Busy October

October was a busy month. Lara & I started our violin lessons. The first few lessons are all about postures, postions and rhythms. We learned 'rest position song', bunny rabbit bow hold, names of the violin parts and violin strings. Lara likes the rocket and chu chu train song and she can do "busy busy stop stop" on the A string & E string. We just started on the more challenging left fingers. I'm not only learning violin with Lara, I'm also learning to take smaller steps and making each practice fun. (It is very true that children like to do what they can already do).

I met some new Taiwanese friends who have kids of similar ages to Lara and Sam. We had a few sessions of park plays, I even learned how to make a delicious Taiwanese pork stew from one of the Mums. Lara learned more Chinese words because of this.

I got a phone call one day mid October from an early childhood eye test nurse (they do eye tests in daycares). She told me Lara couldn't see well with her left eye (she could only see 3 lines out of 9). That freaked me out but I later found out the result of "6/9 -3" meant she got three letters (out of 6) wrong in last line. The additional eye test confirmed Lara's eyes were fine. What a relief!

Antoher good news is that Sam's ears improved greatly in the last 2 months. His glue ears are mostly cleared. Although he's still on nose drops, specialist confirmed at the last appointment at the end of October that it's unlikely Sam would need grummets. Yeah!

I have enjoyed the last few months with both of us working part-time. I didn't have to rush home from work to pick kids up and rush to get dinner ready. Even though working part-time means less money, there is always one of us home with the kids so their lives are less hurried. The good time unfortunately has to end. With Simon going back to full time work, life will undoubtedly get busier. I also have to sort out daycares in a very short time (not something I'm looking forward to do).

November is very busy for Lara - she's got kindy orientation, 3 birthday parties and 3 ballet rehearsals. We also have a 21st party to attend. Fortunately, Mum will be here for a couple of weeks to provide some much-needed relief.