Archives: jack

Jack was not for sleeping last night. Louise says he can tell when he’s in one of his moods from his face; a certain smug smile, & he had that smile as he was waking up yesterday & while at home, it seems, never lost it. He was out to be annoying. It was only broken when Louise suggested that he move to a bedroom of his own if was not keen on sleeping – he could have his own bedroom to stay up late in so as not to disturb Eve & Jude. He was upset by that & we at last got him to accept that such behaviour is not really acceptable. Then again, perhaps not – we have to see how today goes.
Slightly alarming is the prospect of actually getting home tomorrow. There is a train strike & I know I stand a reasonable chance of actually getting a train in the morning as it’s not the same company that is having the dispute, but I’ve got to figure when they may be a return train. Especially tomorrow when I need to be back to assist Louise with the party for William. I will have to take ‘unpaid leave’ as a worst case scenario. BAH!

Jack was stirring as I got up this morning. He was in the same bed as Louise & Jude & I think wanted to go downstairs. Fortunately we put him off. When I went to take Louise a cup of tea & rouse her again he was asleep & holding on to Jude. One arm around his middle & on his head. Jude likes to sleep on his side a little & for one so young has already been able to move off his back to do this. He is quite strong for his age. He can hold his head up oh his own quite well. He sleeps quite well at night as well; we are lucky.
Jack’s pal at school – probably his best friend – William is leaving at the end of this week. His family is moving to Spain. Jack knows this, & William has been off school in Spain before, which made Jack sad. William, from accounts, considers Jack a very good friend as well. I think we are going to have to engineer a way of keeping them in contact electronically. William is coming to tea at our house on Thursday – a little party on his behalf is organised. A couple of presents from Jack to be bought & party style food for us all to be organised. Happy/sad.
Jack is still not settled & this may be part of it. He is easy to offend & disproportionate in his response. I foolishly took some water out of their bath last night to rinse out Jude’s baby bath bowl thing & Jack took great umbrage that I had taken water from ‘his bath’. He got mad & the bathroom & I got rather wet. Sometimes there is no reasoning with him, as he is resolute in his determination not to listen. We are going to have to try to figure out how to diffuse these events more effectively as it’s doing no one any good.
Still – reading the to sleep was quite good as they were relatively keen to hear some Pooh Bear stories & I quite enjoy reading them. Jack even asked for another story to be read… which was encouraging, but at the same time I had to remind him that he was in fact tired & it was in fact bedtime. He turned over & drifted as I read “On nearly meeting heffalumps again”.

The kids actually slept through last night. Jude woke to have a nappy change at 2 ish & another feed at 5ish – so all in all quite a good night’s sleep. Shame I had to get up & go to work, but reality has this nasty habit of gatecrashing your life.
Quite a good weekend, the tantrum level seems to be abating a little. We went out to Halifax on the train for a couple of hours yesterday. Not my favourite town, but it does have a couple of shops open on a Sunday, & it’s not too far. Jack seemed to really enjoy it – happy to be on the train. We managed to get him a pair of swimming trunks. Louise mentioned that we might go swimming (he & me) on Saturday. We set off for the park & the kids enjoyed a run about in the howling wind that cuts through it. We got to the warmth of the sports centre & while I waited at the desk to see if there were things we could buy, (Jack has never been swimming & it’s been years since I went – so we have no kit) Louise, (with Jude) Jack & Eve went to look at the baths. Busy on a Saturday. So then… they had no trunks for either Jack or me. Too small for me, too big for him; Jack was very disappointed & mad that ‘we’ let him down in not having what was needed, but there was not a lot that could be done. After stating that he never ever wanted to go swimming he eventually came round & walked with us & even put his coat on.
I have yet to get a pair of trunks. Once I have, I will have to dip in the pool. As it’s all going to be focussed on Jack, I will not have to worry too much about doing anything as tedious as keeping fit.
Hmmm… I’m going to miss being at home. Taking Jack to school (Thankfully we have done a couple of ‘trial runs’ so Louise if happy that if she can get Jack dressed, they will get off OK) playing with Eve & holding Jude. He’s not even been sick on me yet!
Jude is starting to look about with more focus. He is quite a content baby. He can be changed without the screaming ab-dabs. Eve could at this age as well, but Jack could not. His general reaction to things is not to cry. He can wake up & look around & not cry. He will cry, of course, but there are definite levels from pay me attention to I’m rather hungry, to AAAAAAA! The latter is rarely reached. Eve is fascinated by him & thinks it’s really funny when Louise feeds him. Jack is loving, but for the most part he knows that a baby does not do that much, so lets Louise get on with things. Neither show any sign of resentment & both like to try to kiss him occasionally.

