Leaving home

Harrison has announced his intention to move in with Carla, one of his day-carers. Carla has looked after him for 2 years, and leaves today to go on maternity leave. Harrison has decided that the way to cope with her loss is to move in with her and her new baby. He would like the baby to be a boy, and to grow up very fast so that it becomes his big brother. He has also started asking me to pull my hair back in a pony tail like Carla (and when I do he sighs, looks lovingly at me, and says "Hi Carla").... I'm trying not to take it personally.

Pre-School

We finally relented and let Harrison move into the pre-school room at day care. It's not classic pre-school, just what they call their third room. He is loving it, even though he's just visiting for half a day at a time right now. We were a bit worried about over-educating him too early in life - neither of us believe in "hot-housing", or pushing him to excel and achieve when he could be playing and enjoying being a kid. But I think the different environment and slightly older kids is good for him. While we absolutely love the carers in the toddlers room, it's probably getting a bit too same-ish for him. There are younger kids starting there, and the dexterity and language etc between the youngest and oldest is quite significant at that age. The pre-school room also has a lot of "incursions" during school holidays - visiting firemen, farmyard etc, and interesting activities aimed at older kids. Mum had some good advice about not trying to push H to a higher level of achievement in reading, writing etc, but to look for other things that are still at a 3 year old's level to interest him. Cue for Simon to spend some time on music and sport, I think!

3 today

Harrision is 3 today. He had a little party yesterday (more of an afternoon tea really) with his "significant adults". Much easier to handle than a party with kids. He got thoroughly spoiled, of course. I bought gluten free lamingtons from Alternative Bites, and made a lamington train cake for his birthday. We had to replace some of the sweets that the recipe called for as couplings and cargo etc with gluten free alternatives, but it turned out pretty well. Today he has taken a GF cake in the shape of the number 3 to day care.

He's also taken all his Lego Thomas trains to daycare. Simon said that he started off well, giving trains to the other kids to play with, and being very excited to be able to share them, but then there was a bit of snatching when Harrison was distracted, and he ended up with no trains at all. Worst of all, some other kid took Toby (his birthday present), which has hardly been out of his hands since he unwrapped him. I'm sure it's all a lesson in negotiation, disappointment and compromise...

Back moustache

No, I'm not talking about a particularly hirsute person, just Harrison-speak for back massage. If you say you have a sore back, he will offer to give you a "back moustache". Yesterday I asked what he did at daycare, and he said that he and Joseph (his partner in crime) played back moustaches. I asked who gave the massage, and he said - "I gave Joseph a back moustache, and then he gave me one, then we sang "lights, camera, action, Wiggles" in front of the TV". He has worked out that a turned off TV makes a fine mirror, so is constantly playing his guitar and singing and dancing in front of the TV. They have a TV at daycare which obviously serves the same purpose.

He's a very tactile person, loving to squeeze your arm, or your face, giving kisses, wanting you to sit close to him on the couch, or lean right over his bed when you're reading a bedtime story. He loves nothing more than a tummy tickle, and will instruct the tickler as to the appropriate method and protest if the tickle ends too soon for his liking.

Another term Harrison invented (when Leah was staying with us) is a "dark hug" - this is when you give a hug, but he buries his head in your chest and arms, and can't see out.

Bread incident

We're back in the swing of things. Work is pretty busy, and I can't decide whether to sit in the library or in the law school (my instincts tell me the law school). Harrison is happy at daycare, but we did have an incident last week where he was given a piece of bread, which triggered some diarohea and vomiting. Not too bad, and it was a genuine accident - the staff have altered some procedures so that it doesn't happen again. It was our first experience of Harrison eating something with gluten in it. We are trying to teach him to ask "is this gluten free" instead of "is this alright for me", but with a toddler it's risky relying on him to be alert enough to avoid the wrong foods just yet.

We recommenced our Pilates/swimming routine on Sat morning. It was actually cool and windy (as opposed to 40 degrees), so Harrison didn't get his paddle. He and Simon played bear caves instead while I exercised. Harrison was the bear - he had a kitchen in his cave and made Simon muffins and cake. Simon's having a bit of a snooze in front of the cricket as I type. He did the vacuuming and cleaning while I pushed H around Lake Monger this morning. Speaking of H, he's just woken up from his nap, and we're off to the zoo shortly.

New library

Back at work this week... The new library and IT building is open, and looking great. Very bright, lots of groovy and comfy seating, the bookshop and an Aroma cafe half in and half out of the library, a big e-lab and heaps of other computers. Still a bit of unpacking and settling in to be done, and my office doesn't yet have a phone, but it's all so much better than the old library. I'm staying in my office in the school in the long term, but I'll sit in the library office for the next couple of months so that students finding their way around the new library can find me easily. It's actually really quiet, so I'll probably get a lot of work done.

H settled in well at daycare. He's a "big" boy in the toddlers room now, and seems to be loving it. The girls can't believe how much his tummy has shrunk since last year. It's so funny watching him go through his little routines there - putting his hat back on the peg, and stopping to take his sandals off before bouncing on the mini tramp without being asked. UWA is great with hygiene and tidiness and getting the kids to take responsibility, but they're also incredibly warm and loving. They were genuinely glad to see Harrison again and take real pleasure in seeing him happy and healthy. There was a birthday at daycare yesterday and he couldn't share the cake, so I made and iced a gluten free one last night and sent wrapped slices to daycare today for them to keep in the freezer and take out when there's a birthday. Hopefully it will taste OK!

We also swapped the breadmaker the family gave me for Christmas for the Panasonic one that has a gluten free setting. Made bread for H on Sunday and it was amazing! I liked the GF bread that came out the breadmaker we'd borrowed from Mel, but the stuff I made on Sunday was a much better texture, even though it's the same mix. Who knows, I may even start making ordinary bread for Simon and me.