My Montessori Inspirations

Since discovering the world of the blog, it is often my first point of searching for information.  This was no different when I wanted to learn more about Montessori, especially as it was applied at home.

What this led me to was a whole host of blogs, nearly all from North America.  My feed reader was full to overflowing for a while there as I assessed which were going to suit my reading, education and inspiration needs.

As of today, these are the blogs, in alphabetical order, that still make the cut:

• Adventures of a Rainbow Mama


• Confessions of a Montessori Mom


• Daily Montessori


• Itty Bitty Love


• Montessori for Everyone


• My Montessori Journey


• Teaching Montessori


• The Wonder Years


• Wide Open on the Mommybahn

These blogs each have a different character.  Some are regularly active while others haven't posted anything new in some time.  I have enjoyed many posts from this selection, but I have to confess to turning to The Wonder Years and Montessori for Everyone on a regular basis for ideas, inspiration and resources.

For those interested in seeing a Mum attempting to integrate Montessori ideas from birth, then you should definitely visit Wide Open on the Mommybahn.  It's not something I necessarily aspire to, but I had a darned good time reading about it.

So, if you are interested in learning more, then I think you would do well starting with this list and then expanding out from there.

And to the ladies of the blogs above, I'd like to say "Thank You" for sharing your experiences, your knowledge, and your resources with the rest of us.  I, for one, greatly appreciate it.

Happy reading everyone.

Bloggiversary

By some lucky coincidence I was looking to see when I began this blog for another post I am working on, otherwise I would have completely missed it.

It's exactly four years since I migrated from Blogger to Wordpress (thanks Bruce).
So...

Happy Bloggiversary to Me...
Happy Bloggiversary to Me...

Happy Bloggiversary Dear Oh Waily
Happy Bloggiversary to Me !

Small things

Small things are making me very happy at the moment.

Courtesy of my ever vigilant parents I was able to find suitable box shaped shelving for Little Miss. It's currently plain pine as you can see below, but we will make a decision on the final look over the next week. So far I have been tossing up varnish, oil or a neutral cream paint finish. I'm still not 100% sure which way we will go.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="360" caption="The Pine Shelves"][/caption]

The other issue is where it will eventually live.  Currently, for convenience, it is sitting at the other end of the same wall that Miss O's activity corner is on in the living room but may be better placed in her bedroom.  The only problem is - which bedroom.  She is currently in the smallest room in the house,  and we are debating what to do when Master Oh Waily moves from his spot at the bottom of our bed.  Will he inherit Miss O's room?  It is closer and smaller, and therefore more suited to a small baby who doesn't require space for Froggy, Thai, Lumpy, Leo, Patches, Piglet, Brown or Sneezy and drawers containing big girl clothes.  (I would provide a photograph of "the boys" as they are collectively known, but unfortunately only Leo and Sneezy are currently not having a nap with "the girl".)

Or will he move into the larger room, further away from our bedroom?  The preference is to move Miss O into the current "guest bedroom" / office and give Master O her bedroom.  The difficulty this presents is one of computer logistics.  The internet connection is in the "office".  Even though we have a wireless setup and therefore can put the computer anywhere in the house, we still need a secure space for the modem/router thingumybob.  Offering up something with flickering lights and antennae to a two-and-a-bit year old is like waving a red rag in front of a bull, or thumbing your nose at Fate.  Neither of which will result in smiles and pats on the back for the brainiac who thought it would be a good idea.

What to do, what to do, what to do.  The first small thing makes me happy but gives me cause for thought.

The next small thing was actually things - a set of little boxes that I found today, which are reasonable quality at a reasonable price.  I know.  I had almost given up on that possibility.  I will give them internal cardboard bases just to give them a bit of protection from the undoubted hard life they will suffer at the hands of one rough and ready little girl.  Now all I need is a few more and we will be well supplied for any and all toy or activity storage requirements.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="360" caption="The White Boxes"][/caption]

A practical small thing came from a quick trip to Warehouse Stationery (thank you Clare for the pointer) when a beautiful pair of apple green toddler scissors joined our household.  I really like these, they are a vast improvement over our small round-end scissors that I have been using with her.  The primary improvement is the fact that she can put all of her fingers in the bottom handle instead of only two or three.  Other things I like are the fact that these came with a sheath made out of rubber (supposedly an eraser - but who would use it?), they are ambidextrous so her penchant for cutting left-handed will not be hampered, the handles are that rubberised plastic stuff so they should be fairly forgiving on her hands while she's learning the opening motion and, of course, the bright green is aesthetically appealing.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="360" caption="The Green Scissors"][/caption]

Then there is the stash of small goodies that I purchased a few weekends ago, but didn't have the camera available to show you.  Just to refresh your memory, I wrote about the shopping expedition a little while ago.  The items that came home then were all small things, and they certainly made me very happy.
Here, finally, is a photograph of that little haul.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="360" caption="The Shopping Stash"][/caption]

Are there any small things in your life making you happy just now?

Amazing Cakes - Updated

Courtesy of a friend, (thanks Marc), I have this link to share with you.

It sends you to another set of amazing cakes, this time with a theme.  They are steampunk inspired.

Oh, and this blog aptly called Cake Wrecks also provides a bit of a culinary laugh at the expense of cake decorators.
If you've ever had or seen a professional cake blooper, then this is the blog for you.
There are some amazingly bad cakes that someone, somewhere has thought they could charge for.

Wishful thinking...

Holidays.
It's fair to say that I could do with one.
Master Oh Waily has been an absolute gem in pretty much every way.  He's got a great nature, like his big sister, and not much seems to phase him.  He is even courteous enough to sleep an hour at a time only during daytime hours, while through the night he has managed a minimum of 3 to 4 hours almost from the very first.  We are now lucky enough to enjoy anywhere up to seven hours of night time sleep.  This is great but still a little bit inconsistent.  And it still means waking up anywhere between 2am and 4am for an early morning food stop.

What all this sleep talk means is... I am over the lack of it.
With a toddler running rings around me during the day, an afternoon nanna nap is just not possible and if you know me, then you know I like my sleep - preferably nine hours a night if I can get it.
I am not getting anywhere near that, at least not in one long peaceful stretch.  So now I'm hanging out for a holiday.  Christmas will be the first stop on that journey, but since it is "the silly season" there is only a minimum chance of an actual extended rest.  Then there is the joy of being your own boss... sounds good until you're the ones on call through Christmas and New Year.  "Silent Night"... maybe by Christmas, maybe not.  There will be no breath-holding by Ms Oh Waily on that score.

This all leads to the very nice conclusion that a holiday must and will be booked to take the misery out of next winter.  It has been done.  The Oh Wailys and grandparents (aka as babysitters) are booked for a holiday in June.  There are many reason why this is so.  Here are a few of them:

1. Doesn't interfere with enjoying (fingers crossed) a lovely summer at home while Master OWW is still small.


2. Doesn't interfere with our No.1 customer's service schedule (don't change it, please).


3. Master Oh Waily will be a good age to deal with the travel and enjoy the destination.


4. Master Oh Waily may be walking (if he follows in his sister's footsteps) by then.


5. June can be totally miserable here and no one needs to live with SADs.


6. Fiji should be warm and inviting, but not frying and drying (hopefully).

So, here is my homage to our destination.  And a bit of a perk-me-up as I look forward to floating in the pool, eating out at nice restaurants, maybe even snorkeling again and possibly splashing out on a visit to either the Mandara Spa or the Heavenly Spa.
After all, "I'm worth it".

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Where I plan to float"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="375" caption="Where I plan to lounge"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Visit where we were married"][/caption]

Although frankly, the white picket fence does nothing for me, and I am so glad that it was much more "rustic" when we had our wedding here. A nice Fijian garden with local plants and a beautiful woven archway. Much nicer than the frou-frou white fence !! See if you agree...

[caption id="attachment_1596" align="alignnone" width="405" caption="An Oh Waily Wedding Snapshot"][/caption]

Ahhhh, just looking at those photographs and thinking about Fiji is making me feel all relaxed and goofy already.  Swim-up bars (which I may even be able to visit by June), warm weather, warm swimming pool, nothing "to do" but lie around and read a good book or two, a bit of retail therapy at the Port and maybe even an iced coffee at one of the new eateries. Oh I am looking forward to it, I REALLY REALLY am.

