As the Tui flies

One of the great things about living where we do, is the setting. We're at the end of a road, with a great view out over the harbour, most of the time it's so peaceful here, apart from when the kids are playing some crazy game that it, but that's all good too.

We're also, as the Tui flies, really quite close to the Orokonui bird sanctuary, I should admit first of all, that it's been a while since I've been for a visit, must go again, but we don't have to visit to get the benefit. More and more often we're getting lots of interesting a different birds here, that have made there way over from Orokonui, or have been attracted to the area because of it.  Yesterday afternoon, hanging the washing out, I just stood and listened to the beautiful bird song that surrounded us.

Standing out more than anything (maybe because it's one of the few I can actually identify) was a Tui.  I tried very hard to spot him (or her) but no luck this time.

Tree where I think the Tui was hiding.

Of course it's all a million miles away from what I grew up with.  I was lucky, I grew up in the British countryside, so bird song was still around, just different birdsong.  More than anything the sound of wood pigeons puts me right back into a summery Derbyshire afternoon.  It's one of the few sound effects that British TV gets right, countryside = wood pigeons, unlike their portrayal of countryside at night which always has a rather spooky sounding fox, hearing that, around "our way" at least was unusual.

It's important to value this natural soundtrack though, wherever you live.  I remember on the day I got married, the driver of my wedding car, commenting on the birdsong.  I hadn't really thought about it then, it was just background noise, but to him it stood out, living in a newish estate, they didn't get the birds.  So next time you're outside, stand still for a second, be quiet and just listen.  Who needs any other music?

Same same but different

When I was younger, I don't know, maybe nine or ten, I had a pair of white shoes with a little heel.  They were, to me beautiful, mostly because I wasn't usually allowed to wear shoes with a heel, but these were my going out shoes.  They were also exactly the same as the "for best" shoes that my best friend had.  Not only were they white, with a heel, but they also had this pattern punched into them in the form of holes, sounds hideous, but they were very 80's, and that's my only defence.

This morning, a conversation at the breakfast table suddenly reminded me of those shoes.

Kai "You're the odd one out, you've not got long sleeves"

Mahe "Yeah, but you've got two sleeves on, you're the odd one out"

Lena "I's the odd one out, I've got this t-shirt on"

Kai "We're all the odd one's out"

There are often conversations like this around the table, about who's different and who's got the same.  For some reason being or not being (depending upon the day) the odd one out, is really, really important.  They like to copy each other too, Mahe often wants exactly the same breakfast as Kai, just to be the same.  I suppose it's how we learn this copying one another, and I suspect it may well get worse.  I've seen girls in particular want to be exactly like their friends.  But is it healthy?

As a parent, you want your child to be liked and have friends, but at the same time you really want them to still be them.  Not only that, but to stand up for what you believe in, even if no one else is, is something that is hard to do, but really important.

It might be the way we learn, by imitating one another, but it's also really really important to just be ourselves, which might mean that one day you're a princess playing with a train track, and another day you're performing on a stage in the garden.

Post Birthday Blues

Actually, that's not entirely true, if anything I feel a bit better today, the day after my birthday than I did yesterday.  But, seeing as that's what I'm writing about, as a title it will do.  Birthday's are funny things, when you're a child they're exciting things to look forward to, but the older you get, the less thrilling the idea of getting even older becomes. Not that I mind being this age, I just didn't really want to be it just yet.

It's not my birthday that bothers me so much though, I'm not sure that I'm ready for Mahe to be five yet.  Not only does it mean that he's off to school (sob) but it also means that we've been here for nearly five years.  That seems like such a long time!  If I try to remember five years ago, and what I thought I'd be doing five years on, I'm pretty sure that this isn't what I pictured.

Not that I can really complain, in that time I've had two beautiful daughters, and the boys have grown into two lovely boys, but it's not really what I imagined, or to be honest wanted.  Don't get me wrong, on the whole I'm happy here, but it's times like this that the homesickness really kicks in.

So yes, birthdays, a year older, another year on, but I think I'd like normal service to resume instead please.

Road works and birthdays

As you may have gathered from Mahe's birthday party theme, he's very into road signs at the moment.  For his birthday last week, we ordered him his very own road sign.  Narrowing it down to a favourite was a bit of a hard decision, as there seem to be so many that he likes, but the current favourite is the "dead end" sign.

Dead end signs aren't usually used here in New Zealand, apparently, but I found a great chap on trademe, who will put anything that you want onto a sign. They're for "man caves" but seem to be just as suitable for five year olds.

I don't know if we should be concerned about just how into road signs he is, at daycare the other day, he told one of his teachers that he wished he could talk about road signs all of the time. He also came home with a pile of drawings of road signs that he'd done, including this one:

He explained that it's a picture of him asleep in bed, dreaming of road signs.  (Men at work in this case).  I think it's just Mahe though, he was the same (and still is to an extent) about trains, and then after that dark tunnels.  I do wonder what will be next though.

Kai's birthday presents were more along the more usual boy gifts of lego and the like.  They both got light sabres though, which are quiet cool, they make light sabre (or even light saver!) type noises when swished around.  Anja is quite taken with them too. (Ignore the fact that she has odd wellies, and no trousers on....)

I had got things I wanted to tell you about tandem breastfeeding, and anniversaries, but that can wait for next time.....

All (road) signs point to a good birthday

It was the boys joint birthday party last weekend, Mahe's 5th and Kai's 7th, although their actual birthday's aren't until this weekend.  Kai wanted a lego party, which was pretty straightforward at least, Mahe wanted a road sign party.  That took a little bit longer to come up with, but I think he was pleased with what we came up with.

I got hold of a lot of small orange "traffic" cones from the dollar shop, I printed out road sign pictures and stuck them to the cones, and then added some hat elastic; party themed hats, that double as traffic toys later.

I borrowed some road signs from Mahe's daycare, and printed some out, and then used these for a treasure hunt.  Perfect for children who aren't reading yet, as they could go from one sign to the next find the next clue (a printed picture of the next road sign to look for) before finding the treasure under yet another traffic cone.

A decorated paper bag served as a Pinata, with a dead end sign marked on it (Mahe's favorite sign, although we don't actually have them here in NZ).

The cake was the easiest item of all, a road sign with a number on it?  Simple, a speed sign, although you don't often see 5km an hour signs!

New Home

No, not for me, but for the blog.  Have quite a bit to share with you, but that will have to wait until later.....

Poorly sick

So far this winter, we haven't been suffering too much with the old coughs and colds and all everything else that usually does the rounds. Until, that is, about three weeks ago.  The most hedeous cough seems to have set up camp in various family members and is showing no signs of moving on.

Io had thought that we were getting to the end of it, everyone had had it, and all that seemed to be left was one of those annoying tickly coughs that strike just as you're drifting off to sleep, and I was the only one effected by that.  (Well almost, I was probably waking most of the family up too).  Then yesterday, I came back from a party with the girls (my kids have a much busier social life than I do) to find that Mahe just wasn't himself.

I checked his temperature and it was sitting at 39.5, a little too high for my liking.  It depends who you talk to, should you give them something to bring it down or not?  He was quite miserable with it, so I decided a dose of pamol was the best bet.  Unusually though, that did nothing, so a quick borrowed bottle of nuerofen later, and a bit of alternating, and it was finally down.

Of course, having four children, that's never the end of the story, and now big brother Kai also has the high temp and is feeling sorry for himself.  I'm hopeful it won't last long, and that the rest of us don't get it, but I'm not new to this....... Roll on summer and an end to the winter bugs!