I think Eli just constructed the longest sentence of his life thus far:  "Mama get up! Mama get up and sing five little monkeys!"

Spoiler alert:  I didn't.

In my defence, his dad was already up.

Shane offered to cut Eli's potatoes and he yelled "no no no!" so I said "Eli you really need to learn to be more polite".  He replies "please?"  Me: "yes please and thank you, but also when you say no say it nicely, say no not NO!"   So then he sits there eating his dinner and softly and politely saying to himself "No.  No daddy?  Cut it.  No daddy cut it. Yes."  Practice makes perfect but I bet we are back to no no no tomorrow! 

Another lovely Christmas!  That's two in a row now, pretty happy with that.

Eli was so excited on Christmas Eve, this is the first year he's really understood that something special is happening.   He pleaded with me to open presents, with his best puppy-dog eyes, but I stood firm.   So he went to bed instead!   Shane and I stayed up late chatting.

After midnight Eli started to sleep really restlessly, we're not sure whether it was nightmares or teething.  Shane got up for him several times but everytime Eli seemed to go straight back to sleep.  I eventually got up at 2:30 and as inevitably happens Eli decided to come into our bed.   He then ended up lying across the foot of our bed and fell asleep, rolled onto the floor with a crash.  Oops.  :-(  His screams then awoke Ziva for a feed so it was all very dramatic.   Got back to sleep at 3:30am.

So on Christmas morning we all awoke in our bed, but all Eli wanted to do was say hello to his baby sister and give her a cuddle, I couldn't convince him for ages to go open presents.  Finally he went to his bedroom and found the duplo train to open, he was so excited!   In fact he really loves all of his presents.    We had a wonderful day with friends, it was relaxed and stress-free.   Here's to many more like it!

Napping napping

Eli has gone down for his nap and Ziva has still not woken up from hers (a couple of hours now) so I have some mama time!  Yay!  I never get Mama time as if Eli does happen to nap, Ziva has her feed / party time.

I'm so proud of Eli's sleeping now, we suggest it is time to sleep and he trots off to his room, lies in his bed with his dummy and bottle, says na-night and we shut the door and go.   Works for naptime or bedtime!   So amazing after a year and a half of rocking and night-time sleep battles.  Of course, now starting to work on number two so our evenings are not reclaimed - her sleep habits so far as the same as his were.   Can't get her into bed before 10pm, and then sleeps in our bed late in the mornings.   It gives Eli and I time to play together in the mornings though which is nice!  

I look forward to the day they are in the same routine.

You know how some kids at school have to put up with living in their older siblings shadow?  Whenever I go to Reggio Emilia with Ziva the staff come up and say things like "Hello little Eli-lookalike!"  or "Ooh it's like baby Eli again!"  It's terrible!  Oh well, later next year she can make her own mark with her fabulous personality.  :-).  He's their little brainiac and the class clown so very memorable.

"Are you eating your corn Eli?"  "Daddy's corn!"  Well at least he's honest about whose plate he's stolen his third corn cob of the night from!

Such a lovely morning.  It's what I call an "Oliver" morning - one where I find myself singing "Who Will Buy" (This Beautiful Morning) over and over as I go about my day.  

Shane and I woke up before either child did, alone in our bed.  I can't remember the last time that happened!  So had a nice lie-in, before Eli got up and played in his bedroom for awhile.  Ziva woke up and I pulled her into bed for a feed.  Eli came in after awhile asking to watch "Bob Train" so Shane got up and put that on for him and came back to bed for some extra sleep.  Ziva went back to sleep too, so I left her and Shane there together and went outside to put some washing on, soon joined by Eli who played in his fort in his pyjamas.  After a nice play we came inside, and I was making toast for breakfast,  Eli opened up the pantry and pulled out a packet of unopened pasta, and started excitedly asking for "Pasta! Pasta!" so I thought why the hell not.  So I got a pot and put water in it, then I let him put pasta into the water.   He seemed to understand that it would take 10 minutes to cook, and happily went to eat his toast while he waited.   In the meantime Ziva woke up again so I went and fed her and then Shane served Eli his pasta.   So he has officially cooked his first meal!  Go boy.

