One of my biggest fears in life is that my daughter is not going to be a nice person when she's all grown up. I shudder at the thought of my sweet caring little girl being an absolute jerk to someone and not giving it a second thought. Of course there is nothing I have seen yet to indicate that this is going to be the case, and I take every opportunity to teach Miss K about being considerate and thoughtful, but human nature means we're all jerks sometimes. And I was a jerk this week.
A lot of Miss K's time these days is spent preparing for school next year. Kindergarten is teaching her the education side of things, and the social side of things, but it's still my job to teach her basically everything else. I assumed that teaching children to be good sports would be included in her learning at kindergarten, but either the opportunity has never come up before, or Miss K has never shown that she needs the lesson there. She's never really shown me before this week that she needed it either, but I found out this week that she is quite happy to gloat when she beats someone, and I wasn't ok with it.
Part of this problem will have come from me. I have always encouraged a healthy interest in competition in Miss K, as I feel it is necessary to get ahead in life. But because she is only five, I let her win a lot when we compete against each other. (Except when it comes to running, she beats me fair and square when we race, I'm just too chubby and lazy to really run.) So Miss K has a confidence that she can win with ease thanks to me. Now I know that confidence is key, but too much confidence leads to arrogance, and I don't want my child to be a fat head. So I've slowly started winning more and more, just to teach her that winning isn't always guaranteed, but that just makes the wins she does get bigger in her mind. And with her new victories came gloating.
Miss K and I were bored the other night so we decided to play a few board games for an hour before bedtime. We started with Kerplunk, which I've had in our games cupboard for years now, but we've never played so I was excited to introduce her to a game I loved as a child. (We even had a Star Trek version because my big sister is a giant nerd.) I won each game, but the longer we played, the harder I had to work for my victories, as Miss K got a feel for the strategy that is Kerplunk. This is where her sense of competition was good. She was happy to lose, but she learned from her losses and used that lesson to bridge the gap between us in each new round. Eventually we got bored with having to reset the game each time so we swapped to Hungry, Hungry Dinos (Yeah, yeah I know that's not the real game, but board games are expensive OK?) Now Miss K was in her element. She loves quick fire games and beat me hands down every single round. I wasn't letting her win either, these were real losses for me. I was impressed by her performance until she started calling my dinosaurs losers.
I was shocked by her attitude, I've never gloated around her as I find that behaviour really off putting. I tried the Mike Brady method of lecturing her on the dinosaur's feelings. (Yet another in a long list of bizarre conversations I've had to have with my daughter.) I let her know that it isn't nice to point out that someone is a loser if they don't win a game, and using words like that can hurt someone's feelings. She agreed with me and I thought the matter was settled, but she went back to calling the dinosaurs losers straight away. So Mike Brady lost round one. I decided it was time to lead by example, and this is where I became a jerk.
It's like the old lesson we used to teach our children when they learn how to bite, if they bite us, we bite back. (Of course I don't condone biting your children, please don't bite the kids.) But if you want a kid to know how something feels, you let them experience it. So I swapped the game to one where the odds were stacked in my favour; We had thumb war. (Another throwback to my own childhood and the many thumb wars I had with my big sister where she usually beat me easily.) I won the round of course, and then I proceeded to do a victory dance (which may or may not have included a song calling Miss K a loser).
Yeah, yeah, I know, I was a huge meanie. I can only imagine how many of you are burning up with rage right now, but Miss K got the point straight away. She now knew how it felt to be called a loser, and she knew how horrible it felt. Now you may think I overreacted, she was insulting a plastic moulded toy that is unable to feel emotions or even hear her words, but that wasn't the point. One day she is going to play sports with other children who do have ears and feelings that can be easily hurt, and I don't want her to be the jerk gloating over winning a stupid game when it actually matters. I reiterated how words can hurt feelings, and we talked about the correct way to behave whether you win or lose, and we finished our match by telling each other "Good game".
So while I don't officially condone calling your kids losers, or gloating around them, or deliberately beating them at games, sometimes you have to be a jerk to prove a point. Hopefully my daughter now has a better sense of humility, and will be more gracious with her wins and her losses. Or one day I'll get a huge bill from a therapist for all the damage I'm doing as I stumble through being a parent. Only time will tell.
I would love to hear about any other parents out there who have had similar ethical dilemmas that they solved by being less than perfect. Hit me up in the comments down below and let me know how much you now pay for therapy per month. I get the feeling I'm going to need to start a savings account very soon.
I come for the coffee, I stay for the padded walls and straight jackets
Showing posts with label Development. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Development. Show all posts
Saturday, 8 October 2016
Monday, 2 November 2015
Overcoming Speech Delays - Tips and Resources
I have mentioned in passing a few times over the past few months that Miss K is having issues with her speech. The issue actually goes a bit deeper than just a few issues, and it has been something we have been dealing with for over 2 years now. Miss K has made great progress in that time, but it has been a rocky road, full of frustration and tears for her, and sleepless nights for me. In order to hopefully save someone a whole lot of heartache that comes with speech delays, I have managed to compile a list of tips and resources that have helped us enormously over the past two years, and I am sharing them with you now.
One thing I found when I first thought there were issues with Miss K's speech was that there was a very large lack of resources for parents online. Everything I found gave the same information, strengthen her mouth muscles with straws and lots of games, but it didn't tell me how I could correct the real issues, or even how to identify them. To this day I still don't know why Miss K never learned to talk the way most kids do. It certainly wasn't because she wasn't encouraged to talk at home, we had many fights over her first years as I tried to coax, beg or threaten words out of her to no avail. I felt hopeless and totally useless at my job. Eventually at her 2 year check up with the maternal health nurse I brought up the delays, hoping that our nurse would take us seriously, and she did. Although at the time speech pathologists were still refusing to help children until they were at least three years old, our local community medical centre was just beginning a program to help bridge the gap, so we took advantage of their services until Miss K was old enough to be referred to a speech therapist.
Miss K has been going to our speech therapist Chloe for almost 12 months now, and the difference in that little girl is more than just her speech. She is more confident, she is happier, she absolutely shines because for the first time in years she is understood by more people than just me. We have run the gamut of emotions during this time, from frustration to shame to confusion to pride to pure joy. It has been an absolute roller coaster, but we were recently told that Miss K is nearly at the point where she no longer needs speech therapy, and the relief is almost overwhelming. So to help other parents who are going through this lengthy and tiresome process, below are a few things I have found help enormously, as well as some websites where you can get further help.
Medical help
If you suspect there are issues with your child's speech, the first thing you will need to do is seek medical advice, to make sure there aren't any underlying issues that need to be addressed. We discovered that Miss K is tongue tied, which has contributed to some of her speech impediments, but not all, and this required a visit to a surgeon to assess whether she needed the tendons under her tongue cut. At the very least your doctor can refer you to a speech therapist if necessary to help you work through any issues with your child's speech. These days speech therapists have recognised that therapy can help from as young as two years old, so you can get help sooner rather than later these days.
Talking to and encouraging your child to speak
Talking to your child from birth is essential of course, firstly because it helps your child recognise you outside of the womb. Before they were born they heard your voice daily, so to hear them again once they are born lets them know they are with the person they have known their whole life. Then you become your child's example on how to speak as they get closer to the age of forming their first words, so the talking needs to be almost constant. But you also need to encourage them to talk too. Turn their first coos into full conversations to teach them that talking requires giving and receiving noise. But once you get past the first word (which is always dada for some darned reason) encouraging the next words can be difficult. Repetition of simple words such as up or more, and teaching them that using these words cause things to happen encourages children to want to speak more. Remember that kids can process thoughts slower than adults do, so you will need to give them a few seconds of silence every time to process your request. This website has further great tips on introducing speech to your toddlers
Learning through play
A lot of the websites I read through would say to encourage speech through play, but they didn't give real examples to start you in the right direction. For us, it was Miss K's home corner which was the real winner. Miss K and I would play restaurants or shops, and Miss K would need to tell me exactly what she wanted to buy or eat before I would give it to her. We'd swap roles regularly to keep the game fresh. Of course if your child is more into cars or dinosaurs, or dolls or whatever, you should build the games around whatever their favourite toys are. If your children are a bit older, using board games and cue cards is also another great way to build up their vocabulary or work on specific speech issues. We got several board games from Chloe to take home with us, complete with their own cue cards, and with every role of the dice Miss K needs to pick up a cue card and say the word or sentence on the card after she moves. This has been one of our most successful exercises, and the only one I have been able to use consistently, as once Miss K realises she's meant to be learning something with our exercises she loses interest. Incorporating play into the exercises makes the learning fun, and distracts children from the fact that this is actually work. Guess Who is also a fabulous game for encouraging speech, and one we now use a lot at home. Children's songs are also a great way to encourage speech, and I'm sure you all know about a million of them, so start singing with your kids. For more information on speech through play, check out this website here
Using printouts
Now days there are so many websites which offer free printable games and resources you can use at home to help your child with their speech issues. One of the first we used was given to us by Chloe, called Colorful Semantics. This is a program provided by London Speech Therapy and the printout can be found here. This program is great for teaching children to build sentences based on who, what, where, and it comes complete with pages of colourful pictures for your child to use in their learning, as well as complete and comprehensive instructions. You can also find printable games and activities online for you and your child to play, as well as cue cards, and a multitude of worksheets you can download and use any time.
Learning through videos
Youtube is full of great videos you can watch with your child to encourage talk. There are a lot of channels that are actually aimed at English as a second language, but Miss K loved them, especially the ones with lots of bright toys included in their videos. A great channel for learning is Baby Big Mouth which is aimed at teaching vocabulary and spelling to little learners.
Resources
Now I am by no means an expert when it comes to speech therapy, and getting your kids to talk. Which is why I love these following websites, because they are by experts, so if you need further help, these are a good place to start.
The Speel. As well as a ton of free resources that anyone can use, Alex at The Speel has just launched a new 8 week program called Incredible Little Communicators which you and your child can complete at home with support from Alex.
Playing with Words 365. Playing with Words 365 has a heap of free resources for parents, and lots of articles to help you work through finding a speech therapist, and what to expect once your child starts therapy. This is a great place for any parent to start their journey as she has resources to suit children from birth to age 5!
Free Language Stuff includes printable activities on 20 different areas of language, making this a great place to find activities to complete at home with your children to help build their language skills.
Mommy Speech Therapy. This is another great website full of free resources and printables you can use at home, and lots of advice for parents as well. I visit this website often and I love this woman.
Pinterest is another great place to look for resources, and a lot of speech pathologists are now filling the website up with heaps of helpful advice and places to start your journey.
If any of you out there are going through the same journey as me, and you have stories to share, please leave them down below, I love hearing from my readers, and it is always wonderful to hear you're not alone when dealing with the tough stuff. Also if you know of other resources I have missed here, also leave them down below, because the world is a great big place, so bring it all to me and we'll share it together.
Miss K has been going to our speech therapist Chloe for almost 12 months now, and the difference in that little girl is more than just her speech. She is more confident, she is happier, she absolutely shines because for the first time in years she is understood by more people than just me. We have run the gamut of emotions during this time, from frustration to shame to confusion to pride to pure joy. It has been an absolute roller coaster, but we were recently told that Miss K is nearly at the point where she no longer needs speech therapy, and the relief is almost overwhelming. So to help other parents who are going through this lengthy and tiresome process, below are a few things I have found help enormously, as well as some websites where you can get further help.
