Gremlin’s Fireside Chat

Its been four months since my last post ! and not a lot things have happened and a lot of things have changed. Confused? Well its official Ireland is well in the dumpster at the moment – well what do you expect with a Fianna Fail government and their “whats in it for me and my mates”; But a least we got rid of them and their poodles the green party in the recent election. Fortunately at the moment I am still working – although like many I don’t know how long for.

Maeve is blooming. She had her 3rd birthday in January and because of her love of star-wars her English, Maeve’s English is excellent if a bit eclectic. A three year old using the phrase “Yes my dear” is a bit disconcerting. Maeve is also quite tall for her age and is into 4-5 year old clothes which is quite something for someone who has just turned three.

I took Maeve swimming yesterday in the National Aquatic Pool in Blanchardtown and we have a fantastic time. It was the first time Maeve used water wings and the first time she “swam solo”. Her face was a picture of such excitement, joy and pride and she swam towards me again and again to her squeals of delight. Her smile said everything.

Maeve’s creches nativity play was today – and Maeve had the plum part of “mary”. The best I ever got at the Nativity was one of the three kings with the “Joseph” part going to my arch Nemesis Paul Russell and as you can tell that after 40 years it still rankles me somewhat. Needless to say I took the afternoon off work to attend the play and do a bit of festive shopping too.

At the anointed hour all the proud parents bustled into the room where the play was being held all elbowing for the best position to see their “little star” perform their part in the traditional Christmas play. I have to admit all the kids looked great in the usual towel “Arab” headdress, but the poor little mites were totally confused and frightened by the mob of “paparazzi parents” all elbowing and taking up one end of the room. Needless to say some of the mights (my daughter included) were overcome by the crowd, the low lighting and frequent flashes of camera’s and started to cry – what do you expect with 2-3 year olds.

Maeve started to cry for her daddy and eventually I made my way into the children and gave her a cuddle and sat on a baby chair which helped her somewhat and the play started with carols being sung by the children and the traditional nativity story told – punctuated by frequent sobs and crying.

All in all we all enjoyed it and Maeve enjoyed the dressing up and singing. The creche staff said she knew the whole play – words, songs and “the role” perfectly and I am sure that is the truth. Maeve even continued singing “Jingle Bells” all the way home.

Its a rather wordy title but accurate in light of events. Maeve and I had a “Star Wars” (Cartoon series) evening whilst her mom was out attending her companies Christmas party. We both like the series – but for different reasons probably – but I was interested to note Maeve emotional state and reactions to one of the cartoons plot lines. Over a couple of episodes the Sith Lord arranges a bounty hunter to steal a list of “force away” children from which the bounty hunter is to select and steal a few babies with which the Sith Lord will use so subjugate the galaxy. When the bounty hunter stole the babies (<2 years old) they reached back to their parents and cried. Soon after Maeve became very with-drawn, clingy and on the edge of tears. "Whats wrong" I said - obviously concerned at my daughters change in mood. "Those babies want to be back with their mommies" Maeve sad; "They should not be taken away - bad Man" she continued and was very down till the end of the next episode when they were saved and taken back to "their mommies".

What startled me was that you could see from her reactions that:

1. The babies were being taken away from their parents against their will.
2. That the babies were going to be very sad because of this.
3. The man who took them away was a “bad man” for doing this.
4. She said someone should “stop the man” from taking the babies away from their parents.
5. She understood she did not want that to happen to her – hence the clingy behavior.

It is plain to see that Maeve understood the emotional stresses and strains of what was happening in the scenes and extrapolating the emotional consequences of taking a child from their parent and applying it to herself (and visa versa) – all in all an interesting thing to note in ones 2.75 year old daughter.

That said, we really enjoyed a Father-Daughter evening watching 8 episodes of a series we both enjoy; And the same thing is going to happen this evening.

Last night I went into the kitchen to find Maeve buttering up a slice of bread – something which she does from time to time – what surprised me was she then opened a container of peanuts and sprinkled some on the buttered bread followed by another slice of bread. Very pleased with herself Maeve then proceeded to east the sandwich – her first self-made meal that I know of (she often raids the fridge for grapes and cheese but no “making” is involved in that). Not bad for a 2.75 year old.

As to her dad … well I am licking my wounds and ego after slipping and falling heavily on some black ice. It has been bitterly cold and snowy here in ireland – very unusual.

As I said before Maeve is over the chicken-pox and back in the creche. Her progress never ceases to amaze me – she now knows phrases such as “Thats my Favourite”, “Daddies iPhone” (which is wrong since I have a fab HTC desire), “In five minutes” (as in “I will do it in 5 minutes”) and her all time favourite “I want to watch Robots”. Another thing I have noticed are her motor skills – for example she can pick up and throw a football, well if the truth be known she can “dribble” a football as well. I caught her last week using a broom handle to get at some toy which was under the sofa and out of her reach and could not get under. On Sunday with me supervising and holding the potato she use one of those “rapid peelers” to peel the skin from the potato – not bad in one only 2.75 years old. For someone who is interested in intelligence – specifically “artificial” or machine intelligence it is fascinating to watch a child learn. She has already learned to turn on/off the tv/tv-sound and will no doubt master the channel changing any day now.

Well time to go back and read a few articles at a site called “DIY Drones”.