a Frozen birthday.

Instead of a card, Willow did a watercolour with my water colour pencils. It started off as a tree, and then became a sparkling river she saw with poh poh and pa pa.

I don't know why this flipped. Urgh. Willow's writting is coming along very well. She copies more, and need me reading out the letters a lot less. She's also more willing to write, at times. While writing this, she kept shushing me so she could concentrate on copying down the letters I had written. She still doesn't quite get spacing, or why letters have to go in a certain order, but she's getting there :) On literacy- Willow's friend Amber is sleeping over tonight, and read her a book as a bedtime story. (One that one of my aunts made for Willow- Willow went for a walk. It's one of Willow's favourite books, and one of the easiest to read in her bookcase. I think having Amber, who is close to her in age, actually read her a book was a bit of a revolution for Willow- like oh, look at what is possible for ME to one day do. A lot of their games now involve Amber teaching Willow stuff she's learnt at school- mostly just sounding out letters, and thinking about how words sound. In the car on the way home, they were playing I Spy. Normally it runs on colours- "I spy with my little eye something that is... blue." "The sky?" "Yep." However, Amber started playing it based on the sound of the first letter- "I spy with my little eye, something beginning with... ka-." "Cows?" "Nope." "Cars?" "Yes!"

Anyways. Willow got invited to her first Frozen themed party. She's saved up $35 for an Elsa dress, but you can't get one for love or money. We have one rainchecked, so in a few more weeks she can have the satisfaction of walking up to the counter with her little money tin, handing over $35 in coins, and walking out with the dress of her dreams. In the meantime, I made her a cape out of some old lace curtain that came with the house, and I spent an hour and half covering it in glitter.  I also made her and Billie, the birthday girl, similar necklaces. Willow helped to make some of the beads, but I also made beads to spell Billie, and some to spell Willow. The girls were thrilled, and Billie put her necklace on right away. The rest of her outfit she already owned, and she was actually pretty content with that. She didn't seem upset or envious of the other girls dresses, even though one was in the exact dress Willow had saved up for... and she had long blonde hair in a side plait "Elsa style," and Willow really wants long blonde hair she can wear in a side plait. Like, even before Frozen came out, Willow would have moments of crying that her hair wasn't straight and blonde and long. 

They played outside, they played inside, they ate the junk food and ignored everything healthy, they played Freeze and "Pin the carrot on Olof." They jumped on the jumping castle until it sprung a hole, and played in the cubby house. Willow was just so happy to see her best friend from preschool, Xander, there. 

She won a prize for "Pin the Carrot on Olof," and then she won at Freeze... mostly because she was more interested in watching the video clip than dancing to it. She won glow in the dark loom bands and a cherry ripe bar. One of Willow's friends from preschool got out, and was devastated and kept crying, so on her own initiative, Willow went over, rubbed her back, then gave her half her prize- a cherry ripe chocolate bar.  The friend was more interested in the loom bands, but Willow wasn't going to share those. I felt really proud of Willow for her show of empathy and kindness. With the cold weather, we've been playing a lot more board games. I don't try to win, but I don't try to loose either. I mean, I can't help it if I roll a six three goes in a row, can I? Sometimes Willow gets really frustrated with Not Winning so I always tell her: It's never nice to brag, because you can hurt your friend's feelings; Winning is simply down to luck- you might win now, but you might lose later. Be the sort of winner you don't mind losing to; and you can't have a game without someone losing.

Plus, I try to teach her to not be a jerk in general anyway. But at 4, children are so open hearted in their affections, and their world is simple- I have some pretty good starting material. :)

They also got into the make up, because of course they did. There were boys at the party, but none of them were in this little circle. Funny that. Willow was, naturally, in the thick of it all. In fact, she was the one busted for opening up the nail polishes... which were quickly confiscated. You can also tell at one point, there was a silver door streamer decoration thing that they kids got into and tore apart. 

I love this photo of her holding the mirror up for Billie. They were chatting away about how to put it on, and where. 

