Petits Haricots

As Helen has said, we have had much wailing from BB yesterday, it’s been very emotionally draining - as well as us being very tired from lack of sleep. We were at the stage of doing anything really just so she would stop. It wasn’t normal grumbling/crying  - but it was persistent screaming over things - it’s so unlike her. she did go upstairs, and go back to sleep. but then she would wake up after 5 minutes and start back screaming about things ‘milk’, ‘read book’ (in the dark!) ‘cuddle’ ‘cuddle sofa’, ‘ watch’ tele, ‘breakie’ !. Exhausting.  And we had already had a load of crying and screaming earlier when I tried to put her to bed at  amore normal time- and she must have been so tired. We had a about a 2 hour chunk of the evening from about 9.30 to 11.30 when she was asleep on the sofa

In the end I decamped downstairs with her, as that seemed to be what she wanted. We spent sometime on the (to small for stretching out) sofa in the playroom -’ reading’ a book in the dark. Then we decamped to the sitting room to watch TV (though the was  a mega screaming fit when I went back upstairs to get duvet and my glasses )

Snuggled down, she was quiet and happy, she did fall asleep at some point and I dozed on and off. Managed to extricate myself when I woke at about 2.30 am. She didn’t wake up quite amazingly, so daren’t not move her - I could not face more screaming. didn’t want to leave her alone down there, so slept on the floor on cushions from the sofa - to to bad actually - but don’t think I slept well. But BB slept through to 6.30. which is the best nights sleep she has had since probably Friday (last few nights she has been waking at about 3 - 4 and not really going  back to sleep properly

So far today she has been better though really (so that will do it…..). Played with SB’s leap pad, watch Cbeebies, done some painting, spent as much time washing up afterwards, now playing with the Brio trains.

And because we didn’t go out we didn’t buy the new camera

by BB. A lot of the day she has cried as if we were torturing her. completely incoherent with rage that we aren’t getting it right. she has just cried herself into oblivion on the sofa.

SO with that as the background, we have survived remarkably well. We didn’t get to the CHEF meeting today - which was a real shame as sounded really fab as in the archaeology museum, and I had been looking forward to it.

So, we made a start on th XMas cards. actually, we first did painting - which was the first word of BB’s we understood. so having allowed paint to go everwhere in the name of peace we moved onto xmas cards, and SB was very understanding of the concpt of BB got exactly what we could understand her to want. They made 20 between them. oh enjoy muddlepuddlers! Not too much in the way of glitter, but definately a 2 and 6 year olds take on how to stick/print as much as poss on a card. Of course more mess everwhere, but 60 mins screech free, so worth it!

BB then screeched continuously and went of for a walk in the buggy. SB read me a book and then did education city. Actually, she did loads, cos even though BB came back asleep, she soon woke up. So I went off into the garden and carried her around all the plants. Deciding the neighbours may call SS if she screeched any more outside [though a lower volume than indoors] we came back in. Eventually she settled with bucking bronco and then SB’s leappad [which she really loves, and Merry has given us a first leappad she can get for Xmas] SB made up a complex game about greek gods, including various of the legends - she was heard to peck livers out etc.

More utter screeching later, and we managed to develop some peace watching the makings of walking with beasts not for as long as we would like, so some desperate offerings of books/activities etc, and a book became suitable. BB did some colouring. Chris is cannabalising an old computer to try and set it up for BB, who otherwise tries to perch on SB’s lap and ‘do the puter’. Fine when SB is welcoming… this also distracted BB from screeching for a short while, so I hid.

cowardice finished with, and I returned to help make pizza, and then we all watched  robin hood together while eating it - a short break though for me to take BB up to a bath whcih she was desperate for, sat in for 3 secs and came out.

She has then screeched so much, and nothing has been satisfactory, which was the reducing to tears bit, as we have had not a great deal of sleep. It really is the torturing wail business. It IS a shame she finally gave in on the sofa though rather than in bed, as we will have to move her…

BB has been very poorly the last couple of days. She has had a cold for a littlewhile, which seemed to turn into something more Flu-y. Yesterday she had a very high temperature (high 38’s sometimes 39+ - even 40+ at one point - eek!), and spent all the time pretty much snoozing on the sofa or in someone arms, she isn’t eating at all, though drinking plenty of milk - though sicked that up  afew times - curds anyone . Lots of doseing up with Paracetomol and Nurofen (Nurofen always seems to be much better at bringing down the temp - but only 3 doeses a day, but she can have both so alternate them for maximium effect )

