EASTER 2009

Alice's Easter egg this year was a
toddler's roller-coaster, I think that she liked it!

T and C came round and we had an Easter egg hunt, Alice soon caught on and was into finding eggs, she had a bit of trouble putting them into her new basket (made by Nana Next Door, Alice's is pink with a panda and there was also a purple one with an elephant for Little Sis!) There were so many eggs that Alice 'borrowed' Little Sis's basket!

THE PRIVILEGE OF MOTHERHOOD?

. . . is to embarrass your children . . . isn't it?

Alice, Easter 2009, her first Easter bonnet, homemade by Mum, half-destroyed by Pud, worn nevertheless!

EASTER AGAIN, STRESSED AND PANICKING AGAIN

2007 - I let myself believe the wilder rumours that I'd be in the next batch of referrals, it didn't happen, the CCAA only referred 2 days and that left me day 5 in the queue and behind a notoriously large 31st October. All of a sudden I was looking at potentially 3 or 4 more months of waiting and maybe having to return to school to start the following academic year. 3CMum tried to calm me down, but I couldn't listen, I couldn't let myself believe that it might be me the following month.

2009 - yesterday I received a letter that has stressed and panicked me, my homestudy for Little Sis has glaring omissions, omissions that my LA has known about for 3 months and seems to have down little to rectify. I thought I was weeks from my dossier going to Thailand, now I'm looking at having to redo so much of the dreaded financial statement as it will expire before getting to Thailand. So, yet again at Easter, I'm stressed, panicking and not listening to that very small voice that tells me it will all happen when the time is right.

WHAT WE LEARNT TODAY

Alice learnt that if you splash Mummy intentionally, after she's told you not to, that the fun ends instantly.

I learnt that Alice still needs to nap and meltdowns happen (see above!) when they're skipped!!

ALICE'S OPINION

I think that this photo sums up Alice's impressions of her first visit to the Isles of Scilly - she enjoyed every bit, especially the beach and the boat trips!

I've much more to post and a few more photos too (there's a surprise!) but they'll have to wait for another day as the dogs are getting hungry!

ALICE AT THE WEDDING

Yes, Alice wore her Baptism Dress again, with new shoes and cardigan and this time she wore the 'fluff' that I'd bought for the Baptism but didn't need because of the beautiful weather, she probably didn't need it on Tuesday but she had a stinking cold (still has it) and I might be a little overprotective as she doesn't express her needs so I always worry that she's too hot or too cold!!

She loved the columns in the chapel and had a super time spinning round them.

THE BRIDE'S PARENTS

THE WEDDING FAMILY!

The wedding was on Tuesday and the reason for our visit to the Scillies. The bride's maternal grandfather's family were Scillonians (I think that that's the correct term), so that's why we all migrated (mostly from South Wales) to the IoS for the wedding. The bride also worked on St Mary's for several years.

We had a specially arranged boat to take us from Bryher to St Mary's (the largest island) for the wedding. We then went to a hotel overlooking the harbour to get into our wedding clothes (and to chomp on pastries and nibbles whilst slurping fizz) before a short walk to the Weslian Chapel - St Mary's Register Office in Hugh Town, for the wedding at 11am.

I'm sure that the ceremony was lovely, unfortunately I was rather distracted by Alice and (despite a tube of colourful choccies) her inappropriate, loud and poor behaviour - not helped by most people thinking she's older than she really is (because of her size). By the end of the service she'd even got to know the photographer intimately (I was too busy trying to remove her to manage a photo of that!) Luckily the bride works with pre-school children and so Alice's antics didn't surprise her, in fact the whole wedding party were very understanding, but that doesn't stop me feeling embarrassed by her behaviour, she is VERY 2 at the moment.

