April Retrospective

120/365 – Brave

I’m not sure I’d give my mobile to the boy or the girl to play with but little sister was brave enough to.  They had a lovely time looking at the pictures on it but it got quite noisy when they had to give it back!

119/365 – Making New Friends

My lovely little sister that doesn’t travel often is up visiting us at the moment – we are enjoying her company and very pleased that she’s come to visit.

Me, her, the girl and the boy went to the zoo today.  I struggle with zoos.  On the one hand I don’t like them because it seems wrong to keep all those magnificent creatures in cages but on the other hand I do appreciate that zoos do a lot towards conserving endangered species and helping educate people about animals and the problems they face that we’ve caused.  From a purely selfish point of view, I like seeing the animals and realistically the only way I’m going to see them is in the zoo (my favourite zoo is Singapore Zoo – we went there on our honeymoon but sadly I think it’s unlikely that we’ll ever go there again).

We know that the girl likes zoos, she’s been to a few now and I think likes the fact that she knows the animals can’t get to her!  It was the first time that the boy has been old enough to really pick up on what’s going on and it soon became clear that he absolutely loved it.  The first animals that we saw weren’t real – there are some gorilla sculptures as you go into “Gorilla Kingdom”.  The  boy almost exploded and went legging it straight over.  The girl took some convincing as she thought they were real but was soon quite taken with them as well.  To be honest, I could have taken them home after that and they would have been more than happy.

118/365 – Black and Blue and Bling

Yes, you’re right, it was the hospital.

Yesterday the boy was playing a new game.  Lets call it “head butt mummy”.  It involved him running the length of the kitchen/diner and slamming into the back of me.  There’s enough space for him to get up a fair bit of speed. Unfortunately on one run (the last one, funnily enough) he slipped/tripped (he was behind me, I’m not sure which it was) on the way and slammed into the drawer handle instead of me.  The best word to describe the noise of the side of his head meeting the handle is probably “crack” but much, much louder than you’d think.

We were worried enough to call an ambulance and it’s at this point in the post that I stop to thank the fantastic ambulance service we have in this country.  It was with us in less than 3 minutes and the two EMT’s were lovely (with both parents and child!).  They said they thought he was fine but advised going to hospital to get him checked out.  Here’s the answer to the second part of the question I asked yesterday – we didn’t get seen until 10pm and didn’t get out until 10.30.  The most amazing (and slightly scary) thing is that the boy did not go to sleep until we were in the car going home.  He can stay awake longer than I can.

And here’s the aftermath.  The bruise can also be seen on the back of his ear and on his head behind the ear.  It’s quite comprehensive.

I have to post this as well.  The girl has a bag that she keeps all her special bits and bobs in.  All the things she doesn’t want the boy to get at, hair clips, bangles, special things she’s been given and the like.  She went off into a corner with it earlier today and suddenly appeared in front of me – I’d love to know what her gang is called!

117/365 – Déjà Vu

Firstly, let me just say that everyone is OK.

Secondly, enormous thanks to LNFATR for helping out with emergency babysitting services.

Thirdly, pop quiz time people – who’d like to guess where we were and what time this photo was taken?

Full details to follow tomorrow but I’m tired and off to bed right now.

116/365 – The One That Got Away

It was this big, honest.  So says the boy.

The husband has just informed me that what he was thinking was “yeah, whatever, just don’t forget that you’re my second child and I’ve seen it all before”.

Before you ask, I have no idea what the girl was digging for.  I’m guessing either gold or Australia.

115/365 – Family

My children are lucky enough to have one great grandfather and two great grandmothers.  The husband’s great grandparents live near where we were staying so we went to visit them on the second day.  Husb’s aunt and cousin also live nearby so we all had tea together.  It was a lovely afternoon.

It didn’t take the boy long to fall in love with cousin A – it helped that they share a love of camera phones.

114/365 – Laurence of Arabia

We’re back from our short break .  There was wireless access but it would have meant leaving the husband in the chalet with the smalls while I went and sat in a bar and blogged.  Now I have to admit that that did appeal to me but I thought it would have been a bit unfair – let’s face it, it would have been rude not to have had a beer while I was in the bar and there was no way I was going to let the husband leave me in the chalet with two small children while he had a beer in the bar.

The very brief conclusion to that rather lengthy paragraph is that I’m now on a catch up.

Day one of the break was a day trip to France.  The boy and girl haven’t properly experienced a sandy beach before (we went to the same beach at the same time last year, but I don’t think either of them really remember it) – he definitely looks like he’s got his exploring head on.

I didn’t take this next picture but I really like it so I thought I’d post it as well.

Below is a picture of me and the girl in the same bar two years ago – we’re both looking quite a bit older!

113/365 – A Weekend Away

Before we had children we used to think nothing of popping away for a long weekend, either in the UK or somewhere in Europe.  I am a very light traveller (the husband will verify that fact) and have in the past used the husband’s shampoo and shower gel rather than bothering to take my own soap bag.  I don’t have a gasquillion pairs of shoes that must ALL come on holiday (just in case) and I don’t even wear make up that often.  See what I mean?  Travelling light, me.

It was, therefore, something of a surprise for us both when we first went away with the girl.  The amount of equipment and general “stuff” that had to go with one small person was quite startling.  Now that we have two children, the packing has to be organised with military precision.  We’re a good team, me and the husband, I do the lists and he does the spatial awareness (otherwise known as will it fit and how will it fit).

I was going to treat you all to a list of exactly what it is that we have to take with us for three nights away (including a travel cot for the boy and an inflatable bed for the girl) but I’m running out of time so here is a picture of approximately half of what I expect the husband to cram into the boot of the car today.

I bet he can’t wait until we go away for a week and a half in June!

By the way, we’re not actually taking the bed it’s all stacked up on (although it was tempting).  Also, there may be no tinterweb where we’re going so you may not hear from me again until Sunday – fear not, I’ll be blogging my little bloggy socks off on Sunday if that’s the case.

112/365 – I’m A Firestarter

Apparently the boy is thinking of auditioning for The Prodigy.  I think he’d be great, he’s obviously mad enough.  I’m not convinced that Liam, Keith and Max will be that impressed with the amount of drool produced.  Less firestarter, more firefighter I fear.