Mike's musings

More school, more work, family

Teacher: "whose birthday do we celebrate on Christmas Day? Josephine?"

Jojo: "Jesus'. And my friend Sennen's, of course."

At lunch, a friend of Moo's from college, Sophie, came with her two kids. I didn't get to spend much time with her, though, as work was very busy. Good, interesting, challenging stuff, though - the job's working well, I'm pleased to say.

Last thing to report on Jojo, a little before going to bed who was rhapsodising about one of her friends - a girl - and how much she loved her. She suddenly came out with "Daddy, girls _can_ marry girls, can't they?" I was really proud, "Yes, Jojo, they _can_." Good for her.

Moo and I watched Buffy episodes until Jim (my brother) and Nina (his wife) turned up with their two kids. We got the kids to sleep pretty quickly, and stayed up chatting, eating and drinking till - ooh, well after 11. Really good to see them.

Labels: friends, homosexuality, Jo, work

# posted by MikeCamel @ 7:11 PM 0 comments

A family service

I also took her swimming this afternoon. Moo stayed at home with Miri - not fair to take her until things have settled down properly - and Jo and I had a great time. She's a really good swimmer now.

Labels: Jo, services, swimming

# posted by MikeCamel @ 7:04 PM 0 comments

Ladies' toilet

After a few minutes, I heard, "Daddy? Daddy?". I opened the door a couple of centimetres, and said "yes?". "Daddy, my croc has come off." "Just put it on later."

I closed the door. Another minute or so elapsed. "Daddy? I need help with my poo."

A laughing teenager opened the door and suggested I come in, which I did, and waited outside the door while Jo insisted finishing some more of her poo. A woman came out of the other occupied cubicle, laughing at me. In the end, Jo let me in.

The ladies' emptied, and I tried to chivvy Jo on, to no avail. Another woman came and entered a cubicle. "Shhh," I said as quietly as I could to Jo. "Why? Why do you want me to be quiet?" "Shhh!"

The other person finished, and left, and I thought we were clear, but another woman came in and occupied a cubicle. Jo finished, and again I thought we were clear, but she took ages to get her pants (two pairs?) and tights up: and just as we were unlocking the cubicle door, there was a flush from the other cubicle. I have literally never washed my hands and ushered a child out of a toilet quicker.

Moo laughed like a drain.

Labels: humour, Jo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 8:17 PM 5 comments

Paaaaaaaaaaaaaaarty time!

How tired were the girls afterwards...? Very, very tired.

Labels: birthday, Jo, party

# posted by MikeCamel @ 8:24 PM 1 comments

"Why's that man got a gun, Mummy?"

We were in London because Jo wanted to go to see the dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum. Unluckily, Jo wasn't the only child to have this idea, and we weren't the only parents to agree to the plan. South Kensington tube station was closed due to over-crowding, so we got off at Gloucester Road tube, with hundreds of other people, from whence we walked to join the queues the stretched from the entrance, down the ramp, snaking round the grounds, and for about 100m on the pavement. It moved fairly quickly, and we decided not to join the queue that wound round the main hall towards the full dinosaur exhibit: another 150m or so, at a guess. Instead, we wandered round some of the other halls, saw some aquatic fossils, had some lunch (expensive, but good food), and then looked at the evolution exhibits. I gave Jo a quick lecture on evolution and how Charles Darwin (whose statue now sits on the stairs overlooking the main hall) is a hero. I'm not sure how much she understood about Australopithecus' relationship to modern humans, but she seemed interested and took some of it in.

Went home (via Gloucester Road again, as South Kensington tube was closed again), and Jo, who was on her knees with tiredness, fell asleep in the car. Back home for fish and chips with Miri (who was very pleased to see us!) and Mel. The girls fell asleep very, very quickly, and we've spent the rest of the evening to now wrapping presents, baking muffins, cakes and the rest and preparing for the party tomorrow. How can it be so much hard work?

A tiring day, but a good one.

Labels: Jo, London, science

# posted by MikeCamel @ 8:36 PM 2 comments

Annual trip to A & E

So, I called Moo for ideas, and ended up calling the (fantastic) Kristi and Paul, parents of Jo and Miri's friends Louie and Poppy, and Kristi soon came around to take care Jo back to their house, and to lend me a car seat (Moo had both of our ones in her car, of course). Moo suggested I call the out-of-hours doctors' service, and I wasted 15 minutes or so waiting for them to call back before heading off for Addenbrooke's A & E. When they did get back to me, they advised me to do that anyway, so that was fine.

I'd given Miri some Calpol, and she'd calmed down pretty quickly, and slept all the way to Cambridge. And then we were seen pretty quickly, and the nurse's examination actually put the ligament back in place (in fact, just taking her top off did it, which is a good trick to know for next time). This avoided an hour or more wait, and we got back home around 2030. Mel had got a text from Kristi, and had phoned them, and when she'd spoken to Jo, Jo had clearly been a bit upset, so Mel had come over and picked her up. Jo was asleep by the time I got back, and Mel's just a complete star. In fact, Jo had a been a complete star, too, and had got herself changed really quickly and without any hassle when I asked her. And she went off with Kristi without any complaint, too, so I'm going to find a really nice treat for her tomorrow morning.

And, for extra excitement, we're expecting more snow tonight...

Labels: hospital, illness, Jo, miri

# posted by MikeCamel @ 9:24 PM 1 comments

New Year

But it took us two hours to get Jo to sleep, and I just don't have the energy.

Labels: Jo, sleep

# posted by MikeCamel @ 9:24 PM 0 comments

More gems from Jo

Jo (tying an orange dressing-gown cord around the ear of one of her bears, who's allegedly been suffering from a sick bug for several weeks now): I'm tying the orange ribbon to her ear to stop her being sick.
Moo: will that make her feel better?
Me: is it an anti-emetic?
Jo: no, it's mine. It doesn't belong to anyone else.
(We suspect that she believes that she has an aunt about whom she didn't know before today, called "Emetic"...)

Labels: humour, Jo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 8:58 PM 1 comments

Back to church

After that we took the girls swimming, and in the afternoon we all went to the Christingle service at St Andrew's, Halstead. It's come to my attention that not everyone knows what a Christingle service is, but you can find some resources from the Children's Society by following the link. Basically, there's a service which revolves round the children in the congregation having a lit candle each, with the candle (the Light of the World) placed in an orange (the World), surrounded by a red ribbon or tape (the Blood of Christ) and with four sticks stuck into the orange, with sweets and dried fruit stuck on them (God's gifts to the world/the 4 seasons).

I was preaching, and invited the children to the front: "Sometimes during family services like this we have people moving around. Now, I'm going to be _very_ cross indeed if there are any adults moving around at all. On the other hand, I'm going to need some help, so it would be great if the children could come to the front to do that." I had fun, and I think the kids did, too. And Jo came and sat with me at the front of the church for the end of the service for the first time. I was so happy.

Labels: church, Jo, preaching

# posted by MikeCamel @ 9:35 PM 1 comments

And if you were to take a bus...

Labels: Jo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 8:57 PM 1 comments

The slide

Labels: bible, Jo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 9:20 PM 1 comments

You do the thinking, I'll do the drawing

Previously she'd been showing me how to draw a face, had draw a circle, made one dot for an eye, and then closed her own eyes, put her fingers in them, and then put in the other dot and another one for a nose.

Labels: Jo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 7:43 PM 1 comments

Two little girls

Jo, on the other hand, has recently got reading. She's spelling out words for herself, and she's now at the stage where you can tell her to pick something (a menu option on a computer, for instance), based on what it says, as she can have a good go at idnetifying the relevant word. We also took her swimming today, and, well, she can swim. On her front and on her back. It's still a little frantic except that she's now worked out that if she kicks more slowly, it works better and she gets less tired.

