Officially 4
When we got back, chris’ parents were there, and we opened up SB’s presents. They had found the ELC dolls house for knock down price of ?20, and we had ebayed look alike furniture to go in it and also gave her a leappad book[ebay]. Chris’ cousin gave her an art set. My parents gave her a junior pogo and a pink barbie princess [princess and pauper series], my sister gave her a leap book as well, and her godmother gave her an indoor/outdoor croquet set. She loved every single present and has played with them all. The pogo is at present confiscated though as she threw it down the stairs at me, and I realised my other thing against barbie, apart from the americanism pushing outrageous ‘feminine’ ideals, is the fact that there are bits to be lost, hair to go all scraggy as SB doesn’t treat too beautifully!!

After an afternoon of playing, we went to local restaurant for a meal. they are an italian franchise, greast with kids, so always loads there. V well behaved. My Aunt and Uncle joined us, as live just down motorway south of Wakefield. SB made her own pizza, sweetcorn and olive! yummy food, some wine for us adults, and got away with only 1 feed for BB. Aunty M bought 2 lovely ooks, an Angelina Ballerina and one about hearts of glass [which I might try a before FIAR thing with][hope chris adds some photos at some point]

Sunday, and we abandoned family to C’sPs as 1. no food in house, 2. closing down Allders sale. Although we have NO spare cash, we plastic fantasticked a sofa bed for new house as 65% off – not bad really! the did a v hurried shop for food. We were both exhausted as 1. we hate shopping IRL 2. SB woke up at 4am and didn’t go to sleep again. [see I am a listmaker, even if they are short - in fact, if we have to go for a nom de plume, I might ditch the somewhat derogatory broadbean for Queen Listmaker!]

Monday, and Chris went to work. Sleep de[rived this time by BB, who fed 3 times in the night – AARRRGGGHHHHH! i was told I was a good girl by dentist [new noisy toothbrush a good thing] and we did some home ed.
With C’sPs we finished a clock making activity bought for a fiver from sainsbury’s as someone elses b’day pressie! [photo please chris] SB v impressed that it actually works. How long for is anyones guess as she keeps twiddling the hands round, so not actually reliable for time!
She impressed Nanna with Webland, and how good she was at the activities on it. She got far more scaffolding from Nanna than me, possibly cos I can see how far she has come on with letters and sounds since their last visit.
We also tried some of the Exeter maths from the webpage.The 1a, and SB whipped through the first 5 pages. Since recently she has been messing about with Singapore maths – redoing ad nauseum some of the pages, and not moving on – I thought I would try a change of tack. [Sarah, all the patterns have a blank middle line - are we supposed to invert the line 1 and 3 paterns, or leave blank?] Anyway, I will continue to use them for now.
Our word sounding is finished for now, as SB says she doesn’t want to read at the moment. However, still keen on reading books together, so I imagine only a short break.

We mostly played lots with new toys. oh, we also got her some switches for tesco/ELC wooden train track, so have a complex pattern of track on the floor to jump over. Barbie has been singing her song all day, and I have memorised it to SB’s satisfaction. I really think this was a succesful gift giving.

Update on June list [see below] in that I got from ebay 2 of the explorer CDroms for ?8 including postage to try out, so even if not too good, we can prob ebay on for not much loss.

–
Helen

She has been on speed all morning so far, whizzing about, chattering, telling you complicated 4 year old stuff, crashing around, now she is playing shops with them. Butterbean has been wooing everyone with her general smiley/cuddly/laidback-ness. She of course slept all night from about 11 to 8 – bless her. I never cease to be amazed at just how different they are already. Before we had our own kids and had so much contact with others I never really believed that little babaies could be so different.

Could there be a more Stringbeany card? Thanks Nanna and Grandad.

Mmmmmm, jam and lettuce on toast, a lovely breakfast

SB HE
today we did lots of rpg together, with me making up most of the stories and SB correcting them – I am storied out! Also read far too many thomas books and half her new testament.

did my least fav thing today = playdough. i hate messy fingernails. i also hate he impasse over putting it away. i explained v clearly that if it wasn’t done the playdough would dry out i would throw it in bin and not get any more. we actually did make lots of things with it, but the 2 hours to put it away drove me up the wall. we also played with straws, and she made some good number shapes with them.

