So my son will be five in a few months. His preschool gave him a box with a toy sheep, a toy cow, a toy bear, a toy zebra, and a rock. This is the story he wrote. He is a genius. That is all. Here is a picture of him trying to help theContinue reading “Blatant mum pride post”
Category Archives: Mum Stuff
Christmas: Stress
NB: The Mary Sue pop culture site wrote a far better article on Christmas stress. Go read it here. I live in fear of Christmas from about October onwards. (I also start buying presents for my kids at that stage, which I like doing—so there’s that.) It’s particularly tricky for those who are at theContinue reading “Christmas: Stress”
Christmas: Gifts
Last Christmas was tricky. Louisette (then aged nearly-6) well and truly understood Christmas, and she knew exactly what she wanted. . . and was loudly disappointed when a gift didn’t live up to her expectations. She’s a sweet girl really, and we’ve had a lot of conversations since then about how to react when youContinue reading “Christmas: Gifts”
Christmas: Jesus, Gifts, and Stress
So Christmas is about three things for me. (Cunning readers may guess what they are based on the title.) This is the beginning of a three-part blog series on Christmas (aka holiday therapy for yours truly). Fairly obviously for a Christian, Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus aka the God I follow. Yes, I’m awareContinue reading “Christmas: Jesus, Gifts, and Stress”
The familarrr
Edit: For those of you who keep telling me you wish you could make it to one of my Interactive Fiction workshops (I generally run one at Conflux every October long weekend), here’s a video course I made on udemy: Introduction to Interactive Fiction. It’s $20. This was, of course, taken at the PirateContinue reading “The familarrr”
My new belly button
It’s been about ten weeks since my stomach operation, and although I’m not fully healed I was just given the go-ahead to swim (my favourite and most effective exercise) yesterday so I’m pretty much in the clear. Some thoughts: It really really hurt a lot. There were times when I wasn’t sure it was worthContinue reading “My new belly button”
Christmas Letter
Each year I make a calendar (using Vistaprint) for the following year, in which the photos roughly correlate with the same months of the previous year. I sure hope that sentence makes sense. For example, this was taken in March, during which Canberra hosts a massive international hot air balloon festival every year. So,Continue reading “Christmas Letter”
Parenting Review
This blog post came up in my facebook feed today, and I vaguely remembered it so I went back and had a read. It was written three years ago, when TJ was a tiny baby. It starts out, “I like to think about what I’m doing as a parent, and of course talk about it,Continue reading “Parenting Review”
Gift Guide for Ages 3-6ish
I loooove buying presents for my kids. As in, I’ll cheerfully buy presents in June (like budget experts tell you to), and then continue buying presents for the entire rest of the year (which budget experts do not recommend). Having said that, we don’t do stocking presents in our house, and likely never will. IContinue reading “Gift Guide for Ages 3-6ish”
Like Mother, Like Daughter
One of the gifts my parents gave me was the belief that writing is not a job, but a hobby. I didn’t write full-time until I was unable to do any other work (and I’m still not making minimum wage, even though I’m well above the average Australian full-time writer’s income of $12,000/year) I amContinue reading “Like Mother, Like Daughter”
The best weekend ever
I had a reasonably productive day yesterday. But our cat, Ana, is having the best weekend since my kids were born. The small annoying creatures are gone! Forever! (Presumably.) Louisette, age five, is a dog person. TJ, age three, is a cat person, like his mum (which makes me very happy). He’s at an obsessiveContinue reading “The best weekend ever”
48 hours
A few minutes ago, Chris and the kids drove away. They’re going to Sydney to stay in a house by a beach with relatives. I’m not going to see any of them for about two days. The idea of sending them off without me has the ring of genius about it. Today is the lastContinue reading “48 hours”
Books, Food, and the Dangers of Combining the Two
I’ve hurt my back (again) so for the last two days I haven’t been able to do much. I wasn’t even sure I was okay to drive, so yesterday my partner Chris worked from home, and today my father-in-law brought the kids home after school. Today was a whole lot better than yesterday, pain-wise, andContinue reading “Books, Food, and the Dangers of Combining the Two”
Storytelling by Mr 2
TJ is almost 3; older now than Louisette was when he was born. A couple of days ago he said, “I tell stories to you.” “Oh good,” I said. “I’m listening.” “This story called: Little-Big!” he said. “I biiiiiiiiiig dinosaur, and Mummy little dinosaur.” “Oh!” I said. “I like this story. What happens next?” “IContinue reading “Storytelling by Mr 2”
One-Quarter
As I was sitting in a doctor’s waiting room today, I realised something. My job as a parent is to love my kids and help them grow up to be vaguely functional, content, and decent adults (to the extent that is possible). John Scalzi recently wrote a lovely post on his daughter’s 18th, opening with:Continue reading “One-Quarter”
BFFs torn asunder
I had a minor medical procedure today which I had to fast for (what, including chocolate??? Noooooooo!) and it was also Louisette’s last day of holidays before Kindy, which included a special appointment to meet her teacher and look at her new classroom (all very lovely). I really like the school, the teacher, etc etc andContinue reading “BFFs torn asunder”
Two-fifths of TJ
Sick of excessive scrolling through literally hundreds of pics, I’m gathering some of TJ’s baby pics here. It’s two-fifths of TJ because they’re only from his first year, and he’s now two and a half.
The artist formerly known as Miss Four
Last Sunday, Louisette turned five. She’s about to start Kindy. Today was her party. Five years. She’s grown all the way from a giddying hypothetical notion to a wrinkly spew machine to a distinct person: smart, focused, creative, affectionate, gentle, passionate, and gorgeous. I took a photo a day for the first year of eachContinue reading “The artist formerly known as Miss Four”
Parental Fears and Failings and Fab bits
I like to think about what I’m doing as a parent, and of course talk about it, because that helps me to understand what matters to me and what I can just let slide. Some things I know I’m doing really well – Louisette’s diet is amazingly healthy a lot of the time (I can literallyContinue reading “Parental Fears and Failings and Fab bits”
The Four Scariest Picture Books
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but these are freaking scary. #4 “My Animals” by Xavier Denaux Looks nice, doesn’t it? The entire book is pictures of animals, done mainly in black and white (with a feature colour here or there) and clever little holes through the pages where the eye of oneContinue reading “The Four Scariest Picture Books”