Wednesday started non-eventfully and ended with me tucked up in bed feeling very sorry for myself. Just before lunch I was walking down the stairs at work and had just started down the second flight when all of a sudden I was pitching forward, thinking "&#$%, this is going to hurt" and sliding down the remaining steps a bit in the fashion of a Winnie the Pooh being bumped down the stairs by Christopher Robin. I came to a stop at the bottom, having very cleverly managed to land in the recovery position. Very helpful I was. A mental inventory of the painful bits noted a sore neck, head, arm and then increasingly demandingly, left index finger.

Having ascertained that I was conscious and at least vaguely lucid, I was carted off to A&E by Helen, who was most impressed and not a little alarmed by the state of my index finger which had swelled alarmingly and was looking rather skew-whiff. After a surprisingly short wait at A&E I was xrayed to the nth degree and told that luckily nothing was broken, so ice the finger, take this script for codeine and go home and rest. So now I am sporting a spectacular bruise on my arm (see below) about which Tyler said "Ooh I like that Mummy, it's like a rainbow!". My index finger has improved markedly so that I can now completely straighten and partially bend it. And the worst thing about the whole incident? I missed the first touch game of the season, dang it!

Ironically, Tyler was at fracture clinic the next morning having his foot re-checked to see how the bone was mending. Perhaps we should be asking for a family discount :)

Arts & Crafts

Yesterday Tyler and I went shopping for art supplies for him. We got a kit with paints, crayons, felts etc, a ringbinder with 2 pads, some stickers, a cute wee stapler and a sellotape dispenser. So he is all set to paint and draw and be as artistic as he likes. He is also very much into making concept drawings in chalk on his blackboard, which he explains very carefully to me so that I can 'help' him make or draw them.

Artistry

Tyler has shown quite an artistic streak lately. Must be from his father as he sure as heck doesn't get it from me! *lol*  He frequently goes pottering around the garden, grabbing leaves, flowers and twigs and then gets busy with paper, paint, sellotape and glue to make his creations. This is what he has made for his cousin Stephen's 16th birthday:

I remember him grabbing the leaf that makes the smile, saying "That will be the mouth" so now I can see what he saw when he looked at the leaf. Our table is littered with paintings and drawings and he's showing no signs of slowing down.

He's had a week of school holidays, spending time variously with Chris, Anton and Stephen (the latter two earning child-minding $ for their efforts). This week he is with Granna, then Chris, then Chris and me and finally just me.

He is going through a self-assertive phase, his most frequent saying seems to be "You're not the boss!" with arms folded defiantly. He has also decided he doesn't like brushing his teeth and that in fact he "hates teeth".

Just a few random photos:

Tyler playing the 'kitchen drums'

Ben 10 drawing

Tyler, Chris, Pedro, Felix

I was supposed to be singing in the annual competitions this weekend. Developed a head cold around Wednesday, sang three songs (not terribly well but got a first and 2 seconds) on Friday night and then woke up Saturday with no voice! Was gutted that all that preparation was for nothing. :(  Still sulking about it.

Tyler said to me this morning "I don't want it to be the holidays, I want to go to school!" Long may it last.

The more things change.....

So, tomorrow was supposed to be the first day of my new job. Only...I'm staying at PRLaw! A long and strange saga, and the end result is that I will have a much-expanded job (IT and HR) with a good increase in salary, plus a number of perks. Back in management again. How ironic. I won't bore anyone with the saga, just believe me when I say I NEVER want to go through a day like last Thursday! My leaving dinner turned into a 'Welcome Back' dinner :)

Tyler is still enamoured of school. His drawing and language have taken a leap in complexity. We had his first school Mass today, he seemed to cope with the rituals ok. I asked what happened when he went up the front and he said "The man patted me on the head twice". :)

Two Friday's ago at work we held a 'PRLaw's Got Talent' show. Suzanne Prentice was one of the judges. We had team entries and individuals. Some of the team numbers were absolute classics and included one of our Associates, a 6'5" broad-shouldered mans' man dressed in drag as part of a Rocky Horrow Show item. I did a funny operatic piece and won the individual section.

Apart from that not too much else to report except the spring has truly arrived - yay!!!!

Every day we learn something new

Conversation with Tyler after school last Friday (remembering it is a Catholic school):

Me: So what did you do at school today?
T:    Amy.
Me: Oh, is Amy a friend?
T:    No, you know Mum - in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amy.

He refused to believe me when I said the word was Amen so I guess I'll have to leave the correction to his teacher.

He made Chris a cool card and bookmark for Fathers' Day. His school had a PTA Fathers' Day fundraiser where each child had to take a small thing e.g. handwritten poem, small trinket, baking, drawing to school and then each child paid $1 to choose a gift for their Dad from the all the things brought in. T came home with a pair of mini-pliers for Chris. Very apt!

Tyler has now had two weeks at school and his teacher says he is settling in really well. On Thursday he was the class 'Leader' (the equivalent of earlier generations 'Monitor' as Mum reminded me) and he got to wear the rainbow sash and be generally helpful. He was so excited about it that by 7:30am that morning he was asking me when we could leave for school. Tomorrow will be his first time being picked up by the OSCAR bus, and luckily two older friends take the same bus so will look after him.

In other news, I am leaving Preston Russell Law, where I've worked for a total of 18 years and am taking up a new position as Professional Services Administrator at McIntyre Dick, a local accounting firm. Scary and exciting.