Thursday, June 30, 2011
TIME FOR HUSBAND NO. 3?
Wee kids can be a laugh at times!
Saturday, June 18, 2011
NONSENSE FROM DAWN TILL DUSK
Today was fairly typical. We got up to find she'd taken all the bowls out of the Welsh dresser. She likes to colour in bowls when you turn your back. Obviously finding out she's chosen oil pastels instead of washable felt tips five minutes before breakfast is a bit of a bummer.
I washed the bowls in the sink and walked past the downstairs toilet as I went to put them on the table. She was standing unaided beside the loo. She carefully removed a square of loo roll with her left hand, transferred it to her right, wiped her bum (she was wearing a nappy and tights) and put the used paper in the loo. Ok, she'd been watching the rest of us at the loo. She repeated this with a second square, and a third, and would have done the same with the entire toilet roll, had a I not dragged her out kicking and screaming.
She crept through to the hall. She didn't immediately see her shoes in the shoe cupboard. She put on one of Léon's and wandered away. I found it in the living room. As I was returning it to the shoe cupboard so we wouldn't be in a panic Monday morning at 9, she passed wearing one of Anna's! I pulled it off too and said no sternly. She rolled dramatically on the floor, heartbroken. Five minutes later, because I'd closed the shoe cupboard she hobbled by wearing one of Thomas's large muddy garden clogs that he'd left in the porch! Arrrrg! Stop it baby!
Other than that she's tried to clip her nails today using nail clippers. And she's pushed a step ladder over to the cooker to try to make a meal.
My father-in-law flew in today - he suffers from sleep apnoea and uses a breathing machine at night. I am definitely going to keep her in bed till after he gets up - I'd hate her to unplug him just to see what it is!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
QUICHE
Anna isn't stupid. I made quiche for lunch. I put it on the table. 'Have a piece of this', I said. 'No, thanks', she replied. I reiterated the house rule about having to try all food before deciding what we like and don't like and quick as a flash she replied 'But I have tasted quiche - Silly Mad John (her imaginary Grandpa!) made me it at his house last week so I tried it there!'
10/10 for quick thinking and sheer cheek!
Sunday, June 12, 2011
RATATOUILLE
BATHTIME CUTENESS
BUM-SHUFFLED SHOES
Saturday, June 11, 2011
AT LAST
ODDBALL
FINALLY USEFUL
It lay in her drawer for two years and then was evicted to the loft. I recently came across it and had a hunch that Anna's reaction may be different. When I showed her it yesterday, she claimed never to have seen anything as beautiful and happily skipped around all day exclaiming she was now a real princess as this wasn't even a costume!
Of course, when Amaia sneaked up behind her with a purple marker and drew on her, she ended up in the same state Lots had been all those years ago, but not because I was asking her to put it on, but rather because I was telling her to take it off!
I wonder which camp Amaia will join when she grows into it!
Friday, June 10, 2011
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SILLY MAD JOHN
The three older children go to visit André (my ex-husband) twice a week at around 6pm. When they leave Anna becomes quite sad in their absence, asking if she can go too sometimes, asking when they will return. She tells me how much she misses them when they are away and she wonders if they miss her. Two nights ago she asked me if I thought the biggies missed her whenever she went for dinner or sleepovers at Silly Mad John's house. Léon went to great lengths to explain to her she didn't go anywhere and that SMJ didn't exist but she was quite dismissive of him.
Last night André turned up in his brand new marker-pen green Fiat Qubo (that he'd bought the day before). Anna was at the gate when he drove by. Ten minutes later, she told me SMJ had bought himself a new green Fiat Qubo too. Suddenly the penny dropped. I think Anna is trying to invent herself an André equivalent. It will be interesting to see if Anna goes on holiday with SMJ in three weeks time when Marcel, Charlotte and Léon go to France to visit their Oma.
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
MUM
Friday, June 03, 2011
ARE MONOLINGUAL CHILDREN EMBARRASSING?
Years ago, when I would stand in the queue in Byres road Safeway waiting to buy my dinner and Marcel would ask in French at the top of his lungs why the man in front of us in the queue was so ugly, I would smile in relief at the thought that no one had caught what he'd said.
Yesterday I was reminded of the phenomenon.
I took Anna into nursery and told her to sit on the rug with her group. As I turned to hang up her coat, I heard a wee voice pipe up 'Charlie! (one of her 3 year old friends) I've not got my tights on today because it is so hot. Would you like me to show you my stor tissekone?' Arg! I turned, hopped over the kids, picked her up and whispered that just because the weather was nice, Charlie didn't particularly want to see her 'large vagina'! She looked surprised and pointed out that it was a very lovely one! Because of her use of the Danish in the sentence, neither Charlie nor Anna's teacher had caught what was going on! Once again I was saved by the bilingual dimension.
I take my hat off to all the parents of monolinguals - life must be quite a minefield!
Wednesday, June 01, 2011
THE AUTHORITY OF A CHART
NOT THOSE KRISPIES, I TOLD YOU!
Is 16 months old too young to be able to read?
Yesterday several of the boxes of cereal on the breakfast table had less than a plateful left in them so Thomas took three of the internal bags and put them in one box. The result was that inside a box marked Cheerios we had Weetabix minis, Cheerios and Golden nuggets.
This morning Amaia sat down to breakfast. She pointed at the Cheerios. Thomas pulled out the Nuggets bag and filled her plate. She's a baby after all - krispies are krispies... she looked at them, she looked at the back of the box, then she looked at them again in disgust, shook her head and pointed at the box. Thomas took out the Weetabix with the same result. He then fished down to the bottom and pulled out the actual Cheerios, she nodded and held out her bowl!