Month: November 2009

A conversation with Inigo

Inigo is wandering the house with a small bowl of sultanas, muttering, “‘tanas, ‘tanas, ‘tanas”.

I ask him, “Can Mama have a sultana?”, holding out my hand.

He nods, placing a single sultana in my hand.  “One”, he says.

“May I have another one?”.

“Two”, he says, as I get another sultana.

“Another one?”

“Three”, a third sultana is placed in my hand.

I am happy that he is so generous with the precious sultanas, thrilled that he can count so well.  I decide to push my luck in both areas.

“May I have another one?”

“No”.  Apparently that was a step too far, in the generosity department, still not sure about the counting!

Thoughtful Thursday

The thought for today is……

…..I have no idea what day it is.

Thanks Fe.

Terribly distracted by the Dr saga.

The Lovely Sarah let me know about a local doc that’s really good.  So good, in fact, that he is not taking on any new patients, and his receptionist can afford to be a toxic bitch to a woman on the edge.

Red told me about a local doctor, but I was too lazy to look up the phone number.  Well, actually, Inigo was going nuts at my attention being divided, so I had to get it done quick.  Also, I kind of like the idea of making an appointment and seeing the dr on time.  I’ve spent so long waiting in waiting rooms in the last 2 years, I can do without it.

So I’ve got Parramatta, and Celia’s Lindfield surgery up my sleeve 🙂

Miss Fe let me know about her favourite doc, as did Min, so I rang, and though I can’t get in to see the head honcho, an underling will deign to see me, and then I can switch to her after my initial ($100) consultation.

At least we’ve hit our Medicare rebate threshold for the year, so we’ll get most of that back.  And if I’m paying that much, I’m pretty sure he’ll listen to me for a few minutes.  He might even talk to me!

Bloody Doctors!

With the exception of highly valued friends, who are currently practicing medicine in the UK, and anyone who I haven’t seen in a professional capacity since I moved to Granville, but I am currently really pissed of with the Bulk Billing GP species.

Again I am dealing with dueling diagnoses.  It’s not glandular fever, Grouchy Granville GP confirmed that with a blood test.

I have Iron Deficiency.

Which he told me by printing off a script, telling me I needed iron tablets, and practically shoving me out the door.  I haven’t had low iron EVER in my life, no matter how horrible my diet, or what I did to myself (night clubbing all night, living on boiled rice, mars bars and beer….).  So this is a) a bit of a shock, and b) something I feel like I need a bit more information about.

Like – how low was my result?  Am I really deficient and at risk of anemia, or do I just need to eat more spinach and kiwi fruit?  Like – should I stop giving blood for a while?  Are the iron tablets made of animal products?  Because I think I’d rather have a steak than a tablet if I’m going to be killing a cow anyway.  And how about how long it will take till I feel better.  Maybe – is there an underlying cause that bears some investigation?

And maybe – how the hell can I find a GP that actually gives a shit about my health?

Here is a picture of a small boy eating a banana on the roof of a car.

BananaBoy

The Science of Parenting

Miriam loaned me a book called “The Science of Parenting“, and since I had it for 2 months and didn’t get around to reading it, I decided to buy a copy and return hers.

I’ve only read the first few chapters so far, but I think this will be my default gift for all new parents. As well as an ABA subscription and Breastfeeding education classes of course!

It’s not only based on recent research, and referenced, it’s got a tip sheet at the end of each chapter for the really important points, just in case you are a sleep deprived new parent, and might not be firing on all cylinders.

So, my current “Inigo approved” parenting book list reads;

Unconditional Parenting

The Science of Parenting

Nurture Shock – which deserves it’s own post, but that is for another day.

Of course, parenting is like driving, we are all alike in that we think we are doing it right, but everyone else is doing it wrong.  That is why I am making such an effort to research this job.  Apparently, 85% of us think that parenting is the most important job we will ever do, but less than 5% of us ever read a book or do a course to prepare us for the job.

So if Inigo grows up and complains that I was a terrible parent, at least I’ll be able to say that I tried.  Really hard.

Health Update

Inigo has another fever, and has been out of sorts for a few days, so we went back to the doctor today.  While we were there I thought I should ask for a second opinion about my plague because, although I have been feeling a lot better than I was on Thursday night, I still feel horrible.

Inigo (according to the doctor) definitely has glue ear (a hearing test next Monday will establish that one way or another), and also a sore throat, so he’s to be switched to another antibiotic (Augmentin, for those of you who care about such things, Hi Emily).

And me?  Definitely not glandular fever.  No pus.

He drew blood just to be sure, and told me to go away, and not come back until Wednesday.  No bedside manner to speak of, but he is quite sure of his opinions.

A day in the mountains

Aunty Kerry just bought a weekender in Katoomba, so a few weekends ago we all trooped up to check it out.  Inigo and Ella looked so cute playing in the garden together, I just had to take a few pics.  Apologies for the image size, Flickr has messed with their image hosting (because they don’t want ppl embedding pics), so these will have to do until I get a better solution.

Ella amongst the flowers

It’s a look!

A cuddle

And a kiss

Makes Inigo a happy boy

Rolling down grassy hills lesson 101

Ably assisted by daddy

And a fabulous day was had by all.  I am only sorry I didn’t have a video camera to capture the squeals of delight when Ella and Inigo first started to play together!