Working the list through

Dinosaurs in Leicester

This half-term there was a lot to get done – which was not helped at all by the fact that by the end of the week I had got a cold. Not a bad one, but one of those that make you to feel rubbish and shiver at least for one day. Irritatingly, I do not seem to get fever. Just everything hurts and the aching throat turns slowly in five days into a runny nose.

Creative play in museum

The work life required updating and Archaeologist Husband was entertaining Number One Son on Wednesday, so I got things forward and covered for the travelling Monday. Their achievement was a very tasty gingerbread Piggy castle. At work everything is little bit in a phase, but there is some hope that I do not fail totally any of the things I have to do before my contract comes to an end (any doubt about that reality seems now blown away, so Archaeologist Husband is starting to smile widely again, since his wife should be landing home - and share housework duties).

Pit stop before Cambridge

The Number One Son’s Birthday project is in a phase where the invitations have been partly send out and the remaining paper ones should go out when the school restarts. The trip to the venue resulted with a pleasurable play hour for Number One Son on a day when it was raining heavily. We also did a trip to Cambridge in a warm sunshine, and Number One Son both got to see the dinosaurs and ate an ice cream. It was the Pancake Day, so we had to head home early, but not before I had made a visit to the McDonald Institute to prepare to return to the Nepi publications. On return we got our pancakes - that I would have never managed to do myself.

Pancakes on Pancake Day

But it was not only about the work or the trips or the playdate on Friday. No, it was also a trip to the hearing test, since Number One Son had failed one sound. His ear hearing has now been tested three times to be excellent, so we can be pretty relaxed about these tests in the future. The children just get sometimes distracted, and verbally present something in a group of children is not Number One Son’s current forte.

It was also time to get the school uniform up to date. The trousers started to look very short indeed. Number One Son had grown 5 centimetres in a couple of weeks, so urgent action was needed. Similarly, he needed trainers or similar everyday out-of-school shoes. All items were bought. But why, oh, why we always seem to come out of the shop with something extra with Angry Birds on it!

Bloody noses and loving kisses

A return home is always a reality check, even if now it seems that I will come home at least temporarily in May. The car had broken down, so there was going to be no Finnish Saturday School, since we were waiting the garage getting the gearbox fixed. Number One Son has grown several centimetres in just two weeks, so both shoes are all getting small at the same time and the school uniform trousers are getting that slightly short comedy look. The birthday party will need serious sorting out, since I have only paid for the deposit and have to go to the site and pay and collect the invitation sheets. Not to mention having to send the invitations. In addition, Number One Son had flacked one of the classmates to the nose in a heat of the moment, so there were muted stories from Miss Teacher about the messy situation and understanding words about Number One Son's current social underdevelopment. At least he was being very sorry afterwards. Nevertheless, our son was on a green card and I had to sign his progress. Happily, he had collected a series of stickers for good behaviour during the last two school days.

New Walk Museum before Cambridge!

Archaeologist Husband is waiting for the promised contracts to materialise, so he and Number One Son had eaten basically all the food. When the car was back on road, one of the first things was a huge shopping trip to Aldi to fit the cupboards with cereals, juice and cold cuts. The busy working life has not allowed much planning for the half-term, but since I have to go to Cambridge, I can read from my cards, which museum and which playground we are going to visit.

Even if Number One Son still has miles to go in his social development, his emotional development is galoping ahead. He is now formulating in words constantly that he is missing me and saying that he loves me. He wants to give and get kisses and have family hugs. In addition, his reading is much better and one can now have a discussion with him about life, school and different matters. It is marvellous to see how a couple of months really makes a difference!

Growing fast

Suddenly I am really realizing that my marvellous little boy is not that small any more. Across Skype I suddenly see this grinning joker with mile-long arms and slim legs. He covers the tablet as a joke and keeps wriggling and teasing me until the story I read in the flowing Finnish gets him sleepy. Or he follows the young cat, which like my son is growing and becoming slender with long limbs and jiggy movements when jumping around awake. The cat often sleeps in Number One Son's room at the bed time and thus it is continuously in his mind. He can cuddle the cat, but not the mummy!

However, it seems that Archaeologist Husband is becoming younger. He has found a joy of drawing Angry Birds, following the instructions in an Angry Bird drawing book. He tries to convince me that this is a joint game with Number One Son - even if Number One Son does not really join the drawing. He apparently likes to play with the resulting 'bird cards'. Nevertheless, I am getting suspicious. We do not have the sports car or Harley Davidson, yet, but Indiana Jones costume does point to the certain direction. Archaeologist Husband already last autumn started to fret how we will celebrate our fifties this year - which actually will happen - NO-O-O, I do not tell you, yet! After all, he is in reality five months younger than me...

Relieved with progress

Even if this week has been busy with the big event in Stockholm and I have been forced to neglect my normal bedtime skyping routine for restaurant meals with colleagues, I have been skyping home irregularly. I managed to snatch a moment after most people had left the reception after the book release at Stockholm and see my son after school on Friday and disrupt his plans to build a spaceship on Saturday morning. It has been snowing both in Anstey and Stockholm and we adults could exchange notes on the weather and the wetness on the snow.

These two skype events were a source of joy and pride when it turned out that Number One Son had finally started to draw and write texts on his own without adult intervention. He had scribbled different angry birds and naughty pigs and wrote different names and words below. This is something his peers have been done probably for one or two years, but our son had not been interested in drawing until recently. Writing has been a source of struggle, but the letters I saw were much more confidently made than anything I managed to get him do before and during the Christmas holiday.

The fact that Number One Son is writing voluntarily shows that we have not managed to put him off on that. Archaeologist Husband has tried to do regular exercises with him and now we all can see the fruits of his efforts. Now he has to mentor Number One Son to give a presentation in front of the class, but luckily the chose subject, Shelley Number 2, our cat, is his favourite!