My sometimes the boss

Sean played the cello today. At school, that is, rather than suddenly declaring a hitherto unrevealed talent and astonishing us all. He played two notes and quite enjoyed it. It made a change from the recorder. Rowan began his extra reading today, with Mrs. Morwood, the deputy head, and three of the other P1's. He's doing Stage 5 with her, Stage 4 with this class. Mrs. Cooke was mindful of how Sean hadn't been keen to go out of class to do extra stuff but Sharon had assured her it would not be a problem with Rowan. "I'm the second cleverest in my class!" he stated this evening. Seems that Joseph is the man to beat.

Finn was out at ten-pin bowling this evening with the Beavers. He got a spare and came third in his group. He had his back teeth sealed at the dentist on Friday morning, the same treatment Sean got last year. He made less of a song and dance about it compared to Sean, however, his mouth swelled up on one side and he's been left with a nasty looking cold-sore type patch of skin around a corner of his mouth. Whether it's been a bad reaction to the latex in the dentist's glove, we're not sure. The dentists didn't have a suggestion either.

Angus has been hacking away for the last few days, generally without covering his mouth so it's probably a matter of time before we're all spluttering in unison. He had a rough night on Friday night so I slept in with him. He's dropped his lunchtime nap, mostly, but will still doze off if we drive somewhere in the afternoon and fell asleep on me watching telly at the weekend and as I was reading stories this evening. "My sometimes the boss!" he forcefully told his mother the other day.

I had a good day with the lads on Saturday. The big two were back at golf, outside for the start of March, and had a good colour in their cheeks as a result. I took the wee two to Sainsburys, which can always be a bit fraught as they go running off, chasing each other, yelling, jumping aboard the "bus" (trolley), rolling about in the aisles and licking the floor. Maybe I'll get my own back in 20 or 30 years' time. Rowan went up to Sandy's party, the others had lunch and did homework then we all went down to Morningside Park for a good burst of fresh air. The four lads played well together. There's probably only a short window while this will happen, as Angus gets big enough to hold his own and Sean is still young enough to play his brothers' games so we need to make the most of it.

"Cork in the bottle" involved all four of them taking over the helter-skelter slide; the "swing bombs" game where I lob a ball at them as swing back and forth on the swings with the risk of getting hit and the perennial favourite "the running game", where I instruct them to complete various tasks around the playpark, this time augmented by the presence of the scooter. Tired and hungry, we headed home to where the chicken had been cooking in the oven and Sharon had returned from a spring rally.