Oma is for grandma

This is the reaction I got from my GP (family doctor) when I went to see her a little while ago.

I went to see her to confirm a pregnancy … our third, I might need to add. I know that this isn’t a very child friendly society, that lots of people think one or two children is plenty (should you bother to have any at all) and I am aware that some people even think you don’t know how not to fall pregnant if you still have more children after your second. Strange that it has never occurred to these people that some people would choose to have more children, because they like “large” families (not that I would call 3 or 4 children an incredibly large family).

My doctor isn’t really that type of person, or at least I wouldn’t have thought her this type of person, so maybe her reaction was more to the spacing of our children. I suppose they’re rather close in age for today’s liking, but we like it this way. Our first daughter was nearly 20 months, when our second daughter was born and our second daughter will be 20 months when this next little person comes into the world. Nothing wrong with that to me!

So more for my own benefit than anybody else’s I wanted to record our reasons for having more children and having them “so close”. Don’t feel you have to keep reading, it might get a bit boring now.

• I grew up with one sibling only (I’ve got an older brother) and I thought that as a child this was pretty boring. If my brother didn’t want to play with me there was no-one else to play with.
• My brother and I fought a lot and while this might be normal for siblings I think that it can be intensified by the fact that there’s no other distraction. We were always sitting on top of each other like this old nagging couple, with the difference that we hadn’t even chosen each other in the first place. I guess I’ve got this little theory that in larger families you can find another playmate and come back to the other one when the black clouds have cleared instead of worsening the tension by being in each others face.
• Most people who grew up with more siblings really loved it. Kids love being with other kids and to them it’s like a permanent sleep-over. I have never heard any of them say “I wish I’d have less siblings”.
• Similarly, when speaking to parents I’ve never heard any of them say “I wish I’d have less children” whereas I have often heard that people wished they’d had more. Many people stop after two cause it just seems like a practical thing to do, it might have been the normal thing at the time and it certainly seems just too hard at the time (to come back for more while there’s two little people in the house already).
• I know that I’m quite clucky, I love kids. Yet I could see myself easily stopping after two because I do find looking after two little ones incredibly hard work. And I don’t think I’d have more once those two are a bit older. As much as I love this stage, I think once moved on from here I wouldn’t like to come back to it. And then in 10 years time I’d be the one saying “I wish I’d have more children”. I do not want to have to regret.
• Therefore, while we’re already right in the whole baby and toddler stage, we though it’d be best to stay there for a little longer and then all move on together. Sure, we’re preparing ourselves for a few mad years but after that we’ll have the long-term enjoyment of a nice-size family … Well that’s the theory anyway

Michael and I have just finished listening to “The Secret Garden”. We absolutely loved it. The story was so enchanting, it made me laugh out loud as well as cry. And the reading was extremely well done.

Actually I can only encourage you to go to Librivox and download the book for free (and totally legally). The lady who read the book, Kara Shallenberg, did such a good job that I even felt inspired possibly to start a weekly podcast, where I read a book … I’m reading a book for Librivox at the moment and I’m really enjoying reading out loud as well as the technical fiddling afterwards. What do you think?

Well anyway, I’m going off topic. We then wanted to watch the movie just to finish the whole thing off nicely and were really looking forward to it, since we’ve enjoyed the book so much. But we should have known better not to trust Hollywood to do justice to a book. I have to admit that it’d be a pretty tough task to condense a whole book into 102min and maybe they’ve done as well as is to be expected, but I was extremely disappointed. The film is missing the suspense of the book. Honestly, at its best it’s a poor summary of the book with even important bits changed and (I should have known it) a love story added into it. That was probably most off-putting. Why turn an innocent children’s book into some romance?

So any of you who don’t know the book yet: go read it. It is absolutely beautiful BUT do not watch the movie, it is a let-down.

One thing that I used to always enjoy during the weeks of Advent was my Advent calendar (or count-down calender as some people call it). I can remember, as a child excitedly rushing into the kitchen first thing in the morning to open the next door on my calendar and see what was behind (and we only ever had pictures, no chocolate, and still it was such an exciting thing that made Advent very special to me).

I still like the idea of an Advent calendar. It helps to look forward to Christmas and gives all of December a festive and special atmosphere.

This week I went to the post office to pick up a huge parcel and found the most amazing Advent calendar ever inside (thank you Amelie and Christian*). Now we’re having fun trying to fill it with little things like baking ingredients (ginger for our gingerbread nativity), concert tickets, dried fruit, a bit of chocolate, little craft things etc. We’re having fun and M is circling the thing dying to be able to open the first door.

*der Richtigkeit halber soll natürlich Herr und Frau Treyde an dieser Stelle besonders gedankt sein!! Vielen Dank an sie für ihre Großzügikeit.

Living in Australia has many advantages as I’ve come to realise and the Australians are all very proud of their nice long warm summers. Yet, the once thing that summer in Australia brings with it are bushfires. Many of them aren’t deliberately lit but start because of extremely dry conditions, great heat, strong winds and are often caused by lightning or broken glass lying in the bush.

I find this aspect of living in Australia incredibly scary and traumatising. I remember my very first summer in Australia, when we had only just moved into our house in the Blue Mountains and within a week or two huge bushfires started. The fire brigade came around and knocked on everybody’s door to tell us, that in case of a change in wind direction the fire would be here within two hours. We should get ready to evacuate or make a plan of how we were to protect our house should we decide to stay (and let the fire wall pass above us … shiver!) So Michael spent is Christmas Holidays raking up dry leaves and sticks from around the house. We filled all large available containers with water. Packed all our valuable belongings into the car and listened without interruption to the fire updates broadcast on the radio. I was in a trance and totally depressed.

This time we aren’t immediately affected as the fire is on the other side of the ridge, but nonetheless it’s only about 10km away from us and the fire brigade has advised all residents in our area to prepare their properties. So again we’ve got a big 200L drum full of water sitting in the garage all garden hoses are inside the house or garage (so they won’t melt in the fire but be available to rescue the house once the big fire wall has passed), we keep hearing water bombing helicopters continuously flying over the house and again I’m checking the fire updates a few times a day.

But I do have to say I’m coping a lot better this time. I think I’ve come to the realisation that all my earthly treasures aren’t worth worrying over so much. We’ve done what we can and we’re insured and the only thing I’d probably really fret over is our little “library” … hahahaha!

What does a two-year-old do in the kitchen with a raincoat on, on top of a chair in front of the sink?

Easy … her daily Maths lesson!!

While I do the dishes M occupies the sink next to me (and there I was wondering what huge double sinks were good for) and pours water from one cup into the next into the jug into a pot back into the jug and counts how many of what fit into what. She and the floor, and I too sometimes, get thoroughly wet but she’s having fun and is learning too.

I remember reading in one of my baby/toddler books that it’s imortant for a child’s early mathematical thinking to be doing this sort of thing (pouring that is … but flooding the kitchen is probably part of the deal) and I can see why that is true. While it might just look like she’s playing, having fun and making a huge mess, she’s learning about size, volume, qualities of liquids and probably a lot more and I get my dishes done. How easy is that!