2014 Recap

We started this year in SW London, in the flat we'd lived in for four years. In January, we were given notice that the landlady wanted to move back in, and we began the stressful process of looking for a place to live. We negotiated an extra month in the flat so that E could finish out (most) of his year at the school he had attended since age three (he started in the Nursery, and left near the end of Year 1).

Over the Easter break, we went to Cornwall with family (grandparents, aunt, uncle, cousins, and a family friend, plus the dog). E and I had a flying lesson. Shortly after, we spent a long weekend in Norfolk with family. In June, we were off to California, leaving B with the stressful process of boxing things up and moving them north of the river, to where we now live.

We came back mid-August to complete the process of moving in, which was complicated by the fact that builders were still working on the upstairs renovation. So there were a few weeks of limbo, but we settled in. The children started their new school, C in the Nursery, E in Year 2. They completed their first term, and we had a very nice Christmas. B and I rang in the New Year with a nice meal at a nearby restaurant.

We are enjoying our new digs, enjoying being near family, and I'd say the only downside is we feel the school isn't right for E. He's on a waiting list for another one. Fingers crossed. I also miss the community feel of my last area, but that sort of thing is built up through time spent in the area, and it's starting to happen here. Given B grew up in this area, we have contacts already. Also, this borough has more things going on for older children. The last area was fantastic for ages 0-5, then began to peter off. Many child-based activities were overcrowded, oversubscribed, overpriced. One particular "singalong" type activity cost seven quid for half an hour in a dingy cafe, with a few toys and a CD player. Another "activity" cost nine quid, lasted forty minutes, and involved much the same, except with the use of a parachute. E crawled away from group activities as fast as he could go, when he was a baby. I stuck to Rhyme Time at the library. Free, if crowded.

So, how are the kids?

Well, E really enjoyed our visit to CA, and learned a lot from Grandad. See?

In January, he was in Year 1, which is almost the equivalent of first grade, except the kids are a year younger than in the States. E was one of the youngest in the year, as he'll always be since he was born in August. He took the leaving of friends in stride, enjoyed traveling, and is starting to become skeptical of school. Since he's so far ahead of most people in his grade, I can't really blame him, and we're working on a solution. Right now, he's really into Minecraft, plays Age of Empires II, a game I played as a teenager, and is still into trains, and volcanoes, and now, castles. Today, he asked: "Did the dodo go extinct in Queen Victoria's time?" We looked up the answer: it was earlier than that. He is on a cross-country running team, which meets on Sundays at a local track, and is starting swimming lessons next Saturday. He continues to have his own firm interests and is not very swayed by peer pressure, i.e. he will sit out football (soccer) games because he detests playing, but he will run and do other sports until the cows come home.

He has read many books this year, and is starting to tackle the big ones. The BFG, George's Marvelous Medicine, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and other Dahl books = conquered, read partially by us, and generally spirited off to be further devoured by himself. He enjoys nonfiction about history and natural sciences, and we have more titles on the list. We do quite a bit of bedtime reading. This, I ought to stress, is something we do because we enjoy it. One of my major bugbears with his current school is that the child is penalized if a parent forgets to write in the reading diary. They are kept indoors during breaktime and forced to read. A parent is required to sign the reading diary every single day, including over the weekend and during holidays. I don't like this, nor do I like the draconian attendance rules and the general "toe the line, recruit!" feeling. It's not something we are into for the long-term, however, and many strange things can aid growth. Overall, E is doing really well, and I remind myself that I'm not responsible for his happiness. He has to learn to deal with setbacks. And, in my opinion, he has done so admirably over this past year.

