From Butterflies to Jemima

My daughter turns 17 today. While icing her birthday cake this morning, I got to thinking about the changes and constants over those fantastic 17 years.


Her love of worms has vanished, completely.

Hi5, Elmo and Barbies have been replaced with Florence and The Machine,  Flights of the Concord and Taylor Lautner.

Dale Thomas is still 'the best', I'm still not funny, can't sing or dance and her dad still has the ability to reduce her to a giggling mess with a word.
And the biggest thing that hasn't changed is how much we both love her, more than we ever thought possible.

The other thing I pondered while icing was how I could track her develop via the cakes I've made.
A number one, a caterpillar, a stage complete with ballerinas, Jemima (my personal favourite and triumph!) butterfly, teddy, whale, mermaid, Tweety, ice cream cake (x2) and a run of 'piniata' cakes (they drove me insane!).
So what does a 17 yo request?
A carrot cake.
Yep she's a young lady now.

Definition of old...

As well as writing, I work as a casual relief teacher. I've spent a couple of days teaching, which is always enlightening.
Today I discovered the definition of old while on yard duty.
I stopped to talk to a prep student sitting on top of the slide. This bright little poppet wanted to know my name.
'Sue,' I replied.
 'There was a Sue at my kinder. She helped us.' She looked me up and down. 'She was old too.'
I'm always intrigued to know what kids class as old, so I asked, 'Older than me?'
The little girl nodded earnestly, her sunhat slipping around her head. 'Oh yes. She was very old with curly grey hair. I think...' She scrunched up her face. 'Actually, I don't know how old she was but she was OLD. About 20 or something.'
So there you have it - 20 is very old. I didn't stay to ask how old she thought I was.

New Divas for March!

How gorgeous are the new Diva covers? Black Dog Books has published the re-issued Girls' Stuff and Girls At Sea this month with bright, shiny new covers. Don't they look great?
You can buy the books, or the whole set, from the  Black Dog Books' website.