The Time Bubble

Today was Jamie's last day at the Courtyard Preschool, bringing down the curtain on his two years there, and our own four year association with them as a family. It's amazing to think it's nearly four years since a very small Ollie first walked (very reluctantly) through their front door. I am going to hugely miss walking up with one of them every day, chatting to the other mums and dads and of course the staff, at least three of whom, Donna, Tracey and Sarah have been there throughout. I imagine the end of the year must be quite a wrench for them too - saying goodbye to the children for the last time. Jamie seems remarkably unfazed by it all. It was just another day to him. Perhaps children at that age don't measure out the passing of their lives in the way that we do. It certainly made its mark on me - yet another landmark in a life that's pegged out with first days and last days here and there. I've been trying to think back on my own experiences and th...

Yes, it's half-time for the year, the last day of June is upon us already as time continues its ever increasing pace through another year. It seems we look forward so much to summer coming and once it gets here it flies by so quickly. Mine tends to be marked out by sporting events. It's Royal Ascot, then Wimbledon, the British Grand Prix and the Open  golf. Already we are in the thick of Wimbledon and the Grand Prix is today. Once Wimbledon is over I always feel a sense of disappointment, as if the summer is passing me by faster than I can grab hold of it and enjoy it. I'd like to pretend that my little social calendar includes hob-nobbing it with the beautiful people at Ascot and Wimbledon but in fact the more realistic truth is that rather than cucumber sandwiches on the lawn it's a bag of crisps in front of the telly. I can't blame the kids for that either because I never went to any of these things even when I didn't have kids. Now I can see the advantag...

The boys are fighting an awful lot lately. I don't mean full on punch ups but a lot of arguments and battles over toys, with some physical manifestations. At what point does one intervene though? It could be argued that having these disagreements is all part of preparation for later life, and by allowing them to work through these emotions, ultimately they will learn more from it. The main source of disagreement is other toys and other possessions as mentioned. Of the two of them, at present, Ollie is by far the worst. Every time he comes into a room and Jamie has got anything, it becomes the most important thing in the world that he has it. Even if it is something that he never normally plays with and has been gathering dust on the shelf for six months. When I chastise him and try and point out that this isn't fair, he attempts to justify it by claiming that he is sharing. Unfortunately Ollie's definition of sharing appears to be along the lines of "I get to kee...

Determined not to allow the on-going arctic conditions to imprison us inside, I have been hastily re-organising our schedule of Easter outings accordingly. So trips to parks are out - play centres are in. Now, despite past disappointments on this score, I approached the challenge with optimism, and hence at 9:30am this morning, with a little assistance from Sat Nav technology, we rolled up at the front door of Zoomania in Aylesbury. So what is Zoomania? Well for those of you that have ever been to the children's play area at Wyevale, it is a bit like that, except miles bigger, miles nicer, and not massively overcrowded. Well not while we were there anyway. That is why we went at 9:30am. Generally I have found Wyevale stressful - too many people crammed into one small area, massive queues to get in, can't get a table, time limits. Well none of that here. Oodles of room. In fact - I can't fault the place. You pay according to the ages of your children on a sliding scale -...

I was awoken at 7am this morning by the sound of crying coming from the children's bedroom. It was Ollie, he was crying and saying he didn't want to go home. The thing is, I almost felt like crying myself. He wanted to know why we had to go, and I did my best to explain that we have to go back for work and school and that this has just been a holiday, and we have been very lucky to have had it - but it is very hard to console a little boy who has just spent two weeks in paradise. I lay down beside him and gave him a comforting hug, the kind to make you better that only a parent can give. Growing up he may be but I am acutely aware just how much he needs his Daddy to be there for him. I know him so well, all his fears, all his worries, what makes him happy and what makes him sad. I hope we never grow out of the hugs. I know I will always be there for both of them whether they are 5 or 15, or even 50 if I last that long! I think in past generations it was very much a case of...

