NotSheep

A very lazy day, most of it spent holding Toby while he slept. Poor thing is still hoarse and though he’s better than he was last night, he’s still not very happy. He did manage a few smiles today though.

The usual early start for a Saturday, with Freddy’s swimming lesson at 8.30 am. Barney and George now swim from 9 to 9.30, which, although it doubles the in-the-water time for the family as a whole, doesn’t make much difference in terms of the taxi-ing, as George still has trampoline at 9.45. It just means there’s a bit less time for George to get dressed, but whichever parent is doing the taxi-ing still spends the same amount of time at the leisure centre. Barney, having abandoned trampoline club, is now home a bit sooner, but we still have to go back to pick up George just before lunch so it doesn’t increase the odds of us getting anything done (though Barney did use the extra time to do some ICT today).

I was thinking today about how much Freddy has changed. He used to tell people, “I’m utterly mad!” - and he was. This is a child who used to roar (like a lion, but good-naturedly, and strangely charmingly) at people in the street if they talked to him There were always occasional flashes of a very sensible child inside - like when a 5-year-old George was having a hissy-fit about not being able to see properly, 3-year-old Freddy very casually said “George, just turn the light on!” But it seems that now the down-to-earth side has overtaken the mad side (which does still show itself, just not nearly all the time!) I hadn’t realised until recently how very solid a child Freddy had become. I can see him being the one who keeps George in line when they’re teenagers.

Speaking of teenagers, Barney’s getting there - he’ll be 11 later this month, and is getting very grown-up in more ways than one. We’re seeing flashes of pre-puberty-syndrome but also periods of him being very responsible and thoughtful *Deb crosses her fingers and hopes the latter outweigh the former*. And - this is something I just can’t accept - this week, he received his first ever paycheque. £25 from the BBC, for participating in the radio show he did. There is no way I’m old enough to have a child who is earning his own money!

Toby, apart from the current bug, continues to be a very happy baby. He’s quite physical - loves getting kisses, loves physical games like “flying baby” and being bounced up and down. Jack is also rather bouncy - to the extent that he will actually jump up and down while shouting “boing boing boing!”

I’ve been thinking about blogs and privacy a bit - a couple of people on the blog-ring have had “wibbles” (you know who you are :lol:) and either passworded their blogs or moved them so they’re harder to find. I removed the passwording from this blog a few months back, but some posts are still only visible to those who are registered and logged in. I was thinking I might start using pseudonyms for the kids rather than initials; it’s difficult to know the right balance. Not that very many people read this blog (I probably get as much comment spam as I do real comments :lol:), but it’s there, if someone decided to look for info on us, if you see what I mean. I’m undecided about this, so I’m asking for opinions. Anyone got one?