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Just wanted to put the word out early that all our Continuum 7 plans may suddenly be cancelled. Both kids are sick, but Lex is really unwell, poor little bugger. He's been out of sorts for a couple of days, but today he's bad enough that he's voluntarily staying in bed, moaning, dozing, and asking me to come in and hold him every 20 minutes.
It's no good dragging him down to Melbourne if he's like this. It won't be fun or comfortable for him, and it certainly won't be fun for us. Mind you, with both kids at the con we were keeping our hopes for fun at fairly low levels. :)
Original plan was to leave Thursday. If Lex isn't substantially better by Wednesday arvo, then we start to cancel 90% of our travel plans. The remaining 10% will be me driving down to Melbourne on the Friday, doing the Chronos Awards, staying the night, then leaving Saturday after the Continuum 101 panel so Sharon isn't stuck with looking after a sick child and a baby on her own.
I have suggested to Shaz that she can head down with MaybeZoe, deliver the awards, do the whole con, and I'll stay here and look after Lex. I doubt she'll go for it, but have made the offer. It'd let her get to a con, and give her a few days off, albeit looking after one child. She could leave MZ here, but it would destroy our frozen breast milk supplies and leave us no reserves.
Naturally, if we do cancel Wednesday arvo, Lex will be right as rain Thursday. If we wait until Thursday to cancel, he'll be well Friday. If we go to Melbourne, he'll be sick and miserable the whole time. This is the nature of parenting :)
Fingers crossed he gets better and we can all travel down. I know he was looking forward to the trip as much as we were. And it's shaping up to be a fantastic con, so it'd be nice if we could see parts of it around children.
It's no good dragging him down to Melbourne if he's like this. It won't be fun or comfortable for him, and it certainly won't be fun for us. Mind you, with both kids at the con we were keeping our hopes for fun at fairly low levels. :)
Original plan was to leave Thursday. If Lex isn't substantially better by Wednesday arvo, then we start to cancel 90% of our travel plans. The remaining 10% will be me driving down to Melbourne on the Friday, doing the Chronos Awards, staying the night, then leaving Saturday after the Continuum 101 panel so Sharon isn't stuck with looking after a sick child and a baby on her own.
I have suggested to Shaz that she can head down with MaybeZoe, deliver the awards, do the whole con, and I'll stay here and look after Lex. I doubt she'll go for it, but have made the offer. It'd let her get to a con, and give her a few days off, albeit looking after one child. She could leave MZ here, but it would destroy our frozen breast milk supplies and leave us no reserves.
Naturally, if we do cancel Wednesday arvo, Lex will be right as rain Thursday. If we wait until Thursday to cancel, he'll be well Friday. If we go to Melbourne, he'll be sick and miserable the whole time. This is the nature of parenting :)
Fingers crossed he gets better and we can all travel down. I know he was looking forward to the trip as much as we were. And it's shaping up to be a fantastic con, so it'd be nice if we could see parts of it around children.
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Been meaning to post some pictures of the kids for ages, but a request from the lovely ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kaths has gotten me off my arse. ( 16 pics below the cut... )
kaths has gotten me off my arse. ( 16 pics below the cut... )
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Have you been happily unaware of my absence until this post appeared to blight your fine day? You must have been loving a good chunk of this year because I've just been not finding time to post.
How bad is it?
I've been meaning to mention that I sold one of my photographs for use in the Park Secrets Victoria pack of cards since last year. It's not one of my best shots, but I was approached because of the location depicted (Pink Cliffs Reserve in Heathcote), and who cares because I professionally sold one of my photos! It's something I'm naturally pretty proud of, and I haven't found the time to write about it until now, when I'm choosing not to do one of fifty other things, or resting, to mention it.
Needless to say there's been lots of other good stuff, but finding time to talk about it just ain't happening. I will mention that the Perth trip seems to have made a major difference to me. I'm still run down, but I haven't been continuously sick since the trip. Hooray!
Quick bits of stuff - Swancon was good, the Ditmar controversy was bullshit, Continuum 7 is looking to be awesome, no-one seems to have picked up on the (to me) two glaring potentially important pieces of information that were onscreen in the latest season of Doctor Who, I've been chopping lots of wood (that's not a euphemism), we had a surprise bill of $3000 which is incredibly painful but annoyed us more because of the unexpectedness than the amount, the local pub does chips covered in melted cheese and bacon bits.
