rainy thursday

he

me

rainy wednesday

he

He and his dad discussed how to spend their rainy day, and unanimously decided on the museum. On the way to the museum they stumbled upon a huge toddler festival - an event at QPAC for "Worlds Biggest Playgroup Day 2014". Performers, music, crafts, showbags, freebies... They didn't make it to the museum.

me

I watched the rain through the floor-to-ceiling 4th floor windows of the John Oxley Reading Room at the State Library. It is undoubtedly the quietest room in all of Brisbane - which was novel, briefly, as I first sat down, but the roar of rain was welcome company. The rain drops danced heavily on the river surface, far below. So pretty. So distracting. So welcome!

taking a break

he

He said to me, while walking to daycare, "I will carry my backpack. And I will have a little rest." I said that I thought it was a great plan, so I handed him his bag, helped him put it on, then watched as he immediately sat down on the footpath. And yawned!

me

Early Sunday morning, the boys went out to a field to fly the plane. I put on my running clothes, did my stretches, and headed outside for a jog. Unfortunately, that's as far as I got. I twisted my ankle and collapsed onto the dodgy, uneven, ankle-wrecking ground. I ended up staying there for quite a while, as I knew it wasn't broken or too badly sprained, the grass was cool and soft(ish), and I was going to be sore no matter where I was. It wasn't sooo bad, being forced to lie still on grass for a while on a Sunday morning. This is a picture of my view, while I 'took a break'. 

teacher

he

His daycare teacher laughed as she recounted a story, when I collected him last week. 

Apparently she took him to the toilet and, while sitting/waiting, he suggested, "Shall we sing a song?" 

She said, "Sure. What would you like to sing?" 

He considered her question, and answered, "A, B, C, D."

She told him, "Okay, you start singing, and I'll join in." 

He refused immediately, and emphatically, "NO." 

She explained, "But I don't know A, B, C, D. You'll have to sing so I can learn it."

Outraged, he announced, "But YOU'RE a DAYCARE TEACHER!"

Clearly, there's one song that all daycare teachers must be sure to know, as a prerequisite to employment.

(This photo is not of a toilet, just somewhere he likes to sit when we walk around the neighbourhood.)

me

On Mondays, I'm back at school. At the moment I'm mainly working on updating the school website (a big, slow job), as well as a lovely project with a small group of Year 5-7s. Each of my group members have adopted a class in the school, and act as class reporter. They negotiate with that class teacher, and their own teacher, to find a good time each week to visit/observe/interview/photograph, and then write, edit and publish a blog post which focuses on learning. We spend a couple of hours as a group on Mondays, sharing, editing and supporting each other. The project has just begun, so it will take a while to get into a rhythm, but it's great, and they'll get there. You can see the blogs, linked from each of the class pages at www.cannhillss.eq.edu.au

I don't have a photo to illustrate this, so am using a picture of a recent bean harvest. Go ahead and create your own beautiful, relevant metaphor about harvesting young minds... Helping kids find the beans/treasures inside the pods/skins... Sowing seeds...

pockets. cool.

he

Every time we go walking these days, there's a moment when he abruptly stops, remembers that his pockets exist, works very hard to get his whopper hands into the tiny pockets on his shorts, and then recommences walking. He thinks it's sooo cool and important and I think it's sooo funny. Gosh he's disappointed when he finds that he's wearing pocket-less pants, or - even worse - pants with fake pockets!

me

The thing about wearing my favourite jeans is that I can't - comfortably - carry my phone/wallet in the pockets (they are perfect, however, for carrying my hands if I ever want to walk as cool as my little boy does lately). And the thing about going to a gig is that I don't want to carry a proper bag around all night. Luckily I have a couple of little bags that are just like adding a little extra pocket! I took this pretty one (a sister-in-law gift from Cambodia) to the Billy Bragg show last night. Which was so very cool.

tea party

he

 

He got his own special tiny tea cup of milk. And then helped himself to some amazing dark chocolate.

