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Minus a Buggy, Plus a Hat

22 January, 2006
Posted in: Princess

Is it any wonder with all this sleep deprivation, that I left the Princess’s buggy behind me at the tram stop this morning? She was a bit distressed but I reassured her that it would be there when we got back. My faith was misplaced. Who the hell takes a 20 euro supermarket buggy from the tram stop? Fortunately, she is not old
enough to be embarrassed by her mother inquiring in neighbouring cafes whether anyone had handed in a buggy. No, nobody had.

However, to restore your faith in human nature, let me tell you the following heart-warming tale. Outside the church we go to, there is a group of regular beggars. The Princess and I have built up a special relationship with one of the beggars, a very nice man, who is always very sweet to our girl. This morning, it was perishing and I had forgotten to bring along a hat for her highness. Our friend was very concerned about this and insisted on giving her his hat. I was against this for a range of reasons, some of them worthy (the poor man will be frozen, we have lots of hats at home, we can afford more hats), some of them distinctly less so (where has that hat been and what is the bizarre smell?). However, my attempts at refusal were scuppered by madam who clutched it in her little hand and clamped it on her head. He says that we can give it back to him next week. You will be relieved to know that he confirms that he has another hat at home.
Comments

kristin

(Homepage)

on 22 January 2006 at 18:13
i sympathize deeply with the cosleeping. we have recently given up on bedtime, as such, because after 3 years, one thing we have learned is that the child will not sleep according to any schedule of our making. the new schedule involves lettting her drop off in a parental bed, where she sleeps like a lamb for 8 hours. yes, it only took us 3 years to just give in.

beachhutman

on 22 January 2006 at 22:38
Alas, it was a seven years stretch in our case. Ultimately disasterous. Get them BACK in that cot! 0
Sweetie(s) given

Friar Tuck

on 22 January 2006 at 23:56
I am imagining a hatless beggar pushing a pram full of his belongings around Bxls.

Berry

on 23 January 2006 at 01:55
I just came across your blog today and you got it going! How you manage so well with 3! I only have one whose sick at the moment and can’t imagine what it must be like.
You’re little ones are too cute!

belgianwaffle

on 23 January 2006 at 09:14
Phoebejo?
Kristin, BHM, I see you give conflicting advice, but I feel that there is something in what the BHM says.
FT, well, yes..
Berry, you are kind, I’d rather have 3 well ones than one sick one,hope that your mite is feeling better. 0
Sweetie(s) given
JoJo

on 23 January 2006 at 14:37
Indeed! Hope you had a better night last night chuck.

Minkleberry

on 23 January 2006 at 19:54
Jimi has taken to swearing in a lullaby voice when Seth snuffles awake in the wee hours. I find it oddly comforting and it sends me right off to sleep.
I wonder the damage to the poor boys psyche..

belgianwaffle

on 25 January 2006 at 08:50
Thanks Jojo. Minks, I LOVE that!

Growing Boys

20 January, 2006
Posted in: Middle Child, Princess, Twins, Youngest Child

Did you know that twins suck each other’s thumbs? Or noses, or shoulders, or whatever happens to be in range.  They weigh nearly12 kilos between them now. That’s a lot of baby to be hefting round.

They are developing personalities. Daniel is a big baby with an amiable grin and relaxed manner who reminds me forcibly of his uncle (my feckless brother – I foresee a lifetime of getting extra keys cut). He looks very like his big sister and moves like she did at his age (why should I hold my head up? No, really, why?  I don’t intend to crawl until I reach 11 months).

Michael is a very different child. Unlike the Princess and Daniel,he is not a bald baby (how extraordinary). He loves having his legs bicycled and already puts weight on his legs,an ominous sign that he may walk early. Where did we get an athletic baby from? Unlike his older and bigger brother he believes that sleep is for wimps but he is a lot more amiable on his four hours a night than I suspect Margaret Thatcher ever was.   I, however, am finding the regime challenging and, of course, the Princess likes to add her mite. I am sure you can imagine the joy in the Waffle household when after a night awake with the boys, the Princess knocked on our bedroom door at 6.02 this morning.

kristin

(Homepage)

on 21 January 2006 at 15:54

look at those contented visages! what happy boys they seem.

