Sheepish. Or not, as the case may be...

I am forced to retract some of yesterday's vitriole. It seems Gina and I both have some corrections to make. I must state that her book is in fact entitled, "The Contented Toddler Years" and does not purport to be complete. However, the misnoma is still hers, as this seems to be the autumn of our discontent, here in Sydney. There are no contented little or big people to be found under our roof.

I took poor old Alice to the doctors this afternoon - I scared the dragonlady receptionist with the (true) tale of her 39.8 (103.6) temperature and scored an emergency appointment. Contrarily, Alice was bouncing off the walls by the time we got there. She had just learned to say the word, "Rusk" and she wasn't afraid to use it. Her temperature was normal and she was pointing at every man who came through the doors and yelling, "Da-da". However, Munchhausens by proxy was not the diagnosis. In fact, she has a severe middle ear infection. Poor lamb.

So we are forbidden to fly and our Easter weekend in the land of the long white cloud/ the place where sheep outnumber people (since most of the population is to be found working behind a bar in London) is cancelled. Alice is now taking antibiotics and I am no longer forcing teething concoctions onto her gums. I am slightly mollified by the fact that she has grown an upper right molar this week, so my efforts have not been entirely in vain. Hopefully the gel that was being applied to her bottom left gum spread about the mouth a bit...

Hopefully more cheerful news next week, once the drugs have kicked in!