My Doll With Her Doll

Cold - Brisbane style

If you live in Canberra or Melbourne or Monk Bretton (Yorkshire, UK) or Upstate New York, you expect winter to be cold. But if you live in Brisbane, you expect winter to be rather mild. No swimming as the water temperature is below our loved tepid 29 degrees (85F), no singlet tops (Americans, think tank tops), no thongs (Americans, think flip-flops) and maybe even wearing jeans instead of shorts.

But yesterday and today were distinctly chilly. This morning it was 8 degrees (46F) on our back deck. But it felt like there was ice in the air.

Georgia was ready to go outside and wait for our lovely babysitter to arrive. So I dressed her in 'winter' gear.....singlet, long sleeve shirt, vest AND parka. She put on a winter hat but we couldn't top it off with gloves as they are hiding somewhere and resisted all efforts to be found :(

So I present to you a winter version of Georgia. Probably the only day of the year the parka will get worn! Bring back the sun and roll on Spring!

Georgia WRITES her first word.....DAD

There are certain things in the life of a child that a parent will not forget. And I can rattle off Georgia's milestones with a degree of detail and at a speed that is probably far from 'normal'. Like the first time she wore a dress (Father's Day 2003), the first word she said (DAD on Father's Day 2004), the first time she crawled (the eve of my birthday in August 2005), the first time she walked (she was aged 2 years and 50 weeks in June 2006), the first time she ran (two weeks after she walked), the first time she jumped (February 2007.....the same day Ethan first rolled).

Today is another one of those milestones. Georgia wrote her first word....DAD.

She and I were lying on the floor of her bedroom this afternoon. She wanted to do some writing. I was doing letters and she was trying to copy them. She wanted to write 'shower'. I wrote it, she tried to copy it. She drew squiggles. I told her we'd do it one letter at a time. I did an S and told her to trace over it. She did a pretty good job at it although she told me it was hard.

She asked me how to spell Mum so I wrote it down for her. And then she looked at me and I said I'll write Dad. Oh yes, I thought. Not expecting a thing. And she spelled out D-A-D. Oh good I thought being oh so proud that she got the spelling correct. And then she wrote, D-A-D. For a split second I just looked at the letters on the page and my eyes nearly fell out of my head. And then I screamed so loudly that Georgia looked terrified. And I scooped her up, told her she was brilliant, started crying my eyes out and ran for the phone to ring Luke. And I got his voicemail. So I send him the picture to his phone. And he didn't reply.

I emailed the pic to my parents ('Gandma and Gandpa'). No title, no description, just the picture. I phoned them and told them to look at the email that I'd sent them (how did the world go 'round before email?). And they read it (so I knew it wasn't just my proud Mamma eyes pretending it said DAD) and it took them about a nanosecond to recognise Georgia's handwriting and to work out I was blubbering down the phone as Georgia had ticked off yet another milestone.

Hooray for Princess Georgia. Hooray for all the therapists, aide supports, teachers and everybody else that has in the past and continue to work SO hard with our girl to ensure she keeps moving forward. Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

The beauty of writing.....

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And to me, these pics of writing are about as gorgeous as writing gets....even if the bottom one is upside down (It's hard to get good help! Try as I might I can't rotate it so it is being posted upside down!!!). Because they are by Georgia - working completely unassisted. Forget calligraphy or flowing script, give me letters formed by our little girl any day.

At the moment, all she wants to do is write. She scoffs down breakfast (because her Mamma MAKES her eat it!) and then it is off to write. Isn't it amazing how much her peers inspire her? Isn't she fortunate to have the opportunity to be in mainstream school to learn from those who are doing things she desperately wants to do?

When she proudly showed me her word below, I thought it looked like DAVE. Well DAEV which I thought was close enough to DAVE. I have no idea what she was trying to write. I was in 'I'm packing your lunchbox so yes Georgia, that looks marvellous Sweetheart' land as she was spelling something out and I wasn't listening. Shame on me. And then she came to show me what she'd done and my mouth all but fell open. I was so proud of her.

And more importantly, she was so proud of herself :)

The Thinker.....

