garklet

This means nothing to me

Next month, just after Easter, I have a business trip to Vienna for a project meeting (hopefully – the project coordinator has *still* not sent the details for a planned meeting that’s now less than a month away), and so , the and garklet2 (WINYOLJ) are coming over to make a short break of it. We’ve been trying to enthuse the with the idea of the trip, but he’s currently being quite grumpy and negative. On the way to school this morning, I broached the subject with him again. After an initial “it’s boring”, he advanced the notion that it… Read More »This means nothing to me

Home again, home again

Back from the monster tour of England and Scotland (Southampton to Windermere and back, via Dunblane), and it turns out that we had monster produce waiting for us ( – did I forget to tell you to help yourself?): That’s 7.26 kg of courgette (1st2lb in old money). I had to get the bathroom scales to find that out!

Dogs playing poker…

…cats, bears, wolves and monkeys playing Uno. (Wolfie has just played a blue 1, and play is passing clockwise; Brown Bear is therefore just about to win. Cat has managed to stitch Monk up something rotten with a few well-placed +4s, and has left him with a hand worth upwards of 120) The keeps asking what Cat and Monk get up to while he’s at nursery, and we’ve started to stage vignettes to indulge him and amuse ourselves.

Heteronormativity ahoy

Scene: I was taking the for a haircut, and we happened to pass a church that was ringing for matins. He asked why the bell was ringing, and misheard ‘matins’ as the name of one of his friends who moved to Cambridge last year (who I shall refer to as M). The important thing to note is that M is the child of a lesbian couple. : Where M? : M’s in Cambridge. : Why M in Cambridge? : Because his mummies got jobs in Cambridge. : What about him daddy? : I don’t know – M lives with his… Read More »Heteronormativity ahoy

Toddler for hire

Bumped into while waiting for the bus with and the after work today. Cue the following conversation after Dave left: Why that ? Well, that’s his name. Where is going? He’s on his way home to see . Why? Because he’s ‘s boyfriend! Why he ‘s boyfriend? Because they like each other a lot. That’s why they live together. *nods sagely* I think they need a boy. Pardon? I think they need a boy. What kind of boy? A little boy, like you? Yes. They need a little boy like me.

Per Toddler Ad Astra

*reads article about the X-37B *looks over shoulder at pictures* That rocket not for people. That’s right, it’s an unmanned spacecraft. That rocket not for people because it not got a toilet. o_O

Toddler Linguistics, part the nth

An account of a conversation while waiting at bus stop with and the : My1 like coiley-wotey. What’s coiley-wotey? Coiley-wotey! Colley Wotty? Coiley-wotey! What sort of a thing is coiley-wotey! *pause* Coiley-wotey! He’s making this word up. Are you making this word up? Is this another silly word? No, coiley-wotey! How big is coiley-wotey? *looks confused* Is coiley-wotey big or small? Coiley-wotey! He’s just saying that! Stop saying that! *has flash of inspiration* What colour is coiley-wotey? Grey. *thinks* What sort of animal is coiley-wotey? He a woof, chase roadroader. Roadroader goes beep-beep! Aha! He’s a wolf! You’re talking about… Read More »Toddler Linguistics, part the nth

Dispatches from the War on Clutter

Since we had our loft boarded and smartened up a few years back, we’ve been merrily using it to store away the things that we don’t need from day to day, or which don’t belong in the library. Unfortunately, it’s starting to get a bit full in there (what with ‘s sewing stuff, my tools, Xmas decorations, the ‘s baby clothes, our suitcases, and so on), so we’ve been planning on putting some of Mr Kamprad’s fine modular shelving solutions up there (specifically the GORM range). Now, I could just have gone up there with a tape measure and an… Read More »Dispatches from the War on Clutter