Auntie Lucy has come over today for her birthday drinks. Olga and Lucy took Lara to the park, shops and pub this afternoon while I rearranged the home office - we've had to buy a bigger desk for Olga! She's already outgrown the one she had, so I'll have that one, but this has meant a big reshuffle today in the office. It's also getting its first test as a bedroom, Lucy will report back on the comfort rating of the new sofa bed in there. Lara was allowed to stay up and join in the Chinese take away we ordered, so she's had wantons, spring rolls (or spring sausage rolls as she called them), prawn toasts and house special chow-mein. I've only just put her to bed at 10.50pm, and she was still pretty perky then, but she's asleep now, and to encourage her to have a lie-in tomorrow, we've put her black-out curtain up. Whilst she's never been one for getting up before 6.30, hopefully tomorrow she'll aim to beat her personal best of something like 10.20am.
Saturday, 12 February 2011
Friday, 4 February 2011
Storm in a teacup?
I splashed out last weekend on a weather station for the garden - rainfall, wind speed, temperature, humidity, I can measure them all now. It all goes to my laptop in the office then up onto a website, you can access it here. Check out the "trends" link for graphs showing all sorts of clever stuff.
If global warming is true, you'll find out about it here first!
If global warming is true, you'll find out about it here first!
Thursday, 3 February 2011
Splish splash and chopsticks
One of the benefits of our new jobs is a gym allowance, so we have both joined our local gym, which also gives us access to the leisure centre swimming pool (think the Brittas Empire, you're pretty close). While Olga had her gym induction on Sunday I took Lara to the teaching pool for an hour. It was just time for her to play in the water, she's not been in a pool since we were in Holland last June, so this was just an excuse for a splash around and remind her what fun it is. We enquired about lessons for her, they're not at great times, but once we get settled into this "working from home" routine, we'll find time to take her. In the meantime we bought her some goggles and a float, as the other kids in the pool had these and Lara will need them soon enough. She loves her goggles!
We're getting her used to them by encouraging her to wear them in the bath, last night she had a shower, and loved lying on her back under the spray of water, with it splashing onto her face. We'll probably go again this Sunday - I need to take the plunge and start my training regime; sadly I'm really looking forward to getting a sweat on in the gym, I don't think I've been remotely fit since well before Lara was born, and it can only be a good thing. I'm even going to take a Pilates class! My core stability is about as stable as a Middle Eastern government at the moment, and it gives me all sorts of back problems, so I reckon Pilates is the answer. It was invented by a bloke, you know!!
Lara seems to be really enjoying her new nursery. When she came home on Monday I asked her if she wanted to go again on Tuesday, and she was really excited and shouted "yes please!", which I think is a good sign. Yesterday, to celebrate the Chinese New Year, the kids had stir-fry vegetables & noodles for their afternoon meal, and they all had a go at eating with chopsticks, I would have liked to have seen that. Apparently Lara particularly loved the noodles, so we'll give her a try at those at home one day. She already likes poppadoms, and has had fajitas before, so it all adds to her international experiences. The nursery has some ideas that are new to Lara, like she wears her slippers there rather than shoes or trainers when she's inside, and on Tuesday night she asked "May I start now?" before tucking into her tea, and that must be something they do at nursery, as we've not taught her such good manners!
Work-wise the home office is nearing completion, a new sofabed arrived this week, as Luda will sleep in the office after she arrives on the 2nd April for her 6-month stay. All our new screens and keyboards and suchlike have arrived, so the place does look more like an office now, and Olga has been putting in the hours up here this week - so long as the internet connection stays up, this working from home thing looks like a winner!
I've got 2 more weeks of limbo between doing little bits for Flare and finishing things up for Geotrace before we'll find out what it's like when we're both working in here...
Lara seems to be really enjoying her new nursery. When she came home on Monday I asked her if she wanted to go again on Tuesday, and she was really excited and shouted "yes please!", which I think is a good sign. Yesterday, to celebrate the Chinese New Year, the kids had stir-fry vegetables & noodles for their afternoon meal, and they all had a go at eating with chopsticks, I would have liked to have seen that. Apparently Lara particularly loved the noodles, so we'll give her a try at those at home one day. She already likes poppadoms, and has had fajitas before, so it all adds to her international experiences. The nursery has some ideas that are new to Lara, like she wears her slippers there rather than shoes or trainers when she's inside, and on Tuesday night she asked "May I start now?" before tucking into her tea, and that must be something they do at nursery, as we've not taught her such good manners!
Work-wise the home office is nearing completion, a new sofabed arrived this week, as Luda will sleep in the office after she arrives on the 2nd April for her 6-month stay. All our new screens and keyboards and suchlike have arrived, so the place does look more like an office now, and Olga has been putting in the hours up here this week - so long as the internet connection stays up, this working from home thing looks like a winner!
I've got 2 more weeks of limbo between doing little bits for Flare and finishing things up for Geotrace before we'll find out what it's like when we're both working in here...
Thursday, 27 January 2011
Settling In? C'est bien, non?
Lara had her second settling-in session at the new nursery yesterday, I left her there for 90 minutes in the morning, and when I came to pick her up the kids were all playing outside, and I was able to watch her for a few seconds before she saw me, and she looked really happy, and not at all nervous or shy. Her new key-worker, Lilian (no sniggering from those Shamless watchers out there!) said Lara had been absolutely fine, she'd struck up a friendship with another girl on a settling-in session, and they'd sat in on the weekly French lesson, although Lara flatly denied this later when I interrogated her in my perfect A-S Level Business French. After that I took her to her Marlow nursery, where she handed out the "leaving cakes" she'd helped to make on Tuesday night:
Tomorrow she has a 3-hour session including lunch at the new nursery, then her final afternoon at Marlow. It'll be sad to leave there, the staff have been very good with Lara, and she's really enjoyed it, I don't think we can recall one occasion when she's been upset at the idea of going to nursery. OK, sometimes recently she would have preferred to stay in bed, but once she's up and dressed and fully awake, she's always been excited about going.
The new nursery, like Marlow, would like us to bring photographs of family & pets in to help settle Lara if she does have moments of homesickness, and I'm afraid I've gone very "Competitive Dad" on this one this time, although Picasa does make this sort of thing pretty easy, but here is Lara's "Comfort Card":
They wanted photos glued to a piece of A4 card, I might have got a bit carried away, but at least I've tested out our new office printer.
Tomorrow she has a 3-hour session including lunch at the new nursery, then her final afternoon at Marlow. It'll be sad to leave there, the staff have been very good with Lara, and she's really enjoyed it, I don't think we can recall one occasion when she's been upset at the idea of going to nursery. OK, sometimes recently she would have preferred to stay in bed, but once she's up and dressed and fully awake, she's always been excited about going.
The new nursery, like Marlow, would like us to bring photographs of family & pets in to help settle Lara if she does have moments of homesickness, and I'm afraid I've gone very "Competitive Dad" on this one this time, although Picasa does make this sort of thing pretty easy, but here is Lara's "Comfort Card":
Sunday, 23 January 2011
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