We've had spotty or no internet access for the past two days, which is why I have not posted. I know you have all been dying to know which playgrounds we have gone to and what we've had for lunch and I am so sorry for what must feel like unbearable suspense.

Yesterday we had a nice day, although getting out of the apartment was rough. Tommy loves the sinks in the bathrooms here because he can reach the taps without a stool, and he got a hand towel soaking wet and then carried in down the long hallway to tell me that it was wet. By the time I realized what was going on, we had a mini lake in the apartment. I just kept telling myself to be thankful that it was just water and get over it, but can I just complain for a second that sometimes it seems that all I do is clean up messes?? Anyway, then we left and went to the digger park with Julie, Angus and Heidi. Angus doesn't like to ride in the buggy anymore (he'll be three in July) and he is not great about stopping for streets so by the time we got there Julie felt sort of worn out, I think. I regret to tell my readers that Tommy thought Angus's manner of running down the street was GREAT and started to copy him on the way home. Luckily, I have that board thing on the buggy and I am still strong enough to put Tommy on it and make him stay. (I am much meaner than Julie.) So I don't think his life is in danger. Another 10 pounds on him, though, and we might have a situation unless I start lifting weights soon. The park was fun and I enjoyed having an adult to chat with while the kids played. After naps yesterday, we played in the garden with Emma for a bit before dinner.

Today we went to Holland Park which has an enormous sand pit. We went with Karalee and Emma, so again, I had a nice time chatting with an adult. We saw one of those mini-diggers digging on the way into the park and convinced Emma and Karalee to watch it for a few minutes although Emma was a bit scared of it. On the way out of the park, we actually stopped and had our snack right next to it. (I introduced rice cakes to Tommy and they have been a big hit.) We did have a moment at the playground after he dumped a shovel of sand onto a BABY -- at most 12 months and sand coming down her face. The mom was very nice about it but it was embarrassing! So then I took the shovel away and he had a total meltdown. So I told him we can never go back to that playground again. It is not always clear which one of us is the three year old. Or wouldn't be if you read a transcript of our conversations. (But we have multiple conversations every day about why we can't throw sand and I frankly couldn't muster the strength to have another one.)

Funny things from Tommy (I do not know how you all keep reading, really, how much more boring could this blog be):

While I was emailing this morning -- "Mommy, you wait right here and don't be too curious." (Yes, my kid watches too much Curious George, but it is educational. Also, anybody in the US that can get me Curious George DVDs (the PBS program) or Sid the Science Kid DVDs gets gold stars and my eternal gratitude.)

Yesterday, Tommy found some small batteries, came over to me and said, "Look at these tiny little batteries. They are sooo cute." And I said, "you know what else is cute? you!" And he said, "And worms, too! Worms are adorable."

This morning, Tommy told me, "I want to shoot Lizzie up in the sky!" and before I could even respond, he looked over at me and said, "she wants to be an astronaut."

Here is why we can't leave Tommy alone on the balcony:

And now, for the cutest part of this post:
This is my adorable niece Lexy after her first piano recital. She was stellar, and just look at her little crossed legs and tiny hands and sweet haircut! It's almost too much for me, and I'm just the aunt. If you want to see the recital, and believe me when I say you do want to spend the less-than-thirty seconds, go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otHYn2H2NOw

A big day

FIRST, Lizzie rolled over today! And not just a boring front-to-back roll -- a back-to-front roll! I have no idea if it was a fluke, but she was very proud of herself after I noticed that she had done it (oh, my poor second baby) and made a big deal of it. She also slept a seven hour stretch last night which meant of course that Eli and I were worried about her and couldn't sleep.

Tommy got a helmet today and wears it most of the time. Here he is with his friend Angus riding scooters (or scooting as we call it here). You'll know which one is Tommy by the color of his scooter:

A little girl in the garden had a princess bike and helmet and the boys, neither of whom had ridden a bike before (just tricycles), pretty much stole the bike and took turns riding and chasing each other on it. I think a bike is in Tommy's near future. But I'm thinking NOT a princess bike.

In other news, I met up with one of the moms I met a while ago at the playground again and I liked her as much as I did last time. (She's the one that works three days per week and can share her nanny with me.) I also met a mom of one of Tommy's preschool classmates. She's also American and has been here for a year and lives in Fulham. She has a three and a half month old baby and a bigger girl. I have no idea what the girl's name is. Tommy told me she's called "Diamond" but this woman seemed to have a fair amount of taste so I'm doubting that's true. Tommy had another good day at preschool. They baked something but I have no idea what because he wouldn't share it with me. But it was sort of nice to see his fingernails all flour-y instead of packed with dirt.