Medical help
If you suspect there are issues with your child's speech, the first thing you will need to do is seek medical advice, to make sure there aren't any underlying issues that need to be addressed. We discovered that Miss K is tongue tied, which has contributed to some of her speech impediments, but not all, and this required a visit to a surgeon to assess whether she needed the tendons under her tongue cut. At the very least your doctor can refer you to a speech therapist if necessary to help you work through any issues with your child's speech. These days speech therapists have recognised that therapy can help from as young as two years old, so you can get help sooner rather than later these days.
Talking to and encouraging your child to speak
Talking to your child from birth is essential of course, firstly because it helps your child recognise you outside of the womb. Before they were born they heard your voice daily, so to hear them again once they are born lets them know they are with the person they have known their whole life. Then you become your child's example on how to speak as they get closer to the age of forming their first words, so the talking needs to be almost constant. But you also need to encourage them to talk too. Turn their first coos into full conversations to teach them that talking requires giving and receiving noise. But once you get past the first word (which is always dada for some darned reason) encouraging the next words can be difficult. Repetition of simple words such as up or more, and teaching them that using these words cause things to happen encourages children to want to speak more. Remember that kids can process thoughts slower than adults do, so you will need to give them a few seconds of silence every time to process your request. This website has further great tips on introducing speech to your toddlers
Learning through play
A lot of the websites I read through would say to encourage speech through play, but they didn't give real examples to start you in the right direction. For us, it was Miss K's home corner which was the real winner. Miss K and I would play restaurants or shops, and Miss K would need to tell me exactly what she wanted to buy or eat before I would give it to her. We'd swap roles regularly to keep the game fresh. Of course if your child is more into cars or dinosaurs, or dolls or whatever, you should build the games around whatever their favourite toys are. If your children are a bit older, using board games and cue cards is also another great way to build up their vocabulary or work on specific speech issues. We got several board games from Chloe to take home with us, complete with their own cue cards, and with every role of the dice Miss K needs to pick up a cue card and say the word or sentence on the card after she moves. This has been one of our most successful exercises, and the only one I have been able to use consistently, as once Miss K realises she's meant to be learning something with our exercises she loses interest. Incorporating play into the exercises makes the learning fun, and distracts children from the fact that this is actually work. Guess Who is also a fabulous game for encouraging speech, and one we now use a lot at home. Children's songs are also a great way to encourage speech, and I'm sure you all know about a million of them, so start singing with your kids. For more information on speech through play, check out this website here
Using printouts
Now days there are so many websites which offer free printable games and resources you can use at home to help your child with their speech issues. One of the first we used was given to us by Chloe, called Colorful Semantics. This is a program provided by London Speech Therapy and the printout can be found here. This program is great for teaching children to build sentences based on who, what, where, and it comes complete with pages of colourful pictures for your child to use in their learning, as well as complete and comprehensive instructions. You can also find printable games and activities online for you and your child to play, as well as cue cards, and a multitude of worksheets you can download and use any time.
Learning through videos
Youtube is full of great videos you can watch with your child to encourage talk. There are a lot of channels that are actually aimed at English as a second language, but Miss K loved them, especially the ones with lots of bright toys included in their videos. A great channel for learning is Baby Big Mouth which is aimed at teaching vocabulary and spelling to little learners.
Resources
Now I am by no means an expert when it comes to speech therapy, and getting your kids to talk. Which is why I love these following websites, because they are by experts, so if you need further help, these are a good place to start.
The Speel. As well as a ton of free resources that anyone can use, Alex at The Speel has just launched a new 8 week program called Incredible Little Communicators which you and your child can complete at home with support from Alex.
Playing with Words 365. Playing with Words 365 has a heap of free resources for parents, and lots of articles to help you work through finding a speech therapist, and what to expect once your child starts therapy. This is a great place for any parent to start their journey as she has resources to suit children from birth to age 5!
Free Language Stuff includes printable activities on 20 different areas of language, making this a great place to find activities to complete at home with your children to help build their language skills.
Mommy Speech Therapy. This is another great website full of free resources and printables you can use at home, and lots of advice for parents as well. I visit this website often and I love this woman.
Pinterest is another great place to look for resources, and a lot of speech pathologists are now filling the website up with heaps of helpful advice and places to start your journey.
If any of you out there are going through the same journey as me, and you have stories to share, please leave them down below, I love hearing from my readers, and it is always wonderful to hear you're not alone when dealing with the tough stuff. Also if you know of other resources I have missed here, also leave them down below, because the world is a great big place, so bring it all to me and we'll share it together.
Wednesday, 1 January 2014
Before the new, a bit of the old
Happy 2014 my lovely people, I know I've been pretty absent the past month but things around here have been CRAZY busy these past weeks, and sadly when the chips are down this blog is the first place to get ignored. So thank you all for your never ending patience while you waited for me to get my head above water yet again, and to reward you all I have decided to grace the interwebs with yet another nugget of sparkling wisdom.
So to say that December was the worst month I've had in a long time seems like a slight understatement. There were pretty sad lows, a few health scares and lots of tears. My big sister lost her brother in law to suicide at the beginning of the month, and the whole family are still trying to come to terms with their grief and loss. I knew her brother in law, having gone to high school with him for a few years, and I even did my debutante ball with him back when I was 16. He very kindly stepped in to be my partner when all my other potentials fell through, even though by that stage he'd moved to a different school. As an added bonus, when his big brother finally married my big sister we were partnered together again for the wedding party and I already knew he was a good dancer. It was a life cut tragically short and his absence is strongly felt by everyone who knew him. My heart has broken time and time again for my big sister and my brother in law this month watching them feel such pain and I can only hope the day comes soon that this all becomes a little easier for them.
Also receiving a major hit was my sister in law who discovered in November that she would need to get her leg amputated. She had a bad infection in her foot and it hit the bone. It shouldn't have been so urgent except that she also discovered that she is pregnant again in November (Yay!!) and infections tend to be pretty bad for developing babies, so they had to chop the leg off. No one knew what was going to happen to the baby, whether or not it could cope with the anesthetic and the shock of major surgery, but luckily both mum and baby came out the other side OK and we now get to welcome a new baby into our family later this year. I have already advised I will not be joining her in getting knocked up this time (Miss K is 3 months younger than their daughter) but I will happily watch her swell up from the sidelines.
Then Miss K and I had an emergency visit to the Sunshine hospital on Christmas Eve after she fell and hit her head on the tiled floor at Nonna's house. I didn't see the actual fall as I was in the laundry doing some washing, but Miss K's Nonna insisted that the fall was only minor and took Miss K off for a drive to cheer her up. Unfortunately for us Miss K has a habit of falling asleep in the car, and sure enough she dozed off this time too. For anyone with basic knowledge of head injuries, you'd know that you never let anyone with a bump to the head go to sleep, as you can't properly observe a sleeping baby. Sure enough Miss K woke up with vomiting and dilated pupils and we rushed her to the emergency room to make sure everything was ok. The staff at Sunshine hospital were absolutely amazing, and knew exactly how to examine a sick two year old. There were stickers and bubbles and everything else a little girl could love, and she didn't even realise she was undergoing medical tests. Luckily for us she only had a mild concussion, there were no signs of bleeding to the brain or fractures to the skull so we were given permission to give her some pain killers and after watching her tear around the emergency room in a Cosy Coupe for an hour and a half they were happy enough to let us go home. For Ady and I the visit to the hospital was an awful trip down memory lane, as it was nearly three years ago we made our first visit to an emergency room when Miss K got meningitis. As horrible luck goes, Ady's car broke down that morning so he couldn't even drive us to the hospital. I had to throw Miss K into Nonna's car and get her to take us to the hospital and Ady caught up with us there. Watching him walk up to our bed on the ward was the most relieved I had felt since the whole disaster started and I burst into tears. By then we had been told that she was going to be ok, but I still couldn't relax until we were allowed to go home and I could see my mum. Of course for me, home was still more than two hours away, so it was a white knuckle trip home. Poor Ady tried to make conversation the whole drive but I was too busy waiting for Miss K to throw up again to really talk.
Despite having taken a knock to the head, Miss K did bounce back pretty quickly, and because I was waking her up every 4 hours to take more pain killers, her Christmas started at 2am when she saw her first present, her very own Cosy Coupe, which my little sister Kim had been putting together while we were driving home. It was just dumb luck that she had already spent the better part of her afternoon screaming around the hospital in one the day before so she knew how to drive it, but I'd had the car on lay by for a whole month before Christmas, because I am just an awesome mum.
So that's pretty much summed up the past month. Ady is still in town, so Miss K has been spending time with him every day this week, much to her delight, and I'm loving it because it makes a wonderful bargaining chip for me whenever she refuses to go to bed. Any time she gets up one too many times I tell her she can't see dad tomorrow if she misbehaves and it pulls her head right in. I've also gotten some much needed quiet time while they go off together so I'm feeling almost relaxed at the moment. Except that we're also trying potty training right now so there's always something to worry about.
Well I'll be back again tomorrow with more gems for you guys, so stay tuned for that. Also I'm taking part in three blog series put together by Karen from Baking in a Tornado this month, the first one coming up very soon, so keep your eyes peeled guys. But until then, as always, stay awesome and happy new year.
So to say that December was the worst month I've had in a long time seems like a slight understatement. There were pretty sad lows, a few health scares and lots of tears. My big sister lost her brother in law to suicide at the beginning of the month, and the whole family are still trying to come to terms with their grief and loss. I knew her brother in law, having gone to high school with him for a few years, and I even did my debutante ball with him back when I was 16. He very kindly stepped in to be my partner when all my other potentials fell through, even though by that stage he'd moved to a different school. As an added bonus, when his big brother finally married my big sister we were partnered together again for the wedding party and I already knew he was a good dancer. It was a life cut tragically short and his absence is strongly felt by everyone who knew him. My heart has broken time and time again for my big sister and my brother in law this month watching them feel such pain and I can only hope the day comes soon that this all becomes a little easier for them.
Also receiving a major hit was my sister in law who discovered in November that she would need to get her leg amputated. She had a bad infection in her foot and it hit the bone. It shouldn't have been so urgent except that she also discovered that she is pregnant again in November (Yay!!) and infections tend to be pretty bad for developing babies, so they had to chop the leg off. No one knew what was going to happen to the baby, whether or not it could cope with the anesthetic and the shock of major surgery, but luckily both mum and baby came out the other side OK and we now get to welcome a new baby into our family later this year. I have already advised I will not be joining her in getting knocked up this time (Miss K is 3 months younger than their daughter) but I will happily watch her swell up from the sidelines.
