i've decided to close down this blog. i have been thinking about it for some months now. surprisingly i've become very attached to this blog and see it as a wonderful archive of our travels with percy. however we are now also travelling with talvin. it suits me better to start afresh. additionally i want to write about more than our lives as they are focused on percy. our lives do encompass other things (sometimes!) i want to include talvin and paul as central characters, not just the cameos they've held to date. to stay true to "travelswithpercy" wouldn't allow that. it's time for a new story.
i thought initially i would stop here and start elsewhere at the beginning of this year, then at the 12 week pregnancy point, then at percy's second birthday, then at talvin's birth... for whatever reason most of these milestones have come and gone with no change. there is nothing particular about today. it's just time and i'm feeling brave enough to do it. i do almost feel that if this blog stops i will be forgetting and denying the amazing travels we've had over the past three years. i know that's not really the case but as i said above; i've become really attached to this blog. maybe i have blog withdrawal!
i hope anyone still reading has enjoyed filling a spare moment with our tale. it will continue, i'm just not sure where or in what form.
travel well... the sun on your face and a breeze at your back...
Monday, April 27, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
holding hands
percy and rose walked to the park together yesterday morning. they, very sweetly, held hands during most of the walk...
Thursday, April 23, 2009
last minute changes
the manager at percy's day care centre called me today. whenever i see that name come up on my mobile my heart misses a beat as i anticipate bad news- percy's fallen and busted something, they've called an ambulance, can i meet them at the hospital, percy's gone missing, percy choked, percy beat the hell out of another kid... i think i think about it too much. in truth, only two or three of the telephone calls from day care have been negative, even then it's been she's got a cold and we should collect her as soon as possible, and one bang on the head that her gp gave the ok to.
back to today's call. you may recall as of next week we had planned to do a child care shuffle between day care, grandparents and me. well now we need not. yippee! a place has become available for percy to revert to her four day attendance (wednesday's at home) in her new room, from next week. i must say i am very pleased. i was not looking forward to driving 6 hours every week just so i could go to work for 8.
speaking of being in her new room, i think she is taking to it very well. her new primary teacher is very sweet and says that percy is a princess- or is she just being nice to us nervous "newbie" parents? percy has been saying these last two days "stay downstairs" and she hasn't been bothered that her usual routine of putting her nappies in the cupboard and raffles in bed has been abandoned. in her new room the beds are stacked up until they are needed, so it's impossible to tuck raffles in on arrival in the morning, as we had been doing upstairs where there is a dedicated sleep room and the beds and cots are left out.
this morning she took a deal of pleasure and importance in showing me where her new locker is and telling me where i should fold and hang her stroller up out of the way. she hasn't been very forthcoming about what she does all day, or who she played with- we ask her every evening, often over dinner, but i expect that will come with time.
back to today's call. you may recall as of next week we had planned to do a child care shuffle between day care, grandparents and me. well now we need not. yippee! a place has become available for percy to revert to her four day attendance (wednesday's at home) in her new room, from next week. i must say i am very pleased. i was not looking forward to driving 6 hours every week just so i could go to work for 8.
speaking of being in her new room, i think she is taking to it very well. her new primary teacher is very sweet and says that percy is a princess- or is she just being nice to us nervous "newbie" parents? percy has been saying these last two days "stay downstairs" and she hasn't been bothered that her usual routine of putting her nappies in the cupboard and raffles in bed has been abandoned. in her new room the beds are stacked up until they are needed, so it's impossible to tuck raffles in on arrival in the morning, as we had been doing upstairs where there is a dedicated sleep room and the beds and cots are left out.
this morning she took a deal of pleasure and importance in showing me where her new locker is and telling me where i should fold and hang her stroller up out of the way. she hasn't been very forthcoming about what she does all day, or who she played with- we ask her every evening, often over dinner, but i expect that will come with time.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
singing and music
percy loves to sing. she sings while walking to day care or the park, she sings in the car, she sings in the bath, she sings along with paul at nite instead of dropping off to sleep.
her drum kit comes with a headphones and microphone. the headphones are fake and the microphone is crap but she gives it her best shot...
on the topic of singing along with paul at bed time she now insists on her favourite version of words too eg. singing "i've got you under my skin", paul substitutes 'you' with 'percy' at one point. if he slips back to 'you' she will say, "no, pappa, it's percy, sing it properly!"
some weeks back we bought her a cheapo cd player. she has about 6 cds of kid songs and kindermusik class songs, as well as the very favoured "lah-lah" cd that she really enjoys putting in the player by herself. perhaps it's not a good thing but she knows how to turn the player on at the wall and then operate it all by herself. it is a good activity if we want to get other things done and can't keep on eye on her. particularly so because her interest is more in putting the cd's in and out, and in and out of their covers, than actually listening to the music. i believe we've heard the first eight seconds of every first song tens of times, but no more! she's a funny one.
her drum kit comes with a headphones and microphone. the headphones are fake and the microphone is crap but she gives it her best shot...
on the topic of singing along with paul at bed time she now insists on her favourite version of words too eg. singing "i've got you under my skin", paul substitutes 'you' with 'percy' at one point. if he slips back to 'you' she will say, "no, pappa, it's percy, sing it properly!"
some weeks back we bought her a cheapo cd player. she has about 6 cds of kid songs and kindermusik class songs, as well as the very favoured "lah-lah" cd that she really enjoys putting in the player by herself. perhaps it's not a good thing but she knows how to turn the player on at the wall and then operate it all by herself. it is a good activity if we want to get other things done and can't keep on eye on her. particularly so because her interest is more in putting the cd's in and out, and in and out of their covers, than actually listening to the music. i believe we've heard the first eight seconds of every first song tens of times, but no more! she's a funny one.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
changes this week
today is percy's second last day in the baby's room at day care. on wednesday she will head downstairs to the "explorers" room which is predominantly for kids aged from two and half to three and half, meaning she'll technically be a little young for her new peers. however i don't think it will matter. she spent a day downstairs a week ago and by all reports enjoyed it immensely, including happily sleeping in a different room to her usual.
a number of the friends she has made in the baby's room are moving downstairs over these weeks too. she'll be able to play with them all day long now.
it will be a little odd that she'll attend five days this week (mon, tue upstairs, wed - fri downstairs) and then will revert to three days the following week. i'm sure she'll be fine. i'm positive she enjoys day care and loves the interaction with the other children; at home she's stuck with us boring grown ups!
we're not making much progress on stopping the whining when she wants something, or is upset. well, repeat, repeat, repeat! however she is constructing beautiful sentences some of the time. these involve a statement about something, an analysis of the situation and an expression of her desire. not a single example is coming to me at the moment- just trust me! on the hilarious but "bite-your-tongue" side of language here is a few examples of recent statements "jesus, paul!" (copying me), " bugger, bugger" (when she kicked her gum boot off) and "leftie commie" (copying paul.)
a number of the friends she has made in the baby's room are moving downstairs over these weeks too. she'll be able to play with them all day long now.
it will be a little odd that she'll attend five days this week (mon, tue upstairs, wed - fri downstairs) and then will revert to three days the following week. i'm sure she'll be fine. i'm positive she enjoys day care and loves the interaction with the other children; at home she's stuck with us boring grown ups!
we're not making much progress on stopping the whining when she wants something, or is upset. well, repeat, repeat, repeat! however she is constructing beautiful sentences some of the time. these involve a statement about something, an analysis of the situation and an expression of her desire. not a single example is coming to me at the moment- just trust me! on the hilarious but "bite-your-tongue" side of language here is a few examples of recent statements "jesus, paul!" (copying me), " bugger, bugger" (when she kicked her gum boot off) and "leftie commie" (copying paul.)
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
random recent photos
with pappa's galsses on,
vaccuumming,
playing her eletronic drum kit, and
a very, very full bath
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
great girl, bad pain
percy is fantastic. (der!) little wonderful things have prompted this effusion.
1.her telling paul to 'sing it properly', when he is singing her a song at bedtime and gets too enthusiastic. she means he's supposed to sing quiet, sleepy songs to put her to sleep,
2. her eating four, i kid you not, four helpings of dinner once this week,
3. her enthusiam for flowers and dogs,
4. her delight that pi cat now comes every evening to be patted and say good night to her,
5. her helping, kind and innovative nature. the teachers in her current day care room tell us all the time that she constantly helps the little kids; even replacing dummies by gently waiting for the babies to open their mouths and 'til they have gripped the dummy properly. plus she initiates new games and ways to interpret the spaces, toys and furniture to make play even more fun. we are told she will be missed when she goes to her new room at the end of the month.
6. her communication is changing. we've told her that we don't accept the whining any more. if she has a problem, request or opinion she must tell us about them in words. slowly progress is being made, and
7. she can jump properly now!
unrelated to percy, the dreaded SPD, or symphysis pubis disfunction, is making a come back for me. i've had some little twinges over the past couple of weeks but today it is with me constantly. rats! tho the odds apparently are if you had this problem/discomfort/debilitation during the first pregnancy it's likely to return for subsequent goes.
