Silas' words

Hi there! Hope that this finds you well; we are fine here and are looking forward to Mum and Dad visiting next week!

We have had a good couple of days this week; Monday was a quiet day although Silas had his immunisations in the morning and his check up which went well. The doctor was pleased with him and asked whether he had 3 or 4 words. I nearly asked "What, a minute?" but refrained and said that he had more like 15! He doesn't say all of them very clearly and some of them are sounds rather than exact words but he makes his point well. His new words this week are "Arf" (giraffe) and "LLLA" (Cinderella) - you need to hear that one really! So he is doing well!

We had a bit of a minor panic yesterday though with him, although all was well. When I picked him up from his nap at lunch time, I went to change his nappy and saw that there was blood on the nappy and that his willy was very swollen. Also, which was worrying me, the nappy was dry and yet I knew he had drunk loads and I was expecting it to be wet; I managed to make an appointment to see the doctor later on in the afternoon but when we saw her, everything was back to normal, there was no blood and no swelling and it was a wet nappy!! She thought that perhaps he had pulled it a little too hard - a likely explanation! Anyway, I was just relieved that all was well!

Although we had to cut it short we also managed to see Elisabeth and Amy as planned as well yesterday afternoon which was fun too! Today, after school we iced a cake that we made yesterday and then met Lisa and the twins at the boat for a bit! The children had great fun playing but Silas is shocking at running off. He kept on making a bee line to the jewellry shop next to the boat and he was very fascinated with all the pretty sparkly things!!!

Naomi has been very good the last couple of days and she enjoyed making and icing the cake which was nice! She was very helpful in clearing up last night - Tim was really proud of her. Esther is fine and has been practicing her writing - she is getting quite good at writing her name which is good! Esther has reached the stage that she only wants to wear skirts and so I have been fishing out Naomi's old ones. This is fine but Esther has such a tiny waist and no bottom that I have to take them in. I have succeeded in doing a couple but one I thought I had done is still too big and the other 2 are denim ones without elastic waist bands and so I am not quite sure how to tackle them! I will have to take her shopping next week I think! She'll like that!

Well, that is about it for now! I will write on Sunday I hope! Take care!

Garage Sale?

Hello! Hope that this finds you well; I am pleased to say that we are all well this weekend and have had a good time! I am sorry that you didn't receive a blog on Wednesday night - I realised this morning that it hadn't published although I had written it so you will have had 2 this morning I expect!

As I said, we have had a fun weekend; yesterday we decided to take a day trip out and went to a place called Index and Goldbar, which is not far from Monroe. We had lunch in Index (population 140!) where we sat on the rocks alongside the river which was a glacial blue colour and very impressive. We had Silas in the buggy - we didn't trust him to be on the loose as it were!

After we had eaten we drove to the State Park in Goldbar and had a walk through a wonderful forest trail that ran alongside the river. Silas walked a long way for him and did very well with just the monkey on his back. The girls did fine and Esther was a real Dora Explorer and lead us on the way home. Naomi and I had a lovely chat too as Silas, Tim and Esther were all walking together at the beginning. The trail was beautiful and we all enjoyed being in the forest on such a gorgeous day.

Today we went to church this morning and this afternoon we started to clear out our garage. It looks worse now than it did as it has a large pile that needs to go the GoodWill store and a large pile that needs to be thrown away but we are puzzled as to how you dispose of such stuff here. We have been looking for a tip of some sorts but there is no such thing! We are mystified! I need to categorise the stuff that is going to the GoodWill store as we can then claim the tax back but I don't have much free time this week even in the evenings so it looks like it will be next weekend before we can do that job! If we had been fit and able we should have started it last weekend but there you go! It will get done in the end!

On Friday I took the children to the park and to the library in the morning and we had a great time. The girls cycled or scooted around the paths whilst Silas played on the playset. We chose some good books - Ella Sarah gets dressed being one of them much to my amusement as this was one we had out in the summer when mum was here and she read it over and over!! Esther's choice of course!

Unfortunately we were supposed to meet Lisa and the twins on Friday afternoon but I came down with a urinary tract infection and we had to cancel at the last minute! We were cross but I went to the doctor and I am on the antibiotics which is good!

On Thursday we went to the park in the afternoon with Naomi's friend Aislin and her family. I honestly can't remember what we did on Thursday morning - it can't have been too exciting can it!

Well that is it for now! I will write on Wednesday! It is only 10 days now until mum and Dad arrive and just under a month before our own UK trip! If I stop and think about it I get excited but I haven't had too much time to think lately!