It's a gloriously sunny, way too hot day.  The house is immaculate because we had an open home yesterday.  The kids are being good and we are all well and happy.   So not a thing to do except relax!

Eli has a favorite animal.  His pronunciation is still a little off though.  So he spends a lot of time calling out "Oh Fock!  Oh Fock!  MORE Fock!"  I'm immature so it makes me giggle.  

This kid is awesome!  The wind blows the peg bucket down onto the grass "Uh-oh!" Runs across, picks it up, puts the spilled pegs back in, runs off to his next mission.   

Three weeks today!  As usual, I'm constantly full of good intentions to write blog entries, but rarely remember to sit down and do it.

We are loving being a family of 4.    Our beautiful princess fits so perfectly into our family, it feels as though she has been here forever.  That's what I kept commenting on the first couple of weeks - the only "weird" thing was the fact that nothing was weird, life felt completely normal.    Ordinary even.

Ziva eats well and sleeps well.   She was born Thurs evening and on the Friday slept all day, and then decided at 7pm - right as I finished dinner and settled down to sleep - that she wanted to eat all night.  Which she did.   I was exhausted on Saturday!   Then Saturday night she slept beautifully.  Sunday she slept all day, and oops another busy night!  After that I learnt my lesson and started unwrapping her during the day (it was cold, I was instinctively keeping her swaddled!) and encouraging her to stay awake for short periods during the day for love and snuggles.   Since then she has slept beautifully at night, waking for just a feed and then straight back down.   Some nights she does 4 to 4.5 hour spacing between feeds which is lovely.   So feeling fairly well rested!     Unfortunately Elijah has been teething quite badly so we have had that in between waking us up.     Harder on Shane than on me though as he is the one getting up to Eli while I'm feeding Ziva!   Plus he has to get up for work the next day.  

We are still sleeping in a fair bit, except on the days that Shane and Eli get up and leave at 7:30 for work/daycare, sometimes I can't get back to sleep afterwards.   Shane gets Eli up and dresses him, but some mornings I wake up and help, particularly if Eli is already awake while Shane is trying to get himself ready.   I do enjoy the two days Eli is at daycare (Mon & Thurs) as it gives me more quality time with Ziva.  It's nice to just put my feet up and relax.    I did intend to do either drop off or pick-up (one end only) on some days as it's a long day for Shane, but haven't felt inclined to yet, particularly as it means walking to the train station carrying Ziva.  We get out and about a lot on the in between days, by the time Eli is at daycare I'm due to put my feet up and watch some TV!  

Mum is still here and doing all of the cooking, cleaning, laundry and everything else under the sun.  Quite full on but very generous of her!  

This entry is a bit disjointed as I have her next to me sorting out cupboards and asking me every few seconds whether I want to keep a particular item, or where it should go.     But hey, it's a start!  

Loving life, loving my beautiful family.    :-)

Ziva - Part 1

For all our joking about this baby coming early, we didn't really believe it would happen.  As I kept telling people - babies in my family don't come early!

On the Saturday I had my lovely high tea pre-baby celebration with my friends, which was a great day out.   Sunday was a quiet day in with my boys.   Then on Monday I decided that I would take Eli to daycare and pop into the office for awhile.  Part of my reasoning for this is that I had a midwife appointment at 9am, and trying to juggle cars and children etc with Shane was too complicated any other way around.  

Eli and I went to the midwife, and our regular midwife Myra was off sick.  A lady named Fiona from the labour ward was covering for her.  She did my usual quick check up - weight, blood pressure, foetal heartbeat etc.   We made some quick small talk and off I went.   Did a few hours of work, joking to Mark that I mainly went in so I could have my favourite Mexican food for lunch, which had become a routine every work day during this pregnancy.  Mad Mex, naked burritto, rice, beans, chicken, tomato, medium salsa, sour cream, cheese, guacamole.   Mmmmm!   I got tired after lunch and decided to call it a day.   Instead I popped over to Westfield and had a massage and pedicure from some lovely Chinese ladies, before picking up Eli and heading home.

My pantry was very untidy, and I decided to ask Shane to pull everything out for me so I could do a clean out and restack it.  I joked that just our luck, as soon as everything was pulled out I would probably go into labour and leave the house chaos.   Hahahaha.  So Shane pulled everything out of the pantry and put it on the bench and floor.

