By way of update on the critter front, Dexter had to go back in for another tooth trim - it'd already grown that much! While we were there we could tell the other incisors hadn't grown though, which we'd hoped they would. Still I've read they can take 6+ weeks to re-erupt properly after an injury so there is some hope they may regrow. In the meantime there was still some puss around the molar where they suspect the abscess so he's been prescribed long-term antibiotic injections (procaine/pen G). Bunnies abscess a bit differently than most animals. They lack an enzyme which makes it liquid and easy to drain like most animals. As well they tend to encapsulate it and it grows very slowly which is good in one way as they don't suffer from fever or so much pain but difficult in another as it means they are difficult to get rid of and don't easily drain.

He's very good for the injections, I give him a bit of cherry tomato and he doesn't even notice the little needle. He's lot a bit of weight as well so he's on Critical Care which is a special soft food for bunnies that is nutritious and appealing. It gets mixed into a paste and fed to him and he is just the sweetest fellow - just sits there on his little pillow and has a dollop squirted in, chews it, little tongue licking his lips and when he's done has a bit more. If I'm a bit slow he'll sniff at or lick the tip! LOL The pics are him on his little pillow while I was mixing the crit care up and after his food getting a kiss from La.

All together this week seems to just have disappeared on me... namely with school restarting and the roof (that'd be the one replaced last year due to springing a leak and frying all electrics...) re-sprung a leak and causing water damage in 3 rooms. Getting the roofing company to honor it's guarantee is interesting. To boot the tractor that was just fixed busted again and seriously I'm half expecting at any moment to hear a country guitar twang and the start of a theme song about how life done did me wrong writing all this! LOL My birthday was a few days ago as well and that turned out to be quiet but nice. Lily and I hung around the house with the dogs, kits and buns during the day. I got some painting done. I had a nice dinner with everyone and Nic totally surprised me as I was expecting no gift given how many big bills we've generated by presenting me with a laptop! He's apparently been paying for one to be refurbished for a year or so! It's not quite ready but still very exciting! (Our last computer predates our relationship so it was due!) Then Sunday I got given a day to myself at Flyball, just me and Hopie out having fun!

Here's La on his first day back at what would have been the equivalent to the start of primary school vs preschool/kinder. The school has a new building almost finished and welcomed a new teacher who will be sharing in his class so he's excited about that as well as being back with his friends again. A few more of Sir 5 Year Old.


and this is the view just near his school... how gorgeous is that hey!

Plus one of the Lilypillie, who is enjoying having mum all to herself (well, comparatively... still has to share with the furkids) now that La is in school full time!

Art wise, I've royally slacked off most of January. Trying to get back into the swing of things and make time for myself in February. I have two paintings on the go and one more in my goals for the month list. The first is (act shocked...) a dog. Nothing new there although I'm playing with a limited palette - cad red med, cad yellow med, black and white. Here's the roughed in first layer, excuse the dreadful flash shine, rug and jeans!

The second and third are part of challenges. Number two is a WC Acrylics board Different Strokes challenge. The rules let you crop, choose a section/detail, enlarge it or develop it any way you feel like. I really liked the orange lilies up against the bronzy background plant, so I'm planning to tightly crop on that. I can't decide if I want to go with my usual way of doing things given I'm still very new to it or try for something looser, more impressionistic and impastoish. This is the base layer for if I go my usual way. Wibbledywobbdly, indecisive.

The third challenge is to take myself totally out of my comfort zone and go to an abstract challenge I happened upon on the Abstract forum - which is to see how little 'detail' can you use in a piece of art and still convey your 'meaning' - however you understand that term. The subject is a rainstorm, hopefully mixed with a yellowtail black cockatoo. Start of the storm...

Random and unconnected to anything - our neighbors foals, who are just too much fun to watch running around! I mucked with it a bit, think it might make a nice painting eventually?

Happy news! Hope now has 8 brand spaking NEW half-siblings through her sire Courage, who has a new litter by RUBISS Ch. Silvanwood Dark Force! They are GORGEOUS! Total is 2 black tri females, 1blue merle female, 1 red merle male who is struggling a bit at this point and would appreciate good thoughts, 3 red tri females and 1 blue merle male.

