Horrid

Translation:

I'm a little girl
Who had a little curl
Right in the middle of my forehead.
When I was good
I was very very good,
But when I was bad
I was horrid!

Tomatoes

Well, the tomatoes grew and grew, and even got some flowers. Then they succumbed to ... something. The leaves withered and died, and some were eaten by a mystery marauder. Fortunately, perhaps, Louka's interest has subsided.

Market day

Graham was keen to get up early and buy a tray of mangoes at Flemington Market. Fortunately Louka woke up early anyway, so a quick breakfast and off we went. We found a convenient parking spot easily and soon figured out where the fruit stalls were. There weren't many mangoes: perhaps it's the end of the season. But we also got a box of cherries, some nice fresh-looking ginger, some sugar bananas (not much dearer than the regular variety) and some swordfish and scallops for dinner. Louka enjoyed the free sweetcorn kernels.

Then Graham dropped Louka and me at North Sydney Produce Markets, where Louka walked in the dead leaves, we had babycino, coffee and nice little cakes for morning tea, and I bought some more specialist food: Tartine fruit bread, Jersey milk, and lamb and mint sausages. We also found a rather good playground on the same council land, where Louka did some advanced climbing.


However, when asked which market she'd enjoyed more, she said the fruit and vegetable one.

Louka the ranger

Today Cumberland State Forest held a mini ranger session as part of its school holiday program. The kids, 3 - 6 year olds, got a little talk about the creatures in the forest, then did a "bark" painting (on a thin slice of wood), followed by a little bushwalk. They got to take home a colouring book and a "mini ranger" cardboard hat, as well as their bark painting. Louka enjoyed it and would have liked to stay, but I had an appointment at 1 o'clock so after a quick drink at Café Saligna we had to leave.

Floaties again

After being so enthusiastic about the floaties, I went and left them at the pool!

Graham bought some new ones, of an unusual style. We tried them out today: they worked well, but Louka found them uncomfortable under her arms. I think I'll buy her some more of the conventional kind.

It took her a little while to get the hang of moving around again, but she was immediately happy in the deep water on her own.

Rush trip to the mountains

Today was the second sunday of the month, which is supposed to be when Blackheath Growers Market is held. So yesterday we thought we'd hop in the car first thing this morning and go marketing.

Well, we actually had breakfast first, and headed off at 8am. Reached Blackheath about 10, only to find no sign of any market. They must take a summer holiday. So we drove down the road to see if my parents were at their weekender.

They were, in fact, still having breakfast! So we drove back up the road and collected some pastries from the Wentworth St Bakery and took them back to share coffee with my parents. Then we went for a very slow walk down the Fairfax Track down to Govett's Leap. Louka got rather grumpy and wanted to be carried on the way back, and fell asleep in my arms. I dumped her on the bed without waking her while Graham went back to the bakery for some lunch. After a leisurely lunch Louka woke up and we headed home. She didn't fall asleep again in the car as I'd rather expected, but Graham did have a little nap.

Home away from home

I think Louka feels very at home at the museum. Today, because it's school holidays, there was a long queue to get in, reaching almost to the corner of the street. She kept trying to jump the queue.

It wasn't so bad once we were in. Louka headed straight for the dinosaurs, and stayed for a while in front of the Jobaria and Afrovenator skeletons. She knows their names now. She had to take turns playing in the sand tray and with the design-a-dinosaur computer program, so she couldn't spend so long there. We went to Kidspace and painted some seahorses, then down to the bistro for a drink and the bread rolls we'd brought with us (I'm a bit over their fish and chips). Then we wandered through the Surviving Australia exhibition, played in the virtual water table and watched a virtual crocodile swim the length of the water table, but moved along when a huge shark jumped out at us. We sat and stroked the dingo and examined the insects and seedpods under the sliding magnifying glass.

By now Louka seemed to be just wandering vaguely, and sometimes lying on the floor, so I managed to get her to leave. She walked along the stone wall along Hyde Park, but was ready to be carried the rest of the way to the station. Then, in the train, she put her head on my lap and promptly fell asleep.

I'm a convert

Louka loves the pool, but she's never been able to let go of me where she can't reach the bottom. Fair enough. Last time we were at the pool I saw a little girl in a flotation vest manage to paddle to the edge of the pool. I looked around at vests, but none seemed quite right, and they had to fit properly. So Daddy suggested floaties. Well, I thought, if they don't work out I can still go looking for a vest.

Today we tried them out. After about five minutes Louka was perfectly happy to let go of me at the deep end of the pool. Soon she was able to kick and paddle herself from the edge to where I was standing, then back to the edge again. After half an hour she paddled right across the pool by herself. She was very pleased with herself!

Next time I'll take the camera.