Still a high temp when she got up this morning. So took her to the docs (luckily, literally just round the corner). checked her chest, ears etc.  - as expected he said just to carry on. Kind of unneccessary really, but some how having someone else confirm that things are ok helps - sorry Jan if we were just one of those time wasters Of course as soon as we got there, the magical doctors effect took hold, and BB got off my lap and was  playing with the bead frame toy there

They are both now watching TV - I am going to try and sort out some of the disater zone that is the kitchen - but right now am zoning out a bit. BB has basically woken at 4 am or so the last 3 mornings and not really gone back to sleep properly - poor little Bean. And as Helen is working she has been in the spare room while I have BB.

SB has been very good really, and mostly very helpful. She did get a bit grumpy yesterday afternoon/evening with lack of direct attnetion for her - combined with knackered parents. We even got some HE in.

She did one of the sheets to go with the SOTW 1 chapter on Romans, Some maths - numbers to 100  - tens/units etc. Easy stuff for her really, but she seems to like workign through all the bits in the books, so just going with it - i’m sure it’s all good practice. She found some dinosaur stickers that came in the paper a couple of weeks ago, so she started on big picture to put those on. Played on BBC Jam and Ed City. Measured our temps with the thermometer. Watched a couple of episodes of the Trials of Life. - so not so bad I guess.

Missed out on going to the library this morning, but my parents are coming round this afternoon, so I can take her to her swimming lesson.

Now - about that kitchen……

when they flick screens for some unknown reason and you lose your whole blog post! It will consequently be very short.

Edu - SB very into Education City, on a trial, but will finally convert to the realy think this time - if anyone has a code they wish us to use, let us know. she is level 1+ for the english as 2 is a bit hard, and level 2+ for the maths. at least this time you are allowed to have different levels as this has been something that has put me off in the past.

we have played with the nursery bit with BB too, though won’t be buying it as a lot for nursery rhymes.

BB has been desperately under the weather for past few days, and last night and today def ill - nurofen/calpol the works. I weaned her this weak - actually without much trauma in the end - so suffering pangs of my faultiness about it as she no longer has my antibodies.

Other than that she has enjoyed playing with her birthday presents a lot, and playdough [which she does whilst SB fimos] SB fimo-ed today a lovely angel. i forgot to add any holes to hang on xmas tree so it may be a cake decoration

SB and i did lots of reading today with BB semi flaked on my lap [wanting to watch her bring me back on a loop - so we need to video her doing something else!], we story of the worlded the romans, read some ORT and usbourne farmyard books, she did lots of colouring and EC.
We were going to make a pegdoll fairy/angel, but BB wasn’t well enough to let us do it without her, and not sick enough to ignore us doing it with her IYSWIM

SB has enjoyed playing with my mum this weekend as well, and they enjoyed wathcing strictly come dancing together, amd planet earth. what a good mix! SB has been doing a lot of ‘interpretive dance’ about the place, and suddenly informed me their ballet uniform has changed to a lilac one with a ribbon belt? Why don’t the teachers let us know these things, as she saysd she is the only one still in the old uniform. and we need a character skirt as they no longer wear the blue polka dot one - sigh!

oh well, she has enjoyed some ‘trials of life’ as well today. SO although I feel I have mostly held a grumpy sick 2 year old, I guess we have done HE as well. SB has been very good at fetching things so i don’t have to jiggle bb too much. what a fantastic older sister she is.

Having finally got around to sorting out the insurance claim for the stolen bag, just awaiting the arrival from Jessops of the vouchers to get a replacement. The amount we got was fairly generous I guess, but we do have to spend them in the Jessops shop, so can’t go hunting bargins on the net. But we will easily be able to replace what we had with something  bit better so I guess that’s what matters.

I liked the A80, some am tending towards Canon again. At the moment I like the look of the Canon 710IS . In particular the 6xzoom (35 - 210mm 35mm camera equivalent) and the optical image stabiliser, which seems to work pretty well from what I can see. Both of which would help things along for the sorts of things we take photos of. The OIS ought to make taking photos sans flash indoors in marginal light a bit easier. 7MP is possibly verging on the side of too many really - you increase the risk of noise in the image as you squeeze more and more pixels onto the same size image sensor. but Canon seem to have got away with it (no worse than similar cameras anyway). - There is 10 MP camera further up the range, I thought the camera makers had given  up on the megapixel race  but obviously not.

