Driving test

Sharon managed a test drive around the block at the weekend in preparation for Michael's departure on Wednesday. I went the other way though, being barely able to walk and drive this morning after my gout flared up very painfully on Monday. Last night was excrutiating. I took to Rowan's bed (he's sleeping in Sean's bed these days, and Sean is enjoying the solitude of the top bunk in the playroom) but couldn't settle with the pain. Fortunately the Indomethacin has done its job today, but I was struggling to function at work today.

Sean was most put out on Saturday when he missed most of Sarah's ten-pin bowling party. I reiterated he needs to start taking control of his own calendar and not rely on us to remind him of everything. As compensation he got to go to Ross's for a play on Sunday and went to see the film Monster in Paris. I took the middle two to see it too, at the Omni Vue, after a walk around the Old Town and a brief visit to Edinburgh Castle beforehand. Sharon went out to Livingston with Michael and the Meat Ball, also known as The Boy Wonder. So it was a day of divide and conquer.

On Monday night we had the first of the Dubai events in the house, with a few of the prospective qualifiers round to receive a presentation from stylist Judith Campbell on how to pack. Not quite my idea of a big night in but it was a trifle more interesting than my day-long workshop in Business Process Management today.

Driving Miss Proudfoot

Sharon's new name ought to be Sharon Proudfoot. She's very pleased with the results of the operation now that the bandages have come off. Day by day she's finding it a bit easier to manage about and the crutches have now taken up permanent residence behind the living room door (when Angus and Rowan aren't running through the house using them as guns).

Sharon is not quite back to driving yet, so I was the nominated driver on Monday night as she did her first show since the operation, out in East Linton. I dropped her off and then went for a swim in Haddington, managing a credible 40 lengths. Slow but sure, I was determined to get past Sean's recent 32 lengths (800m) record. He's since been allowed to stop going to swimming lessons.

It was a cold clear night and I drove up round Traprain Law before parking to get a good look at the dark night skies above East Lothian while listening to the end of the Harry Potter audiobook "The Half-Blood Prince" which has been playing in the car since well before Christmas. There was a great view of Orion and the Plaeides overhead and it was good to have some "me time." I followed it up by a glass of cider and a read of my book by the roaring fire in the East Linton Hotel until Sharon was ready to be collected. An unusual but very enjoyable Monday evening.

I reprised my taxi role last night, this time heading through to East Kilbride. I was shown to the front room while Sharon did the job in the kitchen-dining area. It was a bitter night with frozen snow rutting the roads of EK and the M8 sparkling icily on the drive home.

The boys tucked into haggies, neeps and tatties on Tuesday night, in honour of Robert Burns. Finn and Rowan helped prepare the veg. I never have got round to finding somewhere that does gluten-free haggis. Maybe next year!

One down

As Sharon's recovery continues, the International Babysitters are down to one. Marie returned home early this morning, leaving Michael to do a bit more driving. The four of us went out to the Sun Inn for a final thank-you meal. Sharon has previously arranged for Marie and Michael to spend an afternoon and overnight at Stobo Castle, partly for their birthdays and partly as a thank you for helping us out. They both seemed to have really enjoyed that and lunch at Osso in Peebles.

The boys have been getting a bit cheeky with their Nana and Papa though. Familiarity breeds contempt. Finn reportedly called his Nana "smelly pants". Maries's cries of "Easy!" were going largely unheeded as the boys ran rings round her at bedtime, especially Angus and Rowan. Angus is a noisy tyke at the moment, never content with saying something once when five times will do. He's tending to the early starts again too, so it's time to cut down and phase out the afternoon nap.

I took the boys and Marie for a walk in the Botanics on Sunday. They estimate 60 trees blew down and 400 panes of glass were smashed in the recent high winds. They've been pretty quick at tidying up although some areas were still roped off. Finn enjoyed seeing the squirrels. He has a liking for birds and wildlife, that boy.

Micnic at Stirling Castle

Despite it being January, we've managed a couple of picnics in the last wee while. Or "micnics" as Angus was calling them. As well as "natto" for tomato. But aside from these amusing little variations - "please a somethin else?" is a favourite adopted by his "brudders" when looking for more food at the table - his speech is coming on very well. He can roll his R's better that Rowan. And interestingly, Rowan doesn't seem to be a "brudder" - whereas Sean and Finn collectively are. However, Rowan is included in the call of "come on boys, dinner time!"

