Day Two - Sunday 5th August

M wakes up at 6.15am, asking for milk as usual. A seems amazingly awake, whilst I struggle to open my eyes.
It is usually the other way round in our house when the alarm goes off. I did have a disturbed night though, first struggling to get to sleep because of my headache, then getting cold and not being able to find the duvet. Did have a nice dream about Julie Roberts though. Not sure what it was about, just remember that she was in it.

We decide to rearrange the van before we leave, so that at least future stops may be less painful than the previous nights. I suspect that we may have a few more side-of-the road overnighters before the 2 months is up, but its not really a problem, and it does save us some money!
We may also have got ourselves sorted out properly in the van by the time 2 months is over too!

Leave the parking place at about 8am, to find somewhere to have breakfast. Travel for about 20 minutes and find a service station, with another nice restaurant/cafe. Share croissant au chocolat and phili on roll. I get my morning fix of coffee (2 in fact, to keep me going!). M charms one of the waitresses into giving him a children's coffee (frothy milk), an amaretto biscuit and a lollipop, which he ignores my pleas to not eat quite yet, and then complains that his teeth are sticking together!

M is finding this all a bit daunting I think. The van is a fascinating place for an almost 3 year old with all its switches and buttons and cupboards and nooks and crannies. Unfortunately I am so terrified that he is going to break something as it all seems rather delicate, that I seem to be saying 'Don't touch', 'No' and 'Be Careful' a rather lot. Still its just something to add to the long list of things that M seems to be currently holding against me.

My feet are swelling up quite badly, a combination of hot weather and sitting still for so long. I really hope that they aren't like this for whole of the trip. It will annoy me. Have been sitting here, trying to move them around a bit, but they still look like lumps of meat on the end of my legs. Any remedies greatly appreciated.

We hope to stop at about lunchtime and get some bread, cheese and ham for diy sandwiches, but the service station we stop at has nothing of the sort. CB radios, seat covers, dirty dvds, crisps, biscuits and sweets, but no bread.

To be continued......

….continuing this several days later so have sort of forgotten exactly what happened, except that we had planned to stop in Clausthal-Zellerfeld in Germany, but as we were making such good time we decided to continue further up the motorway to Soltau.Really glad we did, as it was a great campsite. We managed to get a pitch right next to the playground so M was happy as we made dinner and again tidied the van – its all we seem to be doing!

He managed to annoy a 9 year old by insisting on taking sand from the ramp he had just built, although the 9 year old tried to get his own back by asking us quite insistently if we had seen his blue car, looking at M all the time he was asking us!

The toilet/shower block was absolutely fabulous. Real hotel quality. The radio was constantly piped into each toilet and shower room, and they had cool family bathrooms. I can tell that I will be boring people with my appraisal of each and every campsite, of which there are going to be many, seeing as we are staying in a lot of places only one night!

Day One - Saturday 4th August

Started off at 5pm, 1 hour later than planned. Almost immediately pulled into garage as front left was looking a bit flat. Just needed some air.

After not many more kilometres, M suddenly declares that he's done pee-pee and is all wet. Sure enough, its soaked the child seat and the suede car seat. Stop to change clothes and put towel on seat. Just past Bern he does another one. Then declares that he needs a poo. Stop again. Decide that we won't make it to the first campsite until well past 8pm, so we better stop somewhere to eat. Stop at Cindy's Diner, a very authentic looking American style diner. Plans for healthy eating holiday go out the window as we have burgers and chicken nuggets and chips and things. M bullies a 9 year old into submission over the use of a Gameboy.

I feel a bit tired and have a bit of a headache, but drive part of the way anyway, because I was finding M's inability to stop shrieking at me for some reason or other rather wearing.
At 10pm we finally make it to the first campsite, but the gate is closed. Find the owner, who states that he is full, so carry on to find somewhere else. M finally falls asleep: I think he was holding out to sleep in the roof.

Decide that actually we aren't going to find a campsite, so stop at a parking layby. These places in Germany are pretty good; you can still hear the road, but some of them have toilets, picnic benches and lots of space.

Realise that we packed really badly because almost everything has to come out of the van to put the bed up. M gets posted into the roof, still asleep. A and I settle down for the night at about 11.30, after experiencing the toilet which flushes when you lock and unlock the door. Share the van with a fly and a moth.

Catch Up

Well, obviously I can't really catch up almost 6 months worth of stuff, but I can do a bit.

