Archive for the ‘Family’ Category

Lollies

Friday, February 3rd, 2012

995Duncan has becoming increasingly stubborn, not helped this week by having a lingering cold as side of which he’s come out in spots all over his cheeks. For example, for breakfast he currently needs to have two bowls: one for porridge and one for cereal (or breakfast as Duncan insists on calling it), and has to sit on someone’s lap to eat them. If you ask him whether he’d like a little bit of something, he always reply with ‘big bit’.

This evening we had another classic example. Half way through the first course, Duncan pushed his plate away and declared that he wanted a lollipop (which usually means an ice lolly). After a few minutes of persistence, he decided better of it and ate a bit more off his plate. Anyway, eventually Emma went to get the lollies out (ideal for possibly the coldest night of the year!) and made the mistake of first getting out the packet containing the last remaining Fab. Emma generously agreed to let Duncan have it (having had a real lollipop earlier from a birthday at school). After one bite, Duncan decided he rather have a milk lolly like Emma and tried to palm his off on me. Luckily, half way through, Emma decided she didn’t like hers and gave it to Duncan, only to then decide she’d have Duncan’s Fab instead. Fantastic – two happy children. Only then, having seen Emma biting off all the chocolate and sprinkles, Duncan decided that he really would rather have the Fab! Luck would have it that Emma then decided it was too cold for lollies. Duncan reclaimed his lolly for the third time and I got a half eaten mini milk!

New bed

Monday, January 23rd, 2012

992After much indecision on my part, we have finally bought Emma’s new bed (her first full size bed) and it duly arrived on Friday. I managed to get the bed itself assembled by bedtime (although, as you can see from the picture, the drawers didn’t arrive until later in the evening). Emma was very excited and was suitably pleased with the bounce of her new mattress! The biggest change, however, was for Duncan who was finally able to move out of his cot and transfer to Emma’s old bed. He has been preempting that move for sometime by climbing in to Emma’s bed just before lights out, tucking himself in and shouting “my bed” on a regular basis. Much to our surprise, he didn’t take advantage of his new found freedom and went to sleep without leaving his new bed. He also doesn’t appear to be quite so prone to falling out of bed as Emma was (and sometimes still is). The best bit, of course, is that they can both get in to our room for their morning stories without either of us having to leave the warmth of our bed. Even better: Emma has taken to waiting in her bed until our alarm goes off – whatever time we might have set it for!

Trains, planes and boats

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012

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.

First orienteering of the year

Thursday, January 12th, 2012

986At the weekend, we went to our first orienteering event of the year (and Christine’s first as a W35!). I went round the 2.9km yellow course with the children which, when combined with the 800m to/from the start/finish and the hills proved a bit of an epic and we ended up in our usual position in the results. Other than a little pre mid-course snack whining from Emma, both children seemed to enjoy themselves although Duncan only climbed out of the buggy to punch at each control. I went for a run afterwards, sticking to the paths as my ankle still hasn’t fully recovered nearly three months on. I’m now on anti-inflammatories to try and remove the last of the swelling from the joint and hopefully allow the physio and exercises to do their work properly.

Christmas 2011

Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012

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.

Star Performer

Wednesday, December 7th, 2011

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!

Castle Cake

Sunday, November 27th, 2011

977Emma’s becoming a bit demanding when it comes to birthday cake decoration. For Mummy’s birthday, it was to be a castle. This proved to be an unmitigated disaster: there wasn’t really enough cake mixture and then the icing was too runny so I spent a good while spooning the icing off the plate and back over the top of the cake until it finally reached a consistency where it would stick. Thankfully there were no complaints from the children when it came to eating it!

Screaming fireworks

Sunday, November 13th, 2011

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…