Then Miss K and I had an emergency visit to the Sunshine hospital on Christmas Eve after she fell and hit her head on the tiled floor at Nonna's house. I didn't see the actual fall as I was in the laundry doing some washing, but Miss K's Nonna insisted that the fall was only minor and took Miss K off for a drive to cheer her up. Unfortunately for us Miss K has a habit of falling asleep in the car, and sure enough she dozed off this time too. For anyone with basic knowledge of head injuries, you'd know that you never let anyone with a bump to the head go to sleep, as you can't properly observe a sleeping baby. Sure enough Miss K woke up with vomiting and dilated pupils and we rushed her to the emergency room to make sure everything was ok. The staff at Sunshine hospital were absolutely amazing, and knew exactly how to examine a sick two year old. There were stickers and bubbles and everything else a little girl could love, and she didn't even realise she was undergoing medical tests. Luckily for us she only had a mild concussion, there were no signs of bleeding to the brain or fractures to the skull so we were given permission to give her some pain killers and after watching her tear around the emergency room in a Cosy Coupe for an hour and a half they were happy enough to let us go home. For Ady and I the visit to the hospital was an awful trip down memory lane, as it was nearly three years ago we made our first visit to an emergency room when Miss K got meningitis. As horrible luck goes, Ady's car broke down that morning so he couldn't even drive us to the hospital. I had to throw Miss K into Nonna's car and get her to take us to the hospital and Ady caught up with us there. Watching him walk up to our bed on the ward was the most relieved I had felt since the whole disaster started and I burst into tears. By then we had been told that she was going to be ok, but I still couldn't relax until we were allowed to go home and I could see my mum. Of course for me, home was still more than two hours away, so it was a white knuckle trip home. Poor Ady tried to make conversation the whole drive but I was too busy waiting for Miss K to throw up again to really talk.
Despite having taken a knock to the head, Miss K did bounce back pretty quickly, and because I was waking her up every 4 hours to take more pain killers, her Christmas started at 2am when she saw her first present, her very own Cosy Coupe, which my little sister Kim had been putting together while we were driving home. It was just dumb luck that she had already spent the better part of her afternoon screaming around the hospital in one the day before so she knew how to drive it, but I'd had the car on lay by for a whole month before Christmas, because I am just an awesome mum.
Pictured: The daughter of the best mum ever!
Christmas went pretty smoothly despite everything I've mentioned above, we had lunch at our place with almost all the family, Ben and Tristan decided to spend Christmas with Tristan's family so we won't get to give them their gifts until they come down for mum's birthday next week, but Ady did get to come and spend the day with his daughter, and watching the two of them play together was a wonderful way to spend Christmas. She got more presents than I could possibly find homes for, including a kitten, which has been named Bertie Beetle (because why not?) and he is quickly becoming one of the family.
He's pretty cute for a fur ball.
Given that I am very allergic to cats and usually go out of my way to avoid them at all costs, I will admit that he's pretty cute for a cat, and because I am the one who feeds him and cleans his litter tray, I get most of the cuddles off him, but Miss K is trying her hardest to get him to play with her, even if her methods are rough to say the least. Surprisingly enough Bertie puts up with most of her rough housing, only crying when she grabs him by the tail or the legs. I have had to rescue him from her death grip on more than one occasion but I'm sure they'll find their groove soon enough.
Well I'll be back again tomorrow with more gems for you guys, so stay tuned for that. Also I'm taking part in three blog series put together by Karen from Baking in a Tornado this month, the first one coming up very soon, so keep your eyes peeled guys. But until then, as always, stay awesome and happy new year.
Thursday, 16 May 2013
Baby's got a brand new bed
Well I don't know about you guys, but right now I am dying. I have the man flu. Everyone keeps telling me that I just have a little cold, but they couldn't possibly be right. I feel like absolute crap, and I'm about to go visit WebMD just to find out exactly how long I have to get my affairs in order. And then I'm going to disown Miss K for passing this horrible cold on to me. Of all the things she shares with me, her bugs are definitely the worst.
Well I'm not actually here tonight to complain about how sick I am (which I really am), I'm actually here to share a pretty big milestone for Miss K and I. And like all milestones, this one comes with photos.
Well I'm not actually here tonight to complain about how sick I am (which I really am), I'm actually here to share a pretty big milestone for Miss K and I. And like all milestones, this one comes with photos.
Believe it or not, she is the spitting image of her aunty Sam in this photo.
Now it may be hard to tell from that photo, but what you are looking at is Miss K's first night in a big girl bed. It's really just her cot with the wall taken off, but it's just a temporary bed until I can get her a real big girl bed. We've had to do this because with her jumping on the bed every morning she's managed to break one of the slats, so I had to do something to put a stop to the jumping, and this was really my only option.
The photo was taken last night while I was madly trying to get her to settle down and actually stay in her bed. She was fine while I was in the room, but the moment I stepped out she'd be up and running after me with Elmo in tow. I actually tried at both nap time and bed time to get her to sleep in there. Nap time was much worse, because she cried the whole time, and I ended up taking all her toys out of the room, because as soon as my back was turned she'd be up and playing with something new. My favorite time was when I walked in to find her having a bash on the drum kit. Subtlety has never been her strong suit.
So I decided to skip the nap yesterday and try again at night. This time I sat in the room with her, slowly getting closer and closer to the door, but again, as soon as I left the room she'd be up. We ended up taking a break from bed time for five minutes so I could have a breather, and she fell asleep on the couch in less than ten minutes during this break. I'm considering this one a win even though she technically didn't fall asleep in bed, because once she was down she stayed down till 7 this morning.
So tonight I decided to try again. She'd missed her nap again today, and we went to speech therapy this morning, so that's always good for wearing her out. Plus she spent the afternoon at my big sister's house playing with her cousins so that I could have a much needed rest, so needless to say by the time bed time came around she was well and truly ready for sleep. I tried sitting in the room with her again, but this time I didn't move. I sat on the ground at the foot of the bed very quietly ignoring her, and within 10 minutes of going to bed she was fast asleep. So even better.
I'm going to keep doing the same thing for another couple of days, and hopefully by this time next week she'll be OK with going to bed by herself and we'll be one step closer to her being a big girl. I've actually been dreading this step for a long time now, but we'll get through it like we do with every big change, I guess I just hate the fact that my little girl really isn't a baby any more.
Well that's all for me, I'm off to go sit on the couch and feel sorry for myself until bed time. And maybe eat an entire bag of jelly beans too. Stay awesome everyone.
Tuesday, 26 March 2013
Miss K goes to day care
So today was a pretty big day for Miss K and myself, and one that I have actually been dreading for quite a while now. I have previously voiced my objections on child care in this post, however lately Miss K's clingyness is starting to cause concern. I understand that it is a phase that all children go through several times over, but it isn't one that I want to nurture, because I feel that showing children that the world will still go on turning even if mum isn't within reaching distance is important.
So today when I was given the opportunity to go to a discussion by a local speech therapist about helping your child develop their language skills, and there was free child care offered on location, I figured I would kill two birds with one stone and test the waters as far as child care was concerned, while making sure I am doing everything in my power to help her language at the same time. Luckily for me I must have chosen the perfect day for this, because she took to it like a duck to water. We were in the room for no more than five seconds before she zeroed in on the drawing table, and insisted I let her go immediately so she could go investigate. She didn't even notice when I left the room to make myself a coffee, so I took it as a good sign and made my departure while the going was good.
I must admit I was only part paying attention to what the speech therapist was saying some of the time, because every time the door opened I braced myself for someone to come over and tell me my daughter was screaming the house down, and I needed to come and take care of her straight away. And while that did happen for some of the other mums, Miss K didn't give them an inch of trouble it seems, because I got to sit the whole way through the talk. I couldn't believe it. I rushed back to the child care room as soon as the discussion was over, hoping to find a happy little girl, and imagine my surprise when that's exactly what greeted me when I opened the door. She was off in the corner playing with a doll's pram, and didn't even notice me walk in the door.
Now as is the case with child care, I have no idea what she got up to during that hour and a half, except that she kept squealing (as she does when she's super excited. I forgot to mention that to them, so my apologies for anyone who went home today with bleeding ear drums.) and she soiled her nappy too, which was great, because that's one less poopy nappy I can add to my final count when we finally get rid of the nappies. Now while I should be glad that I had the opportunity to have an entire hour and a half to myself without there being any problems, I can't help but hate the fact that there is a whole chunk of time there where I have no idea what my little girl did. I don't know what she saw, what she did, what made her happy, what might have made her nervous, there is just one big blank space for an hour and a half today, and the fact that I'm thinking like this tells me that maybe I'm the one that wasn't ready for this all along.
But given the positive reaction from Miss K, I'm thinking that maybe it's time to start letting her go out by herself a little more. The place we went to today actually runs card making courses each week, with the option to leave your kids in the child care area while you go off and make something pretty. I know the classes are pretty cheap, as is the child care, so I'm thinking it's time to start doing some stuff just for myself now. Of course I would get this revelation right at the end of the term, so I have to wait until after school starts back in the middle of April to actually do anything, but that just gives me three weeks to make up for the hour and a half I missed today. That's not crazy is it??
Well that's it for me today, except to point out to all you lovely people today that there is yet another button on my sidebar today, I have decided that with the closing of Google Reader coming up soon to move to Bloglovin, which seems to be the most popular choice of other bloggers to date. If you haven't moved over yet, it's pretty easy, and you have the option to import all of your current blogs over when you make the move. So for all my Bloglovin friends, the button is now there for you to press, if you're with another blog reader, and this causes some issues, let me know as I'm thinking of also including an email subscription option as well, I just need to know whether it's worth cluttering up the side bar even more. The option is completely up to you guys, as this is really all for you.
So today when I was given the opportunity to go to a discussion by a local speech therapist about helping your child develop their language skills, and there was free child care offered on location, I figured I would kill two birds with one stone and test the waters as far as child care was concerned, while making sure I am doing everything in my power to help her language at the same time. Luckily for me I must have chosen the perfect day for this, because she took to it like a duck to water. We were in the room for no more than five seconds before she zeroed in on the drawing table, and insisted I let her go immediately so she could go investigate. She didn't even notice when I left the room to make myself a coffee, so I took it as a good sign and made my departure while the going was good.
I must admit I was only part paying attention to what the speech therapist was saying some of the time, because every time the door opened I braced myself for someone to come over and tell me my daughter was screaming the house down, and I needed to come and take care of her straight away. And while that did happen for some of the other mums, Miss K didn't give them an inch of trouble it seems, because I got to sit the whole way through the talk. I couldn't believe it. I rushed back to the child care room as soon as the discussion was over, hoping to find a happy little girl, and imagine my surprise when that's exactly what greeted me when I opened the door. She was off in the corner playing with a doll's pram, and didn't even notice me walk in the door.
Now as is the case with child care, I have no idea what she got up to during that hour and a half, except that she kept squealing (as she does when she's super excited. I forgot to mention that to them, so my apologies for anyone who went home today with bleeding ear drums.) and she soiled her nappy too, which was great, because that's one less poopy nappy I can add to my final count when we finally get rid of the nappies. Now while I should be glad that I had the opportunity to have an entire hour and a half to myself without there being any problems, I can't help but hate the fact that there is a whole chunk of time there where I have no idea what my little girl did. I don't know what she saw, what she did, what made her happy, what might have made her nervous, there is just one big blank space for an hour and a half today, and the fact that I'm thinking like this tells me that maybe I'm the one that wasn't ready for this all along.
But given the positive reaction from Miss K, I'm thinking that maybe it's time to start letting her go out by herself a little more. The place we went to today actually runs card making courses each week, with the option to leave your kids in the child care area while you go off and make something pretty. I know the classes are pretty cheap, as is the child care, so I'm thinking it's time to start doing some stuff just for myself now. Of course I would get this revelation right at the end of the term, so I have to wait until after school starts back in the middle of April to actually do anything, but that just gives me three weeks to make up for the hour and a half I missed today. That's not crazy is it??
