well, here we are 15 days into weaning, and contrary to our worst expectations, the world has not, to this point, ended. amelia is also sleeping (DRUM ROLL PLEASE) all night, every night in her own bed, instead of arriving at 3am to share the love (her way of showing 'the love' is to kick, wriggle, talk madly in her sleep, and push both of us in the back with bony feet and elbows asking us to move over please . . .) i suspect that the breastfeeding, while making her smarter, funnier, taller, richer, healthier and faster-on-her-feet, also meant that she was not getting solid enough nutrition outside of my milk to make her sleep like her sisters and father (i won't include myself in this sample, because i am known to be a nocturnal wanderer unless slugged with a baseball bat. poppa leach too is a night-waker so i believe, so we are just going to pretend THOSE genes don't exist - then there is grandad lunn . . . BBC news, cup of tea and two pieces of home made bread toasted with granny's marmalade anyone?).
weaning went amazingly smoothly, with very very little upset overall, altho we had a daily 'bandaid check', and visual inspection of the broken items, with Dr Leach-the-younger intent of ensuring that they were still broken. we changed tack a little in the second week, because she was getting upset once a day at least, and told her all the milk was 'gone' - and that she had been very clever and had drinked it all up. this went across well, and had her announcing to perfect strangers that "mummy has no milk left because its all gone and her nings are broken and i drinked it all up because it was for ME" . . . it also lead to some very very sweet and solicitous moments where she would philosophise about a time 'when, one day, i buy some milk and pay the lady, and giff it to you mumma, and then there be milk, and your nings won't be broken cos they have lots of milk for 'melia cos its vewwy nice for my tummy. ok?' - almost made me cave in on a number of occasions. but, i stayed strong, and it has been for the best, because her behaviour has improved since weaning - as in her moments of kind of clingy dependency are over - she seemed to revert to real baby behaviour at times. the down side of that has been, as we are just discovering, that ning-time has been a rather convenient way of keeping a lid on her. she is a pneumatic beast at the best of times, but i could 'cap' it by feeding her in social settings where a full-on energy troll would make things difficult. now the endless fount of energy has been unleashed, and there is NO STOPPING HER. you have seen her 'sedated' on ning. next time most of you see her it will be sans sedatives!
(at this juncture it is fitting to apologise for both andrew and myself to our respective parents, because we know that amelia is - in broad physics speak - simply a collision of two energy-heavy materials, nuclear-fission like as a result. we were very tiring as children. we admit it humbly and hope you have a happy recovery. isn't it nice that we are less energetic now, especially me when it comes to talking?)
a recent example was an after wedding lunch, held at the mother of the bride's house the day after the wedding. we had been to the wedding, having left amelia with katie. the bride and groom were surprised, but we knew that she would not manage to sit still for three hours during speeches and meal like the other unnatural children who DID attend. this point was well proven the following day with amelia taking her dress and shoes off almost the minute we arrived at maudy's house (maudy was once a neighbour of ours from New Farm days, who very quickly became a very good friend, and is very relaxed with amelia - YAY), locating a couple of soft bladed swords in the toy area, and then spending the next three hours taking turns chasing two six-year old boys around the house. sometimes they chased her swords in hand, or she would chase them. much screaming, yelling, roaring and giggling ensued. no fighting or tears however. the contrast between amelia, sprinting around the verandah with her granny style undies pulled up almost to her armpits (she has VERY particular views on underwear - SURPRISE - more on that to follow), bellowing at the top of her very powerful lungs, and the bride and groom's daughter faith who kept her pretty pink dress on all day, and spent an inordinate time blowing bubbles, looking very sweet and feminine . . . well, what can i say?
on the subject of underwear, amelia - altho sleeping thru the night, will sometimes get up at 2 or 3am and turn her light on, announcing that she needs 'diffwent undies' - and then goes looking for the style de jour, or style de nuit in this case. then she goes back to bed, and sleeps . . . she has changed her underwear 3 times while i have been writing THIS . . . and i think is going back for a fourth. she is now wearing andrew's old singlet (yellow with an applique saying Buddy can you Spare Me a Dime on the front) which is almost long enough to be a mini-dress.
since last blog entry, amelia has been introduced to the marvelous world of cimmema and movies. having been taking now to the movie "how to train your dragon" - an animated story about - yes, how to train YOUR dragon (we were hoping for tips) THREE times. i found a picture still from a newspaper and cut it out, sticking it on the fridge in case amelia liked it. WELL. she now keeps taking it off the fridge, carrying it around, and showing us the picture (i think she thinks we all have dementia related memory loss [and whose fault would THAT be?] because she is kind of repetitive in the things she shows and tells us. (incidentally, the phrase 'kind of' is 'kind of' underplaying the little trolls OBSESSIVE tendencies. i won't go into all the possible familial sources of THOSE because there are simply too many!)
