Musings of a Displaced Yankee

Snow 2012

2012-02-06T22:03:00.003Z

First snow this winter... it's been very mild (much to my relief). We got a few inches, enough for snowballs and snowmen and general fun. It came in on Saturday night, lasted all of Sunday, and now, Monday night, is pretty much gone. Slushy school run Monday morning wasn't much fun, though.

E and I took a snowy morning walk.

We brought back a snowball for C, but she wasn't convinced...

It was nice to have a little bit of snow and cold weather... but now I'm ready for Spring.

We went to the Natural History Museum on Saturday. The kids loved it. E told us he would dream about volcanoes in museums that night. There was a great section on volcanoes complete with different types of lava deposits - most of them touchable. Also an earthquake room, set up to look like a replica of a Japanese supermarket. E was a little bit surprised at the earthquake but he enjoyed keeping his balance on the moving floor! After that we all saw some fossils and then left for home, knowing that the baby (who had no nap) was slowing turning into a ticking time bomb. Highlights of the trip: E's reaction to the volcanoes and C's reaction to the trains - there was no room on one of the short trips we took so I stood with her (in a sling) and had my hand on the railing, with B's hand nearby. After a moment of reflection, C placed her hand in between ours and kept it there! With a smug expression, I might add. Too cute.

Catch-up

2012-01-28T20:58:00.007Z

January started off a bit slow, but the past few weeks have been really busy. We rearranged the living room, putting the second, smaller couch at the far end of the room and moving our table to a more prominent (and accessible!) position. So now, family dinners take place a lot more often! E and I visited the Imperial War Museum while B and C stayed home - the museum was a little bit too heavy for him, so we left earlier than I'd intended... but that's fine because it's not far from home - a short walk from Waterloo station, which is only a quarter of an hour's train ride from where we live. E liked the walk-through submarine, but they'd closed the Children during War exhibit so there was less to do than I'd thought. The trench warfare walkthrough was way too intense for him and we left at the entrance, bumbling about past various, less-scary displays on our way out. And, on the way back, we stopped to balance on benches, low walls, to smell the flowers on display at the outside florist at the bottom of our hill, and as a special treat, to walk through the "curly gate" of the graveyard that strollers don't fit through. Having young children has (mostly) taught me to slow down and live in the moment. Less agenda, more flexibility and all that.

Today, B and I went on a date for afternoon tea at our normal posh hotel in Marylebone, near Baker Street (of Sherlock Holmes fame). It was good. We talked about things, uninterrupted. 1 year plans. 5 year plans. Memories. Anecdotes. All the while drinking tea and eating far-too-rich treats. I, in my unabashed Americanness, mentioned a left-out, treat-loving, 3-year-old boy at home, and could I have a box to go for a few leftover treats, please? They did one better than that, and sent us home with two little boxes of extra treats. Splendid.

C is climbing things (successfully, I might add....gah!), jabbering away in nonsensical baby talk with the occasional "E-rriii-gah!" which is what she calls her big brother, dancing, loving music, pointing imperiously at anything she wants (and then climbing you to GET it, if you don't respond quickly enough), and generally being non-stop. We have been referred to a pediatrician for her sleep issues. Which, over here, is kind of a big deal. Hard to get referrals like that. But she is up every few hours (or less) throughout the night. Yesterday, for example, we had resettles at 10ish, 12ish, feed at 1:30, then 3:45, resettle at 5, up at 6.... that's not by any means unusual, either.

So... some promised pictures from the Horniman Museum, which is a nice little place in Dulwich. Some of its exhibits (the outside animals, the bandstand, some of the gardens) were closed, and they now charge for aquarium entry, but it's a fun place to spend half a day, and you can get lunch in the cafe (or bring your own, as we did, and eat in the large greenhouse/conservatory).

E and I blitzed through the hand-on wildlife section while B sat in the car with a sleeping C. E turns the dial to listen to the different sounds of wildlife here.

Getting a bit too up close and personal with a taxidermied fox:

The large walrus in the middle of another exhibition - we read about and looked at extinct or nearly-extinct animals, including a replica of a dodo, and perused monkey and other skeletons/skulls.

C woke, and joined us in the aquarium. 'Scuse the bluriness - flash wasn't allowed.

Then we headed upstairs to the instrument exhibit, where there's a hands-on room for children to make their own sounds:

After lunch, we went outside to burn off some energy. Spot the boy in this pic?

C gamely tried to keep up, but she hasn't quite mastered running yet. Behind her is museum and conservatory.
Spot the boy, Part II:

"This tree was planted in 1953, the coronation year of Queen Elizabeth II."

Looped the rest of the grounds, then back to the car and home. And that's all for now.

2012

2012-01-13T21:48:00.008Z

I meant to do a 2011 recap, but things around here have been way too hectic.

Every day, I manage to feed, clothe, and clean myself and the kids, do some basic housework, and write at least 100 words (usually around 250-300). Anything else is gravy. We try to catch up on the weekends. It's not bad - just tiring. And sometimes I look up and I realize I've neglected this blog, to take stock of how far we've come.

So, in that vein....

In 2011, E wasn't yet at preschool. Next year, he will be in Reception (Kindergarten) and C will be 2. Big changes. E is really starting to appreciate outings more - museums are fun to him. He is fairly gregarious, extremely verbal, and continues to be overall a kind, gentle and fun boy. C is walking confidently but is shy, especially of new people. She won't have anything to do with strangers and will flee them angrily. At 13 months she is beginning to understand some words and short phrases/requests. We went to our first solo playgroup (sans brother - he was at preschool) last Thursday.

And some photos....

Christmas Morning....

Grandpa's piano on Christmas Day, a duet.

Checking on us at the local fair, on Boxing Day. We ran into someone I knew from the neighborhood (she lives a few streets down) and her 3 year old and E were immediate fast friends, going on ride after ride, and culminating with this bouncy castle, which they stayed in for ages. Actually met up with them the next week when I was out walking to the park with E, and we wound up going AGAIN, totally impromptu. Pro tip: Never buy "toasted marshmallows" at these events, they cost 2 quid and were roasted with a mini-blowtorch. Yeah.

In and around all the fun, someone found the chance to wreak mischief.

"Wait... how many calories?"

Hampton Court Palace post-Christmas, watching the costumed actors give a performance in Henry VIII's great hall.

C surveying the landscaped gardens.

Oh-so-artsy.

Hedge maze!

Triumphant.

A stroll along the outer edge of the palace, toward the fountain.
"Oh all right, one go on the carousel before we leave."

I have some more pictures, these from the Horniman Museum (trust me, the name has no bearing on anything) last weekend. It has a little aquarium and some good kid-friendly hands-on things, like instruments. But it probably deserves its own post.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T22:11:00.005Z

The Oxen

Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock.
"Now they are all on their knees,"
An elder said as we sat in a flock
By the embers in hearthside ease.

We pictured the meek mild creatures where
They dwelt in their strawy pen,
Nor did it occur to one of us there
To doubt they were kneeling then.

So fair a fancy few would weave
In these years! Yet, I feel,
If someone said on Christmas Eve,
"Come; see the oxen kneel

"In the lonely barton by yonder coomb
Our childhood used to know,"
I should go with him in the gloom,
Hoping it might be so.

-Thomas Hardy

It's Beginning to Look...

2011-12-23T20:24:00.012Z

...a lot like Christmas. Although the weather is fairly balmy (for here) especially compared to last year's bitingly cold winter. We decorated our tree at E's insistence...

B and I have got everything sorted except a pie dish (which is due tomorrow) and possibly some more wrapping paper. Presents are starting to pile up underneath the tree. I feel pretty acclimatized to a UK Christmas now although I feel mince pies are a poor trade for reg'lar old non-alcoholic eggnog. You know what I don't like, though? The commercial aftermath of Christmas. The Boxing Day sales and all that stuff - ok, fair enough to get a few deals, but after the actual HOLIDAY is over, I just want to let go and start living normally. We've already had Black Friday (well, that's more of a States thing but it's making its way over here), Cyber Monday, etc, and frankly I'd rather sit back and enjoy what I've already got rather than think about Acquiring More.

'Scuse my mini-rant. Here are some photos from our (my and E's) recent visit to the Museum of London. It really is a wonderful place and child-friendly. I have been known to spend most of a day there (pre-children).

They have fairly recently revamped it, adding more to the downstairs exhibits. They also added on a replica Saxon house (wattle and daub).

E in front of the (recently added) Victorian Pleasure Garden exhibit. Since I recently wrote a novel set in 1877 and am currently writing one set in 1843, I love going through these indoor "gardens!" They have little movie-type scenes projected onto the walls with people talking/acting, benches and a little winding ramp down which to promenade.

Nearby is the Victorian Walk, which is a series of shops from the 1800's all kitted out with different Victorian gadgets/products. There's even a little pub you can sit in and listen to the piped-in recorded sounds of glasses clinking and people talking. Here, E looks at the toy shop. The museum had the walk set up as a Santa's Grotto this Christmas.

One of the exhibits - Victorian pottery set into the floor and covered so that one can walk over it. E was very interested.

The gaol (jail) exhibit. I read about debtor's prison while he looked at the child-friendly interactive display. Inside those boxes are handleable objects such as padlocks, keys, chains etc.

This was E's favorite exhibit. Moving trains, buttons, lights, roads, and a traffic light in the background. Fortunately it had a nice table and chair nearby for me.

After sharing lunch, E and I headed outside to catch the bus near St. Paul's Cathedral.

We rode past the anti-capitalism Occupy protest.

Down Fleet Street and the Strand....

Over the Thames with Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament in the distance.

Back to Waterloo Station and then home. Merry Early Christmas to all! I will try and do another update tomorrow with the picture of our tree and all underneath it.

Dec Misc

2011-12-21T23:09:00.010Z

We are counting down to Christmas, with several packages from the USA under the tree and one slightly impatient little boy. He wakes up and asks "Is it Christmas yet?" although he is somewhat mollified by being able to open the advent calendars. (Yes, plural. We have two! Why not?)

Both kids are a little under the weather - today and yesterday E has been coughing, and C's been hoarse and snotty. I caught it too, but was able to shake it off after a few days... hoping it won't last long for the kids.

This little girl turned 1 on the 9th:

She very much enjoyed her chocolate cake.

She would like to let everyone know that this is what a proper kiss looks like:

This little boy went to his school's fete (winter fundraiser) and requested "stars" on his face. He wound up with a gorgeous night sky and stood out most wonderfully from all the generic Spidermans running around.

He is off preschool until January. We hit the Museum of London yesterday which he enjoyed, but was feeling too under the weather to really get into. We also recently tried out the fondue set that B and I received as a wedding present. It was an interesting experiment. I think E enjoyed it more than B or I did. He kept dipping and dipping and forgetting to eat!

He and his sister do get along splendidly overall, despite photos like the following....

C continues to keep us on our toes by carrying out frequent fridge raids:

"Hmm? Blueberries? On the floor? Who coulda done that?"

"Okay, I admit it. I'm triumphant...

"...and I ate THIS many before you made it into the room!"

And I'm off to bed before one of the hooligans wakes.

Wales Misc

2011-12-07T20:28:00.005Z

A few more pictures, since I have some time. I have been working with C on bedtimes lately and have now gotten her to the point where I can go through the bedtime routine and then leave her in the crib sleepy-but-awake to fall asleep herself. This is a major breakthrough for us and it means more free time for me of an evening. Now... if I can just teach her to stop waking up 3-4-5+ times per night, things will be much better. Crying it out doesn't work so am continuing to muddle through with her.

Back to Wales....

Exploring the onsite lake near the village.

C all dressed up and ready to--

...escape, and crawl off at lightning speed. Toward the bottom of the slide, which she tried to climb about 823452 times.

Hot chocolate, the decadent too-sugary kind, after a little hike around the lake/site. And, back at home...

...the smile that says "You have caught me, but I am wholly unrepentant, and actually rather proud, of my destruction/mess/horrible stain/fill-in-the-blank." Note the toothpaste in her other hand. She hasn't figured out screw-top caps, but it won't be long, folks.

Weather has gotten markedly colder, with frosts appearing. I am once again thankful for a well-insulated double-glazed flat. It really makes heating so much more efficient.

I am currently 35k+ into my current novel (projected 80k), set in early Victorian England. I've had a submission (on another historical) out to a publisher for the last 6 months and they've asked for more time to consider, so I'm hoping that's a good sign.

Counting down to Christmas, and B is taking a few weeks off work, which will be nice. Hope everyone reading this (yeah, all 4 of you!) are staying warm and happy in this new season.

Wales

2011-12-01T15:18:00.015Z

Let's see how much I can type while the baby sleeps.

We chose a family-friendly place called Bluestone. It's kind of a cross between a resort and a self-catering holiday. I've never seen the like in America, although I've not lived there since becoming a parent. Still, it seems very British to me.

The cottage we stayed in was wonderful! B and I in the upstairs master, with the baby, Granny downstairs, E in the middle bedroom with a skylight that he loved. Big kitchen too, with a really nice table that I'm envious of. I so wish we had space for a dedicated dining area! One day we will, I hope.

Stairs up led to the top bedrooms (all en suite) and a little snug area with a beanbag and a small TV (there was a large TV downstairs - and no, we didn't watch either very much!). The stairs/upper level was the perfect place for launching paper airplanes:

Spent the night, woke up, got in our golf buggy, and went to get breakfast. E LOVED the buggy - actually, we all did. The site was huge, and although we could have walked from place to place, it was really nice not to have to. Breakfast was in the little woodland-style cafe, a very kid-friendly place with little hiding areas and a TV showing a Welsh folktale.

After eating breakfast....
...we went downstairs to the adventure playground, which was quite good! Even the baby found something to do:
...while E was a tad more adventurous (although B was bailing him out, here).

After a quick round of miniature golf, we headed back to the cottage.

Have I mentioned yet the golf buggies were amazing?

