Separation Anxiety

No, I don't mean I have separation anxiety from Australia. I mean Lydia. She's not doing very well, whenever I'm not around. I tried to leave her twice in the gym playcentre this week. The first time she was crying after 15 minutes of me not being there. The second after 15 seconds! And the same at church. She's even not very happy when someone else holds her, even if I'm still in sight. She doesn't quite cry but she frowns and whines a bit. So it's something I'm still working on. Will try to go to the gym in the afternoons next week in the hope that it may be quieter and so she may feel a bit safer. Hopefully she'll get used to it otherwise I won't be able to go and I'll have to cancel my membership. That would make me sad as I've been looking forward to getting back into shape.

At the start of this week it snowed a lot. It was really deep and I'm very glad I have a big car, otherwise I'd feel like I was struggling to see over the top of the snow in some streets where it hadn't been ploughed. I went to a meet up of the mums and toddlers group I've joined. It was at the group organisers house and was really good fun. Naomi loved playing with some other kids her age and with new toys too. There are lots of activities organised with this group but I think we'll only be able to make it once a week due to childcare. But that will be ok for us. It's good to be chatting with other mums and also with others who are new to Anchorage (as many of the mums in this group happen to be).

Pete and I had a night without kids thanks to a wonderful lady at church who offered to come over and look after the girls for us. There was an evening at Pete's boss' house which we went to. Everyone is so lovely and welcoming. Was nice to see some familiar faces that I had met at the mayor's ball. We had a fun time.

Naomi started full days at childcare this week. I don't think she sleeps as long there as she would at home so she seemed a bit more tired in the evenings. I did find out something bad about the childcare place. Apparently there are two days where they let them watch a video (I had been told it was once a week which I thought was ok). But not only that. The length of time they watch for is not the 30 minutes I'd been told but an hour and a half. I think that's way too much for a 2 year old. Plus why am I paying someone to look after my daughter and all they're doing is sitting her in front of the TV. But I'm not sure there is much I can do about it. One of the TV sessions is quite late in the day so I may pick her up early that day. I'm sure that will lead to tears when she realises she doesn't get to watch so I'll need a good plan for what we'll be doing instead.

The most exciting thing for me this week was that we booked our flights back to England for Christmas. And we're going for 4 more days than I'd originally thought which is awesome. Now to book in the dates we'll see people. Hopefully we'll have some rest time too as it's been a hectic few months for us all.

I ordered a bed online for Naomi and bought the mattress from a store near Pete's work. Hopefully she won't have any issues with her bed changing when they take away the rental furniture. We're hoping that if we get her the same sheets she won't really notice or mind. I also bought a storage solution for the toys in the playroom. I'm really looking forward to that room getting tidier as there are toys all over the floor. It's actually getting quite dangerous on a couple of fronts. First I've nearly tripped a number of times on different toys. And also now that Lydia is moving around more (mostly backwards crawling but she can spin around and get to wherever she wants to go), its worrying having some of Naomi's smaller toys on the floor that Lydia could very easily get into her mouth. So it will be good to only be getting out a few toys at a time.

Also went to the church mums connect group this week. Naomi was much happier playing than last week but the poor thing did get bitten on the nose by a younger boy. He was trying to give her a cuddle and it went a bit too far. I've seen it before and it's just a phase but the poor mum was distraught and felt terrible. Naomi was fine. Cried a bit but I think it was mainly shock. She kept telling me that the green boy bit her (he was wearing a green T-shirt). This is the way she describes people now. Pete was understandably confused when she was talking about the little green boy.

We had a lovely family weekend. We started just by doing our weekly food shopping but I'd found a different supermarket during the week that meant we could drink coffee/hot chocolate whilst shopping, Naomi could go to the playcentre whilst we shopped, Pete could buy some good quality snow boots and I could look at Christmas decorations. All in the supermarket! I then went out at lunch time to a different place and bought myself some snow boots. We then went to a place called Kincaid Park to do some sledding. Below are some videos and photos. We then went to a pancake house for a light dinner as a family. Was really fun.

On Sunday we went to church and then Pete took Naomi swimming. I went to our neighbour's house at lunchtime for a clothing party (kind of like a Tupperware party but with clothes). There were some really beautiful things and I wish I had more money as I could have spent a fortune. Managed to restrain myself to a top and a jacket/sweater. We then went over to the house of one of Pete's work colleagues. It was good fun. The boys watched the American Football game on TV. They had cooked us a yummy Mexican meal and I chatted with the wife. They have two kids and Naomi played with them although she did try to boss the little girl around quite a bit! Was a late night for the girls so there were a few tears in the car on the way home but overall it was an enjoyable evening.

This week should see our sea freight arrive, as well as a party with the neighbours to get to know them. With Christmas fast approaching I may have to get my thinking cap on for presents too. More shopping – what a shame (hehe!).