On the path to recovery.

My mother was released from hospital about a week ago, which was much sooner than I expected, but she was happy to go home.  She is still very weak and recovery is slow.  She has lost a lot of weight and struggles with minor activities like taking a shower.  It is hard to see her so weak and so ill.  And there's still a long way to go.  But I really hope she's finally on the path to recovery and can return to a normal life soon.

Christmas 2010.

This year we bought our first Christmas tree and Maya loved the lights and decorations.  At child care Maya made a beautiful decoration for the tree as well as a Christmas themed calender for 2011.
We spent Christmas Eve with Greg's family and stayed overnight to spend Christmas day with our extended family. Maya enjoyed opening her presents but most of all she loved spending time with her extended family, especially her cousins.

The meaning of Christmas.

Now that Christmas is fast approaching I find myself thinking about Christmas and what it means to me and what I want it to mean to Maya.  I want Christmas to be about spending time with family and about giving rather than receiving.

I suddenly find myself wanting to purchase a Christmas tree for the family to decorate, whereas I previously had no such urge.  I also find myself wanting to buy Maya gifts, whereas the previous two Christmases I wrapped things she already had.  I didn't see the point of buying presents specifically to give her on Christmas day.  Her first Christmas she was three months old and had no clue what was going on.  The second Christmas she was fifteen months old and more interested in the people around her than opening gifts.  This will be the first Christmas, at the age of twenty seven months, that she will enjoy opening gifts.

And now here comes a doozie... I actually don't want to have a "Santa" at Christmas time.  It's not that I object to Santa (although I do feel that he is commercialised) and if other people want to introduce him to their children that's great.  I just don't think Santa is necessary for instilling the Christmas spirit.  And perhaps he even takes away from the Christmas spirit by placing a focus on receiving gifts rather than spending time with family.  I think children would be just as happy receiving gifts from their parents.

However, not having Santa brings about a dilemma.  Practically everyone else tells their children about Santa and if Maya doesn't believe how will this effect her and others.  I imagine I won't be too popular with parents if Maya reveals to their children "but Santa isn't real".  Also everyone will assume Maya believes in Santa and she will be bombarded with "What did Santa bring you?" and "Are you excited about Santa coming?".

I feel peer pressured to introduce Maya to Santa because everyone else does it.  One thought Greg and I came up with is to tell her that Santa brings gifts to other children but we wanted to give her gifts from us.  However, this might cause problems for Maya - why doesn't Santa bring her gifts?
 
I guess I'd like to create (with Greg and Maya of course) our own family Christmas traditions.  But what does one do when the majority of the population around you follow traditions that you don't want as part of your own traditions?

Honestly it wasn't me!

Whenever Maya hears a noise that sounds remotely like flatulence she will scream at the top of her voice "Mummy farted!  Mummy farted!"

Which is particularly embarrassing when you are out shopping with said two year old and her stroller scrapes against something and makes a noise and this said two year old then starts screaming for all to hear "Mummy farted!  Mummy farted!" :-/

What's that?

Maya has reached a stage where she is interested to know what everything (and everyone) is called.  It's great that she is interested in the world around her and what things are.  But honestly it is driving me a bit crazy when all I hear all day long is "What's that?  What's that?  What's that?"

And what's frustrating is that some of the things she asks me about, she already knows what they are called.  So I am not sure if she is seeking confirmation or making conversation.

Everything we do now - eating, reading a book, going for a drive - is filled with "What's that?"

Our dinner conversation tonight went something like this:
Maya - "What's that?"
Me - "Pasta."
Maya - "What's that?"
Me - "That's pasta too."
Maya - "What's that?"
Me - "That's also pasta.  It's all pasta."
Maya - "What's that?"
Me - "What do you think it is?"
Maya - "Pasta."
Me - "Yes."
Maya - "What's that?"
Me - "Pasta." sigh

And on it went....

The saga continues.

About five weeks ago my mother had surgery to remove her bladder (and the cancer contained within it).  It was major surgery and there's a long road to recovery.  She spent the first two weeks in hospital but then was moved to a rehabilitation hospital because she was making good progress.  Last week Maya and I visited her and went for a walk outside.  She was so happy to see us.  She was doing so well.  And she was told she'd go home on Friday.

On Friday she was readmitted to hospital because she was extremely ill.  This was followed by another operation on Saturday to remove an obstruction from her bowel.  She is now recovering from a third operation within two months.

I really hope this is the last of it and it's an upward journey from here.

We're going to boat.

On Saturday Greg and I voted in the state election.  When we told Maya that we were going to vote she was oddly excited.  Then afterwards she was upset because when we said "vote" she heard "boat". 

And where was that boat we had mentioned?!

Trying to explain that we said "vote" and not "boat" was impossible.

"We said vote", we said.
"Yes boat", she said.
"Vvvvvvvvvv ote", we said.
"Boat", she said.

And it's not just the word vote.

The other day she asked me what something was.  "It's a cable", I replied.  "Oh and this is a table too", she explained, pointing to our table.

How do you distinguish between two words that sound similar and obviously sound the same to her?

Introduction to swimming.

Last year I enrolled Maya in swim lessons.  She was about eight months old and I'd heard somewhere that the earlier you introduce babies to swimming the less fearful they would be of the water.

At our first lesson Maya clung to me.  She was terrified of the pool.  My instinct was to introduce her slowly to the water.  But the swim instructor believed, quite vocally, that babies needed to be pushed into swimming concepts as quickly as possible in order for them to become comfortable in the water as soon as possible.  His methods only made Maya even more fearful of the water.  She would cry throughout the lesson.  Maya didn't enjoy the lessons and neither did I.  I ended the lessons early.

Recently, I decided to try swim lessons again, but at a different swim school.  I found a centre that offered a refund if  you are not happy with their lessons and thought it was a safe bet to try.

Our first lesson I had to drag Maya into the water with me.  She fought hard not to go in.  But I kept her close to me.  This instructor could see that Maya needed to be close to me and structured the lesson accordingly.  She introduced fun tasks for all the children to complete and while Maya stayed close by my side, she really enjoyed the activities.  At the end of the class I had to drag her back out of the pool.  She wanted to stay!  It was a fun lesson and the children were not forced to do things they weren't comfortable with.

Maya now LOVES swimming.  Each week she gets more and more confident to try new things.  And there have even been a couple of moments were she has swum briefly all on her own.

There are still things she does not like to do but she is never forced to do them.  Instead she is encouraged to give them a go to the best of her ability.  This way she usually has a go and each week she gets more comfortable with the tasks.

Swimming lessons are now my favourite time of the week.  And I think Maya feels the exact same way.

Maya singing Twinkle Star.

The fear.

Nearly eleven years ago my father had hip replacement surgery.  Prior to the operation he'd been in a lot of pain and the operation gave him a new lease on life.  He went home from hospital feeling good and happy and able to do things he was unable to do prior to surgery. 

And then he dropped dead.  From deep vein thrombosis.  Caused by the surgery he'd just had.

Tomorrow my mother goes in for surgery to remove her bladder.  And it is major surgery.  A long operation.  With risks.

It is hard not to be freaking out right now.