Hair today, gone tomorrow. And the home help.

Well, I have to say the first week of term hasn't gone to plan. (Well, not ours, anyway) But setting that aside, here's some of what we've been up to...

Tuesday saw the politics society (run by Anna) host a highly acclaimed question time with our local MP-hopefuls (including flying brick, of the monster raving loony party - who happens to be a past pupil of the school!) It went down very well, so I hear!

Joshua and I braved a trip to the hairdresser on Wednesday. I'd been the day before to have mine done, so Joshua couldn't really refuse. As usual, there are the before and after shots. And as usual, the before one is bath time!

In fact, not only do we have before and after photos, we actually have a during too:

This was the point at which he could see again. Maybe that's why he looks happy with life. It was quite an amusing trip actually. When I told him we were going, his first question was, "Will I get a lolly?" Very impressive memory indeed. (He gets them from the hairdresser, I hasten to add, not me!)
Then, we got there at 4.45, and Joshua had not had a nap, with the result that he sat in the chair and was very quite, and a little floppy. I did wonder if he was going to make it through, but he did. I think it was probably the lolly that did it!
Later on Wednesday, we had one of our more odd conversations. We were playing with Happyland, specifically with the church and the fire brigade. Joshua said, "Remember when the sheep got stuck on the church and they asked Jesus to get him, but Jesus couldn't reach so they asked the fireman and the fireman rescued him?" Wasn't quite sure where to start with my response to that. Maybe Fireman Sam should be banned for a few days...

And finally, his haircut seems to have triggered a desire to help around the house. I was wiping tables in the girls' dining room after tea, when it dawned on me that Joshua
a) wasn't there
b) hadn't had the telly put on for him and
c) wasn't complaining.
This was clear reason to be suspicious. I abandoned my cloth to go and look for him. I found him in our kitchen, thus:
Very sweet, very helpful, but not very well controlled. The floor was left looking like this:
And that's after it had had some time to dry :)
Ah well, he meant well!
I've got a couple of lovely shots of playground action (again!) which will go up soon.
I need some more people to follow this, one of my 9 followers has jumped ship *sob* (yes, I know who you are!) ;)

Practical Dad almost won.

It was a bit of a close contest. Joshua asked for a house to be built in the lounge. I listened and weighed up the pros and cons. Fun Dad was happy to launch straight in, but Practical Dad thought back to the previous house-building episode. It had undeniably been an enjoyable experience for all concerned, but the state in which the room was left was something approaching apocalyptic. It also occurred to Practical Dad that the floor was in a bit of a mess, and the sofa had needed some hoover-attention last time round. With the balance of power firmly on his side, Practical Dad launched into action. With the (somewhat dubious) support of Joshua, the toys were tidied away to the edge of the room, where they were piled on top of each other to maximise the effectiveness of the epic hoovering that was about to take place. Unfortunately, once the floor was clear, Practical Dad was tipped over the edge and turned, Jekyll&Hyde-like, into Desire-For-Cleanliness-Verging-On-The-Completely-Sterile-Environment Dad. The hoover was emptied first (due to a somewhat sad wish to see just how much dirt could be sucked from the carpet) and then put to work. All three attachments were used in the ensuing assault, which lasted somewhere in the region of an hour. Sofas were moved for the first time since we moved in (1 1/2 years ago...) and every corner and crevice was duly cleansed. Thankfully, the moving of sofas kept Joshua entertained for most of the process, as he enjoyed jumping back and forth between them. By the end of it, the carpet was looking spic and span and the hoover was over half full (ick!).

To everyone's relief, at some point during our elevenses break (I think it may have the the third choc chip cookie that did it), Fun Dad was rediscovered and ready for action. The housebuilding was almost as fun as the hoovering was fulfilling (?!) and probably took almost as much time. Sadly, Over-Exuberant Dad did sustain an injury in the process of vaulting from one sofa to the other, but the less said about that, the better.