Mikaela came running out of her bedroom this morning to tell me excitedly "It's my birthday again today!" She seemed very pleased with the idea.
"Is it?" I said, "Well happy birthday!" Luckily she hasn't needed anything else (like more presents) to keep her happy.
The last two mornings Mikaela has woken up a little before six and lain in bed chatting to herself. This morning's chatter included the tidbit that she was in need of marshmellows. Yesterday she woke up singing "No, no, no, no, you're not the one for me!" (KT Tunstall) She calls it the 'woo-woo' song.
It's cute, but I could wish it happened an hour later.
Edited to add: Actually I had that wrong, she calls it the 'who-who' song. :)
I love Liam's school. Especially in this beautiful autumn weather. In the mornings at drop-off Kaely and I walk down with Liam, and hang around for a while.*
This morning we got to school about 8:40 and left at 9:15. I chatted with other kids and parents while Mikaela played in the sand, in the various kid-built 'cubbies', on a log. Once the big kids went inside I stood in the sun pushing Kaely in the cloth 'swing',** which she loves above all else at school.
This afternoon, if it's nice, I'll take a picnic afternoon tea and we'll probably stay at school until about 4pm. There may be other kids and parents about, or there may not, but either way we'll enjoy this autumn weather while it lasts.
Are other schools like this? Or is it something particular about Orana - or about Steiner schools - which makes them such lovely and welcoming places to spend time?
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*Very occasionally I drop Liam off without coming down from the carpark to his class - at his request - but when I do I usually feel a little bereft. He really wants to start taking the bus to school, but I'm not quite ready for that yet.
**This is a swing made out of a very large piece of material which has three ends tied to a horizontal poll. Little kids like Mikaela can climb right inside it, bigger kids make sort of a scoop seat for themselves with their legs hanging out.
The first thing Liam told me when I got home from work just now was how he puked (on himself and on a shop floor) a couple of times today from coughing. I then got him a bucket, since I've come home to find him sitting on the couch watching TV, still coughing incessantly.
Mikaela: Is Liam going to puke in that?
Me: Hopefully not.
Kaely: I will puke in it too.
Me: Why don't you and I not puke at all.
Kaely: No, I want to puke. I want to puke in the bucket.
Mikaela: Open now Window!
Window (sounding suspiciously similar to Mikaela): I am opening!
Mikaela: No you not.
I also keep getting caught when she says "Mama!?" and I say "Yes?" And she says "Mama!" as though she hasn't heard me, and I say (sometimes without looking), "Yes Mikaela?" And then "Mama!" to which I reply again, at which point she looks at me annoyed and says "No - she's saying it," indicating some animal who is talking to some other animal. Or perhaps a pen who is talking to a shoe.
It's raining - a thunder storm in fact. I love it. The garden loves it. Liam and Chris love it. The animals aren't so sure. Mikaela says:
"I don't like it. I cover my ears, make it go away."
She says it very matter-of-factly mind you, with no hint of distress in her voice. And then she falls asleep in my arms.
The possibility of another baby in the family came up the other day, I can't remember why, but this was Kaely's response to the idea of being a big sister. When asked something like, would she like a little sister in the family:
Mikaela: "Yes. Tahli."
Me: "Tahli? like Tahlia?"
Mikaela: "Yes."
Me: "What if it was a little brother?"
Mikaela: "No."
Me: "But what if the baby was a boy baby?"
Mikaela (emphatically): "No."
So I guess we're pretty clear on where her preferences lie, at least for the moment.
And as for me - well yes, this is a completely hypothetical baby, there is no pregnancy in sight, but I do quite like the name Tahlia - it's not been on my list before, but I might just add it.
On the other hand, I just googled Tahlia (Hebrew) and it means 'Dew of god' - sounds a bit like sperm, somehow, doesn't it? But Thalia (Greek) means 'to flourish', so that's definitely better...
Everyday this week there was a 'parent cafe' from school drop-off until midday, in what used to be a kindergarten room & playground (now used for playgroups, craft group etc).
We went there are drop-off on both Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday after dropping Liam off at his classroom, Kaely said very hopefully "My class now?"
