The teething related behaviour continues. You quickly forget what normal Jack is like, and are swamped by antsy tantrum Jack. Anything and everything elicits a major tantrum. (And boy we have had some big ones.) We catch ourselves rolling our eyes instead of being dutifully loving parents.

It has been harder on Al this time round – she was looking forward to some time off and relaxing with a day of leave and a public holiday, but instead has been run ragged by a very demanding child. Hard times are more difficult to deal with when you were looking forward to something different.

I must admit I haven’t helped as much as I should. I’ve been constantly busy as normal – shopping, cleaning, washing clothes, paying bills, keeping the budget up to date, and working through my never ending list of tasks – but I have dragged my feet with the one on one care of Jack. It hasn’t been laziness – more selfishness, just wanting to get on top of a few things, to feel more settled.

Jack goes to childcare tomorrow – I think Al is looking forward to a day in the office.

My parents stayed here on Friday night.

Here Jack and his Grandpa C create a masterpiece. It was good to see them, and for them to see the most recent changes in Jack.

Here Jack and his Grandma C catch up on some reading. My Mum also came along to watch one of Jack’s Gymbaroo sessions.

She is half way through the Chemo and is doing well. I was most impressed with her wig, which I quietly thought looked a touch better than her normal hair! The hardest struggle for her has been putting up with my father, who has gotten himself fixated on ensuring she keeps herself hydrated. He is constantly placing glasses of water down in front of her and harping at her to drink them.

Two of our friends each gave birth this week – both to their second child. Al’s been reminding me that she would like a brother or sister for Jack. I’m pretty sure Jack on the other hand doesn’t want, and wouldn’t handle one of those just yet.

We took Jack to a Paediatric Chiropractor this evening. The Gymbaroo instructor had suggested the visit – saying she had expected Jack to walk many months ago. We had also noticed Jack rolling his head at times as if it was giving him discomfort, so it seemed like a reasonable precaution.

The Doctor found an alignment problem at the top of Jack’s spine - which causes discomfort, balance issues and disrupted sleep. He said on average it would take around 3 visits to manipulate it back into place, doing the first one tonight. Jack wasn’t overly impressed with that, but generally handled the visit well.

We wonder if the answer will be so simple. It seems implausible. We wait to see.

So yesterday was goodbye to high performance fun car...

... and hello to pratical family car ...

I'm going to miss the extra 100kw (I don't think I'll be allowed to make this one go faster), the stereo (although that will be rectified), and the seats. Hopefully however the new car won't require the contstant maintenance of the old.

Had a picnic lunch with the other families from Al’s mothers group yesterday, and then took the new car out for a run through the hills. It handled it surprisingly well. Al also had a drive, and was surprised by how comfortable she felt. Jack really seems to like the extra visibility, and was much more animated about things outside of the car. Feeling more positive about the purchase after that.

Last week's visit to the paediatric chiropractor has yielded immediate results on the sleep front. The first night he woke up once, then slept 8.5 hours straight. Each night since he has woken once or twice, but has slept 7-9 hours straight, which is a huge change from his usual multiple wake ups. He has also immediately cut down on his remaining night feeds. From the first night he went from 2 feeds to 1. Two of the nights since he has had no feed at all, so I am feeling hopeful of cutting being able to cut this last feed with minimal fuss. He still wants to sleep most of the night on me rather than in his cot, so that is still a final issue to be addressed.

The visit to the chiropractor was prompted by the Gymbaroo teacher indicating that she had expected Jack to have been walking by now. Finding that his neck is out of alignment in a way that affects balance is in line with her suspicion that something might not have been right. It might explain why Jack is able to walk holding one of our hands, or even run with his walker, but won't stand by himself. It might also explain why he has been at the furniture cruising stage for 9 months now, but has not managed to stand for more than a couple of seconds, or walk more than a couple of steps without grabbing for something.

His balance was worse for the first couple days after the visit – possibly as he readjusted, but he seems to have got used to it quickly, and has at times stood for slightly longer periods than before. It remains to be seen how he goes in coming weeks with more visits. The affects on sleep and his comfort feeding overnight also make sense after the fact, but we would never have thought to connect these beforehand.

