11
May
2010
These are a few of my favourite things….PICTURE BOOKS
My favourite book. Get your hands on it.
Or so the song goes. These are actually a few of my favourite children’s picture books for the under 5s. I know, I know, there are literally thousands of wonderful books, and as clever and efficient as I am, I haven’t quite got through them all. Astounding I realise.
My requirements for being added to this illustrious list include gorgeous illustrations, fun or charming stories (a sense of humour doesn’t go astray) and something that I don’t want to set fire to the fortieth time I read it. And I have to admit a terrible bias towards Australian books here – I don’t know if it’s because some of them reflect my own childhood stories, or their cheekiness just appeals to me, but I have to put it out there.
So to keep you going while I make my way through every single children’s book in the world, here are some of my favourites:
- Wanted: The Perfect Pet – this is probably my favourite book ever. Mainly for the over 2s but good for a few years after that due to the detail, it is very funny, very sweet, very engaging and has lovely line-style drawings. It also provides good scope for me to show off the breadth of my story reading skills. Love it.
3
May
2010
By popular demand – THE BABY LIST. Essentials and almost essentials to buy.
This is like a picture of me at the dentist. I know - bad hair day.
Ages ago I wrote a post about baby things I had bought that I had wasted money on. I made a rash promise to post my spreadsheet of things that you SHOULD buy. Four months later I am coming good with my promise. I know. I’m reliable like that. You should hear my promises to my dentist – they are nothing short of inspiring and involve trips to hygienists, dental floss and 45 degree brushing angles.
Anyway, I digress. I know that interesting dentistry anecdotes is a post in itself but baby stuff I promised and baby stuff you shall have. There are many many things to buy when you are having a baby. And many many shops and online stores from which to buy these essentials. I say essentials. In actual fact, apart from a cot, a pram and some clothes, you’d be hard pressed to say anything was truly essential. But we are what we are. Well, actually, I am what I am. You may well be a far more worthy and green type person who buys the minimum, recycles stuff, freecycles it back into the community and is generally a better, kinder and more annoying person than me. If you are, can I suggest you stop reading? I think you will not enjoy my list of essentials.
12
Apr
2010
Parenting Skills – the top five. Which include shopping.
I have not taken children to a concert yet. But I imagine I would be quite good at it.
I am not good at games. I don’t like making crowns. Or playing trains. Or pretending to eat belly-button chocolate (don’t ask, it’s a family thing). I imagine I will be rubbish at watching children’s sporting matches, as I have a tendency to drift off when balls start flying around in front of me. I also dislike taking my children out to lunch, playing in the park and speaking baby talk to newborns. However, I do have some parenting skills of which I am proud. Some may say weirdly proud — I would just say proud.
1. I am an EXCELLENT story reader. I give it everything I have got — whether it’s pathos, humour, kindness or poignancy (not a commonly required emotion in board books, but you never know) — I can carry it off. I have been known to receive a small round of applause at the end of Dig Dig Digging and if you thought you couldn’t eke out a tear from a 2 year old at a rendition of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, then you were wrong.
28
Mar
2010
Even though we are rich and famous, I still think about the small things. Like why I love London.
So, in case you missed it, we recently became very famous and embarrassingly wealthy after a guest post on Mia Freedman’s wonderful blog, http://www.mamamia.com.au/ . The post was about making friends in a new place and was fairly cynical in tone. I know – shocking. Anyway, in the subsequent comments amongst all the lovely and amusing ones, someone suggested we had very bad attitudes and we should be more positive and we’d probably have more luck finding friends. Frankly, I’m not sure – I’m quite bossy and Jacqui is mildly annoying – but there’s always hope I spose. In the same vein someone else suggested that maybe we should be more appreciative of the life we are leading. Basically everyone hated us. Or maybe that was just our husbands commenting.
21
Mar
2010
Things I have learnt about travelling with kids – part one, the airplane ride. AKA Dante’s vision of Hell.
See that flying thing in the background - that is your child. See those two people in the foreground? You. Possibly attacking an air hostess.
A good friend of mine once commented that you learn something more about travelling with kids every time you do it. I scoffed at the time as how much really can there be to learn? I’ve travelled with a kid long haul and two kids a few times. But now, yes Mill, I think you are right. The little buggers keep growing and their needs changing. As opposed to me, since for about fifteen years now I have been happy with a very short list of travel requirements: business class flights, 5 star resorts and child free swimming pools. And one day I’ll actually achieve it, I’m sure.
Anyway, I have learnt much in this last trip. Far too much – as I have two children and know everything there is to know about child rearing, I am gobsmacked, but it is true, there are things I wish I had known before taking the trip. You know how flying was really boring before you have kids? It’s not so much boring now as some sort of sub-Saharan African sand running marathon endurance event. On the plus side, having experienced it too many times now, flying without them means that even the most budget of airline economy seats feels like business class which is an unexpected bonus not mentioned in What to Expect When You’re Expecting. Cover the big stuff people.
