¿Que?

I've been sick for the last three weeks. I think I had three different variations of flu in a row. The one I have now is the worst - extremely sore, swollen throat, blocked sinuses, irritating cough, headache & general aches and pains all over. Pandora had a throat infection last week which cleared up with antibiotics, but I really hope she doesn't catch this new flu from me. It seems like we've been passing things back and forth to each other for the last three weeks. :( She had all of last week off school, but went back this week.

Today I woke up feeling like I wanted to die but managed to get Pan up & breakfasted, then called and made a doctor's appointment. I found a new doctor who is closer to my house than the two medical centres at Croydon. Closer to my house was important because it was raining today and I didn't want to walk too far in the rain. I have a plastic cover for Pandora's pram but I don't have an umbrella for myself. :<

New doctor was really nice. :) It was a really old fashioned surgery - the waiting room had wood panelled walls & a fireplace. :D The doctor himself was a really old Asian guy. He prescribed me antibiotics & nasal spray. I went to the chemist and got the stuff, also some cold & flu lollipops for Pan (genius, whoever invented those) and some children's Panadol. I also bought cans of soup and hired some dvds. Usually on the days Pan is home from school we will do stuff like play outside or bake something, but I just wanted to curl up on the couch. She was having none of that though when we got home. She threw a huge tantrum - I don't even know what it was about. Tantrum went on and on til I put her down for a nap, then I had a sleep as well. I woke up still feeling crap and wanting to sleep more, but I had to make dinner and stuff. Pan was in a better mood and ate the sandwich I'd made her earlier in the day. I called my brother and offered him $50 to come do my washing up tomorrow. >< I usually do it every day but I've been so sick that I haven't done it for the last three days. So he's coming over tomorrow. Then Lemming is taking Pan in the evening. I'm having a rest/recovery weekend. Need lots of sleep/medicines/juice/tea/dvds/books etc etc.

I just put Pandora down for a nap & then went out to check the mail. It's really sunny & warm today, but also very windy. The front door slammed shut behind me, locking me out. o_o This would have been pretty disasterous on any other day, but because the weather's so nice I'd left the back door open. There's no access to my backyard except through the house, but I managed to somehow scramble over my (high, splintery, vine-covered) fence, ripping up my palms in the process. I'm still kinda shaking with adrenaline. Also, my hands hurt. :(

I was so freaked out by this that I put $2 out in my backyard, so if I ever get locked out again I'll at least have money for the payphone down the street.

So I'm trying to buy an iPhone. Nearly everyone I know has one of the damn things. And I want one. :P My current phone is bad & expensive, I'm on Virgin Mobile prepaid which I'm pretty sure ends up being more expensive per month than if I was on a cap. Also the charger for the phone has crapped out on me & won't recharge the phone anymore. -_-

I've done a fair bit of research and decided to go with a $59 cap from Optus. For the last hour or so I've been trying to buy my iPhone from the Optus website. I filled in this insanely long form with all sorts of ID, and when I finally was able to submit it I was told that there was some technical error & to try again later. >< I tried resubmitting the form a couple of times, but nothing worked. So annoyed. >< I want iPhone!

Pandora has been very sick this week. Some kind of bad chesty cough, with a little bit of fever. She didn't go to school yesterday or today & she probably won't go tomorrow (I still have to pay for the days, booo). I had to cancel my regular chiro appointment on Monday because it was early in the morning - I planned to go right after I dropped Pan at school - but it was too cold & Pan was too sick to leave the house. Today I had a dentist appointment. It was in Leichhardt, and I'd planned to catch public transport there while Pandora was at school. There was no way I could do this with Pan in tow, not just because she is sick but because - how am I supposed to take Pandora with me to the dentist?? I can't look after her while I'm in a dentist's chair.

