A few things ...

Just a few things I forgot to write about …

I was chatting with Debs yesterday on Skype and I remembered a situation that I was going to write on my blog but had forgotten about. When we went to the FRRO in Gurgaon (on Monday) if you remember it was extremely hot and there were a couple of power cuts and it was not a pleasant day. When we had finished and were told we could go, we were all relieved. We left the office and headed towards the lifts.

We pressed the button for the lift and waited and waited. There was only one lift as guess what … the second lift didn't go to the 3rd floor!!! Anyway, the lift arrived but it was SO packed with people that there was no way we could get in ourselves let alone with the double buggy. So, we pushed the button and waited again. It went up and came back down again, again it was full to the brim so we waited again. The third time it came and the doors opened it was full again. I said to Penri that we were going to be there all day. Both children were getting really upset because of the heat and Dylan started crying asking to go in the lift. So, the next time it stopped and the doors opened, I said to the people inside 'please can some of you use the stairs so we can get the pushchair in the lift?' They all looked at me like I was stupid. I started to lose my patience and both myself and Pen were pointing out that they all had legs and could use the stairs – we didn't have that option because of the pushchair. I wasn't giving up with this because otherwise we never would have got in the lift, so in the end when no-one moved and no-one showed any sign of moving I walked into the lift (I was carrying Abi) and got hold of the front of the pushchair and started dragging it into the lift even though there was actually nowhere for it to go. I said to Pen 'I don't care! I am getting in this lift! All these people could easily walk down the stairs'. One man walked out the lift and I said 'Thank you! At least someone has some common sense and decency!' No-one else was going to budge so Penri said he would walk down the stairs. The trouble was we still hadn't managed to get the pushchair in the lift. I wasn't budging and no-one else was but I stood my ground and eventually a couple of other people got out. They were all speaking to each other in Hindi and laughing (probably saying 'look at this crazy English woman!' but I didn't care!) I will point out here that all the people in the lift were men and there was no reason why any one of them couldn't have taken the stairs. Anyway, I won the lift battle and was just relieved to get out of there!

On a completely different subject … I tried Abi with the baby cereal for the second time yesterday. She still wasn't keen and I only actually managed to get her to eat about 7 or 8 mouthfuls. Will keep persevering with it – it's still all new to her. As we still don't have our belongings from UK, the only place I can put her to feed her is in the front of the pushchair (which is Dylan's seat). He was most upset that she was sitting in his seat! I tried to explain to him why she was there and tried to get him involved in feeding her but he was having none of it. His response to the situation was to go in the bedroom and get Abi's panda bear (which is one of her favourite toys) and he said 'DJ share'. Bless him!

Dylan is doing really well. I am trying with the potty training but not actively trying. I'm just letting him wear pants instead of nappies whenever we're at home. I keep encouraging him to tell me when he needs the toilet and he does this, unfortunately it's normally once he's already done it! We'll get there, I'm not forcing the issue, he's still very young. The main reason for doing it now is the nappies in India don't seem to agree with Dylan and even though I've tried a few different brands, he still keeps getting sore. Anyway, he's happy enough running around in pants and a t-shirt :)

I've had to implement the naughty mat, which is working really well. It's was very difficult initially but now he understands its purpose, 9 times out of 10 he stays on it when he's placed there. I'm happy to say he hasn't been on the naughty mat for two days now which is real progress!! Thank you Supernanny!

Since writing yesterday, my friend Alex has sorted me out a cleaner! I'm so happy! He starts tomorrow and I'm thrilled! He is only going to come for a couple of hours each day (Monday to Friday) but it will help loads to have some help with all the floors and dusting. That's the only problem with living in India, there just seems to be constant dust. I don't suppose it helps that we have four balconies (the dust seems to come in more through the sliding doors even though they're never open).

Anyway, time to go, Dylan has just woken up and he has woken Abigail up too so time to do breakfast, showers, get the kids dressed … morning routine!