Tomorrow we're showing Angus (and his mom and little sister) the digger playground. I hope they like it -- but Angus is a pretty easy-going little guy. He most often says, "oh, yeah!" and it's particularly cute in his Aussie accent.

One more thing, and I'm very sorry for how jumbled these posts are, I really am a better writer than this, I swear: I couldn't get Tommy's red face paint off all the way last night, so he looks, as Eli described it, like he used self-tanner. And when we were on the bus to preschool, a woman actually asked me about it. "He has a tan?" "No, that's just left over facepaint." We had a miscommunication later in the conversation when I pointed out a ladybug on her handbag to Tommy and told her that he loves ladybugs, and she said, "oh, goodness, you'll have your hands full." So I think she thought I said he loves ladies...

Happy Birthday Grandma Nancy!

Love,

Lizzie & Spiderman

(I thought I would be organized and do this post before Lizzie wakes up, but the computer thinks it's still the 27th...Sorry, Grandma. We know your birthday is the 28th.)

Pictures

A recent photo of the Lula:

Another recent photo, but we lost the hat on Saturday's picnic. I will be eternally grateful if any of you can get another one for me and either get it to Mom before May 12, or mail it to me. It's by Zutano.

Here's why it takes us forever to get anywhere:

Tommy in front of the sign at his school:

Getting dressed:

I still hate Monday

Last night, I told Eli that I hate Sunday nights, and he slipped and said something like, "but it's no different for you," meaning that my weekdays are the same as my weekends. He realized he was saying something untrue and stupid so he tried to fix it, but it was too late. I knew what he meant BECAUSE I USED TO THINK IT ABOUT STAY AT HOME MOMS, TOO. Let me be clear: it is far, far different to be with your children when your spouse is with you. And the weekends do feel fun and relaxing and different from the weekdays.

Today has been pretty horrible. We ate dinner out last night and put Tommy to bed late. He woke up at six (early), and so he's been a bear. Fits every time he can squeeze one in -- I banished him to his room very early in the day when I told him he couldn't play with my Oyster card (it has a lot of money on it and I don't want to lose it) and he responded by moaning about needing a "blue card" to play with. AAAAAHHHHH. We have a lot of whining and whimpering going on here, my friends. Anyway, we got out of the house around nine and went to Kensington Gardens. We went to the duck pond to kill some time until the playground opened at ten, played for one hour, and came home. I put Tommy down at noon and planned to wake him at one, but of course he fell asleep at 12:45 (with the bedspread pulled over his head so when I checked on him I thought he was not in his bed). So I woke him up at 1:15 and sprinted to preschool with the Lula in the Bjorn and Tommy reclined in the stroller (whimpering). We made it to school just 15 minutes late (though it's not like it matters since he's the only kid arriving for just the afternoon) and he was thrilled to see the tadpoles again. When Miss Tracy informed him that there were even more, he was even happier.

Lizzie and I are back at the apartment and while I would absolutely love to be cleaning, I am instead holding her as she naps. Yes, we are back to this routine.

Hopefully, I will see my other mom friends in the garden today, but it looks as though it could rain. Then where will we be? We will be watching pbs kids television on the computer. Tommy needs more toys but I am just not sure what to get him. (He did get a new bucket and big shovel this weekend and he really loves the shovel in particular. I do too, as I do the heavy lifting when we play in sand and am constantly being asked to move large quantities of it.)

Weekend

Here's Tommy at the picnic:

Yesterday we took the tube out to Hampstead Heath, got a picnic at a lovely bakery called Gail's (no lie, I ate the best brownie ever), and went to the Heath. It's a gorgeous, sprawling, woodsy park and while we sat on the blanket (well, bedspread), Tommy found sticks and dirt and even a log. He had a wonderful time. And Eli and I felt a little bit sad that we didn't find a preschool for Tommy there, because it's such a nice area.

Last night, in an attempt to distract us from putting him in the bath, Tommy came up with a doozy: "Mom, I have a question. What's in dirt?" Of course, I don't really know what's in dirt AND I suspect that he actually DOES know, because of the episode of "Sid the Science Kid" that's all about soil. He's watched it about four times and I think I hear him reciting it when he's out in the garden playing. Yikes.

Today we got a late start because it was raining when we woke up. We went out to the garden for a while, and then I went shopping all by myself (because most of my clothes are in a container somewhere in Baltimore and I won't see them until late June). When I got home, we went out to dinner at Busaba Eathai which was good (but not great, I think we remembered it better than it actually is, which happens sometimes). A very nice weekend, but way too short.

Ho hum...

We're having a nice double nap right now. This week, Lizzie's sleep has become predictable enough that I know she'll go down now.

