Why?

I have looked forward to this day - ish. Paul apparently used to do this A LOT when he was little and to now hear Sammy doing it is quite comforting; to know that he's following the same path. After all Paul turned out alright.

So the conversation went like this:
Me: I have to get the keys out for the other apartment.
Sammy: Why?
Me: Because Donna will be here shortly needing them.
Sammy: Why?
Me: Because her son will be using it for a couple of nights.
Sammy: Why?
Me: He's got some work to do and he can use my wireless router from there.
Sammy: Why?

and so on the conversation went.

Our Little Sunflower.

The artist is very meticulous in handling the ugly details. He provides almost every possible unflattering angle.
All of the flowers appear to be in various stages of decay; some have only begun to droop, others are completely broken. One head already lost its colour, others are on the way, having lost all of their petals.

Differences in value also account for these metamorphoses: the darker the yellow, the closer the sunflower to the total withering. But even the livelier, fresher flowers are somehow exposed.

It seems as though the artist makes this still life a botanical study — a painterly herbarium.

Swearing like a small trooper

Paul and I are pretty careful to not use colourful language in front of Sammy.

What am I saying ? We don't swear, ever.

So when Paul exclaimed "Flippin' Nora!" a few days ago, it was something Sammy had never heard before. Paul made a joke of it as a distraction and it was forgotten.
Or so we thought.

On the way back from school today Sammy was climbing on a wall, had a little slip and in his mild shock he exclaimed "Flappin' Norris!"

I think I prefer Sammy's version.

Our Earthquake - if anyone's interested.

Not wanting to be outdone by Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, we in Spain, had our very own earthquake early Sunday morning! Paul and I were in bed, 5.03 am, and we were immediately woken because suddenly our bed was moving as if it was trying for a part in The Exorcist !

We could hear glasses chinking together (just like in the movies) but because it was dark we couldn't register anything visibly moving. It lasted about 4 to 5 seconds (I reckon) and there was an impressive rumbling noise throughout which sounded like it was coming from the depths of the earth !

The epicentre was south west of San Miguel de las Salinas (2 miles from us) and measured 3.3 on the Richter scale. So just about under my bed then.

Disappointingly there was virtually nothing about it in the news the next day but I did some research on the net to find that in actual fact earthquakes in this region are quite common. There have been 5 quakes registered since the beginning of January 2008.

San Miguel, March 2nd magnitude 3.3 on the Richter Scale
Almeria, Feb 24th, 2.8
Almeria, Feb 6th, 4 (!!)
Santa Pola, Jan 27th, 2.3
Murcia Region, Jan 8th, 2.2

So that's why there was nothing in the news - Spain is so used to them they're not even worth reporting.

And another thing: Sammy slept through it.

Musical Christmas

Cruising towards his teens...

Move over Take That.

Sammy gave a stunning performance with his backing band 'The Rest Of The Class' at the renowned venue; 'The Playground' on the last day of term.

Friday 21st December 10:30am saw a pride of parents, grand-parents and die-hard fans waiting for the 3 and 4 year olds to take the stage.

As expected the choreography was excellent. The stars were obviously used to performing on a larger stage but despite the cramped conditions they shone through, with only the slightest of jostling, like true professionals.

Sammy's guitar solo coming soon...

Competitive Mum

Picked Sammy up from school at lunchtime yesterday and straight away I clocked a silver star stuck to his jumper. Not a standard matt blue, yellow or green star but a shiny silver star. So I scanned the rest of his class to see who else had one of these little symbols of success to find there were no other silver stars.

A ha, I thought - what can my clever little boy do that no-one else in his class can do?

To my frustration I couldn't get it out of him, he wouldn't tell me what they had been doing that morning but then he rarely does when I ask him. It was later in the day when Sammy said that his class had been using a computer in the morning.

He got his silver star because he was the only one who could type his name on the keyboard.

Smug and proud mum.

Firsts

Sammy went on his first school outing last Wednesday and he was away for the whole day to the royal palm park in Alicante. It was the first time he'd been on the coach or his 'big school bus' and it was the first time he'd been out away from myself and Paul for any length of time. It was also the first time he'd had to manage the contents of his snack box AND his lunch box !

In the last few weeks Sammy has also been freely saying spanish words for the first time; he happily tells me that he is a 'niño' (boy) and Jessica is a 'niña' (girl), that he is in 'azul' (the blue team) at school and Cole's name is actually pronounced 'Co-el' (The way Rebecca says it)

Last week in one of those peaceful moments Sammy has when I am working away at something online and Sammy is concentrating on something and I realise he's been very quiet for a while and I ask him, or I creep over to have a peek at, what he is doing and it was this...

and I forget all the time but he's only three and a half.