31 March 2010
29 March 2010
You know what this is?
today and it was negative for both cow's milk and soya. Apart from
feeling like a right pillock, as if I was one of those crazy moms who
makes things up, I could barely restrain myself from dancing. We're
meant to start introducing it slowly: cooked cheese, the uncooled
cheese, yoghurt and fromage frais, and then milk. At last! The end of
breastfeeding is in sight! Woo hoo!
28 March 2010
27 March 2010
Quiet day at home
Today I decided to take it easy and entertain the girls at home, given that we've been out quite a lot since getting back from Malaysia. Izzy made it easy for me by striking a deal with me before even washing up - I let her eat a sweet off the Christmas tree if she gives up TV until Sunday next. Astounding.
Today I decided to take it easy and entertain the girls at home, given that we've been out quite a lot since getting back from Malaysia. Izzy made it easy for me by striking a deal with me before even washing up - I let her eat a sweet off the Christmas tree if she gives up TV until Sunday next. Astounding.
She amused herself very nicely, doing puzzles, making things with her aquabeads and playing with her wooden cosmetic set. Although that last involved a lot on my part as I had to be a constant customer to her beauty parlour, having my hair straightened and makeup applied. We also popped out to the playground, the library and the supermarket and, for tea, made some luscious orange and lemon drizzle cupcakes - standard Victoria sponge recipe just with a lot of zest and lemon juice icing and mixed peel added. Even Roz demolished one easily.
My recollection of the day involves just too much tidying up though. Looking after the two of them feels like trying to contain a swarm of locusts. No sooner do you deal with one mess than they descend on another part of the house, littering it with toys and food. Worst thing is in my more absent-minded moments I'll pick up something Roz has spat out, turn to deal with something else then idiotically pop it into my mouth. Drool-covered dried blueberry not so bad. Gummed bit of carrot snack thing covered in carpet
fluff - vile.
They're both also driving me mad with the mess at the dining table. Roz is occasionally good but, really, quite often all she wants to do is gether hands into the food, give it a good squish and then start dropping bits on the floor. And as soon as I arrest any of that action she puts her hands into her hair and pulls it in rage, wiping good amounts in.
Izzy drops food on the table and herself because she's always lookig somewhere else. A while ago I made her sit with her back to the TV because she'll watch even the news. But even when she's not watching TV - a ban I am tryingto enforce - she's quite frequently absent-minded.
My recollection of the day involves just too much tidying up though. Looking after the two of them feels like trying to contain a swarm of locusts. No sooner do you deal with one mess than they descend on another part of the house, littering it with toys and food. Worst thing is in my more absent-minded moments I'll pick up something Roz has spat out, turn to deal with something else then idiotically pop it into my mouth. Drool-covered dried blueberry not so bad. Gummed bit of carrot snack thing covered in carpet
fluff - vile.
They're both also driving me mad with the mess at the dining table. Roz is occasionally good but, really, quite often all she wants to do is gether hands into the food, give it a good squish and then start dropping bits on the floor. And as soon as I arrest any of that action she puts her hands into her hair and pulls it in rage, wiping good amounts in.
Izzy drops food on the table and herself because she's always lookig somewhere else. A while ago I made her sit with her back to the TV because she'll watch even the news. But even when she's not watching TV - a ban I am tryingto enforce - she's quite frequently absent-minded.
Today I fed her on the floor since I was also feeding Roz - I just didn't want to wipe down Roz's section of the table, her chair and the floor for the third time - but when she went to the table for a drink of milk she set it down half off a container and so splattered most of a cup of milk over the table, wall, chair and floor.
I probably shouldn't have been as wound up as I was but honestly I spent half my time in the house today wiping floors and tables - particularly as we made cupcakes - and was so fed up of it! At the rate they're going I may retrieve the moving boxes from the garage and cage the both of them in one at meal times and toss the food inside.