What else to do on a hot day but hang out pool side??? *G* Some pics from the morning play session:

Blowing raspberries with mouth-fulls of water is amusing! (Yes, even the pool is GREEN!)

Shouting with pleasure while he pours water over himself. That's a toy watering can in his hands.

He's got a tennis ball. LOL You can't see it but that's what she's after!

Refreshing! :-O I love the fact half the cup is dribbling down his face. (At least it's fresh pool water! Slightly less yarg-worthy!)

Hope going snorkling for dog treats. We were in stitches as she'd stick her nose on the bottom, blowing bubbles while snarfling around for the treats.

Soggy pup coming up for air, chicken-stock-ice-cubes-with-hot-dog-bits successfully being devoured!

Even Sierra, who doesn't really like pools, needed to cool off!

The sketch we got done by a street artist a few days ago for a few dollars. Amazing the guy got anything sketched because L was doing a remarkably good impression of a mutant-eel-creature the whole "sitting".

Okay, so I've been looking at the show schedule, which is pretty quiet due to the holiday season, trying to figure out what shows to enter Hope into. ~_~'

Sif, I will have to look more into requirements. I have been mainly listening to a friend of Nic's who just graduated law/IT and said that basically if you don't go to a private school, you're S.O.L. and he got bumped for students who scored lower but were from higher ranked schools. I've definitely considered that what *I* want for Laurent may not be at all what he wants or what he wants may shift over time. Have considered that even if he's fine with country living as a youngster, many teenagers in the country find trouble out of boredom. Not all kids, but growing up in a rural area I've certainly seen it happen plenty.

My thinking is, yeah I'd like him to go to college, but if he wants to go another direction that's fine too. However I want the opportunity there for him if he wants to explore/go after it yk? It would kill me for him to have the marks and interest only to not be able because he doesn't have the right names on his records. (Yes, those are MY issues talking I know! *G*) That's one of the reasons I liked Preshil, among others... it's basically Reggio Emilio philosophy and goes from preschool to HS but also has the rankings. Teaching him the stuff I think the philosophy will do is SO important but I don't want to gain one at the cost of the other. (Hence other RE schools being 2nd/3rd, also the question of continuity of style.) From my talks with the principal - while they don't advertize it because they don't want people coming whose only goal is ranking and not the philosophy, they do have a VERY good ranking, comparible with Carey, Camberwell Grammar etc and without asking students to leave to maintain their ranking. Overall I really DO like the school, it seems (up to gradeschool, haven't seen HS yet) to be very compatible withthe style which I'd probably use to help him at home if he needed it also. Other things are important too, including my wants but I can't help but feel I'd be selfish insisting on MY wants coming above practicalities and what's good for N and L too. Trying to be kind to myself though too and thanks for reminding, goes to Leah, Loz and Amanda too! Would be interested to hear more about those areas you're mentioning as well. Thanks guys! :-)

Warning: long and rambling post with lotsa pics!

A picture of a slice of Laurent's Cake with the proper icing flowers~_~'

Sorry for not blogging the past two days but I've been recovering from L's party and the week in general!

We ended up staying up (literally!) all night baking and cooking for his birthday, as Nic and I were a little over-excited about catering! At 8:30 we piled child, husband, dog and self in car. Rushed to Croyden, plunked down my money, filled out my forms - the president says, "Gee, you look a little stressed, what's up?" LOL

Anyhow, I got in - finally - yaaaay!!!! But no time to enjoy it, have to FLY to the make-up studio and caught hell from the salon manager for being late by like 7 minutes and how I'm stressing his artists. Got my hair-cut the day before and everyone seems to think it's quite flattering... but I just don't like this length because my hair tends to *FLOOF* at this length due to it's wanna-be waviness, unless I use a straightening iron which I honestly can't be frelled doing every single day! I like it either SHORT or LONG. Got chided by Mary for letting my hair go so long between cuts and eventually had to say that with finances what they are I have the option of either getting a skilled cut but only a couple times a year or getting more frequent el cheapo cuts... I prefer to have someone with skill! Trust me, I'd be quite happy if I could afford exxy haircuts all the time without a thought! :P

Got back, stuffed everything in the car, including a dozen balloons and rushed there about 20 minutes late by the time we arrived.

