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Almost bedtime's Blog – April 2012 Archive (11)

The trip that was never meant to be

A couple of months ago, I found out that my dad was going down that slippery slope of mental decline that nobody wants to witness a loved one sliding down.

I felt sad. I felt guilty. I felt helpless.

Living 5000 miles away, all I could do was talk. To…

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Added by almost bedtime on April 28, 2012 at 2:00pm — No Comments

Doctor's orders

This morning I took Lance to the doctors for his 12 month check up.

Since Lance is my fourth child, I can now pretty much anticipate the doctor’s questions before they are even asked.

So imagine my surprise when after the usual “Yes, he’s pulling himself up”, “Yes, he’s cruising”, “No, he hasn’t taken any steps on his own yet”, “Yes, he’s said his first word” (choo-choo, if you’re interested, followed a day or two later by uh-oh), when the doctor suddenly asked, “Does…

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Added by almost bedtime on April 25, 2012 at 3:09pm — No Comments

Maturity: a 5 year old philosopher's definition

Last night, at dinner time, Carly started playing with her food.

“That’s not very mature,” her dad commented, as she dangled a cheese stick from her nose pretending it was an elephant’s trunk.

Lance giggled and started waving his cheese stick around too.

Carly grinned at her brother, then carefully pulled a string of cheese from the cheese stick and popped it in her…

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Added by almost bedtime on April 23, 2012 at 4:11pm — No Comments

Revisiting my childhood: one Enid Blyton book at a time

The other night, Amy couldn’t find a book to read before bed.

While I sorted through a pile of my old childhood books for something suitable for a 7 year old, my husband was also rooting around in the bookcase for the perfect bedtime story.

As a child I was an avid Enid Blyton fan. I loved everything she wrote: The Famous Five, The Secret Seven, The Five Find-Outers, The Malory Tower series. I always imagined passing my Enid Blyton collection on to my children some…

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Added by almost bedtime on April 21, 2012 at 3:14pm — No Comments

I wanna be sedated

Our babies have always been early risers, waking up before the sun, before the crows start cawing even.

It is never welcome.

And on the day of my cataract surgery, it was positively discouraged.

Which of course meant that not only did Lola wake up before 5 o’clock, she also refused to settle down with her dad on the sofa for an extra hour. The screaming that ensued was enough to scare away any zen-like thoughts I was trying to encourage about the surgery…

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Added by almost bedtime on April 19, 2012 at 4:15pm — No Comments

'Eye' am so scared

It’s 2 o’clock in the morning.

And I am wide awake.

I should be fast asleep.

Indeed I was fast asleep. Two hours ago.

But now I am wide awake. Thanks to one of the babies crying out.

Of course, the baby (either Lola or Lance, I have no idea who) went straight back to sleep. Whereas their poor mother (that would be me) rolled over and did not.

Five minutes passed. Sleep was not forthcoming. I went…

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Added by almost bedtime on April 16, 2012 at 9:56am — No Comments

A soccer mom in the making

I have always had an aversion to minivans.

Which has nothing to do with my fear of being mistaken for a soccer mom.

I find them too big and too cumbersome for a start. And that’s just looking at them. The thought of actually driving one of these petrol-guzzling, road-hogging monstrosities scares the hell out of me. Although not as much as the thought of maneuvering one into a tight parking spot at the local community centre.

Driving a minivan…

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Added by almost bedtime on April 14, 2012 at 1:31pm — No Comments

An almost thrilling end to our trip

Whenever we travel abroad as a family, my husband is in charge of two things: packing the electronic stuff (like computer, iPads, cameras, etc) and remembering our important documents. And by important documents I mean the really important ones. In other words, the ones that will get us back into Canada upon our return.

My husband claims that he was simply allocated these jobs without any say in the matter. Other than me barking not-so-subtle instructions at him, like “Have you…

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Added by almost bedtime on April 10, 2012 at 11:49pm — No Comments

My big brother

When my dad remarried about a week after my A-levels and sold the house I’d grown up in for the past 18 years to move to North Yorkshire with his new wife, it was my big brother who stepped up and gave me somewhere to stay.

When I moved down to Portsmouth with him for that summer before I started university, alone and homesick and desperately in lust with ‘Kick ‘em in Kev’ (my 19 year old no hope of a boyfriend who was still up in Donny), it was my big brother who talked me…

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Added by almost bedtime on April 7, 2012 at 5:03pm — No Comments

Right back where we started from...

“That’s more like it,” I said, looking out of the car window as we made our way through Sydney city centre. “That’s what city life is all about!”

The street we were currently driving down was buzzing with energy. Young people were sauntering along, smiling and relaxed, laughing, chatting, periodically checking their phones. Young couples were strolling at a leisurely pace, pushing their fancy-dancy prams and beaming down proudly at their no doubt fancy-dancily clad babies. Two…

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Added by almost bedtime on April 6, 2012 at 4:54pm — No Comments

Curing your kids of McDonald-itis

A trip to McDonalds has always been a bit of a treat for our kids. Something they enjoy. Something they look forward to. Something we’ve even been known to bribe them with.

But not anymore.

Our kids are cured of their addiction to McDonalds.

They’d be quite happy if we never set foot in a McDonalds ever again.

Indeed it’s time to face facts: our days of using McDonalds to our advantage are well and truly over.

At least for…

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Added by almost bedtime on April 3, 2012 at 4:26pm — No Comments