Got a voicemail from D, stepfather yesterday. Apparently it’s the coroner’s inquest for my sister today, which obviously I can’t go to as I’m in CP, but various other family members are going to. Felt very excluded and emotional for a bit, but that was all wiped out when Big had a major tantrum (think exhaused three year old, but size of 10 year old with corresponding lung capacity) at the playground, necessitating manhandling her back to the chalet and inserting her into her bedroom to calm down.
Perhaps an early swim was too much. I also think that Big is suffering a little from accidental left outedness – her two close friends here both swim like fish so can do rapids and so on, and she’s still bobbing around wailing about being out of her depth. Then after we’d swum and lunched, the two friends went off out on their bikes and she doesn’t have a bike nor is she able to ride it, so that was not good either.
The swimming (or lack of swimming ability) is obviously all my fault. I would agree that I haven’t taken them swimming anything like enough, but I’d also state for the record that making all the effort and then being wailed at makes me so much less likely to make the effort again. Ah well, once we’re moved we’re within walk of a swimming pool, so we will rectify the situation – I think the motivation might be there now anyway 😉
Small is very happy. He tried swimming without his ring, and it didn’t work too well – “I can’t do it” with a panicked expression – so we calmly got out and got his ring, and he spent the session bobbing around grinning again. Thinking about buying him one of those foam noodle things so that he can experiment with floatation. He finished Sideways stories (sitting on Tim’s lap while Beans visited for tea) and moved on to Wayside School is Falling Down
. These are the first books that I’ve seen him go back to several days in succession, even despite the trauma of the missing 19th storey/ story.
Michelle and I finished off the day by leaving the children with Tim watching films and going off to the spa for the moonlight session. It was very relaxing – I highly recommend it 🙂 We particularly enjoyed the Japanese and Balinese steam rooms, although the aqua meditation did nothing for us – you sit back on padded benches and relax to the sound of running water, which at one point sounded like a flushing toilet, so we looked at each other and made gurgling noises of our own 😉
Got back, sent children to bed, Tim made pasta and we drank some wine. It was all very civilised. We listened to the listen again of Jeremy Vine and went to bed slightly too late, but not as late as the night before.
The morning here is deteriorating. Big has now been sent to our room (sending her to her room didn’t work as Small was in there trying to get dressed) and is giving a master class in talking back from the doorway. Wish I could work out where I’m going wrong atm. Hopefully this too will pass. Soon.
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