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April 30, 2001
Wednesday 25th April, 2001.
Pixie is 17 months old today! What an occasion! In one short month she’ll be EIGHTEEN MONTHS OLD!!! An event that will surely warrant the writing of an epic 18-month-review. Ah-ha, I am looking forward to it, and have scraps of paper littering my study with ideas on all the things I want to record about life with an 18-month old on centre stage….but, wait, I’m jumping a month ahead of myself… So, what can I say about life with a 17 month old?
*The Grub Sprouts a Fine Set of Wings*
Now I know it was only a month or two ago that I was splitting my seams and stretching my hair because my little toddler was making life a waking nightmare for this tired and jaded stay-at-home mum…BUT….if there is one thing that continually astounds me about this parenthood gig, it’s that things change so often, and so quickly, in the life of a child. We’ve gone from the depths of horror a few months ago, to the heights of enchantment today. The girl is positively GORGEOUS these days, cuter than a four-letter word could ever hope to convey, and I am revelling in the delights of parenting a burgeoning LITTLE GIRL.
I love little girls. I’ve always loved little girls, and although I had many a joyous moment with the Pixster during her time as a baby, I find myself vastly relieved NOW SHE CAN TALK. I mean, let’s face it, unless you’re the baby-whisperer, then it’s pretty near impossible to decipher what a baby wants or needs simply based on the tone of it’s scream. I don’t think Pixie was AT ALL happy about being a baby, and I had very little success placating her while we waited out the interminable months it took for her to grow up enough to enjoy life. Walking was a step in the right direction (pun intended), but talking has sealed the deal. Pixie has enough language to communicate many of her needs, and it has helped our day-to-day life immeasurably. So three cheers for the spoken word, without it we’d all be a bunch of computer geeks, wouldn’t we? Hmmmmmmm………….
Anyway, my little caterpillar is unfolding her wings and blossoming into an adorable butterfly. She is growing in every conceivable way except up and out (she’s still short and skinny), and it’s a joy to watch. Her curly hair is growing thick and wild, she is learning how to “bounce” (jump), and whenever we pass a record store with blaring music she’ll stop dead in her tracks and start “bouncing” up and down, giving many a jaded passing shopper a reason to laugh out loud! She is starting to mimic, copying almost every single word Jai and I utter (it’s scary at times), and we have more fun than ever before when we play together. She’s obsessed with putting things in containers and taking things out again and passing them to you. We do this for hours a day (or so it seems)…but it’s rather useful when you spill the rice jar on the floor because the little person can be entertained for hours picking up every single grain of rice and putting it back in the jar – along with copious amounts of fluff and stray hairs and the old dried-up pea you hadn’t gotten around to mopping up yet! Yeah, we’re having fun in Pixieland at 17 months!!
*Get Your Motor Running, Get Out on the Highway*
I’ve decided I REALLY like roadtrips. It’s intensely liberating to hit the highway and drive all day, eating bagfuls of lollies to stay awake on the road, stopping at dusty old roadhouses in unfamiliar terrain, sleeping overnight in highway motels where you don’t have to make the bed in the morning when you leave, and eating huge breakfasts of bacon and eggs washed down with gritty roadhouse coffee because sitting in a car for hours on end seems to make you ravenously hungry! Yeah, right on!!!
Our trip down south for easter was eventful. In my last entry I likened travelling with Pixie to travelling with a venomous snake coiled on the backseat, but in the mischievous Pixie’s contrary way she proved me wrong…yet again. She slept for a couple of hours each day, sat quietly in the backseat for numerous ten minute stretches WATCHING THE PASSING SCENERY (unbelievable), and the rest of the time she was relatively entertained by eating mandarin segments and listening to a Hi-5 tape her clever mummy was clever enough to record and bring along. Pixie is CRAZY about Hi-5 (a singing group that has a pre-school TV show in Aussieland), and her Daddy and I completely approve. We spent a good portion of the drive discussing and dissecting the Hi-5 concept and decided it was bloody clever – which just goes to show how far away from adult culture we’ve actually drifted. It was a tinsy bit scary to realise that Jai and I seemed to enjoy singing along to the Hi-5 tape as much as Pixie enjoyed listening to it, but then again, it won’t be the first, nor the last, scary predicament parenthood places me in I’m sure.
And so we arrived back in our home-town without mishap, although we heard a ruddy great CLUNK under our car when we sped over a country railroad track and felt SURE we’d lost some piece of our engine on that lonely road…all we found on the tarmac was a mysterious bolt, and so we continued on out way, secretly fearing the bolt sitting in our empty ashtray must be THE BOLT that attaches the engine to the chassis and that the next bump we hit at 110 km’s per hour would spell D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R, but the car kept running, so we kept driving, without falling apart.
