Pineapple and Watermelon For All

If there is one thing you can count on with me, is that I always have fresh pineapple (oh, so sweet!) and watermelon sitting in the fridge. This is much to the delight of both Lyndon and Monet.

I usually slice up a pineapple and a section of watermelon and place it into separate containers in case Monet comes up to me and flutters those eyelashes at me demanding pineapple? watermelon?

Monet couldn't make up her mind yesterday on which fruit she wanted. So she got both... Lucky her hey?

Later on, much to my delight, I saw her sharing her 'left-overs' with (L-R) Toast, Heidi and Pickles. How sweet.

This photo has not been set up in case you think I have. I haven't.

At Least It's Easy To Clean Up!

All was quiet, a couple of days ago whilst I was ironing Lyndon's work shirts. (They are the only thing I iron. I don't iron, never have, never will!) In the back of my mind I was wondering what Monet was up to. Usually when she's in her room I can hear her muttering to herself, but all was quiet. I knew she was up to something...

She was up to something alright.

When I had checked on Monet before I started ironing, she was busily taking all her teddy toys off her set of shelves. She was placing them on the carpet surrounding herself so they were all looking at her. Then she was picking them up and stuffing them back one by one, onto one shelf (they usually fill 2-3 shelves.) That's when I left her...

When all was quiet, I re-checked on her. She was certainly up to something.

And that 'something' had to do with Baby Powder. Head to toe, wall to wall. Yep, Monet certainly was up to something.

At least she smelt good, if a little overpowering. And it refreshed her room too. Maybe it wasn't such a disaster after all now I'm writing about it! Hehe...

Not Feeling 'So Melbourne'

I'm not feeling 'so Melbourne' anymore and for me, that's a good thing. I have never felt so content in my life as of current. Maybe too content. Who knows. I'm happy, I'm healthy and I'm content. That dawned on me a few weeks back. I didn't think I would feel like that up here but I proved myself wrong.

A few months ago I think we were ready to 'move on'. We had 'done' Cairns. Not that we were bored or unhappy, just ready for a new adventure I think. Not so anymore. We're prepared to stay on for a while longer. We haven't talked about Melbourne and returning there at some point for a long time now. That's a good thing.

I realised last night that I hadn't worn any black all week. Me? I'm a black wearing girl aren't I? Aren't I? Maybe not. Melbourne people wear black. I always did. It's a black wearing city. If I wasn't wearing a black top, I was wearing black skirt/pants. I now find myself wearing colours. Yep, colours. Coloured tops with skirts/shorts that aren't black.

I wasn't too keen either on Monet being educated in this part of the world either. There are a few things that Queensland don't do in their education system that Victoria do. (3-year old kindergarten for one.) But I'm over that now. As long as Monet turns out to be a well rounded individual then my job is done. If we support her and show her what the world has to offer her then there is no need for me to worry. Is there?

The only down part of this contentment is the fact that I feel sorry for two particular people. You know who you are, don't you dad. *grin* Its the fact that their only grandchild is over 3000 kilometers away and she is growing so quickly into a gorgeous little being, besides the current 'tantrum phase'. With one daughter living in Cairns and the other in London, I can't imagine what it is like. But this is what happens when you bring up two well-rounded individuals, hey? *smirk*

Thai Garlic & Ginger Beef

The Thai restaurant across the road makes a wicked version of this, so I thought I would attempt my own. To be honest with you, I just made up my own recipe, with inspiration from Jamie Oliver I guess.... Delicious and very authentic. *Melody pats herself on the back*

Ingredients
300gms round steak
1 tbs fish sauce
1 tbs lime juice
1 tbs water
1 tsp palm sugar, grated
1 tbs peanut oil
2 green chilies, de-seeded and finely sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp grated fresh ginger
4 spring onions, chopped
1 can bamboo shoots
2 tsp Thai spice (optional) I used McCormick's 'Lemongrass, Lime & Ginger'
Cooked rice to serve

Method
Partially freeze the steak, then slice into thin strips.

Mix together the fish sauce, lime juice, water and sugar in a small bowl. This is the sauce.

Add oil to a pre-heated wok or large frypan. Stir-fry the meat in batches until cooked through. Remove from the pan and keep warm. To the pan add chilies, garlic and ginger. Stir fry for 15 seconds, then add the spring onions and bamboo shoots. Cook for about a minute then add meat back into pan. Add the sauce and cook, whilst stirring, for about 2 minutes or until heated through.

Serve immediately with rice. Enjoy.

Serves 2

We Love A Good Book

Thanks to Marie for inspiration in regards to this post!

Monet has always enjoyed books. Since before birth even. Yes, I was one of those mothers-to-be, who sat on a comfortable chair at 8 months pregnant and read out aloud to my tummy. I don't know if that helped in the fact that she enjoys books, but honestly, I think it is in her blood anyway and I don't think I know one child who doesn't enjoy a good story book.

We've got a few new favourites here and I chuckle to myself when I hear her reading to herself. She's actually pretty good at it. If you know Monet, you'd know she's a pretty clear talker for a 2 year old.

