Jack and his best friend Brayden

Posted by Doug at 6:48 PM

Grace turns 18 months today! How the time flies with a second child compared to the first! I again regret that I have not found the time to do as regular updates of the blog as I managed in Jack's early days but am thankful Doug has been keeping up regular posts.

Winter passed in a mixture of colds and bugs and birthday parties. Many of Jack's friends birthday fall within a few weeks of his as well as many family birthdays so it is always a busy period for us. He particularly enjoyed a recent bowling party. On the plus side it helps to keep him occupied during the cold winter months. It has been a very wet winter this year and has seemed to rain most weekends so Jack has been feeling rather housebound. We have enjoyed family outings to the Melbourne Museum and Scienceworks in past month. Jack loved having Brayden over to play, and we have had a play centre outing with Kiara and Liana.

I also enjoyed a day off to enjoy some body treatments and massage for my birthday last month. We have visited Damon and Max's new house where Jack enjoyed playing with the train track. My work has quieted down somewhat in recent weeks so I am feeling less stressed than earlier in the year. I am also enjoying watching TV and DVDs in our bedroom after the purchase of a new TV downstairs. We have also just had the 'Grace Pregnancy family photo' framed and hung on the wall so the bedroom is now feeling more complete.

We all had a quiet weekend at home to celebrate father's day (as per Doug's wishes). Jack enjoyed the chance to go out shopping with Grace and me to purchase a 'surprise morning tea' for dad. He told Doug that he organised a surprise celebration not a surprise party since he knows Doug doesn't like parties. Jack's tummy was sore on and off all weekend but thankfully after putting himself to bed extra early last night he seemed ok today (touch wood!)

Grace at 18 months:

. Has 12 teeth (4 middle top and bottom ones, then a gap where a tooth is yet to come through on all sides then another set of 4 teeth). She had her first visit to the dentist (lying on me) and handled it rather well. Some good news was that her teeth were fully formed (and don't appear to have the same issue with Jack's teeth where the top layer of the teeth is missing).

. Has had 3 hairdresser appointments so far and handled all ok. The hairdressers have been advising us to cut the back of it to thicken it up before growing it longer (leaving her with a bowl cut look in the interim).

. Is now not only walking but running around the house. She loves the chance to walk up and down our court as Jack rides his bike

. Loves riding her pusher bikes around the house and still using her walker at times. She also loves playing with balls in the front room, and carry up to 4 balls at once!

. Has initiated walking up and down the stairs in past few weeks. She holds the wall climbing up (but still mostly crawls up) and holds the wall with one hand and my hand coming down

. Enjoys stacking blocks, putting objects in and out of containers (including posting her shapes in and out of the holes if we half put the shape into the correct hole) and playing with cars. So far seems to be more of a tomboy in the making than a princess!

. Her vocab is slowly increasing. Her words now include hi, hello, mum, ma-ma, dad, Jack, Grace, up, down, one, two, boo, uh-oh, ta, wow, wheee (eg when sliding down slides at Gymbaroo), star, roar (lion noise). She makes a 'mmmm' sound when she wants more food (but hasn't managed to say 'more' as we say to her). She still does a lot of animated baby babble in between these words.

. She is much more interested in books now, particularly her '100 first baby words' book and other similar books with individual pictures and words. She also loves her 'old McDonald' book. She grabs my hand to point at what she wants me to tell her about. She watches my mouth intently and sometimes imitates my mouth movements silently as I say words to her but won't repeat them out loud. However when she looks at books by herself she chats away animatedly to herself so seems reserved about trying words out in front of me. She also enjoys going over the 'abc' chart of pictures in Jack's room each night with me.

. Loves taking her slippers, socks, pajama pants and nappy off when in the portacot in the morning and even had half her arm out of her top the other morning. She also tosses out any toys she no longer wants to play with at the time.

. Continues to wander around the group and room at music class and Gymbaroo so I am constantly having to fetch her back (more so than most of the other toddlers there).