That's something I've learned as well--when to step in, and when to leave him to handle it on his own. My gut instinct is to be more laissez-faire than not. But earlier this year, I had to protect him because a line was crossed, and I think we both walked away from that as stronger people. I actually had a small epiphany, relating to "what's bad behavior at 6 is grounds for suspension from school at 16, and is criminal at 26." I explained this to E when he was exposed to something very hurtful earlier this year, and I think this helped him grasp what he needed to understand. I also told him there are adult enablers in life who excuse things that should not be excused, and these people sometimes wrongly blame others. This wasn't an easy lesson for a little boy to learn, but life isn't easy. I have to say it wasn't a simple thing for me to digest, either, but I have to go by my inner barometer. I wonder how many parents of abusive people have excused their child's violent behavior by saying "he/she was provoked"? I wonder if that behavior continues down the line, to where the parent turns aside when their former little boy hits his girlfriend/wife/significant other, and excuses it by saying well, the person deserved that punch because they said X to him/didn't bring his beer fast enough/etc. I had to tell E he doesn't deserve violence inflicted upon him, that disagreements between friends (or anyone, really) should not involve him being pushed, slapped, punched, etc. Nor should it involve him doing the same, which I was clear to him about, after a brief flirtation with allowing violence out of self-defense. (I'm so very proud to say he has learned to walk/run away.) I'm writing this out here because I refer to these posts as the years go by, and I don't want to forget it. I will no longer let things slide in the name of keeping harmony, just because it's the easier way, and because I have a boy who is kind and lets things slide too. So that's my lesson of the year.

On to C...

She is really blossoming, and has matured greatly over this year!

She continued with her playgroup twice a week until June, and also did a short sports class once a week. She truly enjoyed her CA trip, and I think it was amazing for her development. In September, she started Nursery, where she struck up a friendship with a little girl who doesn't speak much English, bringing both of them out of their shells. Glowing reports from her teachers who love having her there. She likes the outdoors, and keeping up with her big brother. She is reading letters, and very simple words (with prompting). Books are a big thing now, and we read quite a bit to her. She now goes to Nursery five mornings a week, from 9-12, and is starting swimming lessons next Saturday. As a December-born baby, she is one of the older ones in the year.

C is teaching herself to write, and actually scripts out letters, although she can't always read the "words" they make. She *can* copy things, and will do so with great glee, and make me read the results. She is very into princesses, and horses (all animals, really!), and her big present this Christmas was a wooden dollhouse. She so enjoys playing with her cousins and imaginary play with her brother, and helping me walk the dog. She can be shy, but I am hoping she realizes that everyone can be shy, that shy is not an automatic label that one cannot break out of. Like with E, I try to praise for effort over ability. Luckily, this little girl has effort in spades. She is a hard worker. She gets knocked down, but she gets up again. 2014 was a fantastic year for her.

And 2014 for B? New job last January, which was so very exciting because his commute became far, far easier. He enjoyed CA and continues to be an amazing husband and hands-on father.

2014 for me? A time of changes, a time of growth. I have plans for my writing career, and am so grateful for the chance to stay home with the kids and watch them grow and develop.

I will do my utmost to keep blogging here over the next twelve months! Today is a poignant day--it would have been my mother's 70th birthday. So, here's to her.

Winter 2014 (So Far)

So, following on from last post... NaNoWriMo happened in November, and I wound up writing 43,000 words in a month. Not too shabby. We're in a decent routine that gives me some free time in the morning before I collect C from her nursery (which she goes to from 9-12).

E was chosen as a narrator in the lower (Reception, Year 1 and Year 2) school's production of the Nativity, one of only four children tapped for speaking parts out of sixty. He did a great job, and as a bonus, the Nursery class came in to watch, and I was able to sit in the same room with both children!

C had her 4th birthday.

We toasted marshmallows, sat around the campfire, built forts, and got generally muddy and dirty at the outdoor party of the son of family friends.

Dined out on pizza in Highgate.

E and I went to the Christmas service/carols along with Granny and several of her friends. He is currently enjoying a two week break from school.

Merry Christmas! We had a good day today with family and friends. Tomorrow we are going to Kew Gardens for the evening trail, seeing cousins and uncles and aunts, and probably spending a great deal of the day doing stuff like this...

(The track's slightly the wrong way around but that was quickly rectified by a kind uncle.)

Long Overdue...

...update.

We have been busy! We pulled E out of school a month early (since we were moving to North London anyway) and went to California for 7 weeks. What we did there... well, that warrants about 5 blog posts on their own! Suffice it to say we had a family reunion and did a ton of stuff that was almost a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Uncle Howard, his wife, and son Jack (7) were there, and we were able to see many good old family friends. B, the kids and I also traveled to Mendocino for a midweek break at one point.

