Finishing is not my forte

Okay readers well when I started this blog I did allude to the fact that I wore many different caps and yet so far I've only managed to tell you of my 'mummy' role. So let's rectify that now. To my list of roles I add - PhD student. I am of the type that enrolled, oh say 1000 years ago now, and who is currently onto her 5th "thou-shalt-submit-or-get-out" letters sent by the University. In theory I have until June next year (06) to submit - what happens if I don't no-one is quite sure. It's a situation I'd rather not test, but let's face it, the chances of me submitting by June next year is unlikely.

One may ask why a type-a personality such as myself - who can juggle so many things at once - is unable to get this done in the next 8 months.... oh dear reader... I have failed to mention that I LOVE to start things... even the middle part of things is fun..... finishing something though? Hmmm, not my forte. I can juggle 16 different projects - but the minute one of them requires completion - well suddenly the other 15 things become much much more important.....let me give you another example. My other cap - the home landscaper..... below find a series of photos of our backyard. I embarked on the demolition of our yard - with the intent to build a retaining wall - with gusto. The minute child was asleep I would be out in the backyard sledgehammering, sawing trees, crowbaring up slabs of concrete. With relish I attacked this yard for 5 weeks...... nothing has been done since. To be fair, I have since travelled to Newcastle to present at a conference, been working on my thesis, and raising previously mentioned child. but you see dear reader, this too requires completion....... not one of my strong points...... not sure where that leaves me with the 'raising child / mummy' role........ but then that's not really a role that ever ends so maybe I'll be okay at that one!! anyway, I really do hope to progress on the yard in the next few weeks so I'll keep you updated.....

Eskimo kisses

I am writing this blog in 5 minute spurts - in between that I am settling my 6 month old who has a) learnt to flip onto her tummy in the cot but who b) has not yet figured out that you can put your bloody head down and GO TO SLEEP LIKE THAT!!! *sigh* She's mostly got the hang of it but some days she flips her head into the bars on the cot (I imagine that must hurt) all the while flinging her little feet out the other side through the bars (yes she is sideways in the cot.....her dad sleeps sideways in the bed so I guess she is taking after him in more ways that just the geeky computer ones...) *sigh again*

But what I really wanted to marvel at today is how quickly these little beings learn things. Since she was born I've been doing eskimo kisses with her.... for the uninitiated that's where you rub noses side to side - like the eskimos do (admittedly this is something I've only heard about - I've never actually kissed an eskimo) ..... and as I'm writing this there is a voice inside my head telling me we don't actually refer to them as eskimos anymore, I'm meant to say Inuit - but not for the natives of west alaska, as they still like to be called eskimos (throws hands up in despair, googles 'eskimo politically correct' and comes up with this site for those who care to educate themselves). For the record I'm just going to keep calling them eskimo kisses.

aaaannnywayyy... back to the point. so now, at the tender age of 6 months, I can now put my nose on charlotte's nose and say 'eskimo kisses' (think stupid high pitched voice when you say that) and she starts flinging her head side to side - showing a remarkable lack of head control - sometimes she even flaps her arms and smacks me in the face while she's doing it - which I'm sure is not how it's done but she seems to be having fun. Sometimes I don't even have to be there when she starts doing eskimo kisses -- which of course leads me to believe that perhaps it's just some developmental phase of movement she's doing and in fact, has nothing to do with me teaching her eskimo kisses at all.... but I choose not to believe that.