At the beginning of the week Mikaela was very determined that she was going to school with Liam, but was placated by going to a 'playground' (at the parent cafe). Now she's convinced that that's her class, and I fear is going to be sorely disappointed next week, when there is no cafe on.
Mikaela: You got stuck in that garden yes'day, didn' you mummy?
Me: I got stuck in the garden?
Mikaela: With parrots on you.
Me (guessing): I had carrots on me?
Mikaela: Yes. But you got out by yourself.
Me: Did you dream that I got stuck in the garden?
Mikaela: Yes.
Me: You dreamed it while you were asleep.
Mikaela: In my cot!
Her language isn't as good as that makes it sound - the words are there, but the pronunciation still calls for a lot of guess work. However the guesswork was reduced in this case by the fact that she repeated this dream - especially the first line - on and off all day, sometimes to the point of three or four times in a ten minute slot: "You got stuck in that garden, didn' you mummy?"
We talked about it a bit more and it was clear that she assumed that I had also dreamed it (and why wouldn't you think that?), and also that it was a bad dream - because of the stuckness, rather than the carrots. Also it was "Not Daddy. Not Mimi.* Not me. Just mummy."
This was a NY's eve dream, so the conversations happened yesterday, but she brought it up once again today. It really haunted her that dream. And she did wake up crying yesterday morning, so maybe that was why.
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*This is still what she calls Liam mostly, although sometimes she calls him 'Iam'.
Been meaning to blog this for ages... a few funny little things Kaely says, for the baby book:
Mu-nooz (think mu as in music and news in an American accent - ie without the 'y' sound we aussie's put in front of the e) - she uses this both for muesli and music.
Molk for milk
Damn, I can't remember anything else...
She hardly signs at all any more, she has become very verbal - still not that easy to understand but getting easier all the time.
"I wuv you." Yesterday was the first time Mikaela said that to me (or anybody). And she quickly followed it with "No, I wuv you too," when I said I loved her too. It was very cute. And she seemed very proud to get the words out.
She says it with a slight hesitation between each word - which is how she says all new sentences. She can say quite long ones now (by which I mean five or six words), but she's by no means fluent even with shorter sentences. She often seems to really think about which word to use next.
I was getting her ready for her nap and picked her up for a cuddle before nursing like I always do when she said it the first time. Which makes sense because I often say I love her then. She hasn't said it spontaneously like that again - without me saying it first. But she still seems very proud today of her ability to say it at all. She's definitely enjoying her language development as much as we are.
Until recently Mikaela hated mushrooms. She's okay with vegies generally - just so long as they are served separately. She doesn't like the 'all in one pot' style of cooking Chris and I prefer. She likes to be able to identify each item on her plate, and prefers not to have too many choices. She'd rather focus her efforts on one or two types of food - maybe chicken pieces and sliced tomato, or steamed carrots and broccoli. If you give her all four options, she'll just eat all of one (probably the carrot) and then ask for more of that.
But until recently she despised mushrooms and zuchinni. Zuchinni is still not on her list of favourite foods (and she definitely doesn't like it raw), but she will eat it now. But mushrooms. Yum! As long as they are sauted moreorless on their own. So that's what she's having for lunch. a bowl of sauted mushrooms (with basil). I steamed some broccoli too, which she usually likes, but she's leaving that to one side. Maybe she'll eat it when the mushrooms are all gone, maybe she won't. She's a funny thing.
Up until recently Liam and Mikaela played pretty well together. Which is to say, Liam tolerated Mikaela amazingly well, and never really seemed to resent her.
All that has changed in the past couple-few months. They still play nicely some of the time, but Liam is getting increasingly frustrated with Mikaela. With her not doing what he wants, with her wanting to follow him and do the same thing as him all the time, and with her wanting to (gasp) share his mother. Actually, she doesn't want to share me, she wants to own me.
"Mine," she says, when Liam wants me. And heaven forbid he should sit on my lap for a cuddle. That gets her completely riled.
Hmm, I'm starting to see where his general frustration might be coming from.
It saddens me though, because until now they've been so lovely together so much of the time. Sometimes they still are, but there is a lot of - basically meanness - from Liam towards Kaely now as well. I hope it's a passing phase, but what I suspect is that it will settle down, but it won't go away completely. Not until they are adults who've had years of therapy to work out all their deep seated problems.
