Reason No. 365

I love Amélie much much much more than I did 365 days ago because over the past year she has grown even more lovely, very thoughtful, incredibly bright particularly on spelling and writing, and she takes huge joy in even the smallest thing - as shown by her very excited reaction when she heard I was going to take her to school tomorrow.

I love Seth much much much more than I did 365 years ago because over the past year he has become an even more gorgeous boy, hugely creative, very focussed on things he's interested in and with a vivid imagination - demonstrated by discussion of our future holiday in Venice which seems to involved racing cars down the Grand Canal instead of boats!

And that's it - the last reason, although I'm sure I'll continue loving them more and more each day. But I've no idea what I'll blog about now!

Reason No. 364

I love Seth more than I did yesterday because he was very excited about his piano lesson today where he played a piano-related game on his teacher's iPad and he got a gold, silver and bronze award.

I love Amélie more than I did yesterday because when she was walking back from school today with TWBD, he asked her what the special name for the new grass they had laid was (artificial) and she said straight off "fake!"

Reason No. 363

I love Amélie more than I did yesterday because during breakfast, when I was well on my way to London, some piano music came on the radio and she got very confused, looked upstairs and said "that sounds just like Mummy playing".

I love Seth more than I did yesterday because he is getting really good with maths, particularly fractions, and regularly tells us that 2 halves makes 1 and 3 halves makes 1 and a half.

Reason No. 362

I love Seth more than I did yesterday because bounced in to and out of school on his first day back, clearly delighted to be there.

I love Amélie more than I did yesterday because she read so nicely to TWBD this evening that Seth stopped playing and went over to listen.

Reason No. 361

I love Amélie more than I did yesterday because at bedtime she said that her best part of the day wasn't the snuggling up watching a film at lunchtime but was when she was writing up her holiday diary for school which took a lot of work and was fab.

I love Seth more than I did yesterday because at bath time he lay back in the bath and said "this is the life!"  I've no idea where he got that from!

Reason No. 360

I love Seth and Amélie more than I did yesterday because they were really good today playing really well together, making up games, and behaving well during a shopping trip with TWBD - all allowing me to get on with some work catch-up.

Reason No. 359

I love Amélie more than I did yesterday because she was so lovely to Seth at tea time when they shared a biscuit where she got the bigger half - and she voluntarily pulled a bit off hers to give it to him.

I love Seth more than I did yesterday because he was really sweet to Amélie when she was very upset (mostly through tiredness) and he went and gave her a really big kiss and a cuddle.

Reason No. 358

I love Seth and Amélie more than I did the day before yesterday because they were so excited to be on the beautiful beach near Caen and ran up and down it collecting fantastic shells. And then they did really well waiting for the late ferry back to England and went straight to sleep in our cabin.

Reason No. 357

I love Amélie more than I did yesterday because she walked to, and around, Mont St Michel in absolutely pouring rain, with water dripping from her fringe, and never complained once.

I love Seth more than I did yesterday because he walked to the top of Mont St Michel and said he wanted to go in the church at the top "because the mountain might fall down but I trust the church".

Reason No. 356

I love Seth and Amélie more than I did yesterday because they were exceptionally well behaved last night on the ferry - apart from a couple of toilet trips, they slept through the night and even tolerated  very slow disembarkation because of a broken down car (not ours thankfully!).

Reason No. 355

I love Amélie more than I did yesterday because we are currently in the restaurant on our ferry and she described it as "the best restaurant I've ever eaten in" - and it is the best value child's meal ever with 3 huge courses and a gift for £5.

I love Seth more than I did yesterday because we were watching the news about Margaret Thatcher dying and David Cameron came on and Seth said "I do not trust that guy!"  He's very astute really!

Reason No. 354

I love Seth and Amélie more than I did yesterday because we all went to Sumo Sunday at Yo Sushi (or So Yushi as Seth called it) and between us ate 30 plates of sushi. I love that they can really put away the raw fish!

Reason No. 353

I love Amélie more than I did yesterday because at tea time, during a discussion about foods that she and Seth like/don't like she declared that "Seth doesn't like those round cabbage ball things that we only eat at Christmas". I presume she means sprouts.....

I love Seth more than I did yesterday because he is exceptionally polite to strangers, like when we went for a car test drive today and he kept wanting to talk to the man at the garage saying "Excuse me but....." several times over.

Reason No. 352

I love Seth more than I did yesterday because he's developing a real love for cars, and a real aptitude for driving - at least electronically - so much so that he bought an Audi TT today (one day he'll buy me a real one!).

I love Amélie more than I did yesterday because she sat still like an angel - and yakked like the devil - while having her hair cut today. And she came out looking even more like an angel than she did before!

Reason No. 351

I love Amélie more than I did yesterday because, when we were out at Eureka and Seth wanted to play in a sandpit, she said "Seth you can do anything you want, so long as you don't get sand in your shoes".

I love Seth more than I did yesterday because he was also asserting his grown-up-ness today, declaring to Amélie "There are no rules in this house".

Reason No. 350

I love Seth more than I did yesterday because at tea time he said very proudly "Look Mummy, I ate all my fish before I ate all my chips" - which was a first!

I love Amélie more than I did yesterday because, after watching a Doctor Who film (from the 1960s complete with wobbly scenery and terrible special effects) she sat down and drew a fab Dalek.

Reason No. 349

I love Amélie more than I did yesterday because she tried houmous, squid, boquerones, albondigas and chorizo when we had dinner out this evening - and she enjoyed almost all of them!

I love Seth more than I did yesterday because he behaved the best he ever has done at the cinema when we went to see The Croods today - was totally entranced and amused by the whole thing.

Reason No. 348

I love Seth more than I did yesterday because he lost another tooth today - and like before (and completely unlike Amélie) it virtually dropped out in the middle of a meal with only a little bit of twisting to get it out - but that was accompanied by major tears from Seth!

I love Amélie more than I did yesterday because she led Seth in a fantastic game of restaurants where she wrote up a menu (lamb, porck, pasta, valinna iceream etc) and then took reservations and orders for food from willing customers (me and Seth!).