18 months old

One and a half already! The twinkly-eyed, dimpled demon that is Rowan Wallace celebrated this landmark by shouting a few of his new words - [s]pi-dah!, coat!, kick!, a-bo (apple) - and then negotiating the front steps without crawling down backwards. His mobility is great and he's keen to climb and get on things like cars and tractors. He was delighted to see a Little Tykes car and Wendy-house appear on the patio on Friday; second-hand purchases from one of Sean's school-friends. Finn and Sean have been warned that they are primarily for Rowan to play with. Sean already had half the roof off last night: "it was too dark" complained Finn.

With the sun beaming down yesterday we spent the Bank Holiday at East Links Farm Park. Us and a couple of hundred other families. I have reservations about the place. The animals and birds seem increasingly irrelevant to the playpark aspects of it all, and it isn't cheap. As Sharon said, us paying £8 each for the privilege of minding our own children (£7 each). But the boys had a blast. Tractors, trampolines, the train ride, the maze through the trees, the hay barn (we are still picking hay out of Sean and Finn's hair), climbing frames and milk-churn skittles - each of the lads found something to their liking. We demolished a huge picnic (took me about an hour to make it in the morning) and dozed on the way home, except for Rowan who had already had his nap.

Finn was hampered a little by a sore leg. He seemed to develop a problem behind his left knee last week after jumping on the trampoline, more likely after falling with Sean on top of him. It gave him bother for a day or two but then eased off but on Saturday he woke crying with pain once more. He had been bouncing on the trampoline that afternoon. Sharon took him to A&E on Sunday but they couldn't find anything amiss. You could tell Finn was hurting when his leg was being manipulated however. He's a wee trouper that lad, doesn't show pain like his whingey big brother, just gets on with it. Sean has a bad cough (passed on from Finn) and Rowan was wailing in the night after being right out of sorts a couple of nights last week. He may have had a bug. Disrupted sleep has been the order of the day (or night).

Sean is getting used to his glasses and we're getting used to him wearing them. His right-eye lens is +6.5 Dioptres, so he really does have a problem there. He says he is starting to see a bit better from that eye and isn't closing it to look at things quite so much. His other lens is only +0.75D.

Sharon's April onslaught has come to an end with her recording a record month of sales and finishing her points-gathering for the Monte Carlo trip on her highest total yet. Will it be enough to earn the suite in Monte Carlo? Time will tell. Edel is in Nice just now and visited Monte Carlo. She reported that it is "opulent". Shame we'll have to get the train along to France to be able to afford a pie and a pint.