Little bear has had a busy day.

Little bear has had a busy day.

He has broken a bamboo knitting needle.

Worked out how to get high enough to open the porch door (kept locked anyway).

Disconnected the DVD player.

Tried to climb into his old cot, which means that it will have to be dismantled tonight rather than the weekend.

Tried to eat dear heart's contact lens solution.

Correctly identified a sound so when he heard 'miaow' he made his shriek for 'cat' even though there wasn't a picture to prompt him. He did this several times as the presenter tried to guess - and I was nearly deafened!

And been a gorgeous little love.

And it isn't even bed time yet!

Little bear goes to the Doctor

The ongoing saga of little bear's failure to speak continues. He is twenty six months old, so not really so old but it is a worry. Well, the Health Visitor thought so and we were referred to a paediatrician.

I bolted out of the house, running late, and got to the clinic at the nick of time. Little bear was a bit of a sleepy bear. If he had gone to his room for a nap when the appointment was due he would have probably napped. As it was, he was looking round, all eyes, very subdued. He submitted to being weighed but cried when they measured his height - no idea why, but it meant he had a long cuddle on my knee while we waited for the main doctor. We managed to get to see her half an hour late!

Little bear was, of course, quite polite but he cried when she was checking his heartbeat and pulses. He played with things quite happily, but of course did not speak. Sigh. She asked things like, 'can he take his shoes off?' I did say yes but should have mentioned that last summer he was down to his goosebumps! Everything came off! She asked if he could play 'peekaboo' and about ten minutes later he was playing (at his instigation) at hiding in the curtain of the room and coming out to peekaboo. She watched him instantly grasp how to work a particular toy, lots of eye contact, cuddles and worked out instantly when he understood what we were asking, but had decided just not to do it.

She ruled out all the 'syndromes' and was quite confident that there was no strong autistic indications. Little bear loves his cuddles so I wasn't really so worried about that. Apparently because he also runs shrieking with laughter when I 'chase' him or hits poor dear heart with his teddy when daddy is playing tiger and shrieks with laughter then it is a positive sign. I should have said how often he firmly guides my hand to his toes so I play 'this little piggy' or tries to get me to play 'head shoulders knees and toes' - all at his instigation. The doctor said that it was hard to work out if the child was at the appropriate stage of cognition in one session but she didn't see any reason to worry. I could have hugged her!

Also - he knows some of his colours at least, which is apparently good and he was threading laces through holes which he wasn't supposed to be able to do till he was three (apparently) gives me a few gloat points.

So it is just the speech therapy now.

More bollards

And yet another large white van has come belting down our unmade, potholed road, taken the corner on two wheels, screeched to a halt when faced with the bollards. Sworn. Done a four hundred and seventy point turn to get the very large white van to point in the other direction and bounced slowly and dejectedly back to the road they turned off. Which is quite busy and takes ages to get out of.

Dearie dearie me.

Bollards

The bollards that sprouted at one end of the street are apparently naughty bollards. You see, they were put in by the same firm that got rid of the fly tipping, which I think was employed by someone who owns the left hand side of the street(no houses just that part of the road surface) looking west who is based in the Isle of Man. I did google the address and an awful lot of companies, solicitors and accountants seem to be packed into what appears to be quite a small building.

Anyway the nice man next door was out tinkering when someone from The Council turned up and it seems that not only was there no permission sought but The Council were not even informed. Thus they are naughty bollards and Something Needs To Be Done.

These dratted bollards seem to bring out the Victor Meldrew in the loveliest of people and I really wish that they hadn't gone up. However it does look like they will be coming down, though what effect it will have on an already poor road surface I do not know. There is more pothole than road already. And after that I wonder what the next move will be. A nice gentleman from next door but one burnt some rubbish where there had been flytipping, and so I am sure that there will be arm waving and finger pointing about a supervised bit of bonfire. The freelance, non-authorised 'No Flytipping' signs have already had to come down. Actually the signs were up for about a week but a month later the posts are, for some reason, still in place.

