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A warm November is the sign of a bad Winter – or so they say…

Wednesday 30th November 2011Thursday 9th August 2012Baggie

We are two weeks closer to Christmas and I still have no presents or indeed made any effort towards purchasing them. Nothing new there then (although I have looked on Play and Amazon and bought stuff for myself -it’s a start!). It is with this in mind that I now start a 10 day break from my place of employment. I hesitate to use the word work, as Christmas shopping, visiting friends and relatives, preparing the house for Christmas and looking after the children is also work, I just don’t get any money for that!

So, again since this write up comes on the back of a couple of busy couple of weeks at work so you must forgive the brevity of amusing ancedotes and photos. It has become more of a discipline for me to continue with the updates when I am busy and not let the impetuous slip for as you will notice I have seriously missed the target this year in terms of updates and am currently only averaging 12.85 days between writes ups as opposed to 11.41 days last year and 11.77 days the year before. OK enough of the geekiness and back to the task in hand.

So with the 25th December less than a month away it is all geared to getting ready for the big day and Éowyn is, probably for the first time fully comprehending the idea of Christmas, i.e that Santa brings you presents not the religious aspect of the year. We are trying to temper the fact that she will get what ever she wants and the incessant stream of advertising aimed at children is not helping and the phrase ‘I want one of those,’ is heard umpteen times a day. However, it is giving us the opportunity to use the notion of Santa to our advantage. ‘If you are not a good girl then Santa will not bring you any pressies‘, although in fairness to Éowyn we have not had to say that to her that much because she has been relatively well behaved. We haven’t resorted to the tactics of friends of ours who pretend to call Father Christmas whenever their child misbehaves and asks him to take away a present. We’ll save that for when we need to wheel out the big guns.

We are, however, trying to use the notion of Santa in an attempt to stop Éowyn from sucking her thrumb. She has always been a thumb sucker. The nurses in the ICU at St. Peters tried to encourage us to give Éowyn a dummy when she was born (it seems to be one of the factors in preventing cot death) but, much to our relief, Éowyn kept spitting it out and so never had a dummy. Thus her comfort became her thumb, which is handy in some ways (never gets lost!) but at the age of three we feel that it is high time that she stopped, at least during the day. So, the power of Santa is being invoked by trying to convince her that only babies suck their thumb so if she is sucking her thumb then Santa will think that she is a baby and therefore only bring her baby presents and not big girl presents. Will it work? Watch and wait.

Amélie, obviously, is oblivious to it all. As indeed she is oblivious to the fact that her parents need more than 3 hours continuous sleep. Amélie doesn’t seem to understand the notion of a good night’s sleep and the best we can ever expect is to be woken at 0500. It is starting to get a little tiresome after 14 months! We had initially hoped to be able to move Amélie into Éowyn’s room earlier this year but until she sleeps through the night we are of the opinion that it is unfair on Éowyn that unfortunately means she is still in with us. However, now that Lucinda is back at work it is becoming more important to train her, if not to sleep, then not to scream like she is being murdered when she wakes in the small wee hours of the morning.

In the daytime Amélie is completely different and a little cutie with a very different personality to Éowyn. She is much more of a mommy’s girl than Éowyn. Éowyn was, and indeed still is, a daddy’s girl which, considering the amount of work that Lucinda does for her, much be frustrating for mommy. Amélie has redressed that but it can be equally frustrating for Lucinda as Amélie will follow her around incessantly, hanging onto the back of her legs whenever she has her back towards her. As if to illustrate this Amélie’s favourite word (not that she has that many at the moment) is ‘mommy‘. She can also say ‘daddy‘ and what sounds like ‘big sister‘ (much to Éowyn’s delight) among others but it is ‘mommy‘ that she constantly mutters. However, in the last few days that has been replaced with a new favourite: sneezing! She sits there pretending to sneeze. She then looks at you and gives a cheeky grin. You can start her off by saying ‘Bless you‘ and off she goes.

Amélie still has not taken her first unfettered steps. She spends a lot of her time on her legs cruising along the furniture but has not yet attempted to let go of the sofa and walk across the room. If you hold her hands to encourage her to walk she just sits down refusing to entertain the idea. This is probably down to a number of reasons: there really is no need at the moment: she is the Usain Bolt of crawling and can cross the room in a blink of the eye; her sister will carry toys for her so she can concentrate on crawling and the wooden floor is more slippery than carpet so probably doesn’t install confidence when taking those first steps. We’ll see if we can encourage her to make that next stage before Christmas; another of the items on the list for the week off.

