Lid on, lid off...

A good day with Simone.  Here she his, engaged in a kitchen table game with Richard: 'Lid on... lid off!' This was always one of Eben's favourites at the same age.
In the morning, I took S to a music session at our neighbourhood library:  a local musician - Martin Harwood - runs these each week at various venues, under the title 'Small Voices, Big Noises'.  I remember Martin well from the years when Richard and I both volunteered at the library, and it was good to see him again. His sessions are full of laughs and games, and it's a great excuse to belt out children's songs together, along with assorted babies and toddlers. He's also a wonderful musician, playing both guitar and violin.
Simone was delighted to see a room full of people and instantly started greeting each one with her current favourite word - 'Hiya!'  This is a small girl with bags of confidence; she just assumes that beaming at people and greeting them will produce good results. She enjoyed exploring the bookshelves too; this needs some vigilance, as she still likes to explore any novel object with tongue and teeth if she can. 'Not in your mouth!' is a well-used grandmotherly phrase at the moment. For me, it was good to see some other grandparents in the room too. I wasn't the only adult there with grey hair and stiff knees.
Later I took S back to Jack and Marianna's around 3.30, spinning the short journey out a bit so that she could have a nap.  I had a quick catch-up with Jack, who's just been offered a part-time job. It's with a local charity, and came as a bit of a surprise; he came second in their recent round of interviews, but evidently something hasn't worked out with their first-choice candidate. He's happy about the offer, though also a little wary; with luck, he'll be able to find out what happened, and whether it involves any alarm bells about the job or the organization.  All being well, it'll allow him to bring in some regular money while also continuing to develop his documentary photography work. Fingers crossed.