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.