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Sunday, November 01, 2009
We visited my parents this weekend. The trip can take up to 3 hours –
which is about double what we have tried with Grace before. Thankfully
by timing our departures to fit in with her naps, we managed to mostly
travel with her sleeping peacefully.
Jack – who has historically travelled well, has recently started to ask
how many more minutes to go before we arrive, and then complain that he
can’t wait that long. (Until it gets down to under a few minutes, at
which point he will finally respond with “I can wait that long.”) The
problem is his whining gets rather loud, so he is shushed rather
vigorously so as not to wake Grace. I suspect part of the problem is
that he has also watched some of his favorite DVD’s too many times, so
is getting bored.
It was a good visit, aside some mild excitement as Pop and I hunted down
a brown snake who had taken up residence in the yard. It was
frighteningly quick – but finally met the sharp end of Pop’s shovel.
Jack had a couple great play sessions with his cousins, Pop, myself and
Jack did a little fishing, and Grace had a great time (aside from not
sleeping well).
Jack had been generally good for the trip, but started pushing buttons
the moment we got home. Al – suffering from sleep deprivation (and I
suspect stressing that this would happen) was on edge, and once they
clashed there was quite an explosion, Al with wild Graham Kennedy like
eyes and forceful tone, Jack screaming himself hoarse with absolute
fury. He was sent to his room where he continued his out of control
tantrum – making the mistake of kicking and throwing his toys, and
hitting furniture and the walls. I think seeing his very angry dad
threatening to remove all the toys and furniture from his room – leaving
only a mattress finally saw him get control over himself.
There are a handful of behaviors which I simply won’t tolerate with Jack
– him hitting his Mum or Grace, or him damaging property. Worrying with
his anger seemingly getting worse each tantrum, I would not be surprised
to see him put a hole in a wall, or to lash out and try to hit us. It
is a serious worry if this just keeps ramping up and getting worse.
Posted by Doug at 6:17 PM
Things calmed down in the evening, and as I went to tuck Jack into bed I
was thinking at least the day would end on a good note. Then it hit me
– I couldn’t remember packing Jack’s Teddy in the car for the trip home.
I broke the news to Jack, whose bottom lip trembled and huge (real)
tears welled up in his eyes. I told him I would check downstairs – but
that just confirmed the bear wasn’t to be found. I checked through his
collection of Teddy Bears and found one that was somewhat similar, and
suggested he temporarily use that one. I suggested he should call it
bear. I also told him I would call Grandma C straight away.
Sure enough the Bear was in her Bed – left there by Jack when he had
visited for a morning chat and cuddle. (And the only room of Grandma’s
house that we didn’t do a quick check of before leaving.) Grandma
quickly indicated she would send the bear down by registered post. I
returned and told Jack that Grandma was going to take the very best care
of Teddy, and would get Postman Pat to bring it back home to Jack in the
next week or two.
Satisfied with Grandma’s skills at taking care of Teddy Bears, Jack went
to sleep with his temporary replacement tucked up under one arm.
Posted by Doug at 10:12 PM
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Jack is sleeping tonight with Teddy cuddled up under one arm. Grandma C
and Postman Pat did an excellent job getting him home so quickly.
After opening the package Jack earnestly told his Mum “I am so very
happy that Teddy is home again. I love Teddy very much.” Bear then
disappeared (I am not sure where too) and Teddy took his rightful place
back on Jack’s pillow.
Grace continues her more frequent night time waking and grumpiness,
meaning Al’s sleep is being interrupted lots. Add to this being extra
clingy, and having a very rough barking cough, and we have one out of
sorts’ daughter. Al took her to the doctor today just to check the
cough. He thinks she has a viral infection – but one that she is
keeping on top of since her chest, throat and ears were all clear.
Over the last week Al and I have made another real effort to keep calm
during Jack’s frequent meltdowns. We don’t always get it right, but
generally the flare ups haven’t been quite as extreme. At the very
least, none of us seem to be quite as frazzled after his tantrums.
My Dad goes in for an op tomorrow morning. It is a relatively common
thing in older men – and will see him off work for up to 6 weeks. Mum
mentioned he has (literally) years of sick leave. He has been with the
same organisation for what must be 35 odd years now and rarely taken a
day off sick. How fortunate to have such a buffer.
Once he is over that, he will have to have another op – this time to
remove a cancer. Again it is relatively common, and the cancer will
usually be completely cured through surgery alone. He will then have to
take another chunk of sick leave as he recovers.
When I left my last job I lost several months worth of sick leave.
Seeing what Mum and Dad have gone through over the last couple years, I
am reminded about how valuable it can be.
Posted by Doug at 10:08 PM
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Looks like Grace is going to have another bad night – Al has gone to her
half a dozen times already. They are both really in need of a good
night’s sleep.
On a more positive note, Grace seems to have got the knack of commando
crawling. Today she also got up on hands and knees and managed to crawl
properly for short bursts, and is getting herself into the start of a
sitting position. I seem to remember Jack as having a steady progress
through all his baby development, but Grace seems to have sudden mad
bursts, followed by quite periods.
