We have been going to the beach on every available day since summer arrived, about a month ago. The wonderful thing about Salento is the amount and variety of coastline that there is. Living where we do, in the centre of the peninsular, we can choose a different beach every day.
For the last few years we have been really lazy as we were given permission to use a friend’s hotel pool. It was bliss and we made the most of it but unfortunately this year they have changed the rules to make the pool only for hotel guests. Fair enough, and although we were gutted when we first found out, actually it has been a blessing in disguise. We have been given the motivation to get out there and explore this beautiful place where we live.
Pre babies we had a totally different criteria for the perfect bathing spot. Isolation was the aim and as the summer got hotter and busier, the rockier it became as we went further and further off the beaten track. That’s great when there are just adults, you can get into the water in difficult places, walk a long way from the car, take very little with you and sit in the full sun.
Now it is a completely different ball game. We are usually looking for a shallow, sandy beach, good shade and usually within easy access of the car unless we get prepared and kitted up for a hike. It’s imperative to have a picnic prepared if a restaurant is not the first stop, to have good things to lie on, a change of clothes for everyone, water for drinking and washing, beach toys… the list continues.
We’ve found so many lovely places that I am planning a Salento Beach Guide for next year. This morning we went to our nearest beach, San Mauro, on the Ionian coast. We haven’t been for a few years and despite not really liking it in the past in our new family form it was fantastic.
Friday, 12 June 2009
Saturday, 6 June 2009
Thursday, 21 May 2009
Friday, 15 May 2009
Elimination Communication
I first found out about Elimination Communication (EC) when Mickey was 8 months old. For the uninitiated it is potty training for babies. For some people this means completely diaper free from birth, others start later, still others do EC part time, meaning they use nappies but offer regular ‘potty opportunities’.
It sounded ridiculous to me at first but when I read more it started to make sense. What do people do in countries where they can’t afford nappies or even the water to wash them? Why would human babies be the only ones who are incontinent in the entire animal kingdom?
I bought the book, Infant Potty Training and found out loads of really interesting information. At about 14 months we started with Mickey, a halfway approach between EC and traditional potty training. Just over a year later he has completely ‘graduated’ out of nappies, in fact the last day he wore one was the day before Rudy was born.
I was really keen to start EC with Rudy but the first few weeks were so hectic that I couldn’t quite get my head round it. Having only seen pictures in books rather than having first hand experience, I didn’t know how to ‘hold him out’, it always ended in tears.
Rudy had quite a weak neck compared to Mickey when he was born and I was scared of holding him upright. I did give him nappy free time on his changing mat, especially when I thought he was giving signals that he wanted to go, but it was an unsatisfactory arrangement as it was very messy, more so than just doing it in the nappy.
About a week ago he was starting to grunt and go red in the face and I though, aha, I know he needs to do a poo. So after another unsuccessful attempt to hold him out over the loo I decided to put Mickey’s potty up on the changing mat and I put Rudy on it, supporting him under his armpits and stayed close to him.
He immediately looked me in the eye and smiled, no joke. And then hey presto, we had elimination action (it’s hard to write about this without sounding vulgar!) That was the beginning of our EC adventure and it has been going amazingly well since. We’re not nappy free yet by any means but I am completely confident that this is the way to go for a whole range of reasons. It certainly will be easier to do in the summer when we are outside more often with fewer clothes.
So if most of the world practice EC and even in our own culture it was practiced until two generations ago, how come nobody knows about it? My guess is that the nappy industry is pretty lucrative and nobody wants to rock the boat. Yet with the landfills piling up and we run out of space to dump all our rubbish I believe EC will have its day again.
It sounded ridiculous to me at first but when I read more it started to make sense. What do people do in countries where they can’t afford nappies or even the water to wash them? Why would human babies be the only ones who are incontinent in the entire animal kingdom?
I bought the book, Infant Potty Training and found out loads of really interesting information. At about 14 months we started with Mickey, a halfway approach between EC and traditional potty training. Just over a year later he has completely ‘graduated’ out of nappies, in fact the last day he wore one was the day before Rudy was born.
I was really keen to start EC with Rudy but the first few weeks were so hectic that I couldn’t quite get my head round it. Having only seen pictures in books rather than having first hand experience, I didn’t know how to ‘hold him out’, it always ended in tears.
