dale lane

Less something that I have learnt today, and more something that I need to learn. For Valentines, my wife has got me an entry into a fun poker tournament. Sounds like fun – but I need to practice!

Scary moment this evening – Grace choked on a banana.

She’s fine now, although I guess that’s kinda obvious. If she wasn’t, writing a blog post about it wouldn’t have been high on my list of priorities!

I’d given her a banana, a big chunk of which she shoved in her gob and swallowed without chewing. It got stuck, and she couldn’t breathe. She panicked: tried to spit it out but couldn’t; tried to cry but couldn’t.

We managed to get it free by holding her pointing downwards. After what felt like a lifetime (but was probably only a few seconds) out came a solid lump of unchewed banana.

The little monster aged me 20 years tonight! A basic First Aid and Resuscitation course was included in the antenatal classes we went on before she was born, but to be honest, I didn’t feel all that confident or in control when it came to it this evening – that 40 minute introduction a couple of years ago felt very distant.

So I’m thinking that I need to learn what to do if this happens again. St John Ambulance run a course which looks like the sort of thing that I want, but not near me. I’ll keep looking…

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Last week’s cold (just as I was starting to feel better!) turned into infected sinuses. Not much fun… in fact, it was surprisingly painful, and left me pretty much useless for a couple of days.

This is all by way of an excuse for why I ended up laid out on the sofa this afternoon watching The Great Big British Quiz on five US. I’ve not seen it before, and as it was about the only thing I’ve done today, I thought I’d mention it.

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I took my mentee to intech this afternoon. Intech is a science and technology museum in Winchester, who describe themselves as a:

…purpose-built 3500 square metre, award winning, building housing 100 interactive exhibits, which demonstrate the science and technology of the world around us in an engaging and exciting way.

Each exhibit is a self-contained, practical activity which demonstrates an aspect of science or technology by getting you to do something. Not all of them were a hit with him, but there is enough variety in the exhibits that we easily found enough to keep him interested and engaged for a couple of hours – no mean feat!

It was great to see him enjoy it. With some of the exhibits it obviously felt like an achievement when he worked out the idea behind it. That is perhaps the best thing about going to intech – even more important than the obvious education in science and technology, is the boost in confidence this can give.

Feel terrible. Some symptoms I can understand – headaches? Fair enough, I’m ill. Stomach aches – again, I can live with that. Sweating, dizzy – it’s all bad, but part of the being-ill thing. But my right armpit really hurts. What’s that all about?

Raided the medicine cupboard. Found some ‘paracetamol plus’ – paracetamol plus caffeine. Caffeine? I don’t wanna stay awake, I want something to knock me out and make me better while I sleep.

Found some ‘Night Nurse’ so gave that a try. Ohmygod, it’s horrible. How can anything this foul be good for me?

I’m too hot. Sweating. Why can’t I adjust the central heating without getting out of bed? Useless technology. 😉