I expect there will be letters being sent to The Council and possibly The Papers - if the people involved can write. That, regrettably, is not a given.

Mr Sainsbury makes a delivery

I get a delivery from Mr Sainsbury once a week, more or less, depending... The service I get is great and the value is excellent.

I know that the value is (relatively) excellent because I go through mysupermarket.com which compares the prices and I have found that for me Mr S is always the cheapest, followed by Mr A, then Mr T. What I found interesting is that if I collect a list of groceries, and then just swap from Mr S to one of the others, the comparisons aren't always direct and if you use the swap and save function you can usually knock quite a bit off the comparison. Mr S is still cheaper, but by less of a margin than I had thought.

I think it is the sort of thing you buy, some shops are always going to be cheaper for some things than others. I am sure that some people find Mr T cheaper, and I think I look quite flash to the rest of the street, with a Mr S delivery. They don't see the vast range of basics in there.

Well, this week I had gone a bit giddy. There seem to be piles and piles and piles of stuff - and relatively little necessities. It was all inexpensive, or a bargain, or on offer but not necessary. Part of the problem is that I thought my darling father would be visiting - he isn't. So little bear will have to help dear heart demolish a stockpile of grapes. Rather optimistically I hoped to make a large amount of soup to go into the freezer. Firstly I rather hope dear heart will like this soup and secondly it means using the hand blender. I am scared of the hand blender but I am not going to let the mountain of inexpensive Sainsburys basics carrots go to waste. Then there is four lots of stewing beef each of which should translate into at least six portions of stew. The meat is in the freezer as we speak but at least one of these must be translated into stew or the inexpensive Sainsbury Basics Vegetable pack - very reasonable offer - will go to waste.

I am not sure I have enough appropriate containers. Or energy. Or time. Or freezer space. Sigh.

But I was extremely foolish and typed 'basics' into the search engine and I think I got a bit carried away. However I did blink at some things. Did you know that Mr S does 'basics' smoked salmon offcuts? If I could stand the stuff I would snap it up as a bargain.

I think I need to start in March with a proper budget and meal plan. And a list of what we have in (why did I get half a dozen tins of corned beef? Oh yes, it was on offer). And a lot more enthusiasm than I feel now.

Little bear has had a play out

As you may know, I do struggle to take little bear out. Today I got a lift from the kind lady from the health visitors and took little bear to baby movement. Now of course he is not a baby any more - but he is not too old.

I felt so guilty as he was obviously thrilled to be going out. We were late, of course, and hurtled out to our lift. You should have seen how delighted he was when we arrived at the place where we normally go to playgroup. I really REALLY need to take him out more.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was full of fun things to play with. The youngest there was four months old and I think little bear was about the oldest, and there were only a few, but there were huge balls to roll on - little bear thought this was brilliant - and tunnels to crawl through - just like a commando - and things with ribbon on and bags that made noises...

One of the oddest thing was a sort of cone like contraption that the little one sat in and it could roll round. Little bear thought this was wonderful, he had the most gorgeous delighted grin on his face as once again he was nearly upside down.

Little bear, being little bear, had one or two moments. He has worked out how to undo a bolt now, and he did skid and trip all over the place - without being daunted. He also tried to 'fix' the tape recorder when he was supposed to be calming down. While all the little ones were being encouraged to calm down he was running from one side of the room to the other as fast as he could and back again, and repeat.

I was pleased that he was good with the little babies, though I did have to watch him because he would go hurtling through. He is a gentle little bear, but he is only two.

The poor lady running the group also got 'The Look'. "Here's Mr Lemon, are you going to give him a cuddle?" She asked. Little bear gave her 'The Look' which said, "What are you on about, woman, it's a cushion." Bless her, she could hardly stop laughing.

