a list of 20 things

1. We are going to China and Vietnam in less than two weeks.
2. Our walking training regime where I make the girls walk kilometres around our hilly suburb to practise for the Great Wall has dropped off.
3.  I think I am not as fit as I could be.
4.  Not sure if 2 and 3 are related.
5. I have to pick which puppets I am going to take.  I have been asked to do three puppeting/storytelling workshops in the city we are visiting.  Pretty excited.
6.  Dizzy is too big to come, even though she has repeatedly asked.  I mean she has her own suitcase with numerous accessories.
7.  Gabby has been dligently learning introductory Chinese from youtube videos.  This has been unprompted by me.
8.  I expect her to do all of our bargaining in the market.
9. I have instructed the family that we are eating down the fridge.  We will not be buying any more food before we go.
10. Except milk.
11. And medicinal items.
12. Like chocolate.
13. The fence needs to be completed before we go because the PUPPY ARRIVES the day we get back.
14.  Very excited about the puppy. It is a red and white border collie (this is her mum).  Chris still has naming rights.  I want to call her Rose Tyler as a Dr Who homage.  Still seeing whether this will fly.
15. I have started packing my bag.  So far I have a pair of shorts, two shirts and a towel.  Everything else needs to be washed.
16. Can't believe in less than two weeks we are catching the midnight flight to China.
17. I hope to be much more regular with blogging while we are overseas.
18. We are still waiting for our visas for China.  I handed them in last week.
19. I am going on long service leave for the rest of the year.  I have 6 more days of work.
20. Praying for our time in China.

athelete in da house

Junior sports day today.  Gab's last year as one of the young ones in the school that get to run and cheer and dress up.  Next year it is all serious competition and introduction to long jump and throwing things the furthest.  But this year there was a class dressed up as smurfs.  Way cool.

The wait and anticipation for Gabby's race was long - as a grade three girl she ran last.  They ran all the boys first to get the wiggles out.  Gab was happy to sit and chat with her best mate.  But when she was called up to run she was focused.  When Gabby sees there is a job to be done she goes for it.  She concentrates and looks straight ahead.  Which is what she told me about running the race  - 'I just looked straight down the track and ran mummy.'

And she came second!  Yay Gab!  Those long long legs just ran all the way to the end.

But she would not accept a post race hug from a parent.  She had jobs to do - she needed to go get a ribbon. She is one focused girl.

And another update - I think I need to ring Today Tonight.  AMAZING SECRET TO WEIGHT LOSS DISCOVERED.  I have hit the 10 kilo weight loss mark.  I am hitching up my pants and down two sizes.  Who knew that eating less and exercising more would have such an impact.  Go figure.

fencing the property

I have been working on our side fence for a couple of weeks now.  With the imminent arrival of a puppy the fence needs to be in tip top shape.  Puppy proof.  Not vine laden bending over wire that we put in 12 years ago.  So I have ripped out the vine and bit by bit taken down the wire fence.  It is quite satisfying.  The chicken has helped by eating the lizards and termites hiding along the fenceline.

Newsflash - chicken update.
We are down to one chicken now.  The other one disappeared.  There was a hole in the back fence, a lot of feathers, some blood and no chicken.  Somewhere in our neighbourhood a dog is licking its chops.

The remaining chicken seems to be quite content and has started laying again.   Although she looks warily at the back corner.

Anyway, I have been working on the fence today.  Currently there is no boundary between us and the neighbour.  It makes me feel a bit anxious - maybe we enjoy boundaries in our lives.  This is my side - that is her side.  She is an eighty year old widower.  Who knows what sort of trouble she could cause with no fence separating us.

We have decided to outsource the fence building part.  Men with machines are much better at digging fence hole posts.  I am looking forward to our shiny new wire fence with real posts instead of star pickets.

It's all happening here.  And it needs to happen before we go to China!

just eat it

I have been on a three day very intensive conference on 'Picky Eaters and Fussy Feeders'.  Three days and a LOT of information.

In our family we have a picky eater.  I know lots of other little people who are fussy feeders. It is frustrating and tricky and sometimes you fail like you are failing your job as a parent because your child won't eat.

I learnt a few liberating things.  Really for kids it is all about them.  So they are not refusing to eat just to make you angry.  They are dealing with all sorts of sensory or oral motor issues their brain is firing at them.  So it is not really what I am doing that is making them not it (but I could be contributing by increasing the adrenalin and anxiety).

And there are heaps of things you can do to support a child who doesn't eat.  I spent three days learning all about it.  Position, sensory supports, food hierarchies, steps to eating, development of foods, oral motor development, food 'jags', systematic desensitisation....

I am looking forward to applying all my new knowledge at work before it leaks out of my brain and dribbles down my neck.

so where did that come from

Annika has been writing and writing and writing lately.  She has been inspired by her substitute teacher who introduced her to ballads and poetry.  Every night she has been knocking out a few poems, or another chapter in her story.

I am very proud.  I love her writing - it is evocative and imaginative and a little bit out there.  Her brain is amazing.

Here is what she wrote last night as a farewell poem for her teacher

Deep dark shadows dance with the light,

like a waltz danced at a royal ball.

shivering leaves hide in fright,

when the warriors give their call.

They stand in lines, crooked and bent,

With armour as strong as steel.

The little birds, they came and went,

filled with excitement they cannot conceal.

For the terrible fight was about to begin,

The one that would last for days,

The one where only one side can win,

As the spectators stare and gaze.

First the army attacks, but,

the warriors stand tall and strong,

they do not even have a cut,

where one should belong.

The leaves give a crack, the wind gives a whistle,

the fight comes to an end,

everything's still, even the thistles,

as if it  had not happened then.

Let's wait till it occurs again

when they fight, the rich and poor,

when the warriors give the first refrain

To start the forest war.

Annika Pine

3/8/11

In the car on the way to school this morning I said I had really enjoyed reading her poem.  And then she said - 'Mum did you know the trees are the warriors and the army is the wind?'   Ummm...no. Didn't get that symbolism.

Back to year 12 English for me.