About 20 minutes ago, Moo heard something outside the sitting room, and went out. She called me, and said it was Jo. I thought she'd discovered Jo dead or severely ill at the bottom of the stairs. She'd made her way through the stairgate (she's never been known to do this before, though she's said she could), and come downstairs. She was fine, and said that she'd been woken up by the bangs (fireworks). Moo put her back to bed. We think that maybe she'd been sleepwalking, or nearly so.

Labels: Jo, miri

# posted by MikeCamel @ 8:51 PM 1 comments

A hard day

Labels: illness, Jo, work

# posted by MikeCamel @ 9:05 PM 1 comments

Jo's still ill

Labels: illness, Jo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 9:28 PM 0 comments

Three issues to cover

Jo

Anyway, Jo was much better by this afternoon, and managed to keep a simple supper down. Hopefully she'll sleep well. Hopefully she (and Miri) will sleep through past 0800. Yeah, right. Past 0600 would be a miracle.

Stewardship

I noted that as citizens of England, we have rights to use the church - the parish church in Halstead - for marriages, baptisms, funerals, and other services- as do all the other people who live in the parish. And I pointed out that we have a set of responsibilities that go along with those rights: to maintain that set of rights of ourselves, for those who don't usually exercise them, for those who came before us, and for those who will come after.

But more than that, we have a covenant with God - a new covenant, a new testament - and there are responsibilities entailed with that. And that's where we start with thinking about or financial responsibilities to God's church. And its people. And its God.

Not just at the front

We serve. Or we dishonour the Father, and let down the Spirit, and sadden the Son.

Labels: death, diaconate, god, illness, Jo, sermon

# posted by MikeCamel @ 9:37 PM 2 comments

Jo's ill

Labels: illness, Jo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 8:11 PM 1 comments

Zoo time

We had a lovely, lovely time at Colchester Zoo today: just Miri, Jojo and me. I took the girls to give Moo a day off, as I'm off on work travel for nearly 2 weeks tomorrow.

Jo was considerate, patient, obedient, sharing, kind, sensible and generally a joy to be with, and Miri toddled around happily. One of the things that Jo wanted to do was to take some pictures, and this is one of them. She still hasn't got the whole "framing" thing yet, but she _is_ little.

Labels: girls, Jo, miri, zoo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 5:08 PM 0 comments

OCD

I do, though not badly: and one of the things about OCD, as I understand it, is that it's not about rationality: I have ways of doing things, and I'm happiest if they stay that way.

Church

While Miri had a sleep before lunch, Jo and I played. She wanted me to a little sister, and her to be Mummy. Which meant that I was basically Miri. She wanted to put me to bed, and I played at being Miri while she was patient and loving. When she thought I was "asleep", she went out of the room (as we do), and then came back a little later to give me a kiss and put a teddy in my arms. It was just beautiful.

Labels: church, Jo, mission, play

# posted by MikeCamel @ 8:45 PM 2 comments

How tired can a little girl get?

Labels: Jo, sleep

# posted by MikeCamel @ 9:36 PM 1 comments

Swearing

Jo's come up with some good questions recently, though.

• "what is grass made of?"
• "why did I come out of mummy as a girl?"
• "why do nettles have stings?"
• "what happens to sugar when you put it in tea?"
• "what is water made of?"

Labels: humour, Jo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 10:18 PM 1 comments

You can't get seasick on the Norfolk Broads

And so did the kids. Zeugma there, in that we set off, and the kids did, too. I let Jo help steer a bit, sitting on my knee. And then she tried to steer into the reeds, so I had to steer the other way, and she hurt her wrist. Not badly: just enough to cry. Miri wouldn't sit still, or keep quiet. And after a while, when I asked Moo how she was feeling, she told me that she was feeling seasick. I know that she sometimes gets carsick, but seasick - on the Norfolk Broads? No swell. Seriously: nothing. We made it to Oulton Broad, and decided to tie up. Stern first, as per instructions. I had difficulty getting us backing in straight, so was hoping that Moo would leap personfully onto the bank, and she was hoping (against hope) that neither of the kids would attempt to follow her (and end up in the water, between the propellor and the wooden mooring posts).

We gave up, and motored back to the hiring place, phoning ahead so that they could jump aboard and tie up for us. They were very nice about it, and it was the right decision, and I hardly feel emasculated at all. It stopped raining once we tied up (or were tied up, to be more honest) - it had started about 5 minutes into the trip. Good work. The only positive outcome of this trip was the realisation that our decision _not_ to hire a boat for the week, but to stay in a cottage instead, was generally a good one.

We went to a pub for lunch, and I cried because they had a lovely Newfy who was very like Buster.

Not the best day, and Jo's going through "a phase". Luckily, Miri doesn't seem to have concussed herself when she fell off the dining room table and hit the back of her head on the chair behind her. So, the day ended on a good note.

Labels: holiday, illness, Jo, miri

# posted by MikeCamel @ 6:56 PM 3 comments

A proper Essex wedding

Jo was a bridesmaid, something she'd been looking forward to for months. Possibly over a year. She looked gorgeous. So did Miri and Moo (there will be pictures to come, hopefully), but Jo looked just the way a 3 and a half year old bridesmaid ought to look. Beautiful and gorgeous.

Well done Mel and Dean.

Labels: Jo, marriage

# posted by MikeCamel @ 9:24 PM 0 comments

"God just wants me to be a bridesmaid"

I cycled to Clare and back today: gorgeous, and one of the houses on the way had a basket full of free apples. Gorgeous: and being warm was an extra positive, oddly. I've decided not to work it too hard, but to keep the work-rate up. In other words, I don't want to pull anything, but I want to keep it nicely aerobic.

And now we're watching The West Wing on DVD. Again. Great.

Labels: bike, Jo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 8:38 PM 0 comments

Expenses

Jo's taken to talking to Buster - it might be first thing in the morning, after prayers at night, or just in the car. She'll look up into the sky, and just talk to him. It's really sweet, and very healthy, I think.

Labels: buster, Jo, money, work

# posted by MikeCamel @ 8:26 PM 0 comments

I spy, with my little eye...

... something beginning with "buh" (me).

Bong? (Jo)

(Whoops...)

... something beginning with "cuh" (Moo)

Kraftwerk? (Jo)

(In fact, we suspect she said "craftwork", but we were both seriously impressed with our daughter's nascent musical interests.)

Labels: Jo, music

# posted by MikeCamel @ 9:19 PM 1 comments

Picnic

A bit about Miri and Jo. Jo has recently taken to lots of imaginative play, making houses and dens in her and Miri's bedrooms, being a big sister (and forcing me or Moo to be younger siblings or cousins), etc.. The best thing about this is that she will include Miri: in fact, Miri doesn't have much of a choice about this. And Jo now has enough awareness of other people to know what she needs to do to keep Miri happy, so they're both enjoying themselves. Miri, as well as playing along a little, has developed her linguistic skills immensely of late. Not only is she beginning to parrot words back at you, particularly if you repeat them several times, but she really knows what's going on. You can give her fairly complex commands ("Miri, please go to Mummy and take the toothbrush"), which she'll carry out flawlessly (if she can be bothered). She loves books, and can identify and point to a variety of different objects and animals if asked. Lots more than you might expect. We're just waiting for her to decide to speak properly, but she's pretty good at telling you what she wants or needs, from holding a spoon to feed herself to wanting her shoes and socks taken off (and promptly put back on).

Labels: Jo, miri, play

# posted by MikeCamel @ 8:46 PM 0 comments

A veritable wee!

The other big news for the girls was Jo's first big-girl book. She's really enjoyed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on DVD, so we thought we'd try her on the book. It's the first non-picture-dominated book she's had, and she loved it. The chapters are a good length, so I read one to her before the bath, and Moo read her one as she went to bed. Go Jo!

