Archives: sleep

Bad news – Louise has also fallen prey to the stomach bug I now
have. At least she knows to avoid eating solids, so should not
encounter any more ‘stomach cramps’. In a way, she was lucky that
she 1st got it in the afternoon (was suffering bad when I got home
yesterday) as it subsided enough to let her still have a reasonable
night’s sleep.
Led to an odd evening last night. Eve was tired, as she had not
managed to get a sleep during the day. She eventually was tipped
into total upset by a very slight thing; Jack attempting to coax
her indoors from the back yard as it was starting to rain. Floods
of hysterical tears & she wanted only “mummeee”. Eventually she
fell asleep (most likely with a sob) on the sofa, curled up with
Louise. Louise took to bed upstairs as she was not well – & I
attempted to move the sleeping Eve into her cot upstairs. Jack was
a little too willing to help, & she woke up – thus went into
our bed with Louise. This left Jack & I on our own. I made his
tea – just teacake with melted cheese (my… the thought of cheese
even now is infuriating, as I can mentally taste it – but fear
reprisal from my stomach for eating it). He scoffed a lot. He
chattered a lot, I was lazy enough to try to veg in front of the
telly news, but got roped into playing with Lego (duplo) bricks
& building towers. Louise came back downstairs & we popped
out late to get some supplies from the shop. He went in the
pushchair as he was a little tired & it would have been a bit
much carrying bottles of drink & him on my shoulders. As having
a bath would have disturbed Eve he just got changed him into ‘jamas
when he got back & read to him for a bit downstairs. As he was
showing little sigh of actually going to sleep (it’s just that
little bit exiting being read to downstairs) I took him upstairs to
his room & he was off to sleep with 10 minutes reading up
there. Aw…
Hmmm this morning’s train has either a foolhardy driver or the
brakes are not working properly. He is consistently overshooting
the platform. The conductor has to announce that people wishing to
depart the train go to the rear of the train. To add to farcical
flavour of this morning’s journey the conductor periodically
announces that his ticket machine is not working, & thus to buy
tickets from “the appropriate booking office”. So we have seen
nothing of him this morning either.

Homeward: Been shopping in town & have a bag loads of
groceries. Impulse buy today has been Tabasco sauce in anticipation
of eating again. Food is starting to be tempting, but the fear of
pain wins out. I am looking forward to feeling better. Lucozade
& chocolate milk are losing their appeal.
Louise will have been to the doctors as well with this stomach
complaint. Perhaps she might have gleamed more information as to
what it might be? Perhaps not though, as the doctor I saw is noted
for being basically up front. It would be nice to have some sort of
‘life cycle’ for it though… sigh… knowing my luck “as long as
it takes” & I do not feel confident that my health is back to
itself.
Bother.
Have the kids had it? It’s difficult to tell… we hope so, as we
wouldn’t want them to be afflicted by it. As previously said, Eve
had a couple of bad days last week, & Jack was off his food in
general for a few days before that as well. Such things could also
be interpreted as the usual run of events with kids. They don’t
really understand feeling ill so much at that age & just get on
with things for the most part (albeit grumpily). If you were to ask
Jack if he was feeling alright at the moment, he would say that he
has a stomach ache, but this is purely out of empathy for Louise
& I.

Heh… playing with the eMate again…
I’ve loaded an application called ‘newtscape’ – which is browser for the Newton OS. Catch being; it’s on the card, not the machine itself… & yet to use it on the internet I’d have to put the modem card in… DOH!
Hey, this does not worry! The theory is to look at it & try to figure out what to best use it for. The idea is to see if it assists in the writing of HTML – which it might look good for. Unexpectedly it has given me the option to save general documents as HTML… converting them to tagged text – which is useful. It’s play & familiarise time.
Jack woke up before I set off for work this morning. I heard the padding of feet across the hall upstairs as I was finishing my pint of tea at about 06:15. Met him at the top of the stairs & he asked me if it was Saturday (presumably I would be staying). Had to disappoint him. Told drowsing Louise he was downstairs as I went to give my daily “seeya/loveya” goodbye kiss. Left Jack snuggled in front of The Hoobs jumping about on the telly. He is going to be jiggered when I get home; he was awake in the night a little with his cough, & is probably a bit short on sleep in general at the moment because of that cough. He was tired yesterday evening, but coped well with it – was not an excessively grumpy & obstreperous.

