Parents! Beware!
I have discovered something that many parents will not have realised yet. Musical Theatre is categorically BAD for children. It causes rebellion and out right rude behaviour. It may actually cause your child to argue back......... in SONG!
Showing posts with label attachment parenting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label attachment parenting. Show all posts
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
Knit one, purl one...
I have been a bit knitting crazy lately.
I first started knitting at 19, when I performed in my first community theatre show. The green room was a shonky little room, tacked on besides the stage, no sound proofing or even a divider between the green room and the stage. You literally went around a corner and were in the wings. So, to avoid making heaps of noise backstage, the cast employed various methods to entertain themselves quietly backstage. This was an era before smart phones, and "Snake" gets boring after a while, so I got a book on knitting out of the library and taught myself to knit. Normal for a 19 year old? Not really, but normal people are boring, and I have never claimed to be normal.
I knitted the most amazing scarf, about 1.2 meters long, over $100 worth of beautiful, fluffy merino mohair blend yarn and even though it took nearly 2 years to complete, I wore it like a badge of honour. Ever seen a normal person wearing a massive, fluffy scarf in summer?
Unfortunately, in the last 5 years, it has been lost in one of the many moves. Innaloo, Green Head, Leeman, South Perth, Japan, Roleystone, Armadale and now Kelmscott, during one of those shifts, my precious scarf has been lost somewhere. Awwww, Sad face.
These last few months I have been involved in a pantomime. I auditioned for the role, with the full knowledge that I would be the leading lady, but that it probably would be a production with a few hiccups. (Oh no it wouldn't! Oh yes it would! Oh..... Oh bah hum bug, you get the picture.) Being a cast full of first timers and children, it has been a little bit of an exercise in diplomacy and patience.
At least I got to be a princess.
So, again, I took up knitting, in order to keep myself sane. First, it was a tunic dress for Ava.
Then a rainbow dress for His Majesty's daughter.
And I just kinda kept going!
I have been told that I am different and strange, and that people walked on eggshells around me. To be completely honest, I don't really give a shit. What is "normal" anyway, except for an excuse to be disappointed and judgemental instead of loving someone for who and what they are?
I am happy with my life, happy with my decisions and proud of what I have achieved. I have a safe home, a supportive and loving partner, a wonderful young family. I am a calm, consistent, firm and loving mother. I have hobbies I enjoy, and a job that pays the bills. If people want to walk on eggshells around me, that is their own problem, because with me, what you see is what you get. Tough luck if you don't like it.
And getting back to the pantomime, it really hasn't turned out all that bad. I have really enjoyed working with a few of the older cast members and getting to know some theatre regulars better. My dear friend (and the prince!) Feildhlim has found his very own princess in another cast member, who also happens to be an ex-student of mine. Dare I say, it has even turned out to be fun?
Well, I got some knitting done at least!
I first started knitting at 19, when I performed in my first community theatre show. The green room was a shonky little room, tacked on besides the stage, no sound proofing or even a divider between the green room and the stage. You literally went around a corner and were in the wings. So, to avoid making heaps of noise backstage, the cast employed various methods to entertain themselves quietly backstage. This was an era before smart phones, and "Snake" gets boring after a while, so I got a book on knitting out of the library and taught myself to knit. Normal for a 19 year old? Not really, but normal people are boring, and I have never claimed to be normal.
I knitted the most amazing scarf, about 1.2 meters long, over $100 worth of beautiful, fluffy merino mohair blend yarn and even though it took nearly 2 years to complete, I wore it like a badge of honour. Ever seen a normal person wearing a massive, fluffy scarf in summer?
Unfortunately, in the last 5 years, it has been lost in one of the many moves. Innaloo, Green Head, Leeman, South Perth, Japan, Roleystone, Armadale and now Kelmscott, during one of those shifts, my precious scarf has been lost somewhere. Awwww, Sad face.
These last few months I have been involved in a pantomime. I auditioned for the role, with the full knowledge that I would be the leading lady, but that it probably would be a production with a few hiccups. (Oh no it wouldn't! Oh yes it would! Oh..... Oh bah hum bug, you get the picture.) Being a cast full of first timers and children, it has been a little bit of an exercise in diplomacy and patience.