One or two things missing from what the A80 had that I liked, but nothing major.

BB still a pest with sleeping, so Chris was up very early, and even the rest of us were quite prompt. I have migraine - almost continually, so must be stress.

Morning was mostly playing with BB’s birthday presents - traintrack, etch-a-sketch, building blocks and some play food, as well as her ‘den’. Some reading aloud of various library books as well.

The a race to the painting session Merry had organised. We thought we were going to be late, but were the first - total shock horror! Poor SB was travel sick when we got there - nicely decorated the carpark. SB was really happy decorating her mug and had a clear idea of what she wanted to do, and how i should help her. BB was a challenge to keep happy - and Chris mostly did that, as with migraine in hot room I was better holding head still. I’m sorry Merry, but I am going to have a little rantlet here - I feel a bit bad doing it, as SB really enjoyed the activity, and the place was nice, and you organised it, BUT…

1. Why did she go on SO much about not being able to pronounce some people’s names, and saying she was going to give them numbers? She didn’t even try SB.

2. She made a huge deal at the beginning of being [to my view] slightly snide about HE - could they tell her anything about winter, did they know anything, did their mummies do all the work.

3. The huge deal at all having to draw a thin neat line before they were allowed to paint on pot. SB started to get nervous about this, so I got her to just start [which earnt me a frown!] And SB then asked me if we were going to get told off!!! We did actually, for using ‘the wrong colour’ SB had wanted to do snowflakes and stars at night. We were told she couldn’t use black - fair enough - so she chose a dark blue. OK, so maybe it isn’t going to look like the others, and perhaps the colour is overpowering - we will have to see - but after all it is actually what SB wanted to do, its never going to be in ‘work of art’ category, but I and she will be proud of it anyway, so whats the big deal? She didn’t come round to us after that, but was cross that I shew SB how to add rays to her star, and then did a bit of line that SB was worried she couldn’t do thin enough - I was told it was no longer SB’s mug as I had helped/done it. It was her design, her choice of colours, and I scaffolded at times so we had fun doing it together. What is so wrong with that?

Hmm, actually reading that, I am more pissed off than I thought. One girl nearly refused to do the thing altogether she was so worried about not being able to do a thin enough line! At one point I found myself getting worried about the state of SB’s lines - FFS! At least she was trying. The older lady when she came round was much mellower and encouraging.

I have to say, in case Merry doesn’t boast about it, Amelie did a really stunning snowman. But SB loved doing it and wants to go back and do more.

on the way back we picked up a freecycle microscope, which SB is going to have great fun with. We had a preliminary play after Chris cleaned it up and got it working again.

For bedtime story, I am reading SB charlie and the chocolate factory. However, I feel an overwhelming desire to call them the bouquet family, so TV sets about its insidious corruption!!

edited to add. Actually, migraine prob making me partic grumpy. I think the place was v nice, and prob it was this ‘I shall educate them’ thing that was narking me - my autonomous mothering coming though! Those that did do it the ‘envisaged’ way though were helped very well. They had loads of things to choose from, loads of paints, we were never hurried a long, and were made to feel very welcome, in spite of nearly as many non painting children as those painting! We got lots of 1:1 care as a group.I am still narked about items 1-3, but at the end of the day, SB said she’d had a lovely time, and her and Maddy were going round wondering what they could do next time, so = success from her point of view!

Made BB some porridge for her breakfast, handed her the bag of raisins to sprinkle some on - they both like that. I continued pottering around the kitchen, turned round to see she had up-ended the bag over her bowl. Of course this was a nice big half full bag, not the almost empty bag they had yesterday.

‘Oooops’ said Butterbean ……..

[italicised spell checking by Helen!]

aaarrrghhh not to have a camera for BB’s birthday! We took some video though. We mostly celebrated BB’s birthday on Sunday - a day early.