I had lunch with Viv, and talked about my first month as a deacon - which really isn't far away now. Things are really getting close.

Despite the upcoming excitement, I've got lots of work done today, and I'm quite pleased with it.

Labels: books, Jo, miri, ordination, work

# posted by MikeCamel @ 10:03 PM 1 comments

Being lay

Lunch, then a bit of gardening: why does garden machinery hate me so much? The mower all but died, and the strimmer lost an important part as I was using it.

After this debacle, Moo and I took the girls swimming at the Braintree Swimming Centre. We all had a great time, particularly as Miri has decided that she can go down the water slide. She can, but around 20% of the time she bangs her head on the way down...

A little recap: over the past week, the girls have really come on. Jo's coordination has developed significantly, and she now runs beautifully. She also enjoys forward rolls and similar, and we're thinking about finding her gymnastics lessons. Where she gets all this from is beyond us!

Miri, also, has come on astonishingly. On the movement side, she now can both walk and run, and is happy to carry things around all over the place (preferably bags), and to go downstairs forward, on her (well-padded) bottom. But the biggest change has been in her language. Not only are we getting more and more words from her ("Buster", "dog", "shoes", "oh dear", "good girl", "cat", "there" (well, "dere") and "sorry" spring to mind), but she understands enormous amounts of what we say to her. "Would you take the bag to Mummy?" "Would you like some more yoghurt?" "Let's go to your bedroom." All well within her grasp. And she's getting good at letting us know what she wants: her favourite is to point at things, or to pat a chair that she wants to sit on. The most confusing thing is when she's very certain about something: a strongly shaken head means either "definitely no" or "very much yes". I think that Mel's going to notice some big changes.

Labels: clergy, Jo, miri, Moo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 9:36 PM 0 comments

Princess

We're fairly firm about the pink thing and the princess thing. I'd generally say not firm enough, but on this occasion, maybe just firm enough. Luckily, Moo couldn't find anything.

But then Jo wanted a shrimping net. Specifically, a pink, princess shrimping net. I'd joined the party by this stage, for coffee and cake. It appears that nobody manufactures pink, princess shrimping nets, or if they do, then they don't sell them in Sidmouth. Even finding a pink one was causing a problem, but once we managed that, our joint brilliance (and a set of Disney Princess stickers) suddenly gave us options. We headed down to the beach.

Took a while for the sea to go out sufficiently, but once it did, we had a fantastic time in rock pools. Nobody had told me, when I was a kid, that I'd get a chance to do rock-pooling again when I was older. And, to be frank, it's even more fun when you've got kids to share your successes with, and their successes to share. We caught shrimps, (very small) sea slugs, a couple of small fish, crabs, sea snails and seaweed. It was great. It was really great, and this, for all those who were wondering, is what being a Dad is really about.

Miri just wandered around sitting down in the sea whenever she could. Chips on the beach, then off to Ottery St Mary to look around the church with everyone and "enjoy" a frankly catastrophic tea & cakes, then back for our final evening. (Foot note: Jo was more than a little disappointed to find that Disney Princess stickers come off shrimping nets when wet. Useful to know next time).

Labels: family, holiday, Jo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 8:29 PM 0 comments

Exmouth

In the afternoon, all of us bar Mac visited Woodbury Park Country Club's swimming pool, which rental of Burrows gave us access to.

Labels: beach, holiday, Jo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 9:26 PM 0 comments

Actually to Devon

But we need to watch it. She's very sensitive to not being able to do things, and she's also reacted badly in the past to being called stupid: ability is important to her. This isn't surprising, given that "clever girl" has always been important praise from us and Mel.

We discovered, around 1030, that somehow, two bags hadn't been packed (this explains why it wasn't too difficult to get it all into the car). Neither of them was mine. Jo's, and ... Moo's. Oh dear. Rosie lent us lots of clothes, and we stopped off in Dorchester for a few more (including Upsy-Daisy pants - for Jo). We then headed off for Burrows, in Venn Ottery, where we met Kate and Mac. Lovely cottage. Settled in, had a barbecue, let the girls stay up a little (not point otherwise).

Moo was _very_ good about the fact that the bag-packing incident (or lack of it) could quite easily be laid at my door. And probably quite fairly...

Labels: holiday, Jo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 9:14 PM 0 comments

Daughters round-up

Jo:

• much, much more talkative
• LOUDER!
• interested in what we're doing, and thinking she can work out what we want (not always correctly)
• some lovely moments, for instance, after a little trump in the bath: "my farts are very smelly these days"
• the discovery of humour. Of a sort.
• "apparently Mel will get a new job soon"; Moo "really, what's that?"; Jo "she's going to be someone else's nanny"; Moo "really, whose?"; Jo "Dean's" (her fiancé); Moo "really?"; Jo "that was just a big trick"
• "Why did the farmer through the duck out of the window? Because he wanted to see a flying duck"

Miri:

• "boo!" lots more
• clambering, climbing everywhere (rarely safely)
• walking when she can be bothered, crawling when she can't
• beginning to play games and mirror behaviour: and she starts the games
• lots of laughter and giggling
• copying words in real time
• coming out with plausible phrases sometimes: "Jojo's shoes"

Labels: Jo, miri

# posted by MikeCamel @ 9:15 PM 0 comments

Moo's ill

Took Jo and Miri to St Andrew's, Colne Engaine, for the team Holy Communion Service, which was good. The girls did pretty well, and it was good to attend a service with Clifford presiding. John and Geoff were there, too, and it was nice to meet Mary, Geoff's wife. We started the service with "Christ is Risen", to which the congregation responds "He is risen indeed: Alleluia!". Miri let rip with a loud shout just after the "Alleluia", clearly in response to it, and got some appreciative laughs from around the assembled throng, which was pretty large.

It's fascinating to note that kids of Jo's age have no concept of race or skin colour: I asked Jo if she'd noticed anything about Clifford (who's originally from the West Indies, and black), and other than agreeing that he was wearing priest's clothes, and was quite old (he's retired, so I guess this is OK), she didn't volunteer anything at all, so I didn't mention it. The longer such continues, the better. There was a Tweenies episode later on that we were watching which brought up people being nasty about people because they looked different, and referenced skin colour, but I don't think she noticed, and I turned it off before she could pick up on it.

Labels: illness, Jo, Moo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 2:31 PM 3 comments

Jo still not well

Labels: illness, Jo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 6:54 PM 1 comments

One poor sick girl

Labels: illness, Jo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 8:03 PM 0 comments

Rainy

Can't think where she gets those from.

Jo's being lovely and thoughtful and polite at the moment: it's just gorgeous. She's also started noting that her other friends aren't...

Labels: Jo, miri, weather

# posted by MikeCamel @ 4:49 PM 0 comments

Walking - almost

I read Jo the Passion and Resurrection narratives (simplified) from her little Bible today. She asked "Who's God?" after a chat about Jesus. I explained about Jesus being God, and about God the Father (the Mother aspect was going to be too much!), and, in the interests of good Trinitarian theology, I felt I'd better mention the Holy Spirit. Not sure it helped matters particularly...

I was in London today, meeting a possible customer. Went well - oh, and stopped off at Hatfield Galleria, bought a pair of work shoes and a new shirt. My life's so interesting.

Labels: Jo, miri, theology, walk

# posted by MikeCamel @ 9:11 PM 1 comments

Communion - twice

Having to the girls out of the car, I put Miri in the pushchair and walked with Jo along the street to where we were starting the procession with Pebbles the donkey (which is why I thought I'd take them along). After 10 minutes, about 40 of us, including a (robed) choir (with their coats over their robes) walked the 250 metres to the church, singing in the driving rain. I couldn't stop smiling: it was so English, and so Christian. I kept being reminded of what St Paul had to say about the foolishness of the world. It turned out to be another Communion service - if I'd known, I wouldn't have gone to the 0800 as well - but I decided to receive Communion again, as I didn't want to confuse Jo, who would have been expecting me to take it.

