What a Wonderful Weekend

We just had a fairly wonderful weekend. The cyclone did not hit - so wind was not unbearable and squally rain did not happen - but the waves were good enough to play in and we actually got some major "to do" issues dealt with.

Our Friday night ritual is fish and chips. When flush, we allow others to do the cooking for us - but when our moula has been flushed away, the trusty old stove top does the hard work. (If the darned oven worked it would be healthier but we are not big on the chip part of the equation generally). Always a large salad is concocted with a side dish for my super fussy child - I am a HUGE fan of salad with lots of veges and colour and fresh, fresh flavour.

Saturday morning, I set V the task of putting new trainer wheels on 'Salina's bike - I know, she is 7 and should not be on trainer wheels, but with the facts that until recently she lived in a hilly, smoggy suburb with an overprotective mother, until even more recently she still had that overprotective mother and no helmet AND that if they are not there she takes on learned caution and is not on the bike I am willing to take all admonishments with the knowledge that they will be taken from the wheels at some point in her life - it is a bit like toilet training and breast-feeding - IT WILL NOT BE AN ISSUE AT 16!!

This experiment (V putting wheels on bike) was also a learning curve - I found that he does like to have access to the instructions when dealing with mechanical matters, that graphs work better than very convoluted instructions with lots of references to (A) bolted on to (B) after affixing (C), that graphs work better upside down if the bike is upside down and that V doesn't need the help of a 7 year old to do his work!!

We also finally all had helmets that approximated our headsize, so pumped the adult bike tyres and pedalled across to the beach for a test run - it was so quick and easy!!! You could see the cogs falling into place in the little one's head - we then went further afield to a favourite playground and raced back home!! I was so proud of us all!

Well, after a morning like that, we had to find another "to do" item to be done immediately. And our chosen task was "The Bed Job".

Background briefing - when I moved up here, I gave my bed to a friend rather than add it to the large list of things for the removalist, as there already was a bed here - and I thought that it would do until I bought another.

Well, it did until another bed became available (unfortunately money gets frittered very easily by me on such frivolities as car repairs, groceries and fish and chip splurges).

The first bed was originally my parents bed, and they bought it when it was a top shelf item when they got married. They were married in 1965. Bed technology has come some way since then... For a start, there are less springs to squeak and pop as you (ahem) roll over in bed. I will miss the handy bedside tables attached to the bedhead, though!

The new bed is a double ensemble - bought in the 1980s and is a "large double" (in that straightlaced era there was not the option of a Queen available - no doubt a few people baulked at that). Okay, again is a parent's hand-me-down and the wheelie bits are fairly shot - we now have a complete set of bricks holding it above the floor - but oh, the bliss, the silence - the added luxury of testing a "triple ensemble" concept with the original mattress on top - very bouncy and liable to encourage tumbles from the corners!

We then celebrated by togging up and cycling over to the beach again for a splash, with the little one and I doing bike tricks on the old skating rink while V wet his surfboard. Upon arriving home, a disappointed child wanted to do more - so more was done, with finding a new playground, discovering new streets, casual waves at previously unmet locals and a few twinges in my very untoned rear end.

We arrived home to the aroma of the crockpot roast, and the trimmings were made and placed on the table - when the only spot of doom to mar the weekend occurred.

Let me just say that I have learned a few lessons in my time as a mother - some recent, some long ago, some very bad lessons and some apt. But I continue to learn. And there are many teachers - the child, other parents, innocent bystanders and books... I am in the process of reading one at the moment that, while not going to apply as gospel, has given me a few nuggets.

Anyhow, the lesson that had to be learned by my daughter was one concerning grace, consideration and eating what is put in front of you. She fairly well failed all three, and Mum applied a principle - I failed to placate and tolerate, instead, with the good doctor's words ringing in my ears that "children do not starve in 1 night", sent her to bed.

Of course, I am a wuss and she did eventually get fed, but she has now realised that she set off some consequences that may not have been triggered if she had just shown a little grace and consideration. Because I have now learned that by being ruled by her ever decreasing food preferences I am doing noone any favours - and so she has been assured that not only is a lot of food she has never seen before going to join our menu, from now on 1 item of everything will be on her plate and she will eat it with grace.

By Sunday morning we were all over it, and made pikelets as a friend was coming over for a playdate. Even if I do say so myself, I have finally cracked the pikelet code and I make pretty fantastic pikelets these days!! Not having an oven, the recipe gets a fair workout.

The other child and mine played wonderfully (even though I got some insight into a few factors that may be affecting my child's friendship skills) and we all got to frolic in the waves again.

So - the whole weekend was spent in swimsuits basically, we played lots, ticked our requisite 2 to do check boxes (well, more as we also tidied the house and did those chores that sort of seem to be required to stop the wheels from falling off) and spent most of the 44 hours available V time having fun!

How was yours?