So, Jamie is a little better which means we are no longer chained to the apartment all day. Got him out to breakfast, where after a bit of toast he effectively once again emptied the entire vat of Strawberry yogurt. Today was an absolutely glorious sunny day and we certainly made the most of it as the temperature soared into the mid 20s.   One of the things I love about this place, is that everyone is so friendly. It's not like at home where you walk past people with their heads bowed to the ground. Here everyone you walk past, every apartment, it's "good morning" and friendly smiles. Well I suppose we are on holiday. But really it is everyone, even the Germans! Am I still allowed to say that? Well, just did.   I think I may have found the solution to the world's oil shortage. Simply rinse out the bacon in the "canteen" here in the morning. Quite amazing.   Had a fab time at the pool today, had to keep Ollie under control a little as he has ...

It just keeps getting better and better. Parenting - such a diverse and ever changing job. One that comes with no manual, no previous experience (unless you count Susie), and a constant joy. It might seem that one day is not that different to the next but it's all subtly changing, all the time. I have been a parent now for about five and a half years. Not long at all in the grand scheme of things, but long enough to appreciate the difference between the life I had before and the life I had now. How strange it seems looking back now to when I didn't have kids - I guess some would look back nostalgically and maybe even longingly to those days when they had complete freedom. OK, well maybe not complete freedom, there was still working for a living, but the type of freedom where you could go to bed what time you liked on a Saturday night and if you didn't want to get up until lunchtime on Sunday, who could stop you? Cruising off for a weekend in Rhyl with my friends - n...

No - that's not an exclamation from Robin in the 1960s Batman TV series, though I am sure he said it at some point! No in fact today was my second son's baptism. Because of the unusual way in which we work - i.e. I am usually working over the weekends and off in the week, we arranged this to happen as part of the Wednesday morning communion service at the church. Unlike Ollie's baptism, we decided it would be just a quiet affair this time. We asked our very good friends Lynda and Duncan to be godparents and they were delighted to accept. So just before 10 I collected Ollie from school and we all met at the church and enjoyed a very nice service from Teresa, who is the vicar at St Edburg's. Ollie was very well behaved throughout - he is definitely getting better on these big occasions. I do enjoy Teresa's services as she talks a lot about everyday events, and even for those who attend special occasions who are not Christians, there is still plenty to be taken o...

I'm settling into quite a little routine in the mornings now term's well established. Basically, my mission in the mornings is to get Ollie to school by 8:45am and Jamie to the Courtyard by 9:10am. Bearing in mind there is no more than 10 minutes walk between those two places that doesn't sound too much of a challenge, does it? No - it isn't - but I like a challenge and I also like maximising my time. 25 minutes isn't long enough to go back home - as soon as our coats are off, we'd be putting them back on again - but it doesn't leave much leeway for doing anything else. But time management is key to the success of my days, so I have decided to try and fit all of my shopping into that window. With an optional extra of Wilkinsons after dropping Jamie off as it's on the way back. I normally need to visit any two or more of the following: Tesco, M&S, Iceland and the Butchers. Now I am an efficient well oiled machine when it comes to shopping as you w...

Now that the school holidays are over, I can begin to tackle some of the other jobs around the house that need doing. Some are the sort of horrible jobs that don't get done very often - for example today I cleaned all the horrible gunky stuff out of the bottom of the waste paper bins. During the holidays it was really a case of survival and just keep going. It's necessary to achieve the bare minimum each day i.e. everyone gets fed and has clean clothes to wear and a basic standard of cleaning needs to be maintained.. Running the hoover round? No problem. Pulling out the sofa and investigating what's behind? It can wait until September. I know the summer holidays are meant to be fun times to be spent with the kids in a long and joyous round of fun, but I've struggled, I really have. It doesn't help much that we had our summer holiday in May. I would have loved to have been able to go away for two weeks in August but as we all know, that's beyond the reach of ...

One of the upsides of having two children close in age - and the same gender means they naturally play well together - and it helps with learning concepts such as sharing and working together. Of course, that's not all sweetness and light and for every happy moment running around together there's one of fighting, snatching, crying - it's all part of the growing up process. Now I can't pretend the school summer holidays have been easy all day every day. I would love to be able to tell you happy tales of us heading off every day to theme parks and animal sanctuaries and all the rest of it, but the house and the business still need to run - and there are simple practicalities such as feeding and washing and cleaning that can't be ignored. OK - some people do to more extent than others, but I've settled on a bit of a compromise situation here. We'll have a couple of days out a week - on the others I'll work like a blue arsed fly to get everything done he...