My sister and her family arrived on the sat, so SB and M ran away to play, with BB and E trailing after. Mostly played well! my family is not particularly convinced with my sanity over HE, and prob faintly discouraging. So it is always good to realise that SB and M are reading roughly the same books [well, so my sis says] and covering roughly the same maths. M is a clever lad 7 months older than SB [but in a different school year], so although I hate the fact that I am measuring for parity, still I do so, as that gives me the opportunity to say - see it is fine! I am crap at being anything other than totally passive in family dynamics.

my Dad and mum and Little Nanny came on the Sunday for playing and birthday tea. BB like all her presents - some brio, an etch-a sketch-alike and a pop up tent from tesco sales to be a den. She had fun palying with everyone, her cousins managed [just] to remember to let her play with what she wanted [E is only a year older, so I think she did very well]. As Chris said, she was rather bemused by the whole singing/candle/cake blowing thing [so we did it again today]

i enjoyed me and my mum playing the piano for little nanny - and so did she. I think it all felt a bit fin-de-siecle though as it was a selection of Mendelssohn’s songs without words, a lot of which are very wistful. So SB cheered up the proceedings by singing nursery rhymes with her own piano accompaniment [yep videoed that too!]

Little Nanny is doing remarkably well considering, but aargh I wish she was closer to one of us. She needs the regular visits, but they are such a huge commitment. I am both ready to give that commitment, yet secretly heavy about it. I think that is the same for my mum and Aunt as well. Little Nanny though has been such a stronghearted family committed person all her life, she really deserves more from me. I confirmed the offer of a home here again, but she is keen to stay where she is. This is a photo of our visit just before operation.

they went, girls in bed and Chris and I collapsed in a heap to battlestar galactica. I need to be a bit more brain active in the evenings though, as lots of jobs to do!

today is BB’s Birthday, thanks for all the birthday wishes. She is 2 - woohoo! I might even do a sentimental blogpost. The beans were at group this morning all about Africa. Chris’s parents popped round just before teatime to bring pressies for BB, and say hello.

Butterbean is 2 tomorrow. We had a family birthday celebration today.

Best bit was probably BB’s face when we brought in the cake. We all sang Happy Birthday, and then she was told to blow out the candles. She then looked around the room totally bemused by it all

‘all this fuss about  a cake’ ?

tower of doom.

i have tried to suggest all sorts of more authentic wooden castles, expandable ones, or just plain nicer solid wooden castles, but she wants a scary one! However, may wait until one comes up on ebay [she’s happy with that]

So thanks Merry for the excellent suggestion, but I think SB has a mind for scary!

Considerate Inventor

Confidence	Low High	58
Openness	Low High	64
Extroversion	Low High	24
Empathy	Low High	70
Trust in others	Low High	84
Agency	Low High	64
Masculinity	Low High	40
Femininity	Low High	74
Spontaneity	Low High	62
Attention to style	Low High	2
Authoritarianism	Low High	38
Earthy/Imaginative	Imaginative Earthy	42
Aesthetic/Functional	Functional Aesthetic	32

Inventor

·  Your imagination, self-reliance, openness to new things, and appreciation for utility combine to make you an INVENTOR.

·  You have the confidence to make your visions into reality, and you are willing to consider many alternatives to get that done.

·  The full spectrum of possibilities in the world intrigues you—you’re not limited by pre-conceived notions of how things should be.

·  Problem-solving is a specialty of yours, owing to your persistence, curiosity, and understanding of how things work.

·  Your vision allows you to identify what’s missing from a given situation, and your creativity allows you to fill in the gaps.

·  Your awareness of how things function gives you the ability to come up with new uses for common objects.

·  It is more interesting for you to pursue excitement than it is to get caught up in a routine.

·  Although understanding details is not difficult for you, you specialize in seeing the bigger picture and don’t get caught up in specifics.

·  You tend to more proactive than reactive—you don’t just wait for things to come to you.

·  You’re not afraid to let your emotions guide you, and you’re generally considerate of others’ feelings as well.

·  Never one to be found in chic boutiques or trendy clothing stores, you take an extremely practical approach to getting dressed.

·  Generally, you believe that you control your life, and that external forces only play a limited role in determining what happens to you.

Considerate

·  You trust others, care about them, and are slow to judge them, making you CONSIDERATE.

·  You value your close relationships very much, and are more likely to spend time in small, tightly-knit groups of friends than in large crowds.

·  You enjoy exploring the world through observation, quietly watching others.

·  Relating to others so well, and understanding their emotions, leads you to trust people in general, even though you’re somewhat shy and reserved at times.

·  Your belief that people are generally well-intentioned contributes to your sympathy regarding their problems.

·  Although you may not vocalize it often, you have an awareness of how society affects individuals, and you understand complex causes of people’s behavior.

·  You like to look at all sides of a situation before making a judgment, particularly when that situation involves important things in other people’s lives.