The Thinker by Auguste Rodin......
The Thinker by Georgia :)

Georgia's Day One of Year One

How much does our girl LOVE school? Look at her smile for the 'first day of school pics'. We were to find out 8 hours later when she had a fever and had vomited all over her bedroom carpet that she had a middle ear infection! She spent the next two days being cuddled by Grandpa, sleeping and being given regular doses of anti-biotics and pain relief.

Her enthusiasm for school and for learning, as well as for socialising with her friends (!), is inspiring. She's a remarkable little girl.

There's only ONE Aunty Regan

Georgia is Blessed to have two incredibly amazing Godmothers (and Godfathers too for that matter!). Luckily for us, Aunty Maria is here in Brisbane. Unluckily for us but luckily for her, Aunty Regan lives in London, England......like on the other side of the planet :(


Each year or two, Aunty Regan trips across the globe and comes home for Christmas. Whilst here, she spends as much time as she can with her family as well as trying to fit in visits to friends, appointments of all kinds and descriptions and far too many things for her visit to be classed as a 'holiday'. Seems more like a marathon to me and how she does it, let alone with a smile on her face, I'll never understand.


Time with Aunty Regan is very precious. So to be able to spend an hour and half with her today was......well words just fail me and that doesn't happen often.....marvellous, wonderful, amazing, precious, special.


Waving her goodbye as she drives off is always so very hard for me. I just sob big, big tears like a little kid. I know, if I'm lucky she'll be home for Christmas 2010. And if not, then it'll be Christmas 2011 before we see her again. And that is such a painfully long time between being able to hug my precious bridesmaid and tell her how much she's loved and missed.


But we are so grateful for the time we were able to spend with her today, we are so grateful that it is 'only' 12-13 months since we hugged her last and we look forward to the next time we can hug her in person......whenever that may be.

It's a DRY day

As the parent of the child with special needs, you learn to rejoice in every teeny, tiny little bit of progress. When milestones are ticked off by Miss G, the joy we feel and the sense of achievement are absolutely enormous. I've often said about G's milestones, and I'll say it again as it is SO appropriate, but on days like today, I can't imagine winning the lottery would be more exciting.

The physical and emotional energy exhaustion, the constant investment of time and the at times all but crippling cost of raising a child with special needs isn't anything near easy. BUT, on days like today, every little bit of blood, sweat, tears (and there have and always will be lots of tears) invested is SO worth it.

And why the celebration today? Georgia has had a DRY day. Yes, Georgia and DRY in the same sentence! It's taken 6-1/2 years, reward charts and stickers galore, games, a toilet training course to see if there was something easy I had missed (and alas, no there wasn't) and so much more but today, SHE DID IT. Not ONE wet Pull-Up. She even took herself to the toilet at a friends home tonight, undressed herself, redressed herself (albeit with shorts on backwards but who cares?) and then came to tell us what she'd done. Talk about a RED LETTER DAY.

As with everything in the world of G, we know there will be setbacks, we know that this is just a first and tomorrow might be quite the opposite. But now we know SHE CAN DO IT. And having done it once, hopefully she can do it again and again and again.

Luke and I reflected tonight on our good luck. How lucky are we that G was given by God to us to be our daughter? How lucky are we to be Blessed with the absolute joy of seeing her achieve milestones? How lucky are we to know how hard fought these milestones are and to share in the ecstasy of achievement with her. We decided that although parents of 'normal' kids may have a simpler life than ours, they don't get the highs we do on days like today. And we wouldn't swap our life for anything else.

Well done Miss G. We are so extraordinarily and incredibly proud of you.

Happy Christmas.....and Georgia meets Lulu the cat!

It's been a lovely day here. After an 11pm into bed last night, I did a Santa at 1.14am. I heard rain on our roof (always welcome in drought stricken Queensland) and realised the attic window was open. So out of bed, down came the attic ladder, up into the attic, close the window and just like Santa, down the ladder in the early hours of the morning. My physique (or lack thereof) parellels Santa so all I was missing was the beard and red outfit :)

Ethan woke up at 5am. I kept him quiet until Georgia emerged just before 6am. She woke Luke up and then the present opening swung into action. It was only half an hour from start to finish but the munchkins enjoyed it.