she will often take a particular stance in the middle of the kitchen floor, with her legs apart and slightly bent, and leaning forwards, saying 'look, i be Haircup, riding my dwagon. look, look, i show you' - and then she will lean her head way forward and place her arms around the dwagon's invisible neck and get a Haircup type look on her face (incidentally, the guy is named Hiccup, but her pronunciation is so hilarious we don't correct it - just repeat it so she keeps on saying it hee hee). or she will sit on the arm of the couch, riding the 'dwagon' Toothless; she has even been known to sit on my legs and assume the position. i have to keep slapping andrew for going on waaay too much about me being the 'dwagon' when this happens.
she even asked a doctor to come to the movies with us (she had fevers, and fevers, and fevers for three days, then spots - it was just a 'virus', and came to nothing in particular - if we kept the fever down she was good to go - strange. she didn't actually get sick?). the doc was checking chest and ears and throat etc (nothing, nothing and nothing) while amelia was excitedly telling her about the dwagons, and saying 'you wan to come cimmema wiff me? we can see da DWAGONS together'. she has also been asking thomas if he would like to come - and has been so insistent that we ALL go together, 'mummy, daddy, katie, amelia, and THOMAS' that we have decided to go to the Drive-In at a place called Yatala (pronounced yatla), where there is a famous pieshop, and of course a drive-in. she is delighted that mr T can come too, although he looks surprisingly underwhelmed.
Zumba is a new passion also - i qualified as a Zumba instructor a few months ago and have been holding classes on a Thursday night. i don't talk about it much around here, but have spent some time watching choreography DVDs and listening to the music to familiarise myself with it - usually while she is asleep though. well, amelia has decided that it is her new best thing, and will drop into a Zumba stance and wriggle without any hesitation. she has been recruiting at daycare, so much so that 4 of the daycare teachers came to my class this week, and amelia was chatting to all and sundry yesterday, showing them her 'moves' and asking all the kids if they were going to do Zumba as well . . . i have been roped in to do a demo at the place now for almost 3 year olds. funny!
the loveliest thing about amelia at this age is the constant stream of natter and patter. and also her quaint and affectionate ways of addressing us. requests are often prefaced with a 'fweetheart (sweetheart) or 'darling,' and she will often fling her arms around the nearest leg or arm and declare passionately, 'i luff you SO much' . . . she will also take ones face tenderly into both hands and lean in asking 'are you my fwend?' or 'are you ok fweetheart? not a bit sad?' she is daddy's girl right now, asking him not to go to work some days, so that he lingers a little longer to spend extra time with her before leaving. she also plays out cute little scenarios about what she is going to do with dadda when he gets home, pretending to be both herself and andrew. she will go out on to the deck and pretend to greet him as he comes home, and then come inside delightedly telling me he is here! she is not anxious about it in any way, just takes immense pleasure in thinking about what they get up to together.
finally, she has started planning activities for us all. making up little itineraries of where to go and what to do . . . in detail, very specific detail - i.e. what we will wear, what shoes will be on our feet, and what we will eat, do, see when we get there.
every day is more delightful, and now the nocturnal adventures have ceased, every one has way more energy for daytime stuff. she is a little blessing, and brings us more joy than we could have ever imagined.
weaning went amazingly smoothly, with very very little upset overall, altho we had a daily 'bandaid check', and visual inspection of the broken items, with Dr Leach-the-younger intent of ensuring that they were still broken. we changed tack a little in the second week, because she was getting upset once a day at least, and told her all the milk was 'gone' - and that she had been very clever and had drinked it all up. this went across well, and had her announcing to perfect strangers that "mummy has no milk left because its all gone and her nings are broken and i drinked it all up because it was for ME" . . . it also lead to some very very sweet and solicitous moments where she would philosophise about a time 'when, one day, i buy some milk and pay the lady, and giff it to you mumma, and then there be milk, and your nings won't be broken cos they have lots of milk for 'melia cos its vewwy nice for my tummy. ok?' - almost made me cave in on a number of occasions. but, i stayed strong, and it has been for the best, because her behaviour has improved since weaning - as in her moments of kind of clingy dependency are over - she seemed to revert to real baby behaviour at times. the down side of that has been, as we are just discovering, that ning-time has been a rather convenient way of keeping a lid on her. she is a pneumatic beast at the best of times, but i could 'cap' it by feeding her in social settings where a full-on energy troll would make things difficult. now the endless fount of energy has been unleashed, and there is NO STOPPING HER. you have seen her 'sedated' on ning. next time most of you see her it will be sans sedatives!
