Weekend with The Jess

I know, I haven’t written much on the blog lately. Sigh. But I had a good reason. The Jess (aka The Sister-in-law) was here. If you remember, she moved to Adelaide over 3 months ago and I haven’t seen her since. Until Wednesday when I picked her up from the airport at almost 9pm.

Speaking of which, when I was there, in that little car park that gives you 10 minutes for free, I saw a woman wearing a fluffy pink bathrobe walking around looking for people. Clearly she was there to pick them up, but come on, is it that hard to put clothes on? I wonder at what point/what age you think “Hmm… I’m picking someone up from the airport. Eh, I’ll just wear my bathrobe,” and that seems perfectly ok and reasonable. Or maybe she is just a huge prankster and thought it would be hilarious.

The 10 minute car park seems like a good idea, but I got there a bit too early (I left myself some getting lost time. I may be prone to such things…) and didn’t really want to drive the entire airport loop while I waited for The Jess’ flight to come in. I didn’t want to get lost after I somehow managed to find the tiny car park entrance in the first place. Needless to say, I had to pay for my parking spot. I was there for about 15 minutes. They used to give you 15 minutes free. Sigh.

Usually on Thursdays, I clean the house and go to the gym while Hannah is at preschool and Daniel is at daycare. But you know, that would be kind of rude while I have a guest. So I took the day off. We went to the shopping centre (where I applied for my Australian passport!!!), went out to lunch, tried on some clothes, got a few groceries. We were done by 12:30.

“What do you want to do now?” The Jess asked me.

“Um…I have no idea.” Spoken like a true mom who rarely gets spare time. We were thinking of going to see a movie, but they are so expensive these days (and I’m cheap frugal) and it was such a beautiful day, we didn’t want to waste it being shut in a giant room with no windows. “I just want to enjoy the sunshine.”

We ended up going to Grandma’s house, filling up the kiddie pool, and reading books in the sun as we ate ice blocks and dangled our feet in the pool. It was awesome.

She stayed for 3 short days and then flew home again. I miss her, and can’t wait until next month, when the kids and I fly to Adelaide for a visit! Ok, I can’t wait for the visiting part, the flying with 2 kids by myself part…. Not so much.

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Copyright 2012 Sheri Thomson

The lost day

NYE, 2000.  I was all alone, in a hotel room in Canada at the age of 17.  My parents had driven me there the day before, stayed the night and then left on New Years Eve.  I think I went to sleep at about 9:30.  I’ve never been a late night person.  In the morning, I got my breakfast at the hotel, made sure I had everything in my giant suitcase, nothing left behind, checked out, and got the shuttle bus to the airport in Vancouver.  Check out was at 10.  My flight wasn’t until 8pm.  Sigh.  At least I had a good book.  Ok, I don’t really remember, but I must have, other wise I would have gone crazy waiting that long in an airport with no one to talk to, and I don’t remember having a terrible time, so deductive reasoning tells me I must have had a good book.

Finally people besides myself started to arrive at the departure gate.  Seems my flight was full.  A girl nearby spilled her coffee all over herself and the floor.  “Can you watch my stuff while I go get some napkins?”  She asked me.  Maybe I looked like a nice person or something because I wasn’t the nearest person to her.  The thought that she could be doing something sinister or have something sinister in her bags didn’t cross my mind.  I was 17 and naive.  She finally came back with some napkins.  The flight was already boarding and I was starting to think I might have to ditch my post and get on.  I rushed to get on the plane as soon as she got back.  Turns out she had the seat right next to me on the flight and we got along great.  It was good to have a travel buddy when the total travel time was 25 hours, with a stop in Honolulu, Rarotonga, Auckland, and finally on to Sydney.  I guess you get what you pay for.  This crazy long flight with Canada 3000 (now defunct) was something ridiculous like $400 return including tax.