Now all I need is for the Commodore and our government to calm down a bit and play like nice children in the Oceanic sandpit.  Not that Suva is on our travel itinerary, and Nadi is only if you can be bothered, want cheaper souvenirs or a visit to the local open air food market.  Personally, after this many visits, I'm going for the peace and quiet and pool and to do nothing.  Oh I can't wait to be back riding on the Bula Bus.

Beads and Chenille Sticks

What's next on the activity menu you may be asking yourself?

This activity came from a couple of different blogs that I follow, and can be themed as per this version by My Montessori Journey. My version is a plain one for introducing the skill, but come Christmas we may look to make a proper bead bracelet or necklace with seasonal beads.

***

Beading

First you take a trip to your local Spotlight, craft store or anywhere you are likely to find beads and chenille sticks (aka pipe cleaners).  Then you find a container to put them all in or on and off you go.  You now have a fine motor control activity for your little one.  Miss O is now nearly 27 months old and she had no trouble with this, other than the clear beads that I cunningly purchased for their large holes turned out to be slightly less easy to see for a toddler.  It took a few goes, but in the end she was able to see the holes in the end.  In the photos that follow she is predominantly using the slightly smaller wooden beads that I also purchased at Spotlight.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="360" caption="The Starting Bowl"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="360" caption="Beading In Action"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="360" caption="More Beading"][/caption]

The natural hazards of this activity are: spillage and choking.
One teaches the life skill of tidying up after yourself.  The other requires first aid knowledge.  Introduce the activity when your risk profile suggests only the first hazard is likely.

Now, a bit of further musing on what the Oh Waily household is doing.

Courtesy of finding and reading The Wonder Years blog and this post, we have also had a snack cupboard operating for the past couple of months, mostly with great success.  I fill it with an appropriate amount of foodstuffs for between meals and Miss O can stop and eat whenever she wants.  Currently this means things like raisins, crackers, small sandwiches, some fruit (bananas are a favourite) and her drink bottles.  The only drawback so far has been Miss O requesting "Mummy put X in cupboard PLEASE" loudly and repeatedly, whenever she scoffs all of the favourite item of the day.  Conveniently she ignores the remaining good and available items.  Ah such cheek.  She'll be fine on the assertiveness front.

NaBloPoMo by accident?

I'm not officially participating in this year's traditional NaBloPoMo month, but it seems that I am currently in possession of enough things to say that I am almost doing so by serendipity.  Most of what I have to say seems to revolve around Little Miss Oh Waily at the moment.  I imagine that this could be starting to bore you by now, so I do promise to diversify my ramblings away from No.1 child and into other areas.
In the meantime, however, here is another of my activity posts along with some general comments on this whole Montessori idea in our house.

***

Language Skills: Magnetic letters

This was something I threw together using the magnetic letters Little Miss received for a birthday or Christmas past, the computer and a laminator.   It is really just a variation on her wooden alphabet puzzle, you know the sort of thing you can pick up at any toy store.  This version continues to encourage her to recognise the letter shapes and where in the order of the alphabet they come.  In addition to this and unlike the wooden puzzle, Miss O has to use much more fine motor control to line up the letters successfully without knocking over its neighbours.

The first time we did this Miss O struggled to find the letters on the printed sheet.  My guess is that she was finding the alteration of letter placement between this sheet and her wooden puzzle to be difficult to adjust to.  That didn't last very long and within two more attempts she was more than happy finding the letters.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="360" caption="The Blank Sheet"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="360" caption="Getting Under Way"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="360" caption="A Bit Further On"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="360" caption="All Done All Finished"][/caption]

Now the angle of the N and the O are really down to me.  Or rather, my choice of font.  The typeface N is considerably wider than the magnet N and so is the O.  I'm guessing that this is why Little Miss tends to do this with these letters.  Meaning I need to overhaul the font on the sheet so she stops thinking Ns lie on their sides.  Other than that, she does a pretty good job - even if she has to take drink breaks towards the end.

***

Since this entry is so full of pictures, I will only briefly write about why I am interested in the idea of taking the Montessori route and why I am doing these activities.

Montessori appeals to me primarily because it aims to and claims to encourage independence and a love of learning, among other things.  I want my kids to have a love of learning, a love of reading, a love of the outdoors and to be physically competent.  A lot of what I have read, so far, suggests that following Maria Montessori's ideas could promote most (or all) of these things.  What I am not sure of, is what sort of standards the local preschools and schools set.  I simply haven't had the time to visit them to find out.  And, there isn't that much choice as far as I can tell.   So in the meantime, while Little Miss is still under 3, I have decided to instigate some ideas that follow the spirit of what I have read and continue to read about.

As a starting point to doing this at home I cannot recommend Tim Seldin's book How To Raise An Amazing Child the Montessori Way enough.  It has beautiful images and simple ideas that can be implemented in any home and at just about any budget.  You really don't have to spend a fortune.  In fact, I'd say you could save yourself a fair amount of money not buying toys your kids only play with once or twice.  Or worse yet, sit gathering dust in a corner while the box it came in becomes the best and most favourite toy for the next month.  Personally, I'm over that waste of time and money.  Not that I have anything against the boxes, of course. ;-)
Oh, and I am all keen and happy to go with his idea that a beautiful and orderly home is a good thing to promote to your child.  Hence our new shoes in the corner rule, games / activities back on the shelf before starting a new one, and a little bit of good quality kiddie art in her activity corner (a cross-stitch bear my Mum made).

I could ramble on, but this post has already stretched itself out, so I will keep my long list of observations for more November non-participating NaBloPoMo Month blog posts so you don't get completely fed up all at once.

The Cutting Activity again

We currently have my Mum's camera on loan so I took advantage of that to snap some overdue photographs of Miss Oh Waily doing her activities.

The first of these is the cutting activity with scissors that I wrote about a couple of weeks ago.  In the intervening time I have managed to refine how we go about doing this.  We started off in my original effort by snipping the edges of a sheet of paper, with me holding the paper and Little Miss working the scissors.  Since that first effort, we have gained a bit more control over the scissors so today we moved on to snipping small strips of paper.  And more importantly the paper and scissors were both under Miss Oh Waily's control.
This led to the occasional difficulty with holding the paper at the right angle for the scissors instead of turning the scissors in order to cut the wonky angled paper.  Still, with a bit of guidance we managed to get everything under control and here are the photographs to prove it.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="360" caption="On Your Marks"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="360" caption="Get Set"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="360" caption="Go"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="360" caption="All Done All Finished"][/caption]

And as if that great show of skill and control wasn't enough, I even managed to have Miss Oh Waily help pick up the small snipped paper and put it into the rubbish bin.  Will wonders never cease.
Maybe it is the beginning of the end of "Mummy do it" whenever I make requests for help cleaning up.
I know, dreams are free.

Verbal quirks

This shouldn't have come as a surprise, but it did.

My verbal quirks when speaking to my two month old baby are apparently very odd.
At least, they are odd when you hear them reflected back at you through the mouth of a two year old toddler talking to her teddy bear.

It seems that one of my baby settling verbal quirks is "Ah, my boy" repeated ad nauseum in an attempt to bore him into becoming quiet.  It's certainly an eye-opener having a little mimic in the house.  Not only am I getting to see what I say, but also what I do.  And my list of areas requiring self-improvement has suddenly grown in leaps and bounds.

Not only do children spot a hypocrite a mile off, they apparently are relentless in showing us our follies in other areas too.  I'm sure I will have to save them all up and write a post entitled "The Things My Toddler Taught Me About Myself".

If anyone with a toddler or older is willing to share, I would love to know what your little one has taught you about yourself, so please feel free to leave a comment.

The International Museum of Women

Courtesy of GRS, I have newly discovered the International Museum of Women.

I had never heard of it before, but it certainly has caught my eye now.

This Week in the Oh Waily Household

Last week in the Oh Waily household was an interesting one.
We discovered that young Master Oh Waily grows like a sprout and that he can waily waily in a loud voice when given the needle.  In addition you also know that Miss Oh Waily is learning some practical life skills in the form of cutting things.

