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September 15, 2003
How can we be half way through September already? In a little over 2 months, my baby will be turning 2. I’m sorry, but this just can’t be possible! I’m excited that Ryan is becoming his own little person and growing and developing every day but it is still sad as I wave his babyhood goodbye.
SICKNESS
Poor little Ryan has had a difficult few weeks, starting with a gastro illness, then conjunctivitis and then a couple of weeks ago, an ear infection. He goes to an in-home day care so inevitably picks up every germ doing the rounds! At the moment he’s doing just fine (touch wood), sleeping very well and has just finished his antibiotics. I use a syringe to give him his medicine and he LOVES it so much that he sucks it right out of the syringe, no need to push the plunger! I am sure not all medicine he comes into contact with is going to taste as good (sickly strawberry).
SPEECH DEVELOPMENT
Now, I guess I just need to be reassured that Ryan is completely normal – please indulge me!! At 21 months, he is still not saying a great deal. I am not at all worried about his hearing or comprehension – he will always do exactly as asked (well, as much as any 21 month old will!) and responds quickly and accurately to whatever we say to him. He’s making lots of ‘noise’, lots of different sounds but really, no discernible words. I have been told that this is just normal ‘for him’ and that he will speak when he’s ready, but I also want to be sure that I’ve done everything I can just in case there really is a problem. I read to him a lot and try to get him to repeat words (he won’t often do this) but I wonder if he is getting the stimulation he needs when he is at day-care. Here comes the working mum guilt again – I’m always beating myself up over something.
SPRING FASHION
What a deep topic! All the lovely spring clothes for little ones are out in all sorts of tantalising colours, cute and gorgeous – if you’re a girl, that is! It never ceases to amaze me how the range of little girls’ clothes is so much bigger than that for little boys. I LOVE shopping for Ryan and dressing him in cute things but there really isn’t that much to choose from – the obligatory denim overalls, the cargo pants, the track pants (yuck). I lose patience with overalls as the poppers inevitably come undone and Ryan ends up showing far too much inner thigh! I’d be interested to know if there are bigger clothing ranges for little girls than little boys in the U.S? I need to have a little girl just to dress her up in all the adorable little outfits available.
ANOTHER WEEK AT WORK
I have serious Monday-itis today. DH is at home today on a rostered day off, my step daughter is also staying with us and Ryan is of course spending the day with his daddy and his sister. I do not want to be here at work, compiling reports on people who are no longer with us for one reason or another! (I work in forensic pathology if you recall). It is incredibly interesting and I feel my department is making a huge contribution to the understanding of illness and disease, but when I reverse out of my driveway and see my little boy standing at the window waving frantically at me and blowing me kisses, I know where I’d rather be! I know I am very lucky to have such an interesting well-paid job in this day and age, to be able to give Ryan a secure lifestyle and to be able to provide for his education at a later stage. My DH’s work group (he works for a telecommunications company as a technician) has been told that one of them has to go so they are all preparing ‘self assessments’ and will be interviewed this week so it is all rather stressful! I am quietly confident that he will be fine but if not, it seems I will need to get used to this Monday-itis for some time to come!
LOVING THOSE ADS!
Ryan has had us in fits laughing recently. He totally loves the ads on TV for some reason (perhaps the insane volume most of them are recorded at) and he will stand in front of the TV and dance at his favourites – by dance, I mean stand in the one spot, leaning over at the waist and bobbing up and down! Don’t know quite where he got that from. It is quite hilarious to watch your child doing this crazy bobbing, smiling widely when the ad for a Building Society or Enjo cleaning gloves comes on! Kids are so funny at this age, aren’t they? Funny, sweet, loving and incredibly cute! Having said that, I do try to restrict his TV time, I don’t think it’s a good thing overall except for the occasional children’s show or video.
THE BATTLE OF THE SOFA
We lost! We’ve been trying to keep Ryan off the sofa for obvious reasons – standing up, falling off – and would place him down on the floor every time he climbed up but this last weekend we’ve given up as he is being very careful when he gets down and he is obviously enjoying sitting up with us! I would not like to sit on the floor all the time and neither does he! So now we are insisting he sit down properly on the couch, no leaning over the back to see what’s going on outside! I am going to get him a flip-out sofa for his birthday, amongst other things so that he will have his own comfortable seat with less potential for bruises and breaks!
OBSESSION WITH SWITCHES
Ryan just loves flicking switches on and off (something I am trying to discourage) – light switches, the TV on/off switch, anything that vaguely resembles a button/switch/fiddly bit! We had to move his cot to the other side of the room because he would stand up and he would flick, flick, flick, on, off, on, off with the light switch (that can’t be safe, can it?!) – it was like Ryan’s disco in his room. Now I have his change table against the wall that contains the light switch and yes, he will twist and contort himself so that he can reach the light switch while I am changing him. Little monkey. All power points have safety covers on them but he can still get to the actual switch. He is drawn like a moth to the flame but of course it is usually accompanied by a stern ‘NO!’ from mummy or daddy and an attempt at distracting him with something else. We will come home after work/day-care and he will switch all the lights on then stand in front of the TV pointing, then switch it on – like life cannot go on until the TV is switched on!! It is a shame that he sees the TV as a central part of life in our household! He doesn’t watch that often, I promise!
SCHOOL ALREADY?
Here is Australia, children generally start regular school at 5 and may attend kinder from age 4. There is a new facility run by one of the private schools in Hobart (our capital city) called the Early Learning Village which accepts children from age 3 and they run a fantastic programme of activities between 9am and 3pm with registered childcare at either end of the day. It is about 5 minutes from my work and I am giving it some thought for Ryan. There is quite a waiting list so I will need to get moving on it. I might go for a look around next week. My boss’ little girl who is 3 ½ goes there and she absolutely loves it. It is a very loving, secure and stimulating environment and who doesn’t want that for their child?
Until next time!
Sue & Ryan (11/29/01)
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