School

You can even eat the dishes

Wednesday 24th April 2013Baggie

We are over half way through April and so it is only right and fitting that I update you with the activities of the Bagnall household. It has been a week or so of getting into routine. Éowyn is back at pre-school the first week since I have returned from paternity leave and so a new regime is in place. As Ezra is still only young (not even 6 weeks yet) and not sleeping through the night (more of that later) it seems completely unfair for Lucinda to attempt to get three children ready and loaded into the car to drop Éowyn off at school. Thankfully my working day is a little flexible so it is not an issue (most of the time) for me to head in for 09:30/ 10:00 and so we are taking full advantage of this. So we concentrate on getting Éowyn washed, dressed and fed and then I take her to pre-school before heading off to work. So far it is working and it means that should we have a bad night then Lucinda doesn’t have to struggle half asleep to herd three children into the car and ensure that Éowyn has everything that she needs, especially if Ezra has decided that 0830 is the time that he wants to go to sleep.

So how likely is it that Ezra will have a ‘bad night’? Not the easiest of questions to answer as it seems to be entirely random. It is not normally night after night but it can be two or three nights in a row followed by a good night. So what is the definition of a good night and likewise a bad night. Before children a good night’s sleep would be in the region of 10 hours, since children 8 hours would be a miracle, since the birth of Ezra 5 hours is unheard of. In fairness to Ezra he is probably a better sleeper than either Éowyn and Amélie. So the current definition of a good night would be Ezra sleeping for 3 to 4 hours, waking up crying, feeding then going back to sleep and both girls oblivious to his cries. A bad night (and we have had a few lately) would be Ezra not sleeping at all, crying for the majority of the night and his cries waking Amélie (and it is usually Amélie first – Éowyn sleeps through his cries). Amélie then gets upset and starts crying and because she is in the same room as Éowyn, Éowyn will wake up. Just what one needs before a full day during a busy period at work all three kids crying in the middle of the night!

This week it hasn’t just be the little ones that have been getting up in the middle of the night. Last Friday we decided to treat ourselves to an Indian takeaway, unfortunately it did not agree with Lucinda’s digestion. Now whether it was food poisoning, norovirus or just her body rejecting the spicy food the symptoms lasted best part of a week. Now obviously, our first concern was Lucinda but, of course as she is the only food source for Ezra out thoughts quickly turned to him. Can she pass the symptoms to him? Should she continue breastfeeding while ill? Should she be cuddling him? So what do we do in the early years of the 21st century when we don’t know something? That’s right we google it. There is very little these days that is ungoogleable (or ogooglebar as the Swedish aren’t allowed to say) and this was no different.

So, ‘should one continue breastfeeding when ill?‘ The overwhelming answer was ‘Yes!’ There are but a handful of conditions that can be passed from mother to child through breastmilk (HIV and HTLV-1 are the only infectious diseases that should prevent breastfeeding). Indeed on the contrary since the mother is fighting an infection her antibodies are in overdrive and these antibodies are passed through the milk to the child giving them a head start in any future fight they may have with a similar infection. It is just important to take care not to pass the infection on through the normal modes of infection, so avoiding coughing, sneezing over the little one and ensuring that hands are washed thoroughly before holding them are vitally important. Obviously one would do that anyway but it was comforting to know that Lucinda should still breastfeed and so she did and Ezra was fine.

So with a poorly mother it was left to Daddy to become primary carer on his two days off. It is always good to have some Daddy time and this was no different. The girls love the Disney programme Jake and the Neverland Pirates and so we played that, with yours truly playing the part of Captain Hook. Amélie took the game to heart (she was Jake) and for the last week she has no longer been calling me Daddy but Captain Hook and keeps trying to steal my treasure. Didn’t realise that my acting skills were that developed! ‘Blast those puny pirates!‘

