Patient Notes: Dragon McTavish

Case Notes: 4 year old male patient presented well after bed time with severe Textatinge to the face, hands and feet.  Further examination also showed Textatinge to the torso with the most worrying symptom being the dark tint to the belly button.  The child's mother said he was supposed to be sleeping and she knew he was finding it hard to fall asleep but had no idea of his condition until he came to her while she sat enjoying the quiet of the house.  

Pay careful note to the back of the right hand.  The Textatinge seemed to only go to his wrist initially, but upon closer examination after the images were taken, it was discovered it was far more serious and ended closer to the elbow than the wrist.  Initial treatment was discussed and it was suggested that we let the Textatinge wear off with time and the child give the cause to all who ask, a common combined form of the treatments "Imasillydill" and "Embarrassment".  After further discussion that treatment seemed too strong for a first outbreak and another common treatment was decided upon with a topical application of dihydrogenmonoxide (H2O).  The Textatinge did not immediately clear up and certain areas responded better than others with the forehead showing the best (and most rapid) improvement.  Treatment will continue over the course of a few days with the added treatment of a liquid detergent at approximately 24 hours after the first symptoms appeared combined with a dihydrogenmonoxide bath.

Should the Textatinge return in the future we will discuss more severe treatments to deter further outbreaks.

Dr McTavish.

Did I ever tell you I loved working as a clinical photographer?  If only all my cases had been this cute (and non-infectious).

*space reserved for intelligent sounding title*

It's been a while.

Over a week, in fact.

Since I've blogged.

Now I do realise that you don't all sit by your computers waiting for me to upload the next post... but for some reason I feel like I must apologise, so I am sorry if you were sitting waiting for an update on my children's cuteness.

They were being cute... I just wasn't capable of stringing sentences together to get the point across.

So, here is a quick rundown on what's been happening around here.  Time to fill in the family, journal our current issues so I can look back and see what we have survived, share our craziness... hold on tight.

Lion has continued to go to school.  We have only had one day where he tried to get clingy.  I showed him the hands of the classroom clock and told him when the little hand is on the 3, I will be waiting outside for him.  That was all he needed and he was off to join his class.  He is having fun tracing-writing and is actually enjoying being forced to do art/craft and even painted me a picture yesterday (that we couldn't take home yet but I CAN'T WAIT).  He took Bruce (his shark puppet) for morning sharing yesterday and did the whole thing without talking.  Bruce talked of course, Lion didn't.  I bet that gave his teacher a great insight into the crazy mind of that kid.  We are looking to buy him a cheap two wheel scooter for the walk to and from school because he is totally worn out by the afternoon and I can get to the classroom in about 5 minutes and it takes 15 or so to walk back to Grannysaurus' house as he drags his feet, moans that he is "SOOOOOO worn out", runs to chase away a bird, whinges that his feet are tired, dances around chatting to a girls from our church that he sees most afternoons, tells me that i need to carry him because he can't take another step... yeah, I reckon he'll be fine on a scooter... if he learns to lift his head up and look where he is going instead of at the front wheel.

He is obviously having some troubles with school though, even if it's just over-tiredness.  He has been having CRAZY nightmares.  Climbing into our bed and so totally freaked out that he cannot be convinced to go back into his own bed.  Last night was the first night for AGES that he didn't have one.  When he was younger he had night terrors, I prayed so often that they would go away.  They were horrible for me, I would hear the sounds, the whimpers, the restlessness before I went to bed and I would know... 2am I would be woken by screaming.  Sure enough, 2am he would be screaming/crying/sobbing/chattering away in a totally freaked out manner/ whatever.  I would cuddle him, sing to him, pray in his ear, whisper that I love him, tell him he's okay and eventually he would stop.  Just like that.  Suddenly.  He'd look at me confused, tell me he's tired and go back to sleep.  He had no idea they happened.  I however would lay awake wondering if tonight would be a night with multiple terrors or if that was the only one this time.  Wondering what was causing them.  Wondering if something was happening that we didn't know about.  Over time we found some great techniques and eventually they got less and less and finally they stopped.  They were replaced with nightmares... that he does remember... that make him afraid to go back to sleep.  Now it's not just me that is missing sleep, it's my baby getting frightened by things that I can't stop, my baby is missing (sometimes hours of) sleep during the night because of these horrible dreams.  We are tired, worn out, OVER IT.  So this morning I woke up and realised that he had made it through the night... I didn't point it out, I don't want to make him think about nightmares if he isn't already.  If the topic comes up at bedtime (which I'm pretty certain it will) I'll let him know he did it and he can do it again. 