When we got home little bear was completely exhausted. I had planned to try and take him out tomorrow, but I may see if he needs recovery time. He had a huge nap, after running a toddler equivalent of a marathon, then dear heart woke him up to have tea, then he didn't get to sleep until nearly nine, but he won't sleep in. Little bear has an alarm nappy which goes off at 7am sharp every morning. So he may be a little tired.

Next week we need to take a change of clothing as it is something to do with glue. The week after it is rolling about in paint and the week after that it is rolling about in flour. I can hardly wait.

Little bear's poorly paws

You can tell by the title that I am now calm and I do not think it serious, but I may change my mind if his hands are bad tomorrow. But I will start at the beginning.

We have an old blanket box in little bear's room, which has been decorated in early 1970 yellow and blue. We use it as toy storage - the one's that he is not quite ready for. I have heard crashes which I suspected were the box, so I do blame myself. It explains where the peculiar giraffe-with-short-neck sort of thing came from. Tonight, little bear raised the lid in front of us. I glanced away to put something down, started towards him and the lid fell on his fingers.

Poor little bear, he was absolutely devastated. I was frantic, trying to see if he would let me touch his fingers - but they were clutching intensely at his teddy, who was his comfort. It was a sort of reassurance. His fingers were still working. It was a long bedtime tonight.

So, dear heart and I had to find a way of ensuring it didn't happen again. I have been going frantic about it falling on his head - I shall be in his room at the first murmur tomorrow. So what to do with the blanket box. I want to keep it, it belonged to dear heart's grandmother and is such a useful item to have.

We could move it to the room across the way. The obvious place would be to put it where there is currently a huge pile of bedding. But I can't put the bedding away because the bed is in front of the large and really useful chest of drawers. I could move the bed but I would first have to move a cupboard. I am planning to in any event - it is also a family item, a cupboard converted from the cabinet housing the first tv set owned by my late grandparents, with two unfinished planks as shelves. It summons dust. I shall not miss it. But I shall first have to clear it out and move all the items therein...

We are going to start by turning the blanket box upside down - after we have extracted all the toys and found somewhere to put them...

Poor little bear, I am so worried about him, I shall be watching his hands like a hawk for the next few days. He seemed to have forgotten that his hands had been hurt within a few minutes, but then he is a very brave little bear.

Intellectual pursuits

Little bear is still not talking, although in a single instance he said 'egg' and he has growled like a tiger and hissed like a snake - all after watching 'Something Special' on Ceebeebies.

As a concerned parent I immediately ordered a copy of 'Something Special - My Favourite Things' and also a set of dvds by the same presenter - Justin Fletcher. They came today (with a signed photo, which I plan to frame!)

So, little bear went to bed, and me and dear heart put in the first of the dvds (really far too young for little bear). We were just checking it out. Honest.

At 9.45 pm two adults were sitting, watching a dvd for 6months + and commenting on what was happening. Actually, I am confident that there was nothing else on TV that I wanted to watch, but really!

I found myself saying to evil cat (lying across my throat), 'Look! It's a frog!' She treated this with the contempt it deserved, with a flick of the ears and a lash of the tail.

And I have found myself speculating about Ceebeebies characters' love lives. I am quite concerned about this and feel that I need to get out in the fresh air more.

It's evil cat's fault really

Evil cat's special food came with lots of shredded paper as packaging, which I discovered as little bear and I unpacked the large cardboard box. I had expected little bear to play with the box, but he immediately headed for the shredded paper.

Now, in a perfect world I would have said something like, 'no, don't do that, go play with your nice toys...' and he would have happily run off. But I am far from perfect (though little bear is quite near it in my opinion) and I just threw a big handful up in the air above him. His giggles were gorgeous, and he kept handing me more handfuls of the stuff to throw. By the time poor dear heart came in the best way to describe the living room was 'strewn'. There were shreds of paper everywhere!

Poor evil cat is really getting elderly. Once upon a time she would have been chasing it all over the house, now she just looked disgusted. Little bear kept getting it out again and shrieking with laughter. I picked up a lot of the paper, lots and lots of times. It was wonderful.