Posted by Doug at 10:24 PM
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Grace was up and down constantly again on Friday night - and tonight
also started out bad. It has taken its toll on Al, who isn’t her normal
self.
Posted by Doug at 12:11 AM
Monday, November 09, 2009
In just one week my maternity leave will finish
and it will start back in the office. I am feeling sad at the rapid end
of my time as a stay at home mum to Grace and Jack. We have certainly
had our ups and downs during the maternity leave, but I have also had
plenty of time to just soak up and enjoy my kids grow and develop
without the outside pressure of work. I am glad we have all managed the
transition to a family of 4 as well as we have. Grace has recently had a
development spurt with her physical movements so I am glad to witness
these milestones before I head back to work.
She continues to be a delightful happy baby and I
have loved having this time at home with her. Jack's behaviour is still
up and down but he has settled down more recently and is a lovely little
boy when not throwing tantrums or crying at the drop of a hat. It is
hard to fully relax knowing the maternity leave is coming to an end all
too soon. I am endeavouring to just take things one day at a time and
not be consumed by worrying about the transitions to come for all of us.
In the past few months I have focused on getting to more of Jack's
activities and childcare pickups, enjoying Grace's Gymbaroo and
swimming, and enjoying family time.
Last weekend Grace had her first overnight trip
away from home to stay at Grandma C and Pops house. The car trip up and
back were great with Grace sleeping the whole way. Both kids enjoyed the
visit and interacting with their grandparents, Auntie Jade and cousins
Hayley and Larissa. Unfortunately Grace came down with a bad cough
overnight and I was up about 10 times with her. I finally gave up at
4:30am and sat with her on my lap in the lounge room to try to allow
everyone else in the house to get more sleep. The bad cough is still
persisting over a week on, and her nights continue with waking between
6-10 times and reluctance to go in her cot. Given she has always slept
so well at night (usually only wakes once or twice) the last week has
come as quite a shock to my system. I can only hope it returns to
normality when the cough finally disappears (and preferably before I go
back to work).
Other events in the past month have included
attending a number of birthday parties. Yesterday Jack happily played
mini golf then enjoyed himself at a picnic playing ball games, musical
chairs, and pretending to be dinosaurs and buzzing bees with party hats
for Max's 3rd birthday. It was only a small party with 2 other families
and it was the most relaxed I have seen him at parties recently. He has
also attended an outdoor Dorothy the Dinosaur concert and fair with
Auntie Lis, as well as other local fairs. He has enjoyed walking down to
the new park down the road as a family. I also had my first outing with
both kids by myself to a Play Centre which both kids enjoyed. We have
also been taking it in turns attending Grace and Jack's libraries for
story time.
Summary of Grace at 8 months:
. Commando crawling everywhere, so now I need to
be vigilant about what toys are laying around
. Starting to crawl - up to about 4 movements so
far before getting back down into the Commando Crawling position
. Pulls herself up to sitting position (although
still balanced on her hands, leaning forwards)
. Weaned off night time feeds in past month with
no issue (currently has 4 breastfeeds a day)
. Started to drinking water out of a Sippy cup.
She pulls my hand forwards and back as she wants more
. Foods she has enjoyed trying in past month
include mushrooms, grapes, strawberries, dry biscuits, bread with butter
or jam on it, cooked carrots, zucchini and grated cheese. We have
noticed she has turned slightly yellow in colour after eating too much
orange food such as pumpkin or Bolognese pasta sauce which has then had
us taking them out of her diet for a few days until her skin colour
returns to normal. We have not noticed any allergy reactions as yet.
. Continues to be able to play for long periods by
herself, although often looks up at me to check where I am and gives me
great big smiles
. Plays in the bottom of the shower while we have
a shower. Also Commando crawls to the shower door and peers in while
Jack has his showers
Summary of Jack at 4 years, 4 months:
. Doing well at memory and matching games at
Gymbaroo
. Puts all his clothes on and off by himself
(other than doing up buttons). He picks his own outfits out each day
(occasionally we need to change the clothes combination before we leave
the house but mostly he picks out suitable outfits)
. Plays by himself upstairs in the morning while I
get dressed and get his breakfast ready
. Loves playing Ben 10, Star Wars and Batman games
on the computer. Plays on the computer by himself while Grace and I have
our shower. Unfortunately still doesn't fully understand that playing
games means sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, so still regularly
throws tantrums in getting off the computer because he lost a game, or
just not wanting to finish playing
. Showing renewed interest in doing lots of
drawings and paintings at childcare
. Is currently enjoying going through toy catalogs
and picking out numerous toy pictures to cut and paste onto his ever
growing 'letter to Santa' for Christmas present suggestions. We do keep
explaining to him that Santa has to give presents to all the boys and
girls in the world, so he can give Santa lots of ideas but won't be able
to get all the ideas
. Still delights us with his imaginative play. A
few days ago he was sprinkling little bits of sand around the backyard
(normally not allowed) calling it sparkly world. Loves pretending to be
Ben 10, Spiderman and other superheroes. Enjoys building houses and
castles with his blocks. After attending the Dorothy the Dinosaur show,
he built a car park and tiered seating and sat all his firemen and
castle men around to watch a Wiggles show that he presented to them.
