Monthly Archives: March 2002

What’s been happening of recent? Hmmm
The weather has been uncommonly pleasant – We’ve been playing out (the kids & I). Been enjoying the evenings. Jack has had the scooter out again. My parents gave him for his birthday last year, but Hamish fell off it & split his lip (falling on the wall?) so badly that he had to go to hospital to have a stitch or 2 in. Louise finally relented & let him play with it again. Initially in the front garden, as the space is limited to up & down the path. He then managed to bargain venturing out onto the street a little. He’s now tearing up & down the back street – with its moderately steep incline. He’s quite confident on it, & doesn’t fall off it much. Still – with one thing & another his shins are rather bruised at the moment. Dalmatian.
I did not go to work yesterday, as it was Good Friday. We went to Bradford & it was quiet; not a frantic push past the shoppers day. Nerves stayed intact. Rather enjoyed that.
Manchester arrives at the train again – darn it -sometimes I wish it would not keep running into this train. Perhaps the train will find somewhere more fun for me one of these days?

Eeee – it right feels like spring at last. Beautiful sunny (crisp cold) mornings. When I got home yesterday I played in the front garden with the kids for a good long time. Eve is a bit of a mud monster. Louise says that she’s definitely ‘her girl’ as she was a mud maniac when she was young. Hmmm – I did a comic strip about that once.

Did some rearranging of the back room over the weekend… Hmmm… I wonder if that added to the ‘unreality’ of that weekend. It really did fell like I would not have to go back to work this week… hey ho. Anyway – got some cardboard draws yesterday, in Manchester, & was surprised when I got home to have the opportunity to put them together – which I did. A further attempt to clear the clutter off those shelves into something more manageable. It’s getting there. Household clutter is something we will probably never win the battle against – but we will continue to try to make the whole thing more sane.
Jude was the only one awake as I left for work today. I carry him to my stomach/chest so that he faces out from me holding him with one hand round his chest & sitting on my other arm, so he can sit & watch the world as I walk about. There are certain things that he really seems to like. In the bathroom he is delighted to see the bottles on the shelf above the sink/below the mirror. In the back room downstairs, this morning he was most keen on the drawing board. It has some photos & pictures by the kids on it. There is also a rainbow – a few strokes of paint on a caved cut out paper, & he likes that quite a lot. He was also having a good chew on my thumb while we wandered about.

Jack is on holiday now. It did not feel right at all this morning going off to work. It had been a pleasant weekend & should well have carried on all week without me having to go to work. I should be at home with family… bah!
Didn’t do much typing while travelling last week as – well – I was reading & I was tired.
Jack was not sleeping well to the end of last week. He got a fever & was distinctly under the weather on Saturday. We were going to go to Bradford, but we scaled down to Halifax, & then opted to just stay in town & go the The Bear (veggie restaurant in town & highly recommended). Jack went in the pushchair, & just flopped when he arrived. Didn’t really touch his food & fell asleep on either me or Louise (in that order). Eve was happy – she is certainly back on form. There may be something going about & thus it was not just teething last week. Amber a couple of doors down had a temperature & was ill for a couple of days last week & her oldest brother was also (very odd for him) laid up in bed on Sunday.
Still – Jack was better again Sunday & we were able to pootle off to a party to which he’s been invited by his classmate Thomas. Quite good fun, although it was just enough distance away to leave me stranded there without anything to do. I was initially quite put out by this, as I forgot to take anything to keep me amused, like pen & paper for drawing, writing – or me eMate for typing. Bah.
Drank a pint of beer, let me head swim a little with the novelty of alcohol. Popped out of the building to check for public transport timetables home, & walked about a bit in a desperate attempt to see if there was something interesting in the locale… well – maybe a shop really – that might sell pen & paper. No joy. Resigned myself to going back & sat with a couple of other parents who I felt uncomfortable with. I then let myself get lured into throwing the balls back into the ball room playground adventure thing while Jack & pals through them out at me. What the hell – it was a laff. That passed the time very well until it was time for the party tea.
I think Jack enjoyed having me all to himself for a while – he doesn’t usually get that. When Jessie’s mum offered us a lift home, I left it to Jack to decide, & he wanted to walk home with me. Fortunately by the time we eventually left the hour had gone so far round as to let us catch a train home. Jack would have got tired & I would have been very tired from carrying him.

