Fledgeling

The deed is done, Dotter has fledged, and moved out of home into a group house about 30 km north of us (~ 18 miles). The opportunity arose for her to move in with her AIE teacher Adam, of all people. Another games programmer, Evan, is the third housemate. Dotter and Adam are great mates, and the school gave their blessing to the move, as Adam isn't responsible for marking Dotter's work.

Dotter is pathologically untidy .... just for the record (because I hope never to have to deal with this again) this is her bedroom at home, admittedly mid-move, but fairly typical of the standard state of her room (we long ago decided to choose our battles with our kids, and tidy rooms wasn't worth the constant anguish). It took her and me over 12 hours to sort through it all, de-clutter, throw out barge loads of rubbish, and pack a much smaller subset to take with her.

Miss Petal got in on the act too ...

It's all sorted, greatly reduced, and packed, ready to go ... one trip for these things, one for furniture, and one for her succulent plants collection ...

Here's a bit of the drive north ... we're heading for Florey, in Belconnen.

The house is small but very neat, uncluttered, and tidy, in good repair. It's a corner block, and there's a little front yard.

The local Florey shops are really excellent - only a 10 minute walk away, and there's a Medical Centre, which is accepting new patients (not something you assume in our fair city), is open 7 days a week (WTF?!!), and you can walk in (without an appointment, if needs be - so you'll wait, but you'll see someone). There's a chemist (open 9am to 9pm every day of the year except for Christmas), a take-away, a large IGA supermarket, butchery, bakery, hairdresser, physiotherapist, Chinese restaurant, Morks Thai restaurant, The Perfect Bean family-run café, and a Dominos Pizza ... The suburb is well served by buses, and there's two Aldis nearby.

A small but well-equipped kitchen ...

And a puppeh! Here's Son with young Bobby, a chi/terrier cross, who belongs to Adam. He's a quiet shy pup, and hopefully we'll be able to introduce him to Petal one day for play dates. Check out his Mohawk hair-do!

Dotter's new room is looking good (and hopefully it will last!) ... she knows she needs to change her ways. I'm sure that being in a group house will be an added incentive to be tidier.

The wire baskets hold shoes, and a small stash. We figured it was best if the bulk of her yarn collection stayed with us, and she can replenish it as needs be.

The proud girl in occupation!

It's weird not having her here, and I will miss her, of course - we're very close - but I think it's all going to be OK. She was ready to go, is excited by the journey ahead, and is good at getting on with people and resolving any conflicts head-on. I'm happy to see her making her way in the world, and I know she'll be able to cope. Independence has always been our goal as parents., starting with getting our kids helping in the kitchen at 3, having their own bank accounts from age 8, responsible for their own laundry from age 10, and learning to shop for groceries and plan meals.

And to be brutally honest, I won't miss living with her mess, not even a little bit ...