Evil Cat and her health

Evil cat was manhandled to the vet this weekend. Poor vet.

It was the 'young vet' who saw her, the one who was the 'young vet' at the practice when dear heart took his first pet over thirty years ago. He shows no mercy and tolerate no nonsense, though he does get a sneaky cuddle of evil cat in while he examines her.

Evil cat will still not co-operate with a urine sample, which is a bit of a blow considering that she has kidney problems, and the vet has to stick a needle in her to check it. Personally, I would just piddle but she seems to have a strong objection.

Well, the prescription diet is working, she has gained a small amount of weight (I don't know how, she isn't exactly stuffing her furry face) and her urine is 'better'. I don't think I want to share details. She is still her usual self, parked across my throat or on the mouse, being cross because I am not co-operating. Cat fur is still being shed in industrial quantities and yet her fur is as dense as ever.

So today we had a delivery of her special cat food. I hope it lasts around three months, as there are boxes of pouches and tins galore. It actually is not that expensive, and she is (probably) worth it.

The box was far too heavy so I opened it to lug the contents to the kitchen. Now, the service from the people doing the food was excellent and I was quite pleased that they had re-used scrap paper by shredding it and using it as packing material. Which rapidly escaped. Helped by little bear. I'll write about that in a different post.

So evil cat had the first of the small tins. She stuffed her face and her ears were really pointed so I think that was a hit. Fingers crossed she keeps enjoying it.

Little bear at the library

Today we went to the library. It was supposed to be 'rhyme time' with a singalong and the health visitor was taking me. I was so glad as I have just been struggling even to get little bear to the end of the street, so I was so happy he got out.

Well, we trundled along and first of all we found that the leaflet printed had the wrong time printed on it - we were half an hour early! The thought of trying to keep little bear entertained for half an hour before he was supposed to sit still for stories and singing filled me with dread, so we went for a little walk. Actually, he went for a little walk while I was dragged in his wake. Thank goodness for reins!

Now, these sort of things often disappear at half term, so the health visitor had very sensibly rung up and checked. It was definitely on. All the furniture was moved around, two other mums and tots turned up... and no leader.

While we were waiting little bear had a marvellous time hurtling round and giggling. There was another little lad about two months older, and they were chasing each other round and shrieking with glee. I am sure this really cheered up the rest of the library visitors. They were 'standing on their heads' which the other lad copied from little bear (sort of proud of this) which essentially means that little bear bends at the waist and puts his hands and head next to his feet - or even waves his hands wildly around. I think that was when the major nappy leak occurred. I shall have to ensure next time that the vital garment is well fastened.

Also, whoever designed the library had never looked after little children. It is an old library with a modern bit sort of superglued on with points for benefits questions, planning applications, meetings with counsellors and MPs, a 'community hub'. It included a large children's section with children's books' shelving and miniature furniture - right next to the stairs. I lost count of the times I sprinted across the carpet (and I am not built for sprinting) to stop little bear's explorations ending up with bumping down the stairs.

There was no 'official' rhyme time in the end as the leader did not turn up, so we had a bit of a sing anyway. It was lovely. Well, it was lovely for me to sit with little bear (and regularly retrieve little bear) for a bit of a sing and a play. How the other patrons of the library felt about it is another matter.

And then home, for a complete change of clothing! And he had his second ever sausage roll for his lunch, topped off with some grapes from his Dad's supply (don't tell dear heart). And a lovely long nap.

Little bear has still been playing at 10pm, but I do not think I have much opportunity of a lie in - the nappy will be calling once again at 7am.

Another Saturday of viewings

House hunting happened at us today. It is my own fault, I was talked into it...

You see, I saw one house that was a plausible house, so I rang up to make an appointment and was talked into seeing two other houses.