SPD is caused by the hormorne relaxin, which is released by a pregnant woman's body to do surprisingly what it sounds like- it relaxes muscles and ligaments to assist in the carrying and birthing of babies. for an unfortunate few the ligament that joins the front of the pubic bone, which generally has a give of 2-3mm, relaxes too much. a further 2-3mm is ok, when it gets up to 10 extra mm, which it can in extreme cases, the pain is unbearable. to get an idea of this pain, stand a little straddled and ask the biggest, muscliest person you know to take the best swing they can manage with a baseball bat at your pubic bone. (never mind the soft tissue damage!) just imagine that impact against your bone and ligament.
so far i'm just feeling a very light version, tho there is more than three months 'til birth date for the ligament to relax yet more, separating this nearly immovable joint...
only once or twice with percy was i actually incapacitated. climbing stairs, each foot on every step, is slow going, but better than not going at all.
1.her telling paul to 'sing it properly', when he is singing her a song at bedtime and gets too enthusiastic. she means he's supposed to sing quiet, sleepy songs to put her to sleep,
2. her eating four, i kid you not, four helpings of dinner once this week,
3. her enthusiam for flowers and dogs,
4. her delight that pi cat now comes every evening to be patted and say good night to her,
5. her helping, kind and innovative nature. the teachers in her current day care room tell us all the time that she constantly helps the little kids; even replacing dummies by gently waiting for the babies to open their mouths and 'til they have gripped the dummy properly. plus she initiates new games and ways to interpret the spaces, toys and furniture to make play even more fun. we are told she will be missed when she goes to her new room at the end of the month.
6. her communication is changing. we've told her that we don't accept the whining any more. if she has a problem, request or opinion she must tell us about them in words. slowly progress is being made, and
7. she can jump properly now!
unrelated to percy, the dreaded SPD, or symphysis pubis disfunction, is making a come back for me. i've had some little twinges over the past couple of weeks but today it is with me constantly. rats! tho the odds apparently are if you had this problem/discomfort/debilitation during the first pregnancy it's likely to return for subsequent goes.
SPD is caused by the hormorne relaxin, which is released by a pregnant woman's body to do surprisingly what it sounds like- it relaxes muscles and ligaments to assist in the carrying and birthing of babies. for an unfortunate few the ligament that joins the front of the pubic bone, which generally has a give of 2-3mm, relaxes too much. a further 2-3mm is ok, when it gets up to 10 extra mm, which it can in extreme cases, the pain is unbearable. to get an idea of this pain, stand a little straddled and ask the biggest, muscliest person you know to take the best swing they can manage with a baseball bat at your pubic bone. (never mind the soft tissue damage!) just imagine that impact against your bone and ligament.
so far i'm just feeling a very light version, tho there is more than three months 'til birth date for the ligament to relax yet more, separating this nearly immovable joint...
only once or twice with percy was i actually incapacitated. climbing stairs, each foot on every step, is slow going, but better than not going at all.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
zac's birthday party
our friends orion and daniel's little boy zac celebrated his first birthday today. we went for a morning tea party at his house in rozelle. what an affair! i'm glad no-one expects big productions from me- at least i don't think they do. there is simply no way on earth i could "keep up with the jones's" in the birthday party stakes. despite percy being a guest she came away with little sandwiches cut in star, heart and flower shapes, a balloon, a bottle of bubble blowing mixture, a big bag of fruit and a box of baby carrots to plant at home. phew! it wasn't just percy, every kid, of which i estimate there would have been at least a dozen, got this jackpot of goodies. plus there was lots of food, balloons, a ball pit and slide, fresh fruit juice, real coffee and lines of cupcakes. perhaps percy will make up for my lackadasical efforts when she's twenty and old enough to organise her own parties.
while a good part of not organising massive affairs is my complete aversion to effort of most sorts, a part of it also rests with knowing full well that i'd never get it right with all members of our family so why try? without doubt i would leave out, offend, forget, tread on the toes of, dismiss or otherwise cause affront to someone. i'm not making this up; i've learnt from bitter experience.
take for instance the one time in all our lifetimes that my very small but widely spread family happen to be or very easily could be in sydney at the same time. i attempted to get them all in one room, for one hour, for a family portrait. that was two hundred dollars i should have just lit and watched burn- far less difficult or painful. this is not an isolated example.
i'm a whisker away from never trying to organise anything again. all occasions for gathering that require organisation or coordination with family can be done without me- just give me some notice and i'll do my best to be where and when you want me to be. but i'm not picking the place, the time or the activity again. (of course i might reserve my right to veto things on percy's behalf.)
anyways, saturday nites shouldn't be spent being resentful and alone.
while a good part of not organising massive affairs is my complete aversion to effort of most sorts, a part of it also rests with knowing full well that i'd never get it right with all members of our family so why try? without doubt i would leave out, offend, forget, tread on the toes of, dismiss or otherwise cause affront to someone. i'm not making this up; i've learnt from bitter experience.
take for instance the one time in all our lifetimes that my very small but widely spread family happen to be or very easily could be in sydney at the same time. i attempted to get them all in one room, for one hour, for a family portrait. that was two hundred dollars i should have just lit and watched burn- far less difficult or painful. this is not an isolated example.
i'm a whisker away from never trying to organise anything again. all occasions for gathering that require organisation or coordination with family can be done without me- just give me some notice and i'll do my best to be where and when you want me to be. but i'm not picking the place, the time or the activity again. (of course i might reserve my right to veto things on percy's behalf.)
anyways, saturday nites shouldn't be spent being resentful and alone.
Friday, April 3, 2009
it's 7:45am
and percy is still asleep!! long may she snooze!
she went happily to bed and sleep about 7:30pm so we are clocking over 12 hours now. wow. without a peep.
'course i had to get up to fed the ravening belly monster but that's ok.
she went happily to bed and sleep about 7:30pm so we are clocking over 12 hours now. wow. without a peep.
'course i had to get up to fed the ravening belly monster but that's ok.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
exciting but difficult news
at the end of april percy is going to move into the next age group room at her day care centre! yippee! we've been hoping this would happen since the beginning of the year. it's just a matter of having a space available. and as everyone doing the day care dance knows space is at a premium.
we've been convinced that since january when lots of new babies, some as young as ten weeks, started in the 0-2 age group room with percy, she has started mimicking baby behaviour rather than continuing along her toddler trajectory. she will cry and whine rather than tell us what she might what done differently, or what is upsetting her. and we know she has the vocabulary to tell us, afterall she's done so in the past and occasionaly does so now.
we hope being in the 2-3 year age group will encourage her to behave more in line with her age. of course we could be wrong! perhaps she's in a crying, whining point of time anyways.
the difficult part of this move is that the place available is for the three days wed - fri. paul works a five day week and i a four day week. this means percy is a free agent for one day! actually paul's parents have very helpfully agreed to care for her on mondays. this of course means driving an hour and half to drop her off on sundays and again on tuesdays to pick her up. i tell myself that the 10 weeks that this will occur for, before i start my leave in july and she can stay home on mondays with me, will pass quickly and i won't miss her too much. i'm sure some bright spark will also point out that this means we will get two nites a week toddler free.
we are on the waiting list to pick up the fourth day again as soon as possible. who know's, maybe that fourth day will happen before july.
no more wednesday parents group get-together for me for those ten weeks either.
despite my hesitation this is a big, positive move for percy. more evidence that she is growing up!
we've been convinced that since january when lots of new babies, some as young as ten weeks, started in the 0-2 age group room with percy, she has started mimicking baby behaviour rather than continuing along her toddler trajectory. she will cry and whine rather than tell us what she might what done differently, or what is upsetting her. and we know she has the vocabulary to tell us, afterall she's done so in the past and occasionaly does so now.
we hope being in the 2-3 year age group will encourage her to behave more in line with her age. of course we could be wrong! perhaps she's in a crying, whining point of time anyways.
the difficult part of this move is that the place available is for the three days wed - fri. paul works a five day week and i a four day week. this means percy is a free agent for one day! actually paul's parents have very helpfully agreed to care for her on mondays. this of course means driving an hour and half to drop her off on sundays and again on tuesdays to pick her up. i tell myself that the 10 weeks that this will occur for, before i start my leave in july and she can stay home on mondays with me, will pass quickly and i won't miss her too much. i'm sure some bright spark will also point out that this means we will get two nites a week toddler free.
we are on the waiting list to pick up the fourth day again as soon as possible. who know's, maybe that fourth day will happen before july.
no more wednesday parents group get-together for me for those ten weeks either.
despite my hesitation this is a big, positive move for percy. more evidence that she is growing up!