Sharon's tired but awesome, Lex is energetic, tiring, frustrating, but mostly fun, MaybeZoe has stood twice and is trying to learn to be as cute as her brother, Mum is mostly okay when not driving us nuts, and I'm tired and depressed but still the prettiest person you know.
How bad is it?
I've been meaning to mention that I sold one of my photographs for use in the Park Secrets Victoria pack of cards since last year. It's not one of my best shots, but I was approached because of the location depicted (Pink Cliffs Reserve in Heathcote), and who cares because I professionally sold one of my photos! It's something I'm naturally pretty proud of, and I haven't found the time to write about it until now, when I'm choosing not to do one of fifty other things, or resting, to mention it.
Needless to say there's been lots of other good stuff, but finding time to talk about it just ain't happening. I will mention that the Perth trip seems to have made a major difference to me. I'm still run down, but I haven't been continuously sick since the trip. Hooray!
Quick bits of stuff - Swancon was good, the Ditmar controversy was bullshit, Continuum 7 is looking to be awesome, no-one seems to have picked up on the (to me) two glaring potentially important pieces of information that were onscreen in the latest season of Doctor Who, I've been chopping lots of wood (that's not a euphemism), we had a surprise bill of $3000 which is incredibly painful but annoyed us more because of the unexpectedness than the amount, the local pub does chips covered in melted cheese and bacon bits.
Sharon's tired but awesome, Lex is energetic, tiring, frustrating, but mostly fun, MaybeZoe has stood twice and is trying to learn to be as cute as her brother, Mum is mostly okay when not driving us nuts, and I'm tired and depressed but still the prettiest person you know.
Most years since my faux-stroke I've managed to post around April 1st (the day the migraine that did all the damage started) on how I've been going. This year, the fifth since it all started, I've been way too sick/busy/run down to do so. And even not posting here, I'm still behind on everything!
So this is the short-ish Stroke-Boy Update. ( Read more... )
So this is the short-ish Stroke-Boy Update. ( Read more... )
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I suspect Sharon and I could have done with more than three hours sleep each.
By this point of the day, I have seen to all the needs of the children. I've put nappies on to wash, read Lex a book, and have just sat down. Now to eat, then put Lex and/or MaybeZoe down for a nap. Then I have a choice between trying to get some more sleep myself, or doing some of the many, many, many jobs I'm hideously behind on.
At six this morning I thought of a job that I'd completely forgotten about for the last two months, and now it's too late to do it. I feel bad about that, but I'm trying not to beat myself up about it because there were plenty of other people who should have noticed and they could have either reminded me or done it themselves. I'm still annoyed at myself, however.
I've actually been improving energy-wise over the last five days or so, the last couple of which I've started taking the multi-vitamins that Shaz bought for me to try and give me a boost. There is a cruel irony to the fact that the woman with no sex-drive bought her usually lascivious husband vitamins where 25% of the points made on the label are to do with improving male sexual performance. Needless to say, while my energy levels were improving a little anyway, I am now totally distracted by a libido I have no time or left over energy to deal with.
On the plus side, at nine-thirty last night Sharon and I watched West Wing while we ate popcorn, then ice cream.
By this point of the day, I have seen to all the needs of the children. I've put nappies on to wash, read Lex a book, and have just sat down. Now to eat, then put Lex and/or MaybeZoe down for a nap. Then I have a choice between trying to get some more sleep myself, or doing some of the many, many, many jobs I'm hideously behind on.
At six this morning I thought of a job that I'd completely forgotten about for the last two months, and now it's too late to do it. I feel bad about that, but I'm trying not to beat myself up about it because there were plenty of other people who should have noticed and they could have either reminded me or done it themselves. I'm still annoyed at myself, however.
I've actually been improving energy-wise over the last five days or so, the last couple of which I've started taking the multi-vitamins that Shaz bought for me to try and give me a boost. There is a cruel irony to the fact that the woman with no sex-drive bought her usually lascivious husband vitamins where 25% of the points made on the label are to do with improving male sexual performance. Needless to say, while my energy levels were improving a little anyway, I am now totally distracted by a libido I have no time or left over energy to deal with.
