So, where have I been these last few months? There was over a month of illness. Sweets, Beau and I were all sick at various times with various degrees of sickness. Sweets had a fever at one stage that left her all lethargic, all she wanted to do was “Cuddle Mummy” and drink nom and blob. We let her watch movies in this time, which is how she was introduced to Studio Ghibli! Jazzmaster Sv and Star lent us My Neighbour Totoro and Kiki’s Deliver Service and Sweets loved them both. In the worst of her illness I think she watched each at least once a day! We weaned her off them and managed to return them, however I suspect she may get copies at Christmas or Birthday.
*TMI ILLNESS INFO FOLLOWING*
I was extra sick thanks to morning sickness! Yup, as the title implies there is a 23week old (or really 21 week old) creature growing and wriggling inside of me. I get major fatigue in the first trimester, plus vomiting. I went through a big phase of feeling like a bad parent to Sweets as I just wasn’t able to look after her the way I normally do. There was a week when I was sick, but she was well and she spent a night at my parents and went out on multiple playdates without me. The cold/flus I caught (we got 2 back to back) also morphed into a cough which hung around for about 4 weeks. Bacterial infection we think and I probably should have gone to doctors and gotten antibiotics, but I didn’t. Anyhoo, I suspect without this my “morning sickness” would have finised a *lot* earlier. However what actually occured was I would start having a coughing fit, I would have to run to the toilet (pregnancy hormones loosening up + having given birth not *that* long ago do not make awesome pelvic floor muscles) and then as the cough kept going it would then trigger vomiting. Man, life is glamourous.
I went through a pretty low mental health time around then. Feeling unwell/tired wasn’t helped by me also feeling a bit gross by all this stuff going on with my body and managing that also fed into a major trackpants slob hermit phase (what’s the point of wearing anything nice when Sweets will mess it up?). Which of course fed back into feeling low (I look blah, I don’t want to see anyone, noone wants to see me). Ah, vicious mental cycles. Also, my SPD started up again. Also, I forgot, there was a death in the family and my Mum went to Thailand for a bit over 3 weeks leaving me without one of my major supports. This is of course when I fell ill + Beau was working a week of nights followed by a week of long days. Ah, when it rains, it pours. All over you.
Anyway, I eventually got healthy, the morning sickness waned, my Mum came back and everything just seemed to get a bit easier. One pretty awesome thing that occured was that my Mum decided one day that she wouldn’t be bringing Sweets home after taking her out one afternoon. Instead she would keep her overnight. I laughed as my Mum is a soft touch with Sweets and can’t get her to sleep. However, apparently if you keep Sweets up long enough she will eventually go to sleep and Mum was willing to do that. Nice! Sweets started staying over with them about once a week and it is such a great break for me (and Beau).
One big positive from Mum being away when I was so vulnerable was that Dad stepped up in a big way. He came over most mornings (often then going to work) and entertained Sweets letting me have a bit more of a sleep. It also really improved their relationship. Mum is so keen on Sweets that she hogs her a bit, so Dad hadn’t gotten to know her as well (plus Mum frequently came over on her own in the day just to play). It is so cool seeing Sweets develop these relationships with my family. It makes me feel like my siblings (all 3 overseas currently) are missing out though.
Woo! This post has become a longer lot more complainy that I originally meant.
Some things I want to remember:
Sweets is saying and doing so much cool stuff.