Sure it was a big trip for a 17 year old all by herself, but I’ve been flying by myself since I was 9.  I used to fly from Washington to Minnesota in the summer to see my cousin/best friend Jennifer.  I didn’t like anything they served on the plane.  I used to be so picky.  I didn’t think to bring any snacks.  I figured if I didn’t like what they had on the plane I could buy something at one of the numerous airports we stopped at.  Good theory, not so good in practice.  When we got to Hawaii, it was the middle of the night and none of the shops were open.  Not to mention we weren’t actually allowed in the airport, only a little transit lounge.  Rarotonga (Cook Islands) was a tiny little airport that consisted of one little open air building and a moveable staircase to get you on and off the plane.  No food stores in sight.  I tried to buy the only thing resembling food I could find, a bag of chips, but they didn’t take US dollars, Canadian dollars, or credit/debit/eftpos cards.  Only whatever currency that they use, which I didn’t have any of and they didn’t have any money exchange.

I can’t remember why I couldn’t get any food in New Zealand, but I couldn’t.  Finally I arrived in Sydney, to an excited Lauren and my new Exchange family.  I smelled like B.O. I was greasy, and I was wearing way too many clothes for the summer weather.  Oh, and I really needed to eat.  I left on 1 Jan and arrived on 3 Jan.  I missed an entire day with all the different timezones, but it didn’t matter because now, I  was officially an exchange student.

I saw a McDonald’s and got really excited.  Finally I could eat!  I don’t know what my host family first thought of me when I arrived, after not having a shower and travelling for 2 days, but they were (still are) awesome.

10 years later (tomorrow to be exact), I am still here.  Happy  Decade to me!  Now I just have to get my citizenship.  I can’t really put it off much longer, my visa runs out next month.  Well, not my whole visa, I can remain in Australia indefinitely, I just can’t leave and come back.

Gold Coast – Part 1: Buy a leash

Hannah and Mommy. See how useless the baby seat belt is? She can turn around in it....

Hannah and her dolly on the plane

Note to self: Do not check in for a flight and go through security with a toddler all by yourself.

Who knew it would be so hard?  Not me.  I thought Hannah would just sit in the pram, giggle at people, squeal at people, and of course, get every single person around hers attention.  But no, that was not to be.  She wouldn’t let me even put her in the pram.  Instead, she made like a wet, slippery, floppy, flailing wiggle worm, rendering my buckle her into the pram efforts useless.  Of course it wouldn’t be so easy.

Sometimes you see a child running wild and you just think “why doesn’t that parent do something?” or “that child needs a leash.”  Well, Hannah is that child, and I am that mom.  We can’t help it really.  She is full of energy, curious about everything, and super smart.  She isn’t content just sitting in the pram all day, looking at things.  She wants to be in the midst of everything.  She wants to run around and inspect everything, and I want to let her.  But not while in line to check in for a flight.  Our check in line went a bit like this: Hannah ducks under the rope and takes off.  I run after her, pick her up, and deposit her next to the pram.  She helps me move the pram forward in line.  Repeat process.  Add stares from everyone around us, probably with thoughts of “Oh my goodness, WHY doesn’t that silly mum just put her in the pram??” or “how embarrassing, I’m glad I’m not her.”

We had to check the pram in at the oversized luggage counter, complete with on the spot x-ray.  Hannah was very interested in the x-ray machine and cheekily ran to the other side and pushed the start button.  Then she ran off.  I know you’re not supposed to leave luggage unattended, but that’s kind of hard when you have a freakishly fast 1 year old who likes to run off on your hands.  Start folding pram.  Run after Hannah.  Continue folding pram.  Run after Hannah.  Put pram on x-ray conveyor belt, run after Hannah.  I didn’t know being at the airport was such a workout.

Getting through security was even harder.  Have you ever tried to put backpacks, bags, watches, etc. off and on while trying to keep a toddler from running away?  Put bag in plastic tub on conveyor belt.  Run after Hannah.  Dodge annoyed stares from everyone in the line behind you.  Put next item in tub.  Run after Hannah.  Dodge stares, don’t make eye contact.  Repeat.  Go through metal detector.  Repeat whole process but putting everything back on this time.

Try to hold a noodley, wiggley, child at the same time while you have a backpack on your back, a camera bag on one shoulder, a nappy bag on the other, a sippy cup in one hand, and Hannah’s purse in the other.  Oh no, which gate was I going to?  I went in search of the info board carrying noodley wiggle worm.  I found it.  Hannah wiggled free.  I knelt down, put my arm around her and looked at the board.  Hannah didn’t want to stay stationary, so she put herself face down on the floor and started crying.  Darn it.  Everyone was staring.  Why was there a child crying face down on the floor while her mother was kneeling down, loaded with bags, hand on child, looking at the info screen?  Ignore everyone, grab child, go straight to parents room, let her run free.  Let out sigh of relief.  Wait for Aaron (who was coming straight from work).

