emma_in_dream

A song by Ruby...
Someone once told me
the year 2020
would be the worst year of my life.
Starting off with fires
and then corona virus.
It's the worst year of my life.

Two thumbs up for Ruby, the most stoical child in the world.


Given that she has had massive fits of vomiting five times so far this year, my Mum and I had agreed that the next time she should be taken to the doctor. The doctor referred her off for comprehensive scans of her insides. When I met up with them, Ruby was passed out in the waiting room of the scanning place, having thrown up 17 times in an hour. She was too weak to walk but had, as she told me later, made herself go to sleep because that is always the best way to get better. She was a pretty disgusting little mite, covered in a sticky layer of bile, because she does keep vomiting while she sleeps. When she woke up, she had lots of cuddles.


She was super good while being scanned and then recovered quite quickly at home. Off school today but enjoying herself with DVDs and art.


We will get the results of the scans at the end of the week.


I would very much appreciate it if my children could stop being sick.

Ruby raised $46.85 for the RSPCA with a competition to count how many lollies were in the jars at her school.

This was part of her Promise Badge for service to the community at Joeys.

I am very proud of her efforts.

The hardest part of the week is over. Ruby had her MRI and she was so good - she stayed still for the whole thing. Not a single test had to be redone.

What a great kid.

Now, on to moving house...

My name is Ruby and I read McElligot's Pool by Dr Seuss. Just like the Lorax book I like it because you get to imagine what happens after the end. You have to imagine the end.


This book won Seuss's first Caldicott medal in 1947, thus fulfilling the 'medal winner' category in our picture book challenge. I had not read it as a child and loved everything about it except the use of black and white illustrations on alternate pages. I had not realised there was a post-war publishing crisis in the USA as well as in Europe and Australia - I assume this would be the cause.

I no longer have pre-primary kids. I now have big, school age kids – Ruby is going into Grade one.


Time to stop and reflect that life is much easier. Things that I no longer have to do – for instance, going out is so much easier. They walk to the car and get in – Pearl does up her seatbelt. Ruby’s hands are not strong enough to buckle herself in but she can unbuckle the belt and also open the door from the outside though not the inside.


Time was when Pearl’s anxiety meant she could not be left in the car so every trip to the petrol station involved unstrapping them, taking them in, shepherding them back and then restrapping them. Time was when her anxiety was so intense that if I walked around the back of the car rather than the front of it where she could see me, she would freak out.


Things are certainly improving greatly and my life is much easier in many ways. Although, conversely, this just frees up time for paid work. But at least that means more money.


I have always felt that having children is a bit like being hit viciously and repeatedly in the face. This is not going to convince the childless that it is great having kids, but to me this is how it feels:


Here is your baby, she is lovely. BLAM – she can’t breathe. Now you can hug her. THWACK – she chokes on the milk, she has no suck reflex. Finally out of hospital? Then WHACK! It’s time to notice she is super floppy and take her around a series of doctors who will pooh-pooh your concerns as those of an over-anxious first time mother until BLAM! They decide it is serious and suggest it might be cerebral palsy.


WHACK! Your child fails to thrive. The doctor describes her legs as wasted. PUNCH, PUNCH, PUNCH. No one can diagnose her problems. Got that under control? Hours of physio! Because she can’t balance properly, she can’t be toilet trained! PUNCH! Your child is ‘odd’ and not doing well at school.


Parenthood is a long series of happy moments interspersed with being BEATEN at random, unanticipated moments.


I read a thoughtpiece once where a woman said that parenting was like slogging through a leech infested jungle in the rain and every now and then you come into a clearing where the sun shines down and you see butterflies. Then back to the jungle.


For me, there is a lot more of the happy periods but they are certainly interspersed with being punched in the face.

So, what a rollercoaster this week has been.

On the bad side: the American election, the triumph of hatred, racism and misogyny, and the inevitable effects on Australia’s drift to the right. We finally got to go to the incontinence clinic and they think that Ruby has two to five years to go until continence. We also got to see the orthopaedics people who said that there is nothing that can be done to relieve the pain in her feet, knees and hips. She just has to live with it. The lion at the zoo died unexpectedly.

On the good side: The thirteen month wait to get into the incontinence clinic is over. I was so depressed that I went to the beautician and pampered myself (for the first time in eight years). Ruby likes her new pet fish. Hilary won the popular vote. Because Americans don’t have compulsory voting, it’s not 50% of the population who voted for hatred but only 25%. Because I had the day off to go to medical appointments with Ruby, I also got to go to the school excursion to see *Snugglepot and Cuddlepie* which was surprisingly good. I particularly liked the way they made the Banksia men still scary but less racist. Here’s a picture for non-Australians, with bonus Snugglepot and Little Ragged Blossum.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/433541901599241892/

Yep, that’s about it on the good side, a less racist Banksia man than was envisioned in 1915.

1, I am pleased that the next *Thor* movie is being partly filmed in Australia and is apparently a coffee shop AU where Thor and Loki spend a lot of time choosing lattes together. Good, they need to talk.


2, Ruby made up a song: ‘You want me to say hello to the baby, but they baby is too young. I say hello, the baby says googoo.’ Clearly inspired by the Beatles.


3, Pearl’s NAPLAN results are not nearly as bad as the teacher had warned. I’m very pleased that she did well in reading, since this is a constant pleasure in my life.

1, The girls both adored karate, and had huge grins on their faces as they did it. The class is aimed at kids and the teachers seemed very good at providing lots of positive feedback. Pearl most enjoyed kicking a bag and Ruby most enjoyed the game of dodge ball they played.


2, Ruby has been exhausted ever since she did karate but nonetheless set off to school with some enthusiasm today. PrePrimary are having a presentation on why hospitals are good. I thought she might be reluctant to go as she has well founded fears of hospitals, but instead she took my suggestion that she would be an ‘expert’ and ran with it. She knows *all* about hospitals, down to being a connoisseur of the best waiting rooms at the local children’s hospital.


3, I was finally well enough to start cleaning up the backlog in the house. For example, the things brought home at the end of last term are now put away.

Our holiday plan has been abandoned. I am now well enough to drive but Ruby has succumbed to the horror illness and is lying on the couch crying.

I was wondering if anyone would be free to take Pearl for the day? She is going out of her mind with boredom, having been trapped at home with sick people every day of the holidays so far.