This week will bring other new things to talk about.

This morning, for example, Master Oh Waily went for a visit to the osteopath.  And will likely be doing so once a week for the next month.  You may ask - what does an 8 week old* baby need with an osteopath?
Master Oh Waily has a decided preference for the right.  The right side, that is.
No matter what starting position he is put into, he will make every effort to shuffle himself around so his head is able to roll ever so gently to the right.  This had become more noticeable in the past few weeks, along with a mild flat patch on the back right hand side of his head.  After trying all the usual tricks to encourage a bit more balance in his world view, the Plunket Nurse suggested osteopathy as a potential.
So here we are, attempting to loosen up his slightly tight right hand side and therefore gently realign everything else in the process.  I am hopeful of an improvement in the balance of his choice of world view.  Since arriving home, and having a sleep to recover from the effort of staying awake for so long and having a strange man gently tickling your neck and head, it seems to have started promisingly.  During our next playtime we seemed much more amenable to facing straight up and to the left.  We looked much more comfortable lying straight and did not seem the least inclined to look into space on the right hand side instead of looking at George** on the left hand side.

The osteopath also kindly soothed my fear that I had been remiss in my treatment of my son, and suggested this type of pattern is reasonably common and is thought to be the result of either a position taken up pre-birth, or perhaps something that may have occurred during the birth itself.

Either way we are now on the road to a better position.

Then there was the long weekend (Labour Weekend, for those non-Kiwis of you) of which the Oh Waily family made the most.  On Saturday morning, later than we would have liked, we made our first group outing to the zoo.  The young Master slept dutifully through most of this visit, which meant his sister was free to run and run and run and run all over the place.  She was most upset when she wasn't allowed to follow Burma all the way around the zoo on her walk.  A pleasant outing had by all.
On Sunday Ms Oh Waily was let loose with some money in Spotlight and Payless Plastics.  Sans children and spouse, I went to town and wandered the aisles assessing potential edutainment values.
Yes, I know.  It is sad when a couple of hours spent in such cheap and cheerful surroundings brings this degree of enthusiasm out in me.  I know.  I need to get out more.
Anyway, on to the reason for said enthusiasm - other than free time, unencumbered by little folk.

Spotlight produced a small, eggshell blue box for storing Miss Oh Waily's animal family cards and associated fridge magnets.  And it also produced chenille sticks and two sorts of beads.  Now, are you asking yourself - what are chenille sticks? - if so, you are not alone.  When I first spotted them, I thought to myself... "are these the pipe cleaners I'm looking for, or not?"
Turns out that they are.  If anyone knows when or where pipe cleaners suddenly became gentrified and turned into "chenille sticks", enquiring minds would like to know.
The major let-down I had in Spotlight was the hope of finding reasonably priced, reasonable quality cane or woven baskets.  No such luck.
Payless, on the other hand, produced a floral vinyl tablecloth, 11 wooden (sort of) "Pub chips" bowls, 96 old-fashioned wooden clothes pegs and a bright red 15 litre plastic tub.  What a haul.  I'm just sorry that I can't show you a photograph of my newly acquired stash of items.***

Don't laugh, or call the men with the little white overcoats, it is a great stash of things if you are planning to expand your ability to edutain you toddler daughter.

Here, briefly, is what all this will turn into - with photographs to follow at some undefined time in the future.
The chenille sticks/pipe cleaners and beads are for a threading activity (which Mr Oh Waily couldn't wait to introduce... about 10 minutes after I got back with all the goodies); the little blue box is for storage on her shelf; the vinyl table cloth is for laying out under wet and/or dirty† activities and for acting as a general purpose "mat" for mat work; the "Pub chip" bowls are for the beginnings of learning about counting as are the 96 old-fashioned clothes pegs.  The bowls will no doubt do multiple duty in many other storage and activity-holding forms.  The bright red 15 litre plastic bin will be doing duty as a sensory box into which, at some future time, I will be allowing water and sand... not at the same time I hope... and anything else textural‡ that will need containment.

I promise to post photographs of these items in use as soon as I have a functioning camera and we actually sit down to do the activities.  I will also post a short list of blogs from which I have "stolen" these ideas, so you can see what other fun and educational things you can do with your children.

Finally on Monday, Mr Oh Waily took the Little Miss to the swimming pools for an afternoon of splashing, jumping, roly-polying and general good fun.  And Ms Oh Waily was again allowed quiet time to herself, at least partially.

And that is just the beginning of the week.  I'm sure I will find more to regale you with some time before the weekend, presuming I get my camera sorted.  (Can you tell I'm feeling a bit at a loss without it and am getting slightly obsessive about it's need for a new battery?)

Anyway, putting my camera anxiety aside and moving on, does anyone have activities to share?  What do you do with your kids to edutain them?  I know Amanda recreates the Ice Age for her boys... and as a trained anthropologist I can reassure you Amanda that there was indeed a Toyotasaurus !!

I'd love to hear about all of your adventures in kiddie-land.  Feel free to leave a comment or a link to your blog or photos.

---

* today to be exact.

** thank you Auntie Clare.
*** remember, from previous posting - the camera battery is stuffed !
† read: rocky, sandy, soily, or anything else messy that I don't want to spend hours cleaning out of the carpet or off the tiles.
‡ read: mucky, messy, filthy, a pain to clean up, etc...

Master Oh Waily Grows

and grows and grows.

We went for our "6 week" check-up with the Plunket Nurse yesterday and got a bit of a surprise with Master Oh Waily's latest vital statistics.

Did someone put something in his milk?

At two days over 7 weeks old Master Oh Waily’s vital statistics were…

Weight: 6.03 kg
Head: 41 cm
Length: 60 cm

You may be asking why a growing baby should be a surprise to his mother.  Well, cast your mind back to his measurements just two days shy of being 5 weeks old...

Weight: 5.12 kg
Head: 39.5 cm
Length: 57 cm

That means our little man has put on another 3 cm in length, 1.5 cm in head circumference and just a smidgen shy of 1 kilogram - all in 18 days !!   You know - less than a month - and only slightly more than two weeks !!

I guess this is the growth spurt that the baby books like to refer to.  It certainly is backed up by his eating and sleeping pattern over the past couple of weeks - why wait more than two hours to ask Mum for some more milk?  Eat some, lie and gaze at the world some, sleep an hour, eat some more and repeat.  Thankfully he was civilised enough to only do this during the daytime, and actually managed to sleep for two or three hours through the night before deciding to ask for something to fill his tummy again.

This all keeps his statistics at or above the 85th percentile.  If he keeps growing at this rate, he does stand a chance of making it as a loose forward for the All Blacks.  And if he does, then I'm guessing that his genetic make-up is coming from my father.  As anyone who knows Master Oh Waily's parents in real life can tell you - neither of us is likely to fall into the 85th percentile of growth stats for either gender.

Master Oh Waily gets the needle

Yes it was that week.
This past Monday Master Oh Waily went for his six week immunisations.

Did he wail?
On both legs?
Oh yes !
Like a banshee.

Poor little soul.  Have you seen the length of the needles for the immunisations?
Have you seen the thickness of the chubby little thigh it has to go in to?

I could swear that babies wail not because of a stabbing sensation so much as because the needles go so deep that they could almost be collecting bone marrow !

Oh well, only another four lots to go before he's school age.  What a thought.

Activity of the Week: Cutting

This is actually multiple activities for this week, covering two versions of cutting.
Little Miss doesn't have a long attention span yet, so spending lots of time on one activity is something we don't quite manage.  This means that we try to do at least two activities a day and so far the favourites have been the button sorting game, the rice pouring game and the scissor cutting game.

This week we are revisiting the safe use of scissors, and adding in the safe use of knives for cutting.

Unfortunately our digital camera's battery has been playing up and will not hold a charge anymore, so the images will be few and far between until this can be replaced.  I did manage to take some photos of her cutting activity before it died, so here is a look at the newest activity the Miss has been doing.

***

Cutting Objects: Playdough

With the use of a small butter knife and very thinly rolled out playdough, we are starting to learn the actions required to cut things safely.  Naturally the knife is not razor sharp and doesn't have any serrations at this stage of the process.  It is, however, still sharp enough to do this practise.
This idea is one of the Montessori Practical Life Skills, using playdough was our innovation.

