Age = 3 months 23 days

Home Visit

Last Friday Linus and I finally did what had been intended for months: we paid a visit to Granny at her work, a rest home in Mosgiel. Earlier in the day we’d visited Aunty Claire, and Linus had been – how can I put it nicely? – a horror! I was tempted to cancel the rest home visit, but decided it would be a bit hard on the lounge full of oldies eagerly awaiting the baby they’d heard so much about.

The car trip must have worked wonders, or perhaps he was all cried out, but once we got to the home Linus was an absolute angel. He had smiles and chat for every one of the 20 or so new people he met, and only after he’d done the rounds did he start to cry.

Histrionics

I was going to include this under the previous heading, but decided it really needs its own. Let me explain.

I’ve only got one baby. I have little comparison. I’m really not sure if he’s an “easy” baby or a “hard” baby or a “fussy” baby.

However what I’m starting to believe is that he is fond of what I call histrionics. When he decides to cry, it can be startlingly sudden and dramatic: he can be lying on the mat getting changed and smiling and chatting, when he’ll suddenly (often when his nappy’s going on) decide that the good times are over and grizzling just won’t cut it – he is compelled to give us a lung-busting tear-streaming series of cries.

On Friday Linus turned this on for Granny, and she was convinced for days that she must have stuck him with a pin (her name badge had come unclipped, so it was possible). I told her that it was just as likely that he’d simply “turned”. It does take some getting used to.

First Snow

On Sunday night we went to Mosgiel for dinner, and had a lovely evening (although Linus did upset his Granny yet again with his histrionics; I’m not sure if Granny was impressed or mortified by his parents’ thick skin).

At 8pm a light snow started, and given that we live in one of Dunedin’s highest suburbs, Granny joked that we might not make it home and might have to stay with them for the night. At least, I thought she was joking, but she was almost right. We were surprised to find that the back road we normally take home was closed at 9:30, so we had to turn around and take the main road. As we got closer to home we got more and more surprised and anxious about the amount of snow lying beside (and eventually on) the road.

We did surprisingly well getting up the steep hill in spite of the snow, and might have done even better if we hadn’t been following another car going quite slowly. In the end we had to park just a block away from home, close enough that we could walk (with pram, baby, and not nearly enough warm clothes).

New Family Members

Bob and I are very much cat people, but for the past year we’ve held off getting cats because a) our old rental property wasn’t suitable, b) there’d have been no one at home all day, and c) I was pregnant (cat faeces can expose you to toxoplasmosis).

With all those circumstances changed, we decided a couple of months ago that the time was right to get a couple of kittens. However when we went to the SPCA to get some, they were all out! Good for local cats, sad for us.

Before we got around to looking elsewhere, Bob’s sister asked us if we’d like to look after her two 3-year-old cats on a semi-permanent basis. Her flat already has two cats in it, and it’s a bit crowded with four. Her cats – Bud and Nala – are both lovely, and as of last weekend are living with us. Thanks to Bob’s dad we now have a cat-flap installed, although the cats haven’t used one before and haven’t yet worked out how to use it (unless one of us is holding it open for them!).

The cats and Linus aren’t showing a lot of interest in each other, which is good; Bud and Nala will have had time to feel like this is home before Linus starts pulling their tales tails and carrying them around by the neck!