Dragon has been kept quite busy but is still finding time to push the limits.  It seems like it's only on the days when he knows that there is no negotiation and we HAVE to go here or there or that he CAN NOT go with Grannysaurus that he decides to throw a spanner in the works and dig in his heels to do whatever he can't do.  Every day that I am flexible, he decides to be flexible too... fun times.  He does however put some sunshine in some everyday activities like going to the toilet.  EVERY time after he does a wee he comes out of the toilet with his shorts still around his ankles and waddles around "I am walkin' like a penguin"... I love the way he says penguin.  Last week he had a meltdown at Playgroup that I have never seen the likes of before and I hope to never see again.  It was horrific.  You know how sometimes someone is obviously having a rubbish day with kids going crazy and you'd love to help but there is really nothing you can do other than be thankful it's not you with the child that is being a total embarrassment?  Yeah, well that was me with that kid last week.  His name was Dragon and he couldn't have the particular bike he thought he was entitled to and so he chucked a stink.  Then he couldn't' get himself out of it and I had nothing else I could do other than put him on one of the benches outside and assume that eventually he would get over it and join in playing again.  His friend J-Mac was sad because Dragon didn't play with him the whole time.  Dragon was too involved in his "little" meltdown to notice.  We had a BIG talk later about how to deal with those situations and discussed how he could have made better decisions and that night I was dumbfounded.  Lion had something he wanted... I saw his hand raised to strike... he started to swing... he dropped his hand in his lap... "Um, Lion, when you have finished, please may I have a turn?"  WHAT THE????  You mean some of this is actually getting through???  Oh boy did we make a big deal about that good decision.

Monkey... he had put on 400grams at his appointment on Monday.  That kept the doctor happy and he was happy for me to just go see Dr Jenny about his weight and not have multiple appointments over the same thing.  That afternoon he did a 399g poop... okay, I didn't actually weigh it but it was huge.  I had him in the bouncer and I was in the kitchen making my lunch.  He started sooking and I talked to him and called out to him and he got worse and was crying and I was just trying to finish my sandwich making and I sang to him and called to him and finished up and went in there.  The poor kid had a poo-explosion and it was oozing and he'd wiped the back of his hand in it and smeared it all over his clothes and his cheek and he was not happy.  Yet another fine parenting moment from Mummy McTavish.  So, sandwich in the fridge, baby in the bath... crisis fixed.  I think we may have weaned him off his medicine too soon because for the last month I have been getting somewhere between 2 and 3 hours sleep a night... and that is broken sleep.  So the night before last I whipped out the Infant Gaviscon.  I mixed it up, poured it into a bottle and prayed like crazy that this might just work.  He didn't take all 30ml but he got a lot into him (mostly from me squeezing the teat to shoot it into his mouth☺) and then when he went to sleep not long after he stayed asleep... for three hours... then he fed and went back to sleep FOR THREE MORE HOURS!  Last night wasn't so successful but it was better than things have been.  I tried some formula in a bottle again and he drank some of it, probably only about 30ml though.  Still, I'm not worried, he looks healthy, he's running the same track that his brothers did, he's on the charts - it's not like he's fallen off the bottom and he's been a lot more settled during the day.  We will be moving on to solids in the next few weeks though... how can my baby be old enough to have solids?????  His current measurements are Weight - 6.4kg (about 10th percentile), Length - 63.5cm (10th), Head circumference - 45cm (95th percentile)... my baby bobblehead.

Sleep deprivation has meant that there are no photos.  NONE.  I must change that.

A quick spot of randomness

Tomorrow is Australia Day.  Lamb and Lamingtons were on special... it was a very happy shopping trip for me.