You know what's really sad? My enthusiasm for that wall colour. It doesn't show up so well in these photos, but it's beautiful. A mushroom sort of gray. Looks beautiful with the wooden floorboards, AND looks good with the carpet (we had planned a similar colour for our rooms). It also looks good in natural light and artificial lights, and looked very smart with the white trim. Two weeks in to our new house, and I'm struggling with paint colours. The walls are a mix of terracotta red suede, cream and pink, while the trim is a mix of cream, pink and badly damaged. We're super determined to paint over the walls in the next few weeks, but I'm not having much luck with finding the paint colour that I want- I want something that can look warm AND cool AND is a neutral, but I'm over grays, and whites are devoid of personality. I go to the hardware store, I look at the infinite range of colour swatches, I grab about a million, I blu tack them to our wall, and then I find myself wondering what I was thinking, since they all seem wrong- too pink, too yellow, too saturated, too bland, too cold. But that mushroom gray? Perfect. Sadly, my friends were renting, so they had no idea what colour the walls were... so back to the swatches we go...

The windy city.

A week after our move, and the wind started. Apparently its a yearly thing, that the wind howls and gusts and makes the second half of winter 300x more miserable. Where does it come from? Why does it blow so hard? Will it stop soon? And where has all my laundry gone? I swear we had more on the line. There is an ominous trail of pegs scattered across my lawn, but when I peeked over into my neighbors yard I didn't see any clothes... So either they've blown further away, or I'm just paranoid. I might start writting our address on our clothes as insurance though.

Our house is on a hill. It possesses lovely sweeping views of the valley, the surrounding hills, other houses, and the industrial area. Its also on the windy side of the hill. All morning we've had birds huddled into the sunniest sheltered part of our lawn.

The wind is really something. It sounds like a cyclone, but without the rain. It looks beautiful and sunny outside, but its so cold and miserable. The porch railings are shuddering in the wind. Willow hasn't even asked to go outside once today. She's been watching a lot of movies and tv for the past two weeks while we pack, then unpacked and settled in. She enjoys beading, and I stockpiled a small collection of those Lego kits for her to build- just the little cheap ones that come in bags or boxes. I got two robot monster thingo ones, one from their castle line and one from their Lego friends line. So far she's done one robot monster one, and attempted the Lego friends one. The Lego friends one is much more straight forward than the monster, but the monster had much better instructions, so Willow was actually able to assemble more of the robot one without guidance. She struggles to clip the blocks together, but she's new to Lego, so... It will come to her. She loves her duplo animals a friend gave her for her birthday. However, duplo and Lego cost serious money, but you can get Lego in little building sets for less than $20, so... That's why she now has Lego :) I thought it would give us something to do post move/ in the winter, plus the little sets I thought would be good for her to learn some instruction following, since its one of the main skills she will need next year at school. (She's nailed the social and personality side of it). Maybe for Christmas we will get her those boxes full of random blocks, to let her imagination run wild... Or maybe she will buy us something, hah. Willow's saved up the money for an Elsa from frozen dress, but of course, not a single store around here has one in stock.  Willows feeling quite flush and generous with her money, and is constantly offering it to m and myself when she hears us discussing Things We Can't Afford Yet, which makes me feel quite rotten. Because yes, on one hand, we cannot afford that stain blocking undercoat which is like $74 for 4L *this* week, because we've already spent like $200 on other stuff at the hardware store. We are enormously privileged to be able to buy a house in the first place, and so lucky to have money left over so we can do stuff- like buy blinds, and a heater for the bathroom, and a new showerhead, and food.
But still. Its really nice of Willow to repeatedly offer us her money- even if technically, we did give it to her.
It also makes me feel bad, because she's 4- like hey girl, don't feel like you have to help out and support your family financially just yet.

Fleeting time.

We went to Sydney over the school holidays with M's mother, niece and nephew. I gave everyone a choice- the Australian Museum, which had dinosaurs; The Maritime Museum, which had a submarine and battle ship you could explore; The Powerhouse Museum, which was full of educational hands on displays; or that expensive Sea Life place, which is pretty much like Sea world, and you've been there already kids, I don't see how it could compare to Sea world, plus it costs loads more... 