That evening I took Eli to our bed to put him to sleep.  All of a sudden I started to feel period-like cramping.   It was painful - more so than any Braxton Hicks - and I thought that it was a good sign of things to come in the upcoming weeks.   But then awhile later the first contraction came.   It wasn't a huge one, and not too long, but  certainly took me by surprise.   I also felt a "show" and a subsequent trip to the toilet confirmed it.   I stayed snuggled in bed with Eli, and at one point a contraction came quite painfully to the point that I freaked out a tiny bit in my head.   At that moment Eli sleepily reached over and started stroking my cheek with his hand.   It was so adorable and I relaxed immediately.   Contractions continued intermittently.   I came out and said to Shane "I'm not ready yet! It's too soon I'm not ready!" and he reminded me that I don't have much choice in the matter.  

I was anxious about the state of the house because "what if we have to call somebody at 3am to watch Eli!"  so Shane stayed up late cleaning up.    I was up and down much of the night.

Tuesday I had intermittent contractions all day, same on Tuesday night and Wednesday.  At times they were very painful and close together, at other times I'd have a long break.    Typically at night they would increase and come 5-7 minutes apart for a few hours between 10pm and 2am, before finally giving me some respite to sleep.    Because of this I was quite tired by Wednesday night from two nights of poor sleep.    Although, the intense house cleaning I did on Wednesday probably didn't help much either!    Tuesday night we were so worried about how fast things might speed up that I called Reggio Emilio and asked if Eli could attend on Wednesday.   It was meant to be his first week dropping to two days only (previously three) but fortunately they had a kid off sick on the Wed so let him attend.  

However, it wasn't until Wednesday night that things finally sped up.   And sadly, not fast enough!  I had contractions every 5 minutes on average, and roughly 45 seconds in duration.   And fairly painful   By morning I was exhausted, I called the hospital and they suggested I come in.   We took Eli with us and I was surprised that they didn't object to him joining us in the triage room!   The midwife confirmed that I was 3cm dilated, and put me on the monitor to check contractions and foetal movement.   A med student came in and asked if he could ask us some questions, we agreed and it was quite diverting chatting to him as we went.  He was from a hospital that doesn't have a maternity ward so was taking the opportunity to learn!

We were shortly sent on our way, with the midwife confident we would have the baby within 24 hours.  I got Shane to drop me at home before he dropped Eli at Reggio and went to work.  I lasted about an hour at home before I called Shane to come home because I didn't want to be alone.   Spent the whole day in the living room contracting.    Sometimes they'd come 3 minutes, sometimes stretch out to 7 minutes.   In between I was always in constant pain, so it was literally a day of labouring and nothing else.    Shane joked at one point that this was the first time he and I had been home alone together since Eli was born!  Not the most quality time however.    We called Jeanie and arranged for her to collect Eli from daycare and bring him home around 5pm.    In the meantime I tossed up when to go back to the hospital - I didn't want to go too soon, but at the same time I was really stressed about Eli coming home and seeing me.  

To be continued....

Our big boy slept 12 hours in his own bed last night!  So proud of him.  Of course his own bed is back in our room, next to our bed, as it's been the past few weeks.  Still, he usually clambers out and finds his way into our bed before long.   Friday night he slept in our bed all night.    This past week I've been on the far side of the room next to our little princess, and it took him awhile to work that out.  So now he is bypassing Daddy and running all around the bed at night to get to my side, which is a problem when I'm busy feeding the little lady.   Shane is doing an amazing job of resettling him though.  Perhaps all this time the problem has been I respond too quickly to bring him in with us - too lazy to resettle!  

On Friday night we officially retreated - in the form of moving Eli's bed back into our bedroom.   All winter he's been in our bed, since May.   Taking one step backwards may be the best way to take a step forwards again.

Yesterday Shane was changing the wheels on the car, and Eli ran to get him the drill.  He picked up really quickly, helping Daddy out.

For awhile now Elijah has refused to say goodbye when leaving.   He knows how to wave, but apparently got bored of it.  No amount of coaxing to "Say bye to Daddy!" or "Say bye to your friends!" achieved anything.

