belgianwaffle

Archives for March 2016

Listen, I Can Explain


Posted in: Middle Child, Mr. Waffle, Princess, Twins, Youngest Child

Childminders are proving a bit difficult at the moment. We have our regular woman who, alas, is returning to France at the end of April. We have someone who is covering Tuesday afternoons which I cannot since I started the new job (and our regular woman cannot as she has lectures). We have the new woman who is starting in May. We have our regular evening babysitting woman who is doing some day time cover for us over the school holidays (but can only do bits and pieces as she has another job). Even with Mr. Waffle dutifully filling in the gaps, it’s been a bit of a whirlwind of interviewing and checking references and introducing new people. I offer this as an explanation for why the Princess came home from school on a Tuesday afternoon to find an unknown stranger in the hall welcoming her back. You see we’d told the boys and their school and just, somehow, neglected to tell herself, that we had someone new covering Tuesday afternoons. She was not pleased.

Once the boys start secondary school, I think there will be no more childminders.

Out and About


Posted in: Dublin, Ireland

The weather recently has been cold but fine. We tried to go to Eagle’s Crag a couple of weeks ago but were defeated by a huge traffic jam in the Dublin mountains. A hummer and a horse box had, unsurprisingly, insufficient room to pass each other by on the narrow country road and neither would retreat. My sympathy is with the horse box. We ended up going for a walk in the pine forest instead. And that was fine too:

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Still, I was pleased when, last Friday, we packed a picnic and went off to Eagle’s Crag. The picnic was, from the children’s perspective, the best part of the day. It was bitterly cold in the wind but it was sunny and clear with great views of two lakes.

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Glory!


Posted in: Twins, Youngest Child

Michael’s scout troop had a mild parade to the church and back on St. Patrick’s Day. While it can’t be said that Michael regarded his trip to mass with any great enthusiasm, he attended with a greater degree of resignation than is typical and he brought up shamrock to the altar as part of the service.

The militaristic aspect of the scouts was strongly in evidence with a commanding officer shouting out instructions in army Irish (less intelligible than the other strongest Irish dialect – school Irish). Some of the troops marched with their hands in their pockets so clearly work to be done. Back in the scout hall, a former scout who is now something lofty in the Irish army presented a flag and spoke of his experience as a scout many years previously. Again, Michael bore it all with fortitude.

The Monday after Patrick’s Day, he had his reward. He got his first badge. He had to climb a mountain (covered some weeks previously) but he also had to write an account of it. I was astonished to see that he knuckled down and did it without any nagging (no nagging because we had forgotten, alas) and on submission, got his badge. Hurrah!