The terrible threes

Never mind what they all say about 2 year olds, they are actually quite lovely. It's 3 year olds that are the real pain - that's when they get all willful and horrid. Witness my son's new favourite expression - "no way". Obviously, he gets this from his elder sisters, but still - to hear your lovely cuddly toddler start shouting "no way, Mummy, no way" at you whenever you suggest something ("Time to tidy up and go to playgroup") is ever so slightly disheartening. And I know he's not quite three yet - what can I say, he's precocious...

"I not very well"

Poor sausage, he isn't. He has had quite a high temperature, especially at night, for several days, and has been sleeping lots and not eating much. Thought he was much better this morning until he decided to throw up on my bed. Luckily, it was on top of the top quilt, so I could just take that off and wash it. And doubly lucky, he hadn't eaten anything since lunch yesterday, so it was just juice. He's off on the sofa now, watching Thomas (the Tank Engine). But he keeps telling us "I not very well. I need medicine." Bless.

A well narrated life

Anyone who has or has ever had a toddler will appreciate this quote from a friend's Christmas letter - "[he] is a very active toddler with quite a vocabulary. We now lead a very well narrated life, as [he] comments on all of the things he sees and does and wants to do...." I've told my friend I am going to adopt the phrase "well-narrated life" because I think it's perfect to describe toddlers. It's great to watch them become more and more interested in the world around them, and being toddlers, they of course have to tell you all about it.

"We're going upstairs now, Mummy. I'm going first, and then you. We're not downstairs anymore, Mummy. The telly is downstairs, but my bed is upstairs. My dinosaurs are in my bed. One is green, one is yellow. I like dinosaurs. They aren't downstairs. I'm going to sit in my chair. I'm going to get a dinosaur. Mummy are you going downstairs? I'm going dowstairs, me first, me first."

And you have to respond in some fashion or all you get is the same sentence over and over again at increasing volumes until you do...

one of those waste-of-time days

You know the type of day I mean.

You see a nice skirt at Asda (supermarket), so grab your size off the rack. Don't bother to try it on because you haven't time, too lazy, and usually their size 12 fits anyway, etc and when you get home & try it on it's way too tight. Luckily, this is because it's the wrong damn size (tag doesn't match hanger - when will we ever learn!), rather than because you gained tons of weight over Christmas, but it does mean that the next day, you have to go back and exchange it. Except of course there aren't any in your size.

So then you go to Woolworths to exchange the pyjamas you bought earlier in the week for your daughter - you were debating between two similar styles (both with Scooby Doo on them) and picked one, only to find that when you went to have them rung up, they were half the marked price. So you run back quickly to get the other style as well - might as well at that price, as she needs several pairs. Of course, when you get home you find that you have two identical pairs of pyjamas, hence the need to exchange. When you go to make the exchange, of course you find that only the one style is on half price sale - the other is the regular price.

After hitting the second half of your son's playgroup (having missed the first half due to errands) you spend the afternoon at home waiting for the engineer to come and do the annual service on your boiler (afternoon = 12 to 6, hence the need to do errands before playgroup rather than after). When at 6.15 he still hasn't showed, you ring British Gas to find that although they called you to set up a service appointment, they have somehow neglected to actually BOOK the appointment, which explains why no one showed up.

At least I had time to do some laundry and assemble the new sofa bed. But honestly, some days...

Invasion of the computer snatchers...

Sarah's been dying for Sims (the computer game) since she played it at a friends' house (it's probably a little hard for her, but that's not going to stop her) - she finally bought one out of her pocket money today - and I think I may never get near the computer again. (Or at least, what happened tonight, which is that I had to insist she stop, by means of evil threats & then we had tears & tantrums - will happen a lot.) I'm sure the novelty will wear off soon, so it won't be quite so hard to get my computer back. It does look like an addictive game. Of course, tonight one of her Sims set his kitchen on fire, so perhaps they will all die off soon anyway...

Think you've got clutter?

Here's something to make anyone who sometimes feels overwhelmed by their stuff, a bit better:

http://www.local6.com/news/5917330/detail.html

Sad, of course, but at least most of us can take comfort from the fact that our houses are surely much less cluttered!

Sofabed 1, Mattress 0

We braved the mighty Ikea today (including Geoff, surprise surprise) - such expedition brought on by Geoff deciding, after he spilled his drink all over the bed this morning, that we were about due for a new mattress anyway (we'd been waiting until all kiddies were potty trained just in case we ended up with one in bed with us for the night...), so I suggested we hit Ikea (we have an Ikea bed). Geoff tried to suggest we simply buy the same mattress we did last time, but that being around 8 years ago, they've all changed, so I thought we ought to go lay down on them. Plus, we wanted to look at sofabeds, too - one holiday with an airbed on the floor for a week is enough (though the girls, who were the ones sleeping on it, enjoyed it, admittedly).

