2016

Amélie’s Sixth Birthday

Baggie

It has become somewhat of a tradition that each of the Baguettes has a page dedicated to their birthday each year and despite the number of updates recently I am not going to stop that tradition just yet.  This year is flying by and without so much as a by your leave we find ourselves at the start of Autumn and Amélie’s birthday.  As somewhat given away by the title of this update, Amélie has just completed her sixth trip around the Sun.

This year Amélie’s birthday fell mid-week and with busy school lives it is not the ideal time to celebrate one’s birthday.  With my break in the lead up to the weekend before her birthday it seemed like a good idea that if were we going to do anything for her birthday then we should do it then.  This also meant that Amélie could spin her birthday out for 5 days – and who doesn’t want to do that?

With the girls birthdays a mere three weeks apart it has been known that they get rolled into one celebration, indeed birthday parties tend to be joint affairs.  However, as they are growing older they want a little more self-identity and more independence (although they are both very close) and so it was when we offered them a birthday party.  Éowyn didn’t want to share and indeed would rather have a small gathering with her close friends, while Amélie likes to be everybody’s friends and wanted to invite everyone.  So just a party for Amélie then.  We asked Amélie what she would like to do for her party and with her new love of swimming she asked if she could have a swimming pool party.  Now, personal swimming pools are not very popular in Staines and Bagnall Manor does not have its own pool so we looked to the local leisure centre to host the party.  This was duly booked for the Sunday evening before her birthday.  Invites were sent out with a request that they needed to be accompanied by an adult for pool safety reasons.

With a party booked on the Sunday evening and her birthday not until the following Wednesday you can see how this was going to become an extended birthday celebration.  Then why not extend it another day and so Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz came down on Saturday, staying over and returning before the pool party on the Sunday, really making it a weekend of celebrations.

Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz arrived around lunchtime with Auntie Mary joining them a little later.  As always the Baguettes were overexcited and Amélie doubly so when she saw the presents that Nanny Fran had brought with her.  She was given special permission to open her presents from the Bagnall family and was even more excited when she saw what she had received.  A double buggy from Nanny Fran (Amélie told Nanny Fran that she wanted one when she stayed with her in August) and the beginning of her Sylvanian Families collection (not Slovenian Families as the autocorrect seems to think that she received, that is a completely different kind of collection) – something that was to become a feature of this birthday.

A Saturday evening meal with both Nannies, Bagnall Aunties and close family was a treat in itself for Amélie and was a fantastic end to the first day of Birthday celebrations.  Those celebrations moved up a gear the following day.  The morning was spent with Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz.  The pool party wasn’t until 4pm so there was plenty of time to get ready, making sandwiches and ensuring that all the party bags were evenly filled with sweets, bubbles and the all important Whoopie Cushions.

As we were booking a party for a six year old we were given the small pool, which was perfect for the kiddies but a little too shallow for the adults, 80cm only comes up to my knees.  Most of the party the adults were sitting on the floor of the pool, indeed it was a little safer than trying to swim or kneeling.  This was because the bottom of the pool was rough.  I assume that this is to stop the kids from slipping on a smooth floor.  In theory, that is quite a good idea however, it is not too good on one’s knees if you kneel and it certainly it isn’t very good on your chest and belly when you try swimming under water to pretend to be a shark when playing with the kids.  As you can probably guess I know this from bitter experience and the scrapped skin I received seemed to sting even more as the chlorine reacted with the scratches.

The only downside of the party was it felt a little rushed as we left the pool.  Obviously we had to get dried and dressed before moving into the party room.  We barely had time to eat the food and there was no time for party games, however I don’t think that really mattered as after swimming all the kids (and the adults) were ravenous.  The food was decimated (which was good) and all the birthday cake disappeared (not so good – I didn’t even get a slice).  Nevertheless the party was a success. The feedback that we got was all good, everyone seemed to enjoy the pool party and the party bags and especially the Whoopie Cushions were big hits.  Indeed we feel quite proud that we have introduced a new generation of children to the simple delight that is the Whoopie Cushion.

Amélie’s actual birthday was on the Wednesday so apart from a flying visit from Uncle Michael on Tuesday night there was little birthday celebrations on Monday or Tuesday. To help celebrate her birthday on Wednesday she had two friends from school come over after school for dinner and to play with her ever growing collection of Sylvania Families, after further additions from Uncle Michael as well as her main presents from Mommy and Daddy.  Indeed the collection wasn’t over for this birthday as a late visit from Uncle Steven and Auntie Zoe completed the haul for this birthday.

