Yet Another Chris Catchup…….

Tuesday wasn’t very exciting. Didn’t go to the library since awaiting DHL yet again trying to deliver something – they failed again, something about the van maybe (it appeared the next day on the doorstep, so much for signing for it…..). This was another wodge of the Magic Tree House Books – so we seem to have plenty of those now for SB to read. (we also have some spare – Helen managed to bid on two lots on Ebay, and there was a bit of overlap with some other we had).
A long bath with lots of bubbles for the girls.

Some housework – not that it seems to show really. But we did put loads of washing away and tidy up the girl’s bedroom.

A bit more Maths. The girls got out the Happy Mais. Butterbean had started the other day spearing the bits onto cocktail sticks. They sat using up most of a box of cocktail sticks skewering Mappy Mais to Happy Mais Kebabs, then they set up a Kebab Shop yum yum, tasty. some reading was happening at some point as well, but then it normally does. cooking dinner for later whilst they did this.
Swimming lessons rounded off the day. Not entirely convinced of the worth of this at the moment, doesn’t really seem to be a lot of progress, though I suppose it’s happening – we haven’t been swimming much lately so don’t get to see her in action much I guess.. Lack of feedback I suspect. Thing is, last year at the end of each term, they would tell you if your child had passed the next level, you got a card with the various criteria marked, on whether they had passed, needed to practice it a bit more etc. and then move onto another class the following term if necessary.

Now they have a rolling process. Once a child passes the appropriate level, then they move onto another class (assuming there is a space), but until you do, there is no arrangement for feedback (well not yet anyway). It’s feeling somewhat unsatisfactory.

Late finish for Helen today, meant BB in bed when she got home and a long day for everyone.

Wednesday we went off to visit the Fitzwilliam Museum with a local HE group – no Helen, she had to work today . They had a session of about 1 1/2 hours with the museum staff, looking at pictures, amour and other things. apparently enjoyable, I didn’t get to see it as I had BB. Had coffee with a couple of other parents until the little ‘uns got restless and then took BB outside to run about. Climbed steps a lot (ekk! , got to the top, realized there was a sheer drop to the side….), played chase and boo around the sculpture. Wahted the lift for the building works which fascinated BB.

I like the detailing on this little shed hidden behind the main steps, someone had made the effort to cut a nice little ventilation holes, not just drill a few holes

Afterwards we lunched on the grass and then went for a visit to the Botanic Gardens. so I didn’t actually get to see inside the museum. Tried to do a bit of shopping but then it started to rain, so got the bus back to the Park and Ride. Girls had a bit of a picnic in the back of the car before coming home.

Thursday seemed to mostly disappear into BB’s Toddler gym followed by shopping – nothing exciting, Tesco’s , cat food (cue lots of looking at the fish), DIY, Staples – where did the time go?

Home to a bit of playing, dinner cooking, maths, ballet lesson (see below re the cycling) dinner eating and another late finish for Helen.

Friday. Bad start, SB came into our bed crying about something I’ve since forgotten, at about 5.30. soon followed by BB, who drunk milk and then was a total pain, jumping, climbing around the bed, wiggling and kicking, so gave up and took her down stairs where I dozed in front of breakfast TV and BB fell back to sleep

Umm – lots of time doing maths, she had a bit of mental block re place value and how once you got ten units/tens etc. then it carried over onto the next column. So we played with cuisenaire rods and things . Did a bit more of First Language Lessons (well lesson 2 ….), it focuses on a poem Brown and Furry about a caterpillar, so we’ve read that a number of times, and talked about what it’s about. SB made a present for Mummy – an old container, wrapped and decorated and filled with M&Ms

We had an impromptu experiment outside to do with pendulums – aka the swings. she noticed that BB in the baby seat was going faster than her (the ropes are much shorter on the baby swing), so we investigated what happened when we changed the length of the ropes on the swing (shorter = faster if you wondered). They ran around and played for a bit whilst i did a few garden jobs. Greenhouse is looking good at the moment.

Another lateish finish for Helen, glad it’s the weekend now