Lemming came to the rescue. :) He took a sick day off from work, as he's getting some form of this horrible cold too (it must be bad if even he of the awesome immune system has got it). He drove us to Leichhardt, and while I was at the dentist he took Pan to the doctor (who prescribed her antibiotics for a throat infection). I told the dentist about the on and off toothaches I've been having and prepared to be told my teeth were full of holes. I haven't been to the dentist in about 10 years. o_o But miraculously, there were no cavities. :o There was, however, 10 years build up of tartar, which was all drilled off. Painful, lol. She took some preliminary xrays and told me it was my wisdom teeth giving me trouble. They are being stupid and growing forwards instead of up, and pushing against my other teeth. After that she gave me a referral to get another xray done, and a tube of some fluoride stuff that I need to put on & leave on my teeth every day before bed. There are brown bits in between some of my front teeth, which the dentist said were there because I'd had some decay there, which had healed, but in the healing process had discoloured the teeth. hm, interesting. Anyways the fluoride will reduce the discolouration apparently. :)

Lemming drove me over to a nearby medical centre where I got my mouth xray done. The woman there asked me to take out my earrings and my labret. I am slightly embarrassed to say that I couldn't get my earrings out. :P I only got my ears pierced for the very first time a few months ago, and I'm still wearing the original studs that were put in.. I don't know how to take them out! lol xD And there was no way my labret was coming out. o_O I've had the same one in for 7 - 8 years now (had the piercing for 9 years). I clean it, but the thing doesn't unscrew anymore. If I'm ever going to take it out, I'll have to cut it with pliers or something (how well do pliers work on black titanium anyway? ><) Anyways, long story short my xrays are marred by piercings. :P

We dropped the xrays at the dentist and then headed back to Ashfield, where I picked up a package from the post office (new heater yays) and bought a black wooden ladder thing that I've been wanting to get for a while, but didn't have the means to transport back to my house. I'm going to put in in my garden & put potplants on it. ^_^ Thankyou Lemming for all your helps today. <3 Including getting my disc drives to work in my new computer. :D

I have to go back to the dentist next week, to get wisdom teeth removed. Oddly I am not nervous about this. It was the same today.. I was there wondering "why am I not nervous? Pretty sure there's going to be pain involved here in some form?" I think it's because I feel sort of the same way about pain at the dentist as I do about pain at a tattoo place.. it's pain I can endure. I think childbirth kinda gives you new measures of pain too lol.

meanwhile.. Leichhardt is such a nice looking suburb. I kinda wanna live there. :P

Pan started randomly singing this song today, sort of to the tune of Frere Jacques ~

Wa-ta-me-on, Wa-ta-me-on
Pa-pa-ya! Pa-pa-ya!
Bananana na-na, Bananana na-na
Fruit sawad! Fruit sawad!

It took me a while to figure out what she was singing, especially the "fruit salad" bit.. I only realised she was singing something comprehensible when she started singing the "Pa-pa-ya!" bit cos she pronounces the word very clearly. I was like "where did you learn about papayas??" lol :P Obviously a song she's heard at school. xD

On Saturday toblopo is coming to visit. :D I haven't seen him in ages. I'm thinking we might go out clubbing/drinking on Saturday night with my friend Taka (who I call Tkay). I met Tkay through WoW several months ago, and we've become really good friends - we talk pretty much every day in game. I've been out drinking & clubbing with him and his friends a couple of times. :)

Reply to this meme by yelling "Words!" and I will give you five words that remind me of you. Then post them in your LJ and explain what they mean to you.

( words )

When I dropped Pan at school thismorning, she cried and clung to me as usual. I told the teacher who took her from me that I'd be picking her up early today, at 1. That was about as much as I could explain cos Pan was making such a fuss. When I went to get her at 1, they told me she'd just gone to sleep. >< ugh, so.. they woke her up, and she cried. I tried to explain that I was picking her up early cos her sleeping patterns had been disturbed this week, and I wanted to work on making her naptime earlier at home, but she was making so much noise & disturbing the other kids who had just laid down for naptime so it was a hurried explanation cos I wanted to get her out of there. I don't know if they really got what I was saying, they just seemed a bit bemused about me picking her up early. Might have to go get her a bit earlier than 1 next week.

