Archives: the kids

Beautiful clear light this morning. It pissed it down last night – water thrashing on the roof & velux windows. I have to say, this is one aspect of sleeping in the attic room I really like. I smile to hear the rain beating down & the wind thrashing about.
I forgot to mention earlier in the week – probably Monday, as I didn’t type on Tuesday, that Jude has cut his 1st tooth (at last). Louise ways that he cut it’s neighbour yesterday – so there are 2 bottom teeth. I could not feel it, & have yet to actually see the 1st one – he likes to keep them covered with his tongue when he concedes to open his mouth…
Looked like Louise had to endure a day of mayhem yesterday. Hamish & Amber have returned from a trip to London, & were round to play a lot. The upstairs rooms seem to have been rearranged a little – chairs moved bedclothes everywhere. hmph. I tidied up their front bedroom when I got home as Louise was out with Jude getting shopping (delayed) & her mum was playing with Jack & Eve downstairs. Apparently Jack & Hamish had done a good job of tidying it already as they had scattered lego & bionicles everywhere – which was gone by the time I got to it. Ah – the world of small advances.

Louise survived the 1st day of the half term break with sanity intact.
I did not go for my eye test yesterday as they have booked me in on the wrong day, & I didn’t notice. Asked for Monday, got Tuesday. Please check your change before leaving as refunds cannot be made. I go today.
Hmmm – tired this morning. I made more of an attempt to get back to my own bed last night – & thus was going either up or downstairs every hour or so… bluh.
Eve is in fact not that well. It’s odd as when she is ill she usually makes a lot more fuss – following you to protest the fact that she’s not feeling good & wanting to be comforted. This time, she’s more passive – more apt to sit & watch… She fell asleep on me when I got home yesterday, so I popped her on the sofa. The noise from Jack & Jude would ensure that she did not sleep too long, but all the same, she must have got an hour out of it. At tea time she was happy again, until the point where she wanted to sit on my knee, & then wanted a cuddle & then puked everywhere. Fortunately I had eaten most of my tea & graciously, she did point away from me as the vomit leapt forth. Most went under the table, which is fortunate as we put a mat down at teatime so that mess doesn’t get ground into the carpet. Not too difficult a task to clear it all up. It’s funny, but puking really used to make me wanna join in. It still can on occasion (when Louise was ill the other week I had a couple of sympathetic moments) but on the whole I am a lot more hardy where the kids are concerned. I guess you have to be. Change of jeans & shoes though. She was a lot more her usual self after that – a weight lifted (probably literally). She had a little more difficulty that usual getting off to sleep, but that can be put down to late snoozing. Hopefully today she will be feeling better. She was the last to wake this morning, just before I was about to leave, but that means little, as in theory, they should all remain asleep before I go; it’s early dammit!
Noted yesterday morning walking to work from the station that all was orange, but from the streetlights rather than the sunrise of the past few weeks… bah! Still – the clocks change soon & I can chase the sun for a few more morning hours before it slips back under the horizon again.