First up, here's the equipment:  a small butter knife, and some playdough rolled into small sausages.

After that we have some action shots of Miss OWW and her cutting technique.  Note that despite being over two years old, there is no definitive sign of hand dominance yet.  Miss OWW is left-leaning for some activities and right-leaning for others.  She often seems to want to do things left-handed but then finds herself passing objects off to her right hand in order to complete what she wants to do.  Perhaps she will take after her great-grandfather and be ambidextrous.  (My grandfather wrote with his right hand, but did all of his other tool work with his left. Mind you, he was brought up in the very early 20th century, so there is a chance that he was completely left-handed but forced to write with his right at school.)



The Blue Dough - Lefty



The Blue Dough - Righty



The Red Dough - Lefty

***

The last photograph is a bit gratuitous since the process is obvious from the other two, but since I don't have any images of Miss OWW with scissors in hand I thought I would throw in a freebie dough cutting one to tide us over.
Did you also notice that we have a degree of elegance in our cutting technique?  Take another look at the second cutting picture - see the pinky?  We might be eligible for tea with the Queen if she keeps that up.

As for the other cutting activity, I will show you what we are doing with scissors just as soon as the camera is back in working order.  Might be a week or so, depending on how accessible batteries are.
In the meantime, I'd love to hear from everyone what they are doing with their little ones.

The Activity Corner

Another idea gleaned from Tim Seldin's book How To Raise An Amazing Child the Montessori Way is the idea of simplifying the display of activities and toys.
This suits me down to the ground and as it happened I had been trying to find ways of making Miss Oh Waily's toys less cluttered while still being available to her in the living room.  As well as this I was also looking for the best way to reduce the number of them available at any one time so she didn't become overwhelmed by choices.  I had tried a number of approaches finally arriving at using boxes to keep things as much under control as possible.

But going on a spending spree to get a range of decorative boxes wasn't on the cards, so we made do with what we had.  It wasn't ideal and we still had too many toys out and too much mess on an ongoing basis.  I loved the beautiful photographs of storage in Seldin's book and was inspired.  But with the monster mortgage staring over my shoulder, there was no way to go out and get a whole bunch of neat box-style shelving and trendy wicker baskets just to hold toys.

In the end I got fed up with the play corner being a constant mess, and re-purposed a bookshelf from our front room into a clean, easily kept toy storage corner for the little Miss.  So far it is working.  And I am making an extra effort to encourage Miss OWW to take one toy out at a time, and replace it back on it's shelf before starting off with another.  She is still a work in progress on that front, but we are seeing the occasional glimmers of hope there too.

So here it is - The Activity Corner.



Miss OWW can reach all the objects except the top shelf, which is where I have put her art supplies for now.  Personally I'm not quite ready to deal with Jackson Pollock-esque art all over our walls, so this is my form of controlling that possibility.  The kid sized table and chairs is something I had wanted for her for ages and our lovely daycare owner told me about this very, very reasonably* priced (and nicely finished) set.  Thanks to Gran and Pop for getting them as a present for our little Miss !

We still get a bit of mess - wait until I tell you about our first attempt at pouring - but on the whole reducing the number of items and making them completely visible has been a good thing.  As it turns out, Miss OWW quite likes the new activities I'm presenting to her, even more so than playing with her toys.  The little table and chairs are in almost constant use, and take the weight of an adult so we can play together there as a family group.

I'm very glad to have put this idea into practice, especially in the main room of the house.  It means that she continues to be included here, but it quickly looks like an adult room with a little tidying.
The next phase is doing a similar thing to her own bedroom.  This will take a while because we have to decide whether she will be staying in her current room, or moving to one of the others when it comes time for Master Oh Waily to have his own space.
But that's for another time and another post.

If you have a dedicated corner of the house for your little ones, I'd love to know what you do and how you have organised it.

---

* nearly half the price of other versions for sale in some retail stores - and much, much nicer (no laminate to be seen).

Oh Waily Activity of The Week

The following post will be starting with an explanation and a disclaimer.

Explanation:
This will be the beginning of a new Oh Waily series.  It will be a weekly* post showing what new activity** the Oh Waily family is trying out.  As you may have gathered from an earlier post, I am currently pondering what to do for Miss Oh Waily's ongoing edutainment.
The jury is still out on the idea of a Montessori pre-school, and from what I have read so far may stay out.  In the meantime, while I am still thinking and researching the options (Monterssori, Classical Trivium, Homeschooling, mainstream preschools/schools, etc.) we will be instigating some of the very sensible and attractive (to us) ideas gleaned from reading Tim Seldin's wonderful book How To Raise An Amazing Child the Montessori Way as well as those I have pinched from a number of blogs that have made themselves at home in my NetNewsWire.  I will let you know who these good folk are in due course.

Disclaimer:
Many of the activities in this series will smack of Montessori activities, but that is not the sole source or inspiration.  If you are visiting for the first time and are a dyed-in-the-wool strict follower of one or the other, or the other other, ad nauseum version of Montessori, please don't leave nasty comments regarding the missing steps or lack of any anal-retentive "rules" you may feel I am ignoring, missing or misrepresenting.  I am in no way claiming any relationship, knowledge or trained skill in the "Montessori method".  I am an educator by way of being a full-time Mum, not by way of a B.Ed., or any other form of teaching degree. ***
I will do my best to identify the source and inspiration for each activity, including links to books and blogs.

Here endeth the one-time only preamble.  Now we can move along to the actual activity of the week.

~^~^~

Sorting Objects: Buttons

This was one of the first activities that I chose to try out with Miss Oh Waily.  It came from Tim Seldin's book (see above).  I thought it would be a good starting point to assess her interest in doing planned activity, and what sort of skill level and capacity she might actually have.  Turns out that this was a walk in the park.

What we used:
Buttons - 3 types, 4 of each type.
Bowls and recycled baby food jars.
A tray with a mat.

The first step was to lay everything out, then show Miss OWW what to do.

The next step was to let her do it.  And off she went.  Red buttons first.

Then the yellow buttons.

And finally the blue buttons.

Until we are finished.

As I said, this was far too easy and she did it first time.  Then she got bored and just started to mix the buttons up deliberately, with a sly smirk on her face while watching for my reaction.  So I thought I would ask her to put the biggest buttons in one jar - which she went ahead and did.  Then I asked her to do the same with the smallest buttons.  Again, all done on first attempts with no prompting by me.  Now I need to find a more challenging version of sorting.

~^~^~

* or bi-weekly, if I run out of time, energy and a co-operative toddler.
** or activities, if I have the time, energy and a particularly keen toddler.
*** I believe this is called full disclosure.

Master Oh Waily Update

I haven't quite managed to overtake myself, but as a treat for actually keeping on keeping on with laundry, daycare drop-offs and collections, jungle gym visits, gardening and general child and house-care, I am taking a bit of time out today to write this update.

At one day shy of 5 weeks old Master Oh Waily's vital statistics were...

Weight: 5.12 kg
Head: 39.5 cm
Length: 57 cm

So my little love has grown 5.5 cm in length, his head has expanded 3 cm and he has added 1.22 kg to his little frame.  Of course, those stats are sooo last week and we are putting much effort into growing.  No doubt we have an extra centimetre in length and another 200 grams to add for this last week, but who's counting.  Oh yeah, the Plunket nurse is.  Well, we'll see if that prediction is accurate at next week's clinic visit.

Just by way of comparison, I took a look at his sister's statistics and found that at her 6 week mark she was just a little shy of him - 4.4kg, 38 cm head diameter and 54 cm long.  In fact it takes her until 11 weeks to hit or pass his 5 weeks statistics.  I guess that's why he's between the 85th and 97th percentile on the WHO growth charts and his sister is just hovering on the 50th.

Variety is the spice of life.   Anyway, that's how he is stacking up in the growth department.

---

Just a note about my earlier comment about my blog entries becoming an even more endangered species due to my need to not ignore "stuff" anymore, I have to say that I may have been a bit premature on making that pronouncement.  Having squeezed in quite a bit of reading time over this past week, mostly Montessori related, I have become more enthusiastic and determined to eke out some blogging time.  Therefore I countermand my earlier suggestion that you will be seeing less of me.  In fact, you may actually see more of me than I have managed for the past year.  How ironic.

