There’s so much more to it than I ever thought possible.
Inigo’s friend from Mind Plus, Liam, had a Harry Potter themed birthday party on the weekend. After years of trying to get the kin enthused about the books, we finally let him watch the first movie on Saturday night. We bought a wand, and a broom, some glasses, and some face paint to draw on a scar, and on Sunday morning he chose his own outfit. The robes were from his Star Wars party, but he was given authentic ones when he arrived!
Tonight, we had a parenting situation that needed a sensitive touch.
Small boy has grown accustomed to a cafe visit, with cake, as a reward for reading milestones. Not so much the reading every night, but the writing in the home reading journal. It was a deal we made at the beginning of the year with his teacher. She thought it was important, we had her back and enforced it.
Today, he hit 175 days of reading. But he hadn’t filled in the journal. I said no cake. There were tears.
Thank goodness I rock this parenting gig. I found a clip of The Beastie Boys singing “No Sleep Till Brooklyn”, and sang “No Cake Till Tuesday”.
Kid became hysterical for a different reason, and the evening was saved.
Now looking for a reason to introduce him to Nick Cave. Or Snakefinger. Perhaps some Violent Femmes.
I just turned 46. It’s not so bad. I’m full of gratitude for the life I am able to live right now. Still terribly fond of Mark, so blessed to be mama to the best kid in the world, and doing fulfilling work, both in my volunteer role, and in in actual paid employment.
Yesterday, I taught a knitting class and had great feedback.
This morning, I finally taught Inigo how to knit (he learned to spin at the end of last month).
And this afternoon I published my first ever pattern on Ravelry – it’s nothing complicated, but great fun, and a good beginning project for a learner.
Next weekend we have Woolfest – the third annual pop up fibre market in Auckland, and the second one since I tok over as area delegate. Festival went off with nary a hitch, and for the first time eve, Inigo seems to not only be enjoying school, he has great friends, and he seems to be heading for some positive academic results for the first time.
I hope all is well with you too.
Thanks to Jenny who notified me of the blog being hacked, Mark was able to gain back control pretty easily. So I thought I should post something after a long silence.
Life is ticking along well in Auckland. Squid has a really great teacher this year, and is actually enjoying school most of the time, I am really busy in the lead up to the Creative Fibre annual festival that we are organising in Auckland this year, and Mark is doing ok. He’s not enjoying life in Auckland as much as Squid and I, but he’s OK.
Inigo has been really enjoying indoor climbing ,and is showing a real talent for it. Last weekend he fell out of a tree and injured himself so badly we had to go to the emergency room, but he is healing well, and still keen on climbing!
Adam and Andrea are friends that I have known for years – since before Inigo was born and we used to go to a pub in Newtown for a knitting group.
They bought a house, and renovated. They planned to start a family, and planned a more extensive renovation. But first, a wedding.
Very soon afterwards, they found out they were expecting. Twins!
Yesterday, we had a visit from them, Owen and Olivia are now two and a half, clever, chatty and adorable.
A simple reminder of the wonderful work I am lucky enough to do.
– from my iPhone
Steph let me know that Carrot Vizzini Tiberius Rex Nettle-Da Silva didnt wake from his sleep this morning.
We adopted him knowing that he was older and we were lucky to have had so many years with him. We were also lucky that his final year was spent very much dictating his own terms, as lord high ruler of the lounge room at Stephs place since we moved to New Zealand.
Goodbye to the worlds most handsome bunny. We will always love you.
In May this year, Facebook targeted me with an ad for a private boys school in Sydney, advertising new enrollments for 2016. They must have figured out that I had been pregnant in 2010.
They didnt figure out that my babies died.
I posted a whinge about it on facebook, and then I cried, and cried, and cried. And recently, I got to thinking abou that post, not because it made me sad, but because of all the lovely supportive responses.
Ive decided to link to that post here, because my blog is searchable, and because when Im feeling down, its nice to remember just how many people care.
To all of you who responded on that day, and who have supported me over the last five years, you will never know what it has meant to me. Thank you.
Inigo reads The Book With No Pictures
Continue reading “No Pictures”
Mine is currently rolling around a problem in his head – he is hilarious, but his friends don’t yet get it. They ask him to stop being hilarious, but he is convinced that if he keeps being hilarious, eventually they will get the joke, and everyone will have a good laugh. In the meantime, they are throwing rocks at him. Actual rocks. And he keeps cracking jokes.
I put it to him that “most children are assholes”, and that expecting them to change will be an exercise in frustration, so he had better choose between sharing his gifts, and protecting his soft fleshy bits.
He is taking this under advisement, but thinks that hiding his light under a bushel won’t allow him to be true to himself. Ergo, children are weird.
Meanwhile, round three of “meetings with the school” starts tomorrow. Wish us luck!
I ask the question.
Squish: I want to go to that place. You know, the one I like but I cant remember the name of?
Mama: Xi An Food Bar? (Our fave rustic Chinese noodle joint).
S: Yes.
M: Hmmm. Im getting a bit bored with that one.
S: I feel the opposite. Like I want to go there more and more.
M: Hmm.
S: But you respect my opinions, and Im going to respect yours. We can go somewhere else if you like.
Disco Knitter 