hi again from not so sunny, in fact down right rainy liverpool.

I have discovered a new thing with Isaac, the word why? Oh boy does it appear A LOT in our conversations. The other day i said to him ‘look, isaac there’s a train’
Why? he said…..
ummmm…..

what are you supposed to say in response to a question like that, can i actually answer it anyway even if there was an answer…. which i guess there is really. I mean it starts to get into the ‘is it really there, or is my mind just telling me there is a train there when actually there might not be…..’
I think we have some interesting and puzzling times ahead. He has just started to do this and my husband finds it all so great and loves answering his question from a scientific point of view…as in ‘why daddy, is it raining..’

‘well, isaac, there is a metaphysical change in the weather system that …etc etc…..’

whereas i think all isaac wants to hear and certainly all that he gets from me is ‘there is too much water in the clouds and it had to come out’

Mind you, you cant help but be impressed as such an enquiring mind. The fact that he needs to know why it is raining and where the sun has gone is such a contrast to us who just moan about the fact that it is raining and how awful the weather is..blah blah.

It has got to be good to see the extraordinary in the ordinary….

Still on Isaac, the other day i was making a cake for a very good buddy of mine and I had iced it on a plate which i had left on the kitchen counter. I had given the cake to my friend but what remained was a rim of icing on the plate. Isaac walked in to the kitchen before me and by the time i walked in i found him reaching up to lick the icing off the plate……
I had an idea, all morning i had been trying to capture a photo of him doing thumbs up. He wouldnt keep still and so all the pics where useless. Then i said to him ‘if you let me take a picture of thumbs up you can have some of the icing’
You can see for yourself the result!!! and YES that IS his interpretation of thumbs up….dont tell him, i think its just really cute.
I even got a few lovely, if a little forced, smiles. Definately one for the scrapbook.

and AH HA…i know his weakness…

.

My cousin emailed me yesterday, asking me how i had the time to do a weblog? She said how is it that mummy’s to three kiddies seem to have more time than mummy’s to one baby?
I have been thinking about that today and have put the question to a few of my friends…to be honest there was part of me that was ready with an answer like…
‘just very organised’
but im not sure that, that is it. I mean there are no more hours in a day here in the UK than there are in New Zealand, where my cousin currently lives? A flippant remark like ‘oh just better practised’ seems a bit vague.

When i had one child I dont remember being particularly inefficient with my daily life. So here i am pondering this question and wondering if the actual truth of it is that when you have one child you end up playing with and interacting with your child more than when you have three?

Not a thought that im particularly comfortable with. But on reflection whilst it is true that my first got the best and most of my time, I mean i took him to those baby swim classes that would now be impossible with all my little ducks. I think that sometimes the hot glare of a parent’s sole attention has got to get a bit much for a kid and i think he is a better little chap because of his sisters than he would be without.

Or perhaps is it that by the time you have had three children you have made friends with toddler TV programmes, hands up who knows all the words to Bob the builder. Maybe giving up the idea that TV will corrupt your kids if they so much as watch it and in fact embracing the idea that TV gives you a much needed bit of time to just do lots of stuff…..

Maybe its all about adapting to a new role. When you first have kids it is such a massive ‘hit by a truck’ situation. Your life changes for ever, you are no longer number one and you sacrifice the spontaneous somewhat (actually maybe that should be completely!).
I think that emotional shift actually slows you down a bit from a point of view of organisation of your day, time, whatever. As it should do as far as im concerned. You only get that time of being a brand new parent once, why rush?

But then if and when you do have any other kids that does not happen again so i guess you just have to adapt another person into a schedule that already revolves kiddy type stuff…easy…

So on reflection i think it is all about confidence in your ability to do this enourmous task of being parents. I dont mean that in a ‘we have all got the right answers’ kind of way. Just that you can
make it through your days knowing and believing that your children will probably survive your parenting skills intact even if you do make some monumental tooth sucking, head shaking mistakes. That a bit of TV never hurt anyone and actually will give you a bit of space to maintain your sanity. That kids who dont eat vegetables for years actually turn out okay and not under nourished, pale, weak boned wall flowers and lastly that you learn to listen politely to those lovely well meaning health professionals, nodding with feeling in all the right places and then go away and do what works for you and your kid……and not worry about it.

mmmm….

anyway changing the subject is it me or does wednesday seem all at odds with itself without the apprentice??? Miind you i didnt really like the two finalists last week and wasnt it odd to see Sir Alan being all nicey nicey about michelle in the after show bit. Didnt really sit with my image of the ‘i can tell you this as sure as i have a whole in my …..’ type of guy. But anyway it will be back next year i imagine and until then there is always ER?

