April's Blog

After we returned from Darwin, things weren't all that easy at the
DingoDen. For one thing, Logan had a virus and his temperature went up
and down from 101 to 104.5 and back. He was lethargic and nauseous for
most of that first week. Meanwhile Delenn came home and started
teething. She has been in a lot of pain for the past month, but those
incisors have yet to pop through.

We also had bad news regarding our housing. We had/have been in the
process of trying to apply for a house with more bedrooms (we have 2).
When we last applied when Mommy was pregnant with Delenn, we decided to
turn it down for a number of reasons. The backyard was just as small as
our current yard, but had no shade. Plus there were neighbors across
the back so there was considerably less privacy. Since we were certain
it was our last tour, we decided to "make due" with what we currently
have. Now that our friends are returning to Alice Springs, we'll be
staying at least another 3 years. We really can't make this place work
any longer, as Delenn is a terrible sleeper and needs her own room. We
talked with Tony's work representative and she sounded optimistic that
she could explain our reasons and see what she could do on our behalf.
She missed the meeting. The housing board turned us down; we are not
eligible to move to a place with more bedrooms. We were shocked that
they said "No." They simply want to protect their bureaucratic methods
and as we had already turned down our options (one of which was deemed
"unfit and unsafe" by the previous occupants because of fighting in
their yard, banging on their doors at all hours and because their little
girl was afraid to go outside.) Anyway, feeling trapped, shocked,
helpless, angry, upset, flabbergasted and a number of other adjectives
-- Liesl stormed off to talk to someone at Intown Housing with the two
kids in tow. Cutting a long story a bit shorter, it now looks that
Liesl's words (both in person and in a 4 page letter) explaining our
reasons for turning the other places down and the fact that we were now
planning to stay another tour have had some effect. They have now told
us that they'll try to move us after all. We won't know anything until
around the 4th to 11th of May (my guess).

In the midst of all that, we found out that we will not be getting APO.
Bummer. And, we were hit with a tax audit and had to round up papers
from 2003 - 2006. What a pain! We assume that is because of Mommy's
income at that time which is tax free as Mommy worked for the University
of Maryland and lived overseas. Daddy is not tax exempt because of the
specific agreement between the US and Australian governments. It's one
of the few overseas positions where Americans have to pay taxes no
matter what their income. Most ex-pat American are tax exempt up to
$75,000 or something like that. Anyway, we're not particularly worried
about anything, but it's just another stress and annoyance to add to
everything else.

Meanwhile, here are a few other things we've written down to add to the
blog from time to time:

Mommy was getting ready for her hockey game last Saturday evening (April
14). Delenn (18 mo) said "hockey" very clearly (and over and over!)
Her words right now consist of (in part)
knee, help, hot, no, wet, stop, more, hockey, up, cat, hat. She still
uses signs for most of her communication. She puts two words together
to make short sentences -- Logan is swinging, Daddy's at work, and so forth.

Logan sat down last Sunday (April 20) with one of the easy reader books
we have and started reading it aloud. He could easily tell what was
going on because of the pictures, but he pointed at each word as he read
the book! He's definitely interested in reading (we spend a lot of time
answering his "what does this say" questions.) Later in the week we
were at the post office getting a package. While we were standing in
line, Logan looked at a sign on the door and told Mommy "That says No
Smoking." (It said 'door not in use.') The woman behind us in line
said "that was a good guess, but look at this sign (behind Mommy's back)
-- it says "No Smoking." Logan obviously remembered the No Smoking sign
from another visit and is working hard to understand the words in his
world.
On another note, Logan has been interested in the piano (keyboard) which
we now have set up in the toy area of our living room. He has been
playing "songs" for us which use one or two notes. He's very proud of
himself when he plays. Mommy has also been playing more frequently as
well. Logan often asks for Mommy to play the guitar so he and Delenn
can dance. He tells us now that he wants to learn the trumpet, piano,
guitar and elbow (oboe).

On the phone with Grams and Gramps (Sun. April 29), Mommy held the phone
to Delenn and told her to say "bye bye." She didn't expect anything,
but Delenn said "bye bah" and waved. Mommy was quite surprised and
Grams and Gramps were very pleased!