Early evening: One handed typing holding Jude. The kids are round at Andy /Hamish/Amber’s; they came round to ask if they wanted to come round… Eve was keen – Jack reluctant at 1st but won round. Jude with Louise now as he wanted a feed.
How have the kids adapted to the ‘new family dynamic’… Hmmm. Well, I’ve been at home this week in an attempt to ease the transition, so the picture gets a little blurred.
The kids came back as I wrote the last sentence. It’s now 9:30 & Jack went to bed at least an hour ago & he’s still not settled down to sleep. It’s usually my task to do this, but every time he thought I might be dropping off, (something I often do) he would make to get up. After messing about with this for sometime, I confronted him asking why he was doing this? He said that he wanted to go to our room as the bed was more comfortable, so I disagreed, but let him slink off anyway. He didn’t go to our room as I suspected he might but nipped off downstairs to see Louise. Fortunately Jude is snoozing (& parping) in his perambulator. Louise has just taken Jack upstairs for a wee (which is probably the reason he could not settle – but that would not be admitted/understood). I sit at the table typing (there’s a thing, these words you read have to come from somewhere, do they not?)
Hey ho – I guess this is an example of Jack’s reaction to Jude’s arrival. He is unsettled. He is also unsettled as his pal William is leaving school next week for Spain. William’s mum said that when they asked him what he would miss about Todmoden, he said, “Jack Schroeder”. They seem very good friends. William has been invited to tea next Thursday – we will have a ‘party’ tea. Pizza, jelly, ice cream & all that malarkey. I feel for Jack a bit as I moved schools every so often when I was a kid & I remember crying in bed for what seemed like hours at the realisation I would never see my friends again. I find it hard to put together my school years sometimes & the others that populated it, I put this down to such things.
Eve seems a little unsettled these last couple of nights. Before Jude arrived she was sleeping very well, & through the night quite often. For 2 night running she has awoken inconsolable & needing Louise badly – so I have had to take her to our bedroom. She has also coincidentally managed to increase the volume of her crying to quite an ear piercing scream… yes, I guess she has learnt to ‘scream’ properly. She has always been loud. Jack’s behaviour is the most erratic. He does not cope with change that well, & although he has been very loving & careful with Jude he has had frustration that he has had to get out of his system somehow. There are other examples, but yesterday was the one that made me mad. He started throwing everything from the back room into the front room, creating an almighty mess. I cannot recall what started it all, (most likely being told that he could not do something) but he became very angry & we were unable to reason with him. Louise advised me not to react, but i should have started to tidy up or something, as his continuing belligerent behaviour (starting to tidy up, but putting Eve’s toys into a bin bag) wound me up until I lost my temper with him – which served no purpose other than making everyone in the house unhappy.