Isaac has a buddy called Steffan in nursery where he goes twice a week. At easter steffan’s mum told me that he was no longer going in the afternoon and would be in the morning, the opposite times to Isaac. I felt bad for my little guy as he seemed to have really formed a bit of a bond with Steffan but decided not to change isaac’s pattern for the moment.

This morning Isaac was talking to me about nursery when he suddenly said ‘teacher says that Steffan isnt there’ It made me realise that he must be asking after him in nursery too. I dont think i had realised that even at such a young age it is possible to just ‘click’ with other kids.

Anyway feeling like i was robbing my boy of his one true friend!!! I dropped him off at nursery. Picking him up at 3pm, I walked into their big playroom only to be completely ignored by Isaac as Steffan was there…….. belting along behind isaac shouting something like ‘its raining, lets get in the house’

I dont know why steffan was there in the afternoon, but i was surprised at how chuffed i was to see him there. Knowing that my boy would have had a great time there that afternoon just did my heart good.

I stood for about 20 minutes watching him play and it was so good. I realised just how important friends are, even when you are only 3 and a half.

Today my wee little girl made me work. Monday being my day without the two biggies, i was looking forward to a day of washing, cleaning and scrapbooking. Unfortunately in that order! But little Poppy Grace had other ideas….she just wasnt happy unless she was sitting on my knee or better still being carried about. Bless her she doesnt get that this is a day when i can do loads of things, i think she gets a bit bored without the floor show isaac and maisie put on every day.
Hopefully she was just feeling a bit out of sorts today and just needed to chew my ear a bit till the feeling passed.
Anyway so not as much done as i could have, but hey she got herself lots of cuddles which is actually the point of having the kids go to the childminder really….

Maybe she thought it was her place to give me a bit of a reality check and help me realise that i go back to work ina couple of months and these moments will soon be unavailable completely.
Cant believe that our little new year girl is nearly five months old…..it sure has gone by quick.

other news…..

went to a local primary school today to see what it was like, thinking about next year and where we will send isaac. Felt very strange waiting to see the headmistress, i think the last time i had to do that i was the pupil, not the parent. I guess i have come a long way.
Got very shocked by the size of the reception class kids. They looked HUGE. Overall not a bad school i dont think, but really not that sure what im looking for in all honesty. Just somewhere that will look after my little boy really.
Parenting eh? just get one decision sorted in your head and then along comes another. respect to all of you much further down this road…

back in all one piece from bonanza, the scrapbook get-to-gether. Primary thought…wow the NEC is HUGE. We turn off the motorway in what seemed like inner city birmingham and then disppear into the country following the signs, then arrive in what looks like a very unused car park and wonder off in the direction of a selection of warehouses. In there we find bonanza, i think as it goes it was probably in a very very small little atrium of the NEC. There where halls and walking travelators all around leading to lots of other halls and the like…mad…it felt like an airport.

So then onto the registration, pick up your bag of free stuff and tool kit, and off to our first lesson. Gill and I got a bit of a shock when the teacher showed us what we where to be making, a little mini book type pull in and out thing…not what we had come for and all very very pink. The paper we used was called ‘sugarcubes’ i think that is probably enough of a description.

Anyway after the initial sneering at it and scoffing at those who seemed swept up in the ‘magic’ of it. We did actually finish it with all its folds, frills and pink stuff and it wasnt too bad, a lesson, nevertheless in the wider bit of this little hobby.

The rest of our day was spent blissfully wondering through the shops and checking out all the scrapbook stuff we could afford, and a lot of what we couldnt. Had a very sublime and chilled subway, and then returned to the ‘crop’ room to do a bit of chatting, cropping and using the alphabet sets that had been laid on.
So all in all a good time was had and we got back to liverpool at 9pm. Having staggered back to the car with all of hebe’s stash!!

My kids where all in bed when i got back, i love that feeling when you have been away from them. Just want to pick them up and kiss them and squeeze them (obviously without waking them!!!).

A fulfilling day, moments to be inspired by those much further down the scrapbook road and those wonderful moments when you realise just how damm thankful you are for your family.