At least I got to be a princess.
So, again, I took up knitting, in order to keep myself sane. First, it was a tunic dress for Ava.
Then a rainbow dress for His Majesty's daughter.
Pants for Mackenzie:
And I just kinda kept going!
I have been told that I am different and strange, and that people walked on eggshells around me. To be completely honest, I don't really give a shit. What is "normal" anyway, except for an excuse to be disappointed and judgemental instead of loving someone for who and what they are?
I am happy with my life, happy with my decisions and proud of what I have achieved. I have a safe home, a supportive and loving partner, a wonderful young family. I am a calm, consistent, firm and loving mother. I have hobbies I enjoy, and a job that pays the bills. If people want to walk on eggshells around me, that is their own problem, because with me, what you see is what you get. Tough luck if you don't like it.
And getting back to the pantomime, it really hasn't turned out all that bad. I have really enjoyed working with a few of the older cast members and getting to know some theatre regulars better. My dear friend (and the prince!) Feildhlim has found his very own princess in another cast member, who also happens to be an ex-student of mine. Dare I say, it has even turned out to be fun?
Well, I got some knitting done at least!
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Things I have found myself yelling as a parent.
Your standards change when you have children, especially toddlers. Things that you wouldn't dare have said in polite company before children suddenly become common place. These are some things I have found myself yelling as a mummy...
In the shopping centre "Ava, have you done poo? (No) Just fluffies? (Yes) Good then!"
Racing to the toilet in Harvey Normans, at the top of my lungs "Hold your poo in! Good girl, hold your poo in!"
On the phone with my friend, Tyler. "Blah blah blah blah, AVA! Stop torturing them!" Tyler: Ummmmm, do you have slaves in your basement? (Ava was poking the rats through the bars of the cage)
Gardening the other day: "If you need to do wees, squat on the grass. That's what you do if you need to wee outside!" Sorry, neighbours. I am not that strange, really.
Going to the toilet by myself caused Ava to burst into tears. "Sometimes, grownups like to go to the toilet by themselves" (Waaaaah, I want to help!) "Well, I don't need help to poo!"
In Activate 2 days ago with my friend Emily: Me "Is that wee or juice? Oh, juice. Phew!" Em "How can you tell?" "I sniffed it (Amazed and disgusted stare) I guess that's a Mummy thing."
I am sure there are more...
In the shopping centre "Ava, have you done poo? (No) Just fluffies? (Yes) Good then!"
Racing to the toilet in Harvey Normans, at the top of my lungs "Hold your poo in! Good girl, hold your poo in!"
On the phone with my friend, Tyler. "Blah blah blah blah, AVA! Stop torturing them!" Tyler: Ummmmm, do you have slaves in your basement? (Ava was poking the rats through the bars of the cage)
Gardening the other day: "If you need to do wees, squat on the grass. That's what you do if you need to wee outside!" Sorry, neighbours. I am not that strange, really.
Going to the toilet by myself caused Ava to burst into tears. "Sometimes, grownups like to go to the toilet by themselves" (Waaaaah, I want to help!) "Well, I don't need help to poo!"
In Activate 2 days ago with my friend Emily: Me "Is that wee or juice? Oh, juice. Phew!" Em "How can you tell?" "I sniffed it (Amazed and disgusted stare) I guess that's a Mummy thing."
I am sure there are more...
Friday, January 7, 2011
She smells like a what?
Ava's imagination has been running wild lately. In addition to that strange dream two evenings ago, she has been coming out with some very strange things.
This morning, cuddling in bed, I asked her what she was thinking. She looked puzzled and then replied "I smell like a goat!"
She smells like a what? She definitely doesn't get that from me!
So yesterday I had my appointment with the doctor ordered dietician. A very beautiful and healthy looking young lady named Ya-el went through a whole bunch of questions with me about my weight and diet, as we looked for the cause of my weight gain and ill health towards the end of last year.
