“Dad, I am not a statue to be looked at.”
Leila and I were in The Reject Shop today and saw those cheap voice-changing microphones they make for kids. She wanted one, so I bought two – one for her and one for Finn, in different colours.
This seemed like a simple and effective plan: A microphone for each child, identical in every way, except that Finn’s is blue and green and Leila’s is pink and yellow. No chance of confusing which is whose and no reason to fight over them. At 2 bucks each, a cheap and cheerful afternoon’s fun with little to no risk. Or so I thought.
I went outside to bring some washing in and left the kids happily yelling (aka ‘singing’) at each other through their mikes. As I was coming in with the first armful of stuff I spied Leila crouched on the ground while Finn attempted to put the fake bit of cable hanging out the bottom of his mike into her ear. I was suitably horrified and made a big deal of telling both of them that we never, ever put things in other people’s ears (except their hearing aids, of course …). Finn accepted this cheerfully enough and then promptly attempted to insert the same bit of cable into his own ear, past his hearing aid mould. I cut the pieces of cable off both mikes and went back outside.
After a couple of minutes I could hear Leila crying so came back in to see what was going in. When I got there she had her mike, but was still upset. I asked her what was wrong. “Finn took my microphone and gave it back when he saw you coming.” (The clothesline is outside her bedroom window) I bet Finn is starting to regret the days when he used to complain that Leila couldn’t talk …
I asked him why he took Leila’s microphone. “Because I wanted it.” I didn’t bother to ask why because the answer would only have annoyed me. Instead I sternly told him that there was absolutely no reason for him to take his sister’s microphone and that if I saw him with it again he would lose his own, along with his Lego. An over-reaction, perhaps, but necessary to make the point I thought.
I went back to what I was doing, only to find them a few minutes later, playing sword fights with the microphones … I suppose it was too much to expect they’d just use them to sing through.
As we were at a playground this morning, we saw what seemed to be a family of swans. There are swans in the creek near out place, too, but they disappeared for the worst of the drought.
It’s nice to see swans, They feel a bit more exotic than the various little birds and ducks.
Nicky noticed that Indiana Indiana has a lump on her side so they went off to the vet today. The vet thinks that this lump is cancerous and they’ll do a proper test during the week. As it is with these things, it could be terrible news or it could be relatively minor.
I certainly hope that it is minor and we have our pointy, brown friend with us for a while yet. it might be a very common name for a dog, but you just don’t find a dog like our Indiana every day.
Thanks to the incredible thoughtfulness of Kristen, I unexpectedly got a ticket to hear Joss Whedon speak at the Melbourne Writers’ Festival. This session at the Melbourne Town Hall was billed as a keynote, but in reality it was just over an hour of question and answer, first with questions from an academic from LaTrobe University and then with questions from the audience.
Whedon himself was warm and interesting, although I did find that his habit of being self-depreciating got in the way of fully answering some of the questions. Still, it was a lovely experience and I was really happy to be there.
On a side note, it’s been years since I walked across the city at night, and I was surprised by just how many people were on the street at nine o’clock and then at eleven. I walked about five blocks and each and every street had steady foot traffic.
Last night as I was doing some tidying up in the garage, I made a pile of dusty, faded or slightly battered baby toys that I found. As I bundled them up for the op-shop, I realised that neither Finn or Leila are babies any more and I felt a twinge of sadness.
I am not even sure why I felt this way. I just love our kids more every day and I wouldn’t wish for them to be babies again. Still the realisation that our baby days are behind us was a strangely poignant moment.
It strikes me that Finn is very lucky. A little sister is a terrific thing to have.
As planned, I will go to school tomorrow and perform my regular duties. And it will all be fine and I’ll have a nice day.
But I am feeling wrung out and tired, and it would be nice to spend the day lying on a bed, reading my Bill Bryson book, and basking in the sun steaming through the front window of our home.
Soon.
I am feeling exhausted this morning, exhausted to the point of tears.
Term Three at school has felt long, and I suspect that a cold and dark winter has only added to that. There has also been a small amount of professional silliness about, and that manages to steadily drain my enthusiasm and verve.
And the election last night. My word, was that close. It seems that it was Labor’s to lose, and they have done a pretty good job of it. Perhaps a minority government of either colour is the best outcome when there is no clear majority. All the same, it reminded me of the end of Romeo and Juliet.
A glooming peace this morning with it brings;
The sun, for sorrow, will not show his head:
Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things;
Some shall be pardon’d, and some punished:
For never was a story of more woe
Anyhoo…
I’ll make sure to get some decent sleep tomorrow, which is – happily – another day.