Rudy had quite a weak neck compared to Mickey when he was born and I was scared of holding him upright. I did give him nappy free time on his changing mat, especially when I thought he was giving signals that he wanted to go, but it was an unsatisfactory arrangement as it was very messy, more so than just doing it in the nappy.
About a week ago he was starting to grunt and go red in the face and I though, aha, I know he needs to do a poo. So after another unsuccessful attempt to hold him out over the loo I decided to put Mickey’s potty up on the changing mat and I put Rudy on it, supporting him under his armpits and stayed close to him.
He immediately looked me in the eye and smiled, no joke. And then hey presto, we had elimination action (it’s hard to write about this without sounding vulgar!) That was the beginning of our EC adventure and it has been going amazingly well since. We’re not nappy free yet by any means but I am completely confident that this is the way to go for a whole range of reasons. It certainly will be easier to do in the summer when we are outside more often with fewer clothes.
So if most of the world practice EC and even in our own culture it was practiced until two generations ago, how come nobody knows about it? My guess is that the nappy industry is pretty lucrative and nobody wants to rock the boat. Yet with the landfills piling up and we run out of space to dump all our rubbish I believe EC will have its day again.
Tuesday, 5 May 2009
Beautiful day
It surely has to be the most beautiful day of the year so far. After a very wet April we are finally seeing uninterrupted blue skies and hot sun - the fields are alive with colourful wild flowers and lush green grasses and you’d have to be a very unhappy person for it not to lift your soul.
Over six weeks have passed since Rudy was born and while we have had a few moments of chaos we are somehow managing quite well to survive. He is a very calm, dare I say it, easy baby so far, sleeping and eating very happily.
Mickey seems to be enjoying the role of big brother and doesn’t behave as if he were jealous of the new arrival. It is lovely taking care of the two of them and although it does feel like spinning plates at times I think it is more fun than having one child.
It certainly helps that even though Darren has a lot of work on right now he is still at home quite a lot. I don’t know what it would be like to have your husband leave the house each day at 7am to return 12 hours later. It must be pretty lonely and tiring but unfortunately that is the situation for most of the mums I know in London.
The good weather definitely makes things easier for me. On rainy days Mickey starts bouncing of the walls by a certain time and wants to watch endless films and youtube videos. But on gorgeous days like today there is so much of interest outside to occupy my energetic and curious little 2 year old and it’s pretty pleasant for the rest of the family, too.
Over six weeks have passed since Rudy was born and while we have had a few moments of chaos we are somehow managing quite well to survive. He is a very calm, dare I say it, easy baby so far, sleeping and eating very happily.
Mickey seems to be enjoying the role of big brother and doesn’t behave as if he were jealous of the new arrival. It is lovely taking care of the two of them and although it does feel like spinning plates at times I think it is more fun than having one child.
It certainly helps that even though Darren has a lot of work on right now he is still at home quite a lot. I don’t know what it would be like to have your husband leave the house each day at 7am to return 12 hours later. It must be pretty lonely and tiring but unfortunately that is the situation for most of the mums I know in London.
The good weather definitely makes things easier for me. On rainy days Mickey starts bouncing of the walls by a certain time and wants to watch endless films and youtube videos. But on gorgeous days like today there is so much of interest outside to occupy my energetic and curious little 2 year old and it’s pretty pleasant for the rest of the family, too.
Saturday, 18 April 2009
Birth story timeline
20/03/09 21.00 Darren and I go out for dinner at Pepe Nero in Galatina. This is our first meal out alone for over a year with grandma looking after our 2yo son Mickey at home. We eat a kilo of steak between us, washed down with a nice bottle of rosso and pineapple for dessert (a fruit believed by some to bring on labour).
20/03/09 23.00 We finish dinner and decide to pop into the birth clinic to go on the contractions monitor – I am having very strong and regular (painless) Braxton hicks contractions. We decide to go home as labour has not yet begun.
20/03/09 23.45 We manage to get our excited toddler to sleep and I sneak off into the living room sofabed where I have been banished in the last few weeks of pregnancy due to my loud snoring!
21/03/09 01.30 Lying in bed awake it feels as though the baby suddenly reaches out and punches me in the stomach and I can almost hear a pop. As I get out of bed I realize that was the sensation of my waters breaking – something I didn’t experience with my first labour. I wake Darren and tell him that I think it really is it this time and about 10 minutes later I experience the first real (and extremely painful) contraction.
