Wide-ranging discussions

Elizabeth shouted for me shortly after going to bed this evening. When I went up, we had a chat about: Hawaiian life and culture; manned lunar missions; the possibility of life on Saturn and its moons.

--
Dave McLaughlin

Technology

Elizabeth's going mad for console & computer games. She's started showing an interest in some Mario game we have for the Wii and she's been going on so much about the PS2 games she plays at the after-school club that we've bought an old console. Now she can regularly beat us at a couple of variants of Sonic.

When we're out she sometimes plays with her DS, though she's more likely to borrow Mum's iPod or my phone to play Angry Birds.

This morning she disappeared for half an hour. I found her in the dining room on the venerable PC that serves as a file/printer server, watching Bakugan movies on YouTube. Time for parental controls!

--
Dave McLaughlin

M&S quality control ain't what it used to be

Can anybody see what's wrong here?

--
Dave McLaughlin

Test post

Sent from my new phone.

--
Dave McLaughlin

First loose tooth!

Not much more to say (lower right 1, if anybody's interested).

Hazards of growing up

There are various stages in a child's life when there are new dangers to be considered. When they start to crawl, hot drinks and sharp knives need to be kept out of reach. When they can stand up, that reach is dramatically extended. Then comes the time when they can both drag a kitchen chair around the room and climb up on it.

In the run-up to Christmas (and a December birthday), when she can play games on Mummy's laptop, it's important to remember that she can read!

Swimming!

Elizabeth's been very nervous of getting her face yet when in the pool
lately. I thought a mask would help, but she refused even to try one
until Thursday. Today her confidence dramatically improved and she
swam a metre and a half with mask and snorkel. Then she announced she
would swim two lengths (probably because cousin Daisy did that on
Thursday). It seemed outrageously ambitious, but she did it!

Photographer

We had time to kill at the airport yesterday.

--
Dave McLaughlin - sent from my mobile phone
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/start-here/

Sma' Shot Day

Lots of thrilling attractions in Paisley!

--
Dave McLaughlin - sent from my mobile phone
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/start-here/

Last day in Primary 1!

Doesn't time fly when you're old?

Elizabeth brought her books home yesterday (Don't they call them jotters any more?) She's written a lot, especially about our recent trip to Arran.
--
Dave McLaughlin - sent from my mobile phone
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/start-here/

Rain and hail

Cycling in Barshaw Park - and a chance to clap some big horses.

--
Dave McLaughlin - sent from my mobile phone
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/start-here/

Easter bonnet

Today saw the Easter parade at school, then home early.

Elizabeth is ill

It's my turn to look after her. I might get more work done here without all the distractions of the office.

--
Dave McLaughlin - sent from my mobile phone
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/05/start-here/

Old Dad blog

My Old Dad blog is getting better. The main blog, olddad.mclaughlin.org.uk, is pretty much working (except internal links to the home page). There's a sort of mirror at olddad.Posterous.com. And if everything works as planned, this post will be notified to Twitter, and from there to Facebook.

--
Dave McLaughlin - sent from my mobile phone
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/05/start-here/

Elizabeth has a new bike

Straight from the bike shop to Rouken Glen.

--
Dave McLaughlin - sent from my mobile phone
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/05/start-here/

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Schoolgirl!

Elizabeth started school today!

UPDATE: more pictures available now at elizabeth.mclaughlin.org.uk.

End of an era

Today was Elizabeth's last day at Jennyswell Nursery. She's been going there for as long as she can remember, and the ladies there have been great. She brought home a scrapbook of material from her time in the 3-5 room, and it's moving stuff. Elizabeth seems a little subdued, but not nearly as emotional about the whole thing as the grown-ups. Now she's gone to bed quite quietly; she doesn't seem too excited about what tomorrow has in store.

In her own write

Today at nursery, Elizabeth stencilled this picture:


Nothing too clever about that, is there? After all, she did almost as good a job 17 months ago. But what was more impressive was on the other side of the paper:


Even that could have gone unnoticed; she's often written her name before, copying a grown-up. But this time the ladies didn't help; in fact they didn't even know she'd done it. Apparently she did it from memory.

Art for art's sake (3)

About a month ago, Elizabeth copied a little clay hedgehog. I told her how to do some bits, but it's all her own work.