hmmm
Eve – she fell asleep on me going up to 6:00 yesterday…. poor lamb -jiggered. Put her off to bed with only a small protest, she did very well for it. Stirred only once before bedtime. She & Jack have swapped beds. She was falling asleep in his bed while he had his bath & then I’d move her… but Jack kinda decided that he’d have her bed. This is fine by Louise & I because she’s the one who usually calls out in the night for attention & for someone to come sleep with her. Jack’s bed is a full size (single) mattress & this is a darn sight more comfortable than the other & the futon, which was the other solution for sleeping with her. It all works better. Soon we hope to be getting them a bunk bed, which should be OK for having to sleep with them. Lately I seem to have been sleeping more with Eve than with Louise… which isn’t right… but then Jude sleeps in ‘our’ bed anyway (after he’s done his requisite in his own cot – hopefully it’s after midnight he stirs). If you’re not a parent – all this bed swapping business may seem odd – but parents of young children will realise you sleep where you can. Jack sleeps well nowadays. He rarely wakes up to call out. I’m sure he probably does stir, but he keeps it to himself for the most part. Can’t think when he last called out.
Jack has been very excitable this weekend. He’s had difficulty in … I was gong to say ‘keeping still’ but that’s always a problem. He’s certainly been feeling chipper, & understanding ‘no’ – or rather getting through with ‘no’ has been harder. He wants to – he really wants to. I had to turn the computer off a couple of times over the weekend as he was just getting carried away. With Eve off to sleep early last night we had to continually remind him to lower his voice & to stop jumping about the room… These are very difficult things for a 5 year old to do. Out walking over the weekend, he was either trailing behind seemingly lost in his thought or gleefully skipping on ahead. All this, of course makes Louise worry that this week’s half term break might be a little hard, but as she has said before… If Jack is in a good mood then it makes everything else easy. Of course, if Eve is ‘off colour’ which she well might be, then the balance tips negative again. She’s clingy & screamy when ‘off’. She was very dopey this morning – wanting to lie down & rest, where she’s usually full of beans to be up & about. Jude being awake when I got Louise up helped; he excites her. She was coughing a bit & demanded a drink. I wonder is she has a sore throat? She was also sick just as I was about to go out of the door. Didn’t see what happened, but she was eating some of Louise’s cereal at the time & blearg! Nothing dramatic in reach – just down herself, but still a mess… Quickly cleared before leaving though, & did not have to rush for the train to much.
On the computer front… I believe that I have managed to get it working for the most part – the CD writer, that is. I’ve ‘burnt’ most of my files, & the mac actually saw the disks. Next backup is applications & thence the may be the next big move. I have more memory ordered, & I have (dun-der-daaaaa!) OSX (10.2) ordered. Blimey. So – many more hours spent wrestling with the computer to get the darn thing doing what it’s supposed to do… but… but.. I have been rather keen to move to ’10’. I have a lot of applications that are going to have to stay in ‘classic’ – but nonetheless, I feel it will be worth it. I made up my mind after checking that all my peripherals would be OK – & it seems they will – even the scanner (although the drivers are still beta – but at least they are there!).
The plunge, as it were.

Well – on the stupidity of technology front… I think I’ve managed to burn a couple of CD’s on the burner. Allocating the damn software oodles more memory seemed to make that work a little more normality (not take years to do anything). CD’s were burnt disarmingly quickly (the hardware is, as suggested good), but coming to read the CD’s again on the DVD player that is incorporated into the mac… it didn’t recognise them… It didn’t recognise them when I put them in the CD burner for mounting on the desktop either… Wanted to initialise them… in a PC format as well! If it was not all so frustrating it would be funny… Mind you I’ve got past frustration & have now settled on bemused puzzlement. Oh, & Louise says that she is not against the idea of moving to OS X… coo (for those that do not know of what I speak: I presently use OS 9.0.4, & this would mean an upgrade to OS 10.2… which is a very radical shift as the whole thing changed completely on 10). Although this is an ambition of mine, I’m not so sure as to not think it wise to pursue a couple or other avenues 1st.
On the home front…. Louise got her eyes tested & has gone for a new pair with metal frames! Smaller than the ones that she was looking at the other day as well! Lawks! Oh, & the sunglasses as well – confirmed as the 1st time she will have some.
I collected Jack from school on my own yesterday & he was happy. Coming thru the front garden, he muttered that he wanted to get changed & do some work on the garden. Louise’s mum came back with her as she was visiting today & she & Jack & Eve did a little work in the garden. I have not had time to look at what was done, but weeds were pulled & Jack did a lot of snipping with the securers (as that is what he likes to do).
Jude was a little off form yesterday apparently. He ate his tea OK though & when he was upset a bit later; he did not throw it all up. He seems to be getting to that age when throwing up in protest at something is more commonplace than it should be. He had such a hardy constitution when he was younger (didn’t let anything go). Hopefully this is just a phase. Eve has not quite grown out of that phase yet.

