Guitar Man

Here's my boy - Mr Guitar Man! Well, Fraz has finally succumbed to pressure and bought his son a geetar. It's a half-size model and I forget the brand. Anyway, Frazer and Lockie have worked their way through 2 music theory books to get to the stage of actually handling a real live guitar, and Lockie is so proud of it! Not that this makes him any more likely to practise it, although he has told a friend of mine that he prefers to practise his guitar over watching Playhouse Disney channel on TV...yeah right. He's lost a couple of picks already down into the soundhole so it rattles a bit. [He won't accept help to get them out]. To those who are astute enough to notice, it's a left-handed model, because the poor kid takes after both his parents in that respect. It's a bloody bugger to get hold of decent left-handed electric guitars apparently, or so Fraz would tell it, and he should know, having played guitar for about 26 years now.

I like to think Bella may also be musical - she chimes in quite tunefully when I sing 'Five Little Ducks Went Swimming One Day'. And she too is handy with a guitar pick - when I can persuade her to keep it out of her mouth...

Today I took Bella over to the house of the new woman who will be minding her one day each week. She has a daughter a few weeks older [but several cm taller], and loads of lovely toys. Bella was interested in the place but only if I was in view. I sure hope it works out OK as Bella was so settled at the last caregiver's but that only lasted 6 months. I have put her name on the waiting list at a few childcare centres but at least two of them were reluctant to even put her name down - as if their current waiting list was miles long and I would never get a place! I insisted anyway. Apparently next year the Govt. has decreed that we can get 20 hours free childcare per week. Sounds good, but I've been advised to get Bella's name down at as many places as practical to ensure she gets a place somewhere. Hmmm. Seems quite political.

Lockie saw his paediatrician a couple of days ago and he has given him on a course of antibiotics [to kick a persistent cough] that requires me to wake him at 6am to take a pill, and for his teacher at school to administer two doses also - they've gotta be on an empty stomach which is actually quite hard to work out. It seems he normally eats a lot more frequently than fits the prescription needs. 3 weeks of this better be worth it...

At least the check-up was a good one. There's a new treatment for CF pioneered in Australia [hypertonic saline] that is being discussed at the next NZ CF Conference in Christchurch in May and Lockie's paediatrician is very interested in this subject and the possibility of good benefits for young CF sufferers like Lockie. Sounds good.