He got his prezzies from us (wood toys and such) at home after the party and I was so bummed we didn't have time to do a rosemary memory tree (basically a swag of rosemary that guests could write their favorite memory of the day on for Laurent in the future, which I was going to put in his b-day scrapbook, so he got impressions from everyone on the day) which I'd had my heart set on since what was supposed to be our first wedding*, Nic forgot our own camera - then mentioned this to the photographer who was worried he was saying that because we weren't happy with his work (TOTALLY not the case, we just wanted some instant happy snaps of stuff you wouldn't necessarily want a pro to waste his talent on, like taking pictures of the cake and picnic spread, Laurent covered head to toe in water-melon juice etc and one that we could send folks straight away without having to wait for development/proofs!), my mixer broke at 3 am so I couldn't do proper butter-cream and royal icing and had to use store bought stuff that doesn't pipe right or taste the same, likewise the meringues had to be nixed. Still had a nice, if somewhat "colourful"... day, as is to be expected with a bunch of children on sugar highs! LOL Laurent got his first bit of sugary horribleness - a bite of his birthday cake, which he promptly spit out in favor of watermelony goodness. Nothing but nothing gets in the way of La and his water melon! He finished off a whole inch thick slice and went back for more! O_O

We'd requested no prezzies because we have enough toys around here but he ended up getting some nice stuff anyway, some books from Beck and Nic's cousin Nina, some crystals from Jayne and the lovely Liam helped pick them out, and a gorgeous t-shirt emblazoned with a Picasso doggy illustration (!) from Sif and family, along with some beautiful hand-made birthday cards from Beck's boys which will be saved in Laurent's scrapbook, including a very sweet poem from Josh.

We also had a photographer out to shoot the party, Jason Settimi and I can highly recommend him to anyone. Lovely fellow, easy to work with and got some lovely candid shots of us. I'm going to have such a hard time waiting to see the proofs in a week and a half, Ms. Impatient Nosey Pants that I am! LOL

Here is the actual ceremony:
INTRODUCTION: Firstly, we wish to express our joy to you that Laurent has brought to us with his birth and first year. Since the moment he was born I've been struck by the desperate feeling that time was passing too fast. I remember looking at him, only a few minutes old and thinking those minutes had passed too quickly as I sat and held him watchfully. I wanted to grab each moment, hold each one and force it to slow down, to linger gently for awhile so I could enjoy those first few hours and stay in each one for at least a few days or a week or a month.

I was so aware he would never again be one minute, one hour old, one day old, one week old. Slowly he would loose the special look of a newborn, downy hair would be replaced with silky fine baby hair, his eyes wouldn't squench in the same way as they grew used to the light of the outside world. I suppose every mother feels a bit like this but I wasn't prepared for how keenly I felt the minutes and even seconds rushing by. I felt such an intense need to savor each moment to the fullest, commit it to my heart and never ever forget. In the wee hours of the night when I was so exhausted my eyes stubbornly refused to focus and all I wanted was to sleep just ten more minutes, I reminded myself that this time would pass all too quickly as well and I would miss it later and it made me treasure it as well.

I treasure the changes in him, I love the sparkling eyes and gummy smile and chubby kissable cheeks of his 1 year old self that have replaced my newborn and then my infant. I still bury my nose in his hair, no longer downy but now a lovely wispy golden brown and inhale the wonderful scent of him. I adore the way he looks when he reaches out his arms to me, the way his crawling speeds up when there is something he really wants to see, his sweet baby laugh and the way he wraps his arms around my neck and cuddles close. I know that you will keep growing and I will treasure the next set of changes even as I treasure the ones that have come thus far but I know I will miss the 12 month old you as well. But a child is not raised alone by his parents. Today, we want to welcome him formally into our family and also to the wider family of our relatives, the community of our friends and the world. The more love a child receives, the more they will benefit in their lives and the more love in turn they will be able to give to others. The more people to whom they relate the more balanced and rich their growth will be. So your presence at this celebration today is appreciated, as will be your interest and involvement in the years ahead.