To Montessori or Not To Montessori

... that is the question.

In the quest for the next stage of learning for my little Miss OhWaily I have been looking for activities to introduce to her, and hopefully inspire her to continue to be adventurous and inquisitive.
This led to the library and almost immediately to the books based on, or purporting to "be" Montessori.  There are quite a few.  Clearly it has become very trendy and, judging by the cost of Montessori products sold online, it has managed to squeeze a huge premium from parents on the back of that.

Saying that, having read two or three 'do-it-at-home' Montessori books, it has struck me as a good system to integrate into everyday life.  I don't have difficulty with the concept of sensitive periods, or the three-step (or period) method of teaching since we instinctively have been doing that as it turns out. I love the idea of making the most of Miss OhWaily's emerging skills and interests to encourage her to become more independent.  I also like a great number of the activities I have read about and am keen to introduce them.  So far we've only managed to do a sorting activity (buttons) and a pouring activity (rice) but whenever she gets the chance we are playing (working) with the buttons or pouring rice from jug to jug.

My real issue is whether a formal Montessori environment would be a good option for her part-time daycare (or playgroup as we call it).  Having continued to read about Montessori online, through websites and blogs, I'm not sure that I want to commit Miss OhWaily to a stricter version.  Our little girl is very boisterous and talkative and while I have no objection whatsoever to her learning manners (an indoor voice would be a wonderful thing) and patience and respect for others and their workspace, I am concerned that the emphasis placed on manners might mean that she loses her exuberance.

This is proving to be a puzzler for me.  I have two conflicting "wants" - I want her to learn good manners, increase her concentration and "work" independently on the one hand, and then on the other I want her to play and be exuberant, energetic and physically very competent.   From what I have read so far (and it is only a small amount) I haven't managed to reconcile both of these aspects yet.

I'm sure a visit to a Montessori daycare or two will help me evaluate this issue.  But then, in addition to my own evaluations I will also need to understand Maria Montessori's actual theory enough to see if the daycare is actually implementing that theory.

I guess what concerns me is that like all theories / philosophies / religions, you get a range of adherents.  Some are laid-back and loosely follow the "rules" while others do so strictly and rigidly.
I'm middle of the road in many respects, and I think that's where my views on this sit too.  Not too loose, not too tight.  Just right.  (Do I sound like an advertisement? Hmm)

If anyone out there has has a good / bad / indifferent experience with this (or any other) system of pre-school education, I'd love to hear from you.  I understand that in the end I will need to decide if this way of doing things suits my daughter's temperament and needs, but I'm the sort of person who likes to gather as much information as possible before drawing a final conclusion.

I've ordered "The Absorbent Mind" from the library, so I will continue the investigation and in the meantime I will continue to introduce some aspects of activity and home design into our daily life.

If you made it this far thanks for listening to my "thinking out loud".  It's nice to have this sounding board.

Master Oh Waily's Arrival

"Nothing happens to anybody which he is not fitted by nature to bear."
- Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

That's the idea anyway.  Or so the Emperor would have us believe.
I'm hoping he's right.

I am now testing my mettle in the world of parenting multiple children.  Are my knees quaking at the thought of entire days where I juggle the needs of my bright, beautiful toddler daughter and my sweet, relaxed, new baby boy?

"Oh yes !", as my lovely little daughter has taken to saying.

Still, I'm sure it won't be all that bad.  Other people do it, and some of them with more than two kids.  Good grief, what is there to be afraid of?
Perhaps it's the ability of my dear toddler to wander off to any room in the house and potentially create varying forms of havoc on unsuspecting walls with her marker pens, crayons or chalk.  Thankfully the chalk masterpieces that have previously adorned our various walls have been very easily removed from display.  We have yet to witness similar marker or crayon art, but I suspect it is only a matter of time and inclination.

In the meantime, what has Master Oh Waily's arrival meant for the Oh Waily family?

The main change has been sleep.  Everyone's ability to get some, the quality of it and the longevity of it.

The OWW parents are living in the land of sleep deprivation and are currently working on an evil master plan to counteract that particular side-effect of having a new infant in the house.  Currently it mostly revolves around the toddler and the timeshare use of a grandparent and spare bedroom.

The most obvious change for Miss Oh Waily has been the alterations in her normally good sleep pattern.
Perhaps the disappearance of Mum & Dad in the middle of the night* and the non-appearance of Mum for a couple of days** spooked young Miss Oh Waily.  We no longer seem to have a happy-to-go-to-bed daughter and have received a stupendous number of "curtain calls" some nights before she finally gives in and falls asleep.  That would, in itself, be almost livable but for the fact that during Master Oh Waily's first two weeks she also made an irregular habit of waking up some time around 2am and doing the same sort of thing - only instead of going back to the living room it became our bedroom.
Fortunately over the last week and a bit (fingers crossed, touch wood, throw that pinch of salt over the shoulder...) she seems to have settled out of the middle-of-the-night visits and the evening curtain calls have become intermittent.

I'm just hazarding a guess, but I am inclined to put this down to the often touted "regression" that toddlers go through when a new member of the family arrives.  On top of that Miss Oh Waily appears to have been cutting all four of her back molars during this time - and that's also interfering with her usually lovely temper.

Other than that, Ms Oh Waily is learning that she needs to add at least another half an hour to her prep-them-to-go-out-anywhere time.  And even that may be a tad close when attempting to make an appointment time.
She also notes that there are only two choices with regards to everything else that isn't directly baby or toddler related - you either keep working while the children are having synchronised sleeps until "stuff" is done, including using that precious little amount of time that belongs to you to wash the poopy nappies, or; you ignore it.   Personally I find I can ignore quite a bit of stuff, for quite a bit of time.  Then I find that ignoring it for quite a bit of time makes it even harder to catch up with and worse yet, to live with.  So ignoring it is now a non-option in Ms Oh Waily's daily life.
What that means in practice is - this blog entry is going be an even rarer species than it's stablemates already are (unless my non-ignorance of "stuff" means I catch up and overtake myself); my "fun" reading time is cut to about 30 minutes once a week; my eyes occasionally take on the look of a panda's and I may tragically find myself becoming a Mummy-Bore***.

As a result of this alteration in my daily life a little part of me is looking forward to and admiring this stage of motherhood where reading books while drinking good coffee is a possibility.  I am particularly relishing the opportunity to indulge in such glorious in-and-on-the-bed reading sessions with both of my kids.  Little Miss has had some of that - Hairy Maclary surely counts as much as Harry Potter for a toddler. ;-)
This has to be the ultimate in family time.

So the upshot is - we're tired, but we're adjusting and getting used to the new rhythm of our family life.
And yes, I will become a bit of a Mummy-Bore with my blog entries.  Mostly because I don't get enough reading time.  Honest.

---

* why did both of my children decide that getting down to the nitty-gritty of arrival should occur some time between midnight and sunrise ??
** despite visits to Birthcare (the very nice place our actual hospital shunts you off to within 3-4 hours of giving birth, complicated or caesarian births excluded) to see Mum and new baby.
*** these are the women you previously crossed the road to avoid.  No conversation can be held about anything except children - their children specifically, and just how great they are and what they are doing that will astound and amaze you. ;-)

A Borders Coupon - 2009 Booker Shortlist

Our Border's coupon emailer has arrived today and it is offering a 20% discount on all 2009 Booker Prize shortlisted offerings.

That means the following:
Summertime by J. M. Coetzee
The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds
The Glass Room by Simon Mawer
The Children's Book by A. S. Byatt
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters.

Has anyone read one or more of these yet?
If so, any recommendations for frittering spending my tiny amount of personal time on reading?

Master OhWaily joins the Family

Just a quick note that Master OhWaily joined our family on Tuesday 1st September, at 8:06 am.

It was a lovely spring morning, and he was greeted by the sunrise over Rangitoto.  Yes, we had a delivery room with a view.
We have been getting to know each other this week, and big sister has been happily giving out kisses and cuddles as she feels like it.