Tim improves!

Hi there! Hope that this finds you well. I am pleased to tell you that Tim is finally on the mend! He has had an uncomfortable few days with the stent in place but this was removed today and he is already feeling better. I knew that he was feeling better when I saw him walking purposefully down the corridor to meet the children and me at the hospital this morning! A definite contrast to how I had dropped him off!

We have had some lovely weather the last couple of days and so I have taken the children to the park when we could. We went to Kirkland on Monday morning to the Castle park which was very exciting as we are only able to go in the morning and when it isn't too hot! The children all had a great time! Naomi and Esther were going down a curly slide holding each other's hands - Naomi was going down feet first on her tummy holding onto Esther who was going down head first on her tummy! They were laughing and laughing and had a great time! Silas enjoyed playing with the ball on the grass too!

Yesterday we went to Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma which was lovely! We went with Ulrike and the children and had a wonderful time. We started off at the Aquarium, which Silas    loved and then went to see the Tigers, the Tapir, the monkeys and the elephants before lunch. After lunch we saw the Beluga whale, the walrus' and the otters. Silas loved the Walrus' as they were swimming up quite close to his viewing area and popping their heads out of the water and blowing air, which he thought was very funny!

The girls enjoyed seeing the otters and the Beluga whale, which is also my favourite! We also spent some time at the children's playground before coming home. It was a good day and the views were magnificent. You can see across the Puget Sound and MT. Rainier was stunning too! WE were there a lot longer than we thought we would be and so when we came home we just had tea and the children went to bed!

Naomi had been getting up very early at the beginning of the week which was very frustrating when she could stay in bed a bit longer as we are on holiday this week! We have put one of our digital alarm clocks in their room and explained that they had to stay in there until the numbers were a 7 followed by a 3! IT seemed to have worked this morning as they didn't get up until it said a "7, 3 and a 3", which was fine with me! Silas is still up early but at least Naomi isn't grumpy because she is tired!

We were talking yesterday about mermaids, crabs and frogs being amphibious and the girls were very proud to have learnt a new, long word which they could tell Daddy! They were even more amazed when they heard the word mentioned on a hippo song that we had on in the car! They can't say it but they know what it means! I was very proud of them!

Silas has been coming out with some gems this week! Yesterday I was putting on his monkey reigns so that he could see the fish and he was saying "hug". It took me a while to realise that he was talking about the monkey and telling me that it is the same as in his book! He also says "Ug" to the girls but then he wants them to dance with him! This is very sweet and involves them turning slowly round in a circle! Sometimes Silas dances on his own and then he just twirls round and round! It is very funny!

Silas also picks up on words that he knows and so will shout loudly in the back of the car "Poo" when he hears the name "Pooh" mentioned in teh CD of Winnie the Pooh (which is quite a lot I can tell you!). He also shouts "ack-ack" when he hears "owl"! He is funny!

Naomi and Silas enjoy sitting next to each other and Silas will put his head on her arm in a loving kind of way when we are having dinner! This can be messy and so Naomi is not always keen but she knows that it is meant well!

The children are starting to play together, particularly running around games. We all had a game of Tag on Monday at the park and sometimes the girls pretend that Silas is a monster and will run away from him. He then of course chases them and so it goes on and on in our house that is open planned and has a good circular route for them to run around! Can you tell I am not too fond of this game!

Well, it is late and I didn't sleep very well last night and so I am going to end this here! Take care and see you soon!

An Eventful Week!

Hello! I hope that this finds you well and I am sorry that this is the first blog that you have received since last Sunday. It has been a busy week!

Firstly to tell you that Tim is slowly recovering from having surgery to remove his kidney stone removed late on Friday night. He is not improving as well as we had hoped or expected but we are hopeful that the next few days will see gradual improvement and that by the end of this next week that he will be fully better.

On Thursday night, Tim woke up around 1am in pain, which got worse and worse to the extent that by just after 2am he was lying on the floor in agony, sweating yet feeling cold and vomiting. As he was getting worse still, we phoned for the ambulance who came and took him to hospital. The ambulance men were loud and not very empathetic - in contrast to the lovely man that took Naomi and I to the hospital in the UK 4 years ago! I was worried that the loudest man who insisted on talking at a loud volume would wake up the children who would then be anxious to see Daddy being taken away! Thankfully, they stayed asleep but not thanks to him!

