This is my 200th Post! Celebration time!
Wordless Wednesday: A Bit of Celebrating
Baby Fashion Parade: Slugs & Snails Tights
This is not a sponsored post and I was not paid or obligated to write it in any way. I was the lucky winner of the lovely tights I’m showing off here, and I loved them so much I wanted to share them. All other clothing was bought (mostly on special). The toy keys were from secret santa. The baby cost way too much to discuss in polite company . . .
A little while ago, I was the very lucky winner in a Facebook competition run by the Irish company, Slugs & Snails which makes fabulous tights which are perfect for little boys (and rather cute for little girls too!). After finding a lack of bright, colourful tights for boys on the market, they set out to make some of their own, complete with a gorgeous range of designs.
Back in December, we received the 5 sets of tights which we won. Knowing that it would be way too hot to wear tights in a Brisbane summer, I ordered the 12-18 month size, which fortunately fits (though a little loosely) now at 6 months. It’s great knowing we’re going to get a full Autumn and Winter out of them. Although he couldn’t wear them straight away, Squirm was very pleased to receive them . . .
Squirm receives the package
New Tights!
Well they definitely match my bouncer!
Two of the lovely pairs
Look at them all!
Since the weather has started to cool down a bit in Brisbane, we’ve had two opportunities to try the tights on. They’re pretty easy to put on, especially if you use the old ballet dancer trick of gathering them all up in your hand before you slip them over the feet. They’re lovely and thick and feel very strong. The colours are bright and they really are striking – Squirm got a number of comments when wearing them – especially the spider ones!
Since we were finally getting to wear them, we (I) decided a fashion show was needed. Unfortunately the model needed feeding and sleep before we got to model all five sets of tights, but we got some nice shots of the other four pairs.
Rollin Road Tights
High Flyer Tights
Fun Guy Tights
Ivor Spider Tights
These tights really are a lovely addition to Squirm’s wardrobe. I would highly recommend them, especially with the cooler months coming in Australia. Now if only you could get things this awesome in adult size . . .
Slugs & Snails
The Great Library Tour: Bracken Ridge Library
This was actually my second visit to Bracken Ridge library. I’d been previously for a baby-wearing meet, but I’d forgotten to take any photos that time. Although I remembered to take some photos this time, they were definitely less than great! Maybe I’ll need to make a third trip to finally get the perfect photo.
Bracken Ridge Library is located pretty deep in northern Brisbane suburbia, and in fact might be the most northerly library in the Brisbane City system (I’m going to have to check that, now). It’s another park library, though this park is more playground and less like the green settings you can find at Carina or the Grange. It’s also part of a larger community centre, including the local Councillor’s office.
The children’s area is situated close to the entrance of the library, opposite the check out desks and next to the meeting room. It’s quite a small area, with shelving around the outside of the area and low shelves making a small seating area in the middle. The only real seating is set up in front of a television, so isn’t really ideal for reading to children, nor are the low shelves appropriate for more than one person to sit on, so I ended up sitting with Squirm on the floor. It’s very open, so there were times when it felt less like a children’s area and more like a thoroughfare between the meeting room and the rest of the library.
There were some absolutely lovely books in the library, all well organised and easy to find. I liked that the children’s non fiction was also incorporated into the children’s section, something which can be a bit hit and miss with Brisbane City libraries. There were some lovely paintings above the bookshelves, which definitely helped to brighten up the area. I also liked the book displays ‘selling’ different books. However, this wouldn’t be a library where I could see lots of children spending time in – it felt a lot more like a ‘check out books’ library than a ‘relax and spend time here’ library
The best parts of Bracken Ridge Library
- The paintings above the bookshelves
- The lovely range of books and the excellent condition they’re in
- There’s a lovely seating area outside as part of the community centre and a great looking playground for older children
Important Information about Bracken Ridge Library
Corner Bracken and Barrett Streets, Bracken Ridge
Open Tuesday to Friday
Parking available
Squirm’s Book Reviews: Learning Edition
Each week I review books we’ve read with Squirm. Find other reviews here
Rex by Ursula Dubosarsky
(AWW 2013 Squirm Challenge: Book 18)
Rex is the class pet, a rather amazing class pet who goes home with different students. When Rex and the student are at home together, they have amazing adventures, which the students then write about. Rex goes swimming, climbs buildings, scares customers, gets dressed up and goes to movies. What will he do next?
