24 January 2008

Vacuous activities...

A bit of my time lately has been spent admiring amazonian tennis players slog it out at the Australian open, wondering why nikee gave Venus a short suit that she constantly had to de-wedgify from her muscular buttocks (I mean if you're going to sponsor an athlete, shouldn't you at least ensure you have an outfit that covers her 6ft warrior-woman frame properly?), and new-ish Serbian players who nearly beat Roger Federer wearing funky horn-rimmed wrap around glasses! That sporty-librarian look is a killer!!

On top of that we've had ever expanding vocabularies, cheekiness and bossiness from E-chan, and week-long visits from grandparents who have simultaneously been welcome and making our house seem a bit too full. And we've had to restrain them from going in to give E-chan cuddles when he calls out repeatedly at bed-time, which is instinctively what you want to do but counterproductive to establishing long-term routines. But who can really complain when they help with the washing up, book reading, shopping and cooking?

But we are looking forward to getting back into our own routine. In case you haven't picked this up, parenting has quite a bit to do with routines. Which is fine so long as you know which routines you can break and how frequently to break them without creating different expectations.

Gah!

Might go read my book, and keep and eye on the tennis!

16 January 2008

Karma?

Some days are just shitty I think because the universe, after a bit of gentle nudging that you have ignored, decides it’s high time that you are propelled in a new direction. Lots of minor things happen, until finally the last straw shocks you into action kind of like one of those heart starty (defribulation sp?) machines.

Last week I had:
- Boss leaving someone else’s resume for a position startlingly similar to mine on her desk right next to where she knew I would deposit her mail (turns out she is looking for someone to job share with me, but she never told me about that, so I assumed the worst).
- shitty boss emails that made me feel an inch high, making me rather unprofessionally burst into tears in front of the only other person cohabiting my office that day, (who happens to be a retired septuagenarian)
- locked toilet cubicle doors that have opened themselves on me mid-stream!!!
- my premenstrual-ness abruptly conclude with menstrual-ness which I was only partially prepared for due to shorter than usual cycles and recently bad documentation of when it should be due (but really - I should be better at this by now!!)
- Son almost ignoring me in favour of visiting doting grandparents!!
- Son potentially developing yet another allergy if his development of a rash after eating fish is anything to go by (damn!).
- Stinky hot humid nights

What’s been brought into sharp focus is fact that I don’t love my job nor the topic of research that is going on around me. Boss is picky about relatively small things and you get told off (as if you are in school) for every little thing that might go wrong - usually by email - no matter how much you couldn’t know because you don’t habitually mind-read. And of course nothing is ever her fault, and I've been dreading opening my emails each day for quite a while.

Perhaps it’s best that I make a graceful exit from what was rather openly a stop-gap job that I took because I needed to? And perhaps soon before my self esteem gets ground down too much from being told off for my mistakenly not having mind-read properly or crossed my t’s with a nearly 85 degree angle rather than a 90 degree angle.

So the other night, I got fed up, and looked for vacant positions, and found one I could apply for that is exactly 3 days a week. Was worried for a while about moving on after such a short time, but then shitty thing # 2 above happened and I thought "screw that!". Am attempting to focus energy on positive smooth job transition vibes.

07 January 2008

Year of the Rat

Happy New Year! What an eventful few weeks it has been?!

Firstly came our trip to Grandparentville – aka Adelaide – I called it Grandparentville because that is where all of E-chan’s grandparents live, not because it’s full of old people… This was rather hectic and not at all relaxing (as traveling with an 18 month old often can be), but fun. It was great to have some family support nearby, to meet the younger of my 2 nephews for the first time, to watch E-chan, Tomo-chan and Yu-chan running around together trying to escape from the house and steal each other’s toys. Also, E-chan was spoilt by not only xmas presents but also attention! There was never a moment when someone wasn’t willing to play with him, carry him or sit him on their knee for a story. We also managed to catch up with a few – but not all – of our friends in Adelaide.

Perhaps not surprisingly, E-chan has developed quite strong separation anxiety upon return home. The first few days, he constantly recited “where Nanna/papa/doggy?” and also “Mummy there!”, “Daddy there!” as if to reassure himself that we were still there despite being wrenched away from his loving grandparents. Sleep issues (ie screaming when we leave the room) resurfaced for a bit and we had to do what we could to reassure him that we’ll always be here for him. C-chan was back at work this week, I’m back next week, and a succession of grandparent visits (although welcome) over the coming month makes us think his anxiety won’t ease quickly.
E-chan developed rapidly when we were away, and now regularly puts together two or three words and his vocabulary is now heading up the exponential curve. He now runs much of the time, as if he can’t get places quickly enough.

We had in part a rather civilized (eccentric?) new year this year, reading James Joyce (or the first few pages of Finnegan’s wake anyway) around the table, after one of our guests announced one of her goals for the year was to read Ulysses this year. A new years eve book club - who would have thunk it?!

Since C-chan went back to work on Wednesday, I’ve been ringing my neighbourhood mum friends to find things to do with our littleys, as they are all around 18-19 months and needing to be kept entertained and excercised, and the weather is hot and humid. This has resulted in many trips to the park and the pool, a visit to an indoor padded 3-D mazey playland, and to Balmoral beach.

04 January 2008

Holy Jumping Jehosephat Batman!

Last night we had a 1am unsettled period that unfortunately included screaming from our nearly 19-month old (see post to follow in the next day or two). This was potentially caused by a visit from a cricket. We’d watched a bit of Pan’s Labyrinth (which involves a cricket), then strangely we heard a loud chirp around bed time – it must have been just outside our open window. Then it poured with rain for a bit, and it must have decided to come inside (damn Sydney and it’s lack of flyscreens!). At 1am, when I got up to E-chan, I heard a rather loud chirp coming from our kitchen. Poor Little E-chan’s arms tightened around my neck in fear. We turned on the light and sure enough, there was a massive (7cm long) cricket on out kitchen ceiling.

As C-chan reminded me as he went about resettling E-chan, I did a science degree, so why on earth was I afraid of the thing? (this of course was just to cover up his own fear!) I managed to muster the thing down the wall and into the paper recycling bag we have slung over the door handle using a cunning switch of different household lights. I didn’t want any of the following to happen: a) insecticide use (how can we be sure E-chan wouldn’t absorb the chemicals?); b) to have a faster than lightening large insect flitting around our lounge room causing a flap as our difficult-to-settle son was nearly asleep in the next room; c) to have a squashed cricket on our wall; d) to have to touch the damn thing as it was making my half-asleep hair stand on end.

In then end it seemed to settle in our recycling bag, and was carried out this morning we assume, as we haven’t seen it since. Such a cowardly and anticlimactic end to my story - lacking in bravery or even university-educated rationality. But at 2am this giant bug was frightening, I assure you!!