Cycling to Chatswood

Today we took the bike out for our first real ride. We rode to Chatswood (not for mothers' group, because Louka was asleep till 1pm). We rode mostly on the footpath, which felt safer but not very convenient. We had to keep stopping for pedestrians and to cross roads. I managed to get out of first gear for a little while.

We locked up the bike outside Chatswood Chase and got Louka some winter tops and some books. By then it was getting late and time to go home.

It's definitely faster and less tiring than walking to Chatswood with Louka in the sling or the baby bjorn!

Progress report

Louka's really come on in her understanding in the last few weeks. When I put a top over her head, she starts trying to put her arms through the sleeves, and when I say "hands up in the air" she raises her arms to let me pull her top off. When we're reading a book, I say "turn the page for mummy" and she turns the page. At swimming lessons, she puts the toys back in the bucket when asked. And she tries, with little success, to fit keys into the lock on the door.

Riding the escalators

At the shopping centre, Louka likes to ride up and down the escalators.


And she can walk up the down escalator like a treadmill.

Louka the cyclist

Yesterday I picked up Mum's old bike from the bike shop. They'd modernised the gears and derailleurs, tidied up some of the worn-out bits, and fitted a child's bike seat, called bobike.

I rode back from Newtown to Redfern station with my hand on the brake the whole time, I think. I haven't ridden since before I got pregnant, and never with a baby in front of me. I was terrified. However, Louka obviously wasn't terrified and was quite comfortable, as she fell asleep halfway to the station and didn't wake while I carried her, on the bike, down the station steps and wheeled her onto the train. And she looks so cute in her little helmet with red and orange flames!

Busy saturday

The third saturday of each month is the Northside Produce Market at North Sydney. We don't always make it, but yesterday we did.


We had coffee, bacon-and-egg roll and pastries for breakfast. Then we had a wander around. Louka found a big stick.

Cootamundra Kid didn't have any of Graham's favourite goat sausages, but we did get some Parkers blood orange juice, some jersey milk and cream, some manchego cheese and a joint of kid.

Then we headed off to Croydon to look at a house for sale. It turned out to be a bit small, but the area was lovely and quiet, and close to my sister's place. We dropped in to see Micky and family, who had just got home from a very hectic morning.

Greenwich Baths

Some time ago, Andrea suggested that the mothers group go to Greenwich Baths. For some reason which I don't remember, I couldn't make it, but now that summer is over and the warm weather nearly gone, I thought it would be good to go there before winter sets in. Unfortunately Tuesday was cool so no-one wanted to go (including me!). So I suggested today, with the forecast top temperature of 33°C. But everyone was busy.

Oh well, Louka didn't seem to want a nap, so we headed off. The baths are right at the end of the Greenwich peninsula, an area I never visited while I lived in Greenwich. They consist of just a fenced-off little beach, with gently sloping sand and hardly any waves. There's also a grassed area and a little kiosk.

Louka wandered into the water, then I picked her up and carried her deeper. We did some of the things we do at swimming lessons, then she wanted to run up the beach. When she reached the dry sand she did a face plant. Now she was covered in sand, so back into the water.

Then we sat on the grass for lunch. Louka ate a whole jar of baby food, and I had a burger and smoothie from the kiosk. Louka kept trying to carry the kids stools from the kiosk down to the beach, but I brought them back. Then she played for a while on a rocking... creature of some kind. Then back in the water to cool off and get clean, a quick (cold) shower and then home.

She fell asleep as soon as the car started to move, and I managed to get her out of the car, up the stairs, and into bed still asleep.

Lunch with Vanessa and Jessica

Vanessa was looking for a new job, and I agreed to be a referee. She then suggested we have lunch together, and invited Jessica who also works in the city.

We met at Wynyard station to decide where to go. The simplest option, right there in the station, was Wynstop. I haven't been there since many years ago, when it was the American Café, and thought it looked pretty ordinary. However, going there wouldn't waste time looking round, so there we went. And it was actually pretty good. My burger came with an italian sausage (as well as half an oak-leaf lettuce, most of which I didn't eat). The chips were nice and crisp.

Vanessa had got the job and will start some time in April. It will be in Pyrmont, so we should still be able to meet for lunch. And Jessica's contract is coming to an end, and she's not in a great hurry to get a new one, so she was pretty relaxed too.

Graham was able to join us too, and took Louka for a walk when she got fidgety. He brought her back just as Jessica was leaving, but she was still whingey. However, when Vanessa held her to let me get my stuff organised, she cheered up immensely.

Another birthday, another party

Actually today's barbecue was to celebrate both my dad's birthday and mine. Louka hadn't had a nap when we set out at noon for my parents' place, and contrary to expectations she didn't sleep in the car either.

She was in a very good mood when her cousins arrived. Max got her into hysterical laughter. She ate olives for the first time (in fact she didn't eat much except for olives and grapes). And she got to play in the paddling pool my parents had given her for a birthday present. It had been too cold and grey on the other days we'd been there.


Graham gave me a robot dragonfly for my birthday, which fascinated and frightened Louka.

Eventually, around afternoon tea time, I got her to sleep, and she slept for nearly two hours.

Chowder Bay open day

Last week I received an email from the Australian Museum, telling me that the Sydney Harbour Institute of Marine Science, at Chowder Bay, was going to have an open day today. I'd never heard of SHIMS, or even Chowder Bay, but I thought it could be interesting so we looked it up (it's in Mosman) and went along.

It's part of the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust, located on the waterfront in former Defence land. First we found a nice café where we had lunch, then headed a little further down the road to SHIMS.


On display outside their building was an autonomous underwater vehicle, with carbon fibre propellers that Louka discovered could be made to spin.


Further on we saw a demonstration of how water with different temperatures and salinities can form layers in the ocean.


We looked at sea slugs, sea urchins and other species under microscopes. There were fish, crabs, sea slugs and sea hares in tanks. And there were displays of whale bones, turtle shells, sharks fins and underwater photography.


When we'd seen it all, we wandered round the site, thinking that the beach at Clifton Gardens might be worth a return visit, had a smoothie from the café, then headed off to visit Graham's Nan.

12 month immunisation

Three days after her birthday, Louka was due for more immunisation shots at the Council clinic. This time there were three needles, one in each arm and one in a leg. The poor little girl howled, but was quickly pacified with a tiny teddy biscuit.

We had to wait 20 minutes in case of any reactions, during which time Louka ate nearly a whole jar of baby butter chicken. We didn't see anyone there that I knew, but we did see someone who knows Louka. When Graham takes Louka for an evening walk, he often passes this woman and her little boy in the front garden of a block of flats. She recognised Louka and came up and said hello.