Anyway, on Sunday 8th we joined the Patersons for a circular walk around the reservoir at Harelaw. Angus, to his credit, did very well, plodding manfully for 40 minutes of the 50 minute circuit, his finger in his mouth for the last while and eventually a request to be lifted was granted. Rowan was complaining within minutes of leaving the car. Admittedly there was a cold wind cutting across an otherwise mild day. Rowan doesn't do cold. Sharon was waiting back at the car with our soup and sandwiches which perked Angus up no end. He likes his grub!

This Sunday we took two cars up the M9 to Stirling on a cold and frosty lunchtime. We had the picnic first this time, to fortify ourselves for a Castle visit, making first use of the passes purchased for the boys' Christmases by Nana and Papa who were also in attendance. Rowan went into meltdown after his picnic, weeping uncontrollably that he was too cold (he had taken off his duffle coat as it was getting in his way when eating his soup and he refused to put it back on) and wailing all the way into the castle. His record at Stirling Castle is not good. On the first visit he had a similar tantrum towards the end of the visit, and last time he fell off a cannon on to his face.

With Rowan eventually subdued, we had a good wander through the newly refurbished parts of the castle before treating the boys to hot chocolate. The surrounding plains were draped in low-lying fog and our vantage point afforded some spectacular views.

Sean and Finn spent most of their savings last week with the purchase of an iPod Touch (4th generation) each. I spent Friday night setting them up and they barely lifted their heads on Saturday as they explored its setting and features, pausing only to ask me to download some free game or other. Rowan isn't too put out as he'll now get even more of the Nintendo DSi to himself. Angus, despite often sitting grasping a Wii controller if the others are playing on the Wii, isn't yet seduced by the digital world, although the speed with which he has gone from having no interest in TV to pestering us constantly - "my watch a movie?" - suggests he won't be far behind.

Back to school

The boys are finally back at school after what seems liks the longest festive break ever. Marie arrived last Saturday night, followed by Michael on Monday so the school transport logistics are sorted once more while Sharon's pediatry recovery continues. There was almost a setback on Saturday night as she was reading stories to the boys. Sean slipped and bumped the console unit in the bedroom which shifted into Sharon's foot, bending it upwards. I was alerted by a number of screams of pain, followed by tears from the boys who got a fright. Hopefully no lasting damage has been done. The bandage is due to come off next week.

Rowan's night-time wanderings have continued. His start back at school was delayed slightly as he had an appointement at the Eye Pavilion after an 18-month absence, to check on the bad squint he has suddenly developed in his left eye. Marie came with us. The squint isn't noticeable with his glasses on and the optometrist believes that the "decompensation" as she called it could have resulted from Rowan not wearing his glasses or looking over the top of them, two things he was guilty of earlier last year. Also, for someone with hyperopia (long-sightedness), at his age he has started using his eyes much more, especially with starting school. The eyes working harder can exacerbate conditions if the glasses are being worn properly. No patching (thankfully, as Rowan would have been a hard man to get to stick to that regime) and his levels of vision are decent in both eyes with his glasses on, but he's being referred to the consultant.

With his brothers back at school, Angus was highly talkative all day, barely pausing to breathe. He has been doing much hugging and kissing and was making "pizza" with the playdo. He's now 400g off the 20kg mark and is attacking his food with a renewed vigour after being "aff it" over Christmas. Rowan is only six pounds heavier than him. Rowan is heavier than his wiry frame might imply but Angus is just a hefty lump!

The garage door people came today and can't get the tension back on the rollers at all from the wires. They spent the best part of an hour trying to sort it. The door manufacturers pulled out of the UK five years ago, and there are no replacement parts to be had. So, replacing it could cost upwards of £800 depending on the style of door chosen. Not a good start to the year. At least Adrian has fixed the back door so we can access the garage.

The "twins" had a 67th birthday tea on Tuesday night. A traditional Irish favourite of baked ham, spuds, cabbage and other veg, and a cake with candles after. I think the boys were disappointed there were only seven candles on the cake! Sharon held a Directors' meeting in the house last night at which the new Sales Director for Pampered Chef UK, Nick Banyard, was present. So, it's been a busy start to the New Year!

Last hurrah of the holidays

"I was going so fast I banged into the yellow bits at the bottom." "How did that feel, Finn!" "Great!"

Finn and Sean went up to Hillend this morning with Miriam and Margaret Flaherty for a "play ski". (Denoting something as "play" differentiates it from "lessons", hence "play ski" and "play swim". I took Rowan on a play swim the other evening to Loanhead. The emphasis was very much on play. To his credit he can doggy paddle a bit and is willing to try in the big pool but he's not that keen on persevering after a couple of tries. He can now touch the bottom in the big pool and just keep his mouth above the water.) Finn went up to the blue run on his own, couldn't see Miriam so just decided to come down himself. And he did it very well! As with his golf he seems to have a very good natural technique. Hopefully he'll keep at the skiing and the golf but Finn can be mercurial when it comes to deciding what he wants to do.