·  Your close friends know you as a good listener.

·  You’re not afraid to let your emotions guide you, and you’re generally considerate of others’ feelings as well.

·  Never one to be found in chic boutiques or trendy clothing stores, you take an extremely practical approach to getting dressed.

·  Generally, you believe that you control your life, and that external forces only play a limited role in determining what happens to you.

of course, after Merry’s blog, i should just post a glowing account of today so you all wondered why she would say that it wasn’t true! of course, we did have a glowing account kind of day, which makes me wonder which bits she doesn’t want to be true. Of course, I guess asking us to bring lunch just as we’re setting out may not sound perfect hostessy, but hey, it was easier for us to do that than she drag 4 children to local shops. An she did go out to get dinner. of course, telling me that her stock room was a disaster and she’d just recieved 600 boxes of stuff, which I could only look at after they were on shelves, and I could watch her work all day if i wanted, was probably guarenteed to make me put stuff away, and then, knowing how aspergerish I can be, organise bits so that like was with like and it was all beautifully in rows etc!! and the see what she was short of…..I enjoyed it, chatting as i went, and it didn’t persuade me to buy more than i had intended either! I would like a stock room i think! She didn’t quite persuade me totidy the cupboard though - organising = fine, tidying = no no!

I did my the fimo multipack though as it has lots of colours, as well as some skin tones. the dragon kit is ace. oh and when she puts them up, the jewellery kits look brill too.

and we had a totaly fab day of gossip and company for adults, Josie and BB were having a lovely time playing together - particularly with josie’s cooker. they sang together, played boats together, messed up my nicely ordered fimo shelves together!!!

The older girls also played all day with no fuss. mostly playmobil [of which SB now wants loads] fran made a lovely game of fairies, with them all re-enacting a fairy book. other games played.

in fact it was a pretty much perfect day. why wouldn’t be true?

which we had for tea, pancakkes for brekkie - yummy!

Anyway, I had a disturbed night as had promised SB I would sleep with her. However, had that virtuous glow!

Her and BB did barbie and happy street games whilst I watched from her bed in the momrning - very good! Though BB did climb out of her cot, but she does mostly sleep in a bed now.

Some more magic painting, and then lots of legoing and brio train tracks, all piling in together. SB did a bit of singapore maths 1B, and read half another ORT book [laughing princess]. We did an usborne young puzzle book together about a princess palace. So very princessy!

Whilst BB slept, SB made a lovely fimo cat. She  did a really good job. I think it might be a leopard though, since it is yellow and spotted! Must visit Merry and buy some skin tones as she wants to do people!

BB was very sleepy when she came downstairs, and SB getting a bit waily, so put on an ebay acquisition French video. Bonjour mes amis 1. Having initially complained that they kept saying the same thing, getting in the way of the story [what story!] she did get into it. BB and I did more legoing, with a stop to put on a mammals DVD for SB. BB was expelled though for being too noisy, so we did more lego. SB then thought she wanted story of the world, but after finding the americas on the globe and deciding the quickest routes there, she wasn’t that interested n the history bit and looked at webland instead. yummy dinner, and a space book for bed.

Have decided to ask family to think along lego lines [small bits rather than the bigger ones] for SB for Xmas, and a my first leapad for BB, as she keeps running off with SB’s leappad. She can have a Dora book. For a girl who only sees Dora infrequently at Merry’s, she is very good at saying Oh Man!

Usual tomorrow’s monday feeling, but we have season 2 of battlestar galactica to watch.

I have had a lovely phone call with nanny, and she is cheerier, the physio was pleased with her yesterday, and my mum is going tomorrow to stay for a week, my aunt went last night, so fingers crossed really.

I met with the chief exec of where I work yesterday and managed to say fairly calmly whatwas making me unhappy. obviously she didn’t promise to help, but acknowledged it was a difficult time, and seemed very capable and direct. [I didn’t expect help btw, and so am very pleased that I feel that have at least been able to voice some of my concerns]

Had a lovely home-ed day today with SB, and BB is still very gorgeous to be with [except after 9pm, when I’d prefer her to be in bed]

I have only fed BB once in last 3 days! We are substituting with ‘tuddles’ and ‘daireelee’ . I am ready to wean, and for her it is a turf marking rather than anything else. I want to demonstrate how we can easily bond with cuddles. And SB seems to be more put out by feeding now, as BB often chooses a time when SB has more attention.

