Thoughts and Words Ill-Sorted

The second day of our vacation was a bit less hurried.  I ordered a big breakfast from the cafe below our apartment, we took a leisurely walk along the same waterfront route we had traveled the previous day, with a brief stop back in town to let the kids burn energy at the playground, and then we packed up and took a half-hour train ride to a town a bit farther down the coast.  Sydney took off to go birdwatching in the nature preserve, and I bribed the kids with snacks so that I could take a quick walk along this magnificent “cliff wall.”  You see why I didn’t let them out of the stroller to join me.

I could have walked all day there, but the kids were getting pretty feisty . . . and there were some serious steps after a mile or so that I didn’t want to try with a hundred-pound stroller.  So we headed back and, just when I thought I might have had quite enough of the whining (both kids wanted out, or a snack, or a drink of water, or, or, or), we plopped down on the sand and had, if not a nap, then three good hours of quiet as we closed our eyes and soaked in the sun or, since neither the kids nor I sit still for long, dug up rocks and shells in the sand.

Sydney found us there and we shared four scoops of ice cream (yes, the kids ate their share) and sandwiches before we loaded up for the train home.  It was a bit weird climbing onto a train with sand in our clothes and between our toes, but we made it home without incident.  I thoroughly enjoyed 20 minutes of cuddling a sleepy Nathaniel before it dawned on me that he was sleeping because he was starting to get sick.  The warm and fuzzy feeling dissipated a bit after that thought.

Erin

Last week’s experiment with nursery went well, but the hiccups were in somewhat unexpected places.  Our two-day trip to Devon meant that we spent Tuesday packing/planning instead of working, and by the end of the week the kids were already tackling their first illnesses from what we presume were the all-new germs they picked up on their first day of school, which meant that I pulled them out of most of nursery on Friday to take them in to the doctor.  We’ve also found that new experiences really set Katherine back in the pottytraining arena.  Sigh.  But the kids seem to be having fun, eating the food they’ve been given, and playing hard.  Now, if I can just keep Nathaniel from napping while he’s at nursery, so that he and Katherine can have a good rest right after I bring them home . . . it’s not that I don’t want to see my kids all day, but it’s so much easier for one to get rest if the other one isn’t elsewhere in the house, giving very vocal evidence of the fun to be had when one is awake!

This week is starting off well.  Sydney and I were both working during the kids’ nursery time, prompted by threatening deadlines.  Job listings come out for English later this week, so I’m very keen on getting my desk cleared so that I can get off to an early start with applications!

Erin

[Rustle, rustle, as the kids wake up from naps]

“Goodness.”

“Why do you say, ‘goodness’?  Say ‘lamp.'”

“Lamp.” [This, I assume, as he’s looking out the window to the streetlamp.  And pointing, getting fingerprints all over my window.]

“Say ‘bird.'”

“Lamp.”

“We have a lamp inside our house, too. Say ‘dog.'”

“Tractor.”

“No tractor, ‘thaniel.  Do you mean ‘truck’?”

“Truck.”

“Yes, there is a truck on the street.  But no tractor.”

[Then a whole discussion about trucks, trains, and tractors, complete with “choo choo” “chug chug” and “beep beep” after they name each machine.  You see why I let this go on for about ten minutes before getting them?  I love that they can hold a conversation, however lopsided.  And I love that Katherine can’t control where the conversation goes, no matter how hard she tries.]

Erin

We are back from our two-day trip to the coast.  I am very glad that I have had a chance to see some of the places Sydney has visited on his birdwatching expeditions, as well as a very different part of England, and it was nice to do some family activities again now that we’re all back from trips to North America.  But Sydney and I also confirmed something we’d been suspecting for a long time: taking the kids traveling isn’t something we should do except when absolutely necessary.  The traveling itself requires an awful lot of good behavior from them, they inevitably get shorted on sleep, and their behavior and needs generally overwhelm the scenery we travel to see.  So, while we enjoyed many parts of our trip, don’t be surprised if we stay home for the near future.

We took an early-morning train down to Topsham, a town on the southern coast in a region of England known as Devon (home of the famous Devon clotted cream, which does the heavy lifting in English cuisine), and then we immediately took off for a “farm” that is actually a whole cluster of food shops, pick-your-own fields, petting zoo, etc.  Most importantly, they had a playground for the kids.

We burned off energy at several playgrounds on our visit:

Once everyone had had a rest at the farm, some time on the slide, and a snack, we headed inside to stock up on “necessities” like olive bread, pesto, blackcurrant ice cream, meringues, and strawberries.  Then we walked back through the incredibly cute town to our B&B.  This street, Sydney tells me, is one of the main roads through town:

In the evening we took a walk along the “Goat Walk,” which skirts the wall on the left in the pictures below.  The tide was out and the sky was clear, and there were other people out enjoying the sun on the benches.  I have to say, it wouldn’t have occurred to me that such a narrow path would be such a social center, but we saw lots of people catching up while perched out there.

The town is both quirky and lovely, with lots of interesting (and narrow!) paths/roads.  All of the buildings had a fresh coat of white paint.  Below is the letter box into which I put my mom’s birthday card.  We’ll see if it arrives.

