Words Fail Me (Almost)

Which retard at Kelloggs/Lego came up with this bright idea?:-



How much time do you spend telling your children not to put blocks in their mouth because they'll choke? And lo! Some learning impaired marketing bod comes up with the idea of making block-shaped sweets. How it got past their legal department, I have no idea. How it got past the common sense detectors of anyone involved in developing it beggars belief.

Poxy

So its now 22 days since they were playing with their friend Aidan who came out with the dreaded chickenpox the following morning.

And so far, no sign of the pox.

If it hadn't been for the fact that we were due off on our holidays at the end of the month, it wouldn't be an issue, but if they were going to get it they were *required* to get it both at the same time and within a certain time frame.

But 22 days later and there is no sign of it. Even though all the conventional wisdom (and health-type websites) say that 21 days is the limit of the incubation period, as Doug was saying the other day, I won't believe they aren't going to succumb until at least another week has gone by.

Knitty

I haven't knitted for a couple of months now; my right shoulder was getting quite sore so I just left it for a few days that turned into a few weeks etc. I've got a half-finished cardy that I had sort of intended for Theo, but its probably going to be for my cousin's baby, as I think Theo is a largish baby who won't fit in it now. Its also a new baby-style cardy, iyswim, not for a baby of a couple of months who has already had his fashion style shaped by his mum; if you'd seen some of the funky sleepsuits that Solveig has dressed him in, you'd know it wasn't really his thing. (In my defence, I was so convinced he was going to be a girl that I knitted a lovely cardy in Cashmerino, but Lola got that instead).

Anyway, holidays are looming and as I can knit in the car without poking Doug in the arm too much, I need a project. I can probably finish the cardy off en route to Brighton, so no need to worry about the journey down, but we have a whole week of long caravan evenings to fill, so I definitely need something. In an ideal world, I'd be able to pop along to Angel Yarns on the Saturday, but I think it'd be over-optimistic to think I could get there along with everything else we have to do that weekend.

So, a trip to Sheepish in the Shambles this morning; I can only go on when I'm in town on my own, its steps are too steep to get the pram up, and tbh, there wouldn't be any room for the pram even if I did get it in the shop. I've an idea of what I want, but I need to see the colours for myself. Irritatingly, a pattern book that was published only 2 or 3 years ago contains patterns in which the yarn has already been discontinued. While I can cope with that, its definitely a hands-on in the shop/ matching colours/ feeling yarn weight sort of problem. I can't do it online.

And just a final note that I've been having a shufty at Ravelry; its a nice site but their extended search facility is shit. Either that or people can't tag their patterns properly. Either way, it means that I found it impossible to search for what I wanted. Sort it out, Ravelry.

Childrens Book Meme

Not sure if this will work, but I thought of it the other day when offmessage was apparently asking for book recommendations in the office; maybe this will provide a few suggestions (or simply reinforce parental smugness at having got their book choices just right).

Anyway, here are my selection (in no particular order):-

Mr Magnolia by Quentin Blake


We were given this by Bookstart through Jacob's day nursery in London. Its actually a counting book, although not obviously so, but I like it for its v eccentric main character; Mister Magnolia has only one boot, don't you know. We've also got a slew of other Quentin Blake books (Cockatoos is ace), but this is my favourite.

Lullabyhullaballoo by Mick Inkpen


I think we possibly have every Mick Inkpen book for the pre-school age group, and while I like most of them, some of the Kipper books are rather variable and have a definite sense of being written to cash in on the brand. This one, however, is a hardy perennial with both Jacob and Sam still enjoying it as a bedtime story. In a nutshell, its a rhyme about a princess who can't get to sleep because of all the giants, ghosts, goblins and brave knights making a racket outside the castle. Like most Inkpen stories, it has fold-out pages and is beautifully illustrated.

Sharing a Shell by Julia Donaldson



Julia Donaldson has got to be the queen of children's rhyming stories; I've yet to read a duff one by her. Whilst the Gruffalo is an old favourite (and actually the first book we ever bought for Jacob), I prefer this one purely because it isn't illustrated by Axel Schaeffer (I really really don't like his pictures). For some strange reason, when I read it I have to read the Anenome's lines in a Brummie accent.