That is going to sound totally weird if you don't know the lamb and lamington connection to January 26th... which is basically that on Australia Day you chuck lamb on the barbie and scoff down a couple of lamingtons.  And I really like lamb and lamingtons.

Monkey is really not sleeping well lately, I think I may need to cut out milk again, even my good milk that has been okay, now that he doesn't have the medicine to help it might be too much.  I like the odd latte.

Dragon was at kindy again today.  Not a drama at all.  Miss S was about to read a book to another little boy and asked if Dragon would like to join in and he sat up next to her on the couch and I gave him a cuddle and a kiss and left.

Lion starts prep in less than 48 hours.  It's exciting.  It's scary.  This is me I'm talking about here, if Lion is scared at all anymore he's not showing it.  Meanwhile my heart skips a beat anytime I see an ad on TV with kids in school uniforms.

I met a lady today who had panic in her eyes.  She had been sitting with her husband at the hospital but she needed to leave him to go and get some groceries for home and in her hurry hadn't gone to the loo before she started shopping.  She had a trolley full of groceries and needed to use the loo!  She had called her daughter on the off chance that she was shopping in the same centre or was near by because she just couldn't think what to do with her groceries while she relieved herself.  Her daughter suggested she go to the parents room because they have a stall big enough to get a pram into so she could take the trolley in with her.  She was very embarrassed to be in there without a child, and worse still she had to wait.  I chatted with her for a minute and could see the panic rising as we talked... "Why don't you leave your trolley here, take your handbag and see if there's a stall free in the ladies" I suggested... I didn't have to say it twice, she gave me a relieved (hahahaha) look and took off.  When she got back she told me I was the most wonderful thing that has happened to her in her life... now, I doubt it was true, desperation can make your world seem rather skewey... but she was sweet and I hope her husband gets to go home soon.

We bought Lion a school hat today.  He should have one with the school emblem on the front and his sports house colour trim around the edge of the brim.  "You can purchase them from the tuckshop during the student-free days" we were told.  So off we go today, Lion and I, to the school office to find out which house he is in and what colour trim we need to get.  "You can purchase it from the tuckshop once school starts" the office ladies tell me.  WHAT?  I doubt there will be any sun on his first day of school with all these tropical lows and rain depressions hanging around but he should have a hat to start school.  So they can stick their school hat (the uniform is just a navy hat with a full brim and you can purchase a "school hat" if you wish) I went and bought him a nice broad brimmed navy hat.  He loved it and I had to pull the tags off it for the chick to scan them because it was on his head for keeps once I said we were buying it.

The rain has been crazy with ex-Tropical Cyclone Olga and ex-Tropical Cyclone Neville messing with things.  Olga was above us and Neville below us... the rain was right on us.  But then it wasn't.  It was pouring.  Then it was blue sky.  It was raining so hard I couldn't see through the windscreen for a bit each time the wipers passed.  Then it was spitting just enough to be annoying.  AAAARRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!

I am a realist.  This summer anyway.  I spent nearly $20 on an underbrella (Lion's word) last summer that was compact when folded and big enough to fit me and two kids under, it died the second time I used it.  This summer... I spent $5 at the junk shop on a sweet purple kids underbrella just for Monkey and I to use.  If my underbrella doesn't make it to the end of the wet season I wont cry.

I needed to buy new raincoaters (Lion's word also) for the kids anyway.  The one (yes, only one) that we had was a hand me down from Cheetah, I don't know how old it was but towards the end of last summer it started getting holes.  That's fine for playing in the yard (when you have to do a time share deal with your brother anyway so one of you is getting soaked at all times) but for actual rain protection it's pretty useless.

Have I mentioned that Lion is starting school and I am not ready for it?

It's 11pm and Monkey is awake and playing.  He does this a bit lately.  He goes to sleep for an hour or so and then he wakes up sometime when I am thinking sleepy thoughts and is uncomfortable and cranky and kicks and plays and complains until he a) burps b) pops c) poops d) all three.  I have no idea how to break this cycle.  I am hoping going back off the milk might help that too.

