A Fun Age

And just like that Teddy is 6 months old. This strange year is flying by and it feels like a blur. Where I live we have come out of our second round of covid lockdown and things are slowly opening again. I’m taking Augie to a local kids museum on the weekend and his little mind will be blown because he asks every day if the museum is open yet. We are also going to see Santa, which of course will require a 1.5 metre social distancing so we’ll need to sit away from him. As soon as I told Augie we were going to see Santa he said “and I can sit in his lap and give him a cuddle?”. The shyest kid ever suddenly wants to cuddle Santa the one year he can’t… 😂

I’ve often heard parents say “my kids are at good ages”, well now I get what they mean. I am loving who my kids are at these ages.

August is 3 and it’s my favourite age for him (well tied with baby age because I love babies). I’ve heard nothing but warnings about 3 year olds, but he’s been an absolute delight. He had a really tough period between the ages 2.5 – 3 so I’m hoping he got it out of his system then. I think most kids have tough ages and it’s different for all of them. He would have daily meltdowns where he would just scream and cry about small things like getting out of the car or putting a top on. Even if I was offering something he wanted he was so emotional that he would still meltdown and was inconsolable. I was scared to take him anywhere because I had no control of him and I felt judged by other people. I strongly questioned if I needed to change my gentle parenting approach and have more discipline (and so did AJ!). I’m so happy he’s through the other side of that rough period and he knows I will always be his safe place no matter how big his emotions get. I just love hanging out with him and even feel a bit sad when he’s at daycare. At night he’ll cuddle me and say “thanks for playing with me today mum, I love you so much”. Don’t get me wrong, he’s still a cheeky 3 year old, but just the right amount of cheeky.

Speaking of cheeky, he seems to be picking up some new things at childcare! He was trying to spit the other day and I asked him what he was doing and why. He told me that Max, Koa and Felipe (from school) do it. He keeps saying the word “goo” and seems to think it’s a bad/funny word. He’s also learned what Paw Patrol is because a boy from school watches it and saw the merchandise at the shops and started begging for it (despite never having seen it). The good news is that the last few weeks things have improved at school. It was getting really tough to drop him off as he was so upset, but he seems to be enjoying himself now so I don’t care what bad habits he learns. I’m sure he’ll teach the other kids a few anyway.

Oh and the play time is so much fun now! His imagination is out of control. We pretend play all day, every day… his bike is an ambulance that has a flat tire and needs to be towed, the street sign is on fire and we must put it out with our hose, the car is a garbage truck and it’s bin day or the couch is a boat and there are sharks and dolphins in the water around us. We are also kitty cats and puppies all day and I must lick him like a cat or fetch balls like a puppy. His biggest obsessions are lego duplo and his train set. They are hours of entertainment every day. All the people have names and characters and we must build them hospitals and cafes or fire stations. It’s actually a lot of fun and I just love watching how his imagination grow.

And what is not to love about a 6 month old? They are squishy and full of giggles and snuggles. This last month has seen him start sleeping in his cot in his own room (😭), sleep unswaddled, drop down to 2 naps (sometimes), teething and start solids. The unswaddling was actually very difficult and it took many weeks to get there. He loves to play with his face and would just wake himself up constantly. Like every few minutes. I used a transition sleeping bag, but it still took about 5 weeks to get him back to sleeping well. Whereas at the same age August didn’t care less and I just took his arms out of the swaddle. Babies are all so different. Teddy still wakes every 2 or 3 hours at night, but he just has a bottle and falls back to sleep immediately so it’s no big deal. He still isn’t rolling and most babies roll by around 5 months so I’m debating taking him to the child health nurse. I find their advice quite old fashioned and unhelpful a lot of the time so perhaps I’d be better off going to a doctor. He loves his big brother and must reach out to touch him whenever he is near, which Augie finds hilarious (except when he pulls his hair).

Augie loves his little brother more and more every day. I honestly didn’t think he’d enjoy being a big brother much, but he just loves him now. He’s constantly waiting for Teddy to wake up “is Teddy ready to play?”. He is always asking when Teddy will be able to walk and I told him it’ll be when he has his birthday, so he constantly asks if it’s Teddy’s birthday yet. One day in the park he watched a group of siblings play and then asked wistfully “when can Teddy go on the seesaw with me?”. There isn’t anything in the world that makes me happier then watching those two cuddle and play.

Oh, and if anyone else finds these things interesting, here is a comparison of August and Teddy at 6 months of age. Teddy to the left, August on the right. I get mixed messages on whether people think they look alike. I think the different colouring (hair and eyes) throws people.

The highlight of my month was getting my hair done for the first time in over 6 months. It was my first time away from Teddy for a few hours, which felt both weird and surprisingly normal at the same time. Of course he didn’t even notice I was gone and slept most of the time.

Post haircut selfie!

It’s been a difficult year for everyone. We are lucky to be coming out of lockdown here as summer hits and get to spend Christmas with our families. I’m so grateful the state borders will be opening and my brother, sister in law and niece will be able to visit from Sydney. It’ll be Teddy’s first Christmas and the first Christmas that August will really get into the spirit. So I have lots to look forward to right now. I must say that despite things looking up, I still feel quite flat. After such a strange year, and with so many people still suffering, it’s hard to be happy.

I don’t know what part of me feels flat because of the pandemic and what part is just an exhausted parent. Or both. Sometimes I look at my washing and just can’t believe I’m going to be doing this much washing for the next 18 years. Or it gets to 4.00 pm and I realise I need to feed the kids… again. I’d happily live off eggs on toast or crumpets and find cooking meals such a drainer. Especially because August is such a fussy eater. Ah, I guess if those are my biggest complaints right now than I am doing well. 😊