A really boring service for the girls, but they were brilliant, and in the afternoon we went swimming, partly as a reward for Jo. We'd bought her some swimming goggles yesterday at Freeport, and it really helped her. She was putting her face completely underwater, doing some actual swimming, and even managing to float on her back unaided by the end. The lessons are paying off.

Labels: communion, Jo, swimming

# posted by MikeCamel @ 7:08 PM 1 comments

Religious awareness

When we came back, we were chatting with Moo in the kitchen, and à propos of nothing, Jo suddenly declaimed to Simon: "At Nana's, we're going to have an Easter Egg hunt. And we'll be happy, because Jesus will be alive!".

I have to say that I'm rather pleased with this. She connected the two, got the important one exactly right, and got a big hug from me. Just over 3 years old: go, girl!

Oh - the other day, we were going through the Wippell's catalogue which I'd picked up at the last ERMC weekend. Jo did things like identify that the chalices and patens were for the bread and the wine, and we were deciding which of the chalices on a particular page she would like (the gold one), when she came out with: "when I'm a bit older, I can be a priest, and we can buy a chalice". Babe: when you're a bit older, you can be an archbishop...

Last of all, on Thursday, I had the following discussion with her:

me: I'm going for lunch with a priest today

Jo: is it a nice person?

note - good marks for gender awareness

me: she is very nice: she's called Viv.

Jo: will she be wearing clothes?

Mel (who was there) and I lost it at this point

me: do you mean priest clothes?

Jo: yes

me: I don't know...

Labels: Easter, Jo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 7:08 PM 2 comments

Girls moving on up

What's astonishing is how much development there is in the girls, even having been away for 3 nights. Jo's started drawing with some representation: a face is round, with hair at the top, and needs eyes and features (though she asked Moo to do that); a house has walls at right angles to the roof, which slopes. She she's happy to write her own name, but notices that she can do the second "j" upside-down (though it doesn't stay upside-down when she turns it the other way up).

Miri is now thinking about whether she needs to sit down and crawl or can just reach to the next place she wants to get to, which is an important step towards walking. And she will now take a brush and try to brush your hair with it, take a mobile phone (or whatever looks like a mobile phone), and put it to her ear, will brush her own teeth. And she now remembers what she wants, so taking away things that she shouldn't be playing with and replacing them with something else isn't always enough.

I'm so proud of them.

Labels: Jo, miri, travel

# posted by MikeCamel @ 8:37 PM 0 comments

The kite

Got it put together, got it up. Moved to a better place, with more wind: in fact, there was just about the right amount of wind to get it up and staying up, but you needed to run a bit to keep it there when the wind dropped a little, which meant that from time to time, when Jo had it, it dropped to the ground. But we worked round that. Until Jo had it, was running away from me, I called her to run towards me, and she let go of it.

I ran. I really, really ran, and I thought I had it. In the end, it was getting away, and I threw myself after it. But to no avail. The end of the string, with handle, ended up 4 metres up a thorn tree. The kite itself about the same up another thorn tree. I tried to get it, but was needed to comfort Jo, who had completely (and understandably) lost it. And I'm not just talking about the kite.

We offered to try to find a replacement, or go for coffee and cake: she chose the former. Luckily, the local store had a cheap kite (£1.99!), which we bought, but once we got it up, she was worried that we were going to lose that one, too, that she wouldn't hold it herself, and soon refused to let me put it up at all, dissolving in tears. The poor thing's really tired at the moment, and was just beside herself.

So, coffee and cake this time. She demanded some cake, and, having had half a forkful, insisted that she was still full from lunch, so left it to me and Mum. But we had some nice tea to go with it.

As we were leaving the café, we spotted a girl of no more than 8, with her father/grandfather, and ... a kite. We asked, and yes, he'd managed to get it down with a long stick. He offered to give it back, and it was clearly what Jo wanted, so we accepted: and the little girl's lip began to wobble: quite understandably (again). So, I offered her the kite that we'd just bought. And _Jo_ started to lose it. Again, understandably. The bloke was lovely, but was visibly relieved when I told him that we'd bought the second just round the corner...

At this point, we gave up and went home.

Jo's very tired. So are we. I think the whole birthday and build-up have been a bit much for her, and she's really not getting enough sleep at the moment. Not that we are, either. I'm away three nights this week, and hope to get some sleep. Assuming that _I_ make it that far.

Now: anyone know of any good theologians talking about religion in cyberspace/online? Preferably in the UK.

Labels: family, Jo, online, theology

# posted by MikeCamel @ 9:01 PM 3 comments

Jo's 3rd birthday

Mel turned up a little earlier than usual, so we could go off to Witham, where we caught the train. Jo very excited: although she's been on a train before, she was only a few months old, and can't remember it at all. The journey was a little longer than she would have liked, and she got a little too excited for a fairly busy train. Got to Liverpool Street, took the tube to South Kensington. This also a little long...

Jo loved the Science Museum, and after a couple of hours there, we headed off to the V & A and had some lunch. Good food, and not too expensive for London, I thought (beat £2.95 for a piece of cake at the Science Museum!). Then did the textiles section, which she loved.

And then she did the "trying to get away, pulling on her arm, and twisting it" thing which she's done before, and pulled the ligament out of alignment. Which she's done before. We went to the first aid room (the staff were very helpful), and tried to fix it. We failed, so caught at taxi to the Chelsea and Westminster hospital. Paeds A&E were very good, and a staff nurse fixed it, so that was good. We got on bus (Jo was already asleep, but woke up briefly), on the tube (she hardly ever stirred), bought some muffins and a doughnut, and got on the train home. She woke up at Liverpool Street station, and had a good (though still sleepy) trip to Witham. In the car, then home.

A few more presents, and then a fish and chip supper with Mel. Bath, and then bed.

So, we'll all remember the unscheduled trip to A & E, but she had a lovely birthday, I think, and has a story to tell.

Women and the CofE

Labels: birthday, Jo, London

# posted by MikeCamel @ 8:13 PM 1 comments

Cool demo

This evening, I popped round to fix Charles' computer. He's the son of some friends of ours, 13 or so, bright, and a nice guy. Having fixed his PC (partially unseated RAM), installed Firefox and AVG anti-virus, his mum wanted to know how he should repay me. I'd given him a cryptography 101, and so I decided that that next time he sees me, he needs to be able to explain the differences between symmetric and asymmetric encryption. I even gave him the requisite wikipedia page. This is a bit geeky, but he'd shown an interest, so... We've also agreed that we're going to buy a cr*ppy old PC, rebuild it, and put Linux on it. Yes, geekery.

Tomorrow is Jo's 3rd birthday, and we wrote the card and wrapped the presents. Oh, the excitement.

Labels: geekery, Jo, work

# posted by MikeCamel @ 8:02 PM 0 comments

Lots of calls

Labels: family, Jo, work

# posted by MikeCamel @ 7:32 PM 0 comments

Cinema trip

Took Miri and Buster for a good old walk today and used the new GPS bluetooth that Moo's given me (early) for our engagement anniversary on Wednesay (I won't be around). My phone supports GPS accessories by default, and it Just Works[tm]. Great stuff. Did about 3 and a half miles, and rather tired out poor Buster.

Labels: films, GPS, illness, Jo, walk

# posted by MikeCamel @ 8:32 PM 0 comments

19-26

Jo's a bit under the weather, but despite a trip round Colchester (never use the Park and Ride there, is all I can say), the cold and not much to interest her, she was a star. Both girls were, actually.

Now, if only Miri hadn't woken up just as we were going to bed and Jo had slept past 0430...