Yep, my boy is going to school.  I don't think I'll cry, but I will be nervous for him... and for me.  Nervous for him as he meets his new classmates and will he get a teacher that will understand his special little personality.  Nervous for me for the new parenting challenges this will bring... Remembering to pick him up each day... The delightful new words that will come home... Will I have to deal with problems from the "wrong sort of friends"?  I know we'll be fine, heaps of parents have done it before and survived and their kids have turned out to be model citizens.  Heaps of people have totally screwed up their kids too... but I'm not completely convinced that had anything to do with school in a lot of cases.

We did find out his teachers name today, Miss P... and his class, Prep A.  We went looking for which room that was but they didn't have their room names anywhere that I could find and we were told that  from today they would have class lists on the room doors so that if you wanted to familiarise your child with where to go before school starts you could.  I figured it seemed like a good idea and since we were there to buy a hat (yeah, great!) we might as well find out which room he was in.  Well it was like their promise that the tuckshop would be open for us to buy a hat... NOTHING.  We'll just be surprised along with everyone else on Wednesday.

I love to listen to my kids sing.  Two particular times they have brought a smile to me recently.  Yesterday at church Lion was giving it his all singing "Trust and obey, for there's no other way, to be joyful in Jeeeeesus than to trust and obey".  Then today in the car we had the most wonderful rock/opera version of the Hallelujah Chorus.  I love the way they pronounce 'omnipotent' different every time they sing it!

So, yeah, Lion starts Prep on Wednesday...

McDonalds, Lego and Super Ninjas!

The marketing machine isn't working... or maybe it is... it depends on who the machine belongs to.  When I was awake WAAAAY too early this morning I turned on some news and the ads came on so I tuned out but remained vaguely aware that there was a food ad on when Lion turns to me and says

Lion - "That's not true mum"

Mummy - "What's not true?"

Lion - "The burgers are better at McDonald's, not Hungry Jacks"

For those not aware, HJ's tag-line is "The burgers are better at Hungry Jacks".

I grabbed some clothes out for the kids to wear and since I didn't feel like searching too hard through the folding I haven't done I found a pair of soccer shorts and a batman shirt for Dragon to wear.  Wolf told Dragon he was going to wear Soccer shorts and Dragon replied that he didn't play Soccer,

Wolf - "Well, you are sporty, you run around and stuff"

Dragon - "But I don't play soccer"

Wolf - "But sporty people wear soccer shorts"

Dragon - "Like a ninja?"

Wolf - "um, yes, like a ninja"

Dragon - "I'M SUPER NINJA"

I've got a soft spot for photos of my kids sleeping but these next few shots are really special...

My kids don't fall asleep by themselves.  They each have a couple of times as babies but only by accident when they were wrapped and tricked into it.  Monkey had a cranky tummy so he had to get back up for a bit after he had already been put to bed.  I put him on the blanket in the lounge room with Wolf and went off to finish whatever I was doing while he wriggled and squirmed until he did a pop or a poop.  Wolf called me in because he had fallen asleep!

Just like that.  Squirmed his way off the edge of the mat and crashed.

He's so cute!

Speaking of cute, here's a video of another cute kid that we made for Nano and Pappap.

We hope you enjoy it Nano and Pappap.  Lion was so excited about his new Lego that he worked soooo hard for and he wanted to video it to show you.  I really didn't make him work all that hard... kind of... but that's another story for another day.

Oh, yeah, this also shows our current LSS (Lego Storage Solution) for you, Renata.  Problem is it wont work if he doesn't use it!  But it does solve the "Place for everything" we just need to master the "everything in it's place" bit.

Right now, I must resolve to stop writing blog posts so late at night so that my brain has half a chance of stringing a few simple concepts together when I do sit down.  I am doubtful that this makes much sense but that's really how our day rolls.

G'night.

By the way... Lion and Dragon were playing policeman and baddy this afternoon... the baddy was making a speedy escape... on a Lego segue...

Lion "Policeman" - "STOP, I said stop running away baddy"

Dragon "Baddy" - "NO, I am getting away from you! I am escaping on my segue, you can't catch me"

(both to be read in a really deep throaty voice)

My kids crack me up!

