Merry Christmas Everyone

(This one's three weeks out of date... you got to take what you can get!)

Enter: One tree from the garden.
It is, if you look at it closely (or even glance over it very briefly) a particularly sad and shaggy looking specimen, but it's lived at the house (in the garden) oh so much longer than we have, so it's got certain rights nad we honour it accordingly. All children and dolls out the way and onto the window sill, Papi is bringing The Tree in! (Finally! About time!)

Out the way, here comes the tree *drumroll*

Bit of a job, getting the venerable thing to stand straight

"Mami! Look! Appletee! Fiffviff tee!"

Bring out the ornaments...

... and the lametta ok ok, if we really have to...

There it goes, our shaggy old tree, looking just perfect, and we love it lots (please also note the new shelving left and right of chimney breast. Massive improvement and finally we can go get a few more boxes down... only some 4 to 6 now left in loft!).

(The intention was to write lots more about the kids and "Favver Fiffviff" but, alas, no time, got other things to do. Maybe later, ey?)

The Kiss

I knew it was coming to Margate, then I forgot and nearly walked right into it without realising that I was about (be too polite, sadly, to) touch art history (and too old to actually - as opposed to just metaporically - pee my pants with excitement). The Kiss - AAAHhhh! What extra large feet (though well proportioned when considered next to the thighs), what sensuous buttocks, and... my, I can't say what my favourite feature actually IS, it's all such smooth beautiful marble and I'd place it in my garden any day! (Or on the landing for that matter.)


I must have studied it in art class, some 20 years (or more) ago, I can't quite put my finger on how I know to be quite so excited about seeing it in the flesh(y marble)... but before I get carried away on the kids' blog... Yes kids, your mother (has private interests although no time is left to persue any of them for even 15 minutes a day, but I get carried away) loves her some good Rhodin, and Leo, you're sort of interested too (mostly in the boobies and the kiss, actually, less the feet and the sensuous perfection of every muscle) (AND we're not posing but looking at the sculpture's manifold reflection in the mirrors on the side) while, Tara, you are not so fussed but far more enjoying yourself chatting with friends.

(And I kiss Leo)

Gotta love having a free brand new art gallery just round the corner. Even the Queen, just under a week later, travelled further than we did to see it (hah!). Exciting!

(... and all reported only two months out of date. That's... progress!)

Well done me

Well EFFING done me!

I deserve some praise. Come on people, let me hear it! Outdoor toilet to indoor loo (the pipes on left are the pink ones on the right).

Leo-Loo Soll Schafen Lernen

How long can I handle snuggley cosy cuddley co-sleeping for? Here's how long: 5 years and one month, roughly. And now those five years and one month, wonderful though they were, are over and I've had enough: Leo-Loo's got to learn how to go to sleep by himself. At least how to go to sleep by himself, in his own bed.
All sorts of text books promise that new habits are acquired within one week, and in exchange for a though-through series of sleep inducing events, after a week of decreasing levels of fascination and protest, we're there. It goes like this: "Book, Boobie, Bett." Leo's words, along with "Mummy, cuggle me!"
In the first weeks Water and Maus are also key ingredients of a successful night time (see last picture), and true to form my kid shows very little interest in cuddly toys but hugs his water bottle instead. If you can drink from it it's gotta be good...

Bed? Feeling a bit lost perhaps?

... but when a boy's gotta sleep a boy's gotta sleep.

Night by night...

... bed by bed. Ooops, wrong bed...

I love watching my sleeping baby...

... and my sleeping baby's baby loves my baby.

ZZZzzzzz

Oh well, yes, this happens too (and I want no funny comments about recycling pink sleepwear.)

"I'm my Mama's sugar pie and I know it and I sleep when I see fit."

A few hours in the divine child wakes up, needs a cuddle and kicks up a major fuss if he does not get to move over to my bed, but it's a start. (And I miss him when he's not there...)

The de-babyfication of Leo-Loo has begun. *BIG SIGH*

Leo goes by the name of Leo-Loo these days. Looks wrong but sounds right. And rhymes with Mister Moo and Baby Boo. One day I'm just gonna go and eat this baby UP.

ZZZZZZ

There is exactly one good reason why Leo did not fall into his tea face forward: I'd taken the plate away literally 30 seconds ago - to get him seconds, at his request.
Poor baby, it's been a long day at the end of a long night and along week.
(As Tara put it, "Mami I hear tomorrow is going to be a good day: Mamis aren't going to be so shouty tomorrow.")

Dem Leo klebt 'n Opa anner Backe

'I know that I have Opa stuck to my face and I know that that's funny!'

Check... check... 'Is my Opa still stuck?'

Es war einmal... ein Collage aus Großeltern und anderen Familienmitgliedern, die in Tara's Zimmer hing. Bis zum Umzug, bei dem sie abhanden kam, um dann neun Monate später gefunden und sofort von Leo zerlegt zu werden. In Köpfe und andere Fetzen. Seitdem taucht Opa Didi immer mal wieder auf.
Die erste Erscheinung fand im Wäschekorb statt, den Leo hilfreich leerte. Mit dem halben Körper im leeren Wäschekorb rief er voller Begeisterung "OPA! OPA!" Danach tauchte Opa auf der Treppe auf und Leo fiel fast kopfüber die Treppe runtern beim Opa Einsammeln.
Danach tauchten Opa und Leo im Team auf und sprangen durch die Küche, von Kameras und begeisterten Eltern bewundert (sehen sie sich ähnlich oder sehe nur ich das grade?). Von uns aus muss sich der Leo den Opa gar nicht von der Back putzen...