I probably shouldn't have been as wound up as I was but honestly I spent half my time in the house today wiping floors and tables - particularly as we made cupcakes - and was so fed up of it! At the rate they're going I may retrieve the moving boxes from the garage and cage the both of them in one at meal times and toss the food inside.
25 March 2010
Life in fast-forward
Work has picked up manically again and so I've come to the end of another working week feeling like I've stumbled through it sleepwalking. Roz hasn't helped as she's had a stuffy nose and so slept fitfully for quite a few nights. Fortunately Izzy liked a present I chose for a friend so much she's agreed to a good behaviour chart in the hope of earning the same present for herself. This has thankfully meant only one evening this week has so far been marred with her wails of missing friends as we leave the nursery car park.
After two lovely weeks of sun the British weather has returned to its morose, grey self and the daffodils - blooming many weeks later than usual this year because of the unusual cold - look as if they're in a doctored monochrome picture. As a result I am also racking my brains over what we could do tomorrow, on my day off.
Last week I took Izzy and Roz to Krazy Kidz where we had a much nicer time than I expected, probably because we haven't been in ages. Roz is aware and mobile enough now to enjoy crawling about and Izzy, to my surprise, acually wanted to hang around playing for longer than I allocated time for. She did plea for all the peripheral treats too - the popcorn, slush, sweets and slot games but I let her choose one treat and she settled on the slush.
She did get one up on me later though. We visited Sue and her beautiful baby Thomas in Wimbledon after Krazy Kidz (you see what I did there, cleverly tiring them out so they'd snooze in the car ride to London?) and, to garner some interest from Izzy in our walk on the common, Sue told Izzy she could keep her eyes peeled for Wombles and that if she saw any I would give her a big prize. Izz hung off her buggy board the whole time, quite earnestly looking, which was really rather sweet. She was very disappointed that several potential Wombles turned out to be only clumps of grass.
Finally, she decided to take fate into her own hands and squealed 'Mummy, mummy, I saw one! I saw one!'
'Where?'
'There, mummy, under a tree!'
I wad very amused by her enterprising cunning and so asked 'which one did you see, Izzy? Do you think you could show me when we get home? Did it have a beard and cane like Great Uncle Bulgaria? Or was it someone else?'
'Yes mummy I think it was Great Uncle Aria, really I saw him!'
Pause.
'Mummy does this mean I get a prize now?'
Thus was Aunty Sue introduced to the resourcefulness of small children.
Work has picked up manically again and so I've come to the end of another working week feeling like I've stumbled through it sleepwalking. Roz hasn't helped as she's had a stuffy nose and so slept fitfully for quite a few nights. Fortunately Izzy liked a present I chose for a friend so much she's agreed to a good behaviour chart in the hope of earning the same present for herself. This has thankfully meant only one evening this week has so far been marred with her wails of missing friends as we leave the nursery car park.
After two lovely weeks of sun the British weather has returned to its morose, grey self and the daffodils - blooming many weeks later than usual this year because of the unusual cold - look as if they're in a doctored monochrome picture. As a result I am also racking my brains over what we could do tomorrow, on my day off.
Last week I took Izzy and Roz to Krazy Kidz where we had a much nicer time than I expected, probably because we haven't been in ages. Roz is aware and mobile enough now to enjoy crawling about and Izzy, to my surprise, acually wanted to hang around playing for longer than I allocated time for. She did plea for all the peripheral treats too - the popcorn, slush, sweets and slot games but I let her choose one treat and she settled on the slush.
She did get one up on me later though. We visited Sue and her beautiful baby Thomas in Wimbledon after Krazy Kidz (you see what I did there, cleverly tiring them out so they'd snooze in the car ride to London?) and, to garner some interest from Izzy in our walk on the common, Sue told Izzy she could keep her eyes peeled for Wombles and that if she saw any I would give her a big prize. Izz hung off her buggy board the whole time, quite earnestly looking, which was really rather sweet. She was very disappointed that several potential Wombles turned out to be only clumps of grass.
