Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win

Sweeney's fresh back from two weeks in Christchurch with his Nana. Sounds to me like they had a fabulous time - reading books, watching Fantasia a bunch of times, gardening, going for outings, chatting, eating delicious food, and on and on and on ...

Meanwhile, I was here in Wellington, indulging in time to myself, which usually took the form of looking at things in shops on the way home from work, or hanging out with terrific people I don't see much. Or on one day, going back to bed with a great book, a pot of coffee and a pile of marmalade on toast. That was an ace day, to be sure.

Even the fact that Sweeney's picked up chicken pox hasn't spoiled the vibe. He's on the home strait now, the spots are fading. And to be fair, he hasn't seemed that bothered by it, apart from a tiny bit of head scratching. But he's hanging at home for the rest of the week, even though I expect full-scale cabin fever any minute now.

And with his spots, he reckons he's "just like a cheetah, Mum".

He certainly can run fast, and for ages, these days.

In other news, what about that rugby, eh?? What about those enormous men swigging beer from that teensy tiny cup??  Always makes me laugh.

And I won $15 in the sweepstake at work, for Australia coming in third.

C is for Cookie

Sweeney's packed in a swag of preschool-grade goofing off into his last weekend as a four-year-old:

• ran and jumped and clambered with Bela;
• played something noisy and shouty and very, very active with Aariz;
• went to a climbing wall with Joe and Kimberley;
• helped me make sourdough, and fish and leek pie;
• took about three years to tidy his room. By which I mean, empty most of what was in his room into the hallway;
• watched Sesame Street and loved it;
• having watched Sesame Street, understood who Cookie Monster is and went nutty over a Cookie Monster storybook he's previously scorned;
• insisted on having his Cookie Monster stories read to him over and over and over;
• watched Ahhh!! Real Monsters and Angry Beavers, and clearly found them a big, fat yawn;
• ate roti and butter chicken at Aariz's house, kind of sort of almost in the manner that Aariz and his family eat it; and
• chatted, sang, danced, played the piano for a bit, made stuff up, did some drawing, co-operated, refused to co-operate, fed the cat, built things, hung up the towels.

You know, the usual ...

Taking the Rest of the Day Off

Sweeney and I cut school and work today - a mixture of horrendous cough-sounds, torrential rain, freaky coldness and the delightful prospect of a day spent just cruising at home all combined to make that decision this morning.

• We made biscuits. They were delicious;
• We discussed what each half of an oval is called when you cut an oval in half;
• Sweeney learnt a tough lesson about what happens when you play with the pliers, even after you've been told to leave them alone, and you trap a bit of your palm in them when you close them;
• I made some pita bread for our lunch, and Kitchen's pork noodle soup for our dinner;

• We watched G Force. I learnt a tough lesson about pre-judging films about guinea pigs saving the world;
• Sweeney played with his new favourite Hot Wheel for what seemed like hours. I bought it for him last night to celebrate his fabulous helpfulness and co-operativeness of the last few days;
• We discussed Batman's awesome powers vs Superman's awesome powers. It all leads me to think that Sweeney really doesn't know anything about Superman's awesome powers and I must remedy that immediately;
• I safety pinned a tea towel around his neck, and he ran the length of the house and back several times shouting "Batman!!";
• We read the next chapter of Winnie the Pooh - the one about the Woozle. We've been reading a chapter a night this week;
• I read some of my book and watched an episode of Marple while Sweeney stared out the window at the rain. He insisted he wasn't sleepy, despite lying on the sunroom couch under a blanket without moving for ninety minutes;
• We discussed how handy your fingers come in when you want to add four and five; and
• KimberleyJoeHarper came for dinner. We ate pork noodle soup. It was pretty tasty.

Best day off ever.

Monster

Things I didn't know this time last week:

• Sweeney likes coleslaw;


• I can feel more tired than I did at the end of last year;


• Sweeney is mysteriously familiar with KFC and its range of products;


• You should lightly oil the pan that you're baking your pie in;


• Eta lite mayonnaise is actually rather acceptable.

Okay, it's not much of a list. It's been a slow week. Or maybe I've forgotten a bunch of stuff I picked up on along the way.

I've identified the main culprits of food that just sits forever in the kitchen and goes nowhere until rubbish day. The ones at the top of the list right now are the jar of wholegrain oats that were deemed unpalatable as porridge, and the last four bananas. Every week, it's four bananas that defy No Food Left Behind. I caught on that you can freeze them, and I do that, but I'm old school enough that it still gives me the greatest pleasure to use them straight from the bowl on the bench.

Yesterday, the planets aligned and I turned out a batch of banana-oat biscuits. The name says it all, really. I chopped up some almonds and threw them in with some raisins and they turned out okay. The recipe calls for 2tsp of sugar, but I didn't put any in. I reckon next time I make them, which will be tonight, I'll put in more banana. We've got some gosh-darned ripe ones here that could do with being converted into something more appetising.

In other news, I picked this up for Sweeney for Christmas. Mo Willems is just lovely. Sweeney's got some others of his, and Harper has, too. The ideas in Leonardo the Terrible Monster are really quite big and hard for little, little kids, but Sweeney's getting the hang of more difficult/complex feelings and behaviours now. That sounds deep, doesn't it, but what I mean is that there are decisions to be made about how you act towards people, you can choose to be at odds with the world, or you can enjoy being in amongst it.

You can be mean or you can be kind. You can be grumpy or you can be chirpy.

At least, that's how I read it.

New Year's Day

Sweeney and I capped off 2010 with a wee campout with some great friends. It was Sweeney's first time in an actual sleeping-over-in-the-outdoors tent, and it was his first chance to use his Hot Wheels sleeping bag in anger. It worked perfectly.
Camping for short periods is a good opportunity to clear out a few leftovers from the fridge. In this case, we took some things I've been knocking up from Nigella's new book, Kitchen, since I scored it for Christmas. Refried Toad in the Hole, and Ham and Broad Bean Salad. Half a bowl of red jelly for afters, for him. Many bottles of wine and a fresh new bag of coffee, for afters, for me.

The place where we stayed was lovely, clear and flat, close to a stream and lots of beautiful native forest. Kereru thundered overhead from time to time. I stood under a tree and watched a pair of piwakawaka this morning, gadding about being all kissy-sounding and birdy. The children were not interested. Absorbed in playing with some sticks, it turned out.

We only stayed for one night. I've got stuff to do before I go back to work on Wednesday, and in case, Sweeney was starting to get all weird and sleep-deprived at about 2pm today. He was asleep about 0.04 seconds after I started the car and pointed it towards home.

I read lots of Master and Commander today, sitting in the sun, drinking coffee. That book has been driving me nuts - want to read it, but can't get into it. Today, I got into it. After I finish this, I'm plodding upstairs to read more of it. Apart from anything else, I've learnt that there is such a thing as a Spanker sail. It's the one right at the back.

Anyhoo, here's a pic of three lovely little people who all had a (mostly) ace time together, enoying 21st century technology in amongst some of the loveliest nature around. More of that, I say ....

... and Happy New Year, everyone!!