Playing Cinderella: Princess Ella finally allowed me to play Cinderella during our make believe games this week. I always get lumped with the Ugly Step Sister role. I was so grateful she felt I could handle the lead. Then I realised the real motive behind it. “Now, sweep the floor, Cinders. Then give me a foot rub. Now do the washing’’. Ah, right. I see.
A HUGE giveaway coming: Some of the brands I’ve loved during the past four years as the girls have gone through babyhood are going to be featured in a pretty special giveaway on Monday. I feel so fortunate they were keen to work with me.
Cheap Halloween costumes: After referencing all those wonderful people in last week’s post who inspired me to get crafty for Princess Ella’s Halloween costume, I stumbled across a cheap witches outfit – complete with broom – in one of those cheap and nasty shops this week. So I bought it. I know. I’m lazy. But she loves it. So much so, she slept in it Wednesday night. Thanking goodness she didn’t wake during at midnight and catch a glimpse of herself in her floor-to-ceiling wardrobe mirror.
The morning after…
I’m joining with Maxabella Loves to share what I’m grateful for.
Butter wouldn't melt in their mouths – probably because they can't keep their mouths still long enough.
I KNOW that the visual of a woman with a telephone in one hand, head nodding, arm flailing and mouth flapping at a 100 miles an hour first starts to take shape about age one. I also know that when Zoey from GoodGoog sent out the tweet: “ The child is trying to kill me by continuous talking and never stopping EVER’’, I felt a huge amount of empathy for her.
With a one-year-old and four-year-old princess, I already have a chatterbox in each ear going from about 6.30am until 7pm EVERY day. I’ve learnt to just nod and say “that’s nice, darling’’ every minute and a half. Although, that often fails because every second sentence from the four year old is often a question.
The following incident then happened yesterday, which I know just reinforced my fate.
Princess Ella trailed behind me as I took Little Holly into the nursery for her morning nap. Ella knows she’s not allowed in there while I’m trying to put her to bed. She usually only hypes her sister up by singing and playing peek-a-boo, none of which help Holly settle.
On this day, instead of leaving when I asked, she popped herself up into the feeding chair and began the following dialogue:
“I’m a big girl now, aren’t I, Mum? I’m allowed in here, because I can be really quiet, can’t I, Mum? I won’t say anything. See? I’m being quiet. I’m a good girl.’’ And it went on.
I rest my case.
Do you have chatterboxes? What are your coping mechanisms?
AFTER finally figuring out what to buy a girl for her first birthday, I thought I would share a small sample of the gifts Holly ended up with. Thanks for all the suggestions. They meant I didn’t have to think – always a bonus. With Christmas coming, hopefully they’ll inspire you. In the meantime, I’ve now got to come up with another list of presents.
Bracelet
The bracelet. Still to be engraved.
A keepsake for her. We’ll engrave her name and date of birth. You know, just incase she forgets it. In all honesty, I still have the bracelet I received about the same age. In fact, I even have photos of me wearing it. This is one to treasure.
Guess How Much I Love You Pop-Up book
So in love with this book – as is someone else!Keeping fingers away is the big challenge.More fingers…The last page in the book, where the whole page is part of the pop-up.And then as you pull down the bottom flap, Big Nutbrown Hare bends down and kisses Little Nutbrown Hare.
This is seriously the most gorgeous book. And that last page is too cute. I got this one out of the library when Ella was small and she had no real interest in it. Which was a shame, because I loved it. However, add some pop ups and interactive elements and this is now among the girls’ favourites. As long as I can keep their little hands away.
Lots of noises with this one. Thankfully, not irritating.
There are lots of noises with this one. Open the gate and it plays a song or a lion roars. Let the monkey swing across the branch and when he hits the bananas a monkey noise is made. Holly can now roar like a lion, brrr like an elephant and moo like a cow. I know, there are no cows at the zoo. Just thought you’d like to know though.
Finger Puppet Nursery Rhymes, illustrated by Annie Kubler
Nursery rhymes just got even more fun!The Baa Baa Black Sheep puppet
Nursery rhymes have also been a big thing in this house. We sing. We sing a lot. Just call us the von Trapp family. In fact, I’m in the process of uploading some singing for your listening pleasure in the next month. I know, brace yourselves. We have more nursery rhyme books than I care to count. But we’ve never had one with finger puppets until now. Too much fun really. It also has a puzzle at the back. Bonus.
Does your family love to sing? What are your favourite songs?
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IF YOU’RE friends with me on Facebook or Twitter, you’ll know I’m not half proud of my last-minute Princess Castle Birthday Cake whipped up for Baby Holly’s first birthday on Saturday.
It started badly when I ran out of eggs to cook the cakes on Friday. Thankfully, it was The Bloke in The Shed to the rescue that night and before bedtime I’d managed three cakes. The next morning, again with a little help from The Bloke in The Shed’s rolling pin skills, we’d finally assembled and decorated the castle well before the afternoon party.
I must give credit to the Donna Hay Kids’ Magazine for the inspiration for the castle
and my trusty Women’s Weekly Kids’ Perfect Party Book for the cake recipe (although, I’ve made just a few tweaks).
Preheat oven to 180C/160C fan forced. Grease and line 2 x 21cm round by 3cm deep tin + 26 x 21 cm rectangle tin.