After that we went to a local bar (not sure if it was a hotel or not) where the bride had worked. Alice was much better behaved - distracted by a glass of water and a straw whilst sitting at the bar - somehow that makes me more nervous! Then it was back on the boat to get back to our hotel for the reception. We had a delicious buffet lunch and lovely wedding goody bags (they were too generous to call favours!) Alice went into meltdown shortly after pudding so we missed the cheese and speeches (and probably other things too) for Alice to go for a nap and then through a series of unfortunate events we also missed the later celebration on the other side of the island.

It was a lovely day and we were incredibly fortunate with the weather - it couldn't have been better for the main parts of the wedding but it did get stormy by mid afternoon.

WHERE HAVE WE BEEN - REVEALED!

Well done S - you guessed correctly! We've been to the Isles of Scilly.

On Monday we drove to Penzance, then we caught a helicopter to Tresco, a tractor took us from the heliport to the quay, a very short boat ride got us across to Bryher before a L*androver took our luggage to the hotel. Some of the family met us from the boat and so we walked across the island to the hotel. We were in the IoS for a family wedding - many more photos to come!

THIS MORNING

'You-who, I'm ober here!' was the first thing I heard when I woke up.

'Mummy not coming . . . you-who, I'm ober here!' and Alice carried on until I went in to get her (I didn't go at first call as I was trying to work out exactly what she was saying!

WHERE HAVE WE BEEN?

Over 450 miles, 2 helicopter rides, 8 boat rides, some time in L*androver, 2 journeys by tractor and 1 wedding.

Any guesses where we've been?

(More clues - lots of beautiful beaches and not a single shop visited!!)

ALICE TAKES A BOW!

Yesterday at T*ick T*ock Alice took part in the song 'Let's Go Fly A Kite,' she held the very end of the kite's tail and followed the others around the middle of the circle while the leaders and mums sang the song - nothing new there. But at the end she bowed to everyone who was clapping. SHE BOWED! No prompting, never done before, no one else bows. Where does she get it from? Her bows caused great amusement and will no doubt spur her into doing it again!

ALICE'S EASTER BONNET

At 9:30 this morning, on the way into A'g, I remembered that 30 minutes later and 20 minutes drive away (which was already part of the contingency plan) we were supposed to be at T*ick T*ock wearing Easter Bonnets (the bit I'd forgotten). I dashed into a card shop and picked up a bargain pale pink bonnet and some ribbon for £1.98!

The bonnet was pathetic (as I knew it would be) compared to the creations of the more organised mothers. Just as we were leaving the presenter remembered that we were supposed to go and visit the OAPs who attend a Day Centre in the same building. We went along willingly. The OAPs were delighted to see the children (the oldest was not yet 3!) Alice enjoyed saying, 'Happy Easter Lady!' It reminded me of my Granny.

When we got home I spent over an hour forming bows and sewing bows and eggs onto the bonnet - too late for the parade but at least Alice would have an Easter Bonnet! Alice found it half complete after her nap and she was delighted with it and much happier to wear it more decorated (though it still needed more).

Can you tell where this is going yet?

This evening Pudding found and partly demolished Alice's nearly lovely bonnet. I'm not sure Alice is destined to wear a pale pink Easter Bonnet this year!

A COMMENT

Thanks for the comments about food, you confirmed my thoughts and sometimes it nice to have that reassurance.

One reader (that's you Snick!) left a comment and ended with TTSP. Any ideas?

PARENTING EXPERIENCE NEEDED

We stayed at soft play for our lunch today, they have a child friendly (but not particularly healthy) menu. Alice had sausages, beans and chips and she ate every scrap.

Usually I cook her lunch and she doesn't get a choice of food, she has a snack style supper and she does get a limited choice. Tonight she wouldn't make a choice, this happens once or twice a week, but then (having made a supper that usually she'd demolish) she refused to eat more than a mouthful or too. I left her to sit at the table for a while, she drank a lot but didn't eat any more. In these situations, when she refuses a meal that I know that she likes, I give her some time to eat and then she gets down from the table - nothing is offered as an alternative and no pudding is provided.