Starting with today:
M amazingly slept until 8am, which is unheard of (normally its 6am!) and A went into work a bit late, just cos he could.
I still haven't got dressed at 11.15am, but I don't care as we've had a good morning.
Non-existant breakfast, followed by just laying on the sofa chatting about nothing, then I read Sinbad the Sailor from Illustrated Stories for Boys which is the longest story I've ever read to M. He was flagging at the end (not really enough different pirates/dragons/monsters in it).
We then made cushion towers, and then I made us both a cup of tea and we discussed cogs in the salad spinner following on from a chat about gear sticks we had in the hire car last week.
Bringing us up to now, where predictably I am unable to type for more than a few seconds without interruptions. Why is that? And why is it that at the weekend, when A was looking after M whilst I was finally unpacking in the bedroom, A could get on with stuff in the kitchen whilst M played happily by himself. He never lets me do that!

Off to a play centre this afternoon as the weather is, once again, rubbish. Atelier finished last week - we made sure we were back from the UK in time for the last atelier session and the vernissage (an exhibition of all the kids work over the last term which you can then tear down from the walls and take home - must take pics and post) - so we have full weeks with nothing on.

Still, off to Scandinavia in 27 days for 2 months. Getting excited now. I spent a lot of yesterday (another rain-delayed day) going through the camping book we have and marking the sites on our road map, just so that even though we aren't going to book anywhere, we have a rough idea of where the nearest sites are when we are on the road. A tried to load lots of maps onto his GPS phone thingy, which worked ok until he realised that he didn't have the code anymore because he'd reinstalled it, so he had to go searching for the code to make it work. See, I still believe a good old-fashioned map is better. At least you can't lose your position due to the malalignment of the satellites or whatever it uses! OK, you can be a crap map reader, but I have more faith in my map reading abilities than in A's ability to sort out the GPS!

We're hiring this van. There seems to be so much space in it, although I'm sure I won't be saying that come the end of September! M has insisted that he won't be sleeping in the roof, which scuppers our plans a little, but we've reassured him that if he goes to sleep in the roof, we will move him to the lower bed when we go to bed. The only thing that concerns me about that is that the gas stove and the fridge, cupboards etc are in the lower part of the van, but then I would be surprised if he managed to do too much damage without me waking up, seeing as my sleeping is pathetic at the moment.

We're planning on driving up through Germany to Denmark, hoping to visit Legoland for M's birthday on the 10th Aug, then across to Sweden (on the really long bridge, can't remember what its called just now), visiting Gothenburg and Stockholm, then across to Oslo and Bergen in Norway, followed by a huge trip (probably 5 days driving) to Tromso which is in the Arctic Circle (can't quite persuade A to go up to North Cape) and then across to Finland, visiting Santa Claus at his village on the way down to Helsinki. Then take the ferry across to Tallinn in Estonia, and back home, probably going through Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, and trying to avoid Russia as the van is uninsured for there. All in 2 months...... We must be mad, expecially travelling with a 3 year old who is unused to car travel, seeing as we don't actually have one!

Am planning on taking the laptop for M to watch DVDs etc, so hopefully I will be able to write a few posts about our adventures and load them up on the rare occasions we have Wifi at the campsite.

Have had a funny few days myself since coming back from the UK. I have been pretty tired even though it was a holiday (chasing around after an almost 3 year old, and waking up at 4.30 every morning in a tent is not my ideal holiday I have to say!) and M was quite grouchy as he never quite got enough sleep. Also 2 of my friends have just given birth, which while it is a fantastic occasion and congratulations to K and C, leaves me feeling a bit deflated. Being the only person in my group of mummy friends who isn't pregnant for the second time is hard to take sometimes. If it was down to nature why I wasn't pregnant, then I think I may be able to cope better, but knowing that I could be pregnant if only A would change his mind, makes it a little harder to take I think. I am trying very hard not to let my feelings show to my friends, as it is not their fault in any way, but it may be why I've been in a funny mood lately, knowing that this is the start of at least 6 births in the next couple of months.

Still, A did say never say never, so you never know!

Where did that come from?

Sitting watching Aunty Mabel and Pippen with M, and she's looking after a rabbit.

I say that if we had a garden it might be nice to have a rabbit.
M: 'But we would have 2 bunnies, mummy'
Me: 'Maybe if we had a garden'
M: 'But I have a kitchen garden mummy'
Me: 'Really?'
M: 'A bunny and tortoise come to visit in my kitchen garden'

Where the hell does he get this from?

