28 May 2009

Re-feathering the nest

Little E-chan has moments when he is keen as mustard to take on the big brother role – this is particularly after he sees other sets of siblings behaving in a positive way. But I suppose we can only expect that it will be normal from now on for him to embrace change in spurts, and downright reject it at other times. Sometimes within 30 minutes of each other. Not completely unlike adults, just different issues, I suppose.

Lately he’s quite interested in the baby in my belly and talking about how it's going to be once his sibling is here. He even hugs and kisses my belly, which is sweet. Sometimes he runs off to kindy all enthusiastic, waving goodbye to us like a little boy, sometimes he almost cries when we leave. Sometimes he runs into our room crying in the middle of the night, scared of something, sometimes he strolls into our room beaming at us as soon as we show signs of being awake in the morning. But overall, he's adjusting well, being adorable, and toilet training is going really well - not sure when he'll be out of night nappies, but for the timebeing, few accidents in the day time.

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One thing I’m excited about is re-feathering the nest.

I've gone through E-chan’s baby clothes, sorted through them, and started to give away the ones we don’t think we’ll need. Friends are lending us a baby capsule for the car, a carrier and a baby bath. Time to make sure the clothes, toys and other stuff for 0-6 month-olds are all clean and not dusty and ready for use. Time to clear out the spare half of the wardrobe in the kid’s room and make sure there is room for baby stuff to go in! Time to look into BPA-free baby bottles and pumps, and prams/transport arrangements that will work with 2 of them...

20 May 2009

Climate fighting chicks

http://www.1millionwomen.com.au/index.cfm

This campaign challenges 1 million (Australian?) women to reduce their carbon emissions by a tonne.

Also some discussion forums where people share tips on being green. Early days yet, but it looks good. Sign up, and get your employer to sponsor/be a partner!

08 May 2009

Minding other people's children - a great test of parenthood

I've done the odd spot of babysitting, and most of those times, the kids have already been in bed asleep before I arrived.

Today I am venturing into new territory. I have a polite little boy called Louis playing at our place this morning. I know him quite well, and they just live around the corner. But haven't done this before.

Safety isn't really a problem. Our open plan living room means I can see much of what goes on without having to budge. I hope I have the toilet and food and drinks covered, and I'm trying to be interested but not intervene too much. My bossy, talkative little boy keeps trying to tell Louis what to do, but Louis, the relatively quiet 2nd child, puts up with it like a trooper... so far...

06 May 2009

Denial all around us...

I'm trying not to get too depressed about the lack of government action on climate change. I'm trying not to get too worried about how easy it is for climate change denialists to convince most average and many well educated people that climate change has nothing to do with atmospheric carbon. What sort of world am I bringing children into? (and please don't point out overpopulation to me... am aware of this, and at least I am stopping at 2 children - everything going well).

So what am I doing in my own "backyard"? Well we currently have silly European-style (except not double glazed) push-out windows. We've been looking into how we could put insect screens in, so we can leave windows open for ventilation without the bother of mosquitos and flies. The best solution, all things such as blinds considered, was to convert them to wind-out windows. The other benefit of this conversion is we can now lock our windows slightly open, without worrying about certain little people working out how to climb up and falling out. Next step: insect screens some time before September, which is when the nocturnal mozzies started bothering us last year....

Second - am investigating the retrofitting of ceiling insulation on behalf of our unit complex. More than half of the units have uninsulated corrugated iron rooves (the rest are underneath other apartments). They planned to insulate at the time of building 10 years ago, but Shonky Bros builders didn't manage to get around to installing. Or something. People are putting in air conditioning to micromanage their climates, but some of us would rather insulate and use fans and better ventilation. So far, have investgated the Govt rebate scheme, clarified how strata units are eligible, and now I need to get quotes (some rooves are v high up, some ceilings have down lights, no ceilings have internal access...).

Third - I have a tub of borax under my sink. Haven't managed to use it yet, but it's there!!

Fourth - have worked out how to hang my sheets out to dry without having to use the dryer.

So much more I could do...