Marie's Web Log

I haven't been writing much lately, mostly because I haven't felt like it. Our mild weather has continued, we didn't get much of a cold snap, though there was snow up on the hills on Christmas Day and driving up to Birmingham on Boxing Day we saw a lot of frost.

Boxing Day and the day after we spent with Ian's sister Lyn and her family, along with Ian's parents, one of his aunts, and the brother and son of his brother-in-law. That made 11 of us all together, with 10 of us staying over. Luckily they have quite a big house. The food, as usual, was delicious. Lyn knows how to do Christmas, but with plenty of vegetarian alternatives, as her husband and son are both vegetarians. And we never go without desserts - trifle, chocolate log, Christmas pudding and Christmas cake on Boxing Day, and profiteroles the day after!

Our Christmas Day was very quiet. We tried to go out for a walk but Amelia was too tired and then she slept for 2.5 hours. Then we opened a few gifts and ate the mushroom risotto Ian made (my favourite dish). That was it really. We only gave Amelia one thing - a small keyboard, as she likes music so much. But she was more taken by the gift she got from her aunt and uncle on Boxing Day - a small fold-up stroller so she can push her doll Meimei around. And push she did, making constant circles around various rooms for the next two days.

Tonight Amelia wanted something and she said, "Mama, please, more" which is pretty close to a sentence. (She also still taps her chest when she says "please," using sign language as well.) Unfortunately, she is ill again. She had a virus in mid-December that luckily cleared up by Christmas but on Tuesday she started coughing again and she is back on antibiotics. She wasn't very well this morning, but started to get a bit better this afternoon. That's three times she's been sick in the three months we've been here. And it's not all the fault of day care - the first time was before she started, and this last one didn't start until a week after she'd finished.

That's it for now, I think. Wishing you all a fun New Year. We're not going to London as Amelia is not well, so we will probably do nothing and go to bed at 10.

Posted by marie at 05:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

On Monday, we thought we'd go and get a Christmas tree. Not really leaving it to the last minute, no - we never get ours earlier than a week before. We went to five places that we knew were selling them, and they were all out. Well, not exactly. One place had two trees left, but they were rather too much like Charlie Brown's tree for our taste. (Mind you, most of the trees over here are like that, compared to North American ones. They seem to grow them specially with a three-foot long spiky bit at the top and all the bushy branches at the bottom.)

Finally, we came home and Ian phoned a few places until he found a garden centre on the other side of town that had some. In fact, they had plenty - I don't know why. So we did get one and it now stands in our tiny living room, decorated rather crudely with plain white fairy lights and some wooden toy style ornaments we got at Canadian Tire a few years ago.

Ian is watching the BBC weather, and they're saying we're due to get a blast of cold air down from the north by Christmas Day. Too bad - it's been very mild up to now. I gather it's been a little chilly in the Toronto area?

Tuesday was Amelia's last day at day care for a couple of weeks. She came home with a large envelope of things, including a Christmas card she'd made for us (with some help) and a calendar with a tracing of her hand and foot. We also had her "school report" - a large scrapbook into which the staff at the centre glue in photos of her taking part in activities and write reports and observations of how she's progressing in particular areas, such as Language and Communication or Personal and Social Development. All very impressive.

We will be here for Christmas Day, and then up to Ian's sister's in Birmingham on Boxing Day, where a large and no doubt boisterous gathering of the clan will take place.

Cheers for now,
and Season's Greetings.

Posted by marie at 05:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Haven't written for a while. Amelia has had another virus which went down into her chest - poor little thing. But we got some antibiotics for her and she perked up right away.

Can't get into the spirit of Christmas. (They're not very PC over here - it's never "happy holidays" or "season's greetings," but "happy christmas." They don't say "merry," I don't know why.) They've turned on the Christams lights in the city centre but there is no snow and it's quite mild. The only other sign that Christmas is coming is that the crowds of people in the shops are even more gigantic than usual. At 10 am on a weekday all the car parks are already full.

Not much else is new. Ian's brother and sister-in-law came down for a visit this weekend, which was fun. We seemed to spend a lot of the time going to pubs and eating.

Keep forgetting to mention that back in November Amelia got her British citizenship. Now she has three - from three different continents, too. Not bad for a toddler. Only Australia, Africa and South America to go. Well, and Antarctica, but I don't think they issue passports.

Missing you all and wishing you a very Happy Christmas in advance.

Posted by marie at 05:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I made them pop-up images this time, for those with slower connections. Click "view image" and give it a few seconds to appear.

Amelia with her "boyfriends" at daycare on her birthday
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Amelia with Louise, the leader of her daycare group, and the delicious home-made chocolate cake they made for her there
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New tricycle
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More cake!
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Opening gifts
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Birthday trip to the zoo
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Posted by marie at 04:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)