However, after having two and a bit weeks of home help in the form of my Mum, I am about to move on to the fraught* topic of juggling a hugely energetic toddler who requires much attention with the needs of a newborn and his, primarily, hunger.

* credit goes to "Pooh's Heffalump Movie" and Rabbit for re-introducing the word fraught into my lexicon.

---

The Politically Incorrect Parenting Show

Currently screening on TV One here in New Zealand, this show is hosted by clinical psychologist Nigel Latta.
It is the funniest, most apt piece of television I have enjoyed watching in years.

Last night's episode has sparked me into print because the first section about Generation Y just hit such a big nerve that I spent the entire section nodding, laughing and thinking - "oh my god, that is so completely true".
The entire piece revolves around the idea that by removing the concept of "winning" and introducing the idea that everyone should get a prize no matter how much effort they put in (just turning up is enough), we encourage our children to have unrealistic expectations of their own worth and entitlement.  i.e. I'm here, I'm fabulous, why aren't you fawning over me?

I believe that every kid is special, but not every kid is special at everything.  How can you be special if all the other kids are treated the same irrespective of how much time, effort and talent they put into any activity?  And conversely, how can the other kids be special if you get a prize for turning up when they are clearly better at something and not recognised for it?
Where's the possibility of genuine self-esteem generation there?

This complete lack of understanding of how the "real" world works amongst some of "the younger generation", and the demands put on others for their own self-gratification has long been a bug-bear of mine.  I have been known to repeatedly pontificate and be a general bore on the subject of this inability to recognise the need to "earn" the right to have something, or to do something.

We have had at least two Gen Y - types at our work over the years.  They never fail to amaze and astound me with their density.  They cannot see past their own needs, wants and desires.  They don't understand why the word "no" is used by others to some of their 'requests' and they don't understand the concept of being paid by performance rather than length of time on the job.  (i.e. they turn up and are "loyal" so what's the problem?)  And certainly their view of what is "team oriented" is a million miles away from my own.

By way of example, how does this attitude sit with you...

Young person, not sound with money despite advice from parents and employers regarding the need to be prudent, goes out and buys a $1000 cellphone because it is cool (or whatever).   Less than a month later, the same young person is known to be in financial difficulties due to court orders for fines payments and what appears to be debt collectors attempting to contact them at their workplace.   What does said young person do?  Face up to the reality of what they've got themselves into?  Taken steps to get their financial mess in order? Come to some agreement regarding repayments?  Sold some surplus stuff (i.e. cellphone) to reduce debt and improve cashflow?

Of course - NOT !!

Their first port of call is their parents - please bail me out.  Parents, facing up to reality, say "No".
Their second port of call is their employer - please give me a raise.

The last of these would not necessarily be an issue for a well-adjusted, contributing member of staff.  But this young person was more known for a history of being unreliable, having contributed nothing new or of note to their workplace and certainly not putting in more than the bare minimum effort in order not to get the sack.  What do you suppose the answer to the request of more money was?

Of course - NOT !!

I know I'm sounding like an old fuddy-duddy, and I also know that these comments verge on a sweeping generalisation (as I do actually know some 'younger generation' that don't behave like they have a god-given right to anything they want, when they want it and without earning it).  But by crikey it is more prevalent than people may admit and it causes us "older" folk some degree of difficulty in a workplace.  Those politically correct behavioural practices introduced into many of our schools may have been done so with good intention but they clearly have a long-term negative impact on our children and their ability to stand up in the world.

Silly, silly, silly.  As though you would find any such nonsense occurring in other parts of the world.  India, for example.  Competitiveness is embedded and the only way you can get ahead.  I wonder why they are getting so much of our call centre and IT work?  Oh, that's right... they earn it*.

Anyway stepping off my soap box, I can highly recommend this for viewing if you are in NZ.  If not, you can always see if any of Nigel Latta's books are available in your local library or book shop.
If all else fails you can always look here for them too - Nigel Latta on Amazon.

---

* Before you leave messages telling me the ONLY reason our call centres and IT work go to India is because of "slave labour wages" that those of us in the first world wouldn't get out of bed for... DON'T.
Yes, they have a competitive advantage on their salaries.  I know that.  I also know and have spoken to many Indians (being the nature of our industry) and understand that they have a driving, competitive internal market for education.  You don't sit on your backside in that country and expect to get ribbons just for turning up.  Not that I am in any way advocating that we turn our system into a "workhouse for kids".  I believe in a middle ground - one that shows kids how the real world works (they will be up against third world competitors with numerous competitive advantages trying their best to make a living), while allowing them the time and space to actually have a childhood.  That doesn't mean dumbing stuff down for them, or over-praising their skills, or giving them everything they want when they want it.  It means loving them, setting fair boundaries based on their abilities, comforting them when they "lose" and encouraging them to improve and try again.  When they win, they'll be amply praised.  But not just for the sake of it.  Because they have achieved something, even if that something is as "small" a thing as learning to jump.

Just my 2c.

</rant off>

Crêpes

Recipe By : James Martin
Serving Size : 12 - 16

Ingredients:

125g plain flour
2 good pinches of salt (optional)
1 large egg
1 tablespoon melted butter, plus extra for frying
300 mls milk

Method:

1. Place the flour and salt in a bowl and add the egg, melted butter and half the milk.  Whisk until smooth and creamy, then mix in the remaining milk.


2. Leave the batter to rest for 10 minutes if you wish, although this is no longer deemed to be necessary as flours are now so thoroughly refined.


3. Heat a pancake pan (approximately 20 cm) over a high heat and grease with a knob of butter.  Ladle the batter in, swirling to coat the base of the pan and cook the crêpes for 1 - 2 minutes on each side, until golden.


4. You should get about 12 - 16 if you make thin ones.  Add your choice of filling and cream, ice cream or sauce and serve.


5. If you are making them in advance, layer them with squares of greaseproof and place in the freezer.  To serve, defrost and reheat either by placing in a pan with a touch of butter, microwaving for a couple of seconds or heating in the oven for 1 minute at 200°C / 400°F / Gas Mark 6.

James' Notes:

I've worked with some chefs who say you should rest the batter after mixing, while others say the opposite.  For me, the real secret of a good pancake or crêpe is, firstly, not to make the batter too eggy.  Secondly, make it quite liquid and not too thick as this will enable the mixture to spread more quickly and thinly into the pan.  Always fry in butter too (never in olive oil or other oils) as it adds to the flavour, and because of the quick cooking the butter will also add colour to the crêpe.

Source: James Martin Desserts

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -

My notes : This is the best crêpe recipe I have come across yet. It is much better than the Rose Elliot one I posted earlier simply because, as James states in his notes - don't make the batter too eggy.  This one doesn't.  It also comes together really quickly and easily in the KitchenAid with the whisk attachment.  The only proviso I would give is to be fluid with the fluid.  I have sometimes found that different brands of flour have been much thirstier than others, so aim for a consistent consistency not the volume prescribed by the recipe if you are in the habit of buying whatever flour happens to be at hand on the supermarket shelf.

And yes, if you turn the page in this book you will find sauces to go with them if you plan to use the crêpes for a special dessert - chocolate, cinnamon or raspberry sauce are the offerings.

Wild Blackberry Cobbler

Recipe By : Bon Appetit, May 1984
Source: Gathered years ago from rec.recipes
Serving Size : 6

Ingredients:

4 cups blackberries. (up to 5 cups wild blackberries)
14 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons butter, cut into 10 pieces
1/3 cup milk

Method:

1. Bring berries, 12 tablespoons sugar and cornstarch to the boil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly.


2. Reduce heat and simmer 3 minutes. Remove from heat.


3. Preheat oven to 400°F. Butter 8 inch square baking pan.


4. Combine remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Cut in 8 tablespoons of butter with pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Gradually add milk and blend until mixture just comes together.


5. Turn dough out onto generously floured surface and knead several times. Roll dough out to a rectangle ¼ inch thick.


6. Drape dough in prepared pan, allowing excess to hang over 2 edges. Pour in berry mixture. Bring edges of dough up to enclose mixture. Make several slashes in top of dough. Dot with remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Bake until pastry is lightly browned, about 40 minutes. Serve cobbler immediately.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

NOTES :

We had no blackberries in the house, so I used one cup of raspberries, two cups of blueberries and just over a cup of apples.
We don't have an 8 inch baking pan, so made do with what we do have. That meant that the dough did not come to a close over the top of the cobbler. It made no difference to the taste, and even made it look more rustic. The very full berry mixture didn't even so much as attempt to climb over the edges of the turned-over dough edges.

