Sydney and back...

I had a very tiring and fleeting visit to Sydney this last weekend. It wasn't for pleasure but for work. I flew out at 6am Saturday and flew back in at 7.30pm Sunday. In between times I worked, ate a fantastic steak at the Waterfront Grill at Darling Harbour for dinner Saturday night and then worked again Sunday before jumping back on the plane to come home.

Henry was still under the weather on Friday but had stopped vomitting. He was still sleeping when I snuck out of the house at 5am on Saturday morning. Ben said he woke up saying my name and walking from room to room looking for me and knocking on doors hoping I was maybe taking a shower and would be out soon. His vomitting was replaced by diarrhea and he was slightly cranky most of the weekend. Each time I called, poor Ben sounded as though he might like to just lock himself in the bathroom for a few hours where no one could find him. He seemed to cope remarkably well and even managed to cook a delicious roast lamb dinner as a welcome home meal. After the over priced cafeteria food at the exhibition hall in Sydney a home cooked roast lamb was very welcome. Henry hasn't let me out of his sight ever since he woke up and discovered I was home yesterday morning. It's flattering but also a pain in the neck. Privacy in the bathroom is non existent.

It's rained here ever since I arrived home and I love it. It's cool and comfortable and quiet. Maya is home because she believes she is coming down with Henry's bug (no sign of any real illness yet though! I've told her I'll never believe her again when she tells me she feels sick) Henry is sleeping and I'm going to make the most of the quiet time in the house and try to catch up on some sleep myself.

Bug

Yesterday when I collected Henry from daycare (after a day of feeling guilty for leaving him there in the first place) they told me that a couple of children had gone home that day with an attack of the vomits. I hoped the bug would avoid Henry but no such luck. Approximately half an hour after we arrived home he projectile vomited all over me...twice. He then proceeded to throw up every hour until he fell asleep around 8.30pm in my lap on the chair. We went to bed with him in bed beside us and three thousand towels spread over the bed in case it hit again which it did around 11.30pm missing all the towels. So far this morning he's only thrown up once and had it coming from both ends. He seems to have got a second wind now but who knows how long it will last. Isn't daycare great! Maya went to the doctor and the doctor said her pains might be low grade appendicitis. Perfect timing! I have to go to Sydney tomorrow for the weekend. Poor Ben will be left alone with a house full of sick children. I only hope the rest of us don't get it.

Pain in the.......teeth!

Poor Maya. She had dental surgery just this last Monday. She had her gum cut open to reveal a misguided tooth. To try to correct this anomoly they attached a chain to the tooth to try to woo it to grow in the right direction. Painful. She has stitches in her gum and a very sore, swollen mouth. She's been home from school ever since. Today, just as an added bonus she has complained of pain in her side. I can feel some swelling there and so she's off to the doctor. Henry has a bad habit of lashing out at her when they're playing together and he gets a little over excited. To try to stop him before he accidentally whacks her in the mouth, Maya yells "stop it" and gives him a little painless slap on his hands. He now walks around the house hitting his own hand saying "stop it".

Mr Smarty Pants

I have incredibly smart children. Of course every mother believes their children are smart and all children are. I'm constantly amazed at their ability to do stuff that people their size shouldn't be able to do. For example, just the other day Henry was playing with this truck.


It's a Megablocks truck. Megablocks make these plastic building blocks also.


Somebody gave him the bag of blocks when he was just a wee baby. We then bought the truck separately at a second hand store months later. The truck usually lives outside and the bag of blocks live inside. Never have we played with the two together. It just never occurred to us as he is happy playing with the truck outside, putting the pegs into it and then tipping them back out. Anyway Henry was playing with this truck quite happily a few afternoons ago when suddenly he ran inside. He came back out carrying the blocks and then proceeded to put them onto the underside of the tip tray right where they're supposed to go. He stacked them neatly and perfectly. I was amazed that he was able to figure this out on his own.


They only stayed there a short time though as he realised the tip tray wouldn't sit down neatly while the blocks were there. They were thrown aside and then just dumped into the tray and driven around in the truck.

Today he's gone to daycare. Yesterday and today he cried when I left him. The most depressing thing in the world is walking away from your child when they're crying for you and you leave them in the hands of perfect strangers.

Turning Left

As I was waiting to turn left at 5.30pm directly into some heavy flowing peak hour traffic I had a flashback to a promise I made myself when I was about 19 and living in Airlie Beach... in a shack... right on the beach. Back then I promised myself that I would never live in a place that had heavy flowing peak hour traffic. Nor would I watch a city fall asleep at night. I promised myself to only ever enjoy wine while watching the bush fall asleep so I could enjoy the changing colours of the evening sky and listen to the evening insects without having to listen to or see the speeding traffic ferrying people from their nine to five existences. Obviously time and responsibility erased that memory from my mind until this afternoon. I don't enjoy living in the city. I never really have.