This is a lovely book on the power of imagination. Rex is only a small lizard, but in the minds of the children, he is really the size of a dinosaur – taking on great adventures. The illustrations are childlike – a mixture of painting and drawing, giving us just a little insight into the imagination of the children. It also uses a range of different backgrounds and textures to really make the pictures pop out.
This would be the perfect book to read when introducing a class pet, even if it was a toy which went home with the students. You could talk about the kind of activities which you would ‘do’ with the pet, and how you could use a picture to tell stories if not words. You could also use this with older students to talk about the way a small thing can spark big imaginations.
If you’re still at home with children, you could use this book to talk about lizards and dinosaurs. You could also make up some adventures that a lizard or a dinosaur could have and make your own book of adventures. You could also use a stuffed animal to ‘have adventures’ and draw pictures or take photos to make your own book of stories.
Bog Frog Hop by Kyle Mewburn
Bog Frog Hop is a rhyming, repetitive story of pollywogs turning into frogs and sitting on a log, while the mischievous dog comes by to play. It’s also a great counting book, moving up and down from ten pollywogs to ten frogs. (Only one dog, though)
I really enjoyed reading this one. The rhyme and rhythm in it were perfect, making it very easy to read aloud. The pictures are bright, colourful and engaging, drawn in a distinctive, but simple style. It would be a lot of fun to use this style to make a mural or an artwork in a similar style.
This would be the perfect book when introducing the idea of ten in the classroom. There’s a whole bunch of ‘rainbow’ numbers (the way different numbers can add up to make ten) You could easily use drawings or cut outs to play with this concept in the classroom. There’s also some great alliterative and rhyming language which would be a great thing to play with in an English classroom.
If you’ve got children still at home you could play with bright colours and the illustration style, as well as practice counting up and down to ten and making up your own language to create a story. You could also make a great dance or action activity with this book, or even turn parts of it into a song.
Book Talk 1: Our Australian Girl Series
It’s time for my first proper Book Talk (Last time I just gave you the intro!)
This time we’re talking about the Our Australian Girl books, which are a fabulous series of historical fiction books telling the stories of Australia.
Find more information about the Our Australian Girl Series here
Read my reviews of Meet Grace, Meet Letty, Meet Poppy and Meet Rose
Can you recommend any good historical fiction for kids?
Will The Sky Fall if I Publish This Post? – Anxiety and Parenting
There’s a lot to worry about when you’ve got children. You’ve got to worry about how they’re doing when you’re pregnant and how you’re going to cope with the birth. You’ve got to worry about whether you’ll be able to feed the way you want and whether the baby will put on enough weight when you leave the hospital. Whether they’ll react to the vaccinations and if that weird thing they’re doing is something wrong or just a normal developmental stage. When to start swimming lessons, music lessons, sky diving lessons . . . it’s easy for it to all build up.
So how does that affect you when you have anxiety?
I have Generalised Anxiety Disorder with a healthy dose of Social Anxiety. I was diagnosed with this about 7 years ago, although I’ve probably had it most my life, and I went through cognitive behaviour therapy to deal with it. I’m not on any medications, and I look after myself through relaxation and mind exercises, being aware of when things are building up, and trying to keep in general good health. There have been periods which have been very dark, when anxiety slips into depression, but probably 90% of the time, things are very manageable.
But how does it affect me as a mother?
Well in some ways, not as much as I thought it would. Some of that has to do with the parenting style Mr Pilot and I have chosen to get us through Squirm’s infant years. We don’t fuss about sleep or routines (partly because we haven’t needed to and partly because we’re aware that babies march to their own little drum corp). We’ve tried to simplify our lives as we’ve become parents and that’s contributed to a bit more calm. It’s also easier because we’ve been very blessed to have a healthy child, who is generally pretty happy.
