So I survived Francois' first week at work, and so did he by the way! He says everyone is very nice, likes his workplace, hours etc and is keen to get on with his job. He'll be in production watching them make lasers and seeing how he can reduce the production time and make it more efficient.
This was actually the first full week I have ever had with both Laila and Max at home on my own! Laila played up a lot, as she adjusted to Daddy being at work all day. She certainly tested her boundaries and my patience (of which there wasn't much left at all by the end of each day!).
I was able to go to mum and dads for the day on Tuesday, I really enjoyed the drive there and back, one hour of peace and quiet each way!! We had a nice day with the grandparents and went shopping for some new shoes for Laila.
Wednesday we checked out the 'Mediatheque" in Lannion, which is the library. The word for library is normally "Bibliotheque" but this has more to offer than just books, i.e. cds and dvds so I guess that's why. Its a really big library in an old monastery building which is beautiful. It was renovated in 2005/6, so nice and modern inside. The area for the "tout petits" was right at the back, an enormous room with bright red sofa's and tables and chairs and boxes and boxes of books. Laila, in typical fashion" kept bringing me all the books we have at home. This is always what she does in the library! I was really surprised by how many "english" books there were in French. This library was a lot quieter than the one in Bath, so I had trouble keeping her and Max quiet and kept attracting looks from other visitors. Especially when we sat down to read our books half in english and half in french!
Thursday we had pre-arranged for our neighbour to come over for a playdate. Thomas is 3yrs old and lives next door. He came with his Maman Severine who is lovely. We played in the garden, Laila was shy with Thomas but Severine managed to draw her out of herself. They had fun on the trampoline and in the playhouse and then we had a really fun game of hide and seek. It turns out Laila is really clever at finding people! We have been invited to their house next week for "gouter". This can also be known as "le quatre heure". It is an official time of day in France when everyone (this could be a generalisation) has a good snack. As the french eat later in the evening they have this to tide them over till then. I'm looking forward to it already!
Severine was also really helpful in telling me what activities there are to do in Lannion with little ones. She told me about the Forum des Associations which is on 4th September. This is an event in every towns calendar where every group, club and association have a stand and some even do a demo. Its a sort of fair/exhibition. You go along, see what takes your fancy and you can sign up to dance classes, running club, art class or whatever takes your fancy.
We're going to go along and see what there is for Laila and maybe Max, and maybe even us if we could ever find the time to do anything for ourselves!
This has been our first weekend in the house without visitors, we managed to get quite a bit done, mainly finishing tidying the kids rooms and putting their sticker decorations up. Cleaning the activity centre and highchair for Max and doing our supermarket shopping.
Next week will be nice, Uncle Leslie and Aunty Margaret from Jamaica are stopping by on their European tour! They're staying with mum and dad but will be coming here for a night. They've never met Laila or Max and I think they are quite excited about it!
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