I'm not worried as she'd eaten a good breakfast and lunch but I'd love to know what other readers do in situations like these, please leave a comment!

TECHNICAL PROBLEMS

I can't get into Yahoo Groups to post to any of the China groups (or the others!)

My monitor on my desktop computer went CAPUT over night and so I'm restricted to the laptop. That in turn means that I only have access to my internet email facility, so please make sure you send emails to the pobox address and not the btinternet one! (Same beginning but it's at pobox dot com), thanks.

I WISH . . .

. . . that Alice was like this this evening.

However Alice is tired, exhausted from a very exciting and busy weekend, compounded by a late night, early start and the clocks changing for BST, ugh!

It's great to be home but I'm confused by the time change and Alice is so tired she can't sleep. She's screamed a lot this evening, real tears and sweaty heads, she's tried my bed and fallen half out and now she's back in her own cot (having refused the BGB twice). Asleep now, hopefully for the night, she really needs a good night's sleep!

CACH WEEKEND 2009

For the second year we attended the annual CACH (Children Adopted from China - UK's equivalent of FCC).

It felt different from the moment we got there and I can't believe that's just down to knowing what to expect. This year it really was a reunion with a group of friends enjoying spending time together and we even managed to sit together at the gala dinner.

My travel buddy M (L's father) very kindly looked after Alice for long enough for me to attend a seminar (I didn't go to any last year), brave man, thanks M! I got to a seminar presented by Jane Liedtke from OCDF, it was very informative and thought provoking, as well as adding another element to the 'Reunion Experience'. Jane has a lot of contact with families adopting from China - both at the time of adoption and on return visits. She was very friendly and helpful and offered me some hope in relation to return visits to Alice's CWI.

Alice ran and screeched her way through the weekend and seemed to enjoy it all - particularly seeing her friends. As soon as she was awake on Saturday morning she stood up in her cot and said, 'See L*L* now?'

The other benefit of this weekend was a photographic session - I need to send up to date photos of Alice and I together. It's difficult to get photos of us together so this was a great opportunity, whilst the photos aren't fantastic they are far better than any others I've got recently with a handbag camera and not bad for 5 minutes work!

Overall the weekend was great. The one disappointment was the hotel:

• it was really hot in all the public areas,
• the food wasn't great and the menu prices were high (otherwise we would probably have stayed for lunch today)
• there was a lot of noise in the corridors each evening
  
• but most of all, despite all efforts by several families the hotel couldn't put our friends together as we had different room types - that meant that once the girls were in bed we couldn't chat in the hallways.
  

DAFT PANIC

Soon we will be going to a reunion involving many children adopted from China. I'm going to try leaving Alice in the creche so that I can attend an adult only seminar.

I woke at around 2am this morning, panicking. I was panicking that the creche workers wouldn't return Alice into my custody as I'd identified her as 'the Chinese child.' I find that Alice is very noticeable and memorable in our local community as it is so racially uniform so I don't have to say any more than that for people to know who she (or we) are.

(Added after the weekend - I didn't leave Alice in the creche so the situation never arose and now I will work on a more PC description of my daughter and our family.)

BUSY AGAIN!

Monday - popped to the neighbours, then the supermarket and we were at soft play by 10:30am - that's quite an achievement for us! Home for lunch, took Alice upstairs and then decided to reorganise my wardrobe while we were up there. Then a neighbour brought her new baby over for coffee and a chat before Nana arrived to look after Alice while I went to school for Parents' Evening. I didn't get home until after 7pm and then later in the evening GFW and AJ came over for coffee. I didn't stop all day but the bits that should have been were great fun!

We had a very quiet day on Tuesday.