Hey ho… Brain still awaiting catch up on the sleep thing. Nice & Groggy this morning.
Got my new CD-RW working last night after faffing about for a good while. The software the manufacturer supplies is… not great. By that I mean that certain unrequired components seem to freeze the mac on startup. I conclude that it is probably a clash with Login on my verson of Mac OS – which is well stinky.
It’s taken me a couple of nights of pratting about starting with extensions off to come to that conclusion – which is far more time than I’m willing to concede to any problem – but needs must. I now actually have facility to do a proper backup of my files – which is like – really amazing! Hmmm – that sounds a little ‘gosh, wow’ of me – but I have not been able to do a proper backup since I got the computer – which in my opinion is very unwise. I’ve had a few scary moments where I thought I’d lost all – & the risks become greater the more I accumulate. I’ve been taking loads of photos for nearly a year now without any safety net if I suffered major problems. Anyway – now begins the process of putting back extensions & hoping it doesn’t all go wobbly… Hey – That does give me the very good excuse of prattling with the kit to back up all files before doing that.
Thinking of doing some passive newspaper reading.
Summary on the home front: Jude is happy – seems past recent tummy upset. Standing up against everything he can. It is wise not to stand still for too long as he will crawl up to you & stand up against your legs now.
Eve is fractious – she has a back upper right molar which still has not come through proper. This makes her more barmy & volatile than usual. She is now going to Monday afternoon school playgroup as well. She likes it all & is not troubled by Louise leaving any more.
Jack is … well Jack, really; loving & boisterous.
Louise is going for an eye test tomorrow. The 1st in many years. A new pair of glasses! She may even get a pair of wire framed ones & a pair of free sunglasses!! Louise has never, as far as I know, had a pair of sunglasses – let alone prescription sunglasses.

A pleasant weekend, all in all. Out & about on Saturday. We had money things to sort out & Louise managed to get an appointment with the opticians in Bradford. She also likes the glasses I’ve been thinking I want. We went to a toy shop as Jack had a party to go to on Sunday & we ended up getting presents for Jack & Eve as well (how can you escape such in a toy shop?). Eve got a small dolly which had a tiny bottle & dummy etc. She sat in the pushchair & played with it a lot. Kept her quite happy all afternoon. Jack got a bit of technics lego – a ‘drome racer’ which flies apart when it hits something. He was a little frustrated that he could not have it until he was home – but we had to be sensible with it really. Thinking about it he was a little easily frustrated this weekend. This could be an indication that he’s not really well. Retaliated at Eve a couple of times. Oh, & there was Hamish; he upset Jack. Jack wanted to show Hamish the neat technics/bioniclish car that he had & Hamish brushed him off. Seems Hamish was being busy being a ‘big boy’ & didn’t want to bother. Jack came back in tears. Amber came round a little later to play with Eve – but they didn’t really cotton on to this neat car & bionicles thing. He tried, but she just left in the end – which she (& Hamish for that matter) have a habit of doing.
Jack enjoyed his party over at Tom’s a lot. He was a little worried as I took him that I might not hang around, (I didn’t) but as soon as he was there he was happy & last seen dashing off with pals up the stairs. When I came to get him later he was full on giddy. He charged out of the door at me happy as anything. Crashed into me, as he likes to do. I bent down for a hug & got a real good slap on the head for my trouble. Diane, Tom’s mum was really good & gave us a party bag for all of our brood which included hair grips for Eve & a rattle for Jude – uncommonly generous! Jack had a couple of his party bag sweets on the way home & Louise said he was completely bug eyed when we arrived back. He danced through the door & announced to Louise – happy as anything – that he’s had, “too many sweets” – which was, by & large, patently obvious. He remained in a happy & convivial mood all afternoon/evening. Played well with Eve – ate his tea – gadded about – played with Junkbot on the lego site & did not worry when I was not there to assist. Actually – he played quite happily on his own – completing the puzzled to complete the levels quite well. OK then, all in all Jack has been abundantly loving this weekend. It’s true what Louise says – when he’s in a good mood everything goes smoothly.
I stayed up a little late last night watching most of ‘A Clockwork Orange’. I gave up in the end as I realised that I needed sleep more than I needed to know what happens in the end. I’ll watch it again sometime, & I’ll be able to play proper attention. Sleep will nag at me now this week – I must remember to get to bed on time to make up the deficit.

