choo choo

More fun on trains today, taking Francesca to the station to go back to scotland, and then shopping on Oxford Street. Sylvia was getting quite expert by the end, and I had to drag her home.

Sylvia thinks getting the tube is a treat in itself, thanks to all the escalators, rushing trains and tunnels.

Bed time tricks

So how do you get a tired a cranky 3.5-year-old up the stairs to bed?
Last night I had to pretend the kitchen broom was a witch's broom and we all flew up the stairs, cackles and all.

We also do the jump game sometimes, where Sylvia does one big jump on the bed each for each item of clothing she takes off. She has innovated "tummy bumps" as part of this too!

One funny thing is how she always insists I have to pretend that I don't believe she can do all the jumps - and then be really surprised when she does.

Funny things she says:
While trying to get her interested in a football match on TV (Champions league semi-final!) -
"Why does football take a long time?"
And after I explain that the "team in the black" is the referee, who blows his whistle if the players do something wrong, she asks "do they then all sit down?"

By the way, Sylvia got a place at the school over the road, which is good news.

Party time and beetles

Sylvia went to Jake's 4th birthday party this afternoon. It was supposed to be in the park but the rain ended that idea - and the looming disagreement about what clothes Sylvia should wear. She wore her party dress of course.

Anyway, once she warmed up to all the new people she had a very good time, including winning pass-the-parcel. I was doing the music in fact, but I didn't fix it honest. She also won two very large and lifelike plastic beetles which she has been scaring me with ever since.

hopscotch

sylvia did hopscotch along the pavement coming home from church - which I hadn't seen before. She learned it in the school playground apparently. She looked funny with her little legs flittering over the paving stones, under her big fluffy pink coat.

Sunflowers and Chinatown

So up early and planting sunflower seeds and "rubbishes" (radishes) in the garden. Sylvia gets very excited by the "mini-beasts" in the earth - fat worms, shiny millipedes and wood lice. We also put up a bird box, and when I say we'll have to wait for a bird to come and live in it, Sylvia says OK, crosses her arms and waits - thinking it will happen in a few minutes.

We went to Chinatown on the tube in the afternoon, and saw a woman making dragon's hair candy - sort of like candy floss with nuts in. We had a drink in a cafe there, and Sylvia ate (or rather didn't) a "snowball" - which was like uncooked dough with dessicated coconut inside.

At home, Sylvia was waving a pencil around in time with some music and told me she was "inducting"!

Cara and Tom came for tea - so we had lots of ice cream - the only time when Sylvia is always totally silent.

Photos

There's quite a lot of photos of Sylvia on another site - click the links to take a look.
Most are a bit older - i.e. before this year (2006)

oct 05
germany 2005
best of (chosen april 2005)
best of pics (chosen feb 2005)
best of 2002-2004

The one shown here is from July 2005