On the plus side, at nine-thirty last night Sharon and I watched West Wing while we ate popcorn, then ice cream.
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So, yesterday (it's actually taken a while to write this, so a day or two ago, in fact) found time/energy to post, and to deal with a couple of emails. Most non-child/household related stuff I've managed in a while.
Last night, MaybeZoe kept me up until 1:30, then kept Sharon up until 4:30, then Lex awoke at 8:30. And the sleep I had was broken.
So, now I'm zombie boy. And Sharon is zombie girl. But both our children are awake and happy!
( Other stuff, some cheery, some not, kind of long, and some pics of the demon offspring... )
Last night, MaybeZoe kept me up until 1:30, then kept Sharon up until 4:30, then Lex awoke at 8:30. And the sleep I had was broken.
So, now I'm zombie boy. And Sharon is zombie girl. But both our children are awake and happy!
( Other stuff, some cheery, some not, kind of long, and some pics of the demon offspring... )
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Just sick, again. Another cold, or the same cold. And migraines. I'm in one of my migraine periods where I have weeks of trying to head them off. Coming up on four or five months of colds, 'flu, stomach bugs, etc. Don't think I've had more than a couple of weeks without illness. Bit over crawling exhausted through my days and getting further and further behind on everything.
On the bright side, am keeping up with the child-raising duties. Not a lot of energy to do extra stuff, but getting the basics done is still better than some (grumbles about 5 year old kids going to school who have literally never opened a book).
Sharon and I are now referring to Swancon as my break. Suspect I'll spend a chunk of the con in my room, catching up on rest. But at least I have the option, and can catch up with friends.
Lex survived chicken pox with only minimal spots, MaybeZoe had even fewer spots when she caught it. MZ now has six teeth, five of which are on the same side of her mouth, all of which came up in a three week period. She's not quite crawling yet, but is mobile enough to cause trouble.
Lex is still being an awesome big brother. Biggest problem now he and MZ are sharing a room is that he keeps wanting to make her giggle and laugh when they should both be getting sleep.
On the bright side, am keeping up with the child-raising duties. Not a lot of energy to do extra stuff, but getting the basics done is still better than some (grumbles about 5 year old kids going to school who have literally never opened a book).
Sharon and I are now referring to Swancon as my break. Suspect I'll spend a chunk of the con in my room, catching up on rest. But at least I have the option, and can catch up with friends.
Lex survived chicken pox with only minimal spots, MaybeZoe had even fewer spots when she caught it. MZ now has six teeth, five of which are on the same side of her mouth, all of which came up in a three week period. She's not quite crawling yet, but is mobile enough to cause trouble.
Lex is still being an awesome big brother. Biggest problem now he and MZ are sharing a room is that he keeps wanting to make her giggle and laugh when they should both be getting sleep.
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Got to say, I'm pretty impressed with how our house goes in the heat. On any of the warmer days, say 30+, the temperature inside will sit anywhere between 4-6 degrees lower on average. But on the really hot days, like yesterday when it reached 40, at one point we were 11.5 degrees cooler inside than it was outside.
On many of the hot days I'll actually leave two or three windows open around an inch. The house heats up a little more than it would, naturally, but it helps drop the internal humidity down by a fair whack, stopping the house from feeling as muggy.
In other news, our first power bill was $60. Given that we haven't had the solar panels up all that long, that's not too bad. Bill would have been about $330 without. That said, $30 of of bill was GST. Yes, they charged us GST on the full amount of the bill, then took off the money from the power buyback. I thought that was a bit cheeky.
As far as I can tell, our power usage appears to be about 75-80% the NSW average. Not too bad, and that's before we've swapped out lights for lower power ones. Mind you, beyond that I'm not sure how much more we can do. Most of the equipment is turned off at the power point, and is usually only on when it's being used. That said, I do want to get the stove top shifted over to gas, and at some point we may look into solar for water heating. We currently have electric water heating but the unit can be converted to work with solar as well.
Given the way power costs are going up in NSW, may well look at building a shed to house batteries, and getting additional panels set up to take us off the grid. But that'd be a fair way off, for all sorts of reasons.