What did we do?

Ok, so I know that the St Anton adventure isn't finished yet, but I'll get round to it, I promise.

Just wanted to blog about what we've been doing today, mainly because I feel that if I actually write down what we do day to day, I might feel that we actually do something (or not, as the case may be, but then that may be the kick up the backside I need). Obviously, even though I say that its going to be a regular thing, as with most things I do, I won't follow through (note to self: another post might be in order here).

So today.......

Had to wait for an Ikea delivery (8am to 9.30am, they arrived at 9.05am) with new mattress. Woohoo, may actually get a good nights sleep for the first time in about a year.

Put washing in (better go get it out before it starts to smell), still got 10,000 loads to do from holiday.

Finished off the online shop that I started last night, and annoyingly (ok, so I went a little over the top with how cross I was) couldn't finish as the site kept failing and then our bb access went down. Should arrive at 7pm, which isn't bad considering last night I booked the 2.30pm slot but was convinced that I'd have to take a slot in a couple of days, and so I'd have to go to the shops, which was going to p me off even more.

Have put the new slats and mattress on the bed with a little help from M (this help consisted of him pulling the mattress over and hiding underneath, which is amusing the first 4 times, but then starts to wear a little thin).

Also semi-fixed 4 new shelves to our wardrobe which we'd ordered. We aren't really clothes hanging people, so to increase our pathetic amount of storage space, we've bought some shelves to replace the rail. I'm sure that when A gets home I will have put them in the wrong place or something.

Read M his tractor book, doing a few counting things and colour descriptions. Unfortunately there was only a maximum of 4 of any one thing in the book, so unless we were going to count fence slats (which I thought was taking it a bit far!) it was quite straightforward.

A police car going past with sirens blaring necessitated a trip to the balcony to have a look. I am so terrified that one day I'm going to throw him off, not because I feel depressed or anything, almost like I believe that some freak gust of wind is going to wrest him from my grasp and throw 11 floors to the ground below. I think some weird things sometimes.
Anyway, the police car brought forth a new word - unfortunately.
M wanted to wait outside until an ambulance and a fire engine went past to, but I had to explain that 'unfortunately they don't always travel in threes'. Cue lots of 'unfortunately', 'unfortunately' etc.

We also did some drawing which M asked to do. Sometimes I think I make things hard for myself. When he asks to do some sort of crafty thing, I believe that we have to do some fantastic creation, when really, with a small boy with the concentration span of maximum 15 minutes, something simple would probably work best.
So I got out some coloured paper (for once he chose the blue, normally its pink or red) and various crayons, pens and chalk and left him to it.

I was pretty pleased with what he did, not necessarily the drawing (although of course every drawing he does is beautiful! Lol!) but more the fact that most of the time he held the pen the right way, instead of in a fist. I think he realised himself that he had a bit more control doing it that way. His circles are also coming on, so there almost looks like some structure to his drawing. He also kept all the stuff on the table, which is a first!

We also did some train and tower building with blocks. Sometimes I think some duplo might be good, but then I know that he has more than enough toys to be getting on with.

We also listened to M's Milk and Cookies Kindermusik cd (we had to listen to one song about 8 times!). Of course if I had just said 'Let's listen to your Kindermusik cd' all would've been fine, but because I mentioned milk & cookies, I then had to go get some......

Anyway, that was a really productive morning. I think I will probably flag in the afternoon and I'm sure that A would say that I should really take a nap when M does, but the quiet time is nice. Why waste it sleeping?!

St Anton Adventure Part 1

It all started on Saturday. The 9.20 train from Lausanne. 4 train changes and 5 hours later and we arrive at our destination; St Anton am Arlberg, Austria.

The train journey was pretty good, made easier by A's DIY job on our wooden sledge. He'd taken 4 wheels from his roller blades and attached them using long screws and bolts to the runners. This meant that we had our own trolley to carry our luggage. Of course we couldn't steer it, and the sheer volume of luggage he'd insisted on bringing (we're staying in a luxury hotel, so our stay should be luxurious, apparently) meant that even on the way to the bus stop to get to the train station the bags fell off several times and we made the bus with only a minute to spare (the sight of him running up the road because he thought the no 4 that had just passed him was the no 1 was a sight to behold).

