Skip to main content

Spring!

Yesterday was the first day of Spring (officially), and for 24 hours it actually looked like it as well. In true Drinkwater form, the doors were flung open, everyone stripped down to no more than 2 layers and we made the most of the beautiful weather.  This meant immediate demands from the girls to have all meals outside (which we duly did, admittedly in our coats), both Glenn and I getting out on our bikes for a decent ride, and the girls playing outside for most of the day and loving it.  It felt wonderful... it's amazing after so much rain just how fantastic sunshine feels on the skin, and how much easier it is for the kids as they just head for outside, no questions asked.

So, after that brief respite, it was back to normal today - heavy rain was forecast and it arrived on the dot of the scheduled hour, and we were back to a day of the girl's winding each other up as they stared out of the window asking what we're doing today.  After listening to them driving each other up the wall, pretty rare for them given they normally play nicely together, I succumbed and we went to the pottery painting place which they both love. Pottery duly daubed Izzy asked if we could go and look in the pet shop. Hmmm - my response "yes, but we aren't spending any money"... roll foward 45 mins and we leave the shop complete with cage, sawdust, food and Syrian Hamster.  Welcome Bella.  If I'm honest, I think half the problem is that I clearly felt deprived of the rodent phase as a child - we had guinea pigs (another story of how they met a rather untimely end) and I'm sure we both had a rat (also I think meeting an untimely end), but never a Hamster.  She's very sweet, albeit a bit sketchy at the moment and very much the centre of attention (at least for the next week or so).  Thank goodness Abi set an immediate rule of 'no getting Bella out without an adult present' as otherwise I think we'd have lost her already.  Izzy is very keen to hold her as much as possible.  Abi is a little more reticent, not because she's scared of Bella, but more she's scared of dropping her.  Long may this continue! Let's hope we don't become the Grim Reapers of the rodent world over the next few years!

This week was also Parents Evening - both girls doing well I'm pleased to report.  It may be the stage we are at but with Izzy it was all about her being a happy smiley child, pregressing as expected, always keen to get involved and very much the social butterfly but in a good way. Not much substance in the detail in other words.  With Abi there was a bit more depth - her teachers reconise that not all of her work comes easily to her but that she is very diligent and works hard to succeed.  It was reassuring to see them acknowledging this as we see it also and know that this recognition is what she responds to so it's important it continues.  Funny how to start with you want you child to be happy and healthy.  How quickly this extends to happy, healthy and hardworking!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

All about Izzy

This weekend has mainly been about Izzy, mostly because Abi has been off riding again and so we've hardly seen her. This has its pros and cons - on the one hand Izzy gets lots of attention and the choice of what to do. On the other she misses Abi and when big sister arrives home we have the inevitable few hours of resettling which seems to involve tears as a matter of course. I did have a moment of despair this evening when I looked across to the table just before Sunday dinner - normally a happy time - to see both of them, heads on arms, holding back tears. Luckily a bit of food and a game of 20 questions to share what everybody had enjoyed about their weekend and we kind of managed to get back on track by dessert. When asked what she wanted to do, Izzy immediately shouted "Jo Jo" so my task was to sort out a visit with Jo, the boys and Ellie. No matter how much time passes they still love to see each other and the first task is always the same. Edward and Izzy have t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ypres

Walking around the lake in Ypres while waiting for the rugby to finish! A wet Monday evening after a lovely long weekend away in Ypres - just the two of us and just what I needed after what has been a relatively stressful few months of decision making. The decision is now made however and on Monday I resigned my job in order to join a new company in January. This will be the same role, but a company that hopefully offers more long term stability than my current one. It's been hard going through the initial round of telling people.Despite only being there for 7 months I've made some good friends and very quickly become established and everybody who I've told has been happy for me but very sad that I'm going - it hasn't made it easy. I do feel like I've been through the mill a bit this year - what with leaving EY, ramping up to a big new role, finding out it probably didn't have the longevity I was looking for and then going through the process of finding ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Welcome Albert James!

So this week has been full of new things - Jess and Chris have welcomed Albert James Wilkinson Rayner to the family, a tad early but all doing well apparently (and so cute!!), I started my new job, Abi has her new shed and Dad got sorted on a phone that wasn't invented before the kids were born!! I always knew this week was going to be full on and it certainly has been. The first thing I had to do was try and sort out my diary which had been filled from dawn to dusk by my predecessor with meetings. I decided to set out as I mean to go on and immediately took out those that started before 9am. While I can get into  the office for 8am , it's a pain and requires me to be on the 6:30am train which is just a bit much every day (stating the obvious). I then made it clear that we don't need to be joined at the hip for the next 4 weeks which is a sensitive process - even though he is retiring it's hard to let go and he is understandably keen that the team are looked after. ...
Post a Comment
Read more