Cartside

mummy's little helper

Cartside — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 22:07:00 +0100

Cubling is getting really good at the old housework. While I was cooking my first ever Risotto, she loaded the washing machine:

5 minute fun

Cartside — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:31:00 +0100

Try this, it only takes 5 minutes and is good fun.

Then leave a comment telling me how many you got.
I got 46, ah go on and beat me!

nappies

Cartside — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 21:31:00 +0100

I've been using cloth nappies for well over a year now and thought it might be useful for those considering using them to share my experience.

Initially, I was sceptical because friends who've had babies argued that the energy that goes into them (washing, drying, production) is equal to using disposable that are biodegradable. However, my sister in law started using prefolds with a nappy laundering service and I had a look at them and got interested in that idea - mainly because of the convenience factor of having them washed for you.
I soon dismissed the laundry service idea due to costs (after all, by using cloth nappies I also wanted to have a financial gain). But having seen prefolds, and tempted by the cheap initial layout, I got a small set of newborn Cotton Bottoms and a full set of small Cotton Bottoms prefolds.

I never used the newborn ones, because Cubling was 15 days late and not small, and for the first six weeks, after a difficult enough birth and with a colicky and refusing to sleep baby, plus initial problems with breast feeding, I had other things on my mind. After 6 weeks though I started to use the prefolds, Cubling at that point really needed the second size. I found prefolds fine to use, they leaked with her massive bowel movements but those were rare (I have a record breaking baby who once went 12 days without! Did I promise pre-birth never to talk about the contents of nappies???) so really it was quite manageable. I didn't use them at night because they didn't last the 12 hours (Cubling initially slept well at night and I didn't want to interrupt her sleep for a nappy change and later when she didn't sleep well at night I didn't want to make it worse with a nappy change) so I always used disposable for the night shift. Cotton Bottoms prefolds dry reasonably quickly even in wet Scottish climate. The only issue I had was with slight leaks through the edge of the wrap which got increasingly worse the longer I used them.

When buying the next size up, medium, I started to realise that prefolds were only initially cheap. Basically, you need lots of different sizes of nappies and wraps so that in the end they are actually not quite so cheap. It's tempting to spend £2 rather than £9 on a nappy if you need 16 to keep you going, but with prefolds you need at least 4 sizes and sets, with shaped nappies 2 will do (there are also one size ones). Nevermind the hassle of having to get regular sets to fit the growing baby, the main issue I have is cupboard space. I tried to sell the smaller size on, and they sure won't. With shaped nappies, you can usually sell on for at leat 50% of the purchase price, with prefolds, you're lucky if you get 25%. Which isn't worth the effort really.

I'd always been interested in trying out Tot Bots nappies because they're made in Glasgow. At the point of having bought the third size of Cotton Bottoms prefolds (medium), I contacted the nappy lady, got some advice on which nappies are best for my circumstances. It's a great service, with a personal advisor who gets a commission if you order with them, which is fine because they do put in a lot of time. I tried some of the suggestions but tot bots were absent, and I did want to give them a try too, so got a pack with Bumbles, Motherease one size and Motherease wraps.

My verdict: I adore Tot Bots fluffles because there's nothing cuter on a baby bum, they are super soft and dry overnight. They rule. For wraps, Motherease got rid of any previous leaks, however, as they get tighter, they cause Cubling a sore rash. After using Cotton Bottoms wraps size medium for months, they now don't just leak at the edges but also through the main part, so aren't really serving their purpose anymore. Bumbles are fine for absorbency but a tad small and on the rough side, and don't dry so quickly. Having used shaped nappies, I wouldn't go back to prefolds. As for fastenings, I prefer velcro, poppers are fine too, but whoever labelled nappy nippers "ingenious" surely never used them, especially not on a wriggly baby. They are a pain and really not my cup of tea.

As to the issue of how green cloth nappies are - I wash a load of nappies every four days which is every third load of washing. It's sufficient to wash them at 60 degrees, and I dry them on the line, so I really don't see how the environmental impact can be equal to using disposables, even degradable ones. I still use disposables at night time (but may change soon should I get my next size up of motherease wraps) and find that even the amount of nappy waste caused by this is shocking. Above all, I don't find the extra wash every 4 days a chore and there's no soaking required. The only issue about using cloth nappies is that many childminders and nurseries won't accept them, just as they won't accept food cooked by parent. Fortunately, Cubling's childminder is cool with both, but for all those who don't. there still needs to be an effort made to redress the balance of health and safety regulations and environmental protection.

As to nappy rash and the like, I find that it gets worse in disposables. Cons: bigger bums which with chubby babies can make it hard getting them into trousers. Leaky wraps (I still use those leaky Cotton Bottoms ones) do make for a slightly smelly baby. However the shaped nappies hold the smell in so well that sometimes I don't notice the need for a change. When travelling, cloth nappies are too bulky and don't agree with tight Ryanair weight allowances.

15 months after switching to cloth nappies, it's the most natural thing to do. The fact that you can get excited about a particular type of cloth nappies just demonstrates that it's not just about being eco friendly. I see them as a luxury.

cubling update

Cartside — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 14:28:00 +0100

Just a quicky for my own records. For 4 nights in a row, Cubling slept from 8pm until at least 5am, twice until 6pm. That's more often than the total in the previous 16 months. So I'm a mummy who's had a good amount of sleep at last. It was also useful as I've managed to get a very sore shoulder and wouldn't have been able to lift her (or get out of my bed to get her out of her bed...). Before that, she did wake once a night, but was easily settled with a quick cuddle. So getting rid of night feeds seems to have done the job. I still stand in disbelief when she wakes at 5 or 6am because I'm so not used to this.

On the language front, she now says "teeth", "water" and "sus" which I guess mean juice. She also say ta when given something (she can't have that from us, thumbs up for the childminder in giving her manners), mimi for "milk", "tata" for jacket (that used to be for bye bye) and baba for bye bye and she uses dues for lots of items she knows. And she calls the moon "nana" for banana. Well, she's got a point there. The other day she said frog, but it was a one off. She also uses more signs now, like spider, duck, and various others. She also now sings ee ii ee ii oo of old macdonald.
On the bilingual front, she clearly speaks much more English than German, but understands both languages equally and also connects the German terms with the English ones she knows. So if I ask her if she want "Wasser" she'll nod and say "water".

She still has a temper and no patience to speak of, so outbursts are frequent and long, often without any apparent reason. But she can also have such fund and is now happy to read a book and join in with activities. Where she usually causes havoc.

why early years matter

Cartside — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:18:00 +0100

I once was an advocate for free university education. Took part in demonstrations when student fees loomed and all that. Why? Because I was at uni, and it suited me. And I thought great education is the be all and end all for everyone.

Well, I'm able to learn and fortunately university hasn't messed me up fully. The problem with higher education is that it benefits few, is expensive and doesn't do much to tackle the real problems society faces. What are those? Disadvantage, inequality, violent crime, substance abuse, poverty. Unhappy people to put it simply.

The thing is, there may be a magic formula tackle all of these problems. It goes under the name of early years, that is the time from conception to 5. Why?

The key to breaking the cycle of violence and antisocial behaviour as well as poverty and inequality lies in the first years of a child's life, even the very first years. Violence develops by a combination of an external trigger and personal propensity to violence, the latter develops primarily from wrong treatment before age 3. Wrong treatment means neglect, abuse, or severe discipline combined with a primary carer who doesn't listen to the child. The ability to empathise prevents violent crime, but empathy can only develop when the primary carer attaches and attunes to the infant. I.e.: we need good parents/carers.