Hairy Maclarey and Zachary Quack by Lynley Dodd

We bought lots of Hairy Maclarey and Slinkey Malinki board books for Jacob when he was little, and too be honest, they were a little too wordy for him at the time and had been relegated to a shelf in the playroom thats full of "That's Not My...." and Maisy books for the past two years. However, I started reading them to Sam a few days ago and he is entranced by them; last night Jacob heard me reading them and decided that he wanted to listen to them too. I like this story the best of all her books because the use of language, cadence and rhyme are all spot on and marvellous for reading out loud.


Mr Wolf's Pancakes by Jan Fearnley



There are a few in the series, but this is the best one; basically, Mr Wolf is trying to make pancakes and asks help from all his neighbours (the Three Little Pigs, the Gingerbread Man, Little Red Riding Hood etc) but in a nice turnaround, they are all uniformly nasty and refuse to come to his aid. What both Jacob and Sam like about this book (and the other Mr Wolf stories) is that at the end, nice Mr Wolf eats everyone who has been nasty to him. It makes me laugh every time I read it to them.


Well, that's my five; I'm sure it will be different in six months, but it'll do for now. Honourable mentions have to go to Aliens Love Underpants, Lost and Found, Wolves, Scaredy Squirrel and (my particular favourite, but only because it strikes a chord with me) Tickly Christmas Wibbly Pig.

So, I'd like to tag Andy, Solveig and Antonia to come up with their five favourite children's books. I have a feeling that Antonia's list won't include the one about the mouse that she was grousing about on her blog last week :)

Tesco Clubcard

I've never really given much thought to what I do with all the points that we accrue on our Tesco Clubcard; once a quarter when I get our vouchers through, I have, up till now, just used them to get money off our next lot of shopping.

However, thanks to a passing comment from another mum at Toddler Group, I realised that if you use the points for one of their Clubcard deals, you actually can get up to four times the value of the points. So, thanks to this chance comment, when my in-laws take Jacob and Sam to Legoland next month they won't have to pay the normal £35 entrance fee but will get in using Clubcard vouchers that have cost me £17 worth of points. They'll still have to pay £25 (yes, TWENTY FIVE POUNDS) for Jacob to get in, but Sam still gets in for free.

Anyway, I reckon this is a bargain and it makes me feel much better that they're not going to spend £100 in entrance fees to a theme park that the kids might not actually appreciate or enjoy. The entrance fee for Jacob is still a farking liberty (scuse my french), but at least £25 for a day out for four people sounds a good deal more reasonable.

PS they've still not developed chickenpox, 15 days after being exposed to it. If they don't catch it soon, or don't both catch it at more or less the same time, we're looking at no holiday at all. Which will be arses.

Spiderman!

"Mummy, I used to be all about wheels, but now I'm all about superheroes!" - Jacob Winter, May 2008.

Sam

We gave Jacob the digital camera to mess about with and after a while I realised that he'd set it to shoot videos rather than single shots, so we had a whole host of 2 second vignettes of life in the Winter living room; Jacob's feet, the sofa, the tv, Sam's feet etc.

However, he did take this one, and while it is only 2 seconds long, he has captured the essence of his little brother quite accurately:-

We are only 20 years away from his first Palme D'Or, I like to think ;)

Jacob

I tried to do this post on Jacob's birthday, but Blogger wouldn't let me add photos. It's now recovered from its little photo snit, so here goes.

Four years ago, he looked like this:-



And now he looks like this:



In many ways, it feels like a lot longer than 4 years; on the other hand, it feels like no time at all. But whatever, he is my fantastic Jacob; I hope you're enjoying life thus far, my little lad.

Pants

Jacob has a friend at nursery called Hattie. Apparently, she wears pink pants. He knows this because when she sits on the story mat at nursery and crosses her legs, all the boys can see them.

Bad Mood

I've been in a bad mood since about 4.30pm. It stems from a) the tension controls on my sewing machine failing to maintain both upper and lower tension and b) being on my own for the day with virtually zero adult contact.

Anyway, I've drunk far too much already (and you have my permission to pass this to the prosecution barristers should something awful befall my children between now and their bedtime in 30 mins), and I'm getting the feeling that I should make myself something horribly indulgent like rice pudding and eat it whilst watching an appalling wallowy film like Slipper and the Rose or Gone with the Wind; the sort of film that any bloke walking in to the room while you're watching it would go "What sort of rubbish is this?" and immediately spoil any enjoyment you might have from it now or in the future.