Baby Cakes - We have a Winner!

In a hurry at the library, with the Sprocket leaping from the furniture and tantrums imminent, I grabbed books at random from the board books table and struck a winner. 
Baby Cakes by Karma Wilson is a book that both the Sprocket and the Poppet adore and listen to with grins, giggles and, in the case of the Poppet, appreciative squeals.
Of the board books I've read to the wee ones (quite a few!) this one is in the running for the coveted number one position. It's interactive, it rhymes, it's sweet and number one criteria - the kids love it and I love reading it to them!
Like a nursery rhyme, (I think it might have been based on Pat-a-Cakes)  every page has an action - kissing noses, nibbling toes, tickling  and the words are easy to remember and use as a rhyme even without the book. 
I didn't go 'oooo' at the illustrations but they're sweet and well matched to the words (different children with their teddy bears.)
Love love love this book for curling up in bed and having two arms full of happy, giggling kidlets. 
Verdict? Most definitely a keeper and I can foresee that we will go through many copies - and that's even after the Poppet stops trying to eat everything! 
Nostalgia factor? Yep, I'll never be able to see this book without remembering my little ones as they are now. Sigh. 

Cancel January

I've had a while to think this over. 
All of January in fact. 
And I came to the firm conclusion, that basically, January is a BAD month, and should be cancelled, if not promptly, at least before next January looms menacingly around. 
Surely I'm not the only one who has had doubts as to the usefulness of January. 
It's like the Monday of the months. It's like a Monday with a really, really bad hangover, except instead of knowing it'll get better within 24 hours you know that you have a whole 31 days until you arrive (thankfully) in February and can start picking up the pieces. 
Of course those people with their Birthdays in January should be free to pick a different (obviously better month) June or July would be my pick, but basically, any month that is not January.
I know there might be a few sentimental attachments to January but think about it, wouldn't a birthday in the bliss of mellow fruitfulness (autumn) or delicately scented spring, be so much more enjoyable?
The more cluey among you might have picked up that I did not enjoy January this year. 
There are many months of the year that find me with a spring in my step and a delight in the natural world. January is not one of them. It has never been one of them, and this year was no exception.
I suspect that moving house (and state) with a rambunctious toddler and a baby is rarely the stuff that gets you popping the champagne and exclaiming on the wonder of the world. Add that the house is a 'renovater' and needed to be re-floored and re-painted and generally cleaned out with a few gallons on sugar water and disinfectant, and the garden resembles a jungle and is littered with asbestos (okay, I'm exaggerating a leeetle, it has a few small pieces scattered about one area, but that does mean the kids can't play there until we get all the hazard stuff to clear it out) and you have someone not exactly spreading lightness and joy. In fact, in my humble opinion child-birth is less painful than renovating avec little terrors,  and I'm talking about without the drugs. 
And I am talking as someone only very minorly effected by the floods, fires and hurricanes that have beset others this January. (My husband nearly drove through Towoomba on the night the 'inland tsunami' swept through, and rising waters chased my in-laws with a trailer load of our trucks, teddies and sundry other assorted goods.) I'm thinking there are other people who dislike January far more than me. 
So, who's with me. 
Let's cancel January, step smoothly from December (fun fun fun Christmas stuff) into February, relaxed and civilised. 
.....
Hey, I can compromise! 
I'm willing to just cancel it in the southern hemisphere! 
Northern Hemisphere Januaries are fine! (Okay, I've only experienced one, but it was brilliant!) Snow, sleet, invigorating chill! Cosy indoor fires. Bliss. 
Now if you can just tell me who to approach I will submit my request and hopefully, hopefully next year we will have a much better start to the year.


Please note. I do not think I will ever be nostalgic about this January. 
But I could be wrong. 

Christmas

Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes

The Poppet's feet are amazingly entertaining. 
She curls up her toes and then points them. 
She touches one foot with the other and then looks at them in astonishment. 
She stretches her feet out so that they go in all different directions, and then she curls them in again. 
She brings her feet together so that just her toes touch and then she brings them part again. She curls her toes up, and then uncurls just one set of toes. 
She flexes her feet at right angles and then relaxes them. The toes on one foot are often doing something entirely different than the toes on her other foot.
She finds them fascinating. 
I find them adorable. 
They are small and perfect, a pale almost translucent pink and soft as petals. They are slightly chubby with tiny wrinkles and tiny nails. There is often a large gap between her big toe and all her other toes. 
Thoughtfully, she holds one foot and twists it in and then out. 
Consideringly, she rubs the sole of one foot against the bridge of the other. 
Baby's feet are enchanting. 
Which is one of the many reasons why Mem Fox's book for children Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes' is such a hit. 
This was one of the first books my son ever loved - a gift from friends from the Solomon's who came to stay with us in Vanuatu and brought amazing gifts - including my little boy's favourite books - Baby Boo... and Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes. Brilliant Strike Rate. And they were Board Books. We've already replaced Baby Boo twice. Now it's Ten Little Finger's Time to be replaced with a glossy new copy. 
It's been well loved. 

Siblings Sleeping

My children are sleeping side by side on my bed.


They fell asleep with their legs entangled and while they have now disentangled, the Sprocket has reached over in sleep to gently rest one hand on the Poppet's face.

There is nothing that I can think of that has made me as happy as watching the deep-sleep breathing of my children as they sleep, side by side, turned in towards each other with the Sprocket gently touching his little sister's cheek.

I suspect that in the future there will be times when they do not get on so well as they do now, when the Sprocket is just past two and the Poppet is four and a half months.

Even now the Sprocket is less than impressed with the Poppet's habit of pulling his hair (it's a tactile thing, she means no harm). An the Poppet is a little apprehensive when the Sprocket is less than careful in his exuberant leaping.  More than once I have had to restrain him from jumping on the Poppet. It is carelessness, not maliciousness.

But on the whole, my Poppet thinks that her big brother is the most entertaining and wonderful thing in the world (after the milk) and her face lights up when she sees him and she giggles and grins and smiles and sings and if she could, I am sure she would turn cartwheels. The Sprocket thinks this is fairly cool, and smiles shyly in return and will, on request give her kisses. If she is in her cot crying he will look at her with worry and lead me to her. If they are nursing together he will give her arm little pats.

In years to come when they squabble and argue, kick, punch and back-stab each other, I hope I will remember this evening.

There was a massive Queensland storm today with sheets of thunder and lightning and the sky turning green. The temperature suddenly dropped from ridiculously hot and muggy to pleasant. The world outside our window is now drenched. Cicadas are singing and frogs are croaking and my babies lie sleeping side-by-side in golden light.