Just the Boys at home now

Well, it's an all-male household now! Olga and Lara left for Cyprus yesterday morning.
Their flight from Heathrow was due to leave at 8.50am, so it was an early start for everyone, and we got there just after 7.30 (so nice when there's no traffic, it's only a 25 minute drive to Terminal 5), and everything was going smoothly. Olga had even managed to pack everything in one medium sized holdall, for which she deserves a medal. We nearly forgot the pram, but luckily I remebered when we were only 30 seconds from home. The trip would have been a lot more difficult without it!
On the way back to the office I passed a small crash on the M4, in the direction of Heathrow, and it had caused a 3 or 4 mile tailback, I was relieved we'd not decided to go that way to the airport, and I felt for anyone stuck in the queue who was going that way!
I was a lot more concerned when Olga's number popped up on an incoming call on my mobile at 10am! It turns out that their pilot aborted the take-off at the last second (the Captain's and 2nd Officer's respective speedos were showing different speeds as they headed down the runway!) and so they had to change to a new plane. All in all this caused a three and a half hour delay before they could take off again, not ideal preparation for a four and a half hour flight with a toddler. The silver lining to the cloud was that all this was happening during the morning, when Lara would be awake and playful anyway, rather than the middle of the night when all the fuss would keep her awake and grumpy. It also meant that she was very ready for a nap when the plane finally took off, and she slept for an hour en-route, so Olga could have a quiet glass of wine at least!
This leaves me at home to look after the boys. I don't mind admitting I was looking forward to getting home from work at 5.30 every day, sorting out food and walkies, then retiring to bed nice and early and catching up on sleep. Well, I got home from work at 7pm yesterday then had to go to the supermarket for more food for Jackson at 9pm, and tonight I got home at 8.45pm. Maybe tomorrow I'll get home at a sensible time... famous last words. I'm due to be on holiday from Thursday until Tuesday, but that just means I can do my jobs in the garden!
Jackson and Mishka are still getting on very well, and are playing more with each other than in the very early days. Terriers like a good game of "bitey-face", which is pretty self-explanatory, and it's funny to watch. When Mishka is standing up, Jackson has to take a run-up before he jumps high enough to land a nip on Mishka's whiskers. Mishka tolerates this for a while then just brushes Jackson away with a gentle swipe of his head. On our wooden floors this tends to send Jackson sliding a good two feet away before picks himself up.
Toilet training is an endless battle at the moment, but we knew to expect that, and there is improvement every day, but I still have to dodge the piles and puddles, armed constantly with a kitchen roll.
Jackson is a star though, he always seems happy, and he stopped crying at night way back on Thursday or Friday night last week, a sure sign he's settling in here. I took him down to Littlewick Green on Saturday for a while, with Lara, and he got much more attention than she did. I could have made a bit of cash if I'd charged for people to give him a cuddle. It's all good experience for him though, so he'll be a well socialised dog when he grows up.