I hardly know where to begin with this update. Certainly I want to catalog what we did in CA, but maybe I should start with mundane matters. We're now living in the top bit of B's parents' house, with much more room than in our old flat. E is in Year 2 in a local school, and C is at the same school in Nursery, going 5 mornings a week. They seem to be settled-ish, although we have our doubts about that particular school. We may try to get them into a different one. This is mainly because a lot of the school's funding is focused on bringing children with skills below their age level up to an appropriate one. E doesn't need that, at all. Neither does C. So... we wait and see. Meanwhile, he is not unhappy there although I don't think either of them are challenged quite enough.

This year, we've taken life by the horns and really lived it. I've learned that sometimes the actual doing of things is difficult, but having done them is awesome. Like flying that Cessna in Cornwall. This year we have been to Cornwall, rural Norfolk to stay with family, California, moved to North London, and this weekend we went back to Norfolk again. We're so lucky to have family members who have access to a holiday cottage up there.

So, since CA will have to be its own updates, here are some pictures from this weekend.

E catches a crab! All the kids caught some, and we wound up with 20+ seething in our bucket. Drama ensued when a little girl next to us went right over and into the water! We helped her and her grandfather (who went right after her) out.

C stirs her witchy cauldron at the festival we went to. She was making a potion (with leaves, water, mud and her magic wand).

E and C at the top of the biggest "drop slide" in the play area we went to on Sunday. Yes, they both went down it, multiple times!

The boys conquered this tandem zip wire. It was enormous.

One last photo, from the festival's candlelit procession. The children carried jars they had decorated earlier, with little tea candles inside. There were drummers and fire dancers. It was a very cool thing.

And that's it for now. I'll do my level best to update again soon, but National Novel Writing Month begins Nov. 1. I am going to try to write a heist/thriller in about 30 days. I won't finish it, of course, but it will be fun trying.

More Cornwall

I'm on a roll, so I might as well keep going.

On Mondays, I tend to have some spare time in the morning between E's school drop-off and the beginning of C's sports class. Right now our schedule seems just right. C goes to playgroup Tuesdays and Thursdays and we do varying activities (library, park, etc) on Weds/Fri. Obviously this will all come to an end in late June, but I'm enjoying it while I can. And I'm sure I'll get into a similar groove in N. London.

One of the cool things we did in Cornwall was visit a miniature steam railway. It had a good amount of things for kids to do. Miniature golf, other miniature train tracks (all ride-on), go-karts, pedal tractors, canoes for paddling around the lake, and an adventure playground. Unfortunately, rain arrived and got us pretty wet, so we didn't enjoy it as much as we could have, but we still had a good time.

Yeah, it says minimum age 6 years, but E crossed it just fine. And he didn't get wet. This was part of the smaller, initial playground next to the station where we caught the steam train.

Cousins and children and dog all waiting to board.

E enjoyed watching the locomotive on the turntable. Found out later that the guy driving the engine was the owner of the place.

Little Red Riding C getting a hole in 20.

Rainy go-karting. These things went fairly fast!

After we got back to the holiday cottage, we built up a nice fire in the woodstove and played cards. E and I (and B) have been reading 101 Dalmatians, the original unabridged version. It's a long book for a 5 year old. He sometimes reads independently, sometimes takes turns with us. He's enjoying it.

E's school sends a lot of books home. Six per week. So he has a lot of books to read, but he's always up for a challenge. Besides, I have great memories of 101 Dalmatians.

So, that's pretty much it for Cornwall. We had a fantastic time, rain or shine, and are planning to go back in two years.

When we do, we'll probably visit the Eden Project again. We had a good time there! Those domes are biomes. One's a rainforest and the other is a Med-type climate.

C and her cousins took most of their clothes off partway through our walk around the very hot rainforest biome!

I must say, being inside felt a bit like walking onto the set of Logan's Run. Minus all those cool zippy gadgets and the very 70s garb.

There was a small natural playground outside and a fair amount to do here. Things tended to be quite hands-on and child friendly. There was also a very neat (and long, and high, and terrifying) zip wire, but that was for adults and you had to pay. Maybe next time...

Big Changes, and Cornwall

It's been a bit busy around here. Our landlady gave us notice earlier this year, and we're due to move out in early July. We looked hard at renting another place around here, but prices are high... too high for us to be comfortable in the long term.