They're electric (lots of charging stations all over the place) with a top speed of about 10mph. The site is supposedly "car-free" although cars are allowed in to load and unload and there are maintenance vehicles, so to be quite honest, we did run into a fair few vehicles and it wasn't as car-free as I might have liked. Still, everyone drove slowly so it wasn't too bad.

After a rest, we all went swimming at the water park on site, which was amazing! The lazy river wound its way from the indoors to the outside, with little hot pools to rest in and look up at the sky, then back indoors again. There were four waterslides (I managed 2, so did B, E was too small) and a wave machine, fountains, and a pretty good shallow/kid pool with a miniature slide that E enjoyed.

I think we could have managed another few extra days on site. It had its own little "town" with restaurants, a pub (Tafarn, in Welsh), shops, a bakery, and a little playground which E liked:

With the kids tuckered out from swimming, B and I dined at the more high-falutin' restaurant while Granny babysat - it was refreshing to have an uninterrupted, non-whispered chat with B. With a glass of wine as well! Or maybe two. And the food was good.

This being my first visit to Wales, I really wanted to see some of the countryside, and thankfully everyone else was up for it. We went to see a castle that Granny had visited as a young girl.

Entering Llawhaden castle....

Exploring....

Going up high....
Misty views....

Dadden below....

Then into the car and off for a Sunday roast. After visiting the tiny tiny settlement of Landshipping two or three times more than we wanted, we took a very circuitous route and found a waterside pub. Both kids napped in the car on the way, and woke up to eat.

There was a little boat with Sausalito on it floating out there... a mystery?

Back to the cottage we went. C ran herself a bath....

...and absconded cheekily:

I have a few more pics, but will post them later - I hear baby waking, and I need to get started on prepping dinner. Let me just say that I really enjoyed myself and it was great to get away for a few days!

But First....

2011-11-23T20:58:00.014Z

A post about our London Aquarium trip.

I took E by myself, leaving B home with the baby. She was supposed to nap, but he only got about 20 minutes of peace out of her. By that time, the boy and I were well on our way - train from our local station to Waterloo, which took about 15 minutes. E was very excited, got on the train and bellowed: "This train is going to Waterloo!" which provoked many smiles and a few outright chuckles from the passengers. He then sat across from an older mother and her teenage daughter and proceeded to chat to them the entire way. They were charmed.

Once out of the train station, his enthusiasm did not wane. The London Eye (big ferris wheel type thing) was very exciting to him.

It was a bright sunny day (if a little chilly) and Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament were gilded in sunlight.

Inside the aquarium, we found an open tank where we could look down from the top at the fish. Here, a ray is visiting us, poking its nose above water. We weren't allowed to touch, although in the San Francisco aquarium, we could. They feel like... slimy, spongy cartilage, basically.

There was a great walk-through tunnel with fish/sharks/rays swimming above us and little peekholes for children.

BIG fish in this tank plus sharks plus sea turtles (not pictured). There were lots of little kids crowded around watching.

Croc.

Buddha-in-a-tank.

There were penguins in this tank but I didn't get any in the hasty photo I snapped.

Brightly colored fish! He was nearing the end of his patience by now, and wanted some lunch.

So we walked back to the station to find some, chasing pigeons along the way.

And back home afterward, walking up through the graveyard listening to the trains roll past. Along the way, he snatched up two sticks and told me he was going to sing the blues. Then he performed "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" in a minor key.

All in all, it was a beautiful day, if slightly overwhelming for a 3 year old (and, to be quite frank, the London Aquarium is too expensive to visit lightly - nearly 30 quid for just the two of us).

It was Remembrance Sunday, so there were many in the graveyard who had come to pay their respects to the World War I/II memorials. We walked past, and chatted (very briefly) about his great-great grandfather (buried in the Somme American Cemetery) who was a sergeant and a medic in World War I, from Coxsackie, NY.

A 3 year old is too young to understand, but all the time I was walking, I thought of the World Wars. In Flanders fields, the poppies blow/Between the crosses, row on row.... and was so grateful to have a whole family and an intact flat to come home to.

Vegetable Herding

2011-11-21T22:38:00.004Z

Back from Wales. More later. Busy herding a baby herding onions and potatoes.

Oh, all right... a sneak peek:

What...

2011-11-08T21:36:00.008Z

have we been up to in November so far? Well... playing with B's iPad (both kids love it, although we're limiting its use)...

...eating a BIG chocolatey Halloween treat...

...playing lots. This girl loves to push buttons. She seems to have quite a bit of manual dexterity. If she looks stern in that photo, it's only because she's about to make a move for my camera, which has lovely shiny buttons...

...and eating us out of house and home.

I turned around for 5 seconds and there she was rummaging away! Once I determined there was nothing open (read: messy) she could grab, I got the camera. Please excuse her brother's hand-me-down pyjamas. They were so comfy, I had to keep them. Pure fleece, which is great with the weather getting colder.

In and around all this, we're coping with a broken dishwasher. Yes, it's completely borked, fixing it would cost as much as buying a new one, BUT here's the thing - it's an integrated dishwasher, so it's going to be damned difficult (and expensive) to replace. It's the landlady's responsibility, but on the other hand, she's not raised the rent in two years.... so frankly, rather than be priced out of the area, I'd rather do dishes by hand. Which we are, and have been doing, for the past several weeks. Coping. Yes, just about. My hands are really clean. Unfortunately, however, it looks like the washer/dryer is on the fritz too. Fortunately, it's just the dryer part... so far. Great timing with winter, but... could be worse. Right? Did I just jinx myself? I probably did.

Baby C took two unaided steps yesterday. I don't think she meant to, but she did anyway - from one cruising point to another. She turns 11 months tomorrow. My instinct says she'll be awhile yet before taking more unaided steps, but I'll be keeping my eyes peeled. Speaking of big moments and milestones, her first word may have been "Wow." I've heard it on two different occasions but I'm not 100% sure, because she doesn't tend to repeat it on command.

Well, off to catch up on emails... okay, who am I kidding... I'm going to read some, promise mentally to reply, and then fall into bed anyway.

Happy (Slightly Early) Halloween!

2011-10-30T21:54:00.007Z

I have written before about how the UK doesn't celebrate Halloween with as much gusto as the US does, but today, en route to a friend's baby shower, I spied CHRISTMAS decorations in one of the superstores. Come on! Christmas in October? I'd been merrily tuning out the odd mention (people here start talking about it as far back as late August) and now I feel myself turning all bah humbug. There was once a time when Christmassing didn't begin until after Thanksgiving, and I think I liked it better then.

So. We went to Wimbledon Common today, hiked, went into the Windmill musuem (E LOVED it, although the boy loves museums in general), came home, and carved our pumpkin.

Elijah helped with the scooping.

Baby Callie helped with the... um, well.... Baby Callie was the overseer.

She thinks our caution about raw pumpkins not tasting very nice is highly amusing.

Brother and sister examining the finished product.

Test run.

Happy Halloween!

School, Autumn, Life

2011-10-22T18:46:00.007+01:00

Life continues to roll on, complete with mild-to-moderate sleep deprivation and busy schedules (mostly B). E has settled in to preschool, and is the youngest in his class by some way (only August-born). I have mixed feelings about school in general... whether he'll be a child who falls through the cracks, gets bullied, perhaps overlooked by adults due to his general easygoing nature and reluctance to rock the boat.

He is not like a "typical boy" running around playing guns, dinosaurs, etc (although he's into vehicles, especially trains) and although he has social skills, they don't extend to defending himself when confronted by someone aggressive (or perhaps even another very assertive child). He takes criticism to heart and is sensitive, but tends not to show it on the outside. For example, he'll come home and tell me an aide was "cross with him" for something or other. He can tell me the context, because he's quite verbal, and these incidents are always, from an adult point of view, trivial. Yet to him they are a big deal, and I'm trying to process how I feel about that - whether it's a "necessary evil" for him to learn about the world, or whether I ought to look at ways to protect him from that kind of thing until he matures a little bit more. I don't like the idea of sending him off to kindergarten at the age of 4 - one MONTH after he turns 4, to be precise.

I would rather, in my heart of hearts, send him to a Montessori preschool until he hits 5. He is reading simple words now - my, no, dog, on, a few others. He is asking "what do these words spell?" every day. He is (and has been) counting with one-one correspondence up to at least five or six, and more if he is in a careful mood. He uses words like "reflection" accurately, in context, and as part of his general vocabulary. He can draw faces although he isn't much interested in drawing in general (he enjoys painting more). He is musical. He is kind.

And I just don' t feel his teachers are seeing much of this (if at all). I had a scheduled 10 minute talk with them on a parent conference day and E sat to color in a picture while I chatted. One on one with the aide, he colored in an "S" and volunteered the sound it made (sss) and also that "Snake begins with S." She was surprised. I wasn't. And I understand that there's a minimum ratio the teachers deal with but I do struggle with knowing that my son is possibly getting overlooked. Not that I want him to be drilled academically, but... it'd be nice if they appreciated what he can do. I get the feeling that the wheels are in motion for preschoolers who need extra help, but no plans in place that recognizes advanced/gifted children. And I will be honest and say that it makes me a little bit angry.

Angry that the school talks about how important attendance is and talks about FINING parents who take their child on vacation when school is in session... yet doesn't seem to recognize each child is an individual. I am fully on board with E learning how to stand in line, wait his turn, etc (actually he does all that pretty well already) but I am NOT on board with him becoming a little lemming and losing the ability to think for himself/outside the box. And I do think school, as a whole, promotes that. It's easier for the teachers, perhaps, easier for "the majority."

Well, I don't know where I'm going with this, but it's nice to put my thoughts down. I'm sure I'll refer to this post later in life. B and I sometimes go back to older posts on this blog to see how we felt back then, or look at pictures, or find the dates of something we all did. So now I've got this entry and down the line, when I need to make a definitive decision about his schooling, I'll be able to refer to it.

I think what I'd most like is a halfway house. If I could send him to school for half-days and then involve him in extracurricular activities a few times per week (sports, language, music) I would be happy. I don't think I'm up for 100% homeschooling, just as I feel leery about 100% regular schooling. I guess the only thing to do is watch how things go and play it by ear.

Meanwhile... life rolls on... we went to Clapham today to the tea place at the edge of the Common.

Father-son matching blue turtlenecks. Pistachio ice cream for the young master.

A nice treat.

Clowning around outside for the camera.
C chewing my ring!

I have a picture of me standing by this fence when I was 28 weeks pregnant with E... life really does fly by!

They love each other.

Going toward the car after a little walk around. We ran into friends about 30 seconds after I snapped this photo!

That's all for now. We are in the thick of autumn and I'm enjoying it despite the cold mornings. It's feeling like a good time to wrap up warm, enjoy cocoa, unwind, prepare for the incoming holidays. We are off to Wales in mid-November and Halloween is soon....

October

2011-10-08T16:12:00.007+01:00

We had a great heat wave lately - 70's and 80's, real summer weather - but have now returned to more season-appropriate weather. Since summer was on the cool side, this heat wave has made me less grumpy about heading into autumn/winter. I'm looking forward to hot chocolate... Halloween... Christmas... not so much the idea of darkness falling at earlier than 5pm and the 1385 layers the children will need and not being able to go in and out of our garden at will.

E has been enjoying his preschool. He's been bringing home lots of paintings and other little projects. The joy of having a very verbal 3 year old - he's able to tell me a fair amount of details about his day. I feel good about the place he's going to. It's only 3 hours per morning but it's become important in our lives.

C is developing in leaps and bounds, although she still only has two teeth. She also doesn't sleep very well. A good night for us is when she's only up 3 times. A bad night can be 9+ settlings. B helps me a lot otherwise I would have crashed and burned by now. But she's a smart little lady so I try and count my blessings. She cruises now (holds onto the furniture and sidles along), claps, waves, sticks her tongue out at you and goes "LEBBLE LEBBLE" in her baby voice, and loves it when you copy what she's doing. Also dances (in a rickety, baby manner) when music is on. And laughs at her big brother. Crawls away at warp speed while sticking forbidden things in her mouth and looking smug.

So... photos... one, at least.

Brother and sister on the little trampoline. She was actually bouncing (not jumping, obviously) but bending her knees and going up and down with big grins.

Ok - one more picture:

Still need to blog about the CA trip. Right now we're counting down the days until Halloween... that's the next fun landmark.

First Day of Preschool

2011-09-15T12:49:00.005+01:00

Here's the man himself, ready to go. He did not want to stop and get his photo taken, hence the slight disheveledness of his uniform etc. And that smile is his "smile for the camera" smile.

Preschool!

2011-09-08T11:59:00.005+01:00

Today E had his first settling-in day at the preschool around the corner. It takes us about 5 minutes to walk there. B was able to go into work late and come with us and chat with E's teachers and the aides. The nursery is well equipped with a nice outside space that incorporates trees, a big playhouse, grass, a platform for imaginative play, and lots of toys to play on. The inside space is pretty good too. It was funny seeing the boys gravitate toward the airplanes and firehouse and the girls going for the kitchen/play food area.

There was also a little area where the kids could pour themselves a drink of water and have some fruit to eat (today was pear). And several tables with arts and crafts and playdough, and a reading area, and the bathrooms were nicely equipped with lots of soap and even an easel in the middle with pens and paints.

E will be going 5 mornings per week and he is so excited. He will be one of the youngest in the year (if not THE youngest).

C is 9 months tomorrow and crawling all over and pulling herself up to standing on stable objects. Sleep issues abound, but we are coping.

Next week I will have pics of E in his uniform but for now all I've got is a funny pic of C in her bath....

Will do my best to make more time to post next week!

Ok, Ok

2011-08-13T21:16:00.009+01:00

Back to the scheduled show. Which probably means pictures. You want pictures? I got pictures. Here's a few from our trip up to Suffolk last weekend.

Off on a walk, in borrowed boots. I did think long and hard about posting this because one of those children is not mine - but due to the angle I decided to put it up. And yes, they love each other. Very much. One of the quotes was "I'm falling in love with E!" which was very humorous and cute.