Place flour and cocoa into medium bowl, add remaining ingredients. Beat on low with electric mixer until combined, then increase to medium and beat for 3 minutes.
Spread evenly into three pans and bake for 35-40 minutes or until cooked.
CASTLE:
Place rectangle cake onto a cake board.
Knead 2 packets of icing on a clean surface until soft, then roll out between 2 sheets of non-stick baking paper to 3mm thick.
Use the baking paper to lift the icing over the rectangle cake. Trim excess and smooth out any corners, creases etc.
Place two circle cakes onto top of the iced rectangle cake. Knead another packet of icing and roll. Cover the two round cakes with the icing.
Cut the 2 jam rolls into halves. Repeat with another 2 packets of icing and cover all 4 pieces of jam roll. Place the rolls at the corners of the rectangle cake, on the board.
Make sugar syrup to brush over the cake for a glossy effect. We used one part sugar to two parts water and boiled for five minutes. Then brushed on with a cooking brush.
Add pink colouring to leftover pieces of icing and knead in until the colour is even. Roll and then cut into various shapes. We used a large heart cutter for the top of the cake and smaller hearts for the top. Medium-sized hearts were used for the windows in the tower and front of the castle. One section of the large heart cutter was used to create the shape for a door and indents were made with a knife to create door handles and “two doors’’. Each should stick onto the sugar syrup coating. If not, stick with melted white chocolate.
Melt the white chocolate, dip the 4 large ice cream cones into the chocolate and then press into the tops of the 4 jam rolls. Place 4 small ice cream cones on top of the large cones.
Decorate with fairies (or princesses) and marshmallows around the edge of the board.
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Holly making herself a drink in her big sister's kitchen.
MY WEAPONS of mass lactation look more like shrinking violets after a year of being sucked dry by Baby Holly. It’s the signal for her to transition from one old cow (me) onto a new cow (shiny plastic bottle in the fridge). Yes, goodbye free boobie juice.
That’s not to say I’m giving up breastfeeding just yet. We’ll be milking it for a while longer – pardon the pun. However, it is time to introduce the “other white milk’’ – aka, cow’s milk.
So far, it’s been a slow process. The first couple of times Holly wasn’t going to have a bar of not having her usual mid morning bazookas. She sprayed the cow’s milky goodness all over my face. Take that, Mum. This is despite having had cow’s milk on her cereal each morning for a while now.
Yesterday, I recalled a trick I used when Ella was weaning and put the warmed milk into a baby bottle instead of her sippy cup. It worked. She’s now on the road to saying goodbye to the best milk dispenser she’ll ever have. Ah yes, thanks for the mammaries, Mum.
Here are some other things I know about introducing cow’s milk to a one-year-old:
They're also good for chewing on!
Introduce it gradually. What worked with Ella was dropping one feed per week. This has multiple benefits – your “girls’’ have time to adjust, it prevents them becoming engorged and the child’s tummy gradually becomes used to the richer cow’s milk.
If they refuse the milk, try giving it to them in a different cup or bottle. Although, our aim is to get Holly back onto her cup as soon as possible. But whatever works to start with.
Give your child pasteurised full-fat cow’s milk until aged two, by which stage they can go onto reduced fat milk.
We warm the milk in a container of hot water so it’s closer to the temperature of breast milk.
Offer the milk AFTER meals as cow’s milk is quite filling and could lead to a lesser amount of solids consumed.
There are lots of other ways to help your child meet their calcium intake requirements, including cheese, yoghurt, baked beans and tinned salmon. Variety is key.
Some children may be lactose intolerant. It’s best to see an expert if this is the case.
**UPDATE**: Have just seen the child health nurse this morning and she suggested giving Holly the milk straight from a glass. If she refuses, take it away and try again the next time.
THIS is a post from the archives. However, it’s a question Princess Ella still asks now, so I thought it might give you all a giggle.
‘’MUM, can we take Holly back and get a boy one?’’
When Princess Ella uttered these words last week, my body went stiff, like someone had jabbed me with the oxytocin needle again to expel the placenta.
My answer? No way.
It’s not because of all the months of chasing my husband around the bedroom like a cheetah chases a limping gazelle (yes, remember that scene from the Mum’s The Word column?).
Nor because of the spewing in those early months of being up the duff, that reminds me of how I used to spend New Year’s Eve.
It also has nothing to do with feeling like an ant pushing out an elephant at the final hurdle. OK, so maybe it has just a little something to do with that last bit.
No, the real reason is I’m quite partial to pink. Or, more correctly, I’ve got no idea how you go about dealing with boy bits. Yeah, yeah, I know, I’ve been preggers twice, so I must have some idea.
Princess Ella, on the other hand, seems to have a real fascination with ‘’scoody doodies’’ – her term, not ours. Apparently her friend Harry at child care has a scoody doodie.
‘’But he’s only got a little scoody doodie,’’ she says. Note: Harry is not his real name in fear of bruising the pride of his father.
For the record, girls, it’s been determined, have ‘’front bottoms’’. Oh, how boring. We’ve already got one bottom. No wonder she wants a brother.
So, what about you? Are you more partial to pink or blue? And what names have your children given their (usually not so) private bits?