Monday, March 30, 2009
2nd birthday weekend
percy had a very active birthday weekend. on friday nite her granma and grandad visited for dinner and present giving, then saturday morning was spent in the park primarily getting soaked in the water sprayer over the sand pit, and sunday was a family trip to the zoo!
i particularly appreciated the friends that came to the park on saturday as i hadn't seen some of them for months or believe it or not years!
the zoo trip was interesting as we didn't anticipate percy's reaction to it at all. in the morning while getting dressed etc we told her we were off to the zoo to see lots of animals. she appeared excited to see crocodiles most of all. she's very into being a "snapping" crocodile at present, plus she likes elephants, lions, koalas, wombats, snakes and frogs. however the crocodiles were a huge disappointment as they lay mostly submerged without moving a muscle. we had doubts percy could even pick one out from the water. i think because animals are always so animated in books she didn't get that at the zoo they mostly just lie about. never mind we're sure to make more visits which she'll enjoy in other ways.
a big hit was the seals! she stood at the window where she could see them swimming excitedly exclaiming "pussy cats!" over and over. we did explain that despite them having whiskers these were definately not cats.
there is also a small wading pool that she enjoyed immensely- so much for rolling her trousers up, she was wet to the armpits in three minutes. she very much liked splashing back and forth with her cousins as they had joined us by this time. at home, after zonking out in the stroller on the way back to the car, and a big two hour sleep there was yet another present to open.
percy also got a perfectly lovely edition of winnie the pooh from her oma, who visited over the weekend. it's got a great binding and very sweet pictures all thru it.
p.s. we figure the lioness, havig come within two metres of the glass was quietly humming "enny meeny myni mo, catching a toddler by the toe..." to herself as she sized up the 15 or so specimens lined up in front of her.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PUNKY!
paul got a sleepy percy out of bed this morning at 7am so we could sing her happy birthday before he went to work. i think she liked it, despite being mostly still asleep she smiled cutely. it was a good morning up until she closed her fingers in a drawer. no lasting damage and a close cuddle with kisses and 'more milk' made it all ok.
she was happy at day care this morning eating a big bowl of rice bubbles, that "are popping", when i left. she's going to have grandparent overload this evening. hopefully she sleeps in tomorrow so we can too, i'm feeling knackered this week.
she was happy at day care this morning eating a big bowl of rice bubbles, that "are popping", when i left. she's going to have grandparent overload this evening. hopefully she sleeps in tomorrow so we can too, i'm feeling knackered this week.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
first fight
more of a clash of priorities would be a better way to describe it. last nite for the first time percy wilfully and gleefully thwarted me. sure, we've been at cross purposes before- when to leave the park, what to eat for dinner (whether to eat at all!), to wear or not to wear a nappy and innumerable other instances. last nite's incident was something a little more...
it was time to pack away the toys to prepare for a bath. we keep percy's lego in a big bag that has velcro strips on two sides that allow the bag to unfold down to a flat play mat. i was sticking the velcro together to make the bag and asking percy to help put the lego inside. instead she delighted in pulling the velcro apart resulting in the lego spilling out again. i asked her seven times not to do that and explained that it was bath time so we must pack away the toys to have some space for drying off and getting into jamies. she persisted, laughing the whole time. in response i picked her up, plonking her on the change mat (which you'll recall is on the floor) saying she was not helping and must stay there until i tell her she can get up. this just increased the hilarity! she was off the mat, across the floor and peeling the velcro before i could turn around. repeated replacements on the mat just made her laugh more. and i mean really laugh, she was cracking up in a way i've only heard her do when she is having the best fun, bar nothing. clearly my parenting techniques (make it up as i go) weren't up to this challenge. paul eventually came upstairs and held her while i finished the packing away. then i sat in front of her, holding her shoulders and explained again what i was unhappy about. i know she understood me. i asked her to say sorry to me to which she found many reasons not to; a book not packed away, a CD cover to open, pi coming into the room... she did eventually say 'sorry' tho i think she did not mean it. it was delivered in a loud, abrupt voice; as if she was acknowledging what i wanted and complying, but only for the sake of getting rid of me. i don't think she felt at all contrite.
we had a big hug and then got on with the evening ritual as per normal.
paul and i had a talk later about what happened and whether i was just after restorative justice from a toddler or whether this was laying the ground work for future tasks to be undertaken with mutual compliance for mutual benefit, ie. if we both pack away the toys it will go quicker and we can have a nice bath sooner.
not sure yet....
percy turns two tomorrow! is this our welcome to the terrible two's? ha ha ha
it was time to pack away the toys to prepare for a bath. we keep percy's lego in a big bag that has velcro strips on two sides that allow the bag to unfold down to a flat play mat. i was sticking the velcro together to make the bag and asking percy to help put the lego inside. instead she delighted in pulling the velcro apart resulting in the lego spilling out again. i asked her seven times not to do that and explained that it was bath time so we must pack away the toys to have some space for drying off and getting into jamies. she persisted, laughing the whole time. in response i picked her up, plonking her on the change mat (which you'll recall is on the floor) saying she was not helping and must stay there until i tell her she can get up. this just increased the hilarity! she was off the mat, across the floor and peeling the velcro before i could turn around. repeated replacements on the mat just made her laugh more. and i mean really laugh, she was cracking up in a way i've only heard her do when she is having the best fun, bar nothing. clearly my parenting techniques (make it up as i go) weren't up to this challenge. paul eventually came upstairs and held her while i finished the packing away. then i sat in front of her, holding her shoulders and explained again what i was unhappy about. i know she understood me. i asked her to say sorry to me to which she found many reasons not to; a book not packed away, a CD cover to open, pi coming into the room... she did eventually say 'sorry' tho i think she did not mean it. it was delivered in a loud, abrupt voice; as if she was acknowledging what i wanted and complying, but only for the sake of getting rid of me. i don't think she felt at all contrite.
we had a big hug and then got on with the evening ritual as per normal.
paul and i had a talk later about what happened and whether i was just after restorative justice from a toddler or whether this was laying the ground work for future tasks to be undertaken with mutual compliance for mutual benefit, ie. if we both pack away the toys it will go quicker and we can have a nice bath sooner.
not sure yet....
percy turns two tomorrow! is this our welcome to the terrible two's? ha ha ha
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
turning two
holy doley! percy is turning two! haven't these couple of years flown by, and been full of adventures?
as seems to be the regime once one is on the procreating treadmill birthdays, and the associated parties are to be attended, or do i mean attended to? if i wasn't such a scrooge i'd even say i enjoy kids parties but in general i'm not sure i do. yeah, it's nice to see percy and other littlies racing around and having fun and eating too much sugar and food colouring. i do like her to be happy and exploring her world and learning to interact with people. it's not an occasion for parents to change their behaviour tho. well! i suppose that's why they are called kids parties.
last saturday our parents group held a morning party for all our about-to-be twos...
here's percy lined up the other culprits: percy, izzy, rose, will, finn, joe, cameron, and lola and max further down the line.
and a picture of percy that i think is her thinking "while pappa is looking the other way, i'll just finish this chocolate crackle..."
Monday, March 23, 2009
sleeping '09
we've been experiencing some quite good sleeping from percy so far this year. (i realise by figuratively saying this out loud i've now jinxed it all to hell!) except when she was ill a couple of weeks back she's either been sleeping thru the nite or only requiring one, occasionally two visits, thru the nite to have a drink of water and to pull her blanket up. these visits are generally over in a matter of minutes as she doesn't need us to sit with her until she's dozed off fully.
the last two mornings i've even had to go into her after 7am to wake her so that we can all get to day care and work on time! hopefully we can convince her to sleep past 7am on weekends from now on too.
in the mornings percy often wakes with a dry nappy. we'll take her jamies off and the old but dry nappy and ask if she wants to sit on the potty. which she generally does, followed by a big pee that then gets tipped in the big toilet and flushed away. i'm hopeful this action is a good indication that toilet training will be a success when we eventually decide to tackle it. while she can tell us when she's pooing it's usually right now, too late to take clothes off and get the potty to her or her to the potty, she seems to pee without informing anyone. i can't tell by looking at her if she is. anyways, not an issue yet.
bring on lots of hours of uninterrupted sleep before august!
the last two mornings i've even had to go into her after 7am to wake her so that we can all get to day care and work on time! hopefully we can convince her to sleep past 7am on weekends from now on too.
in the mornings percy often wakes with a dry nappy. we'll take her jamies off and the old but dry nappy and ask if she wants to sit on the potty. which she generally does, followed by a big pee that then gets tipped in the big toilet and flushed away. i'm hopeful this action is a good indication that toilet training will be a success when we eventually decide to tackle it. while she can tell us when she's pooing it's usually right now, too late to take clothes off and get the potty to her or her to the potty, she seems to pee without informing anyone. i can't tell by looking at her if she is. anyways, not an issue yet.
bring on lots of hours of uninterrupted sleep before august!
