Better late than never?

So, I'm going to try to catch up on my blogging this weekend. See if I can cover Christmas before we hit the end of January.

Review of the year - Laura

I only started the blog in april so there is a fair bit of the year I missed....plus, as I started to compose this blog in my head, I realised I hadn't actually used it as much of a record of laura's "milestones" this year. And somewhat surprisingly, as I have always thought of myself as 'memory-woman', I realise I have forgotten so much....for example....was this the year that Laura was potty trained? I think so. 2005 would have been a little early, and indeed she was one of the last in her nursery class to come out of nappies.....let's assume it was, then!

So - 2006 for laura - well, the end of daytime nappies then! As I said, she came to the potty later than many of her contempories, but my memory is that it was a fairly painless transistion, so maybe I am vindicated in my attitude of "she'll do it when she's ready". We went down the road of reward charts and at least one reward present (can't remember what that was either!). At present she still wears a nappy at night, but over the christmas period she quite proudly told me when her nappy was still dry in the morning. So, I think we might start focusing on that a bit more.

As for leaving childish (or rather, babyish) things behind, she still has her bottle of milk morning and evening, and shows no sign of ditching either. Does it matter? can't think why, unless using a bottle might affect her front teeth? No problem there then...the thumb sucking will ensure she has lovely, sticky out teeth, just like her mum, but hey, that's what braces are for!

Laura started 2006 still in toddlers. We had some issues in early summer when her supervisor went on maternity leave and a new member of staff, Sue, joined the team. Sue is lovely (and she is a guider, so she must be alright!). Sadly Laura took a ....what..dislike is too strong a word...but she certainly was traumatised by the change. This manafested itself in crying and clinging when she was dropped off at school, which was very upsetting for all concerned. She then started to tell us that she didn't like Sue. Anyway, I had a meeting with Sue, she came up with some practical suggestions...and basically, Laura got over it! Laura's experience at nursery has been fanatastic - she has been at Playaway since she was eight months old, and I shall be sorry when she leaves. In September she moved to pre-school, which is in a little annexe at the back of the main building. She seems to be thriving there.

Of course, 2007 will bring a mjor change because she will move on to big school. We have visited
St Robert's , which appears to be a wonderful school, and barring disasters Laura will go there from September.

In pre-school she seems to have settled on Hattie as her very best friend, and we have had her over on Fridays a couple of times. Laura's previous best friends were Daniel (a big boy in the year above), then Jack Geen (runner up in the Harrogate Advetiser Cute Tot [or whatever they call it] competition). However, she has now become very concious of the difference between boys and girls - it's all very black and white to her....or rather pink and blue. Is this indoctrination from somewhere, or just another stage?

In 2006 started swimming classes. This started slowly, but about half way through the term she suddenly "got it", and now loves swimming. Her favourite thing is jumping in, and when we go to the pool at the gym this activity can go on for an hour or more. Great (!)

Laura loves cucumber and chocolate. She doesn't like currants or eggs. She is very worried about strawberries, and doesn't even want to eat them when she grows up.

Reading list [1]

At the weekend Kate asked me what I had read recently, and I struggled to remember. Rather embarassingly she gave me a lovely book journal for my birthday last year. To date it has two entries in it.

I had a look at the huge pile of stuff at my side of the bed, and a quick scan along the shelves in my study, and the list below is some of what I read in 2006. However, I tend to move on my books (fiction usually) fairly quickly - to friends or the local charity shop.

Kate - this is for you....it's in no particular order..not even alphbetical (o mi god!), but I have noted where something is non-fiction:

War crimes for the home - Liz Jensen
Number 5 - Glenn Patterson
Remember me - Trezza Azzopardi
Welcome to Temptation - Jennifer Crusie
The analyst - John Katzenbach
The righteous men - Sam Bourne
[NF]Perdita - Paula Byrne
[NF] Don't wake me at Doyles - Maura Murphy
Wish I may - Justine Picardie
The Apothecary's house - Adrian Mathews
[NF] Victorian London - Liza Picard
The equinox - Michael White

can we talk?

I bought
this phone just because it is pink with stars. My husband thinks I have become very shallow. I think he is right, and actually I think that is OK. I got into pink since Laura was born. Sure beats post-natal depression.

Stalking other (much funnier) blogs

I stole these cartoons from this blog. For for my close associates who have an insight into my fragile mental state at the moment....well, these kinda made me smile.

Yeah but...No but....

We went to see Little Britain Live on Saturday night, at the (newly renovated) Grand Theatre in Leeds. It was a corking evening. We even had a warm up act - a comedian called
John Fothergill. He was very good, and very much set the tone for the rest of the evening, if you know what I mean. Apparently Matt Lucas was stuck on a train coming back from the Arsenal game, which was why this chap opened the show. The LB boys did not let us down - it was a tremendous evening. I've never been to see one of these "TV shows transferred to the stage" before (unless Spamalot counts?), and wasn't sure what to expect. It was, as you might expect, slightly more "blue" (read filthy and full of swearing...hurrah!) than the TV version...although I say "as you might expect" - clearly it wasn't expected by those audience members who brought their kids along! Oh, and David Walliams got naked at the end.