Samosas and bhajis for lunch, and when i got a phone call, she got out blasted farmyard plasticine -arrrgghhh. we measured our heights and various doors and windows etc, deciding bigger and smaller along the way – this was quite good fun.

jigsaw play and then chris home. spaghetti hoops and home made scones for tea. now having a bath.

no overt 3 rs activities, but i spy, sounding out words, counting etc were all part of play.

BB
Well I feel I gave her a better deal today. SB not so impressed when I am talking and laughing with BB though – nothing overt, just attentiony. she is a smily baby. heavy though. she is lying on my arm as i type and i have pins and needles!!

RL
solicitors letter asking me if we had built on the sewers threw me. rang to say we hadn’t built anything. he said i had to identify sewer manhole – threw me in a panic. chris reminded me that it was our drains he was meaning, and the manhole on drive. so rang back wih best useless female impressionthat i had found it!
prospectus for new nursery came – looks v nice. more expensive though.
still on tenterhooks re the buyers survey.
i need some peace and quiet. feeding BB with SB bouncing all over me atm. has been a long pause in the blog. def some green eyes. Timeteam on to duscusss archeology. first question – what is that digger…….a digger……….no what type is it……………a yellow one….SB grumpy as chris and i explain we dontknow subtypes on diggers. i guess we should have done internet search……………

ps SB just asked if they have found a chocolate button – ever hopeful – it is a roman coin!

SB HE
Anyway, we did the vikings section of the time traveller book – looking at the pictures and spotting things, while I read some of the paragraphs according to her interest. Followed this with some of the pages in the DK Viking book – lovely pictures in there – and discussing how we could make her a Viking outfit, and which style she would like. Also where they lived, and the difference with us, and what they ate and the differences. [this was all in bed snuggled with BB, so very nice!]
When we got up we gave BB a ‘baby massage’ of unique technique. It is amazing just how big a bottom and thighs BB has got. SB was a bit unsure whether we had enough massage oil to cover them all!

A weetabix breakfast and the we got down to serious business of making Chris a birthday cake – so it was a carrot cake of course. SB getting v careful with the weighing and measuring. She shows good understanding of the bigger numbers, the tens, and which order to read the numbers in. She stands a much better chance of being a domestic goddess than me!

We then read together some letterland books, and although she can’t read, she understands what reading is, and makes a good stab at reading letters and blending them into words even if there is a lot of ‘scaffolding’ at the mo.
While I was getting card things out, she traced letters -totally her own idea. She definitely seems to be on a roll here. The maths type things I had put out stayed ignored.

I thought we were going to make Daddy’s card, but she said she had got one from nursery, and there it was, so we made cheer up cards for Little Nanny and one of her sisters. It was a planet theme- not sure why. Had Venus [well, the volcano one near the sun, so a good description], Saturn, Jupiter and Clanger planet. Then space dust from sand sprinkles. Our home page is the NASA astronomy picture of the day, and she always thinks the dust louds are beautiful. I’m not sure they are traditional condolence type cards, but I think they will be very appreciated. Beans on toast for luunch. SB confused as to why I was upset at her putting sand in mine – sigh. Had nearly finished though.

Then, a la trivium we had about 20 mins apart, she doing cbeebies, and I cleaned the dining room [ok, just a little after dinner party, but I am still only nearly semi domesticated!]

We read another 2 letterland books [her choice] and started on Viking casserole. unfortunately, as an unplanned activity, probably Barley and garlic the only reasonably Viking ingredients, as was more like a veggie cassoulet with dumplings in the end! She enjoyed thinking it was Viking though, pretending the veggie sausage was rabbit!

[addtition - I forgot that we made popcorn for the first time. I was a bit worried cos it took a while to pop, but v exciting!]