Thursday, March 19, 2009
second and last
it occured to me as i was re-tucking percy in around 1am this morning and sitting with her for a few minutes to listen to her breathing steadily drop to a deep whisper as sleep took her calmly to rest and dreams, that this second pregnancy of mine is most likely also to be my last. following on from such disrupted sleep over the past two years we don't feel we have the energy or the reserves to do this more than twice. i do believe that we are due a perfect sleeper this time, but even with that it's unlikely we'll be dipping into our genetic pool for a third time.
this makes me realise how precious each sensation and stage of this pregnancy is. every flutter of movement i feel should be cherished. my growing belly rubbed each nite with delicious oils, growing and steadily growing. even those effects i could skip straight over (constipation so bad i feared haemorrhoids could be the only possible result, chronic exhaustion, nausea, and if my pregnancy with percy is a prognostication then close-to-disabling symphysis pubis dysfunction is yet to come) are oddly special. these things won't be experienced again, positive or negative, ever. it's almost as if i must mourn the passing of my pregnancy time to feel happy about letting it go, knowing it won't happen again.
but that's ok, because now i feel a greater connection to my body, it's ability to carry and birth babies, and this little boy squirming around inside me.
second and last and really, really super!
this makes me realise how precious each sensation and stage of this pregnancy is. every flutter of movement i feel should be cherished. my growing belly rubbed each nite with delicious oils, growing and steadily growing. even those effects i could skip straight over (constipation so bad i feared haemorrhoids could be the only possible result, chronic exhaustion, nausea, and if my pregnancy with percy is a prognostication then close-to-disabling symphysis pubis dysfunction is yet to come) are oddly special. these things won't be experienced again, positive or negative, ever. it's almost as if i must mourn the passing of my pregnancy time to feel happy about letting it go, knowing it won't happen again.
but that's ok, because now i feel a greater connection to my body, it's ability to carry and birth babies, and this little boy squirming around inside me.
second and last and really, really super!
Saturday, March 14, 2009
she's a strange one alright
percy has gone back to having baths. which makes little difference to us. one or the other of us occasionally hops in with her tho she's happy to bath, and "swim" by herself.
whenever i hop in with her she insists that i lie down, washes my tummy and then licks my belly button. go figure?! with the rounded tummy i now sport a little water pools in my belly button- does this taste good? i think she's just weird but we don't make an issue out of it; there's no harm in it; it just cracks us up.
whenever i hop in with her she insists that i lie down, washes my tummy and then licks my belly button. go figure?! with the rounded tummy i now sport a little water pools in my belly button- does this taste good? i think she's just weird but we don't make an issue out of it; there's no harm in it; it just cracks us up.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
really?!
i've just read this story in the smh: www.smh.com.au/news/lifeandstyle/lifematters/cost-of-kids-not-so-high
and i've got to say the guy is a dickhead. a kid in nappies for a year can cost $1000 alone. a good quality double stroller will cost near $1000. child care costs us $80 a day. a private school education will be, and i'm being conservative, $10 000 a year, clothes, food, toys, swimming and ballet and karate lessons, trips to the doctor, health insurance, school excursions, incidentals, car seats, high chairs, petrol or bike tyres lugging the lovelies about, glasses, dentists, speech therapy, soccer boots, swimming goggles... the list is nearly endless. i really don't think 18 years of this and you'd get away with spending $55k.
yes, you don't have to send sprog to private school or to ballet lessons or do a myriad of other things, i still don't see that costing less than 55k over 18 years.
to be fair tho i will try to track down the actual research paper and see how badly smh reported it.
and i've got to say the guy is a dickhead. a kid in nappies for a year can cost $1000 alone. a good quality double stroller will cost near $1000. child care costs us $80 a day. a private school education will be, and i'm being conservative, $10 000 a year, clothes, food, toys, swimming and ballet and karate lessons, trips to the doctor, health insurance, school excursions, incidentals, car seats, high chairs, petrol or bike tyres lugging the lovelies about, glasses, dentists, speech therapy, soccer boots, swimming goggles... the list is nearly endless. i really don't think 18 years of this and you'd get away with spending $55k.
yes, you don't have to send sprog to private school or to ballet lessons or do a myriad of other things, i still don't see that costing less than 55k over 18 years.
to be fair tho i will try to track down the actual research paper and see how badly smh reported it.
Monday, March 9, 2009
the lottery of life
as i said in my post about last friday i had a few personal reasons for not mentioning this new pregnancy yet. here's the story of one of those reasons, as i wrote it down at the time:
"Wed 19th June 2006
hmmmm... reason for the gap? my last pregnancy ended in miscarriage 8 weeks in. i'm now 6 weeks along again. i can't get excited. i know what the stats are and i know the likelihood of another miscarriage is really low.
but there it is.
let me finish the last story properly.
everything seemed to be going fine. i was peeing all the time, hungry and tired.
we also couldn't help telling people. our parents, karl and sindy, emma and david and on a saturday nite at a party at their home in lilyfield; robyn and phillip.
we'd driven the jeep to rob and phils and when it was time to leave paul was too pissed to drive and i never drove the jeep so we caught a taxi home.
sunday morning we rode the bikes back to rob and phil's, me with the bike rack strapped to the pannier rack. as we rode along i felt a gathering 'moisture', like maybe 5mls of blood, in my knicks. rob and phil weren't home so we loaded up the bikes and went home. my feeling of moisture may have just been sweat as there was nothing there when i showered and changed.
we went to watch a movie in the afternoon. i don't remember which one. part way thru i developed a headache which was pounding by the time we left. i am prone to bad headaches and migraines however i know the usual triggers and i thought this was brought on by not hydrating enough in the morning during the bike ride. even tho it was a short ride and i went thru 2 bottles of water, and more at home.
i insisted we go straight home where i fell asleep on the lounge. i woke about 5:30pm and was bleeding moderatly. what now? is this normal? technically my period was due, if i hadn't had a baby growing inside me.
we rang dr beale's after hours number which just refers to opening hours and the hospital number. so we rang royal prince alfred hospital up the road in newtown/camperdown. i was put thru to maternity. a sympathetic lady spoke with me and after explaining what was happening to me she said it sounded very much like i was having a miscarriage. i then spoke to a doctor who repeated the same assessment. the doctor explained i could attend accident and emergency that evening or come in the morning to EPAS; early pregnancy assessment service. given the likely wait at A&E we opted for EPAS, i was also not in any particular pain. but what else do we do? i don't recall feeling that sad that evening. was the pregnancy real to begin with? wasn't a miscarraige something that happened to other people? what does this mean for our future chances?
god, do we have to tell everyone and what do we do with their reactions?
i slept surprisingly well that sunday nite. monday morning we were up and at EPAS on the dot of 8:30am as we'd been told this was when it opened. maybe this is when the doctors start! over three visits i learnt 7:30am is opening time.
we registered and waited 2 hours. paul called our works during this time to advise we weren't coming in.
i had both an external and vaginal ultrasound. the vaginal was not even uncomfortable, let alone painful as i have since heard it can be. we were advised that given the size of the fetus it had probably died around six weeks.
i am six weeks again right now.
i'm content just to wait. i'm not doing anything different and certainly nothing bad. are you still alive little baby? how can i know? what could i do anyways? i just want the time to pass....
we waited again after the ultrasounds. i was uncomfortable more because there were no pads at home and i had spent the last 20 or so hours with wads of toilet paper in my underpants. great.
finally a doctor spoke with us. he confirmed again that i was experiencing a miscarriage. we were given two options for what to do immediately. a dilation and curette under general anaesthetic or leave my body to expel all the material naturally. as i'm pretty healthy and my body seemed to be doing the job on its own i chose this option.
we left the hospital around 2:30/3pm. we did some shopping- ostensibly for what? easy guess.
paul returned to work and i returned to the lounge.
i bled out on tuesday. i filled 14 maxi pads. it was depressing and distressing. was this a normal amount? i had asked the doctoer yesterday what i could expect. "the usual amount" was the response. obviously he'd never had a miscarraige. what fucking answer is that?! normal! normal? yeah, i do this all the time. i know what normal is.
well, i didn't die, i didn't even faint or suffer much pain. my lower abdomen felt tight and uncomfortable but okay.
i stayed home on wednesday with a medium amount of bleeding. i returned to work on thursday with lighter bleeding but unfortunately painful cramps - maybe it was in the increase in moving and walking.
friday was a painful crampy day. saturday was amanda's birthday. i tried to go but ended up crying on the steps at redfern train station. i think i was hormonal and because the trains weren't running i was swamped and gave up.
2nd ultrasound on 7th march. arrived at 7:30am and got thru quicker. still not complete. maybe the ultrasound loosened things up. wednesday at work i passed some large clots and lots of blood. a bit alarming. i would have preferred to be at home. on friday i had drinks with the girls at the opera bar and on sunday was david and leannes wedding. finally by tues 14th march i stopped bleeding.
at the 3rd ultrasound on fri 17th the doctor pronounced the miscarriage complete.
the end.
except for the legacy."
that's what i wrote three years ago. i've had moments when i missed that little life. in this lottery we're doing ok.