Lubly fen.

The fan that Anna brought.

Style Cut! What is a style cut???

This morning I went to the supermarket to buy a few things at a new shopping venue that has recently opened near us. There is a new chain store brand of hair dressing salon there also. After reading the sign on the outside that said "Short hair cut, shampoo and blowdry $20" I went in to enquire about getting my hair cut. I mentioned the sign out front and she said "Well how much did you want cut off?". I looked at her dumbfounded because I have very short hair. How much could I get cut off? I told her I just wanted it trimmed and tidied up. She said "That will be $45". I asked her how that is possible when the sign out the front specifically said $20. She replied that I would be getting a style cut and that costs more. I didn't realise before today that there was any thing other than a style cut. I mean people don't go into the hair dressers to get a bowl put on their head and have the hairdresser just cut around it. I could get Ben to do that for me. I walked away and went to the post office to do what I had to do there and laughed about my experience with the lovely lady who works there. She very kindly pulled out a voucher book and handed me a voucher for the salon. The voucher says "haircut, shampoo and blow dry, $20". It doesn't say anywhere on there that it must specifically be a "style cut". Armed with this new voucher I went back to the salon and asked if I could use the voucher I was now in possession of. She told me I would have to pay an extra $25 on top of the voucher for the style cut . I pointed out to her that it doesn't specifiy anywhere on the voucher that I must have a style cut or indeed what the difference between a cut and a style cut is. She tut tutted me and rolled her eyes and mutttered something under her breath and booked me in for Saturday.

Now I believe I was within my rights to bring this to her attention but obviously not many people do. We just accept whatever it is we are told. They hand out vouchers and post misleading signs but then get upset when people question them. No one likes to cause trouble so no one ever says anything. Get em in and then charge em more seems to be how business does business these days.

Frivolous Blood Giving

I donated blood on Saturday. I have been getting over it ever since. This was the first time in almost 3 years that I had donated. I used to be a regular donor. I felt like I had been hit by a mack truck. My friend, a nurse, suggested I "not be so frivolous in my blood giving". She suggested I think about it next time before just saying yes so readily. "Blood is precious" she said. I should eat some dried apricots and almonds until I feel better. She also once told me that angry people don't have beautiful gardens.

Henry and Anna

Henry and Anna, our Japanese homestay, seem to get on very well. He thinks she's pretty cool. He insists on calling her "Nanna".

Just writing up some lecture notes for the kids at daycare.

Hello, Um, Yes

These are the words Henry says when he walks around with the phone to his ear pretending he's talking to someone. "Hello, Um, Yes!" and nods his head. He clams up when someone really talks to him on the phone and won't say a thing. I think it's the shock that it's actually talking back to him.

Lost in a sea of Australians

Not long after I replied to Libby's comment about having a homestay not being stressful we had a very stressful couple of hours, all involving our student. She got lost on her way home from university. On Monday night I sat down with her and we mapped out her bus route to the university. I gave her a city map with our house marked on it and the route from the city to home. I gave her our phone numbers also. The next morning I took her to the bus stop, put her on the bus and as I did so I realised we hadn't discussed her bus route home. I asked her did she want me to collect her from university that afternoon. She assured me that no, she wanted to catch the bus home. Off she went. When the time for her to be home came and went I started to worry. I drove to the bus stop wondering if maybe she had made it to there but was at a loss as to how to walk home from there. No sign of her. Another hour came and went and I called the homestay co-ordinator to ask what my next move should be. She told me not to panic and give her a little while longer because they often get lost in their first week while they find their way around. They always show up eventually she said. When it got dark I got particularly worried. I rang the co-ordinator again and she told me to call the police at this stage as it was getting a little late. We called the police who told us they would send someone around to take some details. A few moments later she showed up. She was very distressed and upset. She had made it to our suburb but couldn't make it home. She hadn't thought to call me. She apparently found some lovely people who dropped her off in our street. My phone started ringing with other homestay families calling to make sure she was ok as we had started a desperate ring around to see if any other students had seen her and may have an idea where she might be. Everyone was very concerned about her. That was stressful.

We co-ordinated with another homestay in our suburb for them to meet up on the bus and not leave each others sides. She managed to make it to uni and home the next day without incident. Last night however she got lost again. She went out for dinner with some friends, caught the bus home and got off at the right stop but couldn't find her way here in the dark. She had the foresight to call me this time and I was able to collect her without any problems. Phew.


