Thu 19 June 2008 at 20:13 | Comments (6) | Family
For the third time in less than three years, Alex spent his first day in a new school yesterday....Read the whole entry for "Alex's First Day at School, Take Three"
Sun 23 March 2008 at 17:01 | Comments (2) | Family
Alex is fevered for the second day today, and has added barfing to his repertoire. I know he'll be...Read the whole entry for "First Easter in the Netherlands, an act in Three Parts"
Fri 4 January 2008 at 13:21 | Comments (5 - closed) | Family
Last year, my mother made a [jumper / pinafore] (depending on dialect) dress for Fiona. It was every pink-obsessed little...Read the whole entry for "New dress for Mistress Pink, or, Package tracking as entertainment"
Wed 14 February 2007 at 22:24 | Comments (6) | Family, Sonnets
A week or two ago, one of the commenters on a weblog I frequent quoted a line from one of...Sat 26 August 2006 at 10:48 | Comments (5) | Family
I can't believe Martin hijacked the entire story about Alex with a rant! Other information that the less clothing-obsessed readership...Read the whole entry for "Alex starts school: actual information here!"
Wed 21 June 2006 at 22:02 | Comments (1 - closed) | Family, Photography
Every Friday, the kids and I get to spend the day together. We have some very good times, and I've...Sun 5 March 2006 at 20:54 | Comments (0) | Family, Photography
The last couple of weeks have included some really good family time around the Sutherland household, for no particular reason...Fri 17 February 2006 at 21:32 | Comments (0) | Family, Geocaching, Photography
Another Friday, another adventure. Fiona had a birthday party to go to quite late today (4:30 - 6), so I...Sat 4 February 2006 at 21:34 | Comments (3) | Family, Geocaching, Photography
A mouse took a walk in the deep dark wood... Actually, it was a whole family out searching for the...Mon 12 December 2005 at 19:44 | Comments (5) | Family
At dinner: Alex: (quoting Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) Look out! Behind you! It's a Dementor! Abi: (refusing...Read the whole entry for "Snappy comebacks from the under-fives"
Mon 10 January 2005 at 21:16 | Comments off | Family
Fiona turns one in 2 1/2 weeks. As always, being a parent, I feel two mutually exclusive things. On...Mon 27 September 2004 at 19:35 | Comments (5 - closed) | Family
OK, the short story is: Cameron (Martin's cousin and a groomsman at our wedding) and Clare (a very beautiful woman) got married last weekend. We all went. Alex wore (in the loosest sense, at times) a kilt, which was cute and funny. We had a great time.
Below are some pictures, as evidence. They aren't all the pictures from the wedding, nor necessarily the best ones. They're just what I picked out to get something onto the web.
Thu 22 April 2004 at 15:32 | Comments (3 - closed) | Family
Alex has an interesting relationship with food.
Yucky vs Yummy
Like most toddlers, he's neophobic. No, that doesn't mean Keanu Reeves in a black trenchcoat appears in his nightmares. He just doesn't like new foods.
He has a clear understanding that there are foods one likes (yummy foods) and foods one doesn't (yucky foods). As we often discuss at the dinner table, "Mama say yum, broccoli. Dada and Alex say yuck, broccoli." He was discussing the different kinds of food with me yesterday, revealing his understanding of jobs in the process.
Fri 9 April 2004 at 17:15 | Comments (1 - closed) | Family
It's been over a week since Alex has made any significant mistakes, so I hereby declare him POTTY TRAINED.
If you, gentle reader, are the parent of a recently potty-trained child, you will know the mix of delight, amazement, and exhaustion I'm feeling right now. Delight, because I don't have to change his nappies any more. Amazement, because I see now what a fundamentally unnatural thing Alex has achieved. And exhaustion because potty training is hard work for a parent as well as a child.
If you are the parent trying to, or contemplating trying to potty train, a child, I know how you feel too. Curious, right? I used to read potty training books and websites, looking for some magic formula that would make the effort easier. Well, sadly, there is no universal magic formula, but let me tell you how we did it.
If you're not a parent, you'll have to find your own motivation to read this.
Mon 5 April 2004 at 10:39 | Comments off | Family
We took Mom to Edinburgh Airport this morning. Martin dropped us all off, and Alex, Fiona and I then accompanied...Read the whole entry for "My New Job (as explained by Alex)"
Sun 28 March 2004 at 00:20 | Comments off | Family
Fiona had her 8-week check and immunisations on Thursday. They measured her weight, height and head circumference, and all of...Thu 18 March 2004 at 10:16 | Comments off | Family
...but in a good way.
When Fiona is fussy, we tend to offer her something to suck on. This comforts her, and allows us to determine if her fussiness is due to hunger. (It usually is.) Martin tends to offer his nose; I generally alternate between nose and chin. Or I used to - after this I'm thinking nose only, or maybe finger.
On Sunday, she was so hungry that when I let her suck on my chin, she gave me a hickey.
Thu 11 March 2004 at 17:10 | Comments (1 - closed) | Family
Alex and I were blowing raspberries at Fiona this morning, and she thought it was hilarious.
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Wed 10 March 2004 at 16:51 | Comments (1 - closed) | Family
Alex has had a bad week or two.
Easrly last Wednsday night (March 3), he threw up at about 1am. He was distraught for the rest of the night, but felt pretty much OK the next day. Fine, we thought, he throws up randomly from time to time.
Then on Friday (March 5), he started again. He was sick through Saturday morning, but felt better in the afternoon. The barfing was worse - we ended up with towels instead of cushion covers on most of the 3-seater sofa (I love washable covers). But when it was over, we thought it was over.
So when he started crying at 3 this morning, we thought it was just a bad dream. Martin went through to him, then came to get me to do the long-traditional barf wash while he showered with the boy.
Mon 8 March 2004 at 21:28 | Comments off | Family
A week ago today, Fiona looked me in the eye and smiled. Twice.
I immediately ran for the camera, at which point she screwed her face up, turned bright red, and wailed.
She has since smiled at her grandparents, her father, her brother, and at least one friend. I've been trying to capture a smile on diode for seven days now, and I give up. She'll smile for the camera when she wants to.
Tue 17 February 2004 at 17:20 | Comments (1 - closed) | Family
I left Fiona lying on her back on the changing mat (on the living room floor) while I went upstairs for a minute. Came back and...
Fri 13 February 2004 at 14:04 | Comments (3 - closed) | Family
Maureen, our midwife, has just been by again to check my stitches (things are not healing very well, but that's another story). I took the opportunity to ask her to weigh Fiona.
4.74 kilos (For those of you who think in Imperial, that's 10 lb 7 oz.)
Sat 7 February 2004 at 22:00 | Comments (2 - closed) | Family
It is a truth universally acknowledged that newborn babies don't sleep through the night. Indeed, their schedules bear only the remotest resemblance to the way most of us live. It's all dictated by stomach size and blood sugar levels. A newborn's stomach is about the size of a walnut, and it can't maintain its own blood sugar for more than a few hours at a stretch.
So it needs feeding. Over and over again. Most newborns run to a 3 or 4 hour cycle of eating and sleeping, punctuated by bouts of crying. How to cope?
Mon 2 February 2004 at 16:54 | Comments (1 - closed) | Family
Martin has described Fiona's birth from his point of view. Mine may or may not match his - I was present, and conscious, for different portions of it than he was.
All times are approximate, most are deduced rather than based on checking the clock, and recall of many is influenced by drugs and/or altered states of conciousness.