The first quotation I would like to read involves us all. As a circle of friends and family we all share a responsibility to provide the atmosphere in which our children will develop as people.

A CHILD LEARNS WHAT HE LIVES If a child lives with criticism - he learns to condemn. If a child lives with hostility - he learns to fight. If a child lives with ridicule - he learns to be shy. If a child lives with shame - he learns to feel guilt. But If a child lives with tolerance - he learns to be patient. If a child lives with encouragement - he learns confidence. If a child lives with fairness - he learns justice. If a child lives with security - he learns to have faith.If a child lives with approval - he learns to like himself. If a child lives with acceptance and friendship - he learns to find love in the world

We ask for your blessings, encouragement and support; without family and friends beside us, we would miss one of the greatest joys of life. That is to give and to receive love. To help and be helped. To teach as well as to learn. We are delighted those with us today have chosen to celebrate this time with us.

LIGHTING OF THE CANDLE Starting with two lit candles and a third candle unlit
It was said, "There is a light that lights the way of everyone who comes into the world." It is the light of hope. We light this candle to celebrate his birth: out of the darkness of the womb he came and emerged into light. (First candle lit) Blessed is the woman who bears a child, for she knows how love covers pain. Blessed is the man who fathers a child, for he makes a bridge between the earth and heavens. (second candle lit) Child of light, you know not yet the love and joy overflowing from our hearts. (Parents, each one taking a lit candle, together light the third candle.) When one candle lights another, it's light is not diminished, rather, the light in the world increases. In this way, little boy, you have already added your light to our family. May you continue to bless us and all those you touch with your light and life.

NAMING We have named this child Laurent Etienne. When I first became pregnant, we had decided on giving our child a French name to honor his heritage. After a lot of thinking, Nic decided on Laurent, meaning "Crown of laurels". At the same time I decided Etienne, which also means "crown of crowns" as his middle name. He is truly our crowning achievement. Laurent is believed to impart the qualities of resolve, enthusiasm, direction, boldness and organisation while Etienne imparts uprightness, open mindedness, humaneness, generousity and imagination. We hope these qualities will serve him well in life. We ask you now to join us in welcoming this child to the world as friends and family. "Welcome Laurent Etienne!"

It is traditional to give gifts to our loved ones on their birthday. This custom started as it was believed by being surrounded by friends and family and receiving gifts in the form of talismans ill luck was warded off for the coming year.

THE PENDANT CEREMONY We have chosen as a symbol of our love and hope for Laurent a pendant made of Labradorite. We give it to him to wear with love. We chose Labradorite as it is said to reveal ones spiritual destiny like a flash of light in the darkness. It represents the "temple of the stars", bringing clarity and the wisdom of other worlds and universes to us, bringing forth ones strengths to share with the world. Labradorite promotes strength of will and a feeling of inner worth about your own abilities, and your value as a spiritual being. Labradorite helps to combine intellectual thought with intuitive wisdom enhancing discernment in all situations. This gemstone elicits creativity by inspiring you to come up with original ideas and solutions to problems. Brings patience, allowing focus and concentration. It enhances perseverance, and opens you up to seeing the inner beauty of things and people, including yourself. That which can seem mundane or boring, even to the point of dislike, can reveal something precious when looked at from a slightly different perspective.

TREE CEREMONY
As a second gift, we plant today a tree in our child’s honor to celebrate life with life. Both tree and baby are unique and original. Each began with a single seed, concealing a complex potential that miraculously unfolds with each passing day. We chose a Wollemi pine a tree discovered in 1994 in an unexplored canyon deep in the forest. It is a living fossil, at over 200 million years old it was around even before the dinosaurs. It is a unique tree, unlike any other. Likewise, every person born to this world represents something unique and is called upon to fulfill his role in the world. The Wollemi pine puts down deep roots to support itself, so that it can grow tall and touch the heavens at over 40 meters high. It is a remarkably hardy tree weathering all conditions. It is also a very rare tree, as over the millennia, the range of the Wollemi pine shrank until the entire population existed only in a single canyon in a remote area of New South Wales. Today there are less than 100 adult trees in the wild, some of which are over 1000 years old. Seeds were collected so they could be grown outside the canyon to protect the species and the funds go to fund conservation efforts. They were first available to the public around the same time Laurent was born.