As it happened, all of the possible mattresses (i.e. sprung ones) were out of stock, and won't' be back in for a week or more, so I'll have to go back to Ikea after all. But at least I'll know what I want. We did, however, buy a sofabed - nothing exciting, but it will be welcome, not just for the bed aspect, but we've been wanting to get rid of our orange sofa anyway - it has a slightly wonky leg and a stain on one arm (just a dark spot caused by Alex opening my Christmas bath oil and spilling it on the sofa) so really, it's time for it to go.

It actually wasn't too bad (Ikea) despite being a Sunday and the weather being absolutely foul, though by the time we left, around 2pm, there was a queue about 30 cars long waiting to get into the car park, so it clearly pays to go early. Going back will be fine, because I'll do it in the week and it will be virtually empty. For Ikea.

peace at last

Well, the girls are back to school today, finally - towards the end of a break, they always start picking on one another (not that they don't do that normally, but it's worse) and Grandma Lucy went home as well - so once Alex and I got back from the supermarket, it was really quiet, and peaceful. I do enjoy having a full house over the holidays, but I am equally glad for things to return to normal...

The lion, the witch and the Christian metaphor

Saw the Narnia film the other day with the girls - I thought it was very good and the girls loved it. Sometimes critics get really stuck up their own backsides, don't they - the Christian metaphor is there, but I doubt most kids would pick up on unless it was pointed out or their dad was Ned Flanders. Kind of like reading the books... Anyway, great effects, good acting (always something to be wary of with most of the main characters as kids) and just very entertaining. Recommended.

Stuff & things

Can't believe it's been so long since I posted - I swear December just zips past before you really know it. Lots of stuff happening - school fair, school plays, my mother arriving for her visit, and lots of other stuff of that sort - seems like one day has just started when all of the sudden it's bedtime and then there it goes all over again!

Spent most of the day today making Christmas cookies (and other types of Christmas baking like Cranberry Orange Bread/Cake and Pumpkin Bread) - house smelled great, but now my feet are tired. Tomorrow should be an easier day, though, with only a Christmas drinks party to go to in the afternoon - and it's just down the road a bit, so we can walk (and therefore drink as much as we want!) and of course the kids can go as it's people from school - there will be dozens of kids there, probably, and they'll all be manic from too much sugar. Ah, Christmas...

A very useful engine

This guy who lives a few roads away from us has a model train running all through his back garden - he also has a full sized signal box of the old fashioned kind they used to have on the rails here - you can see a small corner of it behind Alex - but that's another story. Anyway, a few times a year, they have open days, with a donation to charity. They do one in late November, where they run trains with little presents and trees in, etc and call it the Santa Special. We took the kids along on Saturday - Alex thought it was great. As you can no doubt tell. All I can say is this guy must have a very tolerant wife, to have the whole garden given over to model trains...

Not your father's onion bhaji...

Went last night to Cocum restaurant in Raynes Park - excellent little unassuming Indian place, specialising in Keralan cuisine, with superb dosai (and other things). The food was great, particularly a starter we had called Chemmeen Karumuru, a crunchy prawn dish, which I could have eaten a whole plate of. Oh, and another starter of thinly sliced aubergine deep fried in batter. And the dosai - Geoff had Masala Dosai (thin rice pancaked, filled with potato & carrot masala) and I had Oothappam (thick pancaked with chopped onions, chillies, tomatoes, curry leaves & quite a lot of ginger) - both gorgeous. Also, I think they had the best onion bhajis I've ever had. So, ok, pretty much everything was fabulous. And also, a night out without the kiddies was pleasant...

2nd time lucky

Apparently, it wasn't the board, but rather the pump, which had gone on the boiler. According to gas engineer guy no 2, who came around yesterday to install the new board. Luckily, he had the sense to do his own diagnostic work and determined that there was power getting up to the pump, so it probably wasn't the board. He was obviously right, as once he replaced the pump, it all worked again. However, he also said that the board problem was very common with our particular boiler - so it's not that surprising that the other guy thought that's what it was.

