You might remember that a few weeks ago the Little Big Fella managed to cut his finger with a steak knife whilst trying to open a packet of tortillas by himself. He learned that scissors are a better option.
Earlier this week the Little Big Fella was trying to do a handstand off the trampoline onto the concrete. Obviously the fact that I'm telling you about it means that he was unsuccessful. He learned that the grass is the best place to practice handstands.
Last night my darling son (again) couldn't wait for me to use the facilities while he was dying of hunger. He got a scone (Americans call them biscuits) from the freezer, put it on a plastic plate and put it in the microwave. First thing I knew about any of this was when I exited the loo to be told something about smoke, although I didn't decipher that part immediately.
"All right, show me what you've done", said I.
I was guided to the kitchen, to discover smoke pouring out of the microwave.
The next 5 minutes were spent throwing the black scone and melted plate over the balcony onto the grass and trying to get smoke out of the house, whilst waving a placemat at the smoke detector to shut it up.
The Little Big Fella has since learned which one button on the microwave he is allowed to push (our start button will set the time to 30 seconds).
But all of this makes me wonder if any of us will survive to his adulthood. No doubt there will be broken bones in the future, especially given the new motorbike skills he's developing. I'm wondering if there'll be electrocutions, loss of digits or limbs, all manner of (hopefully minor) fire incidents...
Then there's the reality that I am now a heart-in-mouth parent. Watching my little boy get a few wobbles on that bike was very stressful!
But, the flipside of it all is that my "little" Big Fella is not going to be little for long. He's learning how to do things for himself (albeit the hard way). As well as food-related independence, we've been teaching him some letters of the alphabet while he's on holidays from kindy. And he's soaking it up like a sponge!
So I guess now is a significant learning time for the Little Big Fella, and it would probably be smart for us to make the most of that. Because soon he'll know it all ;-)
Today was a pretty big day. Up at 6 to have breakfast then do my workout before taking the Little Big Fella to kindy. Collect the mail, home to finish my food dishes for today's CWA luncheon, then everything in the car and off to the hall.
Each year the CWA chooses a country to focus on. This year was Turkey. The CWA ladies prepare appropriate food, and the children from our little school do a colouring page (grade Prep to year 2), a promotional poster (years 3 to 5), or an information poster (years 6 and 7). The winners are presented with prizes and their work goes on to compete in the division, then if they win there, on to the State level.
It's a pretty big deal and one of the "events" in our small town's calendar.
The ladies who run the day put in SO much effort to make it great! One of the ladies decorates the whole hall, all of the ladies cook at least one dish, they all help to clean and set up the hall, and people donate some wonderful prizes for the cent sale and raffle that is also held. It's a community effort and is a fun day out.
I got to make a red lentil soup, which sounds rather... dull. But it's actually quite delicious and everyone who tried it enjoyed it. I also made a carrot dip. Some of the other ladies made chicken in yoghurt (SOOOOO good!), meatballs in tomato sauce, spinach pie (mmmmm!), and, of course, Turkish delight :D
The kids' colouring and posters were fantastic and it was fun to see them receive prizes.
We didn't end up eating until after 1 and dessert wasn't until after 2! I had to go collect the Little Big Fella from kindy, but we came back and helped to finish the clean up.
We finally got back home at 4.
The Little Big Fella was a bit hungry by this time (he'd had some lollies/candy at the hall but needed some "always food"). I was just coming out of the bathroom when I heard that sound.
Mums know this sound. It's the "run here because something is absolutely wrong!" sound.
Then it changed to the "run here and be here yesterday because it's even worse than it was a second ago" sound.
And I RAN!
I found the Little Big Fella in the kitchen, sitting on the floor with a bag of tortillas and a steak knife. He'd managed to stab the knife through the bag and cut his tall finger on his left hand. And yes, there was blood.
I grabbed his hand and put pressure on the wound and felt the blood pumping a little.
Oh shit!
The Big Fella was still at work. I couldn't drive to the doctor's or hospital and hold his hand at the same time. I couldn't see or hear the neighbours.
But I had my phone in my pocket! So I rang our emergency number and got put through to the ambulance.
