Making Up Stories

We had a babysitter for G on Thursday night so the two of us could go for a night out in town. When we got back the babysitter said that after G had got out of bed, she told her a made-up story about "Princess G" in order to get her to drift back off to sleep.

The law of unintended consequences became apparent by Friday night. Books are now very last week, and every story has to involve some kind of made-up thing about our heroine (Princess G, Fairy Queen G, always G) doing something exciting. It's clear we're going to have to seriously improve our powers of creativity in order to make bedtime as stress-free as it, thankfully, usually is.

The picture was taken earlier on Friday, when we headed back to Saddleworth to take in a bit of the Whit Friday brass band contest in Dobcross. This was G's fourth Whit Friday, so I was supposed we were due a really rainy one.

Antlers On The Dancefloor

We went to a wedding this week. Thoughtfully, the happy couple had laid on a babysitter, so G and the other little ones weren't buzzing around pestering everyone (but mainly Mrs J and me) during the ceremony and food. This also meant that by the time the evening party started, G wasn't already overexcited and tired, and could have a bit of fun with everyone before bedtime.

There was one of those comedy photobooth things, and a dressing-up box for guests to take advantage of. G immediately zeroed in on a pair of festive antlers, then proceeded to trot around showing them off to everyone. The picture shows her explaining patiently to me why they are essential dancefloor wear. G also had a reindeer-style dance move to go along with her headgear, which basically involved moving her hands forward and down in the generally-accepted gesture for 'lion', and grinning like a loon. I'm not sure that's what reindeer actually do, but whatever.

After cutely showing off for a bit, we decided to get G to bed before she outstayed her welcome, or threw a tantrum about something. Besides, the babysitter was staying on until the end of the wedding, so we were able to have an always-welcome evening to ourselves. Well, us and about 100 other people. But you get the point.

Weekend Away, Then Holiday

After almost two years with G, Mrs J and I finally got our first couple of days away from her. We'd had the odd night out here and there, but the weekend before last was the first time we'd properly left G with someone else for any significant period of time, as we went down south for a friend's wedding.

Obviously we missed her but, you know, after more than 20 months of all G all the time, not really all that much. At least not until we were on our way home again, and we started wondering how she'd managed without us. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the answer was that she hadn't caused our babysitter any trouble at all, although I couldn't help but notice the extra toys which had magically appeared in the house in the meantime. It seems G can be bought, although I imagine the price of doing so may rise over the next few years.

On the Monday morning it was all a bit different. We were heading off to Northumberland for a few more days of holiday, taking G with us this time. But as we rushed around getting everything ready, we had to contend with a confused-looking toddler, who kept grabbing on to Mrs J, as if to try to prevent her going anywhere.

Once we'd got her into the car though, G soon calmed down and drifted off to sleep, as demonstrated by the picture at the top of this post. She also went on to enjoy some of the cultural contrasts of the north east during our break, ranging from the impressive Barter Books in Alnwick, where she ate a scone while appearing to take an important call from someone or other:

To the rather more simple charms of fish and chips, on the beach at Cullercoats:

She had good helpings of both the scone and the fish and chips, but I think G preferred the latter. Quite right too.