Today I heard her hiding behind the couch with 'We're Going On A Bear Hunt', written by Helen Oxenbury. She was saying "tip toe, tip toe..." then "squelch..." then "through the door and up the stairs..." then "under the covers". I was pretty surprised to hear those words coming out of her mouth. She loves that book which we gave her for Christmas. We got the book that came with a DVD version of the story. I have only read the book to her a handful of times and she's watched the DVD a couple. It's a good story that gets the heart pumping, depending on how you read it out loud of course. We know that this story is a favourite of her 4 year old cousins too.

'Whose Teeth? Whose Tail? Whose House?' by Jeannette Rowe is another new favourite. We gave it to her for her 2nd birthday but it seems as if she's only just discovered it. It's one of those books where you lift the pages back to discover just whose teeth/tail/house it actually is. Monet loves guessing and she'll happily sit there and surprise herself when reading to herself.

Auntie Kimbofo sent to Monet for her second birthday, 'Lulu loves the Library', written by Anna McQuinn. I think we especially like this lovely book because it reminds us of ourselves and our library days. And the fact it's called 'Lulu...' as Monet's middle name is Lulu. A very lovely book indeed.

At the moment I am reading the 5th Harry Potter book (a bit behind in the series, I know!) but I am enjoying it. Not sure what I will tackle next. How about you? What are YOU reading at the moment?

Doing a Hi-5 Jig

You may or may not know that Monet is a big Hi-5 fan. She loves them. A lot. The Wiggles don't get a look in in this household and I don't mind that at all. (Just something about a group of middle-age men singing non-original songs to kids, nah.) She sings along to all their songs and I find that I can hear her singing to herself when she's playing. Sweet lovely songs that Lyndon and I even find ourselves singing. Catchy tunes that are actually really lovely lyric wise. Songs about loving and excepting yourself and others, good messages underneath them all.

If you've never been to the official Hi-5 site, please do so here. You will understand what I mean. In the song section click on the 'What's Cooking' star. We LOVE that song here!!!

We work on a reward system for Monet a lot of the time. When she's been a good girl, she gets to watch a Hi-5 DVD which she gets to choose (we have a number of them).

I made the mistake once of dancing and singing with Monet when one of her DVDs were on, so now I am committed to having a jig around the loungeroom whenever a song comes on. (Hi-5 don't only sing, they do little plays, skits etc., all committed to a particular theme.) I hope no one can see me having a little jig around with my daughter. :)

In the above photo Monet is actually wearing a Hi-5 singlet top (complete with a silver sequened band on the bottom) and the keyboard their is an officially licensed Hi-5 one. Told you she loved Hi-5. I think with their bank balances they must be loving us too!

One of Monet's and my favourite little Hi-5 songlets we sing to each other most nights, is this; (complete with hand actions you can imainge)
Make a diamond with my fingers,
Make a rectangle too,
Make a circle with my arms,
Make a heart,
I love you...
See. I told you they had good songs! The way Monet sings the last line to me is so cute! I can't help but give her a big cuddle and sing it back to her.

Long live Hi-5. I love to see my daughter jig about and sing those lovely songs to me!

Yo-Yo Biscuits

As a child I loved Yo-Yo biscuits. They were quick and easy to make and remind me of cold, rainy Saturday afternoons. Very easy to make and guaranteed you won't stop at eating just one. A sure-fired winner!

Ingredients
3/4 cup Self Raising flour
1/3 cup Custard Powder
1/3 cup icing sugar
1/2 cup softened butter

Method
Preheat oven to 180C. Line or grease a baking tray.

Cream butter and icing sugar and gradually add sifted flour and icing sugar, mixing to a stiff dough using wooden spoon. Roll into small balls. Press with a fork dipped in flour for 10-15 minutes until just golden. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until golden. (I overcooked these ones a little)

Makes approx. 20

These can be served individually like this or can be paired together with a quick mixture of icing sugar and butter creamed together...

She's A Strutter

There are times when Monet walks around like she owns the place. You can tell. She struts. Very confidently. I don't know if she walks around like that because she likes the sound of her shoes on the floor or she walks trying to keep in step with myself. Not sure.

What I can tell you though is that she's been really testing me lately. I, for one, cannot wait until the 'Terrible Twos' disappear. They probably won't. I hope she's not like this forever. As I have told my father down the phone line, when Monet is good, she's really good, but when she's bad, boy, is she bad!!! And scream? Gee, can our girl scream or what? So loud it is actually pretty deafening. I swear everyone in our apartment block know we're going through a "stage". Hmm. Can you tell me when it will end? Please don't tell me that it won't. I don't want to hear that.

But when Monet is good (here I am trying to forget about our trying times), she really is good. She does me proud sometimes. She'll sit happily in the pram, especially when we visit a drinking establishment, reading and eating and playing. (Sometimes that is the only way to get her into her pram if we tell her we are going to a Pub. Figure that out!) Sometimes she'll sit in that pram of hers for a good couple of hours without once saying "Monet walking?" I love it when she's good in the pram.

Maybe that's why our girl walks with such confidence. Our strutter. It's because she's not sitting in that pram of hers.

Either that or she's showing off her footwear.....hehehe