The ambulance took Tim to the Swedish ER in Issaquah where he has been seen before and eventually I had a phone call to say that he was OK and that they were waiting for some blood results and that they would phone me with the results. Well, over an hour later, when I still hadn't heard any more, I phoned them back to be told that Tim was being discharged and that he would be coming home in a taxi. So finally, at around 5:45 Tim arrived home in a terrible state, still vomiting and in severe pain and with a prescription for some anti - emetics that he really needed straight away.

We decided that I would go and get the medicine as soon as Silas woke up (which he did almost straight away, so no more sleep for me!) but by that time, Tim was asleep and so I collected them on my way home from school. All Friday morning, Tim was not well. He was vomiting even after the anti-emetics and the pain was not under control; worse still, when he wasn't able to keep anything down, he wasn't able to drink enough to pass the stone like the ER had told him.

I made several calls that morning and finally got him into see a Urologist at the Overlake Hospital where I had Silas on Friday afternoon. We all took Tim but he was very nauseous in the car and he didn't like the drive at all. We saw the doctor who gave us a few options but we decided that the best option was for Tim to stay at the hospital and have the operation on Friday night, stay overnight and then I would pick him up on Saturday morning, which is what happened.

Yesterday Tim did quite well - I think he was glad to be home! We had pancakes for lunch as a treat and because we hadn't had them on Shrove Tuesday and in the afternoon we went to Newcastle Beach Park which was good fun! It has been gorgeous here this weekend - really sunny and warm at times!

Today, Tim has not felt so well as he has been in a lot of pain from the stent that they inserted and has been feeling quite dizzy at times. I took the children out to the park this morning which was good fun and then we all went to the park again this afternoon. Tim didn't walk far but he is feeling washed out and went to bed after tea. Hopefully he will be better in the morning!

So, that has been the eventful end to the week! I think that I have forgotten to do all sorts  of things that I should have done and so if you were expecting  a webcam or a phone call, then i am really sorry and hope that we can reschedule another time this week!

This last week has been busy for me in the evenings, although the days have been less so, which is good! On Monday evening I had a board meeting for the Home Owners Association only to discover that the playground in the park had been condemned by both the insurance company and an independent advisor and so I had to email everyone to tell that that it was closed and going to be pulled down. I was glad that I didn't have too many grumpy emails about it! I was very relieved to read that most people are pleased that we have taken a safe course of action!

On Tuesday evening, I had a night out with the girls! Ulrike and Rosie went to a Bar in Bellevue for a nice dinner which was good fun! On Wednesday, Tim and I went out for dinner with an old UK Microsoft friend which was lovely too!

During the days this week, I have taken Silas to the Toddler Time drop in at the community center. Here they have a lot of balls, toy cars for the children to ride in as well as tunnels, slides and push-along toys. Silas quite enjoys it and if the weather is bad then it is a good way for him to run around for a bit. Esther has come with me on a couple of occasions and, although she is not too keen, she is OK playing or colouring for a short time!

We saw Ulrike and the children at the park on Thursday afternoon, which was good fun and we made it to the park on a couple of occasions on our own this week too. Silas is very good at climbing and sitting on the slide and it is funny to think that only a few weeks ago he really wasn't keen on the slide! These days it is his favourite thing and he will go up and down very happily!'

Silas also likes playing with the balls and I have been very good at remembering to take one with us in the car for him! One day, when we were at the community center, I was "shooting hoops" as they say here (ie, throwing the ball into the basket!) and this morning when we were at the park, Silas was trying to shoot the ball into the bare tree, as if it were a hoop!

Silas is talking a lot more and can say "gog" (dog), "ach" (hand), "ug" (hug) and "cakcak" (cracker). It is amazing how much I can understand what he wants!

The girls have been fine and have been very good at looking after Daddy! They were playing restaurants today, which is always funny and then they were playing at Doctors. They enjoy playing upstairs with their dolls and playmobil and are still drawing, drawing and drawing! Silas also copies their drawing but unfortunately, not always on paper! Yesterday evening I spent about 15 minutes getting Silas' drawing off the wall and the nappy cupboard door! I don't quite know where he found the pen but we shall have to be extra careful!

Esther is thankfully eating better at the minute and Naomi has been very helpful at getting things out for them in the mornings or at tea time! They are looking forward to Daddy being well again so that they can "jump on him" - Esther's words! Strange child!

Well, that is about it for now and it is late and I must go to bed! Take care and lots of love!