I was dropping Sharon off at the Gyle so that she could meet someone and maker her own way home by bus. Over-use of the crutches led to blisters on her hands however. I spent the afternoon setting up a print server which seems to do the job with regards to being able to sharing the printer between the desktop and the laptop but isn't going to cut it as a storage server. I was hoping to network a recently purchased external hard drive but it looks like I'll have to splash out more on a proper Network Attached Storage device and just use the external hard drive for back-up, which was the original plan for the home (and Sharon's business) network. I was just hoping to do something on the cheap.

This evening we headed up to Nonna's at the top of Morningside for an early dinner. The boys were well behaved although Rowan let the side down a bit. He has been very hyper recently, like a dog chasing his tail, yelling and wailing a lot and getting up in the night all too often with his mantras of "I've had a bad dream" or "It's too dark". I moved him into the bunk bed last night and gave him a night light which seemed to improve things. At least he lasted till after 7 this morning.

Sean has been re-reading some of the Harry Potter books again. Ask him to name a spell and he'll come up trumps. He's spent a good few hours reading this week, which, given the inclement weather we've had of late has been no bad thing as there have been few opportunities for the boys to get out. Alex and Louis St.John were over yesterday which the boys seemed to have enjoyed, getting a good laugh. Alex is in P5 at Bonaly so, assuming no moves, him and Sean will start Firhill together. It will be interesting to see if they develop a friendship.

Angus is being delightful and demonic in equal measures at the moment. He is full of "I love you's" and cuddles and kisses and keeps talking and talking. He drew blood from Rowan today and drew tears from all his "bruddas" at some point as well as demanding telly and "a movie" endlessly. He had a great time with Barry here, introducing him to soft play at Leadburn and generally looking out for him. A rare chance for Angus to be the big cousin.

Into 2012

It's the last day of my festive holiday, although the boys still have another week to go before returning to school. Today was yet another day of high winds although this time the damage was more apparent. Nothing to report from Swanston apart from a few upended bins and a load of rubbish dancing around the garden, but on driving into town with the big three we came across more severe upheaval. Another of the trees from the Meadows was down across Melville Drive. The Western Approach Rd was closed as power lines had come down. And we found our way along Newbattle Terrace blocked by another mighty tree felled by the wind, right across the road and on top of a car.

In between, we battled our way from shop to shop and had lunch in Debenhams. Edel was due to fly over with Barry but her flight was inevitably delayed by the wind and it was after 5pm before Finn and I, fresh from haircuts in Morningside, were able to pick them up from the airport. Needless to say the boys were delighted to see their little cousin, Angus especially happy to have his wee playmate back. And Barry is walking now too.

Yesterday was a lazy day for most of us in that we had no visitors or people to see. I took down the Christmas decorations since, being up quite early, the tree was beginning to pong a bit and I wanted everything tidied away before I went back to work and before the forecast bad weather arrived. Given the gales overnight and today I'm glad I took the tree back to Klondyke for recycling yesterday.

On New Years' Day we headed over to the Patersons' late in the afternoon as part of a general get together and to partake of some nosh. The boys were happy to play in the den with Ross while Angus wandered about looking for food and having a chat. The boys were a little tired after a run of late nights, not least of which was Hogmanay itself. The big two got to stay up late, watching telly with Mum and Dad for the first time. Just as we were watching the bells and fireworks from the centre of Edinburgh on TV, there was a barrage of bangs outside. Whether the TV signal was slightly delayed or whether there was some local fireworks going off slightly ahead of the main event, it was enough to waken Rowan who appeared at the living room door with a screwed up, grumpy face. So we got to wish him a Happy New Year too, although he looked far from happy about it. Neither Sean nor Finn would try the ginger wine but I found it potable enough after all those years of trying it when Lesley and I were growing up and finding it too rough on the throat.

Earlier in the day we drove out to West Linton so that Sharon could go to see Michael, her trainer, and get back on track with some exercise. She's feeling frustrated at not being able to do much, hampered by the foot. I drove around with the boys then, on picking Sharon up, we drove to Whitmuir Organics and had a lazy lunch there. The food took a bit longer than expected to arrive and Angus was served red wine gravy with his sausages but we were in no hurry and the boys were on good form. It was a pleasant way to end 2011.