Our Playgroup Is Awesome

I just seen the funniest advertisement for a new sitcom. A bunch of mothers sitting around in a sort of playgroup vibe, babies on their lap and singing... Watch the Video on YouTube by clicking here...

This is how it goes...

Alright Mummy's let me hear you this time

(Singing)

The people on the bus go up and down

Up and down

Up and down

The people on the bus go up and down

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All over Town

A man and a baby girl are sitting too, they aren't singing.

We don't know this song.

She just got out of prison.

The prison bus had bars on the windows

And if the people got up they got shot.

They got shot,

They got shot....

Laughs! Ok now you really have a good insight into my twisted sense of humour.

The reason this caught my attention is because Will and I had been to playgroup recently. Our playgroup doesn't have a baby just released from prison, well that I know of. I'm sure if we did they would be very welcome, however.

playgroupplanner.yolasite.com

The first few weeks of playgroup were more like an exploration of the surroundings for William. He was up running around circling the group of mums and bubs, climbing on the stage and weaving in and out of the rows of chairs to get to the lady operating the powerpoint presentation of songs. He wasn't very interested in singing, clapping and dancing. I felt slightly disappointed that we weren't joining in the circle.

Now that we've been going for a while he's started to settle down and we get more group time with everyone else. Will absolutely loves this time of week. He gets excited when I tell him we're going to dance, he's just learnt was dancing is in the last few months. His style of dancing is swaying from side to side and lifting his arms up alternately which was originally “The Monkey” that his Pa had taught him.

Last week we had the 'Circus Theme'. Our fantastic organiser had put a huge round colourful tent canopy on the ground and we sat around it, danced along the edges and tight-rope walked over a rope on the top. I made clown costumes for Will and his little friend. They had floppy little happy pants that had shoulder-straps so they were kind of like overalls. I dressed Will in a green checked shirt, painted lipstick on his nose and cheeks and sprayed his hair red. My friend made the bow ties and the two boys were set. Very cute little clowns

(Clown costume will not upload. 

Check next time to see if the picture is here)

The advantages of playgroup for us is huge.

*William and I get to interact with each other in a creative environment

*I have an outlet to socialise with others in the same stage of life, going through the same milestones, achievements and hardships

*William can learn to interact with other children and respond to other adults

*I am able to make ties to the community and feel as though I am part of a group

*Will gets to run around and stretch his legs in a big hall and play with things that we don't have at home

* I can watch William developing in a way that you don't get to witness while he is at daycare

* I get to sing and dance and look completely ridiculous and it's expected of me

* Its cheap and people only go who want to be there so its a really friendly place to be

And most importantly we have volunteers that make awesome cuppa’s and snacks.

How Now Brown Bovine!

Growing up in a family where I spent all my time with my two wild, rowdy Brothers, swearing became ingrained in my everyday language. As a child/adolescent it was a defence mechanism against bullying and made me appear tougher then I was. As an adult I realise how vulgar I sometimes sound when I forget to make a conscious effort not to use inappropriate language.

The reason I am making such an effort is because I don’t want my son to grow up with the same attitude to language. During work hours and when I'm with my son it becomes easy to not use bad language, it with other adults in social surrounds when I forget to be “proper”.

The issue can sometimes be, what do I replace -bleep- with. Because the “f”, “c”, “s”, and “p” words are so ingrained in my make-up, my vocabulary has become limited and I'm left looking like I'm trying to be overly politically correct, which is something I've never really been "into". Here, I'll try a few to clarify my point.

How, now, brown BOVINE

It's really, PLASMA AND BLOOD CELLS, hot today

Don't be a COPULATING RECTUM SPHINCTER

She's always such a FEMALE PUPPYDOG to her husband but he is also guilty of being a SILLY PORK SAUSAGE to her.

The two consenting adults were …. PLAYING CHECKERS..?

I mean how far exactly do you take it. My hedging, describing words have always been creative. But lately I've been getting more and more creative...

“SWISH SWASH FLUFFIN BUCKET!”

“CRACKEN- SNAFFLE- BACK!”

“CRUDIE-SLAV!”

“FLOSH- LA-KOFF”

Anyone close at the time would be mistaken in thinking that I am studying some sort of foreign language. I've been told it takes 21 days to break a habit. We'll see how it goes.

Halloween, Such A Douche!

Halloween such a douche. Halloween first entered my life 2 years ago. As an Australian, Halloween is not really celebrated like it is in America. A little girl and her parents knocked on my door and yelled “Trick or Treat!” I felt really bad that this little girl would leave my house empty handed. I scrounged around for a packet of fruity Mentos that I knew was hidden in the bottom of my hand bag for a sugary hit during my pregnancy. The little girl still did not seem impressed with my effort.

This year I was prepared. I brought 3 packets of cheap sugary treats and put them in a mixing bowl. There are a lot of kids in my neighbour hood and out of them all I had 8 knock on the door and only one bothered to go to any effort. Lipstick was smeared over her face in an attempt at fake vampire blood. She helped herself to the bowl and between her and her brother, that was a third of the bowl gone.

The thrill of my night was being able to update my facebook status to say that a stranger was handing out candy to little kids, “yep that's happening in my house,” I wrote. Even that felt lame. So although Halloween is a huge thing in America here in Australia it has been adopted as a huge candy hunt for kids who don’t even bother to put in effort. My cousin in a town 400km's away was dissapointed that those who come to his house trick or treating in costumes chose costumes that were not scarey or frightening in any form. Superman turned up, "Argh, watch out or Superman might save the world from imminent destruction". Nightmare-ish!

Why did I participate? Well it's simple really. I live near the “cheaper” end of town. (I'm not really being politically correct, I just don’t want to put myself down too much, by association.) I was scared that if I didn't give out free candy then the kids would throw eggs at my house, toilet paper my car or blow up my mail box. And did it work? Well everything appears intact. Maybe coincidence? Maybe not?