belgianwaffle

Princess

Leaving on a Jet Plane


Posted in: Middle Child, Princess, Travel, Twins, Youngest Child

Yes, indeed we are off to Ireland for Christmas this afternoon with our mountain of luggage, as yet unpacked. As it happens, I do know when I’Â’ll be back again. We will return to the kingdom of the Belgians on January 4 and I expect updates, if any, to be few and far between until then. Pause here to laugh cruelly at the duration of American holidays as opposed to European ones.

In the interim, I wish you all a very happy Christmas and leave you with a Christmas photo. Note the look of fear on the boysÂ’ faces.

Comments

poggle
on 17 December 2005 at 10:06
Note the evil smile on the face of the Princess … oooh dear.

kristin (Homepage) on 17 December 2005 at 12:17 I agree with pog — not only the fear on the boys’ face, but the gleeful mischievousness on the princess. have lovely hols, waffley.

Friar Tuck
on 17 December 2005 at 16:21
They do have that “deer in the headlights” look about them.

Lilo
on 18 December 2005 at 11:32
I think your boys look like they’re trying to keep very, very still.
Happy Christmas Ms Waffle x

jackdalton
on 18 December 2005 at 18:12
‘Now if I just knock these together…’ thought Princess. But then she realised there was a camera present. So she smiled her big smile and waited for a better, less camera-prone moment.
🙂
Have a Happy Christmas, ‘waf and co.

Minkleberry
on 19 December 2005 at 07:37
Those pregnancy hormones have really kicked in. This piccie’s got me wailing. So adoreable!

Bobble
on 21 December 2005 at 11:07
Have a fabulous natale all of you – hope my card arrived?!

belgianwaffle
on 09 January 2006 at 10:20
Thank you all very much – have been poor at replying to comments recently but all is now restored to normal…

School


Posted in: Princess

The school boasts a big advantage for us – it’s round the corner from where we live. The Head, however, describes it as “socially mixed” and my middle class soul was a little nervous about this. Of course, I felt bad about feeling nervous and Mr. Waffle, who seems to suffer from none of the usual middle class hang-ups despite having attended fee paying private schools, said bracingly,  “What would happen if everyone refused to send their children to socially mixed schools?”   Today, I discovered that one of the consequences of being “socially mixed” is that a lot of the children don’t speak French.  The teacher was delighted to discover that madam a) spoke French and b) was toilet trained.   I must say, all of this unnerved me a bit but a lot of the children who don’t speak French are Polish and I found this comforting because I sort of see the Poles as like the Irish; catholic, committed to education etc., no NOT feckless.

Anyway, she’s only 2 and a half, how much of a problem can it be that half of her classmates can’t speak French? But my heart sank as we were leaving and I saw the teacher put on
“Finding Nemo”.   Somehow it seems wrong, but, you know, good for crowd control.

Comments

kristin

(Homepage)

on 15 December 2005 at 16:51

I completely sympathize with your m-c soul and the fear of Finding Nemo. Remember, at this age it’s all socialization (btw, was nemo in french or english?) and even if it’s learning to hang out with poles and watch movies, that’s not such a bad thing to know at 2.5. and she’ll be trilingual in no time. and can i say wow about the potty training? lucy is just 3, and so ready to move on to the next class at preschool, except that she’s got to be potty trained, and she’s resisting peeing at school. sigh.
clever princess, starting school. kisses to her.

Peggy

(Homepage)

on 16 December 2005 at 10:00

You don’t mention anywhere: what was the Princess’ reaction ? Is she thrilled she will soon be going to school? Did she want to stay and watch the film with the others?

belgianwaffle

on 16 December 2005 at 11:07

FT, indeed.
Kristin, thank you, that makes me feel a lot better. Am sure your toilet training blues will pass shortly though I realise it is a pain at the moment. Nemo was in French, by the way.
Peggy, that was the worst bit, she loathed it and was like a briar for the rest of the day. I think she was slightly overwhelmed by the numbers and she said to me afterwards “That’s not my school Mummy, my school is different”. I’m not sure what she was expecting but it’s fair to say that her expectations weren’t met.


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

For example, last night the Princess sought vainly for my attention as I tried to simultaneously cook dinner and express 200mls of breastmilk (I know 200 mls, amazing eh?). ? Standing under a hot shower in the morning can lead to me spraying the walls with milk in a sort of sub-Psycho fashion (a little too much information?).

Last night, having fed the boys all evening at about 1.00 in the morning, I prodded my poor spouse awake and said “give Michael a bottle, I can’t stand it any more”. 

