Tooth fairy

Amélie’s first visit from the Tooth Fairy

Sunday 30th October 2016Sunday 30th October 2016Baggie

With a recent general write up; a write up for Éowyn’s birthday and one due for the return of the Badger Moot you may not be expecting me to spoil you with another at this time and you would be right. However, as I am sure you can tell from the title, Amélie has recently had one of those special moments that deserves to be relayed without delay to you and it doesn’t seem right and fitting to squeeze it on the end of the Badger Moot – it is much more important than that.

So as the title suggests, (well, more tell you outright rather than suggests) Amélie has lost the first of her deciduous teeth. If you recall, Éowyn lost her first tooth at the beginning of June 2014, 5 months younger than Amélie was on the 28th October 2016 when she lost hers, under more dramatic circumstances (this is Éowyn we are talking about). Éowyn wasn’t mentally prepared for the loss of her tooth that came out while she was eating a corn on the cob for she had not noticed it was loose and so when it came out it freaked her out completely. It took a phone call from Daddy (who was still at work) to calm her down.

Amélie, on the other hand was more than prepared for the loss of her tooth. She had noticed it was wobbly on the last day at school a week before it actually came out. However, this caused Amélie some major concerns mainly because her tooth had become wobbly the day we were due to go to the Badger Moot in deepest darkest Dorset, so if it came out while we were in Puncknowle how would the Tooth Fairy know where she was? (Indeed, who else would know where Puncknowle was?) I am sure, therefore, it was sheer willpower that meant that we had to wait an entire week and our return to Bagnall Manor before her tooth came out. We didn’t have to wait long, it was less than hour after we returned that the tooth fell out. She had obviously dropped the effort of keeping the tooth in and although she had eaten 23 meals since she had noticed it was wobbly the first meal back home finally caused it to fall out. The offending article was a piece of chicken in yellow bean sauce from the local Chinese takeaway that was our welcome home meal.

I was half expecting the spare ribs to be the culprit but as she bit into the chicken it must have loosened because she suddenly spat it out complaining that there was something hard in her chicken and there in the half-chewed meat was her tooth. There was then a moment of panic where she thought that she was going to bleed to death (Amélie can be a little dramatic – but not as dramatic as Éowyn!) but when she realised that she wasn’t bleeding and that it didn’t hurt, she became excited that she was going to receive a visit from the Tooth Fairy.

During the week leading up to the loss of the tooth, Amélie had asked me why do Tooth Fairies collect teeth. This caught me on the hop and I wasn’t quite prepared for the question, so I turned it back round and asked the girls what they thought they did with the teeth. Now I was probably expecting answers such as:

They turn them into money
They turn them into stars
They build their houses out of them
They make them into jewelry
They plant them and grow fairy flowers
They grind them into fairy dust, which they use to fly
They give them to new babies who don’t have any
Or they just collect them

I wasn’t expecting the answer that Éowyn gave: ‘They grind them into powder which they give to the Sleep Fairies who sprinkle it in your eyes to make you sleep at night.‘ I quite like that answer and is far better, or at least more kid-friendly, than some of the ideas that were going through my mind. I have encouraged Éowyn to turn that idea into a story.

So, with her tooth wrapped in a square of toilet paper Amélie was quite happy to take herself off to bed in anticipation of the booty that the Tooth Fairy would bring. She was not disappointed for this was her first tooth so the reward was greater than it will be for subsequent teeth (as it was for Éowyn – you’ll be glad to know that Brexit has yet to affect the tooth exchange rate). Indeed, the next morning Amélie awoke to two shiny pound coins (so shiny they looked like they had been dipped in Cillit Bang) that lay under her pillow in place of her tooth (the Tooth Fairy must have run out of two pound coins). She was delighted with the cash and squirrelled it away.

Amélie’s permanent tooth has already erupted from her gum so it won’t be long until her gap is no more and indeed as it grows out it might push some of the neighbouring teeth out. Will she catch up with Éowyn, who has only lost 4 teeth to date? You will have to keep popping by to find out, for if that happens you can rest assured that I will let you know.

Peace and Love

Baggie

Uncle Bill’s birthday

Sunday 21st February 2016Monday 22nd February 2016Baggie

I was hoping to have posted this at least a week ago but with a busy period at work and an intermittent internet connectivity at home (it has been reported to my ISP – don’t you worry) somehow the time has eluded me.

