Mike's musings

And if you were to take a bus...

Not a phrase you expect to hear from a 3 and 3 quarters year old, even when discussing "Pinkland", an imaginary location to which she was giving me directions. Good use of the subjunctive.

Labels: Jo

The slide

As I put on my Facebook status this morning, Jo made a representation of Jesus on the cross using wooden blocks this morning. Then she added a slide for him. Which I think is nice. Bibically difficult to defend, but a kind thought, and adds a whole new slant to Luke 23:35 ("... He saved others; let him save himself...").

Labels: bible, Jo

You do the thinking, I'll do the drawing

Today I was treated to a drawing masterclass by Jojo. She likes doing this, and the way it basically goes is that she does some drawing first, and then either demolishes your pitiful attempts at artistic endeavour or takes over and does it all herself. Today's title comes from her teaching me how to draw a jellyfish. I'd suggested that we draw it in the sea, but she said that we didn't need to, but that we really had to think about being in the sea: "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

Two little girls

Miri's going all 2-year-old tantrum practice at the moment. She's tired, and when she's tired, she has problems expressing herself. Unlike Jo, who was talking quite well by this stage, she can't express what she wants, and is getting rather frustrated by this. If you give her time, and give her options, she can usually explain, as she understands lots and lots. Pretty much everything, these days, but if you haven't got a _clue_ what she wants, trying to get on her wavelength can be very difficult.

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

A hard day

A hard day working - three meetings round Cambridge - and then back home. Jo was sick again - in Waitrose this time.

Labels: illness, Jo, work

Jo's still ill

Poor Jo was sick again twice today. She's fine between times, but it's horrid for her.

Labels: illness, Jo

Three issues to cover

You (that's the thousands of readers I have, of course) don't often get 3 issues in one posting. Well, actually you often do, but I don't usually bother to separate them out. Today you do, and I am. Lucky you.

Jo

It's really hard having a child who's ill. In fact, Jo had finished throwing up by the time I got back home from church, but she had thrown up 4 times between my leaving at 0720 and my return around 1210. Moo had to deal with it. This is one of the nightmares about having multiple commitments - particularly ones I care about - is having to leave Catherine to deal with problems which a) it's not fair that she has to deal with on her own; and b) that I want to be involved with myself.

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 preached on stewardship today. It was a very hard sermon to prepare, and pretty hard to preach, but I was quite pleased. I gave a shorter version to the 0800, and the full version to 1000. I based it (to the surprise of James, the other curate!) on justification by faith alone. It's not an obvious starting point, I grant you, but for me, it made sense. The people who built - or caused to be built - our church in Halstead paid the church in tithes, and gave money in gifts, partly because the doctrine of the medi&aedigraph;val Catholic church was that doing good works helps in getting to heaven: alongside faith, of course. I won't go into current Roman Catholic teaching, but I'm firmly of the opposite view: that we are justified by faith alone.

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

During intercessions today, I left my seat at the front of the church and went to be beside someone who was crying. The details aren't important: I supported this person and put my arm around them. I thought about it - for probably under a second - before I did it. But it was abundantly clear to me that if I can sit at the front of the church, up three steps, and leave someone to cry, then I'm not worthy to be a priest. Or even a deacon.

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

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

Jo's ill

Not too bad - in that she's immediately much more cheery after she's thrown up. But it's been twice today. Once in the car (Catherine's). On both occasions, Jo's told us first: second time round she told us, ran from the bathroom to her bedroom, and threw up in her bin. Which leaked. Bless her.

Labels: illness, Jo

Zoo time

27/09/2008
Originally uploaded by MikeCamel

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

OCD

Moo: "Given that you've got OCD, I'm amazed that you can't unpack a dishwasher properly."

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

We started off our "Come & See" week of mission today at the 1000 Eucharist. I really enjoyed the service, and had to do lots of deaconing things. Not just reading the Gospel, preparing the altar and clearing after Communion, but also coordinating two stations for communion, both of which ran out of separate elements (bread and wine) and had to have movement between them. I enjoyed it a lot, and actually had a great time during the service, too. I've been enjoying the services more and more in Halstead. In the afternoon we went to a "Jeux sans Frontières" team thingy at Gosfield. It wasn't really J sans F's, but we had fun and there was a service afterwards which we all stayed for, followed by a barbecue.

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

How tired can a little girl get?

