La vie continue...

I've been spending quite a bit of time lurking in parks with the boys over the last few week in a bid to have a conversation with someone who can string more than six words together (six being Max's current record - "Mammy sit down on the road").  It appears that the trend in France is for new mams to go back to work fairly soon after having their baby, so I only seem to encounter grandparents and childminders who look after about three or four kids each and don't really have much time for chat.  Although I don't know why I'm complaining as my French conversation doesn't usually span more than six words either.  Today I somehow led one granddad to believe I was an English au pair and couldn't find the words to explain that the boys in fact belonged to me, but managed to agree that yes it was great that Max was being given the opportunity to be bilingual. 

Speaking of which, he is actually showing a bit of a talent for French. He can count to three ("undertwaaaa"), speak a handful of words and seems to understand a lot of what is said to him. Tres cute! 

Capitaine Tete de Champignon

Stu's colleague Patrick has been over from Ireland for work this week which has been nice as I think we're getting a bit sick of only having each others' company in the house.  They went out for drinks in Aix les Bains, and whilst Stu had good intentions of returning at a reasonable hour it appears to be impossible to get a taxi in these parts so he ended up getting a lift home from his new friend Antoine who works in the hotel where Patrick was staying.  At 3:45am. And quite merry. 

We're going to be getting one step closer to camping tomorrow and pitching the tent in the garden.  We have sensibly agreed that it would be a better idea to give it a go somewhere that it's easy to get home from in case it is a complete disaster.

Stu and Max are heading back to England on Monday for a few days, and I feel terrible saying it but I can't wait!  I have literally spent every waking hour with Max for seven weeks now and need a break!  I'll be using the time wisely though, trying to get Luke into some kind of daytime routine as he's been a bit upset the past few days and I'm sure it's mainly due to his big brother prodding him every time he falls asleep.

Not a happy boy

I'll also be using the opportunity of being toddler-free to spend Wednesday afternoon with Lily in Chambéry. She's been getting shopping withdrawal symptoms and deserves a treat for doing so well during her first term at school.

Hopefully something exciting will also happen in the next week as I fear this blog has become quite boring already!