Just a quick story on the progress of Little Munchkin's language development. He has been sick for the whole of last week, so we could not go to any of the playgroups or classes. People here would rather have a kid with chickenpox in a playgroup than a kid with conjunctivitis. So, with nowhere to go, we've been going to our local shopping centre for a coffee and a muffin. I was getting a coffee and Little Munchkin was getting a blueberry muffin (to keep him quiet while I am drinking my coffee). On Friday, I calculated my weekly 'coffee and a muffin' budget and decided to cut it down a bit. So, I got myself a coffee and gave Little Munchkin a bread stick instead of buying a muffin for him. He looked at me and said: 'Ma ... Ma ... Ma ...'. I could not understand what is it that he wants. If he is saying 'mama', I am right here. I tried to ignore him, so he gave me a very dirty look and said: 'Muf ... Muf .... Muf...'. It hit me, he was trying to say 'Muffin'! I bought it for him - for his effort.

I spent half the day dealing with the dear health clinic. In the morning I realised that Little Munchkin has got an eye infection. So I tried to make an appointment to see a doctor. The appointment line opens at 8 am and usually by 8.20 there are no appointments left. I could not get through till that time, but after that I felt just so annoyed that I kept calling every 5 or 10 min out of sheer morbid curiosity trying to find out when will I actually get through. I did at 10.45 am. I was told that if I want an appointment I might as well just come in person at 2 pm - opening time for the afternoon appointments. I came at 10 to 2 p.m. and was 'only' fourth in line. I got an appointment for 2.40 pm. We missed Big Munchkin's gymnastics class today. It is our first missed class since September, but at least we got antibiotics (eye gel) for Little Munchkin. He has been miserable the whole day. What is more unfortunate, conjunctivitis is highly contagious, which means we have likely lost all our playdates for this week.

I find it amazing to see just how much Big Munchkin is learning. We were walking today and suddenly she said, 'Mum, look! It's a magpie.' And it was. As far as I can remember, the only place she could have encountered a magpie (soroka) is a Postman Pat book that we red months ago. It does have a picture of a magpie, but we did not read that book for a very long time. Still, she remembers. Amazing.

Little Munchkin speaking is progressing slowly. He can count up to 10. He knows all letters of the alphabet. He sometimes can say 'All Done'. He is trying to say 'ba-ba sh...' for a sheep. He trying to say 'woof, woof' for a dog. He is trying to say 'dwink' for a drink. He sometimes can say toes and eye. Hopefully, one day he will just break into sentences. In the meanwhile, I checked if his referral to the speech therapist is going through. It is.

We've been doing a lot of arts projects with Big Munchkin. Fish made out of paper plates. hanging fish, monsters, faries, paper-ring caterpillar, etc.

We did not do anything exceptionally exciting this weekend. On Saturday my DH took Big Munchkin to her Mandarin class and then swimming. Little Munchkin and myself went to the Borough Market. Prices there are up, again. I bought some nice organic juice - apple with blackberry (Big Munchkin has already drunk most of it), nice French sausage, and nice Comte cheese for fish cakes. Chanterelle mushrooms that I really like are £20 per kg. Maybe I'll buy it next time. I bought myself new shoes. I read somewhere that an average woman in the UK buys 10 pairs a year. This is my fourth in two years - I bought a pair of slippers when I went to India last year, a pair of Clarks shoes when I needed to do a reinforced rock sole after I fractured my foot, my DH bought me a pair of orange running shoes when we went to Thailand. This is the fourth pair. I also bought two pairs of jeans. I lost a size and most of the old jeans are too big. I feel a bit guilty spending money of my own clothes, but I really need new stuff. I wish we'd find out sooner how much this year's bonus is. I might feel a bit better about spending money (or worse).

On Sunday I took Big Munchkin to the Planetarium to see their new show Secret of the cardboard rocket. It was really good. I think older kids would have gotten bored with it, but for 3 and a half year old it was perfect. Her favourite planet is still Jupiter. I am really glad that astronomy is something that interests her. I put a new poster in her room with all the planets on it. She can even explain the difference between gas giants and rocky midgets. She is still learning the new definition of a planet and can't remember why dwarf planets called so. I am sure she'll know it soon.

This is a picture of blooming roses in my backyard.

Big Munchkin has been back to school since Thursday (for two days now). What a relief! It might be only two and a half hours a day, but it is two and a half hours every day. I am still cross at the school. Big Munchkin is one of a very few kids who did not get offered a full-time nursery place. I am not upset that she did not get one. I am upset that I was never asked if I wanted one. No one can coherently explain to me how the places were allocated. Because kids who live further away did get places, which rules out the proximity to school allocation, and kids who are younger than Big Munchkin also got places, which rules out date of birth allocation. Most likely the parents who made the most fuss and demanded the place got it. Since I did not ask, I was not offered. Still, I find lack of communication from the school to be extremely annoying.

