Today's plan

IF we're going to art at the town hall, we need to leave by about 9:30.

I need to drop the children at nursery at 12:30.

I also need to get myself and two children dressed and fed, do laundry, prep dinner, and tidy the ground floor properly.

Linnea doesn't want to go to art - I'm quite pleased.

Clothes we still need to pack

Linnea's red cardi (needs a wash)
Emer's red cardi (left at nursery!)
Tights for both girls
Rob's suit (needs to be dry-cleaned)
Linnea's sun-hat
Rob's black shoes (need to be polished)
Ailbhe's plain white bra
Linnea's knickers (definitely last-minute packing!)
Linnea's zip-off combats (needs a wash)
Emer's dungarees (which ones?)
Ailbhe's skirt (freshly washed!)
Ailbhe's red dress (freshly washed!)
Linnea's shorts, two pairs (located at last)
Emer's shorts (missing!)
Emer's short dungarees (freshly washed)
Ailbhe: 3 long-, 2 short-sleeved tops
Linnea: 3 long-, 3 short-sleeved tops
Emer: 3 long-, 2 short-sleeved tops
Ailbhe's pants, 2 more pairs
Ailbhe socks, 5 more pairs
Ailbhe's everyday bras, whatever we can find (one that fits! One!)
Emer's pyjama top (missing)
Everyone's swimsuits (to be packed wet the day we leave!)

Right. Also, phones, camera, chargers, etc etc.

Good day, bad day

Linnea woke at the crack of dawn to use the loo, and stayed up because it was light. Rob found her when he got up shortly after six.

Emer was up until about 2:30.

When the girls and I got up I dressed and fed us, then packed lunches and hung out the laundry, ready to leave at 9:30 for art, but thankfully the girls didn't want to go. So instead I cleared the kitchen surfaces, which was horrendous - I spent most of last week unable to stand for long so the kitchen was disgusting, things stuck to the surfaces and piles of stuff on top of old food.

Really, really vile.

Anyway, I did it, and did more laundry, and cleared the bathroom and the rest of the ground floor, and got us all out at noon so that I could drop the girls at nursery and go to my appointment.

The creche-facility nursery has four steps outside the front door. Emer started to cry as we stepped onto the first step. By the time I rang the bell she was crying a lot and shouting "No! No!"

I had to leave her, so I fed her some milk and left her, and went to my appointment, and came back and got her. She'd refused to eat lunch and fallen asleep. In her sleep she looked waxy pale and miserable. Her cheeks were sort of veined-looking from crying. I picked her up and she cried in her sleep before waking up, then she cried some more. I picked her up into the mei tai in a front carry, so she was snuggled into me, but she was miserable. Beyond miserable. More miserabler than that.

I'm not leaving her there again. "She'll get used to it" is all very well but she already has several mannerisms and intensities which remind me of Unny and I'm not doing this to a child with that disposition! So now I need to find some other childcare for a couple of hours every other Monday for a bit. I know a childminder who might have spaces.

---

After that I bought her a new cycle helmet and we went to buy stuffing for dinner. Waterstones sucked us in and we got some books for the trip to Ireland on Friday, and Linnea got a reward for having finally cracked the toilet learning thing (though still gets her pants on wrong sometimes). She got a Charlie and Lola magazine.

Then we went to Sainsburys for stuffing for dinner, and then to a cafe to collapse. In the end I didn't do that dinner, but we can have it tomorrow.

I am so, so tired. But really, achieved a lot.

Whoops, Waterstones

I asked the children's literature person today for "small, pocket-sized books with a story and a female protagonist."

She couldn't recommend anything. The "Pocket Libraries" series they had all had either a story or a female protagonist. Eventually she directed me to the Learning To Read section where there were Red Fox Mini Treasures, and I riffled through them until I found a fairly balanced sample. I love those books. They're beautifully done and only £1.50 each. Finally, we have a copy of The Owl And the Pussycat in child-friendly format! I've always read it out of unillustrated anthologies before. Oh, and we got a teeny tiny Babette Cole - Mummy Laid An Egg.