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Visiting the Judges
Posted by Webby at January 25, 2009 07:07 PM | Comments (0)It's seems to have been forever since we last visited the Judges, but Jilly, Evelyn and I finally managed to make our way over to York this weekend. Evelyn had been looking forward to the visit more than Jilly and I, as she was desperate to see Sarah.
Ashley made a beautiful beef wellington for dinner, which we all thoroughly enjoyed, before playing the Pop Intro game that Deb and Kev bought for us. It's now official; I have the world's greatest lack of pop music knowledge...I was entirely hopeless!
During our visit, Sarah gave Evelyn ALL her Care Bears which, of course, further endeared her to Evelyn. Evie loves the bears and refuses to sleep without them. Ashley and John gave Evelyn as excellent Christmas present of a book entitled, 'The Story of the Little Mole Who Knew it Was None of His Business' (that's right, it's not a hat he's wearing on his head!). Evelyn loves it; and so do I! I'd recommend it to the parents of any young children, as enthusiastically as I once recommended 'The Gruffalo'.
It was both sweet and a little upsetting that, when we returned home from seeing the Judges, and Evelyn asked, "Why can't I be Sarah?", she was obviously upset, "Why did you call me Evelyn?" It was clear that Evelyn had loved spending the time with Sarah and was terribly sad to leave her new best friend (she's got loads of best friends!)
A Dad's Worst Nightmare
Posted by Webby at January 23, 2009 08:32 PM | Comments (0)On the way home from the out-of-school-club this evening, Evelyn asked (as she always does) to walk through the two gates of the fenced playground.
When I asked her why she always wanted to walk through the playground, she told me,
"Because Jack goes in there!"
Jack is the older brother of Evelyn's new friend, Molly.
Jack is in year SIX.
That makes Jack about TEN-YEARS-OLD!
Does this amount to a first crush? I don't know; but I do know that when Jilly asked Evelyn if she liked Jack, Evelyn looked at her out of the corner of eyes, smiling coyly. The liddle minx!
And then...
During the evening news tonight, there was an article about the national anthem which showed several images of the Queen.
"Urg!", exclaimed Evelyn, "That old granny is gettin' married. That's wrong!"
Evelyn's Twelfth Day at School
Posted by Webby at January 20, 2009 10:11 PM | Comments (0)Jilly and I are very pleased to report that Evelyn seems to be enjoying school much more now. Both of us are able to drop her off at school without incident, and she seems to have made a special friend of Molly, another new starter in the Reception Class, who seems to wait for Evelyn, each morning, as Jilly and I say goodbye to her.
Evie seems, also, to be enjoying school meals (no surprise there, then? Could that be down to nature and nurture?). Evelyn came home, today, with her breath absolutely reeking of garlic. When Jilly asked Evelyn what she had eaten for her lunch, Evie started to quiver with excitement; she had eaten, "...sausage and pasta followed by cake and pink custard!". When Jilly asked Evelyn what kind of cake it had been, Evie simply replied, "I couldn't tell because it was completely covered in pink custard!". Just as all beaudeeful girls' school dinner puddings should be!
Evelyn's Sixth Day at School
Posted by Webby at January 12, 2009 10:07 AM | Comments (0)At the tender age of four, Evelyn seems to be developing a grasp of Einstein's Theory of Relativity.
"Why do weekends go so quickly?", she asked Jilly and I as we got ready for school and work this morning.
Later, as Jilly delivered Evelyn to school, Evelyn ran to her new friend, Molly, with a massive smile on her face, shouting, "I've missed you Molly!". Jilly was pleased to see that Evelyn's feelings seemed to be reciprocated, and that Evelyn seems to have overcome her initial dislike of school and is settling in fine.
Jilly cried with relief!
Updated - 21:53
After having an excellent day at school and the out-of-school-club today, Evelyn returned home with her very first library book. The book is a Ladybird book and is entitled, very simply, 'Discovering Scotland'.
"I got it because it has a picture of a castle on it!, Evelyn told Jilly as she took the hardback reference book from her school book bag!
Crazy!
Evelyn's Fifth Day At School
Posted by Webby at January 9, 2009 06:58 PM | Comments (0)Evelyn seemed so much better, this morning, when I dropped her off; I couldn't have guessed how much better!
Jilly and I are so pleased!
