Well it has been a little while as time again has not been my friend. Ted’s clock has changed again and though he is now sleeping through until 7am most mornings (finally – touch a million pieces of wood) - I think now he has his nightlight and ‘miffy’ to keep him company he is no longer scared of the dark – he is going to bed later – at 8 or 830 now most nights. In some ways this is good – Ry gets to see a little more of him and we can have some quality time after work to play and have dinner. But also means there is now precious little of what was already precious little time for me in the evenings to do anything other than just about stay of top of the house, the tenants, my job and my waistline (and the waistline has been suffering some of late).
Events of note over the last 10 days – a day trip to Reading with GW to see Claire, Amelie and Charlie for lunch was a great success. T now gets the headphones out, turns them on and tunes into Peppa Pig on the car DVD so GW and I had a good chance to chat on the way and a little shopping was done before we went to lunch. T learnt a valuable lesson fairly easily when he burnt the end of his finger by dragging it along a glass window too quickly!! I know, of all the things that might present a hazard for a parent to try and avoid how are you supposed to figure that one? Anyway, we were able to talk about it being a burn that was caused because it was hot and that now it was sore. Now anytime I say something is hot and it might burn he backs off which is great. But I think this was the first time he has had a ’sore’ that Mummy hasn’t been able to kiss better, it felt terrible when he kept asking me to kiss it better, then looking at me as if to say ’so why is that not working anymore?’ because it still hurt.
We met Claire at Pizza Express and on arrival I tried to explain to the waitress (having had considerable experience in this role in my teens) that it would be best of she didn’t give a party of six with three under fours a table in the middle of the restaurant, especially when there were tables with benches at the rear, out-of-the-way. By the time we had negotiated one of these tables I would say ’surly’ would best characterise her demeanor. I was only trying to help. Fortunately this had moved us out of her zone so we had a very nice chap instead who didn’t seem to mind where we sat. Pics from the lunch are below. It was great to see Claire looking really well and happy and Amelie so grown up in her school uniform. Teddy was not in great spirits being tired, hungry and with his sore finger, so it was a challenging lunch for him, but good to have a catchup on all news Cholsey and to find out alls well in Claire’s world at the mo.
That was Friday and the weekend was pending with all the usual chores and activities. Saturday morning was swimming for T and I for the first time in a while. Unfortunately Laura our normal teacher was off. T is not good with strangers at the best of times but since the new interim girl was rather shrill he took an instant dislike to her and refused to have anything to do with her for the rest of the class! So we did some nice swimming together, but not a lot of structured stuff. Still it was nice to see Ellie and Mattie and Oscar and the kids had a lot of fun playing afterwards. T now eats a full portion of scrambled eggs on toast which is brilliant for him, but means I can no longer delude myself that there is anyone helping me eat the full english breakfast!
Ry had to go into London on the train having been out the night before, to collect his bike which was due for a service. Suffice to say his already somewhat jaded mood was not helped by the rail replacement service which caused his journey to take much longer than it should have. But at least he had the good grace to identify that if he hadn’t been out on the lash, he wouldn’t be feeling so crap or need to go get his bike in the first place. Then I got a call from Ry at the bike service centre, when Ted and I had got home and Ted was having his nap, to say they needed to keep the bike for a week and he would need a lift home. T was ok with being woken up and moved to the car and excited to play the try and spot Daddy walking game, T saw him first even though I was looking which was a bit of a shocker!
Once home we chilled out for the afternoon and I tried again to tackle the big car scratch where we got keyed in Sheffield. It is improving but it is clear that to really fix it we are going to have to part with some major cash for a respray. Such is life. Some people are real idiots though I mean what is the point?
Sunday we had a lovely day, Ted and I cooked pancakes in the morning and then we went out to Windsor so Ted could scoot down the long walk from the Castle in the afternoon. T was a bit tired and not really in the mood to scoot when we got there so we ended up going for a pub lunch and then going for a walk in the Great Park afterwards. It was sunny and fresh and my favourite kind of day. Crisp clear sky and a blue haze. Perfect for walking. Pic of the castle from a distance below captures it nicely.
