Toilet Training Progress

Our current version of bribery

Dare I say that we are getting there?

E is still not indicating that she needs to go very often, but she is suddenly very compliant with requests to try.

And just when I thought that we were going to be carting the green Ikea potty with us everywhere for the next six months, she is very suddenly also very interested in the toilet, and having a surprising number of successes with it.

She has only had a couple of accidents all week and it's about time; I realised recently that our first lot of bribery were little chocolate ladybugs I was given for mother's day last year, and that means we have been doing this, on and off, for NINE MONTHS. (Look at this post from June 2012!)

I am feeling cautiously, quietly, gratefully (but still-kind-of-expecting-it-to-go-wrong) hopeful.

Hurrah!

(And for anyone interested, please read the post below this for details of a Giveaway!)

Hunting for Ladybugs and a Giveaway

Hunting for Ladybugs is my friend Sarah's little internet sewing business. She makes all sorts of fabulous things for babies, children and the home. The business' motto is "handmade for  every day" and it sums up her products very well: lovely fabrics, practical designs and everything sewn to last.

Over the past few years Sarah has made a number of things for me, including:

* A baby hat and zip pouch to give as a baby gift:

* A fantastically sturdy beach bag with waterproof lining, big enough to throw several towels and everything else you need in:

* Little house door stop, filled with 2kg of sand, solid enough to stop our heavy front door slamming shut in the wind:

Mine is the one second from the left

* An insulated fabric alternative to a plastic lunch box. Inside is a short sleeve of patterned fabric, then the rest is waterproof, machine washable stuff. Sarah had them in mind as suiting a toddler's lunch or morning tea (which they would definitely work as - they'd be great to send a kindy kid or pre-schooler's lunch in) but I find mine is easily big enough to fit a drink bottle and lunch for myself and toddler on days when we're out and about.

On our recent trip to Sarah's family's farm in Quiarading we got the behind-the-scenes tour of the place where it all happens.

Here is what the sewing room looked like "before":

It was originally a single car garage with roller door.

Then she and husband Brett did all kinds of magic and look at what it became!

Complete with little helper P

 

Want a closer look at that amazing fabric stash?

Soooo much fabric, ready for transforming

 And here is the lovely lady herself, hard at work:

Hiiiiii Sar!

Sarah's Etsy shop has a bunch of things ready made, but if you want a particular size or want her to custom make something a size, colour or a brand new design she will gladly do that too. Stuff she has custom made recently includes quilts, nappy bags, matching infant sets, Santa sacks, Santa stockings and pencil cases. You can visit Hunting for Ladbugs on Facebook here (www.facebook.com/huntingforladybugs) or on Etsy here (www.etsy.com/shop/huntingladybugs).

Sarah is very generously offering one Suburban Sonnett reader their choice of item from her Etsy store, up to $30 value excluding postage. To enter you must:

* Become a "follower" of Suburban Sonnet if  you're not already; and 

* Leave me a comment saying which of the ready-made goodies in Hunting for Ladybugs' Etsy store you would most like to own and why.

For an extra entry, "like" Hunting for Ladybugs on Facebook and then add a second comment telling me you've done so and your second choice from Hunting for Ladybugs' Etsy store.

The winner will be the comment that Sarah decides is the most amusing, worthy or interesting. The winner will receive their choice of product from Hunting for Ladybugs' Etsy store, up to the value of $30 excluding postage.

Entries close at midnight on Friday 15 February 2013, WST.

 

Holidays with the Farm Family

Over the long weekend we headed to Quairading for a farm holiday and old school friends' catchup. The Farm Family consists of Farm Mum S, Farm Dad B, Farm Girl P (3 years) and Farm Boy A (18 months). Also there were our other school friend J, her husband A, and their son J (12 months). With six adults and four kids it was one full house! Thank you S&B for being brave enough to host us all at the same time.

The Farm is about a 2.5 hour drive from Perth - just long enough to feel like you have gone somewhere but short enough not to be too trying on small folk and those who must share a car with them. We stopped at York, which is about the half-way point.

