First day of school

On her way to Kindi at the local elementary school, and loving it......

Cheering her big sis along... learning learning all the while. How so much easier it is for a younger sibling, they get exposed to all these new adventures before they even need to undertake them themselves. And I would know being the youngest of four. I clearly remember my first day of school. Jumped out of the car and ran, waving goodbye to mum and not even looking at her! So excited I was. Another thing I remember was what I consider my real first day of school, the day I no longer had big brothers there to protect me. I cried on the swings, knowing that from then on it was just me..... I got over it quickly.

Daddy was with us every step of the way.

Outside the school, getting ready to go in. She's all sweaty from riding her bike. We park it in Daddy's storage which is right next door to the school. In her bag are all her supplies and a little purse with NT$35 ready to go to 7-11 (also next door, everything in Taiwan is just next door) to get a treat after school.

Her teacher Miss Gao on the end in the red. Her other teacher is the Yuan Zhang which means Principle. I love this little set up of tables and places numbered so the student knows where to go and the blocks ready to distract. Tills is somewhat used to this as this is the same set up in her Chinese Sunday school which is held in a classroom much like this one.

Something extra.....

See the little girl sitting by Tilly? She was there before Tilly. They have numbers and have to sit in those places for the rest of the semester. I looked at that little girl, so shy and quiet, not game to take something to play with. And I thought, these two are going to get along just fine. Tilly is fairly fluent in Chinese, conversationally, but not enough to be as at ease as the rest of the kids and many things in fact she won't understand. So this shy sweet girl beside her is just the right combination. She kept looking at Tilly and Tilly was confident and started sharing things with her. When I went back to pick her up at 12 the two were playing chasey around the tables. So sweet.

Pictures

Party

But while we don't have Kristie's photos to share, I'll share some of my own, less professional shots....

This event was so low key I didn't even have the decency to put the folded washing away..... Not the best shot of Tills as she was dancing and talking and I asked her to hold still while I took the shot. There is little birthday girl. Just before we ate cake. To be fair to myself, we did just get in the door from Tilly's ballet lesson as guests arrived.

The cake I made this morning before ballet. So sweet I thought. The girls helped Paula decorate it. Can you see little fingers getting ready to help?

More photos to come of Evie enjoying her birthday song and candle.

Evelyn turns 1 ~ !!

Our little Evelyn is the big number one. What a year. It's been a wonderful year and I feel truly blessed with these two little girls. Evie is a delight. Though perhaps she could sleep better at night......

I thought it fitting as Daddy rolled in the bike for Tilly's fourth, that he roll in the walker slash shopping cart for Evie. Nan and Pop got in on the action. Can you see the Ipod? We were on Skype. One hand on camera, one on Ipod makes for very bad photo.

And here she is checking it out. This is 6am and Daddy's just rolled out of bed to do the honours. Crazy early risers these two girls.

Showing her how to operate the new toy.

And let the disinterest in new present begin! I guess she will get into it more when she is more steady on her feet.

We had a very small gathering this afternoon. It is my intention to always keep the girls birthday parties (for as long as they think they need to celebrate it) as simple as possible. Not that I don't want them to celebrate and have fun, but that the focus be on celebrating with loved ones and giving thanks, not getting as many presents as they can and being entertained to the eyeballs. But really, I just don't have the ability to carry off a big shabang. Thankfully my friend Kristie has taken some beautiful photos and I will share these soon.

Shopping

One thing a man and his wife needn't do too often together.... shopping.

This morning I had the bright idea to go shopping as a family to look for a gift for Evie's impending first birthday. Can't believe my little love is one year old. And on that line of thought I remembered some cool soft foam blocks that a friend of mine has for her kids and remembered that they were sold at B&Q. This is a hardware store. One should have just stopped there and really thought it through and considered that taking ones handyman husband to a handyman's store was probably not a good idea. You know they say men are from mars and women are from venus. Well, in my opinion women are from "denying oneself" and men are from "are my needs being immediately met?"

Several reasons why it's best to not go shopping together, at least to a place like this:

1. You invariably have to wait while said husband wanders the aisles totally oblivious to his surroundings and the needs of his troupe, in search of one particular item. However the problem in these stores is that that one particular item has many different brands and options. The only thing there was one of were the foam blocks, which weren't the same and weren't as good and maddeningly expensive. So I had finished shopping the instant we had arrived..... But, each time we turned a corner, there was another grinder from another brand just begging to be looked at and tried out....

2. We spent so long looking there, there was time to sit quietly on a display in the carpet and flooring aisle and feed Evie so long that she eventually fell asleep.

3. All that shopping gets man to thinking a bathroom break is required. This is after already holding sleeping Evie for half an hour, while arm is aching and I'm dying to just sit somewhere.

