South Bank

Today we went to South Bank to ride on the 'Wheel of Brisbane'.  It is kind of like the London Eye but smaller.  We went with friends who had a coupon for a half off.  When we got there it was closed, so after all that we didn't get to ride anyway.  It didn't really matter.  It was a beautiful day and the kids ran around happily chasing birds and each other and we sat in the sun and chatted.  It was a lovely way to spend a day.  You can see in Levi's eyes that he is still tired and we are both getting better but not quite there with the jet lag thing! 

The boys are so fun together and spent a lot of the afternoon conferring with each other about forts and what they were going to do to take after the seagulls again.  Just young child play.  Play that I love.  The kind that doesn't require adult interaction or direction and that seems to be as fluid as possible.  Next week I am on Outreach in Cairns for the week.  Levi will sleep upstairs for the week and I will work long hours.  It's fine but I miss him when I am gone!

GOMA

Levi and I went to GOMA (Gallery of Modern Art) this weekend.  We went with Jane and Lenore and picked up Ty on the way.  It was fantastic.  They have a great child oriented display at the moment.  There was a long table just of white Legos.  You can imagine how much time we had to spend there.  It was a great chance for adults to unbend and remember what it was like to be a child.  There were some really impressive buildings there as well.  They stay about three days and then they get taken down to be replaced with other buildings.  Levi and Ty spent hours building Lego and then we went around, looked at a few exhibits and at the end returned to the Lego.  They had choices like the bird room that had music and lights every place birds landed.  They could have chosen the slide that went down three storeys.  But No we went back to Lego.  You would have thought that they both didn't have a choice for Lego at home!!

What they would wait in line for though was the balloon room.  It was a huge room with glass doors.  Inside are 3000 purple balloons, blown up to be huge.  Then you could go inside and walk around in there.  It was over the boy's heads.  It was over the adult's heads.  It was really fun!

Here is our construction. 

The boys did the base and I did the star.

Parenting and thoughts of Inadequacy

Sleepovers are Rites of Passages for kids and Levi's went really well.  First off Ty's family picked him up from school and they went to play Mini Golf.  He loved it and then they went home and camped out on the deck.  Levi didn't really even ask for me which was great.  They went to bed late and woke up at the crack of dawn but they loved playing so much that I brought Ty home in the morn and they played all day as well.  I attacked weeds with the Weed Whacker until I got tired (and the motor got too hot and wouldn't restart).

Ty's parents and I talked when I went to pick him up.  They loved having him and are going to take Levi one afternoon a week which will reduce his time at after school care.  She said that they were going to invite a couple of kids but one of the other mothers said that if Levi was going then she didn't want to because Levi is a "bad influence".  Now regardless of how much that makes me want to jump up and beat someone, I have to think really hard.  The mother has a kid that I see as a fairly spoiled, bossy little guy that can't seem to do any wrong in his mother's eyes.  Now if I am looking really hard at Levi, maybe he could be a fairly spoiled, bossy little guy as well, but at least I recognize it.  But even after all of that, really how bad an influence can any 5 year old be?  I mean really!

Maybe I can forgive the slight to Levi's character but it is a little difficult to forgive the broadcasting of that to other families that are my and Levi's friends.  I told Ty's parents that the last thing that I wanted them to have to do was to choose a side over anything let alone something so ridiculously petty.  At least all the classes were split up, so they are in different classes.  I wouldn't do anything anyway.  It won't hurt Levi.  It will hurt me but I am big enough and ugly enough to be the parent.  But I will watch.  And I will have a low threshold for it actually impacting Levi.  Really they are all 5 or 6.  It is not like they are all going to be friends for life or anything.  I mean how many people even remember friends they had in Grade 1.  I see the early years of school as the place to learn things like getting along with other kids and working out differences

It is making me look harder at Levi and try to decide if perhaps the deluded parent is actually me.  Maybe I think he can do wrong but I don't set enough store by it.  Maybe I should be more controlling but even in the cold light of day I think it is nuts. 

How is he possibly able to learn anything if I show him how all the time? 

How can he possibly learn reasoning if I impose adult reasoning all the time? 

How can he learn to value truth without at some point feeling the repercussions of a lie? 

How is he supposed to mature if he never has to face up to any consequences or mistakes?

OK I am done! 

Now for happier stuff.  Our creek has changed since the big flood!



 Now it has a beautiful place to swim under the trees where the first little rapid is.  The kids can get in and it is incredibly safe for all out bigger kids.   Ruby and her family and Ty's family all went down for a dip after the hot, humidity that was the day.  The kids played in the water and threw rocks.  They were so happy and relaxed.  It did my heart good to watch them.  They are so lovely together.  At one point Ruby was having trouble getting across the stream and I when I let Levi know he came running over and held her hand until she was across safely.  It was a lovely afternoon!

Then tonight just when I thought it wasn't possible to love that little man more he said to me: 

"Mum, you know how I think you are the best, all the other kids must think their mother's are the best!"

I told him he was right. (Not until after there was a little pang in my heart for all those little kids out there for whom that is not true)

"So you might not be the best of all, but you will always be the best to me!"

Yes he's right.  I might not be the best mother ever but as long as he thinks that I am doing OK, that's sweet with me! 

Camping

Friday night we went camping.  Camping in the easiest possible way.  We went camping by the creek near the house.  It is perfect because if you forget something you can get it in seconds.  Plus if the kids need a toilet you can drive them up the driveway and know they are OK.  Levi had his mate Ty over and Pam, my friend from work helped me.  We camped on very soft ground that only a few days ago was a fluidized bed and a few days before that was under water by several metres.  It is safe enough there and we had already tested to see if the boys could climb up the hill in an emergency.  It was very dirty though and you can see by Levi's sweaty, muddy face that mud got everywhere. 

The boys ran around like mad things getting firewood and rocks to make a fire pit.  We grilled sausages and roasted marshmallows on sticks.  Then we tried to put them to bed.  They played and giggled for about an hour before they finally collapsed into slumber. 

The next morning they woke at the crack of '.  Actually it wasn't that bad.  It was about 6am.  There was no leisurely waking though; as soon as their eyes opened they were up and out of the tent to collect wood and climb hills and trees again!

Since I have been home, the flood waters have gradually receded and left the city scoured clean in areas and covered in mud in others.  It is awe inspiring to see the power of the water itself.  Huge swathes of cliff face have been sheared from the side of the roads, and there are gaping holes in roads and bridges, many of which are still closed.  There was just so much water.  There still is.  Our creek looks different now.  The course has changed a little and where there were two channels with a little island of rocks and trees in the centre, there is now a single watercourse, deeper than before, with rocks clean of any algae.  It is impressive that so much can change so quickly.  There are many people in Brisbane who will take weather reports more seriously now.