"Ock-Ock"

"Ock-Ock" is a word that Silas learnt yesterday; it means chocolate and he learnt it after covering himself with chocolate from ear to ear and nose to neck yesterday morning! Tim and I had had a couple of squares each on Friday night and foolishly left the packet on the floor in the home office. Normally, during the week, we keep the door closed but yesterday Naomi was playing on the computer and so the door was open. All of a sudden, Naomi yelled, "Mummy come quickly" and we rushed upstairs to see Silas' face covered with this brown stuff. My first thought was that he had filled his nappy and that he had spread that all over his face and so I was very relieved that it was only chocolate!

Silas was very happy with himself and he should be having eaten pretty much the rest of the packet! He was less keen on having his face wiped though and kept on repeating "ock-ock" as I was cleaning him up! What a sticky mess!

We had a quiet morning at home yesterday but then went out yesterday afternoon to see the trains and the falls at Snoqualmie. We put the monkey  back pack on Silas and let him walk, which was the first time that we hadn't used the stroller for any of the children! Silas did well and enjoyed the waterfalls as well as the trains. Silas was very concerned about the things that had been dropped through the railings on the look out for the falls; we had lots of "oh-oh" and pointing! He loved the trains and we had lots and lots of "woo-woo" all afternoon! Naomi was taking photos and Esther enjoyed being with us!

Naomi took some photos that you can all see actually. She took the ones of Tim and Esther and a couple of the ones of Silas and the one of me. She was struggling to hold up Tim's big lens but managed very well! We gave her the small old one to use yesterday afternoon and she took a few.

We went to the Zoo after church today with Hannah, Dan and their boys. We had a fun afternoon and saw a lot of the animals. It shuts at 4 and so we went to the good pizza place that we went to the other week all together which was good too! Hannah and Dad leave Seattle in 6 weeks to return to Bristol so this is the last time we shall see them.

On Friday I took Silas into Seattle for a meeting with Minhee as she and I are putting together a couple of parenting class sessions. We had a successful meeting, which was good. In the afternoon the girls had their sports class and then once we came home, Tim was in soon after! Tim and I spent a quiet Friday night watching Lost! It was relaxing in a tense sort of way!!

On Thursday we went to the park with Ulrike and the children and although it was really windy and cold, we had a good hour outside and the children had a good run. In the evening I went into Seattle for my book club, which was great fun! We have met often enough now that we know each other well enough to relax and laugh and have fun, which we did! I had a terrible job finding it and coming home was worse! I was worried I was going to be driving around Seattle all night! I managed to drive under the I90 but could not for the life of me find the way onto it! When I finally made it onto the floating bridge, I was surprised by water landing on my windscreen and couldn't work out where it was coming from at first as it wasn't raining. After it had happened a few times, I realised that it was the waves hitting the wall and spraying the cars! It was quite exciting and a notch in the "Seattle Experiences" Stick!

The children and I have a quieter week this week, at least in the afternoons but I have a busy week in the evenings until Thursday, so I am not sure when there will next be a blog! I hope to write at some point though! hope that this finds you all well!

Cold and wet!

Hello! As I write this this evening, it is pouring with rain and the wind is dreadful so I am glad that I am not having to walk a dog  this evening! I have however, just returned from a mad dash to Target to retrieve a bag of toys that I was stupid enough to leave behind this afternoon. Amazingly the bag was still there and even more amazingly, I had left it on an outside table under an umbrella and under some shelter!

We have had a busy week this week and it is going to continue for the next couple of days. Next week is much quieter though, at least in the day time which is good! On Monday the refugees left at lunch time; I took them to the supermarket in the morning and I think that the Mum at least began to understand that she could both buy stuff that she recognized but also that she had to watch out for the price of things. i was impressed with how much the family picked up whilst they were with us and feel hopeful that they might succeed.

After they had left, the girls and I made paper aeroplanes which was fun and then we went to the park with Jo and Zoe. It was bitterly cold though and there was a wicked wind, so we decamped after a short time and went to Starbucks! We had a lovely hour there chatting and making things with Wikki - Stix, which was great! I think I mentioned them before but this was the first time we had used the ones I had bought and they were a big hit! The girls made jewellry! Zoe was a bit too small but Naomi, especially really enjoyed it; Jo and I did too!

Yesterday, whilst Naomi was at school I took Esther and Silas to the community center to play on the toys there; Silas loved it but Esther was too old for it really; I will have to go on a Monday or Friday when she is at school too I think. In the afternoon we met up with Amy and  Elisabeth at the KidsQuest museum where our children played very nicely.