But there are some times when the anxiety makes things very hard. I worry myself into a state at times, and need to check immediately that Squirm is ok. I had horrific nightmares that I’d lost him in the early days and would wake up searching for him. I get overly worked up over things which do not impact directly on me – debates like cry it out and breastfeeding. I also have a lot of trouble driving to new places – which has definitely been challenged by the library tour!
Then there’s my little strain of social anxiety which makes it very hard to interact with people and to use the telephone. I worry a lot about what people are thinking about me, so I’ll put off making connections with other people in case I look stupid. I hate the telephone because I think I sound stupid, which makes it very hard to make appointments or set up things like lessons. And then, if I feel something has gone wrong I worry over it again and again.
I don’t want my son to see me as an anxious person. I want to be brave, to try new things, to be willing to set out and make things happen. I need to live in the moment, rather than worrying over what happened or what might happen in the future. It’s difficult, it takes a lot of brain work, and a lot of inspiration – sometimes from the strangest places. But I’m going to do my very best not to let the worries take control of my parenting.
Have you experienced anxiety as a parent? How do you deal with it?
Image from Flickr
The Great Library Tour: Indooroopilly Library
I’m not sure what possessed me, but after a little running away, I made my way to the very under-construction Indooroopilly Shopping Centre. Tucked up on the top level, along with the cinemas, is the Indooroopilly Library. It’s a bit of an oasis in a busy shopping centre, a place to stop and collect yourself, before heading out to where all the noise and people are.
It surprised me how bright and airy the library felt, considering that it was in the middle of a shopping centre. There’s a lot of seating areas around the library, including a lovely looking lounge near the front door (complete with displays) and a gorgeous little seating area near a collection of craft materials for kids – parents can sit and relax while kids create! (I also love that this area was in the ‘main library’ – making it clear that children are welcome in all spaces, not just the one reserved for them.
The children’s area itself is gorgeous. It’s full of bright colours, and the lady beetle/bee and superhero themes which you find on the children’s library cards. I was particularly fond of the little lounge area tucked in the corner, with a couple of comfy chairs and its own chandelier! I’d imagine children would feel quite ‘grown up’ sitting there to read.
There’s a lovely arrangement of low shelves, both in a collection in the middle and along one wall, with children’s novels across other walls. There’s more seating near a raised ‘stage’ area and a gorgeous ring of soft seats with a cosy middle area to sit in. There’s also a very cool floor projector which was fun for Squirm to crawl on. I also loved the little decorating details, with tiny decorations above the doorway in, which were then reflected in the ends of the bookshelves.
The staff were very friendly, both around the children’s area and in the general parts of the library. There were lovely displays around the library, which (once again) made me want to borrow books from a different library system (although, I get plenty of books from Moreton Bay and there is absolutely no reason to join another library!). Although the parking at Indooroopilly is awful at the moment, I thoroughly recommend getting on a train, heading that way and visiting their really lovely library.
(While you’re there, if you’ve got a little one and are looking for some new clothes, check out the area near Target – all the kids clothes in one section!)
The best parts of Indooroopilly Library
- The chandelier in the kids section – a bit of fun class
- The way children are welcomed in other parts of the library
- The details of decoration around the library
Important Information about Indooroopilly Library
Indooroopilly Shopping Centre, Level 4, 322 Moggill Rd, Indooroopilly 4068
Open 7 Days a Week
Parking available
AWW Challenge 2013: Week Six
Follow my journey through the AWW 2013 challenge here
A slower week, with only two books finished, although I’ve started a couple of others. (I’ve never been good at finishing one book before starting another) I started with a fabulous crime novel which mixed detectives and paramedics with Cold Justice by Katherine Howell, then finished up with a story of finding your place in the adult world while coming to terms with the past, by reading Holier than Thou by Laura Buzo. Both were fabulous books, so although I didn’t read a lot this week, I think I read well!
