Yummy Yummy In My Tummy

At preschool one of the activities which Daniel's class did was to make fruit salad. The kids were able to cut fruit with blunt knives and add them to the fruit salad. Sue, Daniel's teacher, said that he would have sat there all day if he had the choice to. He has shown an interest in cooking and loves to try and help. I found a couple of kids cook books when at a Lifeline book sale and Daniel was keen to try some recipes. I told him to post-it note any ones that he thought would be nice to make. He basically put a post-it on every page! Ha. I then decided that each week I'll try and have him cook a meal for us. So far he is loving it and I'm quite enjoying doing it with him. I think it's a bit easier planning for him to cook the meal because I get into a headspace that it will take longer prior to starting the meal.

The first meal that Daniel chose to make was creamed corn and bacon stuffed potatoes. Daniel made most of it and I was so very proud of him! He was very proud of himself too and everyone was very keen to eat and enjoy it. He also cut up all the veges for a garden salad - mushrooms, tomatoes, cucumber.

Ready to cook

Stirring the bacon (until it started to pop out)

Mashing the potato filling

Stirring in the creamed corn, bacon and herbs

Filling the potatoes

Ready to cook

Yum! 2 thumbs up

Eliza agreed

The next meal that he cooked was Sang Choy Bow (or the one in the lettuce as Daniel calls it). He cooked the majority of this meal and I was very impressed. It was his first time using the wok. He was quite worried about the different ingredients spitting on him, but was happy to hear that none of them would. He was very proud to serve up the meal and really enjoyed eating it.

Using a wok for the first time

Filling the lettuce cups

Winner!

Then last night he made chicken friend rice for us. Last night was probably the hardest one we've had. I was trying to let Daniel do more on his own but that resulted in rice being flicked out of the wok while he tried to stir it, shallots being cut quite thickly and Daniel being quite distracted. I was tired too so my patience was lower than it should be. Anyway, he was still happy with the finished product, it was very tasty and he didn't think I was too impatient with him, I made it bigger in my head than it really was. 

He's also made muffins from the cook book too for preschool Spring Fair - white chocolate and berry muffins. They're really tasty!

Eliza also had her turn at cooking for mother's group. She wanted to make Magic Monkey Bananas so with made them last Thursday and they were a hit with the kids! Eliza was very excited to have made them.

 
I hope that doing this fosters a love and joy of cooking when they're older. I hope it lets them try new food, and feel comfortable to cook different recipes. So far so good.

 

Kindy Orientation

(Written on 20th October)
Today was the start of the next 13 years of Daniel’s life (and 17 years for James and I). Daniel had his first school orientation. I didn’t really know what to expect. The weather has set in with lots of rain so I was good to know that I can do school drop off/pick up with the rain pouring down. The kids loved walking in their raincoats and gumboots with their umbrellas to school.

We arrived in the Kindy area and found out which class Daniel was to be in - Kindy red. We went over to the class and stood outside. It was nice to see that Daniel was in the same room as Rohan (from mothers group) and Ben (from preschool). Some familiar faces for him.

He then went into the classroom, met the teacher and got his name tag then he gave me a cuddle and a kiss and went over to a table with her while Eliza, Alexander and I headed out. I think I was expecting to be in the classroom for a little bit with him, take him over to the table, see him start an activity or something. But I guess the quick drop off works too.

We then went to put Eliza into the KTOOSH room to be looked after and Alexander and I headed down to the hall to hear all about the school. It was nice to hear that there should be around 4 Kindy classes for next year (instead of 6 classes this year), to hear about the extra curricular activities and to see that we are doing most things to help Daniel be ready for school. Alexander was great during this, he even had a bit of a nap and then did some drawing while I listened.

I love that he still has naps in the ergo, even if they are only short ones

I then picked up Eliza who had a lovely time with ‘all her friends’ and then Daniel who was the last one in the class, happily listening to a song on the interactive whiteboard with the year 5 helpers.

He said he had a fun time and that he did some drawing, colouring, listened to some songs and a book. He didn’t remember his teacher or who he sat with but that’s ok. I’m glad he was happy and enjoyed it. Hopefully next week the weather is a bit nicer for him. :)

It's Play School!

The kids love Play School and so I thought that we'd go to the concert again this year, especially as it is probably the last time that Daniel could come before he starts school. I put on some Play School at home to warm up for the concert, like I did with Colin. Daniel and Alexander enjoyed dancing to the music this time (I especically LOVE the giggle that Alexander does at the end of the dance with his hands over his mouth. Bless).

 Because I didn't know how long we'd be waiting for the concert to start I took some Play School books for the kids to read while they waited. They were so good sitting and reading.

Then Teo and Abi came out onto stage and the kids were pretty overwhelmed. 