So, to today, had a very lovely long phone call with a friend I hadn;t heard from in ages. Cmae downstairs to play with SB and BB, we started off with each of them doing ‘magic painting’ and then I facepainted SB [angelina ballerina as a flower fairy!] and they painted a hand of mine each. SB had a go at scoobies, and BB did some more painting.
We then did some romping around general play, and they both fancied eggs, so had first lunch of boiled egg and toast. SB then did some singapore 1B maths which is all about getting comfortable with grouping things in preparation to divide and multiply. However, later on in the day, she demonstrated counting to 40 in 5’s [perfectly] 80 in 10’s [again perfectly] and 20 in 2’s - she chose to do it and the end point. I asked how far she thought she could get in 3’s, and she said 18! [and she did]. So I think she might be quite comfortable with the idea. She also said she was getting older now, as she was halfway to 10. BB used the haricot bean counters to create mayhem and destruction with her little pots! She will be an ace seed sower come the Spring.
Second lunch of a sausage sarnie for each of the girls, and the BB had a nap. SB read an ORT book to me - very well, though obviously not perfectly. She is quite confident about it, and when I offered to read the next page if she was getting tired [usually something she jumps at] - she declined.

I offered to pay a game, but she wanted me to read degas and the little dancer about his statue of Marie. She thought it sad Marie didn’t get to be a ballet dancer, but was very keen on the book, and discussing Degas pictures and then trying out basic conversation in french. [ ooh, edited to add the other odd tangent we went down was what maries life might have been - marriage children, perhaps 8. SB thought  20 was too many, and that she would give some away. We discussed how that wasn’t done very much, and she wanted to know how the birth mothers chose the new parents, so we had an odd and long conversation about adopting and fostering.i guess in the future I have thought we might foster, so… then we discussed Little nanny being in a family of 8. SB doesn’t want to be in a family of 8, she thinks 4 is enough [rofl at who she might be getting ideas from]

Still wanting to be read to, i did the Alexander the great bit from story of the world - i like Alexander the great story, and so did SB. She eventually coloured in the bucephalus head once Chris could print it out [shout at printer] and did the paraphrasing/narrative activities well.

Finally she decided to play battleships, and we were doing well when BB walked through the door having got herself up. BB and battleships are presently not compatible… SO I played with BB with threading bobbins, and SB coloured in some pictures. Both girls did a bit of hama beading - SB nearly finished the giraffe now, and amazingly in normal colours rather than pink! I played some piano to them, BB joined in [always interesting!] and that persuaded SB to join in and then do some piano practice.

We did a lot of general play and me singing to the girls dancing type thing, and then teatime, bathtime and bed. I am running out of ideas for maggie and the ferocious beast stories, and Robin Hood ones - aargh!
I have ordered various craft bits for xmas card making from yellow moon and a few books from the book people schools catalogue, as I have an early inheritance from a great Aunt. its 500, and apart from todays ordering! I am trying to decide whether to be sensible and use it towards insulating the loft [which we need to do] or a huge frip on something like a big trampoline for SB, or a selfish having my laptop fixed for me? [or boring, and towards the credit card debt] We are still in definite frugal mode, but this is unexpected extra bonus money as it were. decisions decisions? Talking about inheritance, Aunty Peggy had always said she was leaving something to ‘you girls’ [ie little Nanny’s grandchildren] when it came to it, we didn’t get anything, and I was not bothered. I had not expected it, her death was sudden and unwanted, and well, its her money. However, she left it to cousin anne who predeceased her instead, and it ended going all to cousin anne’s beneficiary, my second cousin who I don’t think met Aunty Peggy? Didn’t visit, wasn’t at funeral etc [though his parents were]. I can’t imagine that was where she thought it would be going. Must make sure I do a good watertight will!!! Hmm, that sounds like I am bothered, so maybe I am a bit.

Anyway, our youngest is still awake, and Chris is trying to bore her with telly. Oh, and SB says the hair wirler is the only thing she really wants for Xmas, and I can choose the rest. SO hair twirler it is! otherwise, we have Xmas and birthday pretty much sorted thanks to ebay.

oh, and need to get more face paints - particularly white!

