A haircut called 'Brave'!
I have to record this event that had Brendan and I laughing so hard this evening our cheeks were hurting. It involved an imaginery pair of scissors, an imagination and Ciara!
Just before Ciara went to bed she decided to brush my hair, and then to 'cut' it. As she moved around my head gathering the hair up and pretending to cut it, in much the same way that I cut hers, Brendan commented 'Wow, that's a great looking cut, what do you call that style?' After a short pause, Ciara says 'Um... ...Brave!'
Well, that started us all giggling, and then I jokingly said 'Brendan can you please grab some scissors for Ciara so that she can really give my hair a haircut.' Ciara's wide eyes and giggle at my 'Just kidding' was a treat. Brendan laughed and commented that she was doing a really good job, and then he went a step further and said 'Just imagine you are having a nap one day, and then you wake up to the sound of snip, snip, snip as Ciara cuts your hair.' I laughed (secure in the knowledge that I never nap when alone with the kids), and I laughingly cautioned Ciara 'Don't even think about it'.
There was a pause, then her whole body gathered in on itself and tensed as her eyes grew like saucers and she exclaimed with a squeal and a giggle 'OOOOOOOOOH! That would be SOOO BAD!!!', then 'I DID think about it.' We were both watching her and realised that she had totally transported herself on my words 'Don't even think about it' to an imaginery place where she was cutting my hair while I napped. The thrill of defying my caution combined with the vision of herself as Mum's secret hairdresser was the kind of 'whole body experience' that three year olds are just so good at!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
It finally happened!
The thesis is finished.
At 5.30am Brendan stumbled into bed having worked all day and night and following a month of very late nights, and months of working day and evening on the beast! He was a bit tired when he had to get up at 7.30 a.m. to take the file to Dad for printing.
You might think that this is a sure sign he has left it all until the last minute, but in fact, he has been very disciplined about the whole thing. The fact that he picked a HUGE study topic didn't help, which meant his final product is 50% longer than many. He has also been extremely thorough and done some groundbreaking work on new techniques which is very exciting - but extremely time-consuming as well, because you're forging a new path yourself.
We celebrated by taking the girls along for the ride to drop the file off, then into Drexyls for breakfast. Yummo. The pelting hail which started just before we left just added to the excitement of the morning for Ciara.
When we got home Brendan went to bed for a couple of hours while I did puzzles with the girls and Brendan and Ciara have just popped out on the bus to pick up the printed copy.
The enormity of the project really came home to me when I realised that Brendan has been working on this project for half of Ciara's life! And all of Isabella's life. Ciara doesn't remember a time when Daddy wasn't disappearing out to the garage office to work on his thesis.
Now, we can relax a little, tidy the house, do a bit of gardening and just chill out for a wee while before he starts the next wee project.
His PhD.
The thesis is finished.
At 5.30am Brendan stumbled into bed having worked all day and night and following a month of very late nights, and months of working day and evening on the beast! He was a bit tired when he had to get up at 7.30 a.m. to take the file to Dad for printing.
You might think that this is a sure sign he has left it all until the last minute, but in fact, he has been very disciplined about the whole thing. The fact that he picked a HUGE study topic didn't help, which meant his final product is 50% longer than many. He has also been extremely thorough and done some groundbreaking work on new techniques which is very exciting - but extremely time-consuming as well, because you're forging a new path yourself.
We celebrated by taking the girls along for the ride to drop the file off, then into Drexyls for breakfast. Yummo. The pelting hail which started just before we left just added to the excitement of the morning for Ciara.
When we got home Brendan went to bed for a couple of hours while I did puzzles with the girls and Brendan and Ciara have just popped out on the bus to pick up the printed copy.
The enormity of the project really came home to me when I realised that Brendan has been working on this project for half of Ciara's life! And all of Isabella's life. Ciara doesn't remember a time when Daddy wasn't disappearing out to the garage office to work on his thesis.
Now, we can relax a little, tidy the house, do a bit of gardening and just chill out for a wee while before he starts the next wee project.
His PhD.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Adoring your big sister.
Isabella loves and adores Ciara. It is so plain to see.
In the mornings if we are up earlier with Isabella (Ciara has been sleeping in this week) she is a bit scratchy until Ciara gets up, and she would be off down to Ciara's room like a shot, waking her up, if we let her.
Since Ciara 'taught' Isabella how to wash her hands, Ciara can no longer go wash her hands by herself, she has to have her wee buddy up on the stool next to her washing her hands too. It's often quite a wet process, for me too, seeing as I have to stand behind and make sure Isabella doesn't fall on the tiles.