We were just having some pudding – stewed apple & custard. Eve got to use her much treasured ‘pudding bowl’. She’s finished about half when she went quiet & stared for a moment before, “belch-vLAAAArp!”.
Again, she’s sick.
This time it was just her drink really – most of her tea stayed down. Also – she had magnificent aim – it nearly all ended up in her pudding bowl. Very little clearing up. She was a lot better yesterday. She ate quite well earlier in the day. We suspect that the blackcurrant & cranberry juice was a little harsh on a delicate stomach.

<sigh> I’m missing the broader picture really with this writing; I’m only really scribing bits of the evenings with the kids.
It would be more complete if Louise was writing what the kids are up to as well, but I would be torturing her in making her do that. She does tell me what they’re up to, but my brain is not sponging up the details at the moment. Last night she told me a bunch of stuff as we were falling asleep… Things that made me chuckle… but it’s completely the wrong time to tell me stuff I’ll remember in any detail.
Jude was awake as I left this morning – watching intently as Louise ate her breakfast. He gave me a couple of really wonderful smiles before I left.

Eve actually slept better last night. Not something we expected. She is/was teething – she has cut a lower left molar. She is still not well because of this. Orange juice is off the menu – which she will not like, as she enjoys drinking it, but it does not sit well on her stomach. She finished her tea yesterday & then brought the whole lot back up again. That was the second vomit of the evening, so we really should not have been surprised. Unpleasant to clear up, but as it was on a flat surface I found a dustpan & cloth the most effective. Despite telling Jack not to look – he did, looked worried, with bulging eyes & backed off. Hey – I thought he did well. In those circumstances I would have joined in – contributed to the mess. It’s funny – I do not have a very strong stomach at all – but when needs must, you just get on with it.
Right put me off eating the rest of my tea though… It’d gone cold by the time I sat down again.

Eve will hopefully sleep a little longer this morning, as she kept me quite awake between 4 & 5 this morning. She’s not that well – suspected teething. Fragile. At the supermarket yesterday she got upset that Jack was in the ‘Bob the Builder ride’ – it being only a one kiddie ride. Jack tried to accommodate her, but it was too tight a squeeze. She went off bawling to the checkout where Louise was packing up & promptly threw up everywhere. As I was carrying Jude, there was not a lot to be done other than prompt the blank looking checkout girl to call for a mop. Stares all around. I have to admit that the farcical nature of it all made me find it amusing. She still has the ability to puke when really upset. (Violet Elizabeth?)
Getting a lot more smiles from Jude. On Sunday he seemed to take one of those little leaps of comprehension at the world around him. He is watching more & engaging more. You sometimes have to remind yourself that he’s only 9/10 weeks old. Mind you – he’s not up for watching, or wanting to take much notice of things other than lights lines & people. It’s the people one that’s interesting. He was watching us eat breakfast most intently. If you are doing something like that he seems positively keen to observe. He quite likes a quick ‘baby chat’ as well now.

Hmmm- it’s been a week or so since I charged this emate up – just gave me a battery warning – so that seems a good excuse to stop for now. I’m sure it would carry on, but a ‘thinking impasse’ & a good excuse….

All awake as I left this morning. Louise not impressed. It’s a shitty day – cold/wet/windy & Eve is up too early. She is probably going to be tired & shouty later.
Friday is a ‘big day’ with playgroup in the morning & ‘college’ in the afternoon. She gets over emotional & loud when she’s tired – Eve. She’s always been loud though. The prospect of this & dodging soakings can be a bit off-putting.
Still didn’t do any attic work last night. It was a little late by the time I got downstairs from getting the kids off to sleep. Jude was a little unsettled, & although tired, Jack & Eve seemed to have got it into their heads to keep each other awake that little bit longer. They did do quite well though. They were not antagonising each other. I bored them to sleep eventually reading “Paddington dines out”.
Had to take Jude downstairs again by then, as he was quite awake again. His eye was a lot better yesterday. Still a bit gunky, but it wasn’t getting stuck shut. Pirate Jude.
Ralphie sent me a copy of his latest comic “Giant Clam”. I’m in it – published cartooning work. The 1st since… uh… No, I’d rather not think about that too much.