The first one, well, it was one of those woolly and hard to put the finger on things, but it just wasn't quite for us. I can't explain it.

The second one was absolutely gorgeous, although you did have to go past a really bad looking place to get to it. It had been relentlessly extended and improved. As I said when the appointment was made, it was a little over our (small) budget, but the gentleman on the phone assured me that it was the time to be making offers. However the lady there (who was lovely) divulged that she was not only not prepared to drop her price any further but also she was in no hurry to sell.

The third one we didn't go into. It did sound like there was a pack of rabid dogs in the back yard, but the big drawback, which had not been apparent in the pictures, were steps that would have been suitable on the Matterhorn. I could never have coped with the steps, it would certainly needed more muscular arms than mine to drag a pushchair up the long and winding steps.

There is another house to see next week. I am not looking forward to that either.

Little bear in the bathroom

Little bear loves the bathroom. He loves to clean his teeth, especially the new fruity toothpaste. He adores being able to turn the tap on (all the way now, all on his own!) and for the first time he flushed the loo on his own.

Now, he is still in nappies, and I am not planning on trying anything else for at least six months, but he is absolutely fascinated by the loo. He giggles when he flushes.

We are not on a water meter. I am feeling desperately guilty about the clean water we are wasting, but at least there is no financial penalty.

All I need to do now is try and convince little bear that washing his hair is unlikely to be fatal.

Little Bear and Nap Time AGAIN

Little bear still needs his afternoon naps, he is shattered by about 4pm. Really he should try and get a nap around 2pm, but the weather has not been conducive to taking him out in the morning to tire him out.

Well, today has been no exception. I left him playing in the living room while I did some cooking, then I had a great cuddle and tickle with him and then, as he was leaning against me in a very sleepy way, took him upstairs for a nap.

Well, he had a play, he had a giggle (he makes up his own jokes) and I could hear what sounded like serious construction work. Then he started grumbling. I didn't take much notice, he didn't sound in distress and it sounded like a pre-nap grumble.

About ten minutes into his nap I HAD to go to the bathroom. So I took off my shoes and tiptoed upstairs. The maracas he uses to wake me up (so much more effective when banged against a metal safety gate) was lying on the landing out of his reach, so he had been upset that he couldn't reach his toy. Also he was asleep - but lying against the safety gate with his head on his teddy.

Of course I felt like a bad mother.

And as I tiptoed past he sighed but didn't stir. I decided against doing anything to risk moving him, as he was shattered, but now I am not sure whether to wake him for a tea time or what...

All this angst over a nap!

Little bear fights nap (and water can make you wet)

It is a grimly regular happening.

Little bear has a play, then I put him upstairs for a nap - he NEEDS his naps. So he plays in his room, until he goes to sleep. Except he doesn't go to sleep. The world is far too interesting. So I am on tenterhooks, wondering what to do. Today he has been up there now for over two hours - playing happily. I've heard noises that sound like a construction site, ominous crashes, shouts of glee and lots and lots of sounds of a toy train being rolled up and down a chest of drawers. No crying, no distress. I've had to work around official visitors and all sorts, so I have not really been in a position to bring him down earlier.

So, now he is singing quietly to himself. Do I go and get him, as he has been on his own for ages? Do I leave him and hope against hope he will actually nap? With a disrupted day I have no housework done, should I just get on and leave him singing?

What is worrying me even more is that the next month of playgroup is not likely to happen for little bear. I have so much trouble trying to get out of the house that this is a real blow. Still, the health worker is coming round and hopefully will help me get little bear out to meet some other people.

And now, after all that worry, all is quiet! He has, I believe, nodded off while I was typing this!

I love my little bear. Tomorrow morning I shall gird my loins and do finger painting with him, I hope that makes up for it.

I should be in bed

I am exhausted and have had a headache bordering on a migraine all day, leaving poor little bear very short changed.

