The adventures of an ex-pat British family of four (plus cat)
Is a thing.
While I understand the reason for it, the concept saddens me in a way, as it proves that as a race we still aren’t equal.
Which quite frankly boggles the mind.
How did TT celebrate this auspicious day?
By demanding “fish” whilst I was watching Skin Wars:
And by taking off her pull up and not doing a #2 in the potty 🤢🤢🤢🤢
Toddlers are gross.
And visits to Legoland. So Monday was a public holiday here in the old US of A.
Apparently good old Christopher Columbus has been co-opted into a celebration of indigenous peoples day. so we’ve gone from celebrating the person who did the murdering to celebrating the people he murdered.
I guess that’s progress of a sort?
Anyway it meant that #1 Son did not have school.
We had rented a car, with the intention of going to the zoo. However the rain was appalling, so instead off we went to Legoland.
#1 Son had a whale of a time on the (two) rides, and built many things.
TT made a friend:
And woe betide any other child who dared to seat him or herself on this Friend.
😂🤣😂🤣🤣😂
We also discovered what rain does to her hair:
Daddy threatened to chop it off when she wouldn’t let us brush it over the weekend. I threatened to chop off various parts of his anatomy.
We called it even.
We have also started introducing the concept of budgeting to #1 Son.
He gets a weekly allowance with two options:
He has never asked for cash in hand. So, up until Monday he had $75 dollars earned (he had $5 docked one week for reasons).
He has been saving up for a big Lego model. The specifics of the model in question change a bit but they have always stayed within the $80-90 mark.
Well, we couldn’t visit Legoland without visiting the gift shop.
We bought TT some Duplo as she’s really into it right now, which was $30.
So we explained to #1 Son that he could have a set worth $30 which we would pay for or he could use some of his allowance in addition and buy a bigger model of his own choosing.
Well, he has $15 dollars left of his savings, and a huge Lego model that he and his daddy are building together and is only halfway done.
They are having brilliant quality building time and daddy isn’t needed per se, so it’s really nice.
So, it didn’t start out very well. But, #1 son improved tremendously by the end.
This was his journal entry from his teacher I was ecstatic.
He has actively engaged with school work which is a miracle!!!
Today is a public holiday (Columbus/Indigenous People’s Day) and we were going to go to the zoo, but the weather is awful for that, so after TT wakes up from her nap, we will head off to Lego Land instead.
It’s a fun couple of hours for both kids.
TT? Meh, not so good. She managed to destroy a treasured memory from our very first trip to Paris, but the hus-creature believes he can arrange for a restoration.
She also trapped her foot in a tight metal space, is hitting a lot, and just generally working my last nerves.
Her speech has come on amazingly, and she can get her own trousers on, so it’s probably a leap, coupled with boundary pushing Terrible Two-ness.
Butter wouldn’t melt right?
I have signed up for a two-day class on learning magic loop and sock knitting which I am so looking forward to.
$65 bucks for 4 hours 1:1 with other local yarny folks? Bargain!
Has been… testing.
Yesterday was an okay-ish day at school for #1 Son, but the afternoon and evening at home with me were not.
We had a disagreement which escalated through miscommunication (and a hefty dose of TT distraction) and ended with him hiding and having a full meltdown.
It was hard and painful and upsetting for us both. I ended up sobbing (but I made darn sure he did not see – he doesn’t need that on top of everything else)
It’s hard when your baby tells you he doesn’t want to love you anymore.
Today, not great at school (I now get emails from his teacher when she feels an update warranted). We have however received notification of the first meeting (I’m not optimistic enough to believe it will be the only one) of Special Educational Need provision – 05 December.
That seems a long time away, but it does give us time to see the doctors and get that side of the process going too.
I finished his room:
Well mostly, the remaining boxes contain games, DVDs or garage stuff so won’t be unpacked until our final storage solutions are in place. But not bad for a day’s work.
They are capable of playing with each other without killing each other occasionally:
Sadly, the idea of putting TT into nursery one day a week has had to be put on hold for the foreseeable.
🙁🙁🙁🙁
The only practical nursery setting a. only allows for a minimum 2 days per week and b. is fully booked and has a waiting list stretching to next summer! 🙀🙀🙀🙀🙀🙀🙀
While this is incredibly disheartening, it also gives me an idea of our realistic options, so I plan to get her on the waiting list as soon as my work permit is granted.
I won’t be looking for a job until #1 Son is more settled. I cannot add more stress to him right now and that level of change could be disastrous for him at themoment.
Was mostly a quiet day. After yesterday’a madness we needed a bit of a break.
So I decided to take a little mosey on up to Lucky Cat Yarns.
It’s a gorgeous little yarn shop only 0.5 miles away, newly reopened and refurbished.
It’s beautiful.
They are so welcoming there, and they run classes and have “Sit ‘N Knits”. I foresee the occasional evening up there with my needles – maybe they can even teach me to knot Continental style…
And some of them are doing the same knit along as me 💕💕💕
It was Bath Night tonight.
The kidlets are no longer sharing. Ever again. Took a very long time to clear up the puddles.
#1 Son actually let me clean his ears (which I had to give up nail cutting for, but they’ll last another week).
TT has decided that having her hair blow dried is the worst thing ever – but I managed to accidentally create perfect ringlets for about 10 minutes.
Already dropping out by the time I took the photo 😰 and I doubt I’ll ever be able to replicate it sigh.