Helping

The usual bedtime routine involves Lucy comingg into Oliver's room (sometimes carried by Mummy, sometimes under her own steam and/or alone) saying "night night" to Oliver and I as she gives us kisses before heading off to her room for her bottle of bedtime milk with Mummy.

This evening however, Oliver asked whether he could help give Lucy her milk. It's a measure of how much Lucy loves her brother that she agreed to this new arrangement, albeit temporary.

A day in pictures (some moving)

When I first heard Lucy shouting for one of us to get up at around 6.24 this morning I can't say I knew with certainty that I would have a great day.

But I needn't have worried.

By 7.28am both kids were up, dressed and looked like this.



How could I not feel happy!

We headed downstairs where Oliver announced that he wanted organic oat pancakes for breakfast. (OK, he asked for pancakes and I'm throwing in the detail so you imagine all our diet is so healthy.)



Lucy, who will do absolutely anything her brother does, decided to have the same. (Note to self: start looking for finishing school for Lucy.)



After breakfast Oliver, who had a late night last night after accompanying me to the bike shop to pick up my bike, decided to have a little lie down and climbed into the buggy.



Soon enough though we were out and about, first heading to Borders to man-handle lots of books, read slightly fewer and buy even less. Both kids sat quietly reading like this for the whole time we were there.



Yeah right! After a good start, Lucy's attention span diminished to be as small as was her interest large in every child who came into the reading area. When it became clear that further reading was unlikely to be possible, we headed to the check-out via some playstation drums which each of them obviously had to try.





After lunch they made cakes, supervised by Mummy and assisted by their new friend Emma.



After the cakes were iced, Lucy and Emma finished of the cake mix.



A few minutes in the oven and some further decoration later (by Lucy and Mummy)...



...and voila! (Don't worry, none of the licked decorations made it onto cakes!)



Before dinner, Oliver and I went for a ride on my bike with his tag-a-long bike attached. Our destination was a field down by the river where there were some horses who would appreciate some of our carrots and an apple. It took us a while to get there as we stopped off at two parks along the way. An when we finally arrived, Oliver (in a move reminiscent of his younger days) would only let the horses have the carrots, eating the apple himself.



After dinner and some play at home, it was time for bed. Lucy threw up some of her bedtime milk (as she still does from time to time) but moments later after being cleaned up was in good humour, even singing a little of her lullaby (in tune!) before heading back to her room for hugs with Mummy.

Big steps, Little steps

How quickly they grow. And how quickly they grow up. You hear every parent say it and yet it can't be said enough, because no matter how hard we might try there are moments constantly slipping through our hands like the sands of time itself.

When taking Oliver for a ride in his new bike-mounted seat, it struck me that I had probably taken him out in the Wee-Ride carrier for the last time. And when that last time came, some time last summer, I didn't know it had arrived. It was a poignant reflection and one I seem to be encountering often recently.

As I walked up the stairs behind Oliver tonight, I noticed he was no longer stepping up with one foot and then the other onto the same step, but was instead walking up as an adult would, with each new step being trodden by alternating feet. He didn't do it all the way up, but it was a noticeable development. A far cry from when he crawled up the stairs with me right at his back to catch him. And yet it seems not so long ago.

Although Oliver dropped every bottle but his bedtime bottle by around 17 months, he has still been having a bottle of milk in an Avent bottle at bedtime. What is more, despite his age, he has still been having one of us hold it for him and feed him exactly as we fed him as a baby. Consequently, with both kids going to bed around the same time, recently Hayley had to feed them both their bottles simultaneously, one on each knee.

So we decided we would get Oliver a special cup that he would want to drink from himself. Hayley got a rocket shaped cup with a retractable straw that sports a picture of Roary the Racing Car. A brilliant choice.

So last night we let him have this cup and as he sat on my knee drinking his bedtime milk our roles as bottle holders officially became redundant. Again it was a bitter sweet experience to see my big boy growing up and yet to have to say goodbye to a little moment that we shared where he was happily dependent on me. But isn't that exactly what being a parent is all about: learning to very slowly let go. It's just happening so much earlier than I expected and is therfore so much harder than I had imagined.