Needles are YUCKY.

Dragon's stash from the treasure hunt at J-Mac's birthday party on Saturday. He was pretty pleased with himself. Thankfully neither of the kids noticed that I pulled a heap of the lollies out of their collection and left them at the party!

Monkey did really well until we hit the 24 hour mark... things fell apart and he has had maybe 30 minutes accumulated sleep since 3pm... it's 8:30pm. I don't know what brought on the change. I expected last night to be horrible but I'm pretty sure people were praying for us because it was a breeze. We actually woke up feeling MORE rested that normal. Things then continued to go well until 3 this avo.

Other than his blood test they went well. That was HORRIBLE. It's not over either. The poor girl couldn't get any out and he was hysterical and she had to give up and now he's got to go to the paed tomorrow avo so she can try. I want to cry just thinking about putting him through that again! I'm wondering if he's getting nightmares about the whole thing. I can't figure out what's waking him up every time he drifts off but it's like he wakes up in a panic about something. Don't even get me started on taking the band-aid off... I didn't actually inflict the needle pain on him but taking the band-aid off... that was me doing that. We used baby oil on a cotton ball to get it off as gently as we could because I could see his skin was getting irritated by it but he screamed and it was mummy that was hurting him. This 'mummy' job sucks when you've gotta do things like that.

We did manage to collect a little bit of wee for his urine test and yes, we got the fresh stuff. But because I was so focused on grabbing the jar and catching some I couldn't stop it from spraying wherever it wanted and I had a big old mess to clean up afterwards but it's something I do at least once a day so I'll survive, at least we don't have to stick on a little bag to collect it... you know that I'd be freaking out about removing that stuck to his oh-so-sensitive bits!

So what are my thoughts after 24 hours... Spreading out the feeds and ensuring he's getting more of the fatty milk and not just the sugary milk seems to be helping his tummy cramps and stuff. Getting rid of some of the symptoms has made the refluxy symptoms more pronounced though and he's started to actually spew a little bit on top of it all. We will keep going for another 24 hours before I go get the Zoton prescription filled to see if the reflux symptoms want to abate a little as well.

Like Mum-me said in the comments from the last post her motto was "it wont always be like this" and that is how I've managed the last almost 5 years. ALL the boys have favoured a 2 hourly cycle - day and night. People ask how on earth I cope with it and why don't I make them cry it out (not an option with a reflux baby) or any number of other suggestions. My answer just became standardised... "I plan on living to be pretty old. A couple of years of crazy sleep now is going to end up being a very small part of my life." Sometimes I'd add that it also means I'm guaranteed cuddles every two hours and that's not to be sneezed at... I love baby cuddles!

Anyway, all the comments have been so wonderful and I'd love to respond to everyone properly but I am missing out on 30 minutes of sleep by writing this so I am sure no one will hold it against me that I go and get started on catching up on sleep instead of comments...

Lisa - you'll have to fight my sister's Little Bear. She says very definitely "MY Baby"... check out mums post and see if you want to compete with that!

Heather - Honestly I think second baby is the hardest! You'll do great though and Gia will thrive being a big girl and helping mummy. I saw it with Lion and I'm seeing it again with Dragon!

Julie B - Do you really think it would be a good idea to let the big kids go crazy together... Katie and Lion's imaginations joining forces would probably cause destruction on a level we can only dream of!

Just stuff...

