Monsters under the bed

Nic called me in this evening to bid him a goodnight after I had put Mietta down to sleep. A late afternoon nap meant that he wasn’t quite ready for sleep at bedtime. We had a little chat and the subject of ghosts and monsters came up. Trying to avert any possible sleeplessness due to the thought of monsters, I tried the friendly monster angle saying “Monsters are really cool. I like Cookie Monster” “Mum, he’s on Sesame Street”. “Yes,” I countered, “He is friendly. So is Grover - and he is cute” “But Muuuuum.... those monsters are on television” “Why? We don’t have monsters in our house?” I asked in disbelief “Suzie” Nic stated. “Suzie Monster?” I asked. “Yes” Nic replied. “So where is Suzie Monster?” I was intrigued. “Under my bed!” Nic told me - without any apparent fear. I’m now interested to know how long Suzie might be staying with us. 

The reason for Mietta’s pain - tooth number 2, presented itself this morning. Mietta is keen to move during her tummy time. She does a combat-type-crawl but is extremely frustrated at going backwards when she obviously wants to go forwards! 

Nic was hungry yesterday so went to the fridge to help himself to some lunch. He took out bottles of cornichons, pickled onions and mayonnaise. “This is all I need” he announced. 

Photo: A rare photo of me and the kids! 

Robots and Spaceships

Today we finally celebrated Luc’s fifth birthday party. I had planned to hold his party a week earlier at the boy’s gym - but decided against this. I was thankful for that decision as Luc was really sick last weekend. Thinking that this might be the last time we could hold a party for a number of young kids indoors, I set about planning a house-bound, activity-type party.  

Luc wanted a Spiderman party. I was completely over superhero parties (we had hosted a Superman and a Batman party last year). I told Luc we could have a Robot Party. “A Spiderman Robot party?” he inquired “No. A generic, non-commercial, non-trademarked, spontaneous type robot party”. Luc looked a little confused. “With spaceships” I added. Luc’s face brightened. 

The boys helped me to tape together two long pieces of paper, attach it to the wall and decorate it with space images in readiness for a space mural for the party-goers to decorate. Luc filled in spare moments during the week adding some planets, black holes and a few images of robots and spaceships. This was a really good build-up for the impending party. 

Paul and I were tired from a function we (reluctantly) attended last night (Luc’s school fund-raiser). Despite this, we had to prepare for guests due to arrive at 10:30am. Mietta was super-unsettled. Suspected tooth number 2. We had to leave her crying as guests began arriving. After most of Luc’s guests arrived, Luc had a monumental meltdown precipitated by the suspension of presents. He was removed by Paul for a time-out / talking too. Nicolas lost it as well as he didn’t have any presents to be suspended. Time out for Nic. At this stage, we had a house full of guests whom we left to fend for themselves as we attended to our three screaming children. Great start we thought. 

As it turned out, the craft projects / activities were a great opportunity to change moods. We ended up with a very happy and involved host as the children decorated cookies. This was a very successful part of the party and all the kids had a go at mixing colour into icing, spreading it on and then decorating their cookies with abundant sprinkles and candy. It was a lot of fun. 

Paul popped out to pick up some pizza and we were surprised to see almost all of it disappear (we usually over-order and end up eating pizza for the rest of the week!) Must have had something to do with the super-cold weather outside. Time for blowing out candles and I brought out a robot cake. Luc and Nic had been ogling this for the last day: this was the reason for attaching bells to the refrigerator door as an early warning system.  Lack of morning-sickness and / or brand new baby saw me attempt another home-made cake. Half carrot cake, half banana cake, this cake was a great excuse for cream cheese frosting. Yum!

Thank you to Joseph, Finn, Anahera, Max, Meredith, James, William, little Kaia and parents for helping Luc celebrate his birthday. Poor Callan had to miss the party due to illness. 

Photo: Luc blows out his candles. 

Grateful

I watched the other day as Mietta looked intently at her hand and, one by one, furled and unfurled her fingers. Oblivious to Mietta, her other hand was going through the identical motions. Apparently it was a fascinating learning experience for her. It was just gorgeous: the absolute wonder of a baby learning the minutia of life. It made me feel sad for those that miss out on these small but momentous experiences. I remember once, a lady telling us how “rich” we were to have a child. No matter how impoverished we are, stuck in a seemingly permanent financial-reverse-gear, this statement comes back to remind me how incredibly lucky we have been to be able to have three great and healthy kids and have been able watch our children grow. Apart from those occasions where it drives us truly nuts, we are grateful that we haven’t had to outsource childcare to people that might enjoy it, but not appreciate the true magic and wonder of a baby learning, growing and appreciating the world. We are truly rich. 

