30 April 2009

Who needs toilet training now?

E-chan had been going a bit backwards with the old toilet training, so we decided to do the one thing we hadn't done successfully yet, and that most toilet training guides recommend: not react to accidents. Sounds easy, but you try and always maintain a cheerful "oopsie!" attitude, even when your toddler is on their 6th pair of pants for the day, and most of the times they'd had accidents, you'd asked them a minute prior if they needed to go, and their answer was a resolute "no!".

But anyway, we did it, and now he's being a big going to the toilet himself champ! Finally. Now we just need to stop the night nappies. All in due time.

Perhaps I should work on me first? On top of the pregnancy-related poor pelvic floor muscle strength issues (ahem), I just had an accident...

Just then, he was on the potty. He wanted to watch playschool while he widdled. Fair enough. So when he finished, I picked up his potty to empty it, and crashed into a chair, spilling its contents on the floor and a nearby chair.

Good one, Mum!

25 April 2009

Favourite things...

Roll over rain drops on roses and whiskers on kittens. OK so mine don't rhyme, but here's a current list:
- Walking along a footpath on a sunny, crisp autumn day, holding hands with my nearly three-year old who semi-skips (gallops?) from time to time.
- Singing "I love E-chan!", and getting a "I love mummy!" in response in roughly the same tune.
- Making anzac biscuits with E-chan. I started getting things ready, and he went and grabbed his step stool, put it next to me to stand on and said "I want to help lou!" (he doesn't quite say "y"s yet, and kind of says something that sounds more like an "L"). He helped me to pour cupfuls of dry ingredients into the mixing bowl.
- funny and adorable half-asleep conversations and gestures.
- Going around to friends houses to play. E-chan was invited to play at his friend Louis' house - he goes to the same kindy, and lives just around the corner. They greet each other with a hug, and have a whale of a time! Meanwhile, I scoot around town, getting stuff done for the morning(including picking up E-chan's new bed! finally we can put his mattress up off the floor!).
- Baby-sitting vouchers as birthday presents. This rocked. Thanks J!

Now I just have to spend some time on many emails that seem to be piling up in my inbox, not responded to...

16 April 2009

Dancing to own beat

There's a junkie who lives or hangs out near my work. I often see him on my way home, gesticulating to the sky/talking to God, taking photos of random things with a mobile phone, dancing and skipping along to his own beat. He's often wearing only jeans, which hang dangerously low on his hips, exposing the creases that go diagonally down from the hip to between the legs on skinny men's bodies.

A few weeks ago, I was having a lunch-time catch up with my boss outside the tea room on the 5th floor of my building. I was looking outwards, over her shoulder, where I could see junkie-guy doing the most intense dance ever on the top of a nearby multi-storey car park. You know, a re-enacting Flashdance kind or dance. It was quite distracting.

10 April 2009

pregnancy pragmatism

How's the pregnancy going? Have you been very sick?
Yes - foul morning sickness.
Oh you must be having a girl! I have a feeling you might...
I had dreadful morning sickness last time too. I think I have a 49% chance of having a girl.
---(change of topic)---

So do you find as you approach the latter stages of pregnancy - I hear - that pregnant women start to find they feel happy and are looking forward to the baby once they feel less tired and sick...
Uh, dunno. Suppose it depends on your personal situation. If you have uncertainty with your housing or job or finances, it would make things even more stressful.
---(change of topic)---

Listen to hissy fit over the phone as someone jumps the gun and over-reacts. Can feel eyelids sitting half way down my lids, patiently wait for it to end, and calmly state my point of view.

---

Nice to be feeling rational and confident. A month or two ago I was a mess every time I saw a child get hurt on TV for example.