I also begun to try and widen their taste in music it started off badly, however David Bowie, The Beach Boys and Bob Marley were definite hits but then we found a favourite that eclipsed the others: Sammy David Jnr’s version of Candy Man. I think we listened to it seven times in a row before I decided that enough was enough, I think it was the line ‘You can even eat the dishes‘ that caught Éowyn’s imagination. I told her that it was a cover of a song from a film called ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ and gave her a précis of the story and told her that I had the book and if she would like I would read it to her. However because it is a big book it would take over a week to read it. This is the first time that I have read a book to them that is going to take more that a single night, indeed I normally read three short stories to them before bed. I wasn’t sure how they would take to it and whether they would have the attention span to last, no need to worry Éowyn is completely into it and even Amélie looks forward to it however being a little younger Amélie’s attention does wane a little and she has even fallen asleep before the night’s reading has finished. The girls are not the only one enjoying a little Roald Dahl, Daddy is enjoying it too!

The big news of this update is that Éowyn has been accepted at her first choice primary school: Town Farm. It was a difficult choice as Town Farm hasn’t got the best reputation in the area however it’s latest Ofsted report was by far the best in the area and when we toured around the schools it was the most impressive, with great facilities including plenty of computers, a well stocked library and good sporting facilities. Lucinda needed the most convincing for as she has been brought up in the area she is aware of the school’s reputation however the visit and the Ofsted report changed her opinion. There is still a nagging doubt in the back of her mind but we will soon find out whether we have made the correct decision.

However it is probably not the school we have to worry about influencing Éowyn but Éowyn influencing the other children. Éowyn is not only relatively clever but physically larger than the her peers and when she gets frustrated with her friends she can use both to get to own way. Her best friend Raine, however is more than a match for her both physically and cerebrally and they are usually as thick as thieves. If there is something going on those two are usually there or thereabouts, encouraging each other and their peers. Last Friday was an example.

Raine’s mum had offered to bring Éowyn home as Lucinda was still feeling a little tender and as she dropped her off she said that she had been called into Playbox by the teachers. Éowyn and Raine had somehow got hold of a pair of scissors and Éowyn had cut an inch off Raine’s hair. Lucinda apologised but as Raine’s mum said, she wasn’t upset with Éowyn (or Raine for that matter who had encouraged Éowyn to do it) but with the teachers who had left scissors unaided. It could have been worse, at least Raine’s hair will grow back. Just before Easter then had both come home from pre-school with their faces covered in felt-tip pen which took a couple of days to wash off and fade completely. It is never boring around at Chez Bagnall.

So after a winter that seems to have dragged which ended with the coldest March for 50 years the weather has finally turned warm (21ºC and counting!). The girls have their summer dress and their sunscreen on it so it must be time to turn the computer off and play in the garden.

Peace and love

Baggie

Shhhh!

It is comfy

Sleeping babe

Fancy dress

My baby brother

They made me do it

Éowyn’s art installation

Close up

Play-Doh!

Best friends

My best friend

Asleep on Daddy

Welcome to 2013

Monday 7th January 2013Sunday 1st January 2017Baggie

So as we sit Janus-like at the start of his month I will take the opportunity to review 2012 and attempt a prediction of what is to happen over the next 12 months.

So firstly what did we learn in 2012, the year that the Olympics came to London and Britain became really good at sport (except Football)? The World didn’t end; we didn’t fall over a fiscal cliff and the best way of guaranteeing the wettest year on record is to issue a hose-pipe ban in March. From a Bagnall-centric point of view we discovered the joys of all-inclusive holidays and the holiday island of Tenerife. Éowyn had been asking to go on a ‘plane again throughout 2011 and Amélie had not had the joy. We, obviously wanted a family holiday that was easy and would be rain-free and therefore would be relaxing for us too and so we opted for all-inclusive (eliminates the worry of finding child-friendly meals). Tenerife seemed to be a good bet for weather and had the attaction of Loro Parque as well as being the third largest volcano in the world. Both girls were extremely well-behaved throughout the holiday and thoroughly enjoyed the ‘plane ride, the food and the pools. Éowyn discovered her burgeoning love of photography (behind the lens, she has fallen out of love with being the object of the photo) and the horrors of a camel ride while Amélie was content to take the experience in her stride.