Well that's it for me today, except to point out to all you lovely people today that there is yet another button on my sidebar today, I have decided that with the closing of Google Reader coming up soon to move to Bloglovin, which seems to be the most popular choice of other bloggers to date. If you haven't moved over yet, it's pretty easy, and you have the option to import all of your current blogs over when you make the move. So for all my Bloglovin friends, the button is now there for you to press, if you're with another blog reader, and this causes some issues, let me know as I'm thinking of also including an email subscription option as well, I just need to know whether it's worth cluttering up the side bar even more. The option is completely up to you guys, as this is really all for you.
Monday, 8 October 2012
Miss K learns something new
Today we interrupt your normal reading to bring you another story in pictures. For two reasons, one because the pictures that go with this story are just too cute not to share, and also because I am too lazy to sit down and actually think of intelligent things to write so the pictures will make up for my lack of words today.
So this story actually happened last Friday. To set the scene, I must explain that it was verrrry early, mum was at work so breakfast was just me and Miss K. I figured it was a perfect time to try to make her learn to feed herself properly finally. For the past I don't know how long now, I have been loading Miss K's spoon up with whatever it is we are eating, and then handing it to her. From there it makes the necessary trip into her mouth with fairly predictable results and lots of happy sounding noises. Well I was informed by our Maternal Health Nurse last week that Miss K should know how to feed herself by now, so I was obviously a terrible mother for coddling her so much. (My little sister is reading this behind my back as I type, and she assures me that indeed I am a terrible mother, but given that my nickname for her as a child was fatty-pumba-stinky-turtle-milky-headed-moo-cow I don't trust a single word she says to me.)
So on several days last week we did attempt to encourage Miss K to fully feed herself. It started when I chucked a temper tantrum at her one night and just refused flat out to feed her. There were much tears and reproachful glares from Miss K, but she eventually got hungry and attempted to feed herself. It was incredibly messy but that didn't matter, what mattered was the fact that she can indeed feed herself if she puts her mind to it. With that in mind I decided on Friday morning to try again. Of course once Miss K realized once again she would be feeding herself, the inevitable tears started very quickly.
So this story actually happened last Friday. To set the scene, I must explain that it was verrrry early, mum was at work so breakfast was just me and Miss K. I figured it was a perfect time to try to make her learn to feed herself properly finally. For the past I don't know how long now, I have been loading Miss K's spoon up with whatever it is we are eating, and then handing it to her. From there it makes the necessary trip into her mouth with fairly predictable results and lots of happy sounding noises. Well I was informed by our Maternal Health Nurse last week that Miss K should know how to feed herself by now, so I was obviously a terrible mother for coddling her so much. (My little sister is reading this behind my back as I type, and she assures me that indeed I am a terrible mother, but given that my nickname for her as a child was fatty-pumba-stinky-turtle-milky-headed-moo-cow I don't trust a single word she says to me.)
So on several days last week we did attempt to encourage Miss K to fully feed herself. It started when I chucked a temper tantrum at her one night and just refused flat out to feed her. There were much tears and reproachful glares from Miss K, but she eventually got hungry and attempted to feed herself. It was incredibly messy but that didn't matter, what mattered was the fact that she can indeed feed herself if she puts her mind to it. With that in mind I decided on Friday morning to try again. Of course once Miss K realized once again she would be feeding herself, the inevitable tears started very quickly.
Doesn't that face just break your heart?
But again she realized pretty quickly that I wasn't going to give in to her sad face and she decided to give in and feed herself.
She's still trying to figure out the whole how to get the spoon from the bowl to the mouth thing, (I had no idea it could be so hard) and quite often by the time the spoon does reach it's destination it is upside down and completely empty as you can tell by the splatters on the table. But she persisted.
And persisted
And she tried to do it exactly how mum does it, to the point where she scraped the spoon on the side of the bowl before each mouthful to avoid drips. (I'm not sure she knew that was why she was doing it, but that's how it's done)
After about fifteen minutes I did give in and take over, mainly because the bowl was getting too empty for her to be able to get anything on her spoon, but I was so proud of my little big girl.
That's my happy face. And apologies for the bed hair, like I said this was first thing in the morning and as you can tell my morning routine definitely doesn't consist of brushing my hair before my first cup of coffee.
So there you have it. That's just one more thing Miss K is mastering, and doing a wonderful if reluctant job of it too.
Sunday, 30 September 2012
Dear diary
Well another week has come and gone, and very little has happened since this time last week. We had Miss K's 18 month immunisation and the lounge room got painted, but you all should know that already since you're such loyal fans who read absolutely everything I write.
My niece got her birthday present yesterday, which is such a relief because it means that I can finally tell you that she got to go ride a horse. Now for all you adults out there this may not seem like much, but to a horse mad 9 year old this is a big deal. According to my big sister she actually cried when she found out where they were going. The weather yesterday was cold, wet and windy, all which make horse riding rather miserable. Luckily for me I was sitting at home in my nice warm lounge room not growing icicles on my nose, but my poor big sister was not so fortunate, and she was sitting atop a 6 foot tall beast. I got to see some photos and videos from yesterday and I can say with great authority that my sister was not born to be a cowboy. My niece however was a natural at horse riding, and wants to do it all again.
Miss K has been cranky and clingy and all kinds of frustrating this week, she wants to be picked up, then she wants to get down, then she wants a cuddle then she wants to be left alone, then she wants mum then she wants grandma. It's hard to keep up with her wants when they change so quickly, but we're just riding the storm. I have her 18 month check up tomorrow so we'll find out how much she's grown in the pas 6 months and see if I can't get some help with her begging people for food. You'd think I don't feed her the way she goes on when other people bring food into the room, and it is starting to get frustrating. She is walking more and more each day, and has gotten to the point where she would rather walk than be carried everywhere, which is a day I have longed for for 18 months now, but now that it is here feels like the end of something I will actually miss. Of course my back is grateful for the break, but I do love the hugs I got when I was toting her around.
Now for any of you who have been paying attention, earlier this week I wrote about Jill Meagher who was murdered last week. (For anyone needing their memory refreshed, you can check the post out here) Well today there was a march on Sydney Road in her memory. I had heard about it from a friend living in Melbourne who was planning on attending but hadn't thought much more about it. Until the photos of the walk started popping up on Facebook. Now for anyone who isn't familiar with Sydney Road, it is a length of road several kilometers long, and it is joined to a free-way which links Melbourne to Sydney. So you can imagine that it would be a pretty busy road. Well today was no exception, except instead of cars clogging up the lanes it was people. Check out this image of the march
My niece got her birthday present yesterday, which is such a relief because it means that I can finally tell you that she got to go ride a horse. Now for all you adults out there this may not seem like much, but to a horse mad 9 year old this is a big deal. According to my big sister she actually cried when she found out where they were going. The weather yesterday was cold, wet and windy, all which make horse riding rather miserable. Luckily for me I was sitting at home in my nice warm lounge room not growing icicles on my nose, but my poor big sister was not so fortunate, and she was sitting atop a 6 foot tall beast. I got to see some photos and videos from yesterday and I can say with great authority that my sister was not born to be a cowboy. My niece however was a natural at horse riding, and wants to do it all again.
Miss K has been cranky and clingy and all kinds of frustrating this week, she wants to be picked up, then she wants to get down, then she wants a cuddle then she wants to be left alone, then she wants mum then she wants grandma. It's hard to keep up with her wants when they change so quickly, but we're just riding the storm. I have her 18 month check up tomorrow so we'll find out how much she's grown in the pas 6 months and see if I can't get some help with her begging people for food. You'd think I don't feed her the way she goes on when other people bring food into the room, and it is starting to get frustrating. She is walking more and more each day, and has gotten to the point where she would rather walk than be carried everywhere, which is a day I have longed for for 18 months now, but now that it is here feels like the end of something I will actually miss. Of course my back is grateful for the break, but I do love the hugs I got when I was toting her around.
Now for any of you who have been paying attention, earlier this week I wrote about Jill Meagher who was murdered last week. (For anyone needing their memory refreshed, you can check the post out here) Well today there was a march on Sydney Road in her memory. I had heard about it from a friend living in Melbourne who was planning on attending but hadn't thought much more about it. Until the photos of the walk started popping up on Facebook. Now for anyone who isn't familiar with Sydney Road, it is a length of road several kilometers long, and it is joined to a free-way which links Melbourne to Sydney. So you can imagine that it would be a pretty busy road. Well today was no exception, except instead of cars clogging up the lanes it was people. Check out this image of the march
That is a shot of just some of the more than ten thousand people who showed up to show support and protest violence against women. Now I lived in Melbourne for more than 2 years and I have never seen that many people all in the same place at once. The march stretched across over 4 city blocks in length. I hope that her family in Ireland got to see this photo and feel the love that all of these people brought with them for this poor woman.
Well I'm done for another week, I am getting a new computer this week so I plan on spending this evening backing up the hundreds of photos I have of my family before I get rid of this relic for good. Have a good week and tune in tomorrow to see how I went on my 30 day challenge last week.
Wednesday, 26 September 2012
My big girl. A story in pictures
So there have been times over the past 18 months when I have been worried that Miss K might be a bit different. My little sister even refers to her as a window licker occasionally.
Yes that is a picture of my daughter hitting herself in the head with plastic bottles.
She has always seemed to be just a few steps behind every other baby her age and that is enough to make any first time mum nervous.
Wait for me guys!
But lately I have started noticing little things that she does that make me realise I really need to trust that Miss K knows what she is doing. For example we went to my big sister's place the other day, and she spent a good five minutes removing the lids from felt tip pens, to swap them to other felt tip pens. Now this may not seem like a big deal to anyone who doesn't have kids, but you have no idea the amount of fine motor skills a task like this takes. And the concentration too.
Who knew playing was such serious work.
And today she has surprised me yet again, by spending half an hour trying to put a lid on a plastic bottle. Now this job was made impossible by the fact that the bottle already had a lid on, but she persevered for a full half hour, ignoring the flash and beeping of my old and obnoxious sounding camera as I snapped her from my little corner.
That kid has truly mastered the art of ignoring anything when it suits her
Now normally when a child keeps doing the same task over and over again to the point of obsession the first thing you think is Autism. And trust me I have been watching for signs of that for a while. But I don't think this is the case. I think this is her learning about the world around her.
But she's so darn pretty I have to forgive her
She knows that bottles have lids, she knew that there was one bottle and one lid on the floor, so the logical answer is that they must go together. And she kept trying to make them go together, for thirty whole minutes. There are times when my attention span isn't even that long. After ten minutes of a particularly boring task, I usually need a good lie down and maybe some chocolate.
Alright, now where's my chocolate?
So it's only a little thing, but I'm pretty proud of Miss K right now, for showing such determination and concentration. And after hard work like that, a girl really needs a drink...
Umm no, you may not drink that energy drink...
That's better.
Dear diary the covered in paint edition
I know, I know I'm two days late with this update, and a day late with my 30 day challenge update. But I have been flat out the last few days so unfortunately non-essential tasks like blogging tend to take a back seat when things get crazy. But I'm here now so let's let the updating begin.
If I make no sense tonight I apologise in advance, I spent the day painting our lounge room and despite my nap this evening after Miss K was put to bed my eyeballs still feel like they are about to fall out of my head so this blog may dissolve into one long nonsensical tangent before too long. I could tell you the weird dream I had while I was napping today, but I think that's just asking for trouble. I will however tell you that I am so tired that I just tried to make mum a coffee in my coke glass instead of her mug. Using the last of the coffee. I'm so tired I have become as slow as Homer Simpson.
