Tag Archives: Owl

Birthday Interview with Owl 2014

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Owl is ten today.  This is his birthday interview.

Owl birthday

What would you like to be when you grow up?

A Lego designer, a computer programmer or a detective.

What’s your favourite colour?

Green, shiny blue and shiny gold.

What’s your favourite book?

I can’t decide, but two of my favourites are the Minecraft Construction Handbook and the Jungle Book.

What are your favourite toys?

Pilot teddy, Dockyard teddy, normal teddy, bunny, doggy and Lego.

What is your favourite food?

Pasta with pesto, pizza and full English breakfast.

What is your favourite thing to wear?

Comfy trousers, T-shirts with nice designs on them and comfy pyjamas.

What do you like doing with mummy?

Talking, investigating things and watching Minecraft tutorials.

What do you like doing with daddy?

Doing things with computers, technical kits and reading Narnia.

What makes you happy?

Being with mummy and daddy, having a new baby in mummy’s tummy and doing things that I like.

Tell me a joke

Where does a frog with bad eyesight go?  To the hoptician.

Owl’s sleepover in London

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This post is written by Owl about his trip to London last week.

Granny came to collect me and we went on four trains.  We arrived at Bethnal Green station and walked to the museum.  It was very windy outside and we were nearly blown over.  In the museum, there were two puppet theatres and I did a puppet show.  There were also some very big dolls’ houses.  Some were built in cupboards, and were so big that they were mainly used for display.  It would have been hard to play with them as they were so high up.

When we went out it was not so windy.  We got the train back to Stratford and went to the Lego shop.  I thought the Lego shop would be outside on its own but it was actually inside the shopping centre.  It was a long walk to the Lego shop.  When we got there, it was quite impressive.  There were computers, a pick-a-brick section and an area where you could build your own minifigures.  I built three minifigures and we bought them.  We also bought a small box of pick-a-brick.  (Pick-a-brick is where you buy your own selection of Lego bricks.  It also has a bigger range of bricks on the computer.)

We bought pizza in M&S and went home to the flat for supper with Grandpa.  I found it hard to sleep but I did in the end.  In the morning, we listened to Grandpa’s CD of a Roman poem, “Horatius held the bridge.”  Then Grandpa went to work.  Later, Granny and I went to the Museum of Transport.  We saw lots of old carts and trains.  There was also a trail where you had to find 13 posts with stampers on them and stamp the card you were given.  There was a map on the back showing the locations of the posts.  Then we went home on the train, by a different route.

Owl goes to London

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This is a guest post by Owl.

Two weeks ago I went to London with Granny.  We went on a Southern train and then on an Overground train.  We got off at London Bridge station and walked to Granny and Grandpa’s flat.  We had supper there and then Grandpa came home from work.  I went to bed and read “Secret Seven Fireworks” and then I went to sleep.  When I woke up I had breakfast and then we went out into London.  We took a bus to Trafalgar Square and went into the National Gallery.

We saw lots of paintings, including Monkey’s favourite one, “The Archers.”  My favourite was “The Cornfield” by John Constable.  We also looked at “Bathers at Asnieres” by Georges Seurat.  Granny told me about Pointillism which is using dots of different colours which merge together when you look at them from far away.  This painting was not painted with this technique, but later Seurat added dots of colour to some parts of the picture, including orange and blue dots to the boy’s hat.  I also like “The Umbrellas” by Renoir.  I like its detail and the little girl with the hoop (like Rabbit.)

I also liked “The Skiff (La Yole)” by Renoir, and we looked at the brush strokes and how the artist created the effect of the water.  After we left the gallery, we went on the train to Granny and Grandpa’s house.  When we got there Granny and I drew a picture together using pastels.  It is a picture of a boat on the water, and in the distance is the riverbank and a big hill.  We showed the reflections on the water by doing the colours faintly, using several different colours and making the strokes go sideways.  It was fun going on a trip and doing a picture with Granny.

What is your favourite picture?  Share it here!

Lego museum plans

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This is a guest post by Owl – the first of many, I hope.

My new Lego creation is going to be a museum room, called room 11.  It will be a medieval themed room.  It will have:

  • a star-shaped fort
  • a star-shaped information board about the fort
  • an old portrait of a knight’s head
  • a suit of armour on a pole
  • a table laid for a feast with a golden goblet
  • a statue of a horse
  • information about drawbridges
  • a toy drawbridge to play with

If I can manage it, I will make the museum with an opening front so that you can see the things inside.  Of course, this is only one room.  I will be making some more rooms later.