So with that in mind I will leave you with this one thought. This apparently has been one of the warmest Novembers on record and one of the mildest Autumns on record (for the UK) and apparently the old weather lore states that: ‘A warm November is the sign of a bad winter’ (hence the title of this write up) as does the similar pearl of wisdom ‘Flowers bloomin’ in late Autumn a sure sign of a bad winter comin’ (not sure if that second statement is supposed to rhyme but if it is, it is a bad one, if it doesn’t they why does it look like they have tried to make it rhyme?). I have no empirical data to back up either of these statements, or indeed if they relate to great swathes of the world or just to a small town just outside of Scunthorpe (Winterton, perchance?) but I thought that I would throw it into the public domain and test it this winter. Obviously it will prove nothing either way but perhaps 30 years of study and a supercomputer (or at least a piece of paper and a propelling pencil) will, so come back to me in 2041 and I will let you know.

Enjoy the photos

Peace and love

Baggie

Wrapped up warm for Winter

Coo-ey!

I see you!

Let me play you a song

It goes like this…

One more for the lady in the corner

Fun at the park

I like the swing

I like the swing too!

What lies on yonder horizon?

It’s cheeky!

Look at me!

Lesson one: the emotional phonecall part one

Lesson one: the emotional phonecall part two

Lesson one: the emotional phonecall part three

My First Festival

Saturday 23rd July 2011Sunday 24th July 2011Baggie

It’s July; it’s Britain; it’s summer therefore there is heavy rain with gales and a hose pipe ban (probably). It is also festival season. My first festival wasn’t until July 1996 (T in the Park), Éowyn’s first festival was last Saturday (Legoland Live! on 16th July 2011! – nearly 15 years to the day!). Whereas my first festival included Radiohead, Alanis Morrisette, Prodigy, Foo Fighters, Beck, Black Grape and Pulp (not to mention Keanu Reeve’s band Dogstar), Éowyn’s first festival included Fifi and the Flowertots, Roary the Racing Car and the Zingzillas!

Yes, Legoland hosted Legoland Live! which was billed as My First Festival. One stage (and a number of other events around the periphery) in a field in the Legoland car park. The bands were a variety of Milkshake (Channel 5) and CBeebies (BBC) characters including a number of Éowyn’s favourites (although not Peppa Pig!). As it was part of Legoland, surprisingly our Merlin Passes gained us free access without any supplement required (we were expecting one, so it was a pleasant twist and would encourage us to go to the next one). Unfortunately the weather was not pleasant (reminiscent of my first Glastonbury – and my second Glastonbury). The heavens had well and truly opened and within 5 minutes of entering the park were soaked to the skin (literally!).

Lucinda decided to try and brave the weather and took Éowyn on the Dino Ride, while I sheltered with Amélie under one of the eateries. The weather was so bad though that they stopped the ride part way round and had the walk some of the route to the exit, not before Lucinda and Éowyn had one of the official photographs of them on the ride. Lucinda and Éowyn joined myself and Amélie in our shelter and we stayed there for the best part of an hour, while our pac-a-macs dried out (we didn’t purchase one of the the fetching yellow plastic Legoland ponchos that seemed to be in vogue on Saturday). So, slightly less damp we headed to the festival site. That dry feeling did not last very long as the rain had not stopped so with British stoicism we walked, with heads held high to the festival field.

We arrived just as Fifi and the Flowertots were on, and the delight and incredulity on Éowyn’s face was palpable. I don’t think that she could believe, or perhaps even comprehend, that they were real (as they obviously are!) and sat on my shoulders grinning from ear to ear at the stage. Fifi was followed by Roary the Racing Car and the Zingzillas (for who the sun came out briefly)! Those were the big three that we thought that Éowyn would want to see.

There was a hiatus after the Zingzillas (and there needed to be – far too much excitement!) so we decided to look and some of the tents on the periphery of the field. As fortune would have it we arrived at the first tent just as a Flowertot show was about to start. Not the matriarch of the show, Fifi, but her friend Violet. A dancefloor stood in the middle of the tent and the children were encouraged to sit there with the parents on chairs at the edge of the dancefloor looking on. I think that Éowyn was a little over-awed by it all and stood at the edge of the dancefloor near Lucinda (I was at the back with Amélie) sucking her thumb. She didn’t join in with the dance actions of the first few songs, but fortunately the performer in the Violet suit (O.K. Violet herself) saw Éowyn and made a concerted effort to encourage her to join in, including dancing with her and giving her a cuddle at the end of the next song.

The next tent was bedecked with beanbags and cushions and two children entertainers took turns reading stories. Éowyn loves stories, reading them (as best as she can), listening to them or just making them up! Either she was really tired or the environment wasn’t condusive to listening or the entertainers did not enthrall her and her attention waived. We took this as the excitement of the day was just too much and with a long wait until Justin Fletcher we decided to go home. Within five minutes of leaving Legoland she was fast asleep in the arms of her car seat.