I also read and reviewed some more books for Squirm. I think I will enter them in as a separate ‘person’ in the challenge. They’re very different to the books I’ve reading as an adult, and I review them in a very different way. While ‘regular’ reviews of Australian Women Writers are important, book reviews which offer activities and lesson ideas are also essential – getting books by Australian Women Writers into classrooms and to be used with early childhood is important to help us increase the diversity of reading in our children’s lives.
Subversive Reader Books Read and Reviewed
Squirm’s Books Read
- 16. Button Boy by Rebecca Young (Reviewed)
- 17. Dancing with Grandma by Rosemary Mastnak (Reviewed)
- 18. Rex by Ursula Dubosarsky
- 19. Little Red Bear by Penny Matthews
- 20. Kisses for Daddy by Frances Watts
Subversive Reader Reviews: Holier Than Thou (AWW2013)
Book reviews and AWW posts can be found here.
AWW2013 – Book 22
Holier Than Thou
Laura Buzo
Adult Contemporary Novel
Library Book, Moreton Bay Regional Libraries
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You know those books where you read a bit and you think that it’s ok. Then you read a bit more and you think it’s pretty good. Then you read more and suddenly you can’t get it out of your mind? Well, that was Holier Than Thou. It’s a ‘slice of life’ novel about Holly, a woman in her early 20s, with a great boyfriend, great living conditions and a job which she does well, even when it’s difficult. Despite how good thing are, she finds herself drawn back to her past, in memories of her father’s death and the people who surrounded her at the time.
I really liked Holly, even though at first I wasn’t sure I did. She’s like one of those people you’re not sure about when you first meet them, but before you know it they’re one of your closest friends. She’s feeling a real disconnect with old friends, most of whom are doing big things in the corporate world, while Holly struggles with the demands of being a social worker. It’s also very clear that she hasn’t dealt fully with the death of her father, and that at some point she’s going to let everything fall down around her.
The story really unfolds for you, slowly letting you into more and more of Holly’s life and deepest emotions. You find yourself really in her corner, cheering her on when good things happen and begging her to make the ‘right’ choices. The writing is lush and descriptive, enveloping you in Holly’s world – both past and present. I really, really enjoyed this one, and I look forward to finding Laura Buzo’s first book, Good Oil to read as well.
Subversive Reader Reviews: Cold Justice (AWW2013)
Book reviews and AWW posts can be found here.
AWW2013 – Book 21
Cold Justice
Katherine Howell
Adult Mystery/Crime Novel
Library Book, Moreton Bay Regional Libraries
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It’s been a while since I’ve read a crime/detective novel, and I tend to be really hit and miss when I do read them. I’ve never read them with the intention of ‘catching’ the criminal, I prefer to be taken along for the ride wherever it might take me. Which is why Katherine Howell’s Cold Justice was such a great read – it was definitely an exciting ride to be taken on!
I knew nothing about this series when I first picked up the book, so for the first couple of chapters I really felt like I’d been thrown in the deep end. I’ve since learned that Katherine Howell focuses on the same detective each book, but a different pair of paramedics – so all readers would have been thrown in the deep end with one part of the story. Lucky, it doesn’t take very long for the pieces to start to fall into place, and it’s an excellent chance for my inference skills to get a work out.
Ella Marconi is a detective coming back to the job after being shot. She’s been put on to a Cold Case to work out what happened to a 17 year old boy, Tim Pieters, who was killed nineteen years earlier. The girl who found the body, Georgie, is now a paramedic on ‘review’ after suffering workplace abuse in her old position. She comes to the attention of Ella, as well as her partner Freya who just happened to be an old school friend. Then there’s Tim’s family, who are all dealing with the reopening of the case in different and sometimes very strange ways.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I loved the different characters, the way the plot unravels and the way things interact. I really enjoyed the paramedics story and the way it interacted with Ella’s story. It may have been a little convenient the way it all came together by the end of the book – but I suppose that it sometimes the way it works in the real world – and a case that wasn’t solved by the end of the book, wouldn’t be half as interesting.
There’s a lot of positive talk around about Katherine Howell’s latest book in the series, and I will have to track it down! I really want to read more of this series and spend some more time with this fascinating character and different approach to crime fiction.
Adventures of a Subversive Reader 