Finally, she decided to take fate into her own hands and squealed 'Mummy, mummy, I saw one! I saw one!'
'Where?'
'There, mummy, under a tree!'
I wad very amused by her enterprising cunning and so asked 'which one did you see, Izzy? Do you think you could show me when we get home? Did it have a beard and cane like Great Uncle Bulgaria? Or was it someone else?'
'Yes mummy I think it was Great Uncle Aria, really I saw him!'
Pause.
'Mummy does this mean I get a prize now?'
'Mmm let's go home and we'll do a little test, OK? I'll show you all the pictures of the Wombles and if you can tell me which one is Great Uncle Bulgaria, I'll give you the prize. Can you remember what he looked like?'
Pause.
'What does he look like? Did you say he had a beard, mummy?'
Thus was Aunty Sue introduced to the resourcefulness of small children.
23 March 2010
21 March 2010
Trek to the shops
Yesterday we walked to the bus stop and took the bus to the supermarket. That turned into a nice outing as we bumped into most of my maternity leave coffee morning group - all children included - at the cafe after. Izzy is now desperate for her friends and keeps asking when the nursery will reopen. Roz however is loving it of course. There will be tears when normality resumes. Oh and just in case you are worrying about the food situation, family, it's all fine. Our freezer is full and the cupboards are, as usual, a little over-stocked. Am pretty sure we have more than a week's worth of food already. And Alex came home tonight with rice pudding and cheesecake. Well there was no milk you see.
Update: Another post wandering from its original place in the great 09/10 snowstorm.
20 March 2010
18 March 2010
16 March 2010
Tea at The Pelham
in South Ken. They wisely put our party of five adults, two children
and two babies in the library, which meant the children got to run
around - or do colouring on a table - and we wound up staying to chat
for three hours. Fantastic!
The Henley River and Rowing Museum
about once every six weeks.
Izz is slowly outgrowing baby playgrounds
then suddenlygot cold feet.
New food destination in South Kensington
made a day out of it, going to the much-missed Kulu-kulu Sushi for
lunch, which reminded me how rubbish Yo! Sushi is really, and then
trying out the achingly hip Snog frozen yoghurt place across the
street. The fruit parfait - two servings of yoghurt, huge hunks of
fruit, and granola, was absolutely delicious.
Visiting the V&A
information centre. London's museums are the best.
The Chinese Treasures activity backpack
collection of dragon robes to find out where to put particular symbols
on a little fleece robe.
Eight geese jade box jigsaw puzzle
insisted on completing five times.
14 March 2010
09 March 2010
Home again, home again
So we've come back from Malaysia euphoric and shattered as usual. I can never seem to find the words to describe the experience of being engulfed by family, and I'm quite sure it's not because we're just too knocked out by jetlag and dealing with the girls being a couple of hours ahead.
The girls have adjusted to the time fairly well. Roz was always happy sleeping whenever anyway because she naps. And Izzy woke at 2.30 the first morning, then 4.30 and then 6.00. Now she's getting up between 5.30 and 6.00 so it's just as well Alex is on early shifts this week.
Unfortunately the sudden return to cold and central heating has had a profound effect on both girls' skin. Yesterday poor Izzy asked me why her arm felt like potato. Her legs and arms have both been very dry - partly because I think she isn't drinking enough water too - and so we now work a goodly portion of Aveeno into her skin every night. If there's no improvement I will soon have to resort to the old goose grease Epaderm.
Mummy aah
Izzy has not forgotten her Malaysian this time. Every time she's cross about something now the aah comes out. It's so Englishified and alien it sometimes takes me a while to work out what the random noise is. But I'm clocking that she's trying to sound like her cousins. It's hard not to laugh but she seems quite impervious to teasing about it.
Fake crying
So we've come back from Malaysia euphoric and shattered as usual. I can never seem to find the words to describe the experience of being engulfed by family, and I'm quite sure it's not because we're just too knocked out by jetlag and dealing with the girls being a couple of hours ahead.
