Category Archives: Freya

The End Of A Promising Football Career

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Before the swearing begins

On the way back from Jämtland, we stopped at our usual roadside restaurant in Tönnebro, so that Freya and Indigo could let off some steam. The journey takes about six hours, and this particular stop is pretty much halfway home, boasting a very pleasant lake and beach.

Freya managed to fall over in the lake, which meant a quick dash into the water to avoid any unnecessary drownings. Unfortunately, I failed to see a large stone lying between Freya and me, and gave it (and my toe) a jolly good kicking.

I didn’t really notice the pain until I’d picked up Freya and carried her to shore, Then I did. Then, after a few minutes, it mellowed a bit. Then it hurt lots.

Result? A broken toe.

Summer Holidays: The One With Freya’s Birthday

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Freya is two years old today. Luckily it’s been fantastic weather, which has allowed us to have cake-eating and present-opening in the garden.

Although we have been explaining to her what her birthday is about, she didn’t quite seem to grasp the enormity and strangeness of receiving the amount of presents she did. We were about ten people all together, which made for a fair few surprises in tantalising wrapping, and she largely ignored the whole event, leaving Jo and I to unveil her gifts.

Jo seemed to think that it was not actually the presents that were the problem, but the actual wrapping paper. Once she had got past that mental boundary, she could show an interest in what she was given.

Chip had done his bit (and a lot more) by bringing a shed-full of (really nice) presents, as well as a two-metre inflatable heart that we hung from a nearby tree.

All in all it was a very enjoyable and successful day, though Jo, Jo’s mum and I were thouroughly exhausted by the end of the day, with all the preparation (and baking and washing-up) that such an occassion involves.

Summer Holidays: Jo’s Birthday

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It’s Jo’s birthday. I had, as usual, forgotten which day it was on, this time mixing up hers with my mum’s, who celebrates hers in two days (mental note: try and remember this, Jon).

This year’s presents were not as grand as previous years, due to economic reasons; however, they weren’t bad: a Narnia DVD, tickets to see Linton Kwesi Johnson, and New Super Mario Bros for the DS.

Being Jo’s birthday, Freya received a present (why am I still not a child!) from mormor: an inflatable crocodile. We asked Freya what it should be called, and she at once replied “Tim” (although it may have been Tin or Bim). So congratulations to Jo, who is thirty-blghrrhmm years old, and Tim, who celebrates his first (and maybe last, depending on the construction) birthday.

Summer Holidays: At The Toy Shop

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In town, we stopped by a toy-shop to buy presents for the two birthdays that occur this week, Jo’s and Jo’s nephew, Alexander.

Freya found the plastic animals (of which she already has a small, but growing, collection) while we waited to pay, and, after some deliberation, she made an interesting choice of purchase.

Not the forty centimetre turtle, or the equally as long killer-whale; she did not bat an eyelid at the giraffe, and nonchalently ignored the array of farm animals. No, she went for something not all young children would immediately clammer for: two flies and a beetle. All of them, black. And small (though much bigger than the biggest fly I have ever seen). And, best of all, cheap.

A Proud Father For All The Right Reasons

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Freya has made me a proud father today, by taking two steps up the cultural ladder.

For the first time this afternoon, she actually listened to her first ABBA song, Money, Money, Money. It is not for a lack of trying that she hasn’t heard the perfect pop-songs that the Fantastic Four wrote again and again. We’ve tried on other occasions, but she simply wasn’t interested; however, with a recent interest in playing with some foreign currency we have amassed through our holidays, and with my occasional singing of Money, Money, Money when she does so, she was far more susceptible to hearing the original. She even has ABBA in her vocabulary now, having said it a number of times already.

Mario

As if this wasn’t enough, I was messing around with the blog, when she saw the (old, now defunct) icon that was attached to the Game Animal entries, pointed to it and said “Mario”. She has seen some pictures of Nintendo’s mascot, and has watched me play Super Mario on my Nintendo DS, but, even so, this is a remarkable case of recognition, especially as the icon shows Mario in his kart, and is only 32×32 pixels big.