Of course as soon as we got out of there she stopped crying and started telling me happily about how she "played with all the bubbas" today. -_-

Where has my happy, easygoing bubba disappeared to and who is this demon child that has taken her place? :((((( All week Pandora has been really whingey & naughty, but today was especially bad. I think it is a combination of her getting over the last of the cold she had last week, and not getting enough sleep at school. Naptime at school is 1pm, but Pan is used to going down between 2pm & 3pm. The teachers tell me that at naptime she just wants to get up and run around & play, and she's only been getting between half an hour and an hour's sleep at school, if she sleeps at all. At home she is used to a much longer daytime sleep - up to 3 hours. She's a girl who really likes her sleep. When I pick her up from school at 3pm and bring her home, she's so keyed up that she won't nap at home. So she just runs around all afternoon being a terror - yelling at me, doing naughty things deliberately (looking at me with like a half smile on her face when she does ><), whining/crying/tantruming over the smallest things. "I Don' Wanna!" seems to be her new favourite phrase, which she must have picked up at school. :P

Yesterday and today she screamed and cried when I dropped her off at school in the morning, today she clung onto my leg as well until the teacher just picked her up and carried her off.. I was left standing there feeling really bad. When I went to get her today she burst into tears when she saw me and immediately ran over saying "Hug? Hug?" which means "pick me up kthx" in Pandarin. Whenever I moved away from her (to get her bag, or her lunchbox from the fridge, or to sign her out) she'd burst into tears again, even standing amongst all the other kids, who she usually adores.

I'm thinking she might just be a little bit too young to be at school for so many hours. My mum told me that when I started Montessori at 2, I was only there from 9-12. Pan is at school from 8:30-3.. it's too long, especially since she's not sleeping properly there. So tomorrow I'm telling them that I'm going to start picking her up at 1pm. That way she can still have lunch with the kids at 12 (which I've been told she enjoys) and come home when the other kids are going down for naptime. Then I can put her down for a sleep at her usual time at home.

I want happy affectionate Pandora back. :( She kinda acted like she hated me thisafternoon. felt awful :(

For the last few nights Pan has been refusing to let me read her a bedtime story. Instead she says "Pandowa wead (read) it!" and grabs the book, then sits there staring at it for ages, turning the pages, sometimes muttering "and den.." o_O You can see her getting agitated. Then she starts yelling "I WANNA WEAD! PANDOWA WEAD IT" and it's full on tantrum time. If I try to take the book off her & read it to her myself, she'll also tantrum. I've just been observing this recent behaviour in puzzlement. I guess she wants to actually read the books herself? Maybe she's seen kids at school reading? I've been teaching her letters and she can recite the whole alphabet (poorly around LMNO, which is more like 'ehwemo' :P) but it's gonna be a while before she can actually read, I mean I'm pretty sure she doesn't even get the concept of the letters forming words yet. o_O

I've noticed though if I give her a book that I've read to her many times before, she will turn the pages and recite the story. It looks like she's reading it, and there's no tantrums. I guess I'll try to give her more of those familiar books before bed.. but there's always the chance she'll just throw it across the room and shout "NO I DON WAN IT!" ..beh :P

When I dropped Pan off at school thismorning I noticed the teachers had left a bundle of papers in her pigeonhole. They were all the artworks Pan did at school last week. :D Most of them were just a couple of scribbles on an otherwise blank bit of paper, but then there was this ~



Obviously she didn't make the house, just decorated it. xD The teachers told me last week that they'd been learning about houses that week. :D

p.s. how cute are these?? I'm saving this idea for.. sometime.. probably one of Pan's future birthday parties. xD

I'm really enjoying packing Pandora's lunches for school, cos I get to use my cute bento things. :D Not the little animal picks or anything she could try to eat, but my cute dividers and containers & stuff. :)

Tomorrow she is having a cheese & vegemite sandwich, a junior (i.e. watered down) apple juice popper, sweetcorn kernels and semidried apricots. They give the kids fruit and crackers at school for snacks. I'm trying to think of more healthy ideas for toddler lunches.. I'm afraid she's going to get sick of sandwiches, and I don't like putting too much processed food in there (like fruit sticks, muesli bars etc). Any suggestions?