We'd bought Georgia and Ethan an Aquadoodle mat each. Ethan opened the one marked for Georgia. So knowing Georgia can't read, or so we thought, we gave her the one marked to Ethan. Wrong. She looked at the label on the wrapping marked ETHAN and said 'That's Ethan's name'. What a gift that was! Our girl able to recognise letters, recognise a word and know it wasn't for her despite us nodding crazily that it was hers. Way to go Georgia!

Luke and the munchkins went for a swim as there were new swimmers and new pool toys to try out. I went back to bed and gift of the gifts.....I slept until nearly 9.45am. Marvellous!

Mum and Dad (aka Grandma & Grandpa aka GM & GP) arrived with gifts for a present opening session. They had bought Georgia a Fur Real Cat called "Lulu" as Georgia LOVES all things feline. Enter Georgia's hypersensitive hearing. Despite all of us babbling away, Georgia heard the cat meowing through the packaging. And here's how Georgia got to meet Lulu:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=123964&id=750294732&l=4d22606c22

Now that Lulu is out of the box, we've found the OFF switch and Lulu has a 'sleep' when we need to be devoid of incessant meowing :) Lulu has been a BIG hit with both Georgia and Ethan.

Aunty Margaret (aka MMT) joined the craziness mid-morning and gave Georgia a ballet 'lesson'. Georgia demonstrated she has my grace (think elephant or hippo......in no way gracious and elegant) but despite having no co-ordination or style, she giggled and laughed all the way through her 'lesson'. Very precious.

MMT then took Georgia for a spin in the new black Mercedes convertible. I should have taken pics. Georgia was very at home in the passengers seat and would have quite happily done a far longer drive than just around the block.

Mum, Dad and MMT left for lunch at Everton Park and we four were left to have afternoon snoozes, another swim and then our seafood dinner. What a lovely, lovely day.

Happy Christmas one and all.

Wiggles concert - Sunday 13 December 2009

This morning we went to the 10am concert of The Wiggles at Boondall. It was rather warm (think HOT) getting from the car, through the BIG carpark to the stadium. Inside it was noisy which tends to stress Georgia right out. BUT, look at her smile in the photo above. She started off the concert with her ear muffs on but grew in confidence, removed them and this was the smile I got when I asked her if she was having fun.

We got through the concert this year without losing Ethan. Last year he had to be removed from UNDER the stage by Security. This year he had a tantrum mid-show but compared to the foot race we had chasing him around the stadium last year, that was a piece of cake.

To see all the pics, follow the link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=120949&id=750294732&l=4bcfd007b8

Peek and enjoy!

Bye Mummy! I'm off to the airport!

Georgia is the product of parents who love to travel. Any excuse to fly somewhere and we are there. So it bemused me no end tonight when a voice floated down the hallway 'Bye Mummy! I'm off to the airport'. I came around the corner to find Georgia with one of her play handbags over her shoulder, her trolley case in hand and she was ready to roll. Thank goodness her passport is kept under lock and key otherwise goodness knows what ideas she could get. Got to love a girl who is ready to travel.....even if she is wearing pyjamas!

Walking

Yesterday I realised that this weekend, Ethan, is two years and 50 weeks old. So? Two years and 50 weeks is one of the most magical numbers in my life.

That is the age Georgia was when she walked for the first time. Georgia, the girl that we were told by so many esteemed medicos 'should walk' or that 'probably would walk'. And yes, based on her ever so slow development the signs were that she was going to walk. But until she did it, part of me didn't believe a word they said. I didn't want should walk, I wanted could walk and I wanted it right there and then.



So at age 2 years and 50 weeks, Georgia walked. She walked off a plane and all but ran into the arms of my Mum. I can see it in my mind as if it were yesterday. And two weeks later for her third birthday, she ran. She told us that her friend Jackson was running so she did too. Talk about an answer to prayer.

So here I was reflecting this weekend at how long Ethan has been walking at his current age of 2 years and 50 weeks all the while thinking how truly Blessed our family was that Georgia won the 'walking lottery' and God gave her the skills to walk. And then I found it.