Well, apparently I am as healthy as an Ox, and the actual foods I am putting into my body are the right ones. My levels are great, I have ridiculously wonderful cholesterol levels, I am fit, flexible and my heart and lungs are strong. I am just overweight.
This is what I am doing wrong, and the dietician is going to help me fix: I am alternately starving myself at one meal, not eating enough and then gorging myself at the next meal. I am not snacking and not drinking enough water, and then eating too much. I eat out too much, and I make unhealthy choices when I do. I don't get to the gym enough, and I need to incorporate more physical activity into my lifestyle.
These are the list of goals I have been given to work towards:
* Aim for exercise 4 times to 7 times a week.
* When dining out stick to salads with the dressing on the side.
* Use less oil in cooking and dressings
* Aim for 6-8 glasses of water a day
* Incorporate healthy snacks between meals.
All easy things to do, right? Not for me. If it was so easy, I wouldn't have been sent to a dietician!!
In addition to professional help, His Majesty and my friend in Geraldton have agreed to help me and support my journey and provide motivation...and a little competition! I am very lucky to have such wonderful friends in my life.
So, this year I have dedicated all to me. I have made resolutions and I am making changes, so that by the the beginning of 2012 I will have achieved all the goals that I have set for myself this year. I really feel like I am well on my way to achieving them.
And that's a nice feeling.
This morning, cuddling in bed, I asked her what she was thinking. She looked puzzled and then replied "I smell like a goat!"
She smells like a what? She definitely doesn't get that from me!
* * * * *
So yesterday I had my appointment with the doctor ordered dietician. A very beautiful and healthy looking young lady named Ya-el went through a whole bunch of questions with me about my weight and diet, as we looked for the cause of my weight gain and ill health towards the end of last year.
Well, apparently I am as healthy as an Ox, and the actual foods I am putting into my body are the right ones. My levels are great, I have ridiculously wonderful cholesterol levels, I am fit, flexible and my heart and lungs are strong. I am just overweight.
This is what I am doing wrong, and the dietician is going to help me fix: I am alternately starving myself at one meal, not eating enough and then gorging myself at the next meal. I am not snacking and not drinking enough water, and then eating too much. I eat out too much, and I make unhealthy choices when I do. I don't get to the gym enough, and I need to incorporate more physical activity into my lifestyle.
These are the list of goals I have been given to work towards:
* Aim for exercise 4 times to 7 times a week.
* When dining out stick to salads with the dressing on the side.
* Use less oil in cooking and dressings
* Aim for 6-8 glasses of water a day
* Incorporate healthy snacks between meals.
All easy things to do, right? Not for me. If it was so easy, I wouldn't have been sent to a dietician!!
In addition to professional help, His Majesty and my friend in Geraldton have agreed to help me and support my journey and provide motivation...and a little competition! I am very lucky to have such wonderful friends in my life.
So, this year I have dedicated all to me. I have made resolutions and I am making changes, so that by the the beginning of 2012 I will have achieved all the goals that I have set for myself this year. I really feel like I am well on my way to achieving them.
And that's a nice feeling.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
My little garden.
Okay, here's the confession: I am blogging at half past ten at night because I just found His Majesty's baseball whites laying in a stinky pile on the laundry floor, and they need to be pristine again (not rancid and orange dust stained) by the morning. So, forgetting that tomorrow is 'Hell Sunday' for Nine (a show I am appearing in) and that I will probably go crazy with exhaustion, I am waiting up to finish the washing. His Majesty is, of course, off being a social butterfly somewhere, while I am in my strawberry pyjamas, bleaching the whites.
No, I complain again! Honestly, I chose to stay in tonight. We went out to a show with friends last night baby-free. Going out for me these days includes trying to eat my body weight in cheese, drinking way too much, enjoying insulting someone's girlfriend (she was being "not-very-nice"), and falling asleep in the car on the way home to crawl into bed like the living dead before 12 midnight. Had my fill of young and single this week? Hell yes I have!