Éowyn also discovered the joys of the cinema. She has been a film fan for a long time but going to the cinema is very different, especially when you are three years old. Her first film was The Muppets and she thoroughly enjoyed it, so I bought the soundtrack (on CD – I am still 20th Century when it comes to music) and it hasn’t been out of my car stereo since. Both of the girls request the album before I am even in the car and they know all the words to all the songs. The film therefore had to be bought (on Blu-Ray) and has been watched a number of times. It is a good job that I am a big Muppets fan and I think that it is something that the youth of today have definitely missed out on and I can not wait for the sequel.

The biggest lesson from 2012 however was all about the preciousness and fragility of life. The beginning of the year saw the passing of a number of friends and family members and without wishing to put one life over another possibly the most significant to me were my Dad’s brother, my Uncle Roy and my Nan’s brother, my Great Uncle Albert. And although we are sad at their passing the circle of life continues and in June we were delighted to find out that Lucinda had fallen pregnant for the third time. However our joy was somewhat tempered by the blood results at the 12 week scan, which indicated a high risk of chromosomal abnormalities. Both being of the mind that we needed to know we opted for Chorionic Villus Sampling (CVS) to know for certain. Fortune looked upon us and the results came back that we were expecting a healthy baby boy. Both of us feel that this now makes our little family complete.

Then in early October a second reminder was sent our way with Lucinda suffering from Appendicitis. She has put the initial pains down to pregnancy twinges but as the day continued the pain got worse. A trip to A&E confirmed the worse and Lucinda was rushed into theatre for an appendectomy. It was a close thing with the swollen appendix about to burst (it was already weeping) but she is now fully recovered (apart from a small scar) and it is but a memory and we will not dwell on the statistics regarding pregnant women, unborn children and burst appendicies.

And to end the year Nanny Fran has retired; therefore it is our mission to keep her as busy as possible and with 3 grandchildren she will not have time to put her feet up. As both Lucinda and I came from three child families and so for us it seems quite natural to have three children. However in the modern world that doesn’t seem to be the norm. Indeed, holidays, family tickets and even cars do not seem to have been created with three children in mind. The biggest of those problems is the fact that modern cars have not been made wide enough to fit three car seats across. When we were growing up that wasn’t a problem as there were no car seats. Indeed there were no rear seat belts! However the modern age dictates that a child should be in a child’s car seat (which it right and proper) however to fit three car seats into a car one has to opt for the seven seater, the MPV. At least should we opt for the Ford S-Max (which is our current favourite) then we can take Nanny Fran with us on our excursions!

It seems a bit of a moot question to inquire as to what we are looking forward to in 2013. A new car, a new house (if we can possibly find what we are looking for in our price range) or a change in work premises (yes, after 10 years in the current building we are moving from the surburban idyll that is Chiswick to the leafy business park that is Stockley Park)?

Obviously these are all totally eclipsed by the fact that we are expecting our third child and it is to be a son. With two kids already under our belt we are not entirely newbies to this parenting business but they have been girls. By all accounts the leap from two to three is not as big as either the jump from one to two or indeed zero to one but as Éowyn and Amélie have taught us, no two children are the same. Indeed Éowyn and Amélie are like chalk and cheese in some respects. So where will the latest edition sit? Or will he take the Bagnall children into a third direction. Whatever, as long as the little one is healthy, it will be a fun journey and give me even more reason to update you all via this medium (and, more likely, yet another reason why I will not have time to) and to fill the servers of this corner of the internet with more photos of the growing family.

It will also be a momentous year for our other children. Not only will they have to cope with another child vying for their parents’ (and grandparents’) attention and eventually playing with their toys and upsetting their games but they will have to move in together so that their little brother can have his own room. At the moment Éowyn and Amélie have separate bedrooms but as we live in a three bedroom house the sisters will have to move in together. Eventually they will be in the bunk beds that we have bought but until Amélie is a little older we will just move their current beds into the same room. Therefore there will be a whole learning curve of compromise that they will have to go through.