Tractor. Left lots and lots of muddy ruts in the road. Our walk took us past farmland and lots of pigs, some with piglets.

And muddy puddles.

By this point, Callie was zonked out in the sling and remained so for over an hour. The kids were picking and eating blackberries from the hedges and loving it. I really appreciate being able to stay in the country with these friends and let E run wild with kids his age in the country air. I think he gets a lot out of it. So do I, actually.

Swinging in the back yard. We also went for a boat trip, complete with mooring up at a little island with a Wendy house and exploring the "magical forest" (E's term) before getting back in our boat and rowing to the shore for ice cream.

Today we had a little informal (and belated) 3rd birthday party for him, just a little picnic with some of his friends near the park. It went really well.

In other news, B starts his job in Brighton on Monday so I am bracing for earlier starts and later finishes. The recent riots didn't have much of an effect on us however a bunch of people trashed Clapham, burning stuff and looting and smashing up the train station B passes through. Our local Dominoes chain had its windows shattered as well.

I am behind on 2850825 emails, as usual. Trying to do some writing, mostly failing, but the occasional 500 word spree gives me hope. Counting down the days until E starts preschool. He'll be going 5 mornings a week for 3 hour sessions. It's a proper little school with uniforms and everything. Years ago when we moved to this area we unwittingly landed right next to one of the top schools around - there's a massive waiting list and people speak highly of it. Fortunately they give priority to people who live within the catchment area and... well, that's us.

Well, I'm off to crank out 200 words and then visit the Land of Nod.

Warning: Political Stuff

2011-08-09T22:36:00.004+01:00

Look away now if you mind swearing and don't want to get all het up.

If you're still reading - I'll keep it short. I don't think I've ever been so close to such craziness! Local businesses being looted and burned, riot police and vans and dogs just up the hill, our local shops shutting down at 4pm and putting metal grilles over the doors, B's office in Central London being evacuated, train stations being smashed up and closed. This is all a bit nuts.

That being said, I'm pissed off at both sides. The rioters, for opportunistic looting and senseless burning, costing businesses millions of pounds. The government, for not seeing this coming. Colossally so, in fact. I mean, the Home Secretary herself said, back in September 2010: ""The British public don't simply resort to violent unrest in the face of challenging economic circumstances. ... It is ridiculous to suggest that there are not savings that can be made in policing." (source)

You dumb bitch, there weren't enough police on the ground last night to prevent looters from totally destroying multiple parts of the city - including pillaging the hell out of some of our local shops! They were in there for hours, walking out with all sorts of stuff, all because our local cops had to go reinforce other parts of the city due to YOUR budget cuts!

And meanwhile we've got our Prime Minister, who only bothered to return from vacation earlier today, yammering on about how we're all "in this together." Apparently that also means cutting taxes for corporate buddies while putting more pressure on the working and middle classes by screwing with child benefit and shafting low-income working families by cutting child tax credits, which many people depend on to help them get childcare. I'd look for a relevant statement by George Osbourne here, but apparently he's only just curtailing his holiday in California to come back to the UK to deal with the rioting, so he's probably only getting on the plane right about now.

So while Parliament discusses stuff like reintroducing baton rounds, rubber bullets, water hoses, etc, I'm going to sit here and wonder why the fuck democracy is so skewed toward a system that favors slapping temporary bandaids onto a situation over addressing root causes. Because from where I sit, I'm disgusted at both sides. Opportunistic looters - that sums up my feelings. And I don't feel I need to differentiate between either side when I say it.

I'm becoming more libertarian by the day.

(Very) Belated Update....

2011-08-05T13:12:00.006+01:00

So we've been back from CA for a few weeks now, and are settled in. I didn't get to catch up with everyone I wanted to! Nor did there seem to be enough time to visit. The weeks we were there flew by. I plan on doing a write-up at some point, mostly for my own benefit so that I can remember and savor what we did there in the years to come.

We're off to Suffolk this weekend, staying with friends. Today is E's 3rd birthday. He was very excited to go outside and find this:

Please excuse his green underoos.

Although it's been a bit tough adjusting to life back here in the UK (rain in July and August is bleh, sinus headaches are bleh too, nonsleeping babies are VERY bleh), we are pretty much back on track now. E is starting preschool in September and will be one of the youngest kids in his age group. I know enough people in the area to arrange playdates once a week or so, which is very nice. B is starting a job in Brighton which is a 90 minute commute, but should be a good change for him.

And in and among all that we are finding time to eat blackberries from our garden in the sun.

Will try and update again sometime soon....!

2011-06-21T01:22:00.001+01:00

It's so good to be back. Even with jet lagged kids, seeing my old stomping grounds is just amazing. On the first night, Callie woke at 2am and I took her for a walk on the marsh. The tide was going out and I stood at the bridge wearing her in the sling and let the rushing of the water drift her off to sleep. Fog was rolling inland from the ocean, over the hills, shrouding the mountain. The only other soul I saw on the walk was someone I knew from years past, on his bicycle going to work.

Been to both the MV and the Saus. library, for ice cream, to one of the Corte Madera malls, to the park, and to the beach.

Without further ado, some pics.

...or well, I'd add pics if blogger.com on Internet Explorer wasn't so buggy... maybe next time.

June

2011-06-13T21:05:00.004+01:00

Kids are growing. Life is busy. The California trip edges ever nearer. E starts preschool in September. C is 6 months old.

We lunched at a pub on the Thames on Saturday and met friends in Covent Garden on Sunday.

Everything is basically going well, although life gets hectic around bedtime. C has started solids. We were going to do the Japanese tradition of giving her a grain of rice, but she had other ideas, and snatched a piece of pitta bread off a tray at a barbecue we went to last week. After soggifying it, she was wreathed in gummy smiles, so...

Anyhow... here's some photos.

Lunch on the Thames, near Hammersmith Bridge.

Slurp.

Banananmghomnomnom.

E's play is getting lots more imaginative and complicated. That's a level crossing, bridge, and tunnel on the same track. Recently, we added a little train station.

Salad grown in our back garden. Some rocket (arugula) plus random other varieties. Did you know you can tell the type of person you are from the kind of salad you eat? Yeah! Elton John's a rocket man. (I'll get my coat....)

E at the Science Museum recently, learning about cause and effect.

Probably won't update again before we set off to CA, but will try for more regularity!

Quotes etc

2011-05-20T21:13:00.003+01:00

Still catching up on emails (may have missed a few here and there) and blogging has taken a back seat for a while... sorry!

We are potty training in... well, let's just say we're taking the long, scenic, easy route of no pressure. And no really big accidents, either. Yet. This necessitates (for the moment), a bare bottom around the house. We have leather couches. E's always been in diapers when sitting on them but today we were letting him watch a TV show and he (gasp) sat still for more than 5 minutes. When he moved again, his eyes got suddenly wide and he proclaimed:

"Oh! What is happening to myself? The butt of myself is stuck to the couch?!"

Even disregarding the toddler-style phrasing, you have to admit it's hilarious.

Speaking of cuteness, today I had to put the baby down for a few minutes. I heard her begin to grizzle from the other room. When I finally got to her, she'd been crying/grizzling for a minute or two. She also had a sticker on her knee and four cuddly toys deposited on her head. This is not an isolated occurrence.

Lastly, I asked E what color the sky was. We were indoors at the time. He turned to me and said, solemnly: "Gray." I guess I'm raising a very British child.

I feel incomplete not putting up a photo, so here is one of E and me at the Science Museum in London last weekend, watching a giant factory steam wheel go around and around. I tried to explain the Industrial Revolution to E but I'm not entirely sure how much he absorbed.

Randomness

2011-04-30T14:57:00.004+01:00

So I called my US bank yesterday and wound up chatting with the lady on the other end about the royal wedding while we waited for the computers to update details. I realized that I totally heard her accent. And she was from CA. I feel really weirded out right now. I think I'm probably going to have culture shock when I visit. That is going to be strange.

Yesterday we went to one of the local street parties, because Friday was a national holiday due to the wedding. There were something like 79 street parties in our borough alone! We had a little picnic then E went on the bouncy castle someone had set up. It was great to see the street shut down to traffic.

B and I went to the local farmer's market today and then the park afterward for E to run off some energy. We both have to-do lists a mile long. Mental to-do lists. If I wrote it all down it'd just be daunting.

I have no relevant pics so here is a photo of a teethy baby. (And no, we're not getting a whole lot of sleep lately.)

Suffolk, Part 3

2011-04-25T21:40:00.009+01:00

During our entire time in Suffolk, we only spent one day not socializing. Time really flew by. Most of the pics above were from our day "off" - no obligations, so we stuck close to the bungalow and beach and E had a nap.

We met up with friends at Africa Alive, an animal park with a nice playground and indoor play area. Spent a lovely time observing the birds and animals and watching a birds of prey display (during which E insisted upon getting up, wandering off, and touching trees. Odd child).

We milked a faux cow...

...fed goats...

...and saw lions (among other animals).

Then we headed off to the playground, which was the highlight for E.

After that, it was indoors to the soft play. I have no pictures but E had a great time. There was a complicated system involving vacuum, air, balls and tubes, and "cannons" which shot the foam balls all around. E simply loved it.

And C? Well, she's slotted in well. Now if we could just get her to sleep a nice unbroken stretch from midnight until at least 6, instead of waking up twice...!

Hard to feel put-out, though, when you look at her cute little mug.

Well - that was our Suffolk trip!

The prince is getting married on Friday. Some places are even having street parties. B and I are probably going to a friend's barbecue though. E starts playgroup twice a week from next week. That term runs into July. Then he starts nursery (preschool) in September.

He'll be the youngest in his class due to being August-born. I'm not worried about his academic skills nor his social skills. I think he'll be ready for preschool, although I'm still a bit leery about sending him into kindergarten at barely 4. He knows at least 90%, if not more, of letter sounds (S = sss for example). He knows both upper case and lower case letters - all of them, from A-Z. He can name and recognize a variety of colors and shapes. He can count to 20 although he skips 13 (superstitious?). He can count actual things (i.e. 3 red cars) although he's not 100% on this if there are more than about 4 things to count. He strikes up conversations with complete strangers and says "please" and "thank you" properly.* He even shares with other kids.**

*most of the time, anyway
**ditto the above

So - life is progressing. I read something recently that nails it totally for me. "The days are long, but the years are short."

Suffolk, Part 2

2011-04-22T18:29:00.011+01:00

Before I finish up the trip recap - I just want to say that B and the kids and I will be in CA from June 16-July 12! Very excited!

Anyhow... after staying with our friends, we headed up to Lowestoft, which has a long (mostly) sandy beach. We were in one of the buildings on top of the cliff. The UK has these things called beach huts, which are colo(u)rful little shack things. I gather they basically keep beach-type things in there as a kind of glorified locker, and maybe sometimes retreat there to sit out of the sun or to change clothes. Maybe Americans don't use beach huts due to relying more on cars? I don't know.

Here's the beach:

E had been stomping about in a most pleased manner in the water.

After one night in Lowestoft (breakfast, dinner and afternoon tea included), and a quick visit to E's great-aunt, we set off to our simple but cheerful little bungalow in Kessingland (where Rider Haggard, the novelist, once lived). We were a 5 minute walk from the beach.

E on a motorbike at his GA's house:

Running up the path past the ducks at the cottage, toward the gate leading to the beach:

B getting the kite aloft, E with spade and mat.

Sandcastle-building, moat-digging...

Got a few more photos to put up in the next post... will try to get to that in a few days. We are having a great long Easter weekend, and we have another four-day weekend coming up due to the royal marriage!

Suffolk, Part 1

2011-04-15T20:54:00.009+01:00

We drove up to Suffolk last week to attend a wedding reception. Stayed two nights with friends, who have kids aged 3 and 4, and had an absolute blast. They loved E and E loved them! After they all got up very early in the morning, the 3 year old boy and E instantly bonded over the fact that their pyjamas have dinosaurs on the front.

At one point, someone jokingly asked who was going to marry E, and both kids laid claim to him. And they all held hands to go across the street and look at the pigs (rural location here) and kept holding hands. B has a very touching pic on his Blackberry.

Later on, we all went boating on the pond.

There's a little island with a Wendy house. We touched down briefly, but poor E was so sleep-deprived we didn't stay long.

Here's a better view of the lake, with "The House in the Clouds" just visible.

Fleecy hat, strawberry ice cream, beach. Ain't life grand when you're 2?

Will update more next time. Until then, here's a recent pic of Callie and B:

Spring 2011

2011-03-19T20:36:00.008Z

...is finally here. B was out all day today so E, C and I went out for a long midday/early afternoon walk. It was bright and sunny, the skies were blue, and it was reasonably warm for once. Everything's been gray for so long that it was almost breathtaking to see sunlight again.

A few pics, mostly from Kew Gardens....

And a gorgeous spring sunset viewed from our garden. I don't think the picture does it justice. It looked as if a magical dragon had soared through the skies and spewed out plumes of bright orange cloud.

Semaphore Tower

2011-03-10T11:54:00.007Z

Last weekend we took a short ramble on Ockham Common, with the baby in a sling and the toddler running a bit wild.

We found lots of pinecones:

And a den.

And a semaphore tower.

It was gloomy with patches of slightly-less-gloomy, pretty much par for the course in winter here.

But spring is right around the corner. And we had a good time.

Need Motivation?

2011-02-26T21:20:00.007Z

Are you a two-year-old who lacks the willpower to walk the rest of the way down the street? Do you often find yourself not wanting to brush your teeth or go to bed on time?

Then you need...

HANDFACE.

Handface is a revolutionary new invention that will help with almost any process of early childhood* and leads to stronger motivation, more efficient movement, and laughter.

*providing child is in right frame of mind

Warning: When Handface motivates child to get dressed "by himself," may lead to odd fashion sense.

Handface comes with voicebox not included. Void where prohibited. 0% APR financing. Always read the small print. Never leave pens unattended or unplanned Michelangelos may occur. Will often cause strange and/or amused looks from the general public when Handface is taken out and about.

