Friday 9 September 2016

7QTs: Not Crawling, Not Housekeeping and Temperaments

So I have lots of little points I want to make, but none quite enough for a post. What to do, what to do? If only there was a thing on the internet for unrelated jumbles of thoughts?

Ha.

Anyway, without further ado:

1.

Labilou is trying SO hard to crawl, it's hilarious. He gets on all four alright, does the Roll Over, the 360, the Oops I'm Going Backward Now, but mostly he does this (soundtrack in the background by Jude Songbird Should-be-napping Patapon - JSSP to his friends):




He's quite cheery about it though, and anyway, I'm in no rush to have him mobile (I learned my lesson the first time around thankyouverymuch).

2. 

To file under the "Parenting Rookies Think They Can Teach You Things" category, I've got this system about housekeeping which is working pretty well at the moment, I call it "Three Things" (which is a misnomer, but I don't care). 

I've read many a post about how to manage housekeeping with kidlets around, mostly revolving around the concept of "Do A Bit At A Time" or "Have A Task A Day" or "Twenty Minutes And No More". Basically hell for this choleric at the keyboard. 

Because how do I get to win at housekeeping can I feel like I have completed the task of housekeeping, if by definition I am leaving it unfinished? 

Easy: I just drastically reduce the definition of "clean house" to three things (and a couple more), I do them, tell myself I won achieved, and only tackle the rest when they get truly dire/ my mother is coming to stay. Easy Peasy. So "a clean house" is now: downstairs floors swept, counters and tables wiped, dishes done, toys picked up and bed made. Done. Laundry is an ad hoc thing depending on the weather (still rocking the "no space for a tumble dryer" fun over here), so partly out of my hands (which means I am allowed to ignore it a lot).


Why, yes, this photo has nothing to do with the topic at hand.


I may just have to patent this genius idea I think. I shall call it "Three Things, Or More Like Five Plus Laundry On Non-Rainy Days" I'm sure it will catch on in no time.

3.

As you can see from the previous take, I have finished The Temperament God Gave You, and as anyone who isn't me would have been able to tell you long before, I am basically all choleric. So is my mother. And my older brother (with a dash of melancholic). My sister is a sanguine, my dad so completely a melancholic it's as if he had been following a script. My little brother is difficult to pin down, but probably melancholic.

Now Simon is phlegmatic-melancholic. And his family is all phlegmatic/sanguine.

Add that to the language barrier and I can't for the life of me work out why there has been so many misunderstanding and miscommunication between our families. If any of you can work it out, feel free to let me know.

4.

My friends and family haven't quite been pushed to murdering me over my obsession with keen interest in the four temperaments yet, so I thing I will do a survey of my favourite historical characters and appoint them a temperament soon (No Bandwagon Left Un-Jumped is my motto).

Quick preview: Talleyrand was totally a phlegmatic-sanguine. Fact.

5.

My friend dragged me to confession last week (because she is a good friend) and put a stop to months of spiritual sloth. To celebrate, I finally acted upon an Adoration prompting I had been ignoring for a while and started having a running list of prayer intentions. It's in a pretty notebook at the moment (I love notebooks - no, actually, I love all stationery), but I am thinking of having it on display.


No matter what the problem, a pretty notebook is probably the way forward


Such a simple trick, such a difference in the likelihood I will offer up frustrations instead of venting them!

6.

To the Brits/ Knowers of Brits among you: I want to do a new "Lost in Translation" post, because they are the most fun to write, but every time I think about British ways, I end up focusing on all the Brexit-Doom-And-Gloom-Why-Do-They-Hate-Me funk, so I need ideas. 


Anniversary cricket


I've done: the north, the Ashes, the English summer, historical stereotypes, biscuits, cricket, the weather and tea. What is missing? Or should I do a "French people are weird" one?

7.

That's it. But Kelly has more. I must dash and sing the nap-striker to sleep to his favourite tune of "Happy Birthday".

Where we found him last night