sickos

It's a commonly held view that one major benefit of childcare is that it "activates" your child's immune system. This occurs because, during the first winter of childcare, one's child is constantly sick. Every morning when Ella gets up I have to wipe the dried boogas off her face. Once an hour we have to wipe her nose -- she doesn't like this, because her nose is so red and sore that wiping it hurts -- but my motto in this regard is that if I start a battle with her on this front, the battle must be won. Wiping her nose usually ends in tears (on btoh sides;-).

Anyway, what they don't tell you is that the parent's immune system is also "activated" as part of this process. Translation: you will be sick for an entire winter. Actually, the way we work is to take in shifts -- much like looking after Ella. I was sick last week. Took all week to recover. Nat got sick today and was so bad that decided to ring up and ask for an extra day's childcare for Ella so Nat could stay at home and sleep it off. Anyway, she seems to be recovering.

Finally, Ella has discovered then notion of freedom. Seen here in an escape attempt, ably assisted by Allison the Elephant, she tried route # 1 -- straight through the gate. No doubt she'll become more elaborate in her attempts.

New Tricks

It's fascinating watching our little girl grow up, figuring out what things do, how things work and what she can and can't do.  Take for example bathtime... way back when she was this tiny little thing floating in the gigantic baby bath to now where she sits, stands and rolls around. She has discovered various bath toys starting off with the rubber ducks, the pirate ship, empty bathwash containers, cups and of course the taps - now aren't they fun to drive!  Ella can crouch on all fours, put her mouth into the water and even drink - YUM.  Tonight though when she was discovering the water with her mouth, her legs slipped from underneath her and she was now on her tummy. Then she discovered she could kick her legs (while on her tummy) and make lots of splashing. I think we are heading into the "everything gets wet at bathtime period".  Anyone got a spare raincoat?

Ooops

Yesterday our alarm clock (Ella) woke briefly at 6.30am then went back to sleep. Unfortunately so did we only to awake at 7.40am!!  Panic stations BUT I did manage to get to work on time...just....

Fact of the day

Did you know that you lose your sense of smell when you are asleep and most people die from smoke inhalation rather than actual burns. That's according to the fire dude who came to our work today to remind us of our fire procedures.  Hence the importance of smoke detectors in your house.  I now feel VERY reassured that we installed a couple in our place.

Projects, projects & projects.

Over the weekend while Ella was napping, we managed to get a few projects done. Andy installed new fans in the bathroom and toilet which will enable us to claim $500 back from our energy audit. Just got to submit the paperwork.

Also Andy almost finished our new letterbox, which he designed and constructed.  The legs need a 2nd coat of paint before being attached on to the letterbox.  I predict that it will be in the ground when I return from work on dad-at-home-Tuesday (I hope Andy is reading this!)

Meanwhile I started my next project - restoring a toy box from my childhood.  I hope to paint, re-cover the yellow vinyl lid with some child resistant fabric and add a chalkboard to the front. I do have memories of being squashed while trying to retrieve something from it, so to prevent various head and finger injuries to Ella I think it would be wise to attach some sort of mechanism to prevent the lid from slamming down - I'm sure I'll find something at Bunnings to do the trick.

Imagine That

The phone rings at 7.30am.  This normally means my boss is calling to tell me so-and-so is sick can you please go to .... This morning it was my boss BUT she said would you like to have the morning off as time in lieu - cool.  So after seeing Ella and Andy off at the bus stop, Pippa and I ran for 45 mins around Aranda hill then proceeded behind cook to the shops.  Picked up a few supplies so I could make some spinach and feta triangles for a 40th party tomorrow night before heading into work.  Not a bad way to start the last day of the week!

Hmmm....

Now that Ella has found her feet she is no longer content with sitting down. Here are two incidents just from today.

1. After playing in the play area at the markets, I put Ella into the seat in the trolley.  While browsing at some books, Ella decided she had had enough of sitting around and managed to wriggle out of the seat belt then proceed stand up on the seat.

2. Ella has worked out how to push her truck along with her feet while sitting on it. However when the truck gets stuck (ie she drives into a wall or a piece of furniture), she thinks it's much better to stand on the seat!