Oma is for grandma

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!

As you might have noticed I changed the image of my previous post.

I really liked the picture that was there before, cause it was a perfect example of some clothing I found absolutely inappropriate for a toddler. However, my dear husband has alerted me to the fact that I was breaching copyright by using their image and than bagging out their clothes.

So here’s a new image of an absolute adorable little pair of overalls that I bought myself a sewing pattern for. This is what I call “toddler-clothing” … the little girl actually looks like a child and not a miniature teenager including attitude and all.

Those of you who know me, will probably wonder and shake your heads about a fashion statement coming from someone like me. To say the least, I’m not fashion conscious at all. So what would I, who doesn’t understand a bit about modern clothing, have to say about fashion.

Recently I was confronted with the grim reality of having to start making decisions about what my daughter (my eldest daugher, M, that is, as E gets all her hand-me-downs) is to wear. Until now we’ve been awfully blessed with tones of hand-me-downs for her. And while they weren’t always the clothes I would have chosen, they were perfectly functioning and free clothes. But unfortunately she must have caught up in size to the little girl the clothes used to come from. Now it’s up to me to decide what my daughter is to wear.

So I set off to go shopping for my 2.5 year old only to find that the style of clothes available is more “2 going on 16″. I was walking through the aisles of the shops and just didn’t know what to buy with a permanent question pounding in my head: why can’t a two-year-old be dressed like a two-year-old??? Why do we have to dress them up like teenagers. I have to admit that the clothes were rather cute but why turn children into miniature grown-ups?

All I wanted were some basic clothes that would dress my daughter decently. Yet, even plain t-shirts were turned into some statement, that I personally find totally inappropriate, with slogans on them like “charming”, “baby doll” or “ocean angle”. Why put labels on our children and give them teenage attitudes when they’re just little kids who want to play? I seriously think that the way children are dressed changes the way that we treat them or think about them.

When we got given a beautiful toddler-style pair of overalls recently (with a big bottom and lots of room to move in) I realised how little she actually still is and that I often forget about that because the clothes make her look a lot older.

Therefore when shopping, I bought one style shirt in two different colours and then in protest went to the boys section and bought a “Thomas the tank engine”-overall and t-shirt set (M was very excited about that one). And then I decided that I might just have to start making her clothes.

Sewing mashine here I come!

Michael and I had our 5th Wedding Anniversary this week (I’m hoping to get a chance to scan some pictures of the big day and I might be able to include one some time soon).

5 years might not sound like a lot but I think we’ve had an amazing 5 years. We’ve bought a house, did all the usual job and studying thing and had two gorgeous and amazing little girls together and I’m looking forward to many many more (years that is but, hey, could be kids as well with a husband like you).