We hope that the roots of this tree will gain hold and spread deep, drawing nourishment from the fertile earth as our child draws nourishment from his own roots - his family and his heritage. We pray that the trunk will grow healthy and strong, withstanding the harsh forces of nature and able to support its canopy of branches and leaves. So may our son possess a healthy body and a strong spirit, holding steadfast to his own integrity and withstanding the tempests and temptations that could weaken or deter him. We watch these branches bud and blossom, giving shade and beauty for all to enjoy. So, too, may we watch our child bud and blossom to be a blessing and support to family, friends and community, and to make his unique contribution to the world. Help us nourish and nurture this tree and our child so that they may both mature and prosper, fulfilling to the greatest extent possible the potential which exists in them.

At this point, we ask all of you to think in your hearts of a blessing or a wish for Laurent as we plant this tree so that your blessings may grow with it and with him.
With this, I have one last reading and then we will break for food and what I know you have been waiting for... the cake!

On Children
And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, "Speak to us of Children."
And he said: Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts. For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness; For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Laurent, we welcome you with love

(at this point we will break for meal, the cake being served and candles blown out, gifts opened, lolly bags/guest gifts distributed and a bit to relax and let the kids roam a bit) Just before everyone leaves we are asking them to write their favorite memory of the day they'd like Laurent to have on little cards which will go on a rosemary tree (for remembrance) which we're bringing.

Got back and got some new pics of Hope from Amanda, so here those are for all you puppy-breath addicts... bask in the cuteness! I swear she literally gets cuter every photo I see!!! ^_^

Also started freestyle back up so I gave the fuzzy red dog a bath so she was all purdy before we left! We got our video of our "performance" and hey... we didn't suck! ;-) I'll youtube it as soon as I can download the drivers so my stupid computer recognizes the format...

Since we'd forgot our camera on the day, I decided to get some nice photos of the little man after the fact. Also wanted to get pics of the cake, of him blowing the candle out, opening prezzies, La in a party hat etc. which didn't happen on the day because it got gobbled before we sang Happy B-day and didn't do the candle because of how windy it was! LOL I think the hats were history by the time we got done with the photographer and back to the picnic too! LOL So I grabbed another (GREEN!) one from the shop for pictures. Hopefully we'll go out with Nic's cousin Nina for an extra little bday celebration since she couldn't be there, and do some more photos then!
Adventure Bubba
A quieter moment...
Bubba discovers balloons!
Laurent with his fav new toy... a little GREEN train!
Cheeky bubba! Was chewing the bag when I laughed so he hammed it up further!
Laurent with Sierra again
Sometimes you just need a hug... Laurent all tuckered out.

And whoooo hooo.... more iris blooms! Witches Sabbath is the lovely dark purple black with yellow... very intense colouring!

And this is another Tempo Two iris but we lost the tag a few years back so I don't remember which it is!

Today we went to Preshil for the preschools open day which was quite nice. Laurent had a ball crawling madly after the older kids who thought he was quite neat as well and I can tell he's going to be a real little social butterfly already. We ended up sitting and having about an hour long chat with the principal, who lounged in a tire-seat in the sandpit and traded a plastic rake back and forth with Laurent while I had fun asking questions. Unfortunately I was soooo tired and brain-fried I didn't remember most my questions till after but that's what next time is for! I really liked the lay out and overall "feel" of the school. Nice flow to the plan between indoor and outdoor areas, nature is 'inside' through lots of windows and natural sunlight with bush-like views. I still want to go to some of the other schools (eg Montessori, RE streams), Steiner is too out there for me though but I'm trying to keep a beginners mind in looking at these things and seeing the pros and cons in each. Particularly I want to watch the teachers in how they structure the environment and day, how they resolve conflicts and overall 'life attitude' of the teachers and staff... not the right word but I'm not sure how to put it... like, okay, Preshil has the philosophy that every child and adult is fundamentally GOOD. Personally I feel that's an unnecessary label to add and can hinder in dealing with behavior as what it is: behavior, neither inherently good nor bad. Certainly some behaviors are desirable or undesirable, helpful or unhelpful, even detrimental to the child or others... but those do not carry the moral judgement of 'good' or 'bad'. If you believe that children and adults are good and do things BECAUSE they are good, then by contrast you also believe that some (few) children are bad or do bad BECAUSE they are bad... which sets you up for dealing with the child as good or bad instead of as a behavior that simply exists. It might seem like splitting hairs over words, how different are they really... but once you think about it, it's really quite a big difference!

