Public Service Announcement

I interrupt your regular blog reading to announce that Taryn just did a poo in the toilet!!!

Big news here! I sang, I danced, she got a prize from the prize box, got high-fived and she got a sticker. (Do you think I went overboard? LOL)

Oh, and what was the incentive that pushed her into sitting on the toilet to make the poo?
It was Jessie. Yep, Jessie. This morning Jess decided that she wanted to sit on the toilet to do a wee, so she took off her nappy, sat on the toilet and went! I said something to Taryn about Jess being potty-trained before her. (Yep, I'm such a bad mummy comparing the two!)

Not that Taryn's competitive or anything!

No Success in the Toilet Training Stakes

Taryn's been bare-butting it whilst at home, the past week, and once made a poo in the toilet. Huge fanfare was made and she got a prize from the prize box. Today she bare-butted it all day and happily did all wees in the toilet. We needed to go out late this afternoon so I popped a pull-up on her. Not 10 minutes after getting there she went in the pull-up.

ARGHHH!

Sunshine on a (partly) Rainy Day

"Mummy! Come see what I made!"
"What'd you make, honey?"
"I made suns!"

And she had too. She was so proud of herself.The girls do have a blackboard, but the trampoline is such a nice large canvas to use chalk with!

Girl in a Wagon

I caught a photo of Taryn sitting in the wagon outside. I think she's waiting for a pull around from Jess. That's a stone dog she's holding so carefully. Both she and Jess love carrying it around the back yard, taking it for rides in the wagon or putting it in the tray at the back of the trike. I used to worry it was too heavy for them, but you know, they've not dropped in on their toes once.

Trampoline

Taryn and Jess love the trampoline. Yes, it gives me palpitations every single time they're on it. Wouldn't you know it though, the only trampoline on the market that has the full surrounding netting has just had a total recall on ALL their tramps. It would be a dream to sink it in the ground too.

Meanwhile we supervise, supervise, supervise. :D

Dragons are afoot

Just wanted to show off Jo's latest cake. Everything's completely edible. Isn't it fabulous!

Have I mentioned how enormously proud I am of Jo's achievements in cake decorating. She has such a talent for it. What do you think?

There's nothing wrong with that child

There's nothing wrong with that child - at least that's what Jess's current daycare worker thinks. Jess is in the toddler group, even though she's 3yrs old. Taryn's in the kindy group (for 3-5yr olds) and copes very well there. Jess has needed the extra staff ratio that comes with the toddler group.

The daycare centre they go to has just decided that Jess should now be in the kindy room. Yep, that's right - no consulting us, the parents. Just plain decided and told us that Jess will now be in the kindy room! Their reasoning? Well, the toddler carer thinks there's nothing wrong with Jess and that she's perfectly normal for a 3yr old, therefore she should be in with her age peers. ARGHHHH!

If there's any semblance of normal development in Jess it's purely because of all the speech therapy, ongoing intensive support and teaching from Jo and I, sign language playgroup, occupational therapy and psych support she's recieved. Oh, and don't forget the daily doses of anti-seizure medication she recieves twice daily. ARGHHH!

Neither Jo nor I are pleased at all at how this has been (mis)handled. We will be writing a letter of formal complaint. *grrrrr*

It still galls me that this one person thinks there's no developmental delay in Jess - despite the assessments of two Speech Therapists, an Occupational Therapist, a Psychologist, a Neurologist and a Paediatrician!

Hmmph.

We've begun toilet training (again) with Taryn. She's back in undies for the day. She was completely dry but we were still battling the pooey undies. After 8mths of that I threw up my hands in despair and put her in pull-ups. Washing 2 to 3 pairs of pooey undies a day got old real fast. I'm still amazed I did it for 8mths day in, day out. But the time has come to try again. Taryn seems more agreeable to toiletting these days. I bought a new toilet seat with an integrated toddler seat that lifts up and down, so no more slipping toddler insert and no more toddler insert bowing into the toilet bowl (!) We've also tried the step stool with the toddler seat attatched (I think it's the Lipski seat) but that's even worse as it slipped around whilst she sat on it! She seems much more confident on this. By now, I think I've bought every damn toilet seat / insert / potty on the market. I finally found this one at our local hardware and supply store. It was cheaper than the Lipski seat and steps.

