storbarnsförälder

Emer and I woke about six and drifted back to sleep again, and then woke again about eight when Rob left. We played in bed for an hour, tickling and bouncing and counting toes and talking about breakfast ("A big bowl of elephants? Airplanes on toast?" "No, a raaaahhhhh!" "Giraffe?""No, a yion, raaahhhh!" "OH - LIONS for breakfast! yum!") and then I had m antibiotics and my painkillers and my coffee and we went to wake Linnea; Emer and I sat on Emer's bed and hid under a red blanket until Linnea was overcome by curiosity at the giggling.

I stripped Linnea's bed and stuck the bits in the washing machine, and gave them breakfast - muesli for Linnea and noodles for Emer, no idea why but there you go, she did try to eat them crunchy but opted for soaking them after all. The dishwasher is loaded and going. The children are washed around the edges.

It has been a peaceful, friendly morning. And now I'm going to spoil it all by saying something stupid like "Let's go out."

But we do need to buy them sandals - we have sandals a size too small and a size too large for both of them - so that might help. Both children like the wrong-size ones enough to insist that they fit :(

It's spring!₂₀₁

(Linnea: "Will it still be spring tomorrow?"
Ailbhe: "I hope so.")

I had fever dreams and couldn't wake up but we left for the farmer's market about tennish anyway. We had a lovely walk there because the weather is gorgeous₂₀₂ and then we ate sausage-inna-bun and bought food. I was served by a girl possibly in her earliest teens. I do like seeing children doing appropriate work like that₂₀₃.

When we got home my clothes from Nomad had arrived and they all fit₂₀₄, so I will be wearing them soon. We're also trying to work through a lot of laundry today, while the weather is good. And Rob has started emptying the shed; we hope to get rid of it and use the space for something large enough to store bikes in, ours and the kids', and maybe even the kids' scooters and outdoor toys like the seesaw and trampoline and so on. This means we want something with a larger footprint but a lower top, I think.

I talked to the cake lady about possibly buying Linnea a birthday cake this year₂₀₅. If it's too expensive I'll make one myself. But I'd like her to have a nice one that didn't mean I ended up hating my lack of skill. It's the icing I find so hard - the art part, not the taste part of the cake.

I'm seriously considering throwing a Mother's Day party this year. We don't usually do anything at all, and I like parties, and we know a lot of people who either are or have mothers, so that's appropriate, right?

Emer: YICE CAKE.
Ailbhe: [makes exaggerated P lip-pursing face]
Emer: Bees mammy ice caaaaaaake.
Ailbhe: [Grins, takes packets, starts pulling at the plastic near the easy-open (ha ha) red plastic string bit]
Emer: Oh dee-a, bit duck.
Ailbhe: Yes, it is a bit stuck.
Emer: Maybe Daddy?
Ailbhe: Daddy's a bit busy now.
Emer: Oh. Yay-ya?
Ailbhe: Linnea's busy too.
Emer: Oh dee-a. Maybe zhoo?
Ailbhe: Yes, maybe me. [plastic pops undone, packaging unravels, rice cakes cartwheels across the table]
Emer: Dag oo.

Emer, cutting paper with scissors, stops, picks a scrap of paper up.

A hi- a hi- a hi- a hi- a hiangle.

Dat, a hiangle.