In the wars

Last Thursday Hayley went in to hospital to have some scheduled but rather urgent knee surgery. She had been trying to rest her knee but the Christening meant that plan went out of the window. On leaving hospital she was advised to rest her knee and not to stand for more than 20 minutes in an hour.

On Friday and over the weekend I was there to help. But since I went back to work today these guidelines have been hard to follow with a baby and a toddler in tow. Friends have helped where they can. One took Oliver to playgroup today. Another is taking him to nursery tomorrow and hopefully for a play-date with her son afterwards.

Over the weekend we were due to go to a party, my Mum coming up to babysit overnight. In the event she decided she couldn't stay over but still baby-sat while we went out. We were out for no more than two and a half hours and while there my slightly upset stomach of the afternoon progressed to full-on nausea. I couldn't even look at the delicious food and while others sipped champagne, my strongest tipple was pepto-bismol from my host's medicine cabinet. Hayley managed to accomodate a walking stick into her fancy-dress outfit but in any case spent most of the party sitting down.

The one up-side of me being ill was that by not drinking I actually felt less than
a complete wreck when I woke on Sunday morning to get up with Oliver and Lucy at 7am. I couldn't help thinking of everyone else who attended though. We were the only couple who had to get up with our kids the next day, everyone else having the help of overnighting grandparents or having dropped off their darlings before going to the party. Still, no-one forced us to have kids and we always knew we'd be pretty much on our own with my Mum the closest grandparent at an hour away and everyone else effectively just occasional turns on the stage of our children's lives.

More concerning than our own woes though is that Lucy has been ill for the last few days, in fact we think we can trace it back at least a couple of weeks. She has been throwing up all her milk some evenings as she goes to bed. Her nappies are also very frequent, runny and smell very bad. She has lost weight and we also noticed her belching at odd times of the day when she'd had neither food nor milk.

Today Hayley took her to the doctor who tentatively diagnosed two things. Firstly, she may be lactose intolerant so milk is now off the menu and we have moved to SMA-LF, a lactose free milk. This condition may not be permanent. It can disappear by age 12-18 months. The second condition diagnosed was some reflux which can be treated with Gaviscon in her milk. Hopefully this too will disappear in a similar timcescale. In fact, the doctor said his own daughter suffered from it but grew out of it.

Little Lucy never complains much despite her woes. Even when she has thrown up vast amounts of milk and food all over herself and Hayley, after a few seconds of tears she then often musters a little smile. It tugs at the heart-strings I can tell you.

Last night she must have wondered what on earth was going on. We managed to get her to bed without her being sick. A couple of hours later we came to bed ourselves (in the same room... yes we still haven't moved her!). No sooner were we in bed than we heard the unmistakeable sound of a nappy being filled. So we both got up, put the light on and changed her in her cot. SHe woke up and smiled at us. We largely managed to avoid eye contact as this is supposed to encourage her back to sleep. Then we cleaned up and went back to bed. Only one of us had made it under the covers before we heard the same sound again. The light went on again and the process was repeated. This time Lucy was making cute little shrieks and smiling madly at us. Resistance was crumbling as we smiled back. After a while we went back to bed. But not for long. About 45 minutes later a third explosion was heard and we got up again. After this change she wouldn't settle and in the end we were up for an hour.

Today hasn't been much better. As she woke she set the tone for the day with a runny nappy and Hayley reported that she has either had to change her or clear up sick for much of the day. And yet she is still one of the happiest babies I ever saw. TOngiht while Hayley went out for an hour, I sat on the sofa reading books to Oliver while Lucy sat and played next to me, occasionally entertaining herself by biting my arm. Her favourite trick right now though is to bite my nose but ever so gently, which makes me laugh, in turn making her laugh and repeating the trick.

Other pastimes for Lucy right no are to give Mummy kisses: very similar in fashion to Oliver at around the same age. She also waved to me unaided this morning when I waved goodbye to her from the door.

So Oliver is currently the healthiest member of the household, with only the occasional runny nose to boast.

Who needs Holby City when you can read my blog.