Reading

We have reached an exciting moment in Tommy's childhood.   

Since he was a newborn, I have looked forward to introducing him to my favorite books.  Or, the books I loved best when I was young.  I don't remember many picture books (well, that's not true, I remember them, but don't really remember love love loving them), but once I was seven or eight and could read proper chapter books, I do believe my life changed.  

I have lived in a fantasy world ever since, and that's not really even a joke.  

Anyway, Tommy's class saw "Charlotte's Web" the movie in preparation to see "Charlotte's Web" the play (Tommy was sick and missed it!), and I decided at that point to place an amazon order.  I thought for a while about which books I'd most like to read with him and settled on "The BFG" (partly because I knew he would love a story about giants) and "Charlotte's Web" (this book will forever make me remember Tiffany Pascua's mom because she was a kindergarten teacher with the best voice for Charlotte ever).  (I also ordered a new one from a series that is more like the Magic Treehouse books called "The Worst Witch".  It appears to be adorable.  It's about a little girl who goes to a school for witches and during their first year each little witch is given a black cat.) 

On Saturday, I was hung over (true) and decided to read "the BFG" to myself while listening to the children watch "Peter Pan" (still feeling lots of guilt about that).  I was about 1/3 in, and had just decided that it is way too scary to read to a four-year-old, when Tommy noticed it.  HE LOVES IT.

I'm sorry

While this will come as a huge surprise to all of you, sometimes I am a little bit grumpy. Honestly, it's not very often, but when I am in one of my cranky moods, it can be difficult to coax myself out of it.

This afternoon I snapped at Eli for silly reasons and his response was to pack up the kids, take them to the park and forbid me to come. So, I vacuumed furiously for 20 minutes (we have a burst pipe on our street and so the council keeps putting down salt which gets tracked into our house and requires more than one vacuum per week of the main level). While I vacuumed, I thought to myself, "self, you have been wanting a gellac pedi, maybe you should call and see if you can go right now." So here I sit, tapping this post into my iPhone, waiting for my pedicure to begin.

Friends, when you have a husband as nice as mine, it can be a little bit difficult (for example, right now I feel guilty), but mostly it's awesome and I wish I could clone him for my single friends. And that's all I have to say about that.

(Well, and, I'm sorry, Eli. I hope the kids are being sweet.)

Edited to show you just how sweet the kids were -- this was not posed:

Pancake Day

This morning when I came in from the gym, Tommy and Eli were discussing pancakes.  Tommy wanted them; Eli did not want to make them (or, more accurately, did not want to commit me to making them).  Tommy wanted pancakes so badly that he was moved to tears, but I refused to make them.  We didn't have time, I said, they make too many dirty dishes. 

In a flash of genius parenting, I said I'd give him toast with peanut butter and syrup (his favorite pancake topping combination), and he agreed.  (And gobbled up the entire piece of toast which was his second breakfast.) 

Then, I arrived at work and my coworker asked if I was doing pancakes tonight.  I looked at him like he was nuts, and he said, "you know, Pancake Day? Shrove Tuesday?" and it turns out that this is the day before Lent and the day before Lent in the UK, you eat pancakes. 

Poor Tommy who totally knew what he was talking about when his parents thought he was going nuts.

Fresh Air

Until about a month ago, Eli managed my iPhone.  Which means he put all the music and podcasts on it.  Sometimes I told him what I wanted -- but not usually, because mostly he knows what I want to listen to). 

And then I decided that I wanted to listen exclusively to podcasts when I was at the gym or running.  Which meant that he had to update my iPhone a lot and I started to feel badly about asking him to do it.  I decided things had to change when -- one Saturday -- I was coming home from the gym and realized that I'd listened to every single Moth episode he'd loaded the night before all in one day. 

So I set out to download some podcasts myself. 

I don't need to tell you this as I'm sure you manage your own iPhone, but it turns out that it's quite simple. 

It even turns out that they make little recommendations for you -- if you like, for example, This American Life (the best ever), then you might like Stuff You Missed In History Class.  Why yes, I do, thank you very much whoever you are that can read my thoughts and knows how to use iTunes better than I do. 