Likewise the word 'naughty' really is something I disagree with the use of. It implies that the child is behaving in the way they are because they are good or naughty or because they are being good or naughty, not because they are children who are learning and developing and whom like any biological being try out new behaviours, express feelings, keep behaviours that work for them on some level or discard it if it doesn't or there is something that works better. It ignores their developmental periods and things like the fact they may be testing rules of existance and trying to integrate those to their world-frame.

Now this whole discussion came up from the point that they had a booklet with pictures and descriptions of activities that the 3-4 year olds had done this year and explaining some of the things at Preshil, one of which is the 'home area' where children can feel secure and act out events which have occured in their lives in order to fully explore and understand them. Sounds wonderful, I'm all for that! Then I read, "eg roleplaying including themselves in the role of the 'naughty' child blah blah blah. Yup. They used the N word. Granted it wasn’t them calling the child naughty BUT it implied that they do believe that some behaviour IS naughty (instead of just behaviour) and that this is their attitude and how they view children. That turned into this discussion on how judgements like that are just ineffective and unnecessary and generally a hindrance in working through the issue. Behavior is behavior, morals are best left to discssions in philosophy classes, no need to dress it up as good or bad to deal with it! As well, even though I understood they weren't saying the child was naughty, and were trying to assure me their stance is that all children are fundamentally good, the use of that type of language concerns me. Words are the expression of thoughts, mental structure and how you view the world around you and they seep into your actions. Thoughts become words, become actions, become habits, become character, become destiny. So while the use of that kind of language may seem innocuous enough on the surface, it really does have a ripple effect. :-/

On the other hand there was heaps of really great stuff about the school, the teachers did seem to do a good job of watching and assisting all the kids but not over-interfering either. The kids self-directed themselves in activities but then once it was time for storys on their mats they were all called in and asked to stay on their beds. That was one thing that caught me out a bit... I had to wonder what would happen if a child wanted to continue in their activity? It seemed self-structured but only to a point if that makes sense? Why must they sit on a mat, why not just come inside and sit quietly so as not to disrupt the others if you're promoting the self-structuring? It was all handled very gently but I wondered how it would have been dealt with.

The crafts sections they had were awesome, lots of "stuff" at various stations for the kids to engage themselves in and the kids were scurrying everywhere busily engaged in various activities. There were a fair amount of small animals there, a water pond, some budgies, guinea pigs etc. Half wine barels with lots of plant seedlings in them, lots of wooden toys and blocks to construct things with.

I have more questions I want to ask and more I want to learn. I noted a nice example of conflict resolution between two students who both wanted the same toy with the help of the teacher and mentioned this to the principal. I asked about how they handled conflicts. She said they tried to talk it out as much as possible but obviously there were limits and certain things were unacceptable. Well, yeah, I understand that but WHAT do you do in those cases? A question for next time.

