3.5 stone Amy in her 5 year old’s clothes will be 3 on January 11th 2002 and has recently evolved out of the Mezoic era, having grown very over-excited from months of chasing anyone game enough to run away screaming: "aaargh it’s a dinosaur!" She has watched the complete "Walking with Dinosaurs" videos goodness knows how many times, as well as the "Making of Big Al." We were worried that she might be scared when the dinosaurs attacked each other, but instead she rushes up to the TV and shouts "RAAAAH!!!" Steve meanwhile had to bear a minor facial gouging from plastic dinosaurs being thrust in his face by Amy and her cousin Anna during some particularly ferocious "velociraptoring."
Until last summer Amy’s swimming technique was to cling limpet like onto Mummy/Daddy and tremble. A private swimming outing with Wendy’s family amazingly transformed Amy into a confident swimmer in a few minutes. Now we go swimming every week with Amy doing widths with arm bands on, no bother.
Summer holidays were in the Algarve at Amarcio de Pera. It had a very pleasant (but busy) beach and a posh hotel, but not a picturesque view inland due to millions of huge apartment blocks. Nevertheless, swimming, food and warmth was what we went for and had a very good time. We even managed family synchronised swimming (one hand up, other hand, one foot, other foot, turn around - that sort of thing) in our pre-breakfast dips. Then we had leisurely breakfasts watching towel-wars at the swimming pool as the Germans’ towels were moved around (it’s true - we’re not making it up!)
Amy was agog at the trip we made to "ZooMarine" - a Portuguese sealife centre. She was a bit perturbed at first by the seals "I don’t like snails!" she kept saying. However she was transfixed by the dolphins and how they swam with "the ladies" and even liked the "snails" again after that. She still talks about the dolphin show and we often play "dolphins and ladies" when we go swimming.
Amy is starting a new Morpeth nursery in January in order to mix with some children she will be going to school with (and to save us a wodge of dosh and a difficult journey), and after a couple of visits has already announced her betrothal to a certain "James." Amy is not a shy girl and will decide someone is her boyfriend after an acquaintance of an hour or less. However, when questioned, Amy will sometimes insist she is also a boy, Mummy is Amy, she is Mummy and Daddy is ... then she realises she is stuck and starts again.
Wendy has been continuing to work part time - Mondays and Tuesdays with civilised Amy, Wednesday to Friday with screaming brats (her schoolkids and headmaster). She sometimes gets to play violin, flute and piano, but only with Amy’s permission (it is difficult to move the bow with 3.5 stone of wriggling toddler hanging on the end).
Steve is still to be seen in his balaclava helmet peering through his telescope during a clear winter’s night. He has dragged various friends and neighbours to his telescope and even managed to make small children (and grown-ups) say "hey cool" by showing them Saturn, the Hercules globular cluster, the Ring nebula and other deep sky delights. As is Wendy’s, most of Steve’s time is taken up with Amy and work, but on cloudy evenings he manages a little time for piano, reading, lots of roaming the Internet and (very occasionally) beers with mates. Once or twice Wendy and Steve have actually been out on a date together!
Wendy and Steve continue to sing in (or is that drink with?) our little choirs and Wendy is keeping up with her chamber orchestra. This year we sang at Durham Cathedral - next year it’s Dublin (Amy’s coming too!)
Love from
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