"Wed 19th June 2006
hmmmm... reason for the gap? my last pregnancy ended in miscarriage 8 weeks in. i'm now 6 weeks along again. i can't get excited. i know what the stats are and i know the likelihood of another miscarriage is really low.
but there it is.
let me finish the last story properly.
everything seemed to be going fine. i was peeing all the time, hungry and tired.
we also couldn't help telling people. our parents, karl and sindy, emma and david and on a saturday nite at a party at their home in lilyfield; robyn and phillip.
we'd driven the jeep to rob and phils and when it was time to leave paul was too pissed to drive and i never drove the jeep so we caught a taxi home.
sunday morning we rode the bikes back to rob and phil's, me with the bike rack strapped to the pannier rack. as we rode along i felt a gathering 'moisture', like maybe 5mls of blood, in my knicks. rob and phil weren't home so we loaded up the bikes and went home. my feeling of moisture may have just been sweat as there was nothing there when i showered and changed.
we went to watch a movie in the afternoon. i don't remember which one. part way thru i developed a headache which was pounding by the time we left. i am prone to bad headaches and migraines however i know the usual triggers and i thought this was brought on by not hydrating enough in the morning during the bike ride. even tho it was a short ride and i went thru 2 bottles of water, and more at home.
i insisted we go straight home where i fell asleep on the lounge. i woke about 5:30pm and was bleeding moderatly. what now? is this normal? technically my period was due, if i hadn't had a baby growing inside me.
we rang dr beale's after hours number which just refers to opening hours and the hospital number. so we rang royal prince alfred hospital up the road in newtown/camperdown. i was put thru to maternity. a sympathetic lady spoke with me and after explaining what was happening to me she said it sounded very much like i was having a miscarriage. i then spoke to a doctor who repeated the same assessment. the doctor explained i could attend accident and emergency that evening or come in the morning to EPAS; early pregnancy assessment service. given the likely wait at A&E we opted for EPAS, i was also not in any particular pain. but what else do we do? i don't recall feeling that sad that evening. was the pregnancy real to begin with? wasn't a miscarraige something that happened to other people? what does this mean for our future chances?
god, do we have to tell everyone and what do we do with their reactions?
i slept surprisingly well that sunday nite. monday morning we were up and at EPAS on the dot of 8:30am as we'd been told this was when it opened. maybe this is when the doctors start! over three visits i learnt 7:30am is opening time.
we registered and waited 2 hours. paul called our works during this time to advise we weren't coming in.
i had both an external and vaginal ultrasound. the vaginal was not even uncomfortable, let alone painful as i have since heard it can be. we were advised that given the size of the fetus it had probably died around six weeks.
i am six weeks again right now.
i'm content just to wait. i'm not doing anything different and certainly nothing bad. are you still alive little baby? how can i know? what could i do anyways? i just want the time to pass....
we waited again after the ultrasounds. i was uncomfortable more because there were no pads at home and i had spent the last 20 or so hours with wads of toilet paper in my underpants. great.
finally a doctor spoke with us. he confirmed again that i was experiencing a miscarriage. we were given two options for what to do immediately. a dilation and curette under general anaesthetic or leave my body to expel all the material naturally. as i'm pretty healthy and my body seemed to be doing the job on its own i chose this option.
we left the hospital around 2:30/3pm. we did some shopping- ostensibly for what? easy guess.
paul returned to work and i returned to the lounge.
i bled out on tuesday. i filled 14 maxi pads. it was depressing and distressing. was this a normal amount? i had asked the doctoer yesterday what i could expect. "the usual amount" was the response. obviously he'd never had a miscarraige. what fucking answer is that?! normal! normal? yeah, i do this all the time. i know what normal is.
well, i didn't die, i didn't even faint or suffer much pain. my lower abdomen felt tight and uncomfortable but okay.
i stayed home on wednesday with a medium amount of bleeding. i returned to work on thursday with lighter bleeding but unfortunately painful cramps - maybe it was in the increase in moving and walking.
friday was a painful crampy day. saturday was amanda's birthday. i tried to go but ended up crying on the steps at redfern train station. i think i was hormonal and because the trains weren't running i was swamped and gave up.
2nd ultrasound on 7th march. arrived at 7:30am and got thru quicker. still not complete. maybe the ultrasound loosened things up. wednesday at work i passed some large clots and lots of blood. a bit alarming. i would have preferred to be at home. on friday i had drinks with the girls at the opera bar and on sunday was david and leannes wedding. finally by tues 14th march i stopped bleeding.
at the 3rd ultrasound on fri 17th the doctor pronounced the miscarriage complete.
the end.
except for the legacy."
that's what i wrote three years ago. i've had moments when i missed that little life. in this lottery we're doing ok.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
music afficiando
percy often gets sung to sleep in the evenings. paul does this six nites out of seven, which makes sense because my repertoire consists of the first verse of "my favourite things" and my made up song to "hush little baby don't you cry" (see entry some time back in mid 2007.) paul has a far expanded song list to call upon. a few weeks ago he told me afterwards he was running thru said collection when he hit upon "smells like teen spirit." percy really liked it! then again when he was asking her what she wanted to hear just a few nites back he went thru four or so options before asking "smells like teen spirit?" resounding "yes" answer and when he'd got the end of the song "that's a good song pappa."
talk about make us laugh! percy is clearly developing a fine muscial appreciation at a young age. ha ha ha ha...
talk about make us laugh! percy is clearly developing a fine muscial appreciation at a young age. ha ha ha ha...
my oh my oh my
what a day we had yesterday! all's well that ends well tho, hey? isn't that what they say?
i woke yesterday morning fearing that i was leaking fluid and possibly experiencing contractions. i know, i have failed to mention that i am pregnant again so far on this blog. this was for a few personal reasons and that this blog really is supposed to be about percy. anyways, back to yesterday's tale of adventure...
i shared my concerns with paul and we thought about the best thing to do. tearing off to the emergency department at rpa didn't seem to be it. i even went so far to ask paul to smell the fluid i had wiped on a tissue- poor bastard!! i was trying to get a consensus that it was not urine but possibly amniotic fluid.
we decided to continue with the day as normal and i would call our doctor when they opened at 8:30am. this i did and left a message with the receptionist. all morning at work i was in a bit of a distracted state (ha ha) tho luckily i have some interesting research to do at the moment so that was able to keep my mind off my 18 week old fetus for short stretches.
finally around 12 noon the receptionist called me back and asked if i could come in rather than just talk to the doctor on the 'phone. gee, what do you think? yes! my manager at work is a lovely woman and even offered to drive me to the doctors, she certainly wasn't bothered that i wanted to leave work early.
so, doc did an internal examination, asked me about my health and how the pregnancy had been going, felt my tummy and tried to find the baby's heart beat. she only has the tiniest hand-held heart beat findy thing tho, resulting in no success. Everything really has been peachy except for a fall i took last weekend, landing on my hand and hip more than anywhere else. her conclusion was that all was fine; the liquid was determined to be some mucous-y stuff. a swab was taken just for extra checking. after a couple of telephone calls she also got me into an ultrasound place that afternoon! all those people who have previously booked ultrasounds absolutely aeons in advance just to get in at the right time know what a miracle this is.
we had 45 minutes to get from erko to bondi junction, get parked and find the office, to make my 3pm appointment. and guess what? we did it! the ultrasound showed our little baby happy and healthy- phew. we spent nearly an hour looking him over. yes, him! a little brother for percy! it was really nice to get such an intimate look at bub and see his heart beating strongly, all measurements normal and my cervix firmly closed.
there have been no more contraction/ crampy feelings and no more fluid. we celebrated with take away dinner (because we were too drained to cook, plus percy likes pizza), and our chosen poisons of beer and icecream.
i woke yesterday morning fearing that i was leaking fluid and possibly experiencing contractions. i know, i have failed to mention that i am pregnant again so far on this blog. this was for a few personal reasons and that this blog really is supposed to be about percy. anyways, back to yesterday's tale of adventure...
i shared my concerns with paul and we thought about the best thing to do. tearing off to the emergency department at rpa didn't seem to be it. i even went so far to ask paul to smell the fluid i had wiped on a tissue- poor bastard!! i was trying to get a consensus that it was not urine but possibly amniotic fluid.
we decided to continue with the day as normal and i would call our doctor when they opened at 8:30am. this i did and left a message with the receptionist. all morning at work i was in a bit of a distracted state (ha ha) tho luckily i have some interesting research to do at the moment so that was able to keep my mind off my 18 week old fetus for short stretches.
finally around 12 noon the receptionist called me back and asked if i could come in rather than just talk to the doctor on the 'phone. gee, what do you think? yes! my manager at work is a lovely woman and even offered to drive me to the doctors, she certainly wasn't bothered that i wanted to leave work early.
so, doc did an internal examination, asked me about my health and how the pregnancy had been going, felt my tummy and tried to find the baby's heart beat. she only has the tiniest hand-held heart beat findy thing tho, resulting in no success. Everything really has been peachy except for a fall i took last weekend, landing on my hand and hip more than anywhere else. her conclusion was that all was fine; the liquid was determined to be some mucous-y stuff. a swab was taken just for extra checking. after a couple of telephone calls she also got me into an ultrasound place that afternoon! all those people who have previously booked ultrasounds absolutely aeons in advance just to get in at the right time know what a miracle this is.
we had 45 minutes to get from erko to bondi junction, get parked and find the office, to make my 3pm appointment. and guess what? we did it! the ultrasound showed our little baby happy and healthy- phew. we spent nearly an hour looking him over. yes, him! a little brother for percy! it was really nice to get such an intimate look at bub and see his heart beating strongly, all measurements normal and my cervix firmly closed.
