16, a much nicer number

I’ve just been to Tesco and i bought…. biscuits, chocolate, 5 notebooks (Amelie is getting through a lot of them!) a laminator, 2 packs of pouches, washing up liquid, mad person pills, 2 tops and 2 pairs of trousers IN REAL SIZE 16!!!!!

Your turn.

I can’t remember the last time i owned size 16 trousers without elastic and that didn’t come from the 16-26 section. I’m right chuffed. And i can sit down in them. (Might not eat a big meal in them though!) AND i didn’t have to grunt to get over the humped backed bridge on the way home after my long route cycle.

All this is good.

BM is having a good week too, so this is also good, i’ve had heaps of nice emails and nice phone calls today, which is completely lovely and has cheered me up lots and the children have been nice all day. Josie hasn’t asked for a feed, which made a nice change but did involve me getting up hurriedly if she ever spied me sitting down, which means i even had to use the computer standing up… which will inevitably lead to me slipping a disc, which will mean lying down for 6 months and Josie will therefore have unrelenting boob maulling time and drink me to a skeleton. Or perhaps a size 14. Which might…. be good… but perhaps a little extreme. Then again i’d probably eat a lot of chocolate, not be able to ride my bike (which i like so much i actually take people out to the garage to look at it when they come round!) and end up a 16-26 size 20 again.

Hm. Swings and roundabouts.

Talking of breastfeeding (and while pondering how to comment on another thread it has now occurred to me that perhaps i could get mock no-nipples and wear them to confuse Josie?) i’ve been amusing myself with the conversations and integrated child body language going on over it over the last week or two. Josie has become VERY possessive and won’t let anyone near me if she is feeding (except Max, but even he gets a kicking); she fights anyone snuggling up for a cuddle, grabs hold of both sides (um-bubble cannot be touched by another while pum-bubble is in use!!!! 🙄 ) and growls at the others too if they come too close. She has possibly earned her description of being like a “ravaging t-rex” (as described by Max, i’ll save his blushes and mine by omitting the second part of the simile! 😆 )

I’m not remotely convinced it has anything to do with food or comfort anymore, i think it is just possession and time-claiming and i’m fascinated by it. The others, in true “one of the pack but not yet out of the cub kindergarten” style, have become very aggressive about it and routinely come and bother us while she feeds now. It too appears to have nothing to do with real need but just some sort of gentle “knocking into place” thing; Josie has started to get jostled and bullied, in a gentle sibling sort of a way. She gets very little quarter now and all of them will give her a good telling off if she tries to overstep the mark. I foresee fireworks – and not just on her birthday 😆

The snowman was part of a set they built to do a show for me, which i did enjoy as they all had a ball performing it. Costumes, script and set were done with such verve and it reminded me of the “tableaux” the girls used to do in early Chalet books. I got quite misty eyed. I did laugh though that they set the first scene in the wardrobe, with the door closed!!!!!! Their lines were therefore appropriately punctuated with “get off my foot” and “ow!” – just as it should be!

They promptly decided to do a summer play next so then spent HOURS on hama stuff to be the set. While they did that i read more Charles Darwin to them. I have to say, i really rate this little book, at least i do until i learn more about the story when i suppose i’ll have to work out how true to life it is. But it manages to be very balanced, have a voice for the Bible and a voice for evolution, a childs view, lots of action, lots of description, good vocab, no dumbing down that is obvious and an excellent anti school rant at the beginning!!!!!

We read 3 chapters, then went out to swimming, where Fran did very well but Maddy seemed to flounder again. Back home to get rid of nearly all the stuff i freecycled this week; two sleeping bags, a roll mat, a folding bed, 4 pairs of curtains and 3 bookcases have gone in all! Given i rely so much on the internet and relied so much on ebay to start with, i do enjoy being able to use freecycle now and sort of pay back my good fortune somehow. It is a ridiculously feel-good feeling to just give stuff away, isn’t it 🙂

Right… laminating done, orders updated, weirdnesses to look into….. better go and carry on being meaningful somewhere else. Love the new laminator though; £12.00 for one 3 times as good as the one that cost £150! 🙄