Where are the words??

Certainly not here, on this poor, cobwebbed blog.

And they're not in my diary either - I think the last time pen touched paper on those pages was new year's eve (and I don't think I even finished that entry).

The words are also missing from, er, Word. Yes, those plans I had for writing a short story have come to very little indeed.

You know what is frustrating? The words, they are all in my head! Spinning around and keeping me awake at 4am. And that is not terribly useful. Just annoying!

Anyway. I will get there. (Sigh)

***



On the home front we appear to be winning the potty training war. After months of having no idea of what we could possibly mean by 'you can make the wee come out!' T has finally had the penny drop. This is very exciting!

T is going to the potty about 15 times a day, just because she can!

She currently has this weird thing she does with her eyes, where she kind of stares into space with her eyelids half closed and eyeballs rotated up. It looks awful. And it is causing me to freak out in the middle of the night. 'Could it be a brain tumour? Maybe she has a brain tumour...'

One of our dear friends is an eye specialist. I took T to see her in her rooms; she's been checked out. Ain't no brain tumour, just a weird thing she does with her eyes. To freak her mama out...

Meanwhile, E is killing me slowly and painfully with his whining and failure to do simple tasks like put on shoes or brush teeth when he's asked to. This was really getting me down until I was chatting to some of the mums of other kids in his class and they all said, 'Gosh, we're getting that too!'

Glad to hear it's not just me. I have a bit of a theory that kids are always one step ahead of us (well, the eldest kid anyway - as they're the ones forging into uncharted parenting territory) and sometimes they throw us right out and need to catch up to where they're at. I think E is at one of those points right now.

So I spend my days being firm with him, in an effort to rein in his annoying behaviour. Then I feel guilty that I've been too tough on him. I am all over the place.

This morning I did a little treasure hunt for him and the final prize was two chocolate freckles. In response to my written clues he wrote me a note and it read: 'Dear Mum, Thank you for the freckles. I don't deserve them. Love E.'

I was flabbergasted and a bit horrified.

I mean, I've just been trying to teach him a few boundaries, I don't want to crush the kid's spirit!! My goodness, I felt so guilty.

Anyway. We do our best. Right?

Glut

It's so lovely having an abundant vegie garden, as we generally do. But sometimes the abundance is all a bit much.

Here are yesterday's pickings:



Quite what I am going to do with that many cucumbers, I am not sure!!

What will this year bring?

Ooh, I love the start of a new year. Optimism is at its peak and it's exciting to think of what might be ahead of us. Well, that's the way I'm approaching 2012 anyway.

2011 wasn't the easiest of years, plenty of challenges and sadness were thrown our way. But this year is going to be different, I can just tell.

For me, the creative itch is getting too hard to resist. Perhaps it's a holiday thing, but I feel the need to write and write and write. I want to enter a short-story competition that's open till March. I'm not sure why this particular competition appeals to me. Maybe it's the push I need to sit and write something that's not 'work', as 99% of my writing is.

I hope I can do it.

I also hope I can make time this year for a little break or two. After Christmas we had a couple of days away in a glorious spot called Barrington Tops - a national park with pockets of subtropical rainforest.

I booked a cottage there months ago, because I have a dislike of intense heat and crowds. I figured that it wouldn't be too hot, being up high and rainforesty and all. Needn't have worried on that front - we've had the coolest summer in a long time. I also wanted to keep clear of the coast - too busy this time of year.

And so we wound up here.





The kids had a ball. I suspect we could have booked a dirty rat-infested shed and they would have had a ball. It's all about being somewhere different and having a bunk bed to sleep in (woohoo).




My hope was to do a few short walks in the national park with the kids and chuck some rocks in the river. That's about as ambitious as I was prepared to get with a 2yo in tow.






Well, this place was perfect. Right on edge of the forest (just a few metres from our cottage), loads of short walks that were manageable for T. The lad loved swinging on the 'jungle' vines.





The weather was kind to us. The birdlife! Amazing! Am seriously in danger of becoming a twitcher. I saw a kingfisher! And a lyrebird! In one day - was so chuffed.




We played tennis and cricket and ate dinner on our beautiful verandah.

Perfect.




Boy, did we need that break. And what a lovely way to start what I hope is going to be a happy and successful year.

Amen to that.