What was also good was the fact that the first train, 2 ½ hours to Zurich had a family carriage, so M could play on the slide and climbing frame to his hearts content. I find it so amusing listening to him rabbiting on at all the other kids in English, not really realising that most of the time they don't understand a word he's saying. Between A and I we understand both German and French so we can normally get the gist of what the other kids were saying. One particular exchange was particularly amusing. M was telling some small child that it was fun to hide under the slide, and why doesn't he come with M? He then proceeded to tell him that we live in Lausanne (a favourite topic of conversation with M at the moment). The poor child turned to his mother and in Swiss German said, “Mummy, why can't I understand what he's saying?”. “Because he's speaking in English, darling”. Bless her, she then asked M what his name was in English, to which he duly replied, adding to the end “and I live in Lausanne”!

The train from Zurich to Sargans, was initially not so pleasant. We only had 9 minutes to cross platforms (not a small feat with all our luggage) and I got on first with M in the buggy to find it packed out.
The entrance to the carriage was very small and there were lots of people behind me, so with M asleep I tried to go down the aisle of the carriage. However, at the entrance to the carriage proper, there was a suitcase blocking the buggy's path. There was a woman sitting looking at me, so in my halting German said, “Können Sie...” and then indicated that maybe she could move the suitcase out of my way as I could not get past the buggy to move it, and there was a big guy directly behind me. She just looked at me and shrugged. I began to feel my blood beginning to boil. I did not need someone pretending that they had no idea what I wanted help with, someone who seemed content to let me struggle, when I knew that A was trying to get all the bags onboard, and the train was about to leave at any moment. Luckily, an English guy realised what the problem was, and cleared a path for me.
Then I had to find a seat. By this time, M was awake, albeit rather groggy. I went down the carriage and then a woman spoke to me in Swiss German and stood up. From what I could gather, she was getting off at the next stop so we could have her seats. Of course, trying to persuade M to get out of the buggy into a seat so I could fold up the buggy and get it out of the way was not an easy thing, and the young woman behind me was giving me dirty looks. By this point I almost told her that if she was so keen to get past, why didn't she just climb onto my back and leapfrog over M.
Eventually we sat down, and then I realised that the train was moving and there was no sign of A. Panicking slightly, I left a still groggy M sitting in his seat, and went back down the carriage. I found most of our bags at the entrance, but no sign of the sledge or our large case. Panicking slightly more now, particularly as A had the tickets, I went back to our seats, only to see him coming towards me. He had run out of space where we got on, and so went one carriage further up to put the rest of the stuff on!
He'd also found a spare 6 seater carriage further down the train (think the individual carriages on the Hogwarts Express!) so after all that faff of getting a seat, we moved everything, including a now sleeping M, to our 'own' carriage.

The next train to Buchs was packed, and people weren't particularly bothered that their skis, and bags were just at the right level to hit the buggy as they turned round. Luckily, M managed to sleep through it all, including the next train from Buchs to Feldkirchen.

We were expecting at some point to have to get our passports out, but it seems that no undesirables would ever imagine of doing this journey, so our passports stayed firmly in our pockets. One other advantage of going on the train was that our travel passes (giving us free travel in the whole of Switzerland on buses, trains, trams and boats) also gave us 25% discount (or was that 75% discount) on travel in Austria too, so the entire journey cost us 85CHF (about £37)!

We got off the last train in St Anton, and found our minibus to our hotel, realising with horror that we hadn't brought the carseat and once we set off, the driver seemed to tear round the corners like a maniac. We'd used the normal seatbelt to strap M in, but it was far from ideal, and something we would never normally do (I refused a lift from a neighbour from the swimming pool recently because we didn't have the car seat with us). I was concerned that the journey was a long one, and listening in on A's conversation with the driver, I was sure that he said it was going to take 10 minutes to get there, so when the car pulled up at the hotel after about 90 seconds, I was mightily relieved (turns out it takes 10 minutes to travel the length of the village).

End of part 1......(just because this is going to be long and I thought I'd tempt you with bits and pieces)

150 Things

Have seen this a few times but originally on Jax's blog.

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game (and survived the crush afterwards)
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables - it just tastes better
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children - well in the process!
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

Rain, Rain

Well, I think I've managed to get out of going out in the pouring rain today. We don't need to go out for any particular reason, but A thought it might be nice just to suit up and go splash in a few puddles.
Which it would've been, in the middle of the afternoon, when you can come home and snuggle up on the sofa with warm milk and cookies, but not really that great when the rain has been incessant and its 5.45pm. We're not even ready to go yet, so by the time we get back I'd have to rush around making dinner.

