Home » Being Silly

Category Archives: Being Silly

The Gallery: Drink (Pretty in Pink)

Posted on by | 14 Comments

Have I got you singing now? I hope so!

That song is a big ‘ear-worm’ with me. Every time I hear the phrase: bang! There it  is, stuck in my head.

“But what the Furs has that got to do with drink? Isn’t that what this silly post is supposed to be about anyway? Get on with it, man!” I hear you cry. Or words to that effect. Probably.

Alright, since you asked so nicely, this:

1-DSC00681

This is the source of much of my drinking activity. During the day, at least, especially mornings. I pretty much chain-drink coffee ’til lunchtime, then often indulge in 1 or 2 more in the afternoon.

My old cafetière broke, OK? Our kitchen is very small, we don’t have a dishwasher, so accidents happen. I needed my caffeine fix, & this was the only one I could find in town. Also: it was cheap. Which probably explains why it already has a crack at the top.

It’s my story, & I’m sticking to it.

Now I’m off to drink my pink brew and put on my Borat pinny* & marigolds to do the washing up while singing very loudly & very badly to Adele.

I am MetroDad, hear me roar!

* It was a gift, honest

This post is for Tara’s terrific ‘Gallery’ on her ‘Sticky Fingers’ blog.

It’s also for Emma of ‘Crazy With Twins’ who is having a hard time right now as she’s in isolation & away from her family while having treatment for cancer, so is in need of some cheering up.

To read more & to join in just click the pics:

TheGallery

Shoulder to Shoulder to Day
You may also like

Saturday is a Very Wet Caption Day!

Posted on by | 22 Comments

1-DSC00836

Got a witty, profound or just plain silly caption for this picture? Then leave it in the comments below! Then click on the little boy’s head here & you will be magically transported to the funsome Mammasaurus’ blog for many more pictures crying out for a witty / pithy #satcap caption.

You may also like:

The Gallery: Together

Posted on by | 6 Comments

Jake & Ellie

Together

Conceived Together

JW_36-1

Born Together1-DSCF2720DSCF2772

DSCF2947DSCF2948

Babies Together

Learning Together

DSCF4123-1

Christmas Together

Um, I'm pretty sure it's cars you're meant to put in there, Ellie. But sure: we could try the big squeezy ball!

Crawling Together

DSCF4967

Shopping Together

Holding up the wall TogetherDSCF5016 (2)Laughing Together

DSCF5333, Babies riding in laundry basket

Exploring Together

DSCF5439

Being happy Together

DSCF5836

Playing Together

DSCF6156

Eating Together

IMG_0181 (2)

Plotting Together

075

Cooking Together

034

Not moving Together

192

Kissing Together

IMG_0351

Perching Together

020

Holding hands Together1-At Peter's

Being serious Together

cropped-jallie-at-peters.jpg

Being silly Together

1-DSC00461

Cwtching Together

1-DSC00455

Best Friends Forever Together!1-DSC00456

 

This post is part of  ’The Gallery’ at the ‘Sticky Fingers’ blog. For more Togetherness click the pic:

A conversation with my children about dinner

Posted on by | 23 Comments

A conversation, just now:

“Daddy, are we eating on the sofa or the table today?”

“The sofa”

“But we’ll make a mess”

“We’re eating in bowls, & you’ll be careful”

“No we won’t”

I give up…

Wot So Funee?

Click me

Fun & Walks in a Country Park

Posted on by | 13 Comments

We went to one of our favourite places on Friday. We try to go there nearly every week, in all but the worst weather, & we never seem to tire of it. My ‘Silent Sunday‘ photo was from there.

It’s a nearby country park, & it’s huge. It has a big stately home (with a cafe) which looks like a castle, a lake full of ducks & swans, a playground with a castle & little houses that recreate nursery rhymes, monastery ruins & a church that date back to the 13th century, a Victorian Orangery, an adventure playground, farm animals, a little child-friendly train & more.

1-DSC00328

click any image to enlarge

The train was always the first thing: it runs between the entrance & the Castle. They were always so excited wanting to get on on it, & were really upset in Autumn when it stopped for the season, especially Jake.

It’s started again, & yesterday they finally got to go on it again!

But you know what? They didn’t even seem to remember it! I know they were only 2 1/2 when it stopped, but given how much they loved it I was very surprised that they seemed to have forgotten about it.