It was so hard to talk to them because the Little Big Fella was crying so hard. But the first intelligible thing he said was, "I should have waited for you mummy". I guess there's a possibility he may have learned a lesson today.
By this time I'd grabbed a cloth to put over the wound and the bleeding seemed to have slowed or possibly even stopped. The guy on the phone gave me some instructions on what to do while I was waiting, and said that if certain things happened, that I should call again.
We moved inside and sat on the couch and turned on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles so that he could be comfortable, and hopefully a little distracted. He got a little bit cold and had a good cry again and kept asking where the ambulance was (nope, distraction didn't work!).
They got to our place in 20 to 30 minutes, which is basically as long as it takes to drive from the next town to ours. As they were coming to the stairs they saw a snake!
Sheesh! Really???
The snake slid into the "shed" under the house and the ambos came upstairs.
As soon as they wanted to touch or look at the wound, the Little Big Fella pretty much went into hysterics! I immediately worried that we'd have to get stitches and that it would be a major drama!!!
The ambos don't do stitches, but they cleaned the wound and bandaged it up. By this time the bleeding had basically stopped and was probably only going a little still because of the movement of the finger. They even put him in a sling, just to help him keep it safe :-D He loved it!
Just as they were leaving, the Big Fella arrived home from work! Totally freaked out about there being an ambulance in front of our house, but was fine once he saw that we were okay.
So he found and dealt with the snake and we went to the hospital in the next town because yes, we needed to get stitches, or (hopefully) glue the wound together.
I think we might have been the only people in emergency at that time because they took us straight through to the triage room and started asking all the usual questions, as well as injury-specific ones.
As soon as they started unwrapping the bandage, the Little Big Fella got upset and stressed out. And he was making noises like he was going to be sick. Thankfully the "sick bag" intrigued him for a little bit and mildly distracted him.
The nurses took a photo of the injury and texted it to the doctor on call (who happens to be our GP), asking if it needed stitching or could just be glued. We all crossed our fingers for glue!
After about 5 minutes we got the call saying that yes, it could be glued! Yay!!!!
Actually gluing it was a bit of a drama though. The Little Big Fella had a big cry (apparently it stings a little) and kept trying to pull his hand away. But eventually it was done and they wrapped it up and he was happy. He even got a certificate of bravery!
I have to say that the nurses were absolutely fantastic! Obviously they weren't particularly busy, but they still did everything they could for us, as quick as possible. And, as well as the certificate, they gave the Little Big Fella a juice box, "to replace all those tears".
He almost literally skipped out of the hospital! I guess he was feeling okay now that no one needed to see or touch his hand.
On the way home, we stopped at a local takeaway for kebabs/souvlaki for the Big Fella and me, and chips and prawn cutlets for the Little Big Fella. They were a bit past their prime by the time we got home, but still delicious and definitely better than having to cook!
Then it was time to wrap up the Little Big Fella's bandaged hand in a plastic bag and get him into the shower. First thing he did? Put his plastic hand in the water!
Here he is, all bandaged, showered and in bed (obviously before he completely crashed out):
Oh! And this one is where he's "web slingin'", because he'd been in his Spiderman suit when it all happened.
So, another successful visit to a small country hospital. I'd really like it to be more than 2 months before I see another one. Please! :-D
On Sunday morning the Big Fella went for a quick drive up the highway to see if there was a shoot on. He loves shooting clay targets, particularly in skeet (a specific set-up and combination of target releases) and was a bit excited when he discovered that it was on.
When he got back he asked if the Little Big Fella and I would like to come out to the range with him and we decided that we would. After a quick run around getting our things together we headed off.
The Little Big Fella has been around the Big Fella and his guns for as long as he can remember I guess, and the Big Fella has already told him that some of the guns in the safe will be his when he's older. Unsurprisingly, when asked if he'd like to shoot a clay target, the Little Big Fella was rather excited!
Father and son walked out onto the range before everyone was ready for the skeet rounds. They set up a clay target, sitting against the tufty grass then walked back five or ten metres. Daddy knelt on the ground and held the shotgun up and the Little Big Fella pulled the trigger for the first time ever. Do you think he enjoyed it???