(at this juncture it is fitting to apologise for both andrew and myself to our respective parents, because we know that amelia is - in broad physics speak - simply a collision of two energy-heavy materials, nuclear-fission like as a result. we were very tiring as children. we admit it humbly and hope you have a happy recovery. isn't it nice that we are less energetic now, especially me when it comes to talking?)
a recent example was an after wedding lunch, held at the mother of the bride's house the day after the wedding. we had been to the wedding, having left amelia with katie. the bride and groom were surprised, but we knew that she would not manage to sit still for three hours during speeches and meal like the other unnatural children who DID attend. this point was well proven the following day with amelia taking her dress and shoes off almost the minute we arrived at maudy's house (maudy was once a neighbour of ours from New Farm days, who very quickly became a very good friend, and is very relaxed with amelia - YAY), locating a couple of soft bladed swords in the toy area, and then spending the next three hours taking turns chasing two six-year old boys around the house. sometimes they chased her swords in hand, or she would chase them. much screaming, yelling, roaring and giggling ensued. no fighting or tears however. the contrast between amelia, sprinting around the verandah with her granny style undies pulled up almost to her armpits (she has VERY particular views on underwear - SURPRISE - more on that to follow), bellowing at the top of her very powerful lungs, and the bride and groom's daughter faith who kept her pretty pink dress on all day, and spent an inordinate time blowing bubbles, looking very sweet and feminine . . . well, what can i say?
on the subject of underwear, amelia - altho sleeping thru the night, will sometimes get up at 2 or 3am and turn her light on, announcing that she needs 'diffwent undies' - and then goes looking for the style de jour, or style de nuit in this case. then she goes back to bed, and sleeps . . . she has changed her underwear 3 times while i have been writing THIS . . . and i think is going back for a fourth. she is now wearing andrew's old singlet (yellow with an applique saying Buddy can you Spare Me a Dime on the front) which is almost long enough to be a mini-dress.
since last blog entry, amelia has been introduced to the marvelous world of cimmema and movies. having been taking now to the movie "how to train your dragon" - an animated story about - yes, how to train YOUR dragon (we were hoping for tips) THREE times. i found a picture still from a newspaper and cut it out, sticking it on the fridge in case amelia liked it. WELL. she now keeps taking it off the fridge, carrying it around, and showing us the picture (i think she thinks we all have dementia related memory loss [and whose fault would THAT be?] because she is kind of repetitive in the things she shows and tells us. (incidentally, the phrase 'kind of' is 'kind of' underplaying the little trolls OBSESSIVE tendencies. i won't go into all the possible familial sources of THOSE because there are simply too many!)
she will often take a particular stance in the middle of the kitchen floor, with her legs apart and slightly bent, and leaning forwards, saying 'look, i be Haircup, riding my dwagon. look, look, i show you' - and then she will lean her head way forward and place her arms around the dwagon's invisible neck and get a Haircup type look on her face (incidentally, the guy is named Hiccup, but her pronunciation is so hilarious we don't correct it - just repeat it so she keeps on saying it hee hee). or she will sit on the arm of the couch, riding the 'dwagon' Toothless; she has even been known to sit on my legs and assume the position. i have to keep slapping andrew for going on waaay too much about me being the 'dwagon' when this happens.
she even asked a doctor to come to the movies with us (she had fevers, and fevers, and fevers for three days, then spots - it was just a 'virus', and came to nothing in particular - if we kept the fever down she was good to go - strange. she didn't actually get sick?). the doc was checking chest and ears and throat etc (nothing, nothing and nothing) while amelia was excitedly telling her about the dwagons, and saying 'you wan to come cimmema wiff me? we can see da DWAGONS together'. she has also been asking thomas if he would like to come - and has been so insistent that we ALL go together, 'mummy, daddy, katie, amelia, and THOMAS' that we have decided to go to the Drive-In at a place called Yatala (pronounced yatla), where there is a famous pieshop, and of course a drive-in. she is delighted that mr T can come too, although he looks surprisingly underwhelmed.
Zumba is a new passion also - i qualified as a Zumba instructor a few months ago and have been holding classes on a Thursday night. i don't talk about it much around here, but have spent some time watching choreography DVDs and listening to the music to familiarise myself with it - usually while she is asleep though. well, amelia has decided that it is her new best thing, and will drop into a Zumba stance and wriggle without any hesitation. she has been recruiting at daycare, so much so that 4 of the daycare teachers came to my class this week, and amelia was chatting to all and sundry yesterday, showing them her 'moves' and asking all the kids if they were going to do Zumba as well . . . i have been roped in to do a demo at the place now for almost 3 year olds. funny!
the loveliest thing about amelia at this age is the constant stream of natter and patter. and also her quaint and affectionate ways of addressing us. requests are often prefaced with a 'fweetheart (sweetheart) or 'darling,' and she will often fling her arms around the nearest leg or arm and declare passionately, 'i luff you SO much' . . . she will also take ones face tenderly into both hands and lean in asking 'are you my fwend?' or 'are you ok fweetheart? not a bit sad?' she is daddy's girl right now, asking him not to go to work some days, so that he lingers a little longer to spend extra time with her before leaving. she also plays out cute little scenarios about what she is going to do with dadda when he gets home, pretending to be both herself and andrew. she will go out on to the deck and pretend to greet him as he comes home, and then come inside delightedly telling me he is here! she is not anxious about it in any way, just takes immense pleasure in thinking about what they get up to together.
finally, she has started planning activities for us all. making up little itineraries of where to go and what to do . . . in detail, very specific detail - i.e. what we will wear, what shoes will be on our feet, and what we will eat, do, see when we get there.
every day is more delightful, and now the nocturnal adventures have ceased, every one has way more energy for daytime stuff. she is a little blessing, and brings us more joy than we could have ever imagined.
