“I jabbed my finger at them excitedly, and Oscar gasped in recognition, and shouted "OH MY GOSH!". I loved that he was so excited - bedtime be damned! I rushed to get my pen and paper, and we set to work.”
“The boxes I made were a wonky, rustic affair, at the very limits of what you could reasonably call a box, and they proliferated way beyond the point of usefulness.”
“At Center Parcs, Spike summed up his essential dismay at being literally and figuratively outside of his comfort zone with exclamations of "I'm in the "Special Fares Apply" zone!". A long way from what felt like home.”
“Bedtime, in particular, seems to turn his thoughts to philosophical enquiry. He has probably figured out that sensible worldly questions buy him extra minutes with the light on. Maybe even a full half-hour if mummy really gets the wind in her sails!”
“There then follows a period of psychological over-adjustment, where Spike copes with the not-being-at-homeness of holidays by designating our accommodation "home". He mentally moves house.”
“Oscar describes Nikker as having black teeth and a curved spine. She lives in a hollow tree, sleeps on a bed of bugs and will only eat mustard custard.”
“But as term ends, we transition from being a lightly-oiled machine, marching to the beat of alarms, school bells and early tea, to a sprawling, idle, messy puddle, frantically deschooling and uncoiling.”
