Happy Xmas

2012 has certainly been our most intra-family interactive christmas so far. Both girls have got into the spirit with learning christmas carols, Ella's primary speciality being spoofs of jingle bells, while Katy can do a very cute rendition of "we wish you a merry xmas."

Christmas excited-ness kicked off late last night with Santa sack preparation, including the requisite glass of water and chocolate biscuit for Santa, and a carrot for the reindeer. We also had a mad dash out into the rain to sprinkle "magic reindeer food" (a.k.a oats and sparkles) onto the lawn so they would have something to eat while they waited for Santa to deliver the goods.

Come this morning we had a pile of presents that dwarfed our poor little tree, and Santa sacks "with a lump in it" as Katy explained to Grandad when she woke up.

Christmas dinner was over at Susie's house this year -- a traditionally chaotic group cooking effort, followed by lethargy, cricket, stunt bikes and a long walk/ride with a large fraction of the family (involving a large muddy puddle which enabled Ella and Mia to cover their new christmas clothes in mud).

Ella Graduates

It's the end of an era for Ella who attended 2 graduation ceremonies this week!

First it was Acton Childcare end of year celebration and graduation ceremony. Each of the three rooms performed some of their favourite songs. Unfortunately Katy didn't participate as she was recovering from a gastro bug she picked up on Monday night. Ella's room, the Kanooka's were in full swing though. They even performed the Three Little Pigs, in which Ella was the second little pig. The ceremony ended with 15 or so children saying goodbye. Each child received a certificate and pack of seeds.

This afternoon was Ella's last day at Aranda Preschool. The children brought in a plate to share and only once all the food was eaten, did they perform various songs complimented with actions and dancing.

Partied Out

End of year celebrations rule december partyember. We've had all kinds keeping us busy....

We began the month began by decorating our christmas tree.

Nic and Gareth's Housewarming where we met up with all the cousins!

Acton Childcare Xmas Party which included a jumping castle, face painting, crazy hair and even a visit from Santa!

 The annual JMcSwash Xmas gathering held at the Searle abode.

Andy's Work Xmas Party at Uriarra which had fabulous weather for swimming and a visit from Santa who happened to be drifting down the river!

Not to mention the Acton Childcare End of Year Celebration and Graduation Ceremony, preschool end of year party, several dinners/BBQ with friends and a couple of little people birthday parties. Phew I need a holiday!!

Vegie Patch Update

This year I've tried a few different things in the vegie patch namely garlic and potatoes. Harvesting these recently produce mixed results. The garlic didn't resemble a head of garlic at all - it looked like a clove on steroids - not actually amounting to very much. However this afternoon after returning from the JMcSwash Xmas party (more on that later)  I decided it was time to dig up the potatoes.  Here is the result - I was very impressed with the large quantity of Royal Blue potatoes harvested. Definitely will try this again next year.

The rest of the vegie patch is coming along nicely. The zucchini's are flowering. The snow peas are growing along with the cherry tomatoes. Even the nextdoor neighbours rocket has taken off. And in the garden, the apricot and dwarf nectarine trees are on their way to producing their first crop and the feijoa tree is flowering beautifully.

 

 

Meanwhile the lemon tree has been under attack from Bronze Orange bugs who suck all the goodness out of the new growth. The poor tree had hundreds of these like creatures who in infancy are green, then slowly change to orange during childhood, brown in adolescence and finally black in adulthood! Not only do they smell but are quite dangerous as they can squirt a caustic like fluid. After reading up on them, the best solution is to hand pick the bugs off the tree and pop them into some hot water. So on several occasions I have been kitted up to deal with these little guys and seems like I'm winning.

Clever Katy

Katy is growing up fast! Although she is confident with drawing people and faces, she isn't so with writing letter or numbers. However during the week, she had a go at writing her name. Not bad for a first attempt. Another highlight was yesterday's swimming lesson. As it was the last lesson (and possibly the last ever at CISAC as we are going to try the AIS next year) we arrived early to have a turn on the jumping pillow as well as a pre lesson splash. During this swim Katy spent more time under the water than above! Also as it was the last lesson, the instructors (or mum in our case) take the kids down the curly enclosed water slide for a bit of fun. For the last year Katy has always been keen to go down until we sit down at the top of the slide when she decides it too scary and starts to cry. By this time it is too late to turn around so we slide down together with Katy howling! Not this time though - there was no crying, just giggling and after splashing in the water at the bottom, there was even a request to go again and again!

Bladder Stretching

After several attempts to get Ella dry at night, we have sought the help of a well know physiotherapist here in Canberra who specialises in continence solutions. Ella is now into week 3 of stretching her bladder. The physio's theory acknowledges the 5 factors which contribute to bed wetting - heavy sleeper, family history, small bladder, too much urine production at night and constipation. Poor Ella has 4 out of 5 of these and combined with the fact that she doesn't drink enough early in the day results in leaking during the day and then flooding at night.

The main focus of the bladder stretching program is to increase fluids during the day (especially in the morning), so that the bladder increases it's capacity to fill and hold (as well as sending the right message to the brain).

Ella thinks it's great as she gets to drink juice and fruit boxes (making the extra drinking enjoyable for the kids is important) although we have gone backwards regarding wetting during the day. But that's to be expected as Ella now has 2 glasses (usually banana milkshake) at breakfast, a fruit juice popper at both morning tea and lunch, a glass of water at afternoon tea and 1 glass of milk or water with dinner.

Our aim is to get Ella dry by the start of school next year.....