Wednesday - we went to nursery for an open session first thing in the morning, I'd prepared Alice for it but she cried nearly the whole time and didn't really want to play. I had a quick look in her 'Splash Book' before we left early for T*ick T*ock. Time seemed to slip through our fingers when we got home - I caught up on some laundry and phonecalls and later on Nana popped in for some photocopying. With Nana in the house Alice wasn't going to bed without a struggle so she stayed up. Later in the afternoon we had to pop out, when I asked Alice to put on her shoes because we were going out she responded, 'Not today Mummy!' Unfortunately Mummy over-ruled, 5 minutes each way in the car but she was still asleep before we were halfway home!

Today was another busy, busy day. Alice declared in the car on the way this morning, 'No like ***' she knows how to press my buttons and did so repeatedly all the way there. I was asked last week to swap my days this week, so I worked today instead of tomorrow. Usually there are 2 teachers in my class but today I was solo, I did half a day's playground duty and then followed the school day with more parents' consultations before collecting Alice from nursery (she was happily playing the drum to 'Tommy Thumb' when I got there and she said that she'd had a good day - playing with A and playing outside.) Meanwhile Pud has been raiding the laundry piles and has been wicked this evening too.

Tonight I'm very excited about a special weekend. I'm not organised and I'm concerned that expectation will spoil the event.

CACH WEEKEND

I've just rung the hotel and they can't put 'the friends' together until they have the names from the organiser, they've advised me to ring again on Friday afternoon!

BEEN BUSY!

Thursday, Mummy Day - Alice went to nursery and I went to Coventry, my Dad arrived just after I got home. The whole day was crazy busy.

Friday, work and then a night out with some of the staff. We went on a g*ost tour of L*ancaiach Fawr - I was expecting it to be a bawdier version of the daytime tour, it wasn't, it was full on expectant grockles listening for very creak and very open to the power of suggestion! Unfortunately D felt poorly and had to leave before we got to the upstairs. L and I (both extremely sceptical) both heard something unexplainable - it was a fun evening.

MUMMY DAY AGAIN

With my plans for my special (crucial) shopping trip it was vital that Alice went to nursery today.

Every time Nana mentioned nursery Alice went rigid and shutdown but for me she was more straightforward and just denied that she was going to nursery. I've made the drop-off as quick as I can and nursery are very good at jumping straight in and distracting with cuddles and 'Jo-Fish' the rabbit (Joseff - he's Welsh!)

I collected her early on my way home from Coventry and she came out beaming (as usual), so we took the time to have a quick talk about the happy feelings before coming home.

19 DAYS . . . AND I CAN GO TO THE BALL, SORT OF!

My favourite dress shop closed last year. Me and my wardrobe have been at a loss ever since! I've been to several places but every shop has been a let down, til today! Today I went to Coventry - 100 miles, 2 hour drive, thank heavens for Sat Nav. I went to a shop that had sent me a mailshot 18 months ago. The owner was there alone today and she was great - chatty and friendly but also a good listener and very tolerant of all my quirks.

I'm not actually going to a ball, it's a wedding. I'd already decided that Alice would wear her Baptismal outfit again (i.e. Mummy's too stingy to buy another outfit!) I spent more on new accessories for Alice than the dress cost originally (it was a sale bargain!) But I was beginning to panic about what I would be wearing. In this new shop I actually had a choice of outfits that looked good, that felt appropriate and that I would wear again. So I now have an outfit for the wedding, I'm happy with it and it's in my favourite colour. The wedding is somewhere where I've never been and it's reported to be very breezy, 'The Day' will involve at least 2 boat trips and walking cobbled streets so the choice of attire is crucial. Now I've got the clothes 'sorted' I can begin to truly look forward to a very special day, hurray! (Can you tell I'm a stress-bucket?!)

TODAY'S FAVOURITE PHOTO

D and A came over for playtime this afternoon. The weather was so nice that we spent a lot of time in the garden - the girls played on the bikes, ran round, played in the fountain and shared the camera pretty well.

We tried to get some photos of Alice and I together for Thailand but this is my favourite photo from this afternoon. A lovely afternoon ended in toddler tears - A didn't want to go home and Alice didn't want the toys to be put away.

