A Mother's Musings: September 2012

A is for attractive. All the things we've grown to love about you - inside and out.

B is for baby. The one we created and the one we became after being broken by months of sleepless nights.

C is for comforter. Yours is the dummy.

D is for dummy. The way parents are made to feel, courtesy of all the 'expert' advice out there - authors of parenting books are guilty of this big time.

E is for enigmatic. This alien creature we brought into the world.

F is for future. The one I dream about for you. Will you outgrow your shyness? Who will you marry? What career will you have? What will your personality be like in 5 years time?

G is for girl power. I'm so grateful for our sisterhood and the truly amazing and inspiring women who are apart of it.

H is for heroine. More commonly know as your mum.

I is for island (preferably the deserted kind!) It's where I dreamt of escaping to often during those bewildering early months.

J is for just add coffee. Need I say more.

K is for knowledge. I read and sought out too much advice. It's what first time mums can't help but do. Next time around I've made a pact with myself to be less analytical and more instinctual.

L is for Learner. I stayed with my L plates on so many newborn related issues for a lot longer than I'd have hoped.

M is for musical. Since your infancy I've sung to you more than I've spoken words, creating songs on the spot for even the most mundane of tasks.

N is for No flippin' Way. It's my reaction when you soil yourself right after I've changed your nappy or better still, hit me smack bang in the face with one mid nappy change.

O is for obsessive. Incessantly worrying about your weight, sleep, food and milk intake and not reaching milestones on time. You name it, I've obsessed over it.

P is for party pooper. Going to bed before 9 pm, declaring Scrabble our new favourite pastime and suddenly developing an aversion to alcohol have all been natural progressions along the parenting path (at least for this mum and dad!).

Q is for question. The one I got asked too soon after giving birth to you. The inevitable, so when's number two coming along?

R is for restless. My eating, sleeping and general functioning since having you.

S is for sign language. The earliest form of communication between you and your parents.

T is for time nazi. You are our new time keeper and you dictate what time we eat, sleep, play and work.

U is for undivided attention. It's what I try to give you when I'm not checking my phone, Skyping with family, making dinner, daydreaming or sneaking off to the toilet.

V is for viral. It's what I can't help but wonder about the next baby once I spot those tell tale signs - a runny nose, spots/rash or any uncharacteristic itching.

W is for wisdom. It's what motherhood is teaching me.

X is for eXpensive. Everything baby-related.

Y is for year. Making it through the first year gave us an incredible sense of satisfaction.

Z is for zen. It's where I go to stay sane. At the moment it's books and my bed, but in future I hope to become reacquainted with the hot room.

You recently learnt to walk - it's been a long time coming. You stood relatively early (around seven months if my memory serves me correctly) but the progression to walking has taken a little longer. There hasn't been a great change in your interests since finding your feet. You are still content to open and close doors and put things into containers and play with lids. I guess you're going to become more independent now and not so reliant on mum or dad because you are now less clingy and seem happy to play alone and I often find you by the back gate signalling for us to let you out so you can practice your driving (pretend driving in the car of course).

Alongside your progression to walking has been the development in your signing and you now use signs more and more to indicate when you see or want something. You are definitely a stereotypical boy with the vast majority of the signs you've picked up being forms of transportation. Initially, you used the sign for milk to indicate that you wanted something but you've recently started using it correctly and today signed milk and then walked to the fridge and pointed to the picture of your bottle for emphasis. What a clever cookie! You also know the signs for car, bicycle, motorbike, bus, truck, bird and duck. Interestingly, the others I initially tried to teach you - nappy change, sleep, drink and mum and dad - you've still yet to adopt. We were so excited when you started signing. It felt like six months of hard work had not been in vain. However I'm starting to curse myself as your current fascination with cars involves sitting in ours and pretend driving and now you sign to let us know that you want to do this around the clock . It's what we're greeted with when we enter your room of a morning and even made an appearance during one of your regular middle-of-the-night cot calls. Haha, I guess we had that one coming, didn't we?!

I've also begun to see a side of you that is frankly a little frightening. Over the past few days you've started to have mini tantrums when you don't want to do something or don't get your own way. It took me thirty minutes to dress you a few days ago and you kick up such a fuss when you have your nappy changed nowadays, it's almost easier to let you sit in your own filth than have to sit through you wailing and throwing your head around like a baby possessed.

To coincide with your daddy's fortnight of leave we recently booked a getaway to Mount Barker near the Porongurup Ranges in south eastern WA. We spent four nights in a smal chalet on a farm with a pot belly stove and spa. Each morning we woke to the sight of native birds (and pesky magpies) feeding and joined the farm animals during their morning feed. There were chickens, ponies, a pig called Bacon, sheep, rabbits, guinea pigs and quail. You were most frightened of the flighty chickens but eventually warmed to the rabbits and ponies and even tried to pat them. I think you found the commotion of feeding time a little overwhelming and sometimes you were more content to play with the rocks at your feet. There was the farm dog Buster and Farmer John's ute which you were more taken by than all the animals put together. True to your one-track mind, you indicated to us that you wanted to sit in Farmer John's ute at every available opportunity.

This trip has been one of firsts - you had your first spa bath, went on your first hike through a national park, experienced your first wood fire, patted your first rabbit, picked your first wildflower and I'm sure I could go on and on but you get the idea. One of my highlights was the Castle Rock hike and I think it may also have been yours. When we got to the top and let you out of the backpack you had such fun exploring the sky walk.

Your dad and I definitely enjoyed the break and I personally found the lack of phone reception refreshing. I read a book in a matter of hours during one of your midday naps, took lots of photos, finished more than a few glasses of champagne and even got to indulge in a spa bath each night, which was just what the doctor ordered. Dad and I finished off the batch of brownies I'd brought with us and your dad even set to work on one of his father's day presents - a book of maths puzzles by Letters and Numbers whiz Lilly Serna. We even discovered a love for Scrabble courtesy of a stash of board games and bought ourselves a copy for home upon our return. I hope that your dad and I can spend less time on our phones and more time connecting with one another. It does feel as though we've been caught up in our own little worlds a bit lately.

A day after returning from our trip your nanna and grandad arrived from Sydney for another brief stay and were kind enough to babysit you one night. We had a nice quiet drink at a bar and then enjoyed an interesting Middle Eastern meal at a new restaurant in our area. I honestly can't remember the last time we had a drink and dinner alone! It was so nice to get some time to ourselves, even if we took some motivating. I guess we've all been pretty spoilt these past few weeks. Dad's leave ended yesterday and he's set to head off on his first big off-shore stint since your birth. He'll be gone a while and I hope you won't miss him too much.