Artiste

2011-02-24T15:39:00.004Z

Seriously! He did this all by himself and was about to erase it when I took this photo.

Having Kids...

2011-02-20T13:58:00.006Z

...means you get to do kid things again!

Baby Callie "watching."

First taste of cotton candy....

2 and a Half

2011-02-12T19:20:00.009Z

2 1/2 is a fun age so far.

It's the age where he says things like...

"I'm going to go hide behind that tree over there!"

and

"I'm sneaking up on you!"

He is getting more and more confident every week. We can see a marked difference between today and just a few months ago - he can climb the ladders in the park by himself, negotiate tricky rope bridges without hand-holding, and is running at warp speed now.

A few photos from the Imperial War Museum last weekend:

At the controls of the submarine.

More submarine antics.

Big tank. Don't ask me what kind, I was too busy chasing after him to read about it.

Going through the air raid shelter.

Listening to air raid alarms.

Callie's wheels, compared to those of bygone days.

Watching WW2-era cartoons.

Text reads: The day will come when the joybells will ring again throughout Europe, and when victorious nations, masters not only of their foes but of themselves, will plan and build in justice, in tradition, and in freedom - Winston S. Churchill, Jan 20th, 1940.

Gadding about outside.

Today we took a long walk on the nearby common. Even though it was still chilly, the sun was out and made a noticeable difference. We all really enjoyed being outside.

Callie is growing.

And things in general, are going well. B and I celebrated our 4th anniversary this week :)

Haircut

2011-02-06T21:56:00.008Z

Still behind on emails... sorry... I have a fair few in the Drafts folder half-finished and then I lose my train of thought and feel the need to start a new email altogether and then something crops up and...

Well, I'd better finish this post before it's too late!

E got a haircut on Friday. He went from mop-top...

...to this:

Callie is doing well. We had one bad night where both of us were roused at midnight and didn't really get any sleep after that, but fortunately that hasn't happened since. We think it was because she was sick. Now, however, she seems fine, and even quite smiley...

Today (Sunday) was a bit of a miserable day. We went to the Imperial War Museum but E goes downhill in the afternoons (lack of nap) so by the time we were back home we were all a bit snipy and run down.

Saturday, however...

Ok - picture overload, and it's bedtime for me.

30

2011-01-30T20:28:00.003Z

I have about 9 emails to write/catch up on so this'll be a quick post.

Turned 30 (eep) and had a nice celebration tea at our normal tea place (the Landmark).

'Scuse the blurriness and general rumpledness of me. I was a bit more put-together when we arrived but then I had to walk E up and down the stairs 500 times and C woke up halfway through that... but we had great fun anyway.

I don't feel older. Well, I do, but I'm in denial. I am, however, in a good place in life. 5 years ago my goals were much the same as they are today, although I've achieved some of them. There are plenty more, of course, but I'll get there, and am enjoying the journey.

Well, off to start replying to some of those emails :)

Brain Mush

2011-01-22T18:17:00.008Z

C is not a bad sleeper at all, but I do miss getting large chunks of uninterrupted sleep. It makes some things harder. For example:

E: "What's dat?" *pointing at a wet, decaying leaf on the ground*
Me: "That's a decomposing leaf."
E: ?
Me: "Oh. Uh, it's disintegrating.
E: ?
Me: "...er, it's... old... and falling apart."
E: "OK."

Lately we have been....

...cooking and decorating gooey (too gooey, didn't cut well, but tasted good!) gingerbread men and cookies.

Having elaborate tea parties with bears, monkeys, etc. (All practice for cooking me breakfast in bed at some point.)

Eating pasta out of new bowls with forks, at the grownup table.

Sort-of-playing board games, which at E's age consists of lining up the little tokens and knocking them over with dice.

And enjoying smiley baby, of course!

Will leave you with one last conversation:

E: "I want to go up through the roof in a rocket to the sky very high."
B: "In a rocket? It might be scary."
E: "Yes, it would be scary. There might be an owl."

Ticking Along

2011-01-15T21:29:00.004Z

Middle of January... nothing much going on... life is good, but not wildly exciting. The weather is still cold and it's been rainy, though neither of those two things have been too extreme.

We have mostly been hanging out, going to playgroups, spending time with each other and getting back into the swing of things after B's paternity leave/holiday ended. I have more confidence with this baby than I did with the first and that has made a big difference to my outlook. I think I did the right thing by resting so much after the birth. Mentally, I think I was ready to go out near the week mark, but physically was a different story. Now at 5 weeks postpartum I feel almost normal. I surprised E the other day by chasing him pell mell through the park and then letting him pursue me around and around a large tree.

I find that he's a happier boy when out and about in nature. There are these places in the UK they call "soft play" areas which are basically large warehousey type rooms with padded play structures. Think Chuck-E-Cheese without the arcades and prize machine stuff. It's climbing frames, slides, ball pits, etc. There's a soft play place at the bottom of our hill which is convenient. The problem is these places are so loud, with kids yelling and screaming, music going in the background, that it seems to wind him up tight like a spring. Heck, it winds ME up. I've pretty much resolved not to go down to our local place again unless I know for sure it's not crowded. A handful of kids is fine but overcrowding just worsens the situation and instead of peacefully getting his energy out, E ends up needing to decompress, having dealt with a bunch of loud kids.

So... next time I consider going down there I think I might save my 5 quid and try going to the park. Even if it's raining I can suit him up in his waterproofs and boots and carry an umbrella, and C has a rain cover for the stroller. The biggest drawback to that is the cold. But I'd rather be cold than stressed, and E responds so well to being surrounded by nature and being able to run and jump unconfined by padded walls.

I was just talking to Dad about how wild-camping on Hog Island has made some of the best memories of my life. A mile out into the bay, with wilderness on both sides (true wilderness on one side, with roaming Tule elk), I'll never forget going out there year after year around Halloween, setting up our camouflage tent, sitting around the campfire cooking, sailing/rowing around the bay and to the chalky cliffs and deserted beaches of the untouched wilderness. I remember learning how to scull in a damn hurry when, in my first solo row around the island at age 7, one of the oarlocks broke and the current was carrying me toward the Pacific Ocean. (Although I reckon the sheer horror on Dad's face as he stood on the beach watching rather helplessly contributed to my sculling skills.)

I hope E and C grow up knowing those types of memories. The feel of a campfire on a cold night, the taste of your own food, cooked over that fire. The beautiful silence of wilderness. The cry of the gulls in the morning. The patter of rain against a waterproof tent roof. The smell of salt air.

(Yes, both kids are sleeping, so I can wax poetic, but C is stirring so I'd better wrap this up.)

Squashy baby is growing!

The house may be cluttered and none of the adults dressed, but at least there's a lotta love!

That's all for now. Hope everyone's having a decent January.

Water Magnet

2011-01-09T20:46:00.003Z

20 foot puddle + boy = fun.

Callie is one month old today and doing well. We all went to a friend's son's 4th birthday party today. It wasn't a long drive - 20-25 minutes or so - yet there were lots of green spaces and the area had a very village-y feel to it. There were even a few pastures with horses. 100 years ago the area wasn't considered "London" and yet it's now part of the city's outskirts, being "inside the M25" (the circular freeway around London). And Callie seems to be a car baby, so it was a pleasant drive and definitely nice to see a bit of greenery.

2011

2011-01-02T16:58:00.005Z

Well, here we are in a new year. I didn't cook black-eyed peas and ham hocks, cornbread, and collard greens but hopefully someday when the kids are bigger, I will. B and I were up until a little after midnight anyway with the baby, so we heard the distant Central London fireworks booming.

The big news around here is... Callie smiled yesterday for the first time! Yesterday of all days. Felt like my mom had a hand in that. A little over 3 weeks is early to smile (E smiled for the first time at 4 weeks exactly) but both B and I witnessed it multiple times. Full eye-contact, tentative, open mouthed smiles. Good stuff.

E is enjoying playing with the baby, often insisting she be brought into his room.

E insisted upon bringing his duvet and pillow onto the floor to "cuggle" near the baby.

No more time for blog-updating today - things are busy, but in a good way (thus far!).

2010

2010-12-28T12:30:00.012Z

It's hard to believe that 2010 is almost over. I was pregnant for most of the year! I was pregnant during our trip to Dorset and Cornwall, during the choppy boat ride (where I wasn't seasick either) and during the long tough walk up the cliff path from Whitsand Bay.

We had a great Christmas. E enjoyed himself. He has turned out not to be very materialistic, which I'm glad about. Our modus operandi is to give him an occasional toy year round... usually something small from the charity (thrift) shop. This year we decided to get him a larger bounty, partly because of the new baby, but also because he's older and starting to cotton on about the whole Christmas thing.

There are still two unopened presents under the tree. And, in fact, he opened another present yesterday and one on Boxing Day. He was just too wrapped up (pun intended) in playing with things. And, to be honest, I'm glad he didn't go all gimme-gimme-mode. He's pleased with the small things... magnetic letters from his aunt/uncle were a bit hit, and he got... very into playing with them, as you can see...

"O is for orange!"

For a breakfast appetizer, he'd had a chocolate coin, as you can probably tell. Another big hit was the flashlight Granddad sent from California. He only begrudgingly looked at the camera and immediately went back to playing after this photo was snapped.

Baby C was still sleepy.

Christmas lunch. B outdid himself, cooked duck, stuffing, roasted veg, gravy... it was amazing! The juice box E has is guava... a special treat for him.

Baby Callie had to come watch him open another present.

And then she had to play with him.

She doesn't have a lot of manual dexterity right now so B and E had to do the building...

Out of time for now. Merry Christmas and happy New Year!

Christmas Eve

2010-12-24T23:16:00.003Z

Merry Christmas.

I've had my thimbleful of Bailey's and we've watched Christmas movies.

Most everything is peaceful and we're now hoping for a few hours' unbroken sleep. I hope you have a good holiday, wherever and whoever you are.

Just...

2010-12-17T18:17:00.005Z

...gearing up for Christmas and spending time settling in as a new family of four. E helped decorate the tree the day before C was born.

C doesn't quite fit into 0-3 month old clothes....

(In comparison - here she is in a newborn-sized sleepsuit... fits perfectly!)

E went to his playgroup's Christmas party today with B, saw Santa Claus, and was entertained by a performing magician. It's snowing here, enough for it to settle some. More expected overnight. B and I may order a pizza in... a rare treat! We're in bed these days at some unholy hour... 9 or so, so evenings seem short and adult-only-time slightly crimped, but it's all worth it.

It Began...

2010-12-11T20:36:00.004Z

On Tuesday, really. Lots of Braxton Hicks (even more than usual) and a few mild contractions. Wednesday I stayed in all day and they progressed. We had spicy curry that night and halfway through dinner, I got a serious contraction.

Still not thinking "this is it!" I went to bed just in case and tried to sleep until around 8:30, when I gave up. B dropped a line to our list of contacts giving them a heads up and I spent the rest of the evening coping with increasing pain. I may have dozed off for about 10 minutes once or twice, but around 1am the contractions got real serious. Around 3-4am, E's granny heroically took a cab across London. At 5am B and I got to the hospital. By this time contractions were every 3-5 minutes and that trite old advice about taking two paracetemol (Tylenol)? yeah that stuff doesn't touch that kind of pain.

At about 5:15am I was examined by a triage midwife who proclaimed me to be 4cm dilated. She gave me a pitying look. She thought I was a wuss. Little did she know....

The hospital this time was mercifully unbusy, although it had apparently undergone a baby boom in the earlier hours of the night, so we got lucky. B and I were shown a room and I, casting aside the shreds of my dignity, dove for the laughing gas/gas-and-air nozzle and began huffing.

From then on, everything was a blur. I remember the pain getting worse and asking about epidural options. At this point I think everyone thought things were going to drag out much, much longer. They hadn't even sent us a proper midwife yet. Fortunately B is a good communicator and stuck his head out the door to inform them that things were going faster than expected.

I vaguely remember gulping down the laughing gas and yelling my head off. At one point I got all Exorcist and remember involuntarily "absolutely bellowing" (as B put it), I reckon this was right before I dilated to 10cm (WITHIN THE HOUR THANK-YOU-VERY-MUCH unbelieving triage nurse) and they had to hustle a midwife in. C was born in about 2.5 pushes. I'll spare you the rest of the gory details since I doubt any actual doulas read this blog.

So there you have it. I probably forgot a few details like poor B's bruised hands - seriously the guy was an absolute star throughout and gentlemanly enough to stay at my top half during the bloody parts.

As for recovery, they say that going all-natural (well, I WAS off my head on the laughing gas but that stuff doesn't stay in your system or affect you long) means one gets back on their feet quicker, but I've still got after-effects which makes bed look very attractive. Fortunately, the midwives here still do home visits - got one today and they'll be back again for more baby checks/heel prick tests etc.

I'll end this now since a certain Miss is beginning to stir.

Obligatory drunken gnome photo (big brother was sorting coins in the background):

"How About Now?"

2010-12-09T20:38:00.004Z

Yep.

And holy mackerel, what they say about second babies tending to come faster is true.

Callie Margaret was born around 7am this morning. She's doing great and is perfect. Callie is short for Calliope (pronounced Ka-LYE-o-pee), the Greek muse of epic poetry. 8lb 7ounces, same as her brother, but 1 day early.

I feel like a truck ran over me but fortunately was able to take a 6 hour discharge from the hospital instead of staying overnight.

Birth story to come eventually.

"Have You Popped Yet?"

2010-12-07T12:43:00.000Z

No.

Very Snow

2010-12-02T20:04:00.005Z

Well, B made it into work after all for his last day before paternity leave. Last night (Weds night) a whole lot of snow settled, so we were both really glad he could stay home today!

E looked out the window on Tuesday and said in surprise and excitment: "Oh! Very snow!" He was happy to kick around in it today but has been slightly sick so didn't last long.

Just in comparison, here's our garden on Wednesday...