The answer to this question is "very". Jo's back at pre-school, and doing 5 mornings a week (today was her fourth). She's not been for 7 weeks, Mel's away, my Mum's looking after the girls, and Moo's away, so it's all rather difficult for her. So she's so tired that pretty much as soon as she gets back from pre-school, she's beyond herself. That thin veneer of rationality just vanishes away like a puff of smoke when kids are tired or ill (and, of course, she had a set of vaccinations on Tuesday).

Labels: Jo, sleep

Swearing

Today we had problems finding a parking space when we went to Sainsbury's today. When we finally found one, Jo said "My bugger". We assume she meant "Oh bugger". I downplayed it and told her she probably meant "my rugger", being a different word for "rugby". Moo didn't help as she was almost paralytic with laughter in the passenger seat.

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?"

It's amazing how many questions can be answered with the words "atoms and molecules" or "DNA".

Labels: humour, Jo

You can't get seasick on the Norfolk Broads

Moo and I decided that as we'd booked a holiday near the Norfolk Broads, it was only sensible to take a boat out. The weather looked half decent this morning, so we went off to Waveney Water Centre and hired a putta-putta boat for half a day. Life jackets all round, five minutes' instruction: you get the picture. And off we set.

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

A proper Essex wedding

Mel and Dean got married today, and, as it was a proper Essex wedding, there was a reference in the best man's speech to a kidnapping. None to "shooters" (or "shoo'uhs"), which was a disappointment, but way to go.

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

"God just wants me to be a bridesmaid"

One of Jo's great lines.

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

Expenses

My company doesn't always pay its expenses as close to on time as I'd like. I'm currently waiting for around 1500 quid, and am about to put in another claim for over 700. This doesn't always make balancing the books at home very easy, as you may appreciate.

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

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

Picnic

(backposting) What do about having a picnic you'd planned when it turns out to be raining? You lay something on the sitting room floor and sit down and have it there. This turns out to be almost as much a treat for a 3 year old as a real picnic, so we were fine there. Earlier, Moo had taken Jo to ballet (which she loves), and I'd looked after Miri, cleared the kitchen (not cleaned it - don't be silly) and groomed part of the dog (with a bit of help from a 14 month old). We then had to go to Clare, as I needed to get a refill for the barbecue gas canister. It turns out that if you leave the valve on the canister open, and one the controls "on" (even unlit), all of the gas goes out of the canister. This is a useful lesson to learn.

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

A veritable wee!

Miri managed her first wee in a potty before her bath today. Yay! We've been sitting her on it from time to time, but she's never performed, so we made a big thing of it today. She's young for potty training, but has been patting loos quite often (and patting, for her, means that she wants to sit somewhere), so we thought we'd give it a go.

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

Being lay

The girls slept in till past 0700. But as Jo was awake for around 2 hours during the night, this isn't so good. But we got up and went for a walk with the dog before church at 1100. Moo looked after Miri (got her to sleep) while I took Jo to Great Yeldham for what may be my last service as a member of the laity. Certainly in a parish church - I think there will be some services on the ordination retreat this coming week. Had to look after Jo for quite a lot of it, but read the Epistle, which I enjoyed very much.

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

Princess

(backposting) We went to Sidmouth again today. Jo had some pocket money, and Moo, Kate and Mac took her shopping (Miri was asleep in the car with me). "Please, Mummy, just this once, can I have something with a princess on it?"

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

Exmouth

(backposting) In the visitors' book, someone had suggested that Exmouth is a good beach, so we all went out, and had a lovely time. Jo and Miri both loved the sand, the sea and the rockpools. Jo also loved the ice-cream, which, for her, is a - no, make that _the_ - main reason for going to the beach in the first place. Both the girls got a little cold, and had to be bundled up to warm them up: Jo, for some reason, believes that ice-cream will do the same job...

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

Actually to Devon

(backposting) We had a lovely morning with Rosie and Andy, sitting in the garden, watching people play tennis, and getting a quick tennis lesson for little Jo. It was interesting: after a few minutes, she sat down by the net, really dispirited, saying, "I'll never be able to do it: I'll never be able to hit the ball". It's really hard, as Rosie pointed out: it looks like you ought just to be able to swing the racket back and hit the darn thing, but, particularly if you're only 3 and a bit, it's really hard. In the end, she got it, and did very well indeed.

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

Daughters round-up

(backposting) Well, we've still got two, but here are a few of the things that they've been up to.