This morning Ciara and Brendan were joking that Ciara was going back to bed straight after breakfast. Ciara was wrapped up in her duvet, and brought over to Isabella and I so that we could 'say ni-night'. As soon as Isabella thought Ciara was going back to bed she started crying, and she wouldn't be consoled. It was only the reappearance of Ciara a few minutes later that stopped her crying, and even then, she couldn't quite bring herself to look at Ciara without little sobs escaping for a few minutes. It's very sweet.
I used to think 'subsequent' children must miss out a bit (on that one-on-one that the oldest child gets for so long), but I was wrong. In fact, they seem to be enriched by the two-on-one, or three-on-one, and in Isabella's case she seems to really miss Ciara when she is temporarily absent.
Isabella loves and adores Ciara. It is so plain to see.
In the mornings if we are up earlier with Isabella (Ciara has been sleeping in this week) she is a bit scratchy until Ciara gets up, and she would be off down to Ciara's room like a shot, waking her up, if we let her.
Since Ciara 'taught' Isabella how to wash her hands, Ciara can no longer go wash her hands by herself, she has to have her wee buddy up on the stool next to her washing her hands too. It's often quite a wet process, for me too, seeing as I have to stand behind and make sure Isabella doesn't fall on the tiles.
This morning Ciara and Brendan were joking that Ciara was going back to bed straight after breakfast. Ciara was wrapped up in her duvet, and brought over to Isabella and I so that we could 'say ni-night'. As soon as Isabella thought Ciara was going back to bed she started crying, and she wouldn't be consoled. It was only the reappearance of Ciara a few minutes later that stopped her crying, and even then, she couldn't quite bring herself to look at Ciara without little sobs escaping for a few minutes. It's very sweet.
I used to think 'subsequent' children must miss out a bit (on that one-on-one that the oldest child gets for so long), but I was wrong. In fact, they seem to be enriched by the two-on-one, or three-on-one, and in Isabella's case she seems to really miss Ciara when she is temporarily absent.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
The magic of lasagne.
Why is that if you call something 'lasagne' you can pack it full of all sorts of inedible ingredients (to a 3yo) and it still disappears as if it were a bowl of hokey pokey ice-cream!
We had lasagne for tea. It was combined effort between Alison and myself. I borrowed her basic ideas but made it my own, and it was still wolfed down by all. Feeling very virtuous about all the coloured veges that the kids had consumed I followed it up with self-saucing chocolate pudding and hokey pokey ice-cream.
In case you're interested it went something like this: Cook some brown lentils until soft (I usually stick some in a pot first thing in the morning, bring to boil, turn off, leave an hour or so, bring to boil again, turn off and leave until soft). Throw in food processor with a tin of tomatoes, a roughly chopped onion, a packet of any sort of soup (I used tomato), some basil and oregano, 5 big cubes of defrosted frozen spinach (or huge pile of fresh if you have it), 1C hot water. Whizz.
Layer in crockpot with lasagne noodles then pour over 1C milk, with 1Tbsn cornflour and 1 egg all whisked together. I threw the grated cheese on once I took it out because I find it sort of burns in the crockpot.
Ah, the magic of lasagne, wonder what flavour we'll have next.
Why is that if you call something 'lasagne' you can pack it full of all sorts of inedible ingredients (to a 3yo) and it still disappears as if it were a bowl of hokey pokey ice-cream!
We had lasagne for tea. It was combined effort between Alison and myself. I borrowed her basic ideas but made it my own, and it was still wolfed down by all. Feeling very virtuous about all the coloured veges that the kids had consumed I followed it up with self-saucing chocolate pudding and hokey pokey ice-cream.
In case you're interested it went something like this: Cook some brown lentils until soft (I usually stick some in a pot first thing in the morning, bring to boil, turn off, leave an hour or so, bring to boil again, turn off and leave until soft). Throw in food processor with a tin of tomatoes, a roughly chopped onion, a packet of any sort of soup (I used tomato), some basil and oregano, 5 big cubes of defrosted frozen spinach (or huge pile of fresh if you have it), 1C hot water. Whizz.
Layer in crockpot with lasagne noodles then pour over 1C milk, with 1Tbsn cornflour and 1 egg all whisked together. I threw the grated cheese on once I took it out because I find it sort of burns in the crockpot.
Ah, the magic of lasagne, wonder what flavour we'll have next.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Balmy autumn days.
