The Georgous

It’s hard to find ‘the’ balance, and harder still when it’s emotionally relevant.

I try to find a little time in my day for my own ‘me’ time, usually when Georgia’s napping and I always aim to fill that time constructively. Now constructively does not mean for my sanity or peace of mind, constructively really means – a sense acheivement. These days it’s a case of finishing up my 2 000 or 3 000 word chapter to meet my mid-Dec deadline of the Principles textbook.

Typically though, procrastination rules and i often find that in that one hour of time that i have, it is swallowed completely by writing long chatty emails to my classmates the other side of the world (Marie in Aus, Jac in Penang, Mei in US); stopping a while to catch up on Facebook, reading reading and more reading – The Star, BBC News….and worse of all are the lovely often deliciously provocative blogs of other mummys. Why and how are they able to acheive so much in the same amounts of time that I have in a day?

The bigger questions arrives every Thursday, for this is when Georgia spends a full day at St Johns. I’m so glad that she is now a full time convert – it has no longer become a war to get her going to St Johns.

It is also when I arrive home from Tescos after our early morning grocery shop before ‘school’ and I find the house unusually lonely and quiet. And as I try to focus my attention to the seemingly mountainous task of writing I am distracted by the quietness of the house.

Without Georgia here, there is a sense of stillness which so easily slips in to occasional awarenes of looming loneliness.

I do miss my girl when she’s at nursery.

Ever since Georgia watched Hannah do cartwheels down the track off Caldicot Castle, she has been fascinated by gymnastics. After a good month of waiting, we finally had our first session at Kestrel Gymnastics. We went along today with Cary and Anwen and joined the Pee Wees the 2.5 – 3 year old classs – It was a Blast! As it was only Georgia and Anwen in the class they had most of Shirley’s full attention.

Particularly popular was the inflatable track which made walking running and hopping tremendously fun. What I had not counted on was that they would be allowed on the actual gymnastics equipment – but this they did. They were lifted up on the lower rung of the parallel bars and taught to do some basic movements.

Definitely good fun although the distance is rather a bummer — still we will be back again next week for sure.

I guess Georgia has twigged that it’s more fun to share a bed.

G: Mummy, why does Jay still sleep in a cot?

Me: Oh yes..I think he is getting too big for his cot now. He will have to move to a bed soon.

G: Shall we sell him my flower bed?

Me: Oh and where will you sleep then?

G: In the big bed with Mummy and Daddy.

Georgia has been able to recite numbers from 1 untill approximately 20 for some time now. However, it is only recently that she has started to formulate some sort of understanding of what these numbers mean.

She has been trying hard to use her fingers to represent these numbers and can now successfully use the V sign for two, and progressively move on to 3, 4 and 5.

Earlier on, she had to use her other hand to help keep the right number of fingers up. Frustrations did mount when her thumb wasn’t quite long enough or agile enough to hold down the other fingers in the representations of two and three….”thumb-thumb needs to kiss the other fingers”

Well done Georgie!

Georgia pretty much knows all of her ABCs now. I know what John Holt says about teaching them and not testing – but it’s amazing and fascinating to see how well she remembers and recalls the letters.

Books from Caldicot Library

Miffy’s Dream – Dick Bruna
Poppy Cat Splash – Lara Jones
Guess how much I love you in the Summer – Sam McBratney & Anita Jeram
A wolf at the door – Nick Wark
Frog finds a Friend – Max Velthisjis
Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp – Carol Diggory Shields & Scot Nash

Georgia had a tantrum of significantly epic proportions today – much which consisted of whining and an indeterminate volume of tears. It was hard to determine what set it off or why…it was frustrating for me, almost in an anger-inducing sort of way, and yet at the same time, I could empathise  – I too remember being little, feeling at odds with myself, not knowing what I wanted and yet knowing that I could not have it or get it. I remember feeling confused, upset and utterly powerless.

Being ‘Mum’ now, I feel almost as frustrated and as powerless as I did then, but for significantly different reasons. You see, my well-behaved, smiling, nearly always co-operative toddler has now morphed in to this demanding, bossy, constantly pushing the boundaries almost-three year-old.

Over the past year I have seen her grow and learn so much and in an virtually reciprocal way, I have learnt from her, about her and of her….and yet these days I find myself on a fuse so short sometimes I wished I didn’t have to deal with her…and that’s when guilt sets in.

Every morning when we drop Daddy-dear off at the train station, Georgia blows him a kiss and says

“Goodbye…My Snoopy Dear”

Books borrowed and read from Caldicot Library

The Tale of Peter Rabbit – Beatrix Potter
Fast Fox Goes Crazy – Allan Ahlberg
Animal babies in ponds and rivers – Kingfisher Press
Yum Yum Poppy Cat – Lara Jones **
Ridiculous – Michael Coleman
Lemono P – Sam McBratney; Catharine O’Neill – enjoyed by now purposely says LemonoP Instead of LMNOP
Little Lucie’s DIary – Louise Pfanner
Off to the Fair – Christopher Wormell

A couple of mornings ago, downstairs in the kitchen, Georgia announces very confidently,
“Mummy’s a boy!”
So I ask her, “Oh, when did I become a boy?”
To which her immediate reply was “On Sunday. When Daddy became a girl!”