My little boy isn't so little these days!
The other day his bike got a flat tyre so the Big Fella patched it up for him. To do that, he had to take the training wheels off the bike and when he was putting it back together today, he asked the Little Big Fella if he wanted the training wheels back on. Amazingly the Little Big Fella said no! So, the bike went back together without training wheels.
I've been watching the Little Big Fella riding lately and noticed that he rarely used the training wheels. They were mostly a stabiliser for him to get started, and even then they were a bit more of a hindrance than a help. Well, my "little" 3 year old took off like he'd been riding without training wheels all his life!!! Especially for his grandparents, I took some video :-) I've edited it so that it's not so boring ;-)
It all makes me teary, I'm so proud!
I took him to the park to have a bit more space to ride and practice. As expected, he fell off and grazed his elbow. After a bit of a hug, he wiped his tears away and went at it again. Unfortunately his tyre went flat again so he had to stop riding. This caused way more tears than his fall!!! Pretty much all the way home!!! Turns out, the skids he's learned to do have taken off all the rubber on his tyre so the tube had nothing to protect it. The Big Fella is so proud that this is the cause :-D Can't say I'm too upset about it either ;-)
To cheer him up we got his little 50cc motorbike out and went for a ride up the hill and back. It worked a treat and was awesome fun too!!!
Have I mentioned that I'm enjoying this "living in the country" thing?
This evening the Little Big Fella decided he wanted to "write" and he accidentally did a figure that looked a bit like a D. I've been showing him the letter D over the past few months (his name starts with D) so I got all over excited, "Oh look! You did a D!!! Awesome work!" etc. Then we did some more, just to push the point :-)
He's just not a baby anymore, and it won't be long before he's not a little boy either. And I'm not sad about it at all. I love watching him grow and learn and discover! A good friend of ours used to say that his boys got more interesting the older they got, and I can totally see what he meant. If the Little Big Fella is only 3, imagine what else is in store!!!
I'm not exactly sure what I've been up to since my last post but I'm certain I've been busy!!! Whenever the Big Fella has days off (he gets 3, 4 or 5 in a row) we tend to be busy, the house doesn't get its normal general tidy and clean, and we have lots of fun doing... whatever!
Getting to the computer is once again a bit tricky, I think that's mostly because I tend to do it when both Fellas are sleeping or the Big Fella is at work and the Little Big Fella is sleeping.
My father-in-law came up on Friday. He flew interstate and we went and collected him from the airport an hour away. He was very keen to buy the Little Big Fella an ice-cream (and there were no complaints from that end of the field either!) so we ended up getting a box of mini Magnums from the supermarket while we were there.
The Big Fella also did a little shopping while we were in the bigger town (oh! And saw the dentist, but more about that another time). He bought some clothes from our new favourite country-style clothing store, then went into Big W to try to find a replacement set top box.
The Big Fella's favourite show at the moment is Masterchef. It's on channel 10. There are a couple of other shows he likes, also on channel 10. Guess which channel doesn't work so good??? Yep, channel 10. After a bit of messing around, we worked out that the reason we weren't getting good signal was either the set top box or the aerial. So, he decided to "just look" at set top boxes while we ate our ice creams.
A little while later he comes out of the store empty handed. I have to say I was a little surprised... until he told me he'd bought a new digital TV that didn't require a set top box :-D Thankfully, when we got it all set up we received channel 10 nice and clear :-)
When we eventually got home we lit the fire and the guys sat about making it work while I got stuff ready upstairs. Then we did our first stir fry over the fire! The Big Fella bought a couple of woks a few years ago but we haven't had gas cooking facilities so they've mostly stayed in the cupboard (poor neglected things!). But last time we had a fire the Big Fella had the thought that a wok would sit quite nicely on top of it (it's a converted washing machine drum) and it turns out he was right. It cooked really hot, which is perfect for stir fries.
In the morning the Big Fella and his dad went out for breakfast at the mine camp just up the road. They do all the cooked breakfast items that guys seem to love and you get to pack a container of food to take for lunch as well. They did that because the Big Fella's dad bought our car and was driving back home and having some yummy fresh food is always a good thing when you travel.
