Author Archives: HHaricot

Sunday walking in the WARM

It was really warm for our monthly RSPB walk with chloe, michelle and marcus, and it was lovely! lovely to be out in the sun, lovely to have a nice walk, lovely being severely bossed by BB! She particularly wanted to be first, and to run up and down the quarry steps, so thats what we did alot of! She took her ‘noculars and SB took some real ones, so they could both look at the birds. SB and Chloe also did a finding things all the way round, which they enjoyed. i loved the fact that SB thinks of the R in plRnt and grRs rather than an a – would help if we were northern!
[lots of photos to come on flickr]

back to their house for the usual sumptuous feast – yummy – and lots of game playing. i particularly liked the fire and ice game. girls all got on very well, BB was only intermittantly ‘three’. we adult had plenty of nattering time.

on the way home, SB and i sang together, and its the first time she has ever held the tune with someone else singing with her as well. so i am v happy [BB has always been able to do it]

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Happy 71st grandad

[a photo will be included here!]

so we went to the GP’s for a lovely day to celebrate grandad’s birthday. BB and SB were adorable, and had made cards. we also had a present!

After lunch we played games, including hare and tortoise [once i had re-remembered the rules!] . lovely day and lovely time.

Photos to follow.

Head in a book

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a very ordinary post for a very ordinary day

and i really enjoyed it!

SB got on with some maths and writing for the first time this week, and whizzed through it whilst BB and i did an alphabet jigsaw together with some letter practice, and then read some books together – including the excellent there was an old woman with doll she got for xmas. SB also had DK cdrom/dvd on the rainforest which she enjoyed watching, and quoted various bits to us.

We then had a huge hoover of the playroom. out mouse traps are untouched, and there have been no sightings, but our house is a good place for mice to hide, so lets see! ANyway, both girls enjoyed the hoovering, as we opened the sofa bed to get the crumbs, bB had a good bounce too.

After lunch SB did some violin practice, and BB played pools with the dinodoors. then we all played with some airdrying clay bought with ELC vouchers. I can’t say what SB did, as it has to do with a birthday this month. BB in the end made dinodoor eggs – she is looking forward to painting them later! She has quite a dinosaur thing going at the moment, and flicks through the various dinosaur books we have. SB was reading the i wonder why… series, so BB and i read the dinosaur one.

A bath and some games with BB whilst SB did something else secretive and birthday related and then chris came home with a pencil sharpener. So we sharpened all the pencils and SB did a card of the aurora borealis for grandad’s birthday. then it was teatime. SB and i watched the last 2 walking with beasts. We read some more ballet shoes, and she read me some magic tree house knights and it was bedtime.

i have managed to get 3 triples in a row in a scrabulous game. SO feeling rather happy!!

car keys and divers

well, after 3 hours of ‘system’ i am cleared of health scares, and need only a biennial mammo [unfortunately not avail on NHS but def worth paying for for peace of mind!] being in a scatty frame of mind, i took all the car keys with me. oops. this meant that chris couldn’t go to group for latin. however, after latin, group came to us for science, which was lovely, as i got to see them when i returned from hospital. science experiments are always enjoyed when water is involved. our floor got a good wash too!

Latinetc water 2: making divers

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ANd yes, it did work, the divers did dive with pressure [mostly!].

Sb went off to rainbows, where she cried because she was teased. I think all the undercurrents are getting to her. I know all mothers prob project personalities on their children a bit, and i am prob guilty of seeing her as ‘sensitive’ and maybe that encourages it, dunno.

whilst SB was at rainbows, BB and i watched ‘dinodors‘ and had a nice snuggle, and looked at pictures. poor babe was missing out on the trip yesterday and then i was out this morning. She does like to know what is happening. she is gloriously cuddly though. She did – for once- demonstrate her demanding behaviour with others around. thing is, i think i need to focus on both girls for different reasons, and don’t feel i am doing either justice. parenting is just such an enormous responsibility.
SB returned and we watched the Australopithecus episode of walking with beasts, with SB cuddling me and BB on ‘fishy on a dishy [known elsewhere as poisson rouge!]. we talked about a few issues thrown up by the film. they do seem keen on recurrently showing mating don’t they? I can feel SB edging herself towards asking the mating question, so perhaps more sensitive to it! As an aside, one of the car bits was about having babies if you weren’t married, and did people have ‘to do the kiss and dance to fertilise eggs’. I very gently queried what on earth she meant, and she pointed out that in fairy tales and real life, all weddings have dancing [which she had realised had some significance] and was this the trigger to tell an egg to grow. SO i said no [and didn't giggle!], and the ‘special hug’ bit, but… [bit odd actually, as she knows the daddy provides half the DNA, so how an dance could do that? may be the kiss?]. mind you, BB with her thing about birds and eggs, is sure she was in an egg in my tummy and hatched there.