...and here's our front walk today:

It'll be down in the mid 20's overnight and might not get above freezing tomorrow but there's no more heavy snow forecast. As for another type of forecast... nothing yet. I walked around the local mall today and had some spicy food though.

E has been chattering away lately and is in a funny stage where he's learning how to use pronouns. Sometimes he gets it right: "Nooo-ooo, I'M not stinky...." and other times he's so off it makes us laugh. "Oh!! Help you?!" is one he uses when he needs help. Sometimes I'll ask if he wants me to do something ("Should we go sit on the bed and read a book?") and he goes "YES! I will!" and runs off immediately. Favorite phrases include "Dadden wants a cuggle." or "Dadden wants to go in the kitchen!" which is often amusing. Sometimes after sneezing he says brightly, "Oh! You sneezed! Ha-ha. Bless me."

Two good ones B just remembered: "Drop it, the cee-real. Make mess. Wery messy now." and "Oh! Meelk! Fannnn-TASTIC!"

In other news, I wrapped my first Christmas present (for B) yesterday. There's lots of festive food being sold in the supermarkets etc... but somehow it's... different over here. Did you know that the eggnog in the UK is alcoholic? It's not even called eggnog, it's some weird brand name. I had some last year and it has a huge kick. Bleh. I might make my own non-alcoholic version if I have the energy, but I've still got to bake a pumpkin pie and a pecan pie and I think those take priority.

I am looking forward to a nice (small) glass of post-pregnancy Bailey's, however.

Seriously?

2010-11-30T15:48:00.004Z

Snow in November?

This thin-blooded coastal Californian is beginning to think she should have migrated south with the birds.

It's still snowing. These days, sunset is around 4pm so it's also very gloomy out there. On the bright side, we're less than 10 minutes' drive from the hospital if baby decides to put in a (slightly) early appearance.

And E enjoyed himself today.

London is forecast to get more snow overnight. On top of Monday's Tube strike goodness knows what transport will be like - personally I'm secretly hoping the skies dump a foot on us and the trains stop so that B has an excuse to work from home. Tomorrow, however, is his last day before paternity leave begins, so I suppose that's a bit selfish of me.

Well, E and I are off for a bit of hot chocolate. I can see the snowflakes still drifting down outside... happy early winter, everyone, wherever you might be.

Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T15:02:00.003Z

I'm very very jealous of everyone who has the day off and is eating a nice Thanksgiving meal! If you're reading this, have a bite of cranberry sauce for me and maybe some candied yams with marshmallows.

Here in the UK, obviously, they don't celebrate Thanksgiving. And since Halloween is kind of glossed over as well, these folks are starved for holidays. From August (not kidding) all we hear about is Christmas. Christmas. CHRISTMAS. It's like a senile great-grandma who won't shut up. No, worse, it's like 7 of them. And by the way did you know it's Christmas in about 5 weeks? Oh for the days when Christmas mania didn't start until late November.... or am I just getting old?

Speaking of holidays, E and I went up to the Christmas Fair at his little playgroup this morning. Bought a few little cupcakes, looked at the ~~donkey~~ "reindeer" rides, watched Snow White make balloon sculptures, then came home. I'm sorting out baby clothes slowly but surely. Got the newborn stuff mostly re-laundered at least.

Unfortunately, my blood pressure is creeping up these days. Since I basically had pre-eclampsia last pregnancy I've got to keep on top of things. Went to the hospital for monitoring last week... although that sounds serious, it wasn't really that bad. I'm going back to the clinic today for another check.

Also, B has bought me some canned pumpkin. I think I may have to make a pie with it.

No good pictures lately so here is an action shot of a blurry, upside down toddler. Happy Thanksigving!

November

2010-11-14T12:59:00.008Z

I meant to do an update around Halloween but lately blogging's been one of the last things on my mind. I seem to have the attention span of a gnat.

We have mostly been...

...carving pumpkins...

...blowing out candles...

...painting/stamping...

...falling asleep in high chairs covered in hummus and toast particles...

...and enjoying the autumn.

Approximately one more month to go before the new arrival. I am eagerly counting down the days until B's paternity leave/vacation begins. Running out of indoor things to do with a toddler! Fortunately we're half a block away from a little green area - it's not much, but in a pinch it does very well for a bit of fresh air and exercise when the young master gets cabin fever. I can't go more than about half a mile (if that) without discomfort these days.

On the bright side, I'm considered "at term" at the end of this week (if she's born at 37 weeks she's not considered premature) so the end is within sight. Ironically I'm not having as many contractions/Braxton Hicks/back pains as I did in the earlier weeks. I guess that's both good and bad.

We are going to a friend's toddler's birthday party in S London this afternoon, and then I think I'd better pack my hospital bag just in case.

Boy.

2010-10-23T21:45:00.008+01:00

All boy.

'Scuse the flash making the letters hard to read.

He loves "the typing laptop" and asks to use it often. It's B's old work laptop so it's a clunker and stands up fairly well to, shall we say, inexperienced hands.

Dad is now in NY and planning to Amtrak it back West at some point. Having an extra pair of hands to change diapers (yes, he did! lots!), wash dishes etc was a big help! Fortunately E wasn't too traumatized by his departure and now often says "Granddad schleeping" to explain away the mysterious lack of grandfatherly presence.

B brought home a pumpkin from the local farmer's market today. I don't think they really "do" pumpkin patches here in the UK. Certainly not like they do Stateside. There isn't much of a buildup to Halloween here, which I find is refreshing yet disappointing. I don't mind the lack of emphasis on trick-or-treating, but some people are such GROUCHES about it, going so far as to put up signs on their doors warning people off. Given that there's no Thanksgiving here, as an American I always feel a little bit bereft in the autumn months... Halloween is kinda skimmed over by the majority of people, there's no late-November feast, so Christmas is a long, hyped-up wait.

Regardless, we'll be baking pumpkin pie this season (probably quite soon, with that fresh pumpkin) and I'll introduce B and E to toasted pumpkin seeds. Nom. Speaking of E and expat living, he was watching a signing show on TV (Makaton signs designed for toddlers and special-needs kids). "Giraffe" popped up. E turned to me, pointed, said "GirAffe." Turned back to the TV, said "GirAHffe." Great! Just great. At 2 and a quarter, dude already recognizes his mama talks different. Won't be long till he quits humoring me and starts correcting me. (And at that time I'll probably be tempted to suggest B takes a year-long sabbatical from work so that we can go back to MV to live for a year, for re-education, if you will.)

Speaking of the young gentleman, his quotes have been getting more convoluted, though no less funny. "OHH! Stubbed my tickles!" was a recent one. He calls the bottom of his feet his "tickles." Which tickles us. Obviously.

Another one - Dadden: "That toy has to stay in the bath for now...it's probably sleeping!" E turns, shakes his head and says "It probably wake up now!"

And he has taken to teasing me by mimicking a high-pitched yelp whenever he sees a speck-that-might-be-a-spider. Oh, the shame.

Well, we're all off to a baby event tomorrow in London since B got a free ticket through a friend. I expect it will mostly be overpriced and overhyped, but there will be deals and freebies and, apparently, play-spots with lots of toddler toys. Plus, I'm 33 weeks along now (that's technically 4 weeks until I'm considered "term") so it's probably time to look at buying a few things. Like, you know, diapers and a Moses basket. Cotton wool for wipes. Yadda yadda. And with that, swollen-ankled me is off to bed.

October Already

2010-10-13T21:47:00.007+01:00

I really enjoy autumn, although it's becoming more difficult to get out and about as pregnancy progresses. It's been a bit of a roller coaster lately with some early contractions etc. Got tested for gestational diabetes last week. Fasted since 10pm the night before, went in to the hospital, got stuck in the arm with a butterfly needle, drank a pint of godawful sugary stuff, sat in the waiting room for two hours, then got jabbed in the other arm with another needle.

Surprisingly the results are within normal blood sugar range so I'm feeling a bit better about this blurry vision I've been having. Back to the consultant's tomorrow for more checks anyhow.

Been enjoying Dad and Stan's visit although I've had to take more of a back seat than I would have liked - am a bit jealous of all the museums they've been going to and I would have loved to go sailing on the Norfolk Broads with them. Perhaps another time! (P.S. - Fran if you're reading this, Stan had a bite of salad. Should this be listed in the Guinness Book of World records?)

E has been coming along really well. Lots of chatter about "Granddad" and "Stanpa" so I'm not entirely sure what he'll do with himself when Dad leaves next week. We've been going to playgroups twice a week which he really enjoys. We've also been reading a TON of books since I've been less mobile.

Without further ado... some pictures and a video of E "reading" me a Peter Rabbit book this morning. I think it's mostly memorization but he may very well have a few sight words by now.

Reading with Granddad.

At the playroom in the National Army Museum in Chelsea - visited with Dad a few weeks ago.

And here's the vid. Enjoy.

Approaching Autumn

2010-09-19T16:43:00.011+01:00

Went out to Kew this weekend. I'm getting slower as this pregnancy progresses but it was nice to have a walk in the fresh crisp air. Lots of kids out in woolly jumpers, cardigans, jackets etc, unspoken concession to summer's end. E had a blast at Kew's playground as usual. We also found a little indoor play place in the shop which had a toy kitchen, a crawl-through tunnel, and crayons/paper with kid-sized tables and chairs. The cynic in me sees the probable extra profit they make, the parent in me just breathes a sigh of relief at something extra for a curious toddler to do.

After a long play session, we had sandwiches and water and B indulgently bought E a pinwheel and a little stuffed monkey in the shop. E fell asleep in the car on the way home clutching his new toy. We're all beat (especially me - aching muscles!) and looking forward to a nice warm evening inside perhaps with a movie.

Some recent quotes (lest I forget them):

"Mmm, flower. Smells DELICIOUS."
When asked to count how many eyes he has... "One... two... three FOUR FIVE! Six seven EIGHT!" (Big smug grin.)

And the worst, the very worst....
E: "Spider, Mama. Spider!"
Me: "WHERE?" (as I nervously peer around and attempt to stand on one toe)
E: "Spider... GONE.... Hahahaha!"

HANDS OFF

2010-09-14T22:15:00.006+01:00

4 months into a Conservative-Liberal Democrat led Parliament.

They scrapped the ID cards and ContactPoint (where E's details would have been held for any ~~Tom Dick and Harry~~ "government-approved" person to peruse). I thought things were off to a good start.

Then the ConDems decided to axe playground schemes across the UK while pledging 20 billion pounds to renew the Trident nuclear weapons program.

Now the ConDems are taking the first baby steps down the slippery slope of privatization. Worse, that path leads down the UK losing its public libraries as we know them.

I've heard that some people are happy about that. Their reasoning? They can afford bookstores (or a library entrance/membership fee...). Besides, why should they have to fund something they don't use? They reckon the same goes for schools - if they don't have a school-aged child, why should their taxes pay for someone else's education?

To that I say - why should my son have to pay to support you in your old age? You want a libertarian attitude, then bring it on. Just be prepared to work for the rest of your life and deal with the crazies roaming the street because there's no facilities left for them and they're being denied the ability to sit quietly (or not so quietly) in the corner of a public library.

And believe me, the libraries are pretty much the front line for dealing with the mentally ill. If you read anything today, read this article. You might see ~~underpaid social workers~~ librarians through different eyes. After this post, maybe you'll see the ConDems through different eyes too. And knowing is half the battle.

September Remembrances and Mundanity

2010-09-12T14:59:00.005+01:00

Before I get into the mundanity, I just want to say that I'm touched that Europe (the mainstream media, at least... and the friends I've spoken with) has such sensitivity toward what happened on September 11, 2001. I know it's overshadowed by more politicized events this 9th year on - but all I'm going to say about that is: Freedom of Religion. Separation of Church and State. Freedom of Speech.

I marked the anniversary by reading Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow. I highly recommend the book especially if you love freedom.

B and I visited Parliament Hill recently to say goodbye to some friends who are moving to the Inner Hebrides. What a move - London to those remote islands! I'm actually finding myself a little bit jealous. How wonderful to be surrounded by nature, to have enough room to move around, to be able to avoid constant exposure to other people, your upstairs neighbors dropping what sounds like a bowling ball every so often.... yep, I'm a little bit jealous to tell the truth. Well, onto the photos.

E was more interested in the kites than socializing...

And jam donuts. And running down the hill with Dadden and the other kids.

As we walked back to the car I got this photo. The plaque says: George Orwell - 1903-1950 - Writer - Lived Here

And no, ironic as it would be, that's actually not a CCTV camera, it's only a light :)

(almost) Wordless Wednesday

2010-09-01T22:48:00.003+01:00

(after having refused his nap, he then crawled under the desk in the spare room... for about half of this impromptu you-aren't-the-boss-of-me nap he used my foot as a pillow)

New Bed...

2010-08-29T17:39:00.004+01:00

Last night was E's first night in his new bed. As you can see, the covers are rather pink (which we didn't expect) but I suppose that's preferable to random cartoon characters. Anyhow, he likes it. I snuck in last night and got this photo of him...

So far we've had one falling-out (at around 3am) which ended up being very nonstressful, as he went back to sleep immediately after B lifted him back into bed. Plus, he only has about 6 inches to fall, onto soft carpet.

Lately we have been...

...nomming late summer blackberries from our back garden and...

...generally being Cool. Because nothing says Cool like a stained onesie and oversized sunglasses.

Family Tree

2010-08-17T19:58:00.003+01:00

B and I have been working (now and again) on filling out our respective family trees. I guess that's what happens naturally when you get to be over 30/have children, although I hasten to add that I'm not 30 just yet.

Yesterday B decided to do a big printout and bluetac (that's British for sticky goop) the whole shebang to the wall. It looked like this:

I descend from Revolutionary soldiers on both sides of the family (she says smugly). B, on the other hand, is descended from lords and stuff. It's kind of fun, this family tree stuff, but it's very time consuming... which is in short supply these days.

