Ramblings of an almost 30 something girl who lives across the pond; is married to an Irish man who makes her laugh; has a funny and wonderful 19 month old son, one schnauzer, and one labrador, and who dabbles in altered art.
these are just some little mommy notes - mostly for me to remember:
Last week - His Nan told him to ask his Pop about the broken biscuits. He marched in, put his hands on his hips and said, "Now, Pop! What's this story about the broken biscuits????"
2 days ago.... when I was taking him to his Nan's for his Sunday sleep-over. I asked him why he wanted me to take him and why he wanted me to stay (mostly from the point of view of that is his time to play with his Pop - but he stills wants me to stay and put him to bed). He said, "Because I love you, Mommy." Too sweet. Now, he loves all of his family - tons - but I guess he was just in a mommy mood that night.
Yesterday... When I come home from work, I always tell him that I missed him and that I'm happy to see him. He said, "Were you lonely without your Calum, Mommy?" Aw........... I think he went on to say something else, but I can't remember his exact words - but something to the effect that it was all grand now b/c he was here and we could play. (And we went to the beach and played away.)
Today - He talked to his Nan about intestines all of the way to pre-school. (He's 3 1/2.) The teenagers behind them thought this was hillarious. :0) My little scientist....
And he's painting each person in his extended family a picture at school. I got a picture of the sea and a reflection and a corn field. Daddy got a yellow submarine in the sea. I forget who gets one next.... All pictures with a purpose!
these are just some little mommy notes - mostly for me to remember:
Last week - His Nan told him to ask his Pop about the broken biscuits. He marched in, put his hands on his hips and said, "Now, Pop! What's this story about the broken biscuits????"
2 days ago.... when I was taking him to his Nan's for his Sunday sleep-over. I asked him why he wanted me to take him and why he wanted me to stay (mostly from the point of view of that is his time to play with his Pop - but he stills wants me to stay and put him to bed). He said, "Because I love you, Mommy." Too sweet. Now, he loves all of his family - tons - but I guess he was just in a mommy mood that night.
Yesterday... When I come home from work, I always tell him that I missed him and that I'm happy to see him. He said, "Were you lonely without your Calum, Mommy?" Aw........... I think he went on to say something else, but I can't remember his exact words - but something to the effect that it was all grand now b/c he was here and we could play. (And we went to the beach and played away.)
Today - He talked to his Nan about intestines all of the way to pre-school. (He's 3 1/2.) The teenagers behind them thought this was hillarious. :0) My little scientist....
And he's painting each person in his extended family a picture at school. I got a picture of the sea and a reflection and a corn field. Daddy got a yellow submarine in the sea. I forget who gets one next.... All pictures with a purpose!
Calum *loves* W5. I decided that we'd get there at opening time to have it to ourselves. :0) This also gave me the opportunity to take some pics - which I couldn't do with lots of other kiddies about.
Check out this really cool ball machine........................
And the house that the kids can 'build.'
...houses where you can change the walls, floors and furniture
magnet walls :0)
cars that you build and race
trains - still a favourite............
this thing shoots a tennis ball up in the air - sorry abou the poor quality of the pics. my camera was acting very strangely....
ball-rollercoaster
music *bang*
one of the various hover toys.....
We peeked at the dinosaur exhibition, but Calum said he was too scared. He also wouldn't do the 'loud' ball guns on the ball machine - and he used to love those....
We're probably off to the beach later - busy times!
Cath from It's a Creative World posted this great school book project at the weekend. It's like a mini journal for keeping school photos and memories. I haven't scrapped in years (literally), but I thought I'd give this a go and just keep a very informal record of Calum's progress at pre-school. :0) Here is his book.
and the cover has already been scratched - but better to handle these things and love them than leave them in pristine condition!
he has settled in well and had 2 would-be girlfriends! eep! fortunately, he has noooo idea what any of that means yet... i know.. .give him a few years.....
other than that, it's been a hectic week of seeing friends, lots of good stuff. :0)
here are some snippets of the canvas i mentioned awhile back. the project didn't work, but there are individual elements i like- like the letters. each word was made with a set of letter stamps dipped in paint with silver embossing powder melted into the letters. pearl mica was then added for some bling.
and this snowflake was made with a stencil and many layers of paint. :0)
and i so wish i could draw faces. someday i'll learn... anyway here's a little doodle based on The Ship Song (see below for the song).
Credit for the boats goes to Bridget Davies. I adored hers on my passport cover (scroll down the page to see it), so I used the same style.
and here's a closer look at the page. i used stewart gill and lumiere paints as well as watercolour crayons. good fun.
and I was very impressed with Calum's scooby doo magazine which has a spooky house project. We did it together. we used a spare piece of laminate tile, added tissue paper to it and glued and painted away. the middle bit is a chalkboard (again - impressed with the comic!). it's a bit small but the wee man had a ball making it!
and some sayings from C:
"You've had me 2 days, Nan. It's Mommy's turn, now."
Oh er... there's more... i'll add them in later when I get my brain in gear lol............
He had a great time, played away with the trains and the sand and made a few friends.
He had his uniform for the 2nd day and had his first time alone (without his Nan) - a big step.
I am very proud of him. :) and a little sad - wish I could stop the clock! It's just another reminder that I need to spend more time enjoying the moments.
We got a letter today to say that Calum starts school on WEDNESDAY. We thought it would be late September or so - wow...... It's not like we didn't know it would happen, but it still came as a surprise that he'd be one of the first to start!!!!! He seems pretty excited (whew!), and I am hoping he will enjoy it. I think he will................
