Animal Report

Today was the day Arran gave his animal report at school. He had chosen a blue jay to be his animal and a lot of work had gone into it. It was actually not what I had expected. This is a kind of rite of passage at Cherry Valley and quite a big deal. The children all go out to the playing fields and the rest of the school come and ask the individual children about their animal. They all remember when they had to do their report and the animal they were.

The idea is that no one is put on the spot, although I think it was a little exhausting. One thing is for sure though, after telling all the facts he had learned, to so many people, they will probably forever be embedded in his little brain  He was very cute.

On a completely different note, James has been reading the Narnia books to the kids for their bedtime story and they are very into them. Last week they finished The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and they are now on to Prince Caspian. A lot of their play time is revolving around battles and being turned to stone and this was this afternoon's adventure...

They set up their very own sleigh!

Little round plasters (or bandaids if you prefer)...

So Friday was Asia's '6 month' check-up. Actually, she's already 7 1/2 months, but they didn't automatically send through an appointment for her and by the time I'd realised that and phoned through to make the appointment myself, we were looking so far ahead that it brought us to...7 1/2 months!


I hate these appointments, I mean, don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore our pediatrician, I can't say enough good things about her. When we go for our visits, that part is great, it's like meeting up with an old friend, but once that part is over it's time for the immunizations :(


I feel like I'm betraying my baby, actually the reality is that I feel like my baby must feel I'm betraying her. That look of terror and pain as the first stab goes into her chubby thighs and she lets out the start of her wail. Her eyes search for me and she expects me to immediately pick-her up and cuddle her and make it all OK again. Instead, as she continues to cry more frantically, I allow that nurse to stab her, not just once, but twice more, in the other chubby thigh. It's such a feeling of helplessness, and I'm really not sure who feels it the most. It is probably the start of scarring for life. Her realization that Mama is not always going to be there for her after all.



Once it was all over, I scooped her up, as fast as I could, wiped the tears from her precious cheeks and smothered her with kisses. Of course, she stopped crying right away, but it was a little while before I got a smile out of her.