Back on deck

Survived the second week of term fairly well. Too many late nights though... need to stop burning the midnight oil. Most funny moment in class today, had the model brain out & a couple of students (who have something of a resemblance to a certain pair of cartoon characters off MTV) were holding one half each... it was a real Kodak moment. Oh well.

More funniness from Freya, this arvo I was singing the Freya song & she said "I want Frieda to sing it." I said "She can't sing it," and Freya said "She's got no hands!". Then we ran around the house & tickled lots.

Well that's that...

Currently suffering from a lack of sleep and major post-Harry Potter comedown, having bought HP7 yesterday at 9 am and finished it this morning at 2.16 am. Really enjoyed it... a bit of a slow patch in the middle but the ending was fairly rip-snorting.

In other news, the first week back at skool went pretty well. Freya has a bit of a cold at the moment, poor wee chicky. Reb & Freya went to the aquarium with Kate & Chloe on Thursday, as it was a training day for creche. Reb and Kate have both blogged about it, sounded like heaps of fun.

That was much better than I thought...

On the way to work today I was thinking about a blog post called "Fear and Loathing on Mt Doom". When I went back to skool in term 2 I felt quite anxious (that was the fear part) and going back today I was feeling rather negative about the students (hence the loathing!). However once I got there, it was fine... the kids were pretty good today, they seem to be in a fairly good mood after their holidays.

I had been stressing out a bit about the imminent return to school. After about 10 days of holiday, my stress level was pretty low but then I started to wake up early in the morning thinking about school! And I was a crankypants on the weekend... not much fun to hang out with.

Anyway, now that I'm back it feels pretty good.

Picked up Freya from creche, she was having fun in the sandpit while a couple of the other little girls had a set-to about possession of a spoon. In the car I noticed a little tear on her cheek (the wind was cold) and I commented on it as I wiped it off, she said "I cried". I asked why, and she said "Chloe and I were snatching". Funny chick.

She was a bit cranky this evening, she gets upset when she's tired and doesn't seem to know what she wants. She calmed down when I started to read a book & then we had a good book reading sesh. She knows most of the words in her Numbers book.

On the subject of spiders, this is pretty cool!

This (Spider) Baby's Clever

After Freya's nap (she was well cute, asleep on her tummy with her drinking cup underneath her hips) we went with Kate & Chloe to the DFO (local mega-uber factory outlet thing) where we got some shoes for me (some Converse thingies that Dr Who wears) and got some wee ones for Freya too. Was quite cute seeing Reb (who has some already) walking around holding Freya's hand, & the two of them with matching shoes!

Home again, and as I was getting Freya dressed in her spider pyjamas, she asked me to sing the "Spider Man" song. Now I don't know the right words, and am always inclined to customise them to make them a bit more interesting:

"Spider man, spider man,
Friendly neighbourhood spiderman,
Spins a web, way up high,
Catches thieves, eats their eyes,
Lookout, here comes the spiderman."

(I'm sure many of you will find it difficult to figure out which of those lines is mine...)

Anyway, I sang that, and then I sang the "Spider Baby" version, and when I had finished Freya said "Spider Daddy?" So I sang that, and she then said "Spider Mummy!" and then "Spider Sheep!" (for her little toy lamb)... we had spider duvet, spider blanket, spider toothbrush... great fun.

Stand back from the edge...

This morning we had a bit of a lie in, followed by some book readin' before breakfast. Then we headed out to get some more wool for the cardi Reb is knitting for Freya. On the way back we headed to Kate's, for coffee & some of the date & wallnut bar I made, followed by a trip to the park. It was largely empty when we arrived, just a couple of other creche kids there, and we had a really good time. Chloe & Freya impressed us all by climbing some scary stuff quite well! Lots of good photos to come...

Home again for lunch, poor Boog was a bit over-tired and tantied-out on us, but she calmed down & was in a good mood at bedtime. She took a while to go to sleep and we are worrying that she's starting to try to climb out of the cot now.

Unfortunately, I found that when I tried to turn Odin (my home computer on) it was completely dead. I bought the motherboard 2nd hand a couple of years back, and it has served fairly well but had a few quirks (such as really irregular fan activity on startup), but this was a bit of a surprise. I had actually unplugged it a few nights back, because there was a bit of lightning happening. The main problem now is that I have kept so far back from the bleeding edge of computer technology that I have just about fallen off the other side! I will be struggling to find a new mobo that will take my cpu and ram, so I might have to go second hand again. The other option is that I upgrade, but that seems a bit of a waste... the old stuff was doing fine! Poor Odin, it served me well.

BEST MOVIE EVER!

