Another fizzer. Actually, I enjoyed being at the Kinder having kids including my own, hang off me for awhile and it was full on with the Roster duties, too. Charlotte wouldn’t go outside, no matter how much we adults encouraged her. She wanted my presence and for that I am grateful BUT there are some friendships to be made and there is fun to be had.

I have to say, She did look very happy & content playing on her own. Just being in the company of  other children is fine for some children and whilst I was doing my chores, Charlotte did join in with the indoor activities. She was very accepting of the fact that I couldn’t be with her constantly playing and had to tend to other children and
cleaning.

This evening I opened a conversation with her about next week and I need to find an appropriate incentive, so that I can leave the Kinder again as I did in week #3. Not a bribe. It’s a fine line, but even we adults need incentives to keep us focused. Charlotte tells me She feels sad and that it’s hard to explain. My answer to her is ‘Yes, you feel sad, but it’s okay to feel that way because there will also be times where you feel happy and excited’. I totally understand. I feel sad, too. Not just about leaving Charlotte at Kinder, but all manner of  things. It’s part of  the human condition, right?  Yes, She may be picking up on my feelings, but there is more going on for her and I need and want to be sensitive to that.

We’ll get there, wherever ‘there’ is. For now, we’ll just keep the conversation open and continue going along to Kindergarten. It’s a nice place to hang out.

I’m blessed to have a 4 yr old who can express her feelings even though it can be a struggle and by the way, She does mix with other children without me around, but it is usually when She is familiar with the adults and child/children and definitely in a smaller setting. Big groups have never been Charlotte’s forte.

photo credit: queercatkitten

Time for a catch up to add to my Kindergarten series, I think. I’m quite unwell whilst writing, so thought I’d do this in point form.

Week #1 : We had two sessions of 2 hrs duration. Parents stayed. This was a lovely way to meet some Mums and get to see how the Director and Assistant operate. Charlotte stuck close to me.

Week#2  : Two 3 hr sessions. Parents could stay or leave. I was surprised at how many left. I invited a lost looking little one to join us at our play. She and Charlotte forged a friendship. I was very pleased. (more…)

I’ve captured the evidence on camera. This fairy was caught picking flowers in the garden. I couldn’t get a shot of  her face ’cause I didn’t want to frighten her off, so I crept up behind and took this snap. Now I’ll just kick back and wait to become famous for my discovery.

Hard to believe it’s the same little girl that’s  in my ‘Children With Focus‘ post.

Thanks to 5minutesformom for Wordless Wednesday

Have you ever heard of  ‘A Complaint Free World’ founded by Will Bowen? Here’s an exerpt from the website :

‘Will Bowen is the Lead Minister of One Community Spiritual Center in Kansas City, MO. In July 2006 he suggested his congregation use purple bracelets to monitor their success at eradicating complaining from their lives. His idea exploded around the world and more than 6 million purple Complaint Free bracelets have been sent to people in
over 106 countries.’

For more information click on the link to the website further down the page.

About two years ago I ordered a bracelet to join millions of others who wanted to improve their lives based on Wills philosophy which he has based around Maya Angelou’s philosophy.  The idea of the bracelet is to change it from one wrist to another when you catch yourself complaining and gradually become aware of just how much you do complain and as you become more aware, the less you complain.

My Confession

I have to confess, that I haven’t worn the bracelet much because I know I can be a complainer. I hear myself sometimes and just don’t know how to stop and frankly the band was being transferred from wrist to wrist too frequently. You’re supposed to eventually change the habit of complaining and the general consensus is that it takes 21 days to form a new habit. 21 days doesn’t seem much, but I think it is. Oops, there’s a complaint right there or am I just stating how it is for me? It’s a fine line sometimes. (more…)

As I was doing some dishes,  I was pondering my next post. Dishes done, Charlotte tucked up in bed, I decided to check into Twitter before blogging and there was a tweet from Squigglemum leading to her post not dissimilar to the one I have been formulating in my head. Both of  us require some help with our very focussed children.

