beckity

Elsie knocked on the window and waved. She pressed her drawing up against the glass and I smiled up at her and carried on raking the leaves. Molly was with Marek, further back in the garden, putting the ivy branches and leaves he was ripping off the fence into the big compost bin. She had to stand on her tippy toes but she was doing a great job. I finished the last pile of leaves and grabbed the brush. There were more leaves round the front. I swept down the path and out onto the pavement. A man was walking down the road so I left the rest of the pavement and went to the leaves on the drive. As the man passed, he turned and said something. "Sorry?' I paused in my sweeping, and the man asked me directions to the local swimming pool. I leaned on the broom, pointing the direction and he smiled and thanked me. As I returned to my task, I noticed he hadn't moved. I thought he was saying something else. "Sorry?" I repeated, and he explained that he'd told a...

In July 2013, we'd just bought the land, only partially cleared it, and had managed some courgettes and tomatoes. In July 2014, we planted potatoes and they got blight but the girls helped us dig up the harvest for the first time, and the potatoes themselves were fine. In July 2015, we tried out the other side of the garden for potatoes, and got a few, interesting, knobbly ones In July 2016, the potato plants got blight again, but when we dug them up, we found the potatoes fine again. The girls got properly stuck in this year. We all know what we're having with our roast tomorrow...

We are at a family reunion. I am speaking with one of my Dad's cousins, when Molly appears, and watches our conversation with interest. 'Hello!' the cousin says, and I introduce Molly. 'How old are you Molly?' She holds up three fingers. 'I have a granddaughter the same age as you then! Poppy is three.' Molly looks up at her, confused by the term granddaughter. 'Is that a boy or a dog?' * * * We are at the Center Parcs pool. Six little girls from our family splash in the water, and Molly separates from the crowd to watch a baby playing with her mother. She leans down and starts smiling at the baby. 'Hello Baby!' she says, leaning a bit close, and not being at all careful about where she's splashing water. I wander over and suggest she doesn't crowd the baby, who is happily ignoring Molly. 'What's it called?' Molly asks the mother. 'Freya' the woman says, 'she is called Freya.' 'T...

Elsie has taken the big white envelope I've already emptied and a black biro and is scribbling on the back. 'What are you drawing Elsie?' I ask, surprised by the unusual content of the scene she is creating. 'It's a prison!' she says brightly, adding bars to the windows. 'Who's in the prison?' I ask, noting the small window at the bottom, with a little stick figure just visible within. 'A bad man' she says. 'He wanted to make a big war. A war with the whole globe.' 'So now he's in prison?' Molly checks. 'Why is he on the roof?' No, that's not the bad man!' Elsie says, laughing. 'That's the princess!' I recognise the standard long hair and big grin of Elsie's favourite subjects. 'What's a princess doing in the prison?' I ask. 'She's not in the prison, she's on the prison' Elsie explains. 'She's keeping an eye on things.'

Elsie: When I grow up I’m going to be a doctor, and then when I retire I’ll do another job. Molly: When I grow up I’m going to be a doctor, and then when I’m tired, I’ll sleep.

There are book phases just as much as food phases and behaviour phases. We are currently in the Goat goes to Playgroup phase. Dog puts on a dress. Goat is in a mess 'Mummy?' Molly turns her face towards mine. Her large eyes convey the utter seriousness of what she about to tell me. 'Yes Molly' 'I sometimes get in a mess'. Yes Molly.

Molly spots me across the playground and runs over. I bend down to kiss her, then we get her bag, and walk out of nursery. Molly slips her hand into mine and I tell her we are going to pick her sister up, then Daddy, then go home for tea. The Wednesday schedule. 'I did cry for Daddy today' she tells me. 'Yes,' I nod, 'he said that you weren't having your nap when he picked Elsie up at lunchtime to take her to the Polish school. Did you not sleep at all today?' 'No' she says. 'But there was no need to cry. Daddy had to take Elsie to the Polish school and go back to work. You had to stay at school until I came to get you. It's always like that, but usually you are sleeping when Elsie leaves.' 'I know', she nods, happy now. 'Why didn't you sleep?' 'I wasn't behaving properly.' 'Really? Were you disturbing the others?' 'No.' 'Did you scream and shout?' I try another g...

We left our house in the middle of the night and when we woke up, there was a really colourful sky.   Then we drove, we parked the car and we were in Wroclaw! We saw little people with big hats. They are called Krasnoludki and there are lots of them in Wroclaw. We saw one holding a sunflower and two pushing a ball, trying to move it. They even have their own bank machine.  One man was making bubbles. First we put money in a little box, then we played with the bubbles. Molly didn't pop the bubbles, she just looked at them. Other people popped them. We drove for a long time, there were lots of cars and when we got to the mountains, it was dark. When we woke up this morning, we saw the mountains out of the window. After breakfast we went to Zakopane. We went for a horse ride. The horse was called Eryk After that we went in a special train up to the top of the mountain. We ate soup in the cafe and found some snow to climb on and throw at Dadd...