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.