So I may get left here after promising to make a fabulous risotto whilst they are out. I can but hope.

Been so busy lately. Started selling Usborne books and I'm going to an exhibition next Sunday in Geneva and trying to organise a Christmas fair with a friend as well as doing some home parties too.

Obviously also been having fun with M. On Friday we actually spontaneously made a frog, using glue and stuff (our first time together), after M showed an interest in tadpoles and frogs from seeing one on the CBeebies Come Outside game.

Really feel like we're started to learn things, albeit (I love that word!) in a fun round about way. I'm obviously not trying to push learning, but I feel that he is actually starting to listen a bit to me when I explain stuff. I'm sure the listening thing will last until he's about 4, and then I'll have a struggle making myself heard at least until he leaves home!

Been having a few interesting discussions with friends about school and HE. They all seem to be looking into schools (mainly private ecole enfantine) for their LO's and I am partly feeling smug because I know that we don't have to worry about things like that what with teaching M at home, but also feeling partly left out of the conversation too. Silly really. I know we're doing the right thing, but it feels like this is the first time our decision is being tested iyswim.

Ok, so A has decided not to go out after all, the wimp! Guess I should go and start this risotto....

Back in the Bosom of his Family

Hoorah!!

Worm is safe and sound, back in his ice cream container.

Obviously, I know now not to make any snap judgements of the conduct of my son in the future, assuming that it was he who spirited Worm away to another place (I even contemplated the fact that he may have eaten him!).

No, as soon as A got home from work, and started looking for him, he found him, stuck to the side of the dining table, about 10cm away from where I'd been sitting all afternoon, drinking coffee. It seems as if he'd made a run for it.

I think this must be a first. In all the time I have known A, almost 13 years, he has never once been able to find something that I haven't. I must be losing my touch.

Still, there may be trouble brewing. M refused to hold Worm when he reappeared. I think he maybe trying to punish him for trying to do a runner. Its possible the love affair has ended.

*I am assuming that Worm is male; he could of course be a she. Anyone know how to sex a snail?

Back in the Bosom of his Family

Hoorah!!

Worm is safe and sound, back in his ice cream container.

Obviously, I know now not to make any snap judgements of the conduct of my son in the future, assuming that it was he who spirited Worm away to another place (I even contemplated the fact that he may have eaten him!).

No, as soon as A got home from work, and started looking for him, he found him, stuck to the side of the dining table, about 10cm away from where I'd been sitting all afternoon, drinking coffee. It seems as if he'd made a run for it.

I think this must be a first. In all the time I have known A, almost 13 years, he has never once been able to find something that I haven't. I must be losing my touch.

Still, there may be trouble brewing. M refused to hold Worm when he reappeared. I think he maybe trying to punish him for trying to do a runner. Its possible the love affair has ended.

*I am assuming that Worm is male; he could of course be a she. Anyone know how to sex a snail?

The Hunt is On

Anyone seen a snail?

Worm seems to have gone missing. I don't think he's made a run for it, rather that a little boy has put him in a 'safe' place, which obviously is now unknown.

I've tried all sorts of ways of trying to discover where Worm is, but I think it is a secret that only he and M are destined to share.

The worst thing is having to watch where I stand and sit, just in case!

So, if anyone finds a brown and beige striped snail, answering to the name of Worm, could you please send it this way?!

When 3 became 4

No, don't panic, no major news!

Just that last night (well, I guess it must've been Sunday cos we found him when putting the tent away) we acquired a new pet.

Worm the snail (yes M did name 'him', don't know why he chose Worm, cos he knows its a snail!) is now living in an ice cream container on the dining room table.
Will try to post a picture when I can.

He was given a Cheerio for breakfast this morning. I think M and I need to have a chat about what snails eat!

Short but sweet post; I really need to get myself sorted out.

Too Damn Hot!

It really is.

Last week on the way back from the Morrissey concert, which was fandabbydozy, I got to the train station at half past midnight and the temperature was still 29 degrees. Now thats just silly.