In addition, Éowyn will be going to school. Not pre-school, but actual full time education. We are obviously anxious that we have chosen the right school and that she will enjoy it. She will be going from being one of the oldest (and tallest) at her pre-school to being much further down the pecking order in a much bigger environment. Although she can be a little on the shy side I am sure that she will take it in her stride. Hopefully the fact that she will be in a more structured learning environment will be good for her.

When we know what school Éowyn has been accepted for, then it will determine which pre-school we will send Amélie to. We have delayed sending Amélie to pre-school only because we don’t want to end up causing ourselves issues with the girls being at completely different sites across the Staines-Upon-Thames (!) area. Hopefully it will not be long until we know the answer.

With a new baby, probably a new car, a new work environment and maybe a new house it is already gearing up to be a busy year. A year that will see visits from two bright comets. The first, Panstarrs will grace the skies around my birthday (and possibly my son’s birth) and the second will perhaps be the brightest comet of our generation, if not the century. Comet Ison is heading our way and should be visible to the naked eye for the last few months of 2013 and at its peak should be brighter than a full moon.

So as portents adorn the heavens and Lucinda and I complete 4 decades on this planet – don’t tell anyone – (I don’t think those two events are related) I leave you a little bit of trivia with which you can impress your friends. 2013 is the first year since 1987 where all four digits are different from each other. Do with that what you will.

And finally I hope that 2013 brings you love and wisdom; the strength to follow your dreams and to learn from your mistakes and the wonder of a child to appreciate the beauty of this World.

Peace and Love

Baggie

PS: The photo below was taken on our Christmas trip to Chessington World of Adventures, at the Sealife Centre there, it was Yuletide so excuse the reindeer antlers!

When the Snowman brings the snow, well he might just like to know, he’s put a great big smile on somebody’s face

Friday 14th December 2012Friday 14th December 2012Baggie

It has been a while hasn’t it? Apologies but I have always had the caveat that ‘sometimes life will get in the way’ and strangely although we have nothing much of note I haven’t found time to spend the couple of hours it takes me to complete one of these updates.

So what has been happening since the excitement of October and the start of November? Winter has arrived, the wind has a decidedly Siberian feel to it, indeed the north of the country has had it first snowfall (although none around here) and Christmas is around the corner (as is the End of World). I have been trying to use my remaining annual leave, even though I have still been in at weekends (and a mid-week meeting) in attempt to make sure the house is prepared for Christmas. The annual Christmas card photo has been taken, the decorations have been retrieved from the loft and Christmas baubles have been decorated.

Since the birth of Éowyn we have unwittingly created two traditions (if five years of anything can be called a tradition), namely a Christmas card photo of Éowyn (and since 2010 Amélie) in suitable Christmassy attire and a self-decorated Christmas bauble. Genevieve Gallery in Englefield Green allows you to paint your own pottery and at Christmas that includes baubles, angels and reindeer decorations in addition to the usual cups, plates, teapots etc. When Éowyn was a baby we thought it would be nice to make a bauble with her handprint on, and so we have gone back each year since and thus have a record of her growing hands. This year however Éowyn rebelled. She did not want her hand painted and, in fairness to our eldest, her hands are now probably a little too large for even the largest sized bauble. She did, however, want to paint one. So a new tradition was born. Amélie still created a handprint bauble while Éowyn let her creative juices flow and made her own design. We will see how this new tradition develops.

The former Christmas tradition was altered by Amélie. Éowyn loves to dress up and so convincing her to put on a Mrs Santa Claus outfit was easy. Amélie on the other hand seems to have an aversion to dressing up. If you recall she refused to dress up for the Halloween party at the Manor House in Dorset and so it was for the Christmas photo. We did however manage to get her to wear a red dress and a hairband with reindeer antlers. You will have to pop back on the 24th December for the annual Bagnall Christmas message, to see the fruits of that labour.

