Went with Louise yesterday as she was having her antenatal scan. All looks well – baby right weight, correct position, Louise blood pressure fine – all that sort of thing. The visit to the hospital went well as well – a definite lack of waiting around getting completely bored – scan to midwife to Dr checkups went through the quickest I’ve ever known – & we do not have to go back for another scan. The only reason we need to contact the hospital now is if the baby is late – or in fact coming!

I took Jack to school yesterday morning – which was a pleasant novelty for us both. Jack has had a habit of protesting about going to school of recent, but the novelty of me taking him negated that.
<Sixth consecutive sneeze – nose itching like mad. bunged up & snotty. Dry throat & lips – lawks – I do believe I have a cold>
When we got there – he showed me where all his things go – coat – lunchbox, books etc. He then showed me the computer (the apple one not the PC – hah). He gave me a hug which knocked me over (I was squatting down to his level & he caught me unawares – overbalancing me…) Then his pal Jessie arrived & that was it – hardly a ‘bye daddy’ – he was off!
Yesterday evening he started kicking off with unruly behaviour again. He took it into his head to start slapping me & biting at me again (he only really bites at clothes – I somehow doubt he is really trying for more, because I know he could). I was annoyed with him, but I tried tickling him instead. Well, it’s all a game to him anyway, I guess… It did stop him trying to hit me… changed the nature of the argument, as it were… Not really successful though as he remained somewhat hyped up. So – when he was in the bath he tried to splash me… so I removed the cloth he was trying to splash me with…so he used his mouth – spitting out mouthfuls of water at me – so I just left him to it… so he ran out of the bath to spit some water at me & ran back to the bath <sigh>. End of bath. Aggrieved at being hard done by (yeah, right) he opted to curl up into a ball with his towel on him for warmth. After some protestation at not moving & us not wanting him to get chilled – I picked him up to dress him & as he was not keen on letting me, he opted for Louise dressing him <phew>. Louise quizzed him about this silly behavior – trying to pry a reason from him. We are concerned that this sort of thing is getting regular & think that there may be an underlying cause for it…. He is not normally so aggressive. He popped out with the reason being that he does not like school… which is a bit, well… I hesitate to say ‘untrue’. Further prompts got him to say about 9 things that he likes about school, & only 1 thing that he truly does not like; the ‘home corner’. An area in the class that has a Wendy house & such pretend things that go along with it. It’s too difficult to say what it is he especially dislikes about this, or whether this is the real reason for his dislike for school… He does not really go in for the ‘pretend’ element that ‘playing house’ entails. He would much rather do real cleaning & real cooking with us (Louise & I). Thinking about it he does not really do too much of that suspension of belief such role-playing relies on. He will do it when he plays with his cars & so forth though… so perhaps that’s a dead end in terms of theorising.
He does like things to continue as it is… he does not like having to do things like having a bath for instance. He will protest about having a bath, & once in he will protest about having to come out. It’s the way he is… always has been & most likely will always be. It can make life hard for him though as we cannot just have him doing as he wants… he does have to go to bed sometime! He has hardly ever fallen asleep of his own volition – say just playing with his toys… he has a marvellous (infuriating) capacity to keep going & going; like last Saturday when he was watching fireworks from the front room window, & trying to tell me what fireworks were about & bonfire night was about… & just, well talking nonsense – literally, & getting annoyed if I so much as tried to help him with his words. Who knows how long he could have kept going in that situation, but as soon as we’d managed to get him into a ‘it’s time to go to sleeep’ routine he was asleep.
Hmmm whatever – Jack actually slept quite well last night & was still asleep as I left for work – something he has not managed for a good while. It could all be that this stems from being over tired, as he is wanting to stay up as long as possible & wake up as early as possible. You worry about your kids… you want them to be happy.

Another on the way in January! What will Eve make of it all?? I think that hospital visit & watching Louise have the scan & all that may have got into her head that there may be something going on & ‘baby in mummy’s tummy’ might actually mean something… but whether she realises that this is the real thing & it’s going to change her life remains to be seen. Jack’s been through this before & grasped the concept quite well… He knows what’s in store.

Heh – still remember well when Eve was born. It was all over & we’re still in hospital. Eve was in the cot & Louise sat in a chair. We were waiting to be discharged & Jack arrives with Louise’s mum – rushes into the room & stops dead looking in shock at Louise, “Where baby in tummy?!”. He was then introduced to his sister.. heh.

Louise’s friend Carolyn came round with her new babe the other day & Jack was very sweet with her babe. When it was upset he tried to stroke its head to sooth it. Eve stands a little further off & says things like, “Baby under cover!” & so forth – a little awed, perhaps? If she takes her lead from Jack – the new baby will have no problems.