2
Mar
2010
And the award for best yum cha/dim sum restaurants in a family friendly environment goes to…
I spend a lot of my time thinking about food. I’d like to pretend otherwise – but I’d be fooling no-one. And when it comes to food, my number one interest, nay, OBSESSION, is yum cha. A.K.A dim sum to those outside of Australia. Ah yum cha. The yum of dim. The ‘cha. I dream about you. How I love your flakey pastry puffiness. How I savour the sweetness of your porcine pieces. How I worship at the altar of your gelatinous dumpling marvelousness. You get the picture.
Sometime ago I promised to write a post about the best yum cha to go to with children. The answer is most of them. Seriously. I can’t think of a better place to take children out to eat. Tiny, young, older – is there another place you can think of (bar the hideosity of children-themed restaurants) that they don’t care when food is spread all over the table? Where the noises of screams are drowned out by angry Chinese voices? Where the food is brought by your table in small portions so if it is spat out you can just start again? Where the whole meal can be ordered, delivered and eaten in 45 minutes if necessary? My children had both been to dim sum before they were two weeks old. Yum cha. In the words of the almighty Nike, just DO IT.
31
Jan
2010
Women in piggy tails – why it can be so right.
Last week I watched a grown woman in a blond piggy tail wig and pinafore dancing around and running away from a grown man in a bearskin. No, much to my disappointment I was not at a new avant garde club night. What I do after hours is on my other blog, www.fetishtastic.com.au (shame on you for clicking).
No, I was at an under 4s performance of Goldilocks. I did spend the entire 45 minutes wondering what led these two people to be performing in this show — I am presuming they were wannabe Eastenders stars or perhaps more serious Shakespearean types. Or maybe I am doing them a gross disservice, maybe there is a whole children’s acting career path – starts with a being a giant sandwich in a mall, next stop the dizzying heights of Disneyland? I am NOT dissing the acting which was nothing short of superb. Let’s face it, anyone who can keep a group of about thirty under 4s mostly spellbound for the better part of 45 minutes is a shoo-in to win the X-Factor.
12
Jan
2010
Baby Carriers – are you a hippy or a trendy?
I know very little about baby carriers and slings. But I am nothing if not helpful, and someone asked me the other day about which one was the best, so Alex – this one’s for you. Oh, and anyone else pondering the great unknown of the carrying/wearing world. Just writing to Alex would be weird. Although she is already probably slightly uncomfortable at having a whole post dedicated to her. Quite selfish the rest of you are thinking? I know – Alex is like that. Anyway, poor Alex, don’t be mean to her if you meet her, she can’t help being like that.
So slings, carriers and pack thingies – they are your big three segments. Slings are for babywearing hippies, carriers for trendy inner-city types and packs for healthy ruddy-faced outdoorsy types. Who carry hiking sticks. Got that? I love a good generalisation. Now this is not supposed to be the pinnacle of research, just a point in the right direction for beginners, to start you off even better than my ramblings, you might want to read this Which column.
7
Dec
2009
Some thoughts on the world going mad about children.
I should start this post by saying that I love my children. Even the annoying one. No really, I do. They are funny and cute and entertaining and relatively well behaved. My life changed when I had them and although I still sometimes mourn the loss of my old life, for the most part my life has changed for the better. And I suppose they have become my anchor (not in a weighing me down til I drown way, as in a nice kind of centre of my world way – yes, probably a bad analogy in retrospect) but it doesn’t mean that they have taken over my life.
15
Nov
2009
Kid-friendly restaurants in London
Ever since I read Jac’s post on the Baby Deli 
in Madrid, I have been thinking about similar locations in London. Now I don’t mean to rub it in Jac, but we are a bit spoilt for choice here in the capital. There are lots of restaurants that are child friendly. That is, places where you can take your kids and they help you out with high chairs, kid’s menus, early eating, etc. There are also nicer places that are great with kids – both of which I have listed below. However I am fundamentally a selfish person who does not like having their meal interrupted by sticky fingers, babies crying and people crawling around my feet. The exception would be yum cha/dim sum which is MADE for children – mess and noise is positively welcomed, chopsticks were designed to be thrown, there are inevitably fish in a tank to look at, and the whole thing is over in an hour.
But some clever people have cottoned on to the fact that I am not the only parent in the world who likes a nice meal, but doesn’t always want to pay for a babysitter. Thus, the brilliant child-minding restaurant has been born. See below for some details. And if you’ve got any in your hometown, let me know and I’ll continue the research into other cities….