Amélie thoroughly enjoyed her birthday week and was completely spoilt with the number of presents that she received from everyone so we would like to thank you all for her presents and cards and kind wishes she is a very happy girl.

Happy birthday Amélie

Love Mommy and Daddy

 

Birthday girl
Birthday Cake
Birthday smile

A quick term time catch up

Baggie

I am really spoiling you with all these updates of late.  Mostly trying to catch up on the Summer holidays, which seems a little strange as we tiptoe into Autumn (Fall – for our North American viewers).  Obviously the last topic deserved an update all of its own, however I thought that a quick catch up was probably necessary to get you up to speed with the goings on over the first few weeks of term.

As alluded to in the previous posts I have been busy at work.  This is always the case with the beginning of the football seasons but tagged on to that has been UHD (4k if you must – although I am inclined to argue with you that point out that you are wrong on that account), IBC and the World Cup qualifiers to name but three.  The other members of the family have been busy too.  All three children have returned back to school; Éowyn has returned to Brownies; Amélie to Rainbows and Lucinda has the return of the after school wards in her childminding career.

Lucinda has been given the nod that Ofsted have her in her sights for her first proper inspection since the first one when she started childminding.  Ofsted puts the panic into all institutions when they announce that they are coming for an inspection, whether you are the best school in the area or a childminder trying to carve out a career that allows you to spend some time with your own family.  So it is for Lucinda.  Childminding isn’t just minding children, you have to demonstrate the methods that you are using to educate the children, keep them safe (including creating risk assessments for every activity type) while noting their development and any signs of abuse.  The amount of paperwork involved is enormous.

Lucinda had been using an app with an external database to keep all her observations on her wards’ development in an attempt to ease the amount of paperwork that she needed to produce.  Unfortunately at the end of the Summer during an update the company suffering a catastrophic corruption of its database and all work from the last 18 months (including the whole of Lucinda’s work on all her wards) was lost!  Needless to say this has put more pressure on her for although Ofsted would no doubt understand, she is frantically trying to at least have some semblance of progress on good ol’ fashioned paper.

Although I am currently in the midst of six days off work – hence the avalanche of updates on this site – I have had one other day off during September.  The girls had an inset day on the first Monday of September and so I took the day off work to spend some time with them, as I hadn’t all Summer.  I dropped Ezra off at school (poor lad still had to go) and after a detour to the Genius Bar in the local Apple Store where Lucinda got a replacement phone we headed to the swimming pool in Windsor.  We had asked the girls what they would like to do on a day off with Daddy and swimming was the unanimous reply.  Both girls have swimming lessons but Amélie’s progress was being halted by her lack of confidence in ducking her head under the water.  This was the first time that Lucinda and I had been swimming with them since their lessons had begun and so it was the first opportunity to attempt to give her this confidence.

Éowyn is happy to go beneath the surface and was trying her best to encourage Amélie to do the same.  Lucinda and I both showed her that there was nothing to be worried about, but to no avail.  So then I brought out evil Dad.  I was encouraging her to jump up and down in the water with assistance from me as we jumped up I pulled her into the water with me and her head went under.  I immediately jumped back up so that there was no time for panic or to be frightened and I braced myself for the reaction.  It could not have been any better.  ‘That’s fun!‘ she enthused, ‘Let’s do it again!‘  She then proceeded to spend more time under the water’s surface than above it and she is well and truly over that stage of swimming.  Back over to the professionals.

Swimming lessons are Saturday morning and the Leisure centre is behind their school, so six days a week you will find us on our short walk through the park.  It is still a delight not to have to join the mêlée that is the school run, fighting for a car park space; simply leave the house 5-10 minutes (15 minutes for poor Ezra – his school is a little further away) before you want to arrive and you are there.

All three are still enjoying school.  Éowyn has had two Bronze Awards while Amélie has done slightly better with a Bronze and a Silver.  Although in Éowyn’s defence, Amélie has also only effectively had two Bronze awards but because the rules are slightly different in Amélie’s class she was given a silver for the second Bronze award.  In Éowyn’s class you have to move from Bronze to Silver (and then from Silver to Gold) in the same day, for Amélie you stay on Bronze for a fortnight and any subsequent Bronze awards will take you to the next level, in Amélie’s case Silver.