Posted by Al at 3:27 PM
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Grace is still not sleeping great at night, although there has been some
improvement on that front.
For the last few days Jack has been a great little kid. I don’t think
he has thrown a tantrum (although he has cried a few times), and he has
generally been patient and a delight to interact with. We don’t know if
he is over his growth spurt or what, but we’ll appreciate this version
of Jack while it is here.
Posted by Doug at 10:21 PM
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Grace is still not sleeping great at night, which means most days Al is
suffering from sleep deprivation.
Grace is confidently scooting around now with an effective commando
crawl, and will also get up and crawl properly in short bursts. She now
gets into a partial sitting position - although mostly leans forward
heavily on her two hands. Every so often she will sit up straight and
unaided, but isn’t particularly stable and doesn’t last long.
Happy Jack only lasted a few days - complaining, over sensitive, crying
and tantrum Jack is already back. Today we didn’t have as much patience
for it as we should have had, and there were a couple clashes. We will
have to try harder tomorrow.
Posted by Doug at 10:19 PM
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Grace slept a little better last night, and had a couple long sleeps
today. We put a small fan in her room yesterday, and it is possible
either the noise or breeze has helped her rest better. There were again
noticeable improvements in her crawling and sitting today.
Jack continued being rather demanding. If he wasn’t the focus of
attention, he was whinging and complaining incessantly.
Al goes back to work tomorrow – something which I think has been playing
on her mind. Add the fortnight of broken sleep and Jack’s behaviour, and
she got rather fed up a number of times during the day.
I can normally tell how Jack had critiqued our parenting for each day.
After I tuck him into bed each night, he will call out to me as I go
down the stairs.
On a good day, he will say “Have a good night Dad, love you, sleep
tight.”
On an average day, it will be “Have a good night Dad, sleep tight.”
On a poor day, it will just be “Sleep tight Dad.”
When he is really unhappy with our efforts, he won’t call out.
Today my trip downstairs was a silent one.
Posted by Doug at 10:10 PM
Monday, November 16, 2009
Jack was intrigued by the fact his mum was going back to work today. On
the way to childcare he told her not to spend any of the money she would
earn at the shops. When asked why, Jack said we had to save the money
for when he was older, so that we could buy him a house and car when he
turned 18.
Posted by Doug at 10:18 PM
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Grace is still waking up frequently over night. Al starts most of her
days either grumpy or comatose. Sometimes she is both.
Grace is now crawling correctly most of the time and sitting cross
legged and straight backed when she stops. She has toppled out of the
sitting position a number of times however; face planting on hard
furniture or smacking herself into the tiled floor on several occasions.
I’ve been harping on Al to watch her like a hawk – but she can’t devote
100% of her attention to Grace like she did for Jack. We also haven’t
been able to close off a large area and put down padding like we did
with Jack. It worries me.
Jack has been running a temperature the last few days, and the doctor
suspects he might have a 7 day bug which is going around at the moment.
Today Jack put himself to sleep on the couch instead of going to see
Santa and his (live) reindeers at the nearby shopping centre. That was
a very clear sign on how he was feeling.
Posted by Doug at 10:20 PM
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
This blog was started on the 27th of October, 2004. So far there have
been 945 posts and 175 images uploaded.
Jack’s sickness continues - we had to keep him home from childcare for
the last two days. He only had a mild temperature on and off, which was
an improvement, but his toilet visits are still unpleasant for all
concerned. He’s had momentary bursts of energy, but mostly just sat
quietly watching TV or playing on the computer. I suspect he might have
to spend most of the week at home.
During one of Jack's frequent visits to the toilet today, Al had to take
her eyes of Grace for a moment. Grace again managed to face plant on the
tiles. I heard the thud from downstairs, the long, long pause as Grace
breathed in as much air as she could, and then the subsequent scream.
She ended up with a bruise over her temple which hasn’t cleared as
quickly as the earlier marks. I can't recall Jack hitting his head so
hard, so many times at this age. Grace seems to get over these incidents
quickly – far quicker than her parents do.
Posted by Doug at 11:08 PM
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Al took Jack back to the doctors today. The doc wanted a wee sample
before making a judgment on Jack’s five day run of temperatures and the
runs. Jack however got performance anxiety and said he didn’t need to
go. Al got him home and plied him with water and icy poles, but Jack
held on.
Finally while Al was out of the room she heard the scurrying of little
feet heading quickly to the toilet, so she made the intercept and got
the sample. End result was the doc feels it is just a longer lasting
viral infection than usual. No change to the current regime.
Posted by Doug at 2:02 PM
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Jack is conked out on the couch – where he has been falling asleep most
afternoons since he became ill. He has had fevers and diarrhea for 9
days now, which is worrying us. The doctor today is still hopeful that
it is a virus, but organised some tests next week on his wee and poo .
He raised the possibility that Jack might have a bacterial infection in
his intestines. We are also to watch him closely, and take him
straight to an emergency department if he takes a turn for the worst.
I am looking forward to having whinging, complaining and demanding Jack
back as soon as possible.
Posted by Doug at 5:28 PM
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