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

Moo's ill

(backposting) So ill, in fact, that she's agreed to go to the doctor. Seems like her tonsils have a nasty infection: tonsilitis. It's not fun seeing her grimace every time she needs to swallow. Hope she's better soon.

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

Jo still not well

Jo was ill during the night, and throughout the day. I had a meeting in London, but managed to make it to the doctors with her: she's just got a viral infection (which also explains the rash). Poor Moo had to leave at 0600 for a meeting in Birmingham, so kept in touch via the phone, but it made her rather sad to be away from the girls when one of them was ill.

Labels: illness, Jo

One poor sick girl

Jo was very, very tired when she came back from pre-school, and cold, too, and I put her to bed, where she slept for an hour with a hot water bottle. She woke up much better, and went out to a playground. Got home, threw up in Mel's car. Not well. She threw up again later, but hopefully will sleep well tonight.

Labels: illness, Jo

Rainy

Is it just me, or has it been rather rainy today? I know that this isn't of great theological import, but it does seem to have been the main point of the day. Oh, and Miri went to her 6-9 month check-up today, at just over 11 months. She's still over the 100th centile for weight (even measured against the 11 month numbers!) and 91th centile for height.

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

Walking - almost

Miri's so nearly there. The most she's managed is four little steps towards me, before making it into my arms. She _can_ do it: she just needs to believe.

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

Communion - twice

(backposting) I went to communion at the 0800 service in Great Yeldham this morning, as I wanted to take the girls to the Palm Sunday benefice service at Toppesfield at 1100. Quiet service, got home, made waffles, got ready, and then went out again.

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

Religious awareness

After a trip to Freeport this morning (our old teapot had fallen apart from overuse), and lunch, Simon, one of Jo's godparents, came round and he, she, Miri and I went to Clare Country Park with her bike. We had a lovely time, and Jo clicked really quickly with Simon this time, which was great for both of them.

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...

Viv, for the record, was very amused. Oh, and was wearing clothes.

Labels: Easter, Jo

Girls moving on up

Woke up around 0820, had a bath, started to think what I'd do between then and the 1210 flight home. got out of the bath at 0850, thought I'd check the flight time once more. It was at 1010. Moved quickly, got there, but I don't like being that close, I really don't.

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

The kite

Not much sleep last night, and a trip to Freeport was a little fraught, but we managed it. I'm pleased, because I bought a bookcase which I really need for all those theology and work books. After lunch, though, Mum, Jo, Miri and I went to Clare Country Park to play with the kite that Jo had been given for her birthday on Thursday.

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

Jo's 3rd birthday

Up at 0550, a few presents, some time to play with them. Moo and I had both taken the day off

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

I'll blog soon about the news that the General Synod of the Church of England isn't expected even to vote on whether we should have woman bishops until 2010. I'm incensed, obviously.

Labels: birthday, Jo, London

Cool demo

(backposting) FedEx tried to deliver something on Monday, but I'd gone out for lunch (and not realised how quickly it was going to arrive from Canada), so today I drove to Chelmsford to their depot, to pick it up. It's a really cool demo to show off some of our technology. It's about barcodes, and digitally signing them. Nice stuff, and I'll be taking it out to Geneva next week.

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

Lots of calls

(backposting) Lots of calls today. Lots and lots of them. They went pretty well, I have to say. We also drove to Kate and Mac's for Kate's birthday, and a pre-birthday party for Jojo, as Jen, Jake, Mouse and (most importantly for Jojo) Turtle are coming to visit tomorrow. How is it that the busiest days are often the ones when you've slept for only 5 hours the night before? Heigh-ho, at least the calls went well.

Labels: family, Jo, work

Cinema trip

(backposting) We decided that a fairly safe, less-stress option for the morning would be to take the girls to the cinema. Miri, of course, would be guaranteed to sleep, Moo (who's still pretty ill) could hold her and have her sleep on her, and I could deal with taking Jo to the loo in the middle of the film (obviously). We discovered that the Cineworld Braintree - our local cinema - was showing Ratatouille, which had to be pretty safe. Unluckily, we'd forgotten how loud cinemas are, and Jo really didn't like the "crashes". She did really well, actually, but doesn't really want to go back soon.