My baby boy is eight

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I’ve been a bit quiet on here over the weekend.  You could be forgiven for thinking that the celebration of the non-retirement of a certain elderly lady had something to do with it, and that is partly true, but it was overshadowed for me by the birthday of my firstborn.

So little Owl, it’s been eight years, hard to believe…here are some random things I remember… the smile on your daddy’s face when we found out we were expecting you; feeling you kicking along to the music when we were singing in a concert a month or so before you were born; your daddy singing to you in my tummy; the first time I kissed your little head, the first time I held you, you holding my finger – they could be anyone’s memories, but they are mine and I will never forget them.

The first outing with you in your pram; drinking champagne to celebrate when you were two weeks old; a sunny outing to Canterbury when you were two months old, and your first holiday – a week at Granny and Grandpa’s house – around the same time.  I remember your baby smile, your laugh, you thought that “Row row row the boat” was the funniest thing ever.  I remember how happy you were nearly all the time, lying in your carrycot, sitting in your blue and green chair, having cuddles, being carried in the lovely Wilkinet sling, splashing in the bath… I always said that you were an easy baby, though now I’ve had four and found you all to be easy I’ve come to the conclusion that I just really like babies.

I could go on all day and all night writing about you over the last eight years, but I have to admit that would be interesting only to me, and your daddy perhaps.  So I’ll skip forward to the here and now… my biggest boy, you are clever and thoughtful, you ask amazing questions, you read so much that I learn many things I never knew just from listening to you talk, especially about Science and History.  You sing beautifully, play the piano and violin very well and even compose your own pieces of music.  You get this from your daddy, along with your practical skills (you get your screwdriver and fix things without having to ask for help; you are even beginning to provide valuable IT support when daddy is out) and also your tendency not to listen to a word I say, but at least I know because you have the same expression on your face as he does when you are daydreaming.

From me you get your desire to learn everything all at once, especially languages.  It’s great fun starting to learn new things, but perhaps together we need to try and finish a few of them!  You also have my love of reading, especially late at night, everything from Secret Seven books to Science encyclopedias, and of course Lego books.  You can concentrate for a very long time on things you really want to achieve – building complex Lego models, drawing complicated and detailed pictures, designing and building models out of anything you can find.  When you have something important you want to say, you talk and talk without stopping, but you are also a good listener.  You are very sensitive and caring, and you love your brothers and your sister.  You love meeting new people and playing with old friends; you are confident and friendly and good at joining in everything with enthusiasm.  You enjoy tennis and football, church and music lessons, choir and Beavers.

You chose to have a bowling party, after trying it for the first time a few weeks ago.   That seems like a very big boy thing to choose; we are entering a new era of parenting and it’s fun.  You had a good time with the friends you took bowling, and with lots more friends and family members who came back afterwards for a barbecue.  And then your birthday celebrations continued over the weekend at Granny and Grandpa’s house.  You went to a street party and made a new friend; got your first Hornby set, a draughts and chess set and even more Lego; went out for lunch with your family and then spent the afternoon playing with the friend you had met a day earlier; even found time for a Latin lesson with Grandpa.

And now we are home and you are sad that your birthday is over.  Except it isn’t, quite.  There will be another bowling party later this month, because we couldn’t manage to take all your friends at once on the bus!  And then it really will be over, until next year.   And then you will be nine… I can’t comprehend that right now.  I hope you know how much your mummy and daddy love you.  I think you do.  We have different ways of showing it.  I tell you I love you a lot.  Your daddy mainly expresses his love through cake.  We both think we are the luckiest parents in the world because we have you and your brothers and your sister.  Thank you for being such a lovely son.

Owl

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Owl is 7, very nearly 8, my first baby… and the book I have chosen for him is Owl Babies.  I have read it to all my babies, and still do.  Though they are not babies any more, not even Tiddler really, they still love this book.

Written by Martin Waddell and illustrated by Patrick Benson, Owl Babies is the story of three baby owls and their mother who live in a hole in the trunk of a tree.  One night the babies wake up and find that their mother has gone.  They edge out of their hole, sit on the tree and wait for her for what feels like a very long time.  “And the baby owls closed their owl eyes and wished their Owl Mother would come… AND SHE CAME.”  The baby owls jump around and flap with excitement.  ” ‘WHAT’S ALL THE FUSS?’ their Owl Mother asked .  ‘You knew I’d come back.’ ”  In some ways it’s an unsettling book to read; the feelings of anxiety so clearly drawn will resonate with anyone who has experienced them as a child or recognises them in their own children.  However, the reassurance of the Mother who always comes back brings a happy and comforting ending to the story.