One month & one week

One month and one week into 2014 and here's what's happened. So far we have:

1. Applied for 2 school places

Yup, come September our little people will be going to big school - if we get a couple of places come April. With the competition for schools in our corner of London being high (people buy houses on top of the best school to guarantee entry for their offspring) we are, by comparison, somewhat laid back so it remains to be seen whether this laissez faire approach actually results in free schooling.

2. Got wet

"Parts of England have had their wettest January for more than 100 years" according to a recent headline. It feels as though it's been raining pretty much all year. The countryside is under water and it's still coming down. Basically, as a country, we're soaked. It makes going out with the 2 kids a bit of a drag when they won't wear coats and one insists on wearing ballet shoes everywhere. A trip to grandpa's house in Dorset was spent clearing up fallen trees and digging up muddy tractor tracks. Oscar was especially good at the latter.

3. Been to the theatre

Our local Bush Theatre is just brilliant. I'm a huge fan. West End quality theatre at far less than West End prices. So far this year we've seen Jumpers for Goalposts and Ciphers, both great. Jumpers for Goalposts was an amateur football comedy; Ciphers a spy mystery murder drama directed by Blanche McIntyre, a tipped for the top 32 year old who recently won best director at the 2013 TMA UK theatre awards for The Seagull for Rupert Gould's Headlong theatre company.

A third trip to the theatre, just yesterday, took us plus kids to the Lyric Hammersmith for The Feather Catcher, a sweet show about catching feathers - the most prized being an elusive blue feather. Very sweet.

4. Taken up ballet

Caitlin is a natural ballerina. She's been doing ballet in her own way for quite some time, fluttering around the sitting room. But now she's officially learning. The parents aren't allowed in so when asked what happened in the ballet class all we really know is "star jumps".

5. Learnt to swim

I thought we'd left if quite late but turns out 3 and a half is a great age to learn to swim. On lesson 3 the little fish can swim unaided with something called a noodle, a genius device made of foam which goes under their arms and, with the help of a duck to aim for, they're off, swimming.

6. Avoided dry January

I managed one dry night in dry January, yes!