Julie's Boggle

Things feel like they’re changing very quickly in our lives at the moment.  Only about 3 weeks ago we were anticipating Tom’s parents coming over for a big chunk of the summer holidays, and Tom was trying to nail down his final 2 week summer placement to complete his summer allotment.

[Background: As part of the training program, the college mandates 8 weeks of placements over the summer break which runs from early June to the end of September(!).  There are 2 weeks right at the beginning where there are only two options to choose from, but after that, the students are encouraged to fill the remaining 4-week and 2-week sections with work at somewhere that either fills a gap in their experience or will be relevant to their future ministry.]

Tom’s first choice, which would have seen the whole family down in London for two weeks, fell through a little while back.  This was disappointing but we resolved to take a holiday in London for part of that time regardless, since we’d already pinned down our accommodation with some generous friends in Shepherds Bush.

Then, in almost back-to-back news, we heard that Tom’s second choice of placement had fallen through, and his parents needed to change their plans too!  That was extra disappointment because as well as the excitement of having a family visit, I’d been looking forward to having help with my two weeks of childcare while Tom went off to do his placement.

So while Tom pondered his options, and I mused over how easy the other spouses have it with parents who live in the same country, it suddenly occurred to me that with our original summer plans scuppered, Tom could be looking for placement opportunities in South Africa!

We had our first serious discussion about it last week Tuesday and Tom set to work on it the next day.  He had his invitation from a church in South Africa by the end of the day, collared the (busy) warden on Monday at breakfast to see if the college would approve, and by Tuesday’s supper we were in possession of 4 tickets to SA!

Looking at the itinerary, it’s going to be quite a different sort of trip to the ones we’ve been used to.  We’re flying out of Newcastle not Heathrow for starters, and instead of the usual 10pm-ish departure, arriving around 6am, we leave at lunch time and fly via Dubai landing at midnight.

If we’ve remembered to collect our hotel vouchers in Newcastle, we’re then granted two free hotel rooms to (hopefully) sleep in, and our next flight leaves around 10h00, landing in Durban about 17h30.  All in all a lot longer (26 hours vs 11 hours) but a lot more time flying during the day which relieves the stress of trying to sleep (and keep children quiet) on the plane!

For the last few weeks, we’ve loved watching Jess show more and more interest in trying to straighten her wobbly legs and make them support her weight.  Not that we’re itching for her to walk (goodness, no!) but she takes so much joy in her achievements that it’s hard not to share her enthusiasm.

It’s been a slow progression so far.  Jessica didn’t do much in the way of kneeling, but from about 12 months, she quickly discovered how she could pull herself up onto low surfaces like crates, and the bottom step (eek!) and rest her torso on them while her legs learned some important muscle control.

(She got a bit distracted at that point when she found she could pull her whole body onto said low surface and have lots of fun like that too.  Before nose-diving off it head first.  Sigh.)

But from there her confidence has definitely been growing to the point where she’ll try her luck on just about anything where pulling up is concerned.

Nappy changing has become a new challenge now that Jess is no longer content just to stay on the change-mat but wants to actively engage with the person changing her — dragging herself up, gripping clothing / necklaces / stomach, er, muscle (she’s not fussy) until she’s upright.  It’s frustrating but also a great opportunity for a little hug and cuddle before lying her down again!

The best bit about this new skill is that it helps Jess to amuse herself: previously inaccessible toy crates are now available for fishing out fresh toys when she gets bored.  Hurrah!  And the flip side is that Jon can no longer put toys that he doesn’t want Jess to reach onto handy surfaces like the coffee table…

The next important lesson to learn, as far as Mum and Dad are concerned, is how to get down again.  This one’s taking a little longer but then our Jess is a hardy lass (she has an older brother after all), so for the most part, landing with a bit of a bump doesn’t faze her!

(And of course I can’t resist remembering how cute Jon looked when he got to this stage… )