Grave circumstances

Yet another blog post about the grave. I may as well give up and become a goth!
A few weeks ago I visited the family plot and it was full of fabric flowers. Now, they were very pretty but we had come to an agreement as a family that it was going to be real flowers or nothing. My first instincts were that they were put there by someone else, I don't know who but strange things arrive there on a regular basis and without a surveillance camera I have no idea how. (Maybe I should see if I can move into one of those houses that were built practically in the middle of the cemetery, I've always had an urge to live near a cemetery....oh no! I am a goth! I remember when they first built those houses, they were built on an incline and some of the bedroom windows are directly in line with the grave stones. Nan always joked that she wanted to live there so we wouldn't have far to carry her when she 'went')

Back to the point, about the fabric flowers, I phoned my brother and asked him about them and he was pretty miffed and told me to get rid of them. So I did as I was told and they ended up in the bin. I'd actually left the grave by the time of the call and sent Graham back to do the 'dirty' deed. The next day I got a call from my auntie who was really upset. They were her flowers. Oooops! Well, I said I'd binned them and I was really sorry and wouldn't do it again. She said in the future she would only put them in nan's vase (her mum). The next time I went down there were new fabric flowers in nan's vase but nothing in mum's or Sim's. I left them.

Then yesterday I got another call off my auntie, she was really upset and told me she was going to talk to her sister's about getting nan moved to plot of her own !!!!! I had visions of what nan and mum would say if they did that, I can't believe my aunt could even think of it, if there is a way of meeting up with loved ones after death then I'm afraid my aunt is in for a roasting, no doubt about it. The reason for this? Well, the fabric flowers had gone again. Obviously she'd thought it was me again, but I insisted that I'd kept my word and the flowers in their pot. So she said it must be my brother. I called him and, big shock, he confessed he hadn't been down to the grave. No not in the last few days, or weeks, but ever! Not since the funeral!!! So I called my nephew but he hadn't been either. Someone else does go down besides my aunt and me, that's for sure. I know my cousin goes down but he's my aunts son so she would know if it was him. So, who took the flowers this time? I guess it's a public plot so in reality it could be anyone at all.

Who would think that a grave could cause so much hassle?

Oh and a brief mention of my little girl's 2nd birthday, boy doesn't time fly? I will blog about that later.

Tired

Lately I've been feeling tired. I'm not sleeping well again, although I am sleeping more than I was a year ago. I just long for a night long sleep. I've forgotten what it's like to go to bed at night and the next time I wake up it's morning. This week we got a new bed, the last one was getting really uncomfortable. I was hoping this would help me sleep but so far all it's done is make me want to sleep even more.
The tiredness slips over into the rest of my life, I swing from being so tired I can't care less to be being so tired everything is just stressing me out.
I don't like being tired, things get blurry.

High School Musical and Emotional Maturity plus Boogie Pete

A short while ago I was worried about Lucy's development. I'd always had small niggles but they were excerbated after talking to her teacher at nursery. She claimed that Lucy lacked emotional maturity and was unable to feel empathy for her peers. She had problems with interacting and communicating with her peers and lacked imagination. I started keeping a tag on her development and watching for signs that something wasn't quite right.

Then, along came High School Musical!

Lucy is a little young to be interested in these films which are aimed at 6 to 12 year olds, but she kept on going on about High School Musical so when I noticed the first two films were being shown on the Disney Channel I decided to record them. Lucy absolutely loves them. She's already learning all the songs and sings along. I've had to buy her a Gabriella doll and now she wants a Troy one. She has also requested a High School Musical birthday party.

So what does this have to do with her development. I'll give you a simple example. In the second film Gabriella decides to leave Troy as he has upset her. Of course she leaves with a song. Then just before the end of the movie, Troy is singing on stage when Gabriella (in hiding) starts singing along. Then she appears and they sing together. Altogether now, ahhhhhhh! I looked at Lucy at this point and she was crying! I asked her why and she said she was happy because Gabriella had come back to Troy! Emotionally immature? I don't think so! In fact I've been suprised how much she actually does understand about the films, she gets the plots and when she's not been sure what's happened she asks questions. To me it's a really good sign of emotional maturity.

She is very musically talented my little girl, apart from being able to sing in tune and remember all the words to songs she is also a pretty good dancer and able to follow instructions. On Saturday we went to a Cbeebies event where she joined a group of children to dance along with Boogie Pete from Boogie Beebies. Standing right at the front she copied all his moves and really got into it. I'm thinking that maybe I'll find her a dancing school as I'm sure it's something she would enjoy. Maybe it would also help with her clumsiness?

To finish here is a photo of my little star with Boogie Pete.

Yankee Doodle Dandy

"Yankee Doodle went to town
Riding on a pony
He stuck a feather in his hat
And called it macaroni"

Mum always used to sing Yankee Doodle to Simeon because he was born on the 4th of July. I don't remember him having many birthday parties, especially not when he was older, no 18th or 21st. I do remember his 3rd birthday though. It was a gorgeous hot day and mum made a marquee in the garden out of sheets. We had two big dining tables set up and I think she invited everyone she knew. Simeon had a white 'police' pedal car which he loved as his main present. I remember it like it was yesterday not 32 years ago.

I remember the day that Sim was born. I was waiting at home with my aunt and uncle. The phone rang and all my hopes, wishes and prayers were dashed as I was told I had a baby brother. I already had two brothers why couldn't I have a sister? I told them to take him back and they had better not bring him home. Then I was taken to the hospital to see him. He was so tiny, even smaller than my Tiny Tears. I don't remember his exact weight but he was under 6lb and quite poorly. I saw him and instantly fell in love. I begged to be allowed to name him and mum said what would you call him. I said Simon and she smiled. How about Simeon, it's very similar. Ok, I agreed. Simon with an 'e', I was happy. It was quite a few years later that I learnt she'd planned to call him Simeon anyway as it was my dad's name, but I didn't know that because no-one ever called dad Simeon, he was always called Fred! I guess mum had been really pleased I'd come up the the name Simon, she didn't have to dissapoint me.

Happy Birthday Simeon. I miss having a baby brother.