Meanwhile.. cold of badness got ten times worse today for some reason, though it seems to be finally easing off a bit now. Today on top of the usual cold symptoms I also had a headache that wouldn't quit and a terrible toothache, which I suspect is unrelated to the cold and probably more to do with me buying a tub of 150 Chupa Chups and a tub of 400 HartBeat lollies recently. -_- I'm definitely making a dentist appointment. There's a dentist I'm considering going to in Leichhardt - this one. Anyone been there before?

Today Pandora, Lemming & I went to get some professional pictures taken. These GFP Studios people will never stop hounding me, I swear.. we got Pandora's picture taken by them in hospital the day after she was born, and since then they have periodically called me asking if I want more pictures taken. And they won't take no for an answer. o_O; They're very polite about it, which just makes it more infuriating. If I say I need to talk to Lemming about it first, they say they'll call back later; if I say we can't afford photos right now, they'll offer discounts. I guess it's my own fault for not being firmer with them. ><

Anyways we went to get pictures taken today.. we had lunch at Pancakes on the Rocks first (the one not actually in the Rocks) which would have been awesome if I hadn't had a cold & could actually taste food. :( Pandora had a big sticky chocolate pancake which, in hindsight, was a really stupid idea right before a photoshoot. :P She actually didn't eat much of the pancake, she was far more interested in the icecream on top. ^^

The photoshoot was scheduled right on Pan's usual naptime.. which was also a stupid idea, but they didn't have any other times available. We got a few pretty nice family type shots, and several more of Pandora. She wasn't really into it though, cos she was tired.. she mostly just kept running around chasing the balloons, shouting "BAROON!" We managed to get a few nice shots though somehow. :)

I've been so sick all afternoon/evening. I wish this cold would just give up & go away already... :(

My mum took Pan and I to the Opera House today to see a performance called Music for Tutus. It was a little concert (one hour long) for 2-5 year olds, with a small orchestra and two ballet dancers. Pan loved it. :D After the dancers were done the orchestra came down onto the stage & showed their instruments up close to the kids. Pan was riveted by the flautist & ignored all the other players, she sat down directly in front of her and stared, saying over & over "I like flute!" lol.



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Lemming left his camera at my house, so I can take pictures now. :D Here's Pan today, running around in my newly de-jungled garden. The garden was awful before.. almost completely filled up with plants up to my neck. Lemming brought around a whippersnipper & got rid of it all for me. <3



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Pandora & I have colds so we're having a "recovery" day today, with much snuggling up in front of heaters. Pan is learning how to blow her nose. xD Tomorrow we're supposed to go to a ballet at the Opera House, but we'll have to see how well we both are. I think we'll be ok by then though. :)

I really like this pic of my brother Evan & Pandora.. Pan loves "uncoo eban" xD



in other news.. stupid lack of phone credit. I was gonna call to enrol in my course today. :( But yay for the government now giving me double the monies per fortnight I was receiving before due to me finally updating my details. :D

results of today's 4 hour visit to the hairdresser ~



I'm really happy with it. :D I really like this new hairdresser, its called Ana's Hair, only a two minute walk away from my house, a little boutique shop among the townhouses. Made an appointment to get it touched up in 8 weeks. ^_^

Tonight, I'm going out. :D Not sure where, or with who.. I have several options. But drinking shall be involved. xD

