She's insane about.....

plastic bags.

I mean of course Monkey boots.  She loves all kinds of plastic bags.  At 6 months, they are the equivalent of a good night out in my hey day, or a quiet cup of coffee with a coffee (that's what I typed though I meant to say with a book, but I think the coffee with a coffee tells you more) nowadays.  Plastic bags are noisy, sometimes you can see into them, sometime they have cold things inside.  She gets insanely upset for example when I won't let her hold a bag of raw sausages.  First world baby problems.

She also loves books, which means she'll no longer tolerate me reading while holding her, (her love of books is not limited to the ones for her age group - she loves ALL books) or writing for that matter, as she urgently needs to have all books in her mouth at all times.

She also loves TV.  She is a bit talented.  When a tv is on, or similar device, she has an ability to rotate her head (sometimes up to 360 degrees or even further), in order to get a view.

These are the passions of the littlest cushion these days.

Open letter to the nosy fairy

There's a fairy that puts away my rubbish bin every week.  She does it mostly when I'm not looking, though once she even went to do it when I was there putting children into the car.  I can't think of any other reason, why a person would compulsively walk around the estate every Wednesday just to put someone else's bin away, than nosiness.  I overheard the fairy in action today, from the kitchen at the back of the house.
I do feel sorry for the nosy fairy, as there's nothing of very much interest at the side of my house, just a couple of trees.  So - I have an idea.  Nosy Fairy - I hope you are reading this, I am trusting in your research capabilities and hoping that you have found this blog in your intense study of my life, therefore I am giving you an open invitation into my house.
You are a good fairy after all, and this will mean you will get clear and free access to all the juicy details of our home.  You will of course be expected to do more good deeds while here - but I expect you wouldn't mind that - as the gossip / smaoineadh fodder should be more than enough payment.  Just leave a comment with details of when you can be here and I'll leave the side gate open for you.

Thanking you in advance.
The Cushions clan

First Storm & the alien in the library

Lightening whitened the clouds for a second.  Thunder almost woke the baby and shook the dog in her bed.  My first born is still getting used to playschool and this lunch time storm has arrived to annoy us both.  Well I’m annoyed anyway.  We’ve watched youtube videos together of thunder and lightening storms.  The real thing is a different experience.  I’m annoyed not to get to hold him, to tell him it’s ok.  It’s the first storm he’ll have seen and he’s seen it with others – without his immediate family to reassure him.  He was probably worried about me, out in the car waiting for him – where I have repeatedly had to promise him I’d be.   I panicked for a second, remembering there’s a river between us, what if it overflows, and I can’t reach the place and he finds out I was lying about being outside waiting for him?  The storm wasn’t nearly wild enough to cause a concern though, and has finished up for the moment anyway.

He’ll face other scary things in his life.  Sometimes I’ll be able to help, most times I guess I won’t, except whatever help we give our kids by being who we are and by having been there for them when we could.  I hope it’s enough.

On a lighter note.  There was an alien in the library today.  That's the only feasible explanation for this girl that has started coming to the story time that we go to every week.  She has 3 kids.  Two of them only slightly older than "Monkey Boots" my latest arrival (you can thank Bug for the fact of her having a name), and one around the same go as Danger.  So to recap - two babies, and a preschooler.  She shows up - it's happened twice now - her hair and the little girls hair appear to have been brushed (this is 10am in the morning by the way), the babies are dressed to match - being twins and all, but dressed like kids from a magazine.  They are all immaculately dressed and immaculately behaved. They actually look like an ad - they even had matching bibs and tiny matching baby hats. (Monkey boots is lucky to have a hood to put up on a cold day or one of Danger's old hats sometimes, if I actually bring a proper hat on purpose for her I'm sure to forget something else vital such as a nappy bag - there's always a trade off...)  Now, I'm pretty sure she is either from another planet where they need no sleep and secretly have 10 arms perhaps.  Or the kids are all actually robots that she just takes out from time to time.  Or she has a team of 200 people working for her as part of an evil plot to make ordinary parents or the world despair...