The UK severely underperforms in ensuring child well-being in a European comparison. There is a clear link between child well-being and availability of affordable childcare and a more flexible approach to maternity/paternity leave for new parents. Give at least a year of maternity/paternity leave and subsidise good child care for children from one to school age. So invest in early years and you have happy children. Have happy children and you get economically productive and socially responsible citizens.

Early years work is crucial in tackling poverty. Research has shown that for every pound spend in early years, the return for the individual and society is £17 (made up of crime reduction, improved health, improved economic activity and earnings).

The gap in attainment between children from different backgrounds widens with formal education during the school years. Education, free schooling, thus fail to bridge the gap. However intervention in the form of support for parents and enriching child-care provision which reaches children before they start school does bridge the gap of attainment between rich and poor, disadvantaged and advantaged. If society focuses on free education only, this inadvertently contributes to increasing social inequalities.

“Disadvantaged children particularly benefit from pre-school provision.” “For provision for over threes, the evidence is consistent that pre-school provision for this age range is beneficial to educational and social development of the whole population.” Quality provision increases this benefit for children. So investing in the early years benefits all of us.

The problem is that in spite the recognition of the importance of early years work, it is undervalued, underpaid and severely underfunded. If we are serious about wanting to tackle poverty, crime, health, substance abuse, inequalities and worklessness, we need to redress this imbalance.

What we need is this:

nurturing and stimulating home environments available to every child
development of parental capacity pre and post birth
availability of affordable high quality child care for all children and
communities which provide a supportive environment for children and families.

The research supporting my points are listed below. Above all I'm infuriated that the latest round of Scottish government funding missed out long-standing and successful early years projects. The problem is that investment in early years does not yield immediate benefits. Over time though, it yields the largest and most sustained benefit for the whole of society. Instead though, it seem that yet again the political agenda is set to support initiatives that get people who don't want to work into work they don't want to do, to force us all into being economically active. It creates an expectation for everyone to be in employment, while reducing the value of parenting. It is shortsighted to look for a quick fix and expect the number of people in employment to rise in a few years, while early year intervention and parental support gets sidelined yet again, creating yet another generation of messed up children who will be a burden to society and themselves.

Alan Sinclair: 0-5: How Small Children Make a Big Difference. The Work Foundation, 2007.

Jonathan Bradshaw, Petra Hoelscher: An Index of Child Well-being in the European Union. 2006.

Melhuish: A Literature Review of the Impact of Early Years Provision. See also The Scottish Government: Early Years and Early Intervention: A joint Scottish Government and COSLA policy statement 2008, who also emphasise that early years intervention is the most effective.

HM Treasury: Choice for parents, the best start for children: a ten year strategy for childcare. 2005 on how early years intervention and break the cycle of poverty and worklessness and The Second Millennium Cohort Study (The Centre for Longitudinal Studies) which uncovers severe underachievement at age 3 by children from households where more than one language is spoken.

fleemarket in Dormagen

Cartside — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 22:24:00 +0100

Oh bliss. For the second time running, while in my sleepy hometown of Dormagen, there was a fleemarket. I just love rummaging through bizarre collections and buy useless stuff for close to nothing. My strange collection of prey was:
three knitting needles, three soft toys, one handknitted jumper for Cubling, a mouse sweater (for Cubling), two books (guess for whom). Granddad almost fainted, while I thought I'd been comparably good. The problem is of course, as usual, flipping Ryanair who only allow 15kg worth of check in luggage, no infant allowance thrown into the bundle. It's hard on the way out, harder on the way back because I do want to bring little pressies for family and colleagues. And of course with child, you get given stuff. Which is really lovely, if it weren't for the Ryanair induced weight allowance problem.

Apparently, fleemarkets will be a monthly occurence here. That's one good thing, even better that they take place in the centre of town, on the pedestrian area, and start at a decent time (11a.m.). Compare that to Glasgow markets - Sunday out near the city dump with a starting time of 8a.m.

Cubling loved it all, she has eyes that won't miss a snake, a banana, a cat or a dog. Rather funny because mummy spends half the time trying to find the snake/banana/cat/dog Cubling has spotted. I spy with my little eyes... She's winning at the moment. We also had great fund playing the "nein" game: taking out a book from granddad's bookcase gets her a "nein" from mummy, so let's play at taking out a book from granddad's bookcase, waiting for mummy's "nein", then repeating it in the same tone of voice, big grin, and putting book back. Repeat. Until mummy bursts out laughing. She usually does, can't help herself.
I hope she doesn't think books on granddad's bookcase are called "nein".
Somehow just somehow the purpose of stopping her from taking out books is ever so slightly defeated (scratches her head).

Well, at the airport, I was convinced that my backpack was considerably heavier than Cubling, and thus danger of a hefty charge loomed. However, it seems that I'm so used by now to carrying a toddler on my hip and so not used anymore to carrying a backpack that my fear was actually unfounded. And it didn't even burst. Phew.

a cardigan for R.

Cartside — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 23:00:00 +0100

When pregnant with Cubling, I resurrected an old hobby of mine. Knitting. It came back quite naturally when I went into Mandor's fabric store (for fabric mind you, specifically wedding dress fabric) and saw a knitted duck. It spellt the name of my then pregnant future sister in law on it. So I got the book with the duck pattern, the wool and the needles and got knitting.

Some months later, I was pregnant too, looked at the book and fancied knitting a blanket for Cubling. It took me all pregnancy, and I had to be desciplined towards the end to finish it in time. Of course, Cubling helped a bit by being 15 days late.

Once Cubling got better at sleeping, and after seeing some of the amazing pieces Jules has knitted, I got more and more into it and started a project for a baby-to-be. I didn't know if it was to be a girl or a boy, so left the knitting of the rim for button holes and buttons until after the birth, and had it ready for the first visit three weeks after R's birthday. It's the first time I gave as a present a piece which had taken me a lot of time and effort knitting, the duck was peanuts in comparison. As with Cubling's blanket, it is just very special to knit something for a not yet born baby. The piece grows as the baby grows and with luck, they meet just in time.
I decided to take a photo as a keepsake. Here it is.

It's a relatively simple pattern, the special bit is the hood which took ages but is just very cute. I made a mistake finishing the hood off, but actually like the way it turned out. Somehow it turned out to be much bigger than the 6-12 months size but nevermind, babies grow.

I think now I've reasonably warmed up and am ready for more complicated patterns.
My progress is slow because I only manage to knit occasionally, but the beauty of it is that there's no rush. I tried to get some knitting pattern books through bookmooch but no success, so the libraries were invaded. I'm particularly taken with a book by the name of Alterknits. It has such projects as using old T-shirts - cutting them into stripes and knitting a rug out of it. It stretches the idea of what yarn is, and the imagination with it.

happiness

Cartside — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 21:08:00 +0100

is waking up to Cubling lying next to me wriggling along to Huey Lewis' "I'm so happy to be stuck with you" playing on the radio.

And yes, I am happy to be stuck with you too.

16 months

Cartside — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 22:41:00 +0100

A few days after Cubling turned 16 months, I've been seen with my nose in books on toddler development. I just love to read what to expect at this stage, and to see what Cubling can or can't do at the moment. Honestly, not to brag about her or worry, just because it's exciting. I'm not joking, I really find it exciting.

She has obsessions with a few things and will spot them even far away and out of known contexts. It's quite awe inspiring how well she can spot these things. They are:

Fish. It started in the Aquarium, and it's been a constant since. She doesn't say fish, just opens/closes her mouth like a fish and is a great fish spotter. Even the abstract birds in her cot mobile are fish to her. She can also tell fish at the supermarket and knows she likes to eat fish - if I tell her the food in front of her is fish, she does the fish mouthing, and then opens her mouth very wide, leaning forward.