The four children turned out to be one of the nicest parts of the weekend. It is definitely our first experience of more children being less trouble. E&P played together beautifully and the two smaller boys trundled along after them, sometimes being included, sometimes not. It was lovely to see E&P playing a game that involved hiding under the blankets, putting the teddies to bed then waking them up again. (We discovered later that this game also included smushing copious amounts of crackers into the carpet, but you take what you can get).

I have been to farms before but not such a real, working farm as this one is. The Farm Family are lucky to be part of an extended farming family that has managed to buy up quite extensive amounts of land in the area and thus be able to take advantage of economies of scale. It makes sense when you learn that one piece of machinery costs $200,000. The result is that you can drive for kilometres without leaving the extended family's land. We had a great time on Saturday going out in the ute with the dogs to move sheep from one paddock to another. I'm sure this is quite routine for people on a sheep farm but for us it was interesting.

Sheep-watching out the window

I vary between thinking that the country in this part of the world is desolate and finding the starkness beautiful.

 I became a bit obsessed with the harvesting patterns in the crop stubble and took about six squillion photos of them:

Probably the best bit was making the sheep run.

Run, sheepies, run!

And then driving home along a gravel road in the late afternoon shadows.

Upon getting home, feeding and bathing and putting to bed of small people was required. But once it was done, the grown ups sat on the verandah and enjoyed the sunset.

The next day the three (grown-up) boys went off to be manly and engage in Proper Farm Work, pulling down 1.5km of old wire fence so a new fence can go up. At lunch time the rest of us took a picnic and went to meet them.

After lunch some running and climbing of nearby rocks was necessary.

I wanted to add some photos of the picnic and rock-climbing but Blogger is refusing to cooperate for some reason.

It was a great weekend and one we hope to repeat.

The other thing the weekend involved was a bit of sewing time in S's fancy new sewing room. She runs a little internet based sewing business called Hunting for Ladybugs. Stay tuned as I will tell you all about it soon!

The Christmas That Was

It's official - Christmas is over. We've had a week back at work, the tree is down (if not yet packed away as until this year we didn't own one and can't figure out where to store it) and the remains of the ham are frozen for a time when the weather feels more soup-like.

This was the first year E had any understanding of Christmas, and she (and we) delighted in it. We indulged her excitement in all things Christmas tree by putting it up on 1 December and not taking it down until 6 January. For a few days after Christmas, she was happily telling anyone who asked that her present was "two Christmas trees" (the big one and the tiny fibre-optic one which was all we've bothered with in years past).

Two Christmas elves and the early stages of the tree

We quickly realised that our tree was going to be rather empty unless we acquired a few more decorations, and fortunately, making decorations became E's favourite entertainment for the next few weeks. Salt dough ornaments became a three day project (day one: make dough and cut out shapes, day two: paint; day three, attach strings) and about half of them became little gifts for family and playgroup friends. We also did paper chains, very simple paper and pop-stick stars decorated with glitter textas, and pictures on strings cut from last year's Christmas cards.

Due to our assortment of biscuit cutters some decorations were more Christmassy than others!

We had a low key barbeque on Christmas Eve at one of D's uncles' houses, then Christmas day wafflles here with D's brother and (almost) sister-in-law, then lunch at my parents' house. Despite E's claim as to what presents she received she actually scored big-time, her main gift being a wooden swing set the two grandfathers helped us erect a few weeks prior to Christmas. E's innocence was useful - upon seeing it complete (minus the ropes and swings) she declared "I has an arch in my garden" and so for the next few weeks we referred to it as "the arch" and she was none the wiser until the swings appeared on Christmas morning.

The free labour hard at work

On Boxing Day we had lunch at D's parents' with D's aunties and cousins who were visiting from Canada.