Once on, Ellie at least seemed to enjoy herself. Jake: apparently not.

1-DSC00334

Although there was a very cold wind I think he liked it really, & was probably just being a bit silly.

1-DSC00339

With the train running we went back to our warm weather (ha!) routine of train, cafe, playing on the grass, feeding the ducks & swans, adventure playground, farm animals & walking back.

The walk back is great. The path winds & gently slopes downwards though beautiful woodlands & a over a lively stream. On the way there are wood sculptures made from tree-trunks, & trees sculpted into mushrooms that are perfect for hiding in or jumping on.

This gruesome one is a favourite:

1-DSC00353

And is very useful for ‘Saturday is Caption Day‘ posts!

Jake & Ellie somehow decided that the croc was very thirsty & spent a ridiculous amount of time pouring the contents of their sippy cups into its mouth, eventually having to be dragged away protesting loudly!

While propping Ellie up there I managed to get in a good photo of the silhouetted trees:

1-DSC00354

Then the bubbling brook from the bridge:

1-DSC00357

All in all, a great day: and they both slept like babies in the car on the way home!

This post is part of these great blog links, just click the pics for more:

TheGallery Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

Learning for Life

School! When did this happen?!

Posted on by | 5 Comments

We were really proud of Jake & Ellie yesterday.

They had a dental check-up first thing. We managed to get there in good time after pulling out all the bribery & corruption stops in getting their teeth cleaned!

When there we found some great books that we enjoyed before going in. Jake & I are still waiting to hear what happened to the terrible pirate who got seagull-poo in his eye…

On the dentist’s chair they thought it was all a hoot, & actually seemed to enjoy having their teeth examined. They really enjoyed the retro-style dark glasses too. I just wish I’d taken some photos: they looked very coool.

Their teeth are fine, by the way: Jake has all his & Ellie has her last one coming through. We had suspected she’d been teething recently.

In the afternoon we went to our first meeting at the primary school where they’re starting pre-school next month! The presentation was a little chaotic, to be honest, & we couldn’t hear a lot of it due to nearby noisy children. But the staff were very pleasant & seem competant, & the facilities seem excellent.

We were so pleased though that Jake & Ellie really enjoyed themselves, & seemed at home straight away. It helps that their 3 friends from Karen’s little group are there too. We planned it that way, & it’s the reason we chose this school.  I so love it that they have been & are making good friends like this.

Ellie especially seemed as if she’d been there all her life: she loved it! After only a few minutes it was “‘My school” this, & “My school” that; “My school has milk and biscuits!” she said to me excitedly.  She cried when we had to leave, so we let her play in the playground for a few minutes.

Spider-Man
Jake could be heard laughing loudly from the adjacent room while playing at the sand-table. He then became slightly fixated at the unfeasibly large numbers of Spider-Man action figures there, and introduced himself to everyone by backwards bear-walking between the seated parents & the projection screen, then back again! He was being Spider-Man, obviously.

They were even well-behaved in the supermarket afterwards.

I love these little guys! All the time, obviously, but I feel especially fond of them when they make us proud like this.

I still can’t get over how grown-up they are now too. They’re little people now, no longer the helpless little babies they once were.

Times change, & life goes on…

To pee, or not to pee…

Posted on by | 6 Comments
002-1

Er, yes: that’s a good effort but maybe you could try again?

I just read this really good & really funny post by Tom in ‘Dairy of the Dad’ about his struggle with the dreaded potty-training.

We may have the same trouble ahead as Jallie are due in Nursery in March & so will need to be fully potty-trained; as yet they’re only part-way there.

The ‘live stand-up demonstration’ stuff really made me laugh, & reminded me of similar experiences we’ve had here.

The locks on our loo doors, even if they have any, never seem to work too well so this sort of training went on naturally; we didn’t need to organise any sort of formal demonstration. It kind of just happened, whether we liked it or not.

Jake just seemed very pleased to see how a real man (ahem) does it.

But when Ellie ran in & ‘caught me in the act’ she was shocked.

Jumping up & down, running off to tell Mummy, her reaction was: “HE’S HOLDING THE PEE! HE’S HOLDING THE PEE!”.

As preparation for her using the potty: probably utterly useless. But at least she learnt something I guess!

