A New Chapter

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Today, this girl started school. Proper school. She is ready for it (I think we both are), very excited (again, we both are) and will make certain her teacher is in all the right places at all the right times. She will always have the right equipment on the right day and will be a good friend to those children who are not quite so sure about the whole thing. She will make friends and be a happy member of the class.

But what I don't understand is where the last four and a half years have vanished to. Poof. Gone. Like a whirlwind. She can't be starting school because in my head she is still two with soily hands. She is still crawling round the house eating crumbs (and lord knows what else) from the floor. She is still staggering around, lurching form table to sofa to door on her pudgy unsteady feet. She is not answering back or arguing in a mature logical way. She is not riding a bike without stabilisers. She is not making her own toast...

A strange day here.
Now I must go and bake a cake and find Puppy so she has the best welcome home at 3.30.

The Fifth Bean

I've been so so rude. I have neglected to introduce you to a VERY important member of our family. Really, he should have been posted about before Vampire Dog made an appearance. I hope he will forgive me. I hope she will forgive me. (We're never quite sure what the gender will be from day to day.) He (let's just call him a boy today for the sake of argument) arrived when SmallerBean was about six months old. He was a complete hit from the that day and he goes everywhere with her.May I introduce you to Puppy?

SmallerBean looks undressed if she is without Puppy. Sometimes Puppy has clothes, sometimes not. He has a birthday about three times a week. He goes on lots of holidays (in the sitting room), he eats lots of (plastic) food and his favourite food is flies(?). Puppy and SmallerBean are a great team. I love the way she uses Puppy as a vehicle for what she wants. 'Mummy, Puppy wants a biscuit.' 'Puppy likes painting.' 'Puppy doesn't like tidying up.'

Puppy has to go everywhere with us. It is likely that just as we are leaving the house, SmallerBean says 'Where's Puppy?'

I have lost count of the minutes I spend looking round the house before we go out, trying to find Puppy. It is exasperating. Usually, Puppy is in a cupboard, or under the bed, or behind a cushion. If Puppy ever got REALLY lost I can't imagine what would happen to The Beans.

The situation is so critical that we bought a second Puppy. We have to swap the two puppies (known as Clean Puppy and Dirty Puppy) quite frequently so if the disaster of Puppy being lost actually happened, we would have one of a similar worn-outness and smell. (But I won't dwell on that...) My paranoia about losing a puppy got SO bad that I bought some name tags with no name but our phone number on them. Just In Case.

I'm sure you'll catch up with him again soon. It could be a new bloggy competition- Spot Puppy for a prize. Mmm. I'll think about that.