Keys. It's one of her first bilingual words, that says it all, not an easy one to pick in German at that! Sissel it is in her pronunciation in German, seys in English. A clear case of overgeneralisation, she also calls bolts a key, any other metal item on doors, the key whole, the metal bit on the parasol pole etc. She spots incredible numbers of keys and locks, and you suddenly realise how obsessed we have become about locking us in. She will throw a tantrum if you try to take a key off her, so better not give it to her in the first place. She'll also throw one if she sees a key and doesn't get it, so better not have it in sight. She also knows daddy has a key in his pocket. You can't win, she knows where the keys are...

Babies. Is she trying to tell me something? Hm. Anyway, she'll spot a baby before my poor eyesight catches up, and proudly announces "baby". I could claim she can say it in both languages as well, just that it is actually the same word in German. She'll walk over to babies in buggies and prams and try to stroke and kiss them. Ahhh.

Dogs - well that's been a long standing obsession. Bracken, our neighbour's dog, is her favourite and I don't blame her. A cute and friendly Scottie dog, perfect height for stroking for Cubling, and an audible bark which generally interferes with dinner time.

Shoes. They mean going out and she just can't wait to get out. She even sometimes brings me my shoes to make me hurry up...

She's an expert in nodding yes and no now, and only rarely confuses them. It makes communication so much easier, especially because she doesn't just try to contradict but actually nods "yes" if I guessed her wish right. She can say "nein" and "no" beautifully and seems to differentiate as to who she is talking to. I get the "nein", other people get the "no". Other new words are buggy (bubby), birdie, and eeyai - the latter strangely means cat. Don't ask. Better than her first attempt which sounded like the German for shit. She uses signs more frequently now to show where she wants to go, to ask for the hat, to identify some animals (duck, crocodile, elephant and I count fish in here too), and can do "woof woof" as well as "wau wau", both of these now replace her "doo" which I thought meant "dog" but now seems to refer to things she knows well but doesn't quite know how to say (flower, guinea pigs ...). "Dous" remains the word for "shoes". Her "hiya" was replaced by "hallo" after our holiday in Germany, and today she added "hi" to it. tata is in the process of becoming "byebye" (pronounced baba) and she continues to say all done (aaldaa) and "nana" or banana. For a few days now she refers to granny as "nanny". How many words does that make? I don't know, not sure which of these are considered to be real words. She still says "ssss" for "heiss" and "snake", and imitates other animal noises (refusing to do sheep and pig).

She's getting good at spotting things in books, and is developing real favourite books - where's that monkey and water baby are the current top ones. She loooves monkeys, elephants and snakes, and is not unimpressed by her former favourite, the zebra. Where's that monkey has all her favourite animals, including even fish.

On Monday, she kicked a ball for the first time and almost managed to walk up low steps by herself. Oh, did I say she loves balls and grabs any ball she sees. In the swing park, she now climbs up the stairs to the shoot, and slides down on her own. At the same time she gets bored very quickly with any item, be it the swing, books, toys, rocking horse or any other item. She'll go onto one thing and want off only a few seconds later, and this seems short even for a toddler. And she runs off.

The one thing she doesn't do well yet, particularly in relation to her age, is scribble and draw. She will make some marks on paper, but nothing sustained. Again, her attention span seems the problem. However, there is improvement: Reading books is getting a bit better if she's not tired and hyper, and so does taking building blocks/clothes pegs out of containers and back. And gardening. The new lightweight buggy is a winner too, she likes it so much more than the expensive Quinny. It'll be a sore back for me then.

She looks like a real girl now, full of character and personality. She's heavy at 12.5 kg (that's after not eating 3 weeks in the past 6 due to illness), but doesn't look too chubby, not sure about her height only that her clothes are getting tight, especially as we're still using cloth nappies. Her favourite food is fish, pasta/bread, porridge chicken, yoghurt and ice cream. I need to mix vegetables into her food because when allowed to pick pieces from our plates, she'll eat meat/fish first, followed by the starchy stuff, followed by nought, and the desert (yoghurt). It's not that she doesn't like veg, but if given the choice... She still refuses to eat cheese and fruit pieces.

Finally she delights in being chased, exploring mouths, putting my necklace into my mouth, splashing with water, watching bugs and bigger animals. She doesn't like indoor soft play areas, being strapped in a high chair, horses and walking while I'm holding her hand.

nurture through nature

Cartside — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:40:00 +0100

Seems my ideas are all en vogue. Children in Scotland have issued a press release calling for the Scottish Government to include a nurture through nature agenda in the Early Years Framework. In fact, the conference that Children in Scotland ran and which I couldn't attend due to work commitments to me had looked pretty lacking in the early years area of promoting outside education. The press release clearly redresses the balance.

Along the same lines, an anti-bullying network conference looked at the implication of an over protective stance on bullying and our society's aversion to accept any form of risk. While we all want to protect our children, they argue that we are trying to ignore that life is a fatal disease ending in death, and in an attempt to cheat death and injury, we emprison our children in environments which are neither contributing to a healthy development nor a happy childhood.

Tim Gill, author of “No Fear – growing up in a risk-averse society” put it into a nice and short check:
When you were young where did you most like to play?
Was it outdoors?
Was it out of adult supervision?
Form me the answers are yes. That's because I'm over 25. Nowadays the answers is a definite no and that's where the problem lies.
In an attempt to keep children safe, we deny them the important opportunity to play outdoors and without adult supervision. So it's time to maybe reconsider if we do have the right balance.

The answer seems to be that we need safe opportunities for outdoor and unsupervised play, which forest kindergardens, among other things, can offer.

look!

Cartside — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:32:00 +0100

Germany is drowning in rain, Cubling is ill, Cartside is very tired (as is the whole house or at least our immediate neighbours left, up and down if I'm allowed to guess) so the time is right for some recommendations for rainy day internet browsing.
I've added a few new links to my blogroll, and to be honest, there are too many by now. So I thought I'd introduce some of them.

www.bookmooch.com is a great site for bookworms like myself. A bit like www.readitswapit.co.uk in that you can give and receive books. While readitswapit facilitates book exchanges person to person (and in the UK only), bookmooch has a different system: for listing books you are happy to give away and for actually giving away books you get points. With these points you can get any book in the inventory, so you don't have to find a suitable book from the inventory of the person who wants to swap, but you can wait until a book you really want becomes available. It's also great because it works internationally - to make up for higher postage costs, you get more points for international swaps and there's an option of setting some conditions, e.g. for international requests, two books have to be requested before you agree to give anything away. I love it because I can get rid of books I no longer need and someone will get them who actually values them. Better than www.bookcrossing.com (where you don't know if the book will land in the bin). The listing system is hassle free (much easier than ebay) and the guy behind it also facilitates support for charities. The only quibble I would have is that the database could do with some tidying up, as the same book may come up as 10 ever so slightly different listings and it can be a bit tricky to find out which is the correct one. Of course, if like me, you're looking for books that are popular and rarely given away, you may end up accummulating points and not getting any books. Still, I love giving my books to people who actually want them.

www.etsy.com is like a niche-ebay. They host online shops of stuff that people have made themselves. And everyone can set up their own shop. Which I did. Now I only need to make things myself that I could sell. The fee structure is nicer than ebay, as it gives you a few months for each item, more suitable to crafty stuff than the 10 day on ebay. They use paypal, so it's pretty international, although of course there is the issue of postage fees which will be added (and most shops are located in the US from where this site hails). Still, a great idea and resource for special presents.