JoJo

on 22 January 2006 at 14:54

Sez – afternoon nap, you say? Ha ha ha (come on, join in waffly) ha ha ha.

Berry

on 23 January 2006 at 01:52

ahhh. So cute!!

belgianwaffle

on 23 January 2006 at 09:10

Sez, Jojo is right as ever. Kristin, Berry, thank you.

Tiring in a Whole New Way

20 January, 2006
Posted in: Middle Child, Princess, Twins, Youngest Child

Email from my friend D:

Saw this and thought of you -particularly your description of bringing Princess to school with the twins in tow, one in a sling and the other in the buggy. I feel that this is not a viable option into the future as the twins get bigger..http://www.magicmum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=18600

Hope all is ok with you. Baby A has a cold and was awake crying from 1am to 4 am last night. I am shattered. I don’t know how you possibly manage with three. In fact I am surprised that anyone in the world has siblings at all, now that reliable contraception is available….

Yours in exhausted bewilderment,

You will note her wisdom in the matter of siblings.

Comments

belgianwaffle

on 23 January 2006 at 09:08
Good Lord Kristin, how extraordinary.

Role playing

19 January, 2006
Posted in: Princess

Princess (to Mr. W.): Phtum, you’re me.
Princess (to me): Phtum, you’re Daddy.

Me (to Princess): Who are you?

Princess(aggrievedly):I’m MUMMY.

Mr. W (as Princess): Waah, get my doggy.

Me (as Mr. W): Don’t shout, be good and I will get your doggy.

Mr. W (as Princess): PLEASE get my doggy.

Me (as Mr. W. to Princess in role of Mummy): Is that sufficient? Will I get her doggy?

Princess (as Mummy): Yes, she is only two and a half, you know.

Comments

poggle

on 19 January 2006 at 12:44

Fabulous. She’s going to be (possibly foul-mouthed) Oscar winner one day. 0
Sweetie(s) given ���

belgianwaffle

on 19 January 2006 at 19:14

Thanks Amerly. V. prob foul mouthed, pog. 0
Sweetie(s) given ���

UndercoverCookie

on 20 January 2006 at 11:56

your two and a half year old is giving you parenting advice. haha!
I’m torn between recommending Mr Waffle be more demanding and him being more flexible and accommodation. I fear the former may just give her more inspiration and the later give her unrealistic representation of herself. 0
Sweetie(s) given ���

belgianwaffle

on 20 January 2006 at 12:17

I know, UC, I know, and I’d love to know where she gets that smug manner from as well… 0
Sweetie(s) given ���

]]>

First World Problems

18 January, 2006
Posted in: Siblings, Twins

Our fridge is broken. I rang my sister for sympathy.

Me (dolefully): Guess what?
Her: What?
Me: Our fridge has broken down.
Her: Thank God, I thought that you were going to say that you were pregnant.

I rang the Baroness’s agent (yes our landlady is a Baroness, welcome to Belgium, land of minor aristocracy) but
Charles-Emmanuel was unmoved by our plight. “But,” I pleaded “we have twin babies, we really NEED a fridge.” “Madam,” he said unmoved, “everybody needs a fridge.”

In fairness, however, the Baroness and her ex-husband (all the tenants wish that they’d get back together, he’s very handy and efficient) turned up to inspect the offending fridge, pronounced it dead and have since arranged for a new one to be purchased. Delivery is, alas, still pending. This is a matter of particular regret to me since I bought a lot of post-Christmas discount foie gras (in Belgium, foie gras is for Christmas not for life) and now it all has to be chucked.
Comments

Bobble

on 18 January 2006 at 15:49
We’ll come round and help you out with the eating.