This morning started badly. We'd just come into the kitchen when Tommy saw me dump the water from his cup and fill the cup with fresh water, and had a full on fit because he wanted the old water. My response was embarrassingly juvenile but you know what? That kid was just looking for something to scream about and I hadn't had any coffee yet. Anyway, we made it through, then had a horrible time getting Lizzie down for her very short morning nap. But while she slept, Tommy and I blew bubbles on the balcony and managed to hit the reset button. He was very good for the rest of the morning. After Lizzie woke up, we went to the drycleaners, post office, grocery store and then to the playground with the diggers. We didn't get there until 11 so Tommy only got to play for an hour. The walk home was great though, because we saw two concrete mixers, one garbage truck, and a cable van with a lift on the top in one block.

Yesterday afternoon, both my friends were in the garden, which was nice. The Australian woman, Julie, has two little kids -- 2.5 and 16 months. The big event yesterday occurred when her 2.5 year old, Angus, fell into the fountain. It was funny and lucky Julie laughed so I could giggle too. Anyway, Julie took all his clothes off then and there and put him in her jacket, so for the rest of the day, Tommy talked about how Angus has a penis. We also had a few more rounds of "how old is ... ?"

The Lula is doing well. She's sleeping horribly at night (what four month old still gets up three times???) but doesn't let that affect her much during the day. She mostly just looks at things and comments in her adorable way. She grabs everything now and can even put her paci in her mouth, but not predictably the right way (usually she ends up chewing on the edge). She likes to read stories before naptime and thinks they're really exciting, this is probably because she can grab them. And, she still looooves her brother and smiles every time he decides to pay attention to her. I will say it is funny to her him say the things to her that I say to her: "It's okay, Liz, I'll feed you in just a minute." He even uses a little high voice.

I hope you all have lovely weekends.

Just another day...

Despite sleeping 11.5 hours last night (which is a lot for him), Tommy is still exhausted today. He's napping now. Even though he's tired, we had funny conversations on the way to the playground.

Tommy: "I'm three years old."

Me: "Yep, you sure are!"

T: "How old are you?"

Me: "I'm thirty-three."

T: "I'm three, too!"

Me: "But I'm THIRTY-three. Older than you."

T: "Oh yeah, that's right. How old is Daddy?"

Me: "He's thirty-four."

T: "How old is Auntie Em?"

Me: "She's thirty."

He then asked about Grandpa Ollie, Grandpa Bob, Grandma Nancy and Uncle Andy, then circled back around to Daddy.

When we got into the park, we saw a helicopter.

Tommy: "Is that Obama?"

Me: "No, we don't live in Washington DC anymore, so we don't see Obama's helicopter anymore."

Tommy: "What's Obama doing? What's his helicopter doing? Is it up in the sky?"

First Day of Nursery School

First let me apologize that there is no photo to accompany this post. I will take one next week of Tommy by the Paint Pots sign so that you can all see how cute he looks.

Working backward, Tommy is completely wrecked right now, even though he took a nap in the stroller ("buggy") on the way home. Missing the nap will be difficult. "I am reawy tired, mommy!"

We arrived and met Miss Tracy, the directress. She is very nice and I especially loved it when she affirmed that it doesn't matter if Tommy is potty trained. I told her what Tommy likes to do, she showed me the practical skills set-up - complete with an area to scrub the floor! - and I knew he would be happy. I left, and when I returned two hours later, Tracy said he was "brilliant" (not meaning smart, just that he'd had a good day at school). Tommy showed me the tadpoles in the room and informed me they swim like whales and would become whales. Hmmm.

I'm a bit put off by the school today, despite our good experience because, first, Tommy is the only kid who attends only the afternoon session. The other kids all come for the morning and stay on, which means they're all older. My other problem is that all those kids leave at 3:30, which means Tommy would be the only kid at school between 3:30 and 4 if he stayed the full time we paid for. Tracy said I could drop him off earlier than 1:30 if I like, which makes this a bit better...But I don't know how I feel about him being the only kid there.

During snack, Tommy exclaimed: "When I'm bigger, I can drink Grandma-juice!" (Grandma juice is Coke Zero. I said that he could not.)

Tommy just announced that Lizzie spit up and I said, "I know, she's on fire, isn't she?" Turns out, three year olds are a bit too literal for that expression.

Update: This morning, Tommy asked Eli where he was going, and when Eli said he was going to work, Tommy said, "no you're not you silly fool!" We don't know where he learned that.

Two tantrums before 11 am...