If you're interested in a green blog, this is for you: Not new year, from a family trying to survive without buying anything for a full year. A fabulous challenge, which I know I couldn't do, as much as I wish I could. It'll make you think but also gives you lots of ideas. As a long standing freecycler, I'm intrigued by the idea of Wyecycle - the town (village/hamlet/city, delete as appropriate, I'm a bit ignorant when it comes to the south of England, really sorry...) of Wye has a sort of fleemarket where everyone brings the stuff they no longer need, and it's all free, so you drop your stuff, and pick up other people's things. I quite fancy something like this in Glasgow.

Finally, Save Pollok Park is an initiative by Weegies (Glaswegians) to stop our big and lovely Pollok Country Park being turned into an ape amusement arcade. The park was donated by the Maxwell Stirling family for the people of Glasgow, not for profit making companies who let people play at monkey for a couple of hours. The family themselves have objected to the park and I applaud the Glasgow aristocracy for that. Incidentally, that's the park that would be just so perfect for a forest/nature kindergarden.

night night

Cartside — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 20:45:00 +0100

This is a boring sleep no sleep post - don't feel bad for skipping it.

We have a new night time routine.
It's always good to start with the positive, so for three nights running, there have been no feeds between midnight and five a.m., and one night even none between 9.20 p.m. and 7 a.m. (I still do the midnight feed if she wakes when I go to bed in the hope that this will send her off to dreamland until the morning).

The eight o'clock wee willy winky bedtime is out of the the windae though. Our typical night looks like this: 8 p.m. bedtime, followed by 15 minutely cries that necessitate saving Cubling from entanglement in the travel cot or bumping head or other body parts on the wall next to it. She moves a lot you see, and the travel cot is minute compared to her bed at home. It also creeks which keeps me awake when she moves. Usually, at around this time (9.30pm) she's down for good. And I'm ready for bedybyes too, having run after her all day in the hot summer sun, just that it's too sad really. So I plough on, writing job applications rather than reading and knitting.

Last night, Cubling woke at 1 a.m. Determined not to feed her, I took her into my bed to get her back to sleep. It worked well, I hardly remember what happened, just that now and again I woke to find her moving away from me and kicking her feet into my body, which kind of indicates that her head was moving towards the other side of the bed. I tried to put my arm around her to protect her from the drop but she pushed it away. Eventually I turned and embraced sleep instead.

At 5 a.m. I was awoken by a big crashlike sound.
Cubling had fallen out of bed. Oh my. She cried. I cried. We huddled and cuddled. My heart thumped, I looked for broken bones, blood and bruises (there were none). She looked for sleep which had been rudely interrupted and promptly fell asleep on my arm. Amazed but still shaken, and very ruefully, I put her back in the travel cot. As usual, the best method for wakening her. She watched me but didn't cry, tried really hard to get herself back to sleep, in any possible position. It was hilarious - she tried so many sleeping positions, stood up, kneeled, sat, lay on her back, front, left, right. She couldn't get herself to sleep. 45 minutes later I took mercy and decided this feed would be a morning one and anyway she deserved it for falling out of bed like that. She fed beautifully and her face was full of blissful sleep.
I placed her back in the travel cot.
She slept until 9 a.m. For once I got up a full hour before her.

So, I can see the end of night feeds, but I'm still in very strong doubt about the end of night wakings. And with night feeds, at least those were generally short and sweet and kept her in her bed. Still, it's worth a shot.

age of aquarius

Cartside — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:48:00 +0100

We were getting ready for the big trip to the zoo when mummy checked up on some building work on trams and undergrounds to avoid unnecessary delays when in the city of Cologne. An eye fixed for a couple of second on the screen was a enough to cause another unnecessary delay in the form of Cubling breaking the drawer next to the computer.

Well we made the zoo eventually, or rather the aquarium due to the heavy rain. Cubling was enthralled. Fish everywhere. Mouth opening and closing, for an hour and a half without break. Running from one fish tank to another showing us all the fishes in the world. Tiny and huge, colourful and dull, stripey and dotted, flat and round, spikey and smooth. I don't think I've ever seen her so excited and happy. Maybe she was a fish in her previous life. She then complied to conk out for a decent length of time, allowing mummy and former hall of residence mate to have a decent chat and lunch. That's the way.

The monkey house was quite a success as well, we even managed not to get peed upon. The zebras, giraffes and bears found Cubling's approval too.

Oh, and she's definitely found the "no" headshake. Sometimes I think she's trying to say both yes and no at the same time. That's funny particularly if it causes loss of balance.

There are more building works going on. The local swing park has disappeared. Instead there's a massive hole. I believe it's an archaeological site. Why oh why is my home town built on a Roman fort? And why does it take them over 2000 years to dig it up? You'd think they'd be done with it by now.

counting losses

Cartside — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 21:24:00 +0100

So far at her grandad's house, Cubling has destroyed a porcelain harlekin by wiping it off the sofa onto the tiled floor and a piece of pottery by pulling the table cloth it was sat on. And I was sure the high chair was far enough away for her not to reach the table cloth when I took the liberty of a quick visit to the bathroom without her for once.
The harlekin belonged to my mum, so big oh dear. The second incident was lucky, I caught her before the crystal candle holder followed the pottery thingy.

That's two in two days.
She also said "nein" for the first time today, and has become a vicious head shaker (in additon to the nodding). Does that tell you what she gets to hear all day? I mean, her two German words are heiss and nein, while all the fun words are English. Hm.

There's nothing worse than a non-toddler-proof flat. In fact, I'm spending most of the day outdoors for both our sanitieses.

Oh and she won't go to sleep. The weaning off night feeds (my big plan for this holiday) is going well because she goes to bed so late and exhausted that there are no night feeds. It took an hour tonight sending her off to the land of nod, pretty much back to the land of colicky newborn times. Went through the range of singing, stroking, walking, rocking, bottle, controlled crying (I still can't do more than 5 minutes at a time), calpol and finally gave in to the old favourite yummy mummy dummy because I was exhausted.

a birthday pet

Cartside — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 00:11:00 +0100

I spent some of my time in May and June working on this with the P7 pupils at Carnwadric Primary School.
It's a short clip about the 8 week activity we ran with puppeteer Shane Connolly of the Scottish Mask and Puppet Centre. This is the second time we used the medium of puppets and a puppet show, and I'm an utter convert. It's fun and gets amazing stuff out of kids, they never cease to impress me. You can also view the actual puppet show.

intense

Cartside — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 22:13:00 +0100

Fridays are my Cubling days. They day I'm off to enjoy quality one-to-one time with Cubling.
Fridays are also the days I'm shattered in the evenings. Work is easy in comparison, even on stressful days.
I still really enjoy Fridays, don't get me wrong, but here are some highlights of the day:

Breakfast: Cubling loves breakfast. However, she has a habit of coaxing mummy to do things before opening her mouth. She doesn't quite get that not opening her mouth is her loss, so we play the daDADAAA game. The rules are this: one spoonful of breakfast, Cubling shouts da DA DAAA, pointing at some indiscriminate item on the table. Now mummy has to guess what she wants, and she'll only open her mouth once she has this item. Towards the end of breakfast time, she demands the bowl and a spoon, pretending to feed herself while I shove the food with a second spoon into her mouth. Needless to say that she doesn't manage to actually feed herself, but distributes the porridge on high chair, clothes, hair, table, floor, mummies clothes.

