Strop shop and jet lag

The last couple of days Em's really been acting up and I have to put it down to jetlag.

Sue and I have been spoilt as far as parenting goes. Em has been such a great kid, with a wonderful disposition that when she does get a strop on, it's really unexpected. Usually, she cries for one of a few reasons - including hunger or thirst. The last couple of days, she's really turned on the random shrieking, which has freaked Sue and I out, but we can only imagine what jet lag is doing to her.

Too many times we've had toforceably wake her from a VERY deep sleep for food or just to readjust her body clock. When she then awakes at 3am, she's thoroughly confused why we're not up to play.

During this whole jetlag ordeal, I'm reminded of what we might be able to expect when the terrible twos hit, as Em can be quite forceful in her crying and screaming.

I hope the honeymoon period of having a wonderful child isn't over and indeed never ends. This glimpse into a "what if" reality only makes me happier about the Emily we do have.

They're back from Oz!

Went to the airport this monr and picked Em and Sue up.

They're both present and accounted for and doing well. The fear I had of the flights back from Oz being a complete nightmare were, for the most part, unfounded. Which is good.

She's illin'!

There's something wrong with Em. She's really docile and isn't moving all that much. It could be a number of things - jetlag, heat stroke, coming down with mummy's cold, etc.

It's rough being ill on holiday and she really has no concept of jetlag - although she's gone through it enough, with trips to Europe, Seattle, Toronto, and Oz all under her tiny little belt. We've given her Calpol in the hopes it will keep her (tiny) fever down and bring her back to perkiness.

Watch this space.

We made it!

After two flights and a 3.5 hour stop over in KL, we made it to Adelaide!

Our worries about Emily acting up and ruining our trip were VERY overrated. On the flight from London we got a bassinet, so she was able to sleep in that for about 9 of the 12 hours we were in the sky. As we took off at 10pm, this made for much relaxed (and sleepy) mum and dad, I can say! We didn't have to have her on our laps for any of the journey, apart from take off and landing.

From KL to Adelaide, there was an extra seat available so we switched with a couple and Em had her own seat. Not only that, they actually gave her her own meal as well! Not bad at all.

The only time she really acted up was the last bit of the flight to Adelaide. She'd obviously had enough and wanted to walk or crawl ... anything but be on that plane.

Now bring on the holiday.

3D animation of child birth

If you wondered what was actually going on during child birth, this one minute video demonstrates it quite well.

If only child birth actually lasted only one minute!

Winter headwear

If there's one thing Emily hates (and I can think of more than one thing at the moment) it's hats. Or to be more specific, ANYTHING on her head.

She just really dislikes it - pulling and tugging at anything you place remotely near her head. She does this for sunglasses too, but that's not all that much of a concern.

For the past few months it's not really been an issue covering her head as it's been summer. As winter is quickly approaching, I'm starting to be a bit concerned that I'm going to have a baby topped off with a frozen popsicle for a head.

It's been suggested I try one of those hats with flaps that you can tie at the bottom. I can only imagine the feedback Emily will provide on that, but I think a little aural discomfort is worth the trade off of her not coming down all manner of winter related illnesses.

When we solve that one, there's the small issue of she also hates gloves...

Emily's reaction to "Coraline" and other concerns

Cover of Coraline

We watched Neil Gaiman's excellent "Coraline" on Blu-Ray last night. Even though I knew it was far removed from a children's film, I thought we could let Em see the first few minutes of it - every film has that peaceful, happy setup phase at the beginning.

We eventually put her to bed about 10 minutes in, but I have no idea what happened in the film as she was laughing so hard. I don't really know what it is about stop-motion animation that got her all giddy, but I couldn't hear any dialogue over her laughter. It was quite amusing.

It did get me to thinking though. What do children actually take in. I was worried that the darker undertones of the film would subconciously scar her for life, but I have a strange feeling now that all she would probably take in (if she watched the whole film) was the quirky animation, a talking cat and some other funny - hysterical - stuff happening on screen. Having said that, the spider woman that "Other Mother" morphs into kinda gave ME the creeps.

I don't really plan on making a habit of viewing R or even PG material with Em (we're happy with "In The Night Garden" at the moment), but her reaction did make me sit back and think.

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Toddler Discipline - The beginning

Emily is getting to that stage where she's not a blank slate anymore. She's started to do these little things to test Sue and I. Part of me wants to let her experience things and be free, but the other part, the part that can envision this boundary-free tearaway, wants to stop her at every turn.

It's incredibly hard to know what to let her do and what to put a stop to. Do we allow her to fling her food on the floor or kill that dead? Is she allowed to trace her fingers around my closed eye or will that morph into attacking sleeping children at school?

And then there's the kicking. When we're out and about, Em uses kicking to signal excitement. When we're playing that same kicking sometimes results in a boot to the head for mummy and daddy. Do we scold her and put an end to this (sometimes) painful experience.

I can't help but think the choices we make today will shape the child in the future. With parenthood comes great responsibility. I can't help but feeling our actions now will  help determine whether Em becomes a PhD or an ASBO.

Parental responsibilities

I saw an old silver haired fox (similar to me) getting taken down outside Tesco today for attempting to shoplift a Tesco value brand 17" monitor, and it got me to thinking about the responsibilities of parenthood.

I mean, this middle aged (presumably) responsible pillar of the family? What would his kids think, bailing dad out for shoplifting something that wasn't even name brand?

I think parenthood is the next evolution in our social climb up the proverbial ladder. The single life and the child free wedded years, you have such a different outlook, a different perception on life and your responsibilities are... well, you. Out all hours, spending money on what YOU want, being reckless and answerable to no one else.

You pop a sprog out and it's not about you anymore. You've evolved. You are now a role model. These little sponges take in everything you do, believe you're Superman, want to be you and believe you can do no wrong.

Given this great power, it's amazing how many people completely mishandle this great responsibility and ruin it for their kids.

I'm not perfect, I just try not to screw up too bad. There's a few easy wins though to being the best parent I think - no drugs, not being drunk in front of them, no swearing, treating them with love and affection and teaching them boundaries early on.

I think a lot of today's problem kids have at the root of their issues parents who've disregarded these easy wins, for one reason or another. No one ever said it was easy, and being a parent doesn't come with an instruction manual (if it did, it would have warned me about Emily's penchant for hiding my TV remotes!!).

I just think life's hard enough without giving our kids a crap start to life. I mean, if I was going to shoplift a monitor it would have been name brand and at least 24"! At least being bailed out, they wouldn't be embarrassed by my (almost) plunder.

Danger! Falling baby

Yesterday we put Em in her cot ostensibly to have her afternoon nap, but also to keep her out of the way while we finished the painting in the bathroom.

I went into her room when finished to put some stuff away. As I was knelt down with my back to her cot, I heard a God almighty bang. First thought was she'd thrown something really heavy out of her cot. Second thought was she doesn't have anything heavy enough to make a thud that loud.

Looking round, I realised she DID have something heavy enough to make a thud that loud - herself. It seems like she saw me on the ground and just decided to catapult out of her cot... and well, she missed me, but landed flat on her back.

I really don't know whether she thought I'd catch her, or even see her. It wasn't like she was making noise that would indicate she wanted picking up or removing from her cot.

All the same, she was no worse for wear (as far as we can tell) and a songs later she'd forgotten all about it.