Blocks: She is really into building “Castles” and houses. On her own, she isn’t too good, but can stack things quite high and sorts out various types. She likes it when others build with her and she gets to add to them. She also loves putting other toys amongst them (making it their houses). Dad, Da Ja, has also instigated imaginary play with her, pretending the various blocks are drinks/food etc. Another day he’d made several little house for various animals and then had them visiting one another. Recently Beau’s siblings were in town and Sweets got to play with her older (3 and 4) cousins. They were busy building blocks too and let her join in 🙂
Music: She loves nursery rhymes and sings to herself. About a month ago her favourite song was Wheels on the Bus. She especially loved the Mama’s on the bus saying Shh, Shh, Shh and the children/babies going Up and Down. One morning I heard her wake up and begin singing, when I looked over to her she was bobbing up in down in her cot with “Up and Down” “Babies on Bus, Up and Down” etc. So cheerful! The favourite then moved on to Goosey Goosey Gander. You’ll also find her singing parts of the theme songs to Totoro and Ponyo (she’ll bare her own belly for “Round Tummy”). Most recently she’s been loving a mash-up between Jingle Bells and Hot Cross Bun? She serenaded me with it the other morning in bed.
“Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Way, Hot Cross Bun, Hot Cross Bun, penny, Jingle Bell” (and continue). We have a tape we play in the car and Mum plays her a few tapes at hers. Beau found the theme songs on youtube and shows them to Sweets on his phone. She also demands/requests various songs and loves going through her various nursery rhyme books (has done this for ages). Now at the stage where she turns to pages she recognises and starts the rhymes/songs herself!
Talking/Communication: Talking and talking! It takes a parent to understand much of what she says, but her vocabulary just increases in leaps and bounds. Months ago Beau and I were very impressed when he had cut some plum for her and she observed it was shaped like a chair. “Chair, chair!” She then continued to point out “Mama’s chair, Dada’s chair, Ovvy (her name for herself)’s chair). The first 4 word sentence I recall hearing was I think a couple of months ago “Cat come miki’s house?”. She also occasionally talks in her sleep, one night as Beau was going to bed he heard “Go feed ducks”. The next morning when I was dressing her she talked about feeding ducks too! Other fun phrases “Mushroom Bucket, growing growing. Eat it Eat it!”, “I had a good nap”.
Hair: For a long time, Sweets has been fascinated with my hair. I think it started with her love of animals and their tails. When I have my hair in braids she loves to pull on them and stroke the ends or even brush them on her face. Sometimes when she is sleepy she will demand “Tail!” or now “touch hair”. She also wants to brush it. The other day I was on the computer and Sweets had a little brush in her hand and kept scrambling behind me. It was a bit of a game, she found it hilarious when I took it off her and moved it away. Back she would come! After a few goes of this I rounded on the little giggler and she declaimed “Ratbag!”.
Empathy: Sweets gets upset when others are unhappy. It’s quite cute hearing her telling me that someone else is sad eg “Sammi Cai” (she can’t quite manage the r in Cry). While I was ill she would get very upset with me closing the door to the toilet, but I didn’t want her to see me vomiting as sometimes then she would try and copy me! Plus, I don’t ever want people watching me vomit. Another day I was very tired and upset and having a bit of a cry. Up she comes to me saying “Mummy cai” then she cuddles me and says “Sorry, sorry”. Oh, my little pea.
New baby: This new baby is currently being called Mowgli (or Mow-gi, if you’re a small who has trouble with “L’s”). Sweets talks about baby Mowgi and gives my belly pats, cuddles and kisses. We’ve also talked about how she will have to share with Mowgli. I’m sure she doesn’t truly understand, but I am reassured by how she does love babies. She “helped” change her 1 week old cousin’s nappy a few weeks ago. She’d watched him getting changed by Beau earlier and then he did a poo almost immediately (new borns!) and then when he was getting changed again, she pulled a wipe out of the box and wiped his bottom and then handed the nappy to his (very impressed) mum.
Toileting: She’s been out of nappies for a month!! It was actually a bit anticlimactic. Basically Beau and I had to just toughen up and trust her. Not many accidents (it works out a bit over 1 a week including overnight) so it is all very manageable. I remind myself that while it seems easy now, we did actually lay the ground work a looong time ago.
Other headings I should probably write under, Animals, favourite toys, friends.
Hopefully will find the time to do this before another 4 months passes!
I am a proud Mama and do love my smalls a lot.
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