Wish us luck - we're going to need it! (Oh, and while you're at it - a few wishes for endless patience would be lovely too. *grin*)

Virtual Life

I've just discovered the joys of our 12yr old's gamecube game - Animal Crossing. It's a fun game, and I wander around in the town gathering items to sell to Tom Nook. Gotta make more money to pay off my house. The obsessive part of me is really enjoying collecting bugs and fish. It's very exciting getting a new one for the collection. :D

For Mother's Day I got the Open For Business Sims2 expansion pack. It's been fun discovering all the new options and items. Two siblings of my favourite Sim family were fighting constantly. Despite my best efforts of getting them to chat to each other, having other family members influence them to be nice to each other, I just couldn't get them to stop. As soon as they stopped fighting and one of them would cry :*( they'd be at it again. The oldest teen grew up and had the option of taking other family members with them. I got her to take one of the fight-ees. Pressed 'ok', and everyone waved goodbye to them. As the car drove off I felt incredibly guilty. lol

Good thing real life isn't a Sim game.

What Is A Mother?

Mother's Day is coming up very soon. One of my email lists had a 'get to know you' question that we could ask. The question was, 'What is a Mommy?'

I asked Taryn (3yrs old)
Me: "What is a mummy?"
Taryn: "Sandi D******" (my last name)
Me: :"What does a mummy do?"
Taryn: "An 'M' for Mummy, do some work, you do some work, Mummy."
Me: "What else does a mummy do?"
Taryn: "Get cross" accompanied by giggles - phew! I was worried there for a
moment!

Then I asked Jessica (also 3yrs old) what her Mummy did.
Me: "What does mummy do?"
Jessica: "da ba mmm, Mummy work!"
Me: "What else does mummy do?"
Jessica: "Mummy work."

I guess we work a lot!

Travelling in the car

We were travelling in the car today, going to visit the Gifted and Talented School that Jen's been accepted into (Yay!) when Taryn pipes up with,
"I like a fly like a bird."
"You'd like to fly like a bird?"
"Yeah! Up in a trees!"

Her imagination and wonder about what the world would look like from up high made me smile. I hope she never stops wondering about what life would be like from other perspectives.

More please!

We went to signing playgroup this morning. Jo and I headed upstairs to learn more AUSLAN (Australian Sign Language) whilst Taryn and Jess stayed in class to do activities. They learn so much there, and so do we. Imagine a regular playgroup with sand play and painting, songs and craft - then imagine that every word, every action is supplemented with sign language. That's our playgroup! We love it so much that we travel 40 minutes to get there.

After our hour of sign language we rejoined the girls in class. Jess spent a while telling me that the red bath salts she'd made from rock salt and a little edible colouring tasted awful. It went a little like this:

"Red, eat (signed eat) no!"
"Is no honey!" (Jessie-speak for "I don't like it")
"Eat, yeuch!"
"Mummy eat? Mmmmm, no! Yucky!"

Then we wandered over to one of the activity tables where there was some threading going on. The sample necklace had alternating straw pieces and Fruit Loops threaded on a scoobie lace. By the time we arrived all the Fruit Loops were used and/or eaten by other kids. Jess was sad about that and really wanted more Fruit Loops. Taryn got into the activity anyway and went ahead to make her necklace. I told Jess she could make one from Cheerios and Fruit Loops at home this afternoon.

So, true to my word - we did. Here you can see Taryn industriously threading Fruit Loops on a lace:

Jess however was WAY more interested in eating them. And so she polished off the whole bowl! :DAfter all her Fruit Loops were gone she said, "I want more, please!" Way to go Jess! Her current speech therapy goal is to say I want... Of course, she got a few more. (I would have given another bowl-ful, but my mind was wondering what sort of sugar-rush she was headed for!)

She ate those too, threaded a cursory two on her lace, then ate them as well. Looked around for any left, saw there wasn't any and said, "Oh no, where circle gone?"

Sorry kidlet - they're all gone!