I really need to be in bed, I am so exhausted. But last night I dreamt there was a funeral in the street, and I don't want to dream that again. Silly, very silly, but I have always dreamt very vividly and a nightmare can unsettle me all day.

Besides, it sounds like yet another extremely shouty time from the people at the back, which means I can expect no rest till after midnight.

I hate having vivid dreams, it always feels like omens, and now I will be watching over my shoulder for at least a week in case I do stumble into a funeral. My late mother would watch for crows settling on houses, and although the dratted birds no doubt always perched there, she only seemed to notice them when it was 'boding'. It is extremely likely that in the normal course of events I will see evidence of funereal practices - there is a funeral parlour at the end of the street.

If it was sunlight I would be almost sniggering at this, but I am so suggestible, and uncomfortably aware that I can imagine myself into a right state. So I am twitchy because of the nightmare and extremely irritated because I am twitchy.

Regardless, the racket from the people who are shouting death threats at each other in the room next to my bedroom means that I am up for at least another hour. I may try dozing on the sofa.

Little Bear's cold continues

It is so ridiculous. I know he has just got a mild cold. However I am fussing myself over it.

Little bear doesn't want to eat. Yesterday he hardly ate two mouthfuls together, until tea time, when he refused his carrots (which he normally devours) and his M&S chicken & leek pie (absolutely delicious - thank you dear heart for getting it) but ate all of his mashed potato and a large part of mine. This morning he was happy to take in his milk, but refused toast (normally his favourite) with a polite shake of the head and a gorgeous smile.

Sleep is also becoming an issue. As he is now two, I don't feel that I ought to keep running up and down stairs - after the bed time routine, as long as he is well, I think he should stay there. Well, last night he had his routine, then I put him to bed and as usual, after we left, he started to play. When he bumped himself I shot upstairs and he got a big cuddle. The trouble was, he didn't want to see the cuddle end, so he cried when I left him.

It was awful. I knew that there was nothing wrong, and that if I went up I would only be hindering his sleep, but it was awful for the few minutes he cried. And what was worse, he went to sleep at the stair gate with his head on his teddy. Dear heart carried him to bed.

I think that I will be having my hands full today. He is still not his normal self, and yesterday he was relentlessly into mischief, so I shall wait and see.

Little bear is getting busy

I know I am going to have my hands full with little bear. You can see it as he tries to swing his leg over the top of the safety gate. I think he is within about six inches of getting over. I am worried half to death. He is constantly and consistently trying to climb, scramble or otherwise head into trouble.

He has suddenly decided that he likes having his teeth brushed - new fruit flavoured toothpaste! I think the record for teeth brushing is now six times in one day, but I am not complaining. There are worse things for him to do.

He is still not speaking, so when he decides he wants to brush his teeth he will turn the tv off, look at me and poke his finger in his mouth like a toothbrush. Then he picks up his teddy bear and heads purposefully to the foot of the stairs.

Today was a bit of a breakthrough. He growled when he was pretending to be a tiger and hissed like a snake.

It was a wonderful and infuriating moment. It was wonderful because he was making noises as a way of communicating and infuriating because he copied something from tv, despite my relentless and unceasing efforts to get him just to say anything. I suppose it is a wonderful preview of when teacher will know best.

Backache

I've hurt my back. Many years ago I tore a muscle when I leant over to clean a bath. It just shows that housework can be bad for your health.

It rather passed into legend with dear heart because for a simple muscle problem it caused a lot of problems. It was initially diagnosed as a kidney problem, so I was in agony for ages. Perhaps because of that it does flare up again occasionally.

So now I have a bad back, which currently hurts intensely at any activity like brushing snow off a pavement. Or putting groceries away. Or washing up. Or getting washing out of the washing machine.

Little bear was outraged about fifteen minutes after I left him to go to sleep - he had pulled the top off the night time bottle (he saves some for later) and it was all over him and the sheet. I would swear there was less than an ounce when I left him with the bottle - but it spread! I have no idea how I managed to do all the stretching and bending to change the sheet. I am now officially in pain.