We had a nice surprise yesterday though to make the day brighter. Grandma Mary sent us a parcel full of chocolate for Valentines Day all the way from America. Thank you Grandma Mary. They're delicious!

Homestay

We have a Japanese homestay student staying with us for the next five weeks. As are all Japanese she is delightful. Very friendly, very obliging and very eager to learn. She is here studying english as she wants to work with an airline as an interpreter. She also learns Spanish in Japan. Her english is better than I expected but she finds it hard to understand a lot of our Aussie interpretations of what would be taught in a formal english language course.

I can only imagine how frightening it must be to be a young girl in a foreign country trying to find your way around and understand how things work in such a city as Brisbane. This morning we put her on the bus for the first time. She had her city maps and bus timetables but still it must be confusing. It was hard enough for me to find which bus route may be best for her to take and I live in this city. I rarely travel by bus so I am not familiar with the routes. If I was a visitor to this town I would find it exceptionally confusing. We have the transport info website which is very confusing as there are no maps to help you understand where exactly the bus gets on and off. She needs to take two buses to get to a destination that is only 5 minutes drive from home. She has to go to the city and then back out again to the university. This was the easiest way to do it. But takes a lot longer than it would to just get in the car and drive her there. They are encouraged to find their own way to the university as a way of helping them familiarise themselves and immerse themselves in an english language speaking culture. I'm sure she'll be fine and if she doesnt' show up at home by 7pm tonight I will have to send out a search party.

Henry thinks she's great and has taken to giving her goodbye kisses in the morning when she leaves. He likes to spend time with her in her bedroom and shows off for her benefit. Maya is enjoying telling her all about life as a teenage girl in Brisbane. We plan to take her to the beach some day and show her some other local sights but there is usually never enough time to do everything one wants to. They usually make friends with other members of their study group and plan outings together. I'm sure she'll get along just fine whether we entertain her or not.

Nice Nose

Please don't wipe my nose. It goes with the hat. Makes me look tough!

Birthday Secrets

My sister and her children were wrapping a gift for their father's upcoming birthday. Larissa (my sister) told her son Sam, aged five, that he must keep the gift a secret. Sam assured her that he would have no trouble doing that because he was very good at keeping secrets. That night at the dinner table Sam said to his father. "Dad we didn't get you a BBQ set and it's not silver".

Heaven is a twuck book and a bucket of cars

Yesterday at the supermarket Henry discovered a twuck book. There was no putting it back once he had it in his little hands. We had to run him through the checkout with the book because he wasn't about to let go of it long enough for it to be scanned. He did however, allow Maya to read it to him yesterday lying in the cool breeze of the afternoon on a bean bag.

He has this pressing need to carry several cars in his hand at once and gets very upset when he can't. Ben taught him to put them in the bucket and carry them that way. The new trick with this is to count them "one, two, free, foor, tix" as he throws them into the bucket and then tip them all out to do it over again.

Do Not Answer The Phone

Maya has a new boyfriend and I'm not allowed to answer the phone in case he calls. That would be WAY embarrassing!

Thank God he hasn't called yet. I've been running to beat her to the phone just so I can say "Hey, is this Luke? I'm Maya's mum and she's told me sooooo much about you".

I bought some new clothes for my new job. Maya says I now look like a 4WD Mum. Casual but classy. I always thought she hated 4WD mums but suddenly they look just fine or at least better than the "superdaggy" mum I apparently used to be. Personally I'd rather look "superdaggy" than anything resembling a 4WD Mum so the clothes may have to go back.

Daycare, daycare, daycare.

Henry had his first day without Mum or Dad at day care yesterday. He didn't cry when we left as he was far too interested in pushing all the other kids off the climbing frame so he could get to the things he wanted. He just thinks they should be his and his alone. Apparently the day went without a hitch. They managed to get him to have a sleep for 2 and a half hours. They sleep them all on mats on the floor. Henry always goes to sleep in his cot at home so I give them full credit for getting him to lie down long enough to fall asleep. Ben was a nervous wreck all day thinking about him being there, catching diseases and spending time with strangers. I was driving all over Brisbane with mum, in and out of shopping centres visiting with clients.
When I pulled into the carpark of the daycare centre today, Henry started reciting all the names of the other kids in his group - Angus, Riley, Ruby, Amber. I knew he would be ok then. We got to the gate and off he ran, found some boy who had brought a toy car from home and proceeded to fight him for it. The daycare girls had to confiscate it. Those day care people need to be paid much more money. They assure me Henry's behaviour is perfectly normal and that they all at some time or another will have fights and arguments and dont' like to share. I just have to hope he doesn't turn into some mean spirited bully.