In which I forget that I don't blog about my kids anymore.

Amelia is collecting footy cards.

Curiouser and Curiouser.

It all started because she queues up for her after lunch library class on Wednesdays at the very beginning of lunch -- just in case she happens to miss the bell and and then she'd be late for class. So she sits outside of the library waiting all lunch time. Of course, I was momentarily thrown into freaked-out mum mode by this news - Oh dear! Poor child! Her anxieties are interfering with her socialisation! (etc etc. Actually I didn't do that too much, to my surprise. It was more a mild "oh, really? You funny kid.").

But then it turns out that she's not the only one who feels the need to queue an hour early for class and her new best mate Oscar and she play tic-tac-toe and "trade footy cards". This was news to me! Footy cards? What footy cards? Apparently she and Oscar would watch the kids in the class opposite the library compare their enormous albums of footy cards and inevitably they found the need to join in. We had coincidentally found an el-cheapo footy card in a packet of chips one day which I immediately forgot about but not Amelia. She took it off to school and that became her footy card collection which she traded back and forth on the steps of the library with Oscar who also seemed to have had an equally limited collection. Her card was for a player from the Sydney Swans so that became the team she barracks for. And Oscar, apparently, barracks for the 'gold cards'.

Yesterday she hit the big time when my Mum bought her a whole packet of footy cards from the Newsagent. She opened it like a Willy Wonker's chocolate bar. It contained only one Swans player ("doesn't he look nice and friendly mum? And if you hold the card at a distance he even looks kind of cute!" - cute as in teddy bear - she is yet to determine the meaning of cute as in Brad Pitt.) She has filled an old ratty photo album she found in a drawer at my parents place and slept with it under her pillow. She is off today to attempt to gain a few more Swans player's cards, with some trading tips from Phil. Luckily she has picked a team to collect who would have to be one of the least popular teams in a Melbourne school. But then again, what would I know? I didn't even know the answer to her question as to how many player's cards would she need to collect to get the whole team. And lucky Oscar! There's a gold card in the pack with his name on it.

PS. On my desk today is a granny square in progress. YES, you can believe it ! Thanks to a little help from Youtube and Kim who sacrificed a couple of important moments in a doctor who episode we were watching to remind me that I needed to go through that donut one more time etc. It's absolutely addictive. I have been checking out the granny-along flickr pool with growing enthusiasm. And next I want to try flowers. Woo!