Before it all fades away, I just wanted to capture these recent golden conversations I’ve had with four-year-old Nathan . [After dinner one evening…] Nathan : Thank you for cooking the porridge for our dinner. It’s so yummy. Mummy : You are welcome, Nathan. I’m glad you enjoy eating it. Nathan : Next time when I grow bigger, I will cook porridge for you, mummy. Mummy : Really? Wow! That would be wonderful. Nathan : Yes! We can cook it together. [Over the Christmas holidays, I often had my nose buried in my Christmas present from hubby. I also frequently had the movie’s soundtrack playing on my phone throughout the day….] Nathan : What book are you reading, mummy? Can I see? Mummy : It’s the Twilight series, Nathan. Nathan : Twilight? I know about that book! Mummy : You do? What is it about? Nathan : It’s about… (bursts into singing) I love you for a thoo00ouuusand years… Love you for a tho00oouuusand years* Mummy : (Blown away with laughter) (*I had never made any direct refere...

Sorry. It’s just been one of ‘ those ’ weeks. Also, I was got caught up with this year’s Academy Awards. If you didn’t catch it, you at least HAVE to watch the opening act by Neil Patrick Harris. [Full screen video posted here by ABC Television Network ] Image Source

The best thing about coming home from school: Afternoon tea! Valentines’ Day cookies Grace and I made for Nathan while he was at school. Washed down with cold milk outside in the yard with a couple of his favourite people in the world. ***** Valentines’ Day cookies made using my favourite gingerbread cookie recipe 25 ways to ask kids “ So how was school today? ” (I’ve been asking Nathan these three questions after school) Are you the default parent or the back-up parent? Tips on how to get rid of your anger from a seven year old. I would get a shirt with French cuffs just to be able to wear these cufflinks . The surprising faces behind 31 Disney Villains .

So we’ve just made it through our first two weeks of big school . Nathan has settled quite nicely and looks forward to each session of school (in Australia, Kindergarten classes run only 15 hours per week). He enjoys playing with the classroom toys and the playground, and he’s already made a new best friend. Everything was almost absolutely perfect except for one little transgression I made as a new schoolie parent last week. I was late. For pickup time. It was only seven minutes. But it was probably the longest seven minutes in Nathan’s life. Granted, my situation is not typical of most other schoolie mums. I am also managing a home-based family day care and juggling a routine with three other small children. Last Monday was Nathan’s first full day session to three o’clock. It was definitely a bit of an adjustment for everyone with the timing cutting so close into our usual nap time. And it so happened that Monday I had all my best sleepers in care that day. I had planned ever...

( Grace : circa 18-19 months) I’ve mentioned a couple of times about the little chomper in our household. After all this time, it’s evident that this little ‘quirk’ of our baby girl has not changed one bit…   I usually try to serve meals in ‘courses’. For several reasons. One is to make sure that a decent amount of vegies get consumed. And two is to avoid the situation depicted above from happening. Doesn’t always help though. The moment this girl catches sight of the next item on the menu, she will stuff everything on her plate into her mouth and hold out her hand for “Moooooh, pish!!!” . Somehow she manages to muffle the words out. The aftermath of each meal is not a pretty sight. After wiping down her hands, arms, clothes, face, ears, hair and every chubby nook and cranny imaginable, we might as well have plunged her straight into the tub for a bath. That’s our girl. A born foodie!

( Grace : circa 18-19 months) With all the big things that have been happening with Nathan lately, I think we should now switch the spotlight to our little Gracie… She’s turning out to be the sweetest, smiley-est, funniest little girl with a real quirky little character of her own. Here are a few fun facts about her… Her self-created nickname : CeCe / Xi-Xi (her version of ‘Gracie’) Favourite accessory : Handbags Favourite song : ‘Love is an open door’ (from ‘Frozen’) Favourite food : Pretty much anything and everything. Except eggs--not that she’s allergic to them or anything like that. She simply doesn’t like them. (Sigh. Yes. I know). Favourite superhero : Kor-Kor (her big brother ) Favourite comedian : Kor-Kor Favourite role model : Kor-Kor I started to compile a list of words she can say and I realised that the list is actually quite extensive. We are now at the stage of having fairly meaningful short conversations with her. So I thought I’d share some of the typic...

This morning we were having a sort of photo party snapping pictures of one of my ‘ adopted ’ boys who we will be saying farewell to soon when his family moves away (* sniff sniff *). I wanted to get a picture of me and him together, so I decided to ask Nathan being the oldest person in the house next to me to help take the picture. I handed him my precious Sony NEX-5N and instructed him how to hold it up and click the shutter to snap the picture. He ended up doing a pretty decent job. He became very trigger happy and began snapping away at other random objects nearby. So he was very reluctant to let go of the camera afterwards and he begged me to let him take just a few more pictures. Then I had a light bulb moment. I remembered my old Casio digital camera from ages ago before upgrading to my current Sony one. We had considered selling or giving it away. But everyone seems to own a digital camera these days or most people can live without one if they have a good camera on their pho...

And so Nathan’s very first day of kindergarten is over. It was a mixture of good, bad, sweet and sour. I think that so much happens throughout the day, it can be challenging for a little person to filter through it all. So inspired by this post , I decided I’d ask Nathan these three questions every day after school… What is something that made you smile today? “I had fun playing with the cooking toys in the classroom. And I liked looking at the picture of our family that you packed in my snack box.” What is something that made you cry today? “A boy poked my eye at the playground. That made me feel very angry and sad.” What is something that you learned today? “I learnt how to find my name on my drawer. And the teacher read a book to us about ‘Spot Goes to School’.” But the best part of the day for him was seeing us all waiting for him at home time and going home. Nathan summarises it best in his own words… "Sometimes I felt sad, Sometimes I felt lonely, and Sometimes I fel...