No running

Home is hectic.  We escaped the clutches of 8B on Wednesday afternoon, and as soon as Gavin stepped foot in the back door he made a beeline for his kitchen and immediately starting playing madly with all of his toys. He was rather irritated to be told that, actually, it was naptime and we could play later.  Once asleep though, he slept for two and a half hours, and shamed as I am to admit it, so did I.  Craig was a busy bee and unpacked our stuff and ran errands, e.g. the all-important wine and beer run.

I spent most of yesterday trying to cook things that would tempt Gavin into eating.  First we made cupcakes together, which he was so excited to do, and I was eagerly waiting for him to munch-munch the whole thing in one go.  He was thrilled, it was on a plate, he peeled off the paper… and ate one bite. I know his appetite has been destroyed by what he is going through, so I am trying to be patient, but it is very difficult at times.  I ask you, what toddler turns up his/her nose at a cupcake? Later in the day we made potato and leek soup, and baked apples. He ate about 10 spoons of the soup, which around here counts as huge success! He refused point-blank to even try the apples. I am feeling very determined about this food thing though and am trying to stuff him as much as I can before we have to go back on Sunday.  To that end, he helped me make alphabet pasta and hidden-vegetable sauce tonight, liberally strewn with cheese, and ate a small bowl of it. Hurrah.

We have to be very meticulous about what he eats and how much he gets in the way of fluid. Meticulous to the point of noting it on the white-board. He needs to stay hydrated, but he isn’t used to drinking that much anymore, so it is actually very difficult. I’m sure there are many parents who worry about limiting the amount of juice their kids drink, too many sugars and all that, but I mix Gavin a drink of 60 ml, and then push the same drink on him over a period of four hours. And he still doesn’t drink all of it. Luckily the NG tube provides a way to push liquids on him without his consent. Often he refuses to drink because he’s too busy playing and simply doesn’t want to be interrupted.

This morning the Bean, Bubby and I went to the zoo. (Yes, we like the zoo. It’s a good place to take him at this time of year because there basically isn’t anyone there.) For the entire drive out there, during which Gavin complained mightily, I kept consoling him with the fact that we would soon get to ride the “train” at the zoo, a.k.a. zoomobile. Much to my chagrin, it’s closed for the season. On our arrival I had to report to Gav that the train was “not running” because it is now too cold. A few minutes later, as we strolled along, he murmured in a sad little voice, “no running.” “Sorry sweetheart,” I said, “the train isn’t running, mummy thought it was but it’s closed today.” “Closed,” he agreed. Five minutes later I heard again, “No running.” Yup. Sorry honey, the train is closed. After the tenth repeat of “No running,” Bubby and I were ready to change the subject. Luckily we were able to distract him with a nearby tree kangaroo! “No running” was later introduced into a game of Little People when they missed the train because it was closed until next summer.

We hit the tropical Australasia pavilion because I figured I would expose him to the creatures of his other home and native land.  He was fascinated by the wallabies, but they scared him when they got into a scrap over a bit of carrot. I did get him to say “wallabies” while we were there, but couldn’t get him to repeat it for Daddy when he got home. He was not into the reef exhibit because it was dark and scary in there. No big loss, Sydney Aquarium, it ain’t.

Our outings only last a short time because he still tires easily, so he soon wanted to head home today. On our way out, we were passing the reindeer enclosure and Bean points and shouts, “Moose!” Of course, I spring into teacher mode and begin explaining, “yes, it’s similar to a moose in that it has antlers, but, blah, blah, blah.” Only to be cut off with “Pample!” This is a classic Daddy joke. (pample-moose, yuk, yuk) Great, now our son thinks that any antlered creature is actually called a pample.

I’m sure the rest of north America is gearing up for Halloween celebrations, and we are no exception. I’ve decided that Gavin will get to go trick-or-treating this year even though it means that we have to head straight to the hospital afterwards. I haven’t had time to even think of sorting out a costume and so made a mad dash to our local mall this afternoon to sort through the costume dregs that remain this close to Halloween. Slim pickings. I had in mind that I wanted to find a cute pirate costume, but sadly this was impossible. The quality of the costumes out there is woeful. But if I ever had any desire to dress up as naughty nurse or sexy bunny I would have been in luck!

Finally, in the depths of Wal-Mart (groan) I found a pretty cute elephant costume in an acceptable size and thought, that’ll do! He looks very, very cute in it and it will keep him snuggly too. I quickly grabbed a pumpkin from the market on the way home, so we are ready!