Labels: Jo, knitting, rugby

# posted by MikeCamel @ 7:11 PM 2 comments

Essay on Psalm 137

Very excitingly, I got a letter from Crockford's today, asking for my details so that they can put me in their publication. This means that I really will be a _proper_ priest at some point. One of the things they asked for was an email address, so I've given them a new one, which I now feel happy about releasing: mike [dot] bursell {at} anglicanpriest *(dot)* org. You can take out the relevant bits and pieces to make that a real address, and see why I've not felt happy about using it until things looked pretty certain.

Miri can now say "cat" pretty distinctively - to the cat, or about it, when she wants to go and see him - and has a sound that she associates with dog (but doesn't sound much like it). She also has a hysterically funny face she does that has been labelled "hippo", where she puts her hands out, opens her mouth very widely, and vibrates her head from side to side. You have to see it. What's particularly amusing about it is that she looks very much like Jo when she does it.

Labels: ERMC, essay, Jo, miri, ordination

# posted by MikeCamel @ 8:47 PM 0 comments

Title post time

Walk with Buster, Moo, Jo and Miri. Then swimming with Jo.

Finished watching If.... Great film. I'd not seen it in ages - 20 years plus, I guess - and had forgotten most of it.

Did the ironing in front of the TV.

Jo continues to be lovely.

Labels: church, films, Jo, miri, title

# posted by MikeCamel @ 10:22 PM 0 comments

Thoughtfulness

I took Buster for a lovely long walk today: finishing just as a beautiful sunset revealed itself. I really love walking: just using my body as it's supposed to be, and enjoying the countryside.

Labels: Jo, walk

# posted by MikeCamel @ 10:11 PM 0 comments

Moo's away

Lots of work done today, was hoping to do some ERMC work, too, but it was not to be. Need to do some tomorrow, as I have a tutorial on Wednesday.

Labels: ERMC, Jo, miri

# posted by MikeCamel @ 9:28 PM 0 comments

Miri's crawling (forward)

Jo had a party with some of her friends from pre-school today: Georgia's birthday. We went to Coco nuts, and Jo had a good time. However, it's easy to remember how young she is: she's not very good a playing in a large group, though 2s and 3s are fine. Most of the other children were a year or more older than her (it was Georgia's 4th birthday), and it showed. In terms of language, etc. she's up there with most of them, but she _is_ younger. It was interesting.

We went for a walk with the girls (on our backs) and Buster (not) this afternoon, and Miri shouted at Buster a lot. It was a lovely walk in the sun, not too cold, in the beautiful English countryside.

Labels: Jo, miri

# posted by MikeCamel @ 7:55 PM 1 comments

Spiritual advisor

I've never heard Jo make a negative value judgement about something she's done before. She was making marble runs with Moo, and knocked hers over to play with Moo's, instead. She said that hers was "rubbish", and was quite insistent. We said nice things about it, but it was interesting to hear her say it. Mel was back in work today, and loved seeing both of them, particularly how much Miri had come one.

Labels: Jo, miri, spirituality

# posted by MikeCamel @ 9:31 PM 0 comments

More presents?

Labels: family, Jo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 7:24 AM 0 comments

St Stephen's Day / Boxing Day

There, of course, was Turtle. And Jen, Jake and Mouse, of course, but mainly Turtle. I had another sleep (after more driving). We opened presents. Well, Jo opened lots of them, of course. The girls played. We had supper, Turtle completely lost it, they left, and Jo went to sleep. A great day: the two cousins just love each other to bits. And spent quite a lot of time dressing up in Jo's new "Supergirl" and "Stephanie" (from Lazytown) outfits. Including the pink wig...

Labels: family, Jo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 9:16 PM 0 comments

Miri's words

We set the alarm for 0500 this morning, got up and drove to my parents. That way, the girls get to sleep a bit, and I get to drive in some relative peace. We got there around 0930, after some stops for various reasons: the first for a loo stop. The second to allow me to repack the car so as to allow Moo to sit in the back between the two girls and quieten down Jo.

Lovely to see my parents, though one of the first things I did was to go to bed and get an hour or so's sleep. Spent some time doing the usual IT support for Dad. In particular, he wanted to get onto SecondLife so that he can have a better understanding of it as part of some work we're doing around the Anglican Cathedral there. His machine's underpowered in terms of RAM, but most of all, the graphics card's not up to the job. Off to do some shopping tomorrow, methinks.

Labels: Jo, miri

# posted by MikeCamel @ 7:20 AM 0 comments

Flying home

Miri's looking older _again_: I think it's the hair, which is growing quickly.

Got home to discover that Kate and Mac's computer isn't working. Sounds like a powersurge has wiped the ADSL router's memory. We've decided to pop up tomorrow and I'll see if I can fix it.

Labels: home, Jo, miri

# posted by MikeCamel @ 10:03 PM 0 comments

Laptopery

Jo decided to read me a story, and got a book out. "Stephanie and the bad hair day," she announced (she's into Lazytown at the moment). "Or Piglet is Entirely Surrounded by Water," I countered. "No, Daddy: Stephanie and the bad hair day." Fair enough.

I suggested we said a prayer after the light was turned off. I suggested praying for Mummy, Daddy, Miri and Jojo, but Jo came up with a lovely little prayer thanking God and Jesus for Father Christmas (and not just giving her presents, but everybody). She also reckons he brings Christmas trees, but hey. It was a beautiful prayer, and I was very impressed.

Labels: computers, geekery, Jo, prayer

# posted by MikeCamel @ 8:50 PM 0 comments

Some choice Jo-isms

"Daddy - why do you smell?" (I'd just been for a walk with the dog).

"Nana, what are you doing?"

"It's mopping"

"What's mopping?" (All eyes turn to her parents.)

"What's that smell, Mummy?"

"Clean."

"Mummy, you've still got a very big tummy, even though Miri's born." (Moo told me to put this in!)

Labels: Jo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 7:56 PM 1 comments

Mummy, you're so beautiful ... but ruined

• Miri can now pull herself up to standing in her cot (time to lower the base)
• Miri can now clap
• I've got a new laptop. Running Ubuntu already, of course.
• Moo's introduced multiple colours to her knitting
• we're finishing watching Anchorman - it's still very funny

Labels: computers, Jo, miri

# posted by MikeCamel @ 9:08 PM 0 comments

Reading

Labels: Jo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 8:33 PM 1 comments

Pre-school

Labels: ERMC, Jo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 8:24 PM 0 comments

ECC conference

So, away from home and "conflicted" is, I believe, the term. It's nearly 2200 local, or 0300 GMT. It's odd being away from home.

I wrote over 3,000 words of a new document today, during the sessions. I'm quite pleased with that.

And I've just phoned down to the front desk and asked if they'd send up a Bible, as there isn't one in the room. Odd conversations of our time.

Labels: Jo, miri, Moo, travel

# posted by MikeCamel @ 2:57 AM 0 comments

Learning things

• Over the past couple of days, Jo's learnt to read. It really is that simple. She's just got it. She's started spelling out words from their sounds - she knows almost all of the alphabet - and yesterday we were reading Hug by Jez Alborough as she went to bed. There are only three words: "Hug", "Bobo", and "Mummy", but she read an entire book on her own. I was so proud I could almost cry. And since then, she's just kept with it. She worked out "Bus" from the signs on a bus lane in Cambridge today, she's read another book (this one is "Yes", by Jez Alborough). Very proud.
• Today I learnt that if you're washing a baby-sicked sweat-shirt, you should really turn the hood inside out first.

A good day in Cambridge: Jo loved the bus.

Labels: Jo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 9:48 PM 2 comments

At home, preparing for next week

Labels: Jo, travel, work

# posted by MikeCamel @ 10:19 PM 0 comments

More theology

I have some more work to do.