Big Munchkin started her tennis classes. She said she liked it. So, I guess, we are going to continue with it. I am going to stop her drama classes after this term. I am quite keen on stopping her ballet as well, but she seem to like it. I would still like to faze it out sooner rather than later. On the other hand, the ballet class is very close to home - less than 5 minutes walk. I am very keen on quitting french. She does not like it and getting there is a pain. I am still trying to find a substitute, some other option of learning French.

Today morning we went to the Snow Park. What a complete and utter waste of time and money. Those £30 would have been better spent on a dim sum. There was no snow - only slash, water and ice. The play area was compacted and iced over. There is no way we could have made a single snowball. The slide was icy and it was ending in a pool of water. The single toboggan slide was too steep even for Big Munchkin. We spent a total of 10 minutes there. Big Munchkin managed to find a piece of ice to throw. As she put it: 'We threw a showball'. They both got wet to their knees, so we had to change them in a car park.

On the way back, we went to East Ham for a proper South Indian lunch of dosa and idlies. Kids like it a lot. Then, my DH dropped me off a a tube station so I can go to the Russian 'old new year' party on the Trafalgar square by myself. It was a good decision. There were lots of people and nothing much to do for kids. I was quite shocked to hear 'Kalinka, Malinka' being performed on stage, but after wondering around for a little while I began to enjoy it.

That was all my weekend. Next week Big Munchkin is going to school on Thursday. I am really looking forward to it.

Today we had a busy day - Mandarin, swimming, then trip to a theatre. My DH (Dear Husband for those who don't know) took her to see Flyaway Katie. They both said that it was very good. Then, we went for another round of swimming, this time including Little Munchkin. At least, they both went to sleep on time, which gave me time to iron. Today morning neither of the kids had any clean trousers left, so ironing was clearly overdue.

Not sure what we are doing tomorrow. Tomorrow is Russian 'old new year' day at the Trafalgar square and I was kind of thinking of going there. But the weather was lovely today - bright, warm and sunny. It is the prefect weather to go to the Snow Park.

I have been having this discussion with Big Munchkin about seasons:
We are going for a walk ...
- Mommy, is it spring?
- No, it is still winter.
- But, if it is winter where is snow?
- Well, there is no snow in London. It might come later, but there is no snow now.

Hundred meters later ...
- Is it autumn now?
- No, it is still winter.
- But the leaves are falling ...
- Well, they haven't yet finished falling from autumn, but it is already winter.

Another hundred meters later ...
- Mommy, is it spring now?
- No, it is still winter.
- But there are flowers on the tree ...
- Yes, honey, the cherry tree is blooming because it is very warm, but it still January.

The weather has been bizarre. Summer was a wash out with floods and constant rain. Winter has been lovely - we had only 2 day of 'freezing' temperatures of about +3 or +4 C. Snow was promised one day but it never came to London. The rose bush in my backyard is blooming and so are the cherry trees on the street. I am thinking of calling somebody to cut the grass in out backyard. It has grown very tall. For all my complaints about London, I do like the weather; beats shoveling snow the whole winter like it was in Canada.

To give Big Munchkin the taste of winter we are thinking of taking the kids to the Snow Park - so she can throw snowballs, go tobogganing and make a snow man. She saw all those things in her favourite Charlie and Lola cartoons and she has been going around throwing imaginary snowballs for a few weeks now. It would be nice to give her a taste of real winter.

My other plan for tomorrow or for next weekend includes taking her to the planetarium. She has been very much into planets lately, particularly Jupiter. She says that she wants to be an astronaut and fly on a big rocket to Jupiter. I am using this interest to study Astronomy and Math with her. She knows all the planets now. We have been reading about stars and planets a lot. The Planetarium is doing a show about Solar System where they are going to allow under 5 year olds. They do it very rarely. So, I am thinking of taking her there. I am sure she will love it.

Few more snippets from Big Munchkin:

(1) She has been campaigning for cupcakes for about a week. I told her 'no' as they have way too much sugar.
This morning she decided to try my DH:
- Papa, today is your birthday, we need to buy the cupcakes ...
P.S. His birthday was months ago and she knows it.

(2) I am trying to put her to sleep on Thursday evening. Before she goes to sleep I go through the schedule for the next two days with her. She goes through a variety of reasons why she should be allowed not to go to sleep. This is the new one:
- I am too excited to go to sleep, because papa is taking me to a theatre on Saturday.