The other thing I saw was that one of the little boys found a worm and was showing it off to the teacher and us. He told me rather proudly that he was going to keep it. I said something to the effect of, 'oh, I understand you want to keep him but worms need to live in dirt... if you keep him in your pocket he'll die. Don't you think it would be better if you watched him for a little while and then put him back in his home in the garden?" and she (teacher) just sort of laughed it off. Yeah, okay, it's a WORM. I getchya. But I think teaching a respect of nature and life (all nature, including lowly worms) is important. And it's important for children to realize that their amusements should not come at the cost of anothers pain or death. For those of you who still are stuck on the, "Amanda, it's a WORM fer heavens sake!" like my DH, would she (or you) have felt the same if he came up carrying a bird or less socially acceptable to abuse/kill animal? Respect for self and others and life starts at the smallest levels imo. When we did daycare one of the things we did was to try and draw paralels between the child and animal to help them empathize and show respect. So it would have been like, worms are an important part of our ecosystem, they have certain requirements to live, we watch them for a little while and then let them be, maybe go look at pictures of worms or stories or whatever. By the time we left I think the poor worm had carked it as he looked kind of dry, poor thing. :-/

I'm not sure the principal knew what to make of me. I could tell some of it we were on the same wavelength, and we seemed to really agree. At some points, I think we agreed on the concept, though we were saying the same things in what was perhaps a different way. And a few of the things there was that little pause as she chewed over a statement and was trying to find a way of saying she disagreed without offending me. (Which she wouldn't have done anyway... I find debate like this quite interesting because it churns up different POV's and things I maybe hadn't considered before or considering things in a different way which is what I’m interested in to start with!)

Also, on an unrelated note: I’m blowing a huge raspberry at the maternal and child health nurse who told me if I didn't start Laurent on solids at 6 months promptly I'd "miss the window of his learning to accept textures and flavors", "forever have a picky eater" and be fighting him. Dinner tonight? Baby sized portions of pork, cous-cous salad, roast veggie salad, chickpea avocado sandwich on whole wheat, watermelon and mango begged off my plate.

* We had a proper one planned which got screwed thanks to my visa "be married by X date or else" requirements since it's hard to be at your wedding after you'd have been deported, the quickie we did to meet those requirements intending to hold a proper one later, one which was canceled when we found out we were pregnant with Laurent and then it was SUPPOSED to be this year but Nic was just so uninterested in it and money was tight enough that I figured I should just give it up as not meant to be.

Yesterday Nic had the whole day off so we headed to Woodend. It's one of the places I'd love to live and had on my list of places to visit.

The verdict: it's very pretty and he can see some positives, not sure he'd like to live there but would like to go back for a weekend to have a longer visit. Fair 'nuff. I asked only for an open mind.

I have to say it was exactly what I needed in terms of a break as well; fields of glorious grass rippling in the breeze that stretched around wide as the eye could see, deep vales dotted silver and yellow with leafy shrubs and wild-flowers, wide open fields and the mountains and hills rising from the earth into the skies... places that are still a bit wild... that haven't been tamed and neatly planned out in tidy tended plots! I wanted to jump out of the car and tear, dancing barefoot down through the windswept fields racing the gusts and eddies that danced and swirled the sun dappled grass in wild patterns like I did as a child. Sierra and Cade whined in the car when we hit the areas that reminded me of where we used to live and once out they ran, dashing and barking joyfully as if they were pups again. I think they remember hiking with me through the wild places I used to roam before moving here too. As part of the trip we did the tourist gig and trekked up Hanging Rock which was absolutely beautiful as well. I'll post some photos shortly.

Today was tamer, a quiet morning after another relatively sleepless night and we had Laurent's photo shoot for Bambini models in the afternoon. We finally found the place after getting directed to the wrong Medina building and got the shoot done... I'd worried as Laurent has a BIG bruise covering his cheek. Thank goodness the photographer was non-plused and was perfectly willing to edit post production. Should get the pics in 2-3 weeks or so.

I also need to start planning L's birthday, yikes... coming up on 15 October! *shock* I've got several ideas of things I'd like but have yet to decide on a venue, photographer etc. and need to firm up my schedule for the cooking. =:-O

Other than that I'm also in the midst of thinking a lot about his schooling since I don't have a huge amount of time before I need to sign him up for one school or the other. That's also factoring into the thoughts on moving since my first choice for school (Preshil) is a few minutes walk from our current house. If we go out in the country, that means leaving that behind and I really haven't heard of any I've liked as well as Preshil. There are other options, schools with a Reggio Emilio stream or Montessori stream possibly but there is a lot more reading I need to do about those philosophies as from what I've read so far there are bits I really like and agree with, points I question and some aspects which I don't care for perhaps even strongly enough to want to avoid it. Even then, each school interprets the philosophy differently - some are extreme and require you follow every aspect of it fanatically and I can see myself taking heavy exception to having someones idea forced down my throat... so. Yeah. Lots to think about.

