« August 2008 | Main | October 2008 »
SadDroolieMonkeyGirl
Posted by Webby at September 29, 2008 10:39 PM | Comments (0)Sad Girl
Accustomed, as she is, to enjoying Monday mornings with Dominic and Helen, Evelyn spent much of this morning sobbing inconsolably in Dominic's absence."I don't know him [Dominic] anymore", Evelyn told Jilly between sobs. "He knows new people now, and not me!"
Obviously, Evelyn is having difficulty understanding that Dominic going to school doesn't mean that she will never see him again, or that he will somehow forget all about her. Unfortunately, Dominic starting school seems to have coincided with a few week-ends when we have been unable to spend any time with the Wassocks so that Evie and Dominic can see each other.
Very generously (and Evelyn is extremely excited about this), Jim (the Uber-Wassock) has offered to have Evelyn over to theirs for a sleepover (which may involve a precursory dinner and games evening for Mummy and Daddy...HUZZAR!)
Droolie Girl
After visiting the GPs at 08:00 this morning followed by a long wait for the bus to the local chemist in the cold; a particularly strenuous run around one of the local parks; and spending some time leaf-collecting as they walked back up the hill to home this morning, Jilly and Evelyn returned to the house for a bit of a 'veg' in front of the television before Jilly left for work in the afternoon. During one of the more intellectually challenging CBeebies programmes, Jilly was roused by Evelyn's prodding index finger."Mummy", she told Jilly, "you are snoring and you have drooled on me!"
Apparently, Jilly had fallen asleep while cuddling up on the sofa with Evelyn, and Evelyn had to wake her to stop the cascade of sleepy drool from drowning her. She is a bad mother.
Monkey Girl
While Jilly and Evelyn were in the park, Evelyn successfully made it from one side of the parks monkey bars to the other using only the power of her monkey-arm-swing. She's only four! There are seven bars on the...er...monkey bars, and Evelyn swung across the lot entirely unaided. She's only FOUR!Websters Independent Traders | New York - Paris - Mount
Posted by Webby at September 27, 2008 08:25 PM | Comments (0)Jilly decided, some time ago, that she would like to have a stall on the open market in town. Rather meanly, I've 'poo-pooed' the idea, believing that it would be a colossal waste of Jilly's (and, possibly, my) time.
Fantastically, today, Jilly has rubbished my cynicism, proving me completely wrong. Together with a car full of second hand (but good quality) clothes (mostly Evelyn's, but one or two of Jilly's old things), books and toys, I took Jilly to the market to get a stall for the day. As it happens, it took Jilly almost two hours to secure the stall (there's something of a first come, first served policy for casual stallholders) and get all her stuff displayed.
Jilly was on the stall from about 09:30 until 15:30 and, having paid for the 'rent' of the stall and her public liability insurance, came out with a little under £100. What's most fantastic, though, is that when I arrived to collect her and what remained of her 'stock', it appeared to me that she'd sold next to nothing...most of the gear we took seemed still to be there..."Ready to sell another day!", she told me. Oh, my word!
Jilly points out that the reason she appeared to have sold next to nothing was the fact the she had continually replenished her stock from boxes under the stall...reminding me what an amateur I would have been on the market!
Little Girl Alone
Posted by Webby at September 15, 2008 08:30 PM | Comments (0)Jilly took Evelyn to their favourite activity centre today, and Evie became absolutely inconsolable when she realised that Dominic wasn't going to be there. Jilly and Helen had explained to Evelyn that, as Dom was beginning school last week, they wouldn't be joining them for any more fun-packed Mondays at Smashin' Pumpkins.
What made matters worse was that, according to Jilly, Evelyn seems to have convinced herself that she's never going to see Dominic (or Eloise) ever again, as they've both started primary school this month. Obviously, Jilly reassured Evie that she would see the pair of them again and that, afterall, she was going to school herself in January.
Sadly, Evelyn's mood didn't really improve!
Jilly's Birthday Treat / Daddy Daughter Day
Posted by Webby at September 14, 2008 08:56 PM | Comments (0)As a very special treat, and to celebrate Jilly's forthcoming 40th birthday, Julie and Jilly spent the day shopping in Manchester, and the evening in one of Manchester's finest hotels.
Most of the day was spent trying to find Jilly a bridesmaid's dress for Julie and Ged's forthcoming wedding, but I don't think either of the girls took this task very seriously. Jilly suggested that Julie had been a little mischievous in her choice of some of the frocks that she'd asked Jilly to try on (I think some of them may have been quite hideous!)
According to Jilly, both the girls were very tired after their day in Manchester and Julie's feet were massively swollen by the time they made it back to the hotel (I did wonder if this description was slightly exaggerated as a result of having to wear so many hideous frocks before the population of Manchester). Julie and Jilly enjoyed a lovely meal in the hotel restaurant before retiring their room for a (comparatively) early might - Jilly sent me text at 22:45, explaining that they were going to bed and asking, "haven't we done well?" They know how to live alright!
In the meantime, I spent a lovely day with Evelyn. We had a excellent time in the morning, littin' an' stittin' (licking and sticking) before going into the park for a breath of fresh air. I had hoped, perhaps naively, that Evelyn would tire herself out in the adventure playground; but no such luck...
As it came time for the first instalment of this years Strictly Come Dancing, Evelyn was still wide awake and desperate to get on with some serious dancing. Unfortunately, this first show was simply an introduction to all the competitors...and Evelyn was almost inconsolable that there wasn't any dancing. Evelyn must have asked me FIVE times why they weren't dancing, or when they were going to dance. In the end I finally managed to convince Evie that this week's show was only on so that all the daddies could admire all the beautiful lady dancers (and that there might be someone of interest for the mummies watching, too!)
So, Webby's Ones to Watch?
Lisa Snowdon
Rachel Stevens
Lilia Kopylova
Ola Jordan
Apparently, there are some blokes in the competition as well...Jilly has her eye on a bloke called Mark Foster. I dunno...Kuh!
Sniffer-the-Sniffer-Dog
Posted by Webby at September 11, 2008 09:14 PM | Comments (0)Jilly and Evelyn went to meet Nanna in Doncaster this morning, not realising that there was a race meeting today. Evie always enjoys a train journey and behaved impeccably. When they arrived in Doncaster, Jilly and Evelyn were surprised at how busy the train station was and soon realised why, as transport police wrangled passengers away from the platform and out of the station.
As they left, Evelyn noticed a police dog handler whose dog was freely sniffing the passengers as they passed.
Evelyn noticed the dog, and commented,
"Oh! That dog's having a good old sniff at everyone!", and smartly side-stepped the dog (she's not too happy around strange dogs).
Jilly explained that it was a special dog, trained to sniff out naughty people who might have drugs.
"Oh well, we're OK", replied Evelyn, "We've only got sweets, juice and milk...ooh, and my CBeebies comic!".
In Doncaster, Jilly bought Evie a new pair of shoes having got her feet measured. Evelyn now takes a size 9G and, as on previous shoe buying excursions, stamped out of the shoe shop wearing her new shoes; she simply refused to take them off.