After my post yesterday we actually had a pretty good night.  Our day went back down hill, he did that little baby trick where they refuse to sleep at practical times when you can catch a few winks with them and you go to a birthday party and they sleep the whole time.  Thanks little Monkey!
We have been watching out for reflux, having had two with it so far I figured the odds were not in our favour.  The only problem is I know the pediatrician wants something more than "he's cranky all the time" or "he doesn't like lying down" to diagnose him.  After today I am pretty sure it's reflux, he's been doing a little 'I've just chucked in my mouth' thing over and over and getting very upset along with it, I also felt some of the little yucky refluxy feelings in his back as I was cuddling him.  I picked up some gripe water type stuff that helps get his burps up which does help some of his troubles but there is certainly more than just gas so Monday I am making an appointment with the pediatrician so we can get in before his 6 week check... that's just too long to wait to fix his owies.  Other than giving medication we have been treating him as if he has reflux, since he came home from hospital his basinette has been up on bed-blocks that raise one end, we try to keep him upright, he has a sleep positioner to keep him sleeping on his left side, I don't get to drink milk anymore, it's all fun and games around here.  Lion needed Zoton for his reflux, Dragon managed with just Infant Gaviscon, I have a feeling though that with all this already in place and Monkey still having the problems he is we'll be back to the Zoton.  Thankfully I know what I'm in for and wont have to go through the horrible learning stage where you experiment until you find that you have exactly 15 minutes from the time you spoon it into their mouth to get them to sleep before the sugar rush hits your tiny little 6 week old... those were fun days!!!

*****

Dear Medicine Making People,
Each year GAZILLIONS of infants (exact figures were unavailable at time of writing) are diagnosed with GERD, it is unacceptable that they need to be given an adults medication where their parents need to guess at the dose they are giving their precious child.  Surely with all the babies that would take this medication it would be worth your money to produce something tailored to their tiny little bodies... preferably without the MASSIVE dose of sugar that you put in the adults medication.
If you wish to discuss this with me please give me a call, I am awake pretty much all the time so no need to worry about disturbing the new mum.
Yours in reflux induced sleep deprivation,
Mummy McTavish.

*****

Sorry, I needed to get that out.

*****

The big boys are coming even closer together lately.  It's so great to see them playing so well together.  They are even getting closer together when they are sleeping...

Of course they looked so cute and cozy that Wolf needed to join them...

Sorry Uncle Jingles, that would be Cuddles head that is under Lion's backside.

*****

And now, just because you need more pictures of my little Monkey...

His great grandad had hair like that... all fuzy and sticking out around the sides and nothing on top.  I have always though each of the boys has looked like my grandad when they were born... Lion had more of the right shaped face, Dragon had more of the right features and I think Monkey has only got the hair-do... minus the comb-over ☺

oh, and since you just can't get enough here's another one I was going to save for tomorrow...

Ugh, I didn't turn it around... and I really can't be bothered doing it now... sorry... tilt your head to the left and you'll get the idea.

I've done this in blogger in draft and I can't find a spell check so sorry if there's a zillion mistakes, I'm tired.

*****

Just something you might want to know.... once the Kenyan president's house was invaded by 35 monkeys that came in for the yummy cooking they could smell!

Warning: Lots of Photos of Cute Kids!

Is this just the sweetest thing you've ever seen???

Wolf told me that I needed to take a photo of the boys sleeping with their hands together. I couldn't see in the room because it was too dark so I just took a photo and then saw in the photo what was going on... then I started crying. Here's a close up that's a bit fuzzy (it was dark and I had teary eyes by this point)

*********

I'm getting a bit sick of the "I don't like that" at dinner time. I went back to an old faithful that is a friends recipe. The trick is it's so easy that they can do it themselves and they are more likely to eat something they cooked. It only has one veg in it, pumpkin, LOADS of pumpkin. So I cut up the pumpkin, poured the extra stock that we didn't need out of the carton so they didn't have to measure it, and then I just instructed them.

C'mon Mum, can we just start this cooking????

Dragon is in "TV Chef" mode... Just keep smiling!

Then smile some more... Lion was enjoying making the pumpkin "splash" the rice out of the bowl... until mummy put a stop to it because we were a little short on the right amount of rice anyway.

Then you take turns pouring in the stock.

Lion was creeping the dish closer and closer to himself, I'm not sure if he was trying to get Dragon to spill it or if he was hoping that if it got too hard for Dragon then it would be Lion's turn again.

*sniff sniff* "Will I like this Mummy?" "Yes darling, yes you will like it"

They didn't. They ate all their rice, no complaints. Lion ate all his pumpkin and Dragon missed out on dessert.

