nursery school

17 Oct was Bernard's first day at nursery.  His teacher is called Andrea and his nursery is a tiny Montessori on a farm slap bang in the middle of nowhere.  It seems to be one of the most beautiful places on the planet.  I drive ten minutes away from town and I am there.  There is no sign on the entrance.  Sometimes you can buy farm fresh eggs for £1 a box on the driveway.
Bernard said he had a nice time at the nursery, and he played with a boy called Alex.  The toddler class is also the toilet training class (!), so often when I arrive one or more of them are running around without trousers on.
Bernard is learning to sit on the potty now, and he is doing very well; I was very impressed at how much easier it was this time round.  He is quite proud of his peeing prowess and he has had a few al fresco pees in fields too: all very challenging for the first timer!

solar panel

Sorry about the sideways photos lately; it's my phone - but hopefully I have managed to rotate this one of the brand new solar panel on our roof.  It works along with a spaceship-like installation in our airing cupboard, and hopefully it will reduce our reliance on the oil in a way that won't require a lot of maintenance.   The cylinder is well insulated anyway so it seems I just put the hot water on once in the day and it stays hot all day and night with the help of the solar.  Jolly clever.

progress

autumn is here.  the house martins have flown.  and the last storm blew most of the remaining apples from the tree.  we have three huge tesco bags full of apples ready for crumbles, juices or compote.  there is an increasing amount of furniture and we have lots of boxes to unpack.  a healthy state of moving house.  i keep thinking that if we hadn't bought this house earlier in the year, we'd be still agonizing over houses.  now we are almost functioning in the new place.  it feels good.

queen of hearts

Bernard has been enjoying his nursery rhymes so much that we decided to make jam tarts.  He had one for dessert served with a petit filou. 

new house

we arrived in convoy with ong ngoai who installed a curtain rail and a stair gate.  Then we tuck in to a meal served on an upturned wine crate. 

out and about

Since arriving in England we have been visiting a lot of parks and Bernard is getting more and more confident at climbing, swinging and balancing.  When we arrived, he had never been on a swing.  Now he loves swings and asks to go higher and higher!

at the park