4. All that shopping and bathroom breaking gets everyone hungry. Still have a sleeping baby, so needing a one arm option, which ended up to be MacDonalds..... yuck. Daddy however enjoyed a nice Teppanyaki meal across the way from us, which takes a long time to cook and eat, and inevitably needs two free arms to eat while sitting on a barstool. Even if she had been awake it's a completely impractical option for dining with a baby. Tilly kept stealing looks at Daddy eating his lovely cooked meal and looking at her cruddy fries that she doesn't like to eat anyway. She ended up with him and even got a free fried egg and rice from one of the chefs. Do you know Teppanyaki? It's the one where you sit at a bar type setting with all the chef's standing in front of you cooking the food you order.

Ironically all the discomfort of holding a sleeping one year old for an hour could have been avoided had I remembered to bring the pram. This really is something I should have thought of. She would have gone to sleep easily in the pram and I could have left the store with the kids all together and gone somewhere else, instead of hovering around places that had somewhere to sit on and rest. She's getting kind of heavy now....

And had we gone to say, an actual Toy Store, then the tables would have been turned and Daddy would have been the one waiting while I wandered aimlessly around to my hearts content. However, Daddy would have been far more patient and gracious than I was....... But on reflection I don't really believe I would wander around to my hearts content, what mother does when she's out shopping with the kids? 

So tomorrow we are going to go to an actual book and toy store and buy a proper gift for Evie. I actually had the foam blocks in mind for Tills. I haven't the time or the inclination to plan a big party for Evie's first. Something small and easy will do. I'm sure you don't remember these things anyway.

technology and the 4 year old

I have a real aversion to technology. However, it's very much a part of our lives and who can avoid it? We can't live without it here. However, I've tried to keep a very mild approach to the techonology that runs loose in this house. The i-pod is a source of entertainment for us. But this bothered me for some time. Especially when I let Tilly play a game (she only has educational things on there) and I found her searching You Tube! Nothing really can be off limits to them if they can get into You-tube. So now the i-pod is kind of offlimits to her bar a few things and always always she is within my reach while on it.

A list of Tilly's favourite i-pod items:

Cbeebies podcast. This is basically childrens media from the BBC and we know of it thanks to Paula and Sarah. But I've recently discovered their radio podcast. It's great and she loves to listen to it. There is up to 3 and up to 6. They do stories, and music. It's a great listen. And great exposure to the British accent. Though she gets that here anyway, though not so varied.

Sesame Street - The word on the street. This podcast is excellent viewing and she's learned many a new word from here. Including, metamorphosis, dozen, habitat, etc. All things that I can work through with her further.

Dr. Charles Stanley - Intouch Ministries, Audio Pocast. Tilly actually requests to listent to Dr. Charles. I find it odd, but I love it. This just goes to show that your children are so heavily influenced by what you are doing and reading and listening to. Sometimes the girls even go to sleep listening to his sermons. At Tilly's request.... not my doing.

Skype. Our most valuable resource and our link to Nan and Pop. Plus she's also used it to talk to her friends in Japan. Free or cheap phonecalls overseas. Sometimes she'll make something or have a dance move she's recently learned in ballet class that she wants to show with Nanny and Poppy and they are only a video call away now thanks to the Skype application on the i-pod.

And another thing she loves is to listen to audio CD's. In particular, The Secret Garden. Which was mummy's favourite book growing up as a girl. I can't wait to share my copy of the full version with her that I've still got when she's older.

And then for your more general TV viewing there is the Wiggles and Australian Playschool on the Australia Network. Her other favourites include, her Justine Clarke CD - highly recommended. And her circle songs CD. Hopefully we can keep a handle on this whole technology thing and it won't be the dominating force in her life growing up.......

Baby Talk

A long time ago I read a novel about a woman living on some kind of station in Australia, I can't remember the storyline. So called Epic love story. The woman  marries the owner of said station but doesn't love him. She has a couple of babies. She's a feeble mother, implied as such because she doesn't love her husband. Two daughters, one severely mentally challenged and the other brilliant. And the brilliant baby could speak in sentences by the time she was one. And I thought, I'm going to stop reading this author. The storylines are just all kinds of whack... especially the bit about the talking infant.

So, Tilly spoke early and she spoke well. Obviously she wasn't speaking sentences at barely one like in the novels. But she has always been linguistically very advanced. So how about Evie? Well, this baby has been talking (saying words) since she was 6 months old. And I have reliable witnesses to back me up. At six months she was resting on a sofa in church and wanted me to pull her up and yelled out "Mummy!!" She has been saying words ever since. But she also has sharp ears and can repeat words at random. When she was 8 months old we were in a cab going somewhere and I looked at the clock and said, "Oh, we're too late!" And she looked at me and said, "Do Lay". I didn't say anything but then Tilly looked at me and said, "Mummy Evie just said Too late!" The other day in the park she was 'talking' and two friends looked at her and said 'Did you just say pussycat?' Obviously she doesn't know she's saying pussy cat (or maybe she does). However, the talking is just constant with this girl. Even more so than Tilly at this age. She speaks in a continuous chatter and throws the odd actual word in there.