I was never sure about those child leashes, but now, I really think they have their place.  Like airports for example.  That would have solved a lot.

The Plane Trip

Hannah
I don’t really know what’s going on. It’s 5:30 in the morning and Mommy and Daddy are getting things from my room trying to be quiet but not succeeding. I wake up of course, and to my surprise, they pick me up, change my nappy, and put me in the car. Grandma is here too. I’m really excited. I know they want me to go to sleep in the car, but how could I?

We went in a really big room with lots of windows with strange huge car type things (only very funny looking) outside. Mommy walks me around the building pointing to the strange cars. She tells me they are airplanes and that we are going to ride on one with Grandma. I’m a little confused though, I thought I was an airplane? Mommy and Daddy often lay on their backs and put me on their knees and move their legs around and say I’m an airplane (or aeroplane if it’s Daddy) bubba. So if I’m an airplane, how can this giant car be one too?

Someone says that the airplane is delayed because it needs to do a “high powered engine run.” Whatever that is. “Lucky I brought her food.” Mommy says. We go in the mothers room and Mommy tries to give me some booby. I’m still so excited for whatever we are going to do, so there is no way I’m going to have booby. I eat the avocado and apple that Mommy brought for me though. I can eat that and still look out the window at all of the big giant cars (airplanes?) going up and down.

A loud voice comes on again and says that we can’t ride the plane we were going to ride, but that we have to ride a new one, from a different gate, so Mommy packs up me and all my toys and off we go to a big room next to the one we were in before. They say our take off is going to be 3 hours late. Lots of people around us are very cranky and saying rude things and being mean to the people behind the desk. Mommy gets excited though because they give us all meal coupons to use while we wait. I’m even more excited because now I can get away with not taking a nap.

Mommy spreads out my blanket on the floor of the big building and puts my toys on it. I’m having heaps of fun, I get to play with all my toys, Mommy, and Grandma, all while getting to look out a giant window full of giant cars going from the ground to the sky and the sky to the ground (maybe we were in giantville? Am I going to turn into a giant?), and I get to look at all sorts of funny looking and interesting people who all tell me that I am cute and have such beautiful blue eyes. I finally get hungry enough to have some booby just before we get on the giant car/airplane, and when we sit down in the giant car/airplane.

Grandma tells Mommy to have the window seat so that I can look outside while we take off (I wonder what take off means?). “This seat belt is useless!” Mommy says. She attaches it to her seat belt and then fastens it around me. It’s really uncomfortable, and I don’t think it’s really doing much. I wonder why I have to go in that special seat thingy when I ride in Mommy and Daddy’s car, but in this giant car/airplane, I get to sit in Mommy’s lap with a funny useless seatbelt? I have some more booby and fall asleep.

I wake up and smile at Mommy. I’m happy that I’m still in her lap. Usually when I fall asleep on Mommy, I wake up in my cot. Mommy holds me next to the little window and takes lots of pictures. She says she wants to document my first plane ride (is plane the same as airplane/giant car?). A loud voice comes on saying that we are about to start our decent (whatever that means). Ouch! My ears start to hurt and I cry. Mommy puts her finger in my mouth and I suck. Huh, all better. Mommy always knows what to do! I stop crying. I look out the window and all I see is white. It starts to get bouncy. Mommy says we are going through a cloud. Oh, I get it now, Mommy pretends I’m an airplane when we play airplane bubba, and we are going through clouds! What fun!!! So I’m not an airplane after all, this is an airplane, and Mommy and Daddy just pretend I’m an airplane for my amusement sometimes. Clever.

Mommy and Grandma keep telling me what a good girl I am. Grandma said that if I was older, she’d give me a treat for being so good. I can’t wait until I’m older so I can get a treat! That sounds good!

