Prematurity,the gift that keeps on giving

A few weeks ago, Ryan elegantly lept off the lounge chair and managed to land squarely on his front right top tooth - a skillful maneuvere if I do say so myself. We've watched it over the last couple of weeks change from bright white to a nice off white before it decided to settle on a fetching shade of grey. I'd also noticed that one of his back teeth had something resembling what my untrained eye thought to be a hole. Obviously a trip to the dentist was in order.

The general dentist we see caught sight of his front tooth and decided that we'd need to add a Peadiatric Dentist to our ever expanding list of specialists. Fantastic. The PD took one look in Ryan's mouth and quickly ran in to another room to order that BMW he's had his on eye on for a while (well, not really but I'm sure he did it as soon as we'd left...) The official diagnosis is yes, it is a hole - Ry apparently has a weak spot on his molars, most likely caused by his prematurity.

So now I need to make an appointment for him to have a general anaesthetic to have his cavity filled, his 3 other molars "sealed" to prevent them developing holes and possibly, depending on how much worse his front tooth is in 6 weeks time, root canal on his damaged front tooth.

I hope the tooth fairy reimburses us substantially when the time comes because God knows our health insurance isn't being all that generous.

And another year passes...

The smallest boy turned 4 on Saturday and we celebrated in true Ryan style - no fuss & very matter of factly.

(His official cake was a rocket but I'm too scared post a picture of it in case it features as this months disaster on CakeWrecks)

I suppose I should take a moment to reflect on what life has been like since he made his dramatic arrival. In a word, he is cheeky. He has the most amazing sense of humour and loves nothing more than a bloody good joke (preferably practical). He is quick to anger but thankfully, quick to recover although he is reknown for moodswings that until now I'd only seen in hormonal 14 year old girls. He is currently living vicariously through Matthew at school and soaking up information like a walking sponge - it is seriously amazing how much he has learnt just by observing, even when he isn't obviously paying attention. He is extremely quick-witted and has a comeback for every occasion, just has to have the last word. He's rough & wriggly, dirty & sweaty and loud & impatient. He's also cuddly & sweet and loves his family fiercely. He compliments Matthew perfectly and I hope they will be great friends for many years to come.

Matthew's questions

1. What is something mum always says to you?
Matt: I'm nice
Ry: not going to say it.

2. What makes mum happy?
Matt: Me doing the right thing
Ry: I'm not going to say it.

3. What makes mum sad?
Matt: When I am doing the wrong thing
Ry: I said, I'm not going to say it! {insert massive just-woken-up tantrum here}

4. How does your mum make you laugh?
By tickling me

5. What was your mum like as a child?
I can't really answer that one because I don't know it.

6. How old is your mum?
31

7. How tall is your mum?
10 metres

8. What is her favourite thing to do?
going to Dreamworld

9. What does your mum do when you're not around?
play games with Ryan

10. If your mum becomes famous, what will it be for?
Singing (WTF?? Bless him anyway)

11. What is your mum really good at?
Washing

12. What is your mum not very good at?
Playing computers

13. What does your mum do for her job?
Ummmm, I don't know what you do.

14. What is your mum's favourite food?
Lasagne

15. What makes you proud of your mum?
Getting me a good toy on my birthday (nice try, buddy)

16. If your mum were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Mr Tickle

17. What do you and your mum do together?
Have a little chat on the way home from school

18. How are you and your mum the same?
We both like eating passionfruit

19. How are you and your mum different?
I'm smaller & she's bigger.

20. How do you know your mum loves you?
By hugging me

22. Where is your mum's favourite place to go?
The zoo

If only it was always that easy

Isn't it funny the way things just sort themselves out? Only yesterday I was whinging to various people about how there were just no jobs out there. This morning, I found one online that was right up my alley. I literally spent 5 minutes applying for it while I was waiting for the boys to finish packing their bags this morning and by 10.30am, I was offered the job. I was still not out of my pajamas. Hey, I'm nothing if not productive... ;p I'm going down tomorrow to work out what hours suit best; he has offered me school hours with the ability to come and go as I please, so long as the work is done. Can't beat that, right?

Chatting to Ryan

In the car on the way home from daycare this afternoon:-

Me: How was kindy today?
Ryan: Not good. Jack just hit me on the back.
Me, with my best sympathetic tone: Ohhhh. That's not nice. It's not nice to hit your friends, is it? Do you ever hit anyone?
Ryan: No!
Me: But sometimes you hit Matthew when you are angry with him, don't you?
Ryan: {silence}... I don't want to talk about Matthew.

Statistic

Sorry, I've been rather well... absent from here lately, haven't I? You probably think it's because I've been off going glamorous things like holidaying or re-tiling the roof but in reality I've just been sitting around drinking a lot a coffee. I've thought about posting a lot but couldn't bring myself to actually do it.

Things have been rather stressful here at The Shack lately. Matthew has been unwell, Ryan attempted some DIY dental work when he launched off a lounge chair and I was made redundant at work with less than 4 days notice.

I've never had trouble finding work in the past but then again, the world wasn't in economic crisis when I was doing so either. There are a couple of jobs out there that I intend to apply for but sadly, I suspect that the many other Queenslanders that have been laid off this month will have the same idea.