This week has been busy for me at work with the new boss starting so all the politics are kicking and there is a lot of positioning going on. I am anticipating a restructure which would not be uncommon when someone new starts and I think it will be good to stir things up a bit. But it does mean we are all having to adjust to some new ways of working. This was evidenced most clearly this week when someone in another team that I had asked to prep some data, that I thought I might use for my first meeting with the boss next week, in conjunction with some other material I was planning to pull together, happened to mention to the new boss, when she was floorwalking, that she was putting a report together for her and that the deadline was Friday. The new boss said great, I would love a copy by 4pm Friday to review on the weekend – this was on Thursday morning. The Friday deadline was to get the data to me, and then I was going to figure out how and if I was going to use it … instead I had to cancel my day off, Ted’s playdate with Isla and Mac and my manicure with Bex to work all day Friday to pull a report out of nowhere that made enough sense and added enough value that my new boss wouldn’t think I was a complete numnut. Not what you really want in terms of advance warning for pulling together report for your new, detail orientated, meticulous director. I think I managed to pull a decent, useful overview together and position it in such a way that it is the right level of detail in the context but I would much rather have pulled a more comprehensive report together by next Wednesday which is when the meeting is. Just a little bit stressed about that….
The week has also not been helped by the lack of Ry’s bike, which has meant he has not been home in time to see Ted before bed. Although has made the most of not being on the bike to catch up on some drinking nights out – which is not so healthy but every once in a while … The big downside is that this has also meant lifts to the station in the morning which is a nightmare. I am trying to get myself and Ted out and Ry is hurrying me as he needs to get his train. The peak of my irritation was on Friday morning when I was trying to get Ted to brush his teeth – which is always a battle, and get out of the door to get Ry to the station and when I said ‘ I havent got time to fight him on this any more’ and Ry told me I should get up earlier. It did not go down well … lets leave it at that.
So now we are back to today and its been a good one. Ted was swimming this morning and Laura is back. She said Ted and Ellie are about ready for the next class so she is going to look at availability. It is clear the current class does not stretch them enough now. It will be very interesting as at the next level parents stay out of the pool, so will difficult, I think, for Ted for the first few weeks. But hopefully it will be the same teacher and with Ellie there I think he will be ok after a few sessions. Great that he is progressing, although a lot of the kids in the next class are much older than Ted and Ellie. We will see. We had our brunch and play again and then rushed off home when I got a text from Antia to say they would be over earlier than planned and were close to arriving.
We got home and while Clifton took Ry to collect his bike Antia and I had a cuppa and girly chat. Ted and Nathan were playing nicely together and there was less grabbing this time which was good! We all went to Spur for lunch – soft play for the boys meant we were actually able to chat without too much interruption, and they do easy kids food too. Antia and Cliff told us about their holiday in Turkey which sounds fantastic and we talked about our holiday to SA and it was lovely to see them again so soon after our recent visit to Sheffield.
It was 430 by the time we left so they headed off home via the dry cleaners, shoe heelers and office so I could collect the shirts, my shoes and my laptop. Once home Ry and I both fell asleep on different sofas and T quietly went about his business in the playroom watching Charlie and Lola and occasionally waking me to replay favourite episodes. He finally woke me at 7(!) because he was hungry, god love him, so we fed him and then Ry took him for some drum kit time before bath and bed. Tomorrow we have no plans other than to try and work off some of this weeks calories.
Pics
, then Dubai to London in also booked 3 in a row, so the only one which is looking really bad is the London to Dubai leg – but as Ry keeps telling me they will have to give us 2 together because T clearly can’t be seated away from both of us and when we highlight that if Ry is a row away T will be climbing over seats to get to him, or if several rows away running up and down the cabin I am sure they will shuffle people around – even if it means upgrading some people they have to move! – Pretty sure they won’t be putting us in 1st class with a two and a half year old!
