Some diary entries … March to May 1995

1/3/95 – I did a Chinese stir fry, helped by Sean.

4/3/95 – Sean went to Elaine’s birthday party … At one point Sean and Louise came running up to the front door blowing bubbles, and Sean, on the doorstep, somehow spilled some of the mixture into his eyes. There was much screaming. I tried to wash it out of his eyes and calm him down, then changed his shirt. When I was going to bring him back to the party, I slipped on the doorstep and fell, with Susanna in my arms. She bumped her head, but only slightly.

5/3/95 – Sean went to Brad’s birthday party.

6/3/95 – Pauline and Susanna were up early. I got up at 7.45, having had Sean in bed for a while with me (I even had to tell him a story – he likes witch stories now). (Sean while drinking 7Up – ‘This 7Up makes my eyes sweat.’)

8/3/95 – Pauline was playing with Sean and Susanna, who were jumping down from the back of the sofa.

9/3/95 – Put Sean to bed with two read stories and one invented.

10/3/95 – Pauline made a house for Sean out of cardboard boxes. She took Sean and Susanna swimming … they’re both getting good in the water, though still with water wings.

11/3/95 – Sean came in around 7.30 and I had to tell him a story about good and bad crocodiles, which would not have been my activity of choice.

12/3/95 – Sean went to the park with Nora and the girls … when they got back they were locked out of their house, so I had to force the front door open with a hammer and a screwdriver.

13/3/95 – Sean came in to the bed at 7.30 and I had to tell him the story of the good and bad dragons – one of many I’ve made up for him and should perhaps write down – yet again.

23/3/95 – Sean is at his playgroup – a party for someone’s birthday today – Pauline is at her reflexology class and Susanna is presumably at the crèche in Dundrum. For once, the four of us are in four different places. Pauline’s class went well, and she had difficulty in dragging Susanna out of the crèche. I collected Sean from his playgroup.

28/3/95 – Susanna is now running.

1/4/95 – We spent a few hours at the zoo and had a good time. Sean and Susanna had three train rides.

2/4/95 – Sean, Susanna and I went out for a paper, milk and sweets … Pauline is getting the sandpit organized for Sean.

11/4/95 – [Bob] Dylan was excellent [at the Point] – in good voice and with a good hard-edged, rocked-up band. And smiling too … Carole King played keyboards for the second half and Van Morrison and Elvis Costello joined in for encores.

12/4/95 – We all went to the Nutgrove to research bikes for Sean’s birthday [long in advance].

14/4/95 – Sean came in at 7.45; I told him a story about Easter eggs and we got up.

16/4/95 – Pauline and the kids were at the transport museum in Cultra, and had a great time.

18/4/95 – Pauline bought Sean a new, big bike, with stabilizers. He was very pleased with this and had some practice and a couple of falls.

19/4/95 – Pauline, Sean, Susanna and Louise were in the park (Louise is 5 today) and Sean fell face first from his bike into a nettle patch.

24/4/95 – We collected Sean’s new bike from the Nutgrove – it had had the brakes adjusted.

28/4/95 – Susanna fell over on the double bed and had an awful crack of the footboard under her nose … [later] We had pizza for dinner, and a pleasant time in Marley Park afterwards. When we were feeding ducks a heron came up very close and ate some of the bread.

29/4/95 – Elaine was with us for lunch, then Sean went to Louise’s birthday party. He had a good afternoon.

30/4/95 – Mary and the girls arrived at 12.45, and we all had a good afternoon. A large roast chicken dinner (except for Pauline), and Sean and Susanna played with the girls and with various presents. We all went to the park and the playground – it was a lovely day. Then home, a bite to eat and they headed for Kilkenny. A very enjoyable day – Sean was in his element. We wound down and got Sean to bed after he’d been playing with Grace, Emma and Louise.

2/5/95 – It’s a lovely day and numerous children are playing out the back.

5/5/95 – I took Susanna to the supermarket – we were out a long time as she dawdled back on foot. Pointing at the crescent moon, chuckling, shouting and laughing (Susanna, not me).

6/5/95 – We got the power hose going, and I cleaned out the inside of the shed, helped by Sean.

9/5/95 – Susanna and Sean got new shoes today. Sean was all excited because Marnia had given us an old bike of Brian’s for him – his own is too big for him. He is dead keen to get the stabilizers off and cycle on the grass in the park. This morning when Pauline was getting him dressed and his tee-shirt was stuck on his head, he said ‘My head’s getting too big – it must be all the thinks I have’ … [later, in the park] Sean was disappointed that he couldn’t ride Brian’s bike without stabilizers, which he had asked me to take off, but we had a good time – it was a beautiful evening.

10/5/95 – I took Susanna, Sean, Elaine, Louise and a ball to a patch of green on the way to the park for half an hour or so.

13/5/95 – Went to Bushy Park. Played football, went to the (new) playground (new to us, i.e.), climbed rooty slopes.

14/5/95 – In the afternoon Pauline, Sean and Susanna went with the Kennedys to the park for a ‘family day’.

16/5/95 – Pauline bought roller skates for Sean in Oxfam.