So painting. Today mum and I and my little brother finally got stuck into our lounge room and painted all of our horrible stained, pitted and marked walls, transforming our lounge room into a pretty pink and green room. I don't have photos atm, as I only picked up my camera once today to take a photo of my nephew helping mum cut in the first wall, and then forgot completely to take any more, so maybe in the next few days I'll remember and take some shots for you. I think the most exciting thing about our new lounge, besides the fact that this is the first time the walls in here have been anything other than creamy white is the fact that we have a feature wall! It is a stunning hot pink colour, and it stands out against the mint green walls fabulously. Now all we need to do is figure out how to fill the now empty walls with lovely decorations.
Miss K had her 18 month immunisations yesterday and I was so proud of how she handled it. Normally when we get her jabs done she gets two done, one in each leg, and I'm usually the one who has to hold her down while two nurses ambush her at the same time. It is because of times like these that she has earned herself the nickname air raid siren because the scream that comes out of her is deafening, and makes you want to dive under the nearest desk. Well yesterday was completely different. For one she only had one needle, and the put it in her arm this time, so she got to watch the nurse stab her. I was expecting this to make things even worse, but for some reason it had the opposite effect and Miss K sat very quietly and didn't so much as whimper as she was getting her medicine. She did go ghostly white once everything was over, but I was prepared for this and had packed a fruit juice in her nappy bag for a quick sugar fix. Why do needles send you into shock?
Also on Miss K, she is walking so much now, she even decided last night to do laps around the lounge room before bed. She would get herself up into a standing position at the door, then walk the length of the room and back to the door again. If she fell down, she would crawl straight back to the door and try again. I am so pleased to see her so determined to perfect this skill, and it is paying off in spades as her balance and speed get better every single day. I have decided during these school holidays to look into enrolling into a Gymbaroo class in a nearby town for next term, my nephew went to the same one when he was a toddler and it did his balance and co-ordination a world of good, and as Miss K loves climbing all over everything I think she will have an absolute ball.
Well I think that's all the exciting things from this week listed, I'm hopefully going to be catching up with some old friends of Miss K's father tomorrow, I haven't seen them in over 9 months, since they moved towns and had a baby so I am so excited for the chance to catch up and finally meet their beautiful new son. The next blog I do will be an update for the 30 day challenge so stay tuned for that one, but for now, stay awesome.
If I make no sense tonight I apologise in advance, I spent the day painting our lounge room and despite my nap this evening after Miss K was put to bed my eyeballs still feel like they are about to fall out of my head so this blog may dissolve into one long nonsensical tangent before too long. I could tell you the weird dream I had while I was napping today, but I think that's just asking for trouble. I will however tell you that I am so tired that I just tried to make mum a coffee in my coke glass instead of her mug. Using the last of the coffee. I'm so tired I have become as slow as Homer Simpson.
So painting. Today mum and I and my little brother finally got stuck into our lounge room and painted all of our horrible stained, pitted and marked walls, transforming our lounge room into a pretty pink and green room. I don't have photos atm, as I only picked up my camera once today to take a photo of my nephew helping mum cut in the first wall, and then forgot completely to take any more, so maybe in the next few days I'll remember and take some shots for you. I think the most exciting thing about our new lounge, besides the fact that this is the first time the walls in here have been anything other than creamy white is the fact that we have a feature wall! It is a stunning hot pink colour, and it stands out against the mint green walls fabulously. Now all we need to do is figure out how to fill the now empty walls with lovely decorations.
Miss K had her 18 month immunisations yesterday and I was so proud of how she handled it. Normally when we get her jabs done she gets two done, one in each leg, and I'm usually the one who has to hold her down while two nurses ambush her at the same time. It is because of times like these that she has earned herself the nickname air raid siren because the scream that comes out of her is deafening, and makes you want to dive under the nearest desk. Well yesterday was completely different. For one she only had one needle, and the put it in her arm this time, so she got to watch the nurse stab her. I was expecting this to make things even worse, but for some reason it had the opposite effect and Miss K sat very quietly and didn't so much as whimper as she was getting her medicine. She did go ghostly white once everything was over, but I was prepared for this and had packed a fruit juice in her nappy bag for a quick sugar fix. Why do needles send you into shock?
Also on Miss K, she is walking so much now, she even decided last night to do laps around the lounge room before bed. She would get herself up into a standing position at the door, then walk the length of the room and back to the door again. If she fell down, she would crawl straight back to the door and try again. I am so pleased to see her so determined to perfect this skill, and it is paying off in spades as her balance and speed get better every single day. I have decided during these school holidays to look into enrolling into a Gymbaroo class in a nearby town for next term, my nephew went to the same one when he was a toddler and it did his balance and co-ordination a world of good, and as Miss K loves climbing all over everything I think she will have an absolute ball.
Well I think that's all the exciting things from this week listed, I'm hopefully going to be catching up with some old friends of Miss K's father tomorrow, I haven't seen them in over 9 months, since they moved towns and had a baby so I am so excited for the chance to catch up and finally meet their beautiful new son. The next blog I do will be an update for the 30 day challenge so stay tuned for that one, but for now, stay awesome.
Monday, 10 September 2012
Dear diary The deadline edition
So I know this update is a day late, but I have been up to my eyeballs in bookkeeping homework for the past few days, so things like blogging, talking to people and housework have been forgotten lately. I have seven assignments due in two days, and I have only completed six of them. Plus the seventh one is about the size of a small novel so I've been panicking this week. Nothing like the last minute to get you motivated to finish something. It's like high school all over again, but without the crippling body image problems.
So it's been sort of quiet around here lately, except for the wind howling outside, the trees and power lines being knocked down, and the constant rain. But luckily we've been given a reprieve from the horrible weather today, and it's looking like the next few days will be even better. It makes me impatient for summer to get here so that I can enjoy the sunny days and playing in the water with Miss K. But before summer can get here, we have spring, and this spring I'm hoping to start growing tomatoes and strawberries. I've bought two lots of seedlings, so as soon as I've read up on how to take care of strawberries and tomatoes I'm becoming a farmer.
Miss K has been incredibly chatty this week, I cannot believe how much she grows from week to week. I know a few months ago I was worried that her language skills and willingness to talk were lacking, but she is making up for lost time now. She still only knows a few proper words, but that hasn't stopped her from communicating with anyone she can find to listen to her. The other day mum got an ear bashing after I left Miss K with her to run up the street and do our shopping. Today I got one when I put her to bed. I know in a short while I am going to complain that she never shuts up, but right now I am loving the sound of her pretty little voice. As for learning to walk, she has taken it upon herself a couple of times to just stand up and take off which is so exciting to see. I know we'll have a walking baby in no time.
Of course not everything is wine and roses with Miss K, especially given that she is amping up for her terrible twos. She has recently discovered the art of throwing temper tantrums, and boy can she throw a doozy. She throws herself on the ground in the most dramatic manner, and the noises that come out of her would wake the dead. Of course I have to laugh at her when she starts up because it's so funny to watch this little thing acting like a diva. This never goes well because she hates it when I don't respond to her, but she'll learn soon enough that emotional blackmail doesn't work.
I felt terrible last night though, because while I was making her bed, the unthinkable happened and Elmo went MIA. (For anyone who hasn't met Elmo yet, hop on over to this post here for his proper introduction.) For anyone who knows Miss K, you will know that sleep is impossible unless she's got her teddy pressed up to her face. So it was panic stations last night when it got to bedtime and I discovered I had lost him. I tried giving her another Elmo doll to cuddle up to, but it just wasn't the same and she took forever to get to sleep. Luckily nature took over in the end and she finally crashed, but I made the decision to hunt Elmo out as soon as I got up this morning, so that I didn't have a repeat at tonight's bedtime. Luckily for me he was just hiding under her cot, so by bedtime tonight he'd been bathed, spent a day in the sun and was ready for snuggle time. Her face when she saw him was lit up like a Christmas tree. If I was an insecure parent I'd say she loved him more than me.
Well that's about all I have time for tonight, of course that wasn't my whole week, I did do other things beside study, I visited friends, bought Miss K a big bag of clothes for $5 at a second hand store and went out for tea at an old friend's place, but if I told you absolutely everything we'd be here all night. So until next time I'll leave you with a picture of my biggest achievement for this week. I finally managed to put Miss K's hair up into a ponytail for the first time this week, and I was so proud of myself for finally doing something girly I took pictures. Enjoy.
So it's been sort of quiet around here lately, except for the wind howling outside, the trees and power lines being knocked down, and the constant rain. But luckily we've been given a reprieve from the horrible weather today, and it's looking like the next few days will be even better. It makes me impatient for summer to get here so that I can enjoy the sunny days and playing in the water with Miss K. But before summer can get here, we have spring, and this spring I'm hoping to start growing tomatoes and strawberries. I've bought two lots of seedlings, so as soon as I've read up on how to take care of strawberries and tomatoes I'm becoming a farmer.
Miss K has been incredibly chatty this week, I cannot believe how much she grows from week to week. I know a few months ago I was worried that her language skills and willingness to talk were lacking, but she is making up for lost time now. She still only knows a few proper words, but that hasn't stopped her from communicating with anyone she can find to listen to her. The other day mum got an ear bashing after I left Miss K with her to run up the street and do our shopping. Today I got one when I put her to bed. I know in a short while I am going to complain that she never shuts up, but right now I am loving the sound of her pretty little voice. As for learning to walk, she has taken it upon herself a couple of times to just stand up and take off which is so exciting to see. I know we'll have a walking baby in no time.
Of course not everything is wine and roses with Miss K, especially given that she is amping up for her terrible twos. She has recently discovered the art of throwing temper tantrums, and boy can she throw a doozy. She throws herself on the ground in the most dramatic manner, and the noises that come out of her would wake the dead. Of course I have to laugh at her when she starts up because it's so funny to watch this little thing acting like a diva. This never goes well because she hates it when I don't respond to her, but she'll learn soon enough that emotional blackmail doesn't work.
I felt terrible last night though, because while I was making her bed, the unthinkable happened and Elmo went MIA. (For anyone who hasn't met Elmo yet, hop on over to this post here for his proper introduction.) For anyone who knows Miss K, you will know that sleep is impossible unless she's got her teddy pressed up to her face. So it was panic stations last night when it got to bedtime and I discovered I had lost him. I tried giving her another Elmo doll to cuddle up to, but it just wasn't the same and she took forever to get to sleep. Luckily nature took over in the end and she finally crashed, but I made the decision to hunt Elmo out as soon as I got up this morning, so that I didn't have a repeat at tonight's bedtime. Luckily for me he was just hiding under her cot, so by bedtime tonight he'd been bathed, spent a day in the sun and was ready for snuggle time. Her face when she saw him was lit up like a Christmas tree. If I was an insecure parent I'd say she loved him more than me.
Well that's about all I have time for tonight, of course that wasn't my whole week, I did do other things beside study, I visited friends, bought Miss K a big bag of clothes for $5 at a second hand store and went out for tea at an old friend's place, but if I told you absolutely everything we'd be here all night. So until next time I'll leave you with a picture of my biggest achievement for this week. I finally managed to put Miss K's hair up into a ponytail for the first time this week, and I was so proud of myself for finally doing something girly I took pictures. Enjoy.