I was planting some garlic that had sprouted in the cupboard when I heard a horrible cry and looked up to see the Little Big Fella at the kitchen door holding his hand out and bawling! I ran up the stairs to find blood leaking out of the webbing between his thumb and pointer finger on his left hand. Of course, being 3 he doesn't want me to touch it or put anything on it but is freaking out about the blood coming out of him.
I get a tissue on it and walk (calmly) down the hallway with him to get bandaids, hoping and praying that it's not too bad and we won't need to go to hospital because the Big Fella is out with the car. We get the bandaid ready (luckily the Little Big Fella is a huge fan of bandaids) then take the tissue off to check the damage.
Phew! It's just a little cut.
Want to know how it happened? Of course you do! I wouldn't be writing about it on my blog if it wasn't at least mildly interesting :-D
While I was outside the Little Big Fella decided that he wanted to play with the money in his money box/shoe. To get to the money you have to turn the shoe upside down and turn the circle plug thingy around. He obviously couldn't do it by himself. So he decides he needs a knife to open it!!!!! He goes to the kitchen and gets out my little paring knife.
Now, the Big Fella doesn't believe in blunt knives so every knife in our house is sharp. Not just fairly sharp either. To test if it's sharp enough he uses it to dry-shave his forearm. It's not sharp unless he gets a little bald patch!
So the Little Big Fella takes this sharp little paring knife and attempts to use it to open his money shoe. As you do.
Obviously he's slipped and copped the nice sharp tip in the webbing of his hand. I'm SO grateful that's all he did!!! Honestly, I'm expecting one day we'll have to go to the hospital with broken bones, split head/chin/hand/knee or whatever else kids do when they're exploring the world and not overly afraid (or aware) of hurting themselves, but I'm glad it wasn't yesterday. I get the feeling that the Little Big Fella has a new respect for the sharpness of knives though!
Who knew planting garlic could be so eventful??? We got a couple of bandaids on the cut and then taped it up with sports tape because I knew the bandaids had no chance of staying on without his whole hand wrapped up! Sure enough, by about 2pm he'd decided he was fixed and took it all off. As soon as he rode his bike it started bleeding again and needed to be re-dressed.
What else have we been up to with the Big Fella home?
Well, the Big Fella wanted to collect some wood for making a chook house, outdoor table and bench chairs, a sandpit and other bits and pieces so the Little Big Fella and I jumped in the car and went with him.
Now, when I say "some" wood I mean posts, beams and random bits of wood that are now piled under our stairs - about 1.5 metres deep, 3 or 4 metres long and piled about half to a metre high. He collected more today, including what will be half of the floor of our soon-to-be chook house. (A deal has been done and we're getting 6 chooks and a duck.)
This morning the Big Fella used some of the wood to create a sandbox for the Little Big Fella. He made the frame, dug a little channel for it to sit in, then went and collected a ute-load of sand from the creek (that's a serious workout right there!). The Little Big Fella loves it and has been in it for at least an hour today (he would have been in there longer if he'd been home more).
I was super tired today so this arvo I had a little lay down (not a nap because I was too cold to sleep). When I got up I had so much more energy. The Fellas were out helping a friend collect more of that wood so I got to whip around the house and do some cleaning (including vacuuming up sand from the new sandpit - there's going to be some lessons learned around here over the next few days!!!) and dinner prep.
Actually, we had a garlic/lime/chilli chicken dish tonight that was quite yummy. It's from Leanne, the Dinner Diva. I've not tried any of her recipes until tonight but I'm thinking of searching for some more because it was quick, easy and delicious!
We've had some night time issues over the past few nights. The Little Big Fella must be sleeping really solidly because normally he gets up once or twice to use the loo before I go to bed. But he wet his bed twice in one night and tonight he woke up crying but didn't get up. I went to him and tried to work out what was wrong. He wouldn't tell me because he was crying, then I feel warm wet. Ugh! I hate being peed on! At least he didn't wet the bed though - getting the two of us cleaned up is so much less of a drama than changing sheets!
