Penguin

 Elsie grabs Louise, pulls her in to smother her in kisses and Louise pulls back, squealing her indignation.

"Leave your sister alone Elsie" I say gently. "She's not a doll, she's a person."

"Maman!" Louise turns to face me, even more indignant now. "Suis pas un pinguin !"

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Molly the charmer

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...
Read more

20 weeks down, 20 to go

'Can you feel it yet? Can you feel it moving?' For the past couple of weeks this has been the question on everyone's lips. The answer at first was 'no, it's a bit early yet' followed by 'no! it's so annoying!' and then 'I don't think so...' Mum says it feels like a funny swooshing kind of movement, and the doc tells me he's heard it's a bit like butterflies fluttering around. Other women have continuously told me 'bubbles! it's like bubbles in there.' The thing is when I think of bubbles, I think of clusters of small airy bubbles, dancing about, floating in the breeze. I don't think of big gassy bubbles slowly seeping up through thick layers of mud, suddenly popping at the top and splattering drops of gloopy ooze all around. Which, to be honest, is more like the kind of thing I'm feeling in there. We saw three magpies in the park today. Ten days and we'll know if they were right... or maybe the scan will j...
Read more

Little Hands

Image
Dear Elsie, Before you were born I had this idea that I'd mutate into a full-blown mummy blogger; unable to contain myself, documenting every little change and development that my darling child went through. You are five months old, and that just hasn't happened. There are countless photos and a youtube channel, but very few blog posts have gone up with you as the star. One reason is that there just hasn't been time. It's incredible how days disappear in minutes, weeks merge into each other and before we know it, you've notched up another month. The other reason is that I don't feel up to the task. Everyone knows that blogging about your offspring is dull, unless it is done with considerable skill and wit. That is daunting. You are the most precious thing I have, and I don't want to do you a disservice by reducing your magic to tired cliches. Having said that I'm afraid that the months and years will pass and we'll forget the littl...
Read more