Extremely normal

Its interesting that I am considered extreme or alternative in my thinking especially when it comes to parenting. Maybe when it comes to what society deems normal then I am not normal. But I do what is natural, what is normal and what is right for my family. Maybe it just shows what sort of world we are living in where the natural things are seen as strange and anything that seems normal to me is odd to most. Like breastfeeding, co-sleeping, avoiding drugs and vaccines, birthing at home. These are all normal to me but to some people, these things are not spoken of and when they are its often seen as crazy, wrong, stupid etc.

Society almost teaches us to detach from people. To not trust even from an early age, nobody cares if you cry, toughen up. I personally feel this, I do not get close to people. I want better for my kids. I want them to come to me for a hug, for a chat, have their needs fulfilled. And at a young age wants and needs are practically the same. I can't buy them anything that has more value than what I can give them every day without a sticker price. The unconditional love I receive from them is inspiring to me. They forgive my shortcomings and love me without wanting more than what I can give them. That to me, is just amazing.

So I am extremely normal. I don't hide the way I do things now. I used to...When my daughter was a baby, she so desperately wanted to co-sleep. All I heard was, Put her in the bassinet, don't let her get attached. Feed til one year exactly. Do what you are told, everyone else knows best.

Truth is, Trusting Your Instincts is all the advice I needed. I learned that the hard way.

My boys in their purple Eden singlets. I made one for J so they each have one. Knitted in Cotton Fleece (merino and cotton). It was too challenging getting a photo of them all together on this day so this is as good as it gets.

I made the King of too many soakers another soaker. This one is crocheted sideways giving a stretchy rib. I used Casacde 220 Heathers with Woolganics worsted for leg cuffs and tie. It is very roomy so he has it rolled up. I did 27 rows, with 33 rows it would be way too big. I find this photo comical. He adores playing with the phone and here he has his serious face on.

Colourful hoodie

I am very happy with this hoodie. Crocheted from sock yarn Noir, so J will have a hoodie for every day wear and easy to wash.

Testing 123

Been doing a few test knits lately. I made 3 pairs of handwarmers for the little boys out of a 50gram ball.

For justjussi, the Ember cardigan. I made one with a superbulky wool and then another with Folklore.

Wow, what can I say?

 

A gift from some friends. Modern Mummas

I have been having some tough times with my boys having asthma and sleep teething issues. It makes for one very tired and drained Mama. The Mamas at MM banded together and got us a nebuliser, funhaler and some lovely gifts. I just can't express how much this means to me. Its just a wonderful expression to me how people can and do care about my family.

Manifesto of the idle parent

Just because its fun and true. I took out the point about drinking alcohol cos we don't do that.

Manifesto of the idle parent

• We reject the idea that parenting requires hard work
• We pledge to leave our children alone
• That should mean that they leave us alone, too
• We reject the rampant consumerism that invades children from the moment they are born
• We read them poetry and fantastic stories without morals
• We reject the inner Puritan
• We fill the house with music and laughter
• We don't waste money on family days out and holidays
• We lie in bed for as long as possible
• We try not to interfere
• We push them into the garden and shut the door so that we can clean the house
• We both work as little as possible, particularly when the kids are small
• Time is more important than money
• Happy mess is better than miserable tidiness
• Down with school
• We fill the house with music and merriment

• Tom Hodgkinson is editor of The Idler magazine and author of the best-selling How to be Free and How to be Idle.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/familyadvice/3355719/Idle-parenting-means-happy-children.html

TelegraphNews

 

Hard times and good times

Again, I need to catch up on blog posts. Our youngest son is a real rambunctious handful! I thought Av was rough, J is even more so. He giggles when jumped on and bangs on things and yells, and throws things. All the while, making me feel life is very full on. Nights are often late and days are sometimes are a blur. I do know I have a toddler. He is breastfed on demand and this is something I have to keep reminding myself is very normal and natural and right for us. Its hard when most of the World (at least the world I  live in) disagrees.
He has started eating meals regularly but it hasn't stopped his appetite for boobah.

My daughter is up to standard at school and enjoying her artwork which she does mostly at home. Her teacher doesn't seem very supportive and seems to want her to exceed the grade 5 level in maths in particular. Get faster at answering?! As her parents, we are perplexed and we have told our daughter not to stress too much, and enjoy her drawing.
There is more I would like to say on this but I will leave it for now.

