Category archive: Family 
Alex's First Day at School, Take Three
Thu 19 June 2008 at 20:13 | Comments (8) | Family
For the third time in less than three years, Alex spent his first day in a new school yesterday....Read the whole entry for "Alex's First Day at School, Take Three"
First Easter in the Netherlands, an act in Three Parts
Sun 23 March 2008 at 17:01 | Comments (2) | Family
Alex is fevered for the second day today, and has added barfing to his repertoire. I know he'll be...Read the whole entry for "First Easter in the Netherlands, an act in Three Parts"
New dress for Mistress Pink, or, Package tracking as entertainment
Fri 4 January 2008 at 13:21 | Comments off | Family
Last year, my mother made a [jumper / pinafore] (depending on dialect) dress for Fiona. It was every pink-obsessed little...Read the whole entry for "New dress for Mistress Pink, or, Package tracking as entertainment"
Them's the breaks, unfortunately
Just when we thought life was stressful enough... I was giving Fiona a shower last night when she slipped and...thuis!
(at home, in Dutch) It's taken us so many months to get to this point that sometimes I don't believe...Alarming sounds from upstairs
Wed 27 June 2007 at 19:55 | Comments off | Family
Martin was running the bath. Fiona said, "I need to poo!", and the upstairs reverberated with her footsteps in the...Schrödinger's House
After the bad luck of losing the place we'd rented for the next year, we had to go back onto...Grrr! Argh!
The house in Wormerveer has just fallen through. The owner is not going to Mallorca with his family next year,...Security Theatre, Junior Level
I am seriously annoyed. Alex's school is doing a "Keeping Myself Safe" unit, and he brought the first book from...How to Make Your Husband Cry
Wed 14 February 2007 at 22:24 | Comments (6) | Family, Sonnets
A week or two ago, one of the commenters on a weblog I frequent quoted a line from one of...Alex: an adventure
Alex has been petitioning me to go visit London and see the London Eye ever since I sent him a...Out with the Girlie
It's really not important what we did, this rainy September day. Taken 2 September 2006 What's important is that we...Spot the parent
So a new child seat law comes into effect in a month's time. It tightens up the existing rules for...Covered in cute!
OK, I know Martin has been ranting a lot on his blog lately. But it's not all grumps and grouses...Alex starts school: actual information here!
Sat 26 August 2006 at 10:48 | Comments (5) | Family
I can't believe Martin hijacked the entire story about Alex with a rant! Other information that the less clothing-obsessed readership...Read the whole entry for "Alex starts school: actual information here!"
Fridays with the Kids
Wed 21 June 2006 at 22:02 | Comments off | Family, Photography
Every Friday, the kids and I get to spend the day together. We have some very good times, and I've...What a weekend
Funniest sight of the weekend: Fiona in her swimming goggles. Taken 10 March 2006 Coolest thing of the week: eating...Family Time
Sun 5 March 2006 at 20:54 | Comments (0) | Family, Photography
The last couple of weeks have included some really good family time around the Sutherland household, for no particular reason...Alex's Turn to Be Funny
Taken 26 February 2006 At the dinner table tonight, apropos of nothing whatsoever: If you want to look like...Fiona learns to be silly
Bit by bit, Fiona's nature is unfolding before us. She has always been a centred little thing, with a certain...Weekend Whittering
We have been having a busy wee weekend here at the Evilrooster's Nest, after Friday's high-energy activities. On Saturday, the...No Rest for the Silly
Fri 17 February 2006 at 21:32 | Comments (0) | Family, Geocaching, Photography
Another Friday, another adventure. Fiona had a birthday party to go to quite late today (4:30 - 6), so I...Bubbles!
As bath toys go, bubbles are top favourites in this household. We never do bubble baths on nights when we're...Adventure Day
We're finally out of the Christmas blast radius, and the weather was sunny today. It was time to go out...Parental Geek Cred - -
In the style of the "What Happened Next?" game beloved of talk shows, geeks and geekettes, what happened before Fiona...A Walk in the Woods
Sat 4 February 2006 at 21:34 | Comments (3) | Family, Geocaching, Photography
A mouse took a walk in the deep dark wood... Actually, it was a whole family out searching for the...Go Get-a Milk
One of Fiona's favourite Christmas presents this year was a pushchair, from Grandma and Granda Sutherland. Ever since she got...Snappy comebacks from the under-fives
Mon 12 December 2005 at 19:44 | Comments (5) | Family
At dinner: Alex: (quoting Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) Look out! Behind you! It's a Dementor! Abi: (refusing...Read the whole entry for "Snappy comebacks from the under-fives"
Assumed Knowledge, Geek-Style
I'm not sure we're doing right by the kids, in fannish terms. I think we may be giving them a...Quiet Day In
Fridays are usually adventure days around the Sutherland household. I'm home from work, the kids are home from nursery, and...Doggerel
Alex has been going to his nursery, Mother Goose, for almost four years now. As he has become more verbal,...Almost One
Mon 10 January 2005 at 21:16 | Comments off | Family
Fiona turns one in 2 1/2 weeks. As always, being a parent, I feel two mutually exclusive things. On...Alex, where's yer troosers?
