Update on us

Thomas is at the snow for his now annual dose of skiing. He has two more days of skiing to go. Last night when we were talking on the phone he told me ‘it was the most wonderful day of all our days so far. There is lots of snow and the sun was shinning. It was beautiful. The coffee man (person at the coffee shop where they buy lunch each day) was jealous of us.' He has moved up to using stocks and is pretty pleased with himself. It has been impressed upon him that skiing is a real treat and an expensive holiday and so he is also very impressed with the fact that the 'teachers in the milo club' (instructors) get 'free lift tickets, free boots and skis.' He thinks it might make a good job. (hmmm) I added "in the University holidays!"

Al has been ‘walking’ in between us while we sit on different chairs for a few weeks now. I think his record would have been around 6 – 8 steps. Yesterday the babysitter said he walked between her and and the kitchen draws and took 15 steps in a row. He still doesn’t use it as a form of getting from point A – B thou, it is more like a game. His ‘vocab’ is increasing he is using lots of new sounds this week and has started to babble at us in what seem like sentences but no actual words yet. He certainly is able to communicate with us effectively with signs and grunts to get all he wants thou!

Most endearingly he has started to throw the odd tantrum. Currently this involves laying himself or his head down very carefully on the floor or the highchair table and sometimes builds up to a bit of a cry. Mainly thou it is a scrunched up face that I really hope we catch on camera at some point.

I spent last Saturday painting my house that my sister is living in and that we own together. It goes on the market next weekend. Gaye and I are busily planning how we are going to improve our place with the funds that come out of it. Mainly we will be reducing our debt levels so that we can save for things!

Gaye’s work is a bit quiet which was a blessing as her parents came into town for a few days. Al was appropriately (and thankfully) social with them and they enjoyed a trip on the harbour. Gaye and I spend as much time de-briefing about family visits as the actual visit. But I thought this was a pretty good one.

I went to some career coaching last night as I am still feeling pretty lost about where and what I should do next and this job – thou much improved – really doesn’t make my brain engage often enough. The career coach has suggested the area of ‘corporate social responsibility’ which I think sounds like a possibility…