Camping at Caloundra

This last weekend was exhausting - but fun. Caitlin had a Jobs Daughters camp up at Caloundra, so we all went along. There were about 40 of us, 22 girls aged between 3 (Mim) and 20, as well as 18 or so adults. We all crammed into the Bulcock Beach Life Saving Club - the girls all slept on mattresses in the "training room" and the adults bunked down wherever possible. And nobody got sunburnt!

The girls did activities like beach volleyball, learnt to paddle on the surf-skis, rode in the rescue boats, paddled over to Bribie Island and swam lots. Mim loved it because her beloved Keziah was there, and she got to slept with all the big kids.


(taking a break from paddling)

(Sam and Caitlin 'skiing')

Saturday was a beautiful day, up until late afternoon when the clouds blew over and it started raining. So the "beach BBQ" for dinner was shelved and everybody ate inside (it took two sittings to get everybody fed). There was a beautiful sunset though.



Sunday morning was windy - and very cold! There was no way I was going into the water, nor Mim. Mim was tired enough that she feel asleep on one of the beds (after a bit of back tickling by Tamika). I wandered up to the Bulcock St Markets for a quick look and then took Mim on to the beach to build sand castles.

(The proud owner of a sandfort, complete with moat)

(the windsurfers had a ball on Sunday)

All in all, it was a lovely weekend - and both girls fell asleep on the trip home. It was wonderful to go to sleep in my own bed though.

Friends forever?

One day, not long ago, I babysat Charli and Mackenzie for Carla for a few hours. Mim was over the moon at the thought, but then turned into bossy bertha the minute Charli arrived.
"Charli, be careful of my dolls"
"Charli, don't touch that, it might break"
"Charli, come into my room"
"Charli, you want someting to eat?"
"Charli, come wif me."

But they seemed to have enjoyed themselves.

How to Make a Caramel Banana Cake

We had some bananas to use up, and needed an activity to keep small people occupied, so we decided to make some cakes to freeze for the school fete in October.

First step was to wash our hands "Why we washing our hands mummy?" "Why is the soap way up there mummy?"

Next was to clear out the kitchen and make some bench space. Mim pulled up her chair on the outside of the kitchen as instructed.

Step 1. Ask child to remove skins off three bananas and place in bowl.

Step 2. Take 125g of butter and 3/4 cup brown sugar and 'cream them'.

Step 3. Turn back to child, get another banana from fridge to replace the half eaten one and peel all bananas by oneself.

Step 4. Get child to break two eggs into mixture, one at a time, ensuring that you beat well between eggs. Encourage child not to lick the raw egg white from her fingers.

Step 5. Spend 5 minutes removing eggshell from mixture. Give child beaters to lick to keep her amused. (Remember to remove beaters from machine before doing this!)

Step 6. Get child to sift 1 & 1/2 cups of self raising flour and 1 teaspoon of bicarb soda into a bowl.

Step 7. Mop up flour from bench and floor, remeasure approximately 1/2cup and sift it into bowl.

Step 8. Mix 3/4 cup sour cream with 1 tablespoon of milk.

Step 9. Put mashed banana in with egg mixture and ask child to stir through.


Step 10. Put half of flour mix and half of sour cream mix into egg mix and ask child to stir carefully.



Step 11. Lunge at bowl before it is 'stirred' off the bench.

Step 12. Take over the stirring. Mix in remaining ingredients.

Step 13. Spoon into loaf tins lined with baking paper. Remove spoon from child that is trying to flick the mixture into the tin, clean up mixture from opposite cupboards.


Step 14. Place in oven and let child lick every implement and bowl used.



After the cakes were cooked, I turned them on to a wire rack and told Mim not to touch, that they had to cool properly. She went off to watch something on "her" channel (Nick Jnr and Playhouse Disney).

An hour later I was downstairs when the mower man rang to organise a time to deforest our back yard. During the conversation, I heard Mim call out "they are cool now Mummy". Stupid Mummy did not immediately race upstairs to prevent the inevitable.

Mim had pulled the chair into the kitchen, grabbed a steak knife from the knife block and slashed herself a large chunk from the end and put it on a plate for her afternoon tea. So, that's one less cake for the school fete!

Happy Birthday Mum

It was Mum's birthday on Tuesday (11th Sept) so we celebrated with a home cooked meal.

Mim was having a good time until the poo incident, after which she continued to lament the fact that a nappy had been put on her.

Dinner was followed by a donation from the Cheesecake Shop. Mim quickly changed her tune from "I don't like cheesecake" to "I like chocolate cheesecake".

Then Mum got to open her presents, sorry, Mum got to watch while Mim opened her presents! Dad got her an X-rated toaster (why X-rated you ask? Because it clearly advertises that fact that it has deepest slots!). She also got a picture from Margaret and a gift voucher for a beauty spa from us. Only small things I know, but she did get a surprise trip to Melbourne for her birthday last year.


(pre children days)

The Toilet Training Blues (and Browns)

Mim has been doing well with her toilet training, until recently. Of late, she's decided that she'd rather run into a spare room and wet her pants, rather than sit on the toilet.

And as for getting her to defaecate on the toilet - well, that hasn't happened yet. She's getting rather sneaky about it though.

One night (while I was preparing dinner for guests), she chose to sneak of to her room. We caught her wandering across that hallway with just a shirt and shoes on - no pants! I sent Michael in to investigate. His response "You'd better come nad look at this - it's all yours to deal with". We discovered Mim's skidmarked undies on the floor of the toilet, sitting next to a cricketball sized lump of .... ( I have nothing but praise for her sphincter!)

She'd done her deed in the bedroom and then taken the undies off and tried to dispose of the evidence, however had missed the toilet bowl. She'd then returned to the bedroom and was trying to wipe her backside with her wipes!

As punishment, she was given some toilet paper and told to pick it up and put it in the toilet bowl. After that was dealt with, she was placed in a cloth nappy. "Nooooo, I not a baby! I not wear nappies! I wear undies! Waaaaaaaaaa!"

I'd like to be able to implement a sticker system for every time she uses the toilet correctly, but knowing this child, she'll find the secret location of the stickers and plaster the house in them!

Defiance ... or Death Wish

Those who know Mim well know that she does not like to sleep. Heaven forbid that she should actually miss out on something!

Last week (Monday night) I put her down to bed just after 8pm. She ranted and raved and talked about hating the spookies under the bed (thanks Caitlin!) and generally created a big furore. Michael escaped this by heading downstairs to the computer leaving me to deal with the overwrought child. I spent 10 minutes telling her that spookies don't exist (didn't work), so I finally told her that the spookies only lived in the Artic because they only ate ice. I thought this was a master stroke - could you get anywhere further away from Australia?!

But no, the lip started trembling and then "But I like ice skating! Waaaaaaaaa". This was one battle that I was not destined to win.

Between 8.30-9.30pm, Mim kept crying in her room, or coming to the door or into the hallway crying out "I can't sleep alone!", " I scared of the spookies!", "I want my Daddy!", "I want to sleep in MummyDaddy bed!"

By 9.30, I was sick of it. "Go to BED, Jemima!" I called from the lounge room.

She stood in the hallway and yelled "NO WAY!"

Well, I was down the hallway quick as a flash, but she was even quicker ... jumping into bed with an expression that said "Oh, shit, I think I went too far on that one". She got a quick smack on the derriere and a "go to sleep now!" through gritted teeth. She waited 'til I'd left the room before wailing, but was asleep within 5 minutes. As I walked back to the lounge, Michael was at the bottom of the stairs grinning.