***********

Getting some towels off the line this afternoon and Lion saw a shooting start. A very slow shooting star that looked incredibly like the setting sun reflecting off a jetstream... I did tell him the truth but I got excited about it with him and we took a photo because it was "SOOOOO PRETTY". Can you see it??? It's that white smudge in the middle of the sky. My poor old camera was having trouble with it but it made Lion happy and that made me happy.

***********

Now for a very excited Mummy Brag!

Background: Lion's usual drawing style has been scribbles. He's nearly 5, I know he can be more deliberate if he slows down but all we have ever managed to get from him is smiley faces. He can draw GREAT smiley faces. I sometimes have wondered if he was ever going to get it because he would do a quick scribble with a few different colours and tell me that it was a daddy or a car or whatever took his fancy. In colouring books he just scribbles all over the page, it doesn't matter what the picture is he just scribbles. But I've kept encouraging, after all I am happy if he is just drawing, around here paper is more likely to get turned into a paper plane. The birthday card he was making for a friend the other day ended up being a paper plane that I had to write the birthday message on, thankfully other 4 year olds get excited about that sort of thing. I have been trying to keep paper and crayons where they can get to them all the time (easier to clean than textas and wont damage my couch like pencils) in the hope that they will occasionally occupy themselves with some colouring in. Today I was trying to concentrate on something so I suggested they go colour in. A few minutes later Lion brought me a picture to look at... it was SOOOO much more than scribble. My boy drew his first person! Absolutely identifiable as a person. He originally was the head/body and legs and feet, I asked what else the person might need and he went and added the hair, arms, hands and fingers! YAY, my boy CAN draw. I was just about in tears again! I took a picture on my phone straight away and sent if off to daddy. I also stuck it to my newly cleaned wall!!!!

Then I asked what else he could draw, could he draw a house? So he started... he drew the house with the roof and door (and door handle) first and I gushed over that... I asked if he wanted to put anything in the garden. I thought he might do some flowers or a tree or something... nope, "a garage with a stone driveway like ours (pebbletex stuff) and a stone pathway leading to the house" that's what all the spots along the bottom of the picture are.

So there you go, my boy took his time but BOY, he does a good job when he gets down to it.

I also drew some shapes on a page (square, triangle, circle, flower) and asked if he could carefully colour them in without going outside the shape. He started on the flower and did a great job, after that I am assuming it got too boring for him and he started each shape slowly and deliberately but then got faster and messier as he went. I keep telling him that if he just slows down he will be able to do so many more things that he thinks are too hard for him. So often I need to remind him "SLOW DOWN and you will..." stop tripping over, be able to get your pants on/off, be able to fold your own plane, find the toy you are looking for, etc. He faces life at full speed my boy does. I can't keep up but I sure do love him!

oh yeah, amongst all this colouring in was the constant talking about nothing. I did manage to catch one snip of what he was telling me "my person I drew is skinny, not fat like you mummy". And I still love him.

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We did make some paper planes with the scrap paper though... I was making one for Dragon and he climbs up on the chair next to me and gives me a little poke in the cheek like we sometimes do to his chubby little cheeks and he says with his little grin... "It will be a fast one you cheeky monkey". He is such a cheeky monkey!

Four and a half years

That's how long I have been trying to teach my kids to call for daddy in the morning. Has it ever worked? NO.

This morning, Daddy is away in Brisbane. Do you want to know what I heard from the snuggly comfort of my bed in the wee hours of the morning?

"DADDY, WE NOT HAD BREAKFAST YET"

What? You finally get it right on the day he isn't here?

Thanks Dragon.

A time for everything...

A time to horde, a time to clean out your handbag.

The boys are being unnaturally wonderful and playing happily with duplo and watching TV. I thought I might take the opportunity to pack for my trip tomorrow. I was starting to worry, I am not a light packer so I wasnt sure I was going to be able to fit everything I need for overnight into just this

my massive mary poppins handbag and also one smaller handbag. I thought a good start would be cleaning out my big ol' handbag of all the every day stuff that accumulates (I know, I'm as surprised as you are, me, collecting junk in my handbag???) Turns out there's a lot of stuff that I don't need in there for this trip. I made quite a bit of room.