Mummy, I need medicine

"Mummy, I need some medicine." says Taryn.
"Why? Does your tummy hurt?" says I wondering if she's about to throw up again.
"Nooooooo" says she.
"Then what?" says I.
At this she sniffs and sticks her nose out like a pointer finger. I'm a bit dense and say, "huh?"
"My nose Mummy! It's all sniffy." she replies.

So the pukey-ness seems to have gone but left a cold in it's wake. I don't like colds, but they're a whole lot better than throwing up!

In The Name Of The Hundred Acre Wood...

Taryn and Jess have both been watching the Heffalump dvd this week. There's a particular scene where Roo tries to capture Lumpy the baby elephant, but ends up making friends with him instead.

This morning I woke up to the strains of Jess saying, "I capture you!" (No mean feat for a kid with language delays to say!) As I rounded the corner I saw her trying to lasso her big sister Jen with a dressing gown cord. Jen was being a wonderfully patient big sis and playing along with the game. After a while she managed to move Jess on to 'capturing' a stuffed toy elephant.

I love seeing the kids play together. :D

Clean up on aisle four

We had lunch at McDonalds with my mum today. Jess and Taryn had a great time playing in the play structure. Here's Jess:


I managed to get Taryn to the table to eat something, but she didn't really want to. That's not unusual for her though. She did say her tummy was sore, but looking at this face I had a hard time taking it seriously. :D


We packed up after the kids had had another play and moved on to Spotlight. There we were, going down the scrapbooking aisle, when you guessed it, Taryn threw up. :-(

I felt awful - she'd been telling the truth about her sore tummy. Poor baby.

I really hope it's over tomorrow and she's feeling better.

Carrots grow on trees

The other day I was driving along when from her carseat in the back Taryn pipes up, "Look Mummy - carrots!" I looked around, wondering which car had lost their shopping load and found nothing but road and trees. My mind kicked into 'what looks like carrots to a 3yr old?' And there they were:

They are Banksia bushes and fully in flower here at the moment. I guess to a 3yr old the logic goes... "apples grow on trees, carrots must grow on trees too."

I did explain that they were flowers, but I don't think she really believed me. I think a visit to the garden centre for carrot seeds is in order! My dear funny girl. :D

How the blog got it's name - or why our life needs a desk-sized calendar

Our life really does need a desk-sized calendar. It hangs upon our wall and keeps us all on track about everyone's activities. You see, there's Jen, our 12yr old and her various school functions and social occasions. Being 12 they are ever increasing at an exponential rate. There's my partner Jo's various appointments, cake bookings, tertiary studies and cake decorating association meetings. There's my meetings and relief work. There's Jess's paediatrician appointments, speech therapy, occupational therapy, neurology appointments, doctor's appointments.

There's Taryn's daycare days written up there. Of course there's also the activities that the two youngest do together - like the wonderful signing playgroup we go to so all of us can learn sign language to help our youngest, Jessica. Then there's the birthday parties, family outings, extended family dinners.

Jo and I also go to a few parent support groups for parents of kids with special needs, because as you might have guessed, our youngest is developmentally delayed. She also has a few different forms of epilepsy - one of which causes her to stop breathing at night. She is connected to a heart-rate and breathing monitor whilst she sleeps. It alarms all too often. Imagine being woken by the loudest smoke alarm you've ever heard. That's about what it sounds like. Our 12 yr old often sleeps through it, and shamefully, I've been so tired that I haven't heard it either. Jo however, does hear it. :D

Are you beginning to see why our life needs such a big calendar? Are you tired yet? LOL, yep, so are we.

Finally jumped on the blogging bandwagon

Well here I am. It's with a little bit of trepidation that I begin this blog. I've read a few, admired people's forthrightness and courage in sharing their lives, and wondered if I've got it too. I'm still not sure how it all works - but I'm giving it a go.

About me - well, I'm sandi, 35 and the mum to a beautiful 3yr old. I'm also partner to a wonderful woman and her two kids. That's about as separate as it gets, it's easier just to say we're parents of three gorgeous girls. They all mean the world to me.

Words are how I make sense of the world, so I'm going to just jump in and start posting. More of my life and how I see it will arise as this blog evolves. I hope.