And I'm talking about the kind during which Tommy covers his ears and screams as loud as he can. I will note that if Lizzie is crying and Tommy pitches a fit, she stops. That, my friends, is called a silver lining. I should explain that Tommy woke up at six this morning, which is too early. When we finally left the apartment at nine, he complained for about fifteen minutes that he wanted to go home, he didn't want to go to the park, he didn't want to go outside. Then, we got to the park and he found a stick that is as tall as I am. So the first fit occurred when I made him leave the stick in the grass rather than take it into the play area (not just an arbitrary rule; he had almost brained me with the sick about four times because it was so long he couldn't really control it). After he calmed down, I asked him what I could do to help him not have these horrible fits, but he didn't have any suggestions. So 40 minutes later, he borrowed a little girl's pink shovel, and when she wanted it back, he has his second fit. After he calmed down from that one (we were walking home), he talked about how he wanted a pink shovel, and I told him that he will never, ever get a pink shovel and even if someone gives him a pink shovel for a gift, I will take it, because he will never get anything he wants when he has fits like that. Yes, I realize I am the parent, but the embarrassment and frustration were fresh...

When we got home, I was writing something and he wanted to hold my pen. I told him no, because (1) he writes on inappropriate surfaces, and (2) he takes my pens apart and loses little bits so I can't get them back together. So, he said, "I DO want to hold the pen! I want to write an email!"

Lizzie has slept only 40 minutes today but is down now and hopefully will have a good nap. She enjoyed our time in the park because she likes to look up at the leaves on trees. She likes it best when the wind is blowing and they are moving as they were this morning.

Sorry I didn't post yesterday. Frankly, the days are all sort of the same, although we did go to the post office yesterday and Tommy was relatively good. Otherwise, playground at Kensington Gardens in the morning, home for lunch and nap, and garden in the late afternoon...Tomorrow is special, however, because it's the first day of preschool!! My mom was supposed to come tomorrow but obviously her visit has been postponed due to the volcano in Iceland. Disappointing.

Last post of the day. At Gatwick.

Just a sweet picture...

Sunny Saturday

Sorry my pictures are so tiny. Sigh.

We had a nice day yesterday. First, we walked by the new house:

Then, we walked by our local pub:

Then, we had a picnic at the park right near our new house:

A love story

My dear friend Hanh is getting married this weekend to a very sweet man named Brooks. Want to know why he's sweet? Because he lives in the Hague and his flight to his own wedding was canceled due to the volcano. In order to attend his wedding (at the Jefferson Memorial, in Washington DC) he had to drive to Barcelona and get on a flight to Atlanta. So now they can get married! Yay!

She's grabby!

Here's Lizzie's newest trick. She's very proud of herself.

We went to a new playground (in Holland Park) yesterday but without the sand toys -- which resulted in a ginormous fit over another child's "tall orange shovel." A big enough fit that we left the playground.

A cute story about Tommy is that he called Eli and said, "Oh, hi. I need chicken strips. I need chicken strips, dad."

Digger

*The technical difficulty of the day is that I can't make spaces between the paragraphs, and yes, I did try hitting the enter key a couple of times between each of them. Sorry, I know it's more difficult to read.*

This morning Tommy asked to go to the park with the diggers. I remembered my camera:

I normally write these posts during naptime (while holding a sleeping Lizzie), and yesterday interesting things happened afterward. First, Eli sent me to look at a house nearby even though we already had a house. I loved it and so Eli rushed home to see it, only to ultimately decide that we should stick with the one in Fulham. I think we made the right decision but it was an angst-filled few hours. Second, I made TWO MORE friends. (Do I realize that it's a stretch to identify these women as friends? Yes, of course.) One woman is from Western Australia (Perth) and is moving here for her husband's job for one to three years and only has four pairs of pants until their stuff arrives. She has a boy a bit younger than Tommy a girl about a year older than Lizzie. She did not pack enough warm clothes. Sound familiar? Except the Australia bit? The other woman I met is American but is married to a Belgian man and has a cute little boy (who has long hair and yesterday was wearing pink pants, so I'm thinking the pink scooter really won't be a big deal). She has done all the research on the area Montessori schools which is very convenient for me if I end up hating Tommy's school.

Speaking of Tommy's school, it starts next Wednesday (at pretty much the same moment mom is supposed to arrive). He asked to go this morning. Luckily, he met a little boy at the park and played happily for quite a while. On the way home we stopped at Marks & Spencer and Tommy got a kids meal type thing for lunch and I got a salad. I like the food here so much better. I can buy him this premade stuff and there's no fake crap in it. I can't even find bright orange (or any color) mac 'n cheese! Yay!

