Hokey Cokey, more Yanks and Toby's heart

Tobes and I went to a dance and music class at the library this morning. They're running some free classes during the summer break and I know Toby has been getting bored with 'Not now, sweetheart. Mommy's tired.' It was a lot of fun. We started off with the Hello Song and went around the circle saying each of the children's names. The lady next to me said her children were Madison and Hudson, very unusual names in England.

Toby and Madison are the same age and were some of the oldest children in the class so they led everyone through most of the songs. Toby obviously sings a lot at preschool because he knew most of the songs and motions. I didn't know he knew the Hokey Cokey (what the Hokey Pokey is called here) but there he was shaking his leg like a pro.

Afterwards they got out some toys and the children had a play session. Madison's Mom leaned over and asked me when I was due. I'm so huge now that people seem to think my waters could break at any moment. The look on someone's face when I say 'early November' is always the same - shock, another quick glance at my bulging belly, then a polite smile. By September I'll be getting the 'how many are in there?!' looks too.

When Madison's Mom spoke to me I noticed a North American accent. Ah, that explains her children's names. Very American. Turns out she's from Kansas City, her husband is a minister setting up a church in London, they've been here for three years and live a few hundred yards down the road from us! We chatted until the class leaders turned the music off and Tobes and Madison were the only children left playing then we exchanged numbers and promised to get together soon.

So exciting meeting someone new! It takes a long time to make friends with English girls so it's a real pleasure to meet someone and exchange numbers within half an hour. Madison is really sweet and Hudson is just six months old so we can talk baby stuff. She does seem quite a bit younger than me but hopefully that won't matter. Good lord, it's so much like dating.

And speaking of dates, we finally got the appointment through for Toby's consultation with the extra-special heart specialist. Wait for it... it's 22 November. Beacuse it's not considered life threatening we're at the bottom of the waiting list for appointments. This is one of those times when National Health can be so frustrating. I understand that we're behind people on the list whose children might actually die from their heart conditions but it's still frustrating to wait for answers. Hopefully, we won't have to.

J gets private health through work so I've contacted them and they're checking to see if we can be seen privately. We'd most likely see the same specialist at the same hospital, just much earlier than November since the waiting lists are much shorter. We've never resorted to using the private policy before. The theory is that National Health only works if everyone uses it and I do support the NHS but there are times when an answer is needed sooner. This is one of those times.

I'm rationalising it this way - we're lucky enough for J to have the kind of job that provides private health (most don't) therefore if we use our policy someone less fortunate will be able to take our NHS appointment in November. I think I can live with that. In any case, I would never let my theorising or politics get in the way of what's best for Toby. Fingers crossed the private policy will cover the appointment. We should find out next week.