For anyone who has never tried to do a little girl's hair, it is similar to trying to groom a dog. Getting them to sit still is damn near impossible
Miss K's hair...and her foot.
Sunday, 2 September 2012
Dear Diary the Fathers Day edition
Well another week has come and gone, and this one was so uneventful it almost seems unnecessary to write a diary entry today. If it wasn't for the fact that today is Father's Day I wouldn't really have much to talk about.
Miss K got to see her dad this morning for an hour, we were going to take her to the local McDonalds for a play on their equipment, but I forgot there was going to be a car show in the same area today, so given the lack of parking for three whole blocks leading up to Maccas (And these are bloody great big blocks too) we ended up going to the park instead. Miss K got to show her dad that she can take a few steps unassisted now, and she had so much fun playing in the pine bark around the equipment. Plus the weather this morning has been just glorious, so it was quite pleasant sitting back on my picnic table watching all the kids and their dads playing.
It's Father's Day for my dad too today (strangely enough) so tonight most of my brothers and sisters will meet up and take him out to tea at a pub in town. It's our favourite place to go for special occasions, especially in the warmer weather because there is a small playground outside where the kids can go to blow off some steam, but it will be too cold for anything like that tonight. But the food is delicious and the staff there are lovely so I'm positive it will be a lovely evening.
Miss K is her usual cheerful self at the moment, I haven't had to put her in my bed again since earlier last week thank heavens, and despite still swimming in boogers she maintains her usual sunny disposition most of the time. She has become somewhat fussy about her food over the past few weeks, which has come as a bit of a surprise for me, especially since before now she would eat anything you put in front of her. But all of a sudden she has started refusing meals if she doesn't recognise something, or the texture isn't one she is used to. With that in mind I cooked a recipe for macaroni and cheese yesterday that I found on Pinterest. She has had instant mac and cheese in the past, but this would be a lot different. For one there was a lot less salt in my recipe which probably meant it would be a lot blander. It was also grainy because for some reason that's what happens when you add pre-grated package cheese instead of grating it yourself. So I was holding my breath when I gave her the first mouthful and praying like crazy she wouldn't spit it out and start throwing a temper tantrum because I really had nothing else as a back up. But to my relief she loved her macaroni and cheese and even helped me finish my plate.
I mentioned earlier that Miss K walked to her dad, every day she gets just a little bit closer to walking on her own. She has gotten to a point now where if I put her on the ground standing up she can stand there unassisted, and she will take a few steps on her own, but she goes much further if there is someone close by for her to walk to. But a couple of times she has taken a few steps without anyone having to prompt her, so now all we need is for her to realise she can do it by herself and she will be unstoppable. Everyone keeps telling me that soon enough I will regret encouraging her to walk, but what they don't realise is how hard it is to watch other kids much younger than her already able to do this, and not worry that this means there is something wrong with your child. I know that every child develops at their own pace, and Miss K has already shown that she will do most things at a later age than the average child, but for once I would love for something to come easily for her.
Well I guess that's it for another week, I'm sure any of my regular readers may have noticed my page looks a little different now. I've been playing around with my layout to try to make this place look a little more like my own personal space, and not so generic. There may be more changes in the future once I have learned a little more about what I am doing, so stay tuned. As always there is the Facebook button at the top of the page, for anyone who hasn't done so already feel free to like us there and get direct links to any new posts as well as regular updates on Miss K and myself as they happen. So until next time, peace, love and tacos.
Miss K got to see her dad this morning for an hour, we were going to take her to the local McDonalds for a play on their equipment, but I forgot there was going to be a car show in the same area today, so given the lack of parking for three whole blocks leading up to Maccas (And these are bloody great big blocks too) we ended up going to the park instead. Miss K got to show her dad that she can take a few steps unassisted now, and she had so much fun playing in the pine bark around the equipment. Plus the weather this morning has been just glorious, so it was quite pleasant sitting back on my picnic table watching all the kids and their dads playing.
It's Father's Day for my dad too today (strangely enough) so tonight most of my brothers and sisters will meet up and take him out to tea at a pub in town. It's our favourite place to go for special occasions, especially in the warmer weather because there is a small playground outside where the kids can go to blow off some steam, but it will be too cold for anything like that tonight. But the food is delicious and the staff there are lovely so I'm positive it will be a lovely evening.
Miss K is her usual cheerful self at the moment, I haven't had to put her in my bed again since earlier last week thank heavens, and despite still swimming in boogers she maintains her usual sunny disposition most of the time. She has become somewhat fussy about her food over the past few weeks, which has come as a bit of a surprise for me, especially since before now she would eat anything you put in front of her. But all of a sudden she has started refusing meals if she doesn't recognise something, or the texture isn't one she is used to. With that in mind I cooked a recipe for macaroni and cheese yesterday that I found on Pinterest. She has had instant mac and cheese in the past, but this would be a lot different. For one there was a lot less salt in my recipe which probably meant it would be a lot blander. It was also grainy because for some reason that's what happens when you add pre-grated package cheese instead of grating it yourself. So I was holding my breath when I gave her the first mouthful and praying like crazy she wouldn't spit it out and start throwing a temper tantrum because I really had nothing else as a back up. But to my relief she loved her macaroni and cheese and even helped me finish my plate.
I mentioned earlier that Miss K walked to her dad, every day she gets just a little bit closer to walking on her own. She has gotten to a point now where if I put her on the ground standing up she can stand there unassisted, and she will take a few steps on her own, but she goes much further if there is someone close by for her to walk to. But a couple of times she has taken a few steps without anyone having to prompt her, so now all we need is for her to realise she can do it by herself and she will be unstoppable. Everyone keeps telling me that soon enough I will regret encouraging her to walk, but what they don't realise is how hard it is to watch other kids much younger than her already able to do this, and not worry that this means there is something wrong with your child. I know that every child develops at their own pace, and Miss K has already shown that she will do most things at a later age than the average child, but for once I would love for something to come easily for her.
Well I guess that's it for another week, I'm sure any of my regular readers may have noticed my page looks a little different now. I've been playing around with my layout to try to make this place look a little more like my own personal space, and not so generic. There may be more changes in the future once I have learned a little more about what I am doing, so stay tuned. As always there is the Facebook button at the top of the page, for anyone who hasn't done so already feel free to like us there and get direct links to any new posts as well as regular updates on Miss K and myself as they happen. So until next time, peace, love and tacos.
Sunday, 26 August 2012
Dear Diary the bitter-sweet edition.
Well it's that time of the week again where I tell all of you my wonderful readers about everything Miss K and I have been up to over the past seven days. Well really most of it will be about this weekend, as I managed to cram more in the last two days than I did in the rest of the week. (Stupid gastro)
I am finally better thank heavens, I only really needed one day of bed rest and sulking before I was up and moving again, but my appetite and energy took a lot longer to return to me, I've only really been eating properly for about three days now, and even then my portion sizes have been smaller than normal while I get used to food again. I was determined to make up for having to cut my adults night out short on Monday, so this weekend has been full of social calls and outings, but luckily because they were all during the day time Miss K got to come with me. We crashed a Nutrimetics party yesterday, and by crashed I mean we tagged along with someone who was actually invited to the event. This is the second shopping party we've crashed in as many weeks Miss K and I, both with the same friend. Last week we went to a Tupperware party with her and both times we have been made to feel very welcome despite the fact that we knew no one there and they were all meeting us for the first time. I even decided to splash out and buy some perfume after yesterday's party, as I always feel there is no such thing as too many bottles of smelly stuff.
I also finally got to eat my cupcakes yesterday as Miss K and I managed to get our choc banana cupcakes baked in the afternoon while my brother and sister were visiting. Of course Miss K's help only went as far as licking the spoons once I was finished with them, but she was happy to be my dishwasher for the day. I was quite proud of the cakes as they tasted delicious and they didn't look too bad either. It was my first attempt at piping frosting on cupcakes and while it doesn't look completely professional, it wasn't a bad first attempt. I took some photos before I ate them all, so that I could share them all with you.
Today I took mum and Miss K to the Sunday Market in the next town over. Miss K's dad and I actually used to run a stall at this market before Miss K was born, and it was sad to see it as a shell of its former bustling self, but I'm hoping it was just the horrible weather that was keeping everyone away. I remember spending most of our Sunday there every week for a few months the year we met, and we made friends with some of the other wonderful stall holders, but they have all moved on to other markets now days and I was sad to see I didn't recognise any of the stall holders when I went today. There was such a sense of family with the stall holders there, you would pass each other's stalls and wave hello or stop in and chat if you were close, and they were all so helpful when we first started there, telling us which stall holders to avoid selling to as they always resold your stock at ridiculously up-marked prices.
After we were finished at the market we went and visited with my big sister for a coffee, and Miss K sat with her uncle and had a cheese sandwich. For some reason he was able to get her to take small lady-like bites, which is something I can never get from her, and she sat very straight and proper on his lap the whole time without squirming or reaching around for things out of her reach. I can't help but laugh at how flirty my little miss gets, even with her own uncles. After lunch and a nap we went to visit with some old friends that we met co-incidentally through the markets. We bumped into them at the market and I was saddened to discover they are moving closer to the city tomorrow to find their fortunes in the big smoke. So it was decided I had to go over to their place for one more coffee before they left. The house was sadly empty of furniture when we got there as everything has been packed up and stored in anticipation of their huge shift tomorrow, so we sat on the floor in the kitchen chatting and drinking coffee, and Miss K played with the family's son and daughter who quickly became her biggest fans. The son, who is almost 2 is such a lady killer, he sat with his arm around Miss K, feeding her dry wheat bix and kissing her occasionally. Miss K of course is never one to refuse food so she loved all the special attention she was receiving.
They also have a large dog there, a labrador cross and it is huge. I mean huge. It could probably stick its head on my desk as I typed were it here right now. Luckily despite its size it is the gentlest dog you could meet, and he is fabulous with children, having been around them since he was a puppy so he wasn't too concerned when Miss K decided to crawl over his tail suddenly, nor when she decided to pull herself up on him. I was more surprised of Miss K's reaction to the dog, especially as she hasn't had much to do with dogs in her short 17 months, but she adored him and kept rushing to him to give him pats and hugs, and she didn't even mind when he licked her. The dogs owner was of course around at all times to make sure he didn't trod on any of the babies, as the oldest child in the house is not yet four, but he is such a well trained dog there really was never any concern anyone would get hurt. It was actually such a sad moment when I realised it was past our dinner time and we needed to get home and ready for bed, I had to keep the good byes brief so that I didn't lose it and start crying in front of them, but I have promised as soon as they are all settled in to their new home, Miss K and I will be up for a visit.
As for Miss K, she is cruising along nicely. We realised this week that she has been saying da da a lot lately, and that when she says it, she actually means Grandma. I'd never thought of it much as when she was younger Grandma was bumma, but lately whenever mum leaves the room, or if she's in her cot and she sees mum making coffee in the kitchen she starts yelling da da da da at the top of her lungs and we finally clicked the other day she's calling for her Grandma. She also learned how to say Grandpa this week, (ba pa) and she's learnt my niece Eliza's name (zee zee). Apart from that most of her chat is still unintelligible babble, but it certainly is plentiful, she is rarely quiet these days and if I can't hear her it's usually a pretty good sign she's up to no good and I need to find her NOW. She is still not taking more than a couple steps unassisted, no matter how much we encourage her, unfortunately there is little I can do besides keep encouraging her and making sure she isn't given the excuse to keep slacking off which means I have to stop carrying her everywhere. My back will thank me for this.