She won't let mummy eat breakie instead screams to be let out of the highchair. I comply. She runs straight to the front door, gets her jacket and points at the door, announcing "sey" (that's Denglish for "key") and "doo" ("shoe"), followed by pointing at the buggy. Yes, my baby can communicate very well that she doesn't like to be indoors. Maybe she wants to go to the childminder? I choose to believe she just wants out. Is mummy allowed to finish breakfast? No way jose.

I had a great outing planned which involved taking the train to the city.
First obstacles are the 537 steps up to the train station. Of course lots of people pass us, none of them offer to help. I can manage so no worries. The train journey takes 10 minutes, but will Cubling sit in her buggy? After 5 minutes I relent for the sake of my fellow passengers. Before I enter the City Halls Venue for the Mini Music Makers session she's signed up for, I let her run on the Ramshorn Theatre's graveyard. Nothing sinister in that, it's a lovely city centre graveyard next to a former church, a green sanctuary in the middle of the hustle. The idea is to give her a chance to get rid of some of her running energy. Half an hour later we enter the City Halls. They have a nice and spacious foyer, Cubling runs without a break, exploring absolutely everything. I observe the other toddlers who are all walking calmly, half the distance covered, or sit happily in buggies. Cubling gets a name tag. She takes it off. I put it on again, she takes it off etc, until I have the fabulous idea and stick it on her back. Point to mummy. She proceeds to take other toddlers' name tags off.
Finally we can go in and sit down on a dodgy chair. Cubling is supposed to sit on my lap for songs and nursery rhymes, later supposed to walk holding my hand in a circle of mummies and toddlers (no daddies there). Followed by quiet time holding a teddy and listening to classical music. This is what Cubling actually does: wriggles incessantly to free herself from mummy's lap, runs to tutor, runs to basket with toys, points to ball on piano shouting "daDADAAA". Runs over to other toddlers. Runs to door. Tries to climb chairs, radiators, piano stools. Tries to switch hifi on and off.
Mini Music Maker Tutor gives us a smile with her goodbye that seems to say "while I feel very sorry for your plight, please please please don't come back".
I'm drenched in sweat.
Cubling repeats train display but conks out just before we get home. Phew, we can have lunch in peace.

Lunch and dinner, repeat breakfast scenario.

Afternoon: we go to the park. I let her run wherever she wants, let her climb up slides, steps and climbing frames and wonder whether she's really only just 15 months. She can climb things I can't even climb. What will she climb when she's three? A tree maybe? She says "hello" to absolutely everyone, including dogs, rabbits, birds, ceramic fairies and garden gnomes. She runs up to cars, points to the keyhole and announces "sey". We come home, daddy boils the kettle, she says "tea", then "sss" for "heiss" (hot). She goes over to the neighbour, splashes with their dog's drinking water and spots bananas in the neighbour's kitchen, announces "nana" and goes for them. She'd eat the skin if only I let her. All the while she vocalises babbles, protowords and real words (with daily favourites, today it was mummy) incessantly. A constant moving of legs and working of vocal chords.

One breakthrough: She does an all body nod for "yes" now. I can actually ask her what she wants and she'll tell me if I'm right or not. Wow. And she's not negative - she'll nod to almost any suggestion (minus nappy change). She can do no, but only does it as a joke, not to contradict. Her behaviour is neither negative nor aggressive, just very intense. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to survive a two hour plane journey on my own with her strapped to my lap if she can't even tolerate five minutes.

redundant

Cartside — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:37:00 +0100

Now that the gods (aka directors) decided that my area of work will be shut down by the end of this year, the time has come for some navel gazing. On the one hand, it's a great organisation to work for, and conditions of employment are really the best I've ever had. Can this be enough? Because, on the other hand, they are cutting the work I feel passionate about and I feel very critical about this decision. Some questions I've been asking myself are these: Do I want to work for an organisation who abandons their work with two groups of children whose rights are most abused in the UK? Do I want to fit in with the new focus of work, and no longer work with asylum seeking/refugee children? Is there any realistic chance that I will actually be able to continue working there even if the answer to both questions is yes? Shall I stick it out, take redundancy pay and potentially "gardening leave" hoping to maybe still find a niche within the organisation while enjoying the good life in the next few months? Or is it wiser to apply for other jobs right now? Will I accept a potential pay cut when applying for other jobs (I'm not exactly overpaid as it is)?

My feelings range between anger, acceptance and disappointment. I'm living through days where I run fabulous sessions with young people that are exciting, motivating and full of promises that won't be realised because the powers in charge decided that we're not important enough and next I'm confronted with the harsh reality of winding down a programme of work which is in top gear.

Arguments go in circles. What is value? To impact on the largest number of children or to impact on the severest child rights abuses? Is it numbers we're after, nothing but numbers? Was the decision made bearing a future Tory government in mind which will make raising funds for asylum/refugee work even harder than it already is? Am I working for an organisation who only take the easy path? May they unwittingly be consolidating their status as a charity which appeals to the white upper middle class of advanced age who on the whole prefer to care about children of darker skin colour only when they live outside of the UK?

Among the certainty of the redundancy of my work and our team, the management is talking of withdrawing with dignity and embracing the new direction with the usual determination to make the impossible happen. I'm sorry. I'm not ready to sign up for it just yet. And I don't know if I will be at some point - I need more time for the moment. As far as job applications are concerned, it's a tricky business. When is the best time to ask for flexible working hours, special leave entitlements and childcare voucher schemes?

Looking at vacancies it is disconcerting to find out how many ask for an ability and willingness to work irregular hours, weekends and nights away. In my previous life I wouldn't have thought twice about it. Now with child, such conditions effectively disqualify me - and I wonder if employers realise that they are excluding women with small children who may actually be excellent candidates for such jobs. It smells like indirect discrimination to me, similar to the unwanted side effect of the upcoming redundancies: They will to a high percentage affect the few minority ethnic staff that currently work for the organisation, making it even whiter than it already is.

umbrellas

Cartside — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 23:26:00 +0100

There's something not right if you go to an open air concert and you can't see the stage because some ingenious people had the most stupidest idea of bringing and using their brollies.
I mean, seriously, you guys live in Glasgow. It rains. Most of the time. Get used to it and get a hoody, but for goodness sake leave the brolly at home when you go and see Radiohead. It's just not cool gigging with a brolly in your hand. Honest.

Nevermind though, it was our first big long night out 15 months after B-day and I won't let brollies or indeed rain ruin a fab night. Radiohead were amazing as ever (even though I couldn't see a thing all night and ended up with a stiff neck for trying anyway) and Cubling had her own wee adventure, her first sleepover at the childminder. It went well and she managed without magic mummy milk just fine (does that mean she manipulates me? Probably. Ah well). She was just a bit confused not to find her pal at the breakfast table upon arrival (as she usually does in the morning) but thought it was real cool to spend the evening with N. In the morning though she was clearly chuffed to see us turn up.
She didn't quite sleep through but boy did I.

of zombies and mini monsters

Cartside — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:15:00 +0100

Today was a strange one. While I'm still getting used to the idea that I'm going to lose my job in six month's time (the first "permanent" post I've ever held, and the shortest stay in post at the same time) with some hope of continuing to be employed but the assurance that my actual work will no longer be there, it's hard to stay motivated. But then again, easier than expected. Thankfully, my job is varied, interesting, worthy and also extremely busy - no time to get moody. There is some attempt to keep up normality at work, and it helps that we're all in the same boat.