SB would like hair twirlers for xmas you knpw those things that get 2 bits and spin them around. what are they called? I keep searching to find what they might be and getting nowhere -she saw an advert back in the summer!

they kicked little nanny out of the hospital tues eve with a sandwich following her knee replacement. She is barely mobile and told them family were miles away and needed warning. Never mind! I went with food and good cheer on wed, and she really needs it. Full of bravery however. Sb was a disaster really - in the most nice of ways but still. i had asked her to pack a bag for her and BB, being fairly explicit. so she took nothing for bb, and felt tips! for herself. nanny doesn’t have a kitchen table, and sb was going to do colouring in on the carpet, with BB loitering with nothing to play with - argh. I know, I should have done it myself, but I was packing car with food stuffs etc etc. She was also borderline waily as she needed a good run. Nanny’s house is small but perfectly formed, but def no running space. I was cooking/cleaning/listening.entertaining and genrally multitasking. The an awful drive back across the fens. Aargh. Worst really, is that i wish I lived close enough to pop in regularly rather than 2 hours away.

the girls have been to chris’s parents today so more visiting fun.

BB is just adorably gorgeous at the moment, with her language trying out, and giving us the low down all the time. I could do with her falling asleep though…

i am greatly unhappy at work, and think I need a break to sort head out about how to resolve things [but not another broken limb, thankyou cosmic supply co!]

and looks like it has been all day. I think I can post out [well, i managed to the camps forum] but nothing getting in.

my systems administrator is baffled [never a good sign!]

sigh

we’ve had a good weekend here, with lots of home ed activity - maths, reading, piano, story of the world, hama and fimo.

SB made a particularly good fimo baby and fimo teddy holding their arms out to each other. If I had a camera…

the new webland and BBC Jam both got quite a good runaround. we must move up to the 5-7, and consider subscribing to education city now.

BB had her first haircut - I trimmed her fringe, and it looks much better now she can see again.

Both girls had great fun running madly between the different windows to try and get the best view of everybodies fireworks. the rich houses the otherside of the church put on a particularly good display last night.

BB was taught how to say open sesame, and has ejoyed that. Her language is lovely at the moment. I do love this age.

We had a very long philosophical discussion starting from the ‘lord of the dance’ hymn. She still thinks its a settee though. Actually it carried on from earlier discussions about greek gods from story of the world. Her religion still appears to be fairies. I don’t think she has quite got the concept, particularly as she coudn’t understand why the Christian God doesn’t have a name. [? Dwayne?] as the greek ones did. Pointing out there was lots of them, so they needed their own didn’t cut the mustard.

BB and SB have played beautifully together most of the weekend without too much fuss.

umm, there were a few things I wanted to blog, and have lost them. Maybe when I remember?

Like many other bloggers, I find this time of year another questioning one about what we are doing. the nights are drawing in, and the summer of running about is pretty much over. Maybe I am a pagan at heart, so November 1st really is my new year? It does sort of follow that a season of changes makes you focus on changes. So are we entirely happy with our HE provision? Well no, and to be honest, I think that is a good answer, as complacency is nothing to aim for. But, I think that actually there is a lot we as parents need to be organising so that we can give the most to SB. I suppose an equally valid question is do we feel that we are failing in our HE provision, and I would answer no to that too.

So, what would help?

1. Having a tidier house, so that we could find things when we wanted to, and the clutter - particularly in the utility room and kitchen - distracts me. It means I don’t function as well as I could. At present, pretty much our whole downstairs could do with a good sort out, as well as the garden, so it ticks in the back of my mind.

2. focusing on using the resources that we have. Etiher in having them available enough that when we are on a roll, I can just put my hand on them, and also so that we can utilise some of the scheme things well by doing them regularly.

You can tell that we are not really autonomous. I think we are mostly child led, but we do have some limited structure areas, and I guess the rest tends to be mostly autonomous, or child led in that a number of options are suggested.

What are we doing well?

The regular singapore maths and explode the code has gone well. Sb has just finished the first half of 1B, and seems comfortable with all the concepts in it. We do maths play all over the place as well as it comes up, but try and do this structured bit on a near daily basis [and usually ends up about 4 times a week.] Explode the code has also worked well for us as a resource. When we started using it, SB was adamant that she couldn’t read, and made no attempt to do so, but has been quite happy to go through the books. As we started book 4, she suddenly became aware that she could read, and that she wanted to read. Having done so much already, she can read some of the early readers [oxford reading tree, usbourne, blue nose readers, ladybird phonics] - with me - which she enjoys. However, explode the code is getting difficult for her at the moment, and she isn’t really enjoying it. So we are not suggesting it [though its in her box] and instead doing a bit of daily reading to consolidate her skills. Should she wish to go back to explode the code, it will be a child led decision. She has done a fair bit of starfall instead on the computer though.