Mon 27 September 2004 at 19:35 | Comments off | Family
OK, the short story is: Cameron (Martin's cousin and a groomsman at our wedding) and Clare (a very beautiful woman) got married last weekend. We all went. Alex wore (in the loosest sense, at times) a kilt, which was cute and funny. We had a great time.
Below are some pictures, as evidence. They aren't all the pictures from the wedding, nor necessarily the best ones. They're just what I picked out to get something onto the web.
Alex and Food
Thu 22 April 2004 at 15:32 | Comments off | Family
Alex has an interesting relationship with food.
Yucky vs Yummy
Like most toddlers, he's neophobic. No, that doesn't mean Keanu Reeves in a black trenchcoat appears in his nightmares. He just doesn't like new foods.
He has a clear understanding that there are foods one likes (yummy foods) and foods one doesn't (yucky foods). As we often discuss at the dinner table, "Mama say yum, broccoli. Dada and Alex say yuck, broccoli." He was discussing the different kinds of food with me yesterday, revealing his understanding of jobs in the process.
Rockin' on the Potty
Fri 9 April 2004 at 17:15 | Comments off | Family
It's been over a week since Alex has made any significant mistakes, so I hereby declare him POTTY TRAINED.
If you, gentle reader, are the parent of a recently potty-trained child, you will know the mix of delight, amazement, and exhaustion I'm feeling right now. Delight, because I don't have to change his nappies any more. Amazement, because I see now what a fundamentally unnatural thing Alex has achieved. And exhaustion because potty training is hard work for a parent as well as a child.
If you are the parent trying to, or contemplating trying to potty train, a child, I know how you feel too. Curious, right? I used to read potty training books and websites, looking for some magic formula that would make the effort easier. Well, sadly, there is no universal magic formula, but let me tell you how we did it.
If you're not a parent, you'll have to find your own motivation to read this.
My New Job (as explained by Alex)
Mon 5 April 2004 at 10:39 | Comments off | Family
We took Mom to Edinburgh Airport this morning. Martin dropped us all off, and Alex, Fiona and I then accompanied...Read the whole entry for "My New Job (as explained by Alex)"
Playing the Percentiles
Sun 28 March 2004 at 00:20 | Comments off | Family
Fiona had her 8-week check and immunisations on Thursday. They measured her weight, height and head circumference, and all of...Fiona Sucks
Thu 18 March 2004 at 10:16 | Comments off | Family
...but in a good way.
When Fiona is fussy, we tend to offer her something to suck on. This comforts her, and allows us to determine if her fussiness is due to hunger. (It usually is.) Martin tends to offer his nose; I generally alternate between nose and chin. Or I used to - after this I'm thinking nose only, or maybe finger.
On Sunday, she was so hungry that when I let her suck on my chin, she gave me a hickey.
Smiler - with evidence!
Thu 11 March 2004 at 17:10 | Comments off | Family
Alex and I were blowing raspberries at Fiona this morning, and she thought it was hilarious.
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Ptheaah!
Wed 10 March 2004 at 16:51 | Comments off | Family
Alex has had a bad week or two.
Easrly last Wednsday night (March 3), he threw up at about 1am. He was distraught for the rest of the night, but felt pretty much OK the next day. Fine, we thought, he throws up randomly from time to time.
Then on Friday (March 5), he started again. He was sick through Saturday morning, but felt better in the afternoon. The barfing was worse - we ended up with towels instead of cushion covers on most of the 3-seater sofa (I love washable covers). But when it was over, we thought it was over.
So when he started crying at 3 this morning, we thought it was just a bad dream. Martin went through to him, then came to get me to do the long-traditional barf wash while he showered with the boy.
Smiler
Mon 8 March 2004 at 21:28 | Comments off | Family
A week ago today, Fiona looked me in the eye and smiled. Twice.
I immediately ran for the camera, at which point she screwed her face up, turned bright red, and wailed.
She has since smiled at her grandparents, her father, her brother, and at least one friend. I've been trying to capture a smile on diode for seven days now, and I give up. She'll smile for the camera when she wants to.
On a Roll
Tue 17 February 2004 at 17:20 | Comments off | Family
I left Fiona lying on her back on the changing mat (on the living room floor) while I went upstairs for a minute. Came back and...
Weight Watching
Fri 13 February 2004 at 14:04 | Comments off | Family
Maureen, our midwife, has just been by again to check my stitches (things are not healing very well, but that's another story). I took the opportunity to ask her to weigh Fiona.
4.74 kilos (For those of you who think in Imperial, that's 10 lb 7 oz.)
Baby Time II - In the Zone
Sat 7 February 2004 at 22:00 | Comments off | Family
It is a truth universally acknowledged that newborn babies don't sleep through the night. Indeed, their schedules bear only the remotest resemblance to the way most of us live. It's all dictated by stomach size and blood sugar levels. A newborn's stomach is about the size of a walnut, and it can't maintain its own blood sugar for more than a few hours at a stretch.
So it needs feeding. Over and over again. Most newborns run to a 3 or 4 hour cycle of eating and sleeping, punctuated by bouts of crying. How to cope?
Baby Time - and about time, too!
Mon 2 February 2004 at 16:54 | Comments off | Family
Martin has described Fiona's birth from his point of view. Mine may or may not match his - I was present, and conscious, for different portions of it than he was.
All times are approximate, most are deduced rather than based on checking the clock, and recall of many is influenced by drugs and/or altered states of conciousness.