Meanwhile, our eldest son adores maths. He really enjoys anything to do with numbers. He invited us (my mother and I) to the school for a Mother's Day afternoon tea at the school. Av wasn't very impressed with the teachers telling the kids to do things, he exclaimed, "This is not for me." We laughed. Even though he has asked to go to school, its not something he wants to do right now so if I say ' in 10 years' that would suit us all fine. He has been enjoying some old encyclopedias  that were given to us. He recognises letters - he found a photo of two sharks and saw the names underneath, he told me that they were the same letters (shark). Its these things he is learning on his own that make me see he is very much capable of learning the natural way.
He has started to ask about his name and knows how it is spelled though he isn't confident in writing his name yet.

As often as we can, we do things as a family. I love the time we spend just doing things on a whim, cos we want to! Today we went to Gisbourne to get some wool for a test knit I am doing for justjussi. At Foodworks supermarket of all places! We went for a little walk and a play at the playground.

Foto Friday - Mutual Adoration

For me

My slouch in Woolganics. Originally light green, I over dyed in black. Love it!

My shawler. The pattern was gifted to me by Jordan in the Ravaholics Mother's Day swap.  I used Yarn Cafe Polwarth 12ply merino striped with Cascade Eco+ and the hood is Cascade baby alpaca.

Mother's Day

A very special drawing from my 7 year old. The flowers are special - Morning glory, dandelion, sunflower, lavender, they are all different.

Add a caption

Nass 7 years. The flowers are special - Morning glory, dandelion, sunflower, lavender, they are all different.

My daughter made me a delicious apple tea cake with help from her Nanna.

Some questions I asked Av (4.5yo)

What is your mum's favourite colour?
Purple!
What is your mum's favourite food?
Vegetables!
What is your mum's favourite thing to watch on TV?
Adult movies! *
What is your mum's favourite thing to do around the house
Clean up!
How old is your mum?
I don't know how much you are. (Screws up face)
What do you like doing with your mum?
I love you, Mum
I love my mum because
That's why....
Because like Dad does scary things!

What else? Mum, ask me more questions!

* Just to  clarify I watch adult tv shows like Medium, SVU, NCIS sometimes and I tell Av its for adults.


My kids are awesome. They are honest with me, they tell me when I do wrong by them and they readily forgive me, the unconditional love is amazing. I am always trying to be the best Mum I can be and I think I get it mostly right but the best is all I can do.

I made my Mum a scarf and hat.

Ermeline

A hoodie with a difference! The pattern is Ermeline which was gifted to me in the MM Ravaholics Mother's day swap. I used woolganics chilli and light blue. Its fun and gorgeous.

Hats and things

I have been making a few hats, even a pair of mittens.

J has now found the love for hats and the weather the way it is, its a good thing. Check out those point teeth!
This hat is made in Malabrigo chunky garnet, its a cloche style hat but looks more like a sunhat on J!

A chunky alpaca vest with owl cable. This is quite Milo - esque. Its a newborn size in chunky AL alpaca wool. I love it!

A very cute long sleeved crochet shirt in 4ply acrylic Baby Lustre.

A sweet crocheted sunhat in Baby Lustre 4ply yarn which fits J.

Most Learning Doesn’t Happen At School

 My husband and I were quite impressed with the kids' newsletter this week.


(Andrew Fuller‘s Handy Hints for Improving Learning
Most Learning Doesn’t Happen At School!)
Did you know …
"Children spend only 15% of their week at school!
They spend more time asleep - 33 %
(And some teens combine the two)
But most of their time 52 % is at home, awake, mucking
around, playing, and learning about life
- it’s what they do with that time that is important."

"Most of their future learning also wont occur occur in school. It is estimated that 70% of the jobs that will exist in 2020 do not exist now. It is estimated that 50 years ago a high school graduate left school knowing about 75% of what they would need to know in their working life - today's high school graduate will leave knowing 2%."

{Trying our best as parents to give our children opportunities to learn especially through fun and play.}

Urban Shells

First CAL for the BDD group on Ravelry. Actually a KAL as well with a knitted scarf as well. I had this in my faves and I was happy that I could do this. Easy but interesting  and clever pattern.
 I used Cascade Arcadia, cotton angora blend.

The Awesome 4 May 2010

I meant to make N a singlet for his 7th birthday, but it turned out too big and fit my daughter who is size 14.
I made another in size 4 for N and so now they have one each.

All singlets were knit from the eden's adam pattern from tikki.