The having loads of books actually works very well. SB often picks books out for either me to read, or her to look at pictures and do a bit of reading. The DK picturepaedia does particularly well for that. We go through phases, but on most days she will look at a ‘fact’ book - totally at her discretion [ie autonomously], and some day go through loads. For recent bedtime reading we have been working through all the books she can find on the body for example, prior to that we had a real roman fest, and early dinosaurs/greeks/egyptians/space have all captured her fancy. So I think the autonomous book availability works well for us.

Crafts work quite well. Though some more organisation would help vary them. Hama is a favourite with both her and BB, and always available on the dining room table [and unfortunately the dining room floor - ouch]. Playdough is used by both - both to do blobs with, and SB is getting more creative - cf her igloo, and today practicing doing heads so that she can make them with fimo! Speaking of fimo, SB is enjoying trying harder to create ‘good’ things with this, as I told her it was expensive, so playing around is with playdough, and ’sculpture’ is with fimo. She wants to make people, so we need to get skin tones from Merry - I did order 20 pearl blocks for free!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We haven’t done much painting for a while - and I refer you to item 1 of things to improve on! But she does a lot of drawing, sticking and colouring in, and there has been a huge change in the care she does these.

socialising - we are quite good at that, what with the 2 local home-ed groups and having visitors, I think that is fine. We don’t socialise every day, but enough.

‘activites’. SB has swimming lessons and ballet lessons, both of which she loves. The village football hasn’t restarted this year, which is a shame as she would have liked to do that, and I’m still conscious that she would like to start gym again, so I think we should organise that too.

playing. One of my desires for home ed, was that there shouldn’t be an abrupt end to the years of playing. We do plenty of playing, with dolls, imaginary games, snakes and ladders/set/cards etc etc. definitely something we do well

family togetherness another thing I was concerned about was that if SB had gone to school, she would have only really had a chance to know BB for 7 months before she went to school, and then their relationship would have been based on evenings when both were grouchy, and weekends. I’m sure they would have still loved each other, but I do think that Home-ed has given them the chance to have the beautiful sibling relationship they do.

Limited TV. well, we have always had limited tv - after all its in another room. it is mostly first thinkg in the morning cbbc if she request it, and a David Attenborough [or similar natural history] DVD in the evening wind down. We have been watching walking with animals with Kenneth Branagh most recently, and we all enjoy them with roasted chestnut supper - yum.
What we are improving at
Music. i have started to be a bit more organised on the piano front. SB definitely wants to learn, but doesn’t always want to do it. We are trying for 5-10 mins on mon/wed/sat/sun [the days when I can do it basically. Its not a huge amount of time, but enough to just tick on. We do do well on listening to a wide range of classical music and discussing how it makes us feel, and its mood. SB makes up loads of songs and dances. I like the look of the theory book in action at the 2 red boots, so I might part with some more cash!

science experiments. we are kind of up and down here. SB really enjoys this kind of thing, and i think item 1 gets in the way here too. If we could do more on the spur of the moment, I think we would be doing a lot more. This is something I think we could work on.

Story of the world. Still used irregularly, but at least used. SB enjoys listening to it, she likes the colour in bits, we should do it a bit more. 1 chapter only takes 5 mins to read and then another 5-10 to talk abit about.

The key AARRGHH moments

Still Languages, both modern and ancient. We have Latin is not so Tough, and Muzzy German and Spanish. We really must get into the habit of doing some, as I was never brilliant of languages and feel bad about it, and I think they say the sooner children start, the easier it is. Although I am seduced by the Rosetta stone, I think we must show we are starting to use what we have got before forking out on something expensive to gather dust.

The other household/craft type things - sewing/knitting etc. SB shows interest and I don’t take it forward - partly cos this is a weakness area! I read blogs about knitting/crochet/paperwork/beading and think umm, yes, she would love that. We do do baking though, cooking together etc and food groqwing, so not all bad. Oh, um Housework itself???

Balancing BB and SB so both get the best deal possible. I guess this is the perennial problem, and the payoff for the joy of having a sibling. Swings and roundabouts there.

Oh, and the biggest one for me is that I am not the key home-edder. I wonder what Chris might agree or disagree with?