Archives: the kids

Pleasant weekend.
We did not really do that much, by way of adventuring out, but I’m left with the afterglow of contentment. I would doubt that Jack sees it the same way. He had gone into ‘cocky mode’ to the end of last week, & it was starting to grate. He was not listening, & it all eventually ended in tears. We were having a fine time in Hebden Bridge yesterday. We went to the playground after collecting some sarnies from a cafe, & found that the paddling pool was full of water. Why not? – It was a lovely day after all. Jack & Eve stripped down & played in the water. Jack rushed about & splashed with the others, & Eve kept more to the edges, splashing her feet while sitting on the edge. Enjoying it, but not a boisterously. She eventually decided when she’d had enough & wanted to play on the swings & the rest of the playground. Jack had sunburnt shoulders in the bath that night – “my arms & neck tingle”.

Jude has started baby talk. Well – he was last week, to be honest. “La, la na ya ya na aya ya ya” . He’s 6 months old now & you wonder where the time goes… where the days & weeks go – is it Thursday already? Louise had a hectic day yesterday – Jack off to school, then off to playgroup with Jack & Eve, then home, (11:00) then off to ‘college’ for Eve’s afternoon playgroup there. Eve is starting to be left there on her own. The off to Supermarket, then drop shopping at home, then off to see Jack at his sports day, then off to pick up Eve. That’s where I met up as I was making sure that I got there in time in case Louise was held up at sports day.
Jack won the race where you have to run to a point, run back run to the next point, run back etc & then to the finish line. Louise says he got boxed in, in another race & could not win that (memories of losing the sprint when I was young there). He was upset at not being able to do the skipping race. All in all he did well & got a few 2nd’s & 3rd’s – but he did sound a little disappointed. He might be competitive… I’m not sure. I’m not really sure I want to find if I’m competitive by proxy – the last thing I’d want to do is become pushy. I’ll have to keep a check on me just in case.

We disappointed Jack last night. He was keen to go to the park again & we had basically said, yes, OK… but then he went off to play with Jessie, & came back half an hour later & we said it was all too late now. He howled at the injustice of it all. He had not heard the warning not to go out as we were due to go. Eve was even more tired than yesterday, so it would have been far too much for her. She is back to whingeing a lot at the moment. Was doing it at 05:00 this morning (nyyyuuurg). It drives Louise a little to distraction. It’s probably all to do with teething.
They came to measure up for fitting carpets yesterday – the attic & the front room. We will get a quote in the next couple of days… & I imagine that we’ll take it (even though it will be more than we want it to be). It will be most pleasant to actually have the carpet in the attic (after all this time). The walls may not be painted, but it’s time we were thinking of moving up there. Didn’t manage any painting last night, as Jack was not keen to go to sleep. I went up to convince him asleep, & ended up asleep myself. Louise woke me at 10 to watch some of the wonderful inanity of Big Brother, & then… to….
…bed

Picking Jack up from school, I was told by his teachers that he was telling them of the bad dream he had the night before – possibly even a nightmare! Difficult to say nightmare, I know that he had a disturbed sleep, but I don’t think as far disturbed as that. Nevertheless ‘disturbing’ is the right word. He says He went to Halifax (with us – more than just us, with friends) & Eve was with them. Suddenly Eve ran out into the road & there was a car coming & she was run over. I’ve tried to phrase it a little how Jack did. Then it seems it wasn’t Eve at all, Eve had painted a balloon & made it run out into the road & it was the balloon that was run over. That last bit is a bit weird. It’s either real dream logic, or embroidery on Jack’s part to save my feelings a bit. He’s quite capable of rolling with a story – he does it to me every so often. I had a whole story about ghosts at school the other week while he was in the bath. Apparently they broke a bit of Leila’s lunch box, & then it went into this whole thing about bad, naughty & good ghosts. The bad & the naughty ones messing about withy the dinner ladies’ preparation of school lunches, pouring water on things & making them soggy, & the dinner ladies putting things in bags to protect them form ghostly interference but the ghosts still managing to spoil things & the good ghosts killing the bad ghosts (but not all of them, so the bad ones come back again). All quite bizarre & delightful. Last night I was also told that an invisible person had pinched 2 oranges out of Leila’s lunch box, but returned them to the classroom.
We all went to the park after tea yesterday. Jack wanted to practice on his new bike. He’s a bit big for it, but it is a very nice bike. It was a good practice session for him, & although he fell off a few times round the bike circuit in the park, this was mainly because he was trying to ride up grassy banks & alike, so it wasn’t that surprising really. Eve was so tired after this that by bedtime she was incoherent with disagreement. Not wanting bath, not wanting bed, not wanting what she wanted. As soon as she stopped yelling about it all she was asleep.
She’s been changing of recent – a growing spurt. She’s losing the rounded belly physique of a toddler & starting to get more upright – straight up & down…. Little girl.

