Quack. Quack. Quack.

My late 70s/80s childhood meant that not only did I grow up listening to The Doors, but Bob Marley was another staple in my parents' vinyl collection. Consequently, tunes with a catchy reggae sound will have me bopping - often without realising it. 

There aren't many kids shows around that don't do my head in, but one that we're fond of in this home is Yo Gabba Gabba. It's not to everyone's taste though, I understand. There is one song in particular that always brings a smile to my face... and, having been no stranger to the wacky baccy (back in the day), I can't help but giggle at the thought of the brainstorming session behind this little gem of a music clip: 

She sells sea shells

About seven years ago, my parents moved to a beautiful seaside town, three hours south of Sydney. It's the same town where I spent many a childhood holiday, so it's always been familiar. A retreat. It's also where my own mother came for family holidays as a child.

The Faery was ten weeks old the first time she was brought there and we made sure to take her there whenever our work schedules allowed it. Miss Pie was also ten weeks old the first time she visited - it's where we spent our last few days before moving to Los Angeles.

Jervis Bay is renowned for its clean, white sand and turquoise water. It's not unusual to spot pods of dolphins out for a swim, and whale watching tours do a mean business during migration. Depending on the beach, it's possible to collect hundreds of beautifully intact seashells in one outing - no exaggeration. The water is pretty cold, but the waves are gentle and rock pools abound - perfect for small kids.

Even though our August trip meant it was winter, most mornings in the bay were warm and full of sunshine. The girls had the time of their lives, and there was something humbling about watching them explore the exact same rock pools that I had as a child, and jumping the small incoming waves.

Three generations, enjoying the same beaches. I wonder if the girls will seek out these beaches in decades to come?



PS - All of the above photos were taken with my iPhone. Most have had the Instagram treatment... except for a couple. I'm especially proud of the third photo from the top, which is unedited (apart from my watermark). It's one for the wall, right? My other favourite is the second last shot.

Faery chatter

When did she grow into such a little lady?

Blissing out on ice cream.

We've had some wonderful chats recently.

Walking home from school the other day (like most kids, the Faery has been asking for a puppy since, well, forever):

"Mum, why do people let their dogs poo on the street, and not clean it?"

"Well, I think it's because they're lazy."

"Dog poo is gross."

"Yep, sure is. But that's part of having a dog. When you have a dog, it has to be walked, and its poo has to be cleaned up. It's like with babies - they do lots of poos, and even though it's gross, it still has to be cleaned up. It wouldn't be right to just leave it. The same with dogs - it's the right thing to pick up their poo, even if it's really disgusting and we don't like doing it. If someone doesn't want to do that, then they're not really ready for the responsibility of having a dog."

"Well then" - her eyes widening for emphasis - "I am definitely not ready to have a dog yet!"

"Neither am I. Or Dad. Miss Pie isn't toilet-trained yet, so we already have lots of poo to clean up every day. And there's also Emily's cat litter. We feel we have enough poo in our lives at the moment."

"Wow, that sure is a lot of poo!"

Her mature acceptance that now isn't the best time to get a dog left me gobsmacked. The days where I think I'm too hard on her, and expect too much from her - she's not even six yet - are often flipped over by the moments when I realise I don't give her enough credit for what she's capable of understanding. 

Also, I love that we can have entire conversations about poo. She may be stretching taller and getting wiser, but she loves nothing more than good old fart humour. It's in her DNA.

Compared to her sister, she was born with an old soul; always taking everything in, observing, analysing, questioning, pondering. Despite this, I don't want her to grow up. There's still such a precious innocence in her - more than I see in a lot of other girls her age. I want to protect that, because her little spirit bruises easily.

She has a school project to be finished at home this week. It's a poster, titled All About Me, with various areas to write in, draw, and decorate. I've never seen her get so excited about a project, and she insisted on doing it all in one afternoon. After completing each section, she had to explain everything to me in painstaking detail. Permission to talk about herself? Who knew she had so much to say? I mean, we ask her questions all the time, but she seemed to relish this even more.

We had a few bumps. When it came to spelling certain words, she was adamant about doing it the American way - fair enough. She had to write how tall she was, resulting in the tape measure coming out, then me panicking at which way to express it. Obviously, metric was out, and inches in... but should we use feet, or just inches? This is when I realised I had no idea where to put the " ...after feet? Or after inches? No idea, so just inches were used (46, to be exact).

She was required to cut and paste pictures of her favourite things from magazines, but my recent spring clean left her with very little material to work with. She didn't care though - as long as there were butterflies and chocolate, all was good.

Her finished effort made J and I a little teary-eyed. It's a glimpse into the soul of our gorgeous girl, and something I wish I could freeze in time.

Oh, to be that age again.

Butterflies and dinosaurs

One of the loveliest things to come out the Faery's school experience so far is watching her new friendships blossom. There is one little girl, N, who she is enamoured with, and N is equally besotted with the Faery. N is beyond adorable and sweet. When the two of them get together, it's like instant fireworks. Alone, they are both fairly quiet kids, but together they bring out something special in one another. They each adopt funny voices, move in comical ways for giggles, and slap each other's butts while cracking fart jokes. They even have nonsensical words that none of us really understand.

Equally great is that I adore N's family. Her parents are very much on the same page as J and I, and they also have a little boy who is a similar age to Miss Pie. Their home is exactly the kind of home we've been dreaming of and they are warm, welcoming people. We've begun doing family hangouts together, which I always enjoy.

Over the weekend, we all hit the Natural History Museum together. There is an ever-changing butterfly exhibit from April to September, where people can wander through as the butterflies flutter about - perfect for little girls. There is also an incredible display of dinosaur skeletons - something J and I haven't really had much of an opportunity to see at museums in Australia. I think of the eight of us there, J was the last one to finish looking at the dinosaurs. Kid in a candy store. And on a creepy note, there were several massive rooms, filled with life-sized dioramas of wildlife in all their taxidermied glory. Good times.

Yesterday, I was finally able to have a go at volunteering in the Faery's classroom - only two weeks before school finishes for the summer, but better late than never, right? I've been wanting to do it for a while but the reality of having an active, destructive toddler have meant I really needed to wait for J to  miss a morning of work to mind her. She's simply not the sort of kid that can be towed along to these things and expected to play quietly.

Anyhow, it was worth the wait. Watching them as they pledged their allegiance to the American flag - lisps and all - followed by a rendition of the The Star-Spangled Banner (man, that song has some bastard high notes to reach) was so sickeningly cute that I briefly forgot my discomfort about the Faery having to pledge loyalty to a foreign country.

Being the first day back after a long weekend, the teacher had them sitting on the carpet and talking about the things they did. N was the first one to talk, excitedly sharing: "I got new glasses! And me and F went to a museum! And we saw butterflies! And we saw caterpillars! And we saw dinosaurs! And we saw a sabre-toothed tiger!" I could hear great gulps of breath between her exclamations.

While I was there, I had a chance to look at the classwork on display, ahead of Open House tonight. The back wall was filled with posters created by each child, with an accompanying photo of themselves. The theme was who they like playing with. The Faery had drawn a picture of her and N, and written I like to play with N evry day. She is nis and prity. I like hr. Further along, I saw N's poster: I like to play with F cuz she is my best frend. I can't tell you how that warmed my heart.

It almost makes me wish I was five or six years old again. Almost, but not quite.