Labels: god, Jo, theology

# posted by MikeCamel @ 8:23 PM 2 comments

Giggle Factory

Labels: Jo, sleep

# posted by MikeCamel @ 9:03 PM 1 comments

Theology

Jo: Mummy, you know Jesus?

Moo: Um, yes?

Jo: He does a lot of flying around now he's dead, doesn't he?

Moo: Does he?

Jo: Yes, he's always buzzing around everywhere. Like a fly.

Moo: I'd ask your dad about that.

I have some work to do.

Labels: Jo, Moo, theology

# posted by MikeCamel @ 8:59 PM 3 comments

Church

Walk with Moo, Jo, Miri and Buster in the afternoon, and then swimming with Jo. I made a shepherd's pie for supper, and we watched some TV to finish the day.

Labels: church, Jo, walk

# posted by MikeCamel @ 6:26 PM 0 comments

Carbon footprint

Useful meeting, but all a bit weird, to be honest.

Jo seems to be getting the sleeping-in-her-own-bed-all-night thingy. Good. Now, if we can get Miri better from her cold, we'll be nearly there.

Labels: Jo, miri, travel

# posted by MikeCamel @ 8:57 PM 0 comments

-ve, +ve

+ve: I've got Alien Arena 2007 working on my box at 1600x1200. Nice. And free, of course.

Labels: computers, illness, Jo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 9:18 PM 0 comments

Trying something new

The general plan was the same for both churches:

• I entered in cassock-alb and girdle
• I started with the standard words for Morning Prayer (Common Worship), then moved into ...
• a reading: Luke 17:11-19 (the Samaritan leper who turned back to praise God for his healing)
• I then put down my bible, started to take off my girdle, and said "Right, let's have coffee, then". I'd already got water boiling, so it didn't take long to get everyone sat down with a hot drink.
• I then explained that I wanted people to get into 2s and 3s and to discuss for 5 or so minutes the question "why do I go to church?" - whether that means the building, or services, etc. - followed by "what do I get from going to church?"
• I wandered around the groups, encouraging, taking some notes
• after 7-8 minutes I stood at the front and collected the themes that people had come up with. I spent some time talking about the importance of worship as a reason for going to church (one congregation had come up with this, one not)
• I then handed round a set of Bibles that I'd gathered from home, and asked each mini-group to come up with a passage which they felt reflected one of the themes that had been identified
• I went round the groups with a concordance (which I'd cunningly thought to bring along!), pinning down the readings they'd been thinking of
• we then launched into a fairly standard but slightly cut-down Morning Prayer service, with confession, absolution and creed to start off
• this was followed by the passages that people had identified, read by the people who'd selected them (though I offered to read them if people wanted). After each, I said "This is the Word of the Lord", to which everyone replied "Thanks be to God"
• we had some intercessions (in one church)
• we then had an offertory hymn
• I then wrapped up, asking the congregation to think about the question "What would I like to get from going to church?" and the associated question "What would other people, who don't go to church, like to get from going to church?" I encouraged them to ask (or invite!) friends.
• we finished off with another hymn
• we then had some discussion.

B*gger

Looks like we're going to be playing South Africa in the final of the Rugby World Cup next weekend.

Labels: Jo, rugby, service, theology

# posted by MikeCamel @ 8:23 PM 1 comments

Wonder...

Jo (on coming home with Moo after being out for a bit): "Daddy, did you tidy up?"

Me: "Yes."

Jo: "WOW!"

Labels: Jo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 10:31 AM 0 comments

Infant Communion

I was reading Jo some stories from the excellent My Very First Bible today. We'd done Jesus in the storm (twice), the hole in the roof (once), and Jo wanted another story, so I read the Passion narrative and then finished with the Resurrection. When we got to the Last Supper, I read along the lines of "Jesus shared bread and wine with his friends, and told them to do the same to remember him."

Jo said, "you have bread and wine, don't you?" I said, "yes." And then she said, "but you don't share it with me, do you? I have a biscuit, don't I?"

She knows that she can't have the bread and the wine, but if she's patient, after a service, she can have a biscuit with the coffee/tea afterwards. I've tried very hard to make it clear that the biscuits aren't an equivalent, or alternative, and I think she gets that. What was heart-breaking was the tone with which she accepted that I don't share the bread and the wine with her. She really understands sharing and how important it is. It's a really difficult thing for a toddler, but she's getting quite good at doing it with Miri and with us: sometimes she'll even offer us her food if she really likes it. And I really believe that she understood the importance of Jesus sharing the bread and the wine with his friends. She made the leap from that to the Eucharist service completely on her own, and I was astonished. And heart-broken.

I have some serious thinking to do about my theology of the Eucharist. "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings...": Matthew 21:16.

Labels: communion, Jo, theology

# posted by MikeCamel @ 7:11 PM 6 comments

"My own bed..."

Jo (waking up next to me in the spare room bed): "I slept in my own bed all night!"

Me: "No, you didn't!"

Jo (plaintively): "Why?"

Me: "Because you came into my bed in the middle of the night."

Jo (with conviction): "I'll try to sleep in my own bed tonight."

My night?

• Last night, bedtime - Miri's unsettled, so Moo takes her into our room, I take the spare room.
• 2310 last night, Jo gets out of bed. I take her back to her room.
• 2340 last night, I go back to bed: Jo seems to have settled.
• 0015 Jo comes into the spare room.
• 0420 Moo comes in to say that Buster's barking. I go downstairs, then up to my side to do some Facebooking.
• 0450 after some time with Buster, he still won't settle. I let him outside. I watch some TV to give him some more time.
• 0510 I let Buster back in, and go back up to bed.
• 0610 Jo wakes up (I haven't got back to sleep).

Apparently Turtle, Jenny's eldest, won't watch Underground Ernie, which Jo loves. When Moo asked Jenny why, she answered, with a shrug, "Talking Underground trains?".

Labels: buster, facebook, family, Jo, miri, sleep

# posted by MikeCamel @ 6:55 AM 1 comments

Barbecue

Wales were knocked out of the Rugby World Cup by Fiji. This is huge, and won't easy for Lee, my brother-in-law. After the match, which Jo had watched some of, we went outside to play some football (not having a rugby ball with us), and she kept picking up the ball and trying to spin pass it out. _Go_ girl.

Labels: family, food, Jo, rugby

# posted by MikeCamel @ 1:40 PM 1 comments

Heroes

I grabbed a few minutes when I would otherwise have been having a cup of tea yesterday morning, and joined Jo, Miri and Mel (who's also just joined Facebook) at toddler group. It's lovely to see Jo running around, and I'm completely unfazed (sp?) by being the only bloke there. Seems that I get some looks, but I don't care. I noticed yesterday (as I have in similar situations before) that I immediately get lots of attention from other children. This can sometimes be quite disturbing, depending on how they relate to you, but on this occasion it all seemed happy and healthy enough.

Started using the Vulgate for some of my readings for evensong since coming back from the latest ERMC weekend. I'd forgotten how lovely it is, and it appears that I've not got too rusty.

Jo's started recognising "J for Jojo" all over the place, "squiggly snake S's", and the letter "O". She knows that when two "o's" are next to each other as friends, they tend to make an "ooooo" sound, and she goes around finding examples and telling us all about it.

Labels: bible, facebook, Jo, miri, television

# posted by MikeCamel @ 9:39 AM 1 comments

Tutorial

Jo had another session at pre-school today. Tried tracing her name, and did OK: she was so proud.

