Back to work tomorrow (if the phone rings)

HE: F made some letters out of various things. She decided to make F, M, D, X, T, S. Thinking about it she has also recently made or recognized: H, A, C, N, L, E and O. Near enough half an alphabet covered in some fashion or other. Not bad. She did a bit of HeadSprout too. Not much else of the most obvious educational value, but the usual day-to-day conversations/explorations continue.
Life: On Friday, we all went into town (J has 4 days off too), bought a few very restrained treats, mainly vegan Mozzarella, vegan ice-cream and cornettos (Tofutti Rock'n'Roll Cones) and a book or two.
Saturday we went to a school fete thing, was OK but a bit lacklustre by the time we got there. Local school that is known for independence and small classes. Apparently they don't do flexi-schooling though they used to. Met someone we know through music and movement there - his older boy goes to the school. Had one of those funny parenting conversations where he was telling me how wonderful the school was and the philosophy that makes the children take responsibility for their actions instead of punishing them. All of which was sound and I agree with quite a lot, but as so often happens, as he was espousing this ed. phil. with great enthusiasm, articulate and convincing, his son was trying to run his little brother over with the buggy repeatedly. So in between saying things like 'and they really benefit, they become responsible' he had to intersperse it with 'remember what we said about running Jimmy over, darling' etc. My face started to ache from trying to keep my laugh locked up in the back of my head.
F enjoyed the fete and won a coconut (allowed to stand practically within coconut-tapping distance to throw her ball). She was not keen to do anything much else. When we came back home she helped her dad with burning garden waste, then accompanied me on the sofa for snuggling, we stayed up watching Live8. She konked out just before Pink Floyd, sadly.
Sunday, Grandpa Clive came over, but mainly for IT support reasons. F got into her lego and has been doing lego art.
And today, F and I went over to Nic's. Once again we took a phenomenal time to get there, last time it was due to getting lost (*embarrassed smiley here*) and having things we had to buy on the way, this time it was due entirely to F being in slow-explorey mode and Southern rail service being shite. Who knows, maybe next time we attempt it we will get there at a reasonable hour?
Had a lovely afternoon. F did her usual not really playing with Davies and Scarlett, until about 40 minutes before time to go. But that's OK, she will get used to them in her own time and I at least know she likes them as she has several times said positive things about both of them as well as reacting positively to me mentioning them. Nic and I had pretty good chatting time I thought, albeit with phases of frequent interruptions, as expected. Can't begin to think of everything we talked about... er, writing, cleavages, Empire State building, Statue of Liberty, carefree pre-parenting faces, parenting styles, all sorts of stuff. I feel I've very quickly got to quite a relaxed stage with Nic, we have a good few laughs and much enjoyable natter.
So that's my 4 days up, it's been lovely having no work in the evenings. I've recently been working 4 or 5 evenings a week, so to have 4 in a row where I could chill out, watch telly, surf, etc. has been lovely.
I hope some work comes in this week though, need to sustain this level of earning for a while if possible.
F's birthday is on the horizon, we are having a picnic on Sunday in the park round the corner, so will be needing to prepare a bit for that.

Lowlights: cancelled train, rain, child changing mind every 20 seconds.
Highlights: relaxation, family time, Pink Floyd.