Well, that was that then. The "Once In A Lifetime" chance to see the Olympic flame, as it deigned to visit us here in humble Bicester. Blink and you miss it. I guess it was fun for the kids and an opportunity to hang out with a few friends in Sheep Street, but the trouble is with once in a lifetime experiences is they rarely live up to the hype. This was rather good fun though as I was with my bestie and we had a bit of a giggle. As we always do. Daryl was also there and kindly lifted Ollie up into his shoulders - he's much taller than me, so that got him a better view. I was holding Jamie up, but like most 1 year olds he was completely oblivious to what was going on or why. I imagine there are quite a lot of other "once in a lifetime" experiences one can have in life that may well possible disappoint. I imagine reaching the summit of Everest is great but then you've only got to climb all the way back down again so what's the point. Likewise, having ...

As this is supposed to be a parenting blog - "Hi everyone on Mumsnet", I suppose it would be just as well if I did the occasional post about the children! That was the original intention however I do seem to get sidetracked off onto random topics and exploring some of the strange ideas that come into my head. It's a bit of a mixed blog for that reason - you never really know what you are going to get. Like a bag of Revels - which incidentally is like a game of Russian Roulette for me - what with the peanut allergy and all. In fact people from mumsnet who read this must think I am some sort of weirdo. In fact most of my friends do, so what chance have I got with random strangers when they read my questionnaire's and readers letters. Probably thing it's the outpouring of a seriously deranged mind. What you, my loyal readers must remember at all times that there's a lot of poetic license in what I write, intended purely for amusement value. For instance, on...

So, Saturday dawned after our first night in the caravan, and as on the previous day it was glorious sunshine and blue skies all the way. So we decided to go and have a walk round the local area, and found ourselves at the beach. Now this is the first time Jamie had been on a beach since he could walk, back in Ibiza last May it sounds amazing but he was only crawling back then. Croyde Beach is one of those which is very flat and therefore the tide goes in and out a long way. Now we had not gone prepared for the beach on that day i.e. no swimming costumes or towels, but decided to have a walk on it anyway. Whilst Ollie was happy collecting his "treasures" (shells, stones etc) Jamie instantly made a beeline for that great big wet thing in the distance i.e. the sea. Now I was messing about at this point trying to get the video camera to work. As Jamie approached the water's edge it was clear he had no intention of stopping, and ran straight on in - complete with shoes ...

So - having crossed Exmoor, newly repaired wing mirror still attached, we approached our next destination. Being self-catering though, we needed to stop off for some supplies, so in the newly acquired sunshine, google maps led us to Tesco at Ilfracombe. And what a momentous occasion this turned out to be. As finally my beloved Eastmans and I were reunited! Alive and well in Devon. Yes, indeed, it appeared that since leaving me so cruelly without warning earlier in the Spring, my beloved Eastmans had been living a well deserved retirement on the shelves of Tesco in Ilfracombe. It was to be but a brief reunion, just two packets, but I am glad we had the chance to say goodbye. She was very understanding too, and understood about my new relationship with the 15 pack multipacks of Wotsits from Iceland. Well a man has needs...and they were there for me when she wasn't. So - eventually after winding around lots of little roads with passing places, we arrived at Ruda Caravan Par...

What a very profound title. Really though - what to do with the rest of my life? Tomorrow marks a significant development. You see after almost 5 years of having at least one child at home all day, every day, I make my first steps back to independence when my youngest (Jamie) begins spending every Friday with a childminder. Why am I doing this when it is not like I have to go to work, you may ask? It's not like I've got anything better to do all day? Wrong. As anyone (mostly mums) will tell you, when you have full time responsibility for young children in your care, your life is effectively put on hold for a few years. Yes, obviously you are not completely isolated, there are still nights out, still holidays, day trips, etc, but the simple fact of matter is - well in my case at least, I am no longer contracted to a company for 40 hours a week and can do what the hell I want the rest of the time. I am on constant call to my children 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 day...