At 5.00, I woke up and having fed the babies, trotted out to the kitchen to take meat out of the freezer for dinner (which I had forgotten to do last night, no, this is not a regular feature of my
nights).   On opening the fridge, I found that the expressed bottle of breast milk was still there, which meant that Mr. Waffle had, all gasp please, given Michael formula earlier in the evening.

Since my husband had disappeared from the marital bed, I had a look round the house for him to discuss this serious matter. Found him on the couch looking up the phone book for the number of a local bookshop. He wanted to order a Princess Waffle memorial book for the creche. I had to have out the matter of expressed milk v formula so I was only momentarily distracted by the weirdness of his timing.

Me: You gave Michael FORMULA.
Him: Eh?
Me: When you gave him the bottle.
Him: Oh right.
Me: But there was expressed milk in the fridge.
Him: Sorry, missed it.
Me (purple in the face with indignation): What?
Him: Are we really arguing about this at 5.00 in the morning?
Both collapse in mildly hysterical giggles as oddness of my behaviour becomes apparent.

A little tired today…

Comments

Bobble

on 14 December 2005 at 09:59

“Standing under a hot shower in the morning can lead to me spraying the walls with milk in a sort of sub-Psycho fashion”

Minkleberry

on 14 December 2005 at 12:19

I’m still overwhelmed with admiration at your ability to feed two new(ish) and hungry babies.
At 5am I was ignoring my big child as he whimpered for attention in his bedroom, whilst simultaneously avoiding eye-contact with the cot that is now sharing our bedroom.
Incidentally, me and Jimi have some of our best rows in the wee hours.

Peggy

(Homepage)

on 14 December 2005 at 13:14

I’m very impressed by the happy ending of your story.
I think I would have poured the expressed milk in the bottle of coffee that Jim takes to work everyday.

geepeemum

on 14 December 2005 at 16:51

Ummm – sleeping?

beachhutman

on 14 December 2005 at 21:59

Formula is very GOOD you know…….

belgianwaffle

on 15 December 2005 at 12:27

BhM, formula is the root of all evil, don’t quibble.
GPM, very dull..
Peggy, how imaginative you are.
Minks, am awaiting your new arrival with bated breath. Unlike Ez, I suspect.
Bobble, we aim to please.
HJB, 2 sweeties, you are too kind. For this, I can confirm that there are no mad axe men in Switzerland.

Friar Tuck

on 15 December 2005 at 16:28

I can remember a day in the not-so-distant past when a certain someone smugly smirked at me because I must arise at 5.30 every morning. So for the record I would just like to say that at 5.00 this morning I was snug in my bed. {smirk}

belgianwaffle

on 16 December 2005 at 11:08

My agony will end. Smirk.

http://www.belgianwaffle.net/2005/12/488/

Christening


Posted in: Cork, Family, Ireland, Middle Child, Princess, Twins, Youngest Child

My sons will be baptised in Cork over Christmas thus ensuring for my mother a lifetime of retrieving ecclesiastical paperwork for her grandchildren.

We’re hoping to be more prepared than we were for the PrincessÂ’’s christening. We didn’Â’t know that you needed a candle.  When the crucial moment arrived, I hissed at my aunt, ““You’Â’re very religious, why didn’Â’t you tell us we needed a candle?””  ““I thought you knew”,” she hissed
back. Her highness was christened under a night light retrieved from a side altar. Your baptismal candle is supposed to enjoy further outings at your communion and confirmation.  That’Â’s probably why they donÂ’t use night lights. We knew that she needed a white garment alright and proudly produced a white cot blanket.  We were somewhat abashed to see that the little overachiever being christened at the same time as the Princess had an elaborate lacy number with her name embroidered on it.  It was probably vomit free too.

My religious aunt is to be godmother to Daniel. I phoned her the other day to confirm dates
and times and she told me tartly that she has purchased two christening candles. Now, who will buy lacy garments and embroider their names on them?

Comments

Manboobs

on 09 December 2005 at 15:22

Dirty Nappy; Clean Soul. Congratulations

Minkleberry

on 09 December 2005 at 19:13

Bobble, that’s such a relief- my poor Nanny has been so worried about mine and my sisters’ eternity in limbo.