Y’know I’d rather be at home. I mutter such all too often, but especially so at the moment. Louise has never really had the burden of this stage of pregnancy before & she is not really finding things as easy as she would like. I would rather be helping out.
Still work is work… gnnn….
When I got home on Saturday I was tired. The kids were still up & it was late, so we were going to just put them to bed, but Jack started running a bath. I knew I was tired, but we got them off to bed. I amazingly did not fall asleep getting Jack off to bed, but once he was asleep I staggered around the house a bit & realised I was too dog-tired (& feeling awful for it) to do anything, so I crawled off to bed as well. Did me good as I felt a lot better yesterday.
A low-key day. I dragged Louise off to the supermarket to do shopping, & she made it. She says that she feels like she’s going to be permanently bow-legged now, but she still did it. We did catch the local bus back from the town centre though. Louise’s legs keep going ‘funny’ on her – I think it must be the nerves, as she loses feeling in the top of her legs. She bought some raspberry leaf tea, as this is supposed to, “open things up”. Uh.. ok… …eep. Louise is starting to get fed up of carrying it around on the inside.
Eve might have twigged what’s going on. She exclaimed “Baby pushchair” at the appropriate collapsible perambulator yesterday. Or is it perhaps she realises it’s not for her? She rarely uses the pushchair nowadays. She is walking most everywhere at the moment & we have not been out so far as to feel we need to take something in case she is tired. Her buggy has remained folded up since before Xmas. She does walk very well. In some instances better than Jack, who, if the opportunity presents itself, still likes to sit on my shoulders rather than walk.
Did Jack have a good day yesterday? On the whole yes. I disappointed him once by not doing much work in the attic, but I cannot really involve him in the next job I want to get done there. (I simply am not going to use paint stripping chemicals when the kids are in the same room!) He noted that his snowman outside the window is fading, eroding as they do by rain & warm – that made him sad a couple of times, but on the whole I think it was an OK day for him. Louise & I were talking about him last night before sleep. He had said to Louise that he was worried about going to school. I think he’s OK with it really, but he did say that he didn’t really want to. It’s odd because he does like the social aspect of school. I think he’s been enjoying it being at home.
It’s odd Louise’s mum doesn’t seem to want to relate to him that much at the moment. She’s just mad keen on Eve. She was saying to Louise that all she seems to do is ‘play with the kids’… but she has conspicuously centred her attention on Eve at the expense of Jack. It’s a shame & I think Jack is taking it better than she realises. He does not complain. Funny thing is Eve is quite capable of playing on her own. Jack is often the one that demands input into what he is doing. When she was round the other day, when Louise went out Jack wanted to go with Louise rather than stay at home. He generally stayed by Louise’s side – joining in doing the washing up & stuff like that. We think he’s got to the age where she’s having trouble ‘relating’ to him. He does not just accept things & has ideas & does not just have ‘unconditional love’ for everyone. Oh, I’m not really sure what is going on there, but it doesn’t quite seem right. Jack is so loving & giving. I’m not really sure she realises she’s doing this to him. Jack spent a good 2 hrs watching Time Team & some other stuff with me yesterday. Most of the time I was slumped slouching on the sofa & Jack was lying on top of me – quite contented. Then some stories & bed. (Eve had fallen asleep earlier in the evening – so no baths.)

Well – not much to say today as we all were a bit tired yesterday & fell asleep putting Jack to bed. He’d spent most of the day round at Hamish’s house. Louise’s mum had come over, but I’m really sure he will have seen her much. She does lavish a lot of attention on Eve anyway, so I’m not sure that the day would have been that different. Apparently Andy (Hamish’s dad) came round early (well – before Jack was dressed) & asked if he wanted to go into town with them. Eve was kinda keen as well, but she did not go, much to her disappointment. She was apparently brought round with well-buttered toast. She likes butter. When she has been sitting on the work surfaces in the kitchen & the butter or marge is in site, she has been known to dip her hand in for a lump. She tried similar with the Marmite jar & managed to stuff a good lump in her mouth once. She did to spit it out (as we would normally expect) but did say to Louise, “Hot…”.

Noted an interesting development from apple – picked up from a newsgroup – a rumour of a successor to the Newton. I use an eMate – newton – an apple made pda – to type this lot. The eMate is the sort of sub-noteboook-pda thing they made – interesting hybrid… Anyway – It seems that a mac ‘rumours’ site has posted up pictures & little quicktime movies of an apple pda prototype called iWalk on their site.
Dunno if it will ever see the light of day as a production model, & I certainly won’t be able to afford such a toy, but, ah, it created a little bit of a techno flutter in me. That said – it also could all be fake – elaborate fake, but fake…

Another false alarm last night – this time at 1:40. Louise was woken by strong Braxton Hicks contractions & was worried for a bit. Not the panic of last time. She left me dozing in bed wondering what was going on & went to get a hot water bottle for her back (I did offer to go & get it.. I did!). She says the baby started wriggling about & the contractions abated & she fell asleep again.