This post is much longer than it needs to be.  So, I will get to the point:  now I listen to Fresh Air and Stuff I Missed In History Class for an hour each day. 

I love it.  I have learned very interesting things (my favorite example).  BUT, I also spend more of my day googling topics I've listened to and this normally occurs while I am at work (because I don't want to distract myself while re-watching Friday Night Lights in the evenings).  Fresh Air = less productive at work.  The problem is compounded this week because last's week issue of the New Yorker was a double issue (the annual Valentine's Day reprieve, during which you are meant to catch up on past issues, I think?), so I have been listening to Fresh Air on my commute as well as at the gym. 

Will they block my access to Wikipedia, do you think? 

To make up for the boring post, I will slip in a cute picture of Lulu I took this morning as she tortured her big brother (she is holding her brother's very favorite thing in the world:  Lightening McQueen):

Flat Stanley

Tommy goes back to school tomorrow after having last week off.  He looks forward to going back to school because he wants to be with Sophia.  (I could not make that up.)

We receive all school announcements and paperwork on Thursdays.  They make it incredibly hard to miss this important information by (1) sending it all home on Thursday in brightly colored folders which have the child's name on them and say something like "important information, please pay attention" on them and (2) following it all up with an e-mail which reminds you that the folders are coming and also attaches the paperwork in case your child has managed to lose their school bag somewhere between school and home.

So since Thursday, February 9, we have had on our kitchen counter a letter from Miss Jo, asking us to please have our child color in "Flat Stanley" and, to make it easy, and already cut out "Flat Stanley" (essentially a paper doll).  Tommy was charged with coloring it and then we were supposed to take a photo somewhere (on holiday if we went on one, or at football class or even just at the playground).

On Friday, I finally asked Tommy to color in Flat Stanley which took all of thirty seconds.  He was colored entirely in red except the face which was light pink.

And on Friday night when Eli came home, I said, "honey, whatever we do this weekend, we have to take a picture of Tommy with Flat Stanley somewhere a little bit interesting".  And he said, "sure, no problem."

Fast forward to Sunday at three pm, and picture me in the kitchen swearing upon realizing that we had left Flat Stanley on the table every time we left the house.  Then, imagine us, brainstorming.  What could we do before bedtime that would be funny? Or clever? Or just not a picture of Flat Stanley at the playground (showing the rest of Tommy's class for once and for all that we lead a very boring life).

So Eli said we should go to the Monument to the Great Fire of 1666.  We had always talked about going, and as most of you know, we're likely leaving London at some point this year.  So even though I really just wanted to lie on the couch and finish the New Yorker, I said yep, we should go, and off we set.

OF COURSE the Tube had some work happening and the journey was harder than it should have been.  But really, this post is whiny enough without going into it.

 So, we arrived at the monument.  Kids are free and I'm going to tell you why:  because if you try to make your kid walk up 311 steps, they are going to need to be carried at some point and the expression "adding insult to injury" applies when you have to pay to carry your kid up that many steps.

Tommy walked up all of them himself.  Lulu walked up none of them herself.

We stepped out onto the deck and Tommy looked up at me.  "Mommy, I'm feeling a little bit anxious" he said, as he clung to the wall.  "Oh, but honey, look, you can't fall.  It'll be fine."  "No, Mommy.  I'm very nervous."

And I said, "you're a Kent, aren't you, honey.  You're just trying to fool everybody by looking like your daddy and sharing all of his interests."  (Tommy even wants to be an architect so he can go to work with Daddy.)  Anyway, we couldn't have been at the top of the tower longer than 10 minutes, but it was fun.  Nice job, E.

 Guess who walked down these stairs like an old lady??  Tommy.  We had to let what felt like one million people pass us.

 He felt better for this picture.  Eli placed him on top of a four foot high box (no idea what it's for), and then got on the ground to get the picture.  I thought it was weird that Tommy felt so comfortable in this situation -- one in which he certainly could get hurt -- as compared to the (very safe) tower.

Of course, from this entire experience comes my commitment to -- next time -- help Tommy get his homework done at the beginning of his holiday instead of the end.

