Saturday, November 08, 2008
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.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
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.
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
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
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Miri and the phone
(backposting) Miri loves phones. She'll pick them up, talk to them, hand them to you, take them back, talk some more, all of that. But when there's actually someone there, she seems entirely freaked by the whole business, and will just look at it in a slightly bemused fashion.Today, she talked back. She seemed to realise it was me, and even responded to "kiss, kiss" (and a kissing noise from my end) by kissing the phone. In fact, she pretty much slobbered all over it, and Moo had to clean it afterwards, but it was really sweet. I remember when Jo suddenly seemed to get it, and it makes phoning home so much more rewarding.
A really busy day in Mississauga (my company's HQ) today, which is excellent, but tiring. I popped to a Mall in the evening, bought some books and some clothes (so cheap over here), some of which are presents for Moo and the girls. On the way back, witnessed an amazing thunderstorm in the distance, with ragged lightning across the sky: God works in truly fantastic ways.
Labels: god, miri, travel, weather
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Toyboys - or Tomboys?
I went to my first deanery chapter meeting today. I should probably explain. The deanery chapter is where all the priests and the deacons from the deanery get together to chat, discuss issues, and generally bring up whatever they want. There are 13 clergy in our deanery (Hinckford), though only 6 of us made it. We went to a pub (The Lion) in Earls Colne, and ate outside. I met Margaret and Janet, who'd I'd not met before, and although we spent some important time discussing some pastoral issues - personal and parish - it was the downtime together that was just as important.Lots of laughter and joking, teasing and fun. There was the discussion about whether Viv would like a tomboy. I meant toyboy - but it was particularly funny in light of the earlier chat about homosexuality in the Church of England.
It was a good, light-hearted lunch - I don't know how it would have been with more people (and different people) - and I must make sure I make it to these meetings as often as possible.
Miri's at the "no!" stage, but it's mainly aimed at the dog. Oh, and "shh!", with her index finger right up the side of her nose: again, mainly to the dog.
She's a lovely thing, and I wish she'd not taken about an hour and a half to go to sleep when she came into my bed in the middle of last night.
But Moo's home today.
Saturday, July 05, 2008
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).
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
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
Sunday, June 22, 2008
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.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Ballet, new shoes
(backposting) After Jo's ballet (Moo left her, for the first time, and she was fine), we all headed off to Freeport, as Miri needed her first pair of walking (as opposed to "cruising") shoes. Don't I know some friends who have special outfits, let alone shoes, for cruising? That's a discussion for another entry - and probably another blog.We had lunch at an all-you-can-east Chinese, did the shoe-shopping, and headed home for a quietish afternoon. Jo finished watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which I have to say is excellent. She particularly likes the squirrel episode, and we've now got a new phrase in the family lexicon: when Jo forgets to say "thank you", we say "Daddy, I want another pony". You have to know the film.
Before I went to pick Buster up from kennels, I changed Miri's bed from a cot to a bed. We decided that it's time. Moo was a bit sad (it's another "I don't have any babies anymore" moment), but it seems like a good plan. We moved the bed guard from Jo's bed (she really doesn't need it anymore) to Miri's, and at bed time, I got Miri to sleep in around 12 minutes, which isn't bad, given how disruptive her sleeping arrangements have been recently.
So, Moo and I settle down to watch the DVD extras on C & the C F, which are, like the film, excellent. We're just about to go to bed when we hear a "THUMP". We turn to look at each other, then both say "cat".
Then the crying starts.
Yes, poor little Miri had managed to throw herself off her new bed, head first. She was fine, but spent the night with Moo in our bed, while I went into the spare room (to be joined by Jo around 0320, of course, but hey).
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Miri's sense of humour
(backposting) Miri thinks that lots of things are very funny. In particular, warlking over to you pretending that she's going to give you something (a toy, a book, or even a cuddle), getting close, then shaking her head madly, turning away and toddling off. This is hilarious (particularly the head-shaking), and everyone gets to play.Monday, April 28, 2008
Clip
(backposting) Which is what I did to a kerb in Castle Hedingham, which was a pain. I called out the RAC, as my jack wasn't up to the job, but a friendly person stopped who happened to have a proper compressor jack, and he helped me. I changed the tyre to the spare, then headed to Kwikfit in Sudbury, who did me a new one. And another to match it. In fact, they were getting a bit worn, so probably a good thing, but it never happens when you want it to, does it?In the evening, I had my last tutorial with Alan, over a meal to which I treated him. I'm really going to miss our discussions, and I think he will, too. I've invited him and his wife to my ordination. Hopefully he'll wear his Salvation Army uniform, but I don't want to pressurise him into it if he's not comfortable.
Went to the doctor's for a nurse to check out my blood pressure. Quite good for me, so we don't need to up the dose of head-exploding pills. Seems that the reason I'm feeling so tired is that I'm just so tired...