BB then fell asleep cuddling me, so has missed tea. SB, chris and i talked more about pressure, atoms and molecules, liquids and gasses, based on the earlier experiment, and then heated up our closed system with ebts on diver staying afloat or sinking – of course he sank, so we had a discussion about that too.

SB wandered off to read a book – and the read me salient facts from why is the sea salty. She has really loved that series of books. we then read together a bit more about anglo saxons then bedtime.

BTW I am really loving the american primaries. i wish i was voting there rather than here. i would obviously be a democrat. And what a fantastic choice on many levels – its as good as the west wing!

oh, and chris has spent a fortune on a bike for SB’s birthday. Michelle, not sure when chloe due her next bike, but maybe not having marcus and chris chat might be to your advantage… Before chris raises eyebrows, we did plan to buy a good bike, as for bb too in her time, and apparently they have good resale value. we had better buy a good lock!!

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hugs and sisterly love

it takes quite a while to drive to oxford! especially if you fill up at south mimms, forget your pin and have no other means of paying… SB says she was  very worried [i had her with me to buy a drink - bb with chris at home] but chap was very friendly, and after some negotiation, SB looking worried, me groveling and apologetic we got to leave.

Sis was positive and upbeat, SB played beautifully with E. i took lunch and cake, and we just talked. uneventful drive back, with SB and I nattering about allsorts there and back again. I do so love SB.
we forgot about pancake day mind you. BB i think has had fun today, and was certainly pleased to see me when i got back.

busy busy

we had an out and about day today. HE sports session, which SB loves. we adults and bb chatted and socialised in the corridor. we then popped into the shopping centre to spend some xmas vouchers. we did well! SB and BB had fun in the ELC and Waterstones. SB and BB were impressed with buying a book in the bookstore rather than internet! We had lunch out at a place recommended by Bob before – good recommendation thanks! whilst at lunch bb refused to put on her shoes as they hurt. so we went to clarks and spent a huge amount reshodding the girls. ho humm.

so back, and SB ballet and swimming, and bB tiptapping on her hammer in pins toy. i am not totally convinced that giving bb a hammer and tacks is wise, but she has loved the toy. we also did some baking together. All watched the start of walking with beasts.

outside fun

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she – out there in pj’s. me inside! later they both wore a snowsuit! they are both planning to wear a snowsuit for the next rspb walk!

dementors on my shoulder

isn’t it so stupid being depressed about reminders of mortality. surely the response should be to get out there and enjoy life to the full. instead i have this gripping anguish. hmm.

i had a lie in, well, i am finding sleep near impossible at the moment. heard sb piano practice – she is practicing the bit before she started to find it difficult! will have a piano practice together more often i think! we did a good violin practice as well, but most of today was a lot of playing with train tracks, snuggling and watching roar, schools tv geography and walking with dinosaurs, and BB’s pod mission frenzy.

SB did do some zoombinis, with bb yelling encouragement – which is rather cute! Also she read the usborne beginners elizabeth 1, and tried to follow the quick links, they didn’t all work in firefox, so she went on to a go diego game isntead. a lot of playing outside.

BB and i read a fair number of books, and we looked at polar animals again, with the globe. which she enjoyed.she has spent quite a bit of the day being challenging. i did try and enthuse them on a science experiment, but was unsuccesful. before bed we played set and mastermind.
Chris has been trying to tame our veg patch – a job which may take a while! i beeswax polished all the wooden panels on the main staircase – that was quite a bit of effort! looks better for it.

my sister is home, which is good. i wanted to visit this weekend, but she would prefer it on tues, so the days i think are dragging because of that, and i have my own appt on wed.