Then this morning, after dropping off Cubling to the childminder, I'm stopped by the police. Apparently the car's breaklight is acting up an indicator and flashes when going over humps. And humps there are many on that daily trip. Police issued ticket and checked that the car is all registered and insured, with me standing there like the puss in boots in my strange combination of cycling lycras and work clothes. Little wonder they were suspicious. Now I have to face the daunting prospect of showing them my dodgy driving license which is a) still in my maiden name and b) a European one, (I've always felt reluctant to exchange it for a UK one).

During the afternoon, driving back very tired from a day full of running activities, a young woman appears on the road amidst the queuing traffic. Zigzagging between cars, throwing herself onto the green strip, her dark red blood pouring out of her mouth. She comes to a rest beside my car and I fiddle for the electronic window opener, think better and get out. The guy in the car in front of me is already there, but further away. Another guy also out of his car, on his mobile to the police I assume. I walk up to the woman, notice stripes of dirt on her clothes, an expression of pain, fear and despair on her face. Her movements and behaviour are erratic, I cannot make sense of what I see. So much blood, where are her teeth? I walk up to her, reach out to her with my hand asking if I can help her in any way. Then my eyes are fixed on her mouth, my hand which made her stop and look at me, retracts, suddenly aware of potential danger, AIDS, and, yes, zombies. As in "28 days later". Her appearance uncannily resembles those zombies. She notices my change in body language and runs off, zigzagging downhill, between cars, vegetation, half way on road and pavement. I gesture to two policemen I see nearby, they observe with calm, but don't act. I shout of them, trying to make them aware of urgency. There is no way I can turn or get to the woman, I have to let go, just like the two guys who are still standing outside of their cars. What's left is a feeling of having failed this woman, realising I have a grain of senseless stupidity in my brain.

Back home Cubling explored the effects of bringing together electricity and water in the form of pouring her cup into the telephone charger. I did think her hair looked a bit on edge. It did no good to her bum as we had to struggle with yet another bout of severe nappy rash. By way of recording her language development (the linguist in me cannot quite let go), she now has the following words (or versions thereof): daddy (also dida), mama, all done, tata (bye bye), hiya, nona (Rona), ssss (heiss), du (dog), ca (car). She is also proficient at imitating a fish, a snake, a cow, a monkey, a dog and a duck (the latter sounds more like a galloping horse, but never mind). As to signs, she signs duck and milk, which are similar... we haven't really kept up other signs so it's not surprising she doesn't do any others. I think she still confuses Eis and heiss, but has lost both the fear of the Eisbaer (polar bear) and Benny the puppet. In fact, she now loves Benny the puppet. She also adores Bracken, our neighbour's Scottie dog and Siegfried, our friend's cat and thinks it's hilarious if Bracken licks her fingers and if Siegfried lashes out at her with his paw because she's annoying him. Blissfully unaware that lashing out cats aren't to be messed with.

Above all, Cubling raised £150 for Save the Children by doing the mini monster marathon, and she made it into the Evening Times. Not just once, no, three times! I just adore the photo where she's being pushed by running mummy and is clapping her hands... There are also photos of mummy pushing her here, but you have to be quick so see them.

night light

Cartside — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 22:35:00 +0100

I'm a walking zombie today. One could think it has something to do with my job being scrapped, but no, I'm not that fickle. It's the old baby sleeping habits that have me fighting leaden eye lids. These are the days where my chocolate craving is substituted by a craving to hear from other mums that it's not just my daughter who will not sleep through at night thank you very much. And craving for sleep, it goes without saying. I'm not even asking for sleeping through, mind you. Very happy to still feed twice a night, if that's what it takes to get her back to sleep. Thing is, it doesn't. And we have had occasional nights where she slept 8pm-5/6am, but maybe only a handful so far.

One night with a restless feverish baby (and perfectly perky the next day) and the next night with a 4am playtime call, both during the (working) week, and I'm a slush puppy. Just as well all my work involved today was eating and drinking yummy food, taking a train to Edinburgh and having a meeting listening to the news that we'd all lose our job in December. The first easy day in months.

Tonight's idea for a good nights sleep is the introduction of a night light. My theory is that it might help her lie down if she wakes and sits up at night. Like, by herself. Success so far: Cubling whimpers every half hour. Not sure if we're on to a winner here.

Books say feed to sleep is the problem. I don't agree, she goes down perfectly first thing at night, not fed to sleep, neither is she for daytime naps. During night wakings, I feed her but half of the time she doesn't go back to sleep, so the magic isn't even working. Which kind of means that it may be time to get rid of those night time feeds. (and have 2 times 2 hours of playtime? I think I'm going to cry). I'm too tired to embark on any form of sleep training but I guess at almost 15 months, it might be time to go for it during the next period of holiday.

Anyway, must catch up on sleep before she's up again.

sponsor me. Ah go on.

Cartside — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 16:40:00 +0100

See left widget. I'm doing the mini monster marathon with Cubling (in fact whole family hopefully). It's not a long distance. It's not hard, really. It might be wet though. But really it's just an excuse to get you all to donate some money for a worthy cause. Ah go on go on go on! Ah you will you will you will!

Have you sponsored me yet? No? Come on, you can do it!

measles and immunisations

Cartside — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:59:00 +0100

If I wasn't feeling so miserably ill with a silly cold, I'd be raving mad. But no energy left for the raving madness at present, it takes all my effort to sit in a reasonably comfy position and not to faint (why do I have that fainting streak? It's rather annoying).

Cubling is running late with her immunisations. She'll be 15 months next week and still hasn't had her MMR. This is because we missed two appointments which fell on dates we weren't in the country and it usually takes a month to recuperate that appointment. We also had to change clinic because we moved house. All my pleading was in vain. When Cubling managed to catch two viruses recently, we went to see the new GP three times with what was diagnosed as measles, and a fourth time with the chickenpox a few days later (different GP, same practice). A few months earlier, hubby had suspected measles. Now I don't know about attitudes to measles in school medicine in the UK, but even a lay person like me knows it's a serious disease with a risk of fatalities. When hubby had suspected measles, he was told he could mingle with people and travel, no precautions in relation to baby (then still under a year) or me meeting other mums with babies, and I didn't know any better. Blood tests were undertaken because he went back and insisted, and he didn't have measles as we found out about 3 weeks after he was ill.

Then, with Cubling, on the third appointment, koplik spots were detected. I was asked to keep her out of daycare, but could still go to the playground. I looked up measles on the internet. I got very scared. Very. Nevermind that I also feared to get them myself as I'm neither immunised nor had them as a child. More time off work. At the same time, to me the rash didn't look like the images I saw, but what do I know, I'm not a GP and the GP saw koplik spots.

When Cubling got chickenpox and we went back for a diagnosis, a different GP saw her and said it was extremely unlikely she'd have measles and then chickenpox. She suggested it might have been roseola followed by chickenpox, which incidentally was my guess from reading books and comparing symptoms (3-5 days of 40+ fever, then rash for another 3 days, no rash in face, and rash looks different to measles).

When I read up about measles I really started to wonder why it was dealt with so lightly in both incidents. It is a highly infectious disease, which can have complications which are fatal - up to 10 years after the actual illness. I truly hope Cubling didn't have the measles and it's looking good as I didn't get them and would have. Considering the complications that can come with a true measles outbreak, surely it's an illness that should be reported? Where definitive blood tests should be undertaken for an exact diagnosis?

