Mother’s Day
My mother died when I was eight years old. For many years after, Mother’s Day was just a cruel and painful reminder of what I had lost and of how I was different from my friends at school. In later years the date just failed to register at all with me. Now I have a […]
Springtime
Richie is away for a fortnight and I’m determined that Jack and I will have an extra-lovely time together to compensate for Daddy’s absence. Of course I’m delighted to have an excuse to put all non-essential chores on hold and devote myself entirely to playing. (Not that the lack of an excuse has ever stopped […]
Fitness and Training in Motherhood
The Saturday before last dawned cold and bracing as Europe was hit by a Siberian cold snap. Not the weather for venturing into the great outdoors with a toddler who hates wearing hat, gloves and coat. Languishing in bed listening to BBC radio on the internet and drinking PG Tips (life abroad eh?) I had […]
The Things Kids Say (And Husbands Don’t)
So, it’s Sunday morning and owing to a (yet to be proved right) rubbish weather forecast we are actually heading down to town from our hill-top hovel rustic cottage rather than out to the mountains for our usual weekend climbing. In honour of the occasion (and just in case I bump into anyone I know) […]
Odd Socks and Semiotics*
We were in the car on the way to nursery when I noticed that Jack was wearing odd socks. Oops. The Spanish authorities probably take children into care for less. Already, he is the only child in nursery who doesn’t wear a ‘mandilón’ – a sort of old-fashioned, long-sleeved, collared pinafore worn to protect the […]
An Octopus-y Odyssey
The 25th January was Richie’s birthday and after a nutritious breakfast of flumps (Jack’s marshmallowy and only ever so-slightly self-interested birthday present to his father) the day progressed into a galloping gourmand gourmet odyssey. It was a gloriously sunny day as we headed to Gijon, which with its beaches, restaurants and the best play park […]
Travelling with Babies and Small Children
I’ve just been reading a great blog by some expectant parents who are clearly sick of receiving unsolicited ‘wisdom’ from jaded been-there-before parents whose primary message seems to be that their life is now over. It’s prompted me to share some of my own experiences as the mother of a two year old and the […]
