And so another month passes us by; it is amazing how quickly this year is going. However, for the first time in a couple of years we are getting a summer of sorts, which makes it a little more palatable. Yes, for the first time since September 2006 we have had temperatures over 30°C. I was a little amazed when I heard that, especially with the media driven ‘science’ of anthropogenic global warming and ‘carbon pollution’. I’m not going to start bemoaning the level of science in the media and egotistical nature of our species in general but when the government start issuing heatwave warnings, telling people that 30°C is hot and they should put suntan lotion on and drink plenty of water I begin to worry about the world that Éowyn will find herself growing up in.
Lucinda’s meeting with work regarding her return appeared to go rather well. She put forward the hours that she would like when she returns and seemingly, that is possible. We wait confirmation but all looks good at the moment. It will mean that we will only need childcare 4-6 days a month when makes it more than financially viable for Lucinda to return to work and re-enter the world of adults (whether she wants to or not).
It appears that Lucinda is not the only one thinking about returning to work and for some of her friends that date is rapidly approaching whether they are ready or not. It must be a massive culture shock and all in the space of a little under a year. Your career is one of the parameters that people tend to use to define you and indeed, we define ourselves thus; for that to change, to ‘mother’ and back again tends to put it in some kind of perspective.
Éowyn is going through a couple of phases of development at the moment, some of which are not pleasant. She is constantly standing and cruising about the furniture. We think that this is fantastic but it is amazing how far her little arms can stretch and we are finding that more and more has to be moved to higher shelves. She delights in knocking over the Duplo structures that her parents build. I love playing with Lego and it gives me a great excuse to sit on the floor building whatever the limited variety of bricks, my engineering skills and my imagination allow. They don’t usually last very long though and she will quite often demolish them before the full design is realised. She has also learnt to wave goodbye, which is very cute, especially when she wants someone to leave and begins to wave goodbye to them: not very subtle our child. But funny!
With every positive, there must be a negative and she is currently exhibiting a couple of frustrating aspects. Changing her nappy or getting her dressed is becoming more and more of a struggle and more often than not full-scale war. It does not help to know that it is perfectly normal especially since she is too young to reason (or bribe) to stay still. She has also begun to start waking up in the middle of the night again. We at first thought that it was due to the heat, we were struggling ourselves and it must be harder when you have no understanding why it is so uncomfortable. However, we now think that some of it is related to her teeth and the top front teeth seem very close to breaking through the gums. Again, the tag-team combination of bonjela and calpol have been our friends. The worst of the trio of bad habits is her recently developed ‘Separation Anxiety’. Again knowing it is a normal stage doesn’t help when she become almost inconsolably apoplectic. Hopefully she will soon grow out of it otherwise it will make it difficult for Lucinda and I to have any time for ourselves as leaving her with a childminder or at nursery would be a nightmare.
Tuesday saw a visit from our friend Alistair. As you may recall Alistair was the first man to buy her a meal and knowing what a lady likes this time he bought Éowyn a dress. The plan was to go for a walk along the Thames and finish at a pub (as all good walks should) and a nice pub lunch. However, the weather was so hot, and all four of us have pale Celtic skin, we decided to forego the walk (and we didn’t need the government to tell us that!) and head straight for the pub. A good time was had by all.
This has been my short week so I only worked on Wednesday and Thursday, which means I get to see a lot of both my wife and Éowyn. Friday morning, Lucinda and her mom went shopping leaving Éowyn with me to have some father and daughter time. I’m not sure who enjoys that time the most! It will be good practise for when Lucinda goes back to work and I take on more of the childcare, and not just the fun aspects of building Duplo towers and splashing in the paddling pool.
The number of photos taken recently is slowly declining but here are a selection for you to enjoy.
Peace and Love
Baggie!