The Naughty Witch of the North

They were allowed to dress up for pre-school on Hallowe'en, so may I present my little witch:

A little something to look forward to..

My future travel blogs will include:Birmingham (again?), Southampton, London, Chesterfield, Manchester, Chester, Halifax, Hatfield and Manchester again. That's in the space of 11 working days.(repeat after me.."i love my job...i love my job..") We also have a social trip to Manchester in the middle of this, assuming Peter is fit to drive (Hernia blog another time I think!)

My travel blog...with acknowledgements to Chris...

and apologies...and a certain amount of jealousy, as he does get to go to some pretty exciting places . I, on the other hand, have been to the following places over the last two months: Birmingham, London, Chiswick, Openshaw, Sheffield, Havering (it's in Essex), Leicester..oh and SOUTH AFRICA! Pictures (all of 'em I'm afraid) can be seen
here. None of your business class travel for us, I'm afraid. Not least because the flight was absolutely chocka. Actually, on the way out we did OK for space as we were sat in the bulkhead. You could see the other passengers sniggering as we took our seats because we were sharing with a five month old baby. Didn't faze us parents! Least of all my work chum John, who was escaping from a 12 week old at home!

South Africa was strange, to be honest. Not a place I had ever had any desire to visit (I'll blog my travel wish list another time), mostly because I suppose I am old enough to still remember......Anyway, I also *thought* it might feel a bit more like...well, Africa. Which it didn't. We were in Jo'burg, then in Centurian, which is on the outskirts of Pretoria. Honestly, we could have been in pretty much any European capital city. Everyone we dealt with was lovely. Food was fine, drink plentiful...and so cheap. I also went mad shopping, so if you are on my xmas pressie list chances are you'll get something South African.


We were lucky enough to have a day off at the end of our work commitments, and I got to choose what we did, as John is a regular visitor. I picked Soweto and the anti-apartheid museum (hey...i never wear my politics credentials lightly do i?) It was fascinating, moving, emotional..everything you'd expect and more..



The biggie is that we won the sale we went out for....!

Where we did it all.

"Little Pernderff".....gorgeous, and already booked for another two weeks next summer. See more pictures here:
Penderff








Judith & Jeremy...


















Cats, dogs and chickens.... 

More stuff we did...

Celebrated my 41st birthday with Moules & Kir Breton in Carnac.....then later at home with a cake.

Saw some lovely buildings...in Vannes I think. 

Stuff we did

We came back to England in the middle, to go to Brenda's birthday party. Laura had her first trip on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway , the scene of many of my childhood holidays.










Back in France Laura discovered horseriding, courtesy of our hosts Judith & Jeremy, and a small pony called Charlie.








She also discovered boules...and cheating. 

Better late than never....the Robinson family holiday

In Brittany......weather not the best. Here we are in Concarneau, at the Fete des filets bleu. Rained on and off all morning.









But, by the afternoon, and a bit further along the coast we had glorious weather...so glorious I burnt my back so badly I actually had to spend a day in bed later in the week! 

Been shoppin'

This is my (sorry Peter - "our") new shower curtain. Just how cool is that? 

Caption competition 1

This is crying out for a caption! What is the conversation between Maddie and Richard? 

Pussycat, pussy cat, I love you...

Weekend before last we went to a fundraising gala at St John Fisher school. There's this chap who goes to mum & dad's church who drives old ambulances to places that need them...I think he fills them with stuff too...medical stuff i s'pose. Anyway, he has been trying to get to Nepal for a year or so. The Gurkas are stationed at Catterick, heard about this and now this gala features them doing ...umm... gurkha things. Find out more here . Anyway, long story short...Laura had her face painted. She asked to be a pussy cat..frankly it was more tiger than domestic moggie. 

The runaway train ...

About a fortnight ago Laura and I went to the Nation Railway Museum in York. As an extra treat we travelled there by train. Sadly she was not impressed. She made me promise that we go by car next time (hey..at least she wants to go again). The first photo is of my favourite train - the Mallard. As you can see from the face in the second photo my daughter is NOT a train spotter, by any stretch of the imagination. That is not a child having a good time, is it?






The third photo shows Laura with a train she DID like!
 

Cinders...you shall go to the ball

I swear...this really happened...with absolutely no prompting from me....Laura lay on her bed on Sunday night (we have a cuddle and a chat in bed every night) and she said " I was I could be a ballerina". Right...she's starting classes as soon as we are back from our holiday!

On the topic of holidays, we depart for la belle France in 10 days, but our ferry tickets haven't arrived yet. Should I be worried?

Don't put your daughter on the stage, Mrs Robinson

Look..she's dressed as a ballerina. Clearly she wants to dance. I must get her enrolled in classes soon. It is nothing to do with my thwarted ambitions and childhood dreams. Now, where is my copy of Ballet Shoes. Just right for bedtime reading. 

Spoilt brat....

A couple of weeks ago Peter whisked me off for a belated anniversary weekend at the Linthwaite House Hotel overlooking Windemere. It was a surprise ....and what a surprise...roses, champagne and chocolates in the room, wonderful location and fantastic food. Diet? What diet? The pictures are of our view. I was speechless...which certainly doesn't happen often...and completely overwhelmed.

Now saving up so we can go back there again one day.