Will be interested to see how our power bills look in the winter. Less sunlight, more lights on. Hopefully the fire will save us some cash, and the house will continue to show how good its insulation is.
On many of the hot days I'll actually leave two or three windows open around an inch. The house heats up a little more than it would, naturally, but it helps drop the internal humidity down by a fair whack, stopping the house from feeling as muggy.
In other news, our first power bill was $60. Given that we haven't had the solar panels up all that long, that's not too bad. Bill would have been about $330 without. That said, $30 of of bill was GST. Yes, they charged us GST on the full amount of the bill, then took off the money from the power buyback. I thought that was a bit cheeky.
As far as I can tell, our power usage appears to be about 75-80% the NSW average. Not too bad, and that's before we've swapped out lights for lower power ones. Mind you, beyond that I'm not sure how much more we can do. Most of the equipment is turned off at the power point, and is usually only on when it's being used. That said, I do want to get the stove top shifted over to gas, and at some point we may look into solar for water heating. We currently have electric water heating but the unit can be converted to work with solar as well.
Given the way power costs are going up in NSW, may well look at building a shed to house batteries, and getting additional panels set up to take us off the grid. But that'd be a fair way off, for all sorts of reasons.
Will be interested to see how our power bills look in the winter. Less sunlight, more lights on. Hopefully the fire will save us some cash, and the house will continue to show how good its insulation is.
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So yesterday I, with a little help from Sharon (she's sitting right beside me, so I have to say that), emptied out the shipping container, put down and rearranged the flooring, and put everything back.
But this time I got to use my l33t packing and organising skills to refill the container. This means I can now easily access around 98% of what is in there now, as opposed to around 60% before. And this means that, on days where it's not hot enough to melt your knicker elastic while you're working, I can actually do some proper sorting and disposal, and start unpacking and sorting my stock. Hooray!
Not only that, but I've left enough room for our kitchen table to go in, when we swap that for another table that Sharon's mum is thinking about bringing up from Melbourne.
It's nice to have it to the point where it's a mostly usable space.
In total, I worked for around 8 hours solid in 30 degree heat, carrying boxes in and out, arranging things, moving shelves... but it's done. Of course today I'm suffering - very tired, a little sore, and a very, very light sunburn.
Next to attack the shed!
But this time I got to use my l33t packing and organising skills to refill the container. This means I can now easily access around 98% of what is in there now, as opposed to around 60% before. And this means that, on days where it's not hot enough to melt your knicker elastic while you're working, I can actually do some proper sorting and disposal, and start unpacking and sorting my stock. Hooray!
Not only that, but I've left enough room for our kitchen table to go in, when we swap that for another table that Sharon's mum is thinking about bringing up from Melbourne.
It's nice to have it to the point where it's a mostly usable space.
In total, I worked for around 8 hours solid in 30 degree heat, carrying boxes in and out, arranging things, moving shelves... but it's done. Of course today I'm suffering - very tired, a little sore, and a very, very light sunburn.
Next to attack the shed!
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Nothing special, just some pics from the last couple of days. I've been coming down with 'flu this week, and it's seemed to peak over yesterday and today, so kinda wrecked. Means I didn't get to wander the neighbourhood last night in my Father Christmas outfit - was just too darned sick.
For those of you who don't know what I look like as Santa, just check my icon, that's me. The other week Sharon brought the kids into where I was working for a photo and Lex totally failed to recognise me.
Oh, and the staff were brilliant! Amanda was totally wonderful to me, and I'd be happy to end up there again next year. And while my only present under our tree this year was from the aforementioned Amanda (a scrapbook to hold all the letters and stuff the kids give me when I'm playing St. Nick), I have just received a tonne of SMSes from all sorts of people. They were sent right through the day, but all arrived together.
Sorry I haven't written to anyone, between 'flu and kid wrangling today, it just hasn't happened. Nothing personal, just feeling blah and tired.
However, I have managed sort some pics ( About 11 Oz family Christmas related photos under the cut )Anyway, I hope you all know I'm thinking of you, and hope each and every one of you has had an awesome Dec 25th!
For those of you who don't know what I look like as Santa, just check my icon, that's me. The other week Sharon brought the kids into where I was working for a photo and Lex totally failed to recognise me.