Irgendwo dürfte auch ein Omakopf versteckt sein. Mal gucken, ob der irgendwann auftaucht, und wo. Wir freuen uns schon auf die nächste großelterliche Begegnung.

Bis dahin kleb ich dem Leo anner Backe. Was sonst. (Irgendwann fress ich den Jungen auf.)

'I've got a mummy stuck to my face... somebody get her OFF!'

PS on those excesses in the late summer park sessions

Aaaaaand the first official cold of the season goes to.... [drumroll]... Mr Moo, it's true!


At least it's fair and proportianate to his passion for the park. My boy wakes up in the mornings, sits up and even before he opens his eyes, exclaims "PARK!" (followed by roughly another 200 "park"s before we actually get there). Boys. ey?

In case these are the last days of summer

Squirrel hunt

(The squirrels win)

So, just in case these are the last warm and sunny days, we are out there when we can. Leo, when I promise him some PARK at pick up, gets so excited he can't nap and tells everybody withing range what he's up to. His carer, "Park!" Any other mum at the door, "Park!" Random strangers on the way, "Park!" It a bit like he's on his way to Heaven (on Earth), and all you have to do is set him free on the green.
There are squirrels in Heaven, and dogs and ants, aren't there?
Tara is equally delighted, and if she needed any convincing the hope of meeting friends (new or existing), having a picnic and hogging a swing for at least half an hour would win her over. Wheeeee!

Breadstix 'n biscuits

When you haven't got all day to yourself there's nothing like a decent park on the way home from school. So there we are, out in short sleeves while we can, getting sunburnt - what a fabulous way of extending the summer past the end of the holidays.

Fengcyoo Mis Flowu

"Mis Flowu fengcyoo for locin arfta yelo clas" reads Tara's thank-you note to her teacher, and I am quite confident that she will manage to decypher it. She's a pro, that Mis Flowu, and we are grateful for a start to school life that was a lovely as it was chequered, red and white.

We had Tara's school report a few weeks ago, and Mum and Dad both nearly cried when reading it. So proud, ah, so proud!
May I boast?

"Tara has grown in confidence this year and she is always prepared to try new things and make new friends. She has formed excellent relationships with adults as well as with her peers. Tara works well independently or in a team. She is aware of her own ideas as well as those of others and appreciates these may not always be the same. Her behaviour is excellent and she is a good role model to others. Tara concentrates well and tries hard in everything she does." Aaaahhh.... That was the Personal, Social and Emotional Development.
This is the Overall Comment: "Tara is a delight to teach and always works hard. She has made excellent progress across the curriculum and should be very proud of all she has accomplished. Tara is a popular member of her class, has a wide circle of friends and gets on well with everybody. She has grown in confidence this year too. She has a very caring nature and her behavious is exemplary."

Cue: Dab at tear in corner of eye.
I am very proud, and proper spelling was not part of the curriculum.

Leo has one day to go at nursery and then our first holiday mission will be to hit the shops and buy every outdoor game going under the sun. Parks and beaches of Thanet, here we come!

Sommer, Strand und Sonne

Ohne viele weitere Worte: So sieht der Sommer an den Wochenenden aus (obwohl wir in Haus und Garten stecken und streichen oder graben sollten).













Tara liebt's und Leo lernt's lieben. Geht schnell, so eine Sommer-, Sonnen-, Strandliebe.

Nana, or "Eating Well"

Leo and I are home for the week (due to staff training at the nursery) and the beautiful task of feeding him lunches falls to me, his mother who can't cook, lacks any kind of inspiration and usually also inclination.

Leo calls it NANA, Jose calls it Mess, I call it A Beautiful Opportunity For A Great Picture, and I believe at nursery (where they have a lovely caterer who cooks up delicious and greatly diverse meals) they call it "Leo ate well today." This must be what they mean.

Bless - he likes his nana, especially at nursery. I don't know where he gets it but he's quite a connoisseur... If it comes in a shiny wrapper it's a must-have, bread is merely a means of transport for spreads and dips, and the crazier the colour the louder one must demand it. Boy am I glad that five times a week I can leave a nutricious healthy diet to the professionals and scrape by with pasta and tortilla otherwise! Now, Leo, enjoy!


He eats some, has a good feel of it, eats some more - and communicates any issues he has with his food rather well: The above pose is what has to be considered The Reverse Baby Bird - not a case of 'feed me' but 'please extract this undesireable lump of food from my mouth.' The accompanying acounstics go "aaaa-AAHHH?!" and his politics are: Only straight only mummy's hand, second and third choice, mummys hand again, and only in cases of extreme emergency dad's hand or (after a sufficient amount of coaxing) the table. Today we are dealing with too chumky a lump of mince. My fault.


I'm please to say that we are past the stage where 'Thank you I've finished my meal' was communicated by food and plate being flung across the table. It's way in the past and didn't last too long thanks to swift parental educational intervention. I did even have the good sense to leave the camera where it was; letting Leo go on just for a good snap would not have gone down too well with Jose. Or the walls for that matter. (Table cloths were lost.)

Leo-Loo... Sweetest sugar pie in the world. I could eat him up daily, breakfast, lunch and dinner. If only there was a recipe for cooking up another boy like that - hmmmm.


(I shall take any recommendations for quick kiddie lunches, by comment, email or mail, gratefully.)