Things to remember now:
- How Annick climbed into bed with us and wished us a 'bon matin', only to look at the little bunny she had clutched in her hand before wishing us a 'bon lapin!' and dissolving into giggles
- How the kids are getting to grips with Christmas cracker jokes and have tried creating their own. "What is a hat lion dog? A leaf!"
- How they don't have stomach aches, they have 'tummy eggs'.
- How Annick's favourite cold meat is a wonderful hybrid called 'panciutto'.
- How Luca pointed to a house and said, "that's the same letters as my bike!" and we realised that he was recognising the word 'warning' that was written on a home alarm system as was also written on his bike (you know, to make sure you ride the bike safely). Reading here we come!
- How there is just SO MUCH COUNTING GOING ON.
- 12 Jan 2016: Luca fait une bêtise. While making dinner, I hear Jason having a long, quiet conversation with Luca in his room. I call them for dinner but they don't come. Eventually Jason emerges and says, "Luca a fait une bêtise." When I go in, I can't see what has happened, and ask Luca what he has done. He points behind the door and says proudly, "it's a spaceman". I don't think he even knew Bowie died yesterday. And all over the wall is a vivid indigo portrait of a spaceman, as big as Luca and all lines and crosses. I tell him it is a grosse bêtise and that he will not have any dinner, then quietly shut the door. We eat dinner to the soundtrack of Luca weeping and wailing that he is hungry. After some time it starts to escalate into hysteria and I know that the lesson is learnt but is about to be lost, so after a quick google, I discover that the solution is apparently just to wipe the drawing off the wall. So I go in, wipe the wall and discover that when Crayola says 'lavable', they mean 'lavable'. So Luca, who is complaining of hunger, is told that when he has cleaned the wall, he can have his dinner. So he sets to the wall with a washcloth and much gnashing of teeth while Annick sits outside the room playing a harmonica, to underline the prison grit of it all, and eventually, slowly, the marvellous drawing is erased. I wish I had taken a photo of it, but that would have validated the behaviour. And Luca finally got his dinner, but not a passionfruit and not a dessert and he has said with more sincerity than I usually get for promises that he will not do it again.
- How Luca brought a Matt Preston cookbook to me, open to the recipe for cacio e pepe, pointed and grunted like an enthusiastic caveman at the delicious picture, then buried his face in it, pretending to eat it in snuffly glee. Which I took as a hint I should make a cacio e pepe.
- How Annick had a little graze and Luca pointed at it, pointed at his lacerated finger, and said, "my cut is more blooder than yours Annick."
- And how mama cut her finger quite badly, bled profusely, only for Luca to calmly observe, "your blood is the same colour as mine mama!"
- But how he is learning, and on hearing mama bump into a wall and say "ow!", his little voice piped up from the other room, "are you all wight mama?" with gentle concern.
- How their favourite amusing phrase at the moment is 'chicken booster' as in 'you're a chicken booster! That's a chicken booster letterbox!"
- How butt jokes are still the best jokes of all, and make for statements such as Luca's "hey mama, what if you have a telescope and you look in the telescope at the moon and the moon looks like a BUTT? Hahahahahahahahahaha!"
- How Luca has taken to school like a duck to water and will surprise you with what he's learned for the day, such as coming home and writing up the numbers 1 to 10 in Chinese, complete with counting as he goes, with pretty good tone. Or giving mama an impromptu (and somewhat patronising) lesson in shapes on the walk home, saying things like, "I give you an easy one mama, what is this shape?" Er, is it a square? "No mama, it's a wectangle because it is longer. That was a twicky one for you!"
- How Annick still says things like, "I a little bit tursty mama" and likes to load up her imperfects, using sentences like, "I putteded it there" and "he goeded away".
- Annick: How do you make water?
Mama: Er, how do you think you make water?
Annick: (thinks) Well, you get some hot water. And then you get some liquid. And you mix them together. And then you have water! And it is quite good when you put a little bit of cheese.
- Luca, counting for fun while he's in the toilet, announces, "my wee is 12 metres!" Counts some more, announces, "my caca is seven metres!" Long pause. "The smell is NINETY NINE, pewwww!"
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