Happy 2/3 Birthday to Ickle and Fletcher!

Watching Ickle play is like watching slapstick comedy – she gets up on all fours and starts rocking almost willing herself forward. Eventually she gives up and starts her horizontal spider-man crawl – you know the one. Her favourite toy is her soccer ball and her “baby”. I do wonder what sort of role model I am as she likes to gouge the babies eyes and smack it against things or in to her open fist.

Ickle has taken to blowing on her food to cool it down before it goes in to her mouth – seems I need to not heat her food up so much that I have to keep blowing it before feeding her Her favourite foods are pumpkin, pasta, apple custard and fruit gels. She is still sleeping well, currently about 13 hours over night and at least 3 during the day.

Ickle and I are off on holidays on Friday; Em is off to The Royal Pines for a few days so Ickle and I thought we’d head off ourselves to get in to some mischief too!

Ickle is getting bigger by the day, we measured her in her sleep over the weekend and she is 74cms long, that’s a 50% growth in 7 months and nearly half Em’s height!

On the weekend we went and picked up Ickle’s passport photos and had home made iced vovos and chocolate milkshakes in a cafe while we filled in time before Gymbaroo. Ickle loved Gymbaroo and Em and I both liked the instructor explaining what each activity promoted and taught the kids. Ickle made friends which a little boy called Lachlan, he’s got the coolest hair of any kid I’ve ever seen. Em did the class with Ickle, some of the activities she couldn’t do with her super blue arm however we still had fun; pushing your kid on a scooter board between you both is actually quite cool. Ickle crawled over some hurdles to try to get some bells that Em was ringing and had a bounce on the tralampoline.

Superman took Ickle swimming on Sunday morning; it turns out she’s not really a fan of submerging and started to fret when she saw the others doing it. Maybe she had a bad experience in a past life? We had the only little kid in the pool with a dummy which I hear was a little bit cute. I stayed home for the morning and did some of the jobs I hadn’t had a chance to do during the week.

We finally got around to opening one of Ickle’s presents from Santa. It’s a big Fisher Price dinosaur that you feed balls in to. Em and I love it – Ickle likes to chew on it. She seems to grasp when you put a ball in it is going to come out somewhere which is cool to watch.

Nappy changes are much more difficult now, Ickle insists on being on her belly trying to grab something she shouldn’t be – it could be the crawler size nappies are getting a bit small however it’s getting harder to nappy her up. Her MCNs are fitting much better now and look so very cute too.

We finally got a date for when the child care centre opens. It’s mid next month and the Infants room is opening first so Ickle and I will head in there for a week together before I leave her on her own.

This or next weekend we’re hoping to take a trip down the coast to get Ickle used to sleeping somewhere that isn’t her cot. She did nod off in the car on the weekend, woo hoo, however I’m a little apprehensive about staying at my brother’s house with Ickle without having an idea of what I might be in for. So maybe a weekend away for us!

What is your take on this?

Em and I were watching Rage this morning and she comments on the Rogue Traders video we were watching “Using CBRs is a bit cliche”.

*blinks*

Me? I noticed they were on shiny red motorbikes however wasn’t the least bit interested when there was so much else to admire…

Worlds apart?

We spent half a day at the hospital on Monday while Ickle’s Nouna babysat – Ickle screamed most of the time we were gone, I think our god daughter no longer wants a little brother or sister Em has a new, cool cast, it’s bright blue and after 4 xrays they still can’t tell if the fracture is on the old break line so Em has a ct scan in a few weeks. The new cast has taken away her thumb use so she’s a little bit useless at the moment. Thankfully she can still eat Yogo!

Ickle has a problem in her belly and it means she’s not sleeping very well through the day. Today I found I couldn’t listen to her screaming any more and decided it was time we went for a walk. With Ickle snuggled up in a cardigan I grabbed her perambulator and we set off up the street with me still slightly agitated. We headed towards the local post office and were about a block away when the rain started. Cursing myself for not having a rain cover for the perambulator nor taking the time to grab an umbrella on the way out we were still fairly dry when we arrived at the post office. The walk home was a little more wet- thankfully Ickle only got wet socks and a little damp on her jeans. The perambulator and I faired a little less fortunately.

While Ickle had some much needed sleep I filled in her passport application via a very cool online service. There are two extra forms we need to fill in after getting Em’s parenting order and our application needs to go through court so we’re keen to get it in as soon as possible. I managed to find my birth certificate and passport so could complete the form and got to just needing a guarantor and photos of Ickle.

When she woke from her nap I took a few photos and cropped them according to the specifications and was really amused to learn that even little kids can have mug shots – Ickle looks a little stunned in her passport photo – think Hugh Grant after the Divine Brown incident (sans id board). Em will pick up the print from the shops near her work tomorrow
and we’ll get her dad to fill in the guarantor information over the weekend.

On the weekend we’re heading to a trial session of Gymbaroo – I’ve got commitments coming up on Saturday mornings so we’re seeing if maybe Em would like to take Ickle to Gymbaroo or Kindergym or hang out at home and maybe come visit me

A very exhausted Ickle is currently dancing* around her activity center babbling Mama-mamammama-mamamama.

My day is made

*Well, kind of dancing, she’s spinning in her activity walker bopping her head to the music she’s making on her piano

Ickle has never been a big fan of the car however today was excellent!

We started off with early morning swimming lessons, we still love our new instructor and it looks like Ickle will be getting her “Humpty Dumpty Certificate” soon (this means she can fall off the edge of the pool, turn around and grab on to the edge). Ickle has started to clamber out of the pool by herself, I’m not sure if she is showing off or genuinely hoping to get away! Swimming lessons are during Ickle’s usual nap time so she’s usually pooped by the time we get in the car. The drive home is usually unpleasant as we seem to have the only kid in the world who will only sleep in her cot so Ickle grizzles about being tired. Today was different! Ickle had slept from 6pm to 7:30am so wasn’t as tired as usual so didn’t sook on the way home. She did go down for two (heading for three) sleep cycles when we got home.

We did have to wake her as we were meeting the Superheroes for lunch in the hills to sign the paperwork over for my old bike and she was happy for the hour drive up there, for lunch and even tolerated helping Superman and me feed the ducks. Let it be said, ducks do make loud noises and can be unpredictable and Ickle is definitely not a fan of big birds.

The ride home was smooth, no sooking again even though Ickle was in need of a nap. She’s having a few sleep cycles now – totally out of the routine and it’s working!

We’re finding her overnight sleep patterns have changed over the last two weeks. She is rarely waking before 6:30 – so that’s over 12 hours sleep every night. Previously she would wake up at 6am on the dot and head back for another nap at 7am. We’re really thankful we saw the sleep doctor early on as I read today in You Should Be a Better Parent (Practical Parenting) that by 6 months only 50% of kids sleep through the night. Yikes!

Tomorrow we’re off to the fracture clinic to see what is happening with Em’s arm, Ickle is staying with her Nounas and will hopefully not be as full on as she has been previously.