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Got so many bad habits

31 March 2007, 08:22

“Mum, don’tcha think it’s just a tad too big?”

Well, husband has returned from his U.S shenanigans and Scout was very pleased to see him. At first. Then, the separation anxiety kicked in…

If McG tried to pick her up or spend any time with her when I wasn’t in the room, she would whinge/shriek (depending on how tired she was) and run to me, burying her head in my lap. She wasn’t relaxing with McG at all. It was a weird feeling for me – on one hand, I was kind of smug (internally of course) about it, but I was also sad for McG and exhausted by her wanting me to entertain her all the time, particularly after two and a half weeks of it. I guess it will just take time to rebuild that trust with papa and every day it gets easier.

She has started doing so many things in the last three weeks or so, not all of them pleasing to the eye or patience:

She nods her head and says “Ace”, which we think either means “yes”, “teddy” or “no more food, please” which has proved rather contrary. She often points to her own chest, nods and says what we’ve suspected all along – “ace”...

She spins around on the spot. This is the funniest thing she’s ever done and, given her fits of giggles, it cracks her up no end as well.

She can navigate walking up and down a step or over an obstacle. Small children notwithstanding.

She headbutts things behind her. We suspect our angel is going to be a sweet-natured, outgoing comedienne but not particularly bright. She will slump on her little couch and bounce the back of her head against the wall behind her. After a couple of butts you can see her asking herself “did that hurt? did it? dit it? No? OK, let’s go AGAIN”. She can go about 20 minutes just headbutting. At least I can get dinner ready.

She can give kisses if you ask her. Most of the bubs her age give little sweet rosebud mouth kisses. Scout goes for you with a wide-open mouth and her tongue out. Can’t imagine where she learnt that from.

If she’s in her highchair and has had enough food, she grabs a piece of food, puts her arm out to the side, looks you straight in the eye, and drops it over the edge. This pisses McG off no end.

She’s started picking her nose. I’m assuming that this is an exploratory move, but my first thought was “ugh, who’s she picked that up from”, then I’m thinking, “hmmm, monkey see, monkey do, could she possibly have picked this up from moi?” I examine the annals of my short-term memory (what’s left of it after a year of boobfeeding and sleep deprivation) and wonder if I have perhaps had a wee dig in front of her. I think not but who knows? My little cherub is a nose-picker AND she pops her finger in her mouth after as well. Totally gross. Please tell me this is normal and my daughter is not going to turn into a festy grub.

So McG missed out on a little bit, but I’m sure there’s plenty of good stuff to come…

Posted by Kinki on 31 March 2007, 08:22

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Hard Slog

24 March 2007, 08:01

McG is home tomorrow and I’m counting down the hours. It’s been a looooong time. I really don’t know how single parents cope – I take off my hat (and trousers and shirts and boots and very possibly my pants) to them.

“Mummy, mummy, don’t LEEEEEEEAAAAAAAVE me”

Little Scout has been very unsettled of late. Grandma McG came over from Adelaide for a few days last week which took the caregiving pressure off me (and gave me some adult company!) but she (Scout that is, not Grandma) would still wake up at 10.30 and SCREAM for the longest hour and a half of my life. Like she was OUTRAGED that I should DARE come in and settle her and then LEAVE again! So poor Grandma McG witnessed yet another couple of meltdowns c/- Mum McG. Oh, the humanity…

I put it down to separation anxiety, particularly with McG not around, but then when I take her to creche, she holds out her arms to her main carer for a cuddle and might deign to give me a last minute hug before I leave, but otherwise, she’s not at all bothered. Obviously I’m relieved that she’s happy at creche and it’s easy to leave her there (no clingy “woe-is-me” clasping et.al) but at the same time I think “Hang on, I’m your mum, aren’t you at all sad to see me go?” But when I collect her, she’s all in a fluster to get to me and proceeds to whinge and carry-on until I put her to bed. So I just don’t know what’s up with her at the moment.

She is au contrare, my lady.

Posted by Kinki on 24 March 2007, 08:01

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Ode to a Weird Weekend

12 March 2007, 08:15

... for it has been a long, long weekend.

I’ve had PMT since Saturday morning and have been in a real shit of a mood. My head is throbbing, I feel shattered even though I’ve slept well (thanks to the incredible sleeping baby) and everything “not quite right” that happened, is exacerbated by 1000%. I back our car into a letterbox, scraping the back right side of the car (hate the frikkin’ car – you just have to look at it the wrong way and it buckles). The heat (33 degrees), paying for a toy in Kmart then forgetting to put it in my bag, driving all the way to the Museum to discover that my bestie, Mrs. D wasn’t coming as Milly was still asleep (totally my fault as I’d left the phone off the hook at home and missed her message) and then a very clingy baby who refused to eat her dinner and bawled until I gave her plain yogurt, causing me to go into semi-meltdown mode.

So Mrs. D rings me and says “Me and Mr. D are going to do a mini-camping trip tomorrow out to Moose Gully (Upper Yarra Reservoir NP) – are you in?”

Now, McG and I have always wanted to take Scout camping – it’s one of our major loves but we’ve never had the right size tent to do it (to fit a portacot) but Mr. D had a huge tent so I thought “Why the Hell not? It’s going to be a stretch to organise everything with only me, but it’s better than sitting on our arses for another day at home.”

So I organise food, boil water, prepare nappies, wipes, sleeping bags, torches, warm clothes, cool clothes, toys, portacot, books, coffee maker (who the hell goes camping without one, I ask you)... you get the idea. I no sooner thought I was all done before remembering another thousand things I had to pack, at the same time juggling a very clingy Scout. Cue another mini-meltdown. Nearly piked on the whole adventure.