Late start this morning as Reb has the day off. It had poured down in the night, for a few minutes. After the usual kerfuffle about whether of not we would have eggs for breakfast (no, Freya, that's only on the weekend) we took Freya to creche. They had let Molly & three of her babies out, and they were happily hopping around the floor. Freya was quite thrilled to see them, and not at all concerned when we left.

We went to Wasteland to catch the 9.30 sesh of Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix. Was most enjoyable, much better than the last one (very disappointing), I thought it was at least as good as any of the others. Now I want to re-read the books again! And it's only 8 days until book 7 comes out... oooh, how exciting!

Did a wee bit of shopping & headed home. Picked up Freya in the arvo... when we got there one of the baby buns was still out, very cute wee beastie! Home again, & we had a go at making date & walnut bar from the Metropolitan Bakery cookbook... went OK but not quite what I had hoped for. Went to the shops... Freya chucked a wee tanty when we left, but settled down once we were down the road.

Did the usual bath, books etc... Freya slipped over in the bath AND banged her head on the bedroom wall, but fortunately neither was too bad.

Only three more sleeps to term 3... how sad.

Funny stuff

When we got home this evening, Freya said "I want to ride on Grom." Gromit did not share her enthusiasm!

Later, Grom was in Freya's way and she said "Get out of the way or I'll make you dead!" Where did that come from?

Today I did some school work but mainly spent time on a couple of long-overdue DIY chores. Did some work on the fireplace, which has been in a state of disrepair since Freya ripped the scabby wallpaper off months & months ago. It's on the way to being semi-respectable. Also realized that a piece of wood I had been hoarding would be useful for mounting my Dexion racks in the shed, so I spent an hour or so fixing that up... looks good!

Here's the fireplace (a work in progress)...


My most excellent tool board (almost finished) made from 99% salvaged materials:


I also had a small DIY task bought home from creche - just need to cut some MDF to size and screw it onto some box sections.  Did the cutting this morning.

A big blowfly buzzed into the house today, and I caught it and threw it into Auxilliary Blackie's web. She's been out & about a bit lately, and I thought she might like a juicy midwinter snack.


Here she is with the fill light up a bit, so you can see the coloration:


Creche rang at 3pm and I went to pick up Freya.  Normally she rushes up to me (or at least saunters) but today she was fairly keen to finish her afternoon tea, so I sat next to her and she had a big serve of yoghurt, some banana, some pear and one of the biscuits they had made today.  (Great way to get Freya to eat - ask her if you can eat something and she goes "No!" and scoffs it.) Then she wanted to dance with the other kids (spinning around in a tutu is being a butterfly, apparently) before they all went outside and played for a while. After this she finally decided to leave. She's obviously pretty happy there!

We went for a stroll at the shops, ended up buying a little Thomas book (about Harold the Helicopter - Freya wants us to sing the little song all the time) and had a little milkshake.

There were a couple of other funny moments today which I have forgotten... interspersed between moments of high level contraryness!

Global warming doubters...

I'm quite happy for people to be skeptical about global warming, just as long as they understand that they will be eaten first when it all goes pear shaped.

Call an exorcist (or two) AKA picking up Freya from creche

After a somewhat productive day doing some rehashing of the not very much liked Forensic elective (altho I like it much more than the horrid year 9 stuff) I went to get Freya at about 3 pm. She was lovely & happy to see me, giving me a big cuddle & wanting to put her jacket on. They had made some biscuits and she took one, and then asked for another, which I carried, and then as we were going out the door she wanted another... and when I declined, her head rotated 720 degrees and she SCREAMED absolute blue murder, while the creche manager was trying to have a conversation with someone at the door! I carried Freya to the car, & was trying to load everything in, and being short of hands I ate the biscuit - Freya howled and reached out towards my face as if she was going to mine the biscuit out of my mouth. We finally got into the car & she settled down, and said she wanted to go to the park... soooooo... off we went. She was much happier from then on, & Kate & Chloe turned up. After a bit of playing in the FREEZING wind we all headed back to ours for a while... the girls were pretty well behaved but occasionally got a bit freaky.

Not much else to report...

...except that when I walked out into the back yard today, my friendly magpie came swooping down right by me, so I gave her a piece of my bagel.  She was quickly joined by the baby & the male, who aren't as friendly but were happy to receive some bits of bagel.  A couple of big babbler birds were lurking nearby, hoping for some crumbs but I think they missed out.

Just a wee update....

To this post about Mogro.

Funny dream

Last night I dreamed that I had two teaching jobs, one at Mt Doom SC and one at a private school, much closer to home (a bit like St Brutus's Academy). At the beginning of term 3 I went to work at the private school, even though I knew they still wanted me to work at Mt Doom. It all seemed nice at the new school, but then the kids all went feral & there was an enormous fight!