Yesterday Tommy informed me that "the blue whale is the biggest animal in the world" and that "the blue whale swims in the ocean." He learned this from "Sid the Science Kid." He can also discuss nonstandard measurement as a result of this show. I find the voices of the characters to be very irritating, but he sure is learning something. A couple of days ago, he tripped and said, "I just stumbled. Stumble means to trip over sooooo ... stumble means to stumble!" (Stumble was the word of the day on Sesame Street once.) Also cute: on his birthday we did a little interview and his favorite color is pink and his favorite food is "this" (he was eating a cupcake with pink icing). Finally, did I already post the story about how I was changing Lizzie's diaper and he said, "Lizzie, that's gross. You need to put your poop in the potty." Hmmmmm....

It's 9am...

and Tommy is standing at the front door wailing for his daddy. Why? Because Tommy wants to use his hammer on the oven buttons. When I told him no, he suggested that I "go away." His next creative solution is that I should go to work and he'll stay with Daddy. Then, he embarked on an apartment-wide search for Eli -- "Daddy? Daddy? Where are you? Oh, no...He's gone." (I will ask Eli if he allows Tommy to play with the oven buttons but am not expecting that he does.)

UPDATE: We went to the Kensington Gardens playground and I made a friend. She is from LA but has been in London for a long time. The best news is that she has a nanny three days per week who is looking for work two days per week!

On the way home from the park, we stopped at Waitrose which was a disaster. First, Tommy threw up because he'd eaten a bit of the wrapper from his granola bar and it was stuck in his throat. Then, as I was checking out, I looked over and he had tipped the buggy over. Lizzie was buckled in and neither were hurt, but jesus. So I had a stern talk with Tommy about jumping on the board. As we left and were crossing the street, Tommy tripped, so I sort of dragged him along, and while doing so stepped on his hand. YIKES.

But it hasn't been all bad today - here are pictures from getting dressed:

NEW HOUSE!!

We put an offer on a house and got it. It's a two minute walk from the Parsons Green Tube stop (on the District line for those interested). It has four bedrooms and a (tiny) basement. There are some nicely done rooms and some not as nicely done rooms, but it's spacious (for London) and will be great, especially for having company. Also noteworthy is that there is a washer and a separate dryer. We will also have room for an elliptical trainer which is awesome.

We won't be moving into our new house until mid-June, so please don't plan any trips until then. This is a little bit later than we anticipated, and I shipped quite a lot of our clothes, so we will have to do some shopping I expect. We are also going to go ahead and buy a blender this weekend so that we can resume having smoothies for breakfast. It's a little thing, but it matters.

It's a huge relief to have a house, but our offer was accepted right after we saw a beautiful flat a block from Hyde Park. I know we ought to have a house with outdoor space and enough room for the kids, but man, I wish we could take the flat. It's SO pretty.

Mostly, it's nice that Eli won't have to leave work early to see properties, and it's nice that the kids won't have to miss naps so that we can see properties.

Quick update

This morning, Tommy, Lizzie and I went to the playground at Kensington Gardens because Tommy acquired some new sand toys and wanted to try them out. He had fun, except that I won't let him play on the huge ship without Eli because there is no good way for me to get on and off of it while holding Lizzie. (Figured this out the hard way.) Anyway, he really loves playing in the sand and I read somewhere that it's a great way for preschoolers to learn about volume, not to mention pouring (Tommy is becoming very good at pouring). In the evening, we played in the garden for a while (mostly using our hammers to bang on the poor trees) and then looked at three flats nearby. Clearly we are not desperate yet, because all three would work and we don't plan to take any of them. I think we'll go back to Fulham and look at a few more houses...None of the lifts today would accommodate the double stroller and without it, I can't run during the day. And while Eli is a saint for walking in the door and letting me leave to run immediately, I realize it's not really a sustainable routine. Re running: this week I plan to run 25 miles and I have already run 13.

THREE

Update: Here are pictures from Eli's camera.

(This is Tommy taking pictures of very nice strangers.)

Tommy had a lovely day. He woke up a bit before seven and tore through his gifts. (We will post a movie at youtube.com/eliwalter.) He received a lego digger from Lizzie, a camera and a scooter from Eli and me, pajamas from Grandma Sid and Grandpa Ollie (he discovered their other gift during packing and has been happily using his new plate and cutlery since), and a truck from Uncle Brett and Auntie Chinka. He loved all the presents, though we may be a bit early on the camera. Shockingly, the digger was the big hit.

Then, we went to breakfast where he had pancakes and sausage (he loves sausage). He was a very good boy. Afterward, we all walked to Battersea Park which has a children's zoo. See Tommy and Eli looking at the meerkats? Tommy loved it there -- less for the animals and more for the playground. There is an old fire engine set up for the kids to play. Depending on where we live, we may buy memberships to this zoo because it's so fun.