Friar Tuck

on 09 December 2005 at 19:28

Minkle, only infants get a pass. Unless you are a precocious two year-old, your Nanny should continue worrying, not about Limbo, but worse!  But back to the baptismal garment, I know someone who makes their living selling handmade ones. It’s too late for flapjack and pancake, but I can put you in touch for any subsequent progeny.

kristin

(Homepage)

on 09 December 2005 at 23:06

My daughter was christened in a haze of high, high episcopalian incense, and my poor baptist mother still hasn’t recovered. She only stood the christening dress because lucy looked so adorable in it, but once the recitation of the saints started, she looked very pale. the event was particularly memorable because my sister’s hair caught fire from the candle she was holding during the procession to the font. the mom of the other baby who was being baptised that day offered to give us the videotape of kera on fire, for posterity. i think she was just jealous that lucy was such a cutie.

beachhutman

on 11 December 2005 at 10:36

If you think THAT’s a palaver, wait for first communions !

belgianwaffle

on 14 December 2005 at 09:13

Bob, Minks, MB, aren’t you glad that we have FT to sort these things out for us? FT, start your own blog in the new year or face dire consequences.
Kristin, that’s hilarious, superb story.
BHM, I know, I know.

Halting the Cycle of Inter-Generational Trauma


Posted in: Family, Mr. Waffle, Princess

When Mr. Waffle was 7, his parents moved to Venezuela for six months.  I was looking at the pictures from Venezuela with him and his mother one day and there was one of him in a rather twee t-shirt featuring a little boy and girl fishing together.  “Oh yes,” he said bitterly “my ‘gone wishing’ t-shirt”. On closer inspection, the words “gone wishing” did indeed feature in faded letters over the picture on the t-shirt.  It appeared that because they were only in Venezuela for 6 months, his mother had not considered it necessary to get all the kit required by the school and instead of the regulation gym t-shirt, she had issued Mr. Waffle with the “gone wishing” number.  This had obviously scarred his sensitive soul.

Please bear this incident in mind when considering the following piece of dialogue.

Me:  It says on her school list that we have to get her a “tablier”, what the hell is that?

Him: Kind of a smock thing, but we can just cut down one of my old shirts.

Me:  But it gives the name of the shop where we can buy them…

Him:  But there’s no need, one of my old shirts will be fine.

Me: But she won’t have a smock like the other children.

Him: But, for heaven’s sake, it doesn’t matter, it’s only to keep her clothes clean when she’s painting.

You will be delighted to hear that, in defiance of my husband, I went to the authorised supplier and purchased a tablier, pictured below.

Seriously, would a cut down shirt have done?  Please note the pencils and paintbrushes embroidered above the pocket before giving your answer.

UndercoverCookie

on 05 December 2005 at 11:00

but what if she turns out to be only kid in the tablier and all the other kids are in cut down shirts? 0
Sweetie(s) given    

kristin

(Homepage)

on 05 December 2005 at 15:33

ROARING with laughter over cookie’s comment. but you would think that mr. waffle would be more sympathetic, given the Gone Wishing incident.

Friar Tuck

on 05 December 2005 at 15:42

You’ll spoil her rotten, you will. But the smile makes it all worthwhile.

LondonMom

on 05 December 2005 at 21:36

Simply fab!

belgianwaffle

on 06 December 2005 at 15:21

Bobble, right as ever.
UC, you have a very cruel streak and you too Kristin.
Ta, FT, LondonM. 0
Sweetie(s) given    

StarCorner

on 06 December 2005 at 20:20

Nope – Mr W’s old shirt would not have looked as cute as this!! 0
Sweetie(s) given    

belgianwaffle

on 07 December 2005 at 09:28

That’s right Star, excellent comment. 0
Sweetie(s) given    

Peggy

(Homepage)

on 07 December 2005 at 12:25

An old tee-shirt, even in adult size, would not have covered her sleeves as much as this lovely tablier does.

belgianwaffle

on 08 December 2005 at 15:08

And you’re Belgian, Peggy, so your advice is obviously correct, I intend to draw my husband’s attention to this very important point this evening. 0
Sweetie(s) given    

beachhutman

on 08 December 2005 at 21:57

Nope. ALWAYS get the kit the others have, as long as the overdraft can stand it…..
I remember the shame all too well
A. Man. 0
Sweetie(s) given    

belgianwaffle

on 09 December 2005 at 08:16

Yeah, parents can be very cruel. 0
Sweetie(s) given    

Turning into my Husband


Posted in: Mr. Waffle, Princess

The other morning I found that Mr. Waffle had drawn a map of the supermarket and indicated
on it where all the items we needed were to be found.  I scoffed. I chucked it out.

Then on Saturday morning as I traipsed around the supermarket with Little Ms. Cranky and found that I had forgotten to get garlic in the vegetable section and wipes in the baby bit, I began to wish that I had the supermarket map. What on earth is this happening to me?