Josephine the Acrobat

Spring

Well, after our one week of cold weather, it was much warmer and even sunny last week! Spring comes fairly gradually here. In the Northeast US, it seems like all of a sudden it gets warm and everything bursts into bloom on the same day. Here, things are blooming much more slowly. There's a forsythia that we walk by every day that has only a few dozen blooms and lots of buds. Back home, the forsythia bloom all at once.

We had a great time at the playground this week, although it was much more crowded than it's been lately. The girls got some new sidewalk chalk, which was a big hit.

The girls worked on their art skills:





We had a great time at the playground:







A kind friend sent us some Annie's Mac and Cheese, which you can't buy here:


Josephine dancing in funny headwear:



Josephine refused to take off her snowsuit, even indoors, for 2 full days:


Pascale tried on my boots:



Josephine keeps getting out of bed at night. She did not manage to get back in before falling asleep:



Relaxing on a Sunday:

School Insanity

All the independent schools (what we call private schools in the States) in London require that your child show up for an "assessment" where they interview the child to see if they will fit in at the school. Pascale had her first assessment today at Cameron House. I got a sitter for Josephine so I could take her there, naturally assuming that I was going to be a participant or at least an onlooker to this interview. When we arrived, they sent us upstairs to the room where they were doing the assessments. When we got there, there were maybe 6 kids already there and NO PARENTS. They have you drop off your 3-year-old for an hour of interviews and testing, and come back to pick her up!! Is that crazy or what? I could not believe it. Pascale actually handled it very well, though. I guess it's another thing that I'll have to get used to.

Cold, Cold, Cold

Yes, it finally got cold this week. Josephine was really confused as to why she's suddenly so uncomfortable at the playground. We did not stay long. We had to find indoor activities to engage in. Bernie took the kids to Gambado yesterday (bless him), and I took Pascale to the Victoria and Albert today. Josie still does not really get the V&A, but I'll try to bring her there again when she turns 2, and see if she is better there.

Pics from this week -- all indoor:

Making a train in the living room



Riding the trike in the storage hallway. We're probably not supposed to use this as a play area, but I'm planning on doing it until they stop us.



Playing on the stairs outside the flat. We're on the top floor, so they won't get in the way of people trying to go up or down.



Amusing themselves in a basket.

New Shoes All Around

Josephine is speaking so well lately! She's saying complete sentences, such as, "I eat all blueberry." And she's telling me things that I need to know. The other day, we were leaving a store in our neighborhood, and I told her that we needed to go to Maison Blanc to get something for dessert. She pointed in the proper direction and said, "Maison Blanc -- that way." I was so impressed.

On the subject of dessert, the French bakeries here are just wonderful, and they're on every street corner. They have the best macaroons imaginable. On the other hand, there are NO Italian bakeries here. I really miss the cannoli in New Jersey.

I watched the final season of the Sopranos a while back, and it brought with it a sudden wave of homesickness for New Jersey. That part right at the beginning where Tony is driving all over the place and you can see the montage of Jersey sights got me all choked up. I'm over it, though.

There was this pair of shoes at Harvey Nichols that I tried on last September or so, and they were so amazing, but they were just too expensive. Then after a while, the disappeared from the shoe department, which was sort of a relief because then I was no longer tempted to part with the cash for them. But during their recent sale, the shoes were BACK. But I still did not buy them at first. I went back last week, and it was the last week of the sale and they had their final reductions. I decided I just had to have them, even though, at 60% off, they still cost a fortune. They remind me of geisha shoes. I need to start frequenting fabulous places so I can wear them.

The girls got new shoes this week, too. Josephine's light up when she walks.


I tried to get a photo of them both in midair jumping off chairs, but it just did not happen:

These English gardeners are amazing. It's January, for crying out loud. Cold and dark all the time, but the local park looks like some sort of a tropical paradise.

The girls got new bath crayons to play with:

The obligatory playground pic:

New dresses:

Gambado

Yesterday, we went to Gambado, which is this huge indoor play space not too far from here. It was a huge hit with the girls. They have a massive jungle gym, a carousel, bumper cars and trampolines.

That's Pascale on the left-hand slide and Josephine way at the top of the middle slide:


Here's Josephine eating a chocolate croissant. She opens up the bread part, takes out the chocolate, eats the chocolate and discards the bread. To her mind, the bread is unnecessary packaging.


Here they are at the playground:


Josephine wants to go barefoot:


Pascale scooting backwards down an incline:


Relaxing at home:


Dancing on the banks of the Thames:

Birthdays, School

Pascale went back to school this week. I thought I would be anxious for her to start, but it was actually kind of nice having her home, and not having to drag her out of the house in the morning. It does not help that it's always cold and raining in the morning when I walk her to school, and I don't even want to drag myself out of the house, let alone 2 kids. It was also Bernie's birthday this week. He's suitably traumatized about being another year older, but he'll get used to it.

We went to the fabled London Whole Foods today! It is a 3-story extravaganza of fancy food and slick presentation. They have a lot of the products that they sell at WF in the States, including a nice selection of California wines, which are not readily available here. We stocked up on some of our favorites. One thing that we were looking for that they do not have is Annie's organic Macaroni and Cheese. It was a little disappointing, because that's one of very few things that I use regularly that you can't buy here. I'll have to stock up when we go back to the US in the summer.

I read the book "We Need To Talk About Kevin" last week. I'm under the impression that it's supposed to be literary fiction, but it was truly the most horrifying book I've ever read. It might as well have been written by Stephen King. It was a total nail-biting roller coaster ride of a book. The narrator is the mother of a teenager who killed several of his classmates, Columbine-style. I'd recommend it if you can handle the content.

Pascale and Josephine worked on their building skills:


I dragged them to the playground as soon as it stopped raining:


They have started assigning HOMEWORK at Pascale's school! They are perhaps a little too academic in the early years here. This is what a 3-year-old's homework looks like:


Pascale did some amazing artwork, including some flowers and a snowman:


Pascale and Josephine picked out pajamas for Bernie for his birthday, but of course they had to try them on themselves before they allowed Bernie near them:


Bernie worked from home on Friday, and Josephine was extremely helpful:


Here's our birthday celebration: