The past 10 months

After we settled in to our new house (see the February 2007 entries), our next priority was to get Christopher in a 3yo kinder. The Steiner school that Christopher was supposed to be in had put us on the waiting list, so he couldn't go there. We felt he was ready for school, so we also contacted 'Possums', a local 3-4yo kinder in Taroona. We'd heard very good things about it, and luckily a spot became available there. Since Christopher had not stayed at a crèche or school by himself, Doris stayed with him the first morning.
When they got home that day he was like a different boy: he seemed much more confident, and he'd had a great time. The next time he stayed by himself, and that went well too.
Possums is a great place; it's part of playschools Tasmania, but privately run. Lyn is the person who started it about 20 years ago, and she's great. She's got two wonderful helpers, Kate and German Karin (who always has something to say in German to me), and there's great activities and care for the kids. The parents also help for one morning per term.
It is a beautifully gentle environment for the kids, and reminds us very much of Khuti (run by the Gita yoga school) where we took Christopher in Melbourne: it has the same without being overtly spiritual.
Possums just finished its year with performances by the children and a visit by Santa. Christopher had stage-fright and stayed with his parents and sister in the audience…


In February, after we got more-or-less settled, Doris started looking for pharmacy work. People had told us before we moved that there were lots of opportunities in Hobart, but we didn’t see any jobs advertised. Unlike in the rest of Australia, the pharmacy board in Tasmania doesn’t maintain a vacancy list, and didn’t have any information about job opportunities either. So Doris was getting a bit worried – maybe there wasn’t any work available. She needn’t have worried though: she ended up writing 10 open letters to different pharmacies and had 6 replies and 4 job offers within a few days! She started part-time at three different pharmacies and let one go in the middle of the year. Now she works 4 days at Friendly Care in the Hobart CBD (a not-for-profit pharmacy), and one night at Amcal in North Hobart. She enjoys her work, but finds it quite a bit slower than in Melbourne. Doris also replaced her 16 year old Ford Telstar with a beautifully new Honda Jazz - she finally has the type of car she always wanted!


Bernt started working on a project related to his previous work at the department of Defence. This initially entailed doing a feasibility study, and a few meetings at Defence in Melbourne, where it was received well. It requires external funding though, and that hasn’t been found yet.
Being full-time at home with the kids, regardless of how gorgeous they are, was getting a bit much so Bernt recently started looking for part-time work too. On the different internet jobsites there weren’t any part-time engineering jobs in Hobart. However there was a ‘drivers wanted’ ad, which turned out to be for taxi drivers. So, since a few weeks Bernt’s been driving a taxi around Hobart – and loving it! It’s a great way of meeting people, it’s flexible and Bernt loves driving and navigating. It’s definitely not a long-term thing, but it gets him out of the house doing something that he enjoys.

Christopher turned four in November and is a beautiful, happy little man. His interest, no, PASSION, is still trains. He’s got a few different train sets (mostly featuring Thomas the Tank Engine) and can spend hours playing with them. He also loves going to the library to get train videos, train DVDs, train magazines and train books…
Christopher is more of an inside-boy than Annabelle is an outside girl. He does like being outside, but very much likes it at home. He’s great with Annabelle, as long as she doesn’t mess up his trains!

Annabelle is now 18 months. She’s a gorgeous girl, and knows exactly what she wants. She’s very different from Christopher: a real girl! The other day she took me to her room and wanted something from her drawer: a specific (pink) pair of socks! She also loves putting a bag on her shoulders, and mimicking Doris’ putting on make-up…
Annabelle has been walking for a few months now. Whereas Christopher was really early (he was 9 months and 9 days when he took his first three steps) Annabelle was 16 months. However it’s gone quickly since then: she’s practically running now!