Suddenly the past few days he's started saying "Bye".   He says it in this very sweet, soft tone, with a short sound, almost like "By".    He says it when he leaves a room.  He says it when he trots off down the garden.  He says it pretty much anytime he goes through the kiddie gate between the dining room and kitchen.

Adorableness!

Conversation this morning while getting Eli dressed.

"You need to wear pants too bubs"

Runs off yelling "Dad dad dad dad!"

"Are you appealing to a higher power?"

"Nope!"

Conversation with Elijah while offering him fruit from the bowl.   Each nuh-uh is accompanied by a firm and definite headshake.

"Banana?"
"Nuh-uh!"
"Mandarin?"
"Nuh-uh!"
"Sandwich?"

"Grapes?"
"WOW!"

Removes his dummy from his mouth, hands it to me, and chows into the bunch of grapes.

This week Elijah helped put the clean washing away.   I handed some to him on a whim, and sure enough he trotted off to his bedroom, opened the middle drawer at his eye level and shoved it in.    Now he is convinced that every item of clothing goes into that drawer, but I can live with that.   It just makes it slightly harder to find his clothes to dress him!  (I did have everything in nice neat piles by type).   Also, he unfolded most of it while carrying it!

Really loving how helpful he is now.   On the weekend Shane filled my water bottle in the kitchen and then handed it to Eli who brought it out to me.  So sweet.

Today he also walked all the way to the car by himself, down the front steps and driveway.   Of course he's been able to for months but I tend to carry him whenever we're going to and from the car or in and out of somewhere, not putting him down until we're at our destination.   Time to start breaking that habit as carrying two will be hard!   Also finally letting him walk into Reggio by himself - I carry him until we get out of the elevator but then let him head to his room.   Such a big boy.

Another nice weekend. Last week we did the aquarium on Saturday and the local Botanic Gardens on Sunday. This week a bit quieter, but that's what I need.  

Had some progress last Sunday on the "hand holding" front.   Eli worked out that holding my hand allowed him to walk down steps in the park without having to go down backwards or on his bottom.   Still can't get him to hold hands walking along a path though - he seems to think he's being grabbed and protests violently.

He is growing and learning so fast now.  Every word we say he understands.

"Shall we go in the car? It's time to go!"
"Out door!" he shouts as he runs to the front door.

Or this morning, I asked him where Daddy was and told him Daddy needed to get him dressed to go out, he immediately ran through the living room calling for "Dada!"

His book obsession continues, although it's slowed down from the 20 books per day we were having a couple of weeks back.   He now often stops after four or five!   He also now sits quietly looking at pictures and reading to himself, which is adorable.  I guess he's always done that a bit - his good ole reading in the car as a 4 month old!  But much more seriously now.  

Perhaps as a result of all of his recent development - new words, new activities, lots of fun - he is particularly clingy to me at times now.  Not always, he's more than happy to be dropped at Reggio Emilia for the day, and loves to play in the yard.  But he is convinced the only way to sleep at night is next to me.   Quite frankly I don't mind, it's cold and he's a great snuggle buddy!   It's been over a week now.  And when we ask if he's ready for bed he's running to our bed not his.   Even if we insist on him having his bottle in his cot, he will only stay there as long as we're next to him, and as soon as he finishes gets out and runs to our bed - even if he's half asleep.   So we'll see how long that goes on for.   He has been teething off and on, it may be he just wants us nearby for reassurance.  It's certainly easier to resettle him quickly in the night without having to get out of bed!  

In other news, this morning we had a gender scan to confirm, and it's definitely 100% a little sister on her way to join us.   Scary!  I will write my thoughts on that in a separate post.  

Out of nowhere I thought I heard a soft "mama!" So I jumped out of bed and peeked in, just in time to see Eli pass out asleep on the carpet two feet from his bed.  I guess he had decided to get up and come visit but exhaustion overcame him, so he called for rescue.  Awwwwww!  I put him back but I'll be surprised if I don't have a visitor before morning! 