When we were done at the playground/zoo, we came home and took a nap. When he woke up, we had pizza and cupcakes (pink ones, with three red candles in Tommy's) and then Lizzie went to bed and Tommy stayed up with us and watched Monsters, Inc. Honestly, I'm not sure what we were thinking when we chose that movie as he sat with his hands over his ears for about 45 minutes, but when he woke up this morning he asked to watch it...


We just can't believe he's three.

House update

We looked at a house in Fulham today that would be pretty okay, except that it's not available until late June and we can't store our stuff that long (without cost to us). We are looking at three flats on Monday night. We are also considering upping the ol' budget. That will mean we can't exchange Christmas gifts, of course. Would you all like to give us a nice house for Christmas? We thought so.

I got to go to Harrods all by myself this afternoon to do birthday shopping. I'll wait until tomorrow's post -- with pictures -- to show you what the three year old acquires, but I'll warn you that one of the three gifts is pink. And it's a scooter. (Another story not yet told on this blog is that Tommy has pink toenails because he LOVES mine so we painted his. Luckily, he doesn't seem to care about them. I was worried he would looooove them and would insist that I paint them until he was old enough to be ridiculed.) Listen to this funny story on the moth re pink scooters: http://www.themoth.org/listen Scroll down to James Braly, Pink Bicycle.

Cute Onesie

Here's the cute onesie Jess and Sam gave to Lizzie. And here's Lizzie crying in it. I always tell her she's lucky that she's so cute when she cries...

Mommy messed up

Poor Tommy. Yesterday I took him to get his haircut. Because Tommy's mommy is stupid and because the hairdresser didn't speak the very best English, Tommy looks like a mini-Marine. Just in time for his third birthday. (And of course he does miss his hair and feels sad that it's gone whenever he sees a mirror.)

Not hair related, but overheard after Eli made a sandwich for Tommy's dinner: "It's really [pronounced rea-wy] yummy, dad. Thanks for making it for me." I'll take this opportunity to thank Ovie for teaching our child such good manners.

This is a post about Lizzie

These pictures were taken before we left DC, but her parents clearly have a bad case of the second child syndrome, so we can't afford to be picky. Lizzie prefers to have her fingers, my fingers, or a paci in her mouth at all times. Lizzie likes tummy time much better than Tommy did. Lizzie sleeps in her own bed at night now. I thought it would be hard to get her out of ours, mais non! She does not sleep enough, and I think she is overtired, but one of the movers told me there's no such thing as overtired. "It's like overqualified. She's either tired or she's not."

I will briefly touch on some non-Lizzie topics. First, the flat we saw last night was too small. We will see a house tomorrow, but it's in Fulham, not Chelsea. Second, we went back to the playground with the diggers (will post a photo just as soon as I remember the camera) and Tommy had an amazingly huge tantrum when I took away his shovel (spade, here) because he threw sand with it. Another fit before nap, this time because he couldn't take his tools to bed, and I'm contemplating the nap-time cocktail. A little toast to myself for making it through the morning. (Not really.) On the way home we had a long talk about all the things in Virginia (the car and toolbox, NOT Ovie!?) and on the ship (my toys! my stool! my blue bed!) that he misses. It was very sad, and helped me remember that he's going through something that feels hard to him. Though you'd think it would be difficult to forget given how many times per day he tells me he doesn't want to go to London...(And now that we're all feeling badly, I'll tell you that he's woken up, is in a fantastic mood, and has been playing happily and singing for half an hour.)

A sunny day

Today has been better. Yay. Just one serious issue to contend with: twice today I've gone into Tommy's room to find him standing on the ledge of the storm window. It's absolutely terrifying, and so I've been quite angry both times but the fact that the second incident occurred about five hours after the first makes me believe that he does not care whether I am angry or not. Anyway, this time I just stayed in his room until he fell asleep (oh, and took away his hammer). Then, as I was preparing to leave, Lizzie let out a cry and we started all over again.

It is SUNNY here today. No clouds (well, no grey clouds) and the birds are chirping and I do believe it may be spring in London. And even if it is not, we can be thankful for today, right?

We found another very fun playground this morning (that makes three! ). We also saw some kids that we met at yesterday's very fun playground and little Alex even remembered Tommy. They didn't play together but it was still exciting (considering our current friend count).

Before going to the playground, we viewed another flat. It was sort of basement-ish, but very nicely done. However, the third bedroom was about as big as Tommy's bathroom at our old place and we wouldn't be able to get a double bed in it. So that's a no. We're looking at another place this afternoon.

The grouchy half of Lizzie's split personality is winning today, but luckily, all she wants is for me to hold her all the time. I sent the sling and the moby over on the boat which was very stupid considering how much room those take up. Oh well.