Today was my Fit Yummy Mummy 4 week weigh in. I forgot! So I didn't weigh in until after breakfast but I've lost 2 kilos and 3cm on my muffin top. I'm going to do another weigh in tomorrow though, just to see if breakfast made that much difference. I also took photos (nope, you can't see them - I'm not ready for that) and can see a bit of a difference in my face, muffin top and a bit of muscle definition in my arms and shoulders. Oh! And I wore a couple of items of clothing this week that I haven't been able to wear in ages!!! And I'm wearing my belt 2, nearly 3 notches tighter than when I started. It feels awesome! I'm looking at the whole thing as a lifestyle, rather than a diet and I think it's sustainable, and all those veges and un-processed foods have got to be good for me.
We've got another big week coming up. A birthday party, a baby shower, friends for dinner, and all the other bits and pieces that fill up our life here. Hopefully I'll be able to grab a few minutes (and hopefully photos) to tell you all about it!!!
Today...
Today has been a funny day in some ways.
I went to bed way too late last night and went back to bed after breakfast this morning because I was falling asleep sitting up.
While the boys were watching a movie together I started going through my several boxes of memorabilia. I have cards and letters, yearbooks, teddy bears and various gifts and bits and pieces and when we moved I didn't have a chance to go through them and see if anything needed to be tossed.
As I was reading through various cards and notes I realised that people have said some really lovely things about me in the past. And while the life I live now is not the same in so many ways, I am still that person and their lovely comments are still valid and validating for me.
I realised that I haven't written heartfelt appreciation notes to people in a long time and I'd like to do that some more. It feels good to be appreciated and there are so many people that I do appreciate!
I also re-felt the need to start giving my time and energy to others and the community again. It's been a long time but I'm ready to give without feeling guilty if I don't, and I want to be an active participant in life here.
This afternoon the Little Big Fella and I were invited for a playdate with some friends from the park/playgroup. It was really lovely to have a sit around and watch the kids play happily together. The Little Big Fella mostly played on his own but I guess he'll make his way when he's ready.
As we were sitting out on the verandah (it's a great verandah too!), one of the bigger kids came running from the park saying that someone had cut their neck open. Parents went running - one to the park, one with a phone, and one to the kid's parents to let them know what was happening. The kids started scattering too so the rest of the adults shepherded them off the road and made sure they were all safe and not freaking out.
As far as I understand, the boy had a decent cut on the back of his head. It bled a lot but he seemed to be basically okay, but possibly with concussion. He was taken to hospital to get checked out.
It took a while for everyone to calm down after that - understandably.
While we were there it rained. It rained pretty hard. I was very glad I'd brought my big golf umbrella because when it was time to go the Little Big Fella and I huddled under it and walked together. He had his gumboots on so wanted to "jump in muddy puddles" (thanks Peppa Pig!) so by the time we got home (about 400 metres maybe) we were both drenched! :-D
I fed the Little Big Fella then sat down with a glass of red and some cheese and bikkies. It's a great way to go after a walk in the rain :-D
This evening we all went to the Lion's Club changeover dinner. We were on a table with some great people and it was a lovely evening. There were some formalities of the night and I have to say they dragged out for an awfully long time!
The dinner started when the Little Big Fella would normally be going to bed so before we'd even finished our meal he was very ready to sleep. At the last minute I'd put a thick blanket in my bag (love my big red bag!) so I folded it over, put it under a table on the side of the room and he lay down on it. Within a few minutes he was asleep!
During the formalities they read out the purpose of the Lion's Club. It is an impressive list covering individual, community and international goals. And the contributions made by the three clubs that were meeting tonight over the past 12 months were really impressive! It's a great organisation!
The Little Big Fella woke about three quarters through the evening and just wanted to lay down and go back to sleep but couldn't. I tried to settle him but it wasn't working so I ended up leaving and bringing him home. He fell asleep in the car on the way home - about a 2 minute drive by the time I started the car, drove home, opened the gate and shed and pulled in. I guess he was tired :-)
Speaking of tired, I am! So goodnight! Thanks for reading and I will "see" you soon :-)
