The Hughes Zoo

Canberra, 17 degrees & sunny

Dad’s at work, Jeremy’s at Little School and Ange is having a rest at home getting all the burps and farts out of Will.

Will and I were discharged from the Calvary just shy of a month ago. That day, in itself was quite the adventure! The plan was for Ben to drive us home and for the 3 of us to walk to the Belconnen Markets for lunch. Well it all fell to pieces when Ben and I realised that Will was just too little for the baby capsule. (It had fitted Jeremy fine on his first trip home so we were absolutely baffled at to why it wouldn’t fit now!) (It was not supposed to matter that Will was ½ a kilo lighter!) Two failed attempts to make it fit (one by Ben and the other by me) we gave up and Ben squeezed between Jeremy and Will’s car seats, with Will strapped in as safely as possible, while I drove home. Given that I’d just had a baby I took my sweet time gliding down Belconnen Way (an 80k zone) at 40 k/hour the one block to our place.

Home safely, we breathed a sigh of relief and took Will upstairs to meet Arnie cat. An absolute non-event - the cat sniffed Will’s head and went about his day. A little bemused (he made such a fuss over Jeremy on his first day home), we packed Will into the ‘new and improved’ Buggy and walked to the Markets for lunch. Ben and I ate and drank like royalty. Will - incredibly - slept through Ben and I trying everything to wake him up for his milk feed. In the end (about 45min later!) he woke, fed and burped like all good babies do.

Jeremy and Will had a collision that night. Jeremy, with all intents and purposes (or on purpose?), leaned over to kiss Will but managed to wedge two of his teeth into Will’s head. Will spend the next couple of weeks with ’snake bite’ marks on his forehead.

The Boys have been getting on really well. Jeremy (except when he’s having a moment) is tender and loving towards Will and Will is quite receptive to his ‘big brother’. Jeremy uses the phrase “Will’s funny” to describe everything that Will does, including times that Will screams the house down cause Jeremy’s woken him up by yelling (LOUDLY!).

As you would expect, lot has changed in the past month. I am having trouble remembering the lifestyle of a family of 3 as I get further and further consumed by the hectic nature of a young family of 4. Life is really different, and the pecking order has changed too. Will first, Jeremy second, the pets third, Ben getting to work forth, food on the table fifth and, well, down time for us parents - that’s somewhere after the housework, washing up, laundry, errands, temper tantrums and time-outs (for us and Jeremy).

Will at 1 month & Jeremy at 2 ¼ years

Will is doing brilliant (as you would expect from a Zooer!). He has put on a kilo in weight and just a fraction bigger than Jeremy was new-born. He is almost 5 weeks old and I’m only just considering putting him into 000’s (Jeremy was in these by the time we got him home from hospital). Will is able to support his head and has enough neck control to head-butt us or lean towards my breast. He is smiling (almost grinning) when he’s pleased with himself - we are yet to be rewarded with those loving parent smiles. He is a great farter. He can vomit, wee and poo all at once but only while his nappy is being changed. He has taken to a bottle of milk with Dad each night before bed really easily (though, of course, I do worry that he hasn’t had enough to drink!).

Jeremy has done many marvelous things this month:

• He can climb the rope ladder at the Macquaire shops park.
• He proudly wears his ’school’ bag as a backpack like Daddy does.
• He has done numerous wees in the potty at home and in the toilet at school.
• He drinks from a cup with one hand (we’d prefer 2!).
• He can climb into the pram and sit still while we strap him in.
• He loves the new car so much that he won’t eat in it.
• He can walk up the metal slides and the metal loop ladder at the Surfboard park.
• He plays well independently and often refuses to visit Jordy because he’s too busy playing.
• He has stopped eating anything except porridge, soy meat, toasties, apples, muesli bars, scrambled eggs and cinos (sometimes but not often he’ll eat 3-vege mix, yogurt, old toast and different toast).
• He can climb onto his bed and then onto the change table, lie down on his back and read a book while waiting for his nappy to get changed.
• He reads by himself.
• He has started watching TV; Playschool and Thomas only.
• He can carry his toy boxes into the lounge room by himself.
• He can tell convincing lies and jokes.
• He can clean his teeth, brush his hair and wash his hands after using the toilet.
• He loves to cook (role playing).
• His best friends’ are Alicia and Jordy.
• His favorite relative is Uncle Rob.
• His favorite books are the Poppy Cat series and the Thomas & Friends series.
• His favorite immediate family member is Daddy.
• He refuses to go to big school and wants to stay in little school with Em and Shell (Wattle Room and Teachers).
• He prefers to keep last night’s nappy on until just before breaky.
• He loves to be ‘naked’ (singlet and nappy on) and enjoys making changing clothes a real challenge for Mum and Dad.
• His favorite nursery rhymes are Twinkle twinkle and Wheels on the bus.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 9th, 2008 at 11:22 pm and is filed under Ange's Updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.