I have to say it was a good day, obviously it would have been considerably better if it had been dry (although with it raining on St. Swithun’s day – the day before – we probably have another 40 days worth of rain to come!) and if we had managed to meet up with at least one of the group of friends that were also in attendance. Unfortunately as we were all dashing from shelter to shelter it just wasn’t meant to be. Should Legoland host the festival again next year then I am sure that, if possible, we will be there.

Éowyn is certainly going through the terrible twos at the moment. She is pushing the boundaries continually and much of it is fuelled, we think, by jealousy. Although she is very fond of her sister, and no one can make Amélie giggle quite as hard as Éowyn, she does get angry and frustrated if Amélie is shown any form of affection. The thinking step has been in use most days and at the moment it seems to work. She will sit on the designated step and will, usually, seem genuinely sorry and modify her behaviour accordingly afterwards.

As with all generalised statements there are exceptions and occasionally there are times when the thinking step isn’t the appropriate course of action. While putting her to bed the other night, Éowyn was giving Lucinda a hard time. Lucinda bent down to Éowyn’s eye level, looked her in the eye and asked her with a low measured voice to come to her to get dressed. Éowyn simply shouted ‘No!’ (her usual response when she is frustrated and angry) then slapped Lucinda and spat in her face. Obviously two minutes on the thinking step wasn’t the answer. So she was swiftly dressed (by me) and put to bed with no stories and I took all her toys out of her bed. Éowyn loves her stories (and to be honest I love that father and daughter time, reading them to her) so that was a big loss to her, as was the lack of toys in her bed. I explained to her why she was not going to have any stories and why I was taking the toys out of her bed after I had made her say sorry to Lucinda. I went downstairs but before Lucinda followed me she heard a little voice from Éowyn’s room. Lucinda went in and Éowyn simply held out a small cuddly toy, ‘Daddy, forgot one,‘ she said. Your heart breaks.

The next morning she again apologised and fully understood why she had not had any stories, so although it feels harsh when you are dishing out such punishment in the grand scheme of things, it not only works but is necessary. Let’s hope that this stage does not last very long.

Amélie has also taken a very big step forward. No, not walking (or even crawling forward yet) but something we are probably more delighted with. She has decided that she doesn’t want a dummy anymore. It was something that never happened with Éowyn for she refused a dummy from the very beginning when she was in the incubator in ICU (although she still sucks her thumb) and we were concerned on how we would face the day when we took the dummy away. We had visions of her being quite old and still depending on a dummy for comfort (at the Legoland Live! Festival there were some children who were at least 4 that still had dummies) but no need to worry. On Tuesday she started pushing the dummy away. On Wednesday she didn’t use it once, and she hasn’t used it since. This is a great relief and a great step in her development, not to mention making our lives a lot easier. If only she wouldn’t wake for a feed at 05:30 every morning!

Work is starting to ramp up for me as the football seasons (yes seasons!) begin, hopefully I can keep the current update rate going, I will try my best.

And before I leave you a final word goes to Lucinda, happy 4th Wedding Anniversary darling, glad to see that the weather hasn’t improved.

Peace and Love

Baggie

On Daddy’s shoulders

Heading to the mosh pit

The Zingzillas!

The sun has come out!

Violet and Éowyn

Fifi’s house

Now this looks good

Playing in the park

Amélie

I’m good!

I’ll have… noodles

Feed me!

Jumping…

…Up and down…

…in muddy puddles!

Amélie’s first holiday

Monday 13th June 2011Sunday 1st January 2017Baggie

I think I have given you a small clue where we have just been. Yes, the Bagnalls have been away from the moor for a week. Éowyn’s first holiday was in Devon (the lovely Noss Mayo); Amélie’s first holiday was the other side of the country in Kingsdown, Kent. We stayed in a triangular (more of that later) lodge in Kingsdown Park. Self-catered as it is so much easier with the little ones and gives you a little more freedom than a B&B or a hotel. We had packed for sunny weather (t-shirts, shorts and sandals) but the good weather, the flaming June, that we had been promised failed to materialise (that will trust me to listen to Lucinda, who had read it in the Daily Mail – need I say any more?). I think we had two days that the sun appeared and one of them was dry. Nevertheless with true British indomitability, steely determination and downright stubbornness we refused to allow the weather to spoil the holiday and donned shorts and headed out to meet the weather full on. It is amazing what you can do with a pac-a-mac.

