Affection

Vera has recently started to express her affections in words, which is very sweet. She comes over with a serious face and says “I like you mamma and I’ve missed you” and just recently “I love you mamma”. Makes you very warm inside! I’ve been away a fair bit of late both privately and with work. The fellow Swedes and I have started a book club and we’re reading Agaat by Marlene Van Niekerk, which is set in Apartheid South Africa and a very interesting (but long! 700 pages) read. I’m so pleased we’ve started this as it gives me a focus and makes me make time for reading. Last Saturday I went down to London to celebrate Terese’s birthday,I enjoyed being in the big smoke and meeting up with old friends! I arrived back at 5:30pm on the Sunday night, and 12 hours later at 6am I set off to Cambridge again. After a long drive, we had three full days’ of workshops and dinners out. On Monday night I had Korean food at Little Seoul with my old and new boss and on Tuesday I managed not one but two dinners! I joined the project team for a work dinner at St John’s Chop House and had a nice starter and at 8:30pm I headed to Cau to meet my NCT friends for my steak main course! It was so lovely to see them all and catch up on the little ones! I arrived back home on Wednesday night and on Friday night Vera and I met Mark at Prezzo on Ecclesall Road for a start of the weekend treat in the form of pizza and pasta. This Saturday just gone, we braved IKEA in Nottingham. In hindsight, perhaps not our smartest idea to go on the first Saturday after pay day, the place was mobbed! But we manage to buy the things we were after, bathroom cabinet etc and get out of there alive! On Saturday night, it was time to go out again! This time experiencing the Sheffield night life with two fellow Swedes. I had been warned that it was a dress and high heels kind of affair, but nothing could have prepared me for what people (mainly women) were wearing (or not wearing in many cases)! I know that the further north you go in the UK this is the case, but I so wished I would have taken a few snaps to show you, the hair, the tight dresses and shorts, caked on make up and sky high heels! I felt like an old granny, but as I enjoy people watching, I had a field day! Yesterday, as the sun was shining, a rare occurrence these last couple of weeks, we headed to Graves Park to see the animals and play in the play ground. They sell animal feed there, so that you can buy a cup and feed some of the animals and Vera wanted some. She was very brave, feeding the cows, goats and sheep and loved every minute of it! Then she met her friend Rosa from nursery in the playground and they played for a bit before we headed home for lunch. In the afternoon, Mark out up a bathroom mirror and cabinet and a shelf downstairs and I cooked and baked some cinnamon buns. A chilled end to a very busy week! Vera’s sleeping is getting better and she stays in her own bed more. We’ve bought a groclock, which essentially is a toddler clock which shows the moon and stars during the night and the sun during the day (you set the times). That way, if she gets up in the night and sees the moon and the stars, she goes back to her own bed and if she sees the sun, she knows that it’s morning and ok to get up. Seems to work well so far, we’ll see how it goes!