As if we hadn’t had enough illnesses to worry about recently, today we were told that there had been 2 cases of measles at the nursery, and were very strongly advised to get Ingrid vaccinated ASAP. The fact sheet that the nursery had been given by the local health advisors says:

Measles has become uncommon in some parts of the UK because many children have been fully immunised. In and around the London area, various issues have resulted in many children being unprotected. The reasons include a high rate of mobility and many parents deciding to not have their children vaccinated due to the misunderstandings surrounding the safety of the MMR vaccine.

So I now have to worry about Ingrid catching measles, because other parents are not vaccinating their kids. Not happy.

Tried to work during the day but didn’t get much done, apart from keeping up with email traffic.

In the afternoon we went to the Museum of Childhood (which is close by in Bethnal Green, half an hour’s walk) for a short while. Ingrid liked the sensory area (different-coloured LEDs and some light shows, and a touchy-feely wall) and the long staircase up to the 2nd floor, and the Lego table.

She wore her new dungies for the first time and I have to admit she does look like a boy in that outfit… she needs some pink glittery hair clips, except she doesn’t have any hair to put them in… or maybe just a big sign that says “It’s a girl!”.

Touchy-feely wall

Ingrid’s 5-day course of penicillin is finished. No more strawberry red stains on clothes, no more night-time fiddling with the measuring syringe, trying to find her mouth without waking her too much.

Also, no more eye drops. She hated them.

Spent 40 minutes cycling to the nursery and back again in the middle of the day to give Ingrid her midday penicillin, because the nursery staff said their policies didn’t allow them to take responsibility for children’s medicines – only to find out that they had changed their minds and were OK with giving it to her after all. Couldn’t they have called me?

The day went by fast even though I didn’t do anything much – and sometimes that’s exactly what I need. We spent most of the day at Kew Gardens at a SlingMeet, where Ingrid behaved like a model of a sling baby: happy to sit in the sling while awake, then playing on the floor, finally falling asleep almost the moment I put her in the wrap.

She seems to be well again now, only more drowsy than normal. I must admit I almost liked it this way.

Ingrid is sick again, with lots of nighttime coughing for two nights now, and this evening/night also a fever. I’ve also caught something, but it seems to be a simple cold. Eric is, as far as I know, still well.

Thanks to a tip from Liina, we went to the children’s song and dance session at London’s Estonian House. We met a bunch of Estonian mums with their children, and sang children’s songs, and I met the cranky monkeys who were quite uncranky in real life. In fact Ingrid was more cranky because she was really tired, but she enjoyed being there nevertheless and liked seeing the other children. I think we’ll be doing this again next time (in a month’s time).

Back in the office for the first time in a week, Ingrid at home with Eric.

I bought a pair of trousers today. This means that I now have two pairs of weekend trousers, so I can now wash them! Yay!

Not a big deal, you may think. No, this is a bigger deal than it may seem: UK trousers normally never fit me. (The last pair I bought only fit well until after the first wash. Or maybe until I lost some more of my mummy weight? In any case, now they sort of fit OK-ish at best.)

Of the 5 pairs I had that fit me, I had bought one in the US and 3 in Estonia, Estonia being closer and cheaper than the US, and the last one from a French mail order catalogue. My hiking trousers are also of an American brand. I suspect English women have a fundamentally different body shape with straight hips and no waist.

Ingrid has been restless and bored during afternoons these last few days so we have gone for walks. Some of the walks took us (me) shopping. It turns out that Ingrid likes shopping: new places to see, and (more importantly) lots of not-so-busy shop assistants who are happy to smile and talk baby language to her. So I’ve explored some local shops and found a nice jacket yesterday, and a dress and a pair of trousers today. I actually enjoyed the shopping experience a little bit because of the total lack of crowds in this part of town at 5 o’clock on a weekday afternoon.

Focussing on work early in the morning and in the evening after she’s asleep, both yesterday and today, to get at least some work done this week. Nowhere near a full day, of course, but a good four to five hours both days. Not bad.