Friar Tuck

on 18 January 2006 at 16:11
Maybe you could send the foie gras to the baroness in order to stress the importance of receiving a new fridge ASAP.

on 18 January 2006 at 16:37
Why *minor* aristocracy ? Aristocracy is measured by its origins in time, rather than a scale of titles … Your baroness could very well be from a family dating from the 12th century, and a Count might as well be from a family belonging to aristocracy since the early 1900’s …

jackdalton

on 18 January 2006 at 20:48
Just as well, knowing what foie gras is supposed to do to the libido…

Friar Tuck

on 19 January 2006 at 02:26
Baroness makes a good point. Take my family, for instance. We can trace our origins back to Adam and Eve.

kristin

on 19 January 2006 at 04:39
just recovering from my posting faux pas of a few days ago to say … ‘toast points for everyone!’ i am quite jealous that you have good foie gras available to you, nevermind its incipient demise.

belgianwaffle

on 19 January 2006 at 12:08
It is very gratifying to discover that you all like foie gras.
Baroness, with all due respect, no matter how old a baronetcy is, I think that it’s pretty low down the pecking order.

poggle

on 19 January 2006 at 12:45
That’s awful – just awful – throwing away foie gras is a tragedy

belgianwaffle

on 20 January 2006 at 12:15
Pog, I am delighted to add you to the long list of my readers who are foie gras fans. Perhaps we could set up a club.

poggle

on 20 January 2006 at 12:53
Yes – we could have secret handshakes and codes (eg the grey geese fly at dawn). Ahem.

jackdalton

on 20 January 2006 at 13:18
Hmmm, grey geese that fly at dawn etc. Another unexpected depth to the Pog(gle).
But what I really wanted to say was that I have vague memories of being emotionally savaged by a policy wonk / veggie type I loved deeply but too well because of what they do to geese to make foie gras. All about locking them in barns, force-feeding them, clipping wings and oversized livers that made their legs break. And so on.
Kind of put me off for a while. But I’m allright now…
Ain’t time a wonderful thing?!

poggle

on 20 January 2006 at 13:20
Your policy wonk/veggie type was telling the truth. I am a bad person. Sometimes my appetite outweighs my conscience. But you already knew that, right?

jackdalton

on 20 January 2006 at 13:51
We are all bad people in some small ways; unthinkingly dragging (one of our two) new blankets through the gutters of life. Except ‘waf. Who is amazingly stoic and clear-sighted or something.
(Can anything truly outweigh conscience? Just wondering…. )

poggle

on 20 January 2006 at 13:53
You’re right, of course. My conscience doesn’t generally get outweighed. Sometimes it gets pushed to the back because of an excess of vin rouge (or similar), but not for long.

belgianwaffle

on 23 January 2006 at 09:08
Conscience? What’s that? The grey geese fly at dawn, my friends.

jackdalton

on 23 January 2006 at 20:41
So that would be geese and conscience flying with the wind….. 0

belgianwaffle

on 25 January 2006 at 08:51
Eh, yes Jack. 0

Around Whom Does the World Revolve?

18 January, 2006
Posted in: Princess

In the tram, the Princess peers at a fellow traveller’s shopping and, perceiving a gift wrapped item, turns to me, points at the parcel and says “I hope that present is for me.”

Bobble

on 18 January 2006 at 15:48 She needs her own TV show. Sweetie(s) given ���

poggle

on 19 January 2006 at 12:46 Bobs is right. I’d pay to watch that. Sweetie(s) given ���

belgianwaffle

on 19 January 2006 at 19:15 HJB, Bobble, pog, do you think if we put her on the telly she might start to pay her way? Sweetie(s) given ���

poggle

on 20 January 2006 at 09:37 She might at least employ you as her PA – that’d be a start … 😉 0
Sweetie(s) given ���

belgianwaffle

on 20 January 2006 at 12:16 Pog, I think she’d be too demanding a boss. HJB, ta for sweetie, belatedly noticed.. 0
Sweetie(s) given

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