I can hardly describe how much I loathe the “world’s toughest job” video.   Forgetting the fact that they claim to have advertised it as a real job and conducted those interviews so are wasting the time of genuine job seekers – rude and thoughtless.  But being a mother isn’t a “job”.  Just because it’s time consuming and takes energy and commitment doesn’t make it a job.  We don’t have to assign commercial value to everything in life to give it meaning – things can be meaningful without being part of the commercial world!   (Don’t get me started on that whole assign a salary to a mother who does 100 jobs meme… unless you can go out and get a job as a Doctor, Chauffeur or Psychiatrist you are NONE of those things).  

And if it were a job, I dispute whether it’s the toughest – I personally would find it much harder to be an astronaut, brain surgeon, or pretty much anything that features on that Dirty Jobs tv show. Do we really undervalue being a mother so much that we have to pull this kind of comparative bullshit to make people appreciate it? Because that’s sad.   Being a mother is a really, really great thing, let’s not cheapen it with this nonsense.    Plus don’t get me started on the bizarre claims that mothers never ever get to sit down and are on their feet 24/7, and never ever ever get a break at all 365 days a year.  What the heck?    

Being a mother is without question the best thing I have ever done in my life.   I don't need any  weird validation like this to feel good about it.  

What a wonderful time in Little Eli's life.  It's so awesome this age - his communication skills, his confidence, watching him learn new things everyday.

For several months now when we get to the "H" page on Dr Seuss' ABC he has flung his arms in the air pre-emptively ready for "Horay! Horay!" which depicts two characters with their arms in the air.  A couple of weeks ago I was reading a different ABC book (the metropolitan art one I believe) and when I got to H he flung his arms up.   That was pretty cool, that he actually knew the letter, not just the Dr Seuss picture!

He had a few bad nights this week, teeth we think - although as usual his teething is so long and drawn out it happens a few times before any teeth appear!   Ended up in our bed three nights in a row.  One night he was just sitting in his bed howling at 11:30pm, inconsolable, nothing we could do.   We took turns holding him and talking to him.  Even tried distracting him with cats!   Eventually he calmed enough to drift off to sleep in my arms.   Poor darling.  I am happy everyday with my decision to always give him the benefit of the doubt.  He is too little to tell us what's wrong, so unless I know otherwise (and some tantrums are pretty obvious!) I will always assume he has a legitimate need.  I hate it when people say "My baby is crying but he doesn't need anything!" - maybe what he needs is his parents?    Eli has always been high needs in terms of the love and closeness he wants, but I treasure that.  

The past two nights he has been up late-ish, but both nights when he's eventually seemed tired I've suggested bed and he's trotted off happily and put himself to sleep.    I know he's capable of it.   So I trust that when he's not going down and is crying it's for a legitimate reason.   What better lesson can I teach my child than trust?   That his parents trust him, and that we will listen to him?   I know people have different levels of comfort, but I'm playing a long game here and I'm not going to compromise now on something that in 20 years time won't seem important. 

Lightning - Boom!!

On what had been a fairly nice Sunday, with plenty of outdoor playtime, I decided late in the day to duck out to the supermarket and leave Elijah with Shane.    Driving home afterwards I was treated to the most amazing thunder and lightning storm that had begun while I was shopping.

I pulled into the driveway and found Shane and Eli were sitting in our bedroom window on the edge of the bed, looking out.

Shane had invented a game called "Lightning - Boom!"  which Eli adored.   They would watch out to see a burst of lightning, and then count until the thunder came when they would yell "Boom!" or in fact Shane would yell "Boom!" and then Eli would mimic "Boom! Boom! Boom!"    And yes, it was as adorable as it sounds!  

They had fun watching me running through the rain to get the groceries in.  I am so proud of Shane's innovation as a parent, he knows enough to realise it's important to take the "scary" away from these new experiences and help Eli understand them in his own way.  Plus he incorporated counting which is awesome! 

Yesterday (Tues) were playing at Putney Park with Jodie & Hannah and the kids. 

Eli took off climbing the stairs, and met a lady with her son of approx. 1-2 coming down the other way.  They eyed each other for awhile and then I hear a distinct "Hello!" and didn't think much of it.

Until the lady said "Did he just say hello??!!" to which I replied "Oh I guess so, I just assumed it was yours as he's a bit older!"   (Although I was facing her son and didn't see his lips move so I guess I just hadn't thought it through...)  

He also waved and said "Bye" to Amelia when I was putting him in the car at the end of the play.  