We've had a great day today enjoying some unseasonably warm May weather. This morning I popped both girls in the Chariot and went on a big bike ride to the wool shop. I bought some yummy wool for a couple of birthday pressies, we admired LOTS of wool, then the girls got back into the Chariot and I biked towards home.
It's quite a loooong way to the wool shop! I know that now.
Half way home - once all the busy roads were crossed - we hopped off again to have a picnic. Isabella was asleep, so we left her sleeping in the Chariot and Ciara and I just hung out by the river enjoying our picnic, the view and the peace. Ciara kept asking why there was no-one else there. I wondered the same thing. It was so beautiful, I couldn't believe there weren't more people out enjoying the day.
We had a lovely chilled afternoon tidying up, pottering around cooking a vegan dinner, and playing with some balls. Oh, and I knitted up a storm trying to finish Brendan's slippers so that I can start on my new wool.
We've had a great day today enjoying some unseasonably warm May weather. This morning I popped both girls in the Chariot and went on a big bike ride to the wool shop. I bought some yummy wool for a couple of birthday pressies, we admired LOTS of wool, then the girls got back into the Chariot and I biked towards home.
It's quite a loooong way to the wool shop! I know that now.
Half way home - once all the busy roads were crossed - we hopped off again to have a picnic. Isabella was asleep, so we left her sleeping in the Chariot and Ciara and I just hung out by the river enjoying our picnic, the view and the peace. Ciara kept asking why there was no-one else there. I wondered the same thing. It was so beautiful, I couldn't believe there weren't more people out enjoying the day.
We had a lovely chilled afternoon tidying up, pottering around cooking a vegan dinner, and playing with some balls. Oh, and I knitted up a storm trying to finish Brendan's slippers so that I can start on my new wool.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Visiting friends and the Next Door Cat
Well, today was a big day for us...
but before I go on, I just have to say that we've had a very busy couple of years, hence why I haven't posted for a while. I was waiting for something momentous to start our blog up again, but then a friend pointed out if I waited for it to be perfect, it would never happen, and she's right, so here we go again.
... anyway, the big moment was that Ciara went and visited a wee friend, on her own, and she had a ball! I have a bad cold, so when we were invited to Z's house I didn't feel up to it, but Ciara did. So Isabella and I dropped her off for a couple of hours. Five hours (and one phonecall) later she eventually arrived home, with blue paint on her nose, a big smile, and a full tummy. I'm not sure what they ate, but Z tells me 'they ate all day' and she didn't eat much dinner here. Funny that. No doubt Z's food was so much more interesting than ours.
Now, the Next Door Cat.
I looked out the window, to see Jack, the cat from next door - who spends all day here - jumping into the compost bin. I wondered why because soggy old porridge, ripped up envelopes and vegetable peelings doesn't seem very appealing to me, even for a scrounging cat, but I soon saw why. Seconds after jumping in, he jumped out again, with a mouse in his mouth. Both the girls were eating dinner, so I decided to postpone any conversations about Jack eating our mice, and other than taking a quick walk outside to confirm my suspicions I said nothing. I suppose I should be happy that we haven't got a mouse infestation, but I did feel a bit sorry for the poor wee thing.
Well, today was a big day for us...
but before I go on, I just have to say that we've had a very busy couple of years, hence why I haven't posted for a while. I was waiting for something momentous to start our blog up again, but then a friend pointed out if I waited for it to be perfect, it would never happen, and she's right, so here we go again.
... anyway, the big moment was that Ciara went and visited a wee friend, on her own, and she had a ball! I have a bad cold, so when we were invited to Z's house I didn't feel up to it, but Ciara did. So Isabella and I dropped her off for a couple of hours. Five hours (and one phonecall) later she eventually arrived home, with blue paint on her nose, a big smile, and a full tummy. I'm not sure what they ate, but Z tells me 'they ate all day' and she didn't eat much dinner here. Funny that. No doubt Z's food was so much more interesting than ours.
Now, the Next Door Cat.
I looked out the window, to see Jack, the cat from next door - who spends all day here - jumping into the compost bin. I wondered why because soggy old porridge, ripped up envelopes and vegetable peelings doesn't seem very appealing to me, even for a scrounging cat, but I soon saw why. Seconds after jumping in, he jumped out again, with a mouse in his mouth. Both the girls were eating dinner, so I decided to postpone any conversations about Jack eating our mice, and other than taking a quick walk outside to confirm my suspicions I said nothing. I suppose I should be happy that we haven't got a mouse infestation, but I did feel a bit sorry for the poor wee thing.
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