Farewell lunch

Since I left work, there have been many resignations. Now David has found a new job, and Rob will also be leaving soon, so the team is down to two members; Anton and Hulda. Today we had a farewell lunch for David at the same yum cha place where we met once before.

Louka had a high chair this time, and was pretty well behaved. She ate all her apple purée and drank water (and spilled more water down her front). But she was also engrossed by the family at the table behind her, so she spent most of the time twisted round in her chair looking at them.

After lunch I walked back to the office with the others, and had a chat to a few former workmates. They all admired Louka, but she was getting tired and started to whinge and cry. She fell asleep as I walked back to the shopping centre, so I went to Harris Farm and bought myself a punnet of mulberries and some yoghurt. Unfortunately she woke when I put her in the car, and being tired she screamed until she fell asleep again.

Windy weather

Today the mothers group were going to meet at Muston Park, to let the babies get down and play. But the day was grey and windy, threatening rain, so Tamara suggested we meet at her place instead. She lives very close to the park anyway.

I'd already packed a packet of biscuits and a thermos of coffee for myself, and we had plenty of time in hand, so I thought I'd check out the park on our way there. It's a nice park, with a creek with a bridge and ducks, and a playground with swings and slides and a distorting mirror. It will be a good place to meet on a nice day.

Nicky also lives nearby, and just as I was about to leave she came walking through the park. So I walked with her to Tamara's place. There we met Andrea looking for the right address, so we all arrived together. The babies all got down on the floor and took stock of one another. None of them are crawling yet, but they have their own ways of getting around.

Sand-Between-the-Toes

We had sand in the eyes and the ears and the nose,
And sand in the hair, and sand-between-the-toes.

from When We Were Very Young by A.A. Milne

It was an unseasonably warm sunny day, so the mothers group decided to meet at Manly. Unfortunately, Louka had slept very little last night, so this morning she wanted to make up for it. She woke at five to eleven, five minutes before we were due to meet, and cried for a feed. When she was fed and dressed and ready it didn't seem worthwhile to try to meet the others, but I thought we might as well go to Manly anyway, and try out the ferry trip.

We got to Circular Quay station with five minutes to spare before the ferry left, so we got a good outside seat on the shady side. Louka enjoyed the sensation of travel in the open air, with the wind in her hair, instead of being cooped up in a poky carseat. We strolled round to Shelly Beach, arriving about twenty past one, and I ordered a chocolate milkshake and calamari and chips at the kiosk there. Just as the meal arrived, I was hailed by Prab, Nicky and Andrea, who had finished their walk and were just leaving. We had a very brief chat, then they headed off and I ate my meal. The chips were fine, but the calamari was very strange; dry and crunchy. I gave Louka her apple purée which she enjoyed.

Then we headed down to the sand. I took Louka's socks off and "walked" her on the damp sand. She was happy with that, so I walked her down to the water and let the ripples play over her feet. That was good fun until a big wave came up over her knees, so we retreated a little. I gave her a little milk feed on the beach, then we headed back to the ferry.

When we reached the city I was very thirsty so I dropped into Young Alfred at the Customs House for a decaf latte, water and croissant. Under the glass floor of the Customs House is a scale model of the city, and as I was showing it to Louka we saw a young man helping his little girl to walk across the glass floor. We introduced the girls and they seemed quite excited to see each other. The other girl turned out to be eight months old and called Raisa, and her father was enjoying a rare opportunity to go out with her. As we left, he said "maybe they will meet again some day".

Reptiles (mostly)

Today we took Louka to the Reptile Park on the Central Coast. It was a relatively long drive but she was good all the way there, only falling asleep towards the end. She woke up soon after arriving though.

There was a crowd gathered to see Eric the crocodile being fed. Louka sat on Graham's shoulders to get a good view, but she was a little upset by the roar of the crowd when Eric took a piece of kangaroo meat from the keeper's hand. When the crowd had dispersed a little, Eric swam round his pool towards us, so we got a better view.


The snakes were generally too sleepy to interest Louka, and the lizards not much better (though the chameleon moved in odd ways). Best of all she liked the tortoises. Maybe she remembered the one she nearly managed to grab yesterday at Ku-ring-gai Chase.


We thought she might like the baby koala being carried on its mother's back (apparently it was close to Louka's age: seven or eight months). But there was too much of a crowd around for her to get a good look.

All the excitement must have been exhausting; Louka fell asleep as soon as we started driving home, and only woke up (screaming, unfortunately) when I stopped to open the garage door.