I got rid of about 50,936, 742 receipts, 464 scribbled notes that mean nothing anymore, last years bible study roster, enough snacks to keep an army alive for a week, 3 drink bottles (for 2 kids?), tissues, tissues and more tissues. Oh, and a few of those recipe cards that are on those tear off things on the supermarket shelves. I think the winner though was this...

Yep, that is the last 2 urine sample baggies, urine samle jar and poo sample jar (all unused). We've had the odd little spot or swollen ankle since Christmas but he's better now so I am guessing they can go.

Now I have in my handbag my wallet, my glasses, my sunnies, my fruit tingles and some nappy change stuff. After we have our outing today I'll even take out the nappy change stuff.

I think I may just fit my pyjamas, a fresh top for day 2 and some underwear, toiletries and my diary in there:) Ya reckon?

The boys are still sleeping on the floor in our room because although the weather has cooled down because of all the rain we have to have windows closed because of all the rain. So it's still air con weather. Lion was put to bed the other night and obviously didnt feel like sleeping on his mattress on the floor. We went in to go to bed and found him laying across our bed, covered by a pillow, wrapped in a towel and with his santa-hat head propped up on another towel.

He's kinda cute when he's asleep. I'm gonna miss these little ratbags.

You Know Your A Parent When...

You have to tell your sons' imaginary friend to behave himself and be quite so your son can go to sleep!

Lion came out of his room tonight to inform me that his imaginary friend 'Huddy' is being naughty and noisy and keeping him awake, so I had to put Huddy on my shoulder and tell him to stop making noise so that Lion can sleep. Halfway through the talking too, while threatening Huddy with consequences to his actions, I realised how ridiculous this would look to anyone else, but for Lion, it's as real as if I was telling off his brother Dragon.

For those of you wanting to know what Huddy looks like I managed to take a snap of him one day when he didn't realise I could see him... (maybe this should be titled 'you know your a parent when you can see your child's imaginary friends....?)


A 'Real' Huddy, a Peachface Parrot or Love Bird.

Dragon Naps

Dragon has been a bit of a pest to get down for bed lately. He is just testing the limits again to see if we have changed anything, perhaps we will suddenly not be such mean and horrible parents and let him get away without any sleep. Unfortunately for him we are still mean and horrible and he still have to sleep occasionally. This was nap time today, I am not sure which one is my Draon, I think he is the one in the middle, except I dont think he usually has big black floppy ears...

Lolling Lion...

This looks like a child sleeping fairly normally, his head may be at the wrong end but it looks reasonable comfortable.

And then you look at him from this angle. I really can't see how he can stay asleep in some of these positions he gets into. For others you can look here or here...

Anyone for a competition?

It has been mentioned by some it seems to be a bit of a competition between Our Aussie Half-Dozen and Samster.com. In the interest of fostering healthy good hearted rivalry we offer last night's effort from Lion in response to Sleepy Teddy

Yes that is "the mattress" under our bed where it should have been all along. The yellow thing next to Lion is Jeremy Giraffe, his current favourite bed time companion. Jeremy usually sleeps on Lion's back, there obviously wasn't enough room for that. Lion has taken to sleeping on a mattress on the floor of our room lately. He has done this before but it's been for a few nights and he has gone back to his own bed. This time he wasn't going by himself so we dropped a hint by removing the fold out mattress and all the bedding. He didn't get the hint. He came in and found the only mattress on the floor and got on it as best he could. There was just enough gap for his 3 year old body to fit between the mattress and the underneath of our bed.


He is good at weird and wonderful sleeping positions. Jeremy is able to be seen better in these photos.

A Lion that thinks it’s a TURTLE???

We often find Lion sleeping in weird positions. One nap time recently he was going to sleep as a turtle which is nothing unusual. He puts a pillow or his shoe basket on his back and happily goes off to sleep thinking he is a turtle. This day he obviously thought the turtle should have it’s head in it’s shell, unfortunately the rest of him doesn’t fit if he puts his head in.

We were wondering what he was dreaming about when he was all curled up with his feet looking like he was about to walk up the wall. He has some weird and wonderful dreams that little Lion…