The third of a cup of milk was not quite enough - possibly closer to a quarter cup (or a third and a good splash).
The cooking time was pretty much 30 minutes in a 200°C oven, so don't let this go too long without checking in your own oven. Any longer and it wouldn't have been a lovely golden brown, but a step into the chocolate burned range. :)

Don't forget to use your own judgement about the amount of sugar too. If you know the fruit you are using are more/less tart, then adjust accordingly.

Oh, and Mr OhWaily enjoyed this with cream, while I was a glutton and teamed it with vanilla ice cream. Most satisfying, all round.

Tunisian Pepper and Potato Couscous

Recipe By : Deborah Madison
Serving Size : 6

Ingredients:

⅓ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, diced in ½ inch squares
1 ½ teaspoons dried mint
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 pound boiling potatoes, peeled and sliced lengthways
2 tablespoons tomato paste
6 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 ½ cups cooked chickpeas, rinsed if canned
salt
5 bell peppers, sliced 1-inch thick
4 tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1 ½ cups couscous
⅓ cup harissa
3 tablespoons chopped parsley

Method:

1. In a wide skillet with 2 inch sides, heat ⅓ cup oil over medium heat.


2. Add the onion, mint, pepper flakes, potatoes, tomato paste, and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes, then add the chickpeas, 1 ½ teaspoons salt, and the peppers.


3. Raise the heat and saute for 2 minutes.


4. Add the tomatoes and 3 cups water, reduce the heat to low, and simmer, partially covered, until the potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. When done, remove 2 cups of the liquid for the couscous and set the vegetables aside.


5. Heat the reserved broth and stir in a teaspoon of the harissa.


6. Warm the 2 tablespoons oil in a wide pot over a medium-high heat. Add the couscous and cook, stirring constantly, for about 1 minutes.


7. Turn off the heat and pour in the broth - it will instantly bubble up. When it subsides, shake the pan to even the contents, then cover and set aside for 7 minutes.


8. Fluff the grains with a fork, spoon half cup water over them, and cover again for 5 minutes.


9. Garnish with parsley and serve remaining harissa on the side.

Cuisine: "Vegetarian"
Copyright: "1997"
Ratings Out of 10: Jesse 8, John 8, Lynn 7
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

NOTES :I had to use general purpose vegetable oil the first time and it was fine. Also used Zarbo Harissa marinade (which is runny rather than a paste) and it worked perfectly too.

An Apple a day...

...keeps Ms OhWaily busy.

The past week has seen the arrival of the newest technology baby into the Oh Waily household - a MacBook.
Yes, for those Mac-ites out there, I have transferred my allegiance over from "the dark side".

So, what do I think of the experience so far?

Aesthetics:  9 out of 10.

Loved the little carry-case box it came in, with padding and protective papers.
Love the clean, minimalistic lines of the white casing.  This is probably the biggest joy - not an ugly, big, black or grey box with a screen sitting on top.
Love that the little Apple logo on the top lights up when the laptop is in use.
Sorry Apple, you can keep your "sexy" new aluminium cased laptops - that's just heading in the direction of PC laptops as far as I'm concerned and doesn't have any special set-me-apart design appeal.
The only downside I foresee and why it's only a 9/10 is that keeping this shiny white outside clean and dog-hair free (static you know) may prove to be a minor bugbear.

Ease of Use: 8 out of 10.

Although with a friend's helpful tips and tricks, this is becoming less of an issue for such a greenhorn, newbie. And to show how it was welcomed (and what a SF geek I can be some times), it's hard drive now bears it's own name - R.Daneel Olivaw.  Sad I know, but there you are.
On things physical - the trackpad works fine, not keen on a single select button only though.  This means that a mouse is a definite requirement to speed up many tasks (not that I was going to be mouseless anyway - just something to note.)
I like the feel of the keyboard and the screen is plenty bright enough for my needs.  It's small compared with the giant screen I've been using with the PC, but that's just a case of my adapting or spending a bit more money on an external monitor.
Most things are fairly intuitive once you get over the difference in the way Windows software and Apple software are set out.  The first few days I was constantly going to the top right to close windows.  :/   But I have eventually realigned myself.  The only other oddity is the need to Command-Q to genuinely close an application.  I'm not sure about the rationale for this.  Still, it's not a big deal either, just odd.
Finding where everything lives on the hard drive was also reasonably easy.  And whenever I was in doubt about how to do something a quick Google and there was some sort of answer to my problem or question in one forum or another.  Who knew that there was such a group as ehMac in Canada ?  It was nice to see they have a good chuckle at their own linguistic quirks.

My only current outstanding "what the..." is how to delete text from the right side of the cursor instead of the left side.  I haven't bothered to Google that one yet, but will do shortly as it is getting to be a touch tedious.

Ease of migration: 6 out of 10

This one is down to me though, not the computers.
I did most of the migration manually using a USB memory stick.  It was painfully time consuming, BUT it did give me a much greater insight into the amount of electronic clutter and rubbish that can accumulate on one's hard drive.  It also gave me a much better opportunity to de-clutter and re-organise the way things were laid out on the Mac.  If I'd just worked out a wireless network and gone "copy all..." then nothing would have changed and I wouldn't have given the amount of rubbish any second glances.  The clutter mayhem would have continued.

Old Windows Software Issues:

This one has turned out to be less traumatic than I thought it might be.
I've downloaded Open Office for Mac to take care of my current need to access MS files and it is working just fine so far.  The only shortfall is the inability to open Publisher files, but they were few and far between anyway.
One surprise is that iMovie and/or iPhoto can't cope with my Sony digital video camera's mpeg file type so I had to go find freebie software that could.  That problem is solved, but not neatly and may require a more refined solution in due course.
MindManager have a Mac version, but it is (so far) oh so ugly and counter-intuitive - unlike it's Windows stable mate.  The lovely people at Mindjet are even willing to swap out my Windows key for a Mac key (but only once, and it's only a one way ticket).  But on the Mac trial version that I have downloaded to assess it, I am not so sure that I will migrate this over - I may look to Bootcamp or virtualisation to use my much prettier, intuitive Windows version.  Such a shame.
That leaves the family history software - pretty much the only thing that doesn't have a Mac version.  It needs to be run under virtualisation.  So unless I find something that I love more than this software, I will need to take a trek into the virtual world of Windows on an Apple.

And that's it so far.

Tomorrow the IT guy is scheduled to visit and attempt to set up Remote Desktop for me.  That might be the MacBook's biggest test to date.  I have my fingers crossed that it will go well and not produce the first real drama of ownership.

---

Ooo.  I forgot to mention how wonderful it is at picking up our wireless network.  Mr OWW's Lenovo laptop is an absolute pig for not picking it up for hours on end - even when it's a foot away from the router/modem.  The MacBook has no such issue - turn it on and you're connected.  Not only connected, but as far as I can tell there is no real significant difference in the wireless speed from when it gets plugged directly in to the router.  Certainly not what I expected, having visited and used other in-home wireless networks with laptops. My experience is a significant fall-off in speed if you are wireless compared to plugged in.

Lentil Shepherd's Pie

Recipe By : Rose Elliot
Serving Size : 4

Ingredients:

225g / 8oz green or brown lentils
50g / 2oz butter or vegan margarine
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 teaspoon dried mixed herbs
1 x 425g / 15oz can tomatoes, chopped
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2-3 tablespoons chopped parsley
salt & freshly ground black pepper
700g / 1 ½ lbs potatoes, cooked and mashed
a little extra butter or vegan margarine

Method:

1. Put the lentils into a large saucepan, cover with water and boil gently until tender - about 45 minutes. Drain.


2. Preheat the oven to 200C / 400F / Gas 6. Use half the butter/margarine to grease a shallow ovenproof dish.


3. Fry the onions in the remaining butter/margarine in a large saucepan for 10 minutes.


4. Add the garlic, mixed herbs, tomatoes, soy sauce, lentils, parsley and salt and pepper to taste.


5. Spoon the mixture into the dish. Spread the mashed potatoes evenly over the top, draw the prongs of the fork over the surface to make ridges and dot with a little butter or vegan margarine.


