Appearances...

can be deceiving. Doesn't this look an angelic scene?



In fact it is; children are at their best when asleep, I think. And foreseeing this eventuality, I actually have my iPhone, remote control, and knitting within reach.

But. If you look closely, you will see that the boy is in a towel. I took him scooting, but it ended with a shit in his pants, trousers, and squeezed up onto his vest & shirt. Hence, mid-afternoon bath. So that's how potty training is going.

Also, what is this child doing having a sleep at half past four? Good question. The evil child likes to sleep from about half seven till half five, with a nice hour long nap. I'm so unimpressed. We are trying everything in a random intermittent reinforcement schedule. Genius.

Ah well, this is a lovely half hour anyway.

Elving

I make no apologies for verbing. I stole the term from Soule Mama, and it makes me happy. I am feeling smug, this year my present knitting was finished long ago, so I was able make these:















Too bloody cute, right? Very quick and satisfying.

I'm also on Sian's second sock. This is the third year of making her a pair of Christmas socks. Check out these cabled beauties:



Next up, Nigella Christmas rocky road.

Yep, I'm unbearable.

Preparation...

...for Harrys birthday.



He's not getting a childrens party until he can articulate the request.

Process

I am all about the process, especially when it comes to knitting, but other areas of life too. I am working from home today - snow, and have come up with a satisfying to do list system. Each item on a cheery flower-shaped post-it. Very pleasing.



Yes, you can see a Christmas tree in the background. Squeel!

Missing: Bare Feet

We are getting ready for some big changes round these parts. Ten more weeks or so to go, I'm finding pregnancy by proxy far more enjoyable.

The dungarees are back!






And yep, that's steak. Life as a daddy is going to be A-OK.

Pumpkin

I love Autumn. Can't think of a single thing I don't like about it. One of the great things is Halloween. It's even better with an orange-haired almost-3-year-old who is willing to be dressed up:

Foxy and I...

enjoying parallel play:






With occasional comments and questions, Foxy will "play trains" for an hour at a time. Works for me!

The Prince...

...is receiving award-winning parenting:


Can you tell? Have decided to jump back into blog without reference to the past months. Too overwhelming to worry about catching up!

Who needs a dog?

It is beautiful afternoon. I left work early to take Harry scooting at the park. He was very happy to see MY Mummy. But when we got to the park he insisted on taking his new suitcase (thank you Grandma!) for a walk instead.

Victory/Defeat...

...I'm not sure which. After 10 days of escorting the boy back to bed, and another 10 days of holding the door shut, I admit defeat. I was so so so bored. And foxy wasn't. Even with no words, and no eye contact. So he won the battle. But I have won the war, I have my evenings back:

It's All Relative

We are not the most organised of people. Seeing this outside a neighbour's house made us feel terrific!

Dig Dig Digging

My moral self is rather horrified at buildings less than 40 years old being torn down to make way for multiple-million pound replacements. Especially in the context of so many redundancies.

But it does provide a huge amount if joy for a 2 year old boy.

40 things before 40

My 40th is quickly approaching. Have decided to do 40 things before the Big Day, in no particular order:

1. Organise birthday party
2. Adopt flossing schedule
3. Make usable yarn
4. Attend Knit Nation
5. Have house painted
6. Have floors sanded
7. Finish Kusha Kusha scarf
8. Finish & send Citron
9. Start separate knitting blog
10. Record goodbye podcast
11. Organise the boy's room
12. Toilet train the boy
13. Organise paperwork
14. Organise living room shelves
15. Cook some new dinners
16. Get kitchen guy to do snag list
17. Order blog books
18. Sort digital photos
19. Get to BMI <25
20. Finish pink baby socks
21. Catch up on thank you cards
22. Go for a spa day
23. Go to France
24. Submit grant
25. Submit self con paper
26. Organise yarn
27. Update Ravelry
28. Catch up on birthday cards
29. Send G baby gift
30. Get car detailed
31. Get car fixed
32. Get new car keys
33. Redo budget
34. Finish Brandywine
35. Get stuff up to loft
36. Paddle in the sea
37. Start Foxy scrapbook
38. Mend clothes
39. Catch up on handwashing
40. Go camping!

At the Seaside

Finally, we are having a wonderful summer. Lovely and warm, not too scorching hot, just right. We've been to the seaside a few times, which is a pebbles & rocks rather than golden sands affair.

We like to go a few miles down the coast, escaping the hoards of tourists & day trippers. It's all rugged and picturesque.







But there's a good reason all the photos feature the back of foxy's head. He is constantly on the go and I spend the entire time on my feet chasing after him. I will admit to flashes of envy towards the mums with children who stay close of their own accord. Not that I'd change him, but, well, you know.

