It’s one am and there are nine children in a tent at the bottom of our garden. Lola, Neve, Teo, Louis, Natalie, Isla, Tilly, Rosie, Eleanor. They watched The Gods Must be Crazy in the garden. Barbie first. Then to bed in the tent. They’re still chatting away now. Laughing; torching; telling horror stories and jokes. We’re in our bed, listening to them through the window. Going to watch a Grimm now — see you after. Or not.
Month: July 2015
lola is nine
And we’re having a heatwave much like the one when she was born. Party on Saturday — sleepover in tent in garden with outdoor cinema. Neve is off to Hunstanton with the school (KS1) today; it’s a perfect, cloud-free day and could get up to 30 degrees. Lola got v upset that Neve’s packed lunch was much better (had jelly and pretzels) than the one she had the other day to take on her West Stow (Anglo-Saxon village) trip. Funny (not necessarily in the sense of hilarity) how much these little things mean at that age. I certainly have a reasonably tangible memory of the “sibling got this but I didn’t” feeling. And it’s not softened by the thought of, eg, a big birthday party next day.
Neve and Lola both very lovely and loving. Prone to niggle and argue, often with Neve lashing out. Both capable of teasing and winding each other up; but also spend a great deal of time playing together, making up stories with their pets and cuddlies. Lola continues to have a passion for cataloguing, and is often filling notebooks with details (name, age, DOB, favourite cake, isRoyalty?) of her pets/cuddlies/
Neve still very cuddly. Still says “Pemember, whole-tire, aminal, …”
Lola gets up early in the morning and is often already dressed and in the sitting room when I get down at 6am.