The Big Beginning

WARNING: This post contains moderately graphic Mommy content. If you aren't a Mommy who is used to talking about the stuff that comes out of your kid, then continue reading at your own risk! (it's really not that bad)

You might remember way way back when F and I had the discussion about being a big kid vs. little kid and he declared he was a medium kid. We still have that discussion just about every day, and at our house the holy grail of big-kid-dom is toilet training. He's determined to be a big kid, but has had ZERO and I *really* mean it, zip, zilch, zero, no interest in going potty.

We've read the books, we've practiced, we've watched the videos, picked out underwear, read more books, practiced some more, read more books, we've had random successes, tried going potty on a schedule, nothing's penetrated. F has been showing all the signs of being ready for months, but he summed it up very concisely just last week:

F, "No, Mommy, no potty. I LIKE diapers."

*sigh*

OK, so I'm not going to chain him to the potty, I'm one tough Mom but that's not really my style. So, I wait. And wonder how in the world I'm ever going to do this because my bag of tricks is empty. I don't sweat it too much knowing that a lot of boys aren't ready until they're 3 (tick tock tick tock...) Then I contemplate running away for a long spa weekend while I let Travis figure it out.

Thursday, we had what I call a 'random' potty success, I knew he was about to have that daily 'constitutional' so I plopped him on the potty, hooray! Everyone's happy. But the rest of the day is status quo, diapers as usual. However, Friday...F walks up to me and states, "Mommy need go pee pee in potty RIGHT NOW."

What?

And again. And again, and he told us in the locker room at the swimming pool, and at the restaurant when we went to dinner, and four times this morning. He's in a pull up today and it's been dry all day - including a whole trip to the hardware store.

I am not counting any chickens yet, no way Jose. But F's suddenly all stoked about sticker charts, underwear, flushing, the whole kit and kaboodle. I'm SO excited to see a light in the tunnel of endless diapers!

Aches and Pains

After a brief stint trying to get it worked out in Perth, I'm now more than two months into physical therapy and treatment for my shoulder here in Denver. I'm finally starting to make a little progress, but most days it's hard to tell as some part of my shoulder, neck, back is still in so much pain I can't pick things up or lift much over a couple pounds (forget a nearly 40lb toddler the size of a four year old).

Good news, we're narrowing in on the shoulder stuff. Rotator cuff is tweaked, due to a bone spur, tendonitits, and ongoing bursitis, the latter I learned of in Perth. Bad news, my neck/back are in a lot of pain - probably more than before. Worse news, I'm still not allowed to do any real physical activity which is pretty darn annoying - no swimming, working out, barely just walking really, and only that at a mellow pace so I don't tense up. Anything other than resistance strengthening for my shoulder, and even that sometimes, creates spasms in my neck and back which set everything right back to the beginning. That bad cold I had a few weeks ago came with a nasty cough which locked up my neck so I couldn't look right again. That put a damper on my physical therapy, I had to back off even the resistance exercises until my neck unlocked. Locked up neck/back = no shoulder strengthening exercises allowed = weak shoulder = part of the problem (plus the big bone spur that's rubbing, but hey, you know, - just gotta be TOUGH!)

Bone spur: you can see how a pointy bone where it's not supposed to be might hurt.
Bursa in your shoulder: mine's inflamed and so is swollen, taking up more room than it should and causing even more joint pain in addition to the bone spur.
I got another steroid injection into my shoulder last week, in a new location, and it seems to be working much better than previous injections. The upside to this is that it means an easy arthroscopic surgery could fix one of the big shoulder issues, my rotator cuff pain. The MRI on my neck didn't show much, according to the orthopedist, but I'm in so much pain there's got to be something going on.

With all the Dr/MRI/follow up and misc other appointments I've had to take time off from going in to PT because there just aren't enough days in the week when you have to be home in time for 2.5 year old's afternoon naps. I'll get back in to see them this week and see what they can do to ease some of the neck/back pain so I can work on the shoulder some more. Hopefully soon we'll get a break, we all get the feeling it's one big puzzle and as soon as we find the right piece it'll all start to fall into place.

Out of Oz -> Into Mile High

You could also call this post "Consolidation", because for the first time in nearly four years, most of our worldly possessions are not only on the same continent, but in the same house. (I say "most" because I have a small stash of top-quality good stuff that has been resident in San Juan County for a couple of decades now. It is working its way to the Front Range bit by bit, but it has never really been in our Denver orbit, so that smallish pile notwithstanding, all the rest of our stuff is all here).

Our household effects departed Perth the first week of December 2009 and arrived in Denver the first week of February 2010 - less than 9 weeks in transit. Not bad for a 12,000 mile trip in a steel box.

Stats:
- Sole-use (only our stuff) modular sea container - 1x 20-foot
- Volume: 24 cubic meters
- Volume actually used: 15 cubic meters
- Time to wrap, pack and load stuff: 3 guys, most of a day.
- Trajectory: From Perth to port at Freemantle by truck. From Freo to Singapore by ship. Change onto another ship for Los Angeles. Hang out in Customs for a while. Train from LA to Denver. Truck to domicile.
- Time to unload, move into house, and partially unpack: 2 guys, one morning.
- Hooray! Everything made it, no noteworthy breakage.

Here are some photos of loading up in Perth just before the height of summer, and unloading in Denver 8 weeks later in mid winter.



The movers did a teriffic job, and we'd cheerfully use them again.
Drop us a line if you ever need any import/export advice.

Travis

D's Hat

I haven't had much time to knit lately, but I did manage to cobble together a hat for my friend Deb. I knit it too fast. I was doing so in an attempt to get it out to her before winter is over and it's too warm for her to need it, and so made more mistakes than I'm happy about. However, I loved the pattern and will knit it again. It's free on Ravelry!


Deb, if you want another, less mistake filled hat, I'll knit one for you in time for NEXT winter. Yes, NEXT winter. Any color you want.

Divine Smells

I'm learning to bake (good) bread. And it makes our house smell YUUUUUMMMMYYY. Before we went overseas I had a couple of years of attempts, but no great successes with homemade breads (the years of mediocre to bad bread). Now I've found the right combo of recipes and altitude adjustments, things are grooving around here. I'm all for the ease and convenience of store bread, and I still buy buns for the sausages and hot dogs we love to eat around here, but recently I learned that in addition to the loads of extra stuff bread just doesn't need, some manufacturers add SCENT to their packaging to make their bread more appealing. Seriously? So now about once a week I bake a loaf of sandwich bread and about once a week I bake something fun.

This week we're using up apples. Travis' mom and her friend Ruth Ann stopped here for a couple of days on their way to their next adventure (Egypt) and brought a heap of perishables, including what seems like an entire bushel of apples. I knew if I baked a pie Travis would eat one piece and the rest of the pie would just sit and fester, wilting away while we all just passed it over for less sweet snacks. Lo and behold, a recipe for Apple Challah. This, I think, will get eaten.
Based on Travis' reaction while it was baking, and his hovering as I pulled it out of the oven, I don't expect it to linger!