January saw Daddy enjoying weekends at home, and with weekends off it meant that I was able to do the kind of things that daddies should be doing with their kids. One of these important events was to take Éowyn to the park and teach her to ride her bike. Éowyn has had her bike for a while but has refused to learn and with the fact that I have been working at weekends Lucinda and I have not had the opportunity to force her hand. So when the school arranged a road safety awareness week and the children could take either a bike or a scooter in, it seemed like the ideal time to address this skill gap.

The first hurdle was to attempt to stop her giving up before she even got on the bike. With that stage passed it was the back-breaking role of holding onto the back of the seat while she peddled and I ran alongside her. It didn’t take long for her to gain the confidence albeit with stabilisers. After a few trips around the park she was riding barely using the stabilisers. Therefore the next stage will be taking the stabilisers off and getting her to ride on two wheels!

That hasn’t been the only big step forward for our first-born. After a hiatus of over a year she has lost her third tooth. As you may recall she lost two in relatively quick succession and we thought that was going to be the start of the avalanche. However, there was no further exfoliation, edentulism if you prefer, until this week.

The tooth was wobbly for nearly a week before it fell out and we got regular updates from Éowyn. We tried to encourage her to eat food that would encourage it to exfoliate but it did not happen until she was at school and out it came. Obviously, the school is prepared for such occurrences and she was given a small paper envelope in which to place the tooth to keep it safe for home time. This was then placed under her pillow for the tooth fairy. As per tradition, the tooth was replaced by a shiny pound coin (so shiny it looked like it had been cleaned with Cillit Bang).

This loss of a milk tooth occurred at an appropriate time, the bi-yearly dental check-up. This was Ezra’s first trip to the dentist and Lucinda had spent the previous week pretending to be the dentist and asking him to open his mouth so that she could look in his mouth. The training paid off, for at the dentist Ezra was the most comfortable and most compliant with the dentist. Éowyn, on the other hand, freaked out when the dentist looked in her mouth. He did manage to confirm that although she may have only lost 3 of her milk teeth, that her adult molars had come through at the back of her jaw. It was these teeth that he was trying to paint with a protective coating but had to leave because she was so distressed. I think it is time for Daddy to be the bad guy and take her next time.

The majority of the photos below though come from a weekend away in Dorset. Lucinda’s Uncle Bill decided to celebrate his 70th birthday at Berwick Manor in Puncknowle, the scene of the majority of the Badger Moots. Uncle Bill had hired it for the week, but being term time we joined him for the celebrations just for the weekend.

We always enjoy the Badger Moots (we are usually held in the October half-term) and this was no exception. It was a long way to go for a weekend but definitely worth it. Berwick Manor feels like a home from home as we have been there so many times before, so it feels very familiar as soon as you drive through the gate.

We left home late on Friday night (after I had returned home from work) and so didn’t arrive until long after the Baguettes’ bedtimes, however the sight of their cousins gave them all a second wind and so didn’t get to bed until late.

Since we were planning on leaving after lunch on Sunday this meat that Saturday was our only full day in Dorset. We know the west of Dorset extremely well due to the annual Badger Moot and one of our favourite places is Lyme Regis. Therefore we were looking forward to a trip to the edge of Dorset. However, when we looked at the weather report we decided that Lyme Regis was perhaps a little too far to shelter from driving rain and a howling gale.

Nevertheless we did not want to come all that distance and just sit in the house, regardless of how homely it is. So we decided to head just down the road to Bridport to check out the Saturday market. However, the market stall holders must have heard the weather report too and there were only a handful of market stalls brave enough to open in the rain. Therefore after running from shop to shop to avoid the rain we decided that enough was enough and after picking up supplies from the local supermarket headed back to the manor house.

The girls did not mind going back to the house. One of the shops that we had stopped in was Toymaster, a large toy emporium in Bridport where they had spent the shiny Christmas money that Santa had left them, plus the shiny pound coin that the tooth fairy had left. Thus, going back to house gave them the opportunity not only to play with their cousins but to play with their new toys, while Daddy could watch the start of the six nations rugby.

Saturday evening was Uncle Bill’s birthday buffet and it was family time. The large kitchen table seated us all comfortably and it was a good night spent eating, drinking, catching up on family news and putting the World to rights.

Sunday morning started bright although still extremely windy and with Sunday lunch booked for 14:30 we had some free time in the morning so we decided to pop out and visit the nearby town of West Bay. West Bay beach was used in the introduction to the television series ‘The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin‘ and more recently the series ‘Broadchurch‘. Although it wasn’t the weather for filming when we were there. Nevertheless, despite the weather when the girls asked if they could have an ice cream, we decide we would let them, they were by the seaside after all.

