New Horizons

Today I took my 16mth old granddaughter to her first play group.

Since she has discovered walking, only a few weeks ago, the boundaries of her old world have dissolved and new horizons have become the order of the day. Life is BIG and big is good.

Her eyes grew as large as saucers as she spied the vast array of play equipment, then settled immediately upon a small dolls pram (and doll) which she proceeded to push at 'top speed' around the room, knocking into walls, doors or children: what ever got in her way, going wherever the speeding pram took her.

It reminded me that no matter how much energy or enthusiasm we have, if we don't know where we're going we'll just go through life bouncing off the nearest wall.

Hopefully over the next few months she will discover this truth for herself and learn how to be in control of her own destination.

It's something I've known for some years now but still need to remind myself of. It's just so easy to let the momentum of life direct our path.

But is it taking us where we want to go?

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Another milestone

At last. It's happened. Sujin is on the move. Crawling! Well, it's more of a backways shuffle, but she's also leaned how to turn around, so she can navigate here way back to where she started, if she wants to - though getting stuck under the couch required some intervention from granddad



Oh . . . . how did I get here?


Hay - Im really getting stuck in here!

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Another milestone

Another tooth popped through this morning.
That's TWO down and eighteen more to go!!!

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Another milestone

Sujin has a ride-on. It's a small chair and toy tray, like a car really with wheels and a space for your legs to hang through to the ground. Several weeks ago her legs became long enough to touch the ground and she soon mastered backward movement. This was rather good as I only had to point her in the direction I didn't want her to go, and she was sure never to get there. However, today she discovered forward (and sideways) movement. This means she can run away from me. But worse still, she can now get to the table and reach things from it! I fear my troubles may have only just begun. Oh well. such is life.

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The voice of an angel

No, not Charlotte Church. For several days now Sujin has been discovering her voice. At first it was just gurgles and blowing raspberries. Then came the unintelligible sentences with accompanying facial expressions and, just incase you were in any doubt, a rising inflection to underscore the fact that it was a question. Well today we added volume to the mix. We were out walking, well I was doing the walking, and SJ was in her push chair talking. As we entered the shopping complex she quietened momentarily, the ambient noise in the mall quite drowning her 'singing.' It was then she discovered the volume control and, raising her voice several decibels, she began competing. Singing at the top of her little voice and smiling.

A passing mother looked in at her, smiled at me and said," Yi know, yi cant wait for them to start talking, then as soon as they do, you spend the rest of your life trying to keep them quiet." Oh well, win some lose some.

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I'll get by with a little help . . .

Patchy day today. Weather and baby! Not one of Sujin's best as she is beginning to feel the push of her emerging teeth and is inclined to be a bit grizzly. However we are making excellent progress with the eye-hand coordination since we discovered hands, and rusks, about this time last week. We've now discovered the hand, rusk and mouth combination. This opens up an infinitely more satisfying scenario but there is still the question of orientation to master as the rusk tends to arrive at mouth on a vertical rather than a horizontal plane. This, as you can imagine, is the cause of much frustration and anxiety for a beginner, and needs grandparental intervention to complete a successful docking routine.

Who says grand parents are no use!

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We're on a roll!

Another big day for little Miss Milestone and a perfect one weather wise. Blue skys, no wind and temperatures in the mid 20's. Sujin's new found fascination with the hands continue with their use now extending to gaining ones attention. A gentle tug at the collar or a poke in the arm lets you know, in no uncertain terms, that your mind (or gaze) has wandered and that she no longer has your full and undivided attention. Language is also beginning to play a part in the process too with much more vocal activity than before. These certainly are exciting times and it's not only baby whose learning new skills. My own internal time clock has slowed down and no longer races onto the next thing on my list. I'm beginning to see the world around me differently and am enjoying doing things at her pace rather than mine.

Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks!

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Sometines being helpful just isn't

Isn't is funny. From day one we strive to encourage children to become independent then, as soon as they are, we wish they weren't. Today Sujin learnt all about helping granddad. First she learned to help granddad put the spoon in her mouth - along with her hand and very often, her bib as well. Not helpful. With this new epiphany about the use and purpose of hands she also learned how to help by smearing rusk all over her face and by spilling Tommee Tippee (the water cup) all over her front. I can't wait till she learns how to wipe her face & hands, clean up the floor and wash her own sweater.

Now that would be helpful!

PS - at 14:48 NZ standard time Sujin also learnt how to roll over. From her front onto her back. Well done Sujin, a milestone day in so many ways!

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Because I'm special

Just like the Grandfather in the Werthers Originals add, today I introduced my grand daughter to a slice of my past. Something I remember, made me feel special as a child. Rusks! However, unlike the Grandfather in the add, I wasn't moves by generosity, love and a sweet tooth, but rather by the fact that Su-jin has begun teething! It's another change to take into the daily mix and naturally, she loves them and I imagine they are now a regular part of her diet. At least for the next few years.

During our afternoon walk I cut through the boulevard of mature trees (not sure what kind but they're big old and leafy) that line the boundary of the Hutt Recreation grounds and stopped to watch a group of secondary school children enjoying their annual sports day. The event that caught my eye was the 20 aside 'Tug of War'. It was a very serious moment. the supervising teacher tied the traditional hankie n the middle of the rope, positioned the teams and said,'take the strain.' Both teams repositioned their footing, leaned back to take the strain on the rope, then SNAP! The rope broke and all 40 aspiring athletes fell to a tangled mess of legs, arms and uncontrollable giggling and laughing. I'm sure they will all remember the occasion as much as Su-jin will remember her first Rusk.

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A hard day at the nursery

My first day as full time care giver is over and I'm exhausted.
I feel I've never done so little or, at the same time, worked so hard. Babies don't seem to do much but when you're not attending to their immediate needs (and there are plenty of them) you're racing to clean up and put away after them to get ready for then next session before they wake up. It's all go. The new thing in the daily mix today (babies needs change daily as they grow) was to learn to drink water from a cup. And we did! Tommee Tippee is now greeted with chubby out stretched arms and goldfish like gestures of the mouth. We can pick him up but as yet, can't work out how to dock with the mother ship! I guess it will only be time and practice that make that link for her.

A calm clear day again, weather wise, and at a personal level I discovered Bach's Leipzig Chorale Preludes. So intricately structures yet at the same time, so simple and so restful. Just what I need after a hard day at the nursery.

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NZ Newspapers shares sky rocket

Today the readership of the Auckland Herald incremented by one: at 16:00 NZ standard time, Sujin Olivia Lee (age 5 1/2 months) browsed the property supplement, crumpled the sporting section and eat her way through the weekend magazine supplement. Otherwise, Saturday 24th March was in all respects, an eventless yet pleasant enough day. Another perfect late summers day, cloudless and windless so after a late 'Full English' and a browse of the BBC web-page I applied 4 coats of low sheen sealer to the front steps, reloaded some operational programs onto my Mac (see yesterday's blog) and wondered if I will now have to by a daily copy of the Herald for our young avid reader.

PS - Discovered the local supermarket stocks Tetley's (Smooth) English Ale. Just like the brew I so enjoyed regularly at The Bell, Maidenhead. Cheers lads!

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SuJin's First Blog Entry

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