Mommy and Daddy have their first soccer game later this afternoon
(Sunday, April 29). We each play half of a game while the other watches
the kids. We enjoyed the summer season (the games were at night) and
hope to have an injury-free season this year (last year Daddy severely
sprained his ankle. It took 8 or 9 months before it was better).

Blog for in Darwin

Friday (March 16) arrived with little fanfare in Darwin and set up our
stay at the most pleasant Marina View Apartments in Cullen Bay. The
view of the boats in the marina below, along with daily beautiful
sunsets, made it all the more worthwhile. We also spent the first day
and Saturday in amongst the three pools the complex has.

On Saturday we went to the Botanical Gardens. There we spent time going
through the rainforest and checking out all the amazingly large spider
webs and associated spiders. Logan showed his first of many clumsy
maneuvers by balancing on the edge of a bridge, and then subsequently
falling over the side. We enjoyed pretending there were dinosaurs in
the jungle. Also, at the end was a large treehouse playground that was
built around the huge tree. Both kids loved going up to the top of it.

On Sunday we headed off to the beach, but upon arrival, noticed the
forbidding signs warning of NO SWIMMING at this time of year,
predominantly because of the lethal box jellyfish. Besides, it had just
started raining and so we quickly moved to plan B and stopped at the
large hangar of the Australian Aviation Heritage Centre to check out
Logan's favorite thing, real live full-size planes, helicopters, and
jets. They managed to even fit an entire B-52 bomber in the thing.
Afterwards the rain had subsided and we moved along to a fun water
playground, with shallow pools perfect for Delenn and a water playground
with slides and water cannons for Logan.

On Monday Dad took Logan and Delenn off to the East Point Military
Museum. Mom had had a rough night with Delenn and so she was left at
home to try and veg. Along the way Logan spotted a couple of soldiers
in uniform, carrying guns. He commented to us that they were off to
shoot chickens so they could cook and eat the chickens as the soldiers
were very hungry. At the museum we saw various guns, artillery,
munitions, cannons, along with the full-sized ones. The museum's
primary focus was on pointing out how much Darwin was involved in WWII,
and how it endured 2 years of massive air raids and bombings that
covered most of present day Darwin. Logan's favorite item was the huge
150 ton 9.2 inch Gun Emplacement. We had to go through a tunnel and up
some steps to get to it. Delenn's favorite thing was also there, only
it was a bit different. At the top of the gun emplacement we could see
some horses grazing in the field next door. On the way out the door
Logan spotted an old bomb. He proclaimed with much fervor, "I predicted
I would see a bomb!" After the museum, and an ice cream we all shared,
we set off for the nearby playground next to Lake Alexander. We didn't
go swimming as there was no real shade coverage and the heat and
humidity was quite overwhelming. At least the playground was covered
with a giant sunshade, and we were able to eat our lunch somewhat
pleasantly even though Dad's undies were completely sweated through.
At the end the kids were fried and ready for a break in the
air-conditioned apartment.

On Tuesday we went to the Territory Wildlife Park, the sister park to
the Desert Park we frequent down in Alice. Once again it was very hot
and humid when we arrived, and we proceeded to walk a good chunk of the
6 kilometers around the exhibits (only taking two short hops on the free
shuttle tram). Along the way, during the billabong expedition, Liesl
got attacked by a leech. It creeped her out to such an extent that she
quickly disrobed down to her skivvies to ensure no more were on her.
Dad and Delenn thought they'd evaded the evil little things too. Only
while in the nocturnal house did Dad suddenly feel something on his foot
under his sandal straps. Sure enough, two leeches were having their way
in a bloodsucking bonanza. Once outside, one more was found on the
backside of Delenn's right leg, just under her knee. It was a tough one
as it had latched on good and hard. When we finally removed it blood
was sufficiently dripping out of Delenn's meager frame that we summoned
a band-aid from the close-by first aid station. Some alcohol and
blood-curdling screams from the little one (which sent park rangers
running to help) and all was well again.
Once again, another full day for the kids and they were completely
zonked out for 3 hours on the drive back after.