Well that's another week summed up nicely, as you can tell there was very little organising done this week thanks to the gastro, but hopefully I'll be able to get back into it this week and keep fighting the good fight. Well until next time, stay awesome readers and of course don't forget to like my Facebook page for regular updates and much more. Unless you are one of the wonderful people who have already, in which case you are welcome to go about your business as normal.
I am finally better thank heavens, I only really needed one day of bed rest and sulking before I was up and moving again, but my appetite and energy took a lot longer to return to me, I've only really been eating properly for about three days now, and even then my portion sizes have been smaller than normal while I get used to food again. I was determined to make up for having to cut my adults night out short on Monday, so this weekend has been full of social calls and outings, but luckily because they were all during the day time Miss K got to come with me. We crashed a Nutrimetics party yesterday, and by crashed I mean we tagged along with someone who was actually invited to the event. This is the second shopping party we've crashed in as many weeks Miss K and I, both with the same friend. Last week we went to a Tupperware party with her and both times we have been made to feel very welcome despite the fact that we knew no one there and they were all meeting us for the first time. I even decided to splash out and buy some perfume after yesterday's party, as I always feel there is no such thing as too many bottles of smelly stuff.
I also finally got to eat my cupcakes yesterday as Miss K and I managed to get our choc banana cupcakes baked in the afternoon while my brother and sister were visiting. Of course Miss K's help only went as far as licking the spoons once I was finished with them, but she was happy to be my dishwasher for the day. I was quite proud of the cakes as they tasted delicious and they didn't look too bad either. It was my first attempt at piping frosting on cupcakes and while it doesn't look completely professional, it wasn't a bad first attempt. I took some photos before I ate them all, so that I could share them all with you.
Tell me one more time they look like poo cupcakes and I will hurt you.
Sadly my photography skills are still lacking, but my cooking skills are pure awesome
After we were finished at the market we went and visited with my big sister for a coffee, and Miss K sat with her uncle and had a cheese sandwich. For some reason he was able to get her to take small lady-like bites, which is something I can never get from her, and she sat very straight and proper on his lap the whole time without squirming or reaching around for things out of her reach. I can't help but laugh at how flirty my little miss gets, even with her own uncles. After lunch and a nap we went to visit with some old friends that we met co-incidentally through the markets. We bumped into them at the market and I was saddened to discover they are moving closer to the city tomorrow to find their fortunes in the big smoke. So it was decided I had to go over to their place for one more coffee before they left. The house was sadly empty of furniture when we got there as everything has been packed up and stored in anticipation of their huge shift tomorrow, so we sat on the floor in the kitchen chatting and drinking coffee, and Miss K played with the family's son and daughter who quickly became her biggest fans. The son, who is almost 2 is such a lady killer, he sat with his arm around Miss K, feeding her dry wheat bix and kissing her occasionally. Miss K of course is never one to refuse food so she loved all the special attention she was receiving.
They also have a large dog there, a labrador cross and it is huge. I mean huge. It could probably stick its head on my desk as I typed were it here right now. Luckily despite its size it is the gentlest dog you could meet, and he is fabulous with children, having been around them since he was a puppy so he wasn't too concerned when Miss K decided to crawl over his tail suddenly, nor when she decided to pull herself up on him. I was more surprised of Miss K's reaction to the dog, especially as she hasn't had much to do with dogs in her short 17 months, but she adored him and kept rushing to him to give him pats and hugs, and she didn't even mind when he licked her. The dogs owner was of course around at all times to make sure he didn't trod on any of the babies, as the oldest child in the house is not yet four, but he is such a well trained dog there really was never any concern anyone would get hurt. It was actually such a sad moment when I realised it was past our dinner time and we needed to get home and ready for bed, I had to keep the good byes brief so that I didn't lose it and start crying in front of them, but I have promised as soon as they are all settled in to their new home, Miss K and I will be up for a visit.
As for Miss K, she is cruising along nicely. We realised this week that she has been saying da da a lot lately, and that when she says it, she actually means Grandma. I'd never thought of it much as when she was younger Grandma was bumma, but lately whenever mum leaves the room, or if she's in her cot and she sees mum making coffee in the kitchen she starts yelling da da da da at the top of her lungs and we finally clicked the other day she's calling for her Grandma. She also learned how to say Grandpa this week, (ba pa) and she's learnt my niece Eliza's name (zee zee). Apart from that most of her chat is still unintelligible babble, but it certainly is plentiful, she is rarely quiet these days and if I can't hear her it's usually a pretty good sign she's up to no good and I need to find her NOW. She is still not taking more than a couple steps unassisted, no matter how much we encourage her, unfortunately there is little I can do besides keep encouraging her and making sure she isn't given the excuse to keep slacking off which means I have to stop carrying her everywhere. My back will thank me for this.
Well that's another week summed up nicely, as you can tell there was very little organising done this week thanks to the gastro, but hopefully I'll be able to get back into it this week and keep fighting the good fight. Well until next time, stay awesome readers and of course don't forget to like my Facebook page for regular updates and much more. Unless you are one of the wonderful people who have already, in which case you are welcome to go about your business as normal.
Sunday, 19 August 2012
Dear Diary the eventful week edition
Well it's that time of the week again, and what a week it has been. There have been some major changes this week for both me and Miss K and I am bursting at the seams to share them all with you.
So today I'm going to start with Miss K for a change, and it has definitely been a big week for her. We are currently trying to encourage her to start walking by herself. At the moment she is happy enough to walk as long as someone is holding her hand. My sister and I sit on the floor with her and we can manage to get her to walk several steps between us, as long as there is chocolate involved. But once the chocolate is all gone her motivation to walk disappears and she resumes crawling everywhere. She shows signs that she is ready to walk, but she just hasn't gained the confidence yet. But tonight was a big night for her, she managed to stand all by herself for a full 20 seconds before she realised that she was standing unsupported and freaked out. Then she dropped onto her bottom like a tonne of bricks. So that was a pretty exciting moment for me. It was also the first time I managed to contain my excitement when she stands up alone, as I usually start making noises which just brings her attention to it and makes her fall down. So a huge step forward for both of us. Another big development for Miss K is that she has finally discovered the word no. Now at bed time or when we share a shower she starts shaking her head madly and yelling no. It's very cute and fun to watch, but with all the jiggling, it is getting just that little bit harder to hold her. She has also started saying grandpa this weekend, but coming from her mouth it sounds like ba pa. Again very cute and I get her to say it as much as possible.
As for me, this week has also been a big week. As mentioned earlier in the week I'm starting a 30 day challenge to see if I can't get better organised and on top of my housework. I won't go into everything on this post because it is big enough to deserve a post of its own, but needless to say this week has been a huge learning curve for me, but I haven't given up yet and I feel that I may be on my way to being a better organised and tidier person. That's not to say I haven't hit any stumbling blocks along the way, for one Miss K is spending more time in her bedroom at the moment, just because most of her toys have been moved in there, but the extra time in her room has come with extra cleaning for me as every time she goes in there she absolutely trashes the joint. And just in case you think I'm being over dramatic when I say she trashes the joint, I actually took pictures of it the other day as evidence.
So today I'm going to start with Miss K for a change, and it has definitely been a big week for her. We are currently trying to encourage her to start walking by herself. At the moment she is happy enough to walk as long as someone is holding her hand. My sister and I sit on the floor with her and we can manage to get her to walk several steps between us, as long as there is chocolate involved. But once the chocolate is all gone her motivation to walk disappears and she resumes crawling everywhere. She shows signs that she is ready to walk, but she just hasn't gained the confidence yet. But tonight was a big night for her, she managed to stand all by herself for a full 20 seconds before she realised that she was standing unsupported and freaked out. Then she dropped onto her bottom like a tonne of bricks. So that was a pretty exciting moment for me. It was also the first time I managed to contain my excitement when she stands up alone, as I usually start making noises which just brings her attention to it and makes her fall down. So a huge step forward for both of us. Another big development for Miss K is that she has finally discovered the word no. Now at bed time or when we share a shower she starts shaking her head madly and yelling no. It's very cute and fun to watch, but with all the jiggling, it is getting just that little bit harder to hold her. She has also started saying grandpa this weekend, but coming from her mouth it sounds like ba pa. Again very cute and I get her to say it as much as possible.
As for me, this week has also been a big week. As mentioned earlier in the week I'm starting a 30 day challenge to see if I can't get better organised and on top of my housework. I won't go into everything on this post because it is big enough to deserve a post of its own, but needless to say this week has been a huge learning curve for me, but I haven't given up yet and I feel that I may be on my way to being a better organised and tidier person. That's not to say I haven't hit any stumbling blocks along the way, for one Miss K is spending more time in her bedroom at the moment, just because most of her toys have been moved in there, but the extra time in her room has come with extra cleaning for me as every time she goes in there she absolutely trashes the joint. And just in case you think I'm being over dramatic when I say she trashes the joint, I actually took pictures of it the other day as evidence.
See? Trashed.
So from being a room that I had to give a small tidy and dust to once a week it has now become a daily job. Occasionally I get Miss K to come and help put her toys away for me, and once I even managed to tidy it up while she was fast asleep in the cot. But I am beginning to feel this is a losing battle, and I'm at my wits end as to how to stop her upturning every single box in the room. It's all good for her as she can't fold yet so I can't get her to help tidy up the bibs and body suits. But I'm now beginning to regret buying so many of them as I have to re-fold each and every one of them every night.
On the family front my little sister is settling into her new home nicely, I think she's loving living so close to work as she can now be on call for whenever they need her, instead of needing at least an hours notice to start work so she could figure out how to get there. She has actually moved into a flat very close to where I was living before I moved back to mums house, and apparently my old neighbours in the block of flats next to mine were having a party last night that was so loud she could hear them even though they are several blocks of land away from her. Glad to see some things never change. I've told her if she hears a really loud television set being played it would be my old next door neighbour who is as deaf as a post and used to have her telly blaring all day. I never had to watch telly when I lived there because I could hear hers perfectly, even with all my doors and windows closed.
Well that's me done for another week, my little brother is coming down tonight for a quick visit, and I'm waiting to hear from him as he'll probably be wanting a lift from the train station. It just means I can't get into my pyjamas until they get here. The things I do for my family.
Just a quick reminder as well, you can now find me on Facebook here so come on over and like my page, you'll get updates as soon as I've posted another wonderful blog for you to read, I also get to update on what is happening with both me and Miss K more regularly there so you get to see more of us. Don't miss out.
Just a quick reminder as well, you can now find me on Facebook here so come on over and like my page, you'll get updates as soon as I've posted another wonderful blog for you to read, I also get to update on what is happening with both me and Miss K more regularly there so you get to see more of us. Don't miss out.
Thursday, 16 August 2012
Super mum to the rescue!