6. Bake the pie for 45 minutes, until the potato is golden brown.

Source: "Rose Elliot's Vegetarian Cookery" , 1988

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NOTES :This book is a great starting point for vegetarian cooking. Just be flexible about the cooking times, it may not take as long as the recipe states. Also, I can definitely state that dyed-in-the-wool meat eaters will enjoy this.
(I fed a bodybuilder this and he loved it.)

I also have to confess to adding cheese to the potato topping before the baking process - but we buy Vegetarian Edam for the purpose - and you really don't need another 45 minutes for this stage. Use your discretion, the lentils are usually cooked by the time you bake this.

Lemon and Ginger Cheesecake

Recipe By : Debbie Grierson

Ingredients:

Base
200g Gingernut biscuits
100g Butter

Topping
250g firm cream cheese (Philadelphia cream cheese works really well)
3 to 4 pieces stem ginger, finely chopped
Juice of 4 lemons
Rind of 2 lemons
400g can of sweetened condensed milk

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C / 350F / Gas 4.


2. Make the base: Crush the biscuits finely. Melt the butter, add the crushed biscuits and mix. This can be done in a food processor. Press into flan dish. Cook in oven for 5 minutes. Leave to cool for 30 minutes.


3. Make the topping: Combine the cheese, chopped ginger, lemon juice and rind, and the condensed milk. Whisk until the mixture is slightly thickened (this can be done in a food processor). Place the mixture on top of the cooled biscuit base and freeze for 30 minutes before serving.

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NOTES : This quantity fills a 9 inch flan dish and feeds 8.

Chickpea Burgers

Recipe By: "July/August 1993 issue of Eating Well magazine"
Serving Size : 4

Ingredients:

4 teaspoons sesame seeds
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
4 scallions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 cup rice, cooked
⅔ cup wheat germ
3 tablespoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
tomatoes, to taste
4 pita bread rounds
yogurt, for garnish
spinach, for garnish

Method:

1. Cook the sesame seeds in a dry pan until golden. Add coriander and cumin and cook until fragrant (30 sec.). Set aside to cool, then grind or bash in a mortar and pestle.


2. Add oil to pan and saute the garlic and scallions until tender.


3. Mash the chickpeas well, then stir in the rice and ⅓ cup wheat germ, lemon juice, salt, pepper, sesame seeds, and garlic/scallions.


4. Shape into 4 ¾" thick patties. Dredge in remaining ⅓ cup wheat germ, pressing firmly onto the patties.


5. Grill or broil patties and tomato on a lightly oiled rack until browned and heated through.


6. Tuck the patties into pitas; garnish with yogurt and spinach.

Note: If you aren't averse to garlic, use garlic pita bread. Also, I can highly recommend Paul Newman's Ranch Dressing as well as salad to put into the pitas.

Buckwheat Noodle Salad with Grilled Tofu and Roasted Peppers

Recipe By: Deborah Madison
Serving Size: 4

Ingredients:

The Tofu and Marinade

1 package firm tofu
⅓ cup hoisin sauce
2 teaspoons sesame oil
⅓ cup rice wine vinegar -- (mirin)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 ½ tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 ½ tablespoons tomato paste
3 cloves garlic -- minced or pressed
1 Tablespoon minced ginger
2 pinches red pepper flakes

The Noodles

2 red bell peppers
12 ounce package soba noodles
1 bunch scallions -- thinly sliced
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

Method:

1. Cut the tofu into slabs about ⅜ inch thick and drain briefly on paper towels.


2. Whisk the remaining marinade ingredients together in a pie plate. Add the tofu and turn the pieces so that all are covered with the marinade. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.


3. Prepare the grill or heat the broiler. Remove the tofu from the marinade, reserving the marinade. Grill or broil until browned on both sides, then slice into strips.


4. Grill or broil the peppers until the skin blisters, then peel and slice into narrow strips.


5. Boil the noodles in a large pot of salted water until done, according to the package instructions.


6. Drain and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking and shake off excess water.


7. Toss the noodles with the reserved marinade, scallions, cilantro, peppers and tofu. Sprinkle the sesame seeds over the noodles. Toss again and serve.

Ratings Out of 10: Jesse 7, John 7, Lynn 7

NOTES : I made this with bottled peppers in place of the pepper flakes. Also cut the tofu into smaller strips and marinaded them before grilling. Could do with a small salad as an accompaniment.

Three Cups of Tea

No, this isn't a variation on the recipe re-posting currently occuring at Oh Waily.

Normally I'm not willing to be dictatorial regarding other people's reading material.  I will strongly recommend that you may find value in reading a particular work (as per my post on Piero Ferucci's book "The Power of Kindness"), but am less willing to insist a book is a "must read". After all, we each have our own tastes and pleasures in the reading world.  But for this work of non-fiction I am willing to set that reticence aside and would venture to suggest that not only might you enjoy this book, and learn something new at the same time, but in fact should add this to the "must read" pile by your bedside.  I don't think you'll be sorry.

It is bound to be in your local library, it was in mine.  Admittedly I had to wait for a while before it stayed on the shelf long enough to get it out, but it was there.

It is the remarkable story of Greg Mortenson and the work he began carrying out in the northern most region of Pakistan over twenty years ago.  It is a testament to the idea that each of us can invoke the butterfly effect in our lives for the betterment of everyone around us.

What sort of real effect can one man have on the fortunes of others?
Try building 78 schools in some of the poorest and harshest rural areas in central Asia. And have girls attending them.

This sort of hard work and philanthropy is enough to warm the cockles of most fair-minded peoples hearts, but perhaps the best and most interesting side effect is learning about how poverty and ignorance has the potential to cause a vacuum into which unscrupulous people can seed and nurture terrorist activity.  Reading this may, depending on your current understanding, change the way you view Pakistan and Afghanistan.  It may also change the way you view those beloved politicians who say they have "pledged" to rebuild and support communities into which their armies have carved great gouges through rockets, missiles and land mines.

It certainly opened my eyes to a non-media (i.e. sensational headlines driven) view of recent history as seen by someone who had been living and working with people in the regions propelled forwards into the international glare and condemned after the tragedy of September 11.

If you want to know more, visit the official Three Cups of Tea website.  They use their Amazon account to generate funds for the non-profit organisation, Central Asia Institute, that funds Mortenson's work in this region of the world.

And, if you have time and the inclination to use Internet Explorer (the video wouldn't load in Firefox for me), then the link to The Girl Effect that comes from the CAI website is also worth the few minutes of screen time.  Hopefully it will inspire you to learn more and perhaps even take some sort of action - donating, volunteering, or spreading the word about Three Cups of Tea.

Apple Crepes

Recipe By : Rose Elliot
Serving Size : 4

Ingredients:

Orange Crepe Batter. (see Basic Crepe Recipe, with orange variation)
450g / 1 lb sweet, mellow eating apples such as Cox's
15g / ½ oz butter
2 - 3 teaspoons granulated sugar
50g / 2oz sultanas or raisins (optional)
a little caster sugar

Method:

1. Make the crepes as described on page 38. (see here)


2. Peel and core the apples and slice them thinly. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the apples and sugar, and the sultanas or raisins if you are using them, and stir to mix together. Cook, uncovered, over a low heat, stirring gently from time to time, for about 3-4 minutes or until the apple slices have softened.


3. Spoon this mixture on to the crepes and roll them up. Sprinkle with a little caster sugar and serve immediately, perhaps with some creme fraiche.

Source: Rose Elliot's Vegetarian Meals in Minutes

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NOTES :

Rose's Comments in the margin of the book are:

These crepes are particularly delicious if you add to the apple mixture a good pinch of cinnamon and/or ground cloves or a splash of Calvados.

(My notes: We used NZ Rose apples for this, and because John doesn't like dried fruit, we omitted the sultana/raisin option. But we did add a good dash of cinnamon to the apples. The result was yummy, but did take a fair amount longer than 3 to 4 minutes. This was probably because we made this in a small saucepan. )