I did get in a nice 2 mile walk today at least. The young master managed about a mile of said walk, along with a play session at a new park we visited. I don't think we'll be going back there anytime soon though... the gang of pre-pubescent chavvy teenagers from the local housing estate was one thing, but the unleashed pit bull mixes were quite another.

Last week while walking through the other nearby park I saw a pit rip up a guy's arm and half-kill another dog. They literally couldn't prise its jaws off the dog it was mutilating. (E and I were behind a fence at this point.) Halfway through the fight, a cop shows up, but this being Britain, the dude wasn't carrying anything but a notebook ("Excuse me, Mr. Illegal Pitbull, I'm giving you a citation."). You'd think they'd have pepper spray at least.

Well, off to watch Youtube trains with the boy in preparation for bedtime.

Birthday

2010-08-08T14:18:00.006+01:00

E turned two this week. We had a barbecue on Saturday, which got rained out 2/3 of the way through but was enjoyable anyhow. A certain young gentleman needed a nap halfway through, so we saved half the cake with candles for him to blow out...

Sunday we went for a late morning ramble on Wimbledon Common.

After all that, he was tired, demanded "cuggles" and was carried back to the windmill/tearoom

...where he drank half a strawberry smoothie and snacked on fruit/pitta bread. Nothing like a walk in nature to make a day better.

Introducing...

2010-08-04T17:14:00.003+01:00

Otis the Fetus v2.0

We found out today that she's a girl. All's well. She's due in early December.

Haircut, etc

2010-07-29T20:36:00.006+01:00

E had his first proper haircut last week. We went to a local kids' hairdresser/shoeshop and he sat in a tall chair and watched a large fish tank while the lady snipped away.

Before:

During:

After:

He's been getting very chatty of late and making some funny comments. When I told him about the impending haircut, he said in a knowing voice, "Ohhhh! Lawnmower!"

Lying with B in the hammock a few weeks ago: "That the moon! Moon hiding in trees."

Dadden: "Where's your cup?" E: "Cup hiding... in living room."

We have a lowercase alphabet puzzle that he enjoys. I'm gently working on the sounds of letters, aided by the pictures underneath the puzzle pieces (rainbow for R, apple for A, etc). E will often pick up/point out a letter and say "P! Puh, puh!" But for "X" he goes "X! Black hand!" For ages I had no idea why, and then B pointed out the fact that there's a picture of a hand being X-Rayed underneath the X puzzle piece.

And... we're not sure whether it's genuine or a bedtime delaying tactic, but last night when B was tucking him in, E said: "Butt trouble! Lie down mat!" After being duly checked, nothing was wrong, but it did make us laugh.

Speaking of which, we're no-pressure potty training, which basically means we're leaving out the little potty we recently bought to get him comfortable with it. I didn't expect him to take to it but in the last 5 days or so he's gone from sitting on it fully clothed to insisting "diaper off!" to sit down on it. We give him praise and read him books while he sits. To date we've had one success. He goes right back into diapers when he feels he's done and it's all child-led (he makes the decision when/if to sit down and when he feels finished) and really it's not a lot of hassle for us parental units either. Still, we have no real expectations (well, before 3 would be nice).

Next week I should have an interesting update for the blog.

Finally

2010-07-06T22:18:00.006+01:00

I have one of THOSE pictures.

This kid is not much of a sleeper and never has been. He is always on the go. Today, he was so on the go that he didn't take a nap. I gave him some spaghetti for dinner. A few minutes later I looked around, only to find him keeled over, 98% done with dinner and fast asleep.

He never falls asleep in random places so I am very tickled.

"Pow"

2010-07-01T22:19:00.009+01:00

Nearly two years ago now... E having tummy-time at a little less than two months old - no current pics are on this computer.

Today, my awesome kid did three awesome things.

1. We were at our usual toddler playgroup and Katie (usual playmate) had to leave early. Very solemnly, she bent down to E, who was sitting on the floor, and pronounced, "Bye-bye, Elijah." E looked up and immediately said, complete with flappy wave, "Bye-bye Katieeee." It was very, very proper and very, very amusing. S (friend) and I were in stitches.

2. E took my hand, then reached over to B's hand, said: "GUP (get up) PEESE." Dragged us both into the nursery. B sat down and I started giving him a head massage, E saw this, marched over and firmly began massaging B's face with a big smile, all the while acting as if he was bestowing a gigantic favor upon his father.

3. While in our bedroom I smashed a huge spider on the wall with a nearby paperback. (I am not good with spiders. Or bees. Or bugs. Snakes I can kinda deal with.) Later, B and E were in the bedroom and E marched up to the wall, armed with paperback, goes "POW!" and smacked it against the spot where the spider once existed. B was very amused. As for me? I'm just glad my kid hasn't handed me any more spider corpses....

Happy Early 4th of July to everyone, including ~~the losing side~~ all the Brits.

Plymouth Part II

2010-06-27T20:49:00.006+01:00

We weren't able to spend as much time in Plymouth as we would have liked. There is lots of history there... but E was grumpy, so we headed straight to the aquarium.

Many pics turned out blurry, but here are a few of the good ones.

Some sort of sea urchin.

Feeding frenzy.

E watching the sharks and various other fish. He was vaguely impressed, but his routine and sleeping schedule had been tweaked a bit, so he was tired and not 100%. B and I enjoyed ourselves though.

That's all for now. Hope nobody's too thrown by the new layout.

Funfair

2010-06-19T16:57:00.007+01:00

I know I promised aquarium pics, but today was so much fun that I'd like to post it when things are still fresh in my mind.

We headed off to Wimbledon Common for their village fair. Luck was with us - we found a parking space immediately, one which happened to be about a 30 second walk from the edge of the festivities. It was a big event - horse show, dog show, funfair rides, food stalls, arts/crafts stalls, performances, etc. Kind of like a slightly scaled-down American county fair.

I BRAVELY went down this slide with E. He had fun. Me, not quite so much. This is a before pic and nobody is seeing the after pics. E is smiling, I am not, we'll leave it at that.

B, on the other hand...
had so much fun he did it twice.

Couple more random shots...

Punch & Judy. No, I can't explain it, it's just some British tradition that involves puppets and a fair amount of gratuitous slapping about.

Some sort of juggling show with Victorian accoutrements strewn about.

Glug, glug.

Plymouth

2010-06-11T18:15:00.006+01:00

Uncle Howard is doing better - Dad was able to speak with him on the phone. Looks like it wasn't a diabetic coma/seizure but something else, perhaps an infection. He's on antibiotics and is recovering.

The B&B we stayed at in Cornwall was a nice place, but not as toddler-friendly as the place in Dorset. Lots of breakable baubles around and worse -- creaky floors. Creaky floors + breakable items + toddler who rises at 6:30am + other guests = bleary parental walks outside at ungodly hours.

Anyhow, the day before we left, we caught the ferry from Cawsand over to Plymouth. In contrast to the very sunny and hot day preceding this one, it was gray, cooler, overcast, windy, which made for a choppy ride.

E waiting for the ferry.

Here's the ferry coming in. We boarded from a gangplank lowered directly onto the sand.

E was a bit fragile due to sleep issues. Hanging over the end of the boat cheered him up, however.

Mayflower Memorial in Plymouth, and E's shoes.

Will post pics of the aquarium on the next update.

Whitsand Bay

2010-06-08T22:07:00.016+01:00

England is not a country comfortable with hot weather. It clings to its feather duvets, its double-glazed windows, its sturdy, carpeted interiors. In the heat, its citizens wander around looking faintly bewildered, clad in hastily-assembled summer attire, perhaps bought several years ago "just in case the big heatwave showed up" and with the vague hint of mothballs clinging to the undersides.

They peer at the sun and repeat the temporary mantra, "LOVELY weather, isn't it?" They drink hot tea under the hot sun, or underneath rain shelters that for a few weeks out of the year pose as sun shelters. The kids run around as if possessed, revelling in short sleeves.

Then the rain returns and probably 90% of the population is secretly relieved.

Back to our trip - one hot morning, we packed our things and headed to a nearby recommended beach. Sandy and beautiful, it was accessed via a steep cliff hike. E fell asleep on the short drive there.

(Yes, we still have a rear-facing carseat, and I bought one specifically to use as rear-facing, because it's safer - something to do with the proportionality of the weight/size of the head on children under the age of 4 or so leads to more spinal injuries in crashes when forward-facing. Some of the Nordic countries require children to sit rear-facing until the age of 4. Safety lecture over.)

Heading down the path....

View from the top.

And further down the path. Lots of little holiday cottages along the way.

To give you an idea of how far down it was, here's the cliff from below. Yes, going back up was fun.

The little cafe at the bottom had a great way of trekking goods down the steep path. I love seeing unorthodox things like this. Makes me view the local community as a bit more down-to-earth as opposed to the Housing Association Types who freak if your picket fence is painted off-white instead of the appropriate shade of pearl.

We'd borrowed a bucket and spade from the B&B and E went to town in the little tidepools.

After the initial sunscreen pindown and wild running around, E got properly dorked out in hat and sunglasses and set to the business of plopping handfuls of sand into a bucketful of seawater.

It was upon this beach that E constructed his very first four-word sentence. After taking a spill in the ocean and getting a mouthful of water, the young gentleman stood up and proclaimed: "Fall down ocean, yucky!"

That's all for now.

Kingsand Part II

2010-06-05T21:30:00.011+01:00

The first thing we had to do, after lugging our bags into the B&B, was head down to one of the little beaches in the town. It was about a 30 second walk. Here's the view from the B&B. Plymouth is just visible in the distance there. We saw lots of big ships coming in and out, and the area is popular with smaller vessels as well.

E loved throwing pebbles into the ocean. When he first clapped eyes on all that water, poor city kid got all excited and said "POND."

In the evening we went looking for somewhere to eat. One drawback - not many choices within walking distance.

Kingsand and Cawsand used to be different towns, but they're adjoined now. Can't remember the exact details, but one used to be in Devon and the other in Cornwall. Now they're both in Cornwall.

E loved walking around. There were lots of "keedy tats" for him to spot and any cars driving through town didn't go much faster than about 5mph.

The towns have lots of little nooks and crannies and features.

And cats!

Still to come - pics of our sandy beach day out (with a wild hike down) and our trip via ferry to Plymouth.

Kingsand

2010-06-03T20:21:00.006+01:00

The morning of the 5:30 a.m. rising, we cleaned the cottage and hopped into the car for the drive through Dorset and Devon.

We drove via A roads at first - essentially two lane highways with occasional passing lanes/pull-out spots. The UK has an interesting road system.

We passed over Brunel's bridge into Cornwall.

The A roads went down to B roads, which are smaller.

The B roads turned into country lanes....

...which led us to the tiny seaside town of Kingsand.

To be continued.

A Country Walk

2010-06-02T19:12:00.004+01:00

During our stay in Dorset, I got to sneak off alone for a leisurely jaunt down a country lane.

When I got to Thomas Hardy's cottage, I realized I didn't have the 4 quid necessary for entry. So I snapped a pic...

...and headed back for some

Busy week here, will try and update again soon.

Health Update, etc

2010-05-31T21:52:00.010+01:00

Through the help of family and friends, we've found out that Howard is conscious and his memory is returning. Still not sure what is going on with him, but it sounds like he's improving, which is a big relief. We'll find out more soon, hopefully.

On to the trip B, E and I took...

We headed down to Dorset, near Dorchester, about half a mile from Thomas Hardy's cottage. The place we stayed was an excellent self-catering community filled with families and kids. The cottages ranged from large to small, so multi-family groups were welcome. The grounds were also quite communal, so if people decided to barbecue together etc, they could... or if they wanted to eat privately, that was fine too.

There was a fresh pint of milk waiting for us...

...as well as lots of tea. We spent the first afternoon just wandering around and getting acquainted. The folks next to us had three little kids, one born just a few weeks after E. They kindly shared their bouncy ball with us in the communal (walled in!) garden that backs on to some of the cottages.

E and I went exploring...

In the above picture we're headed to the little play area behind the vegetable patch/greenhouse. There are ponies in the pasture at the top of the hill.

E on the hopscotch pad counting his way toward the boonga-boonga (what he calls trampolines).

Playing with big legos in the little "fort" next to the playhouse. Did I mention this place was a toddler paradise?

Visiting the chickens, who provided us with fresh eggs in the morning.

E absolutely loved this fountain. Conveniently, it was about two steps from our front door. Not so conveniently, E quickly learned how to open the door if it wasn't locked. There's a waterfall at the far end of the pond, and huge fish swimming around inside.

The place also had a great clubhouse with a toddler section (pictured above), which came in handy round about ooh.... 6:15am as I gave B a much-needed sleep-in. E could be as loud as he liked there since nobody was around. The clubhouse has a flat-screen TV, couches, pool table, ping-pong set etc... great for getting together with other people/family and friends along. I was impressed. And yeah, E is in the same shirt he was in the day before - nobody is very particular about clothes at 5:30 am.

I wasn't able to get any photos of the swimming pool, but that was pretty good too. Indoors, set up underneath a huge Roman mosaic. E loved it.

And that's all for now... off to bed. I have plenty more trip update to come - gave Dad a brief overview on the phone but pictures are hard to put into words, so...

To be continued.

News on Uncle Howard

2010-05-29T21:04:00.005+01:00

Just to let family and friends know - Uncle Howard (Dad's brother) is in the hospital in Thailand. Due to the language barrier, we're not sure whether he's in a coma or not. Apparently he was only able to speak two words - Dad's name and his wife's name, and he was unable to recognize his wife.

Dad got through to a doc who said it looks like Howard had a diabetic seizure and that his lungs are in serious condition. Dad thinks the doctor may have said the prognosis was 'good' before he was cut off, but we're not sure whether that was a) misheard due to phone issues or b) what the doc thought we wanted to hear.

So if you have a moment please spare a thought for him. And on the off chance if you know someone who speaks English in Mukdahan, Thailand, drop Dad or me an email.

Cornwall

2010-05-28T11:07:00.001+01:00

No time to post long updates, so here is a small taster of what we've been up to.