So after a Sunday lunch we bid farewell to the birthday boy, Nanny, the rest of the family and Dorset and headed back home ready for school (and work) on Monday morning. It was a long way to go but a thoroughly enjoyable weekend spent with the family in what could be described as a Badger Moot-ette! Roll on October and the next.

Peace and Love

Baggie

Ezra photobomb!

Never too cold for an ice-cream

Cheeky!

It’s a bit rough!

In shadow!

Sheltering at West Bay

Berwick Manor

Family time

Happy Birthday Uncle Bill

Mommy and Ezra

In disguise

Party dress

Amélie and Toffee

Lucinda and Nanny

The girls and the guinea pigs

A visit from the Tooth Fairy

Friday 13th June 2014Saturday 14th June 2014Baggie

The trilogy is complete and the third update of the week lands at Baggie and Lucy dot com. So after the epic write-up(s) of our family holiday to Tenby what could possibly have happened to warrant this update?

If you have not guessed from the title of this update the biggest news of the post-holiday period is that on Friday 6th June 2014 Éowyn lost her first tooth. Yes, our oldest child has taken another step to remind us that they are only children fleetingly. Unfortunately, this came as a bit of a shock to us and especially to Éowyn. There was no warning, the tooth had not become wobbly, she was simply eating a corn on the cob and out it popped. Therefore we were not mentally prepared for it (and hadn’t ever really spoken to Éowyn about it in any depth) and Éowyn certainly wasn’t mentally prepared for it. I had not yet returned home from work and this probably made it worse, indeed she was inconsolable by Lucinda.

Éowyn always has been a daddy’s girl and whenever she is sad, or frightened or hurt it will always be me that she looks to for comfort. With Lucinda unable to console her, I received a phone-call from Lucinda asking me to talk to Éowyn. Therefore work was put to one side while I spoke to Éowyn. Making her tell me what happened made her focus on talking instead of succumbing to hysterics and then I could ask her the important question: ‘Did she know what this meant?‘ Somewhat taken aback by a question, she thought about it for a while but couldn’t answer. I replied that she would receive a visit from the tooth fairy, who would leave her shiny coins. This perked her up, especially after I told her that she could spend those shiny coins on whatever she wanted, although I don’t think that she fully grasps the value of shiny coins and what she could purchase with them. We also spoke about the fact that she was growing up and was a big girl. By the end of the phone-call she had calmed down significantly and now was more concerned about what had happened to the tooth to ensure that she could put it under her pillow for the tooth fairy.

It seems that the current going rate for a first tooth is £2. Unfortunately the tooth fairy did not have a two pound coin but did leave two shiny £1 coins (so shiny that it looked like that the had been cleaned with Cillit Bang!). Éowyn was so excited the next morning when she woke to find the money and came running in to show me. I asked her what she would like to use the money to buy. ‘Can I buy two Kinder eggs? One for me and one for Amélie?‘ How can you refuse that?

That Saturday was another big day. As regular readers will know for various achievements both girls had been promised items from the Disney store and both had chosen Frozen related items. Unfortunately the success of Frozen has not been reflected by the availability of the items in the stores and on the website. So while we were on holiday we had charged Nanny Fran with a one week challenge to source an Elsa dress and doll for Éowyn and an Anna dress and doll for Amélie. Nanny Fran is not one to shirk a challenge and came good on three of the four. Only the Anna doll for Amélie had eluded her. A stroke of fortune, however, meant that Lucinda found one in another store and so, at long last, we had a full complement to reward the girls. Saturday was the first day that Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz had to come down and bring them. As you can imagine the girls were beside themselves with excitement, both at the prospect of seeing Nanny Fran and their Aunties (for Auntie Mary was going to visit too), and the fact that they were going to receive their Frozen dresses and dolls.

You can imagine how excited they were when they opened their bags and took out their dresses. They put them on immediately and after Daddy extracted the dolls from their respective boxes no other toys got a look in that day. You will be happy to know that Ezra had not been left out. When Nanny Fran had visited the Disney store there had been an offer on Muppet related merchandise, so Nanny Fran treated her Grandson to a Gonzo cuddly toy. You can see from the photos below that not only were the girls were delighted with their presents Ezra was quite happy with his.