The Maritime Museum won. You can get cheap parking in the CBD if you book in advance, so we chose that option. 

Behold, a submarine and Destroyer. There was some construction work going on, and Willow and nephew were fascinated by that.

The ears suit her. 

I didn't get a whole lot of photos in the submarine, because it was dark and crowded. Willow actually seemed pretty indifferent to the HMAS Vampire and the submarine. I'm not sure how the Niece and Nephew felt about it. They were looking forward to it, but once they got there, they rapidly wandered through. I asked the Nephew at one point "Where do you think we are?" He looked blank and shrugged. I suggested he look around, and he still had no clue what part of the ship we might be in. I eventually pointed out that since we were surrounded by beds, we were probably in the sleeping quarters. If there was something interactive, they were more interested- like if there was a periscope to peer through, or a captain's chair to sit in. 

We later spilt up, with M and his family exploring the HMAS Endeavour replica, and Willow and I explored the SSS Sam Simon, one of the ships in the Sea Shepherd Fleet. Willow had a very strong reaction to the Sea Shepherd logo. She was anxious that it was a "bad" ship. I explained that it wasn't, and what they did. She wasn't convinced, and asked why a good ship would choose to fly such a bad flag. We chatted a bit more about that, and I mentioned they were like the Octonauts, who focussed on recusing and protecting about animals. 

"Oh mummy. They're not the the Octonauts. The Octonauts have a submarine, and this is a boat," Willow eye rolled. 

I really enjoyed seeing a modern working boat and hearing about the SSS Sam Simon, and Willow was obsessed with the video they showed us- she had so many questions about that. She liked the boat with teeth, and was fascinated by the girl telling the other boats to stop it. 

She did have pretty awesome hair. 

It's a bit hard to see, but Willow got picked to be the killer whale in this food web. She was very pleased to don the killer whale costume. 

How cool is this floor? It was at the art museum. It's... duct tape, with a clear varnish on top. It covered the entire floor of the hall.

I got the ferry from Circular Quay around to Darling Harbour. Have you noticed that the bridge ends before those tower things? I never really noticed, I assumed they were built into the towers. 

Twins.

Look, Willow has a twin!

Stuff.

So, I'm pretty Nazi-ish about "stuff" since a) we have a small house and b) we've always intended to leave small house anyway c) I have feels about about the enviromental and ethical side of stuff.

M and I packed away a lot of stuff a month ago- the stuff we don't really need anyway, a heap of books, a couple of ornaments, all our board games except scrabble and uno. Back when my parents visited us over Christmas I went through our room (which doubles as household storage) and culled a lot of stuff. So. Two things became really apparent to us- despite not buying a lot of stuff, we end up with loads anyway, and we could totally get on board with an extremely minimalist house post move. 

("Maybe," M suggested "We could just not unpack these boxes and leave them under the house?")

Like I said- we don't have a lot of stuff. But my collection of four pieces of retro glass fruit? Isn't that 4 pieces too many since exactly none of them are useful? Perhaps. But they are rather pretty...

Things get messy when its Willow's stuff. Like, on one hand- does she need as many dolls as she does? On top of all the stuffed toys? Then there are all her other toys- trucks, trains, doll houses, dress ups, train sets, wooden puzzles etc. Who gets served an eviction notice and who stays? Who decides? Should I, because I'm the adult and think long term about what she will still be playing with in a year's time? Or Willow, since its her stuff after all?

If it was up to me, I'd limit her to 5 stuffed toys/ dolls, her train set and 8 cars, her Tonka trucks, 20 books, a box of good quality toy animals and some lengths of fabric for dressing up. Plus her puzzles and educational games. With a few other items, I don't think this is a highly unreasonable limit to have on stuff. The problem is, naturally, when people want to add to it. What happens if someone gives her a poorly made stuffed toy- what then? Do we get rid of one of her better made stuffed toys? Do we return it to the giver and explain that sorry, we are not in the habit of accepting toys made by exploited workers that then fall apart after six weeks?

The obvious solution is- since we are moving, to not tell anyone our new address. Voila! Now no one can send us gifts! The downside to that plan is I do want friends at the end of the day...

