Grace has now been at childcare just over a month. The first week was 2 hours each visit; the second week 4 hours, then the past few weeks have been full days. This was a much faster transition than we did for Jack, and seems to have been a better approach. Grace still cries furiously each morning when I pass her over to a carer - but does not instantly cry as we enter the room. Similarly she melts into tears as soon as she sees me at pickup time. Initially she wanted to stay very close to the carers and cried or whinged any time they moved away. She is now starting to crawl around the room more to explore and follow the other babies about (although the carers still say she loves their attention). They report she has mostly good days now.

Today they said she was laughing when Jack bobbed his head up and down from the turtle room window playing peek-a-boo with her. They also said she found the maracas hilarious at music time. She is eating well and drinking all her expressed milk from the bottle. She is only sleeping 30-45 mins at a time, but that isn’t much less than at home. She does look very tired by the end of the day – but she is otherwise her normal self when we get home and doesn't seem extra clingy or different in her behaviour. So all up, it is about as good as we could hope for at such an early stage.

Jack has now settled well into his Turtle room. After some emotional meltdowns in his first week or so, he has really calmed down and is for the most part is currently a happy little boy. We don't know if this relates to feeling more settled in the room, or strategies the carers have put in place around expressing emotions and spending some one-on-one time with him each day, but it is most welcome. He has also had a mostly good start to his activities. A school holiday week-long swim program has really given him a burst forward in confidence and skills. He was excited to go to his first gymnastics class and gave everything a try, but a bit more anxious and cautious in his second week.

My work is shaping up to be a busy year with the initial large warehouse implementation I have been working on, as well as a study project I have now been asked to manage on interim warehouse solutions. Doug and I are feeling a bit tired as we adjust back into the busy work and kids activities schedule after the summer break. I am also finding the expressing 3 times a week time consuming and tiring. Doug has been doing the beginning of the morning routine with Jack - while I sleep in until Grace wakes up (usually around 7:30-7:45). I have found this extra sleep very helpful, although Doug is finding his work day extending longer as a result.

In the past month we have made it out to a couple of local art galleries. Jack has shown interest in the visits, and said after this latest visit that it is giving him ideas for his artwork. We have had Grandma C and Pop visit for 3 days, much to Jack's delight. They enjoyed getting to see the large award-winning park that was built a couple years ago in our suburb. We had a trip down to Geelong to visit one of my high school friends. This included a visit with Auntie Lis to see the new marina at Queenscliff. Jack enjoyed a short walk on the beach, as well as dinner with Auntie Lis, Grandma Q and Pop. Jack also had fun playing at Dom and Bella's house on Australia Day.

Summary of Grace at 11 months

. has 2 bottom teeth

. has just started getting the idea of walking while we hold her under the armpits (after Doug walked her between his legs staying 'step, step, step' and she seem to understand what to do now when we say step to her)

. done her first few laps of the lounge room holding onto the walker

. enjoys crawling through her tunnel if we look through the other end at her and put a couple toys in for her to collect along the way

. within a couple weeks of starting childcare started clapping her hands and pointing (both things picked up there)

. has started saying 'mum mum mum' (hooray!!) . She says 'dis' (this) and 'dat' (that) when pointing at things. 'Door' is another of her words. Her cute baby babble has increased markedly in past month since starting childcare

. has started getting excited about pointing at pictures on the walls and having books read to her

. at her recent pediatrician appointment (all clear on the previous issues), she was 77cm tall (which he commented was very tall) and 9kgs (which he commented was a bit under what he expected given they generally triple their birth weight in first year, but still indicated she looks healthy and happy is doing well)

. splashing and kicking excitedly at her baby swimming classes. Cries a bit on the mat but still crawls across it

. when we go to playgroup she cries whenever I am more than a metre or so away from her. Likewise if I take her somewhere new (like her first music class) she is tentative and worried in case I am going to leave her there (so probably a combination of separation anxiety at this age, and a reaction to starting childcare)

. coped really well with being babysat for first time by someone other than my mum (Jacqueline - Jack's previous carer from his old childcare centre he no longer attends). Jacqueline had her smiling and laughing within minutes.

Summary of Jack at 4 years 7 months

. is starting to play more independently at times. He is enjoying some time playing by himself in his room each morning. All his imaginext toys, train set, Bob toys, Lightning McQueen and other cars and dinosaur toys all make for great imaginative play. We are enjoying extra time playing in his room when Grace is sleeping or watching baby dvds.

. tantrums have reduced considerably in past month and he has returned to being a mostly happy, polite, delightful little boy

. is loving spending time on the computer. He now gets to play computer games twice a day, and the extra downtime seems to be helping him. For the most part he is getting off when asked without too much fuss. Occasionally when he starts to melt down when told to get off, he has had his privileges revoked for the next session - so he has quickly come back into line again

. He has really enjoyed starting on 'reading eggs' (a computer program designed for 4-7 year olds to encourage learning to read, starting at a beginner level). We don't fully know how much he is taking in of it (as any time we try to watch him he stops trying) but it is good to see his interest. He has also shown some interest in the 'letterland' cd and book.

. is really wanting to interact a lot with Grace at this stage. He wants to give her lots of kisses and hugs (although Grace isn't always the happiest recipient of this). He does make her smile and laugh a lot. He occasionally gets too forceful when trying to stop her doing things, or testing boundaries with her when he thinks we aren't looking, so we have to keep a closer eye on their interactions. For the most part he continues to be a great big brother for his baby sister. He loves having cuddles in bed with Grace and me in the mornings and sometimes at night.

. has managed to tread water for 30 seconds without any floaties. He is starting to jump in more without the instructors holding his hands (but still depends on the day whether he tries or not)

. continues to enjoy drawing, colouring, collage work, stickers and activity books. Really enjoys being able to do drawings or cards or collages for other people.

. has been enjoying playing with a water gun (late delivered Christmas present) in the backyard.

Posted by Al at 10:10 PM

Grace did not cry when I dropped her off at Childcare today - she just calmly watched me leave.

Posted by Al at 10:53 AM

For the third childcare day in a row Grace has not cried at drop off. She has just surveyed the room and half watched mum as she leaves. The carers say she is having good days, and enjoys wandering all around the room, taking time to stop and play with the various toys. She also seems to be interacting with the other kids, and likes her cuddles with the carers. We have noticed she now seems more chatty when she is playing at home.

Posted by Doug at 11:44 AM

Jack came into our room last night at 3am - extremely frightened. He had had a dream where he was at childcare, and all of the kids were digging a big hole. Suddenly a huge ladies head with big teeth came out of it and swallowed him whole. He shivered uncontrollably for 30 minutes, and chatted for a full hour because he did not want to go back to sleep. He talked over things like us never getting to seeing him again because he ”would have disappeared and been dead”.

While I tried to calm him and repeatedly said it was just a dream, he never really settled. In the end he cuddled up to me and went back to sleep with his head on my shoulder.

This morning he was still very disturbed by the dream, has not wanted to be away from us, and said he did not want to go to Ready Steady Go today because of it. It is sad to see the impact on him, even now, just from one vivid dream.

One small positive I guess was that he came to me instead of his mum (who was in the nursery with Grace). Jack has always been very attached to his mum – and for much of his life if he was really upset only his mum could help him. I have noticed over the last 6 months or so that Jack will now come to me as well, which is nice.

Posted by Doug at 9:44 AM