me

Our friend had a Tuesday afternoon backyard tea party for her birthday. There was the tastiest chai I've had since India and a too-bountiful assortment of sweet things! She shares a birthday with another dear pal, who currently lives on the other side of this land, but who was back east for his birthday, so we were lucky enough to enjoy even more tasty sweet things and cuddle his precious, teeny tiny baby!

a bit of reading

he

For a long time, he has called out "S.T.O.P. Stop!" whenever he sees a bright red stop sign - they are all over our neighbourhood. And I know he's been able to read individual letters for even longer. But I was still surprised when he saw this shirt in a shop (without the bright red octagon) and declared, "That spells STOP"!

me

I went, with a couple of friends, to see Love Song Circus, by Katie Noonan and Circa at QPAC. It was sensational. Katie had written a beautiful suite of songs based on her research into real women who had traveled to Australia as convicts. Three women from Circa performed breathtaking dance/acrobatics as a visual interpretation of the music. It was such a privilege to attend and such a vibrant way to learn some untold stories from our nation's history. This is the lyric sheet which was provided, full of real stories of pain and courage. I've left it in the kitchen and it's been really interesting to read it in snippets as I go about menial tasks.

Cai Guo-Qiang: Falling Back to Earth

he

 He named most of the 99 animals in one of the installations, and talked to many of the wolves in another. 

me

Thanks to a good friend, I had a complimentary ticket to this exhibition at the GoMA, and we finally used the ticket. It was spectacular.

being sporty

he

We checked out another one of South Bank's Kids Club activities - Rugbytots! I felt very brave, attending something called that. Turns out it was really, really good! He talked about "Wubby" for days. 

me

Been jogging a bit lately - always preceded by my many physio stretches (and always - still - followed by a bit of hip pain). I dragged the boys along for a family jog on Saturday (which means we get to stop at the sheep cafe afterwards).

The Boat Museum!

Guest blogging time from B!

I've been meaning to take him to the Maritime Museum for some time as it seems like a place we would both enjoy in equal measure - and I was mostly correct.

We arrived before opening time and rather then killing the time at a playground, he was happy to keep riding the bike with me, ringing the bell and waving at strangers.  Once inside he loved being able to explore places that we normally look at from behind a fence, from the bike path or from the pedestrian bridge that soars over the top.

By far his favourite thing were the numerous taps in the bathrooms on the Diamantina ship in the dry dock - despite his concern that none of them had soap available. He also loved the propellers. I was surprised by how happy he was exploring the dark depths of the ship.

I heard the old familiar sound of morse code while on the ship, and was happy to find an old Amateur Radio operator inside sending messages to the outside world.  As an ex-Amateur Operator myself (I was VERY cool during high school), we had a great chat (in English, not in Morse Code) about the radio equipment on the ship and the people around the world they had chatted to.

It was great to see such a vibrant museum with so many volunteers doing all sorts of interesting things so landlubbers like me and R can get a taste of maritime life. 

machines

he

 It was obvious that the walk to daycare was going to take a little longer than expected when we had to walk past a busy, noisy EXCAVATOR! It was rolling, it was digging, it was crushing and lifting and whirring and beeping and making all kinds of dust and rubble. He said 'Hi' to the guys and s l o w l y strolled past, then turned around to watch for a while. Quite a while. Then he sat down to get comfortable. I suspect that, if I'd left him there instead of (eventually) taking him to daycare, he'd have still been happily sitting on the footpath (if not actually on the seat of the excavator), thoroughly entertained, when I returned at the end of the day. 

me

I'm having a lot of juicing fun. My clever little blender-ish machine quickly zhoooshes up my fruit and veggies, straight into these drink bottles. This picture shows the zhoooshed and the pre-zhoooshed versions. Spot the carrot, beetroot, kale, blueberries, apples and coconut juice. Mmmmmmm.

"Our Dreaming" exhibition

he

We visited the "Our Dreaming" exhibition at the State Library with some pals. We spent much longer than we planned to: watching, reading, gluing, climbing, pressing buttons... He really enjoyed the animations, but was adamant that wearing headphones was NOT going to happen (the jury is out as to whether this decision was based on fashion or fear).

me

The exhibition showcases Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures through animations. It's excellent!