I suppose there is no magical solution to this. That until Willow becomes a teenager *shudder* M and I will forever be de-cluttering and wrestling with our consciences...
Or quietly adding to a growing pile of boxes stored under our next home.

A few of my favorite things.

m rung while I was in the shower. Willow had an entire conversation with him I had no idea about until much later. "Mummy, I was a hero! Your phone was ringing and I answered it quickly!" Willow bubbled.

Last weekend amber slept over. The two girls were colouring, and amber was getting annoyed with Willow not putting lids on the textas.
"Just think what would M say if he were here?" Amber chided.
"I like M. I think he's the best person in the whole world," Willow replied.
"Yeah. I wish he was here to play with us," amber said as she went back to drawing.
The only game Amber and Willow play with m is "hit m." Last time it was with amber's plastic golf clubs. This time, as he lay on the couch working through a hang over, they settled for occasional whacks. I really should get Willow some golf clubs of her own.

Amber's mummy hasn't mowed the lawn for a while and Willow thinks its the best thing ever. Where everyone sees a backyard full of grass, clover and weeds, Willow skips around seeing poppies, and throwing herself down in the long clover, like she's in her very own musical. She thinks that overgrown lawn is magnificent. Amber is less impressed and warns here there could be snakes.

Treasures.

For some reason, Willow loves hiding her treasures under her pillow. Its such a traditional spot, isn't it? I don't know where she got it from.
Most of the times its just small little things, like a rock, a feather, fabric, or a small drawing. For a while she had quite the collection of coins under there, so M got her a money tin.

She also likes storing things inside her hat or helmet- not so much rocks for this, but bits of paper, receipts (she loves receipts) and feathers. Also sand. She loves using her hat as a sand bucket.

Today she came home with a streak of red texta on her face and said it The Devil Child (not his real name, obviously) had scratched her face. Last week she claimed he punched her in the throat. I say "claimed" because the way she said it, it was rather fishy- added on to her original story as an afterthought. But then- its the Devil Child after all, and dude I saw him fighting two other boys bigger than him and he wasn't losing. Willow also has a slight habit of embellishing her war wound stories, and like most 4 year olds, she loves attention- and wounds are a good way to go. Example: the other day she was rolling around on the floor, sobbing that her finger hurt, wailing, begging for pain relief... For a wound she had done the night before. Another example: she scraped her elbow. I shrugged and said she was fine. Willow then trotted off to her friend's parents to gain their sympathy. Two days later she comes home from pre school with a bandaid over it, so she must have been doing her dramatics there.

Last week she came home from preschool and casually mentioned that "Dean saved my life." On further questioning of her interesting statement, she explained that "everyone in the world" was in danger of breaking her news (one of those oil and water dripper timer things- she brought it in for her news day) and then the DevilChild SCRATCHED it with a stick (she showed me the scratch as evidence DUDE ITS HARD PLASTIC HOW ROUGH WAS HE BEING?) and then explained she got quite upset so Dean said "stop it! That's Willow's news!" and put it in a high place. Dean's parents are very proud of him, although Dean said he only told the other kids to stop it.

M tells willow that next time the DevilChild hits her, she should get something heavy and hit him over the head. Willow considered his advice very doubtfully. I pointed out he hasn't seen the DevilChild in action. Willow still mentions the time he threw wood chips in her eyes, and according to her, he's in the habit of throwing sand into her face. Her best friend Xander also said that the DevilChild threw a rock at him. Plus there's his habit of pushing and shoving other kids over. Some kids are best avoided.

We also met DevilChild 2.0 at the playground last weekend. He spent several hours beating up the other kids, punching, and climbing up the outside of the slide, while nana watched benignly on. She never seemed to notice that her son was picking fights with all the other kids. He was climbing up the outside of the slide when he slipped and fell from my head height onto the ground. I nearly wet myself, nana unconcernedly watched on, and he picked himself up and wandered off to repeatedly punch one of Willow's friends. Later, DevilChild 2.0 and his nana joined Willow and I at the craft table, and was all "isn't this lovely? We like it here. We might come back next week."
NOOOOOO.