Kaely has definitely figured out that kisses make things better.
She is pretty resilient generally, falls over often but jumps straight up to continue her play. She'd have to be a bit tough really, or she couldn't maintain her lifestyle as a gymnast/rock climber in training. But sometimes things hurt.
If it's really bad she'll cry and/or want to nurse. But if it's just a little bad, like if she trod on a bit of lego in her bare feet say, she's likely to come running over to have it kissed better. She's fussy too. If the first kiss doesn't help, or isn't in quite the right spot, she'll ask for another before she runs off to scale another tall building dining room table.
The other day she hurt herself and I wasn't quite sure what she'd done."Do you want mummy to kiss it better?" I asked. I thought maybe she'd banged her chin. She probably had, but it wasn't her chin that was hurt. She nodded, came over to me, and stuck out her tongue.
Well, I guess if it works...
Kaely is two today.
We didn't do much by way of celebration, but we did have a cake with her cousins at our weekly visit to their house and pretend like it was a party. Not that they noticed the difference.
And now I am going to bed.
I am completely exhausted. This is mostly because I have been up since 4:45 this morning, thanks to my darling daughter Mikaela. But it's also because I spent the entire day (from 8:40am to 5:40pm) at the Canberra Writers Festival, which I have to tell you was awesome. It inspired, motivated and excited me. But yes, the sum of all that is exhaustion. And an ear-ache (possibly unrelated).
The best part is, I get to go back tomorrow, and again the next day! Yay ACT Writers Centre.
More details to come later in the week when it's all over.
Last night Mikaela went to sleep by herself in the cot.
I mentioned she did this for a nap a couple of weeks ago, but that time there was quite a bit of grizzling involved and several return visits from me. Tonight there was none.
Not that I've been trying to achieve this or anything. But tonight she nursed on one side, then the other, then back to the first. And wasn't asleep. So I said, "Do you want to go into the cot?" When she agreed, I double and triple checked - that she wanted to get in the cot, that one over there, that Mummy would go and pack the dishwasher (not hang about chatting). Yes, yes and yes.
So then I stood up, asked for and received a good night kiss and cuddle, and put her in the cot. Usually at this point she would sit up and start playing (with anything available - blanket, cot sides, whatever) or chatting. But no, she just lay there, and let me cover her with a light blanket (she's in a sleeping bag anyway). And I left. Now I expected that she would chat to herself for a bit and then call me back. But she didn't. I did hear her murmuring occasionally in the first few minutes, but that was it. That was now over two hours ago and she's barely stirred since, so she clearly did go to sleep. Amazing.
Sometimes, when we are in the part of our bed time routine where we all sit on Liam's bed and 'read' books, Kaely decides she wants to get into bed with Liam instead of going into her own room (our room) to nurse in the rocking chair and go to bed in her cot. So we let her do that and usually about 30 seconds later she comes out to us. Liam is in on the joke, but he's quite keen for her to eventually share his room. Anyway, she did that tonight. And then went to sleep in the cot by herself. which makes me think, maybe her moving into Liam's room is not as far away as we might think. After all, Liam moved into there when he was only about three or maybe four months older than she is now, and that was also by his own choice. Mind you, he wasn't falling asleep on his own yet at that point. But he wasn't being nursed to sleep either, Chris usually lay down with him.
And as for the night weaning, after that hell night it went back to being pretty good. In fact, the very next night she slept right through from about 7:30pm till just after 6am. She hasn't done that again I don't think, but she has been pretty good, and okay with Chris being the one to go into her. I won't claim she's night weaned until I go into her and she doesn't ask for milk, but it's looking pretty good, I must say.
Mikaela's favourite phrase at the moment is "My do! My do!"
I remember when Liam was going through the same phase, but I don't remember how he expressed it exactly.
Hell night is a bit of an exaggeration really, because she only woke up once. It was just that the once was two hours long and involved quite a bit of hysteria. Chris spent the first 1/2 hour with her, then I took over. So I guess I was a little premature in my comments yesterday. Oh well, we'll just keep trying and see how it goes tonight.
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