And Miri's walking again. Properly, no help.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Miri's 1st birthday
Lots of presents, and Jo even managed to let her open some of them herself. Well, when I say "some of them", what I actually mean is "she allowed Miri to assist in the opening of some of them".At 0930 I took my last "coffee and worship" service/discussion at Little Yeldham. 13 people, including a few from Great Yeldham, which was a good turn-out. We talked about "vocation", the various forms it can take, and the various ways in which it can come.
After that, zoo. Some tears from Jo. Not helped by the fact that she managed to bite her tongue very badly over lunch. We fed the elephants, which was good: Jo even managed to do it herself. Just about to bottle out when the elephant decided that _she_ was committed to the process. Still, she enjoyed having "elephant snot" on her hands.
Miri seemed to have a good day, except for the teething. Enjoyed the books she got given (quite a few). And she does love her sister so much. Walking, talking, playing, crawling, hugging, kissing, she's a proper person and knows what she likes. Which is often food.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
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"
Monday, March 24, 2008
Walking - and a cat
At around 0200 this morning, Miri woke up, and we got her out of the cot and took her into the bed. We were in Kate and Mac's bed, because that's the only room (other than the one that Jen and Jake and Mouse were sleeping in) that we could get a travel cot into. About 15 minutes later, Mac came in, making cat noises. The thoughts that ran through my head, in approximate order, were:- he's completely lost his mind, finally;
- he's sleep-walking;
- this is a really contrived way to see if you daughter and her husband are enjoying conjugal relations in your bed in the depths of the night;
- oh, he really is chasing the cat.
I came down to discover that Miri can now work on her own. Yay!
Labels: miri
Thursday, March 20, 2008
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...
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
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
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Miri, talking and walking
Miri's now walking very quickly if you just hold one hand, and loves it. It could be a good month or so before she's walking unaided, but she certainly gets the whole one foot after the other thing, and seems very keen.Miri's "cat" and "dog" (or "'at", "ca'" and "do'" or "'og") are getting more convincing, and today, she started to use them to refer to pictures in books or china ornaments (we were in a shop). Very impressive.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
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.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Miri's words
So far, we have the following recognisable words, in alphabetical order:- cat
- Daddy
'Ello - Jojo
- Mummy
- Oh dear
- No
Labels: miri
Thursday, January 31, 2008
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
Sunday, January 27, 2008
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
Friday, January 25, 2008
Steps
Miri learnt how to do steps today: upwards, that is. So that means we need to be yet more vigilant.Oh, and I've decided that David Gray's "Babylon" _can_ be a reading of Psalm 137 for an essay I'm writing. I ate enough Krispy Kremes, obviously.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Ello
(backposting) Miri's latest word. Said in response to "Hello, Miri". And whenever the opportunity arises. Lots of crawling forwards and backwards, now at appropriate junctures. She can pull herself up and cruise around as well.A mate who's one of our good friends, The Rev Gals (Sally, obviously) tells me that I need to do this:
- What book have you read in the last six months that has really stayed with you? Why? Ooh, I've read (and re-read) lots of books over the past six months. The Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland is the one I'll choose. Just because it's multi-layered, and very thought-provoking. It's one of those really well-constructed books that I know I'm going to reread lots of times.
- What is one of your favorite childhood books? Well, Alan Garner's The Owl Service scared me witless, which I enjoyed. Adult fiction for kids, I'd say.
- Do you have a favorite book of the Bible? Do tell! Used to be John, but I've recently come to love Ecclesiastes.
- What is one book you could read again and again? Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. Because I'm a sad geek.
- Is there a book you would suggest for Lenten reading? What is it and why? I'm not big on Lenten reading. Maybe I should be. Nothing really springs to mind. Bad me.
Oh, and for the record, I think it's important to say that, contrary to common opinion, it's entirely possible to have real pastoral encounters using email and IM. The person I'm talking about knows what I mean.
Labels: miri
Monday, January 14, 2008
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.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
3/4 birthday, and the Bible. And fundamentalism
Miri turned 50:50 today: 9 months old. I'm not going into that. Anyway, she's doing very well at the moment, and is in a very social phase at the moment.I led another "coffee and worship" this morning, and we used the new area in the back of Great Yeldham church. We didn't sit in pews: we sat in a circle. And had coffee and tea while we discussed things. No, really! This is the Church of England. Rural church of England. And 22 people came. TWENTY-TWO! We had to put new chairs out. And there were 2 children I didn't count.
So, we had a greeting, I read Acts 10:34-43, then John 11:25-27. Then we had coffee and tea (and biscuits) and I talked about "What does it mean to believe in the Bible"? I talked about Eusebius saying in the early 4th century that everyone knew that Genesis wasn't a literal description of the creation, but allegorical, and how fundamentalism, in Christianity, is generally a 19th century phenomenon, about translation (how many people read both Hebrew and New Testament Greek - oh, and Jesus spoke in Aramaic, anyway). And lots of related stuff. Only had 10 minutes or so, and then we had some discussion. I moved between the groups.
In the second group, I discovered two people who are, frankly, creationists. They're cool about it, and just feel it's the easiest reading.
