Sew busy

(Sorry).

It was a hectic day. L woke about 3 am, as far as we can tell, so she was charming and delightful by noon. But we all had porridge and headed out to get sewing supplies. All three children, including the 18-month-old, walked the mile to town, and we got sewing scissors for their sewing kits, a pinking shears, some bobbins, and other bits and pieces. I allowed them to choose one fancy button each in the last shop we visited, so that was nice.

While we were out we went to M&S for a snack, as we had a gift voucher. It was lovely. A is so chatty and communicative. I don't think many people understand her, but the girls and I do, and she tells us all sorts of things. Actually, Rob understands most of what she has to say too. But she was able to tell us what things from the table she wanted, and when she wanted a drink, and all those good things.

We came home and L went straight back into the dinosaur book. She has a thing about the evolution of amphibians at the moment. And about not sleeping, but I can live with that. A was napping, and then we had a visitor who was pinned down and forced to read stories for about 90 minutes.

When the visitor left E and I did sewing machine practice; she's learning to control the foot pedal, so I had her wind a bunch of new thread onto bobbins in our fancy new bobbin box. She was very impressed and excited about the sewing machines we saw while out - she checked each of them for a thread-cutter by the needle - and is delighted with the clever design that means the machine that sews can also fill up bobbins with which to sew. It's lovely.

L messed about with old acrylic paint in the bathroom, pulling lumps apart with tweezers and melting them in hot water. She cleaned it up well and without complaint, so that was ok. She also did something with a book of animal stencils.

And then, just before bedtime, A climbed up on a bench, fell down, and hurt her mouth. She has badly hurt her mouth before, at least once. But she's up again as soon as the bleeding stops, jumping around and trying to climb up the back of the wing-chairs. Tomorrow may well start with a call to the dentist and an emergency check-up. Her teeth are still firm but the gum looks... ugly.

I wish the child being happy was a reliable indicator of things being well.