Not quite sure what to read into that...

Wednesday

Freya woke up crying at 4.15 this morning. I went in to comfort her, and along with a slightly leaked nappy, I had to deal with the urgent search for her many small toys which she took to bed last night. "I want my little pink froggy". Well I had a hard time finding it Sweetie, because you hid it under your big Maisy. And you also hid your yellow frog, little lamb, piglet and little leopard cub. We are really going to be in trouble when I get you that life size toy ant, flea circus and soft toy microbe.

Anyway, she went back to sleep but was really cranky in the morning. She was most upset when I took her cereal away, after she'd been playing with it for about five minutes. Nassssty Daddy. We dropped Reb off at the train, she had to push past all the penguins that have come to Melbourne for winter, and then went to creche. Freya was really happy to look at the bunnies (in fact she asked twice to see them for longer), and then we went to the other room where all the kids were playing. After a couple of minutes Freya turned to me and said:

"Daddy, can you go to work now?"

Another fun day...

Foggy and Freezing this morning! Read in the paper that it's been unusually cold this winter... although we haven't really had any frosts.

Dropped Reb off at the train & Freya at creche... as usual she was enamored with the bunnies & was most unconcerned when I left. Spent the morning doing some housework & trying to get my head around some school work - pesky unit I am considering which just doesn't agree with me. Nerves & stuff. Perhaps I will do something else, altho I need to do something more biology oriented.

Later on I did some work in the shed, put my bike pump back together (it works well again) and repaired the base of the old clock Freya dropped on the floor. The mechanism is a bit stuffed too, and beyond my abilities to repair. Was interesting to see how it worked though. Fixed up a couple of extension cords and had a bit of a tidy up. By the time I had finished it was time to pick Freya up, and the sun had finally burned off the fog, & it was a nice clear day.

At creche Freya was just finishing her afternoon tea, but before she gave me a hug she carefully took her cup & plate to the carer to put away... good wee girl! Then I got a big hug & we looked at the rabbits again before going to the park to meet Kate & Chloe. We had a good time at the park, Freya was a little bossyboots when another little girl wanted to get on the equipment - with a big frown & her growly voice she said "Wait. It's Freya's turn."

After the park we headed to Bunnings. Freya was quite keen on the idea, which was nice! When we got there I committed the mortal sin of eating the grape she had just declined - "I HAD IT FIRST!!!!"

Freya didn't want to ride in a trolley so she walked around with me, saying "We at Bunnings!" and carrying one of the 75mm coach screws I had bought. Later on she wanted to take it to bed! Home again, & played with her new (salvaged) trike... it's a bit too big for her, but we had fun pushing it around the yard.

Usual bath etc... when I tried to sing one of her songs she said "Stop singing Daddy!". Oh well.

Looks like we won't be rushing to bed tonight...

Freya finally went to sleep this afternoon, after the traditional just-in-bed-with-a-new-nappy poo, which MUST NOT BE SPOKEN OF, rather one should play and chatter quietly for as long as possible, wreathed in the stinky vapours, before Mummy & Daddy become suspicious & come to change the nappy. She chattered for a while longer before dropping off, the exact time of which is unknown because I took a short nap, based on the following extremely logical argument:
1. Freya may not go to sleep at all. Therefore, I can lie down on the couch for a little while, and if she doesn't go to sleep then we'll just get up.
2. If Freya does go to sleep at all, I'm sure it won't be for very long, and I'll wake up when she does.
3. I was feeling a bit tired.

Unfortunately (sort of) my second proposition turned out to be a tad flawed. I woke up about an hour later, and she was still coma'd. That's OK, she often sleeps until about 4 pm at home. But tick tock, tick tock, come 5 pm she's still asleep! Half her toys are scattered across the floor, and she's the wrong way round on the bed, on top of the duvet, with a platypus on one side of her head & a horse on the other. Might wake her in a min...

Gave her funky trike a wash while she slept, but we probably won't get a chance to play with it today!

Mogro reunion

I kept Freya at home today as we were heading to the Monday morning Mogro sessions, for a quarterly catch-up. We went to a different play-centre than the usual Gastropops, and a fairly good time was had by all, although there were a reasonable number of budding thugs and psychos whose principal form of entertainment consisted of hitting things, throwing things, or knocking things over, preferably at the same time. Fortunately I didn't have to take any of them behind the bouncy castle to administer a sound thrashing (and anyway, some of these four-year olds are pretty scary looking these days!). Freya managed to avoid any of these mini-Godzillas, but did get her foot run over at one point. After an initial bit of shyness she was happy to explore all the cubby houses & toys. She climbed the big bouncy slide a couple of times, it's about three times her height! At one point Boog & Chloe seemed to be having a territorial dispute with some other kids from creche, and Freya was in her best "MOVE AWAY!" posture.

