back to previous or next page.
On 9th April, grandma Leonie arrived. This was conveniently planned to allow my father a weekend off to Linchamps in the French Ardennes with his university friends. With grandma, I made salads and wrote emails (note my own keyboard). For the first time, I showed interest and success in stacking blocks instead of just knocking stacks down. I also started climbing into my bouncy chair, staking my claims before the topic of sharing with siblings is raised. And after seeing dad water the terrace plants, I cannot get enough of mimicking him.
The watering is also documented on this short video (5.2Mb).
From Melbourne, horse riding friend Kim came over to England for her brother's fortieth and paid mum and Sammie a visit; here they are having dinner.
The next weekend was my father's birthday. In the tradition that people tend to give presents which they would have liked to receive themselves,
I gave him a
tricycle. In lovely spring weather I rode his
neck in
Bunhill Fields.
The next week, I rode my tricycle in the communal garden with grandma and had my snacks with her on the 'veranda'. Aunt Pen read me a beautiful book on dream beds; originally we had this only in Dutch, but as the fold-outs in the book are so fragile, my parents bought me an English version to trash. With mummy, I did the washing and enjoyed my cheese biscuit. She is heavily pregnant and cannot wait to go into labour.
The waiting time I spent having meals with the grown-ups, either on the terrace or inside. Mum had pineapple, rasberry leaf tea, curry and the odd glass of wine, but my sibling refused to come. The first Sunday in May we spent walking around Kew Gardens which is also believed to bring on labour. The next day, I woke up and ...
