Once again the update has been delayed and the gap between write-ups has widened further than I would prefer. As per the last few months the shadow of IMG casts long over Team Bagnall and so I have been unable to put fingers to keyboard and regale to you the tales of our corner of the world. I will attempt to remember the past month and so you will have to forgive any memory lapses or curtness of writing over the next thousand words or so.
As you can perhaps guess from the title it has been a momentous month, even if I have not been there to share it with the family that often.
But first let me take to back to the last Thursday in August. Friends of ours Kerry and Dave were due to be wed the following day (Friday 29th August 2014) and so we needed to find babysitters for our brood. Unfortunately both Lucinda and I were due to work Saturday and Sunday so we were looking for at least three days of babysitting in a row, a tall order for anyone. Up stepped Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz which was very nice of them and the girls were very excited, however it did mean that we had to drive to West Bromwich to drop them off. The girls are always excited to see Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz but there was an added edge to this visit but more of that later.
Unusually (ahem), I was at work on the Thursday so Lucinda packed them in the trusty S-Max and drove the 120 miles to West Bromwich. With Kerry and Dave’s wedding the next day she stayed in West Bromwich just long enough to rest and have some lunch before saying goodbye and heading back home. She was slightly concerned about leaving Ezra as we had not left him that long before and she was concerned how he would react. She need not of worried as he simply waved her off. Not only was he not bothered but to rub salt in the wounds of the separation, he decided that being 120 miles away from Mum and Dad was the perfect opportunity to take he first steps! Yes, the little blighter decided that genicular locomotion was no longer in vogue and decided to totter to his feet and begin the usual plantigrade locomotion favoured by humans. So, disappointingly, both Lucinda and I missed this huge developmental stage.
Lucinda arrived home Thursday evening and when I got home from work we both commented on how empty the house felt, even though all of the kids would have been asleep there was still a sense of emptiness.
The next day was the Wedding; the venue Random Hall. Random Hall is 16th Century cottage (somewhat extended) set in the Sussex countryside a short trip outside of Horsham. As this is within shooting distance of Staines Upon Thames (about an hour away) we decided that we would drive there and back and not look to stay. This meant that one of us needed to be the nominated driver and as Kerry is ostensibly Lucinda’s friend and many of Lucinda’s (and Kerry’s, obviously) work colleagues would be in attendance. For those of you that think that the internet is an evil place and no good can come from it, Kerry and Dave met on the same dating website as Lucinda and I, so good things do happen in cyberspace.
Random Hall was an excellent, one stop venue and a fantastic day was had by all. Kerry looked beautiful and Dave passed muster! The only slight downer was the fact that we were both semi-conscious that we would be working the next day, it would have been nice to have been able to take advantage of a sans-child weekend and really let our hair down. No such luck.
A weekend of work followed and before we knew it Monday morning arrived and we were heading back to West Bromwich to relieve Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz and collect the Baguettes! We left early because Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz had a big day the next day and was the cause of the excitement from Éowyn and Amélie. Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz were leaving early the next morning to catch a flight to New York. Yes, Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz had booked themselves a short trip to the Big Apple. Now why would Éowyn and Amélie be excited that Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz were going to America? The power of the internet unfortunately.
The girls have discovered, on Youtube, an American lady who plays with dolls and films herself doing so. She is either in the employ of the toy manufacturers or is just slightly crazy and has lots of spare cash, or some combination of all three. She always has the latest dolls and makes little stories with them, much to the delight of the girls. I have to stop them watching her and actually encourage them to put the iPad down and actually go and play with the dolls themselves. Whoever she is, it works. The girls are always interested in the new dolls that she has bought and we had always managed to put them off wanting it by telling them that they were only available in America (which in fairness, they quite often are). Therefore imagine their delight when Nanny Fran announced she was going to America! Éowyn began writing a list for her and Amélie so that Nanny Fran could load up with presents. The upside of this was that we had warned them before going to Nanny Fran’s that if they misbehaved that Nanny Fran wouldn’t buy them anything. To be honest they didn’t need that (they wouldn’t dare misbehave for Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz) but it was a good warning nevertheless.
The weekend also threw up another of Éowyn’s misheard lyrics, this time Ghost by Ella Henderson. The actual lyrics are: ‘I keep going to the river to pray‘; Éowyn instead sang: ‘I keep going to the river to play‘. Coming from a non-religious household, I can understand where she was coming from and a more enjoyable way to spend time by a river in my humble opinion.
The second part of this update is the fact that September marks the advent of the academic year. Éowyn has begun year 1 while Amélie still has a year before she starts full time education. Both girls have had a little shock going back to school. Éowyn, because there is much more focus on work this year and she no longer has free-time in which she is allowed free reign to discover her talents; Amélie because a lot of her friends have left Mini-Tots to embark on their education journey, leaving Amélie as the oldest at Mini-Tots.
Although this has been a bit of a shock for the girls, it will no doubt all be forgotten in a few weeks. Amélie is making lots of new friends and Éowyn is thriving on the work focus and it is good for her. She is racing through reading books at the moment and has already progressed through one level and the next level is in her sights. There has been an improvement in her writing and she has already earned one ‘Magic Moment’ (the reward system employed by her new teacher Mrs Harris). It is safe to say they are settling in.
Éowyn’s imagination is developing and will stand her in good stead if she pursues her latest career choice: author. She enjoys writing and will quite often write books for us. Yes, books, not stories. She will fold sheets of paper and loosely bind them into a book before crafting her story. Her stories are quite good and have a defined beginning, middle and end. She carries this imagination into her play and some of her character names are quite impressive. My particular favourite is Sharon Von Poopenwrench. Have no idea where she got that from!
Ezra, too, is a cheeky little fellow at times. I was playing with him and pretending to be a sleep replete with comic snoring noises. As Ezra crept nearer and I suddenly ‘woke up’ and surprised him. He thought it was the funniest thing that had ever happened and was positively chortling. So I did it again. Again, he thought it was a riot and encouraged me to do it again. After about the tenth time it was becoming a little tiresome, for me at least. Ezra had other ideas. When he realised I was not going to do it again he put his head down and started the fake snoring. So I put my head down and did it a few more times. The next time I refused to do it, Ezra once again put his head down but still I refused to do it. So he grabbed my head and pushed it down, he was a tenacious little monkey.
So with Amélie’s birthday a few short days away and Éowyn’s just under three weeks later I will leave you with the knowledge that I have to update you sooner otherwise two of the biggest events of the year will have been missed.
Peace and Love
Baggie