So when I received an invitation for the MMR two weeks ago, I couldn't wait for the appointment. Unfortunately, it was still from the old clinic. So I phoned and asked whether I could come anyway. I was told yes. I made arrangements at work to manage a mid afternoon appointment, which involved driving all over Glasgow to make it happen and still get a decent daily amount of work in - after all I'd been off work enough already with Cubling having two viruses that required isolation. When I was called into the health visitor's practice, I was told that sorry, they couldn't do it. Cubling is no longer on their system. She was deleted that very day, in the morning. On top of that, the red book had not been kept up to date, and the Health Visitor at the new GP practice couldn't be reached. I understand that they couldn't administer the MMR without confirming previous immunisations and their dates, what I don't understand is how I was given an appointment, phoned to confirm it was ok to attend, and how medical records were deleted rather than being shared across the two clinics, or why I have a red book when none of the immunisations Cubling was given has ever been noted in it.

Above all I'm not a happy camper because Cubling didn't get her MMR.
G. sent me an interesting link to the dangers of measles and why immunisations are really very important. It's in German, but to summarise it confirms my views - having been through thinking that Cubling had the measles and reading up on it, I can only say don't play with the measles. They can be nasty. Very nasty. They kill. Not often, but they do.

outings

Cartside — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 23:30:00 +0100

It's been a busy weekend.
Cubling had fun, but also a sore bum. That almost rhymes, I'm such a poet.
Well, the bum thing is really annoying, it seems to come with teething, and yes, I did think she'd get a break once she had 12 teeth, two viruses, and was finally well again. No. not that simple. I did wonder why she went back to 2 wakings per night, and getting up for the day at the crack of dawn.
Tooth number 13 is through and no end to the night time terror screams. So no. 14 etc may be on route.

Anyway. Outings. One of the great things about having a toddler is that finally, outings are fun for them, and you can start doing stuff that actually is fun for mum and dad, and convince toddler it's great too.
Friday saw me head down the M8 towards Port Glasgow (not a nice place), to visit Finlaystone House and Gardens (a very nice place). The gardens are just lovely, the tea room had positively yummy cakes and the forest walks were just amazing - if only I hadn't brought my new lightweight McLaren, which really didn't like stones or tree roots. On the good side, I got a real and much needed workout (even though Cubling was clearly unimpressed by the shakes that this workout involved). The forest walks brought us ever deeper into the woods to ever more adventurous playgrounds - for older kids, so we will be back. There wasn't really a lot of stuff for toddlers, but sometimes the magic works and Cubling was intrigued by a water feature. Hours of fun.

Today we ventured out to a place recommended by my colleague - Heads of Ayr Farm Park. I imagined a multiheaded monster, but instead we got wallabies, lemurs, guinea pigs and mice. And many other animals too. Cubling was hysterical about most of them. She's strange like that, excitement can totally take over and make her screech in delight, exploding saliva towards the poor creatures. She didn't like the horses, I guess they were a tad bigger than the ones in her picture books. She also was convinced that the Shettie wasn't really her pony because its nose wasn't soft enough.

While we were a bit taken aback by the hefty entrance fee, looking back it has to be said that it's worth it. There's enough to keep the whole family entertained for a day or more, between a large selection of exotic and not so exotic animals, giant sand pits, quad biking, drop slides, piknick areas, trampolines and tea rooms. Apparently, the place is also near the beach but we never even ventured that way, in spite of the glorious sunshine.

Cubling loved the animals (mice, monkeys and goats were her favourites), sandpit, and particularly sitting in a tractor. She ate sand, ice cream and another child's sandwich (I haven't quite yet adapted to her ability to walk fast and far: one second out of sight and she not so sneakily approached another buggy, eyes and hands fixed in perfect coordination on the sandwich held by its occupant). And on the way back, she conked out while chewing her very own sandwich, tired and happy.

I've been hit

Cartside — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 22:59:00 +0100

by the housing market.
Apparently, house prices have not yet fallen in Scotland. Me bum I say. They may not have fallen, but that's just because they're not selling at all.
When we bought our castle, it all happened very quickly. It was the height of the housing boom, my own wee flat still occupied by a then unemployed tenant. I didn't want to give him notice at the time, and although the housing market warning lights were on amber, I thought a few months won't make a difference.
Then the tenant negotiated another two months before moving out. He liked the flat so much you see.

The flat has been on the market for a month now. Estate agents promised me to sell it within a fortnight. So far, not a single person has even set foot in my beautiful flat which was a well loved home in my bachelorette days. Nevermind bought it. Instead, another 3 tenements in the 7 flat close are now up for sale as well. Some of them look nicer, even though they are more expensive.
To add insult to injury, the estate agent who deals with the sale is now on annual leave. Somehow I think this will not contribute to a soon signing of a sales contract.

My plan of action now is to find a short term tenant, before bankrupcy looms (don't worry, dear readers, I'm not quite facing starvation just yet). Hurray to the internet, which makes it even almost possible. At least I'm in hope after just half an hour's worth of surfing. Meanwhile, I'm considering lowering the asking price or changing it to a fixed price flat.

Which kind of shows that house prices will be going down in Glasgow very soon, when people like me start panicking.

it's all happening in Glasgow

Cartside — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 23:58:00 +0100

So far I thought I was in some sleepy city set scenically between hills, waterways and pastures green. From the day I arrived, being bussed passed this beautyspot that goes by the name of Queen's Park, that I'd end up living in. A leafy park, in the quiet south of Glasgow, duck pond inclusive, model boating pond, bandstand, flagpole on a hill, looking out to the Trossachs. Victorian built spacious park and tenement flats, feel good factor in the package. A park perfect for jogging (4 circumferences for a 10k run, with a perfect hill training terrain), walking, relaxing, piknicking, cygnet watching, duck feeding, going to glasshouses full of creepy crawlies, and now the perfect toddlekingdom for Cubling.

Except that the park has been closed for over a week now.
A week ago Moira Jones was found murdered in Queen's Park and it is apparent that the investigation hasn't got the foggiest as to who beat her to death after raping her. She lived on the same street where I used to live. She's my age. And I thought I'd passed the age of needing to be afraid of rapists.

I've always lived around Queen's Park from the day I first came to Glasgow. I know the area like my own trouser pocket (I don't do handbags). I never ever considered it unsafe, though I wouldn't necessarily walk in the park at night time, but that's just common sense. It's a family park for goodness sake, not a place for a murder. The police are taking it seriously which is good and bad. Of course the murderer needs to be found. Over a week on though, it feels like they can't possibly get any more evidence and that the investigation may not produce any result. In the meantime, the park has been taken over. Saturday's farmers market has been relocated and I just hope that the southside festival and Bungo in the lanes won't be affected by all this. The longer the park is peopleless, the more the murderers have won. To scare us, to make us feel unsafe, to claim the park to fear. At this time of the year, the park should be filled with people. Instead, it is empty apart from 100 police.

Amidst all this, there is the contradiction that the murder of a successful business woman in an affluent area of Glasgow makes for a major enquiry while just two days later, a man was killed in the nearby deprived Shawbridge area. That murder got a mere mention, while Moira Jones continues to make the headlines. Then again, you can picture a murder scene in Shawbridge, but you just couldn't in our beautiful Queen's Park

how to organise a swimming session without getting (more) grey hair

Cartside — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 23:11:00 +0100

I've spent the better half of my few working days the past three weeks organising a 2 hour swimming session.

That makes it a very expensive swimming session, even before you consider cost of a creche, a life guard, the venue hire, the support staff on the day and the input of my colleagues in the saga.

Why does it take so much effort?
Firstly, you need to coordinate the creche, 2 life guards (in case one drowns you need a second life guard), availability of pool, while avoiding other events in the area that might clash. To make it really tricky, most mobile creches don't do Saturdays, and most lifeguards are male, and looking for two female lifeguards for a weekend session is clearly asking for trouble.

