A few words from work..

A troupe of dancing phoneboxes and Big Bens in the Olympic opening ceremony perhaps? 

I've been waiting for more revelations to come my way. Lightning bolts which might be of interest to you. Nothing doing right now. 

This Summer is turning out to be a tight one for us. I'm taking tremendous satisfaction from making the finances stretch. I've always been spartan at heart I reckon. 

With all the family birthdays out the way (save the cat), I'm looking towards Christmas. Couldn't care for it much myself, but I would love to make things the best they can be for X and little D. 

X is well and truly infatuated with his lego these days, he knows what he likes and goes about getting it with a strength of purpose I admire. This boy will make a truly formidable individual as he gets older, he's handsome, smart, charismatic and destined for great things in life. I see my role as polishing of some of the rough edges - the need to be a good role model for him has never been clearer in my mind than it is right now. 

Already we can see the personality shining out in little D. She may be only a few months old, but you can tell she has a sweet, kind little soul that we both cherish. She laughs and chatters now and her eyes light up with a sense of amazement at the world which I find fascinating. Apparently E took her down to the laundrette last weekend, D found the driers hysterically funny and was laughing throughout her trip. She is a very happy baby and I will do everything I can to ensure her happy times continue. 

As for me? I really got a kick out of the Victoria and Albert museum the other day. We were entertaining some German friends of E (smart, civilised and well mannered people - why cant we be like that as a nation?) and took them up for a museum day in town. I had my usual revelation about how much I love stuff from the past and have no truc with things of today. Makes me realise that the shrill and gaudy marketing is not for the likes of myself. Frankly, I dread the Olympics. The usual advertising suspects are plastered about the place more prominently than usual. I mean, you might has well paint the Macdonald's logo all over the roads and be done with it... 

Is it just me, or is this Olympics more of an orgy of sponsorship than other ones? When athletes are touting Subway sandwiches it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth viz a viz the Olympian spirit. 

Will still catch the opening ceremony though. The British as a nation are normally incapable of putting on a show with the panache of other countries, so I'll be in front of my TV with a sense of interest. If the usual, tired London cliches are not trotted out I will be pleasantly surprised.

A.

The little things you notice..

Believe it or not, you're life goes even quicker when you stick another kid in the middle of it!

Little D will be 5 months old on 28th of July. She has gone from helpless marsupial baby to chunky Mothercare poster-girl. The gummy grins are now accompanied by full on chuckles and her own special brand of 'conversation'. She's turning into a very chatty little lady.

It's been a joy to see her start gaining control of her arms and legs. D regards her hands with a particular species of interest before (most of the time) successfully sticking them in her mouth. Looks like teething is on the way, she drools, she blows raspberries and attacks teething toys/my finger/the cat with an unsettling keenness... still, a single smile can make my day regardless of circumstances..

In other news my life is mostly a tired haze. We take care of the little ones in life as much as we can, support each other and move on to the following day. I half joked to X how I was measuring my life in intervals between shows on CBeebees and that made him chuckle. Kind of true though, you realise how important the role telly has in keeping you sane when you have a four month old - little D loves Iggle Piggle and co. She stays transfixed for minutes at a time which gives me the time to rush into the kitchen to get my next cup of coffee....

To me, some of the shows are pretty disturbing. I spotted Mr Tumble the other week, a frankly disturbing TV clown who reminded me of Pennywise out of Stephen King's 'IT'. 

Tumble or Pennywise?

I will never look at childrens' entertainers the same way again, I swear.

I'm still punctuating my awake hours with working for The Man. The most unedifying part of my time, I can tell you. Luckily my muse is still around and he keeps me in good spirits, Dan is now 31 and fills my days with moments of bawdy humour, chat about Alex Jones and regular shoulder massages (he's good too!). I can tell how good his weekend has been by how much he slumps in his chair in the office come Monday morning. His facial skin tone also gives a clue, porkpie meat tinted and a light sheen to it means maximum enjoyment.