Drove to Ds’ house and waited an hour for them both to get home from running errands, then waited another 2 hours for them to get organised. Now, Mrs. D is heavily, heavily pregnant at 34.5 weeks, so I did everything to help, but by this stage it’s 1pm and we have two very grizzly little girls on our hands.

Scout is never good in the car, and predictably only slept 40 minutes before waking up. I thought, “Shit, here we go, another hour of wriggly screaming”, but in fact she was terrific. At Warburton, around 2.30, we stopped to get beers and for Mrs. D to stretch her legs. As she did so, she had a big period pain and ahem, quite a bit of “fluid”. Not the sort to panic, she instructed Mr. D to drive on to Moose Gully and, thinking they were Hickston Bracks.. erm, Braxton Hicks pains, she assumed they would subside and we would carry on our relaxing camping adventure in the wilderness. She did call the Mercy though, as a precaution and they told her to wait another hour before calling them back with a report.

Now, she was only 34.5 weeks so none of us thought “this was it”, but we were going into a NP with NO mobile phone coverage and it is really in the middle of nowhere. There is a park ranger, but he pisses off at 6pm.

Half an hour later, it seemed very clear that Mrs. D was in fully-blown labour. We all hoped it was a false labour as she was nearly 5.5 weeks early but poor Mrs. D must have known this was it. The ambulance was called (a helicopter was even considered), the Mercy got Mr. D primed to possibly deliver the baby in the Ranger’s station, and by the look on the Ranger’s face, he was shitting himself pallid.

I have never been privy to a woman in labour (except myself of course) and it is really very horrific – I wouldn’t recommend it at all. It brought back memories of the incredible back and “gas” pains I had with Scout and how you just cannot get comfy in any position. Mrs. D was amazing though, she coped so well, particularly given the panic she must have felt knowing the little one wasn’t due for some time still.

We followed the ambulance to the Mercy which seemed to take forever and Scout and Milly were awesomely behaved in the back seat. Mr. D was still clinging onto the hope that it was a false labour, but with every mobile call I made to the ambulance to see how she was progressing, it seemed this hope was pure folly.

We finally arrived at the Mercy (mental note: when wife goes into labour, do not drive into hospital with 4WD ute and campervan at back – it really is a bitch to park) and I took charge of the girls who must have been starving – it was 6.15ish by this point. In the Birthing Suite waiting room (Mrs. D wasn’t allowed to give birth in the Family Birthing Centre, as was her wish, as she was so early) I gave Milly some yogurt which promptly ended up on the floor and Scout some Heinz pasta on my lap.

Selfish interlude: now, if it were just me at the hospital, I would have happily curled up in a corner and slept all night if I had to, but I had a little midget to think about who was seriously overtired (in fact two little midgets), I had a spliiting headache and I had no clue how long we’d be waiting for Mrs. D to pop the puppy.

At 7.15, Mr. D came out and announced that they had a baby boy. I was completely dumbstruck. I was so tired and stressed from the crap couple of days I’d had, the words didn’t actually sink in (it’s only this morning, that I have the clarity to realise what actually happened yesterday!). Little “J” was absolutely fine, just in a mad hurry to be a Pisces! He was 2cms longer than Scout was at full-term! And only 7oz shy of her birthweight – but they had to put him in a humidicrib just to be on the safe side.

After the news, I finished giving Scout her dinner, which she promptly heaved back up on top of me, herself and the floor. The whole lot. 5 minutes later she pooped a tsunami – loaded her nappy and went up her back, front and my shorts. Yup, my little girl had a sudden attack of gastro (she seems absolutely fine this morning, so I suspect it was something she ate). I burst into tears. I am so not responsible for my reactions.

I couldn’t get in to see Mrs. D as the doctor was with her, so Mr. D finally took us home about 8ish and Scout passed out for a decent 12 hours.

Today we’re going back to the hospital to see Mrs. D and Little “J” – another gorgeous little baby to add to the mix!

Gives a new meaning to Labour Day Long Weekend.

Scout helps Milly hotwire her hot car…

...Milly gets the hot hell out of there, leaving Scout bemused

Not for long! Scout impounds Milly’s car, announcing “You’re knicked, lady!”

Posted by Kinki on 12 March 2007, 08:15

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He's leaving home...

8 March 2007, 07:26

Bathgirl
Go ahead… Make my Bubbles

McG left yesterday to embark upon a whirlwind tour of Austin, Texas for the next 2.5 weeks. 18 long sleeps. I was quite melancholy about it yesterday, but am feeling fine today.

I think work will keep me sane. If McG had gone o/s 6 months ago when I wasn’t working and was a bit over being a full-time stay-at-home-mum, I would have been really very anxious. But in some ways I’ve actually been looking forward to him going, not least because I know he’ll have a ball and little Scout and I will be able to have girly chats (does “lalalaladaddaddadasssssssss” mean anything to anybody?) and do the mother-daughter bonding “thang”.

It breaks my heart though when she looks up at me with that adorable smile and asks “Daddaddaddaddad?” I don’t even know for sure that she’s associating Daddaddaddaddad with her father yet, but it squeezes my heart a little. 17 more sleeps!

She’s been walking for a month now and is very confident, although still looks a little like Frankenstein’s monster, the way she walks with her shoulders hunched, arms out in front of her, slightly bent, with a somewhat splayed-toed gait. Amazingly cute though – it cracks us (me – sniff) up every time.

Posted by Kinki on 8 March 2007, 07:26

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