there have been no more contraction/ crampy feelings and no more fluid. we celebrated with take away dinner (because we were too drained to cook, plus percy likes pizza), and our chosen poisons of beer and icecream.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
sydney museum
last sunday morning we made a family outing with sarah, chris, rose and tessa to the australia museum. after negotiating the steps at both erko and museum train stations with two stollers and four hot drinks we had a really lovely time. the older girls especially! they loved the dedicated play space and chasing each other around the dinosaur and australian animals exhibits. i'm not sure everyone else enjoyed seeing them tear around like maniacs and squealing at the top of their voices but watching percy calling out to "rosie-posie, where are you?" and running back and forth holding hands was just adorable.
wet weather
a couple of weeks back when it was raining non-stop percy delighted in her new welly boots and matching rain coat. she's grown out of her first set of welly boots. we hope this set lasts her a while yet.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
"all gone"
it's been plagueing me for some time that i have failed to engage in any physical exercise for some time.
instead of walking up three flights of stairs without a care, i now feel my thighs protest after one! i remember when getting to work at least twice a week was an hour and half serious bike ride, one way. while i mightened have won any medals i had thighs we joked bullets would bounce off.
and what's this flabby, flobby stuff on the under side of my arm? my once-upon-a-time personal trainer said i had a stronger punch than many guys he knew (he was also a kickboxer pro.)
while i can still touch my toes with my legs straight my daily at home practice and once a week lesson of yoga is a distant memory. i fear many a pose is beyond my reach now.
how come my lungs burn after a slow jog, why does my heart pound just walking up a gentle slope?
the full extent of my exercise would be walking to the train and back, walking to local shops or parks a couple times a week and the very occasional ten minute bike ride.
what happened?
oh yeah, that's right- i had a baby. as she would say, all that fitness, flexibility, stamina and health is "all gone"; like an empty yoghurt tub.
instead of walking up three flights of stairs without a care, i now feel my thighs protest after one! i remember when getting to work at least twice a week was an hour and half serious bike ride, one way. while i mightened have won any medals i had thighs we joked bullets would bounce off.
and what's this flabby, flobby stuff on the under side of my arm? my once-upon-a-time personal trainer said i had a stronger punch than many guys he knew (he was also a kickboxer pro.)
while i can still touch my toes with my legs straight my daily at home practice and once a week lesson of yoga is a distant memory. i fear many a pose is beyond my reach now.
how come my lungs burn after a slow jog, why does my heart pound just walking up a gentle slope?
the full extent of my exercise would be walking to the train and back, walking to local shops or parks a couple times a week and the very occasional ten minute bike ride.
what happened?
oh yeah, that's right- i had a baby. as she would say, all that fitness, flexibility, stamina and health is "all gone"; like an empty yoghurt tub.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
the chicken's wing
it has come to my attention, with personal disappointment, that mothers unanimously eat the wing or wings of a roast chook dinner. this is one of numerous examples of mothers putting their preferences, desires and even needs second to their families, particularly their children's.
as i was home yesterday afternoon and suspiciously had the time to get a chicken roasting that's what was on the menu last night. i remember when at my parents home a roast chicken appeared on the dining table my brother got the leg (or both legs as he grew up), my father and i divvied up the breast meat and mum got stuck with the wings. last night percy got the breast meat, paul was too sick to eat and yet i still, voluntarily (!) took a wing. which meant the remaining carcass was largely intact as percy doesn't eat enough to sustain a bird (pun slightly intended) and i filled up on vegies. this is probably a good thing as the more vegies for me the better.
i've read many articles about the second-place-getting of mothers, generally self-imposed. my example here is a light-hearted one, there are more serious cases particularly in situations of poverty or abuse. surely we all recognise that a healthy, happy mother contributes more to the well being of her family than anything else? i'm also pondering the australian governments' seeming back off from a national paid maternity leave scheme. i understand some of the intricacies of such a scheme and the difficulty that might be experienced by small employers, i still think it's immensely worthwhile and necessary.
i should make clear that i'm not a second-place getter in our family. if anything paul places me and insists i take first place more often than not. i think in general we three are equals. i just can't help boosting percy ahead of me! i think it's primal and instinctive.
as i was home yesterday afternoon and suspiciously had the time to get a chicken roasting that's what was on the menu last night. i remember when at my parents home a roast chicken appeared on the dining table my brother got the leg (or both legs as he grew up), my father and i divvied up the breast meat and mum got stuck with the wings. last night percy got the breast meat, paul was too sick to eat and yet i still, voluntarily (!) took a wing. which meant the remaining carcass was largely intact as percy doesn't eat enough to sustain a bird (pun slightly intended) and i filled up on vegies. this is probably a good thing as the more vegies for me the better.
i've read many articles about the second-place-getting of mothers, generally self-imposed. my example here is a light-hearted one, there are more serious cases particularly in situations of poverty or abuse. surely we all recognise that a healthy, happy mother contributes more to the well being of her family than anything else? i'm also pondering the australian governments' seeming back off from a national paid maternity leave scheme. i understand some of the intricacies of such a scheme and the difficulty that might be experienced by small employers, i still think it's immensely worthwhile and necessary.
i should make clear that i'm not a second-place getter in our family. if anything paul places me and insists i take first place more often than not. i think in general we three are equals. i just can't help boosting percy ahead of me! i think it's primal and instinctive.
Monday, February 23, 2009
no posts
the reason being that i've been nursing a cold for coming onto a fortnite now. i'm not well enough, interested enough or able enough to write. besides which things are much the same in our lives at present, so nothing to write about.
one thing that is worth remarking on is percy's communication. she differentiates between "i", "your", "each", "percy's turn", "coming", "soon" and a couple more in that vein. it makes life more interesting having her talking so well. we still have to guess occasionally what she is on about but that changes every day.
one thing that is worth remarking on is percy's communication. she differentiates between "i", "your", "each", "percy's turn", "coming", "soon" and a couple more in that vein. it makes life more interesting having her talking so well. we still have to guess occasionally what she is on about but that changes every day.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
St Valentine's Day
scene 1:
muted lighting, deep red roses in perfect bloom highlighted in a cut crystal vase, warm timber surrounds, flickering long red candles, delicate bone china, crested silverware...
him dressed in bespoke evening tails, her dressed in midnight blue, figure hugging gown...
a meal of tempting flavours and creative presentation...
wine and the finest champagne...
hushed conversation sprinkled with in-the-know laughter...
curtain falls.
scene 2:
muted lighting, deep red roses in perfect bloom fitted into the only vase tall enough to take them, warm timber surrounds with washing draped all over it as it's been raining for a week, flickering long red candles, plain white, dishwasher and microwave proof crockery, stainless steel cutlery...
him dressed in the same t-shirt and cargo pants as he's been in all day, her dressed in cinched-at-the-waist, midnight blue, slightly tatty dressing gown...
a meal of tempting flavours and slapped on the plate...
beer and orange juice...
half asleep conversation with in-the-know-about-the-toddler's-pooey-nappy stories and laughter...
curtain falls.
half falls at least, then raises...
i'll let you guess which was the scene at our house on friday nite!
percy slept for half an hour, just enough time to dish up and gobble food before she woke crying. she's sick with something we can't blame her.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
hip hip hooray!
last nite the weather finally changed and became cool enough to bearably sleep. thank multiple dieties!
i am just not a hot weather person. neither seemingly is percy. she slept atrociously the nite before last- i was up every hour between 9pm and 1am to settle her. at 1:30am we gave up, set up the port-a-cot in our bedroom and brought her in to sleep with us. it's cooler in our room because that is where the air con system is. yes, we have been complete environmental vandals and run the air con over nite on several occasions now. it did work, she fell asleep pretty quickly, one little settle around 4am (which i was able to largely do; saying 'hush', while still lieing in my own bed) to wake around 7am.
by contrast percy slept a lovely 12 hours last nite from 6:30pm to 6:30am, with only one stir in the nite when i pulled up her blanket. yes, it was actually cool enough to need it!
she went to bed at 6:30pm because she had not napped like usual so we figured she needed it.
yesterday morning we drove to the beach and just before arriving little miss fell asleep in the car. she had a half hour nap and then nothing for the remainder of the day. a bit rough on us but manageable.
she also had a bath last nite for the first time in weeks. possibly only because it was towering with bubbles and i got in with her.
this morning, waiting on the platform for my train to work, i actually felt a bit cold. what bliss.
i am just not a hot weather person. neither seemingly is percy. she slept atrociously the nite before last- i was up every hour between 9pm and 1am to settle her. at 1:30am we gave up, set up the port-a-cot in our bedroom and brought her in to sleep with us. it's cooler in our room because that is where the air con system is. yes, we have been complete environmental vandals and run the air con over nite on several occasions now. it did work, she fell asleep pretty quickly, one little settle around 4am (which i was able to largely do; saying 'hush', while still lieing in my own bed) to wake around 7am.
by contrast percy slept a lovely 12 hours last nite from 6:30pm to 6:30am, with only one stir in the nite when i pulled up her blanket. yes, it was actually cool enough to need it!
she went to bed at 6:30pm because she had not napped like usual so we figured she needed it.
yesterday morning we drove to the beach and just before arriving little miss fell asleep in the car. she had a half hour nap and then nothing for the remainder of the day. a bit rough on us but manageable.
she also had a bath last nite for the first time in weeks. possibly only because it was towering with bubbles and i got in with her.
this morning, waiting on the platform for my train to work, i actually felt a bit cold. what bliss.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
conjugating and counting update
percy has mastered a number of conjugations now. mostly of the "ing" variety- patting, doing, going, climbing, swinging...
she also very cutely says "still chewing" if she is offered more food before she's ready. also she puts us off asking her to do something by telling us "no, percy busy." once tho, we asked her what she was doing and she replied in an evasive manner "nothing." if i really thought she'd already learnt about lies and evasiveness i'd worry more but i just can't see that being likely.
she can also count to ten. we started by putting our 'pointer finger up' and counting the cats in the slimky malinki books. she likes counting everything now. 'course she doesn't always get it right. for instance i have five eyebrows- she just went back and forth counting each one more than once. better than a mono brow i say!
she also very cutely says "still chewing" if she is offered more food before she's ready. also she puts us off asking her to do something by telling us "no, percy busy." once tho, we asked her what she was doing and she replied in an evasive manner "nothing." if i really thought she'd already learnt about lies and evasiveness i'd worry more but i just can't see that being likely.
she can also count to ten. we started by putting our 'pointer finger up' and counting the cats in the slimky malinki books. she likes counting everything now. 'course she doesn't always get it right. for instance i have five eyebrows- she just went back and forth counting each one more than once. better than a mono brow i say!
