Sunday, November 21, 2010

Christmas


I adore Christmas - by far my favourite part of the year. When the retailers start putting out their decorations (in October) I don't tut tut like everyone else, I am five years old again basking in the glitter and wonder.
This Christmas will be especially magical with Isaac two years old and able to grasp some of the concepts and excitement. In addition, I go back to work full time next year so every moment spent with him up until then is absolutely precious. So much of our experience of Christmas is shaped by our childhood memories, and I think it is a privilege to be part of creating that magic for Isaac.

When I think back to Christmas as a kid, I remember:
  • Baking and decorating butter cookies with my sister, mum and grandmother
  • Making decorations for the tree and hearing stories about the decorations we had made in years past
  • The smell of pine needles and Jasmine. As a small child we always had a real tree and the smell lingered on the ornaments for many years after we succumbed to the Brisbane heat and bought a plastic tree. Mum and Dad have had Jasmine flower in Summer for as long as I can remember
  • The way that Dad decorated our house to rival any department store (and still does!)
  • Trimming the tree and listening to Ann Murray and Kenny Rogers singing Christmas Carols (so daggy, but I still get teary listening to that CD!)
  • The way the table was set so beautifully, with the good china, for Christmas Eve dinner. Dad always made it look fantastic and we opened presents afterwards, as is the European tradition.
  • Going in town on the train to look at the Myer Christmas windows and the big tree
  • Staying up late to go midnight church services on Christmas eve and the sound of the choir
I will continue many of those traditions with Isaac, and add some of our own new ones:
  • Looking at the streets filled with Christmas lights (God Bless those people who decorate their houses each year and bring so much joy!)
  • Buying a gift to place under the K-Mart Christmas wishing tree for a child less fortunate
  • A Christmas party with his friends
  • A photo with Santa at the department store (Garden City's set up is truly magical). And yes, it is a little bit traumatic the first couple of years, but am told they think it's hilarious looking back on the photos in years to come
  • My husband's family celebrate on Christmas Day, so we will have a morning filled with presents and a beautiful breakfast. An afternoon of even more food, with the adults napping and the kids playing with their new toys.
Our mothers group is going to have a morning dedicated to Christmas craft. Always a bit of a challenge with the littlies, but we have come up with a great list (thank goodness for the internet!):
  • Reindeer collages, made up of a shoe traced for the reindeer head, and the hands traced for antlers. If you do this each year, then you can see how much they have grown. - http://www.allfreecrafts.com/christmas/reindeer-art.shtml
  • Santa stars - http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/Santastar.shtml
  • Potato prints on paper for Christmas Wrap
  • I am going to paint a Christmas Tree outline on a large, long but thin canvass (the kind you can get from dollar dazzler type shops very cheaply). I haven't quite decided if the kids can just glue and paint on the tree, or whether to make ornaments out of felt and place velcro on the tree so that they can "redecorate" to their hearts content. I love the latter idea, but hope I have time.






Thursday, September 16, 2010

Toddlers and Sharing

I have a problem and I am not at all sure how to address it. You see I am part of a wonderful, wonderful mothers group filled with gorgeous kids and lovely ladies that have become good friends.

The issue is that during our recent catch ups Isaac has started grabbing toys. The other kids don't do this so I am the only one wrestling with their toddler. I know it's developmental and I know you can't really expect near 2 year olds to share but it's exhausting and makes me feel like a lacking parent. Particularly because the other children seem to share so beautifully.

It's also hard to know what to do - snatch the toy back and give it to the original claimant? Surely that's the same as hitting a child when they hit another - you are just using the behaviour you are trying to stop. But then can you reason with a 21 month old? "Isaac please give back that toy?" Falls on deaf little ears.

The other issue is what path do you take? Should you be encouraging sharing of the toy when another snatches it? Is that fair to say no snatching on one hand and then when another child snatches their toy to admonish them to share? And in a mothers group situation should you establish some rules and boundaries with the other parents so that everyone is on the same page? How do you address that tactfully? I guess you could blog about it!

At Isaac's day care they had the following on the wall.....

Toddler Rules of Ownership
1. If I like it, it's mine.
2. If it's in my hand, it's mine.
3. If I can take it from you, it's mine.
4. If I had it a little while ago, it's mine.
5. If it's mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way.
6. If I'm doing or building something, all the pieces are mine.
7. If it looks just like mine, it is mine.
8. If I saw it first, it's mine.
9. If you are playing with something and you put it down, it automatically becomes mine.
10. If it's broken, it's yours.
11. If it's broken, but you are having fun playing with the pieces, it's mine again.
12. If there is ANY doubt, it's mine.