. Particularly enjoys hanging upside down (with me holding her by her feet above the ground) at Gymbaroo, and running up and down the trampoline

. Continues to enjoy swimming lessons and now steps forward to step into the water from the edge (and has occasionally gone in without holding my hands). Still walks very tentatively across the mat.

. Can be a bit clingy to me in group situations (such as playgroup) but once she gets her confidence she is then off exploring the room

. Always gets good reports from childcare (where they always report she eats, sleeps and plays well)

. Now always has one day sleep in the middle of the day. Most of the time she is tired and puts herself down easily (and often falls asleep in the car after Gymbaroo and en route between activities on our busy Wednesdays) although occasionally still takes a while to go down. At night I now put her down in the cot around 7:15 and she is usually asleep by about 7:45. I had been constantly patting her (which is tiring and makes my back ache with the angle) but am now starting to pat her for about 10 minutes then lying down in the bed in the nursery. She seems to give a protest cry for a few minutes but then calmly puts herself to sleep. She still usually wakes on average 1-4 times a night (sometimes just needs the dummy put in to go straight back to sleep, other times needs patting and other times chats for up to an hour before wanting to go back to sleep). I am trying the same process at night to pat her for a while then lay down in the bed and let her cry for a couple minutes but then put herself to sleep and it seems to be mostly working.

- Lost interest in her middle of the day breastfeed so is now down to 1 morning and 1 night feed. She doesn't seem to look for it instantly in morning. Once her 18 months injections are over with I intend to then start the weaning process for these final 2 daily feeds.

. Still continues to try to scratch us if she is angry but thankfully the biting seems to have stopped for now

Jack at 5 years 2 months:

. Loves watching Mr Maker on TV and then wants to copy his projects and make them at home (which can challenge us at times to find substitutes for materials we don't have). He also constantly comes up with his own collage and drawing ideas, for example he made some 'circus tickets' on the weekend. He certainly has a great imagination with both these activities and imaginary games that he plays throughout the day.

. Constantly answers everything with 'banana' or 'banana peel' which is highly amusing to him and rather irritating to us

. Has reduced his nose picking considerably since having to go to bed 'one minute early' each time he gets caught. He even dobbed himself in the other day calling out 'one minute to bed early mum - I picked my nose'. He has started licking his licks more again (which seems to be a repetitive anxiety response for him) but has reduced again after also getting 'one minute early' for each occurrence

. Continues to occupy himself for large parts of the day watching TV or on the computer, doing drawing or collage projects, playing with balls, his bakugan, Ben 10 and other toys, and in his room in the mornings and in the bathroom at nights playing imaginatively with the towels. Still can be extra demanding to me when he wants my attention though (and often at times when I am cooking meals or feeding Grace or otherwise can't play)

. Has gained more confidence in his bike riding with regular rides up and down the court

. Is often rather exuberant and a bit over the top in his enthusiasm and repetitive chatting (which is far better than tantrums and sulking, but can be wearing and exhausting for us at times)

. Often folds up all the towels neatly in the bathroom after his shower (and does a better job of it than I do!) He is good at tidying up generally when he is in the mood (although can whinge at other times), and often helps set the table at dinner table.

. Does a good job occupying himself with drawing, eating and playing with his toys while he accompanies Grace and I to Grace's music class. He enjoys looking over and observing the class without having to be directly involved. He has lost interest in attending playgroup and prefers to stay at home occupying himself while Doug is working.

- When fully sick, he tends to lie about on the couch all day or doing small stints of quiet activities such as drawing or collage. As such it is now not that hard for one of us to mind him while working from home, rather than needing myself or my mum to be available to look after him constantly.

- Now that Grace is going into her cot at 7:15, Jack spends the last part of his night routine downstairs with dad, then quietly comes up to his room at 7:30.

Posted by Al at 4:00 PM

Jack playing with his army men. Brings back memories of my own childhood...

Posted by Doug at 6:40 PM

By quite a margin, both Grace and Jack’s favourite meal is sausages and pasta, followed by Fish & Chips. They have the taste buds of commoners.

