Toor Dal Rocks

New most favourite food!

Toor Dal (split yellow lentils), boiled crazily in water for 5 minutes with a hunk of ginger (gets rid of the gassy compounds), drained & simmered in home made chicken stock & turmeric for another 15 til it's wonderfully mushy, then stirred into some natural yoghurt. Yummy (for Jarvis & Mummy).

The New Highchair

Loving the highchair I bought from Trademe for $20. It's wonderful. And will be even more so once we finish sanding it down & giving it a new paint job. Jarvis is enjoying his new seat whilst reading a book with Nana (who preferred not to be pictured!), the smile on his face says "I'm a super cool big boy to be up here. Yesssss!"

Jarvis@Muskats@Millton

Jarvis attended his first gig on Saturday. He was super responsible & used ear plugs to protect his little taringa from the sound (you can see them in one of the photos!), and had a wicked time rolling around under a tree, reading the paper, eating grass, gazing up at the sky, and hanging with his friend Leroy. And he wore his best Hawaiian shirt. Wonderful!

Jarvis & the Thunderstorm.

(A poem for my small friend).

The sky was blue, the clouds were white,
The wind a gentle puff
When suddenly the sky turned black,
We moved just fast enough!

Jarvis saw the rain-drops fall
As big and fat as grapes,
His eyes grew round and sparkled as he
Watched the dancing shapes.

Then thunder rolled & crashed around,
And shook our little house
But Jarvis didn't cower,
He just wanted to get soused!

Sheet lightning flashed and cracked its way
Across the charcoal sky,
Jarvis's feet were flailing fast
He squeaked out happy cries!

The petrichor smell filled the air
And filled his wee nose too,
It seemed to make him dance some more
As lovely smells can do.

Then just as fast as it appeared
The black sky turned to blue,
The storm was gone, and Jarvis thought
"I'll go to bed now, too".

Things Jarvis Loves...

I love my red car, my green balloon, and my (clean) nappy with a bus on it.
Don't try and take them off me now!

My Other Blog...

The blog for my music studio is up & running :) Have a wee look, become a follower, especially if you're looking for nifty ideas for things to do with little people.

Serendipity Studio

Don't go breaking my heart!

I love this. It's been so many years since I saw it, youtube is amazing.

See, I'm not a total anti children's tv crusader!

Ha, see, I'm not the only crazy lady...

Before I begin, I'm not an anti television crusader. I rather like watching tv, especially Coronation Street & Home and Away...

I do think it's a bit un-necessary for little people though.

I once knew a child who spoke with an American accent. Couldn't work out why this was, neither of his parents appeared to be American, and from what I could gather they'd never been there. His brother & sister had perfectly ordinary kiwi accents. Then another relative said something about him really loving Blue's Clues. And I realised that this five year old kid, who'd never left New Zealand, had exactly the same accent and speech mannerisms as the Blue's Clues guy (Who these days is some kind of an indie recording artist who sometimes makes terrible films). He used American vocabulary & intonation...It was truly bizarre and kind of terrifying.

Where kids tv is concerned I don't mind a bit of sesame street & the muppet show (especially the really old episodes featuring the icons of my youth!), and I'm quite partial to a bit of the Wombles! I think perhaps the difference is that if I put Jarvis in front of the telly there's a strong chance I would be sitting next to him & singing along with Elton John & Miss Piggy (must find that clip...wicked...).

There really is some horrific stuff on television, and I really do think that leaving kids alone to watch violent & hideous cartoons is a terrible mistake...And it's even more of a mistake to let a character on tv become the person who talks to a child the most, as demonstrated by mister blue's clues...Social interaction, people! Playing in the mud, building huts, singing songs!

Edited to add the link to an excellent interview about tv & little people I heard on National Radio this afternoon. Got to love the rnz website. Listen to this!

National Radio interview about TV & Under 2's...

Teeth!

I think I'll need to take another one - I'm sure they're bigger again now!