Monday, February 2, 2009
"hello..."
i keep forgetting to write this up but finally i've remembered while i'm in front of a computer and can steal some time to do so.
very short story from our impromptu new years stay in coffs harbour. out to dinner one evening i had ordered a super delicious dessert of crepes with strawberries and butterscotch sauce. percy had wormed her way onto my lap by this time. (after being a very well behaved miss all thru dinner, eating a reasonable amount and running many laps of our table.)
percy asked what was on the plate. upon being told she dipped her finger into a pool of butterscotch sauce and tasted it. she then said, in a very friendly, almost 'come hither' voice; "hello butterscotch." it was just hilarious, very much like she was saying "you and me, butterscotch, we are going to get on juuust fiiiine."
we haven't had anything butterscotchy since so i wonder if she remembers it, or whether she'll still be as friendly.
very short story from our impromptu new years stay in coffs harbour. out to dinner one evening i had ordered a super delicious dessert of crepes with strawberries and butterscotch sauce. percy had wormed her way onto my lap by this time. (after being a very well behaved miss all thru dinner, eating a reasonable amount and running many laps of our table.)
percy asked what was on the plate. upon being told she dipped her finger into a pool of butterscotch sauce and tasted it. she then said, in a very friendly, almost 'come hither' voice; "hello butterscotch." it was just hilarious, very much like she was saying "you and me, butterscotch, we are going to get on juuust fiiiine."
we haven't had anything butterscotchy since so i wonder if she remembers it, or whether she'll still be as friendly.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
sentences II
percy has progressed to six word sentences and the use of "i". her language just astonishes me. she said to me on the weekend. "pappa and mamma sleep in big bed", then; "i sleep in the little bed." so much for waiting for her third or fourth birthday.
we're not anticipating discussing philosophy with her any time soon. however getting day to day tasks and activities done with all parties understanding each other is bril.
oddly, when something isn't going her way or she's getting frustrated she reverts to whining and crying. things like a puzzle piece she can't get in, or a closed door she can't open, or something too heavy for her to pick up; she'll cry and whine instead of telling us what the problem is. which is frustrating because i know she can say things like "open door", "can't reach", "can't do it", "help", "mamma/pappa come", "finished" and the like. we're working on it.
we've also started, with some success, the practice of taking a deep breath when getting upset and then talking about it. i usually sit in front of her on the floor when she's heading into a full-blown tantrum, and say "take a deep breath", then do it myself for her to mimic. more often than not she follows along with me and after three or four breaths is in control again enough to tell me what's wrong. doesn't always work! sometimes it's too late and all we can do is try to stop her hurting herself while the flailing screaming runs its course.
i love talking with percy because it makes me think about what i am saying, slow down and enunciate clearly. it's good practice for talking with adults too!
we're not anticipating discussing philosophy with her any time soon. however getting day to day tasks and activities done with all parties understanding each other is bril.
oddly, when something isn't going her way or she's getting frustrated she reverts to whining and crying. things like a puzzle piece she can't get in, or a closed door she can't open, or something too heavy for her to pick up; she'll cry and whine instead of telling us what the problem is. which is frustrating because i know she can say things like "open door", "can't reach", "can't do it", "help", "mamma/pappa come", "finished" and the like. we're working on it.
we've also started, with some success, the practice of taking a deep breath when getting upset and then talking about it. i usually sit in front of her on the floor when she's heading into a full-blown tantrum, and say "take a deep breath", then do it myself for her to mimic. more often than not she follows along with me and after three or four breaths is in control again enough to tell me what's wrong. doesn't always work! sometimes it's too late and all we can do is try to stop her hurting herself while the flailing screaming runs its course.
i love talking with percy because it makes me think about what i am saying, slow down and enunciate clearly. it's good practice for talking with adults too!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
a little privacy, if you please!
percy treated us to a funny episode a couple of nites ago. in keeping with her insistence on only having showers we were preparing for our shower that evening; collect towel, nappy, jamies, undress, adjust water temperature, etc.
at one point percy slipped into the ensuite without us and slid the door closed behind her. i went to open the door but she pushed it shut again protesting "no!" i asked what she was doing and may i come in. she replied again "no!" and that she was using the potty. the potty was not in the room. as the shower wasn't on yet we figured she couldn't get into much more trouble than falling into the toilet, which we'd hear and rescue her from right quick, so we let her be. i asked once or twice more if i may come in and got strong "no's" in reply. then we heard the toilet flush and percy opened the door!
i'm absolutely positive that despite her interest in us going to the toilet and her use of a potty she can't manage a full size toilet on her own. still, there was no pee on the floor, plus she seemed pretty emphatic that she was using the toilet and didn't want our presence while she did. paul was rolling on the bed laughing by the end (me too nearly)... maybe you had to be there.
at one point percy slipped into the ensuite without us and slid the door closed behind her. i went to open the door but she pushed it shut again protesting "no!" i asked what she was doing and may i come in. she replied again "no!" and that she was using the potty. the potty was not in the room. as the shower wasn't on yet we figured she couldn't get into much more trouble than falling into the toilet, which we'd hear and rescue her from right quick, so we let her be. i asked once or twice more if i may come in and got strong "no's" in reply. then we heard the toilet flush and percy opened the door!
i'm absolutely positive that despite her interest in us going to the toilet and her use of a potty she can't manage a full size toilet on her own. still, there was no pee on the floor, plus she seemed pretty emphatic that she was using the toilet and didn't want our presence while she did. paul was rolling on the bed laughing by the end (me too nearly)... maybe you had to be there.
Monday, January 26, 2009
22 months
percy is 22 months old today. not long 'til her second birthday.
she arrived home from wollongong on saturday morning quite happy and unscathed. i think she missed us as she gave us lots of hugs and kisses.
on sunday we made an impromptu visit to my brother and family. we came away with more toys for her! she now has a lego collection that allows a quite robust big tower, taller than her, to be built with ease. too lazy to run downstairs to get the camera...
back to day care today with a rice bubbles, milky sloppy kiss to say goodbye with.
she arrived home from wollongong on saturday morning quite happy and unscathed. i think she missed us as she gave us lots of hugs and kisses.
on sunday we made an impromptu visit to my brother and family. we came away with more toys for her! she now has a lego collection that allows a quite robust big tower, taller than her, to be built with ease. too lazy to run downstairs to get the camera...
back to day care today with a rice bubbles, milky sloppy kiss to say goodbye with.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
3 and 4 day experiments
the four day experiment first...
last week, and continuing from now on, percy will be attending day care, and i'll be working, four days a week. we have wednesdays at home together. i think percy is taking this change just fine. each day i've dropped her off she's sat down to her second breakfast and waved me away quite happily. i suppose i'm taking the change fine as well. ('course i'd rather be a lady of leisure but that scenario is highly unlikely.)
our three day experiment is more interesting. percy is staying three nites with her gran and grandad. without us. i drove her down on wednesday afternoon and they'll be bringing her home on saturday. it's very traumatic! for me. by all reports percy is doing fine.
i only stayed a half hour or so before having a big cuddle and kisses and saying good bye. the drive home seemed to flash past but once home i became morose, tired, depressed and lonely. really lonely. and also inert. i know that's an odd way to describe a person but that's how i felt- very inert. i lay on the bed and couldn't move. even when a bit of rain came over and was getting the dry washing wet i couldn't run out and get it in. this isn't like me- i hate repeating effort. it just doesn't seem right that there was no little head at the dining table, no clambering nakey-baby to play with after dinner, no wet chookie in the shower, and saddest of all; no tousled head popping up to say "hello" this morning. it feels all wrong.
i imagine many would say i should be rejoicing. having some baby-free time; time with no cries in the night, no tussles over eating, no debates about whether to put a nappy on again (or run about naked- she's very much the nudist), no 6am rousing from bed, no repeat readings of the same book... yes, perhaps i should be happy. i just miss her.