I spent quite a lot of my summing up and intercessions in the following worship talking about respecting people with viewpoints different to our own.
Labels: belief, church, faith, miri, theology
Saturday, January 12, 2008
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.
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
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
Friday, December 28, 2007
Home again
(backposting) Well, we packed everyone up - Moo in the back with the girls again - and headed off mid-morning. We stopped (thank you, Little Chef). A fair amount of sleeping on the back seat, which was pretty much the idea.A little catch-up on Miri. Over the past few days, Miri has learnt lots of new things, including:
- how to walk forward when she's being held up
- how to to pull herself up to standing more confidently
- how to say "Mamamama": even in context a couple of times
- how to say "woof" when presented with a dog toy
- how to move back to sitting from crawling position
- how to crawl forwards (usually only one step, though!)
- how to tell us when she's hungry (she says "nyum, nyum")
Sunday, December 23, 2007
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.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Unfortunate jobs
A guy came around selling things door-to-door tonight, around 1700. I was upstairs, working. Moo was trying to feed the girls. He was deaf, and trying to sign his intentions. It really didn't work. Not so much the whole "Moo was trying to feed the girls", though that didn't help, but more "it's dark, and we don't have an outside light, so even if Moo could understand BSL - which she can't - she wouldn't have been able to see what he was signing."I'm sorry, but it's just funny.
Oh, and Miri has 2 more teeth: that's 4 now.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Walking
Miri is, at just under 8 months, far too young to be walking. But she's this evening she decided that she's going to learn. So, she wants to be stood up (she can support herself very easily, and even pull herself up on a good day), and will then hold both of your hands. She'll then let go of one hand, or try to, and then (if she's lucky) lunge towards you and hold on for dear life, or (if she's unlucky) fall down hard on her bum. Her bum is well-padded, so it's not going to hurt, but she keeps being surprised, and crying. I've told her that she's going to have to get used to it, as there's going to be a lot more to come. If she is now leaning on you, she'll try to shuffle her feet forward. This doesn't work very well, but she's very determined.Crawling doesn't seem to have occurred to her as a viable option, so I think we're going to have to encourage her to cruise round the furniture for a while. And to get used to falling on her backside. Frequently.
Labels: miri
Friday, December 07, 2007
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.
Friday, November 30, 2007
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
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Tidying, cleaning, preparation
(backposting) That's what today was about, basically. Mum and Dad took Jo out for coffee and cake, Miri had a sleep, and we tidied, I stacked the logs, took the bottles to the bottle bank, etc.. Kate and Mac arrived after lunch, and later, so did James, Alex and their two girls Jemma and Alice.Jo and Jemma got on well when they met in Cornwall in September, but none of us had any idea how well they'd get on today. They had a lovely time, running around, playing together and the rest. Poll and Lee arrived a little later, after a bit of a frantic trip to Halstead by me and my mum for passport forms, and some IT help for Dad (aaargh!). Poll and Lee headed off to supper and left the rest of us to a lovely chicken casserole from Kate. To bed, with Miri in our bed. Not as much sleep as we'd like.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
ECC conference
So, I'm here in Toronto, enjoying a conference that Certicom (my employer) runs. And Moo's at home, getting far too little sleep, as Jo and Miri were both unwell last week. I've gone and bought some books for Jo, and spoken to her and Moo twice (and Miri once - apparently she found it hilarious, and just laughed at the phone).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.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Carbon footprint
(backposting) Luckily, I've hardly left the house recently on business or for any other reason, as otherwise I'd be feeling rather bad about the fact that I drove to London City airport this morning, caught a plane at 1035, arrived at Zurich airport, had a meeting in the airport, and flew back, arriving around 1800, and getting home some time after 1920.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.
Monday, October 08, 2007
Crawling
It's been on the cards for a couple of days, but Miri started crawling today. Not very fast. Not very convincingly, but there was definite movement. So, Miri's officially crawling.(Backwards)
Labels: miri
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
"My own bed..."
0610 this morning:- 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."
- Me: "No, you didn't!"
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
Monday, October 01, 2007
First tooth
Yup, Miri's first tooth has come through. Centre bottom, left. Yay!D. popped in with Morgan this afternoon - just, of course, as work really kicked off, but that's typical. Lovely to see her, and Boo (Charlotte) has grown nicely. She did say that Miri basically looked like a toddler, though...
Had a good supervision with Keith. I'm going to be doing a joint Great & Little Yeldham service on the 2nd Sunday of each month, and he's approved the ideas that I had come up with for liturgy.
Labels: friends, miri, worship
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Heroes
(backposting) It just keeps getting better, doesn't it? We couldn't face staying up till 2220 (!), so only watched the one episode tonight, recording the other: no spoilers, please. My mate Mark Brown has joined Facebook, so welcome along if you're reading this.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
Friday, September 14, 2007
We're going to lose the rugby
At least I did the ironing today. And Miri can now stay in a sitting position unaided for quite a while now.
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