We have further reason to be grateful as we follow the tragic news of the bushfires that have ravaged the state of Victoria in Australia. On Tuesday night, we attended a fundraising event for the Redcross Victorian Bushfire Benefit. A great turn-out of some 200 people (largely Australian) attended at fairly short notice. I was one of the raffle donors, donating a rum sum sum artwork for the cause. The big ticket item was a dinner for four at chef Art Smith’s home (former personal chef to Oprah). It went for auction at $5000. It was fun to watch two competing bidders come together in a little happy collusion to boost the bid price. Paul was lucky enough to attend a dinner at Art’s house - some 3½ years ago - for free! But that is another story. 

Our first-born Luc reached the big ol’ milestone of five years on the 11th. We are quite amazed that we have managed to get a child through to this age in life! The whole family went along to Luc’s school for a birthday ceremony. Following the same format as last year’s ceremony,  Luc circled a candle (the sun), holding a globe (the earth), passing through the months, starting and ending at February while his class sang “the earth revolves around the sun, tra la la and Luc turns... one”. Luc’s teacher then showed a photo of Luc at age one. This  was repeated for each year of Luc’s life. It is such a lovely way to celebrate one’s birthday. 

After a huge nappy blowout, Mietta celebrated by rolling from tummy to back today -obviously aided by a significant decrease in weight. 

Photo: Mietta post-bath at her grandparents house in Australia (January) 

Out of the fog...

...and into the mire! 

My friend Gabrielle commented that I should “be out of the fog” when we were discussing Mietta being 4 months old (she turns 5 months old today). This was such an apt description to try and explain the whole upsidedowness that a newborn throws ones life into. It is very easy to forget how perplexing a new life is, and how long it takes to begin to understand one another. It can be both pure hell and pure joy jumbled with abundant dirty nappies, a zillion small baby items needing washing, frayed nerves, unmet demands, a catastrophically messy house... made all the more bearable with the gorgeous baby smile and the time warp that ensues whilst one is absorbed in ‘baby gazing’. Do I want another baby? Of course! (Note: this euphoria will subside / vanish once Mietta begins to sleep through the night! I know this from past experience.) 

After putting so much effort into getting the boys into a feeding / sleeping schedule, I purposefully began with ‘demand feeding’ for Mietta. This was mainly due to our impending visit to Australia and the accompanying plane trips, altered time zones and the general craziness of travel. We returned to Chicago during mid January and I was eager to start Mietta on some sort of schedule to provide us with a certain level of certainty (and the ability to leave Mietta with a sitter!) Mietta, on the other hand, seems to have her own ideas and loves staying up late with Paul and myself - appearing to just want to hang out. The reason for a recent unsettled period became obvious when a tooth appeared in Mietta’s bottom gum at the beginning of February! 

Mietta is a very engaging and happy baby. She loves attention and is ready with a smile for complete strangers. My friend Polly describes her as “high on life”. Mietta is an absolute delight and we are so happy we have her in our life. Nic cannot go through a day without checking on Mietta constantly. He makes her laugh but can also make her cry when his attention gets a little overbearing. Mietta has the entire household wrapped around her little, teeny, cute finger. 

Nic comes out with some strange things at times. We were walking along the street last week. Nic was scrunching all the snow he could reach while I was trying to keep him motivated to continue in a straight line. He came out with “I want to go to China Mum.” “Why do you want to go to China Nic?” with the patently obvious answer “Because it is windy”.  His requests for sustenance are direct. “I want a sandwich Mum” Great, I was thinking, what a great food choice “OK. What sort of sandwich would you like?” He replied with a broad grin “An icecream sandwich. He he he!” And then: “I want a coffee Mum.” Incredulously I ask “You want a coffee?!?” “Yes.” Nic replies “I am a man and I only drink coffee”. 

Photo: Mietta and I take a self portrait

Busy November

Christmas has a habit of just sneaking up on one in the States. In Australia, we always seemed to be fully aware that it was imminent with store decorations and Christmas merchandise becoming apparent in October (or even September!) In the States, we are somewhat distracted. First there is Halloween, then Thanksgiving, with Nic’s birthday in between for us. Christmas decorations do not come out until after Thanksgiving - so it has always been a shock for us with so little apparent lead-up to Christmas. 

After Halloween, we had to find time to sneak in a 3rd birthday party for Nicolas before Thanksgiving arrived. Nic was adamant that all he wanted for his birthday was a ‘Batman cake’. This was obviously a response to Luc’s ‘Superman cake’ for his party. We again arranged for a party to be held at Jump Ahead Academy - a place where the boys expend some energy during the cold winter months. Paul organised for a Batman cake to be made at Sweet Mandy B’s - a favourite bakery. As is often the case with excited birthday kids, Nic cried for a large portion of his party: he only wanted to open presents and get his hands on his Batman cake. Other than that, it was another (mostly) stress-free birthday party - thank you to Eme and Katy for all the cleaning up! 