Lulu, today

I know.  It's a bit boring.  But somehow very cute.  She can dribble (is it called that?) her soccer ball/football.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day, friends! 

My parents sent the kids a package full of lovely gifts, and Eli and I got them each a book and some chocolate, so it was a big party at our house this morning.  I set everything on the table and when they walked into the kitchen, they couldn't believe it. 

Of course, things deteriorated quickly when Lizzie saw the lollipops on the packages from my parents ("no breakfast...lolly!"), and then we managed to make a large error when we gave Lizzie the plate with Rudolph (yes, that's the reindeer and I still use my Christmas mugs too) when Tommy had his heart set on it.  Anyway, it was otherwise a nice morning and the kids were very happy.  Tommy's (and Lulu's really) favorite gift was a container of buttons that my mom sent because Tommy was really interested in sewing when she was here at Christmas.  He has declared the "golden" buttons to be treasure and they were already causing all sorts of fights when I left this morning. 

We had a very busy weekend because we have moved all the baby things into the guest room with the goal of getting rid of it by the time visitors arrive on March 12 (we are all quite excited that Uncle Brett will be here for a week and overlap a bit with Sid and Ollie's visit later in the week).  We cleaned it all and photographed it, so that we can put it up on gumtree.  If it's not gone in two weeks, it goes to the charity shop.  (I'm not sure why we didn't just take it directly to the charity shop, but, well, we're a couple of hours into this project now.)  We also had a doctor appointment for Tommy on Saturday.  It turns out that he had a pretty bad infection and probably should have been on antibiotics (though he certainly has managed to beat it without them), and that his ears are very clogged with mucus.  This comes as a great relief to his parents, who thought that his hearing was deteriorating.  He is still a bit low energy, but definitely coming out of it.  Tommy is on half-term this week, so he has loads of playdates as well as more time than usual to relax (no homework, no reading, etc.).  I think he needed it (though he does miss his girlfriend, Sophia). 

The Lu spent all weekend talking.  She is only quiet if you ask her to say something in particular, otherwise she is constantly narrating.  This morning at breakfast, she told Eli that he is a monkey.  "Daddy...monkey."  "Who's a monkey? Me?" "Yes! " and then laughed.  As Mandy says, Lulu is a determined child.  She will not be deterred from her agenda, no matter what.  Mandy is certain that this will serve Lulu well in the future; I am certain that it's going to kill me long before there's a meaningful future.  We are having a lot of consequences these days -- she did not eat anything over the weekend other than fruit smoothies, so she didn't get sweets.  When served with her meal, Lulu leans back in her chair, looks you in the eye and says, "no like it" in the most dismissive way you could imagine that being said by a two-year-old, and then sits patiently until she thinks up something better to do.  (Mandy said that Lulu ate a HUGE lunch yesterday and no wonder.) 

I hope your days are filled with lots of Valentines. Xoxoxoxoxoxo 

PS:  My friend Karalee sends out Valentines instead of holiday cards and when I received mine last week, I was delighted!  So much fun!  I'm considering copying the idea, or at least using it on the years I can't get holiday cards out during the holidays. 

The Queen's Knickers

So you know what? The trial is over, but only sort of.  For now, it's over.  And I am so pleased, for so many reasons.  I will happily and truthfully tell you that it was fascinating to experience the English version of litigation (for my American lawyer readers, the best thing about barristers is that they make the couple of weeks before trial and the weeks of trial so much nicer).  But, I'm happy to be back to the regular routine that includes walking Tommy to school each morning and having enough time in the morning to play for five minutes or read a story. 

This morning Tommy pointed at Eli's coffee mug, which has Union Jacks all over it, and told us that the Queen has those on her underwear.  "Really?"  we said.  "Oh yes," he replied, "I know all about the Queen's knickers."  Then, he recited a story about Queen Elizabeth's underwear.  He is silly, but so is the book that they are reading at school.  (They are focusing on the Queen this term because of the diamond jubilee.) 

We have had snow flurries all day long.  I am secretly hoping to wake up to enough snow to make it impossible to get to work, but a snowstorm of that magnitude is not predicted.  Sadly.