Evelyn's Fourth Day At School
Posted by Webby at January 8, 2009 09:07 AM | Comments (0)Writing this at work, I've just talked to Jilly who says that Evelyn has become very upset, again, as Jilly left her at school.
As I was leaving for work this morning, Evelyn insisted that I took her little cushion with me. When I told her that I wouldn't be able to use it at work, she told me that I must take it to work, because it would remind me of her. She broke my heart; Jilly and I should have known that there'd be trouble again, this morning.
We're both hoping Evelyn will be happier soon...
Updated - 08 January 2009, 15:38
Jilly has just phoned me, at work, to report that Evelyn is now home after an excellent day at school. When Jilly collected her, Evelyn skipped to her grinning from ear-to-ear, claiming, "I love school!"
What's all that about, then, eh? We only hope that Evelyn's change of mind remains. HUZZAH!
Evelyn's Third Day At School
Posted by Webby at January 7, 2009 08:14 PM | Comments (0)In a surprising and rather distressing turn of events, Evelyn went to pieces this morning as I took her to school.
In my last minute preparations for work, I made a visit to the bathroom, before returning downstairs to find Evelyn sobbing to herself on the sofa. She made it very clear that she didn't want to go to school, and that she missed the nursery.
"We don't do painting at school!", she pleaded, "And I miss you and Mummy when I am at school all day."
With just minutes before having to leave, I did my best to 'reason with her (what was I thinking of!) and we made our way to school. Evelyn worked herself up into a state as I was tidying her coat and bag away on her peg, and she started crying inconsolably. To save me from further distress, Evelyn's class NTA (let's call her Mrs B.) came and (literally) prized Evelyn's arms from around my neck while mouthing the expression, "Just Go!" to me.
I did as I was told!
Fantastically (and after spending ALL DAY worrying about her, Jilly collected Evelyn this afternoon to discover her 'skipping and laughing' towards her, reporting how lovely her day had been.
Bloody kids, eh? Who'd 'ave 'm?
Evelyn's Second Day At School
Posted by Webby at January 6, 2009 08:08 PM | Comments (0)Evelyn's second day at school seemed to go quite nicely, thank you very much; though, once again, Evelyn seems to have very little to report.
I left Evie and 08:45 and she seemed a little 'clingy', unlike another of the new starters (who I will refer to only as 'M'). As I was trying to put Evie's coat on her peg, 'M' was going absolutely crazy and making it perfectly clear to her mum that she didn't want to be there. I wasn't too concerned about Evelyn as she had seemed very enthusiastic about returning to school.
I was a little concerned when Jilly reported, tonight, that Evelyn has been a little 'weepy' during the day, as she hadn't had chance to properly kiss and hug me goodbye, this morning. A likely story!
Evelyn's First Day At School
Posted by Webby at January 5, 2009 09:07 PM | Comments (0)Evelyn enjoyed her first day at school today.
Having spent the whole of the second of two successive nights in her own bed last night (without raising hell before going to sleep!), Evelyn was awake and eager to get to school this morning...er...unlike her mum and I!
Jilly has recounted, on several occasions, how upsetting she found Kieran's first day at school (over twelve years ago), and has been dreading today for some time.
I thought I'd be stronger but (many people might say not) surprisingly, I joined Jilly in becoming more than a little anxious about Evelyn starting school.
Evelyn looked absolutely adorable in her her new uniform, and Jilly and I escorted her to her new classroom where she was given a lovely reception by her new teacher and NTA. Evelyn went straight into her new classroom, depositing her coat and pump-bag on her coat-peg on the way in. There were no tears (from Evelyn, certainly), as Jilly and I kissed her goodbye and, to take our minds of Evelyn's big adventure, Jilly and I indulged ourselves in a little retail therapy (we went to Ikea for storage accessories and B&Q for nuts!)
Sadly, Evelyn could remember little worth reporting about her first day at school. She couldn't tell us the names of any of her new friends, or what she spent most of the day doing, but she was able to remember that the 'star sticker' that she received was for being able to spell her own name. Well, that's a good start, isn't it?
Evelyn seemed to enjoy her first day at school, and Jilly and I were lovin' getting her home. Incidentally, it was only 19:30 when Evelyn asked if it was time to go to bed. She was obviously exhausted, our beaudeeful liddle beaudee, and she went to bed with none of the nonsense associated with the last fortnight, and went straight to sleep looking forward to school tomorrow. Jilly and I are very pleased with our little girl!