We celebrated Thanksgiving this year at home again. I have flatly refused to cook a turkey and I think Paul took this up as a personal challenge, arriving home from the Supermarket with a small turkey and Thanksgiving provisions. Paul then spent the larger part of Thanksgiving morning preparing and roasting a turkey and making Thanksgiving ‘sides’ (mashed potato, green beans and honeyed sweet potato). Not to mention the preparation he did the night before to ‘brine the bird’. I felt so guilty seeing him go to such great effort without my support, so Luc and I made reparations by whipping up a quick apple pie (so much easier with a pre-prepared pastry case!) We had our dinner as a late afternoon meal (halfway between lunch and dinner). Next year I promise to make more effort and support Paul’s turkey ambitions. Thanksgiving really is a wonderful holiday and I am beginning to appreciate it more and more. It would be so nice to celebrate with family, with no need for presents or any hoo-ha - just time to spend together as a family. I can see why it is THE most popular time for travel throughout the year. 

We are currently becoming very nervous about our impending trip down-under, but otherwise are well. Paul took the boys to the circus yesterday with our neighbour Greg and his daughter Meredith. The boys came home wide-eyed and sugar-fueled. Luc is currently the first to see or hear anything. (e.g. “I hear Mietta crying” with Luc’s response “Oh yes. I heard her first” or “Oh look at the snowman!” with Luc’s “Yes. But I saw it before anyone else”). Nic is going through a superhero phase that requires him to remove his pants - a la the Superhero undies-over-tights-look. Mietta is a happy little baby and a super-strong little girl. She has been able to hold her head up since birth and is now doing push-ups from her tummy, lifting her shoulders off the bed. She has rolled to her side, but has not done a full roll over as yet. She loves responding to smiles with a smile, and she chats away (and can be very noisy at times - trying to get our attention). Mietta LOVES having her nappy changed and will stop crying immediately if she is put down on the changing mat! I explained to Luc this evening that Mietta is always learning - and for example, if he were to speak to her, she would start to learn language. Luc immediately grabbed two small balls (i.e. Earth and the Sun) and began explaining to her how the earth rotates on its axis, and the difference between night and day!  

Photo: Nic, looking a little dejected after his candles have been extinguished

Halloweeeeeeeeeen!

Last night was Halloween. This is a really BIG event in the States - one that children eagerly anticipate from November 1st each year. It is bigger than Christmas, or any other ‘holiday’ and seems to last a long time. Halloween and Fall festivals, pumpkin patches, haunted houses, markets, parties and performances fill many weekends prior to Halloween Eve. It is really fun to participate in and children are so excited at the prospect of dressing up - for the big trick or treat night, and other organised events. 

Nicolas mentioned that he wanted to dress up as a pumpkin. Luc couldn’t decide between a ghost or a vampire. I thought these were excellent choices, in the spirit of  Halloween and kind of cute. Imagine my disappointment then, when Paul returned from a quick visit to the costume shop, obstensibly to purchase said pumpkin/ghost/vampire suits, with two Transformer-clad (albeit, extremely excited) boys. I realised that Halloween was not going to be all-about-me! Costumes are readily available and there are many seasonal stores set up purely to merchandise Halloween paraphernalia. To not dress up would be a sin! Older children (or their parents) take the time to design and make their own costumes - which can be really funny / elaborate / well-thought-out but sometimes really cumbersome and a little too unwieldy for younger children. (Case in point: the big plate of spaghetti and meatballs and the kitchen I saw walking around trick-or-treating!) 

Luc was desperate to buy a pumpkin to carve into a Jack-o’-lantern. We have learned from experience that carving a pumpkin too early results in a less-than-stellar Jack-o’-lantern. We left it a little late this year and our pumpkin selection was very limited. We settled upon a nice shaped, although lopsided pumpkin. Luc designed the face and I set about carving it. Luc’s enthusiasm for ideas is high, but his enthusiasm for ‘technical involvement’ is very low. He became very squeamish at the thought of scraping out the insides of a pumpkin - and left Mummy to do the dirty work. Great! I remember trying in vain to carve a Jack-o’-lantern from a Queensland Blue pumpkin as a child. I didn’t know then, that there are special varieties of pumpkins grown specifically for carving, that have soft skins and very little flesh. Pumpkin carving is very popular and there are some brilliant examples on display on front steps and porches. A set of pumpkin carving tools we bought for our first Halloween have proven to be invaluable. 

