Ink Pink I Squint

I have conjunctivitis.
In other news, Martin has conjunctivitis and tonsilitis.
In other news Fred has a sore ear.

News of the Week

1. We had a lovely (though not restful) holiday in Mount Franklin, staying in a house called Arda Cluggen with Martin's best friend since primary school, Matt, his lovely lovely woif Kate, and their kids Mieke (10 weeks older than Fred) and Quinn (2 weeks older than Una, actually Quinn was born on Una's due date). Photos to come. Fred and Mieke rode a pony. Fred and Mieke collected pinecones in the deep, dark forest. Una rode around and around the house on her little bike/trike/quadcycle (it has four wheels). We went to the Chocolate Mill where I had the best hot chocolate ever. They brought it in a bowl. Words cannot describe.
2. Fred has an angel and a devil on her shoulders at the moment. We've had some bewildering tantrums that have lead to us having to enforce some pretty harsh rules (for me anyway, as I am not a natural disciplinarian). Last night she refused to hang up her towel and it escalated into a hugely dramatic stubborn battle of wills which everyone lost. It resulted in Fred going to bed without her stories - a huge deal in this house and Martin and I were in and out comforting her all evening until she went to sleep, though we stayed firm, no stories if she wouldn't just FREAKING HANG UP HER TOWEL (why why why wouldn't she just hang it up??). Today she threw a similar enormous stubborn wobbly about putting sunscreen on, absolutely refused to back down and so I went out without her. Martin said it took her twenty minutes to calm down, then she started screaming at me as soon as I got home an hour later (she doesn't usually maintain her rage so long). She's begun lying too (she told us last night that she had hung up her towel but she didn't want us to go and check), she's testing every boundary. I know it's a stage, it screams developmental from every quarter, and I know she's still exploring the difference between lying and imagination. But it's fully hard to live with.
3. Frederique spent Tuesday up in the kinder room. I'm wondering if they're thinking about moving her up. Perhaps the extra stimulation would help. She's at an awkward age, because her birthday is the 21st April and we had to decide whether or not to start her in 4yo kinder this year (the cut off is 30 April). In the end because she's such a wild child we decided to wait, also she's a wee little thing and the trend, particularly for parents of boys, is to hold back so I felt like we had little choice. But occasionally I question it, mainly because in other senses she seems so ready to move on to the next level, particularly in terms of reading.
4.Una has her cast off...hooray!!! She got it off yesterday and seems to be missing it...she keeps peering up her sleeves. But last night's bath was fantastic for her. The doctor expressed slight concern about Una not walking. I'm not so worried, because I'm pretty sure it's more related to personality than anything - she's just not that interested. But I am so way fully ready for her to walk. She weights 12.5kg (1.5kg less than Fred), and if she doesn't walk soon I'm going to need back and shoulder surgery. Mmm...general anaesthetic...doesn't actually sound all bad.
5. I am a writing machine. I hope to finish Indigo Girls (chicklit novel) by the end of next week. I am loving writing it and as it takes shape I am beginning to feel like it has some really nice aspects. The two main characters (it's a headhopper, switching between the p.o.v of 2 very different girls) are taking on a life of their own and there are some new elements in the story I didn't plan on but that give it depth and dimension. Both girls are surfers, which has meant lots of research - I will have to find a surfer to read it for me to tell me whether the surf scenes ring true. Writing with an outline is actually kind of liberating - every time I slow down, I just go back to the plan. It also means that I get to enjoy the way the story unfolds, instead of worrying if I am writing myself into a corner. I still find there's room for spontaneity, particularly in terms of backstory and characterisation, it's not as limiting as I feared it might be...so far. 12000ish words to go.

Amazing - a map illustrating the world's population

From Strange Maps

This map distorts land mass size in terms of population. Look at, for example, the size of Australia compared to Indonesia.

More distorted maps here

Drawing

What does your drawing say about YOU?

About me, this:
You tend to pursue many different activities simultaneously. When misfortune does happen, it doesn't actually dishearten you all that much.
You are a thoughtful and cautious person. You like to think about your method, seeking to pursue your goal in the most effective way.
You like following the rules and being objective. You are precise and meticulous, and like to evaluate decisions before making them.
You have a sunny, cheerful disposition.

Bolinda Audio - Breathe

Some good news today. Thanks to Bolinda audio, Breathe is to become an audio book. Undine is one, you can listen to an excerpt via that link. It's read by Melissa Eccleston (who I am sure does a brilliant job, my mother thinks so anyway. Unfortunately it makes me squirm to listen to it - I can't read my own books either after they've been published, except for work reasons - like writing book 3 I had to go back to Undine and Breathe. But I do it tentatively, I keep waiting to hear/read an enormous clanger that it's too late to repair). But I do look forward to listening to Breathe at some point in the future - I have a big soft spot for Breathe.

on novels

"I think of novels in architectural terms. You have to enter at the gate, and this gate must be constructed in such a way that the reader has immediate confidence in the strength of the building."

Ian McEwan

Oops. We broke the baby.

Una has a fractured wrist. We're not even sure how she did it. If she hadn't still been a crawler (at 18 months) we may not have realised how serious it was. As it was, we realised her arm was causing her pain on Wednesday (though we knew something was wrong before that) and then by Thursday she was hobbling around up on her knees (though otherwise happy enough most of the time unless we touched her arm) so we took her to the doctor. X-rays on Friday then back to the doctor for plaster. She can't have baths, which is about the only thing she's really sad about. Back to the doctor in two weeks, hopefully to have the cast removed. X-rays were horrible because we had to twist Una's arm around and it obviously really hurt her. Fred sat in the other room and blew raspberries to cheer Una up - it worked. Fred was really interested in the x-rays. Though when we were looking at them afterwards in the cafe she said, 'Where's Una's VAGINA? [in the x-ray, which was of Una's elbows and hands]. I have a VAGINA. Sometimes babies come out of VAGINAS. Mummy, how do the babies get into VAGINAS?' which was our first birds and the bees question and I am pretty sure I did a terrible job answering it. Also in the waiting room at the radiologist she stood on a chair and cheerfully shouted 'SHIT SHIT SHIT' which of course she didn't get from me while I was frantically searching for my purse which Una had hidden just before we were due to go for the x-rays. I was a wee bit stressed.