Ethan driving a truck

We dropped Georgia off at Grandma and Grandpa's just after lunch. Ethan, Luke and I headed to a local shopping centre to pick up some bits and pieces. Why do bits and pieces end up costing about $200 EVERY time I set foot in that store????

Ethan usually has to be dragged, kicking and screaming, out of the store's toy area. But not today. We told him we were going and he came. I LOVED IT! So he was rewarded with a nice long play on the truck outside the store.

Some parents put money in those type of things but this Mamma believes sitting on it is gift enough. And he had a lovely time.

Even better was when we went to go out to the car, we told him it was time to go.....and he came with us. No screaming, yelling, tantrums or sulking. Just a perfectly behaved child. I LOVE IT!

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!

Cool Ethan

I took quite a lot of photos in January meaning to post them on my blog. Kind of like our 2009 New Zealand in review that I meant to write and remains unfinished, like the 2009 'Year that was' that I thought I'd write on 1 January and didn't get to. So many good intentions and so little actually putting fingers to keyboard and actually doing it.

So here's a pic from January. Ethan in a trolley at Bunnings Warehouse. Got to love a hardware warehouse for a fun outing....and I say that actually meaning it as they have a great children's playground where I can sit, munchkins can run around and all whilst Daddy shops in peace.

Ethan had grabbed my sunglasses and put them on. He called himself 'Cool Ethan'. I couldn't agree more. All while clutching one of his many Thomas the Tank Engines of course. Can't go ANYWHERE without an engine. And for the record, his shirt said 'Cheeky Monkey'. And I couldn't agree more with that either.

Hoppy Easter Everybunny

We had to wait until Daddy got out of bed to see if the Easter Bunny had been to visit. That was because Mummy was too busy confining two children to the lounge room to get the eggs planted so Daddy had to do it!Ethan took the left side of the driveway and Georgia took the right side. Amazingly, there were 10 eggs each + one chocolate bunny. Perfectly even :)

Ethan looked at it as if to say 'What am I supposed to do with this now?' I told him to rip off the wrapping and get stuck into it.

Ethan didn't need a second invite to tackle the bunny - ears first. That's my boy. Georgia decided an egg was more her thing. Hoppy Easter Everybunny!

Sporty George circa 2005....and today

Back in September 2005, I took the photo above. We called it 'Sporty George'. Georgia couldn't even stand up by herself back then. Somehow, in the blink of an eye, nearly 5 years has gone by. I took the photos below this morning.In September 2005, Ethan wasn't even a twinkle in his Daddy's eye. And now he's 3-1/2. And he and Georgia had a MOMENT this morning where they weren't looking like causing greviously bodily harm to each other :) Ethan was playing hairdresser and pretending to spray Georgia's 'pokeytails'.

And Little Sporty George is much bigger sporty George. She was all dressed in her sports gear for a fun run at school today. The girl who couldn't stand up back then was running in a fun run today. Oh how far she's come.

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 :)

What a difference a few days makes.......

Wednesday morning and Ethan is in the Emergency Department of the Wesley Hospital on an IV drip. Sitting on Daddy's lap and listing to a Thomas book helps pass the time.Friday afternoon and I can almost see a smile as Ethan finds the energy to do a little bit of bouncing to The Wiggles. It's a stay in pyjamas day after coming home from hospital on Thursday night.
Saturday night and Ethan is eating chips and tomato sauce for dinner. I don't think I've ever been so happy to see him eat something so yicky as I was tonight.