Three Milestones in a Day

1. End of an era: today Big Bro (and I, I guess) graduated from the Maternal and Child Health System. In Victoria, the health and development of children is checked at regular intervals from one week old until three and a half years by a neighbourhood MCH Nurse (equivalent to the UK health visitor). Every appointment we have had in the last few years has reminded me of a post from the Now and Gen blog: "sometimes the Government does get some things right." Of course all the MCH nurses vary, but those I have known have all struck the right balance between advising, reassuring, encouraging and listening- which is what a parent needs. And today, Big Bro went in for his last checkup, and was given the go ahead to go forth into the world. I am still shaking my head that it was only 3.5 years ago that his Apgar scores were entered onto the first page of his health record "blue book". Seems like a lifetime- which of course it is. I will have to remember to take tissues to Little Bro's final checkup!

2. First dual bike ride: also in the developmental milestones category, today was the first day I took both boys out on their bikes (a Eurotrike for Little Bro and an Aldi run bike for Big Bro)- Big Bro has a tendency to get too far away, so in the photo you can see his "string", the length of which defines his permitted riding zone on the street. It was an otherwise unremarkable trip to the drycleaner, but as I've never been a confident bike rider I hope it's the start of lots of good biking experiences for the boys together.


3. New reading era: On a completely separate note, I finished my first eBook (on the iPhone, in Stanza), Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees, which probably deserves a post of its own.