This morning at breakfast she was eating her porridge and got to that point where she is just ready to throw it because she's had enough. "No no Evie, no throwing." So she looked at me and said, Get up! Hahaha. And waggled her two thumbs to indicate she'd finished. That's sign language and about the only thing I've taught her thus far because I'm far too lazy for it this time round. And I can't remember any of the things I taught Tills. Also, Tilly spoke the important words early enough for me not to have to rely on it, so my signing is pretty poor.

There you have it. A talking nearly one year old. Obviously most of it is just gibberish. But I'm sure to her it's not gibberish at all and she really has a lot to say... I love talking to her. And when you talk back to her about probably a completely different topic to what is going on in her head, she completely delights in it. Tilly often translates for her. "Mum, Evie was saying this......"

In conversation

With my babes this noon on the balcony hanging the clothes on this fine windy typhoon weather day:

Tilly: Oh my goodness Ev'lyn. It's redness. You could have killed yourself! With all your might......

(Evie pulled down a bottle of cleaner and the lid fell off, a smidge of red liquid dribbled down the bottle but no baby was harmed in the making of this post.)

I love how Tills calls her sister Ev'lyn (with hand on hip) when she thinks she is being naughty.

Celebrating our health!

 We decided to get dressed up and go for an early meal as a family to celebrate a) a day off for daddy, and b) being well again!

 In many ways Evie looks a lot like my side of the family. But when you look at her straight on she looks ridiculously similar to her father.....

She was not happy until she was on my lap shoving great fistfuls of food into her mouth.

An early evening bike ride for Tilly in the park nearby.

Flapjacks

As a gift from Miss Heather, Tilly and Evie received an Usborne First Picture Cookbook, when she was here last. In it there is a nice recipe for Flapjacks. Something I had never heard of. However it's kind of similar to things we might have made when I was young. And Usborne is British, so the difference is small. Tilly and I made them yesterday, but tweeked the recipe. It called for much more butter and an equal amount of sugar, plus golden syrup. I left the sugar out completely by accident and increased the syrup a little. I fiddled with the recipe. And the end result was totally demolished by Tills. Ok, so I helped a bit. But she couldn't get enough of it. No flour. Just oats. I added apricots and shredded coconut. Cook in a slice tin and cut after it's gone hard in the fridge. I drizzled chocolate over it. Can be vegan'd as well. It is very delicious.

Tilly is really into reading cookbooks at the moment and very much into cooking. We cook something different everyday. Probably not great for my waistline. But it's one of my fondest memories growing up on the farm (that and looking after the animals). Mum teaching me how to cook. Eating her homecooked meals and baked goods. It's what I love to do when I go home and get the fire hot on the gorgeous Rayburn at mum and dad's. Ok, I leave the getting the fire hot to someone else...... Oh to have such an oven. That oven is nearly as big as my kitchen. Nevermind. We are in the process of making some great memories and Tilly is learning lots. This picture was not setup by me. She was really sitting there flicking through that French cookbook. She can already tell you the golden rule of the kitchen - what's the first rule of cooking Tills? Make sure your oven is hot mum. Haha. Extremely important if you're working with a wood oven not so much with a little electric convection. But I'm imparting age old wisdom here..... Sometimes she gets the golden rules mixed up and will say, Wash your hands. Also very important.

Sweet baby feet

Gingerbread

In this week of staying indoors Tilly and I have rediscovered our love of cooking together.

A while back I bought some of this Brer Rabbit Molasses. It's yummy just on it's own. A tablespoon full and it's a real little shot of iron that boosts you right up.

It's just what my bakeshop had. There are other molasses types available around the city. On the back is a nice recipe for Gingerbread Icecream Sandwiches. Tilly and I made the dough yesterday and put it in the fridge and then forgot all about it.


I remembered it last night and pulled it out and made two cookies. As in enough for one sandwich. I waited for it to cool and put some icecream on one and sandwiched them together. Really nice! Tilly licked the beaters of the dough but it didn't appeal to her. I think the ginger and cloves and orange peel flavours in there were a new experience she wasn't ready for. Maybe gingerbread isn't her thing. We were going to make gingerbread men, but our cookie cutter is somewhere else. We were going to make scones and I discovered I didn't have any milk..... I did have cloves and orange peel and ginger and molasses etc etc. Ha. Scones would have been much simpler ingredients wise, and Tilly would have eaten those. I'm not sure what to do with the extra dough. Can dough that has raw egg in it be frozen? Frozen cookie dough is not something I am experienced with, it's not an Australian classic. I want to keep this and share with my friends when we are no longer contageous. We probably already aren't contageous. So, can I freeze the dough?

Here they are. I made some up this morning. Tilly wasn't interested in trying them. Personally I think they are delicious. And like that they can go back into the freezer. The one I made last night I took out of the oven at exactly the right time and it was soft and lovely, the cookie that is. This time around I got distracted talking with Tilly about cows and milk after we saw a recipe in my Nigella cookbook. They were hardish, like gingersnaps. Still yummy however.

And yes, I am the world's worst photographer.