A New Grin

I'm feeling a little nostalgic this weekend and have gone through some of Aaron's baby photos.

I looked through a lot of them but the specific photo I was looking for is this one of Aaron's two front teeth when they first started to show. The photo was taken on 21 May, 2007, thats almost exactly six years ago.

During dinner last night, the right front tooth fell out. Here is his new look...

We were at a Turkish Restaurant and had just started on some bread when Aaron showed me his napkin, dotted with blood. I tried to discretely take a look at what was going on and asked him if it was about to fall off. Nope. Needed more wiggling which he started to do right there so Richard took him somewhere less conspicuous. A few minutes later, he came back with the tooth still there. One bite later and he spat it out.

Two seconds later, the couple at the table next to us left. They looked like they had only finished two thirds of their meal. Was it us?? I didn't think Aaron was too gross and honestly, I did the best I could with a tooth that just had to come out at that time.

Aaron looks cute but a little strange. He sounds very funny and we've been laughing at all his jokes because of how his words now sound. As a result, we're getting even more jokes from him.

More photos of that new grin....

Labour pains for men!

I've just watched, and re-watched, this very amusing video.



I think it would be great if all fathers could experience that, y'know, just to make it fair. But, I can't decide if they should do it before or after the mothers go into labor.

If they go first, they'll know exactly what the mothers are going through but they might also scare the mothers into c-sections. And if they go after, then they won't be able to empathize to the full extent during actual labour. Or maybe, they the mother should be able to activate a contraction on the father whenever he doesn't pull his weight in terms of parenting!

The 'Boxing Day' of Mothers' Day

I listen to the radio whenever I'm in the car and today, it was all about Mothers' Day. Almost every program from the breakfast one to the 10pm one had something to say about it. The phrase 'Boxing Day' of Mothers' Day was from one of them. Its wasn't just the radio that was still running on yesterday's mood. Almost everybody I met had something to say about it.

Our family has always acknowledged the day with small gifts (usually of the crafty sort) and a meal out but it hasn't been made a big deal of in the past. This year wasn't any different. I gave my mother a present and we all went out for a meal but other than that, it was a very ordinary Sunday. Unfortunately, I felt it was a little too ordinary. Aaron had made big proclamations on Saturday night as to what he would be doing but when Sunday rolled up, he had forgotten it all and I was woken up at 6.30am to sort out some dispute or other. That was followed by an absolutely normal day of the usual behavior (whining, bickering, making up and then whining again). I know they both love me but I really thought that Aaron was old enough to make a little bit more of an effort. Never mind, I knew this would be a mostly thankless job.

This morning, I woke up to a very pleasant surprise.

Aaron had already brushed his teeth, changed into his clothes for school, made his bed and was about to start making his own lunch. I usually have to ask him a million times to do the first three things and it has never occurred to him to make his own lunch before (no wonder a checklist was needed!). He said that he wanted to help out today so I wouldn't get so tired. Well, that was the perfect thing to say to have me make him an extra special lunch.

I feel a bit guilty of expecting him to behave differently on Mothers Day. These small, sincere and unprompted actions are much more cherished.

First School Camp

I wonder what Aaron is doing? Did he like his lunch? Did he get room mates that were close friends? Will he know how to keep his stuff organised? Has he thought of me? Or any other member of his family?

Aaron left for a 3 day/2 night school camp this morning. They've gone to the Ewan Maddock Dam, about an hour from Brisbane. Although he transitioned to this class in time for last year's camp, he wasn't ready and didn't go. This year, while I wouldn't say that he has been excited about it, he has been planning for it. We got the packing list a few weeks ago and he was keen to get everything we needed. He started packing his bags last Friday night and was constantly reviewing the checklist. Occasionally, he'd give me a little hint of what worried him but they were all issues that were easily resolved. Things like "What if they don't have rice?" and "What if I can't dry my hair properly?" 

There was no drama or last minute panic this morning. In fact, it was very much like any other school day at home in the morning. We got there at the usual time and after dropping off their bags in front of the bus, the kids went to their classrooms as normal. The teachers tried to tell us that its better if we left so that the children didn't have last minute change of hearts and also so that the children whose parents weren't around, wouldn't feel sad about it. BUT, there were quite a few parents hanging around so, we stayed too. 

Aaron gave us a few enthusiastic waves good bye as the bus pulled away but other than that, he never even looked at us. 

The teachers all had very anxious looks on their faces as they got the children ready. I would too if I had to be responsible for a group of 6-9 year olds over two nights! They were all assigned places on the bus so there was no squabbling over who sat where. I think its going to be the same with the rooms too.

Aaron's class was on the second bus. You can see them in the photo below, watching, as the first bus pulled away. Richard took the photo while I was under the trees in the background of the photo. Some of their little faces looked very serious. I think they suddenly realized that they really were going to go away and there was no turning back now.