Erin

For all my planning and practicing with the kids, we’re still noticing that things got kicked into a higher gear this week.  Today was the first day of nursery, so our day looked like this:

– Just before 7am, Erin up and in workout clothes, and wrestling the kids into their clothes

– After some banana and apple, Nathaniel is loaded into the stroller and Katherine is on her scooter, and we make the 1.7-mile walk to nursery (through the parks, up through a quiet residential area, and past several schools)

– By 8 both kids are in their classrooms (Nathaniel crying for a minute or two, Katherine looking with big eyes, thumb in mouth, and staying quiet, but ready to send me away so she can get on with her play), and I’m running/walking back home to shower, eat, and get to the library

– Halfway through my library stint, Sydney joins me in the elegant Upper Reading Room in the library, filled with big windows and lots of people who seem to be doing serious work.  I am putting the final polishes on a journal article myself, so for once I seem to be one with the crowd.

– By 12:30 I’ve dropped my computer off at the house, grabbed an apple for the kids, and am making my way back north to the nursery.  I am wondering if I can buy some clothes that double as workout gear and serious professional woman gear, but then realize that I mostly just own the former and it’s unlikely that they make work clothes for sweating in anyway.

– By 1:30 the kids and I are home, and I’ve tucked them into their beds for nap time.  Thankfully, Katherine does eventually settle down from the excitement and go to sleep, which Nathaniel does right away upon getting home.

– Our late afternoon and evening is filled with bits and pieces of reporting from Katherine (songs they sang at nursery, and things her teachers said to her throughout the day), and then we head out for a long family walk.  Other days will have more cooking in them (we had lots of leftovers to eat today), and, I hope, less laundry, but we’ll be doing this routine three times a week from now on.  For people who have had nearly no structure for a few years, this is quite a change!

There will be more adventures this week: in addition to our three nursery mornings, we’ll be taking a short family vacation down to a small town in Devon, on the southern coast of England, on Wednesday and Thursday.  We figured that one night was all we could afford to be away, particularly since you really stop enjoying things if the kids miss too many naps in a row!  We will try to pack lightly and enjoy the local food and farms, the beach, birdwatching, and small-town life.  And we’ll take our camera!  We’ll be celebrating my birthday, our anniversary, our reunited family, and a bit of quiet before school and the job market get into full swing, so we intend to really enjoy our holiday.

Erin

Yesterday the kids and I were about to start cooking breakfast when Katherine suddenly said, “A slug!”  I followed her pointing finger to a little brown slug stuck right to the front of my oven, in the middle of my kitchen.  Spiders, moths, flies, all those I understand in a country that doesn’t appear to believe in using screens on its windows.  But slugs???  I didn’t leave the door to the garden open overnight, so I am curious to know how he got in.  Slugs are everywhere here, as plentiful as the earthworms I’m used to seeing from home.  And snails.  And mole hills (for awhile we wondered if it was some sort of peculiar “English” landscaping method).  And even the occasional hedgehog.  I now understand why these “strange” creatures are so plentiful in the Beatrix Potter stories I read as a kid, and that I’m now reading to Katherine and Nathaniel.  And, after watching our neighbors’ herbs be consumed by slugs, I have no desire to try gardening here. 

Erin

While Sydney and Katherine were away, Nathaniel and I had a chance to spend whole mornings out for walks on our favorite routes.  So that I can remember them in future years, and so that you can see some of our daily life here, I took pictures along the way.  I spared you the city-street stuff, though even that’s not bad: three or four blocks on a quiet street before we turn onto this cycle track.

Then we turn off onto a path that goes down Mesopotamia.  Yes, it gets its name because it, like the real Mesopotamia, has a river on either side.  There is water five feet from the path on both sides, a fact that once again seems lovely now that Nathaniel’s old enough not to run straight toward the water.

The path continues to an old mill, where a short track pours you out at the doorstep of another lovely, ancient park.  But we usually turn around at the mill and return up this path (which means I sometimes barrel past the same people twice in one walk).  Both kids love this little bridge off the path:

And back up the path:

Then we take the cycle track out over the fields and pastures of a farm that is so wonderfully English, tucked right in the middle of a town.  Am I the only one who thinks of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe when I see these lamp posts out in the middle of green space?

We usually see cows, horses, and birds at the farm.  Now that I’ve discovered a playground just behind it, this area really does seem perfect for two country kids raising a family in town.

Then down a hedge-lined path and up and over the “Rainbow Bridge” that you see at the far end here, half-obscured by the willows (yes, there is a river here, too).  The bridge is quite steep, so you get a great view of the surrounding area.

And then you’re back in the University Parks, which is the site for most of the pictures we post from Oxford.  After you leave the bridge, you are welcomed back to the parks by the shade of this gigantic beech tree (with an umbrella maybe 40 feet across?).

Erin

It’s all about the socks.

Erin

Erin

And currently the house is quiet.  We’re about an hour into our first attempt at getting them to sleep in the same room.  So far, no sleep, but also no major tantrums.  Let the games begin.

Erin