A busy week - School, Food, Earthquakes & Driving

We've had a particularly busy couple of weeks and haven't had much chance to update you all, so here is a bit of a brain dump. 

The big news is that Louis has now started Pre-School. His first day was last week and it went very well. Kate stayed with him for about an hour just to let him get used to the idea, and was then able to slip out and he was fine. He went back today (as he is starting off doing 2 mornings a week) and she left him after only 10 mins today. It's funny asking him about what he did at school and not knowing what he is going to tell you, but he seems to be enjoying it and coming out with all sorts of things that we haven't taught him. Not only did he tell us that today was Tuesday, but he also said to Kate 'you sure can'! The inevitable decline in to the American language has already started! He had to have a class picture taken today, and he said that he participated, but refused to say 'monkey' when they asked him too - it will be interesting to see the results of the pic. Clearly 'monkey' is the American version of 'cheese', except that the real American version of cheese comes in a spray can!

We were expecting tears, but he has been very good. He did tell us that on his first day, he fell over when playing outside, cried a little bit and told his teacher (Miss Annie) that he wanted his mummy, but that she explained that she wasn't there and would be back to get him later, so he carried on playing. Good boy!

After his first day, the school also requested to see his vaccination record, and then insisted that he be updated to be in line with the US system, so Kate took him to the medical center to get 3 injections (Hep B, Chicken Pox & a booster). He was very good for them, and Kate was impressed with her first experience of the US health system. 

He also has an Easter party on Friday, when he'll get to do things like decorate eggs, cookies & picture frames and do an Easter egg hunt. Kate gets to go, and she has met a couple of other English mums of children at the school, so she'll be able to chat with them there. 

He seems to have almost forgotten about his finger now too. I asked him today if he remembered which finger he had hurt, and he got it wrong, so that's a very good sign. It seems to have healed very well. 

Chloe has also had a pretty eventful week, as she has now eaten her first food! She has just eaten some baby rice, and she doesn't seem that keen on it, but she's been giving all the signs that milk is no longer enough. Eating in front of her is now slightly concerning as she stares at every bite you take! Kate is planning on trying her on oatmeal tomorrow to see if she likes that more. 

As well as her food adventures, she is also changing in other ways. She is much more comfortable with car journeys now (which is a relief!) and she can almost sit up on her own. Apart from that, she is OK with the exception of teething issues which are causing her a bit of discomfort. She'd been chewing everything she can grab for a couple of weeks now, so hopefully they will break through soon and give her a bit of respite. 

We had a BBQ this weekend which was really nice. Some people from the UK office were over during the weekend, and I've just bought a huge 5 burner grill for cooking outdoors, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to test it out. The idea of being able to cook outside for the majority of the year is very nice, and it was good to have people over to see the house. The garden is looking better now as we've sorted out a gardener, and Louis & I put his play house back together so him and the other kids had something to play with. 

I'm not sure whether he liked putting it together with his tools or playing with it the most, but he certainly likes having it back. 

The weather has been very nice, and last weekend was about 24C for most of the time. The last couple of days have been a bit grey with some showers, but that's exactly what they say will happen - apparently February rains, then it gets nice, then you have one more storm pass through in March or April, and once that's gone, you won't see rain again until November! 

We also experienced our first earthquake last week. Well, I say we experienced it, but actually non of us even noticed it! I was at work and one of my colleagues came running over telling me I'd now experienced one, and that was the first I heard of it. I then called Kate to see if she had felt anything, but that was also the first she had heard of it! Very strange really considering it was a 4.3, and only about 20 miles from our house! It was sort of timely as Louis had to take an earthquake survival kit to school for his first day, so it was a little strange to have one the same week, but also sort of disappointing that none of us even noticed it!

I also took my practical driving test today and passed. It's actually rather silly that they class it as a test really. Steering a car around some 90 degree corners, no gear changes and reversing in a straight line doesn't warrant a driving test in the UK, but it's good to get it out of the way. 

I also saw something on the freeway last week on my way home from work that I thought was an urban legend, but clearly that's not the case. All the freeways and expressways here have car pool lanes to encourage people to share cars to commute, and I've heard the idea of people trying to cheat this to get places faster, but I actually saw a car in the pool lane with a shop mannequin in the passenger seat, fully dressed up with hat and sunglasses on! Crazy, but true. 

That's it from us for now, so look forward to hearing from you all soon...