Once the three days of gluttony were over we settled down to some serious relaxing. It was 40C or close to it for the week following Christmas but we managed lots of early morning beach and pool swims, D and I got to see two movies (thanks day care for staying open on all the days except public holidays!) and E even spoilt us with a few afternoon naps. One of the funnier parts about our "holiday at home" was that we tended to finish the day off with an early evening garden watering session, which rapidly evolved into E getting completely drenched, running around shrieking and completely starkers, and not needing a shower before bed.

Now reality has returned and we're back at work. I have been very slack the last few months about writing anything here and am determined to do better in the new year.

The Boom-Boom Book

According to E - for reasons best known to herself* - and with apologies to Eric Carle. 

In the light of the moon, a little green egg lay on a leaf.
One Sunday morning the warm sun came up and - pop! - out of the egg came a tiny and very hungry boom-boom.
He started to look for some food.
On Monday the boom-boom ate through one apple. But the boom-boom was still hungry.
On Tuesday the boom-boom ate through two pears, but the boom-boom was still hungry.
On Wednesday the boom-boom ate through three plums, but the boom-boom was still hungry.
On Thursday the boom-boom ate through four strawberries, but the boom-boom was still hungry.
On Friday the boom-boom ate through five oranges, but the boom-boom was still hungry.
On Saturday the boom-boom ate one piece of choc-o-late cake, one ice-cream cone, one pickle, one slice of Swiss cheese, one slice of sam-a-li, one lollipop, one piece of cherry pie, one sausage, one cupcake and one slice of watermelon. That night the boom-boom had a stomachache!
The next day was Sunday again. The boom-boom ate one nice green leaf and after that he felt much better.
Now the boom-boom wasn't hungry anymore - and he wasn't a little boom-boom anymore. He was a BIG, FAT boom-boom.
He built a small house, called a cocoon, around himself. He stayed inside for more than two weeks. Then he nibbled a hole in the cocoon, pushed his way out and...
the boom-boom was a beautiful butterfly.

* but which are apparently very funny. She now walks around with the book saying 'I call this the boom-boom book!' Quite possibly the cutest thing ever.

Conversations and play

E is playing. She is perfectly absorbed in her own company.  Animals are going in and out of the farm house in an order apparent to no one but herself. A running commentary accompanies it.

Look at this place. That where aminals live. Come right here.

Can I come in, say tiger?

Yes.

Can I come in, say dog?

Yes. You must stay in.

Oh no, where is pig? Pig fell down. Oh look, Mummy, I found hen! I found hen! But where is ankleosaurus? I don’t know where ankleosaurus is.

That’s allll of the aminals.

Now let’s shut the door.

All of the aminals are going to bed.

I am enjoying 10 minutes to drink an interrupted cup of tea and marvelling at the pleasures of a $4 plastic farmhouse from the op shop!

Dunsborough holiday mark 2

At about this time last year we spent a week in Dunsborough with friends and had a thoroughly enjoyable time. We repeated the exercise a fortnight ago, over the long weekend, in a rented house with Granny and Grandad.

The house we stayed in was right on the old Dunsborough foreshore and it was simply amazing. Four bedrooms, two king bedrooms each with ensuite, a bedroom with two single beds for E. (When asked what she did on holiday, E will tell you "we went to sleep. I had TWO beds!")

Here is the house from the outside:

 

If you walk down the front steps this is what you see:

If you cross the footpath that you can see at the edge of the grass above you find a little path:

And at the end of the path is the beach. Quite possibly the most perfect toddler beach in the world. At low tide there was 50 metres or more of ankle depth water, zero waves, rock pools and sandbars.

 

It was so safe we were quite happy to let E explore without having to hover right over her, (although D did decide a certain minmum of clothing might be prudent!) Needless to say, we spent a lot of time there.

Other features of the trip included a lunch at Duckstein Brewery - a table right next to the in-house playground made it very manageable, an ice cream at Simmo's and lots of walks and trips to the playground.

This house would be amazing in summer - we got plenty of use out of the beach and barbeque even though some of the days were decidedly cool, but it would be ever lovelier if it was warm. Anyone want to plan another trip, maybe for early next year?