The other early term achievement that they both have attained is to move up a reading level each.  No difference in rules here, just hard work and practise by both our girls.  In addition, to the Bronze awards and upward movement in reading levels Éowyn has also received 10/10 for both of her spelling tests so far this term.  The Baguettes are doing well.  This is in no small part to the fact that both girls like their new teachers.  It is always hard moving up a year and leaving behind a teacher that you really loved and we feared, especially for Amélie, that this would be difficult.  This doesn’t seem to have happened as both seem very happy with their new tutors.  The only difficulty that Amélie is currently struggling with is the lack of free time to play.  In reception they have more freedom to explore learning through play and more time to simply play.  In year 1 that is no longer the case.  Lessons are a bit more structured and they can’t just sit in a corner and play with Sticklebricks.  It is a sad indictment of what is wrong in the world.

What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to play when we are six,

With dolls, Lego and Sticklebricks.

Apologies to William Henry Davies.

We are obviously very proud of the girls academic achievements so far this academic year and poor Ezra hasn’t really begun his educational journey however that doesn’t stop him demonstrating his intellectual prowess, sometimes to the detriment of others, in the following example: me.  Myself and Ezra were in the kitchen and I was getting breakfast.  ‘What would you like for Breakfast, Ezra?‘ I asked.  ‘I can make you toast, a crumpet, cereal,‘ and then I spied the bag of pastries by the bread bin; making an assumption regarding the contents I continued the menu: ‘or you can have a brioche.‘  (Very continental the Bagnall household!)  Ezra replied that we would like a brioche and without a second thought I took one of the pastries from the bag, placed in on a plate and put in on the table before him.

In the tones of one who, not only can not believe the lack of knowledge of the other party but is thoroughly disappointed with the offering before him, Ezra dismissively said: ‘Daddy, this is not a brioche, this is a pain au chocolat!’  I have not felt so rebuked in such a long time.

Ezra has however taken a step towards full-time education not in any academical way but in terms of his pre-school booster vaccinations. He now has had his full course of recommended inoculations until he becomes a teenager – unless we decide to go anywhere exotic on holiday!  We had told him that he was going and the nurse would put some special medicine into his blood to make him big and strong.  We also promised him that if he was a big brave boy we would take him to the toy shop where he could choose a toy.  He seemed to know exactly what he wanted, so that was a good focus for the visit to the health centre.  We arrived on time but the clinic was running about 30 minutes late so the most difficult part was keeping him entertained in the waiting room.  The nurse was very good and Ezra was extremely brave – I think he said ouch once (he had two injections) and only complained that his arms hurt after I had put his shirt back on.  I think it might have been a ploy to extract another sticker from the nurse (he left with three across his chest and certificate of bravery).  He then told the nurse he was going to go into Staines and get a dinosaur.  Thoroughly deserved.

As we stepped into the toy shop he made a bee line for the toy that he wanted: a roaring Tyrannosaurus Rex.  It was on special offer and a bargain, so there were no negotiations and Daddy duly handed over the money and rewarded Ezra for being the brave boy he said he was going to be.

With Amélie’s birthday just around the corner you can probably expect another update in the not-too-distant future – I am really spoiling you this month!

Peace and Love

Baggie

Catniss wannabe
Before the glasses
Surprise!
Glasses, and a smile
Looking studious
Haven’t stopped me being cheeky
Watching Amélie
Come and join me
Sisters on the dance floor
Crazy sisters
Bundle!
Strange reflection
Puppy love
The Tiki Hut
Make a wish
Hello Toffee
A boy and his Guinea Pig
Just chilling

Aye, Eye(?) Capt’n

Baggie

The catch up of the Summer break continues, but this deserves a page all of its own.  One of the many things we had been meaning to do and Lucinda finally managed to tick off the list over the summer was to take the girls to the opticians.  Both Lucinda and I wear glasses so the chances that our children will need corrective lenses of some sort in the future is likely to be high.  As neither of the girls had ever complained about fuzzy vision and neither have any problems watching the television, iPad or reading we never thought of it as a high priority.  However two things changed our minds and hence why we took them to the opticians to have their first professional check up.  The first was that Éowyn mentioned that occasionally she sees flashing lights in the corner of her eye.  Obviously this concerned us and so we felt it was imperative that she received an appointment.  The second was a seemingly throw away comment on Amélie’s reception year check up.  All children in the reception year receive a checkup, it is a general all-purpose check up but at least it may highlight issues while they are still young.  Amélie’s report said that she may have a lazy left eye.  Not really knowing what this was, and it sounds innocuous enough, we dismissed it a little but thought that the optician would be able to explain it a little more.