The chiropractor indicated he would have expected Jack to walk around 12 months based on when he crawled and walked. I feel sad that we did not find this possible issue sooner, that Jack has been experiencing pain that we didn't know about, and that his development may have been set back. The chiropractor indicated the problem could have been caused by the birth process, or even by things like viral infections. We don’t know how long the problem has existed, or what might have caused it, and it is hard not to dwell on these things.

The main thing is we have now identified it, and can work on resolving it.

To think that Jack and we could have been spared all this time of constant night waking and overnight feeding is almost unfathomable.

Jack's word list continues to expand on a daily basis. Latest words include water (waa), walker (walk), bubble, banana (nana), dummy (dah-ee), butterfly (bu), zebra, and tree. He has started saying his name when we write it down for him and say it aloud (it comes out more like Dack). He has also started trying to count to three (sounds something like on, toe, tee) - he particularly likes the three.

The purchase of a potty has not encouraged him to want to poo in it (in fact he cries each time I have tried), but he has learnt to say 'poo' and 'yuk yuk' when he has done, or is about to do one, which is progress in its own way. He doesn't seem to poo in the shower as much, and waits till after the shower when his nappy is on. Whether that is just a fluke, or a change in pattern because he was introduced to the possibility of using the potty, I don’t know.

My parents came to mind Jack on Friday while we picked up the new Territory. We enjoyed a BBQ at the local park on Saturday with the mother's group. Exciting to see all the other babies now walking (Jack being the only non-walking baby). We also had fun taking the Territory on its first drives over the weekend. I was pleasantly surprised by how comfortable I felt while driving it, given I usually don't feel comfortable driving larger cars. I enjoyed seeing U2 in concert last night - the first concert, and one of the very few night events I have attended since Jack's birth.

Jack had his second visit to the chiropractor today. The swift neck movement and resultant pop at the doctor’s manipulation made both Al and I cringe. Again Jack wasn’t overly happy about it, but it was only done twice, and was over quickly.

We dropped him off at Childcare afterwards. As Al got him out of the car he looked at where he was going and said hooray. He repeated that twice more on the way in. He was obviously happy being there, which is great. When we pick him up he takes a minute or two to excitedly point out various things he has been playing with. What a turn around from the early days.

We had Jack’s favourite meal tonight – baked beans. He repeats yum yum yum through the entire bowl.

Jack seems to like the new car – we think he enjoys the extra visibility. Last night he pointed at it and said “more car, more car”, so we took him for a drive around the block.

Today has been busy – voting, shopping, attending a Christmas party at one of Jack’s Childcare Centres (which was rather bigger and better than expected), a quick picnic lunch at a park, cleaned up part of the garage, mowed the lawns, did a few loads of washing, and am currently cleaning up my emails. Jack has kept busy running his mum ragged.

Jack has been recognising written words lately. The other day at Gymbaroo he pointed to his nametag and repeated Dack several times (his version of Jack). Mum, Dad, a number of short animal names, the numbers 1 through 5 and letters A through D are also recognised. Tonight after doing his first drawing he pointed to it and said Dog several times over. His next drawing he repeated Baa. His drawings are certainly getting more complicated nowadays – it is kind of cool if he is, at least in his own mind, starting to draw particular objects.

On Sunday we drove up to Seymour to catch up with my parents. We visited a couple local galleries and had lunch at the pub in Trawool. We drove there and returned via the Melba Highway to test out the new car. Jack had a good day and slept in both directions.

Jack has a new sly trick of late. He will ask you to pick something up (usually a ball) in one direction, and then immediately take off in the opposite direction, heading straight to something he knows he is not allowed to touch.

Jack’s memory is certainly working. When watching one of his regular DVD’s he will often make an animal noise or call out an object name a few moments before it appears on the screen. The other day the theme music for Banana’s in Panamas started up on the TV before any picture showed, Jack pointed and exclaimed “Narna’s”, pointing to show his mum that he wanted to watch it.

I'm not sure what word Jack uses most at the moment - No or More.