Related articles

 

The priorities of a 2-year-old

Posted on by | 2 Comments

I’ve been a bit blocked – lost my Mojo, if you like – pretty much since back in April when we moved to our little house here in Wales. Things haven’t gone according to plan, & as time passed & it became darker & colder I had become increasingly disheartened. I wrote about it a bit here & will probably post more soon. 

But: new year, new start & all that. I’m trying to get myself together & be more positive & productive.

So this is a post which I probably should have made at the time, back when that strange stuff called ‘Sunshine’ was about & we were all a little bit warmer. It’s a good story I think & so should be told…

Our tiny little Welsh house (which I don’t like) is in a tiny little Welsh town (which I do).

Having spent the first half of my life in New Zealand I especially like the fact that it’s on the coast. It’s a 5 minute walk from the house over grassy dunes to a stony beach, & there are other beaches & bays within easy driving distance.

bay1We had driven to a bay we hadn’t visited before & were out on the beach running around & exploring. The beach was sandy but punctuated with rocks & pools.

Ellie was really enjoying jumping in the shallow pools (aka “muddy puddles!”). She was lining up a good one, ready to jump…

You know that scene in ‘The Vicar of Dibley’? With the puddle?

Yep.

We tried to warn her but we were too late! I don’t think she was listening anyway.

She wasn’t happy. And quite wet. I blame Peppa Pig!

Meanwhile Jake grabbed my hand & indicated that he wanted me to walk with him, somewhere. Ellie seemed OK & drying out, so we left her pootling about with Mummy.

But where were we going? Jake was a Man on a Mission. He led me back up the beach: over the sand & past the rock-pools. Up the ramp. Back up the winding approach road. Over the little grassy field. Up the hill.  Into the car-park. Past the car. To the car-park’s ticket machine – and there we stopped.

He wanted to push its buttons. He hadn’t done it when we were first there, so he took me all the way back just to do so.

He’d passed up sun, sand, sea & rock-pools for a grotty old car-park, all because he wanted to push some buttons. I think that’s when I finally realised that what’s really important to a 2-year-old isn’t always what we expect!

Should we start calling them “Jakeisms”?

Posted on by | Leave a comment

Sure, why not? There have a been a few recently.

We’ve already had the “Two Ronnies” style play on words, comedy of sexual politics, & most recently the nappy ruse.

Well he’s at it again: still making us laugh. A lot.

Among the TV programmes Jake & Ellie enjoy is one by the makers of “Peppa Pig” called “Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom“. For those who are unfamiliar it’s about 2 groups of insect-sized people, Elves & Fairies, who are very different but who manage to get along despite their differences. The Fairies use magic for everything & anything; the Elves are very practical & can make or fix almost anything. Both of course are convinced that their way is the best.

The Elves seem especially proud of being who they are. Whenever an Elf announces that they can do something they’ll shout something like: “Elves are good at making things, & I’m an Elf!”, then produce a little horn & toot on it loudly.

Well, one afternoon Jake was trying to convince me to go upstairs & play with him, even ‘though we don’t usually do that until after dinner & before bed. I think maybe they’ve been a bit confused by it getting dark outside so early & before dinner.

This was the crux of his argument: “The boys should go upstairs, & I’m a boy!”. At which point he pretended to toot on an invisible horn. Then he frantically ran around looking for something, which we quickly realised was the toy trumpet. I found it & gave it to him, then he repeated his mantra & gave it a quick toot, in exact imitation of the Elves on “Ben & Holly”!

It made us laugh, a lot. And feel slightly awed by how easily he makes these sort of connections, turns them into jokes & uses them to reason with us.

I went upstairs with him. How could I not?

Related articles

I think I’m in serious danger of being outsmarted by a 2-year-old

Posted on by | 4 Comments

Yesterday the twins had a late, long nap so we let them stay up a bit later than usual.

We were having a great time with a music DVD that I’d picked up for a song at the local garden centre –  possibly the best £2.99 I’ve ever spent – but it was time to go to bed.

The Mummy & Ellie had gone upstairs & I was right behind them. Jake however – as usual – didn’t want to stop what he was enjoying doing & was refusing to go with us.

So he called up to me: “Daddy! Come downstairs!”.

“No, Jake: it’s time to go to bed”.

“No, Daddy! You’re a boy, I’m a boy. I’ve got a willy, you’ve got a willy: come downstairs with me!”.

Sexual politics? And he’s not even 3!

I think I’m in trouble here…