Vikings.

So, whose been watching Vikings? I'm feeling rather empty after the finale of season three. (And what a finale!) I really like Vikings for the mix of factual and fiction (English factual, which is superior to American 'based on real events' factual) and because of the mix of women on the show- like in Game of Thrones, they are characters in their own right, not an accessory, a stereotype, a prize or a caricature. I honestly couldn't say who was my favourite female character- Lagertha is an obvious choice, but I also like Aslaug and Siggy. You never really know if Siggy is coming or going for three seasons- even at the end, I still find myself wondering what she really wants. She's not indecisive, but she sure plays those cards close to her chest. I've only seen Jessalyn Gressig in Glee, when she played Terri Schuster. The two couldn't be more different, except I really wouldn't want to married to either. I know its was easy to hate Terri, but like Siggy, its a pretty unique character. On one hand, Siggy is scheming constantly and wants her old position back... Which would involve Aslaug dying or something, but then she goes out of her way to save Aslaug when she has a difficult birth... 

So... If we look at history, we have no idea what will become of Siggy- there is no official role at Rollo's side, as he has a different path to follow. She's a dark horse, that's for sure.

Aslaug gets a lot of hatred as the other woman, but its history dude. Get over it. The real Ragnar ended up married thrice, so don't pack away the knives yet. Aslaug I like because she's comfortable with herself. She never resents Lagertha's popularity or continued presence in their lives, which would be easy for her to do. I also like that she gives Þorunn her freedom- she does that for Bjorn, so she's hardly the wicked stepmother. But can anyone explain to me why Þorrun felt she had to have a crack at beating up the man nicknamed Ironside? I still don't get it.

I've noticed something around the internet, and its to do with Þorunn's name. I've seen her name often spelt Porunn, which you kinda think is correct, since that symbol on her name looks like a P, and what the hell is it anyway?- my phone doesn't even have it, which makes writing this whole post a real pain. The correct spelling would actually be Thorunn, since Þ (called thorn or more correctly Þorn) equals th. It was used in old English and old Norse, but currently only survives in Iceland. Þ originates from a rune, which was pointier, and actually looks like a thorn... But I think it actually gets its name from Thor.

I think the reason Þ fell out of useage is because it looks too much like P. And... This is all random knowledge I have tucked away in my head, waiting for a tv show to touch on it. So there you go, the things you learn :P

M's favourite character is Floki. I'm team Rollo, because I wish I could fight like him :P I'm a bit over Alexander Ludwig as Bjorn, because I only ever seem to see Alexander Ludwig in roles where he's covered in blood/ dead (Vikings, The Hunger Games, Lone Wolf) and why are his eyes so close together? Why is his mouth always open? 

Another random musing- in 65BC the Sixth Legion were raised and were know as the Ironclad (Legio sexta Ferrata). They later ended up under Mark Anthony, and Octavian then raised another 6th Legion, and the two 6th Legions went into battle with each other... And that's when you know you have a civil war on your hands. Ironclad and Ironside are good names for warriors, aren't they? I half wonder if the Ironclad was inspired by Ironside? Bjorn Ironside certainly did make his mark further south...

Before Vikings ever went to air, I was really into Viking-the-book-series by Tim Severin, which is unrelated to the series... Well, they both cover Vikings. Like Vikings-The-TV-Series it is based off old Nordic sagas, and is a beautiful mix of imagination, myths, legends and history. It takes place about around 1BC to 80AD, from memory.

Vikings-The-Book is set a fair bit after Vikings-The-Show, so a historical event that future Bjorn will do is actually mentioned in Vikings-The-Book in passing. So, if you want to see the impact Ragnar and co had on the world in a way, read Vikings-the-book-series. In season three you can see the beginnings of this world happening in a way. Its not perfect history, but since the book and tv show are both based on what we know of history... They kinda work together.

I warn you though... Its impossible to read just one of the books out of the Vikings-The-Book-Series. I've owned them for years and I still have to read them all on one sitting. They are fantastic books.