Not that Ezra currently deserves a present. That is perhaps a little harsh but the girls did receive theirs for their achievements while Ezra, though cute and an ideal baby from a sleeping point of view has not had any major achievements of late. As he marks his 15th month he has not yet begun to walk. His preferred method of locomotion is crawling but when that is an inconvenience (for instance when you are trying to run away with the TV remote control) he has resorted to ‘walking’ on his knees! He will not even entertain the idea of walking and will not let you hold him up. He will cruise along the furniture and even crawl to you and pull himself up on to his feet against your legs but he will not try to walk.

You may recall that Amélie was also a late developer when it came to walking, in complete contrast to Éowyn who was walking quite early. Amélie, however, just decided one day to walk, getting up and completing a dozen paces or so; maybe Ezra will do that. He has until the 4th July 2014 to beat his sister; we will watch this space.

He has, however, developed another habit, one that is not welcome. He has turned into a bit of a biter. It is obviously a developmental stage probably borne out of frustration and his inability to communicate or control his emotions. They are not play bites though and his teeth are sharp. He has left marks on both girls and myself and Lucinda. It is a difficult one to deal with as he is a little young for the thinking step, but a firm ‘No’ and then if he persists to try and ignore him is our current strategy. He is a little strange at times though, for if he is frustrated and he can not get hold of you to bite you he will bite himself. You almost feel that it is better for him to bite you than hurt himself. Hopefully this is just a phase that he will grow out of soon before he causes someone real damage.

There is one more first that I need to get you across before I leave you and that is Éowyn’s first Sports Day. Yes, it is that time of year that schools up and down the country hold their annual sports day. Éowyn’s class had been in training since their returned from half term and I regularly asked Éowyn how she was getting on. Knowing that she is not the fastest (we Bagnalls are not build for speed) I was trying to cushion her from potential upset, explaining that as long as she did her best, then that is what matters. It seems however, that the teachers had already wheeled out the perennial classic: ‘It is not the winning but the taking part‘.

Chatting with Éowyn, she seemed quite content with her ability and that she wasn’t the fastest runner, however she did say that she had come second in the obstacle race. Therefore, on the way to Sports Day I thought I would give him some fatherly encouragement and told her that the obstacle race was the race for intellectuals. Anyone can run in a straight line but running and negotiating puzzles takes a special person with special abilities.

The Sports Day was a big event with the day divided between the lower school (Nursery to Year 2) in the morning and the upper school (Year 3 to Year 6) in the afternoon. Each year had three races so you can see why it took best part of half a day to complete all races. The three races were a straight sprint, the aforementioned obstacle race and a relay race.

As suspected Éowyn did not perform very well in the straight sprint. This was due in part to the fact that she is not a particularly fast runner and partly because she was not concentrating at the start of the race and had given the other children a five yard head start. She was also slow at the start of the obstacle race. The obstacle race is not about top speed though and she soon caught up and her princess training obviously paid dividends for she came out of the ‘balancing a bean bag on your head’ stage in the lead. She increased that lead in the ‘pass a hula hoop over your body’ stage and so by the time she came to the slalom run she had a healthy lead and wasn’t caught. Yes, Éowyn won a race and was so proud, as indeed were we.

We thought that she may have won a second winner’s sticker (no medals here, just stickers) in the relay. Her team were winning with only a few legs to go. Éowyn was running the antepenultimate leg but the boy who was running the leg before her (the preantepenultimate?) had a bit of an incident. Half way down the track his trainer came off. He never noticed until he was about 5 yards before the hand over, however instead of carrying on sans trainer he turned and ran back to retrieve the offending footwear, then sat down and put it back on (which took a while) before completing his leg. In the mean time the other teams had completed a couple of legs and poor Éowyn was running against no one (as were the last two in her team). It was quite funny to watch and Éowyn didn’t seem particularly upset by it. It is just a shame that I wasn’t filming it, may have been worth £250 from ‘You’ve been framed!’

So, it has been another eventful week in this enclave of the Bagnall family and I leave you with this interesting fact: today is Friday 13th June 2014 and it is a full moon. So if you are selenophobic or friggatriskaidekaphobic you may want to stay in bed. However I do beg you to bear in mind that this is the first time that this combination of superstitions has occurred since Friday 13th October 2000 and you will have to wait until Friday 13th August 2049 for the next one. So when you look up at this year’s Honey Moon (June’s full moon has several names including the Strawberry Moon and the Rose Moon as well as the Honey Moon) appreciate this heavenly occurrence for you will not see it for another 35 years and 2 months.

Peace and Love

Baggie