More Mundanity

2010-05-17T20:41:00.004+01:00

B is busy at work, I've been busy with random stuff. I found the time last weekend to cook up an almost-vegan dinner... spicy sweet potato and carrot soup, spelt bread... and B did a Greek salad (the feta ruined the veganness, but was yummy). While I was chopping vegetables, E grabbed an entire stalk of celery off the counter. He gave himself away by loudly crunching and announcing: "YUMMY! MMMM!"

Since the soup was so spicy, we added a big dollop of natural Greek yogurt to E's bowl. He loved it.

We are off to Devon, then Cornwall, at the end of this week. Looking forward to it. And we're happy that we didn't book flights anywhere. Go go 'staycations.'

I have nothing else to blog about, so here is a toddler in a box.

May

2010-05-08T12:51:00.004+01:00

Been busy/sick, so haven't been updating as much as I'd like.

We visited the Horniman Museum last weekend on a rainy Saturday. They were doing hands-on African drumming, but the big draw for us was the little aquarium.

And here is B making the mistake of lifting a 21 month old within tempting reach of gallons of water. You can guess what happened after this picture was taken!

After drying off we went into the hands-on instrument area where E got to play a homemade instrument (you whack a foam sandal across the pipes to make whuffing noises). I like the random kid with his arm down the pipe.

B and E playing another instrument. Camera ran out of battery after this pic so that's all for now.

"Hi, Bird!"

2010-04-25T21:28:00.005+01:00

Splashing

2010-04-15T21:22:00.009+01:00

"Fun 'till the Last Drop" or "Hey, Where'd All My Water Go?" - a brief photo-essay.

Average Joe

2010-04-14T21:24:00.004+01:00

That's who gets picked on these days.

And yes, this is another one of "those posts" - so if you're looking for fluff, beware, because this is serious.

The UK government forced through the Digital Economy Bill after just 2 hours of debate in a late-night session last week. Well color me surprised. You'd think a controversial bill like that would require more thought, more debate... especially when 20,000+ voters expressed concerns to their MPs, asking for a proper debate... and were subsequently ignored.

The DEB is going to have some interesting ramifications for the Average Joe. Like what, you say? Oh, like making it easier for lawyers to target householders for piracy. Why? Because this bill puts the burden of responsibility on the Average Joe who owns the net connection. Aaaand what does that mean? That if you're accused, you need to prove it wasn't you that pirated that file.

I don't really need to spell out the whole "innocent before being proven guilty" thing on this blog, because I trust that the folks reading this will have immediately jumped to that conclusion. Or worse yet, you might have an 80 year old Aunt Myrtle who was wrongly accused of illegally downloading 5 gigs of hentai (don't Google that just trust me, it's bad). Now Aunt Myrtle is screwed because her wifi got hacked by some creep sitting in his Subaru outside her house. Score 1 for profiteering lawyers! Aunt Myrtle, that'll be $1,000. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200. Oh, you wanna try and prove it wasn't you after all? Score 2 for ambulance-chasing lawyers! And what if you're the owner of a wi-fi enabled coffee shop and some acned teenager decides to grab a bunch of illegal music off the 'net? Yep, you're screwed too buddy. Burden of responsibility.

If you're an American reader, you can compare the DEB to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, except tack on the fact that the UK's version doesn't limit itself to websites within national borders - any website, anywhere in the world, that is accessible from the UK, must obey this law or else it's liable to be blocked from the entire country. Welcome to Chi---er, the United Kingdom!

This isn't to say I approve of piracy - far from it. I don't illegally download music or movies (not that I'd have the time to anyway) and as a writer I fully support someone's copyrighted material being given protection. But not like this. Not at the expense of the Average Joe.

Getting back to the politics of the thing... Here's a list of those who had cajones and voted NO on the bill. Good on ya.

I just hope that I won't wake up tomorrow and find that half my websites look like this.

Been Busy

2010-04-13T21:18:00.003+01:00

... getting muddy and dealing with mundanity.

E can name a handful of colors (yellow, red, blue, green, purple) consistently, as well as some shapes (triangle, square, circle, rectangle). We don't drill him or anything, his learning just happens naturally through play. He recognizes most letters now, although he's a bit iffy with 'K' and 'V' - thinks V is an upside-down A.

B is nearing a big deadline at work and I'm writing and rewriting query letter drafts. We're off to Cornwall in a little over a month, get the kid muddy and sandy and maybe let the parents get some spa time. Woo.

Easter

2010-04-03T17:00:00.006+01:00

~~Muddy~~ Happy Easter!

Just some photos from today's walk on Hampstead Heath...

(Above - Central London skyline. Below - gratuitous piano-playing picture)

Who I Am

2010-03-27T17:52:00.003Z

So I usually keep this blog light and fluffy. Easy-reading, non-confrontational. In general, the fastest way to cause tension is bringing up religion or politics. Because, let's face it, relatively few people change their opinions during an argument, or even after one. Maybe it's a matter of pride. Maybe it has something to do with the difficulty of thinking during an argument - too busy thinking up a zinging response.

Maybe that's the problem with politics today. When I first came to the UK, I remember watching a televised debate in the Houses of Parliament and being surprised at the surging emotional reactions of the politicians. The Tory leader (Conservative/Right) would be attacking the Labo(u)r leader (Center-Right-ish) and there'd be boos and cheers from the politicians in the audience. The Liberal Democrat leader would start attacking the Budget and the whole damn place would start shrieking in condemnation or in support. Occasionally they'd get almost choreographed, low, mostly-male OOOing, or YEAAAHing catapulting across the room. Almost might as well beat on their chests... except I suppose the arguments help these politicians define Who They Are. Not What They Stand For, so much, which I think is an important and unfortunate distinction.

See, I could say I vote Libertarian and some people might immediately peg me as an anarchist or something. So I don't usually say what I am - and being a student journalist pretty much reinforced that habit. Plus, why define Who You Are by a political party? Is it written somewhere that you have to agree with everything a certain party stands for? The UK's system isn't limited to a 2-party one - smaller parties can and have won political battles. Heck, they even have the Monster Raving Loony Party here - which I believe has come close to winning in certain arenas. Refreshing! (I think.)

Let's talk about health care.

There's been a lot of coverage of the U.S. system lately and the recently-passed changes. And somewhere during the mud-slinging, things got highly politicized. Now this whole health care revamp thing seems to be X vs. Y, no middle ground. You're either a SOCIALIST or an EVIL RIGHT-WINGER. No compromise. Because clearly, you cannot pick and choose what you agree with. You must stand on one side of the line or the other, and that is how you, and others, define Who You Are. You're either with us or against us, baby.

I'm sorry, but I call shenanigans on this slippery slope stuff. (And yes! I do realize that sentence is nearly alliteration.)

Just once, I'd like to see someone speak their mind without some drama llama getting the hump. I don't know if that's even possible in today's overcharged political arenas. How did we careen so far off course? Why are we not examining the facts?

In the last years of her life, a middle-aged woman was unable to entertain the idea of moving more than a few miles away because she could not change health plans. Nobody would insure a middle-aged diabetic. Her monthly prescription costs were soaring. And, despite paying high premiums--presumably for world-class health care--she passed away at the age of 57. Doctor's visits were 15 minutes long. By the last week of her life she knew she was in deep trouble but she had no clue how to fix it apart from continuing to pay the high premiums and try to schedule another appointment - preferably within the week. She died of a massive heart attack. Autopsy showed she'd had strokes and other symptoms for months which went undiagnosed despite her visits to her regular doctor.

In her 20's, a woman was able to entertain the idea of moving anywhere in the country. None of her doctor's appointments made her wait more than a week - except for the specialist appointment she got which required an EKG at the hospital. If she wanted it, she could get birth control pills without paying more than a token fee. When she gave birth at the hospital, she felt the care could have been better, and the wards were shared. She felt angry that the hospital seemed to be too busy, and probably short of staff for a proper patient/nurse ratio, but the discomfort was short-lived. She gets prescriptions for her under-16yr son free. Recently, she went to the doctor at her husband's urging to check out a suspected case of food-poisoning that had affected her and her son. The doctor prescribed anti-nausea tablets and rehydrating fluid - total cost was about $14.00 for the prescription.

The former situation occurred in the U.S. and the latter in the U.K. If you know me, you'll have realized that I'm comparing the situations of my mother and myself. And if you have an inkling of Who I Am, you'll realize that What I Stand For isn't as simple or as petty as standing on one side of the line or the other and hurling verbal grenades.

When did we lose the ability to stand up as a Person and say what's right and what's wrong? Have we lost our ability to reason for ourselves? Why do we need politicians holding our hands and shoehorning us onto false "sides"? Pitting us against each other when our own individual ethics should be screaming at us to check the facts from several independent sources and decide for ourselves instead of claiming mob mentality?

That dog don't hunt, and the emperor is naked, and I feel really good writing that down.

Blocks

2010-03-26T21:14:00.003Z

When we were in CA, my godmother and godsister took us out and bought us a generous load of baby stuff, including a set of wooden blocks like the ones I used to have as a child. E really loves the blocks and will often drag one of us into his nursery (by the legs - makes for awkward walking!) and say "More down!" until we sit and play with the blocks.

Today when he woke up from his nap he wanted lots of block time. I managed to slip out and get the camera about 75% of the way through and take a short video. Keep in mind he's...

a) Only recently woken up
b) Not yet 20 months
c) Coming to the end of this period of natural playtime - nearly ready to move on to something else

You can still hear him spontaneously naming a few things (including a color, which he's getting more into these days). His pronunciation needs a bit of practice but he's doing really well. Right now he enjoys holding up the block with an M on it, shouting "M!" and then turning it upside down and shouting "DUMBLE!" which is his word for the letter W. He does similar for 6 and 9.

Here's the vid.

Spring

2010-03-14T13:01:00.015Z

The UK holds Mother's Day in March, so I was surprised with a chocolate croissant and tea in bed this morning... plus a great card:

Then B and E headed outside to build the tent and tunnel that Grandpa in California sent us for Christmas....

I didn't fit down the tunnel.

But E did.

B also built a little trampoline we picked up last weekend.

Anyhow, that's all I have time for - it's time for a certain gentleman's nap, and I'm off for a hot date with a pot of tea and my notebook at a local cafe. Happy Spring.

19 Months Today

2010-03-05T21:05:00.003Z

Celebrated today by going out and getting a blueberry muffin, then walking to the park. We sat on a bench and ate our treat then fed the crumbs to the ducks, swans, and geese. Then walked through the mud back home, touching every mailbox on the way, of course, and most of the trees.

The young gentleman pictured above can now recognize and say: A, E, I, O, Y, D, H, R, S, T with great consistency - and other letters some of the time. His greatest barrier at this point in time is pronunciation so I'm being conservative with that list. At this age, it's all fun and games, until someone loses an I. Sorry. I had to do that.

Hoping for Spring...

2010-02-25T12:58:00.007Z

...so we planted lavender seeds today in a little pot!

Or rather, E ate his lunch and watched me do it.

It's on the windowsill awaiting sunshine. February is a hard month for our family. I think of these tiny hopeful seeds as a little something to remember my mother by.

More February

2010-02-21T10:26:00.005Z

B is off to Cannes tomorrow for a business trip. He'll be in France for two nights and three days. I am already looking forward to his return!

Friday afternoon, E slept late...

...so we decided to go out for dinner. We walked up the hill about a mile to a nearby Italian restaurant that we knew was kid-friendly. Last time we went there, E was about 4 months old. This time, he was able to do a lot more than just sit there - he had dough balls and some pizza, and boy did he enjoy that. We let him walk quite a bit of the way there/back so despite his late nap he had no real problems going to bed.

Saturday we went to the local Farmer's Market, bought a few treats (pesto, ciabatta, an interesting orange-and-rum cakebread, etc) and then went to the very large playground nearby. E had a blast...

And... that's all for now.

February

2010-02-16T18:55:00.004Z

This winter keeps dragging on, dreary, gray and really, really cold. It totally can end already. I am so ready for more sun. Fortunately, the days are incrementally lengthening, so things are starting to look up a little.

B and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary last week. He took me to a local Michelin-starred restaurant. I feel a bit spoiled!

Other than that, I have no major updates. Elijah keeps growing and is surprising us almost every day with things. He can recognize the letters "O" and "Y" (and probably more, too, but pronunciation is an issue with him). He says "Ticka-tah!" instead of peekaboo. He can run at about a million miles an hour. Don't get me started on the climbing. Last week, B and I tried to tally up all the different words he says and we've come up with 50+ at least. Still says "Dadden" for Daddy. He also recognizes some numbers and can say them/point them out. The one downside to all this talking is that he still cannot pronounce the "L" in clock. Yeah.

Here's a pic taken today of E in his pyjamas "helping" Granny play the harmonica.

And a video of a video of a, well - just watch it and see.

Brief Update

2010-01-30T12:16:00.005Z

Been busy.

Went to the National Army Museum, which has a great children's play area. We plan to go back. Here's E inside a tank. He was trying to figure out how everything inside of there worked, hence the intense expression.

Went to visit his new cousin last week. B multitasked by swiping at E's drooly chin with a tissue while holding his newborn nephew.

E is not quite 18 months old and is recognizing some written letters and is able to identify them when asked and say the sound. I'm a bit scared.

Snow'n'Stuff

2010-01-07T20:51:00.008Z

It's been really cold, and we got a couple of inches of snow recently. I've been doing a fair amount of cooking and other mundane activites, but I've been meaning to catch up with emails! So I'll keep this post short and sweet, mostly pictures and video. Enjoy.

Setting off last weekend for a frosty ramble across Wimbledon Common.

Homemade carrot and barley soup and freshly-baked spelt bread. I have my healthy, housewifey moments here and there.

E in the park as dusk fell. The sun sets just before 4pm here. It's never felt right to me. Having grown up further south, the lack of sun gets to me sometimes.