...went pretty well! I had originally planned to stay with her the whole time today (she was only there for a half day today) but since she promptly forgot I existed within 10 seconds of us entering the classroom, I ended up just sitting on one of those little kid-sized chairs & feeling in the way. Eventually I went to the office to get the paperwork done & the lady there said that since Pan was settling in so well I could leave her & come back at 12. So I went home. Felt weird to be at home by myself in the morning (on weekends I sleep through mornings :P). I went back up to the school at 12, where the kids were all playing outside. Pan ignored me & continued running around & playing. :P The teachers told me she'd been extremely good & hadn't made any kind of fuss, in fact she had been a bit overly enthusiastic about everything. Pan is extremely outgoing & has the attention span of a gnat, lol. :P Anyways we left school after that, and Pan ate her packed lunch in the stroller on the way to the shops, where I bought her some new clothes, a new lunchbox & some cot sheets for school.

I noticed when we got home she'd already picked up some new vocabulary. Her new favourite phrase now seems to be "And over here we have..." This drove me crazy until she went down for a nap >< ("And over here we have.. stroller!" "And over here we have.. toys!" "And over here we have.. kitchen!" o_o)

It's her first full day tomorrow, (830am-3pm) with lunch & naptime at school. I'm pretty sure she'll be fine with it but I highly doubt they'll be able to get her to go down for a sleep at 1pm, lol :PP

it's my clone O_O
edit: me at the same age on the right



Pan starts preschool on Tuesday. Excitement! She'll be there Mondays, Tuesdays & Wednesdays. I'm going to be there with her for her first two days. Gotta put nametags on everything. ><

I've applied to do a Certificate III in Children's Services while Pan is at school. I'm also looking into doing this short course in silver jewellery making, on Saturdays starting in August. It's about time I stopped playing so much WoW.. :P

me: What's your name?
Pandora: My name is Bubba!
me: Really?
Pandora: Umm, wait!
me: Yes?
Pandora: My name is... Munchkin Bubba!

xD

jeski says:
OI TKAY
i will come running says:
YES?
jeski says:
how do i open this dvd dammit
it has a security thing on it
i will come running says:
haha
umm is it a region code msg ?
jeski says:
no the box! it has a little red locked thing showing
i can see the green unlock icon but i cant get at it
like on the side
i will come running says:
lol cant u just open it
ive got a couple cases like that
but i dont touch the green/red part
jeski says:
fuck how does it opennnn
i will come running says:
haha
jeski says:
FIX IT TKAY
i will come running says:
get a screwdriver
jeski says:
OK
i will come running says:
force it open
jeski says:
will a pen work
no a pen wont work
getting a screwdriver
i will come running says:
lol
i didnt think they actually locked
jeski says:
omg now what
i will come running says:
nfi lol
smash it open
haha
jeski says:
is it ok that its a philipshead
i will come running says:
i was joking about the screwdriver lol
jeski says:
lol SCREW U TKAY
i will come running says:
can u slide the lock part with it?
jeski says:
no, i just succeed in scraping the red icon off
i will come running says:
lol
just force it open
jeski says:
GAAAHHH
i will come running says:
might ruin ur case haha
jeski says:
STAB
/cry i cant do it!
i will come running says:
:(
jeski says:
ima cut it open with scissors
i will come running says:
lol
aaaaannnndd if u cant open it
watch another dvd
jeski says:
omg
i hate this thing
why didnt they open it at the store
i will come running says:
lol
new dvd me thinks
jeski says:
OMG YAYS
box is ruint but its open
i will come running says:
haha
wat movie is it
jeski says:
oh..... fuck
i've scratched the disc
i will come running says:
looool
jeski says:
YOU SHUT UP TKAY
i will come running says:
i mean
noooooooooo
jeski says:
its like a little nick on the edge.. will that be a problem
do u think
i will come running says:
nah
jeski says:
it looks badness
oh well i will go test it
i will come running says:
lol
jeski says:
lalala
i will come running says:
wat mvoie!
jeski says:
its twlight
*twilight
lolol
i will come running says:
oh i think u did the dvd a favour then
jeski says:
lolllz
ok i'm off
i will come running says:
bai