Recently the International Space Station (ISS) has made a couple of good passes over Dunedin. Passes are not rare, however bright passes (-3 mag) combined with clear skies and balmy temperatures are. Notification of the pass made it into the local paper, so I was well warned of it. Viewing conditions were perfect, and about ten minutes before it passed over (10pm) I decided to wake Linus and take him into the back yard to see it.

Fortunately ten minutes was enough time for Linus to rub the sleepiness out of his eyes and then right on cue the ISS made its approach over the western horizon. Linus was fascinated, and as we watched it go over our heads he jumped off me to avoid losing sight of it. Satisfied, he went inside back to bed.

The next morning he was buzzing about it, asking lots of questions like ‘is a satellite like a rocket?’, ‘how come it wasn’t going very fast?’, ‘why did it look like a star?’ to which I did my best to deliver answers, showing him pictures of it on the Internet and explaining that even though we could see it it was as far away as Christchurch is from Dunedin (a sobering thought I might add!)

If you fancy spotting the ISS yourself, check out the Heavens Above website, and look for upcoming passes that are at least -1 in magnitude.  Here’s some other facts about the ISS for you (or your kids):

• Crew: 6
• Continuously manned since November 2000
• Height: ~360km, Speed: ~28,000 km/hr
• Number of meals consumed onboard: 19,000

Bug = 3 years 11 months
Bub = 2 years 1 month Linus at this age
Bud = 5 months 23 days Linus at this age – Ada at this age

Every time I look at my gorgeous child, I feel besotted and guilty at the same time.

Besotted because my beautiful angel is so cute and sweet and funny and strange and clever and loving and lovely.

Guilty because I know that this fantastic kid I’m looking at is the one I love the most in the world and that my other two children couldn’t possibly compete.

But then I remember that the moment my gaze shifts to another of my children, that one will be my indisputable favourite for a few intense seconds.

Bug = 3 years 11 months
Bub = 2 years 1 month Linus at this age
Bud = 5 months 17 days Linus at this age – Ada at this age

This month has seen big changes for my littlest girl.

• She’s no longer using the little potty and is using the same big ones her sister uses.
• Her cot has been moved from beside my bed to the other side of the room.
• She has had a few naps in her cot.
• We have enlarged our dining table and attached the clamp-on highchair to it so Zoe can sit with us for family meals (when she’s awake).
• She was introduced to solids (broccoli) on Monday 31 January.  We don’t think she’s getting much down at this point, but she’s enjoying playing with it and mouthing it. We’ve also been giving her EBM in a sippy cup at the same time.
• I’ve started carrying Zoe on my back in the Storchenwiege, and she’s getting used to it; she’s even had a few naps up there.
• She has been getting up on all fours a LOT, and is also starting to sit with a lot of support. We feel like she’ll be crawling any day now!
• I tried to nap her in the Playcentre cot at our first session (in February) but didn’t have any luck. However she was happy in there for 20 minutes, so it gave me a bit of time to enjoy my big kids.
• I left her on the floor in the under 2s area at Playcentre for a while during the session, and she did well (and I enjoyed the baby-free time). At group time, supervisor CM kindly took Zoe and sat her on her lap during the stories, giving me more hands-free time to help out with clean-up.

Bug = 3 years 11 months
Bub = 2 years 1 month Linus at this age
Bud = 5 months 13 days Linus at this age – Ada at this age

In the Beginning

It’s hard to remember the timing and details of how Ada’s journey to toilet independence began, but it must have started before Zoe was born. A good contributor to introducing her to the concepts of pottying was watching her big brother use the potty and the toilet.

In terms of us actively encouraging her toiletting (or at least offering opportunities), I bought her some knickers a few months ago which she has enjoyed putting on. I also bought her some training pants (i.e. extra absorbent undies) for Christmas, after getting frustrated with how useless normal undies are at containing even the smallest amount of wees.

Just as with Linus, we have had 3 potties out at various spots around the house so that whenever Ada feels the urge, she has a potty to hand. I highly recommend this strategy in the early days of potty training!

Current Progress

On the positive side, Ada has made big steps in the past month, possibly due to having more time at home (with Playcentre over) and some slightly nicer weather. She very often takes herself to the potty for both poos and wees.  She can empty the potty into the toilet herself (surprisingly tidily!) and calls us to wipe her bum. In the past week she has often even managed to pull her training pants off before she goes.

On the negative side, she still often fails to notice in time that she needs to go, and will even walk around quite happily in a wet or dirty nappy (although she has a tell-tale gait that lets us work out pretty quickly what’s going on!). She also doesn’t seem to be particularly dry at night yet, and often has a poo in her nappy by the time we see her in the morning.

We’re nowhere near having her nappy free anywhere except home at the moment, but she’s progressing nicely and I have no worries. And with any luck her last nappy rash is FAR behind her!