Isaac seems to have memorised the list and taken it to heart!

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Crafty Kids - Fathers Day

One of the lovely things about having kids around is creating gifts and cards with them.
When they aren't quite able to grasp the concept of art and craft just yet, that can be a little challenging. Isaac and I have made two fathers day cards this year (one for Opa and one for his Daddy) With a little imagination, the scribblings of a 20 month old can easily be turned into "works of art".

Different coloured card placed on top of each other adds a nice 3-D touch and makes the drawing look special. I used a pair of scalloped scissors to get the edging.


For his daddy's card, Isaac drew with crayon on a sheet of A4 paper and I folded an oragmi shirt from the results. I followed this tutorial on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uApUvt-xWJw I added a little tie, cut out from his previous drawing, and I think it looks quite sweet -



Before Isaac was really into colouring, we made Christmas cards out of tracings around his hands. A lovely little reminder of just how small he used to be!


Hand and footprints always make cute cards and wrapping paper and can be achieved by the littlest of tykes (although getting them to sit still can be a challenge!)
For handprints, you can buy "paint stampers" which are an easier way of getting your little one to make their own hand prints without having to brush on paint. I got the below at ArtShed.
I found that Art Shed at West End -http://www.artshedbrisbane.com.au/- is a wealth of kids art and craft ideas and materials. Right nearby is reverse garbage - http://www.reversegarbage.com.au/ - which also has great (and cheap) items to make stuff with (and has the advantage of being green as grass!)


Monday, July 12, 2010

The Working Mother

I have neglected this blog for sometime now and a kindly comment from a dear friend (you know who you are :) ) prompted me to write again.

The last few months have bore witness to the happiest and most difficult times of my life.

Isaac has fast grown into a little boy - rushing around the place, seeking (and finding!) mischief wherever he goes. Everything is to be wondered at and explored. He comes out with the most hilarious of things and Nathan and I wonder what those without 18 month olds do for entertainment. The other day he pointed at a line he had drawn and said “circle” - everything that is to do with drawing is a “circle” at the moment. “No,” we corrected, “Line.” To which Isaac replied “Roar!” He joins in singing nursery rhymes and his favourite book is “going on a bear hunt” as he can join in on the “Uh-Oh” and “Oh-No” parts of the book. He says “Yes” with such conviction but only shakes his head for no.

The challenging times stemmed from my going back to work. In October, I started back at work intending to work a four day week. As I returned we were in throes of moving buildings. This was incredible well managed by maternity replacement and in the end the move weekend went like clockwork. However, it was still a long weekend with only a few hours of sleep - as I was still breast feeding Isaac at night I returned home each evening and snatched a few hours of sleep before the feeding, driving, working cycle began again.

The next week was spent trouble shooting and putting on minor fires. When people asked me if I missed my little boy and I could honestly say I didn't even have time to think about it. Perhaps I was in denial, but picking him up at the end of a long day and seeing his gorgeous smile quickly became the highlight of my day.

Following the move, we merged with another firm, which brought on a month of long weeks to get the IT systems integrated. If this had happened before Isaac came along I would have relished the opportunity. However, I ended up feeling what thousands of working mothers have felt before me - that I wasn’t giving enough at home and I wasn’t giving enough at work – stretched so thin between the two, I was afraid I would break. In the end, the merge went very well and through support from Nathan and my family, Isaac didn’t suffer. Like having a child itself, being a working mother is one of things that you cannot truly understand until you are doing it. When working is combined with interrupted sleep and (in our case) child care arrangements that need to be made day by day, you begin to realise just how hard it can be. By the end of the month I was an emotional and physical wreck!

CGW is very supportive of families and I was very lucky to be offered a two day, rather than four day, a week role. I grabbed it with both hands and I have finally achieved a sense of balance between my working life and being home with my boy. Isaac is now settled at a terrific day care centre for my two working days. He seems to love it there - they have the kind of staff who make every parent think their child is the favourite.

When I am at work, I am still a mother, and when I am at home, I am still very concerned about my work. However, the days where each and every dream was about work and every thought centered around the current project are behind me now. I am still very committed to my job, but the work-life balance that always eluded me prior to Isaac seems to have been addressed by a gorgeous little fellow whose smile lights up my life.