I finished the book Brett and Chinka gave me before we left. I liked it very much and would recommend it to all my blog followers. It's called "A Week in December" by Sebastian Faulks. It's very character-heavy (I'm not sure why he bothered with some of them), but it's set in London and is fun to read.

I forgot to write about our trip to Waitrose yesterday. Waitrose is our grocery store here. It's a nice one -- much nicer than Safeway, maybe not as nice as Whole Foods. I've always wondered whether Waitrose is actually profitable, though, because there are always so many workers. SO many. And not checkers and stockers -- people just sort of wandering around the store (but concentrated in the front). Yesterday after nap, we went out to the garden. It was drizzly all day, and Tommy plays mostly in the dirt (mud). So right from the garden, I put him on the board behind Lizzie, and we went to Waitrose. As we were checking out, he got off the board and made the biggest muddy-floor mess I ever recall seeing, anywhere. And it only took about four seconds. I thought, for a split-second that it couldn't possibly be Tommy's mess, but then looked at the board, also covered in mud. I had no idea what to do - but it was too big to leave. AND THEN the swarm of Waitrose workers descended. I didn't have to do a thing. They took care of it in an instant!

Today has been frustrating.

We woke up, hustled out of the house by 9:15 to view a house at 10, and I missed the call at 9:30, informing me the house had been let and so the viewing was canceled. We played at a fun playground, though. I saw two little kids fighting over a toy and had no idea what to do as their mothers were not paying attention.

Tommy had three poopy diapers by 1pm. ARE YOU F***ING KIDDING ME? We've told him he gets a new tool everytime he poops in the potty, but that's obviously not doing the trick. He did use the potty once without any prompting from me. He also showed me that he can put his own pants on.

I think Lizzie is teething as she has been super fussy and insists on being held. And not by Tommy, by me.

I've been unnecessarily and unforgiveably short with Tommy but he really doesn't listen to me and I'm frustrated. This morning after his third bowl of granola, I said he couldn't have anymore and went to put Lizzie to sleep. When I came back, the granola and milk were out, and he was just unscrewing the lid to a full half-gallon of milk...

But it's not all bad. Tommy and I have been talking a lot today about his blood and where it is. No idea how he started thinking about this, but every once in a while, he looks at me and says "My blood is in my body. In my arm." And then I say something about how it's under his skin and he looks puzzled.

In my stay-at-home-mom experiment, I would have to give myself a failing grade. Perhaps we could say there's room for improvement. Sigh.

In the bath tonight Tommy said of Lizzie, "I don't want her to be a baby, I want her to be a boy."

****UPDATE
I'm back from the gym and feeling better. I think once I get Lizzie sleep trained and Tommy starts preschool, things will be fine. (Oh, and once I start working again. That should help, too.)

Yikes!

From now on, we'll stick to one picture per post. That is just horrendous looking. (Let's be sure not to show Aunt Jean, okay?)

Today has been sort of rough:
*Tommy and Lizzie both had blowouts.
*Tommy spilled Nescafe all over about an hour after the cleaning service had finished.
*Tommy and I got in a big fight over whether he "needs" a plastic knife or not.
*Tommy wanted to open my umbrella when we were out at Hyde Park, and the wind blew it about two city blocks before I caught it. Every step I took I wondered if I was getting too far from the kids, but I kept going because I really love my umbrella.
*Tommy announced that he no longer likes black beans.
*Our offer on the house was not accepted -- someone else offered a longer term.
*We visited two more properties and I liked one and Eli liked the other.
*Lizzie barely slept.

Tomorrow will be better. Tommy was particularly poorly behaved today and I am hopeful that tomorrow we will finish up the Easter candy and he will be a sweetheart once again. Let's all cross our fingers, shall we?

PS: It is confirmed that the Russian has two nannies. I am still more envious of the buggies.

London playgrounds are waaaaay better than Arlington playgrounds

Today we went to the playground at Kensington Gardens. It is amazing. There is a huge ship that has a crow's nest you can climb to, and lots of rope bridges. Tommy got stuck in the crow's nest (he was only 1/3 of the way up, but I bet he was still more than 6 feet up) and his daddy had to retrieve him. Some nice little girls tried to coax him down but he was intent on waiting for his daddy. The playground is enormous and it's easy to lose track of your child, but there's a good fence around the whole thing and a guard at the gate. So when I do lose Tommy, there will be only a very slight chance that he could somehow run into the street or something. The good news is that this very fun playground is closer to us than the other one in Hyde Park. It's also very international feeling: Lizzie met a little Spanish baby named Paloma.