Georgia's first disability parking permit. And its mate from 2007 too. Shoved in the glovebox of our car. And as I picked them up today and reflected on the 'walking lottery' I said a huge thank you to God for the gift of movement, a huge thank you to Georgia's OT and physio from those not to fun days who not only helped her walk but emotionally supported me while on the rollercoaster of having a child who couldn't walk, to friends and family who looked after us until Georgia's 'walking lottery' numbers came up. And after I realised I was sitting mentally thanking just about everyone that I'd ever crossed paths with I realised I was so just grateful. Grateful to everyone for everything.



Beside the pic of Georgia's disability parking permit is a picture of Georgia I took last week. She was hanging, upside down, from a piece of play equipment at Ethan's kindergarten. She'd got herself up there and she got herself back down too.



Her undies cover up her pull-ups so don't get too excited as we are still waiting for her numbers to come up in the 'toileting lottery'. But I have learned that God has a plan and I have to be patient and wait. He'll show me that He will send her the jackpot for that when He's good and ready. And in the meantime all I can do is be grateful and reflect on just how lucky we truly are :)

Georgia's Party - The birthday girl

What a marvellous day Miss G had. How often can you get to slide whilst still in PJ's?

















Bash a pinata with a whole line up of people BEHIND you?





Get to play duck, duck goose and slide in a purple fairy dress.

And just have a ball?

Happy 6th birthday Princess G!

Georgia's Party - The cake!

Georgia's 6th birthday cake was a cupcake tower comprising 50 pink and purple cupcakes from the truly amazing, lovely, talented and very generous Kellie at Cupcakes by K - http://www.cupcakesbyk.com.au/

There were G's, 6's, hearts, flowers, pussy cats, stars......plus 20 gift boxed cupcakes for people to take home.

Not only did they look and smell divine but most importantly, Georgia LOVED them....and in the end, that is all that really matters!

Georgia smiling widely while having Happy Birthday to her, counting through the numbers while we counted to 6 and blowing out her candles. Oh her smile brings SO much joy and happiness!

Georgia's party

Every year, we throw a BIG party for Georgia's birthday. This is the third year it has happened and it shows no signs of slowing down. One of these days we are going to find people who DON'T want to come....but alas G's party seems to be loved by one and all and I've been told the chances of any of our family and friends NOT turning up is about nil. I suppose that is good isn't it? Except when it comes to the guest list. Oh that is tough.

Who to invite and who we'd love to invite but simply can't fit. It is a real challenge. We have family who put in so much to help us so we can't leave them out. We live in the most amazing street on the planet. We are truly Blessed to call most of our near neighbours our dear friends. We couldn't have the extravaganza we do without them noticing the mega bouncing castle sitting in our teeny, tiny back yard!! There are many that have helped us and continue to assist on our Georgia journey that we see so infrequently that getting them here for a party is about the only time we get to see them each year. Georgia's friends from Mum's Group, daycare, kindy and school....and the list goes on and on.

We can fit 40 people here if we pack them in like sardines. So we asked Georgia who she'd like at her party and she gave us a very clear list on who she wanted to share her big day with. There were some she left out that I thought would be in...but ultimately she made the call so I direct all complaints about non-invites to her :)

I hope there is no one reading this who is mortally offended they didn't get an invite. Please be reassured that it is not that we don't care - far from it - it is just that we are very restricted by space so we had to draw the line somewhere. Thanks for your understanding!

Teeth and hair

Today Georgia came home from school with one of her front teeth.....it was sticky-taped to a piece of pink cardboard.

Please see pic of Georgia's new smile at left :)

That is tooth #3 to go but the first one that we've actually been able to get to do the Tooth Fairy thing. Note to self - put on Tooth Fairy hat after munchkin has gone to sleep.

Yesterday was haircut day for the two smallest members of our family. Georgia was incredibly well behaved during her haircut. Amazing what bribery and the promise of a 'special treat' after the hairdresser can do.

And then there was Ethan. He screamed, he yelled, he shouted, he lashed out....it was quite an entertaining performance for me (he was on my lap - think of wrestling a shouting giant squid), the staff at the hairdresser AND the hairdresser's clients. Oui!

Interestingly enough, when we got home, he was sweetness and light personified - see pic. But Georgia wouldn't pose for a post-haircut photo and was in a foul mood.