MARCH - 2008 & 2009

OFFERING ADVICE

. . . I'm just not sure if it should be about parenting or dog training!

AND THIS'S WHY THERE'S ALWAYS LAUNDRY!

HOW TO EAT A NECTARINE - ALICE STYLE!

. . . in her hand is the skin of nearly half a nectarine and she's smooching the juicy bits all over her face and spilling it down her front!

In her own words, 'Sticky!!'

A NEW GENERATION

. . . of paparazzi?

I bought a child camera for Alice before Christmas in anticipation of a special wedding at the beginning of April. Yesterday I decided it was time to see if Alice was capable of using it. She was thrilled to have a camera and immediately knew what it was and what it was about, she even says, 'Smile!' before she takes a photo!

The photos? The quality is atrocious and most are of the floor, her feet or the walls but she ADORES it and that's more than enough for me!

12 MONTHS

1 - 17th March 08

2 - 15th March 09

2 days short of a year and what a difference, anyone know a way to slow down time?!

WHICH PHOTO FOR THAILAND, P1

with or without Pudding?

LITTLE HELPERS!

T (my big help) can't do much without little helpers lending a hand or paw!

GROWING UP!

TODAY'S PHOTO SESSION

I decided to make the most of today's lovely weather and try and take some photos of Alice and our home for my application to Thailand. T came over to try and take some of Alice and I together (we'd tried last Monday but I wasn't happy with the results), they didn't work out much better than last week's!

These are the photos that I like but aren't going to Thailand, some of the Thailand photos will be in a separate post!

(Alice's dress was one of yesterday's purchases from N*ext, age 4-5 but it is a bit baggy!)

HIPPIE ON A HORSE!

WAVY!

Not the best photo - but it does show the wavy patch down the middle of Pud's back, you can also see the colour difference between her ears/head and the rest of her body!

The second photo shows Pud's favourite resting place in the playroom, Alice's trampoline, but I'm not sure how much longer it will be big enough to be comfy!

PINCESS AND THE ROAR

. . . Alice declared me a 'Pincess!' as I walked downstairs. I was wearing my pink nightie at 4pm, feeling more like a dragon than a princess - my tummy is aching again and now my head is too.

Before 10am this morning I could hear engines revving and screeching, many engines, going on and on and on. A neighbour was having a motorcross rally. He didn't warn any of the neighbours. The noise went on until after 6pm. A beautiful spring day ruined by noise pollution.

I'm hoping for a peaceful day tomorrow. Alice wants to make blueberry muffins.

OMG!

. . . new camera!! I bought my old camera (Canon Ixus 850) in December 2006, so it's just over 2 years old, the front is falling off, it's very scratched and I've never been happy with the shutter lag - coo, I almost sound like I know what I'm talking about! The lovely chap in JLP was a little distainful about my lack of knowledge until I told him that in just over 2 years I've probably taken over 25,000 photos and I showed him the state of my camera! I'd been saving my vouchers so the upgrade only cost £50, but then I spent extra on a new SD card and tripod. I've bought another Ixus, the cheapest model (THERE'S a first!) but with the greatest optical zoom - there seemed no point in spending the extra. I wasn't overly enthused with the new camera until I tried it! WOW, what a difference, so much clearer and quicker.

A SANDWICH!

I felt rotten this morning but my digestion seemed better so I dragged myself up (Alice was up twice last night - her sleep is worse now than at any time in the first year home). Alice was awake early too.

I'd rung work yesterday to warn them that I was feeling pretty dreadful and might not make it in today, the message changed like Chinese Whispers so by this morning they weren't expecting me and were slightly surprised when I walked in! I kept to my bananas and plain biscuit diet at school and when I came home I found myself making a sandwich before I realised how much better I felt! Nana also commented how much better I was looking this afternoon, phew! Despite feeling like a different person to yesterday I've still curtailed my plans for this weekend, so my shopping spree will have to wait until next week and I hope that I'll have time to work on my letter to Thailand.