On the way to the playground, Tommy spotted a merry-go-round. Note his horse's name:

On the walk back we stopped at the pond with ducks and swans, and Tommy, who was very tired at that point, tripped on his feet somehow so we both laughed at him and looked like bad parents. He was very excited about the swans for some reason. There were lots of pigeons but they wouldn't run when Tommy chased them and he found that confusing and not fun.

We also had late lunch (all of my current blog readers would have considered it dinner) with Simon and Vivian. It was fun to see them both and they did not seem too overwhelmed by our chaotic family. In fact, I think Vivian rather likes children and was incredibly sweet to both of them.

CURRENT PICTURES OF THE LULABELL:

Happy Easter

Tommy was delighted that the Easter Bunny came last night. He had six eggs to find (all chocolate, I'm afraid) and a chocolate bunny and some other smaller candies that he stuffed into his mouth all at once because he was scared I wouldn't let him eat them all. It has been a sugary day for Tommy.

A conversation we had yesterday:
T: I want to play with my cousins.
Me: With Lexy and Millie?
T: Yes. What do they have? A digger?
Me: No, I doubt it.
T: A backhoe?
Me: Probably not.
T: What machines?
Me: I'm not sure. I know they have babydolls.
T: [disappointed look]

Today on the Tube, during a quiet moment: "Does Daddy have a penis?" One of those parenting moments when you're not sure how to react but mostly wonder what in the world made him think of that.

Eli and I decided today to make an offer on the house we looked at on Friday. We went back to the neighborhood, spent some time at the playground that is just blocks away, and now have our hearts a little bit too set on it. As it is not in great condition, we have suggested to the agent that we would do some of the work on it ourselves for a reduced rent, but we have no idea if the property owner will go for it. We walked home on Kings Road and stopped for a snack. Tommy behaved himself reasonably well after we took away his cutlery. We tried to skip the nap and Tommy fell asleep in the stroller around five, which should mess up beditme nicely.

Tommy's new favorite song is "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" by Cindi Lauper. He also loves "Livin' on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi. It is hilarious to hear him singing them all day long. Both songs are from a CD called "Kidz Bop" which is a bunch of old pop songs sung by kids (or kidz). There's a Wham! song that he likes, too, and I like to tell him how his daddy loved Wham! so much that he cried when they broke up.

Lizzie did a lot of spitting up today. She's also been very chatty. She gets a lot of attention from strangers because she's so quick to smile...

You won't care, but the Russian lady(Sabrina) has two bugaboos -- both the model that is more expensive than ours and neither looks as beat up as ours. Tommy likes one of them a lot because it is red. I like both a lot and wish our buggy (that's what we call it here) looked nicer. An aside to the aside, I'm fairly certain Sabrina has two nannies, too, but I'm far more envious of the buggies.

Finally, I do realize I can include photos here, and will do that soon. The Lulabell is looking different - fatter in the cheeks mostly - and I know none of you have seen her lately...

FIRST POST!

Welcome to my brand new blog. I'm afraid it may be a bit boring (unless you really really really love children and think three year olds are interesting), but I don't seem to have enough time to keep up on my email and this seemed like a good solution.


We arrived in London on Tuesday. It feels normal to me, and luckily I remembered a couple of playgrounds. Tommy has met kids most days we've been here. Yesterday, we met a woman who lives in Moscow (but speaks English with an American accent) and her 1.5 year old daughter. We also met the nanny, but as she spoke Russian, we didn't chat with her. Tommy played well with the daughter although things got rocky when she wanted his hammer. The hammer is a gift from Ovie, and he adores it (sleeps with it, even). (He also has a hammer from Grandma Sid, but that hammer is now mine when we "fix" things.) He happily shared his saw, tape measure and a screw driver. I consider this significant progress in the sharing department. (Now if we could see some progress with the potty training...)


Afterward, we went to a petting zoo set up in Duke of York Square (right near Sloane Square). Tommy was unimpressed as I had promised chicks and there were none. Just chickens. (And rabbits, llamas or alpacas (are they the same?), ducks, sheep and guinea pigs.) He wanted to run in the middle of a closed field to chase pigeons. We distracted him and he pounded on a bench with his hammer for quite a while, then we went to St. Pancras so I could see it completely finished.


Tommy fell asleep in the tube and when he woke up, he was amazingly grouchy. He even told me he didn't "want any rabbits around here." I guess I can understand why the Easter Bunny concept is a little creepy, but he's never seemed concerned before.


Lizzie is doing well. She is starting to sleep in the pack n play now (yes, that would be instead of in our bed with us). After she does it for a week, she'll start sleep training. Right now, she needs us to put her to sleep and we are tired of it. She is affectionately called "the worst baby on the block" but only because she's so hard to get to sleep. The cutest thing about Lizzie right now is how much she likes her brother.