On Wednesday we went to 'Aquascene' in which we get to feed bread to the
hordes of mullet fish (and some barramundi) that come in during the high
tide. The kids loved reaching down and petting and feeding the bread to
the teethless fish. Within a few minutes we had our feet soaking on one
of the concrete steps with fish pouring themselves all over and around
us to get at the bread. Logan misstepped (or hadn't noticed that there
was no step where he placed his foot) and he suddenly was completely
submerged amongst all the fish. Mom quickly grabbed him and pulled him
out (this boy can't stay close to water without falling in!) Later at
another location of the fish feeding there was a sign that said "No
standing or playing near rock", primarily because that's where the
stingray and larger fish tend to commune. Mom and Dad read the sign to
Logan when he started to get on to it. Even the official who was
narrating about the fish and how to feed them commented on how we should
not be too close to the rock. So Dad and Mom picked Delenn up and told
Logan to come along away from the area. We turned our backs on the boy
for one second, then heard someone call out and we quickly about-faced
towards Logan again, and there he was having had fallen in to the water
next to the rock and the stingrays! It's not as if he's doing it on
purpose... he's just clumsy or something in that he had turned to come
along and then he fell in the water backwards! After 'Aquascene' we
headed over to the Darwin Art and Science museum where we saw many
interesting exhibits of birds, fish, dinosaurs, and earthly discovery
wonders that kids were allowed to play with.

Delenn has been using words more and more, like Uh-oh, and NNnnnnooooooo
(a cute long No), and she has her own similar sounding way of saying
"There it is" but no one other than us would know what it meant. Delenn
and Daddy had a cute time together as she discovered how to say "knee."
She'd point to her knee and Daddy's knee and Logan's knee saying her new
word each time. Then she did the same for "toe."

On Thursday we went about 150 kilometers out of town to the much loved
Litchfield National Park (the preferred park for many compared to the
more-oft mentioned and acclaimed Kakadu National Park). We went to the
Wangi Falls, but were saddened that it was closed for swimming as both
fresh water and salt water crocodiles were known to be in the area.
Then we went to Florence Falls, which were also almost just as
spectacular. After a long set of steps down to the waterhole area, we
all hopped in the nice warm water. It was a rainy day and the rocks
were all pretty wet and precarious, so we really had to be careful.
Also, the current was a bit swift in certain areas so each parent really
had to hold on to the kids in some areas. Once again, Logan proved that
his listening and agility skills needed improvement when he disobeyed
Dad and left his side, only to be blown down a small waterfall ledge of
a couple of feet into the lower waterhole below. Liesl was down there
along with another man who was nice enough to stop Logan from descending
down further stream. On the way back up the many steps, Daddy carried a
very tired Logan. At the very top Logan said to Daddy, "You're so
patient with me." Daddy had to keep himself from chuckling out loud.

Towards the end of our week in Darwin, Delenn started to jump into the
pool on her own. The scary thing was, she would walk quickly down the
side of the pool with Mom chasing after as best she could in the water.
Then Delenn would jump off into the water (whether or not Mom was
ready!). It was great to see Delenn with so much confidence in the
pool. Logan had a hard time in the pool as he spent so much time in
there, his eyes burned from the salt water. We kept telling him to keep
his eyes shut, but to no avail.

One evening, Mommy and Delenn getting ready for bed. Mommy asked Delenn
what her doll's name was. Is it Jan? Delenn said no. Then Mommy went
through about 50 names with Delenn saying No, No, No each time. Finally
after many names, Delenn nodded when "Rebecca" was mentioned! So, her
new little doll from Grams and Gramps is named Rebecca.

All in all we had a wonderful, relaxing week in Darwin.

About midweek while we were in Darwin, Logan said he didn't want to
return to Alice Springs. When we talked to him a bit more about it, he
told us he did not want to go to Nana Kath's. He was quite worried about
it and even cried. So, upon our return, we decided not to have Logan
return to Nana Kath's house on Tuesdays. He has been very relieved and
often says at random moments, "I don't have to go to Nana Kath's any
more. I am a homeschooler." (We've been talking a lot about
homeschooling because Liesl went to a national home schooling conference.)

Delenn signs monkey.

Fun at KingerGym

Rock climbing at Kindergym

April 9: Easter egg hunt at the Monday playgroup that we go to.