Train home

Brain was not working this morning. Dull head, not from having been awake in the night, I’m sure, (I was not awake that long) but probably just a general thing. Curiously, with Louise ranging about in the night, the kids slept through again.
When I got home Hamish & Amber were playing as well. Then Hamish wanted to go home (I think he perceived a slight when we asked him not to do something). He suggested that Jack come over to his house, as Jack did not want to go, so I went to check this was OK (it was) & then Eve wanted to follow Amber as well. So Louise & I had the house to herself for a little while… weird. Queue mad bout of tidying up after finishing of a crossword.
Further weird was that Jack decided he wanted to come home, but Eve wanted to stay there a little longer. Jack & I hoovered the stairs & then hoovered the stairs to the attic with the Lazarus dyson, & then washed the filters for it when I realised that they were so clogged that the suction it was giving was minimal. I went to get Eve when tea was ready. Was initially greeted with a couple of defiant “No!”s, but she trotted back to ours without any further encouragement. She really does like plying with Amber. Before they went off to her house Amber & Eve were pushing dollies in pushchairs, (actually amber’s pushchair was the baby walker with the dolly asleep in a toy shopping basket, but hey). “Bye-bye!… Catch a bus.” they say & stroll off to the back room” No doubt similar play at Amber’s house. It’s all quite encouraging if they need to spend some time there while Louise & I dash off to the hospital in the next few days due to new baby arrival. Called Louise from work & she does not think the baby will be long waiting now.
Jack was ‘naughty’ last night before bed. He’d had a good day in general & we were playing with building bricks in their room before we got round to running the bath. I popped downstairs for something or other & Jack was rolling about on his bed. Louise took his shoes off because he was in danger of knocking the wall & marking the wallpaper. He was resistant to the idea & Louise explained that it was to stop the wallpaper being damaged. He immediately decided to pay too much attention to the wallpaper. Louise warned him against messing about with things & came downstairs to get the milk for their bath time drink… That might have been what I went down for, as the bath must have been running. Anyway on returning upstairs we found him picking a little hole in the wallpaper! Louise was upset with him, I remained calm (no point in both of us raging). He was in tears quickly as he really dislikes being told off by Louise. They were only tiny bit of paper he took off, but it looked bad. Eve starts to get upset that Louise is upset, (“Mummy fed up!”) Jack is crying & I walk off downstairs… Time to get some glue. Stick on the bits taken off with PVA glue – which I think will be sufficient. I’ll need to paint over it again to ‘hide’ it better though. Louise is immediately regretful that she lost her temper… she almost never does with them even under extreme provocation. I think she was so shocked that he would do such a thing after he has been so responsible & generally good of late. Jack has a cuddle a calm down with me & a few words as to why it was such a silly thing to do – for which he makes no attempt to try to make excuses for, & conceded that it was wrong (which I take as encouraging).

Happy New Year…
It’s so cold out his morning it’s taking an age for my thought processes to kick off…
No, Paul – it’s because you’re tired…
Oh, right…

Our town goes firework crazy in the first minutes of a New Year. Even if you wanted to sleep the New Year in, you could well have difficulty. It didn’t wake Jack, but Eve stirred.
I’m not really sure why, but we don’t celebrate New Year that much… I guess I have an aversion to hangovers. We never celebrated as a family when I was a kid maybe mum & dad needed to convince us that it was ‘just another day’ so that they could run the pub with ease. I don’t ever recall being woke up by the pub’s New Year ‘bong!’ but that may be wishful thinking.
So, I had the day off work yesterday – which was nice. I did daddy practical things – like putting up a shelf (ooh – drilling) & getting the old dyson to work (actually – I’d rewired it earlier & was stumped why it did not start working again… but I just had to change the fuse – duuuh). Jack enjoys this sort of activity, so it kept him occupied for a while, on an otherwise potentially tedious day. He watched an animated film all the way through in the morning. Sat on my knee most of the way through it. It was called “The Lion of OZ” & I had seen it before, & it is …OK as these things go, but I was mildly surprised that he managed to keep his attention on it for what must have been at least near an hour. Eve was good as well – she played around us for the most part. She is good like that though. She’s quite capable of occupying herself with some form of play, be it with dollies, snipping cards, Jack’s cars or trains, or her little playmobil house.
Brain shutting down – train snooze beckons…