Well – the new version of Newton ATA support is out, & despite yesterdays problems, it does seem a bit better. I managed to create error on the card yesterday. I think that adding to document stored on the card may not be such a bright idea at the moment. This is no big deal really, as it can be worked round. Difficult to say if that is where the problem lies, but time will tell. It is, after all software that has not yet reached the beta testing stage as yet. It works well – but there are the occasional upsets when the unexpected happens. I imagine it should be an essential for every Newton device when it’s complete. Imagine, being able to change the profile & functionality of the machine depending on what applications you have active in the additional memory stores. It can even act as a web server at the moment.. a handheld computer running the pages you view a website on, & with the potential capacity these cards can offer, it could be a substantial website.
Yeh – anyway… how are the kids getting on?
Well,I was saying the other day how much Eve seemed to have grown of recent… well, in the last couple of days her language has taken one of those ‘little leaps’ as well. There is more involvement in what she says. She is linking more words together. The problem is, at this stage, interpreting what she says. She does not really have crisp consonants, thus it can all sound a bit mumbly, even though she proclaims things loudly. Her words for things are not complete – ‘phan’ for elephant for instance. Hmmm trying to think of a long syllable word, I can only come up with dinosaur – which she nearly manages.
She woke up in the night , upset, last night. Louise went to her & she thinks that she must have been dreaming. She was not up for being consoled (heh – Jack is always, no matter what, up for a hug, whereas Eve, if she is mad & upset, will shrug away from a hug… this is a trait that Louise can do as well…). Eve was, through floods of tears, asking after Jack & I… but in the middle of it all wanting a tissue as well. Sweetie. She gets a tissue forced when she is upset to dab her tears & wipe her nose.
Jack has a cough at the moment. We were late to bed last night, & a we were dropping off to sleep, Jack roused from his room to join us in our room. His coughing kept us awake that little bit longer. Partly it’s concern for him, partly it’s the fact he’s leaning into you coughing into your ear. What with that, & Eve’s major upset an hour or so later, I’m feeling just that little more jaded than I should do today.

Eve fell asleep in her high chair on Sunday night. She had not had her normal daytime snooze. She missed her chance when we went to the supermarket. We dashed off, perhaps earlier than we had planned, as Ruth (Hamish’s mum) had taken Jack, Hamish & her others to the park. We took it as a good opportunity to do the Sunday run for shopping. Poor Eve. I had changed her nappy before tea, & she was not happy about it at all; too tired & a bit of a sore bum. She was contemplating the possibility of snoozing when I was putting her back in a “happy-nappy” (turn over, eye rub). She was still grandly upset though,so I picked her up & cuddled her downstairs. Tea was then ready – so into the high chair for the distraction of food! She does love her food. Heh – yesterday we were out on the backstreet when Louise proclaimed from the kitchen that tea was ready. Eve immediately dashed off inside. She knew what was going on there. Anyway – as tea dispersed on Sunday, Jack went off into the front room to watch the pop archaeology programme ‘Time Team’, (“look how much mud they’ve dug now!”) I followed,& Louise started the tedium of tidying up after tea. Eve was happy enough to stay in the chair. Left a few minutes unattended Louise motioned me into the back room a few minutes later. There’s poor Eve struggling to stay awake with the last of her tea still in front of her. Not long later she had dozed off… Louise got her into her cot a few minutes later (sans shorts) & she was off for the night (just a little earlier than usual). Jack got to stay up later than he usually would as having a bath might have disturbed Eve; their bedroom being next to the bathroom & Jack not being a quite sort of lad, it seemed prudent. I read to him downstairs on the sofa, where he was keen to sleep, he thought for the night – but no, we took him upstairs to his bed.
Eve must just have had a growing spurt. She seems that bit bigger. It struck me when Louise took her upstairs asleep. She’s got to that stage where she cannot quite be comfortably carried as a baby any more. A parents cradling arms are not enough – legs seem to dangle as if off a too small bed. Caroline, our neighbour, also commented that she seemed to be bigger when the kids were running about on the back street before tea yesterday.. Feet seem bigger, (that’s just the new shoes) legs seem longer – that sort of thing. Kids do that to you though… it’s like anything that gradually changes, but is constantly observed I guess – there comes a point when the realisation of change dawns.