Today the weather in the afternoon was particularly fine. Ava and I were putting in some beautiful heirloom tomatoes that we had luckily found at the shop, and weeding the various parts of the garden, when I was amazed at my own brilliance. Modest, I know. My garden is particularly wonderful. When we moved in, 6 months ago, it was mulch and weeds, and the owners were really happy for it to stay that way, and over the moon that I asked if I could put some veggies in.
6 months on and I have:
Parsley, Mint, Oregano, Thyme, Basil, Chives, Garlic Chives.
Oranges and Lemons (pre-existing, but still very useful!)
Silverbeet and Kale
Beetroot
Capsicum
Corn
Butternut Pumpkins
Onions
Tomatoes
Carrots
Strawberries and
Potatoes growing nice, big fat vegetables for my little family.
At the moment we are harvesting big, fat, juicy beets, BIG, waxy, royal blue potatoes and every couple of days another strawberry turns red and the girls ask if they can eat it. It makes me so proud I could almost burst.
The biggest things that has surprised me is that it has taken very little effort for so much from my back garden. Of course, my back garden is extreme, in the fact that it is all veggies. There were very few plants when we moved in, just garden beds full of mulch. The soil was fairly virgin, as the previous owners had not cared too much for the gardening. (Although, word is, that the hydroponics inside were amazing!) So, for the first month, we used roundup to kill the remaining weeds, and then let the soil rest, added veggies, loads of seasol and that was it!
For dinner we had a massive kale and facon quiche, and it tasted beautiful. (Yes, facon = fake bacon. It's not a typo.) Thank you, garden! After the watering the veggies, Ava and I ate some strawberries off the bush and pulled up some sweet baby carrots to nibble on. We cleaned up the lemons that had fallen off the tree and thought about going hunting for more potatoes (too dirty...) before we headed inside for our bath.
Growing your own vegetables saves money, is healthier, is cheap, easy, relaxing and a great learning experience for kids. Honestly, I am so impressed with myself, I could just pop. I don't know why more people don't do it.
No, I complain again! Honestly, I chose to stay in tonight. We went out to a show with friends last night baby-free. Going out for me these days includes trying to eat my body weight in cheese, drinking way too much, enjoying insulting someone's girlfriend (she was being "not-very-nice"), and falling asleep in the car on the way home to crawl into bed like the living dead before 12 midnight. Had my fill of young and single this week? Hell yes I have!
Today the weather in the afternoon was particularly fine. Ava and I were putting in some beautiful heirloom tomatoes that we had luckily found at the shop, and weeding the various parts of the garden, when I was amazed at my own brilliance. Modest, I know. My garden is particularly wonderful. When we moved in, 6 months ago, it was mulch and weeds, and the owners were really happy for it to stay that way, and over the moon that I asked if I could put some veggies in.
6 months on and I have:
Parsley, Mint, Oregano, Thyme, Basil, Chives, Garlic Chives.
Oranges and Lemons (pre-existing, but still very useful!)
Silverbeet and Kale
Beetroot
Capsicum
Corn
Butternut Pumpkins
Onions
Tomatoes
Carrots
Strawberries and
Potatoes growing nice, big fat vegetables for my little family.
At the moment we are harvesting big, fat, juicy beets, BIG, waxy, royal blue potatoes and every couple of days another strawberry turns red and the girls ask if they can eat it. It makes me so proud I could almost burst.
The biggest things that has surprised me is that it has taken very little effort for so much from my back garden. Of course, my back garden is extreme, in the fact that it is all veggies. There were very few plants when we moved in, just garden beds full of mulch. The soil was fairly virgin, as the previous owners had not cared too much for the gardening. (Although, word is, that the hydroponics inside were amazing!) So, for the first month, we used roundup to kill the remaining weeds, and then let the soil rest, added veggies, loads of seasol and that was it!
For dinner we had a massive kale and facon quiche, and it tasted beautiful. (Yes, facon = fake bacon. It's not a typo.) Thank you, garden! After the watering the veggies, Ava and I ate some strawberries off the bush and pulled up some sweet baby carrots to nibble on. We cleaned up the lemons that had fallen off the tree and thought about going hunting for more potatoes (too dirty...) before we headed inside for our bath.