The lifeguard issue is particularly daunting. For muslim women, it wouldn't be acceptable to have male life guard, which is partly the reason why we organise the swimming session. Local swimming pools can't even guarantee female lifeguards for women only sessions, and most pools nowadays are open to the street rather than enclosed which also doesn't exactly include muslim women. But how do you source female lifeguards? Glasgow is a big city, yet shockingly lacking in that department. I phoned every conceivable pool and finally got lucky in the neighbouring local authority, while the equalities and inclusion officer of Culture and Sport organised the second lifeguard. We literally had to pull all strings, talk our ears hot (?) on the phone and be a right pain in the bum to finally get there.

I'm absolutely drained but have to admit with a certain amount of satisfaction hailing from the realm of defiance that on 7th June, 2-4pm, there will be a female only swimming session at a south side pool for asylum seeking and refugee mums with children under 5. All we now need to do is get the punters. That shouldn't be too hard, last time around we had an overwhelming response.

Unless something else goes wrong.

-----

And something did. In fact, two things went wrong. It's unbelievable really - Just a few days to the swimming session (remember, we're talking a one off 2 hours swimming session) the letting people advise me that the school undertakes a "backwash" every Saturday afternoon. Like, we enquired about availability for various Saturdays and never was this mentioned? Like, we asked the janitor as well to make sure there weren't any surprises?

All my pleading in vain. Either we look into another school or no let. Now, let's recap, we're planning to take asylum seeking mums of pre 5 children (who often may have older children too- I mean the mums, not the pre 5s of course) swimming. They don't have cars, no spare cash and can't afford transport. Nevermind that one bus can only ever take one pram, and buses only go every 30 mins on a Saturday. Which means that we'd have to stagger bus transport starting at 6 a.m.. Realistically, if we were to use another pool we'd have to taxi them there and back. Which kind of adds another £100 or so to the equation. When the second lifeguard decided to join the cancellation spree, I'd finally had enough.

Say it out loud and repeat after me:
I SHALL NEVER EVER TRY TO ORGANISE A SWIMMING SESSION AGAIN.

Culture and Sport, subdivision community lets, you're so fired.

It's no right, is it?

Cartside — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 14:47:00 +0100

Ok, here goes my first attempt at embedding a youtube video. We made this. It was a quick and dirty job, but I quite like it.
Enjoy!

chickenpox and stirlingfaulds

Cartside — Wed, 28 May 2008 21:48:00 +0100

No, I didn't change my blogroll yet, that's because my run of the evening went something like this: tidy chaos left by Cubling. switch on a machine that washes stuff. Hang up laundry. Stop to listen to Cubling scream her heart out and wonder why she does that and breathe again when cry turns to snores. switch on laptop and read my favourite blogs. Check email. Curse the laptop for being so flipping slow. Look at symptoms and images for chickenpox. That's because now that Cubling is just back at childminder after having had measles, she has a body full of big ugly spots that look vaguely like chickenpox. Not wanting to bother GP with yet another emergency appointment or my boss with yet another absence, I decide on web diagnosis. So this is what chickenpox look like:

pretty disgusting. Cubling has something that looks similar ~~apart from the blister on the top~~. Her spots do~~n't~~ look disgusting, even if I admit they aren't pretty. And since every image I've seen has those blisters, and she has~~n't~~ got (m)any, and because she isn't scratching the spots, and because she only has about 25 250 on the whole of her body, with ~~little~~ change for ~~better or~~ the worse, ~~I've~~ the doctor has officially decided that she ~~doesn't have~~ has chickenpox and will ~~go to the childminder tomorrow and meet up with her pals on Friday~~ stay in isolation until further notice.
C'mon, it would be pretty unlikely to finish off the measles with chickenpox? Or is there a disease that starts with 3.5 days of 40 degree fever, develops into an all body rash that starts behind the ears and the hairline, uncannily resembling measles, before it develops biggish spots that seem to accumulate around the eye and the bum?

Next on my browsing list is Hidden Glasgow. Tomorrow I shall be cycling past the two Gorbals tower blocks of Stirlingfaulds for the very last time. They will be demolished on Sunday. It's been a long time coming and to be fair, they are extremely ugly. Yet I've been cycling past them for well over a decade on almost every working day. Twice. I can't imagine them not to be there. Here are some amazing images taken of and from them. Pictures by cumbo and Alex Glass to be found on the public forum of Hidden Glasgow. Demolition by controlled explosion is scheduled for 7am apparently. Hm, not sure if I'll manage that.

may I recommend...

Cartside — Wed, 28 May 2008 14:57:00 +0100

I've just come across some interesting websites which I'd like to share. If Cubling sleeps tonight for a change, I might even add them to my blogroll.

Community Info Source: A Glasgow initiative with plenty of other good initiatives contributing to it.

The Glasgow Equalities Network Forum Blog: What a name. It's a GCVS initiative (that's for Glasgow Council for the Voluntary Sector). The GCVS do great stuff, and everything they do, they do well. This blog is not very exciting visually, but it's a fabulous resource for anyone interested in equalities in Glasgow and beyond.

Oh and this one, courtesy of Clairwil: Guerilla Gardening. Oh I love that one.

sanctuary

Cartside — Sat, 24 May 2008 12:58:00 +0100

A few days ago, the Independent Asylum Commission published a report entitled "Saving Sanctuary". I was very keen to read it and to find out about conclusions which may have a certain vision for where asylum could go with a strong government leadership.
You can hear the however already, can't you.
Well, to start with, the big recommendation is to get rid of the term "asylum" and replace it with "sanctuary". To set an example, they use "sanctuary" throughout the report. At the same time, they are still called the "Independent Asylum Commission", rather than the "Independent Sanctuary Commission".
Now, if you had an organisation called the Independent Sanctuary Commission, would you have any idea of what they were about? I wouldn't, and I work in the field.

So why the change of language? Well, it's along the same lines that history becomes herstory and why an actress should be called an actor. They don't like the connotations associated with a word, and rather than challenge and change connotations, we use a different word. So, asylum calls up negative connotations, is confused in the public with economic migration and therefore its meaning is not as intended.

While I can understand the argument in relation to words which have a long history of negative connotations and, above all, abusive use (such as "nigger" or "papist"), I am very concerned by the argument in relation to a term which has a clear definition, legal status and appropriate use in professional discourse. For anyone who cares to find out, it's easy to know exactly what asylum means, what an asylum seeker is, and what the asylum process in the UK is. We are dealing with a legal term, which gives legal status to a person.

Then, consider the term "sanctuary". It's derived from latin, means a holy place, and still has religious connotations. Personally, I think of birds when I hear it. Not of asylum seekers or refugees that's for sure. It's woolly, all too well-meaning and has the potential of further alienating those already critical of immigration through the asylum system.

Furthermore, I'd like to challenge the issue that the commission has with "economic migration". Again, I understand it - anyone supportive of having a well functioning asylum system tend to stress that asylum seekers are not economic migrants. But to be honest, economics affect us all, and the reason for war, displacement, hunger, torture etc are always economic. Where do you draw the line, and how can you draw the line? Is someone who flees their country in the light of people burning their lifelihoods not an economic migrant? Doesn't economics and the gulf between rich and very poor create the basis for ware, abuse and the need to flee a country? I think it does.
Of course, not every economic migrant is an asylum seeker, but I don't see the term "economic migrant" as intrinsically evil or at odds with seeking asylum.

Wouldn't it be more productive to continue raising awareness of what it means to be an asylum seeker, how few asylum seekers there are in comparison to other immigrants in the UK, and how incredibly difficult it is to be granted asylum? I certainly won't change my job title just yet.