I decided to do a little bit of whining about British government. How do they calculate inflation? I am sure they are not calculating it for this country. Big Munchkin's favourite bread is up from £1.07 to £1.22. I used to buy it on 2 for 1 deal all the time, but I haven't seen that deal since November. My weekly grocery bill is up by 20 or 30 pounds. My cleaner asked for a raise - from £7.50 to £8 an hour. All Munchkins classes are up in price. Train ticket is up another 20 pence. Last year it went up from £2.70 to £3.60 and now it is £3.80. Our gym membership is up by nearly £10 a month. I don't know yet how much is the council tax increase going to be. Unfortunately, my DH's salary increase is generally equals government inflation figure, and those intellectually-challenged people are calculating the inflation for some imaginary country. Their figure has nothing in common with real cost of living.

Everything is relatively quiet. My DH took Big Munchkin to see another play last weekend - The Gruffalo's Child. I was hoping that it would be something spectacular since it is playing in a proper 'adult' West London theatre, but DH thought it was in no way better than any other cheaper plays they went to. I was a bit disappointed but Big Munchkin still liked it.

This month she is going to see two more plays. At this point I find that I often can't take her for all the plays I would like her to see because there are so many good plays. Often they end up being scheduled for the same day. Also the problem is with timing. I moved her Mandarin class to Saturdays. So, now she has Mandarin at 10 a.m. and swimming at 11.30. Some of the Saturday's plays are at 11 a.m. If I do sign her up for that time, she will have to miss her Mandarin and swimming classes and I don't really like to do that. If the play is only on Saturday, I try to schedule it for 2 p.m., but even then she will have Mandarin, swimming and a play one after another. This month she will have this schedule on two of the Saturdays. I think, it is a bit too much for her.

I am also planning on signing her up for a tennis class. It is an indoor class in our gym. It is only a 30-min class, and we are not doing anything on Mondays. There is also a Kiddi Kungfu (martial arts for 3 to 6 year olds) class on Sunday. I might take a free trial class, just to see what it is. Closer to summer I will start sorting out her classes. Something obviously has to go - it probably would be drama, ballet and french. She is a bit too old for that drama class already. Ballet class is more of a playgroup. It is just very close to home and she has lots of friends there. But once she moves to full-time school next September she will be able to do only one class a day (at most). Obviously, I prefer gymnastics to ballet. She will move to the later gymnastics class and drop ballet altogether.

It does not mean that I am going to drop her out of dance/drama completely. She is on a waiting list to a very good class with a well known dance company. If she gets in next September, that will be her only Saturday activity. Her Mandarin would have to be moved to a different time slot. I would quite like to go private if we can afford it. Depending in whether or not she likes tennis, I will decide if we are going to keep it. Swimming will have to be moved to a different day as well. Unfortunately, that would mean changing the teacher as hers is only working on Saturdays.

I am at a loss what to do with French. She does not like the class, and she learnt remarkably little in the past term. I paid for one more term for now. I feel that part of the problem might be in me. I have never liked French. I have always preferred Spanish. So, I keep thinking that maybe I should just ditch French in favour of Spanish. Big Munchkin has been asking to learn Spanish anyway. Probably because I keep listening Spanish songs and Dora the Explorer speaks it as well. I am going to sit on this decision till summer.

Everything is fine. I just wanted to write a few words about the language development. Big Munchkin is talking non-stop and producing more and more of 'perls'.

- Mummy, is it a mushroom?
- Yes, it is.
- Do you mash it?
- Well, you can mash a mushroom, but only if you are making a pate. You normally fry or boil mushrooms.
- Why do you call them MUSH-rooms then?
- Well......

(2) Little Munchkin used to have a pompom on his hat (it is a fluffy ball on top of the hat). It fell off, after much tugging on his part. Big Munchkin noticed that the pompom is missing.
- Mum, where is his pompom?
- It fell off.
- Too bad, he looks like a pompom kind of guy.

Little Munchkin's vocabulary is also increasing. The problem is his diction. Unless you know what he is going to say, you are not going to guess what he is saying. Other than that, he can count up to 10. He can say truck, which sounds more like 'twuk'. He can say star, circle, blue. Blue is his favourite colour.

He can say quite a big part of alphabet. He recognises some of the letters, but gets lost if he tries to say alphabet from the beginning. Often he employs a shortcut ' A, B, C, Y, Z'. He claps after every successful action, e.g. he builds a tower of blocks and claps.

He likes songs: his favourites are 'The Wheels on the Bus', 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star', 'If You Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands', 'Shake your Sillies Out', 'Row, Row Your Boat', and few others. He does the actions for all of the them and tries to sing. It is very funny. His language and overall development is still a way off from Big Munchkin's but he is developing, and it is very reassuring.