While I was comforting Freya over the squashed toe incident, these two little girls had a full-on, hair pulling scrag fight in the ball pit... I suspect they have a future in women's wrestling!  Great role models for Boog.

Home again, via Wasteland to pick up the Harry Potter tix for Friday... hooray!

Had some lunch, and wrestled coaxed Freya into her PJs for bed. There was some mild confusion about which toys she wanted in bed. Freya said "I don't want my baby cow." "OK", said I, taking the calf and heading out the door. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! No! I want it!" And sure enough, not long after she was in bed she had a poo (that timing is not a coincidence!) so we had to get up for a nappy change. The following conversation ensued:
"Where's Mummy?"
"She's at work. Do you remember why she's at work? So we can have beer."
"What's she doing?"
"She's probably having beer right now."
Freya nodded. "She's thirsty."

Freya is now in bed going "Bow! Bow! Beeow!". Not much sleep to be had this afternoon! "Hello blickle-ickle-oo!"

She knows the drill

From a couple of days ago: I heard Freya, while playing in her bedroom, say "Geboff! Geboff my dollhouse spider!" and sure enough, there was a little spider on the roof. Freya didn't try to touch it at all.

She has been telling us stories about the rabbit & her kittens at creche, frequently saying "They can bite!", so I told her that about the spiders too, but I don't know if she took any notice.

All good fun until someone loses an eye!

While the idea of Freya snuggling into bed with us is rather cute in theory, in practice it never works that well. The only time she actually slept well was when she was sick as a dog. Normally she turns into a character from an Irvine Welsh novel, yelling "Ya wee radge, I'll gless ye!" and head-butts everyone. This morning was no exception. After an early nappy change at about 5.30, Freya proceeded to nut me on several occasions, while simultaneously kicking Reb & poking her with cold hands.

Once we got to a fairly civilized time, we read some books & then got up for breakfast. This morning we went down the road again to get bagels, and had another look in the pet shop. Freya was fairly exhausted come bed time, and she had a pretty good snooze while I helped Reb work on her reports (tres exciting I know!). We went for a short walk in the arvo, and found a plastic kid's trike in the inorganic collection - I'll clean it up tomorrow, if Freya doesn't like it I'll give it to creche.

After dinner and skype with Reb's Mum, Freya had her bath and we started reading books. She tends to get a bit crazy in the evenings, and jumps & flops on the bed. We often warn her not to jump around in case she bangs her head on the wall, and unfortunately tonight that's just what she did ... it was a big thump & she was not a happy girl. She calmed down eventually & went to sleep fairly quickly... I hope her head's not to sore.

Just testing really...

Here's a cute critter we saw on the barbecue one day...

More fun at home...

We took a trip down the 'Leigh this morning, and had a look in not one, but two pet shops, to Freya's great pleasure. We went to the park & played for a while, including seeing a couple of cute pugs, but Freya was a bit wary of the wee excited beasties. She had a good sleep this arvo, although she cried a couple of times when she had misplaced her tiny little soft toy piglet...

I tried to help Reb with her reports in the afternoon, and had a go at creating macros to expedite the process. Pleased to report that I have not lost my mojo... it seems to work pretty well. Just a few minor adjustments & hopefully it will save Reb quite a bit of work.

Once she was up, we retreated into the living room (as it's about 10 degrees Kelvin outside today... the birds are swimming through the air as it has liquified...). We had great fun dancing around the room with her ribbons, and playing other games which frequently involved Freya squashing Reb. I had a moment of being chronologically challenged, and filled the bath half an hour early, but Freya didn't mind, and we spent an extra 15 minutes or so reading books, which she really loved. One of Reb's colleagues has lent us a stack of Little Golden Books, some of which are a bit wordy, but Freya is quite happy to sit through some of them.

More wisdom of Freya...

At dinner last night, Freya said "There's a spot in my juice!". Reb looked & said "It's a sesame seed." Freya drank the juice & Reb said "The sesame seed will grow in your tummy!" "No! It won't grow in my tummy!" Smart chickie.

We had fun playing with her toy animals... they were dappelling (galloping) wildly around the place. After a few minutes Freya said "I'm a bit frightened!", but when I offered to stop playing she said no.

Now Freya has some great spider pyjamas... will have to post a photo.

Cold & miserable weather at the moment...