21/03/09 03.30 We arrive at the clinic and the midwives on duty laugh to see us again. An internal examination shows that I have just begun to dilate. We are taken to our own room and Darren helps me through the pain of the contractions that are coming on stronger and faster all the time. On a couple of occasions the midwives come into the room to tell me to be quiet!
21/03/09 05.00 I am given another examination and the nurse is surprised that I am already over 5cm dilated. There is a rush to call in my doctor and prepare the delivery room.
21/03/09 05.30 I am vaguely aware of my doctor arriving and all of a sudden being told to push. I don’t feel ready at all and scream for Darren who is being made to wait outside the door. I am taken into the delivery room and with absolute horror I see them attaching my legs to stirrups with leather straps. Again I am being told to push despite not feeling the natural urge to do this. Darren is finally allowed to be with me again. There were so many people in the room at this point, I guess we were on the changeover of night and day shift. I was aware of the light of the dawn outside the shuttered windows. Suddenly my body seemed ready to get the baby out.
21/03/09 06.10 Rudy Antonio Howat is born weighing 4kg and measuring 56cm in length. He was put into an incubator despite being completely healthy. We were told that it was clinic policy to put babies in the incubator for 2 hours after birth. Why hadn’t I checked out their policy before?! I asked Darren to go and take a photo of him so I could at least have a look at my new baby!
21/03/09 08.30 I hobble out of my bed to find out where my baby is. I wait by the incubator and look in wonder at my new, perfect boy. I ask a nurse when I can take him out and hold him and she says I will have to wait as they have other things to do. Then another woman comes along and asks for my codici fiscale (like a national insurance number) and I tell her she can have it as soon as I could have my baby. I am behaving a bit like a mad female animal who has just given birth (in fact this is what I am!)
21/03/09 09.00 Baby Rudy is in my arms and suckling at my breast. It is one of the most precious moments of my life.
20/03/09 23.00 We finish dinner and decide to pop into the birth clinic to go on the contractions monitor – I am having very strong and regular (painless) Braxton hicks contractions. We decide to go home as labour has not yet begun.
20/03/09 23.45 We manage to get our excited toddler to sleep and I sneak off into the living room sofabed where I have been banished in the last few weeks of pregnancy due to my loud snoring!
21/03/09 01.30 Lying in bed awake it feels as though the baby suddenly reaches out and punches me in the stomach and I can almost hear a pop. As I get out of bed I realize that was the sensation of my waters breaking – something I didn’t experience with my first labour. I wake Darren and tell him that I think it really is it this time and about 10 minutes later I experience the first real (and extremely painful) contraction.
21/03/09 03.30 We arrive at the clinic and the midwives on duty laugh to see us again. An internal examination shows that I have just begun to dilate. We are taken to our own room and Darren helps me through the pain of the contractions that are coming on stronger and faster all the time. On a couple of occasions the midwives come into the room to tell me to be quiet!
21/03/09 05.00 I am given another examination and the nurse is surprised that I am already over 5cm dilated. There is a rush to call in my doctor and prepare the delivery room.
21/03/09 05.30 I am vaguely aware of my doctor arriving and all of a sudden being told to push. I don’t feel ready at all and scream for Darren who is being made to wait outside the door. I am taken into the delivery room and with absolute horror I see them attaching my legs to stirrups with leather straps. Again I am being told to push despite not feeling the natural urge to do this. Darren is finally allowed to be with me again. There were so many people in the room at this point, I guess we were on the changeover of night and day shift. I was aware of the light of the dawn outside the shuttered windows. Suddenly my body seemed ready to get the baby out.
21/03/09 06.10 Rudy Antonio Howat is born weighing 4kg and measuring 56cm in length. He was put into an incubator despite being completely healthy. We were told that it was clinic policy to put babies in the incubator for 2 hours after birth. Why hadn’t I checked out their policy before?! I asked Darren to go and take a photo of him so I could at least have a look at my new baby!
21/03/09 08.30 I hobble out of my bed to find out where my baby is. I wait by the incubator and look in wonder at my new, perfect boy. I ask a nurse when I can take him out and hold him and she says I will have to wait as they have other things to do. Then another woman comes along and asks for my codici fiscale (like a national insurance number) and I tell her she can have it as soon as I could have my baby. I am behaving a bit like a mad female animal who has just given birth (in fact this is what I am!)
21/03/09 09.00 Baby Rudy is in my arms and suckling at my breast. It is one of the most precious moments of my life.
Monday, 30 March 2009
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