Labels: ERMC, Jo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 8:44 PM 0 comments

Josephine 2

1. Great in church
2. Swimming 1: "I want to be Cinderella ... you can be Cinderella too"
3. Swimming 2: swam without floats for the very first time ever!
4. Went to sleep in under 5 minutes

Labels: Jo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 8:05 PM 0 comments

Josephine

1. Last night she took an hour to get to bed. It's going to be over that tonight.
2. Because she was a pain last night, Moo told her that she wouldn't be able to watch Storymakers (one of her favourite TV programmes) tonight. We explained this before turning the TV on after supper tonight, and she seemed to understand. When it came time for it to go on, she calmly walked to the TV and turned it off. Not a hint that she was bothered.
3. When I took her for a walk today, we came across two road signs. One was a village name sign with a speed restriction, and on the other side of the road, just a the speed restriction. She's just got the concept of "matching", and told me that the numbers on the two signs matched (30, in case you're wondering).
4. She pointed out the lines on the road, and I asked her what they're for. "So that cars can follow them," she replied. When asked if someone had told her this, or she'd worked it out for herself, she said, "I worked it out for myself, I think"
5. She was being a real pain about coming back from the beach (East Mersea) to the car. I walked on to put Miri and Buster in the car. She just sat down and refused to come on, so Moo sat down a little further. Jo couldn't see her clearly, and Moo suddenly heard Jo calmly talking to herself: "who's that person? Is it a man, no it's a lady, but I don't think it's Mummy. Mummy and Daddy have gone to the car on their own, and they've left me. I'm all on my own." Not a hint of concern!
6. At supper tonight, she was refusing to eat her food. She'd finished her cup of drink, so I went to refill it with some water, but when I came back, she insisted on milk, as that's what had been in it previously. I told her that she could have milk if she had some more food, but if she didn't, then she could only have water. After some discussion, she came out with, "I think I want water in my cup."

Labels: Jo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 7:54 PM 1 comments

Sales training

Moo had a terrible evening with the dog last night, but once he was finally down, things seem to have improved. Jo was very tired again, after her second pre-school session, and apparently her behaviour (which was never bad as such) is already improved in the context of the toddler group she attends on Wednesdays.

As far as I'm aware, Catherine didn't find any more dead bats in her office today.

Labels: buster, Jo, Moo, work

# posted by MikeCamel @ 5:52 PM 1 comments

Away for a few days

Jo went to pre-school this morning. We were a little worried, of course, and Moo, Mel, Miri and I accompanied her up the hill. She immediately started playing with the toys, sand, plasticine, etc., and didn't even notice when we went. We were, of course, gutted. She's doing 2 sessions a week, and had such a lovely time there today that she's looking forward very much to the next one, tomorrow.

Miri's not been great today: seems that her digestive system is taking a while to get the hang of "solid" foods. Fair enough, and that's as much detail as you want.

I'm addicted to Facebook, which also works on my mobile. I'm trying to avoid the "how many friends have you got" line, but there are lots of little applications you can add. Fun, fun, fun.

Labels: facebook, Jo, miriam, travel

# posted by MikeCamel @ 5:14 PM 6 comments

Double preaching

Poor Moo (who wasn't feeling great) had Jo and Miri for four and a half hours in the morning, in the end, and was very good about it. I took Jo for a good swim in the afternoon, and after the girls had bathed, took Miri and Buster for nearly an hour's walk. Pushed it hard, and my calfs (calves?) now hurt.

Joined Facebook last night, after Mark invited me. It was going to happen one day. You can find me there: "Mike Bursell".

Tomorrow is Jo's first day at pre-school. Oooh!

Labels: facebook, Jo, preaching, swimming, walk

# posted by MikeCamel @ 9:51 PM 0 comments

Nightmare drive

In the end, I turned up Radio 4 longwave and listened to England beating India in the one-day. Great match, fantastic finish by some up and coming players.

Labels: holiday, Jo, miriam, travel

# posted by MikeCamel @ 9:13 PM 0 comments

The girls

Jo:

• can now dress herself without any help at all
• has now started talking about whether things match or not (pyjamas, etc.)
• is really big into hide and seek. But she'll always hide in the last place you did, and will usually giggle. And if you ask her where she is, she'll tell you...

Miri:

• is now trying hard to lift herself up to a sitting position
• loves sitting up - though she needs help to _stay_ there
• will now raise her arms and call to one of us when she sees us and wants us to come to her
• is one of the loudest humans in the entire universe
• likes watching pictures of Jo on the computer
• loves watching athletics on TV

Labels: Jo, miriam

# posted by MikeCamel @ 4:45 PM 1 comments

Gardening, barbecue

Today's toddler quote is "I got some in!". Jo had said that she'd get herself some milk, and had gone to the fridge to do so. I'd told Moo not to worry, because Jo's milk (full fat) wasn't opened, so she wouldn't have a chance. The sounds of "glug, glug, splash" made us realise that the other milk _was_ open, and being a resourceful young person, Jo'd gone with that. The cry "I got some in!" was accurate, but the stress would have been better placed on the word "some". Well, Buster got to lick lots of milk from the floor, and Jojo felt pleased with herself.

We prepared Miri's room today. Soon, we'll put her in there overnight, but Moo didn't think that today was a plan.

Labels: children, food, friends, Jo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 9:12 AM 0 comments

"Sorry, Miri"

• Sunday: 41
• Monday: 27
• Tuesday: 34

Labels: Jo, miriam, wii

# posted by MikeCamel @ 8:49 AM 0 comments

Polzeath beach

Labels: holiday, Jo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 8:57 PM 0 comments

Two important lessons

1. don't take a pushchair to the beach unless you're _sure_ there are no rocks to clamber over, and the sand will be firm;
2. don't try to change a baby only a couple of metres from the shoreline if the tide's coming in.

Ice-cream, doughnuts (don't start - we're on holiday).

We'd started off in Boscastle, and then headed off to Trebarwith, which is a lovely beach. We were there around 1400, which was a little late, as the tide was coming in very quickly, but we'll know better next time. May well return on another occasion. Without pushchair.

Poor Jo's being very good about not scratching, and she's been better in herself today. Had a lovely hour or so running around in the cottage's garden, pretending to be various animals, hiding, chasing, playing with a beachball: all that sort of thing. She really gets play with other people now, and it was a real joy: _she_ was a real joy to be with. No spots on Miri so far.

Labels: food, holiday, illness, Jo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 8:54 PM 0 comments

Off on holiday!

I'd packed the car the night before, to a litany of swearing. At one point I got annoyed and needed to throw something at a wall (an outside one, I hasten to add). Unluckily, what came to hand was a chocolate biscuit. Not heavy enough, and so bad aerodynamically for throwing at walls that it just caused Moo to laugh at me, which wasn't exactly the effect for which I was hoping.

We made very good time, and decided to stop off at my parents' house for a while to catch our breath. We couldn't get to the cottage in Cornwall before 1600 anyway, and we'd left early in order to avoid the bad M25-M4 traffic, so we'd broken the back of the journey already. Poll and Lee had already headed off to their respective works, but Mum was there, and Dad hadn't left yet, so we got to see them. In fact, we stayed till around 1100, and I had a bit of a sleep.

Spots appearing all over Jo's back, and a few on her tummy. We stopped near my parents' and got some children's painkillers and calomine lotion. A friend with whom she was playing on Wednesday came out with full-blown chicken-pox on Thursday, so we had an idea what was going to happen, and by the time we made it to the cottage around 1700 (we'd turned up a little earlier, but it was still being cleaned, so we'd visited Port Isaac for a little walk, followed by the family staple of C & C (Coffee and Cake) - prefixed by an ice-cream, as we're on holiday) ... to return to that sentence ... it was clear that she had full-blown chicken pox. Nothing on Miri yet, but hmm.

Tomorrow is Sophie's wedding. We phoned. They have a 9-month old, and lots of children are expected at the wedding, and when we phoned to suggest that they might prefer us not to come, they took us up on it. We weren't surprised, but Moo was very upset, though she quite understood. Sophie was Moo's best friend from college, and we'd organised the trip specially to come to the wedding. Some tears, lots of cuddles, and I started plotting.