I thought that Alexander would go crazy when they started to sing the Play School theme song, but he was very overwhelmed with it but you can tell he is taking it all in.

 At one point Daniel couldn't contain his giggles. I just loved it! Teo was pushing Big Ted in a trolley and bumping and bouncing along and Daniel just loved it!

By the end of the concert the kids got into it, standing, dancing, clapping, singing. I do enjoy a Play School Concert.

Colin Concert!

Lately the kids have been into listening to Colin Buchanan. They regularly ask for it and they enjoy singing along with his songs. When I got an email saying that he was going to do concerts I decided to get tickets for the kids and I. 

When we woke the morning of the concert we listened to some Colin to warm up and be excited about the concert. I just love watching the kids dance around.

We headed out to a church at Ryde and got comfy on the ground. Colin did not disappoint! He was very entertaining, engaging and fun and he just is a very genuine guy. And Nudge was very funny and cheeky. He made the kids giggle lots.

Colin introducing Nudge

There he is!

Alexander did warm up and do some dancing. Not quite as expressive as he was in the morning though. :-)

At the end of the concert Colin hung around to give the kids high 5s which was very cool.

Daniel getting a high 5

He then was happy to have photos with the kids too. What a champ!

Daniel loved getting into it, Eliza sat on my lap mostly but said she enjoyed it. Alexander was pretty overwhelmed but did slowly get into the music. I do enjoy taking the kids to these kinds of things.
 

Sleepy Eating

Alexander being the 3rd child does get pushed to his limits. On Tuesday mornings he has swimming followed by Mainly Music. We don't get home until 11:30 and then it's lunch time before he can have a nap. Most days he has a nap in the morning when we're at home, but Tuesdays this isn't an option. He is often tired after swimming but does push through. Today while eating lunch he was really struggling to eat. He even seemed to do some sleep eating. Cutie pie.

 

Attention Please!!

Alexander cracks me up. When he wants my attention he gets it by doing one of 2 things. 

Step 1 - Shout 'Maa. Maa.' until I respond.

Step 2 and the most recent - 'click' your fingers while clicking your tongue at me.

 
Today he did both while he wanted me to sing Humpty Dumpty for him. I don't know if step 2 is from us clicking at Chilli when we want her to come to us or where he has picked it up but it makes me laugh each time!

Tonsillitis

Tonsillitis is nasty. I hate seeing how it is affecting Daniel. I hate how it makes him tired and lethargic. I hate how it seems to come out of the blue for him and how I don't know if he really is sick or not.

In the first week of the holidays Daniel came down with quite severe tonsillitis. He had a fever, he couldn't swallow and he found it hard to talk. It got to the point where he even vomited. We called the 13SICK home doctor service and he was diagnosed with tonsillitis. The next few days looked like this...

A tired, lethargic, sick little guy who just wanted cuddles.
Fortunately with the medicine he bounced back pretty quickly. A week later he started to have a sore throat again but fortunately it passed after one day. Then again today he started to be very tired and wasn't eating much. He then said that his throat was hurting and his temp was 38.2. I'm really hoping that it isn't the start of something again but will wait and see I guess.

The other thing that I really hate about it is hearing him sleep. Not because he is loud as he snores, but because it sounds like he is really struggling to breathe. I am wondering if he's tired because he isn't actually breathing properly as he sleeps. He is really straining to get some air in. I took this video of him sleeping to show the ent when we go later this month but it's pretty crazy to listen to. My poor bubba.

Hopefully the ent will have a plan that will help this improve quickly for him and hopefully the solution means that he can breathe better, sleep better and feel more awake in the mornings.
 

Holidays at the Reptile Park

These Spring holidays we spent a bit of time at the Reptile Park. The weekend before the holidays we took James to the Reptile Park as his belated Father's Day adventure (after Eliza being sick on real Father's Day). The kids had a great time showing James all the different animals and got to meet some up close.

Eliza and Daddy looking at the turtles

Patting a snake

The lizard came to check on Daniel

The frilled neck lizard came to say hello to Eliza

Eliza chasing and patting the geese

Melting my heart, holding Daddy's hand

Alexander getting to pat a dingo pup

Saying hi to Hugo

Patting a massive snake!

It was huge!

We then headed back to the Reptile Park in the holidays for Daniel's mini mid2keeper program with Mum and Dad and Oscar. I had planned to stay until 1pm when there were doing Tasmanian Devil photos but with Daniel being sick he just wasn't up to staying that long. So instead I planned an adventure there after Alexander's morning nap to see some of the lunch time/afternoon activities. It was pretty fun and the kids enjoyed themselves. We sadly missed the alligator feeding but made it in time to see the baby animal show. We also got to see Elvis the crocodile being fed. But the highlight was definitely the kids getting to hold the Tasmanian Devil joeys. So very cute!!!

I'm so glad that we went back to have this experience.