Eve did not, as Louise predicted, say “Where’s daddy” a lot yesterday… The kids accepted that I was at work & got on with things. It would have been nice to have been missed, but that is just vanity, really.
It was an open day at Jack’s school – a sort of ‘see how your child is getting on’ type thing. It would have been good to be able to go to that, but it was not to be. Jack bought home a picture book & a writing book that he’s been working on. Makes you happy & proud to look through it. I can’t say whether he is particularly good at anything, as I have little criteria on which to base anything, but that is not the point. The existence of a book of his drawings & his writing of his name is enough to give a parental warm glow.
Jack went off to sleep better last night. These exceedingly warm days seem to cause him problems relaxing off to sleep. He had been late off to sleep for a couple of nights previous & was getting a little tired & irritable because of it. We still count ourselves lucky though as they are pretty compliant regarding sleep. Although it seems to have been very difficult to convince him to relax, he’s not been foolish or irrational about it all. Just wriggling – saying that he cannot get comfortable, & chatty, as he cannot ‘switch off’. Normally I read him to sleep, but if I’m worn out, I’m in danger of falling asleep before he does. I get a brisk’ “Read daddy!” to remind me that I am supposed to be awake. The bedroom he & Eve are in is pretty small, & if there’s the 4 of us in there, it can get a little too warm as well – thus if Jack is too uncomfortable he is better moving into our bed to drift off to sleep. We can put him back into his own bed when he’s fast asleep proper. He usually finds his way back to us before the morning. Eve usually drifts off of her own accord. It must be part of her ability to keep herself occupied in general, but once in her cot – she accepts where she is, & generally will slip into sleep slowly. She was however jumping around in her cot before sleeping yesterday, but her afternoon nap was a little late. I laid her down & put my hand on her head, or chest, & she sloooowly drifted into sleep. A few smiles, but mostly sleepy nodding off. Sweet. Eve more or less sleeps through. She occasionally stirs in the night,out as I have said – she is very self sufficient.
You have to wonder if it’s because she is the 2nd child & as Jack does demand a certain amount of attention, she compensates? I was a 2nd child though, & I’m sure that I was probably more demanding when a young one than my elder brother.
Neil has announced that he & Jess are having an engagement party come September! EEP! It will be in the south east somewhere, as that’s where her parents are… so we will have to start mentally preparing ourselves & putting something aside for the train fare.
Sometimes you think a car would be a nice thing to have, but on the whole I am glad we have excluded one from our lives thus far.

Wheee – last day at work for a little while! Holiday starts tomorrow!
Did not play on the mac at home – did not collect my eMails (not that I had any – I checked this morning) – did not web page messing about. Jack simply could not get off to sleep… It was not as if he was not tired; on his was home from school Louise said that he was saying that he wanted to close his eyes & go to sleep. He would have if she let him, she thinks… But he could not ‘switch off’. I read him stories until I fell asleep a couple of times. He said that he wanted to move to our bed, so I indulged him. Interestingly he then said he wanted to be left alone to sleep – so I popped down stairs (ooh – 9:40 already). Now then, the windows are open, as it’s so hot at the moment. It took a couple of minutes before Jack trotted to the top of the stairs to report that he heard a strange noise, so I went up & stayed with him a bit. He muttered about this ‘strange noise’ – wondering & wondering – so I tried to tell him that as the windows were open it must have been outside… Which made no difference. So I eventually realised I would have to be more reassuring, & explained that he was OK now as he was in mummy & daddy’s bed.
Dozed off myself again, as I was woken at 10:15 by Louise. Took Jack back to his bed & went… to bed (after a bit of tidying up outside). It did not feel productive, but it did rest me well – all that dozing as I was trying to get Jack to follow into slumber & not staying up late messing about on the computer.
(train home) On the way home – I am on Holiday now! Just a little chore of sorting a staff web page tonight & that be all – my time be my own… I can… um… decorate to my hearts content (hey ho). I would imagine I will be writing less, as I will have less ‘idle time’. My daily train journeys are wonderful for this little bit of free time. Tweaked my web page while at work (oooh – naughty – company time!) to include an old photo of me. Was taken (ahem) some years back by a lad I was doing an “Enterprise Awareness” course with. Created especially for arts orientated individuals as a year’s prep before going on the old “Enterprise Allowance” scheme. Read as: a year’s nonsense course learning about tax & marketing oneself. The reward? No hassle from the Job Centre for a year & no obligation to take up the old Enterprise Allowance. I recall it quickly became clear that the Enterprise Allowance, although a little more than Income Support, was not really something I could maintain, as you would need to show a semblance of being able to make something tangible… not really possible with small press comics.
“So then Mr. Schroeder, lets have a look at your accounts…Hmmm… I see that you have spent the majority of your monies on photocopying…”
“Yes, well, that’s for the printing of my comics which I’m selling.”
“Selling — oh, good. So what are the returns on these?”
“Um… Well… There’s a couple of Central London comic shops that have taken 5 copies Sale or Return… & I’ve given away about half of them”
“Given Away? OK, so how much money have you made this month Mr. Schroeder”
“I was supposed to make money?”

ug – still feel awful. Feel more weird today as opposed to ill, as yesterday. Have yet to decide whether this is an improvement or not. Feel OK enough to try a little typing & thinking though.
I was awake in the night – which is a novelty to a stone cold sleeper like me… I am difficult to rouse – for instance here’s an exchange that Louise told me went on, on Monday night…

Jack: Muuuuuuuummmmmeeeeeeee
Louise: I think you should go get him…
Me: mmm – that’s a good idea (thinking Louise was volunteering to get him)
[Pause]
Louise: are you going to get him then?
Me: uh?
[Pause]
Me: Could you please tell me what day it is?
Louise: Monday, I’m afraid.
[I weave off down the hall to see how he’s doing]
My recollection of this is shaky, at best. I think that the ‘what day’ query was to figure out whether indeed to take the alarm clock with me or not.