Babyhood

I’m currently very keen on the idea of the children having a pet. Naturally they ask frequently if we can get a cat or a dog. P wants neither, whereas I’m desperate to have a budgie again (or small Australian parakeet for those of you who don’t speak proper English!)

I have always loved birds, and the tame budgies I have had in the past were such fun to play with, and great companions. Also, they don’t smell! But P isn’t keen because of the incredible volume they can reach when they squawk. So I’m currently dropping hints about once a week, and I’m sure I’ll wear him down eventually…

A recent, more dramatic incident was when Pauline stole a packet of chewing gum from the supermarket last week. I had refused to buy it for her, and she must have slipped it in her pocket without me seeing. Later that day her little friend Jeanne came to play and the pair of them chewed gum and exuded a pervasive strawberry aroma all over the house. I naturally assumed Jeanne had given her the gum and said nothing.

That night Jeanne’s mother rang me to say that Pauline had boasted to Jeanne of having stolen the gum and that she planned to steal some more next time, to share with all her friends! It was bedtime, unfortunately. P. & I went upstairs with serious faces and said to Pauline “We just found out something very bad”. Her little face turned white and she said “I didn’t steal any chewing gum”!!

Her father gave her quite a lecture, but when he started talking about the police and prison, I made faces at him behind Pauline's back for him to stop, as I didn’t want her having nightmares about it (and waking us all up!)

We asked her if she had any money to pay for it and she opened her purse to reveal a few coins. I’ll take her back to the supermarket next Wednesday and she will have to pay and apologise. I seem to remember having committed a similar crime when I was about the same age, is that right Mum? I never did it again, that’s for sure.

P recently surprised me by offering to take us all to Disneyland Paris on a Sunday afternoon. Apart from the astronomical prices, poor food and long queues, it was a lot of fun. Especially when Kevin kept running off on his own into the madding crowd… what happened to my shy little boy who used to hang on to my leg, rather than let me out of his sight?

Both children were so excited to see familiar cartoon characters in real life. Kevin went with his Papa on one scary ride, while Pauline and I took a sedate train trip around the perimeter of the whole park. Somehow though, it just wasn’t as magical as the Disneyland in California my parents took me to when I was thirteen. I must be getting old...

The highlight for Pauline was Las Vegas-style song and dance live show on a huge stage, that took place in front of us, just as we sat down for dinner. She stood on her chair to see better and danced along with all the pretty ladies in their very short dresses. I was admiring their magnificent calf muscles, while I suspect P was checking out a different part of their anatomy! Kevin was more interested in his food than the dancing!

After our wonderful Christmas in New Zealand, it was rather hard coming back to France. January and February were cold, busy, and the daily grind (of rush to school-work-dinner-jog-shower-sleep and start again) seemed so monotonous that I was sadly lacking in inspiration for writing letters. However, I do remember a few events that spiced up the dreary winter:

I took the children to see the French film Astérix & Cleopatra and it was brilliantly funny! There were plenty of jokes for children and adults, and it brought back many special memories for me. In fact, whenever French people ask me why I wanted to learn French and live in their country, I explain that my Dad bought the book of Astérix & Cleopatra when I was just nine or ten years old, but it was in French and of course I could understand very little of it. However, I loved ‘reading’ the pictures and trying to guess the meaning of the words. It so intrigued me that I couldn’t wait to get to secondary school and start studying French for real.

In the film the costumes and sets were so true to the book that I knew off by heart, I felt like I was in the story too! The movie script took some liberties with the original, and included some very funny contemporary jokes about trade unions and mobile phones. Kevin and Pauline just loved the physical gags and the talking siamese cat!