The Snow Queen - West Yorkshire Playhouse
Posted by Webby at January 4, 2009 09:38 PM | Comments (0)Jilly, Evelyn and I joined the Wassocks and the OsBradFam at The West Yorkshire Playhouse, today, to see 'The Snow Queen'. It's with more than a little smug pride that a report that all four of the children behaved impecably and, like the adults, all seemed to enjoy the play. It was excellent!
In the event that the Guardian and Stage reviews disappear from their respective web-sites, I've copied them into the 'Extended Entry' below.
The Guardian
The Snow Queen - West Yorkshire Playhouse
Alfred Hickling
The Guardian, Saturday 13 December 2008
Mike Kenny is probably the most successful playwright you've never heard of. The reason for his relative anonymity is that he writes exclusively for children and family audiences, though one of the best things about the Christmas season is that there's always a bumper crop of his work on display.
The Snow Queen
West Yorkshire Playhouse,
Leeds
LS2 7UP
Kenny's corpus of 60-odd plays contains at least three versions of The Snow Queen, and Gail McIntyre's production, aimed at the over-fives, is a composite of the best bits drawn from all of them.
As a moral adventure, Kenny's narrative sticks fairly closely to Hans Christian Andersen's original tale, in which a young girl's quest to rescue her friend from the Snow Queen's clutches illustrates the triumph of childhood imagination over cold, adult logic.
Yet the most innovative aspect of this particular Snow Queen is that there isn't one. The chilly villain never appears in person, though her spirit is evocatively suggested by wisps of gauze and eerie, disembodied whispers.
The idea fits well into a simple, imaginative production that makes much use of the suggestive power of light, sound and music. Ivan Stott's solo accompaniment is remarkably inventive, using samplers and a variety of acoustic instruments to create a rich soundscape of folk-tinged psychedelia - all while being dressed as a pigeon.
Stott practically steals the show with a song about the delights of flight that has the audience cooing along. In most places you are advised not to feed the pigeons: but indulging them in a bit of a sing-song can't do any harm.
The Stage
The Snow Queen
Published Thursday 11 December 2008 at 11:15 by Kevin Berry
What an atmosphere this production has - forbidding, enticing and exciting.
The audience sits at either side of a snowy, forested landscape, with a model village at each end of the stage. Above is a streak of trailing white, being thrust this way and that, across a starlit sky. It is the Snow Queen. When she speaks we hear a murmuring, haunting soundtrack.
Chris Chilton as Grandma tells the story, before becoming characters in the tale. Wonder and danger are at every turn, along with fun, as the audience is brought into the story in wonderfully involving ways.
There are marvellous crows and robbers to remember and Grandma (obviously, but for only a moment) dressed as a penguin and then a reindeer.
Pamela Okoroafor plays the intrepid heroine Gerdar faithfully. When her friend Kai (Duncan Barton) has his heart frozen, his nastiness is really something. Watching him continue a pell-mell sledge ride, by holding a model sledge in his outstretched hand and continually turning round, is spell-binding.
Ivan Stott’s music is wonderfully appropriate, while Mike Kenny’s script is vivid, alive and technically brilliant. Not a word is wasted. This is children’s theatre from experts.
New Years Day
Posted by Webby at January 1, 2009 09:35 PM | Comments (0)We seem to have spent very little time with Deb and Kev recently, so it was lovely to be invited to theirs for the end of the Christmas/New Year holidays.
Again, in keeping with the rest of our 'festive' holiday, we enjoyed a quiet night on New Years Day after enjoying a lovely meal prepared by Deb and Kev (though Evelyn wasn't too keen on Debbie's excellent Christmas cake; her opinion? "Oh...That is RANK!" - we've done our very best to educate her, but what can I say?)
Julie, Ged and Sarah Mabel (Mini) Pini joined us for dinner at Deb and Kev's today, and Sarah was an absolute angel.
New Years Eve
Posted by Webby at January 1, 2009 10:37 AM | Comments (0)Partially due to our recent illness, Jilly and I enjoyed a very quiet New Years Eve with Kempy and (would you credit it?), Kieran, last night.
Jilly made a lovely meal, and then we settled down to board games, music and a little telly. A very relaxing and enjoyable night was had by all, and Evelyn stayed in bed all night...HUZZAH!
