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April 29, 2004
Today is Thursday 29 April 2004
Ryan is was born on Thursday 29th and is 29 months old today!
BACK TO THE COAL FRONT
Firstly, let me apologise for my lack of updates. No excuses, except for the fact that I have had a month’s leave from work so I’ve been spending less time on line and more time enjoying being with my little boy – I’m sure you’ll understand! I only get four weeks annual leave per year so we try our hardest to make the most of them.
So I started back at work this week and we are all readjusting to the work/day care routine once more. During our leave I took Ryan to his carer for a half day each week so that it wouldn’t be such a rude shock after being home with mummy and daddy for a month. He’s with my mum one day this week and the rest with Tammy and the ‘KIDS!’ as he gleefully shouts out when he sees them. Ryan was a little clingy when I dropped him off this week, wanting to hold hands and then be picked up and cuddled but when the time came to say goodbye, he waved to me and thankfully there were no tears. I honestly think I find it harder than Ryan does, even after this long (I went back to full time work when Ryan was 6 months old).
I MISS YOU, MELBOURNE!!
We had a great holiday from work and managed to get a few projects done around the house as well as taking two mini trips away. I mentioned the first one in my last entry when we went to the east coast with Ryan. During our last week of leave, DH & I went to Melbourne (on mainland Australia, an hour’s flight away – Tasmania is that tiny blob of an island state at the bottom of Australia if you want to check your maps!) and stayed for 2 nights. Ryan stayed with my parents and had a ball; I had glowing reports about him. We missed him of course but it was also nice to have just ‘couple time’, going out for dinner, seeing a movie, lots of shopping and exploring the city. It was really nice. Ryan did well in the gift department! Melbourne is a shopper’s paradise and despite having DH in tow (you know what men are like with shopping), I managed to grab quite a few bargains.
We got back on Saturday 24th April about 9.30pm so my mum had Ryan tucked up in his cot fast asleep by then. He was very surprised and happy to see mummy and daddy the next morning, bearing gifts of shoes, some puzzles, a book and some cosy Bob the Builder pyjamas for winter, which is fast approaching.
So that was a great way to finish our leave. I am actually due for long service leave in December (65 working days – ah, heaven) but I think I will hang on to that for a while until we can plan something really worthwhile to do with the time. Ideally I would like to take Ryan back to England to meet my extended family there but I think I will wait until he is a little older and able to cope better with the looooooonnggg flight. Well, no, ideally I would really rather tack that leave onto the end of maternity leave but I can’t see that happening any time soon unfortunately.
JUST MY LUCK
Remember my dilemma with the no-show AF? Well, she returned – on the 1st morning of our trip away to Melbourne. Wouldn’t you know it?? Oh well, at least I know everything’s working again and I have cancelled the appointment with the obgyn. My ultrasound, hormone studies and other blood tests showed no abnormalities so I happy that everything is okay.
A TEMPORARY WINDFALL
My fortnightly salary continued to be deposited into my bank account during my leave. No problems there. Until I checked the account balance one day and it had increased rather significantly. I checked with my pay office and someone had stuffed up big time, overpaying me by not $100, not $1000, not even $10,000 but a whopping $43,000 (for the fortnight!!) Nice hourly rate if you can get it. Of course then they were in a panic, asking me to hand deliver a bank cheque (yeah right, I’ve got more important things to do on my leave). In the end I wrote a cheque and posted it (incurring costs of course….) so the extra money remained in the account, reducing our home loan interest for several days! I think someone would have been rapped over the knuckles for a mistake of that magnitude. For a while I could imagine how I would spend this mysterious windfall………..
MY BIG BOY
I am amazed at how much Ryan’s speech has improved during our time away from work. This pleases me obviously, but it also makes me a little sad because I realise that he is thriving on that irreplaceable one-on-one contact that we’ve had over the past month and which is now over. I’m sure his day carer, with 5-6 other children to care for, simply hasn’t got the time to sit down and read to him, chat to him, explain what she’s doing etc. Maybe I’m being too hard on her (and myself). I just feel that Ryan’s development, especially his speech, came along in leaps and bounds while we were all at home together and now it’s back to the old routine.
This is one reason I’ve been considering placing Ryan into a more structured ‘preschool/care’ programme where he will actually learn something and not simply be ‘watched’ all week. Here in Australia, most children don’t start kindergarten until the age of 4; there are very few children who go into any sort of structured sessions before then, except for maybe a weekly playgroup with mummy. There are a few ‘early learning centres’ springing up which incorporate structured play and day care at either end of the day for 2-3yr old children of working parents. I know it’s only early and he has plenty of time for learning and structure but I want to do the best I possibly can for him and I truly think he would enjoy it. He is a smart little cookie and knows a lot more than we give him credit for, I’m sure.
POTTY TRAINING? WHAT’S THAT?
We were going well there for a while but Ryan hasn’t been showing a lot of interest in the potty lately. He could take or leave it. He doesn’t seem to mind running around in a dirty nappy (not that I let him remain that way for very long!). I guess he will take more interest one of these days. I keep telling him that if he uses the potty he won’t have to wear those nappies anymore and can wear his Bob the Builder undies every day. He nods, smiles widely and most likely, pees straight into his nappy!!
Question of the week : when potty training boys, is it best to use the potty or a little seat on the big toilet or a combination of the two? And when do you teach them to stand?
THE UNINTENTIONAL DECORATOR
We have had to move Ryan’s cot into the middle of the room when he goes to sleep as once he wakes up, anything within reach of the cot rails is fair game. I went into his room a few weeks ago and he had ripped 2 huge sections out of the wide border than runs around the walls. Luckily DH was able to glue it all back together without it looking too obvious. One curtain was pulled open and he had taken several items off his change table and thrown them around the room as company for his toys that had been ejected from the cot. All from the supposed confines of the cot. You know, I am really NOT looking forward to moving Ryan to a bed! There are mirrored sliding wardrobe doors in his room and he loves to slide them back and forth when he has the chance, stopping now and again to pull various items out of the wardrobe. I don’t let him into the other bedrooms as he loves to take things off shelves, jump into the beds, fiddle with the clock radio alarm, get into my perfume and/or makeup – just your typical toddler really!
AMERICAN IDOL
Ok, you’re not allowed to tell me who gets voted out. We are a week or 2 behind you guys here and on the last show John Peter Lewis left (about time too). On tonight’s show I believe Jennifer Hudson leaves (travesty). My faves are George and Latoya. Fantasia has a great voice but a bit too much attitude for my liking. I can’t believe the red haired guy is still there!!! He has a good voice for those croony songs but I don’t think he has that ‘huge star appeal’, does he? Our version of the show, Australian Idol (naturally) begins soon.
IP RANT
Can I add my voice to the growing list of people who are (AGAIN) unhappy with what’s happening, or rather what’s NOT happening, on IP?? The site really seemed to pick up for a while with new diaries, diaries moved to the right spot, new faces and a general feel of renewal. Now it seems to have slipped back down again. I feel so sorry for the diary writers who still do not have a board and I feel even worse for those who cannot sign in to update their diaries and do not get any sort of response to emails. I for one don’t want to leave, I want to see this site back to the way it was when I started reading the diaries (2000). So many people are leaving to start their own blogs which I can totally understand but if we all jump ship, there will be no site left after a while. Please, IP, let’s get this going again!
Hey, my board needs you – please stop in and say hi!!
Sue & Ryan
www.babiesonline.com/babies/r/rg
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