The other question about choosing to use a RE or Montessori type is that most of those are preschool/kinder/primary but not high-schools. Preshil goes through to highschool. I can't see going with one philosophy part way and chucking him in another simply because he's hit X age, though I think if I could only send him to this type of school for one part of his life it'd be early on. Buuuttt... if we go to Preshil, which is where I'm strongly leaning, it also means that we have to stay close-ish enough that I can drive there. Blackburn wouldn't be a problem... heck, I used to drive over an hour each way to college each day so a 15 minute drive is nothing. But there's a question of how far away they accept students living from.

The other issue with Preshil is the fees. It's seriously NOT cheap... we could swing the fees for Laurent. But... it would make having a second child tricky without sacrificing some of the things I'd really wanted for us in terms of lifestyle, which I think are also important for Laurent to experience. (IE trips overseas and to other areas where he can see different cultures etc.) I'd probably have to go to work part time once the second child was old enough to go to school just to pay costs. Especially with two of them in highschool at the same time!

On the other hand, while I'd like to have at least one more child, I've also sort of reached this point in me where if it happens... it'd be delightful and I'd adore it but if not, I won't feel like our family is incomplete in some way or I'm forever missing a meant-to-have second child.

To complicate matters, I've also got it swirling in my head that while formal education is important, the lifestyle he's raised in is also a very important influence in one's life and I'd really love him to grow up in a small community, close to nature, seeing the natural cycle of life and death and be aware of where his food comes from and at what cost. I grew up in that environment and wouldn't trade that influence on my life for anything. Of course then there is the issue of if he'll like it in later life as well... I know only too well that quite often there are problems with teens in small towns finding lots of trouble for lack of anything to do and lack of opportunities. Yet there are those who thrive in it and never want to move away from that. Soo... more to think about.

Ramble, ramble, ramble... jeeze. I meant to just do a friggin’ brief update about our training and the past few days! *rolls eyes* So. Getting to the training before I blather anymore...

As a brief recap, we started out by holding the dumbell and clicking any interaction with it, free-shaping up to her gripping the bit (and ONLY the bit, no other part) of the dumbell whenever it was presented to her. Then the other day, I didn't go into the full details but basically we did the same thing only instead of my holding the dumbell, it was on the floor. Free-shaped from any interaction to gripping the bit and only the bit of the dumbell. Easy peasy, only trick was that Laurent kept grabbing the darn thing instead of the dog! ;-)

Next step is teaching the dumbell to fly - so instead of clicking just for the grip, we hold out for a few until one end of the dumbell or the other wobbles off the floor. Goal is for the dog to immediately put her mouth over the dumbell bit and cause it to move slightly. After that we'll fiddle with getting the dumbell to have one bell fully lifted off the floor by a mm or so. Then both ends off the ground. Then we get the dumbell a few inches off the ground. Following that we'll click only for lifts of 4-8" off the ground, 8-16" off the ground, 16-24". Since Sierra is a 20" dog that's plenty high. In all of these, the higher the lift in the range the better/more of the treat it merits. EG I'll pay for anything in the 4-8" range but 4" will pay less/less well than 5 or 6 or 7 or 8". I'm guessing this is as far as we're likely to get by the end of tonight and maybe not even that far depending on how it goes. Doing pretty well so far with getting a few 4-8" pick ups.

Long term goal for anyone just tuning in is a hotdog retrieve. IOW I will throw a room temperature hotdog 10' and the dog will go on single cue to retrieve it, pick it up, return directly to me, sit in the front position and release the hotdog uneaten/chewed/otherwise molested into my hands. We're starting by teaching a formal retrieve with a plastic obedience dumbell.