Won't do hello or bye on command but will when he really wants to!

Boy little Eli is so fast now!  Hard to imagine that around 6 weeks ago he wasn't really that interested in walking.   Now he runs.  All the time.    I thought I'd have a relaxing picnic with him on Sunday but spent 90min chasing him around Hyde Park!

Sunday night was amusing.  After weeks of teething and painful nights of crying he was feeling better.   At 10:30 I asked Shane if he was going to turn off the fan in Eli's room but he said no he'd leave it until he got up as Eli would want a bottle at 11:30.

Next thing I know my eyes shoot awake around 3:30am with a sudden thought of "Eli's here!" which I immediately thought was crazy.  I could hear a dummy rattling near the door and thought Shane must be up sorting out Eli's dummies to resettle him.   Then I reached my leg out and kicked Shane.  Ok, that's Eli!  Sure enough he's wandered into our room, carefully shut the door behind himself, and sat down on the floor.   He was wide awake and a bit confused.   I took him back to bed and carefully resettled him with a little bit of milk.  

Funnily enough he did the same thing two hours later!  Up, in our room, disorientated and back to bed.  I said to Shane that I think Eli was so surprised to wake up feeling well that he wasn't sure if it was day or night or what to do.   So instead of crying he was just looking for us.  This time he was so awake I brought him into our bed for an early morning snuggle, which worked so well he slept until 8:30am.   When I was ready for work I ended up lying on the bed next to him and gentle chatting and telling him he could get up if he wanted to.  He smiled in his sleep, and then suddenly opened his eyes and was up and off!   

Such a cracker kid.    Unfortunately the past two nights we have had to adjust.  We are so used to having to rush him to bed exhausted and without stories, now he is feeling better and well rested we have to push bedtime later and put the routine back in place.    But hey, we adapt fast!   Tonight when he didn't go down I let him back up immediately to play.   It was only 10min before he suddenly got a bit cranky, I asked if he wanted to go to bed and he trotted off to the bedroom and climbed into his bed, ready for stories and bottle.  Adorable!   Love love love love love.

Poor Eli is teething.

Yesterday afternoon he was opening my mouth and playing with my teeth, and we were talking about how he is growing teeth like mummy's. 

Next thing I know he chomps down on my finger, right bang in the middle of his mouth where he has teeth top and bottom.   It hurt.   Really, really hurt.   I asked him to let go but he didn't seem to understand that I wasn't joking.  Next thing I know I'm actually screaming in pain trying to get my finger out of the kid's mouth!  

Shane came running into the room just as Eli released my finger and he took Eli (now scared and crying) as I collapsed in tears nursing my very sore finger. Not really any blood to draw from that bit of a finger, but he made a nice dent and it was very red and throbbing for a long time!  

So last weekend Shane decided to take the side of Eli's cot and convert it to a toddler bed.  He did it on Saturday evening and the first couple of nights were relatively uneventful.

Then on Tuesday night he decided that seeing he could get out of bed by himself he really should do that instead of going to sleep....  Wednesday night I tried shutting him in and he still broke out.  Late nights, long battles.

Fortunately it got better by the weekend.    Interestingly, he never gets out of bed during the night, he cries for us if he needs something, but never tries to get out.

But he has learnt to get up in the morning now too!  One morning he called to me and I could hear he was closer - I opened the door and he had crawled right over to the door, and then flopped on his back to call me as though he were in his cot!  The next day he pushed the door open, came in and then flopped on his back and called.  I tried calling him but had to get up and "get" him.  The next day he came in, up to the foot of the bed and crawled up calling.  

The next day he woke up unexpectedly around 5am, I think he was cold as the weather had turned.  I carried him into bed with me and he snuggled up and went to sleep in my arms, just like when he was a little bubba.  Was so nice having a sleep-in together!  But then at 7am, like clock work, he was up and trying to get off the bed to go play. 

Friday night Shane was sick so I did all the night wake-ups. 

By the following Tuesday he was coming in the morning asking us if he could go play.  

Wednesday was a little creepy, he came in at 7, shut the door, and just stood there staring at us.   I think he is fascinated by his new "power" of being able to get up in the morning.   Personally I love it!