So we're moving further afield, to North London. In with B's parents, to be exact. We're excited about it, although we'll really miss this area (and E's school...). At the same time, we'll be close to family and B has old friends in the area. In any case, living in a house will be nice... and, ironically, we'll have slightly more floor space than we did in this flat. We'll see where we are in a year and then reevaluate.

Anyhow... Cornwall pics! We decided to visit Cornwall with B's parents, S, a family friend, and B's brother and sister-in-law (and their two kids). We were all under one roof and it worked out splendidly. Oh, and we had a dog with us as well.

Our first visit to Perranporth beach. The kids were excited. This beach was a three minute walk from the holiday house and had a wonderful lagoon (dependent on tides) that the kids enjoyed splashing in. And that rock in the distance? E and I climbed it.

See that pole on the top of the rock? We went up there. Pictured is a (mostly) natural seawater pool. We didn't swim in it because it was rainy that day (despite being sunny when we arrived, and then sunny later on). Maybe next time we will.

My favorite part of the trip was a three mile coastal hike we took with all the kids. The youngest (2) was in a back carrier, but E (5) and C (3) both made it the entire way! There were lots of cliffs like these, with tin or copper mines here and there (safely capped off or collapsed), so we had to be careful not to run or slip.

Along the way we found lots of neat things, like this nearly-hidden entrance to a mine.

By the end, even E's formidable energy was dented.

We also had plenty of time on the beach, and some sun as well.

The kids loved every minute. We mostly stayed outdoors but we also went to an aquarium in Newquay and to a big indoor swimming pool with waterslides.

I'm out of time, but I'll post more pictures next time. Coming up: our trip to a steam railway in Cornwall, and a lovely, impromptu weekend in Norfolk.

Flying

I flew a plane today. Also, I have not updated this blog for MONTHS. I'll have to keep it short... a few photos this time, a bit of commentary. Maybe another post when I get time.

In the beach pic, there's a rock in the sea. E and I climbed to the top of it when the tide was out. Fantastic fun. That beach was a three minute walk from our holiday house.

Anyhow, we're back from Cornwall and I'll see about writing up a blog post sooner rather than later. But yeah, I had a flying lesson today. I know enough to know I don't want to be a pilot, but it was, nevertheless, very worthwhile. And E enjoyed himself as well.

2013 Recap

Happy 2014!

I'm sitting here thinking back. Jan 1 of 2013, I was walking on air because my editor had requested to see my full manuscript. In publishing speak, that's... very promising. A week later, I was offered a contract. A year later, I have two things published--a novella and a short story--and three more pieces accepted. One of them, a novella, has just been edited and the cover request sent in. I don't know exactly when it will release, but I guess Feb/March.

The children have come a long way as well. I can hardly believe that C is three. She's a dynamo. Strong-willed, yet savvy. She can climb like crazy yet she knows her limits and sticks to them. She loves animals, art, and cooking. She enjoys carrying lots of various things around, generally small toys or things like corks and acorns or conkers, and refers to them as her "freasures" (treasures). A few weeks ago, after I scolded her for doing something silly, she put her hand out to my face and then made fake chomping noises.  I asked her if she'd just eaten my nose.

"No," she said, "I eat your mouth, so it stop talking."

She loves her brother, and tries to boss him around. Sometimes she's successful. When they play together, it's awesome.

C will continue going to playgroup twice a week (I attend too, but I can often nip out for an hour to run errands) and she will be starting a sports class in January. I will also sign her up to attend the same nursery that E did, beginning in September. (In the bottom pic, she's "vacuuming" at her regular playgroup.)

As for E... he's so much fun to have around! He makes amazing observations, his math sense is superb, his reading is off the charts (probably literally), and he wants to be a volcanologist when he grows up. Sometimes that changes to "train driver" and occasionally he'll say he just wants to do "EVERYTHING!" which is also fine. He still loves trains, and volcanos, and he loves talking about anything under the sun. We have a big map of the world on his wall and he likes to point to different places and talk about them. Sometimes we play a game, covering our eyes and pointing to different parts of the world. Often, we wind up in the ocean, but that's part of the fun.

E is in Year 1 now and has really found his stride in school. He's popular with other children but he isn't afraid to march to the beat of his own drummer. He's got his own sense of what's important in life.

2013's been a good year.