i really, really miss her.
last week, and continuing from now on, percy will be attending day care, and i'll be working, four days a week. we have wednesdays at home together. i think percy is taking this change just fine. each day i've dropped her off she's sat down to her second breakfast and waved me away quite happily. i suppose i'm taking the change fine as well. ('course i'd rather be a lady of leisure but that scenario is highly unlikely.)
our three day experiment is more interesting. percy is staying three nites with her gran and grandad. without us. i drove her down on wednesday afternoon and they'll be bringing her home on saturday. it's very traumatic! for me. by all reports percy is doing fine.
i only stayed a half hour or so before having a big cuddle and kisses and saying good bye. the drive home seemed to flash past but once home i became morose, tired, depressed and lonely. really lonely. and also inert. i know that's an odd way to describe a person but that's how i felt- very inert. i lay on the bed and couldn't move. even when a bit of rain came over and was getting the dry washing wet i couldn't run out and get it in. this isn't like me- i hate repeating effort. it just doesn't seem right that there was no little head at the dining table, no clambering nakey-baby to play with after dinner, no wet chookie in the shower, and saddest of all; no tousled head popping up to say "hello" this morning. it feels all wrong.
i imagine many would say i should be rejoicing. having some baby-free time; time with no cries in the night, no tussles over eating, no debates about whether to put a nappy on again (or run about naked- she's very much the nudist), no 6am rousing from bed, no repeat readings of the same book... yes, perhaps i should be happy. i just miss her.
i really, really miss her.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
no-bath baby
percy is a grot of a baby. she's refused to have a bath for weeks now! the dirt is piling up, that tan ain't no tan, she smells awful, her hair is a matted mess, her nails are black...
nah, just kidding! she has declined to have a bath but loves having showers! ages back, as a novetly, one of us, i think paul first, took her into the shower with him. then it was sort of a once a week thing. now it's every day. i'm not sure what the appeal is- the running water, being with mamma or pappa, having the choice...
it's quite fun to have a shower together. she likes the soap bubbles and helping to wash my legs. the down side is i like my showers scalding hot so i don't get to enjoy that broiled lobster feeling when she comes in with me and she was given a neat bath toy at christmas that really works best with a pool of water, not running water- she hasn't played with it once (sorry sin-sin and uncle karl.)
we've even gotten to the point that paul and i have to get out first and leave percy to herself for a couple of minutes at the end. she says "mamma/pappa, get out" and pushes open the door! bossy little thing.
nah, just kidding! she has declined to have a bath but loves having showers! ages back, as a novetly, one of us, i think paul first, took her into the shower with him. then it was sort of a once a week thing. now it's every day. i'm not sure what the appeal is- the running water, being with mamma or pappa, having the choice...
it's quite fun to have a shower together. she likes the soap bubbles and helping to wash my legs. the down side is i like my showers scalding hot so i don't get to enjoy that broiled lobster feeling when she comes in with me and she was given a neat bath toy at christmas that really works best with a pool of water, not running water- she hasn't played with it once (sorry sin-sin and uncle karl.)
we've even gotten to the point that paul and i have to get out first and leave percy to herself for a couple of minutes at the end. she says "mamma/pappa, get out" and pushes open the door! bossy little thing.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
christmas/ new year wellingrove
more piccies...
percy, her oma and her cousins reading together, back in the favourite place- the hammock, paul riding the neighbours horse (there is a heap of video of percy riding and leading the horse too, which she absolutely loved, but it's about 15 minutes long and would take eight years to post), and playing in the glen innes pool...
christmas in wollongong
just a quick couple of piccies... where else would you sit to feed your new dollies, but in your new tonka truck?
Monday, January 12, 2009
"i love you"
adorably percy has started to tell us that she loves us. often she's just repeating us saying to her "i love you", but occasionally she will say 'i love you', unprompted and throw a big cuddle and kiss in as a bonus. it's heart swellingly wonderful.
i think the big leap forward in language could be attributed to the two weeks over christmas/new year when she was constantly with us or other family members and encouraged to talk non-stop. i mean the encouragement, not the talking!
Sunday, January 11, 2009
sentences
another step along the way to understanding and communication... percy is using three and four word sentences quite regularly now. it's great as it means she can be part of the conversation (a bit) and let us know what's going on in her mind. mostly it's descriptive stuff or requests; "percy climb up", "percy go swimming", "have more milk?", "have a look?" this last one is particularly funny, tho a bit frustrating. she uses it when she doesn't believe what we are telling her, eg. "have a look (in fridge)" when we tell her there is no custard or avocado. or in the bottom of a bag or box or cupboard when searching for a toy, towel, whatever.
she also asks "pappa, where are you?" or "what mamma doing?", actually there is lots of "what (name) doing?"; she's very curious. and of course "what's that?" hasn't let up. hilariously this question seems to come out even if she doesn't have a particular object or item to query- ie. she'll look in one direction, point in the opposite and ask "what's that?" 'what's what, little girl?!, i can't tell what you are asking about!'
i've read it can take 'til children are 3 or 4 before they substitute "i" for their name. we'll see, i think she's starting to grasp the difference between 'me' and 'you' so perhaps 'i' isn't too far away.
she also asks "pappa, where are you?" or "what mamma doing?", actually there is lots of "what (name) doing?"; she's very curious. and of course "what's that?" hasn't let up. hilariously this question seems to come out even if she doesn't have a particular object or item to query- ie. she'll look in one direction, point in the opposite and ask "what's that?" 'what's what, little girl?!, i can't tell what you are asking about!'
i've read it can take 'til children are 3 or 4 before they substitute "i" for their name. we'll see, i think she's starting to grasp the difference between 'me' and 'you' so perhaps 'i' isn't too far away.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
cats don't read!
super funny! percy was chasing pi around this evening with a book calling out "pi read book!" she was very reluctant to accept that cats don't read...
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
2008-2009
for the past couple of weeks we've either not been near ready internet access or i've not been motivated to write. it's been a very tiring few weeks, not to mention a confirmation of why i dislike christmas. never mind- percy loves life and thru her you can't help but see it all with a bit of a sparkle too. (is it wrong to already live vicariously thru my daughter?)
once again percy scooped the pool at christmas in terms of presents. she even ran out of steam on opening them. because we had two christmases with each set of grandparents percy spread out her present opening over five days! lucky chook! she now has a lovely new haul of dinosaurs, a mega-sketcher, horsies, a tonka truck big enough to sit in, books, clothes, baby dolls and i'm sure other things i can't think of just now.
percy is becoming an adept car traveller too. we drove to wollongong on 23rd dec which was easy, she's done that trip heaps of times. then on the nite of the 26th we left wollongong at 5pm for the 9 hour drive to wellingrove. the plan was that percy would sleep the whole way. which she mostly did! she didn't fall asleep until 9pm but was out of it for nearly the rest of the way. we arrived around 2:30am and transferred her successfully to a waiting cot. on 1st jan we drove 4.5 hours to coffs harbour. it took that long because we stopped for food, fuel, to look at waterfalls and to coordinate what we were doing with my brother and his family who had also decided to come to coffs. percy got a bit whingey towards the end of this trip because she was awake the whole way. still she only cried a little and was happy once we checked into the hotel. on the 4th we left coffs harbour at 4am thinking we might get ahead of all the returning holiday traffic. again percy slept nearly the whole six and half hours it took to get home. we didn't get any traffic, thankfully, just lots of road works speed limited to 80kmph, oh well.
the last three days percy and i have been at home together- mostly hiding in the air conditioning as it's been too hot for out door activities. she's made some fantastic new leaps in language and understanding too. details, and photos of the 'holiday' period to come...
once again percy scooped the pool at christmas in terms of presents. she even ran out of steam on opening them. because we had two christmases with each set of grandparents percy spread out her present opening over five days! lucky chook! she now has a lovely new haul of dinosaurs, a mega-sketcher, horsies, a tonka truck big enough to sit in, books, clothes, baby dolls and i'm sure other things i can't think of just now.
percy is becoming an adept car traveller too. we drove to wollongong on 23rd dec which was easy, she's done that trip heaps of times. then on the nite of the 26th we left wollongong at 5pm for the 9 hour drive to wellingrove. the plan was that percy would sleep the whole way. which she mostly did! she didn't fall asleep until 9pm but was out of it for nearly the rest of the way. we arrived around 2:30am and transferred her successfully to a waiting cot. on 1st jan we drove 4.5 hours to coffs harbour. it took that long because we stopped for food, fuel, to look at waterfalls and to coordinate what we were doing with my brother and his family who had also decided to come to coffs. percy got a bit whingey towards the end of this trip because she was awake the whole way. still she only cried a little and was happy once we checked into the hotel. on the 4th we left coffs harbour at 4am thinking we might get ahead of all the returning holiday traffic. again percy slept nearly the whole six and half hours it took to get home. we didn't get any traffic, thankfully, just lots of road works speed limited to 80kmph, oh well.
the last three days percy and i have been at home together- mostly hiding in the air conditioning as it's been too hot for out door activities. she's made some fantastic new leaps in language and understanding too. details, and photos of the 'holiday' period to come...
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