Rainbow Chard

Jarvis & I spent yesterday morning playing in the sunshine (as it was sunny, not raining or blowing or anything else hideous). He found a most exciting new toy to chew on, some fabulously crimson rainbow chard from the garden.

His little face was wonderful when he spied it in the garden, every evening Shane takes him wandering around the garden to touch all of the plants, I'm guessing from the reaction that this one must be a favourite. I carried him over to the plant, he grabbed a handful & shoved it into his mouth (it was still firmly attached to the ground), so I did the kind thing & picked it for him.


Such happiness! He waved it around like a fan, scrunched it up to hear what noise it made, explored it to see what happened if he put a finger in one of the holes made by a greedy caterpillar, and finally started chewing on the red stalk with crazy gleaming eyes.


I'm really looking forward to next spring, when he can help me out with the garden. I think he'll be quite the assistant!

Furballs?

Jarvis really loves his friend BoomBoom the cat. Really loves her. So much he wants to eat her tail. Which he did about three seconds after I took this.

Fortunately she's a very very strange cat who doesn't really care if her fur gets pulled out/ears get tugged on/tail is eaten. She just lies there with this ambivalent expression on her face, purring like a lawnmower. Jarvis on the other hand lights up whenever he sees her. I have a feeling she loves him too, she just doesn't want to spoil her tough cat image...

Jarvis and his conversation with the moon.

At 3.30 this morning Jarvis had a long & involved conversation with the moon. He had woken for a feed at 3, happily been tucked back into his cot, and after lying there for a couple of minutes gazing around the room, started his conversation.

The full moon was on Sunday, so the moon is still nice & big & round, and last night's clear sky meant that around 3.30am the vineyard was completely lit up...and our somewhat dodgy venetian blinds couldn't stop the silver light sneaking into the bedroom.

What on earth could Jarvis & the Moon be discussing at 3.30 in the morning?

• Maybe they were discussing the tides, and how a rock in the sky can control so much water
• Maybe he was asking why it's so very hard to sleep when the moon is full?
• Maybe he was getting a bit of first hand knowledge about the moon & how it helps things grow (Hey, the kid lives in the middle of a biodynamic vineyard. It's to be expected!)
• Maybe he was thanking the moon for making everything look so silvery & pretty

Whatever it was, he was chattering away for about forty five minutes, giggling and laughing, blowing bubbles, then he said goodnight, let out a big sigh, and fell asleep again...

I Love Ryan Adams...

My Cats Like to Hide in Boxes

Two cats, guarding the fireplace. Not often you'll see them side by side, very strange indeed...

Shundies & Wild Hair

Such marvellous shundies! All blue & stripey & soft... Jarvis is practising some yoga moves here.

Jarvis & Nana

Slightly fuzzy photo, but the expression on this child is just superb...What on earth is going through his mind?

Mummy & Bunny

I've always called Jarvis my bunny...so when we were in Manawatu we figured we should get a picture of him in Bunnythorpe. Just for entertainment. It was really really bright so not the best pics (that's why we're not looking at the camera!), he's dressed in his favourite beagle boys pjs...

Dorothy

I was remembering our time in Central Otago this morning, and started thinking about my friend Dorothy. Dorothy was the best chicken in the world. She turned up on our doorstep one morning, after rambling through an orchard filled with peaches, nectarines, apricots and other goodies...She was the biggest chicken I'd ever laid eyes on. She was a friendly chicken, you could pick her up & give her a pat, she'd sit beside me outside in the sunshine & keep me company when I was home & Shane was at work.

Her visits became more frequent. Each morning we'd get up, go out to the lounge of our dilapidated cottage, and see her silhouette lurking on the other side of the frosted glass front door. We'd open the door, and in she'd waddle, gobbling up the crumbs from our toast. (she was a good chicken & never left a mess of any sort!).

The day before we left town, she came down as usual, came inside, and laid the biggest egg I've ever seen in the corner of the lounge. A special parting gift. We ate it on the beach in Amberley as we camped our way up to the North Island...it was so big it wouldn't even fit in the egg carton, and as yellow as the sun.

Lovely...