F.A.B Virgil

HE:
F wants to make a people alphabet - she said she doesn't know all the letters of the alphabet and wants us to make a people alphabet so she can look at it and see the letters and the people.
Sounds good to me. A project for the week ahead or longer - it may be something we add to over time I guess. But it does make me itch to get a laminator.

F quite interested in baddies and goodies at the moment (anyone else caught those 11am showings of Thunderbirds on BBC2 at the moment? - just right for a cuppa and a snuggle on the sofa, and another opportunity for those considerations along the lines of the 'which Wiggle would you go out with if you had to...' discussion on Nic's blog a while back - for the record, Virgil would be my Tracy brother of choice, easily, although I do enjoy Alan's lively fashion sense). F has also been interested in people being married/living together and families.

What else has F been up to? Deathtrap construction and lots of imaginative play really. Oh and tons of LeapPad - gone off it the last couple of days but spent 4 days doing it at every opportunity, doing well at the games too. We have Finding Nemo, Disney Princesses and Thomas books.
Don't know if I mentioned that we now have a Barbie, a full-time residential one, whereas last year one came and visited for a while. My fault for giving F free choice in the toy shop in a fit of indulgence. Don't think it's going to be too bad...
Also bead threading is occurring occasionally, as recommended by paediatrician and occupational therapist.

Life:
Our neighbour must now think we're LI-obsessed as she invited F over to play for half an hour with her granddaughter, but then had to bring her back early, after only 10 minutes and, er, nearly caught us.

Went to a barbeque in Brighton last Sunday, lots of children there, F alternated between popping off with them and hanging out with us and some of her other favourite adults. She didn't seem shy with the kids, I think she did well with them - most of the little girls were a year older than her and see each other a lot and were all dressed in their princess-fairy outfits, but F seemed happy enough with the event, flitting back and forth.

Then Monday we went on a nice medium walk, which was lovely and again reminded me how nice it is to live here, with the bridle path at the back and the hills.
Sent off my August invoices on Wednesday - another very good month, another step out of debt. Cool. Had some Russian work for first time in ages on Thursday, have had French only for last couple of months or more. So that was good but challenging.

On Thursday Nic Davies and Scarlett came over and we had a really good day - after initial flurry, the children mainly played brilliantly together in various permutations. There is always one point whenever they visit when all 3 children suddenly seem to zoom in on me like sharks sensing blood or zombies from that zombie film I can't remember the name of, usually when Nic and I are attempting a particularly interesting conversation. They sense the danger of adult brain activation and in they come, all with different queries to repeat at increasing volume and objects to wave in my face as they clamber on me from different directions. I tend to surrender laughing and attempting to signal to Nic that she should escape while she can - 'it's too late for me, Carruthers, but you can still make it', etc. As usual when Nic visits, I scored a nice chunky next job. Never fails. Nic and I did manage to talk quite a lot, covering such diverse subjects as 'quality time' of various sorts, how work can and can't be fitted in to our lives and HE plans and what our ultimate aims are in HE and in general parenting terms. Scarlett harassed me charmingly with a slug and Davies ran F's turtle hot-water bottle cover through its life cycle rather beautifully.

HH, my cousin's wife, came over on Wednesday - nice to catch up and nice for F to start to put a picture of wider family together, and of course to boss HH about mercilessly - HH very kindly took it in good part, and luckily once she had the password was able to escape her 'prisoner' status eventually. Have to give HH a blogonym, let's call her Helena. Helena and I managed some chatting, interesting to hear about the difficult aspects of her job in a dispensing chemists, dealing with addicts, etc.

Today I have done 4 hours gardening clearing the front garden again - I love gardening so much I do it twice a year without fail. Actually I do love gardening in the front garden when I'm feeling sociable - no less than 8 conversations with neighbours and passers-by in the 4 hours.

Highlights: Social life; August invoices!
Lowlights: OMG I can't think of any!
Quote: "Rosemary smells pretty I'm going to sprinkle it on the earth." - my garden helper.

Note to self for next week:
Monday............Katya Ria Belle
Tuesday...........Music and Movement starts again
Wednesday.....Grandma J
Thursday..........Nic Davies Scarlett
Friday...............Michelle and the twins