She then did some playing with a toy racing car, while I got to check mails etc. chris came home, collapsed into chair and watched clangers wth her. And then had birthday viking tea and carrot cake with candle on the top. [not the correct number though!] I must of thought I was in Melrose, as at least 6 more portions than required. On the card front, she told Chris that her friend Bridie had made it for him, so after all that card making, chris didn’t have one made by Elinor. i just give in sometimes.

Manic ballet dancing to classic FM, bathtime and bed, with Daddy being the storyteller. I did a collapse in heap from such an intensive day impression! Then rang Little Nanny, who is well, and no snow their today.

BB
Where was she during the day??? Well, in her playgym, in a rocker chair with different playgym, being cuddled and loved, feeding lots and starting to laugh rather than just open mouth. I think on balance she did lose out on attention, as she often does when SB at home and not Chris. Hopefully not detrimentally. Its just that she is a content and happy baby, and can gurgle in gym for an hour while I am doing things with SB, losing track of time.

How do you juggle 2 compteting attentions fairly, especialy when one is vocal, demanding and high maintenance, whereas the other is more laidback, and often just content sitting on your lap while you’re doing something.

ME
Thanks for kind messages. think lack of sleep coming with worrying and I just don’t think about big pictures, just the worries. Arranging visits to nurseries etc doesn’t help. We will prob use for 2 days a week so there is instant group of children to meet – especially as one nursery in the village. Chris will be able to do supply on those days and when I have days off too. That way Keeps in the picture. When SB and us settled in, and hopefully I have wangled a change in working patterns, we will relook at this.

Chris
HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Yesterday had friends round for a meal, and SB ended up staying up for the whole thing. [Not sure that was entirely appreciated, but I thought she behaved really well]. She helped one of them to cut up the fruit salad. A was a bit shocked that she uses sharp knives, and said to SB she didn’t know what to do as she had no girls, and didn’t want her to lose a finger. SB told her not to worry, she would tell her what ‘her grownups did’

Been a bit low/unsettled for last few days
hospital has run out of paper so couldn’t photocopy questionnaires – having trekked in, nor will they provide the envelopes. I know they are millions in the red, but clinical governance – AKA audit is compulsary, AND a good idea, how else do you find out if you are giving as good a deal as poss except by asking? I have been getting this through the various national, regional ethics committees, and local research and development committee [need nhs indemnity] since august. Since i was already aware i needed to personally pay for 160 second class stamps, adding 3 reams of paper and 320 envelopes to this is not on. Thinking how much time and energy i have put into this at a stressful time has turned me into a grumplestiltskin

my great uncle died on monday. he was ready, and has been gradually bowing out over the last year, so although sad for the loss of him, the timing feels reasonable as it were. my Nan is desperately sad though. i again feel increased pressure of time with her, knowing it is likely to be too short.

SB and I were discussing death, and she stated that Little Nanny would die soon as the oldest. So we discussed how sad that would be, but she would always be with us in our hearts. We discussed her sadness that her brother had died, and SB decided we needed to visit her lots, to cheer her up, and see her lots while we could.
When she returned to this theme at bedtime, and noticed I was nearly crying, I explained that I would miss her dreadfully, so she said not to worry, that Nanny would be in our hearts to always give us hugs, and we could teach BB all about her if she didn’t remember, so she would be in her heart too. That has completely done for me this whole evening.

Minor stresses –
house moving, money, sorting out all the bits. The surveyor for our buyers came today, and spent an hour and a half going round it trying all doors etc, and really detailed looking, so i’m panicking now that there was something wrong, they will want to pull out or drop their offer.

Countdown to full time work and all the crap mother ideas. Why am i looking at all the home ed, rather than leaving chris to do it, as all the things that excite me, I just wont get to do most of the time. Can’t bear the thoughts of missing so much. Ok, not so minor.

And still no chocolate. BB had the cuddle of her life – poor thing!
I need sunshine and Spring

Snowed v heavily – good inch or 2 [OK, not as much as Karenb ] SB in her snowsuit, and got to nursery as they were all piling outside to play, so she was v excited. Traffic appalling – as it always is in snow, so I’m waiting a little bit then going in to Infirmary to do interminal photocopying.

There, what a blog addict!!