Oh, and the staff were brilliant! Amanda was totally wonderful to me, and I'd be happy to end up there again next year. And while my only present under our tree this year was from the aforementioned Amanda (a scrapbook to hold all the letters and stuff the kids give me when I'm playing St. Nick), I have just received a tonne of SMSes from all sorts of people. They were sent right through the day, but all arrived together.
Sorry I haven't written to anyone, between 'flu and kid wrangling today, it just hasn't happened. Nothing personal, just feeling blah and tired.
However, I have managed sort some pics ( About 11 Oz family Christmas related photos under the cut )Anyway, I hope you all know I'm thinking of you, and hope each and every one of you has had an awesome Dec 25th!
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It's starting to seem like every few years I'll have a panic about my car, only to find that no, the universe likes my car, and just wants to keep testing my love for it.
Last few weeks, I've been doing the running around just getting a couple of prices on fixing it up so it's legally drive-able in NSW. Got a quote in Canberra on fixing up the structural rust - the stuff I was really concerned about as being super expensive. It was a quarter what I'd imagined, and still half what I'd hoped for. Then I got a quote in Cooma, which was almost an eighth my original figure.
And that's kind of what I've suddenly discovered - if you want your old car fixed up at very reasonable prices, get it done in Cooma. The quotes for the upholstery and basic mechanical work are also really reasonable. My four weekends of Santa work, for three hours each of the days, will pay for most of it.
But the best thing? If I wanted to I could use the money we'd already budgeted for yearly basic car maintenance, and we'd still have over half of it left.
So my eventual goal of letting MaybeZoe tool around in my car in 20 years time is still on!
Last few weeks, I've been doing the running around just getting a couple of prices on fixing it up so it's legally drive-able in NSW. Got a quote in Canberra on fixing up the structural rust - the stuff I was really concerned about as being super expensive. It was a quarter what I'd imagined, and still half what I'd hoped for. Then I got a quote in Cooma, which was almost an eighth my original figure.
And that's kind of what I've suddenly discovered - if you want your old car fixed up at very reasonable prices, get it done in Cooma. The quotes for the upholstery and basic mechanical work are also really reasonable. My four weekends of Santa work, for three hours each of the days, will pay for most of it.
But the best thing? If I wanted to I could use the money we'd already budgeted for yearly basic car maintenance, and we'd still have over half of it left.
So my eventual goal of letting MaybeZoe tool around in my car in 20 years time is still on!
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As mentioned, lots of folks are having a bad time at the mo', hell, I've spent a chunk of the day in bed wishing I could sleep and being generally down and uncommunicative.
So for those of you who are cheered by such things, I present photos of the kids.
( several shots below the cut, including one that's probably NSFW, depending on how idiotic your workmates are... )
So for those of you who are cheered by such things, I present photos of the kids.
( several shots below the cut, including one that's probably NSFW, depending on how idiotic your workmates are... )
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- family,
- lex,
- photos,
- slice of life,
- zoe
There's been so much I've been wanting to write about in detail over the last few weeks, but given I started this nearly two weeks back, detail is obviously not going to happen, so it's dot point time!
( Life and assorted bits... kinda long... some Too Much Information at the end, so possibly want to avoid if you're delicate, a relo, or both... )
( Life and assorted bits... kinda long... some Too Much Information at the end, so possibly want to avoid if you're delicate, a relo, or both... )
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Been having a rough time, recently. The trips to Cooma are tiring - the work there, the packing here, doing all the loading and unloading on my own, and so on. But the spending of so much time away from my kids seems to be seriously hitting my depression buttons.
I think the clearest sign of this is the fact that, while rewatching season 4 of the 2005 Doctor Who, almost every episode has made me cry. Hell I rewatched Voyage of the Damned and that made me cry every time someone died!
On top of that, we're seriously talking about the need to have Kal put down. He's healthy enough physically but his mental deterioration is getting worse. He's become so skittish and jumpy about everything, and in the last few years has started to be very angry and bitey every time he's handled. So he doesn't seem to be terribly happy, and there's the constant concern that he'll bite Lex. And in actual fact, I don't mind if he does bite Lex, if Lex is mishandling him or anything, but I don't necessarily trust it to be a single nip, given his current demeanour.
