Rhyme Time

Every morning in the car on the way to school drop off, the kids and I play a different game.  Some days it's me asking them the names of particular baby animals, eye spy or thinking of a different animal starting with A and then working all the way through to Z.  Yesterday, Grace decided that we'd pick a word and then go through all the other words that rhyme with it.  It's usually nice and simple and I'm often amazed at how clever they are at coming up with an abundance of different words.  As she chose the game today, she got to chose the first word.  She chose "Witch"

You can see where this is going hey?  I knew as soon as she uttered that word that it could get messy.

She came up with "stitch" as the first rhyming word.  Perfect.  But then I could hear Xav over the back going through the letters and adding a different one to the start, trying to work out a word.  Excited, he then yelled out,

"I know Mummy, Bitch rhymes with Witch, doesn't it?"

I was hoping I hadn't heard right as I was fairly sure he'd never hear this word before, so I asked him what that word meant.

"You know, when you are a drummer you have a good Bitch" 

Oh, crap - now I was starting to get nervous about where he had heard the word and what context it had been in.  So I re clarified, asking again what that word meant.

"Mummy, like a drummer.  You know, they have good Bitch - like in music"

Then I clicked.  He was trying to say PITCH!  So after much reinforcement of correct pronunciation, he got it and was still quite happy that pitch rhymed with witch.  Later I realised that I probably should have explained that Bitch really meant female dog, but at the time I was a little taken aback! 

Xavier

I really need to brush the cobwebs out of here, but every time I come in I get overwhelmed!  I've had so much that I want/need to blog about, but trying to work out where to start after such a long break has been weighing me down.  So, I thought I'd just plonk something down to break the ice.

My little boy just cracks me up at the moment!  I meant to blog ages ago about his funny little habit of slipping the word "actually" into every sentence, sometimes twice.  He managed it seamlessly for about a month, but stopped suddenly a few weeks ago.  After quizzing him on it, he said that he'd overheard me telling someone, and was a bit upset so stopped.  Oops!  I "actually" thought it was very cute, and it just proves again to me how strong willed my little boy is - he stopped immediately!

Some other funny little Xavier moments.  He told me the other morning that he wanted to start a rock band and travel the world.  When I asked him where in the world he's be travelling he said "Africa, Trude's place, Logan's place, Nanny's place - all over the world!"  He's allocated himself to the drums and lead singer, whilst Daddy will be on the maracas, Grace on the tambourine and I'm on the keyboard.  We are going to travel around with Xav the self labelled "rockstar".  Sounds like fun hey!

There are many more funny Xav moments, but it's hard to remember them all.  I spend most of the day laughing with him or engaged in deep, thought provoking conversation.  He is the coolest kid to talk too and sometimes the way he analyses and thinks about things just blows my mind!  He's been so patient and understanding over the last few weeks as I've been spending lots of time on assignments and study.  He plays happily with his cars/lego/planes/bike only bothering me only for something to eat.  Sometimes, I can tell he's so desperate for someone to play with though - so I have a break and immerse myself into his little world.  To see his whole face light up and his play get even more animated  when I'm pretending to be the voice for a car or whatever job I've been given, is just beautiful.  He still misses Grace crazily when she is at school, and although he is quite happy to play by himself, when she is here they are in their own little universe together.  They play so wonderfully together, and the thought and imagination that oozes out when they do is beautiful. 

Xav is such a loving and cuddly little boy.  Every day he tells me he loves me (although today he told me that Rockstars don't kiss their mummies!).  Every night, without fail, he still sneak into our bed and hops in beside me for a cuddle - which I love. 

September

September has been and gone.  Spring was here too, although for a brief moment and has now morphed back in to winter.  I've been busy studying, midwifing, parenting, procrastinating and trying to keep all balls in the air.  There was a mid-semester breakdown last week.  I'd had enough of spending the days trying to write essays, construct reports and just generally keep up with the uni work load.  I wanted to be out enjoying the beautiful spring weather with my family, not stuck in the abyss of databases.  My mini breakdown coincided with the "normal" mid semester break on the timetable.  Unfortunately my course doesn't allow for such a frivoulous waste of time, so we just keep ploughing on.  I am taking this week off doing shifts though so I can at least spend some time doing fun stuff with the kids whilst Grace is on holidays.  I still have course work, appointments and a few quick hospital appointments I have to make.  I've also got someone coming up to their birthing day, so that can always change even the best laid plans.  I've completed all my skills and practical exams now, so just needing to finish all my hospital hours, 2 assignments, 1 exam and then I am officially halfway to being a midwife.  Oh, that is a little exciting and very scary.  I've also been fortunate to be invited into the honours program, which apparently is a big deal and something I should be putting some serious thought in to.  Later, when I have time I'll think about it.

Apart from the pulling and tugging in all different directions, I'm loving this semester.  Having so much practical at the hospital is fantastic, and although there are some people to be wary of, most of the midwives are wonderful and so keen to share knowledge with the next wave of midwives.  It's such a hands on course, and I'm still blown away about some of the exeriences that I've already had.

The kids are wonderful.  Grace is enjoying her holidays, spending lots of time with Grandma and Daddy.  Next week though I have some fun adventures planned with her and I.  She had her spring festival on the last day of term and was so excited to be hanging out with the big primary kids. The theme was "Dreamtime" and all the children where asked to wear yellow, red or black.  The older kids danced around the maypole, which was mesmerising and exciting for everyone.   All the classes had been busy coming up with business adventures to develop and sell at the spring markets.  The preppies got off easy and just had to harrass their parents for home made goodies, which were sold at the market for 50 cents per serve.  Some of the wonderful ideas from the older classes were badges, ice blocks, potted vegies and seedlings, second hand clothes, mystery show bags and face painting.  The children were all asked to bring along $5.00 to spend, which managed to go along way as everything was so cheap.  Grandma also came along, but spent most of her money on the children that were busking

She also lost her second tooth.  It had become wobbly on Jaspers birthday and she lost it on Logan's birthday!  It was put out for the tooth fairy, who left another little charm for her bracelet.