David Currie

989I had suggested that on Sunday we get the train to Brockenhurst for a walk but the day before Emma managed to get a cut between her toes by standing on the edge of the up-turned washing basket! Emma has been hopping/hobbling around ever since (except when she forgets when she runs around quite normally!). Our fallback plan was to go to nearby Lakeside Country Park and have a ride on the miniature dual gauge railway. Christine declined to join us on the train and, in the 20 minutes we had to wait for it to leave, could easily have walked the length of the line several times!

Unlike last time, Emma seemed entirely unperturbed by the smoke and noise. When we got off at the playground, Duncan spent most of the time watching the other trains go round and, as each one departed, he would shout “another train, another train”. We walked back through the park taking in the planes from the nearby airport and the r/c sailing yachts on the lake. We didn’t linger though as, despite the sunshine, the wind was bitterly cold.

983I had a full two weeks off over Christmas so it was a nice relaxing period. We were at Christine’s parents in the run up to the day itself with her Dad’s birthday part of the festivities. Father Christmas had brought Emma a doll’s house and Duncan a balance bike (both from eBay I’m told). Needless to say, the bike is still too big for Duncan and Emma likes riding it and Duncan is probably the prime user of the doll’s house. We attempted a walk up the Skirrid in the morning. It proved far too muddy for even the off-road buggy and, although Emma surged up the hill with Granny Sue, the wind turned them back once they left the trees. Christmas Day didn’t end too well for me as I was sick – I put it down to eating too many pistachio nuts!

After a return home we then decamped to my parents but we were back home again for the New Year weekend when we attempted to get done at least a few of those things on the to-do list before returning to work. Not one of those items but Emma and I particularly enjoyed putting together and decorating the gingerbread train I’d received for Christmas – a much more successful effort than last year’s gingerbread house. On New Year’s Eve we had a bit of screaming from Emma when the first few sets of fireworks went off but, by some miracle, she slept through the half hour of fireworks that came around midnight. Although I was back at work on the Tuesday, it was an inset day for Emma and she had a very enjoyable afternoon with a few friends from school over (including starting to demolish the train!). That seemed to leave her ready to go back to school the following day.

980After weeks of preparation, Christine and I finally got to endureenjoy Emma’s first school production: the obligatory nativity play. Christine went to the first showing with Duncan in tow (and the local nurseries also in attendance) and I had the pleasure of attending the adults only performance. The show was quite entertaining with each of the three classes split in to two halves and each half doing a dance routine. Emma was in the star group and I don’t think I’m being biased if I say she wasn’t the worst in her group! If nothing else it gave me a chance to give my new flash (Canon Speedlite 430EX II) a run for its money. Sadly no photos here as I don’t have any good ones with just Emma and I don’t want to suffer the wrath of any other parents. We have some amusing videos for posterity. Let’s just say, it isn’t always obvious that all of the children are doing the same routine!

In the run up to fireworks night Emma was once again very excited and was in high spirits as we set of for the display at her school. That lasted until all of 15 seconds in to the display when, as two years ago, she then proceed to scream the place down and we had to make a rapid exit. Even the other side of the rec (from where we had watched last year) wasn’t far enough away for Emma although the display did mercifully finish as we reached that point. Worse still, Emma has now become absolutely paranoid and the slightest bang during the evenings will set her off in to screaming fits, even if it’s just someone closing a door. There has still been the occasional firework going off this weekend but hopefully that’s it now at least until the New Year. Duncan, of course, loves fireworks…