It is a nice way to meet people. Folks tend to comment on his speed of travel and hair in equal measure. On our last excursion we met a delightful family because the father rescued foxy from a near-death rock scramble while I was shouting "NO!" and trying to run across the pebbles. They were watercolouring on the rocks and let foxy join in. I wish I had taken their picture. The dad suggested martial arts to channel foxy's energy. He might be on to something.

Spinning

I am participating in the Tour de Fleece, a lesser known cousin to the bike race. I am spinning my little heart out, and slowly getting the hang of it. My goal is to practice enough to be able to produce useable yarn by the end of the Tour. For now I am still at the unintentional art-yarn stage:



If you are curious about the multiple random posts, it's because I have an ill boy sleeping on me...



...and only my iPhone for company.

Big Boy Bed

We finally bit the bullet. What once looked like this:



Now looks like this:



Foxy was very happy with the new set up, especially the ability to get in and out by himself.

Imagine our shock and delight when he went to sleep last night without getting out of bed once. He was exhausted which I'm sure helped.

Today, turns out he is ill, so the battle may simply be delayed by a few days...

Another classic work e-mail

Dear all,
I need to know whether any of you hold and use real human brain specimens
for teaching, where they are held, and whether any of them have gone
missing..... don't ask.

Barbeque

Our dear friends had us over for a barbeque last night. It was a landmark occasion, their baby is now in his own room sleeping through, so we have our evenings back together again.

They have this impressive Barbie to cook on:



And they stick disposable Barbie trays right on top:



Genius.

Trains

I'm afraid that most "playing" with children, including my own child, bores me to tears. There is but one exception. Trains. I LOVE building the tracks. Probably because I'm so good at it, don't you think?

Waiting

I always love knitting, but it is especially nice during meetings (pay me to knit, ok?) or when waiting. Right now I'm sitting at the train station. I missed one train by a minute, and the next was cancelled. No problem.

Side effects

Marking/grading does have its pluses. I have found and eaten all strange and out of date snack items. And look at how organized my Tupperware is:

Jinxed

Yep, looks like I jinxed it. It's raining outside and my trusty phone tells me it's due to continue for the rest of the week :-(.

On the plus side, we get a repreave from academic men in shorts. Perhaps accessorized with sandals over socks. Or worse, Lycra cycle shorts so tight that the pee-hole is visible.

Summertime?

I don't want to jinx it, but I think we might actually be getting a summer this year. It was deep down to your bones warm today. We found a farm nearby that has turned itself into a nature reserve for mc families in order to make money. It was very basic, very empty and lovely.

I played with my photo app a bit:



















And Foxy tried to force feed me strawberries:

Mug Shot

My absolutely delightful former PhD student gifted me with this mug. It's so perfect, especially during marking season. Thanks T!

Naked Chefs

I got the paddling pool out for the boy cousins on Sunday. It was still a little chilly for their namby-pamby bottoms. So we switched over to decorating fairy cakes that I had prepared earlier.

Cousin G was slightly more interested in choosing colours and bothering to actually ice the things. Foxy simply repeated the phrase "eat cake" over and over.



Soon enough I had lost any semblance of this being anything other than an opportunity for mainlining sugar.





I'll take what I can get.

Napping

Foxy obviously did not get the memo about naps being over.


What you can't tell from the photo is just how far up in the air his butt is. Nice view, son.

Mother, your wish is my command!

Well. Here I am, blogging on my new iPad. Folks, this is going to be good. I am rationalising my extensive non-work activities, and have decided that the blog is here to stay, the podcast is going to fade out, and I think I must stop the twittering. It's not so much that I twitter lots myself, but I do read the mundane details of peoples lives who I don't even know. I need to cut myself off!

I am in that blogging place where I have so much to catch up on that it is daunting. So it won't happen, I'm going to have to just jump back in, with a promise to self to blog little and often.

Ok, let's throw in a couple pics, coz that's what you're here for, right?


I know, you were hoping for Foxy pics, but I want to show you some knitting. I have finished some stuff this year, honest. These slippers are for my MIL, they did not come out perfectly, see the weird crease at the back of the heel? But she is an exceptionally nice person who will not mind, and will probably even wear them when I come over.


I made these beauties for myself. Noro, I love the way you look, knitting with you, not so much.


And isn't this just a cozy piece of delicious? A very successful, if rather boring knit.

Of course, my needles are full again, happiness. But I still have not got my spinning wheel working properly, and that is my task for today. If I can ever put this iPad down. Oh boy, it is heavenly!