Spring is springing

London may not have the same seasonal variety that we're used to back home, but the coming of spring is still a great time here. Daffodils are blooming, temperatures are creeping up and -- most welcome of all -- the days are starting to lengthen again. Suddenly I find myself walking to work, and returning home, in daylight. A zombie no more.

As I sat down to write this Karen just asked me, "What are you going to write about? Nothing's been happening". She has a point in that there's nothing too dramatic to report. But there's plenty going on. On the positive side, we've all been healthy. OK, Parker is somewhat roughed up having smacked his head on various occasions (under my watch) last weekend, but this is basically him being Parker, the perpetual motion machine.

Sadie is a handful these days, lots of fun but very strong willed, progressing well in potty training (with the occasional accident) and continuing to enjoy her nursery school. She is also happy with her reward for shedding her diapers: a purple scooter. It looks like we have sorted out her school for the fall -- I'll let Karen report on that.  

Generally we're all continuing to sleep much better in 2011 than we did in 2010. A major hurdle was crossed last weekend when we moved Sadie into Parker's room (now renamed the kids' room, with a 'princess bed' for Sadie). Although the move was a failure the first night (they both refused to sleep), by night 2 they had settled down and ever since the arrangement seems to be working well. They both seem to like sleeping in the same room, and now chat to eachother after waking up rather than howling for attention from us. There is some evidence (e.g. the bouts of obstinacy mentioned above) that Sadie needs more sleep than Parker.. we'll continue to monitor how it goes. On the positive side, we have our bedroom back.

Only one major negative headline, which is that with no warning some workers arrived one day and started assembling scaffolding around our house. It turns out the house exterior is being fixed up for the next few months, during which time we will be overrun with workers and lose use of our backyard -- probably for a significant portion of the brief summer. Serious bummer. We've bitched and moaned to the landlord and may get a small rebate on the rent, but we're still annoyed. Finger's crossed they meet the deadline of being done by late May -- or at least get close!