A few days ago, Zak went on a big boat on the Thames, with his mum, and Bliss, and some other friends. This evening I was putting him to bed - an excercise which involves singing a couple of songs after the lights go out. He requested London Bridge is Falling Down. This I dutifully sang, not realising the folly of my actions. I was interrupted  by a very concerned little boy as I sang.

"Went on big boat. Saw London Bridge. Not falling down."

 "Ah", I thought.

"Everything fine. Not falling down. Went on big boat. Not falling in water"

"Yes that's right" I replied, but Zak was now on a roll.

"Saw big ship (this refers to HMS Belfast). People on. On water. Saw London Bridge. Not falling down."

"That's right"

"Not falling down. All fine."

"Yes"

This continued for some considerable time. Infact I would go so far as to say that it seemed interminable. Zak was very concerned about my duff information regarding the structural integrity of London Bridge. I will not be singing that song again for  the forseeable future. Zak has spotted that it is factually inaccurate. I fear he will point this out at length if I ever sing it again.

Zak was determined to jump into the puddles in the park on Sunday. On the way out, we had thought- "do we need Zak to wear wellies?" "No, no it's dry out there" - how wrong could we be? He is drawn to puddles as if through some magnetic force, or a puddly equivalent of gravity. We filmed some of his exploits - this is what it looked like.

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We seem to have a Sink Gnome living in our house. Things keep turning up in the sink. Drenched. Things which shouldn't be there. Toy tractors, CDs, keys, fridge magnets, these and many other things are appearing in with the washing up. Nothing is safe.

This morning I was making hot drinks. Zak was with me. I realised that a book was floating in the washing up. I asked Zak how it had got there. "Oh dear book" he said, full of innocence. "Oh dear book!"

 "Did you put it there Zak?"

"No"

I took it out of the sink and retired upstairs with the drinks. There have been rumoured half-glimpsed sightings of the Sink Gnome, much like the Yeti he may or may not really exist. Rumour has it the sink gnome is about two and a half feet high, with a mop of unruly blond hair. He has been glimpsed running away from the sink waving his arms in the air, laughing manically and triumphantly.

Is he real or just a figment? Who knows. It is a great mystery. Maybe it will never be solved.

We took Little Blode and Little Flode to the park for lunch on Sunday. There is a pond with ducks in. Chompster knows how to talk to the ducks - this is how you do it.

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Little Chompster has decided that one of his favourite things is posting pens and other objects through the little holes in the door of the cupboard under the stairs. He was doing this with his colouring-in pencils but Mum confiscated them as she was worried he would shatter the leads, making them useless.

Some time later he asked to do drawing, so Mum dutifully got out a new piece of paper and taped it to his little table, and got his pencils back down. With the reactions of a tiny ninja, he grabbed a handful of the pencils and tottered at full speed off round the corner to the stairs and started posting them through the hole, laughing manically.

Naughty little Chomps. On the one hand it is naughty, but on the other hand I have to admire the way he has obviously thought the whole process through, and decided on a strategy to get his hands on the precious pencils. These are skills that will serve him well as he grows up.