Category Archives: Zelda

Zelda’s First Day At Nursery School

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Didn’t happen. She was supposed to start today, but, due to having a fever, she missed it and stayed at home instead. Her three-day schooling-in will most probably start tomorrow.

I feel somewhat sad at Zelda’s departure into a new world. I have no recollection of feeling this way when Freya began nursery school – do not take this to heart, Freya, since my memory is both selective and poor. My little girl is off to start a new adventure, when all I really want to do is keep her close to me for a while longer.

It is not that I have reservations about the school: I work there. I know she will adjust well, and will enjoy the experience as much as Freya does. One thing does play on my mind, though. The general attitude has been not to pamper any new child that cries when s/he misses Mum or Dad. A certain amount of picking up and comforting is acceptable, but too much should be avoided, in case the child becomes attached to the teacher.

I disagree completely with this philosophy. I would rather that a child may become fixated with me, though happy, than to cry ceaselessly for a number of weeks, while I stand there espousing the virtues of an off-hand appraoch to child-care. I prefer to deal with a problem of attachment than an unneccessary amount of separation anxiety.

That said, every child seems to get over not having their close family near, and I m confident that Zelda will not be affected by the ordeal. I just wish there were more people like me.

Being Nintendoed

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Freya, after twenty-two hours of gameplay your interest in Paper Mario has yet to wane. As a family we are currently well over half way through the adventure. You suggest logical and smart solutions to any problems we encounter; your gaming experience bleeds over into real life, as you readily identify objects around us that resemble the Mario world. And you are able to paraphrase happenings and recall some names of the multitude of different strange characters we meet.

You have also commenced Mario Kart on the Wii. Within a week your ability to steer using the not-so-friendly steering wheel has improved greatly. So much so that the other day you won your first cup. Even though it is far from uncommon for children to show this type of ability, Mum and I are impressed. Oh, and proud.

We have been playing so often that Zelda, now just starting to show her first language development spurt, often says Mario, though she pronounces it” Mao”. Personally I see more resemblence to Stalin, but she is only eighteen months old.

Zelda’s First (Well Almost) Words

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Obviously she has been able to say Mamma and Pappa for a while, as well as a kind of Freya and Mormor, but her first words outside of naming family members are: pooh, boots and door.

Granted there are very few meaningful sentences to be had from such a limited vocabulary; however this, as always, is more for Zelda’s future self, should we forget.

The Return Of The Pudding

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Like many parents, we worry about the amount and kind of food that our offspring consume. Freya has been not so eager of late to eat food, and our liberal approach of asking her just to taste everything before she declines is starting to get to me a bit, since it is not reaping the rewards I wish it to. In fairness, the recently introduced “three more mouthfuls” tactic has worked, and I’m happy for that small blessing.

Today we made Sneaky Dad’s Pudding, a mixture of strawberries, banana, avocado, peanut butter, flax oil, carob powder, soya milk and orange juice. Now, I know it does not sound like the kind of thing that would be tasty, or be appreciated by children, but it is actually very nice. Everything gets whizzed up in a food processor, giving it the consistency of half-melted ice-cream, and has lots of minerals that any child would benefit from.

Both Freya and Zelda tucked in, and Freya even had three portions of it. She wasn’t so enthusiastic when she was little, but now she claims she wants it every day. I’m not sure just how long it’ll take before they get bored of it, though for the first time in a while she is eating very well.

A Turd in The Hand…

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Zelda is currently very helpful around the house: she helps us with the laundry (taking clothes out of the washing machine), she gives us things that she is carrying around at any given moment, she hands over things that she finds on the floor.

Today Zelda was ambling around the flat naked and disappeared into the spare room. It was no surprise (well, a bit) when she came out a few minutes later holding a turd in her hand. It was perfectly formed for her hand, and, thankfully, of a consistency that did not cause too much smearing.

She walked calmly up to me, and stretched out her hand for me to take it. How sweet.