Learning

I taught Nina the word "learning" yesterday. Naturally it was in the context of a bus, a double decker bus, and the fact that she always wants to make the two bus puzzles that she can do completely independently. One of these is a 12-piece yellow double decker bus, and if you flip all the pieces over, it's also a red one. The yellow one has animals as the passengers and driver and the red one has people. She worked out how to do the yellow one by herself really quickly, and since then has always made that one. Yesterday I told her that if we made the red one together, then she would learn how to make it herself. So we made it, and she said "I'm learning". Lo and behold, one attempt later and she could make it herself. 

Here are a couple of things I've learned in the past couple of days: 

 -- Don't tell your friend that your toddler is completely toilet-trained, even if he asks, and even if is apparently true, unless you wish to have a poo-related drama in a bath. That was rough. 

-- When a kid says she has to poo, then doesn't, [repeat several times], then says her "bum bum" (read: "girl parts") hurts, and wants rash cream, and then demands a bath, she is probably going to poo in the bath

-- After your kid does a tiny little poo in the bath, don't put her back in the bath!  (How dumb is that? How many degrees did we say we had?)

-- Toddlers are adorable, affectionate little creatures with an incredible knack for manipulating parents into delaying bedtime

In other news, amoxicillin doesn't seem to help with my chronic congestion. The midwive suggested acupuncture, which I may pursue. She also, however, suggested a home birth, and hypno-birthing. Granted, I had asked about lamaze classes (there aren't any, can you believe that?), and I gather that hypno-birthing may be a version of meditation/breathing techniques for labour, which I would actually like to learn about if it weren't called something that sounded alarming. And I had asked about how fast labour might be - it was very quick last time at 6 hours start to finish - in part because we're wondering how to set up very rapid care for Nina when I go into labour. Giving birth at home, particularly if it happened during the day when Nina's at nursery or when friends are available to take her: well, it would be great not to be stuck in a loud, disruptive maternity ward with dreadful food for one or two days, and it would be better for Nina to see us right away. I guess. So all good, as long as nothing goes wrong - and that's, of course, the crucial point. 

Anyway, I looked up acupuncture for congestion and there have been controlled trials showing that it is effective, although it doesn't seem (in these trials) to eliminate it completely. Hmph. It is apparently quite widely used in pregnancy. Learn something every day. Anyone reading this have any acupuncture experience?