So Miss K has finally gotten to that age where she realises that mum can do anything. Toy isn't working? go see mum. Heard a scary noise? go see mum. Lost your arm in your sleeve? go see mum. While I love that I am finally getting recognition for my awesome talents at recovering hidden limbs, being able to put blocks into the correct holes in the shape sorter and protector from various scary noises, I have noticed that Miss K is learning that this means she can delegate a lot of her days work to me, in order to save herself the hassle. If she can't figure something out after a few tries, we generally get a scene of tantrums and screaming while she holds the offending object out to me to fix for her. While I am always happy to save the day for my darling daughter, I'm not sure if I am doing her any good by swooping in and fixing everything for her. The point of a shape sorter is to teach them something, (I never read the instructions) but if she isn't even bothering putting the shapes in, what is she learning? (Apart from the fact that there will always be someone you can manipulate to do your work for you.)
This is one of those horrible parenting lessons that we all have to go through and figure out on our own. And there isn't necessarily a right or wrong answer to it either. You can swoop in and fix everything for them as much as you want, and it doesn't mean that they will grow up to be a useless ineffective member of society. They may learn delegation, a skill that I have found in every manager I have ever worked for. Or you could force them to learn things on their own and instead of being an independent logical thinker, they could grow up to be a bitter solitary creature who resents having had to do everything for themselves. It is one of those things you can only realise the answer to once you've finished raising them and see the results of your parenting style.
But for now, I think I'll just continue to be the hero in Miss K's life and fix things for her, and enjoy being awesome in her eyes. Because it won't be too long before she realises that mum doesn't have all the answers and is just as clueless as the rest of the world. Then she will look at me like this every time I make a suggestion.
This is one of those horrible parenting lessons that we all have to go through and figure out on our own. And there isn't necessarily a right or wrong answer to it either. You can swoop in and fix everything for them as much as you want, and it doesn't mean that they will grow up to be a useless ineffective member of society. They may learn delegation, a skill that I have found in every manager I have ever worked for. Or you could force them to learn things on their own and instead of being an independent logical thinker, they could grow up to be a bitter solitary creature who resents having had to do everything for themselves. It is one of those things you can only realise the answer to once you've finished raising them and see the results of your parenting style.
But for now, I think I'll just continue to be the hero in Miss K's life and fix things for her, and enjoy being awesome in her eyes. Because it won't be too long before she realises that mum doesn't have all the answers and is just as clueless as the rest of the world. Then she will look at me like this every time I make a suggestion.
Judging baby is judging you. Harshly
Sunday, 12 August 2012
Dear Diary the she's leaving home edition
Hello again my wonderful readers as I return to recap another wonderful week. I'm sure I have lots to tell you, let me just sit here for a second while I try to remember something earlier than what I ate for tea tonight. It was Dim Sims in case you were wondering.
So the last few days our house has been full of talk about moving house. No, Miss K and I are not leaving the nest just yet, as we have it way too good here right now =D. My little sister however has finally taken a huge plunge and is moving into a flat all by herself. This isn't her first move from home however, as last year the week before Miss K was born she moved to Melbourne to live with my little brother and his partner. Then at the beginning of this year she moved back to our home town and decided to share a house with my other little brother and his wife and daughter. And now she has finally decided to live on her own for the very first time. I can only imagine how nervous she is about this, as the first time you get a house by yourself is always frightening at first. But I am surprised to find how jealous I am of her while I hear her talk about unpacking boxes and finding places to fit everything. I remember the excitement I used to feel when I moved house, every room is fresh and new, even though they have probably been lived in by dozens of people before you, and you get to decide where everything goes. So everything has already been carted from storage into the new flat waiting for my little sister, and she finally follows it tomorrow once the gas and electricity are connected.
As for Miss K and I, we are trundling along happy as ever, my mojo hasn't fully returned yet but now that I have finished all of my overdue school work I am feeling a lot more relaxed, I even managed to tidy my bedroom to a degree yesterday. All clean clothes are folded and put away, all dirty clothes are hidden in a laundry hamper and my bookcase is tidy and free from dust and miscellaneous clutter. Who knows I may even try tackling some of the random piles of junk that have collected in the two corners not taken up by a bed and door this week. Miss K has learned a new word this week, she can now say please, and I have discovered that Miss K might have a lisp. I'm not sure if it is anything I can worry about just yet, especially as she is still learning how to form all of her sounds, but the next appointment I have with our Maternal Health Nurse I will be mentioning it, just so that it is put on her record for future reference.
Well that's it really for this week, I never did get the virus that made the rounds through the rest of the family, so I'm grateful for that, as I'm not sure how sympathetic Miss K would have been if I had gotten sick. So I'm off to watch some rhythmic gymnastics before the Olympics finally end for another four years. Stay awesome wonderful readers and I'll be back again soon I'm sure.
So the last few days our house has been full of talk about moving house. No, Miss K and I are not leaving the nest just yet, as we have it way too good here right now =D. My little sister however has finally taken a huge plunge and is moving into a flat all by herself. This isn't her first move from home however, as last year the week before Miss K was born she moved to Melbourne to live with my little brother and his partner. Then at the beginning of this year she moved back to our home town and decided to share a house with my other little brother and his wife and daughter. And now she has finally decided to live on her own for the very first time. I can only imagine how nervous she is about this, as the first time you get a house by yourself is always frightening at first. But I am surprised to find how jealous I am of her while I hear her talk about unpacking boxes and finding places to fit everything. I remember the excitement I used to feel when I moved house, every room is fresh and new, even though they have probably been lived in by dozens of people before you, and you get to decide where everything goes. So everything has already been carted from storage into the new flat waiting for my little sister, and she finally follows it tomorrow once the gas and electricity are connected.
As for Miss K and I, we are trundling along happy as ever, my mojo hasn't fully returned yet but now that I have finished all of my overdue school work I am feeling a lot more relaxed, I even managed to tidy my bedroom to a degree yesterday. All clean clothes are folded and put away, all dirty clothes are hidden in a laundry hamper and my bookcase is tidy and free from dust and miscellaneous clutter. Who knows I may even try tackling some of the random piles of junk that have collected in the two corners not taken up by a bed and door this week. Miss K has learned a new word this week, she can now say please, and I have discovered that Miss K might have a lisp. I'm not sure if it is anything I can worry about just yet, especially as she is still learning how to form all of her sounds, but the next appointment I have with our Maternal Health Nurse I will be mentioning it, just so that it is put on her record for future reference.
Well that's it really for this week, I never did get the virus that made the rounds through the rest of the family, so I'm grateful for that, as I'm not sure how sympathetic Miss K would have been if I had gotten sick. So I'm off to watch some rhythmic gymnastics before the Olympics finally end for another four years. Stay awesome wonderful readers and I'll be back again soon I'm sure.
Monday, 23 July 2012
Dear Diary The I hate technology edition
Were you guys worried that I wasn't going to do a diary today since I already posted this afternoon? Well fear not my intrepid readers I would never disappoint you. Besides who else will listen to me rant about my week?
It's actually a bit hard to do a diary entry tonight as I've spent a lot of this week telling you what was happening as it was happening, but I'm sure I'll be able to find one or two things I left out. It was my big sister's birthday on Tuesday this week, so I had the opportunity to go and visit her and give her chocolates, which I feel are an absolute must as a birthday present. (Hint hint). Miss K was given the opportunity to learn about moderation and self restraint, as she was given a whole bottle of chocolate milk to herself. But given that she is only 1 and doesn't understand either of these concepts she drank the entire bottle in about five minutes and gave herself a nasty stomach-ache. It took a couple of decent sized burps and a quiet sit down with mum before she was back to her normal self and able to play play-dough with her cousin.
As you have all no doubt read this week I have been madly creating things for Miss K's new bedroom, but things came to a grinding halt this evening when my laminator decided to chew one of my pages. It took mum and me an hour with a screw driver and a knife to pull apart the wretched machine to try and rescue my precious paper. Below is the end result of our work, and neither of us can figure out how to put it back together.
It's actually a bit hard to do a diary entry tonight as I've spent a lot of this week telling you what was happening as it was happening, but I'm sure I'll be able to find one or two things I left out. It was my big sister's birthday on Tuesday this week, so I had the opportunity to go and visit her and give her chocolates, which I feel are an absolute must as a birthday present. (Hint hint). Miss K was given the opportunity to learn about moderation and self restraint, as she was given a whole bottle of chocolate milk to herself. But given that she is only 1 and doesn't understand either of these concepts she drank the entire bottle in about five minutes and gave herself a nasty stomach-ache. It took a couple of decent sized burps and a quiet sit down with mum before she was back to her normal self and able to play play-dough with her cousin.
As you have all no doubt read this week I have been madly creating things for Miss K's new bedroom, but things came to a grinding halt this evening when my laminator decided to chew one of my pages. It took mum and me an hour with a screw driver and a knife to pull apart the wretched machine to try and rescue my precious paper. Below is the end result of our work, and neither of us can figure out how to put it back together.
CURSE YOU TECHNOLOGY!!!!
So tomorrow will be spent buying a new laminator among other things.
Miss K is her usual self, but with extra cheekiness thrown in for good measure. I mentioned in my earlier post that she spends a lot of time pushing my buttons at the moment, but she has learned a few new tricks that aren't as frustrating. For example, she can finally climb onto our couch which is frustrating, but only because she gets up there and jumps and I'm terrified she's going to nose dive into the coffee table one of these days. She has also discovered that when grandma stands in the kitchen and yells my name I get out of bed, so most mornings I am woken up by her yelling my name over and over again. She is still not walking by herself, but we go for walks together every single day, usually when I'm putting her high chair away, so I'm hoping she'll start taking steps by herself soon.
Well that's it for another day, I have to get up early tomorrow morning to buy birthday presents for one niece and one nephew (why couldn't you have your kids more than a month apart big sister??) plus my little sister has a dentists appointment tomorrow (ha ha) and I have to drive her there so I'm going to be a busy beaver tomorrow. Till next time, stay awesome my wonderful readers.
Tuesday, 3 July 2012
The little things
I have been surprised to find recently how quickly you can forget what it's like to have a tiny baby. There are so many little things that you should really appreciate at the time that usually you're too busy or terrified to enjoy until it's too late and they are gone. I was reminded quite recently of something that I used to take for granted just a short 12 months ago, and that is a child falling asleep in your arms. Miss K hasn't done this since she has been old enough to fight sleep till the bitter end, and if she so much as suspects I'm trying to put her to sleep these days she pushes me away. But a few nights ago she was so tired when she got up for her late night feed that she fell asleep in my arms as soon as she had finished her bottle, and it was so nice to hold a sleeping baby. I hadn't realised until that point how much I missed it. When it was the norm, it used to frustrate me more often than not, because she would fall asleep mid meal, and I would spend the whole time nudging and poking her, trying to get her to wake up and finish her drink so I could put her to bed and enjoy some me time. How stupid I was not to realise that this was a moment so fleeting that I should cherish while I could, before she got old enough to put a stop to it.
But at the end of the day I still wouldn't trade my pint sized terror for anything in the world, I will just treasure our time together more, enjoy our gibberish conversations, learn her each and every ticklish spot, and make sure she knows that no matter who she becomes, she is still my favourite person in the world.
Miss K 4 days old sleeping in my arms, Me 27 years old trying to fight the urge to join her.
Of course with the loss of each old habit or phase comes new and exciting ones, each bringing its own delights or terrors, and I relish each one as it arrives, as it signifies that my baby is growing up. But there are times when I miss the days when her hands were so tiny that they made mine look man sized in comparison.
See?
My favourite pint sized terror. AKA - the fountain head.
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