A Toilet Memory from China, 1995
I was chatting with one of the school mum’s at a birthday party yesterday. She’s from China and incredibly sweet. I told her I backpacked solo around China in 1995, and while one of my most rewarding trips; it was also incredibly difficult back then – especially when you got off the beaten track. A […]
If I Met my 19 Year Old Self, What Would I Do?
This is me at almost 18. Frocked up for my High School graduationI thought I was fat and hideous – a waste of energy Punch myself in the face or shake my hand? That is the question “Dr. Harry” of BBC’s “Silent Witness” asked “Dr. Nicky,” and I thought it was a terrific question. If […]
Another Specialist Appointment Confirms our Beliefs
I’ve just returned from taking Lex to yet another specialist appointment – this time a paediatric specialist, who I was told is “the Miracle Man” – someone who could really help us understand what we are dealing with. As far as Miracle People are concerned, I have noticed a lack of specialists who seem to […]
When Life Gets a Bit Glum, I Read
The last few weeks have been pretty shabby, for a lot of reasons, so when I’m feeling low I read and there are a couple of authors I like, because they help me to refocus and get back into the optimistic mindset I always prefer to have out of choice. Sometimes it’s not easy to […]
#3 Get You Some Community
My third lesson of parenthood is DEFINITELY get yourself a great community around you – because I believe children flourish when raised in a community. I have learnt this lesson the hard way, often completely isolating myself from anything even remotely resembling a community. When Lex first came along, I spent the first six months […]
Jax is the Big 4 Today!
My little pudding is four today, and apparently this is the age where things start getting easier? I must admit that I have seen absolutely no evidence of this supposed transition to date, as he is a rambunctious, argumentative know-it-all, but my, oh my, how I LOVE my little man. If I was asked for […]
A Profound, Funny, Yet Deeply Disturbing Book
Maybe I’m late to the party on this one, because I’ve just finished “The Slap” by Christos Tsiolkas and it definitely deserves it’s long-listing for the Man Booker Prize and for winning the Commonwealth Writers Prize 2009 for best novel in South-East Asia and South Pacific. A sometimes brutal book, it tells the story of a […]
My Son has a Speech Delay – Period
If you’ve been reading my blog, you’ll know that my five year old son, Lex, is speech delayed. He is not autistic, he does not have aspergers and he is not ADHD – he is speech delayed. His speech is delayed because when he was born, his tonsils and adenoids grew so quickly, they compressed […]