomato sauce in bottom of baking dish (approx. 20x30cms)

Fill cannelloni tubes with pumpkin mixture and place in a single layer in dish.(use piping bag or plastic Ziploc bag with the corner cut off)

Pour remaining tomato mixture over cannelloni and sprinkle with mozzarella and pine nuts.

This is the official recipe - when I make my tomato sauce I also add capsicum, zucchini (and any other veg you fancy) which has been very finely diced in the food processor.  I'd rather get as many vegies in as possible.

I hope you and your family are well.  Try this recipe I guarantee you'll love it.

The Simple Things

Tuesday is my only 'work' day of the week and I'm lucky to still spend the day with Noah plus add two other gorgeous children into the mix.  As a rule we play at home or in a nearby park and rarely go out in the car.  Today I absolutely had no choice other than to drag them on some errands with me.  I knew it would be challenging as I had to travel some decent distances and there would be a bit of waiting around.  They are all really great kids but it was bound to be a boring morning for even the most angelic of child.

Anyhow we set off armed with plenty of snacks and some treats and most of all plenty of music to sing along to. We chatted and watched the trains zooming past us on the freeway, we spotted trucks and police cars and motorbikes and we danced in our seats.  The first 40 minutes went by and we made our first stop (dropping off the beloved mix master for some much needed repairs - the repair shop is only open Tuesdays so thus the reason for the trip on a workday).

Next we had another stop to make but only about 15 minutes more driving and then we had to wait about an hour while the shop did some work for me (too far to drop off and come back later). We were right in the industrial area of Perth and there wasn't a playground anywhere nearby plus the sky was starting to look a bit like rain.

I was a bit stumped and then realised we were right under the airport flight path.  One of the kids spotted a plane and there were squeals all round.  We found a spot to wait and we watched planes flying all around us.  Some of them were so low it was almost like you could see the passengers at the windows. We had so much fun the hour flew by (pardon the pun).

I love discovering joy in the strangest of places and situations.  How great is it to be lucky enough to have kids that appreciate the simple joys in life. Who knew errands could be so much fun.

Where did you find joy today??


P.S. That is not my picture - I wish.  I found it here

Father's Day

It was Father's Day yesterday in Australia.  I've been reading mixed reports around the blogosphere - some love it and celebrate to excess, some thinks it's a silly Hallmark celebration. Me - I think it's really nice to acknowledge the wonderful job dads do. 

I certainly do hope that my husband (and my own dad too) knows every day how much I appreciate the sacrifices he makes and all the hard work he puts in for our family - but it's nice to set a day aside to show him some extra appreciation. 

Personally I would hate to go to work every day and leave Noah for 8,9 or 10 hours and I know it breaks his heart but he does it for me and he does it for Noah (he does it a little bit for himself too because he loves his job and readily admits that he could not spend 365 days a year looking after our challenging little boy).

Anyhow even though it's become a bit too commercial for my liking we still like to to celebrate.  We spent a lovely day with our own dads plus had some family time to ourselves.  Small gifts and handmade crafts were gifted with love and today I hope he went to work with an extra spring in his step feeling extra special.

How was your day celebrated?

Phew.........

{Picture from here}

I have had a kid free day.  Noah spends every Monday with his Pa (my father-in-law) from 9 until about 1.30.  Today I had a few extra jobs to do so the FIL dropped him to my Dad until I could pick him up at 4pm - Yay for grandads.

Sometimes, even though it seems like such a luxury to have solo time, I end up more exhausted trying to fit everything in.   Today I have run (well OK, driven mostly and walked a bit) from one end of town to the other trying to do every job on my to do list.  This is what I achieved.

• Blood tests
• Grocery shopping
• Hairdresser (thank god for my Iphone - I did my banking and sent emails - yippee for multi-tasking)
• Some more Christmas shopping (ha ha I know what a show off)
• A Dr's appointment
• Dropped off and picked up dry cleaning
• A couple of small errands for the husband

What a whirlwind and I even managed to take a break for some lunch and a coffee in the sunshine with a magazine.

How did your Monday go??  Do you manage to find kid free time in your week?

Spring has Sprung

I can tell you with 100% certainty that spring is here - Tuesday last week at lunch time it happened.  I know this because the sneezing started and it hasn't stopped.*   Soon it will irritate me enough to resort to medication but right now that twitch in my nose reminds me of all the wonderful things ahead of us.

This weekend I am.....

heading to the hills to see the apple blossoms**

baking to celebrate a new baby girl's arrival

celebrating all the father's I know - especially my dad & my wonderful if slightly weird husband

How are you enjoying this first weekend of spring?



 * The other less pleasant sign was 3 big nasty blowflies in the house - time to start keeping the door closed tight again.
** Trust Organic Festival  event at Highvale Biodynamic Orchard 35 Merrivale Rd, Pickering Brook WA . 2 - 4pm $15 Adults