If it is not one, it's the other :)

Photography by a munchkin

Guess who found my camera when I wasn't looking? And managed to turn it on and take some pictures before I discovered the budding photographer in action?

I think the lime green PJ pants and foot at left might give a reasonable hint.

Yes, Miss Georgia decided to test out my camera and oh she had fun. None of this toy camera business for her. A nice Canon IXUS with a 3" viewing screen thank you very much :)

We thought pic 1, 4 and 5 showed particular artistic flair!
Fingers anyone? With a nice table and chairs overlooking the Beach visible through the chairs.














A finger all but covering the lens.













How great is this for a picture by a 5 year old? Amazing how good the view from our 'weekender' at the Beach was.












The camera angled up we presume? This was the upper floors of the building we were staying in.

What a hoot!

Thursdays and Fridays

Just about everything 'special' at Georgia's school happens on Thursday or Friday mornings....when I'm at Red Hill and not able to attend :(

These pics were taken by the Mum of one of G's classmates (thanks Libby!!) so I could see what happened at the Mother's Day morning tea.

They show G and Grandma looking at the wall of Prep A art. The lower pic is G with her painting. Notice how hers is rather abstract while those of her classmates are of 'formed objects'?

Considering she could hardly draw a mark on a page two years ago, what an achievement!!

This week on Thursday is Under Eight's Day at school. Luke has taken the day off to attend the festivities.

Next Thursday at school is the Sports Day.

Thank goodness the walkathon is on Sunday 14th and I'll be able to attend!

Ta Dah! It's a photo of Miss G

If only I'd captured the wider than wide watermelon sized smile that was on Georgia's face the nanosecond BEFORE I snapped this picture. She was grinning for me and saying 'Ta Dah!' with her arms flung wide.

After we'd returned home from a lovely dinner at the home of friends tonight, I asked her to smile for me so I could take a photo of her pretty pussy cat shirt that Anne and Al sent her. So here is the result.

Anne and Al live in Virginia Beach, USA. That would be 'Birginia Beach.....YES!' if you ask Georgia.

Anne and Al came to visit us in October/November 2007 and we had a lovely time showing them the sights of sunny Brisbane, we all went to Tasmania for a wonderful holiday, they had some respite from the mayhem that is our little quartet during a mini-break in Sydney and the Blue Mountains and then back to Brisbane for more fun before heading home for Thanksgiving.

The world financial crisis squished our plans to catch up this year but fingers crossed for a rendezvous in 2010.

If only the distance across the Pacific were shorter or the planes flew faster!

Dreamworld

Being a public holiday here today, we decided to do something rather unusual for us...we went to a theme park, Dreamworld - http://www.dreamworld.com.au/content/drw_2008_home.asp?

We thought we might only stay for a few hours but 5 hours later after both of the munchkins had missed their traditional 'weekend' noon snooze, we headed for home. A marvellous time was had by all but particularly Georgia. She loved it.

The first pic is her on the 'Big Red Car' ride in Wiggles world. You can see the movement in her hand as she was doing the hand actions to whatever song was playing when I took the pic. Then to the tea cup ride that both Georgia and Ethan loved. Onto the wildlife area where there were snakes, emus, koalas, kangaroos, a cassowary and all sorts of animals to see. Then we found the 'vintage cars'. They run on rails to the kids can steer while an adult operates the stop/go pedal. Great fun! Unfortunately the pic I took of Ethan 'driving' is blurry but he thought the cars were great.

We also found a steam train (a different steam train to the one in NZ Georgia told us) plus lots of rides in Nickelodeon Central - the flying dogs, merry-go-round, flying planes, Spongebob Flypants (where Luke and G lay on their tummy and were swung around!), the Ball House AND the Swinger Zinger (aka a chair-o-plane). Georgia's smile while she was on the chair-o-plane was fabulous. She LOOOOOOOOOOOOVED it. Not just loved it but LOOOOOOOOOOOOVED it.

We were really impressed at her sentence construction this afternoon/evening. She was retelling us about we'd done at Dreamworld and we were amazed at the details she was verbalising and how she was sequentially explaining it all. Yay George!

Ethan managed a 30 minute power nap in the car on the way home but otherwise was sleep free. A very big day for a 2-1/2 year old little man but he coped really well.