Birds, Stings, and other things

Wednesday morning Roarke had another audition. He won't hear back till the end of August when all the rest of casting finishes. At least its good experience for him.

In the afternoon we went over for Toni's birthday barbeque. The weather held - drying up shortly before it started - and the kids all enjoyed themselves.

On Friday we had our Bromley gathering. The weather was great and poor Sheila who had come up from the Medway for the day, got sunburnt!

Today was our church picnic and, again, the weather held and we were able to enjoy ourselves. The tug of war got a bit competitive! William had a meltdown over not being allowed on the bouncy castle at the same time as Samuel (they were letting them on in age bands) and several people stopped to ask what was wrong with him (head stuff in his chair screaming for all he was worth for over 10 minutes non stop). It led to some interesting conversations about ASD, and school...

The boys have had a good game running this week in their room, centred around megablock islands that they have each created.

As for Jonathan, he's definately gone through a new stage. He now drinks at least 12 ounces of water or squash each day, only has milk twice (mid afternoon and early evening - though still all night!), eats a more appropriate sized meal three times a day, plus two light snacks, and - the biggest deal - he is now learning to go to sleep on his own.

As none of the others were breastfed this long I had no idea how you go about getting a baby who has only ever fallen asleep on the breast, or being held/rocked off, to get used to going off in his bed. I don't believe in "controlled crying" (tried it once with Joshua and vowed never to do it again), and I firmly believe that they will learn when they are ready - I just didn't know how to start!

Anyway, the first time I tried (4 days ago) I laid him down immediately he finished feeding, before he snuggled into me. To my amazement, he wriggled around for 20 minutes then went to sleep! And this was for his afternoon nap!

We then repeated it that night (30 minutes) and every daytime nap and night since. It takes him between 20 minutes and 40 minutes. I stay in the room next to him, sitting on the floor out of sight but where he knows I am. If he sits up and tries to climb out (he's in a toddler bed rather than a cot) I stand up and lay him back down again. Some times he whinges, other times he giggles (!) but he has still gone off ok.

Interestingly, whether its down to falling asleep on his own, or the increased drink (which I think must play a large part in his improved digestion/reduced colic) he is not stirring half hour or one hour after going up, and the gaps between him stirring in the night are a minimum of 2 hours now, and up to 4 hours.

PROGRESS!

During the week we had two "nature" related incidents. Mum heard scrabbling from her chimney (capped at the top - or at least it WAS) and when Roarke took the back board away a JAY flew out into the room! That was a shock (especially to someone who is freaked out by birds, having been scared by watching "The Birds" as a very young child!). Roarke managed to get the patio doors open quickly and it flew out, seemingly ok after its 24 hr ordeal.

The other incident related to my getting stung by a wasp DOWN MY TROUSERS! All we can think is that when the loft hatch was open one flew down (we know we have some up there) into the toilet (the door was open). When I went into the toilet it must have flown into my trousers! Talk about caught with your trousers down! Honestly, it REALLY hurt as it was at the top of my thigh (could have been worse I guess...).

Roarke is away tonight for a full day of EO meetings/business tomorrow, so I'm indulging in a gluten free beer (courtesy of a friend of Roarke's who came to dinner this week, and showed his appreciation in a very kind way), having just played around on Facebook for a while.

Just got to get the OTHER kids to bed now...