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

19-26

Bad news on two fronts. These numbers represent both the score that England managed against Wales and the relatives sizes of the jersey that Moo finished for me last night - as my Christmas present - and me. She's a bit gutted, but it does fit her, just. I can get my head through the neck - with my glasses off, and with Moo pulling - and with a bit of blocking, (wetting and stretching, apparently), the general size would probably be OKish, but the seams round the arm really won't manage.

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

Essay on Psalm 137

So, I decided that I _could_ use David Gray's "Babylon" as a reading of Psalm 137, and I frankly don't care if I get marked down for it. I think I made a good case for it, so we'll see how it goes. I've sent a copy to Sally, contrary to my usual practice not to send anything out until I've seen a marked copy. This decision is mainly because I can't face bothering enough not to, and because I suspect that Sally will have some interesting things to say about it.

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

Title post time

Today I took Miri and Jo to Halstead for the 1000 communion service. It was the day that they were due to announce to the congregation that I'm going to be serving my title there - God willing, obviously - and I thought it would be good to be there. Added to that, Moo wanted to do some cleaning, and that's a lot easier without the girls around. A good service - great hymns - and I sat next to the kids area. Jo found a 6 year-old girl to boss around, and played with her, while Miri cuddled me for most of the service and crawled around for a bit. John, my training incumbent-to-be invited me to the front, and I did a little introduction. I enjoyed the service, and although it would be good to see a few more young people there, it appears that the team is doing lots of work with younger people, most of which takes place outside standard Sunday worship, which is probably the way things work best. So, I'm looking forward to being involved in some of that, too.

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

Thoughtfulness

(backposting) Jo seems suddenly to have "got" empathy. It's a big developmental step, it seems: she's suddently being thoughtful: anticipating what people might like, giving them things, doing to stuff for them, that sort of thing. We've been making a big deal of it, and saying how thoughtful she's being. And it's made a great deal of difference to the weekend. For a start, it made Moo's Friday with the girls a lot better, but we went into Cambridge today, and Jo's listening better and life is a lot easier. Yes, she loses it from time to time, but that's fair enough - she's not even 3 yet - and I think the fact that she can (more often) see why we're asking her to do things, because she can see things from someone else's point of view, makes her life easier, too.

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

Moo's away

Put the girls to bed pretty easily, though Miri's suddenly really, really mobile. Turn your back, and ... she's gone. I followed her to the step down from the bathroom, and it was very interesting to see her turning back from it.

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

Miri's crawling (forward)

Consistently. She's being doing this from time to time for the odd step, but she seems to be able to remember how to do it properly now. She can also cruise around, and we weren't sure that she'd bother to learn to crawl. She also spent quite a lot of the time she was with Buster saying "fff", or even "oof", sometimes.

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

Spiritual advisor

I met a new spiritual advisor today, as my old one can't see me for a while, and I need to find one in the meantime. She's called Rosemary, and our exploratory session went very well. Her best advice? "Never give in to anti-elitism."

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

More presents?

(backposting) Yup, that's right: yet more presents for Jo. Catherine's cousins (or a selection of the 5) and her aunt turned up after we'd made a trip to the exciting Loughborough (some general shopping, and a new camera lens using money for Christmas). Lots more attention for Miri and Jo, who was late to bed again.

Labels: family, Jo

St Stephen's Day / Boxing Day

(backposting) I slept on a sofa last night, in my own parents' home. Poll and Lee were staying over, Moo had Miri in with her (we tried having her in the cot, but it was not to be), my parents were in their bed (fair enough), and Jo was in a single bed, too. Didn't sleep too badly, to be honest, and we left after breakfast to Kate and Mac's.

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

Miri's words

(backposting) Well, not words as such, but she's started using a couple of sounds quite consistently. One is when she's enjoying food particularly: "nyum, nyum". The other is when she wants to play with Jo, or wants Jo's attention, and that does sound amazingly like "Jo-jo".

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

Flying home

Ryanair - I'm not convinced. But I got home OK, which I was pleased about, obviously. Both Jo and Miri were both very pleased to see me, which really made my day, particularly as I'd been pretty miserable this morning: just a bit home-sick.

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

Laptopery

Most stuff is working now. Can't get my machine to connect via 3G via my phone, but I've now got Skype working with my bluetooth headset, which is pretty nifty. /home and swap partitions encrypted, 2Gig RAM, SecondLife all there.

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

Some choice Jo-isms

These from the past few weeks.

"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

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

So said Jo to Moo as she scribbled all over a picture that she'd painted. Lots of things today:

• 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