Another one-day weekend. Hurumph – it never seems enough… well, to be honest, I don’t think 2 days are enough; I’d prefer to have the whole week at home, but then, I never could get my head round the concept of the necessity of work? Still – there is that problem with money & where to get it?
Jack said in the bath last night, that he likes Sundays best… Basically it boiled down to the fact that I was at home. Saturdays, I’m sometimes not home, but he does like it when Louise’s mum & auntie Alice come over to visit (which happens when I have to go to work).
My cough seems to have dug itself in deeper this morning. I thought I was getting better, but I spent my 1st half hour awake coughing. Jude seems the same. We were sure he was getting better – his breathing seemed a lot less wheezy. He had a rash, that has cleared up as well & he was a lot happier in general. He was still happy this morning, come to that, but he’s just a wheezy as ever. The weather seems ‘croup weather’ (warm & damp) – so we worry that this cough might get worse.
Eve was barmy yesterday we put that down to her teething. She was not paying good attention to what she was doing & she certainly wasn’t listing to what we were telling her to do. We had to resort to carrying her yesterday as she ran to cross a road without waiting for us. Very foolish & not really like her at all.
She’s quite cautious of traffic, even if she doesn’t seem to understand the idea of roads & ‘cars are dangerous’ & all that. Louise told her off for going too close the edge of the pavement the other day ‘because of the lorries’ – so consequently she does not like lorries. If there’s a big lorry coming down the road she runs to be picked up now – a little bit of an over-reaction. That made yesterday’s behavior even more out of character at the moment. Louise is worried how the walk to school this will go this morning, as she was not able to get a wrist band for her. Still, we still have her ‘reigns’ if she’s proving barmy again. Louise is also going round to another mum’s house to see how their ‘buggy board’ attaches to their pushchair, to see if it might be possible to get one to it ours. There are doubts that it would fit on ours, but it would make life a lot easier at the moment if we could find one that did.

To work on a Saturday again… Would normally be working next Saturday, but there’s a train strike then, so I would not make it – so swapped shifts.
Jack was not for settling to sleep last night. It was all a bit hectic. Eve & Jude had their bath while Jack was still out playing at Jessie’s house (after a bit of initial resistance Jack Hamish & Jessie seem to have settled to playing well – there was a bit of unevenness in the dynamic for a bit there, but it seems to have worked out). I went to get Jack, & it was deemed a bit late for a bath, so he was straight to bed, which was probably a mistake as although he was jolly tired he was not keen to settle down. I read to him for a bit in which time a very flakey Eve succumbed to sleep. Jack was in the mood for more. Tried to put the sleeping Jude into his cot & only succeeded in waking him, much to Louise’s annoyance. So we had Jude & Jack awake, & Louise needed to be getting on. As we were both flakey we were in poor decision making mode. Jack was grabbing books to look at rather than sitting in bed. If he was I could have coaxed him to sleep. Still, rather than risk waking Eve with loud Jude Louise took him out of the room. As Jack was refusing to settle I went as well, with the advice that we had things to be a doing & to go to sleep when he had finished with the books. I thought he would soon come downstairs again… He didn’t – he actually settled down & went to sleep! Now this may seem foolish of us, but that was the 1st time the he went to sleep on his own – with no one else there to guide him to slumber… I was annoyed that he wouldn’t settle down, but so immeasurably pleased that he managed to do that on his own.

I seem to have written very little about Jack’s party…. perhaps because it was all rather a blur. I think that the meal must have started a little late as it was all over quite quickly in the end. Suddenly there are a lot of parents & we have to cut the cake & slice it up for putting in the party bags. Louise said that was the time that she nearly panicked as it all seemed a bit of a ‘How the hell do we do this?’ moment. We did though… & the children left. Louise’s mum & Eve got a lift home with Jill leaving just Louise, Jack, Jude & myself. Found various bits that got left behind (but you wonder how regularly clear the ball pool of old socks – a few were lost that day).
Eve has been reported as having had a growing spurt recently. A few people have commented that she’s grown, & Louise has noticed some of her clothes do not quite fit as well as they should. It’s hard to notice such things when she changes so little, really.
Jude has burbling yesterday (Jack said he’s nearly talking) – bya bya bya bna bya bya

Jack’s birthday tomorrow. I have the day off as well – yeay! Did a stomp around town yesterday & was quite put out at how abysmal the toy selection is in the centre of town, until I remembered the toy shop (duuuuh) – which is only a little way off centre. Got him a few things & got told off by Louise for it later, as that was not really the plan… Still, could you resist? I didn’t spend too much honest!
It’ll all work out though.
Went looking on the Internet for a buggy board last night. I can find them OK, but can I understand them OK? It seems you have to know how they might attach to your pushchair before you can order, & as there’s scant information about that, it’s somewhat difficult know what your supposed to be getting & whether it will work with your pushchair. We feel do need one although we know it will cause arguments as Jack & Eve battle for it. Eve, on the whole is much more willing to walk than Jack ever was, but even she gets tired. Jack still angles for getting a ‘pick up’, whereas Eve would rather be put down. Hmm – that may be indicative of their characters though – Jack is very tactile, whereas Eve is only tactile on her terms.
Odd thing last night – went to bed & only woke up when my alarm went off – I was not disturbed in the night… weird.

A couple of days to go until Jack’s birthday!
Have we got him anything? …Uh, not really. We have organised a party for him this year though – at ‘Pockets’ which is a snooker hall… but we’re going to be playing in the kiddies indoor climbing frame ball park thing, & then a little party is put on. It looks quite like there are going to be 20 kids in attendance (including Jack & Eve). Blimey!
Preparations still to be done!
Washed Jude’s hair in the bath the other day & it’s made it look fluffier, & in doing so made his hair look longer. His hair seems lighter (more blond) than Jack & Eve’s did, but I think it still could go red, as Jack’s did. He’s currently waking at 10:55 on a regular basis. It’s kinda good for ensuring if we’re not in we’re goinmg to bed, yourngoing to bed, but it seems a bit too habitual at the moment. He won’t be comforted by me & yells & coughs when I try (looking around all the time for Louise). It would be better if he were more satisfied, but he’s also getting in the habit of coughing & yelling & then Louise arrives, & he can calm down… So I’m rejected as comfort giver (not that I can realistically do ‘comfort’).