*Pixie The Party Animal*
Pixie enjoyed Easter at her Nana’s house. New toys to play with, her 10-year-old cousin to amuse her, and a steady supply of chocolate nibbles seemed to keep the girl amused and distracted. The second day we were there we went to a friend’s family Easter Picnic and there’s just no denying that the Pixie is a party animal of the highest order. There were a lot of people there, lots of children, an unhealthy number of teenagers, a few dogs, a canoe or two (we were by a lake) and loads of yummy party food. Well, as soon as we touched down Pixie was off like a rocket and didn’t look back. She was mingling through the crowd, charming a bunch of teenagers into feeding her all sorts of yummy delights (chips, crackers, chocolate eggs) and generally amusing everyone. Jai and I barely saw her, and it took a fair amount of self-control not to continually search her out and check up on her. But I had to trust that other responsible adults would watch out for her and avert any disasters, and I decided the only “cool” thing to do was chill out and give the girl some space (hey, consider it practise for when I’m the ultra-cool mother of a hip and funky teenager….*groan*). Anyway, eventually a girlfriend came over to tell me that Pixie was onto her SECOND LARGE easter egg and I lost the plot. I mean sure, she’d eaten chocolate before, but never THAT MUCH IN ONE SITTING! When I finally found the girl she was smothered in chocolate and amusing the pants off everyone. And so it seems that Pixie takes after her mother, and is willing to do ANYTHING to be the life of the party and get a few laughs!! Not that downing a whole bunch of party food is that big of an inconvenience! Although 9 hours later in the midst of her VOMIT I was apt to change my mind!!
*The Easter BUG*
Yes, Pixie woke up in the wee hours of Easter Monday and vomited profusely through our bed. It was violent, it was distressing, and it was stinky! She then proceeded to wake up every hour and beg for a boob-feed (which I dared not deny her for fear of dehydration) which she would promptly regurgitate (along with a few chunky bits of party food) all over the bedding half an hour later. Remember that we were staying at my mothers house, sleeping on two single beds jammed up together, Pixie slap-bang in the middle, and you’ll have some idea of what a BAD NIGHT we had! Eugh! By the bleary-eyed morning light we had a small MOUNTAIN of sick-splattered, stomach-churning, USED bedding piled up in the corner, which my dear mother spent the entire day washing!!!
But hey, it gets better. Two nights later my niece (who was also staying at my mum’s) went to bed feeling a bit peaky, only to wake up heaving an hour later. She was followed closely by Jai-dearest, who woke up at 2am attempting a desperate run to the bathroom, only to fall short and throw up all over the carpet in the doorway to our room. Both continued to throw-up on an almost hourly basis until the wee morning light!!
Needless to say I woke up two mornings later at 6am and threw-up a few times; and my mum woke up two days later and threw-up a few times for good measure!!!
Yes, it was a holiday of explusion, rather than ingestion, for me and my loved ones! Barely a chocolate egg was cracked, barely a chocolate rabbit licked, and the mere whiff of a hot cross bun sent us all screaming for the bathroom!
*And so All Good Things Must Come to Pass*
And so Easter is over for another year. We’re into what I call the “long haul” now, we’re on the brink of winter in Australia, and we have very few public holidays between now and Christmas. It was rather sad saying goodbye to everyone when we know we won’t be back for at least 8 months, and time always goes slower during winter, so I’m sure it’ll feel like a loooooooong time between visits! It’s even harder because of Pixie; 8 months is a VERY LONG TIME in her development, and it’s hard to know her extended family are missing out on watching all the changes unfold; and sad to think she doesn’t have the opportunity to get really cosy with her Nana and cousins and uncles and aunties! This is the hardest thing about living so far away; although the fact that the distance is DRIVABLE makes me feel (psychologically) closer. If push comes to shove we just have to jump in the car and drive for 8 hours and we’re there!
Mind you, we DEFINITELY lost some mysterious piece of our car on the drive back. We were cruising along the highway and heard a mighty “KERPLUNK”, like we’d just run over a huge ice-cream container or something. We were SURE we didn’t hit anything though, and when we looked back we could see nothing on the highway, although travelling at 110kms per hour means it would’ve been a speck by the time our tired reflexes jumped into gear. We couldn’t stop, couldn’t back-track, because we were on the flippin highway, but we’re convinced we’ve lost some HOPEFULLY NOT VITAL piece of our flippin car engine, although the car still drives fine and we arrived home without mishap. But everytime I reverse out of the garage I wonder whether I’ll make it to the supermarket alive, so the car’s booked in for a check-out tomorrow. I hope everything’s OK, the last thing we need around here is another bloody car bill! Our cars always seem to cost us every flippin penny of our hard-won savings! If only they weren’t so ESSENTIAL!!! How on earth my grandmother brought up 7 children in the 1930’s and 40’s is BEYOND ME…no car, no dishwasher, no washing machine, no hot water for goodness sake!!!!
On that mind-blowing note it’s time to sign off for yet another week. I’m going to watch some TV and marvel at the AMAZING technological advances of the past 60 years, and count my blessings of which I have many, many, MANY, and maybe throw in the odd prayer for our car!!
Love and best wishes to one and all,
Eloise, on the eve of her fhirty-fird birf-day! The same age as Jesus my husband meaningfully reminds me!!??!!??
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