Kingsdown is on the coast just south of Walmer. If that hasn’t helped you it is South of Deal and North of Dover and if it still hasn’t helped you it is the bit of England that points towards France. We had no reason to chose it over any other town in Kent (and indeed Kent over any other county) we had just decided to go somewhere different and explore a bit more of our wonderful country. The triangular lodges looked a novelty and seemed better that a caravan, posh tent or 1950’s holiday camp. However, after 30 seconds in the lodge you realised why the majority of houses are based on the square (OK. oblong) and hence most rooms are cubes (OK. oblonguloids – not a word? Cuboids then!), because sloping walls greatly reduce the amount of ‘usable‘ floor space and when you are over six feet tall (1.9 metres to be exact) that usable floor space is even less. I lost count on how many times I banged my head, especially when getting out of bed or sitting on the sofa. In fairness to the park though, the layout of the lodges was excellent, and if we had had a sunny week I could have imagined Éowyn would have spent a fair amount of time playing on the green between the lodges and perhaps may have even made friends with some of the other children that were in residence. The staff were excellent and the facilities more than adequate, however both Lucinda and I do not feel that triangular living is for us.

The area of Kent that we stayed has huge historical significance for our country, from Roman invasion sites through to the Second World War; pointing at the Continent as it does it is obviously the first point for entry into our land. Being in the heart of Cinque Port land however was completely lost on Éowyn who preferred the simpler pleasures of the park’s swings and jumping in muddy puddles. (Everybody enjoys jumping up and down in muddy puddles!) Therefore our trip to Walmer Castle, the home (and the place he died) of Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley (The Duke of Wellington) was wasted upon her. I think we will have to postpone that subscription to English Heritage.

Again the trip to Sandwich was equally boring for her, until we can across a little nature reserve and there were bags of seed that you could buy to feed the ducks. All of a sudden this was interesting and she didn’t want to leave.

Meanwhile, Amélie was having a torrid time with her teeth and had hardly slept for two nights. Her crying kept waking Éowyn so by day three of the holiday, it wasn’t looking good. We were knackered, had discovered the triangular living was not for us, the weather was appalling, this part of Kent has no analogue transmission of channel 5 (no Peppa Pig in the morning), the digital transmission was so poor that it couldn’t be watched (no CBeebies), and all Éowyn wanted to do was play on the swings, we only had summery clothes and being on diets we couldn’t even pig out on fish and chips or an ice-cream. It wasn’t looking like the best of holidays.

Then there was a break in the clouds and all seemed well with the world. We headed over to Whitstable to meet up with my friend Andy and his dad George. George took us around Whitstable giving us the guided tour and again Éowyn was getting a little bored and then we saw the beach. The beach at Whitstable is a stony beach that slopes steeply into the sea. Perfect for picking up stones and throwing them into the sea. One of the greatest pleasures in life is standing at the water’s edge and throw stones. Myself, Andy and Éowyn did this for nigh on an hour. I think Andy and I got bored with this long before Éowyn, though we kept her company. This was probably the turning point in the holiday. Amélie slept well that night (therefore so did we) and the sun promised to shine.

The next day we visited more friends of ours that live in Kent. Ed and Marisol and their daughter Frieda who we met at N.C.T. classes when we were expecting Éowyn. They have since moved to Cranbrook in deepest darkest Kent and so we rarely see them. Since we were on holiday in the county it was too good an opportunity to miss. We spent the day at their house and were the first guests to sample a meal cooked in their new kitchen. We were honoured. Considering the girls barely know each other, they, on the whole, played nicely together. Although there was a little bit of possessiveness over toys. All to be expected. We took a short walk from their house (in between torrential downpours) to a nearby field to feed some horses. I was a little amazed well Éowyn took to feeding the huge (to her) beasts. Just living up to her name I suppose.

Our final day in Kent was met with more rain. In fact it didn’t stop all day, oblivious to the fact that the news was about drought in the South East of England and the fact that is had snowed on the tallest mountain in Wales (Snowdon). We were at a loss to think of something to do and had decided to go to Canterbury. However, after chatting to the receptionist at the holiday park we opted to follow her suggestion of Wingham Wildlife Park and despite the horrendous weather it was probably the best day out (for Éowyn at least). More than a petting zoo/ farm but not quite a grown up zoo it is an excellent place to visit and I would recommend it to any one. There are free roaming ducks, chickens, guinea fowl, peacocks and wallabies. Walk-in cages with Ring-Tailed Lemurs and Cotton Eared Marmosets. They even have two baby tiger cubs, very cute as well as being the only place in Kent that has penguins (Humboldt’s to be exact). Thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and would consider going again, hopefully with better weather as many of the animals were sheltering from the rain as much as we were.

I will bore you no longer and leave you with a larger than normal selection of photos.

Peace and Love

Baggie