A Thursday morning

I’m on my laptop, blogging while minding the kids. We are sitting in the playroom, a room that should’ve been our study, but ended up going to the children instead because I hate toys strewn all over the house. Best to keep the chaos confined, that’s what I believe.

Nathan is currently engaged in his Jumbo Mags, a newly acquired toy which has proven to be great investment, as opposed to most other toys which hold the children’s attention for roughly two seconds. He loves his magnets and will play with them endlessly. He is, as I type, engaged in the activity of attaching magnets to our babygate, making it look like a perverse porcupine of sorts with the multi-coloured magnetic sticks at right angles from the verticle bars of the babygate. 

Sara, on the other hand, is busy with our neighbour’s child. We have a good arrangment, my neighbour and I. We alternately farm our daughters over to each other’s houses most mornings to keep each other occupied before the noon routine of lunch and preparation for school begins. It’s a comfortable arrangement, seeing how it is that the children no longer need much in the way of entertainment, just a bit of watching to ensure that no fire breaks out and no one’s trying to throttle another. The downside – Nathan gets left out because he’s younger, slower, clumsier and all round, less fun. Tough luck for him – such is the lot of younger children.

We had a few Saraisms this morning, and as always, the first thing that cross my mind after I laugh is that I have to blog about it.

Saraism #1

Sara: Di-di (Nate) is like Harry Potter.

Me: (absently) Hm. Really? How so?

Sara: He’s got a red dot on his head. Like Harry Potter.

Please note that I have not really discussed Harry Potter with her, other than suggesting we get the audio books so that she can listen to the books. As it turns out, she remembers the tatoo scar I put on her arm ages ago, a freebie that came with my Deathly Hallows book and which I was about to throw away.

Saraism #2

Sara: Here, Mommy. Two dollars and centimetres.

Okay, so it’s not longer “two dollars and twenty seconds”, but she continues to get the unit wrong. Mind you, I’m not even teaching her what the right unit should be – I think she must be either learning it at school or just picking it up from our trips to the supermarket. Still, it was quite funny.

Sara and her friend are bugging me to get the “hair things” out. So once again, I am to have my hair “done” by these two three year olds will insist on placing too many clips in my hair and pulling them out again with no small amount of viciousness. Sigh. The things I do for the children. 

Sharing raisins

Nothing beats sharing a box of raisins.

The difference between a bus and a car

According to Sara while sitting in a cab,

“God made buses with MANY (gestures arms widely) seats and God made cars with (uses index finger to point) …. one… two… three… four, FOUR (holds up four finger) seats.”

Then and now

Then. Almost a year and a half ago. Her first day at school.

(An interesting aside, Nate is now wearing those shoes in this shot – he’s currently about nine months younger than she was in this picture)

Now. Well, not really. More like last month. Her last day (at this school).

The Monkees at play

My next adventure

It appears, however much I’d like to deny it, that my bottom is spreading.

(Cue the husband: Comes up behind me, reads my first line, sniggers, pokes me in the side and vigorously nods head)

Some have accused me of being ridiculous. I am skinny, no doubt, but I also happen to have a tummy that hangs like I’m perpetually four months pregnant. To add to that, I now have a butt that is wider than I remember it. At first, I thought to blame the maid. “Dammit, she put my jeans in the dryer.” But then, I also remember another time, too many years ago, where I thought I was overdrying my jeans. As it turned out, I had gained almost 10 kilos. You can’t blame me – it was my first year at university and no one was there to stop me from eating a pint of ice cream every night.

And so I’ve been forced to acknowledge that either I’m eating way too badly, or I’m not exercising enough. I think it’s a combination of both, although the latter is probably a bigger reason.

This brings me to the point of this post: my next adventure.

Pole dancing.

Yes, you heard me. I’ve signed up for a pole dancing trial class and if all works out, I’m going to sign up for a series of six classes. They say you have to be very fit to actually be good at pole dancing. While I’m not sure I’ll get there, the thought of me pole dancing is so ridiculous that I have to try it. In full 3-inch-clear-plastic-heeled-stripper glory.

I have to say Danny’s more than a little tickled by my attempt. There could prove to be side benefits from this adventure, but given that we don’t actually have a pole in the house, I’m not sure that he’s going to get much out of it. There’s also the slight problem of me collapsing into fits of giggles, which I’m very liable to do.

So watch this space for updates. But no pictures. Never pictures. It may prove too scary for anyone to see.

Update central

I know, I’ve been blogging exclusively about the children of late, but you know how it is – there is lots else going on, but this just isn’t the place to talk about it, you know?

Anyway, just to give a quick roundup of what’s been going around the house.

(1) FIRST DAY AT SCHOOL! For Sara and Nathan. Yes, you heard me, Nate’s already in school. A few days a week and only for a short while. And I have to be there, of course, but it’s the first step to Freedom (with a capital F) when we get to his second birthday and I can send him to school everyday, unaccompanied. Oh, how I await that day. Anyway, both children did well on their respective first days. Sara, by now, is a confident school-goer. Unlike some of the others in school with her, she’s been attending school since she was 18 months, so this has hardly caused any upheaval for her. I am grateful and I can only hope that Nathan will be like her, although the odds looked stacked against me…

(2) I start school next week. I just got my schedule and it’s finally sinking in. Dammit, what did I get myself into? I’m already nervous about how much sleep I’m going to lose doing reading and homework.

(3) We have a holiday planned! Sort of. We’re off to check out the Venetian in Macau. Okay, so it’s not a real Holiday-holiday, but it’s good enough for us. Of course, this is all in theory till I get ourselves booked into a hotel. Which I haven’t.

(4) This morning, I realized we are finally making some headway with Sara in terms of Mandarin. She likes naming her toys (and these change everyday) but today, she decided to name them in Mandarin. Sure, it is gibberish Mandarin, but I am heartened. She can also say very simple sentences, and appears to understand us when we ask questions in Mandarin. This, incidentally, has nothing to do with my effort. All thanks goes to Playhouse Disney dubbed in Mandarin. Yay!

(5) Nate has added a couple more words/sounds to his repetoire, including “woh-woh” (dog) and “bur” (bird). He also can call Sara with amazing clarity (cheh-cheh). We are proud. 

(6) Saraism of the day

Me: How much is this?

Sara: Five dollars and twenty seconds. 

Breaking child labour laws

I’ve found a new game to play with the kids and get them working at the same time. It’s called can-you-balance-on-mommy’s-back. It’s a lesson about balance, it’s a whole lot of laughter, and it’s a massage for me, all rolled into one. Yay!

After all, isn’t this the point of having kids? To add value to yourself?

Well, obviously

At mass this morning, Sara asks me where Jesus is. I could’ve given a much easier answer (Jesus is everywhere), but instead, I point to the tabernacle and explain that Jesus is in there, and that the lit lamp next to the tabernacle signifies his presence.

Sometime later, Sara asks me where Jesus has gone. I look and see the lamp is out. Distracted by Nathan, my mind draws a blank and so I absently say I’m not sure where Jesus is (a lousy answer, but really, my brain just wasn’t coming up with anything).

Sara looks intently at the unlit lamp again and nods knowingly. Of course, the answer is obvious. “I think Jesus went to the toilet.”