Bug = 2 years 8 months
Bub = 10 months 26 days What was Linus up to at this age?

Bob and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary on Tuesday, and we didn’t do anything exciting (we’re postponing the celebrations until an event next month). However we did manage to get both kids fed and to bed earlier than usual, then enjoyed tea alone together (which NEVER happens – we always eat tea with the kids when Daddy gets home from work!).

After our yummy steaks accompanied by some delicious, uninterrupted conversation, we played a game of Settlers of Catan, and we were just beginning our second game when Linus woke up crying. He doesn’t wake up often in the evenings, and when he does he’s usually very easy to settle again. But not this time!

Linus was beside himself, and none of our usual tricks to settle him worked in the slightest. We ended up bringing him out into the (dimly lit) lounge – something we never do after he’s been put in bed for the night! – and trying to work out what was wrong. It seemed that his foot was hurting him, and although it had odds and ends of little marks on it, there was no sign of anything that would be causing such pain.

In the end, we gave him some paracetamol (again something we hardly ever do), and I went to bed with him, nursed him for a while, then went to sleep with him (waking after midnight to go back to my own bed).

The mystery of the foot pain was never solved, and it hasn’t bothered him since. Perhaps there was a nightmare involved, or perhaps he was just very tired and focused his anguish on an irritation on his foot.

What – selfishly! – stands out for me about the whole affair was that for its entirety, Linus was crying “Mummy! Mummy!”. This doesn’t sound so unusual on the face of it, but for as long as I can remember, Daddy has been the one Linus has turned to most for comfort (when “mummy milk” isn’t involved). This might be because Daddy’s more patient than I am, because he sees him less, or it might be just my perception. So while concern for Linus’s welfare and distress at his misery and puzzlement over how to help him were consuming most of my energy, a small part of me was pleasantly surprised that it was me Linus turned to for cuddles and consolation for a change.

Bug = 2 years 8 months
Bub = 10 months 26 days What was Linus up to at this age?

I think Ada is a ratbag.

The other day the kids were having a bath together, and Ada insisted on standing up and holding on to the side.

“Sit down!” I said sternly.

She squatted (she didn’t sit!) so that her eyes were just below the edge of the bath and she couldn’t see me, then stood back up again to standing with a cheeky grin on her face. Being the mummy, I resisted the urge to grin and repeated my command even more sternly. Being the ratbag, she repeated her performance.

Man, she’s cute!

Bug = 2 years 8 months
Bub = 10 months 26 days What was Linus up to at this age?

Linus has been going to kindy for almost four weeks now, and it seems to be going quite well. Most of the time when I drop him off, he can’t wait to be rid of me, and convincing him to leave kindy at the end of the afternoon can be a challenge.

Toileting

I don’t think he’s using the toilet there yet… at the best of times he tends to need reminding (when there’s no potty around), and I can only imagine how hard it is for him to remember to go, and approach a teacher, and then be helped by a teacher to use one of the kids’ toilets at kindy (which are almost as high as an adult toilet and are very much out in the open).  He has wet his pants a few times. On Tuesday he even dirtied his pants (for probably the first time ever!) – he must have been a bit sick

Friendships

It’s been great having SSO at kindy too. It gives her mum and me some flexibility with pick-ups and drop-offs. For example, yesterday we arrived at the same time, and because Ada was asleep in the car, RAH took Linus up to kindy with SSO while I kept an eye on her baby RHO (meaning Ada didn’t have to be woken). RAH and I are also taking the opportunity to have a good catch up at least once a week while our big kids are at kindy.

Is He Enjoying It?

On Monday when I picked Linus up he was quite sensitive and teary, and I started having faint doubts about my choice: “Is he too young for kindy? Is this the wrong kindy? Does he not get on with the people here? Is he overwhelmed? Are his basic needs not being met here?”. But the next day, he was the complete opposite – when I arrived he was running around the sandpit in a blue and yellow wig and bare feet having an absolute ball. Since he’s been this happy almost every day I’ve picked him up so far, I’ll assume Monday was an aberration, possibly related to tiredness.

Sleeps

Just before Linus started kindy, I thought he’d mostly dropped his daytime sleeps, but it seems this isn’t so. He isn’t ready for one around noon the way he used to be, but he still has one more often than not, thanks to the hotter weather and the extra stimulation and physical activity of kindy. The timing of it is a bit less predictable than it has been for the past year or so, but on the plus side we have more flexibility to work it around other things we’re doing.

Unfortunately the timing of kindy means that – if he wants a nap – it ends up being very late in the day. I finally have my routine organised so that getting him into his bedroom for a rest is our priority when we get home from kindy, and it seems to be working OK. The next step is to decide whether we’d all be better off if I wake him after a certain amount of time so that he doesn’t sleep right through until tea time. We don’t want his bedtime getting later, and we’ve enjoyed the slightly earlier and easier bedtimes on the days he hasn’t had a nap.

Bug = 2 years 8 months
Bub = 10 months 16 days What was Linus up to at this age?

This morning Linus was jumping around on his “bouncy castle” (i.e. all the cushions taken off the couches in the lounge and put on the floor):

Linus: What a nice day!
Mummy: Yes, it does look nice out there.
Linus: What a lounge!
…What a door!
….What a Mummy!

You can take enthusiasm too far.

I was making Linus some toast this morning:

Linus: I LIKE toast!
Mummy: Well I like… Linus!
Linus (condescendingly): No, you like COFFEE!

And he’s right.