Meanwhile Alice was pretty grumpy this morning and Nana reported that she was quite clingy all morning - needing lots of cuddles and stories to keep her going. C (T's younger son and one of Alice's favourite people) was here when I got home from school and they were having great fun in the garden - on the swing and in her car, they play beautifully together.

NURSERY AND SO ON

Alice started to cry on the doorstep. I kept up my sing-song jolly voice and kept reminding her about the sticker if she didn't cry. She was OK on the journey and the way into nursery, she began to lose it when we got into her room so I made a swift exit and they found the sticker! She was fine all day and delighted to see me this evening.

I spent the day asleep on the sofa - my tummy's still bad and I've warned school that I might not be in tomorrow. I meant to get my letter to Thailand finished today, it will have to wait until Sunday at the earliest now, oh well.

FEELING ROUGH AND ANTICIPATING TOMORROW

. . . me that is, not Alice. Alice is fine but because I'm feeling so rotten she's had a quiet day. I've had a quiet day feeling awful - a tummy bug and serious indigestion with no reason for it.

Tomorrow is Nursery Day - Alice has consistently denied that she's going to Nursery but will say that she won't cry and that if she doesn't cry she'll get a sticker. I think it's progress as even though the response is negative she is less adamant than she was (originally she'd go rigid, now it's 'just' denial). I expect that she'll cry again, but I'm hoping that she'll willingly stay. Nursery say (and in part I agree) that 1 day a week isn't sufficient to build a routine and so it'll take her longer to settle, I believe that the changes on 'Snow Day' are more to blame.

FOOD THIEF!

It will come as no surprise when I say that Alice LOVES her food.

Yesterday I had a complete sense of humour failure - Alice had a handful of blueberries from the pot that I'd put out for my supper, then I told her that was enough as they were for Mummy, within 5 minutes she came to me with the empty pot and told me, 'All gone!' whilst smerking. I was not happy, Alice quickly learnt just how cross I was as she went to bed early.

This morning she came to me and it was obvious that she had something in her mouth. She opened her mouth and showed me - the food looked like bolognaise sauce (we'd had some on Saturday but I knew that there was none left), then I realised that she'd stolen one of the dog's biscuits.

I think that FOOD might be her vice, I'm hoping that her tastes improve!

ONE STEP FORWARD

. . . and 2 steps back?

I spoke to the lovely lady at WAG today. She hadn't received my 'Special Delivery' of the financial statement and supporting evidence at that point, but it was only 10am! Unfortunately neither had she received a full, official version of my Homestudy (only a photocopy) from my LA. I was really cross to discover that they still hadn't sent it off as they've had the HS for 3 months (but cold only have sent it 2 months ago). She was hoping to receive it early this week - I'll ring on Wednesday and check that she's got it, if not I'll be ringing the LA and ask for some explanations.

Meanwhile I'm hoping to send the rest of the application later this week.

MISS MISCHIEF!

This is what Alice got up to whilst I was on the phone for a couple of minutes, I was in the same room but she already understands the restrictions that Mummy faces whilst chatting to someone else!

THE CAMERA DOES LIE!

. . . my housework fairy?

No chance! Alice picked up the spray after the REAL housework fairy had finished cleaning the windows!

CONGRATULATIONS!!

To my friend J - today she saw a photo of her newest baby for the first time. I had tears flowing down my face as I read her post of MM's referral from Ethiopia. It's all here!

ALICE'S LIMIT

. . . bedtime went smoothly at nearly 7:30pm, but 40 minutes later she was lying next to the duvet (I've stopped using a sleeping bag this week) making unhappy grunts. I went upstairs to get something and stopped in on Alice to cover her up, as I turned away the unhappy noise turned into crying. Soothing, cuddles, kisses . . . nothing completely calmed her . . .offers of the BGB (big girl's bed) distracted but didn't dry her tears . . . so I offered to lie down with her. I lay cuddling her while she examined panda and didn't make eye contact, 10 minutes later she agreed to me going downstairs and told me to feed the dogs and have supper! As I cuddled her I talked to her - we've had 3 days apart - I worked Wednesday, she had nursery yesterday and I worked again today. As she lay next to me she repeated my phrase many times over, 'Mummy and Alice together tomorrow!' - There couldn't be a clearer way to tell me that 3 successive days apart is too much and I agree.