The question that has been occupying our minds of late has been the crucial decision of which school to put down as our first choice for Éowyn. We have visited each of the schools in the area, we have read the Ofsted reports and we have asked around people we know that have children in each of the schools. The decision is still to be completely made although we think we are erring towards a decision and it is probably on the side of the school that was at the bottom of the list before we started that process. Until we fill the form in and find out whether Éowyn has been accepted we will not mention any names but it has been interesting to see how reputations influence decision processes regardless of actualities and how it is actually hard to eliminate that reputation from the forefront of your mind. I suppose because we realise the importance of education and because Éowyn is bright, we want the best for her. A school that will push her and stretch her abilities and have the resources in order to be able to do that. Obviously we will not know until she goes there and she settles in. Time will tell and obviously you will read it here first.

Lucinda as you will recall suffered from appendicitis back in October and last week saw her six week follow up appointment. The surgeon was very pleased with the way she was healing and has discharged her from his care. However he did give her a little more information about her surgery and it was quite worrying. Effectively the surgery could not have been any later for her appendix was not only at the point of rupture but had already begun to ooze its poison into her abdomen and consequently the surgeon had to ensure that she was thoroughly cleaned out before sewing her up. It is frightening to think that any extra delay on that fateful day could have had a more serious outcome.

As you may recall that hasn’t been our only medical story of the last couple of weeks. Amélie has suffered from probably the mildest case of Chicken Pox that our family has seen. It started with a few spots on her abdomen. The next day there were a few more so Lucinda took her to the walk-in clinic. The nurse said that she was 99% convinced that Amélie had Chicken Pox and told Lucinda that it would probably get worse over the next few days but the spots would scab over and then she would no longer be contagious. Sounds familiar to anyone that has had Chicken Pox or knows anyone that has had it. Well, that is not how Amélie’s case developed. The spots had peaked on that second day and then just disappeared over the next couple of days. So we are unsure if she actually had Chicken pox or some similar disease or whether she just has a really powerful immune system and shook it off without breaking stride.

Amélie’s immune system maybe strong but she is not immune to the terrible twos. Amélie has always been a cutey and relatively well behaved but lately she has been throwing a few strops and refusing to do things if she doesn’t want to do them. She is more passive than aggressive preferring to sit down in the middle of supermarket aisle or pavement than throw a tantrum. She will stand with her arms folded and her lower lip in a pout as a silent protest to whatever it is that you are asking her to do. Although it is frustrating when you are in a rush but as the same time it is very amusing and I find it hard not to smile. I can never let her see that obviously. I will see if I can get a surreptitious photo and post it here for prosperity.

Éowyn on the other hand has been relatively well-behaved but when she falls off the behaviour wagon she really jumps off with both feet. It is usually when she is tired and not getting her own way however one slight aberration to this wave of good behaviour happened a couple of weeks ago while she was upstairs and unusually being very quiet. Lucinda crept upstairs to find out what she was up to and there she was quite happily drawing on the wall. I am sure nearly every child does it at sometime in their formative years but it still not what you want to see.

It may come as no surprise that we are using the threat of that most benevolent of dictators Father Christmas to install a fear of misbehaviour into our oldest. I am not sure that it is working as well as it might but at least her behaviour hasn’t meant that I have to follow up with my threat that if she finds herself on the naughty list (and she likes the song Santa Claus is coming to town so she understands the theory) that Father Christmas will only bring her an orange, an apple and a lump of coal. I mean where will I get a lump of coal in this day and age!

We have not yet managed to see Santa (although he did visit Éowyn’s school) this year. Last year we saw him at Peppa Pig World, unfortunately there has only been one non-weekend day so far this year where he has been available (he is a busy man). With the fact that I now work every weekend I have been unable to take her, however there are still a few days available so perhaps we will catch up with him elsewhere. Nanny Fran has gone one better though and has gone to visit him in Lapland. We would have gone too but felt that Amélie was a little too young and it would be unfair on our unborn son. So we will probably wait a few years and take all three children, depending on the report back from Nanny Fran.

There may not be another update before Christmas but as mentioned there will be the traditional Bagnall Christmas message on Christmas eve so please feel free to pop by to see the girls in their Christmas attire. Also, give yourself a festive ten points if you can name the Christmas song from which the title of this update has been taken.

Peace and Love

Baggie