Nothing says "Grown up baby" quite like your son walking up to his fort, climbing the ladder, and immediately flinging himself down the slide, on his tummy feet-first.   He slid so fast that he shot off the bottom, and lay giggling on the grass, before jumping up and walking over to give me a big hug.   Awww!   Such an increase in confidence.

He did three self-induced tummy slides down the big slide, plus a slide down the small side un-assisted which was also a first.    So much fun playing in the backyard together, I'm so proud of my beautiful boy.

Yesterday Ellen Page came out of the closet, in a very articulate speech.    I had one of those "Huh, was she not gay?" moments when I heard the news.

Not that I actively speculate as to the sexual orientation of celebrities, or others for that matter.  But when a celebrity is notoriously quiet about their love life and is never seen with a member of the opposite sex?  Generally they're gay.  Yes, this is a massive generalisation. Like all generalisations, you will be able to think of many exceptions in an effort to prove me wrong.  That's ok, but it doesn't change my impression. 

Like many others before me, I also find myself thinking "Why do they have to come out of the closet publically?"  You never hear a straight person announcing that they are attracted to members of the opposite sex.   I hope one day to live in a world where a person's sexual orientation isn't news.  Where consenting adults can engage in relationships of their choosing without discrimination or public censure.   That's the world I want my children to grow up in.   Meanwhile, congratulations to Ellen Page for a brave public speech, which I'm sure will inspire many young people who are afraid to be themselves openly.  I've always admired her for being a well-spoken, intelligent young lady, and this speech has not changed my opinion of her whatsoever.

Dear Eli

Dear Eli,

It's one whole year since you came into our life.  

I was so prepared for it to be chaos, but I loved it from day one.  I'll never forget that first night together at the hospital, I woke up in the middle of the night, and you were lying there in your bassinet calmly.   I thought hmm, ok, I got this.   And changed your first ever stinky nappy (first of many!)  it occurred to me that your Daddy was missing the first nappy, so I grabbed the camera and took a photo of it.  Yep, I photographed your first crap.   How about that!  

You came home less than 24 hours after you were born.  

For the first few months of your life you almost never cried.  You really only made a sound if something was wrong - and because you were with me 24/7 nothing was ever really wrong!   Of course, as you grew older you learnt you could use your voice to exert your opinion on all sorts of things.  And now, as a big 1 year old, you throw some epic tantrums when the world doesn't go your way!

One thing that amazes me is how much more we love you each and every day.  The more time we spend with you, the more we get to know you and enjoy your company, the greater our love grows.

You have an awesome sense of humour.   You are the kid everybody adores.  We are so incredibly proud of you and the cool little man you are turning into - brave, confident, entertaining, interested in the world.

Love always,
Mummy

Things I love about Eli

The way he shuts himself in his room and sits behind the door giggling and waiting for me to come find him

His obsession with blueberries - he never throws or wastes any, and carefully eats them one by one.

The fact he LOVES broccoli, which is his Daddy's least favourite food ever.

His amazing smile. 

A couple of weeks ago it occurred to me that Eli could probably walk.   I based this on the fact that he was spending most of his time on his feet, either cruising around the furniture or standing in the middle of the room playing with his toys.

So one Sunday afternoon, after we got home from his friend Milly's 1st birthday party, I watched him standing there with a ball in each hand giggling.  So I knelt down 4 feet away and asked him to walk to me.   He stood there giggling for awhile, and then he cheerfully picked up his foot and moved it towards me, and took four confident steps in my direction, before flinging his arms around my neck with a giggle.

A week after his first steps we're at Samantha's 1st birthday party.  Suddenly, he takes off towards her!  He walked a few times that day, apparently inspired by all of the exciting things and people to see.   Now he seems inclined some days to walk a lot, others not.  To him it's an exciting novelty rather than a mode of transportation.  He's always crawled so quickly he has no need of an alternate transport method.

It's one of those milestones that prior to having kids I thought would matter, but now kind of doesn't.   They learn these things so gradually over time that there is no definitive milestone, just constant learning every day. 

Never too old for a cuddle nap!

 

I don't believe in naming babies after people. If I did, my kid would be called "Shakespeare Leonardo John McLane Patrick Stewart Jean-Luc Picard Superman".