I asked if the fact that it was the pump meant that the problem could have been fixed the day before (when the first guy was there) as the board wouldn't have had to be ordered. He said, "Well, there's no guarantee the guy would have had a pump in his van stock". Which strikes me as a polite way of saying "yes, almost certainly." But there you go - as Geoff keeps reminding us, seemingly ceaselessly, it would be much worse if we were on an Antarctic expedition. Which statement falls into the category of "true, but totally uncomforting".

Don't make 'em like they used to...

So, had the man out about the boiler today - which is pretty quick service, though one does wonder about that whole service industry thing, wherein 12.50 is still considered "morning" (as in, "someone will be with you this morning"). Not to mention the whole staying in the (cold) house all day just in case the guy shows up while you are spending 5 minutes walking to the postbox or whatever. Which you just know would happen.

But anyway. Verdict is: it's the PCB Board. or the PCP board. Or the LSD board. Or something like that. Basically, boilers these days are all run electronically. Like cars. And you know what happens with electronic parts - they just spontaneously go kaput sometimes. Apparently, this boiler quite commonly blows its PCB board within 1-2 years of first being installed (according to boiler guy) - however, the good news is that he almost never has problems with them once a new board is installed (my personal theory: replacement board is a better quality part than board originally shipped from factory with boiler, which is obviously the cheapest one they can get away with).

So, he has to order the part, which means no heat or hot water tonight, but he (or another little boiler guy) will come install it tomorrow (and he offered me a 2-hr slot, rather than having to take "morning" (8-1) or "afternoon" (1-6), which is nice). The other good news is we have a service contract with British Gas which covers the whole heating system, including the boiler - and it covers service AND parts. Which means that British Gas has to pick up the £200-£300 bill for the board, and not us. Our service contract has paid for itself this year, certainly.

Right, now off to the living room, where it's warm (the electric fire is on in there!)...

Slacker II: return of the slacker

I know. And I always promise I'll be better next time, but I'm not. Oh well. So for those of you still checking in periodically, today's excitement concerns lack of heat & hot water. Yes, the classic "boiler-mysteriously-has-stopped-lighting-itself-and-won't-do-it-even-when-you-reset-it-so-you-have-to-call-an-engineer-but-they-can't-come-until-tomorrow-morning". I can't imagine there's anything seriously wrong with the boiler as it's only just over a year old (better not be!) but it's still annoying. Luckily, it's unseasonally warm for November, and also, I cooked dinner in the slow cooker (beef stew - apparently, for those who didn't know this, eating celery does actually kill 8 year olds, so beware...), so there wasn't that much washing up to do - which is useful when there's no hot water. The kids didn't have baths, which really upset Alex, who, being your classic toddler model, really likes baths (aka water splashing sessions) and really doesn't like changes to his routine. But otherwise, as long as they can fix it tomorrow morning, it's not really a problem, just an annoyance. As are so many things!

(insert snide comment in this space)

And don't worry, I've heard them all (this was at our local Halloween party on Sunday - it's Sarah's hat, though)

Possibly the best birthday message, ever.

In amidst all the presents and cards today for Olivia's birthday was a card from our friends down the road. Thalia, who is 6 months older than Sarah (and very precocious), wrote the following message: "Dear Olivia, Congratulations that you made it to 6. Some children in Africa can't do that."

What can I say. I am going to save it to show her when she's 30 - along with Sarah's drawing of herself and a group of friends, all carefully coloured and with elaborate clothes, with Olivia off in the corner of the page, half the size of the rest, and in pencil. Maybe by age 30, they'll think it's funny. Who'd have guessed that one of the biggest challenges of being a parent was learning to keep a straight face?

Land of a thousand fairy cakes...

OK, it was only 3 dozen, but they did seem to take a long time to ice and decorate. We thought Olivia would rather have a lot of fairy cakes than one big cake, and it was fun making them, mostly (though it's amazing the number of things sisters can find to argue about). And it will be much more practical for her party tomorrow, as I won't have to slice the cake to put it into party bags - I'll just be able to grab a cake each and hand them out.

The Bald Truth

OK, so today's lesson is this: when you are using electric clippers to clip the hair of the men in your family - husband, son, etc - be sure to hold them the right way around or someone will get a much shorter haircut than originally intended. Sigh. At least hair grows back quickly!

"I not naughty"

I was hanging out washing today and Alex was helping (i.e. playing with clothespegs). I have a couple of giant pegs for hanging things like blanket, etc and he was messing with these - putting them on his nose and stuff like that, when he dropped one onto the patio and it broke. "Oh dear" he says - I looked up and saw the peg was broken so I said "Did it break, then?" and he immediately says "I not naughty". "It's ok, Allie, you didn't break it on purpose" "No, I not naughty". It was very sweet...