Meanwhile, the group of mothers I was standing with were full of mixed feelings. All their 'little babies' going off to be without them for three days. I remember thinking that one day I'll be waving him off at an airport and he'll be gone for much longer than 2 nights.

I don't exactly miss Aaron or worry about him because I trust the teachers. I do wonder if he feels as insecure as I did when I went on my first school camp when I was 11 years old. Maybe going when you're younger means that you have less expectations of yourself and others and don't know how to feel insecure yet. Hopefully, he'll remember enough of what happened so I can get a good idea of what he got up to. 

Spy-O-Scope

We're only at the start of autumn over here so the weather in 'sunny' Queensland is still warm on most days. There have been a few sunny days this week but we've also had thunderstorms in the evenings. Today was one of those sunny days but we chose to get frozen in an ice skating rink instead.

I was alone with the two boys in the rink and was worried that I would have to deal with two whiny brats that wanted to go home because they couldn't get the hang of it. My mother came along as backup in case I had to hand one off to her to sit down.

Aaron did very well and was soon skate/walking along without holding on to the sides. Adrian had a frame that he pushed along and he was doing ok too except that he wanted to sit down and have a snack after every loop around. Eventually, he just sat out and spied on us through his Spy-O-Scope. (I asked if it was a telescope and he said "No, its a Spy-O-Scope").

I had a very enjoyable afternoon with the two of them and hopefully, we'll get to go back again soon.

Things We Get Up To During The Holidays

Aaron has been on school holidays this week. This means that I've been on holidays too. I've been sleeping in past 8am on a few mornings, letting the house get messier than usual and we've been having some junky meals. I had plans to take them to the beach but we have had showers every days and it looks like thats going to continue until the end of the holidays.

Aaron's first priority was to get to the library. That was easily done and he has an entire shelf full of 'new' books to read. So, he's more than happy to stay at home. He's not a bookworm for the whole day and the rest of the time, he and Adrian are making lots of noise. Yesterday, they wanted to be pirates and I got a whole day of  'Aaaargh me hearties!' and other similar phrases that they imagined pirates would use. Adrian is a superhero pirate with a cape.

His other request was to go to Orleigh Park in West End and thats where we were this morning. Its a great park with giant sized bugs, worms, frogs and something that looks a little like an eggplant.

So other than the trip to the library and the park, we've been home for a lot of the time. Aaron has also been helping out a lot around the house. Yesterday, he hung up the entire load of laundry, by himself. I was definitely impressed. Today, he helped my father clean up some sugar cane.

I hope we wake up and see some sunshine tomorrow. Then maybe we can try to make it to the beach.

Irrational Fears

I've mentioned before that my days are very hectic and I'm usually on the go from morning to night. You would think that I wouldn't have any time left over to worry about trivial things right? Wrong. I don't know why I do it but I have a constant stream of irrational anxieties. As soon as I put one to bed, I find another one to obsess over. 

Several months ago, I found a couple of grey hairs. I obsessed about this and was constantly looking for more. So of course, there were more. Eventually, I convinced myself that this was the start of me going grey and I would achieve a whole head of them within the next few months.

That crazy notion was taken over by another hair related one. I started using one of those vacuum robots and it picked up a lot of hair around the house. I was now going bald! Once again, the more I looked, the more hairs I saw everywhere. I just looked up the word for the irrational fear of going bald - Phalacrophobia.

So the crazy Phalacrophobia carried on for a few weeks until Aaron, Adrian and Richard went for their 6 monthly dental visits. Richard had to have several treatments and we found out that Adrian has something called hypoplasia which causes his teeth to chip very easily. And he needed fillings too! So in comes my honondasdontiaphobia - fear of losing teeth. From the moment they came home with those issues, I started to think that I needed fillings in my teeth. I rang for an appointment but I wasn't due for another month and the health fund wasn't going to cover the checkup and clean prior to 6 months. I had 4 weeks to wait! I imagined that the cavities in my teeth were growing by the day and by the time I had my visit, the dentist would tell me that I had to have at least two teeth extracted. I'm not kidding when I say I started to feel shooting (mild) pain in my teeth every so often. My tongue was constantly prodding what I thought were holes. 

The dentist finally rang yesterday to say I was due for an appointment so I went in straight away. I actually had butterflies in my stomach as I waited for my turn. Guess what?! Absolutely nothing wrong. They didn't even need to spend a lot of time cleaning my teeth. 

Since the dental appointment, I've had some fleeting thoughts about how my pants seem to be tighter than they used to be but that little worry has been taken over by something else now. This morning, Adrian work up with a cold and now, 6 hours later, I think I feel the start of a sore throat and any minute now, I'm going to need to blow my nose.

Its crazy, and its annoying. Thankfully, I don't annoy anybody else with it.