Growing your own vegetables saves money, is healthier, is cheap, easy, relaxing and a great learning experience for kids. Honestly, I am so impressed with myself, I could just pop. I don't know why more people don't do it.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
My baby smells like cheese and vegemite...
My little girls breath smells like cheese and vegemite. Is there anything sweeter in the world? When does breath turn sour? When do people start getting skinky morning (or all day?) breath? Because I could smell her for hours. (It's a mum thing)
I hung out with my best friend and her sister yesterday. Three girls, four babies and one.... Wii fit! It was so much fun! I am a little achy today, only in the abs from doing jack knifes (ARGH!) and lunches. Ooops-did I say lunches- I meant lunges. (wish it was lunches!) So, I have decided that the Wii fit is AWESOME and I want one.
Alas! I do not want to pay $550, because I don't have a Wii either. Hmmm, time to rekindle my old ebay addiction I think!
Back onto lunches, I was out all day yesterday, and I am pretty impressed with my food choices. I had a Biggest Loser shake for breakfast (I don't normally do the shakes thing, but I find it really good if I'm in a hurry or Ava is being demanding), sushi for lunch and subway for tea. Yummo, and I stayed under my calories for the day! YAY.
So today is my weigh in day, and I weigh- 66.3 kilos! YAY! That's a massive 13.7 kilos since I had Ava...go me. And to celebrate, I am wearing my old size 14 jeans. I never thought I would celebrate wearing a size 14, but there you go!
Best to do some housework whilst baby is asleep....
I hung out with my best friend and her sister yesterday. Three girls, four babies and one.... Wii fit! It was so much fun! I am a little achy today, only in the abs from doing jack knifes (ARGH!) and lunches. Ooops-did I say lunches- I meant lunges. (wish it was lunches!) So, I have decided that the Wii fit is AWESOME and I want one.
Alas! I do not want to pay $550, because I don't have a Wii either. Hmmm, time to rekindle my old ebay addiction I think!
Back onto lunches, I was out all day yesterday, and I am pretty impressed with my food choices. I had a Biggest Loser shake for breakfast (I don't normally do the shakes thing, but I find it really good if I'm in a hurry or Ava is being demanding), sushi for lunch and subway for tea. Yummo, and I stayed under my calories for the day! YAY.
So today is my weigh in day, and I weigh- 66.3 kilos! YAY! That's a massive 13.7 kilos since I had Ava...go me. And to celebrate, I am wearing my old size 14 jeans. I never thought I would celebrate wearing a size 14, but there you go!
Best to do some housework whilst baby is asleep....
Friday, January 23, 2009
I have a mohawk!
I know that it's not for everyone, but I love my new hair! It is so quick and easy, takes no time to do, can be styled many different ways without much fuss and it's so BOLD...very me. I don't know what the director will think of it when I audition for The Crucible next week (Just imagine I had the plague recently) but, oh well really.
And...I have a mohawk. I feel like a punk.
On another, very different, note, Ava (my beautiful almost seven month old daughter) has done 3 poos in 3 days on the potty. Actually, I don't think I have had to wash a pooey nappy in at least a week and a half. The last poo she did in her nappy was at the creche` at the gym. I must admit, I feel pretty smug.
For the uninitiated, we are practising Elimination Communication (Natural infant hygiene, Elimination Training, EC) part time, which involves reading your babies cues, knowing when they have to eliminate, and teaching them that the potty or toilet is the place to do this. I like Elimination communication better than other labels, because it really is a two way street. There is no rewards (other than being clean and dry obviously) and no punishment, it is not "training" like you would train a dog, she is learning about this part of the world just like she is learning to eat. Ah...but more on that later. Umm, I know I should put links here, but sheesh people, google it.
But right now we need to go and prep the nappy bag...nappies, pilchers, flannels, spare outfit, cheese sticks, apple rings, water, little shoes, plastic rubbish bags...ummm, did I forget anything?
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