(And now Elmer is playing for the second time tonight and she's pre-empting the narrator through it!)

BABY STEPS TOWARDS MY BABY!

. . . I finally managed to complete my financial statement!! The statement wasn't too tricky, but putting together all the supporting evidence has taken nearly 6 weeks. Today I was finally able to post it - one bank statement was missing from it as I was still waiting to receive it, then I got home to find that it had arrived - I wasn't expecting it til next week!

44000 HITS

. . . but we seem to be stuck at 88 countries!

TEARS

The post came just after midday, as usual it contained several mailshots, a bank statement and a couple of other envelopes and as I have done for the past few weeks I quickly shuffled through the stack and finally I found what I was looking for!

2 envelopes - 1 recently requested and a relief to have in my hands but the other made me cry - Home Office permission for my baby to enter the country, permission that I've been waiting for for 5 weeks. It's a big relief to have their letter and more importantly it's the last piece of the paperchase, there's a bit more shuffling to do and forms to finish filling, but WE'RE NEARLY THERE!

I didn't expect to be so emotional about a piece of paper but sometimes adoption does that to you - every step is a challenge (especially to someone as intimidated by paperwork as I am), every document an achievement.

HOUSE TRAINING

. . . but I'm not sure who!

We've had Cavaliers since I was 4, Sophie was our first. But Jolly was my first Cavalier who was mine from the beginning in my own home (it feels wrong to type that without qualifying that before her I'd had Busy who was loyally and completely mine - bought to be mine, arriving home the day after I'd returned to school for my A level term). Jolly was a nightmare as a puppy, she was such a trial over her first 2 years that Mum and I discussed therapy sessions, rehoming or even putting her to sleep. Eventually she was a wonderful dog who lived between my house and Mum's, undoubtedly she was one of Mum's favourites (Mum even worried that Jol would pine for her when she was away in France a few weeks before she died, luckily Jol was a typical Cav and completely sidetracked by food!!) One of the things that Jol taught me was the success of 'elimination triggering' (not sure if that's the right terminology) - when house training a dog you use a trigger word as they begin to 'go' and eventually use of the trigger word will prompt them to 'go'. This method of training is more time consuming than usual house training, but it was so useful, especially as Jol had kidney failure and in her last months I needed many samples that were obtained via the trigger word!

I've tried this trigger word training with Boo and Fuss but it wasn't nearly so successful and I'm still not sure why. This time round, with Pud, I was determined to try again and with a 'more intelligent' (the jury's close to a decision) dog and with a child to consider as well I am more committed to this than before. The trigger I've always used is P*iddle, repeated over and over again as it happens. For Alice's safety and my sanity, I've tended to stay on the doorstep (with Alice inside and Pud outside), using the trigger at the appropriate times.

But I'm no longer sure who I'm training - as this afternoon Alice stood on the doorstep and shouted outside, ' Good girl Puddy, piggle, piggle, piggle!'

Oh well, let's hope it will help with potty training!!

ALICE SPEAK . . .

Can you guess what a 'ball catcher' is?

DYDD GWYL DEWI SANT!

A fairly quiet day. Church and Sunday School - unlike nursery there were no tears but she did return running down the aisle shouting, 'Mummy!' repeatedly for ALL to hear!

Then we visited Nana-Next-Door to show her Alice's red Wales top (that's how Alice refers to it!) I bribed her into having her photo taken (by offering lunch!) This afternoon she woke grumpy so we watched S*hrek 3 and then played lots of games - Whose Nose? Snap! and Dominoes.