I am still here

Just a quick post, as I haven't had much energy nor opportunity to post recently. MIL went back to Pakistan about 3 weeks ago (so back to reality again with housework/ entertaining Hz) and I've been ill with flu/ colds/ sore throats/ headaches/ eyelid eczema/ backache, Alhamdulillah not everything simultaneously. Hz has also gone from being the best sleeper to the worst, requiring me to lie with him in my bed to fall asleep. This then requires me to wait until he is asleep enough for me to transfer him to the cot, as he's had 2 escapades finding out about falling off beds after waking up, crawling about, and me not being there to realise this. The first time ended with him laughing, I don't know what happened there, but the last (and I hope the very last) ended in tears. So if , no I mean, when he wakes up in the night, he will not sleep if left in his cot. He has an extremely loud and sometimes angry cry and inevitably he ends up in with me. During the day he's Mr Mobile, coasting along the sofa and coffee table. He's now also developed his commando crawl into somthing more conventional (and a lot easier on the elbows I'd think).
So amongst this heavy, cloudy head of mine, I've been mostly preoccupied with trying to find somewhere bigger to live (at least 150 people after every flat I apply for:( ), and trying to get on top of the mess in the house. This feels like I'm going backwards on a treadmill.
H had another trip to A and E on Wednesday. He was a bit too enthusiastic to help me cook some sausages, and threw one into the hot oil, and it splattered out of course . So he has a few burns on his face. It was v painful for him, poor boy. He has to stay out of the sun for a year to avoid scarring getting discoloured, so now I'm hoping for a rainy summer. That made the decision for us that if we go anywhere this summer it'll probably be the UK!
Just finished my bowl of pear and vanilla yoghurt with oats, my treat at the end of the day when all the kids have finally gone to bed (sometime after 11pm). Oh dear what has life come to eh? Tommorrow is another day..

Notes from the trenches..

A few things the kids have said/ done recently that made me smile:

H - 'Why is it a rock, can't it just be called a big stone?'

M - 'How many more blessings do you get if you say prayers with 3 people. (Thinking if the 'jammah' (gathering) of 2 gives 27 times blessings then it will go up proportionally, rather than just being for any size jammah)

Biryani to me ' Be quiet!'
Me - 'Sorry, are you concentrating?'
B - 'No I'm not, I'm painting'

Biryani - ' C J G T (or some other random letters)
I look bemused, and then spot the non-slip 'TOTES' socks she's examining.

I am praying and trying not to be distracted- Biryani picks up a lego scuba mask and tries to put it on herself, so cute..
I am praying - Biryani lies in front of me and with her recent quirk of using the opposite preposition, announces 'I'm behind you!'

Hz and a little bit of Spring anticipation..

I think this car seat's a little small...

Now sis' has taken to being a bit more tidy it's my turn for trails of destruction...

Really Dr Naik, your memory is astounding...

and Biryani's recent paintings, 'Green' shall we call them. H and Biryani seem to be into blocks of colour as an art form at the moment. But looking at them does make one feel uplifted and the real thing as in plants are slowly sprouting round here..

Maybe English isn't so hard..

Here's some swedish long long words, I hope S doesn't get them in his tests! If you manage to make it to the last one it's quite amusing how the Swedish speaker can't even read it!

Finally got online..

Recently life seems to be one blur of sorting kids out, half-hearted attempts at stopping night feeds, and carrying on with the daily grind of feeding, washing, cleaning (not the feather duster type but the the sort which has to be done. Otherwise it will be more difficult to remove later or just downright unhygenic: e.g. splattered Weetabix, pee puddles, mud brought in on the soles of shoes).
I was thinking of writing something intelligent about bilingualism as little things I'm noticing have brought the subject to my mind. S has now twice had to ask me what an English word is for a Swedish word he does know. M has always mixed the two languages and quite happily talks to me in Swedish, but only now and again. He often comes out with things the teachers say in what sounds like an accurate impersonation of their accent and tone! Some of the things they say when pushed to limits by the behaviour of the kids are quite funny to hear! They won't be able to get away with anything, M has got it in his memory.
H has been going less often to nursery recently. He's always reluctant and the time to pick him up is often when I feel like lying down, so I let him stay at home. So his use of Swedish at home is limited.
Biryani speaks English all the time, although the odd word picked up from M has been used:e.g.'snälla' which means something like 'please' when begging for something like a biscuit. Otherwise she speaks English with a slight American tone, saying the 'r' in car, and a short 'a' in for example 'class'. Too many cartoons methinks.
Most of the other children we know are from bilingual families, but I rarely hear them speaking their mother/ other tongue, it's usually Swedish. Mine are the only ones who openly use their mother tongue between siblings in public, it appears. Is it the apparent status English has as a language here? Is it because both parents are quite poor at Swedish so they hardly use it at home? Does having TV from the UK rather than Swedish on a larger proportion of the time have an effect? (S groaned when he used to have TV homework where he had to watch something on the Swedish kids TV). It's all quite fascinating to me, but I shall have to stop typing now as Hz is proceeding to find out how electricity works (i.e. attack the computer wires and plugs)!