Reason No. 27

I love Amelie more than I did the day before yesterday because she came home from school with a homework project about bugs and didn't want to watch television or play or eat tea until she had had a long discussion with Daddy about what bugs she should do and then looked through her encyclopaedia before making the decision to focus on bees and wasps.

I love Seth more than I did the day before yesterday because he had a science day at school and explained to me on the phone in vivid detail how he had been out into the playground and seen a huge explosion, and how he had made pink slime which he had then brought home with him.

And I didn't arrive home from London until 8.30pm so only heard about Amelie's exciting project and saw Seth's pink slime then - ho hum!

Reason No. 26

I love Seth more than I did yesterday because, although we (and his school teacher) often think that he doesn't listen well enough, he clearly does because today he stated with conviction that Beauty and the Beast in 3D "is spectacular according to the TV" and the other day he asked whether I was taking my hire car back to webuyanycar.com (said in the same irritating sing-song way as on the radio advert which is running all the time at the moment).  So if we could only harness the power of the TV and radio, we'd have a genius on our hands.

I love Amelie more than I did yesterday because we took the twins' homemade kite up Stanage Edge this morning and she was very brave holding on to the kite despite almost getting carried over the edge in the strong wind.  On the way back down to the car she said "Phew that was a bit of an adventure!".

Reason No. 25

I love Amelie more than I did yesterday because she was an angelic duckling in her ballet exam practice (one of those stuck on an icy pond whose legs go in all the wrong directions but look totally adorable!).

I love Seth more than I did yesterday because at breakfast he held forth for several minutes about why he should have more pancakes than me because bigger people need less food than smaller people. When Daddy then said that on that basis Amelie should have more than everyone, he looked a bit shocked for several seconds then said "you're joking Daddy" and laughed for a long time!

Reason No. 24

I love Seth more than I did yesterday because he swam without armbands for the first time and was very proud of himself, even though he admitted that a grown-up held under his tummy for most of the time.

I love Amelie more than I did yesterday because she suggested that Seth should take a picture of the dinosaur mug that he made at the weekend to take to his show-and-tell - he has to take a photograph of something and talk about it and Amelie's suggestion was absolutely spot-on and something even us adults hadn't thought of.

And Seth and I love ice cream more than we did yesterday because we had a Mr Whippy cone in between rain showers this afternoon - he ate the cone and I licked the leftovers off his nose afterwards because we didn't have any tissues!

Reason No. 23

I love Amelie more than I did yesterday because she went on a playdate today with a friend from school whose mother had provided 'child-friendly' white bread sandwiches which Amelie refused to eat saying "we don't have this kind of bread at home" but then proceeded to tuck into the family's normal granary bread.  My little healthy-eating campaigner!

I love Seth more than I did yesterday because when I picked him up from his after-school creche he was nowhere to be seen while they were tidying up.  And although my first thought was that he had made himself scarce to avoid the chores, I then heard a little voice from underneath the table where Seth was passing out all the random pieces of lego, train tracks and other toys to the others who were putting them away.

So I'm very pleased that I have both healthy-eaters and obsessive tidiers - just like Mummy!

Reason No. 22

I love Seth more than I did yesterday because he greeted me when I got home from work with armfuls of drawings that he had done at his after school club, all showing rockets and aircraft and spaceships - all "spy things" according to him - which he wanted to stick onto the airplane he made last week.

I love Amelie more than I did yesterday because she brought home midweek homework for the first time today and was desperate to do it, even though she was clearly very tired, and then she read a 16 page book in 5 minutes.

Reason No. 21

I love Amelie more than I did yesterday because she has been the complete antithesis of yesterday, having spent the day at Chatsworth with Daddy and being bright sunny chatty Amelie all day.  And to look on the positive side of yesterday's behaviour, I'm convinced that it's just because she is very emotionally intelligent and so was affected by general parental grumpiness!

I love Seth more than I did yesterday because when I picked him up from school he was so excited about everything that he had done and told me that his school was the best school in the whole wide world because it has the coolest train tracks with London Bridge and everything!

And today I love where I live more than I did yesterday because I had a wonderful drive over the Woodhead Pass this morning - the sun was shining, newborn lambs were frolicking in the fields and white horses were dancing on the reservoirs.  Unfortunately the "all's right with the world" feeling evaporated when I reached the Manchester side of the Pass - but this is a positive blog so I won't dwell on that!