There should be a t-shirt

I realised this week while out at a food court having lunch with Lolly that I'd spent too long staring at a family with a kid in a chair.  When I don't have Snail with me, is when I most want that t-shirt that says, "in the Club," or "only staring because I want one of those stroller-style chairs too and was checking out your set up," or "not staring in horror, staring because I miss my wheelie kid," or "let's have coffee because you look socially isolated too."

You know.  One of those shirts.

Doings

They may sometimes be blurry and from my iPhone, but I'm sharing these glimpses of our recent doings. 

First, here is Lolly pretending to be one of the myriad of animals she frequently pretends to be.  Cat, dog, horse, dinosaur, squirrel, and "big red dog called Clifford" are her most go-to pretends.  She often demands her food and drink in bowls so she can "eat like a *insert current favourite here.*"

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 I wish I had taken my good camera this day, this was a moment that nearly made me cry, it seemed to sum up the differences between Snail and Lolly's lives.  Lolly is up and in it all, while Snail cannot, stuck in her own world and her chair that represents that world.  Our lives are full of these moments.  You try not to let them break you.

Lolly and I went to have Sushi train on their cheap Tuesdays.

Serious Miso face.

I liked these kitchy salt and pepper shakers!

 Since our trip, Lolly is mad keen on the tomato juice.  Ably illustrated by this face.  Note the hole in her shirt (one of my favourites) that she ripped earlier that night by attaching a bungy cord to it as a "leash."  See photo one... *sigh*

Storytime at the library.

When Lolly gets the iPhone: Part the Third

Lolly is loving taking photos in the car, I get these random shots of myself driving, or out the windows.  I love seeing what she's fascinated with!

Mummy and flowers

Random car.

Same principle, applied to the trolley.

 And you get a 50 billion shots (quite deliberate) of her knees.

why?

On horse rides and being emotionally creative

We ventured out to a local school fair today, in search mainly of pony rides.  We located them.  And rode on them. Twice. 

Outrageously cute kid at front of local fair.

I know.  Not a horse.

Obligatory animal nursery/poo trap.

Just coz it's about as cute as a button!

I'm not sure it was worth the 15 solid minutes of crying in the car on the way home about not getting fairy floss.  I'm not even sure why she was so upset.  She's never had fairy floss and so is not in the know about its awesomeness.  It was more an excuse for her to completely lose it.

She is just having some emotionally creative times lately, clearly she's got a lot to process.  Every crying session I get through without taking it too personally, and while holding some space for her while not losing my temper and being an arsehole, is a good one. Or something.  In the spirit of complete honesty, I do NOT manage this every time. 

*deep breath*

Watercolour madness

DinnerDad went mad with the watercolours.  Here she is just before a bath.  I won't even post the one of her smiley face (on her butt!).

Why the census pissed me off

I'm a sociologist, so I'm usually loving the census.  It gives good basic demographics.  But filling in the census this year (and every time) gave me the shits.  It was the "do you do unpaid domestic labour" questions, and how the "care for others" wasn't set up to accurately guage whether that labour was likely to END, or exactly who it was FOR, or if it was for multiple people in your household.

I have a three year old, and wiping her bum and getting her food (etc) is going to finish one day, as she masters doing that herself.  Snail, on the other hand, won't.  But there is nowhere on the form to specify that your 30+ caring hours (the top level given) is for a 12 year old severely disabled child who you care for at your own expense, and at the expense of your own work, study, or whatever, with no government support, tax breaks, or wage.

So how is that going to help the government assign money for services or payments for me, or for Snail?  I'm not sure how they can tease out that those hours aren't for a small child.  I don't think they can.  So I'm invisible, and Snail is invisible, yet again.  

Anyhoo.

Found items, part 2

Amusing things I find round the house, courtesy of Lolly, aged 3.

Here, some kind of elaborate string tying around a horse, with another "rescue" horse (or so I am informed), under out dining room table. 

No one is allowed to move the string horse, or untangle it, on pain of much crying and screaming.  It's been there over two weeks!