We have spent a lot of time inside doing puzzles and baking and stuff, which seems to defeat the purpose of summer. I think M would be okay, but its me thats the problem. I just melt at any heat, always have done. I think the biggest problem is that there didn't seem to be any proper spring here, you know where the temp is about 20-23, there is a nice fresh breeze and its wonderfully sunny. Nope, just cold and wet to hot and dry. Oh well.

I guess M wasn't really helped by the heat on Wednesday and Thursday as he had a fever, poor thing. Got to 38.9 at one point and we almost went to the doctors, but then when he woke on Friday, it was as if it had never happened. He had all the energy of an almost 2 year old. Of course I was dead on my feet cos I'd been up with him most of the night, but that doesn't matter - "Mummy, play", "Mummy, walk", "Mummy run awell".

Of course, dh is now in bed with the same fever (no other symptoms), so I'm just hoping that if I get it too, its either today or tomorrow, as dh starts his new job on Thursday, so he won't be home to look after me and M.

This new job will be a bit of a change for us. Its only 4 months long, but whereas we were used before to him coming home for lunch and home by 6.30, this new job is in Bern which is an hours train journey away, so he'll probably be leaving at 7am and back at 7pm. I know other families deal with this sort of thing all the time, but I feel like I need to prepare both physically (tidying the house, preparing games etc for M and I to do) and emotionally (I used to have a mini meltdown every day at 5.30, because the day with M just seemed so long).

At least with only a 4 month contract, if its really bad I know it won't last forever, and at the end he should be able to take a month or so off.

I've just been brought lunch, so I need to make the most of it!

My soul?!

What Your Soul Really Looks Like

You are a wanderer. You constantly long for a new adventure, challenge, or eve a completely different life. You are a very grounded, responsible, and realistic person. People may not want to hear the truth from you, but they're going to get it. You believe that people see you for how you are, not how you look. But deep down, you know that's not exactly true. Your near future is still unknown, and a little scary. You'll get through wild times - and you'll textually enjoy it. For you, love is all about caring and comfort. You couldn't fall in love with someone you didn't trust.

Inside the Room of Your Soul

I wish......

........that I could be more eloquent (not even sure that is the right word!).

Stuff is in my head, but I find it difficult to write it down in the way that it sounds to me. Its not that I use fancy words in my head, but it just sounds so much better in my head, so that the words that are written down don't sound right. Does that make any sense?

I read other blogs that seem to capture the mood of the author just right. Unless, of course that they feel exactly the same way as me, and what I feel like they are trying to say isn't what they are trying to say at all!

How.......

.....do you get chewing gum out of a pair of trousers?

I've got the majority of it out, but some still remains, along with the greasy bits. I've tried it in the freezer, but because there's so little of it left, theres not enough to scrap off.

I think the dry cleaners may be the next stop, but want to try everything else first.

Why........

......when I'm so diligent about smothering M in suncream, buying a UV suit and hat for him, do I forget to do the same for me (ok, I don't want a UV suit!) even though I know I have the sort of skin that goes red at the first sight of sun?

Of course, today, I convinced myself that because I was sitting in the shade all day I would be fine. Of course, the sensible among you would question why, if I'd even had that thought, didn't I just put the sun cream on anyway? Because I'm daft, thats why!

I wasn't that bad, just a slightly red nose, which really finished the week off nicely in terms of incidents to my nose, after being clonked on the bridge with a digger brandished by M. He didn't mean it, obviously, but it blooming hurt! One of these days I'll manage not to cry when it happens, but then I'm a bit of a wuss, so I won't hold my breath!

Diggers, Birds, Boats and Puddles

I'm being unusually on the ball and blogging this before the day is even out, mainly cos I know that if I don't, I'll forget everything and we had such a lovely morning that I wanted to record it.

After a massive thunderstorm last night, where our electricity and seemingly all the electricity as far as the eye could see (and thats a long way, cos we're on the 11th floor) went off near midnight, I wasn't hopeful that today would be anything other than an at home day, and I so wanted us to get outside, because to be honest the last couple of days we haven't really got up to much.

But this morning we woke up to reasonable weather, so at about 10 we ventured out, armed only with a few coins, my phone, a bottle of water and the hip seat.
At first I thought we were only going to get as far as outside the building, as a man was mowing the grass on his ride on mower, so several minutes were spent watching him going up and down. But we finally tore ourselves away and wandered down to the old football pitch where there is currently a lot of work going on with diggers, steam rollers and so on. I found out that they are building an all weather pitch, which isn't nearly as exciting as the proposed go kart track, or skateboard park which A and I were convinced was being built!