Sheri
I put my feet on the edge of the platform and hold on to the side. “Now reach out and grab the bar,” the man says. I know I have to extend my arm to do so, but it won’t budge, it’s stuck in the L position. The man assures me he has a hold of my special belt and once again prompts me to lean forward, extend my arm and grab the bar with my right hand. I look down. I’m about 2 stories high, standing on the platform. I’m not afraid of heights, but did I mention that I’m afraid of falling? When I was little, Grandma (not the one in Hannah’s story, that is Aaron’s grandma) used to take me to swimming lessons. When I passed all of the normal lessons after a number of years, I took diving lessons. Not like SCUBA diving, like diving board diving. I was fine with the normal diving board, but put me on the high dive and I would freak out a little. They had to give me a rubber ducky and tell me to throw it under the diving board onto the side of the pool just to get me to dive off it. I guess it distracted me from the falling part. It worked, but only when I had to throw the ducky.

When I was 18, I went to West Virginia with my Dad. We went white water rafting, but stopped for lunch at a spot where people jump off huge rocks into a deep pool of water below. Everyone did it. I went last. I ran in hopes that I wouldn’t be able to stop and would just have to do it. Nope, I stopped dead just before the end of the rock. I stood up there for a good 5 minutes, trying to will myself to jump, but I just couldn’t. I had to walk down the long way. How embarrassing….

Now I’m on a platform, 2 stories high, about to try out the flying trapeze. That’s right, I’m at circus school, a Christmas present from The Jess. She is here too, as is Trish, Jimmy, and of course, my little girl is watching me to. I can’t let her see me fail. The man assures me he has a hold of me, and against my better judgement, I lean forward and grab the bar. He says to reach out and grab it with both hands now. This is even harder. Now I’m completely at the mercy of a random man whose name I don’t even know, to make sure I don’t plummet face first into the net below. I know, there is a net, and I’m also attached to a rope on both sides of the special belt, but tell that to my fear of falling.

Ok, I have both hands on the bar. “Hup!” the man calls. That means I’m supposed to jump off the platform. I don’t go anywhere. He reminds me the call means jump, and calls it again. I close my eyes, and my feet leave the platform. I’m flying through the air, a smile wide on my face, while hanging from the bar. “Hup,” he calls again. That means I’m supposed to put my knees over the bar. I hesitate just a little and then find I can’t put my knees up. It’s too hard if you don’t do it at the right time because then you don’t have the momentum to do so. I keep trying and trying anyway, but can’t do it. I’m really disappointed.

It’s my turn again, and this time there is a woman at the top of the platform. Once again it takes me longer then it should to grab the bar, but when the man calls “Hup,” she pushes my feet off at the same time. I like this method much better. No room for hesitation. “Hup,” I don’t hesitate and before I know it, my knees are over the bar. “Hup,” I let go with my hands and arch my back. Now I’m hanging by only my knees, 2 stories up in the air, flying on a trapeze. I feel amazing.

It’s my turn again, and now we get to try a catch. Everything is going smoothly. “Hup,” I’m flying through the air, my knees holding me to the bar, my back arched, my hands reaching. I’m not even sure how it happens, but somehow, my knees leave the bar, my hands reach out, and then I’m hanging by a monkey grip by a man who is hanging upside down from another trapeze. Now there is no containing my smile. I think if it were possible, I could power an entire city with my smile right now.

Other things that happened this week:
I took Hannah to the beach a couple of times, and she loved playing in the sand, but for some reason, even though she loved the water before, she cried both times. The theory at the moment is that maybe her bottom hurts when the salt water touches it. She has nappy rash for the first time in her entire life, and it looks very sore. Poor baby…. She is trying with all her might to crawl, and can now put herself and push ups position, only her hands and the balls of her feet touching the ground. She can easily move herself backwards, but can’t quite go forward yet. This morning I saw her go in the proper crawling position, knees under her, arms extended. It’s only a matter of time now…. I gave Hannah a rusk this week as she just wants to chew on everything. I gave her paper or cardboard sometimes, but now she has figured out how to get chunks off in about 2 seconds flat and a few times I’ve had to fish them out of her mouth, so no more paper or cardboard for her. She loves rusk though. As soon as I gave it to her, she put it in her little mouth and chewed and chewed and chewed like she had been doing it her entire life.

Sorry there are no pictures, but we are on holiday and I’m writing this from a borrowed laptop. I will put photos up next week (when you will hear about our 12 hour road trip home. Fingers crossed that Hannah won’t mind it too much. She isn’t a huge fan of the car).