The girls have adjusted to the time fairly well. Roz was always happy sleeping whenever anyway because she naps. And Izzy woke at 2.30 the first morning, then 4.30 and then 6.00. Now she's getting up between 5.30 and 6.00 so it's just as well Alex is on early shifts this week.
Unfortunately the sudden return to cold and central heating has had a profound effect on both girls' skin. Yesterday poor Izzy asked me why her arm felt like potato. Her legs and arms have both been very dry - partly because I think she isn't drinking enough water too - and so we now work a goodly portion of Aveeno into her skin every night. If there's no improvement I will soon have to resort to the old goose grease Epaderm.
Mummy aah
Izzy has not forgotten her Malaysian this time. Every time she's cross about something now the aah comes out. It's so Englishified and alien it sometimes takes me a while to work out what the random noise is. But I'm clocking that she's trying to sound like her cousins. It's hard not to laugh but she seems quite impervious to teasing about it.
Fake crying
Roz had also settled back into nursery quite nicely now. She's stopped crying so much when I leave her and if her key worker is the person I hand her to you can see the indecision on her face over whether it's worth crying. She moves around on her own much more now and has gotten much steadier when standing.
She's also started copying people, which is really sweet. Yesterday evening Izzy was doing some activity in a book she got from GrAunty Azmi and GrUncle Pun and Roz immediately crawled over and attempted to appropriate a colour pencil to draw in the book too.
She's also started copying people, which is really sweet. Yesterday evening Izzy was doing some activity in a book she got from GrAunty Azmi and GrUncle Pun and Roz immediately crawled over and attempted to appropriate a colour pencil to draw in the book too.
She had to be appeased with another of Izzy's activity books and a pen but then when Izzy began wailing because she couldn't draw a picture of Roz crawling to her satisfaction, Roz watched her, then arranged herself so she could similarly place her face down on the floor. And she kept getting up to check what Izzy was doing. On having his pointed out to her Izzy couldn't help
giggling between wails.
Sound check
giggling between wails.
Sound check
Oh and Izzy has had her hearing checked as part of a referral from Roz's own checks and I am pleased to report it is all normal. I'm quite sorry I didn't overcome my embarrasment after all and ask to take a pictureof her doing the test because she looked so cute with the headphones on and was clearly very eager.
They ran it very nicely too. There was a toy boat with passengers in it and they were all tipped out. So Izzy was told to choose them one after the other and to place them back in when she heard a sound - chirping bird, squeaky mouse, buzzy bee. And she got a pink sticker at the end as well as a milkshake after for good behaviour. So I think she was quite pleased.
Nice that it went well because there are a raft of appointments coming up too: immunisations, more audiology and allergy appointments - phew!
Still a bit apprehensive about the upcoming school move though. She keeps crying when we leave nursery each day, saying she'll miss her friends when she starts school or that she wants them to live with her. This is really starting to get on my nerves as well because the refrain is constant not just before we've even left the car park but sometimes on the Friday when we're doing things and on the weekend too.
They ran it very nicely too. There was a toy boat with passengers in it and they were all tipped out. So Izzy was told to choose them one after the other and to place them back in when she heard a sound - chirping bird, squeaky mouse, buzzy bee. And she got a pink sticker at the end as well as a milkshake after for good behaviour. So I think she was quite pleased.
Nice that it went well because there are a raft of appointments coming up too: immunisations, more audiology and allergy appointments - phew!
Still a bit apprehensive about the upcoming school move though. She keeps crying when we leave nursery each day, saying she'll miss her friends when she starts school or that she wants them to live with her. This is really starting to get on my nerves as well because the refrain is constant not just before we've even left the car park but sometimes on the Friday when we're doing things and on the weekend too.
Mainly when she's a bit tired. I understand it but really your patience runs a bit thin when you propose putting her sister in nursery on Fridays in August, so you can take her to London to do fun stuff before school starts, and her first question is: can I go with my friends?
07 March 2010
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