Type now read paper later for I will have some plonker come sit next to me in a station or two’s time. The only problem is, this induces the ‘pressure’ to actually write something – which in turn makes me wanna say, “Oh, sod it all!”.
Jude is not especially well at the moment. This is not to say he’s not really his usual chirpy self. He’s still happy but on occasion he cannot seem to keep his food down. There’s a bit of being sick. Now there are a few possibilities. The plain fact of the matter is that he’s super teething at the moment. I don’t think Jack nor Eve had such lumpy gums as he now has. It’s like he has a real crop of teeth all coming at once. He could also be at the stage where the oesophagus is changing. It moves down, apparently, in babies of a certain age – it’s just I can’t remember what age that’s supposed to be. This can cause a lot more spluttering etc as they adjust. Louise said just yesterday that she though his neck was getting longer. He could also be suffering a relapse from the illness that’s doing the rounds of our town at the moment (the one Louise had last week). Louise is worried that he’s swallowed something & he can’t eat anything. He does have that annoying of so many babies of picking up anything he finds & shoving it in his mouth (& he has a capacious buccal cavity – a trait from his dad). She feels guilty & sometimes thinks that he looks at her as if to say, “you let me swallow such & such”. Well, it’s only natural for a parent to feel guilty & worry that they are messing things up. I do point out that he can actually keep food down sometimes & if there was a ‘blockage’ this simply would not be the case.

Good morning – how _are_ we this morning?
Well – for the 1st time in …I don’t know how long, none of the kids were downstairs before I went to work. No I did not say awake, as when I was leaving the house Eve’s usual wake up routine started. She still seems to wake the majority of the time in tears &, “Want” ing someone or other. No doubt there will also have been the, “I want me daddy” when I was not there. She does seem rather incessant at the moment. Always on the go & chatty & not leaving Jude alone & wanting this & wanting that & especially wanting all the attention she can get. This, as any parent will tell you, is only normal. She gets a bit to tired & emotional by the end of the day as well (probably because she’s up early). Still – she’s had an extra half hour more than usual this morning. Some days Louise’s sanity is tested to the limits, I’m sure.

The train has been more crowded of recent. I have been told why now – the ‘turn around’ from Tod to Southport has been removed from service. This does not bode well as that was my ‘stand by’ train in case there were any problems with this one. This means I have a much higher chance of being late for work. Bah. Not happy about this. Especially not happy about the ‘little things’ like having to start typing as soon as the train starts, rather than wallow in the paper for a while my by brain solidifies from the liquid state induced by sleep & waking. Again, BAH!
<Tries to tune brain in to thinking> ummmmmmm
Duh yeah – went to school last night. One of those ‘parents meet the teachers to discuss schooling’ things. Just 10 minutes. It seems Jack is happy, confident & social at school. Such things are happily reassuring. He is also willing to answer questions & be involved. He did have & still does to a lesser extent, it seems, have a tendency to be a perfectionist. He wants to get things right. He is less worried about this now though. Whereas last year this impeded him – slowing him up to the extent that he was not getting things done; he now completes tasks in the given time. I think he’s less afraid of mistakes – which is a good thing. Having said that…. Louise & I have noticed a tendency to be worried more about making a ‘social’ mistake. He seems to be worried more at the moment about doing something wrong. It’s a little odd, as he can get himself quite upset if you reprimand him for some minor misdemeanour. It’s like suddenly we have this aura of ‘they must be obeyed of you suffer the consequences’ – which can be quite disconcerting.
Jude still has no teeth. He has very very lumpy gums at the moment though. He was throwing himself about as I was holding him the other day – jumping up & down in my arms to the extent that I thought he was going to hurt himself on my shoulder. He didn’t seem to – but still – you think – that surely can’t be good for him.

Back to work (albeit later than usual today – I saw Jack off to school with Louise).
I had to stay at home yesterday, as Louise was rather ill. There’s this rather unpleasant bug around, you see. It all came on rather suddenly. After tea on Monday, Louise was not feeling that good… When we were getting the kids off to bed she took Jude up to our bed & went off to sleep with him, as she was rather tired. Then when all were asleep & I’d just popped downstairs to prat about on the computer I heard her shout form me. Dashed upstairs & she’d made it to the bathroom to be sick. She was in a bad way though. This continued for most of the night. We had a bowl by the bed & all that.
She was plainly incapacitated so I took the next day off to get the household things done. The kids up & fed & Jack off to school, & washing etc. I only really had Eve to keep amused, which was quite good. Jude stayed with Louise & slept for most of the day with her. This was rather good for me, as I would not have been able to cope so well with he straying as he does. Eve also acts different when he’s about. She either wants your attention in rival to him, or will play with him – but play with him wrong – she’s too rough & boisterous & want to pick him up & all that. All in all it went quite well.
Louise was able to stand up & move about again by yesterday evening, so was confident enough that I should return to work. Her mum’s also coming over today so that Eve can have someone to distract her. Eve wanted to come on the train to work with me, but we all had to wave bye-bye.