I urge you to read up and leave some advice for Squigglemum, but first, I would love some advice for myself. My quandary is what to do when my child is sooo very focussed on playing one game with variations to it that I am just about to pull her, sorry, pull my hair out?

I have tried redirecting with a small amount of  luck, but it is hit and miss. (more…)

I was under the weather on Valentines Day, so I spent some of  my time lolling about in bed. At some point in the afternoon Charlotte (4 1/2 yrs) came into the bedroom with her Daddy ‘hiding’ something behind her back and I had to guess what it was. I did guess and Charlotte then produced a lovely bunch of  orchids and chocolates from behind her back for Valentines Day.

I popped them on the bedside table, then had a snooze. Later, when I was feeling okay enough to get up, this is the display that greeted me.

an innovative way to display orchids

Fortunately, Charlotte didn’t add water! So, the new snowboots will still be okay to wear when Winter and our snow arrives. Sorry for the poor quality of the photo. I probably shouldn’t take them when I’m unwell, but couldn’t resist taking a snap for the archives and sharing it with you.

There are more WW posts at 5minutesformom

In my previous post ‘Affirmations – Bringing About Change In 2010′ I gave a little teaser by mentioning a course I am doing that is tied in with Mind Movies.

The course is run by Natalie Ledwell. Natalie and Ryan are the dynamic Aussie duo presenting the Mind Movies
program. The 7 week course is called  ‘7 Steps To Happiness’. I’m up to lesson #2. Once again, it is all part of my desire to bring about change in the way I think about and act upon things in my life.

Monetizing My Blog

There are affirmation projects to carry out that are really quite a pleasure and I have decided to focus on money just for once in my life for the purpose of the 7 week course (and onwards to be honest) Well, to be more specific, making money from my blog. (more…)

Where to start with this post? I know a lot of  you are making changes this year either personal or business, so this product may well be worth trying in conjunction with your current regime. For instance those of you on a weight loss program will identify with Natalie’s journey to lose weight.  You’ll find out who Natalie is later in this post, but for years She tried to go from a size 14 to a 10 and found She couldn’t, then in just 7 wks She did it by
implementing the product I am using.

Not long ago I signed up for something that I had been checking out for approximately 2 weeks. I kept going back to the site, listening to the video’s, reading, listening again, reading again. I’m sure you know how it goes when you want to purchase something, but you’re not sure about it, yet you want to bring about a change in your life. With this program, there is a great FREE offer, so I finally decided to download it and put into practice all that is recommended and you guessed it before long I was signing up for pretty well EVERYTHING. (more…)

Join in the fun at Mom Webs and vote for your favourite video. These are fun & informative, put together by people like you and me.

It was such a tough decision, but I finally voted for Adriana Copaceanu  because the music brought an instant smile to my dial and the information is spot on. Yes, you guessed it I also use MomWebs. All of the video’s are fantastic, so hurry on over and put in your vote. http://www.momwebs.com/vote-for-your-favorite-mom-webs-promo-video/

Don’t forget to enjoy and let me know how you voted!

Is it really time for 5minutesformom’s WW again? It comes around so quickly. I was hoping to do my post yesterday which was Wednesday here in Australia, but I couldn’t decide on photo’s or themes. I had a few ideas, so decided to sleep on it and now it’s Wednesday in some parts of  the world, but Thursday here. Anyway, it was worth sleeping on. This afternoon we had a wonderful storm that swept through our area, so it gave me another theme to work on.

I always put my car in the rain for a clean. With water being so precious I like to make the most of it when there is a downpour and this was really heavy and my car was super dusty. I decided to also give it a brush over whilst it was pouring  rather than letting the rain do the job on its own . It was so refreshing after a muggy 30C plus day. Now my car is sparkly clean and I feel cooler. It’s been awhile since the last deluge, so my car hasn’t been clean for awhile. If  it’s just too thick with dust I will give it a lick with a couple of  buckets of water and some elbow grease otherwise it has to wait.

And my little helper, well She swept under the carport, but everything had pretty well dried up and the overflowing drains subsided by then. Still, every bit helps.

She was certainly putting in a good effort for all of two minutes. lol.