Just some things I've been meaning to tell you about

Grandma Nancy made this advent calendar, and while the holidays are long past, it's pretty much adorable and worth mentioning.  Each day has a pocket for chocolate, and a little ball hanging on the gold thread in front of the pocket.  So each morning, you put one more ornament on the Christmas tree, and eat the coins (obviously, we need two in each pocket).  Super cute and very reusable which is  lovely.

 Having a tea party.

 Flying the glider from Uncle Brett and Auntie Chinka.  We killed it this day, but had a great time.  Tommy got really good at flying it (and so crashed it a lot).

 Running around, waiting for her brother to finish with the glider and for someone to fix her hair.

 We had Harry and Amelia (who spend a lot of time with Tommy and Lizzie because their nannies are housemates) and their parents over for brunch, and the kids table was every bit as chatty as the adult table.  A funny story:  we were all sitting down and the moment my bum hit my chair and I prepared to serve myself I realized that I had not given any food to the children.  It was very embarrassing.

 Opening a Christmas package from Uncle Andy, Katherine, Lexy, Milie, Adeline and Claire.  The matchbox cars were a huge hit, of course.

 Tommy reading to Lizzie.

And now we're caught up, I think.

(Quick question:  Do your kids watch Peter Pan?  And do you feel guilty about it? The parts about "the red man" and the indians?  I do.  Why does Tommy think it's the best movie ever?)

(And one more, about Downton Abbey.  If you watch, you'll think it's funny.)

Snow!

So the interesting thing that happened in London this week is that it got quite cold.  And then, last night while we (ah-hem, Eli) cooked dinner, it began to snow.

Eli told me something I did not know about him:  when it begins to snow, he feels depressed.  This, he explained is because of all those times when it started to snow in April when he was growing up in Laramie.

I am quite lucky, then, that when it snows and I don't have to go anywhere, it feels cozy and exciting.

And of course those two paragraphs are absolutely irrelevant when you have a four-year-old boy running around talking about all the things he's doing in the snow the next morning.  He got his snow boots out and put them on, talked endlessly about using his favorite shovel for digging out the house, etc.

Lulu skipped her nap yesterday so that we could all go for a swim during Tommy's lesson, and so she was lying in my arms trying to fall asleep before eating rather than being excited about snow.  But she is also a bit more sensitive and finds the cold a bit difficult to deal with despite being bundled in her buggy sleeping bag with an extra blanket (a bit of a wimp).

So the trial this week was really interesting.  It meant I had to leave early which was a bit hard on Tommy because I couldn't take him to school.  These little creatures really like the same things to happen each day (Lulu calls me "Man-ee" all day on Friday because she has to adjust to having me at home rather than Mandy).

Our kids just keep getting cuter.  How is that possible?  Yesterday Eli and I cleaned out the basement and Lulu found a bag of shoes that my friend Larissa sent to me for her.  Even the smallest shoe is about an inch too big for Lulu, but she didn't mind; she was giddy in fact.  After depositing half of them into her trick-or-treating bag (we found lots of great stuff down there) she came up stairs singing "new one shoe!  new one shoe!" and then put on a pair of red sparkly shoes (think Dorothy) and did not remove them until bed time.  Her talking is becoming really good -- lots of three word sentences and she spends a lot of time narrating (eg "mommy lulu walk" or "mommy read book lulu" or "lulu nommy swim").  Lulu has stopped sitting in her seat, and prefers to stand on a chair and eat.   She's a horrible eater, so we have indulged her desire but as she needs to sit down for at least 30 minutes per meal, we probably need to switch back to her seat.

And apart from homework struggles (which his teacher is adamantly against -- if he isn't happy to do it, he apparently needn't do it) and a lingering cough which affects his sleep and therefore his cheerful personality, Tommy is great.  We will be visiting the doctor this week and if Tommy is prescribed antibiotics (for just the second time in his life), I will be happy.  One cute thing is that yesterday during swimming lessons, we had Lulu in the little pool and Tommy's teacher was working on backstroke with him and he looked over at us and mouthed, "he's singing."  Then, the part where he was working on diving was adorable.

Another post full of random pictures coming up.