Ku-ring-gai Chase

This afternoon we decided to take Louka to Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park to see some nature. She started the drive quite cheerful, but got upset on Bobbin Head Rd until she fell asleep when we reached the bumpier road inside the park. When we arrived at Bobbin Head she was asleep, so we just carried her on the mangrove boardwalk and on up the hill. At the top she woke up, so we carried her back to look at what she'd missed.


Then we headed up to the Kalkari Visitor Centre. We stopped at the bird feeding tray, where Louka was fascinated by the ducks, and a brush turkey wandered through. Then we continued along the path till we saw a wallaby grazing on the lawn ― but we couldn't attract Louka's attention. On the way back over the pond Graham noticed a tortoise with its head sticking up from the water. As we watched, it swam nearer, until it was right at the edge beside us. When we put out our fingers it raised its head as if to touch us. We thought perhaps it was used to people feeding it, but the ranger said not. Louka wanted to grab the tortoise and put it in her mouth.

Visiting Grandpa Mike

For the last couple of days Louka has been able to raise herself on her hands and knees. She can stay that way longer every day before collapsing onto her tummy. And this morning she managed to move each knee forward in that posture.

Yesterday we had been getting ready to visit my friend Mike when Louka had her accident. So this afternoon we paid a deferred visit. Mike's partner Clare was just leaving for the dentist when we arrived, so she just got to say "hello, goodbye" to Louka. Then Mike made me a cup of coffee and introduced us to his two dogs. We sat out in the back garden and had a good chat. Just as it was time to leave, Clare returned and said "hello, goodbye" again.

I wanted to go home via the Wakehurst Parkway, rather than via Mosman, so I put that into the GPS. However, it then kept telling me to go further and further north. By this time I was a bit lost, so I could only go the way it suggested. Eventually it told me to turn off the north road, but now by the time I got to the Pacific Highway it was peak hour and the traffic was crawling. It took us about an hour to get home! Oh well, I'll try to get it right next time.

Ooops!

I know perfectly well that Louka can roll over and move around. So why did I leave her on the sofa while I prepared to go out? I really don't know. Next thing I knew she was howling and lying on the floor.

So I took her to the hospital emergency. By that time she was quite cheerful and bright, and I felt a bit silly when I saw kids with blood running down their faces and heard kids coughing like the creature from the swamp. But the hospital staff said it was the right thing to do, and took her temperature, looked in her eyes and ears, attached a sensor of some sort to her toe, listened to her heart, and took various other measurements. And they kept her under observation for four hours. During that time she was surprisingly good-tempered, only getting a little grumpy towards the end, even though I had to hold her on my lap the whole time.

They found nothing wrong with her, but gave me a letter to take to the GP tomorrow or Friday. I hope that means she's just fine.

Tonight at dinner she showed she's now really got the hang of raising the bottle to drink from it.

Six month immunisation

Last night there were big thunderstorms and strong winds, which didn't wake Louka. Later, though, she woke and had trouble getting back to sleep.

When we turned up at the council community centre for Louka's immunisation, the weather seemed to have kept everyone at home. There was one other mother and baby waiting, but the clinic people had not turned up. Gradually more people arrived, and eventually the clinic people. Being number two in the queue meant we got it all over pretty fast. Louka screamed and kicked, and the nurses commented what strong muscles she has! But she gave them a smile before we left the room.

I bought her a book about a cute and hungry blue gosling called Booboo.

Update: She slept well overnight, with only one short wake-up. Can I get her immunised every day, please?

Louka unwrapped!

At the hospital we were taught to wrap or swaddle Louka tightly to make sure she didn't wake herself by thrashing around in her sleep. We were still wrapping her at night, though she was beginning to sleep without wrapping during the day. Last night we tried putting her in her cot without wrapping, and she slept fine (well, just as well as the previous night anyway). Hooray, another milestone! And we can free up some shelf space by getting rid of those wraps ☺.

She woke up before we could get a photo.








For Fathers Day we went round to my sister's place for lunch. It was a sunny day with brief grey periods, and we sat outside on the patio (Louka sitting up at the table in her high chair) and on rugs in the garden.

Graham got his first Fathers Day gift ― a Bamix blender, which should be good for making purees for Louka. Louka got to play with her cousins' guns.

Spring has sprung

Like I said before, I haven't been good at keeping in contact with old friends. Another response to a humourous email resulted in lunch today with two former workmates, Vanessa and Jessica.

Since they work in the city, Graham was also able to have lunch with us at Bayswiss. I think the food there is the same as at Relish at Chatswood ― rather nice.

For the first day of Spring, the weather decided to show Winter was really over, so Louka was able to wear her new Hawaiian print shorts. (She kept taking her sunnies off and trying to eat them, so I gave up.)

Vanessa had brought her a present ― a lovely teddy bear. What a lucky girl Louka is!