Lucinda was unable to get both girls an appointment at the opticians at the same time so Amélie, that we were not so worried about, went first.  She covered her left eye and read the whole chart with her right eye – perfect vision.  Then the shock came.  She covered her right eye and tried to read the chart with her left eye and couldn’t even make out the first letter on the top line, not just a lazy eye, but a bone idle eye.  Amélie was upset and so was Lucinda.  We had no idea that her eyesight in her left eye was so bad.  She had never complained and it hadn’t affected her reading, indeed she is top of her class for reading.

Amblyopia (the medical term for Lazy Eye) is relatively common and occurs when one of the yes fails to develop properly and so the brain relies on the ‘good eye’.  It is difficult to detect until the child is old enough to have a sight test (around the age of 4) because the eyes are still developing. The younger a child is when treatment starts the better the chance of curing the condition.  The good side of amblyopia is that it is not a physical problem, as such (although an underlying physical issue can have caused the amblyopia in the first place), it is a problem with how the brain processes the images from that eye.  Therefore, it is possible to reverse the effects though non-invasive procedures.

The first part of the treatment is to be prescribed corrective lenses, to encourage the brain to use the eye because it will be receiving useful images.  Amélie was at the opticians and so she was measured for glasses and they were ordered.  The report from the optician was sent to the local hospital so that an appointment with an ophthalmologist can review the treatment and suggest treatments and exercises.  The most likely treatment will be patch therapy where the ‘good eye’ is covered with a plaster to force the ‘lazy eye’ to work.  This retrains the brain to start using the eye again and with the corrective lens in her glasses this should reaffirm that brain/eye connection.

Although Amélie is nearly six and thus may be a little older than is ideal for catching the condition, she is still young enough to respond well to treatment.  We are just waiting for the hospital appointment and our chat with the ophthalmologist to fully understand the next stage.

Obviously Amélie was upset but choosing two pairs of glasses cheered her up a little.  She is also concerned about the patch therapy (even though we haven’t started it yet) and whether the other children at school will laugh at her.  I told her that she would be a pirate princess and that she would be able to make up some stories about her adventures on the high seas.  This seemed to work but we will have to wait until she begins the therapy to see how that goes.  She has begun to wear her glasses though and being five and six years old none of the other children have bothered her about them.  They are all very accepting.  Let’s hope the same can be said when she starts coming into school with an eye-patch.

Lucinda and I have both been on a bit of guilt trip about it because we feel as parents we should have known.  I suppose one of the many gifts you are given when you have children is parental guilt.  We could have, and perhaps should have taken her to the opticians earlier in the year but the outcome would have still be the same, but at least she would be further down the treatment path.  We keep thinking should we have noticed.  She doesn’t have any problems reading or watching screens.  She can catch a ball and doesn’t show any lack of stereoscopic vision.  Indeed if it wasn’t for the opticians tests we still wouldn’t know.  I suppose we could have asked her to cover her eyes and ask her to read an eye chart but, and maybe we are strange here, we don’t have one hung on our living room wall.  All we can do is help her through this and ensure that she follows the ophthalmologist and optician’s recommendations and hopefully in six to nine months it will be just one of those phases that has no far-reaching consequences.  She has been through worse with her cow’s milk protein intolerance so she is made of stern stuff and she will no doubt come through this with hopefully 20/20 vision by her seventh birthday.  As always, I will keep you updated through the medium of this website.

So, with that happening in the morning and with the Baguette that we didn’t think had a problem Lucinda was more than a little trepidatious to go back that afternoon with Éowyn.  As you may recall from the top of this page, Éowyn had complained that she had seen flashing lights in the corner of her eye.  This obviously rings alarm bells and the optician ran through a barrage of tests to ensure that there were no underlying causes for these lights.  After nearly two hours of testing the optician could find no problems with Éowyn’s eyes.  She has 20/20 vision and there were no physical reasons that she would have seen flashing lights and since it only happened once she put it down to one of those things.  She did caveat this with ‘Do not hesitate to bring her straight back if she sees the lights again.‘ something that I really don’t think that she needed to say to us!

So we wait with bated breath for the hospital appointment to discover the regimen prescribed by the ophthalmologist to hopefully restore Amélie’s eyesight to 20/20, but in the meantime there will be plenty of photos of our bespectacled daughter gracing the pages of this corner of the internet.  The photo below is from the day she picked them up.

Peace and Love

Baggie

Amélie with glasses
Amélie with glasses