Today the girls stayed for lunch at school and in the afternoon we went back to school as I had arranged to meet with Mrs Susarla (Naomi's teacher) to ask how she was getting on. Mrs Susarla is very happy with her but says that we need to work on the middle sounds of words so that Naomi is confident in putting together simple words. She is beginning to read the sight words though and is doing lots of maths work at the minute.

After this we went to Target where the girls got to choose and then pay for something from the dollar section. They check out lady was very good with them and found a little bag for their purchases as well as giving them their change and their receipt. She was very patient and very kind!

We then went across the road to the bakery and sat in there and had a drink and the children did some colouring. It was a great way to spend a lousy afternoon! Silas was funny though; I had forgotten to take a drink for him and so bought him a carton, which he wouldn't drink from. So I put the drink in a cup with a lid on like they serve coffee in and so he could drink out of that. Well, he drowned himself and then started to shake the cup so he was covered in sticky apple juice! Great!

Silas was funny on Monday; he was sitting on a small toy box going "woo woo" and I realised that he was pretending he was driving a train! Today he saw my car keys and was saying "ees, brmm" which I thought was very clever! he can now say "arghhh" for a cat, tiger or lion which is good too!

We are all very proud of Esther as she is now out of nappies at night time! She has done really well and we have only had a tiny accident. I am so pleased for her!

Anyway, that is it for now! Will write on Sunday! Hope that this finds you all well!

Karen Refugees

Hello! Welcome from Seattle! I hope that this finds you well; we are fine here and have had a good few days with our refugees.

Our refugees arrived at a reasonable time on Thursday night - a first in itself! They have come from the border between Thailand and Burma and are a displaced group called the Karen (pronounced 'caren' with the stress on the 'en'). A lot of these people have been caught up in a long term war and have been on the run from the government forces for many years. There are now a lot of Karen families in Kent and so when they move into their appartment tomorrow, they will soon find people with whom they can communicate and befriend. They have a hard task ahead of them, learning to live here, learning English and then finding a job and supporting themselves.

Our family are just a Mum, a Dad and a little 2 year old, who weighs less than Silas by a long way! They were very drawn and haggard on Thursday night but are better today. We had a quiet day on Friday and they slept a lot, yesterday we did some shopping at the Goodwill (second-hand) store where they can spend their vouchers and today we have had a fun day out in Seattle. The family arrived with less clothing than I keep in my car for emergencies and no personal belongings. A trip to the store was essential! They are now kitted out quite well and I managed to find some things for the little boy. We also took the Dad to Target and to the supermarket yesterday but we haven't done any food shopping with them. However, they have picked up on things remarkably quickly and so I think that they will be OK.

We have shown them how to use a washing machine, a hob and the dishwasher and they have been able to use them by themselves, which is good. The Mum has some English and can draw beautifully, the Dad has had only intermittent schooling. They have not eaten much but are doing better today. They are very thin and small - finding clothes was tricky yesterday!

Today we have been to Alki Beach in Seattle, where we had fish and chips (which went down very well) and then went to the park. The little boy loved the slide and it was fun watching him play! Mum and Dad loved walking along the beach and it was the first time they had seen the sea. We collected a lot of shells and they know the words for shell, sea and sand, which , I appreciate, are not the most useful first English words but there you go! Tomorrow will be the start of a long week for them, so I hope that they have had a nice day today!

The girls had their sports class on Friday afternoon and are now learning a simplified version of baseball. After this we went to Rosie's house to have a craft session which was fun! Caitlin loved making the paper flowers that I took with us and so I left her with some tissue paper to make some more! We had a really smooth journey home which was great!

The children made me laugh on the way there. We drove passed the dairy on the way through Issaquah and we were talking about how milk got to us. I mentioned that the farmers used a milking machine and Naomi said "no mummy, there is a lady who sits and squeezes the cow  and the milk goes into a pail"! I giggled and explained that this was how it was done in the old days but that now there were machines. Esther then started talking about the pigs underneath the cow and it took some time to realise that she was talking about the udders! Weird! In all of this, Silas is mooing in the back as he can hear us talking about cows! It was all very funny!

Silas had some new pyjamas last week as the ones that I had bought him for Christmas fell apart at the waistband! I bought him a pair with the "cars" movie on them and a pair with Thomas on them. The Thomas one is his favourite and I found that he was carrying them around with him during the day, making woo woo noises! On a couple of occasions I found the pyjamas in bizarre places (like my kitchen) as he had obviously been carrying them around and then dropped them!

Silas and the family's little boy have enjoyed playing with the trains this weekend! No language required when you are little!

Well, that is it for now! Lots of love!