It is very difficult to introduce new foods to Jack, since he immediately screws up his face and says he doesn’t like it. If we challenge him on it, he always retorts by saying that he tried it at his childcare. (Sometimes this is a blatant lie, since his childcare wouldn’t always serve up the food we might be attempting to get him to try…). Grace on the other hand eats almost anything put in front of her.

Grace took part in a hospital allergy test during the week, and is being fed peanut butter once a day as a continuation of that study. We also finally tested peanut butter on Jack (who said he did not like it, and has remarked on how bad subsequent food has tasted where Al has been trying to hide it in…). Thankfully neither appears to have any adverse reactions. We put off testing Jack for much too long.

Posted by Doug at 9:09 PM

Last night we attended the parent information night at the Primary school Jack will be going to next year. We were happy with the vibe and approach from the staff, even if they were slightly over eager to be teaching our children. Strangely two parents behind us spent the majority of the night whispering loudly to each other and ignoring the entire process. They were seemingly oblivious to the fact half the room – including the teachers at the front, could hear them.

It was good already knowing several of the parents through Jack’s childcare, and we spoke to a handful more. They all seemed easy enough to get along with. I expect there will be some clicky groups – a consequence of the affluence of the area, and parents who know each other through older kids or having had attended the local kinder. It will be interesting to see how friendly the parent group is as a whole, particularly towards the “outsiders”.

We came away still happy with our decision to place Jack at this school. Jack and Grace were put to bed by their babysitter, and had no issues.

Posted by Doug at 9:07 AM

While working in my study, I watched 3 pairs of well dress elderly people leap frogging each other as they visited each house along our street. The ladies who rang our doorbell must have had training from an offshore call centre – for they broke out in their spiel before I had a chance to say anything, and began with “we have great news for you – for we have the answers to the 6 most common questions in life.”

I politely indicated I was busy working, and not interesting in looking at their pamphlet. The lady responded by saying she had noticed through the window that there were kids toys in the house, and as a parent wasn’t I interested in knowing what happened after death. I responded that I wasn’t interested in discussing my views on death with people who turn up uninvited at my doorstep. I then wished them a good day and closed the door.

Historically when people came peddling religion they are smiling and cheerful, start off with a comment on the weather or remark on some plant that is growing well in your garden. They almost apologetically hand over a free pamphlet, wish you well and move on. Over time however they seem to be getting older, more jaded, and much pushier.

(I also wonder at all the various people who knock on our door during the day if they are surprised and put on the back foot when an adult male answers - and not some harried mother with kids or retiree, who they are more likely hoping to target.)

Posted by Doug at 10:45 AM

Jack is doing a school holiday swimming program this week. His lessons are rather repetitive, and we sometimes start to feel that he is not progressing. All of a sudden however I will watch a lesson, like this week, and think wow. Jack is in with kids who I suspect may only do holiday programs, and is really standing out. He is more relaxed in the water, took much less effort to float, tread water and swim, is quicker, and actually looks like a natural. (Which is saying something, since he certainly didn’t start out that way.)

I was chatting earlier to a friend who came off his motorbike the other day. He is thinking of finding another mode of transport, as he "just doesn't bounce as well nowadays'. Quite a while ago I tripped over on a branch outside and landed quite heavily. (I think I have already posted this.) It was rather jarring, took the wind out of me, and just left me aching all over. I was thinking at the time that when I was younger I would have just bounced back up and kept going without a thought, but that I was no longer young. It was one of those “oh, that’s sad” moments.

The other day Grace was trying to kick a ball, got her foot stuck on top of it, spun and fell heavily backwards into the wall, hitting her head very loudly. She cried furiously for a few minutes, and then was back to her normal self. (I on the other hand watched her like a hawk for an hour for any negative effects.) You take your body’s resilience, ability to bounce and cope with trauma for granted in your youth. By the time you realise how amazing it is, you no longer have it.

Posted by Doug at 9:46 AM