Just for all those digger lovers out there, here are a few pics:







The last pic shows our apartment building in the background. Its the right hand tower block of the three, so we have been able to watch the building work from our balcony.

It was really tough to tear M away from the 'little digger' (I think the man was just putting on a show for us, cos as soon as we left, he stopped working!), but the promise of a croissant did the job!

On the way there, M collected several sticks, including one that I was hoping he would realise was a little large:



Luckily he dropped that one in favour of one that in the end just proved to much of a handful!



We went to a nice cafe by the harbour, and had croissant, coffee and water (with a straw so that lots of bubbles could be blown!). The croissant attracted lots of sparrows, and while I was trying to persuade M to have the last bit before I scoffed it, one cheeky one swooped down, grabbed it right out of my hand and flew off, almost hitting M in the face! I was in shock! The waiter seemed to think it was the funniest thing in the world though!
I think that this may have been the culprit, look at that innocent face.........



We then went to have a look for a duck or two by the water, but instead watched a man struggling to get his boat down the slipway into the lake. I guess us watching him was a bit offputting, but M certainly found it fascinating, the way he used a machine to roll the boat halfway in and then had to use brute force to push it the rest of the way. No photos for this part of the expedition - I thought it was a bit unfair on the guy!

By this time, M was getting tired, but insisted on walking just a little bit further. He also discovered the pockets of his shorts and these are my favourite sort of shots, where he looks so grown up, but really just a little cutie!





Not long after this, he decided that being carried was the way forward, but not before we jumped in a few (small!) puddles left over from last nights storm.

So, our short trip to watch the diggers turned into a 2 hour adventure which wore the little guy out. He is now sleeping, and to be honest, I don't blame him. I wish I could join him!

Typical!

I have spent the last couple of days trying to explain to M that nee-naws (police, ambulance and fire engines) have blue lights and a siren and other vehicles that have orange lights aren't nee-naws.
I haven't been forcing the issue, just gently saying 'thats not a nee- naw, its a ......'

Of course this morning M brings his fire truck (note I said truck, not engine) that Nanny and Grandad bought him from Sainsburys into the living room, and lo and behold, it has an orange light! Why do I bother?!

After lunch today, we both had some raisins. I picked out the biggest ones to show to him, whereupon he promptly took them off me and ate them! After that though, he looked for big ones in his pot, and did pretty well. He has also begun to put simple sentences together and I could almost see his cogs turning trying to say 'Eat bigger raisins'!

He went off to nursery in the afternoon. I wasn't sure how he would feel about me leaving as he hasn't been for 3 weeks, but as usual, there was no looking back.
A left work early to come on a coffee and icecream date, and then we picked M up from nursery. Apparently he had a bit of a wobble about 30 minutes in, but one of the acceuilantes took him aside and played in the water with him and he was happy as larry. He also had a bit of a set-to with Gabriel, but the same thing happened at playgroup on Thursday, so I think they're going through a bit of a 'checking each other out' phase.
We also (sounds awful, all this stuff!) were told that he pushed a non-walking baby over, but the acceuilante, Veronique, thinks it was because he had been playing with one of those clown things that pops back up if you push it over, and he wanted to see if the baby did it too! Shouldn't laugh, but I'm amazed at how their little minds work!

I did ask if she thought we had a problem, or the beginning of a problem with his behaviour, but she reassured me that it was perfectly normal. I probably knew that anyway, but I guess just needed some reassurance. Of course, its not acceptable, but these are the sort of things M needs to work out for himself, with some guidance from us, obviously.

In the evening we watched the Switzerland-South Korea match. M woke up half way through and so he sat on my lap for a big cuddle until he dropped off again. Its the second night in a row we've done it, the first night because he had a nightmare (we think); he woke up crying and dripping with sweat.

Switzerland won, and are through to the second round. Honestly you'd think that they'd won the whole tournament, the amount of noise they made. There were so many cars out until about 12.30am tooting their horns, people shouting out of their windows. Luckily M didn't wake up though. They play Ukraine next. Wonder what the reaction will be if they win that one........

Muddle Puddle Camp at Kessingland

OK, I promise I will write about this soon. Preferably before I forget what happened when. Maybe I'll just drip feed it to you, not particularly deliberately, but just cos I'm rubbish at keeping my blog up to date.


We had a good time though!