long legs and homework

The glimpse of slightly ratty hair, the merest fleck on the bottom lip of a slack jaw. Every detail anchors this photo in a time and a place: warm milk in front of the telly after swimming.

When I saw that the Paper Mama photo challenge this week was on the theme of The Little Details, this picture immediately came to mind.

Last week, in the playground, we overheard our girl compliment a neighbour's daughter on her long legs. The leggy older child replied (with a world-weary sigh) "just wait 'til you're nine, it's all long legs and homework". What a classic and stylish summary of how it felt to be nine on that particular evening! I doubt that I could sum up the yin and the yang of our lives as succinctly.

But for The Boss, at four and a half, it's all swimming, warm milk and CBeebies. Perfect.

desperately seeking seasons

Every morning the weather forecast on the radio is the same: 28 to 32 degrees C with a chance of thundery showers. Every flippin' day. 365. We reckon they have it pre-recorded.

As another Singapore Summer (apparently) draws to a close, we're seriously hankering for Autumn. I'd love to spout all that blah about crisp, fresh outdoor pursuits and fabulous fashionable layering, but honestly those aren't my memories from our last real temperate-zone Autumn. Me and her staying in out of the rain, playing, eating and snoozing - now that's what I'm talkin' about. Idle bliss.

she turned out the lights, positioned the lanterns, and posed. very unusual behaviour for her.

Autumn will never come to Singapore in any meteorological sense but today it has drizzled all day. Me and The Boss have been stuck inside, and with the aircon on, you could almost believe it was really Autumn. So we set about making some lanterns to decorate the flat, because with mooncakes in the shops it must nearly be Chinese mid-autumn festival.

We used this tutorial from minieco because I assumed it would be something my daughter and I could do together (you know in that rose-tinted way that almost NEVER happens). By the time I'd actually read it though and started with the scalpel... and then the matches, it had to become rather a pre-schooler-free zone. But it was still a brilliant way to spend a rainy afternoon - me cutting zigzags and trying not to set the paper on fire, and her colouring in and blethering at the table beside me.

Once lit, she said the immortal words "wow! look at those bad boys!".

Couldn't have put it better myself.

NEWSFLASH! 4th Sept: the divine Chelsey from papermama just picked my top photo as coming 3rd in her "favourites from august" challenge. Hurrah! If you want to see all the others and join in next week (when the subject is "heart") click on the button.




NEWSFLASH 2! 10th Sept: April at the Gingerbread Blog featured this on her Sweet Saturday link-along. Hurrah x 2! To see all the other projects and to join in next time, click on the button.

paper mama photo challenge: eyes

Some parents keep all their baby's shoes as momentos. We keep glasses, and we're building up a fair collection. While this picture (for Paper Mama Photo Challenge: Eyes, click above) doesn't literally include my daughter's pupils and irises, it definitely includes her eyes.

This shot of baby glasses was taken during a made-up shopping game and broke the cardinal rule: DON'T play with your glasses! But rules (and glasses) are there to be broken now and again.

paper mama photo challenge: black & white

Another photo challenge, this time from The Paper Mama. The picture has to include at least part of your child(ren) and/or pet, and on this occasion it has to be in black & white. Click on the post title to get through to see the other lovely pictures. Again, first time I've done this one, so I hope it works...

Here's a picture of The Boss teaching her bunny how to draw. In case you're wondering why I refer to her here as The Boss, it's not through any bizarre inverted sense of family hierarchy designed to give her airs and graces. It's because the Uncle at our local coffee house always affectionately calls her The Boss, and it's kind of stuck. He says that she looks like she ought to be in charge, with her wee glasses and serious little face.

I think this photo shows how patient a Mummy she is to her little boy, Funny Bunny (or Mr FB to those who know him well), who's been with her since day one.