The Festive Holiday

A week long weekend, that’s how this time of year feels. And to imagine, another five days of it, I’m yawning as I write. I’ve just snuck off to the bedroom and left them all downstairs, now running amuck! They were settled with ‘Team Umizoomi’ on Netflix, but with attention spans of newts, they are now terrorising daddy, who is trying to play candy crush on his iPad. We started watching ‘Team Umizoomi’ on Nick Jr whilst the girls were babies and we lived in an apartment in Jogeshwari, Mumbai. Of course as babies, Amritsar and Tara would just look up at the screen and smile. They would be tightly swaddled and were the best behaved babies ever. We watch the program now, on occasion as a family and they join in with all the bits that there was once only silence. When the characters (Millie, Geo and Bott) ask questions or are looking for answers, they ask the audience. It’s so much better that a year or two back when all five would just look up and remain silent. They shout back to the TV as if they are all personally involved. It’s good to have them all figuring things out and interacting together. As you can imagine with five, it was hard work when they all needed maximum nurture and they just looked up at you and smiled or ran around, completely mindlessly. Now, although still loud and screamy, they are at least their own persons. Many outbreaks from Thor and Aaliyah over the last days. Even Mrs Snodgrass was called on the telephone last night as Aaliyah was so badly behaved. Her school for ‘Naughty Girls’ was threatened and Aaliyah has promised she really wants to be a good girl. She now has a few days to prove that she can be a good girl. Naughty schools new term starts on Monday and Aaliyah was told that she would have to pack a bag as the school is a boarding school. Aaliyah is trying hard to be good now. Naughty school is just a fiction and used every now and then to steer Aaliyah on the right path. Thor on the other hand is still a bit too ballistic to comprehend ‘Naughty School’ and it’s implications. We just have to rely on the threat of the ‘Thinking Chair’ or bed as the the ultimate threat. The dogs are now sat in front of me, looking up silently. The occasional whine from Remus. I never really get any time to myself, except the time I spend in London every fortnight. I should be grateful, I’m never alone. Better rejoin the masses now and head downstairs. I might blog again later and tell you a bit more about how our Christmas has been.