Labels: illness, Jo, journey

# posted by MikeCamel @ 8:50 PM 0 comments

Misc. post

• we're starting to look at the legal issues around holding services in SecondLife. Maybe it's because the Anglican church is a little bureaucratic, but there are some really interesting and complicated problems and issues. Personally, I'm quite happy that there are questions to be asked and answered, and not worried about the bureaucratic side: if we can be safe and know we're coming from, we'll be stronger in the future.
• my Wii age was back up to 37, but as I turn 37 next month, I'm less worried about it. Had a nightmare on the bowling tests, as it happens.
• I've been looking at the ERMC summer school programme, which looks interesting. I'm down to take part in a service for only the second occasion in my time on the course. And it's leading a Methodist service. Should be interesting.
• Miri had a nightmare evening last night. Teeth or stomach: we don't know, but she cried almost incessantly for around 3 hours. We ate in front of the TV (in shifts) and then watched Harry Potter DVDs with subtitles on.
• Jo slept all the way through the night without coming in to us, so got 2 stickers on her chart, and 2 for her top. Very pleased (as were we).
• is there something wrong with the freezer in the cat kitchen?

Labels: ERMC, Jo, miriam, miscellaneous, secondlife

# posted by MikeCamel @ 9:46 AM 0 comments

I spy

Then Jo piped up with "I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with ... cake!" Moo's immediate comment was "well, she's certainly a Bursell". Compounded by her saying, a few minutes later, "I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with ... pie!" OK, OK, embarassed.

Labels: food, Jo, play

# posted by MikeCamel @ 9:26 AM 0 comments

Turning over a new...

Church in the morning (Long Melford), Clare craft fair (where I had a pint of Nethergate's Augustinian while eating some lunch in the grounds of the Augustinian priory. Very fitting.

Up for over an hour during the night trying to get Jo back to sleep. She was adamant that she wanted to sleep in my bed (she'd assumed that I'd moved into the spare room, though I hadn't by that stage), and I was adamant that she wasn't going to. I prevailed, but, as I said, it took an hour.

We'll be holding our first service in the Anglican Cathedral in SecondLife at 8pm UK time, 12noon SecondLife time (PST). You're very welcome to join us.

Labels: church, Jo, miriam, secondlife

# posted by MikeCamel @ 4:10 PM 1 comments

Lightning

When I got there, the plane was 20 minutes delayed, and by the time we set off, it was more like an hour, but we got off, dodged storms across Europe, took quite a lot of turbulence, and made it into Munich airport in time for me to get to the hotel almost dead on midnight. Only one pillow, but the hotel helped out quickly on that when I asked. Took me ages to get to sleep though.

Poor Miri is teething, which means that she's taking a long time to settle, and sometimes will just get upset for no obvious reason. It must be really hard for her, but we've discovered that she loves watching Jo, who also loves singing to her, and that sometimes Jo can calm her down when neither of us can. They're lovely together, and it's great bonding for both of them. At the same time, Jo really gets to know that she's helping us out, which is really good for her.

Labels: family, Jo, miriam

# posted by MikeCamel @ 11:45 AM 0 comments

Two wedding anniversary presents

So what, you ask, is the second present? The gift of laughter. We went out to a nice pub for a meal with our friends Kirsty and Matt (hi, Kirsty!) over lunch, and while we were waiting for service (which seemed to be for much of the meal), I took Jo to play in the grass area. There were some deckchairs. Jo and I sat in one each, we got up, we moved around, Jo and I sat in the same ones again. *Crack*

I had to 'fess up to Moo and to the pub (who were fine about it). Moo thought it was very funny, particularly because I have some form with breaking seating furniture. This comes up quite often in the family, and I thought I was very generous to share this story with Moo (although Jo would probably have grassed me up anyway).

Labels: friends, humour, Jo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 7:38 PM 2 comments

Some more serious stuff

On a different note, Jo did very well indeed. Although the nearest-aged child was 4, she joined in with the youngest group, sat on a little chair, stuck things down, coloured things in, and had a good time: she had no problem with my visiting the other groups. She was also very well looked after by the adult in charge of her group. She's really going to enjoy pre-school when she starts in September.

The rest of the day was taken up with a lovely meal at The King's Head in Gosfield. (our second visit in a couple of months: we'll be back), some time at home (dog poo clearance in the garden, yummy) and swimming at Halstead pool. Supper for Jo, then she went to bed - under five minutes. All very good.

"In my defence..."

SecondLife

Labels: children, Jo, joke

# posted by MikeCamel @ 7:53 PM 1 comments

Mooism

I've discovered that I'm supposed to be doing my assignments a little earlier than I'd expected - for August, rather than September, but that's OK. I do need to get them going, though.

Miri's been difficult for Moo today - very restless - and I feel a bit guilty that she was very good for the hour that I took her and Buster out for a walk. At least Moo had some non-baby time, though she did have to look after a rather awkward Jo.

Lots of travel coming up. Less time with the family, more time for ERMC work. Hmm.

Labels: ERMC, Jo, miriam, Moo, walk

# posted by MikeCamel @ 8:25 PM 1 comments

Pre-school (and sleep revisited)

We went around in the afternoon - me, Moo, Mel, Jo and Miri. Jo loved it. She didn't really want to go, so Mel stayed a little longer with her. She'll be starting in September, just one session a week. We liked it, and Mel - who has lots of experience - was impressed, too. The staff were friendly, but firm, the children were busy, but polite to each other and adults, and there was lots to do.

Later, I took Miriam and Buster out for a walk while Moo put Jo to bed. Moo wasn't down by the time I got back, and I took a conference call with Miriam on a sling on my front. She was a star, and it was a while before Moo gave up and came down. It took Jo another 15 minutes to go to sleep: just under an hour and a half. This is a _bad_ precedent. And I'm away tomorrow night: I hope it's better for Moo.

Labels: Jo, pre-school, sleep

# posted by MikeCamel @ 10:39 PM 1 comments

Maybe TV will calm me down

In the afternoon, I took Jo with her bike to Clare Country Park, where she cycled all the way round with very little help before playing on the swings, etc. Of course, she didn't want to go back to the car at the end, so there were tears and mild hysterics (we've had quite a lot of those recently, as she's very tired), and so out came the line "maybe TV would calm me down". It made me laugh so much that she caught it, too, and her hysterics turned to laughter. Then we had "I want some ice-cream". "We're about to have lunch." "Maybe after lunch. We'll see. Probably after lunch." Indeed: we'll see.

Lovely walk with Miriam and Buster while Moo put Jo to bed.

Labels: church, Jo

# posted by MikeCamel @ 7:56 PM 0 comments

0600

So, lots of marks to her. After some time with Moo and Miri, they went downstairs, and I got another hour and a half's sleep, which really helped. Then Jo and Buster and I went for a nice long walk again, and Jo came back filthy (she'd got her boots stuck in some mud, and fallen down more than once). A quick bath, and then out to Hartest (where we nearly bought a house once) for a lovely meal, then shopping, then home to let the dog have some quality time.

After that, we headed off to Long Melford. On the way to Hartest (which we'd reached via a circuitous route aimed at keeping Jo asleep for as long as possible), we'd noticed that there was a fair on the Green. So, we thought we'd take Jo there.

I "won" a cuddly tigger, Jo refused to spend more than a minute in a bouncy air-filled thingy, and then to go on anything else, but had a lovely time. She just seemed to like wandering around the fair (four times?), and eating a hot dog, so all was well.

We got home later, had some ice cream and jelly, and then put Jo to bed. Another walk with Buster, and then Grease is the Word on TV.

Labels: Jo, sleep, walk

# posted by MikeCamel @ 8:52 PM 0 comments