Luc and Nic’s friends, James and William, came to our home for a quick pre-trick-or-treat party. Gabrielle and I intended to fill the boys with some food to ward of the need to imbibe on candy treats. We made some pizzas, and I made some ghoulish coloured beetroot dip and a hummus served with bright red cranberry juice drink (unfortunately I had served a very tart unsweetened version!) and spiced apple cider, all consumed with Halloween cookies that Luc and I had made. (Note: I am still dirty on Paul for ‘discovering’ a set of Halloween cookie cutters and mentioning to Luc that “perhaps Mummy could help you make some cookies”). I had thought the bright red coloured food might have a devilish ‘blood’ connotation - but declined to mention this to the sensitive 2, 3 and 4 year olds! 

We went out trick-or-treating in our neighbourhood. A particular block of a local street, Burling Street, is very popular for trick-or-treaters, with the majority of residents participating in the event and going to great lengths to decorate their houses. The local alderman’s office is on this block, and the street is closed to traffic to cope with the hoards of children that descend on the area. Although exciting and really fun, the popularity of this location has escalated over the years and last night, we found it all a little too stressful, with two, then three parents trying to maintain and control five children in a dark and crowded environment with hyper kids running amok. We called it quits after visiting the houses on one side of the block and concluded that it might be better to go even earlier next year, or stick to some of the less popular streets. 

Photo: some of the Halloween spoils I was coerced into making. 

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it’s off to ER we go...

Paul must be getting to know the staff at the Children’s Memorial Hospital by now, having visited twice in as many days. The reason was to attend to a rather injured middle child: aka Nicolas. I had taken Nic to his gym on Friday morning for a jumping session. We adjourned to the local Cosi cafe for a coffee / bite to eat with my friend Polly and her son Finn. Nic and Finn were racing around like.... boys! Polly went to supervise as I needed to feed Mietta. As a dodge tactic, Nic decided to take on a wall instead of Polly. The result: a deep gash down the middle of his forehead and a copious amount of blood. Polly felt a little cursed as she had been through the exact same scenario with her son Callan only weeks earlier. I thought it a blessing as she was totally calm and knew exactly what to do - and applied compression to Nic’s wound.  I called Paul, gave him our location, a brief recap of the situation and requested his help - PRONTO! 

Luc was having a day off school, so he too came with Paul. We all loaded into the car and I dropped Paul and Nic off at the Emergency entrance to the Childrens Memorial Hospital. I then took Luc and Mietta home and waited anxiously for Paul to call with details. My experience of the Emergency Department was that things could take a very looooong time to happen. Thankfully, Nic was examined and treated quickly. 

Paul was given the option for Nic to have plastic surgery. Given the location of Nic’s wound (prominent on his face), and Callan’s recent awful experience (where the stitches had popped-open and needed to be followed by plastic surgery), Paul chose plastic surgery in the first instance. Nic was super-brave throughout the whole experience, and even reassured Paul by telling him, “I wont die”. 

Being a children's hospital, the staff are very adept at treating children, with specialist facilities to make it easier. To prepare Nic for his stitches, he was ‘swaddled’ like a baby, with arms bound by his side. To secure him even further, he was put in a straight-jacket-like velcro restraint, with a staff member holding his head. It was decided that given Nic’s endurance, he would receive a local anesthetic for the procedure rather than be sedated (requiring a fasting period). Paul’s description of countless injections inside the wound were enough to make me really happy I wasn’t there (as if the blood wasn’t enough).  The gash required a number of internal stitches to repair the lower skin layers, with a very tidy seam externally. Paul was super impressed at the neatness of the whole job. When Nicolas sat up after being released from his ‘straight jacket’, Paul was so proud when he shook the doctor’s hand and said “Thank you Doctor Mike”. The doctors were pretty astounded themselves!  

Saturday night, and we were due to go out to a ‘pot-luck’ party with other parents of Luc’s school mates. Nic came down with a high fever. This was one of the go-to-hospital scenarios following a head injury. Cate arrived to babysit the boys and we made our way to the party while Paul tried to contact our pediatrician. We arrived at the party and Paul finally spoke to Nic’s doctor who recommended taking Nic back to hospital to be checked out. So... Paul caught a cab home, roused Nic out of be and walked him to hospital. Nic’s dressing was removed and it looked fine. His fever was put down to some other random illness not related to his injury. Paul then took Nic home, caught a cab back to the party, to arrive in time to see the majority of the other guests leaving! Our hosts Todd and Christine were lovely and made Paul feel very welcome while feeding him leftovers. 

Photo: A bandaged Nic with newly acquired scar-to-be.