And the 2 doggies who have been terrified of water for the last 7 years decided to HAVE A SPLASH IN THE SEA on Friday! I guess in dog terms, you're never too old...... ;0)
Check out our castles from Saturday. :0) We were the envy of the beach.... and got visits from all of the little kids and doggies from all directions. It was quite cool to see Calum enjoying making sand castles without instantly demolishing them!
And wow - these robots from Toy Joy are soooo cool. You wind them up and they hop about like mad.....
Thomas is back in favour, too....
And the bunk bed is going down well....
And he loves being in pictures... (I wonder how long that will last.)
He spent an hour tonight cutting with my scrapbooking scissors (wavey ones). I put him to bed, and he said, "Thanks for doing shapes with me, mommy." Sometimes I think there is a very wise old person in there....
And on a funny note:
1. He scolded his daddy for being a 'mucky pup.' He went into great, persuasive detail....
2. He told his Nan that his "mommy wouldn't let her" do things. LOL. (Does that make me a baddie?)
He also talks about his "engine" a lot. Like a train...
And he told me tonight he could see lots of colours when he squeezed his eye shut - which really hit me as I remember having the same EXACT conversation wtih my grandmother when I wasn't much older than him. And he has come out with a few other gems - the kind that really take me by surprise... I really must start to write them all down....
And I still need to post pics of stuff I've done... I will.......................
I’ve been on the wind-down / wind-up since the last 2 weeks in England . Coming home meant catching up…. I hate that – it robs me of quality time and chill out time. But I’m nearly back in my groove now, and I am slowly making my way through a long to-do list.
Here's the latest....
Calum
Check out these 'touchable bubbles' :0) They stay solid longer.... 2 stayed on Calum's head for ages...
And a few new sayings from the wee man:
"Books are special. Books make Calum’s heart very happy.” Now – I always tell Calum that HE makes my heart very happy, and it’s the first time he’s used that phrase. Pretty cool. :0)
This one I’m paraphrasing b/c I didn’t write it down at the time:
“House have arms and legs, don’t they? They are under the ground so that they can’t move.”
And he told his Nan :
A bad butterfly came through the window and made him put a toilet roll in the loo.
And definitely one for the bad mommy books. I told him today that he had to play by himself for awhile... He went and told Nelson (the dog) that Mommy and Daddy don't want to play with him anymore. Guilt, guilt, guilt.... (And noooo, that wasn't it! Just working on self-entertaining and independence....) Eeep.
And there are others... errrr... but they just can't go on this site. Boo to that...
Other Half
Simon’s approaching his 35th birthday. I think we’ll head out for steaks… Where or where do the years go??????
Here is an oldie... 2000....... Jeez, my hair looks nearly red there (but it's not)!
Nights Out
- Well... I can't upload these pics - must protect the others lol. (The truth is I haven't asked them if I can upload them so I'll hold off for now!) But I was out with colleague for a wedding - had a fab night of chatting and dancing. Good craic, as they'd say here.
Stampotique stamps - see Sarah’s page above! These are so on my list…
Luminarte radiant rains. I want these… I only have 3….
And I have a few projects... I'll upload them soon.
Girl-wise… I am drooling over some Ted baker shoes and a handbag….. and Benefit (still)……. *sigh*
House-wise. Two of the floors are done. We had a minor cultural mixup about the 3rd floor. You see, we have 3 bathrooms. Apparently I should have told him to do the floor in the downstairs loo. Instead, I said, “bathroom” and pointed…. And he had instructions from the shop. But, instead, he tiled the UNPREPARED floor of the upstairs bathroom. And it wasn’t as good a job as the other 2 floors because he clearly thought we were muppets for leaving the carpet down. LOL. So we have one free floor… although I expect we’ll change it. And he’s coming to tile the downstairs toilet/bathroom (whatever) in a few days. I can imagine that might be a little odd. Edit - he arrived and it was grand. He got on like a house on fire with Simon. Just not women... there ya go....
Blog
I am massively behind in printing this blog. I contemplated blog-printing software, but it looks like a LOT of work to make it work, and god knows that I have enough work to do on the PC to tidy up files (in progress!), back up files and burn everything to DVD. (Oh, joy….) Does anyone know of any software that automatically exports text and comments into Word????
Last words
And I think I shall leave you with some more ee cummings……
The poems to come are for you and for me and are not for mostpeople -it's no use trying to pretend that mostpeople and ourselves are alike. Mostpeople have less in common with ourselves than the squarerootof- minusone. You and I are human beings;mostpeople are snobs. Take the matter of being born. What does being born mean to most- people? Catastrophe unmitigated. Socialrevolution. The cultured aristocrat yanked out of his hyperexclusively ultravoluptuous super- palazzo,and dumped into an incredibly vulgar detentioncamp swarming with every conceivable species of undesireable organism. Mostpeople fancy a garanteed birthproof safetysuit of nondestructible selflessness. If mostpeople were to be born twice they'd improbably call it dying- you and i are not snobs. We can never be born enough. We are human beings;for whom birth is a supremely welcome mystery,the mystery of growing:the mystery which happens only and whenever we are faithful to ourselves. you and i wear the dangerous looseness of doom and find it becoming. Life,for eternal us,is now;and now is much too busy being a little more than everything to seem anything,catastrophic included. Life,for mostpeople,simply isn't. Take the socalled standardofliving. What do mostpeople mean by "living"? They don't mean living. They mean the latest and closest plural approximation to singular prenatal passivity which science,in its finite but unbounded wisdom,has suc- ceeded in selling their wives. If science could fail,a mountain's a mammal. Mostpeople's wives can spot a genuine delusion of embryonic omni- potence immediately and will accept no subsitutes. -luckily for us,a mountain is a mammal.... -e. e. cummings
"To be nobody but yourself -in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you like everybody else- means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting." ~ E.E. Cummings
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