The attempts to move into this house and make it our own continue with the clearance of the front room. We have finally decided on the “mood” for this room, and it is going to be grown-up and kiddie-free. It was originally a playroom – but all the kids did was trash it and then bring the mess into the sitting room to mess that up as well.

Just think of it as removing the middleman from the process.

So today we were moving toys and furniture upstairs in preparation for stripping the wallpaper, sanding the floorboards and installing a very expensive new fireplace. This meant removing the stairgate from Tiny Flirt’s bedroom door and putting it out of the way – although with hindsight, the top of the stairs wasn’t very out-of-the-way.

Little Nutter was fascinated. He had never seen the stairgate detatched from a door before, and had to investigate.

On the way down the stairs, the stairgate neatly decapitated our ‘Stair Bears,’ a collection of hand made & painted (by Helen) bears. The slaughter was ruthless and merciless: five bears, including three small infants, were killed – their bodies scattered across the front hall.

Little Madam was bereft. In fact, so devastating was the trauma that even Little nutter was subdued and actually asked, “What’s the matter?”

His first question. His first three-word sentence.