Take Your Positions

Tonight the battle commenced. The battle to get Lockie to eat his dinner that is. This afternoon we took Lockie to see his paediatrician for his regular check-up. All went well, until we somehow got on to his lack of appetite at dinnertime. The Prof suggested we offer him the same food as we are all eating and send him to bed hungry if he refuses it. Common sense maybe, but we have never actually done this and instead I would make him his own meal, effectively making two dinners each night. I'm talking about a boy who will eat a VERY limited range of food. With Frazer and Lockie both present when the Prof talked to us today, I resolved to Get Hard and start to address the problem properly. So when we got home I made dinner, and an hour and 10 minutes after we had finished eating, Lockie finally stopped his loud ranting and raving and sat down to consume a [small] portion of spag bol! Small miracles, as he has never bothered to even taste it ever before, and it's a dish we have every week. He was rightly proud of his efforts and went to bed smiling and relaxed. Whew! Day One is over... I'm hoping his confidence will grow as he finds that the meals I cook aren't too bad after all :)

Masterpiece

Lockie has produced this lovely waterslide with Jerry, about to zoom down! It is a school 'news' project - to create a model of your favourite piece of playground equipment. He is so very proud of it. Except, he has seen other models brought to school this week and his apparently pales in comparison to the [parent-assisted] creations of wood and wire... I feel for him. He put his heart and soul into this slide and I didn't help him beyond the occasional encouraging comment. Now he feels it's not that great. I hope his teacher sees that he did it all himself and praises his efforts accordingly.

I bought a food processor on the weekend [Trademe!] and this morning attempted my first recipe using it. I made Honey and Sultana Scones and the mess I created was astounding. Flour and sticky goop covered most surfaces including myself and the machine made some odd grunting noises as I added the 3 cups of flour down the feed tube [missing the tube mostly]. When the scones were finally baking, I noticed the last line of the recipe stated that it should only be attempted using the Super version of the machine I had...oops.

I am soon going to attempt to put Bella down for a nap. She has been most reluctant to do this lately and a couple of days ago she actually untucked herself, took off her shorts and NAPPY and ended up sleeping butt-naked, and wetting the bed of course. Yesterday she practically skipped her sleep owing to the fact she had tumbled on an armchair at lunchtime, hurting her arm. She made such a huge fuss about it for so long, that I gave her some Pamol and then drove her to the A&E at Kenepuru Hospital, fearing the worst. She napped on the way, for barely 10 minutes, and when I woke her in the carpark, she was FINE. No pain, crying or whinging. I tested her - "wave to Mummy with two hands!" - and ended up confusing her, but was satisfied there was nothing wrong with her. What a palaver. My little drama queen... 

Rest In Peace

Two days ago was the 7th anniversary of my Mum's death. I spent the day [at work] feeling strangely lost. I vividly remember the day I got a phonecall from my brother-in-law to say she had suddenly passed away. I felt so choked with shock and despair I could barely breathe. It was like my life [as I knew it] was over. Of course, it wasn't really over, but a few months later my first child was born and discovered to have CF and my grief really hit me then. Mum would have known how to comfort me - she had the knack of saying just the right thing, and her humour was guaranteed to make me smile through my tears. I sure hope I can be a Mum like that to my kids when they are grown.

This morning Belinda Emmett passed away in the hospital my sister works in in Sydney. We had watched 'Rove Live' last night and I feel deeply sad for Rove's loss. He's such a likeable character, it feels awful to imagine his pain at his wife's passing, not that I can.

What a sad little blog! Sorry folks. Will be chirpier next time!!!

Just Like Daddy

Bella was singing 'You Are My Sunshine' as she strummed on her Dad's guitar. She knows all the words too!

Today I splashed out on a trampoline [yay for Trademe] as we will soon have a yard worthy of one. Lockie is excited and bouncy already, although he'll have to wait a few more weeks to try it out. Bella isn't really up with such things as tramps so she's going to be in for a lovely surprise.

Bella's most favourite caregiver at her daycare centre is leaving tomorrow. This is quite a blow for all the parents too, as Dao is a favourite of many of the kids. Hopefully Bella will latch onto another of the teachers there soon enough.