the fruits of my labour

It’s hot. Really hot. It reached 41.2 degrees at 5:30 today and apparently won’t drop below 30 until some time tomorrow afternoon. I’m just trying to do as little as possible until then. Which is pretty frustrating given I want to act on all my usual New Year good intentions. I might be able to muster up the energy for a little sewing, but so far since we got back from our two week holiday to Tasmania for Christmas and New Year, I haven’t felt able to get stuck into anything. Not sure what that’s about, as there are so many projects I am dying to complete. The heat certainly doesn’t help. Neither does the fact that the place is a mess, but we are working on that, with more Freecycling, plans for more eBaying and the discovery of somewhere to take our excess recyclables (mostly cardboard boxes). One day we’ll be sorted and clutter-free!

The fact that I’m writing this post is a good sign, as this is one of the things I’ve really wanted to do, but have struggled to bring myself to start. Maybe I shouldn’t be so hard on myself (yes, I should), because I also began, and have been nurturing, this sourdough starter since Monday:

I tried this once before and somehow stuffed it, and I thought it might be the same story this time, but it seems it might be OK, although obviously the heat has made it almost explode. If all goes to plan, I’ll be baking a loaf on Saturday morning, so hopefully I can report back with good bready news.

Despite the heat, Isobel has been continuing as normal. Last night she pulled herself up into a standing position for the second time that we’re aware of (the first time happened on holiday), much like she did tonight:

As you can see, she was pretty pleased with herself. A few minutes after Chris took this photo, she managed to make her way over to me, taking a few tiny, hesitant steps, while tightly gripping the bed. It was wonderful, but I cannot believe it is almost a year since she was born. I still clearly remember being heavily pregnant in the heat and giving birth to her during a heatwave, as though it was yesterday. But she’s not the tiny, helpless bundle she once was. She’s been commando crawling at the speed of light, taking on the role of the our second vacuum cleaner, which we obviously need, for no matter how often or thoroughly I clean, Isobel always manages to find something on the floor to put in her mouth. I don’t really understand how kids can decide they don’t like lettuce, for example, but are quite happy to eat whatever crap they find on the floor. Having said that, Isobel eats almost anything, which makes life easier for us, as does the fact that she may be one of the happiest babies who ever lived. She has such a radiant smile and beautifully big and shiny eyes. And unlike before, I now know how to make her laugh. Guess that’s what happens when you get to know someone.

Elliott, who is now three and a half and is very proud of this fact, is, of course, still developing, and he hasn’t stopped delighting us. He seems to be going through a “learning spurt” or something at the moment. In the last couple of months or so, he has become obsessed with numbers, letters, how to spell words, playing music, building, creating, pretending, drawing, painting and finding out how things work. It’s both exhausting and thrilling to be around him. We’re going to have to start hitting the library and/or the Internet more, though, because (surprisingly!) we don’t know everything and he seems to want to know everything! A very encouraging sign. Even if it is a little awkward to give an answer to, “How was I made?”, just as we’re tucking him in to bed. These kids certainly keep us on our toes!