And the really horrible thing about it isn't the pain - yes it hurts but it is just physical pain. What is driving me dotty is that now that my happy pills are working properly I want to start doing stuff, and I can't. Grrrr.

Little bear has a cold

Little bear has a cold. It is completely not serious, not threatening and not a matter for the doctor. Of course I am fussing myself silly.

He had been a little off colour for a while, then Saturday he was not himself. We had visitors and instead of investigating all the opportunities for treats and cuddles he just sat on my lap. On one level, it was lovely to have that cuddle, but it was so sad that he needed it.

On Monday he perked up considerably - and that is when his nose became so very productive. It has been gruesome, not helped by his long-standing refusal to have anyone, and I mean anyone, wipe his nose. If you heard his complaints as I advanced with a tissue or a damp flannel you would think the poor child was about to be murdered.

I think he can only breathe through his mouth at the moment, so he is not keen on his usual toast. However he is tucking in to lots of bottles during the day. This is probably a Bad Thing but at least it gets liquid and nutrition into him. He isn't even eating pears, though he tucked into some Impossible Pie earlier.

I wonder if dear heart would notice if some of his grapes went missing. It would be a lovely pick me up for little bear. I'm sure dear heart wouldn't mind, and what the eye doesn't see...

Worrying about evil cat

Evil cat is not a well kitten. The vet has pronounced early stage kidney disease, we are feeding her a special diet. Actually what happens is that we put down the special diet, she takes two mouthfuls, walks away and then complains with unrelenting insistence until fresh is put down.

But she is losing weight. She has never been that substantial, just a bad attitude in a fur coat really. Now she is starting to look really slim.

I don't have the heart to make all the jokes about wishing I was losing weight. Tonight she actually came into little bear's room and she slipped through the bars of the shut safety gate. In fact, I watched her slip through the narrowest part of the safety gate on her way out. She has never been a chunky cat. In fact, she is quite petite, although her attitude is as butch as a bulldog.

I have decided not to take her to the vet this weekend, as she does not seem to be in any distress and she is still functioning quite well. She was lively enough this afternoon when she was wanting more food. There is so much weather about and a trip to the vets with evil cat is not to be undertaken lightly. However tomorrow I plan to ring up and get an appointment for next weekend. I think that is the longest I want to put it off. Of course, if she seems distressed before then we will take her in earlier.

It was awful last time she needed a sedated examination. The vet called dear heart to come and get her as evil cat was getting distressed, and he couldn't make it. However she needs a sedated examination to get a urine sample - honestly, it would be so much easier if she just piddled!

She is making the mouse unavailable as I type - she believes she has right of way on the computer desk and I have never managed to convince her otherwise, but I do believe she is a little more clingy than before. She is sitting there, ears half akimbo and vibrating with a purr. She is so beautiful. I hope that the vet can reassure us that she is not in pain and that she will soon pick up.

Bought wipes

I am ashamed to confess but I bought some wipes, marketed as being for cleaning the inside of fridges and microwaves. I ought to be ashamed of myself - they cost two pence each! However, the deed was done and I did a quick wipe at the microwave while I was waiting for the kettle to boil. I checked to see if it needed to be rinsed before microwaving some sausages and pasta for little bear.

Now, I am aware that there are some very silly people out there, but surely there does not need to be a warning on a packet of microwave wipes that they should not be used as baby wipes. I mean, really! Who would use cleaning wipes on a defenceless child? Apart from anything else, baby wipes are considerably cheaper.

I wondered what else was on the pack. Well, there was a sell by date. Why? Why on earth have a sell by date on cleaning products? Surely a packet labelled antibacterial isn't going to go off like cheese. I mean, given that there is scent and antibacterial oojamaflips, perhaps a 'use within x of opening' I could understand. Anyway, the sell by date has long since gone - I even bought it after the sell by date had expired. I am confident that it will not break the microwave.