Some photos
Amelia in "the office"
Totnes
Torquay - self-appointed capital of "the English Rivieria"
Ian and Amelia
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November 28, 2004
November 23, 2004
Just a quick note
Today is a beautiful sunny day, about 15 degrees Celsius at least. Roses and geraniums and many other flowers and shrubs are still in bloom. I've seen several people wearing sandals and even shorts. It just seems wrong. I've not been in Devon before at this time of year, but I have been in southern England in late November and early December and I have always needed a scarf and gloves. Also the rain thing — we did have that one spell of wild weather, but apart from that we haven't had any more rain than I would expect in the Toronto area in the autumn. Weird. But nice weird.
I walked back from the gym this morning — about a half hour walk. I go to different fitness classes there three times a week. The one this morning was called Body Balance and is mostly yoga with some Tai Chi thrown in. It's quite a tough class, but good. Amelia is at day care, so I usually use today to try to bring the house back to some semblance of order and tidiness, in time for her to wreak havoc again!
To those who have sent e-mails to which I have not been replied, my apologies. Amelia's not sleeping has been sucking up all our energy, but I do try to reply to them eventually. I often wish I was telepathic — then you would all know that I am thinking about you often, and hope that you are all well and happy.
November 14, 2004
Amelia is 2
I have photos of Amelia's second birthday party, but the film is still in the camera, so as compensation I have posted the photo below, taken with the web cam today.
Amelia had two birthday parties - one at day care on Friday (her actual birthday) and one on Saturday at home, with Ian's parents who are here visiting for a few days. At day care they made a simple chocolate cake with two candles that they served to the children after their sandwiches in the afternoon. I went up early to take some photos.
On Saturday, Ian and I took Amelia to Paignton Zoo, which is about a 35 minute drive from here. Very nice zoo — smaller than Toronto, but in the same environmental park style, with huge habitiats for the animals. They even had a couple of areas where the animals were allowed to roam amongst the human visitors — not the tigers or lions, just the lemurs and one small species of monkey.
In the afternoon, we had another small cake and Amelia opened her gifts. There were only five or six (from various family members), but it still seemed a bit overwhelming for her. I don't know what we're going to do about Christmas.
Today we went back to Budleigh Salterton (see earlier post) with Ian's parents. We were very lucky again with the weather — it was a beautiful sunny morning. We thought it would be cold, but when we got to the coast there was no wind, the sun was warm and the sea was calm and sparkling. We saw someone in swimming — I thought he might have had a wet suit on, but when he came out we saw he only had a swimsuit.
Amelia has settled in to day care extremely well. Sometimes I think she likes being there better than she does being at home. (Bridget, if you are reading this, I'm sure this is partly due to the pioneering work you did with her in the summer!)
Must go to bed. All for now.
November 05, 2004
Bonfire night
Tonight is bonfire night, and even as I sit at the computer typing this, I can hear the pops and crackles and loud bangs of fireworks being set off by people in the neighbourhood. I am surprised by the number and quality of fireworks that people set off in their backyards. It must be expensive, and - you'd think - dangerous.
Ian, Amelia and I walked down the road to a bonfire night celebration being held in the sports field of a local college. They had a few fairground rides and some food and alcohol for sale, and loud music. At 6:15 they lit a huge bonfire in a fenced off area at the far end of the field, and at 7:45 there was a spectacular fireworks display - as good or better than the ones I've seen in Ottawa on Canada Day. Luckily Amelia is not frightened by loud noises, but she did get very tired and fell asleep quite quickly once we got her in bed. When this happens, it usually means she has a disturbed night later, so we'll see.
In case you don't know, bonfire night marks the anniversary of the plot to blow up the British parliament in 1605. I used to wonder why such a thing would be celebrated, but apparently when the citizens of the time discovered that the plot had been foiled and the King was saved, they lit bonfires in celebration. And the fireworks supposedly commemorate the explosives the plotters were planning to use. My theory is that this is a relatively modern event grafted on to the ancient tradition of having festivals to mark the end of autumn and beginning of winter.
Halloween was a non-event. There wasn't even anything in the news the next day about any trouble or anyone being arrested for mischief. No-one came round to our house, though I did see a couple of dressed up kids go by on the other street. If we had lived here longer and known some other families, I might have taken Amelia out, but we hadn't so I didn't.
Amelia is enjoying going to day care three days a week. She did a couple of half days last week, and then stayed for nap time. Yesterday when I took her in in the morning, she clapped her hands and then looked at me and said "bye bye." She seems to like being with the other children - 5 or 6 little boys, depending on the day. They're all around 2 years old, except for one who is a little younger.
We are trying a slightly different method of dealing with her sleep schedule, which seems to be working, so we're keeping our fingers crossed. Julie the health visitor came to see us on Wednesday. She is very nice and gave us some good information. In the next few weeks a nurse will come out to give Amelia a two-year check up - weigh her and measure her, etc. Julie also told us the nurse can work with us to develop a sleep program for Amelia, and Julie herself will help us improve Amelia's eating if we need it. Which is a lot more help than we ever got from the Canadian medical system. Amelia's pediatrician in Mississauga was lovely, but we only got lucky in finding her, and in most things we felt pretty much on our own.
I think this is probably long enough. The weather here is still quite mild - weirdly mild for November. Amelia will be two years old next Friday. More soon...