Catchup

Noone turned up for book swap which was disappointing, but at least the house was tidy.

On Thursday, M went to atelier. Only one more week left until the end of term, and then in September he goes in the afternoons. Again, I've only signed him up for 2 sessions, but it was difficult trying to decide which two days! I'm trying to fit around what his friends are doing, so monday and Tuesday seemed the best days, as I think we are going to try football again on Wednesday, lots of his friends have yoga (which he doesn't want to do) at a soft play place on Thursdays and then play there afterwards so we go along, and on Fridays we always seem to be doing something or going away somewhere.
One of his friends, MS is only going to school in the afternoons, which is good for us as it means that we can get together with him in the mornings, so hopefully the transition of everyone else going to school will be less painful.

So Thursday lunchtime we went to our favourite cafe. The women love him there, and think its so cute when he orders his 'petit sandwich jambon, mini carac and jus de pomme s'il vous plaît'. I'm just glad that he's getting a bit more confidence in speaking French, particularly with me around.
He's had a few problems at atelier with one little boy, A, so I've suggested that if we learn French together over the summer, then A will understand him, and maybe he won't push him around. M seems to like that idea, so I think lots of French reading and doing the French section on EC is in order.
Anyway, after lunch we went back home before going off to see friends after their yoga class, but there was only one friend there.

Friday, I really can't remember. I know that it was M's vernissage in the evening, where there is a display of all the things the kids have made at atelier, and then you get to take them home. Unfortunately, a lot of M's stuff was inexplicably missing. I'm thinking that the parents of one of the other children who has a name very similar to his must have taken it. Quite disappointing really. Their theme this term has been great. It was a different colour every week, and without fail they would completely decorate the nursery and even the food at gouter was the right colour!
We then went to a local restaurant for dinner, so it was about 9pm by the time we got home, which I guess just set ourselves up for the next few days of miserableness.

Saturday morning - well, we'll forget about that. Not one of the three of us covered ourselves in glory there.
Saturday afternoon, we flew to England for MIL's 70th birthday celebrations. Flew into Luton and hired a car for the day. We'd booked into the Marriott in Northampton, mainly because it had a pool. Got there to discover that due to water contamination, Anglian Water was recommending not to use it. Annoyed mainly because they appeared to know about this a few days before we arrived, and the hotel hadn't done the courtesy of letting us know.
Still it got worse. On checking out, we mentioned about the pool closure, to which the receptionist replied that it had been opened since Friday! WTF?!
"Was the guy who told you about it Polish?", she says.
I couldn't give a monkeys what nationality he was. That had nothing to do with it. There was also a notice on reception saying about it too.
We were a tad miffed, so a letter is possibly going to find its way to Marriott head office. I know the circumstances were out of the hotels control, but they could have handled it a darn sight better.

Anyway, on to the party. We went to the Peppermill pub in Daventry, which was okay, but not necessarily my cup of tea. The carvery just seemed a bit too much for a warm summer's day.
M had two of A's cousins sons (don't know exactly what relation they are to him), T & C to play with, which made the afternoon more enjoyable for him, until he had 2 complete meltdowns in quick succession. I fear M will be known as the child whose screams can break glass!
We got back home in Lausanne at about 11.30, to absolute chaos. The streets were packed with celebrating Spaniards, hooting and drumming and cheering. I think that M was a little unsure.

Monday, and M woke up at 9.30 (thank goodness after going to bed at 11.30!). We stayed in all day due to the heat, and didn't kill each other even though there was some tiredness on both sides.
Until bedtime. A put M to bed and a few minutes later he came out to ask if he could watch the tennis for a few minutes. Seeing as it had been on all afternoon and he hadn't shown an interest in it, I said no, and that he should go back to bed. To which I got shouted at. So I said that he was having no sticker today because he shouted (an incentive to try to curb the aggression he's been showing lately). So he stands in front of me and does a wonderful ear-splitting, blood-curdling scream.
Thank god A took control. Playmobil confiscation and time out ensued. Finally he came to apologise, but was still very upset. Turns out that he was sad, because he was feeling so bad, and that he'd made me feel bad. I can but hope that this is a marker for him to look back on in the future when he's getting cross.

Tuesday was better, although again we stayed in all afternoon after atelier in the morning.

Overall, M has been doing quite a bit of EC (I really think we should subscribe), lots of playmobil playing, spending time in the sandpit on the balcony, some baking, and helping me with the dishwasher and washing (although we have to make this into a game for him to help me!)

We are off camping with some friends at the weekend, which I am really looking forward to, and then I am looking after N and MC in the mornings next week while their mum M has a French course.

All in all, not a very exciting catchup. I'll have to try better next time!