Bank Holiday

Yesterday was a bank holiday in England--basically a Monday off for a lot of people, unless you're unfortunate enough to work in a grocery or other store that's having a big sale. A friend took us to see Winston Churchill's home, Chartwell, in Westerham, Kent, which is only about a 20 minute drive from us. As you can see from the photos, the gardens are lovely. The weather was fickle at points but was warm and sunny in the afternoon.






Sophia enjoyed the child's playhouse built in the garden by Churchill for his kids.




Sophia was pleased with the many benches Chartwell had to offer. (Benches are a big favorite right now. We must try every one we pass.)

3 in 1

Both of our bedrooms are getting some final work done this week on the walls affected by damp, which is great, but we've had to condense a good part of 3 rooms into 1. Now we're playing, sleeping, and working a lot in the living room. Here are a few photos.

You're So Vain

These are Sophia's first pigtails. After putting them back in several times yesterday, I understand why many of the pigtails I've seen on girls this age are imperfect--crooked parts and differing heights and thickness. Just getting them in becomes the goal! At first Sophia was very upset by it all, until she got a look at herself in the mirror--then she couldn't stop looking.

School of Hard Knocks

Ignore the crazy hairdo c/o Daddy. Check out the swollen scrape down the side of the face and the purple nose. As you can see from the 2nd picture, we're still working on the hurt finger from a week and a half ago. Today Sophia stood up on a plastic chair in our church nursery and toppled over, hitting her face in two places. What next?

I Don't Know What to Do

Last night I felt this sentence sums up a good portion of my parenting experience. Right now it applies to potty training and nighttime sleep. What do I do with a child who will sit on the potty for 20 minutes and read books and produce nothing only to go in her diaper shortly afterward? Wait until she's older, I guess. What do I do with a child, less than 2, who goes to bed at 8 or 8:30 and proceeds to sing for 1-2 hours every night? Last night it was after 10:30 before she finally went to sleep--and she was thumping around in her bed before 7 this morning. I can't, in good conscience, put a 1-year-old to bed any later. And she seems far too young to give up her nap. We tried an earlier and shorter nap today. It's bedtime now, so we'll have to see how long we're serenaded tonight.

What Wes' Doing

Right now Wes is away in Oxfordshire for his final 3 days of year 1 staff worker training.

Sophia Says...

Transcript: Be a sister. I'm going to be a sister.
Translation: Baby 2 is on the way. Due January 2.

A&E

We had an eventful night at the A&E last night (i.e., the ER). Sophia cut her finger on the lid of a can and I thought she might need stitches. We happened to pick one of the busiest nights. We were in the Children's A&E, but all the other units were packed as well. Consequently we were there for I don't know how long--over 3.5 hours. We left our house somewhere in the 7 o'clock hour and got to bed at midnight. Fortunately Sophia's finger should heal to almost as good as new with the aid of steristrips and lots of bandaging to keep her from investigating it. The nurse who did the final bandaging kept remarking how well Sophia behaved. One of the many things I learned from last night is that I don't react well when my child is crying and bleeding profusely. Somehow I thought I'd be more level headed, but I was just distraught. Fortunately Wes stayed a lot calmer and could actually look at Sophia's finger.

Seesawing at Kelsey Park, Beckenham