Afternoon Ritual

For the last two afternoons when I've gotten home from work, my little one has joined me in what I hope will become an afternoon ritual. During my lunch break on Thursday, I went out with a friend for lunch. On the way back to school we stopped off at Waitrose where I picked up a cherry and geranium cupcake which had been reduced because it was going to go past its sell by date that day. At home that afternoon, the little one and I sat at the kitchen counter on our high stools, him with his little mug of milk and me with a cup of steaming hot chai and we shared the cupcake. It was absolutely lovely.

The following day was Red Nose Day and the Year 6s were holding a cake sale at the end of the day. My classroom is strategically placed in that it leads directly to the staffroom outside which the girls were setting up their stall. Before I had even let the kids go, I opened my door, beckoned one for the girls to me and bought a blueberry muffin and a slice of Victoria sponge cake from her. I managed not to scoff them both before I got home. As I was making my chai, the little one asked me to pick him up and put him on his stool. He then asked for his "meek" (milk) and cake. And so we spent another afternoon sharing a cupcake over a cup of tea and a cup of milk.

Nothing beats coming home and having some cake and tea with my son.

Leisurely Sunday

Sundays have become my favourite day of the week. As a little girl, I used to hate it. I always thought it was so boring. Shops used to be closed. There was nothing interesting to watch on TV. Sundays just dragged on and on and on. Sundays now usually means a day out with the hubby and little one. We don't always have anything planned but we almost always go out.

Last Sunday, for instance, saw us at the Columbia Flower Market. Whenever we drove to Central London we would always see people with their arms laden with bunches of flowers. And, every time we would see them, the hubby and I agreed we would make our way down there one day and check it out for ourselves. It always seemed like the market were giving the flowers away for free from the sheer number of people walking down the road with their arms full.

With lightning streaking across the sky and a little thunder rumbling in the air, we made our way to Columbia Road. We were not disappointed. The atmosphere was wonderful...stall sellers shouting out unbelievable bargains; crowds of people just leisurely walking down the road and the flowers - the beautiful, beautiful flowers. Even the little quaint shops with their quirky names lining the street added to the charm of the place.

The little one was in his element, he being a lover of flowers. I got myself a bunch of mixed flowers (I regret not getting some roses) and a little pot of Snowdrops. After umming and ahhing over what flowers to buy, taking dozens of pictures and overcoming our disappointment at missing out on churros and hot chocolate, we made our way across the road to Hackney City Farm.

The Boogster, who was so much more braver over the summer when I took him, no longer felt the need the chase the chickens and even though he was fascinated by the moo-moo didn't get half as close as the other children.

It was a lovely weekend. I wonder what this Sunday brings.

Sisters

Growing up, I always wanted a sister. My twin brothers had one another. I had them too but it was different. It wasn't just that they were twins, they were brothers. Some of my closest friends have sisters and seeing them together makes me wish I had someone I could always have a laugh with, confide in, borrow handbags and shoes from. I've been asked on occasion what it's like being an only girl. I don't really know any different. I can only imagine what it would be like to have a sister.

And oh, sometimes even now at 34 years old, I wish I had a sister.

My "need-to-finish-this -soon" list

1. My son's second scrapbook

2. My best friend's scarf which has been on my knitting needles for almost 4 years

3. The crochet shopping bag I was making out of green parcel string

4. The children's book I haven't even started yet

5. Re-string the necklace the above mentioned best friend gave me when I last saw her (it snapped whilst I was picking up my bags to leave for work)

Love this idea...

Baraka from Rickshaw Diaries is collaborating with a friend to publish a book called Love, Inshallah. Check out the details here.

Weekends

Weekends, I find, always see to zoom by in a flash. Blink and you miss it. The same has just happened with this one. All I had planned to do was to meet up with two friends at Pizza Express with my little one on Saturday and then just laze around today. Lunch with the friends was lovely. The Boogster stayed in his high chair the whole time and gave me no trouble at all except when it came to getting back into his car seat. (And trouble before we left has he has developed an intense aversion to changing his clothes).

Then this morning, whilst doing some dusting, my brother announced he was going to Covent Garden. I love Covent Garden. And so hubby, Boogster, brother and myself packed ourselves into the car and headed to central London. I made a bee-line for Bare Escentuals, a cosmetic company which sells mineral make-up, had a little make-over and ended up spending far too much on the Getting Started Kit. Then, to feed my stationery obsession, I browsed in Artbox. On the way back to car we all stopped off at Scoop for some fine Italian ice-cream. That went down well with everyone as the ice-cream was absolutely lovely. Will be visiting it again next time to try out some of the other flavours.

As a child, there were two places my parents used to take us for a treat: one was an little ice-cream parlour in Goodge Street (we'd wait in the car while my dad got us ice-cream and we'd have it while driving round London at night) and the other was a place called Bloom's which sold wonderful kosher beef sandwiches. I've always wanted to do the same with my kids as I have fond memories of those times. I've found the ice-cream place...now all I need is a Bloom's substitute.

The evening was spent watching Tangled at Cineworld. Ammi and I were supposed to watch it on our own but the hubby and Boogster tagged along. I'm impressed that he watched the entire cartoon without a peep. I had to keep checking to see if he was awake. I had envisaged him making a racket and having to be carried out by the hubby.

It was an all in all lovely weekend. Work tomorrow. Bring on next weekend!

Holidays

One of the perks of being a teacher is that I get the holidays off which in turn means I get to spend lots of time with the little one. The downside to being a teacher though is that during every holiday, I catch the flu (or a very bad cold). I spent the first week of my holiday in bed with the flu: aches and pains; the chills; a hacking cough and vomiting too. the second week was spent trying to recover. It's almost time to go back to work and I'm still coughing! Getting ill in the holidays is such a pain! I missed seeing one of my oldest friends who was over from Norway (she succumbed to the flu herself); I missed the first couple days of the sales and I didn't get to spend the first week with my son much as we tried to avoid him catching it from me.

All that said though, it's been good to have a break. My son has turned into a right little chatterbox. We still don't understand 80% of what he says but he's so earnest when he talks we pretend to understand him. Sometimes I look at him and I still find it hard to believe I've become a mother. Other times I wonder where time has flown. He's already 2. How did that happen? That's why having the holidays off is great. I work full time and often feel like I'm missing out on so much. This gives me time to spend with him and I enjoy every minute.