So there's the serious consideration to making one of the first acts of moving into our new house putting my dog down.
And today I had a tooth removed. They didn't have to saw the jaw this time, but they did have to cut my gum a bit. So I'm very sore and headachey.
( So, the request... )
I think the clearest sign of this is the fact that, while rewatching season 4 of the 2005 Doctor Who, almost every episode has made me cry. Hell I rewatched Voyage of the Damned and that made me cry every time someone died!
On top of that, we're seriously talking about the need to have Kal put down. He's healthy enough physically but his mental deterioration is getting worse. He's become so skittish and jumpy about everything, and in the last few years has started to be very angry and bitey every time he's handled. So he doesn't seem to be terribly happy, and there's the constant concern that he'll bite Lex. And in actual fact, I don't mind if he does bite Lex, if Lex is mishandling him or anything, but I don't necessarily trust it to be a single nip, given his current demeanour.
So there's the serious consideration to making one of the first acts of moving into our new house putting my dog down.
And today I had a tooth removed. They didn't have to saw the jaw this time, but they did have to cut my gum a bit. So I'm very sore and headachey.
( So, the request... )
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Off to Cooma again with another load of stuff and plans to paint more skirting boards, and maybe some doors, over the next few days. The painting is the, comparatively, easy bit. It's the preparation that takes all the time.
Less than three weeks until we shift! I'm spending most of my time at Cooma, or recovering from Cooma, hence me being quiet. No net access.
In other news, MaybeZoe now smiles from time to time, and Lex is using four-word sentences, knows his left foot and hand from his right, and can count from one to twelve - though he prefers to say "two, four, eight," when actually asked to count.
Oh, and the phone at Cooma now works.
Less than three weeks until we shift! I'm spending most of my time at Cooma, or recovering from Cooma, hence me being quiet. No net access.
In other news, MaybeZoe now smiles from time to time, and Lex is using four-word sentences, knows his left foot and hand from his right, and can count from one to twelve - though he prefers to say "two, four, eight," when actually asked to count.
Oh, and the phone at Cooma now works.
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I could be answering emails, but screw it.
Apart from MaybeZoe being born, haven't done a photo post in a while, and someone said not so long ago that they'd like to see some photos of me with Lex, so below the cut are pictures of the kids and I, in chronological order.
Warning, contains one shower shot that should be completely safe anywhere, but just in case, consider yourself warned.
( Read more... )
Apart from MaybeZoe being born, haven't done a photo post in a while, and someone said not so long ago that they'd like to see some photos of me with Lex, so below the cut are pictures of the kids and I, in chronological order.
Warning, contains one shower shot that should be completely safe anywhere, but just in case, consider yourself warned.
( Read more... )
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Background - For the last several weeks prior to MaybeZoe being born, Lex has been moving steadily into a major developmental shift. We'd had people comment on him entering the 'terrible twos' before this, which we rejected as his troublesome behaviour coincided with major tooth-pain - in other words, he was in pain, so of course he was being unhappy.
But this new shift is different. He gets frustrated and confused very easily, even by things that previously didn't bother him. He gets angry, screaming, banging things, and not eating his food. He's also being exceptionally needy, constantly wanting cuddles, wanting an extended bedtime routine, and still screaming and crying when we leave him.
At the same time, he's showing a huge shift in his ability to understand concepts, and also referring to things from books that haven't been read to him for ages. The interesting thing about those books are that previously he never showed any understanding of the things referred to in them, or even said the words. Now he's coming up with many of them from memory, unbidden.
( And now MaybeZoe is here... )
But this new shift is different. He gets frustrated and confused very easily, even by things that previously didn't bother him. He gets angry, screaming, banging things, and not eating his food. He's also being exceptionally needy, constantly wanting cuddles, wanting an extended bedtime routine, and still screaming and crying when we leave him.
At the same time, he's showing a huge shift in his ability to understand concepts, and also referring to things from books that haven't been read to him for ages. The interesting thing about those books are that previously he never showed any understanding of the things referred to in them, or even said the words. Now he's coming up with many of them from memory, unbidden.
( And now MaybeZoe is here... )
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