happy halloween!

Happy Halloween, everyone!  Dulcie's been getting into the spooky spirit with this "I love my mummy" top, courtesy of her Auntie Kerry.  I hope you all have some spooky fun planned.  We're spending the day with my parents and my sister's family, so hopefully something exciting will be happening, some apple dooking at the very least!  I've never been the best at dooking for apples and always preferred trying to eat a sugary doughnut from a string.  Mmmm!

If you feel so inclined, you can read all about how our family spent Halloween in 1986 here, taken from my sister's diary of the time.  Enjoy!

jamrach's menagerie

I finished reading this book just recently and it was so good!  It's a proper rip-roaring yarn, a real adventure story, but kind of dark and a bit dreamlike at the same time.  I've been reading it while feeding Dulcie in the evenings, trying to get her settled, but perhaps all my gasping and exclaiming is what's been keeping her awake.  I love it when books make me exclaim out loud, apart from when I'm on the bus or something (as happened with Fingersmith) which can be kind of embarrassing.  Upon reading the acknowledgements at the end of this book, I discovered that the two most gasp-worthy moments were actually based on real-life events.  No way!  Now I think, to find out more, I'm going to have to read a non-fiction account of a sea journey, something I swore I'd never do again after struggling my way through Ernest Shackleton's South.  Ah, it felt so good to read something a bit gripping after the last bland (but vaguely enjoyable) bit of fluff I slogged through.

Not that I don't have a huge pile of books by my bed just waiting to be read, but I'd love to hear any recommendations anyone has.  Given how hard it is to find time/space/free hands to read these days, any recommendations had better be good!  No pressure...  :)

sleeping (when she feels like it) beauty

 I wasn't planning to blog tonight, but couldn't resist sharing these photos of my companion on the couch.  Oh, she is so pretty when she's sleeping.  Swoon.

We're still having major sleeping issues with Dulcie.  She will sleep on our sofa, she will sleep in our bed, but she absolutely will not sleep in her own cot.  I'm trying not to worry about it for now in the hope that our forthcoming trip up north will shake things up and sort her out.  If not, I may have to go all hardline on her ass!  I'm not sure I have the necessary mettle.  She just keeps turning me into a big, gooey marshmallow of a mother.  But, honestly, can you blame me?  Awww!

mad skillz

Not only has Dulcie learned to clap recently, she has also learned the word "clap".  (I mean to listen, not to speak!)  I wonder how much else she is understanding...  I'm trying to convince Graham that now would be a good time to stop swearing within her earshot!  Dulcie is so proud of her new skill.  Since she learned to clap a few days ago she has hardly stopped doing it.  I've even caught her practising IN HER SLEEP.  She is so cute and so happy with herself.

The bedhead she's modelling in this video is becoming a bit of a permanent fixture.  She has quite long hair at the sides that gets all mussed up and scarecrow-like when she sleeps in bed with me, something she has been doing every night again since she had her chest infection.  I'm hoping a few days at my parents' (where we're going soon) will sort her out again like the trip to France did.  The bedhead may be a constant, but her eyes aren't always as bleary and baggy as this.  We'd been kept awake the previous night by our increasingly annoying neighbours singing karaoke from 4.30 - 6.00am.  Grrr!  I think we could all do with a good night's sleep in our house.  We're having a quiet day of coughing by the fire today, watching Innerspace and Come Dine With Me in between reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

p-p-p-put down the penguins

This penguin fabric (on a £5 rail!) drew me into Primark this week.  I battled the crowds of shoppers and bulging rails of cheap clothes to get the pram into the changing rooms with me, only to discover that what I had thought was a dress was actually a wee shorty romper suit.  Darn.  Credit where credit's due, I valiantly tried it on, but it only confirmed that I really am too old/mumsy to pull off a shorty romper suit any more.  Oh well, I snapped a photo of the lovely fabric and saved myself a fiver and half a lifetime in the giant Primark queue :)

the youngest swinger in town

Dulcie is hard to keep entertained these days.  Never a great one for naps, she is now a militant nap refuser, meaning she's not always up for long walks in the pram any more, or snoozy cuddles in the house.  Since she's not independently mobile, it's hard to think of things that are fun for her to do and not pure back-breaking torture for me.  This week we have taken to walking to the park and, if she's really not up for snoozing, having a wee play on the swings.  This passes some time quite nicely for both of us and gives Dulcie a good chance to nose at the other park users.  She does get really into parklife and already throws a mini temper tantrum when it's time to go and I try to get her back in the pram.  I do fear for the toddler years with this strong-willed girl...

 "Push me higher, Mum!"

 "Not that high, Mum!"

Here she is in the park this weekend, taking part in her absolute favourite activity - walking.  I thought if Graham and I took shifts to walk her round and round the park then it might tire her out and make her sleep in the evening.  It didn't work, although she did almost fall asleep while swinging shortly after this photo was taken!  Walking like this is all she wants to do when we're in the house and my bleedin' back is killing me, guv!

I'm cute (as a button!)

Look what my friend Bernie gave me.  Yes, it's my face... on a button!  Awesome.