And last, but not least, a video. There's a little green square half a block away that E and I walked to while it was snowing to get him some exercise. He made lots of tracks with his boots and saw two older children making snow angels and a snowman. Then it was back inside for hot cocoa.

Dec 31, 2009

2009-12-31T23:02:00.008Z

Elijah stared at the court jester, suspicion in every line of his body. But when the man bent down and lit a torch, sudden understanding flared in Elijah's eyes. He raised a tentative finger, shifted his weight expectantly.

The jester tossed the burning torch into the air and caught it. The small knot of onlookers applauded politely.

"HOT!" bellowed Elijah, pointing in earnest.

A small tittering swept the crowd. The jester turned to us and bowed. "This young gentleman is correct, good ladies and gentlemen. It is, verily, hot."

"HOT!" bellowed Elijah, still pointing.

The jester nodded again, then turned to the bulk of the crowd and began to juggle again.

"HOOOOOTTTT!!" The tiny finger waggled, whether in excitement or disapproval I could not say. Still, we beat a retreat from the courtyard, up the steps to the Great Hall....

...where Henry the 8th danced centuries ago, in Hampton Court Palace. Since we'd come early, there wasn't much going on yet, but it was far less crowded. And we did get to see some of the costumed folk and check out some other activities.

Besides, the scenery was pretty great:

And we were able to wear out a certain young fellow by letting him roam around. After this, he slept for 2 hours!

Anyhow, happy 2010 to everyone. I will catch up on some emails tomorrow, but for tonight I think I'm going to head to bed. B and I are just sitting here waiting for the clock to tick over to midnight, having watched a DVD. I've been doing a lot of cooking lately - pesto pizza, banana cake (modified from Dad's recipe), homemade bread, and, to challenge myself, a vegan meal of sweet potato and carrot soup. Which actually turned out pretty good.

This is making me sound... really... old. Well, I had a glass of wine tonight, so ha. Um, yeah. Maybe I'd better stop now. Mmhm. Good night, and happy New Year to all!

Hiccups and Pizzettes

2009-12-28T23:25:00.008Z

I am awake.

I am awake because I watched the BBC's latest adaptation of Day of the Triffids (pt 1).

I am awake because I tucked my husband into bed after the show ended. As usual, we had a brief chat about our respective days (he spent his with friends out of town) and something that E did today had us in stitches of laughter.

I subsequently got the hiccups.

"There's a scratching at the window!" B said.

S... Scratching?! Triffids make scratching noises!

I yelped. Loudly. Meanwhile, B dissolved into a paroxysm of laughter, apparently under the impression that he was "curing my hiccups" by scaring me witless. Well, he cured them all right, but now I've got insomnia while he's peacefully drifting off to sleep. I oughta break out the ol' airhorn, but I thought I'd take the higher road and update my blog. (Besides, I don't even have an airhorn.)

So. Since B was away all day, I had to think of something cool for dinner. I settled on Dad's pizza recipe, which I modified slightly to make pizzettes for a certain young gentleman. Quick and easy (as long as you prep the dough and chop the ingredients in advance), they cook in less than 10 minutes.

I used a cupcake tray (oiled) and put dough bases in:

Loaded the bases with some pesto, grated mozzarella, and a bit of (cooked) sausage:

The finished product:

He couldn't wait to eat them, so I had to tear the pizettes into smaller chunks so that they cooled faster.

E's contribution to the cooking process was to drag a large amount of his toys into the kitchen and mix them up among things that he considers toys but which really aren't - like the dustpan and brush, fork, and dirty laundry that he helpfully unloaded from the washing machine. The latter isn't really his fault because I've been letting him help me unload the washing when it's done. It's actually somewhat helpful. But he's not at the stage where I can let him help me cook quite yet. He understands that the oven is hot but all those cool ingredients? They find their way to his gullet instead of into the pot.

So for now, I get this:

And that's all for now. I shall fight the urge to go out into the bitter cold and scratch at the window outside. Instead, I'll brush my teeth and go to sleep. Someone had better be grateful for this in the morning and COOK ME BREAKFAST IN BED. Just sayin'.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-26T17:25:00.006Z

Tree!
Acclimating to the new baby-sized bathrobe from his great-aunt:

No more pictures!!!!

I'm Dreaming

2009-12-23T20:55:00.005Z

of a White Christmas, ~~just like the ones I used to know...~~

Yeah, growing up in coastal California didn't expose me to a lot of snow. You have to go inland for that, past Sacramento or so. Actually, the one December it did snow (albeit about 10 flakes) in MV, I was with a friend's family in Bear Valley, skiing. I remember those few flakes moved inland and became a massive storm. It was great! It blizzarded overnight, giving us a few feet of fresh snow. Drawback? Windchill was oh... -9F or so. Every time we hit the ski lift we'd have to knock off the icicles that formed on the bottoms of our scarves.

And when I was 15 or so, we spent Christmas with Chris O in WA in whiteout conditions... but that was the day after Christmas, wasn't it? So did that count? Maybe? I think it does!

Speaking of snow...

That's our front garden. I reckon that's the better part of an inch, there. E was slightly intrigued by the stuff, but I don't think he entirely grasped what was going on. He had a good poke about, though, and did some shuffling about. I couldn't get any pics, however, since I need both arms to wrangle him. Dude can seriously sprint, now. Bet he'd take gold in the Toddlerympics 400 dash.

It's still pretty cold here. We went to visit our friends on Sunday for an impromptu dinner at their place. It was only a 10 minute drive or so but the side roads were like ice skating rinks. Right now, it's raining, so I doubt we'll see a white Christmas. But that's ok.

Things on my to-do list:

-Make some mulled wine
-Wrap presents and attempt to avoid the "giant spitball" look
-Do up some stockings for the three of us
-Christmas Eve walk
-Long relaxing bath
-Bake a pecan pie
-Bake a pumpkin pie (both from Dad's recipes)

Hope everyone is keeping well and has a good holiday, wherever you are!

Overheard.... (PG13)

2009-12-12T11:02:00.004Z

This morning, while B let me have a nice lie-in (we were both up with E last night at varying points). While I was lying there, I realized yet again why I am married to him.

"Come here, Mister. Do I smell something? Yes, yes I do. Ewwwww. Come here. Uuuup. Hnng, come on then. This is the second time today; how unfair! Down you go. No, don't wriggle around. Here... here's an item to hold. Oh, what a thumping chunk that is, yuck. Don't wriggle. Right, all done, up you go."

Out of Bruges

2009-12-04T18:36:00.009Z

Been too busy to sit down and blog, so I'm snatching some time now while E plays with his Mozart Cube before bed. I've been concentrating on my novel (man, that still sounds pretentious) because I've finished the rough draft (68k words) and am now revising it with a view to expanding the word count to around 80k.

Anyhow, the second part of our trip to Bruges went well. I think the highlight for me was the horse-drawn carriage ride we took. It was 30 minutes long and took us around the inner city. The coachman was knowledgeable and gave us good commentary.

3/4 of the way through, we stopped at a designated resting place so that the horse could have a break. There was a great fountain there which we discovered while letting E have a quick leg stretch.

After the ride, it was beginning to rain, so we found a tearoom to shelter in for awhile. E had some of B's apple pie. Sorry for the blurryness.

Meanwhile, I had the best hot chocolate ever.

The blurry picture doesn't do it justice. Basically, this treat consisted of a cup of hot milk. On top of that was a shallow dish of pure chocolate. Beside the dish (not pictured) was a glob of whipped cream. And chocolate wafers to dish. There was also a lump of sugar. But really, who'd need sugar with all of the above?!

Bruges has such awesome church bells sounding at different times of the day. I know I'm a sucker for pretty-sounding bells and carillons, but I always enjoy visiting places with lots of loud church bells.

The Eurostar home was uneventful. E fell asleep on the train from Bruges via Ghent to Brussels, then stayed asleep for part of the journey on Eurostar. Funfact: The Eurostar goes 186 miles per hour. And it's MUCH preferable to flying, unless you enjoy cavity searches and cramped seats. As for us, we were offered champagne and an enjoyable meal both ways, and the seats were more than comfortable for a just-under 2 hour journey. The train to Bruges from Brussels was about an hour and was quite pleasant too - a double-decker train. It'd be nice if the UK got some of those but I've never seen one in service here.

Lastly, a picture of me (in the Chocolate Museum) so that B stops nagging me about posting my own mug on my own blog.

I have a few more photos that I'll try and stick up here and there, plus a couple of videos. As for now, it's time to put the sprog into bed.

In Bruges

2009-11-26T19:43:00.007Z

We're in Bruges.

I just lost half of this post because Internet Explorer is an utterly useless browser, full of holes, spyware and absolutely idiotic programming. I should be editing this in Firefox like I normally do but I don't have the time now...

I'll briefly recap -

We're having a good time, although it's stressful vacationing with an almost 16 month old toddler. He slept on the Eurostar all the way through France and into Belgium, was tolerably good on the train from Brussels to Bruges via Ghent, and has been regarding everything here with a mixture of wonder and suspicion. Bruges isn't as child-friendly as our area of London. Most of the tourists here seem to be on the older side. So it's been a lot of work to make things go smoothly.

Yesterday we went to the Basilica of the Holy Blood. It has a relic which includes some of the blood of Christ, and is very old and beautiful - completed in 1149 and rebuilt in the 19th century.

That afternoon (after a certain someone's nap) we went to the Chocolate Museum.

And that's all for now. I've got plenty more pictures and an update of what we did today, including a description of The. Best. Hot. Chocolate. Ever.

But I refuse to post, ever again, using IE. So that probably means I'll be back in London before I post again. See you all later and have a good Thanksgiving.

Off...

2009-11-23T22:58:00.003Z

...to Belgium, via Eurostar. Staying in Bruges for 3 nights. Got a deal through B's company for the trip and we'll be visiting the Christmas markets!

Above is the result of the Great Spoon Experiment. The young gentleman pictured came to the scientific conclusion that hand > utensil. It's all fun and games anyway, until you find droplets of yogurt on the ceiling days later.

Been awfully busy so poke me if I haven't responded to an email. Off to bed now. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

November

2009-11-02T22:24:00.006Z

First, a mini-rant.

What is it with failures of parents/nannies who can't discipline their children? An older child went for E today when he dared clamber onto the same structure he was on top of, and all the mother could manage was a weak "oh, sorry..." as she continued to reward the child by helping him climb higher. Nice one, must be taking lessons from the general "softly softly" approach that Europe has toward criminals.

I'll start putting some money aside for Muay Thai lessons for E when he's older, I suppose.

On a more pleasant note, we enjoyed the crisp autumn weather today, although E got a little bit too cold after being out for 45 minutes or so. And we met a very nice girl who spun him around on the children's merry-go-round thing, saying, "We have to keep it slow because he is just a little baby!" Almost restored my faith in humanity.

Oh yes, pictures:

The Consequences Of...

2009-10-27T18:49:00.002Z

...an extra 15 minutes of sleep:

Autumn Leaves

2009-10-13T20:57:00.007+01:00

The weather is starting to get nippier, but it's been downright pleasant throughout September and early October. There's a different feel to the weather in England... there's more of a warning bite to the breeze than I ever felt in California.

I remember swimming in mountain lakes in Shasta County with my godfamily when I was younger. The water on top was sun-kissed, warm and pleasant. If you dove more than a few feet underneath, however, the water grew instantly colder, reminding you of the lake's glacier roots. Autumn in England is a little bit like swimming on the line, dipping in and out of the cold.

Today E and I visited the park because he woke up too late to go to one of the play areas (they close at 3:30). He was a little bit out of sorts today because he had his MMR jab yesterday. The nurse said to be aware that symptoms can crop up within a week - some children go through a very mild form of measles or mumps, some run a fever, etc. So I'm keeping an eye on him.

Meanwhile, at the park...

Running, climbing, pointing, swinging (not pictured, too blurry)...

Wanting to climb, and...

...giving himself a hand for getting to the top of something he could climb.

That's all for now. Poor B left before 7 this morning and won't be back until after 10pm, so hopefully he'll catch a break sooner rather than later.

Thank You?

2009-10-08T22:53:00.004+01:00

A certain young gentleman has been handing me things lately. Lots of things! Things ranging from my shoes to a spoon he's plucked out of a nearby bowl, to bits of fluff that are so tiny they're practically nonexistent.

I say "thank you!" every time. He likes the praise, and it teaches him manners (or so I hope). Recently, however, things took a rather unexpected turn when he handed me a brown furry object which turned out to be the corpse of a very large, very fuzzy brown spider.

I know they say "be prepared for anything" with babies, but really.

And no, the spider hand-in did not get a "thank you" - it got a garbled, dying camel noise of trying-not-to-scream-and-give-my-child-a-phobia-of-creepy-crawlies.

BusyBusyBusy

2009-10-01T21:53:00.005+01:00

B is absolutely swamped at work and is going into the office tomorrow very early after getting back late tonight. We're both really grateful that E has been sleeping better at night - he's not perfect, but it's a far cry from waking up 2, 3, 4 times a night. If he could sleep in past 7, though, that'd be nice.

Ever since August 5 I can't help but think about this time last year and how difficult it was. The first three months were a real struggle and I definitely wasn't as happy as I am now. I remember how difficult it was to get out of the house and how I was physically weak for a good long while after the birth. I wish I could go back in time and tell myself to relax and wait for the light at the end of the tunnel.

Anyhow... just tomorrow to get through before a peaceful weekend of no stress.

A few pictures:

In the above pic, E is enjoying listening to his Mozart Cube in his pj's before bed - the cube is a present from Grandpa in CA. It also doubles as a noise trap after bedtime or during naptime. Simply place the Cube in the hallway and wait for an unsuspecting person to trip over it and land on the French Horn. Bonus points if the tooting wakes the baby.

E after a trip down the hill to the soft play center, with his very first balloon. He now recognizes the word balloon and will look around for one. He played with this one until it was the size of a wrinkled lemon. I guess we were lucky that it didn't pop.

Until next time.