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Category Archives: General
muddling along
Well, I am anyway. Perhaps in common with a number of others on this blogring Chrsitmas has snuck up on me. I have a craft cupboard full of good intentions. We do have trees up, and SB has done lots of Xmas cards – even if not posted [first 2 handed out today though] and I am mostly done on pressies. no cooking/baking preparation. House a mess.
I have also been letting the side down with spending so much time at work. 2-3 days a week I don’t make it home in time to see SB, which makes me feel very dislocated from family life.
I have been appraised – and passed. Wait to see how job planning going for next year [AKA how many hours they think they can wrangle out of me for nothing]. I just missed being excellent enough for an excellence award – but a miss is as good as a mile [or something?], so feeling grumpy.
SO onto better things. BB is weaned, and failry happily. A couple of feeds snuck at Barbara’s but none other now for a month. Kind of sad and kind of happy, but def right! She is a total cutie, and talks beautiful toddler talk, and has wierd dancing shuffle runs and mooch walks that she does to show her mood – saying OTay as she goes off to do something. Still very edible.
SB has been reading more, and enjoying a number of books from the library – including a good transport Xray book, and ocean book and archaeoloogy book. should have done another story in while the bear sleeps tonight, but she preferred the xray transport as a bedtime story! She’s enjoyed watching robin Hood as well as various of the David Attenborough natural history DVD’s. I need to spend more time with her, as I also miss our reading and craft sessions. She had her dancing thing last before week – which I did manage to get back for [terrible temporary camera!]
today we went to Merry’s. I am glad she lives relatively close, and we really should see each other more – maybe when I am made redundant or summat… instant disappearance of SB with the older girls. Fran tried to encourage them to put on a show, but SB and Amelie weren’t being very thespian! They then all disappeared off pretty much for the whole day. SB did look gorgeous in Fran’s skating outfit though. BB and Josie mostly played together – though BB did terrorize her a bit – she is obviously getting a nasty habit of face scratching – not often, last infact with R at Barbara’s. mostly over a Dora laptop though!
Merry and I gossiped a lot, Looked forward to Melrose and did a bit of fimo – Merry made a very beautiful statuette and I did some fiddly angels that fell apart in backing and made me stroppy! The bordeaux red in the classic range is a perfect angel colour. Merry intervention and they are now hanging on our Xmas tree! [they look rather brill actually on the tree, the white one looks best, we used superglue with no ill effects]
oh, Chris went out and did his usual timewarp thing, but did return with camera. Didn’t get the paper i asked him too though! oh we got SB’s mug back, and it looks lovely [from that painting place] and SB’s choice of colours works really well.
Anyway, thanks Merry for a lovely day. Everyone should have a fimo angel or 2 on their tree, and listening to carols is good for lifting the mood! [as well as spending the day with friends]. I am now going to watch telly and make a few angels. I am sure I have bought this colour, so will search it out!
Posted in art and crafts, Butterbean, Dance/drama, General, history, literacy, Out and About, socialisation, Stringbean's HE
New camera
woohoo! will blog about lovely day at merrys making fimo angels when the girls are in bed!
Posted in General
A belated blog moments post!
It was our 2nd blogiversary on the 20th November and our 1000th post all the way back in September.
From Knitting Yogurt from Dottyspots
| You Are A Rowan Tree |
 And while you crave attention, you do it without ego. You are an interesting mix of contradictions – and very unpredictable. You are both dependent and independent, calm and restless. You are passionate, emotional, gregarious, and (at times) unforgiving. |
Posted in Daft Stuff, General
A breather
for me anyway. I have been working hard. I have my yearly appraisal tomorrow, so have been busy finding excellence in everything I do – always a hideous prospect – and filling in huge pointless forms – even worse. I guess the forms are pointful to SOMEone to say I have been duly processed for another year. I still have about 4 hours of finishing some online learning module, and somemore form to do.
Our local hospital is still up for grabs. Due to politics, they aren’t likely to shut it, but are doing the death by a thousand cuts option – i guess oping we all leave without being paid redundancy money. Think again! I have earmarked that money.
Anyway, in case chris doesn’t blog, they went to CHEF sports and played on Monday. We have done loads more Cnristmas cards monday eve and lots of education city, read the usboune starting point science under the earth.
Not entirely sure what they did on Tues as I got home at nearly 11.
SO today I had a lie in. When I got up, SB was helping Chris with the washing, and BB and I did painting – she is very keen on painting. I will pop here before I forget that one of her newer tunes is the Hallelujah chorus from the Messiah. very funny. She loves painting and her talking is getting more and more obvious – except when she has a strop. SHe has rather enjoyed the whole idea of advent calendars – she has a chocolate one and a sticker one. She’s not so keen on the waiting for it idea though.
SB also joined us painting, then we did an usbourne puzzle book – school before she moved onto general playing and building things with BB. BB and I read all the red nose readers as she is very fond of them. Ahe has obviously remembered her birthday as sang the first line of happy birthday fairly interminably when she saw the birthday cake.
SB did some more education city – definitely something that she is much more keen on this year, whilst BB and I looked at pictures and messed around. Some lunch was had, and I was rung 3 times by work – sigh.
After lunch we did one of those science test-tubes you can uy in tescos. we did the gravity one which was fun. SB had a good memory for gravity and its effects, and we talked about defying gravity and ways to do it. thrust/lift/ energy etc. the popper was fun, though BB lost it. Our staircase was perfect for throwing the parachutist down the gap and seeing it work. Also good for the experiment was seeing what might happen if BB packed your parachute. The extra boingy ball kept all 4 of us amused. A quick revision of the key ideas and how flight worked and then we went to the next activity prepared fby chris
Which was mincemeat making. Lots of raisins scattered across the kitchen. BB mostly played games scooping the nutmeg around in a bowl. Smelled gorgeous. has to settle overnight [a delia recipe] and then jarred ready for when we make mince pies.
A calm down reading roman gods in story of the world leading into a discussion of the planets again, and ranking them to likely gravity. The a day late we started the barefoot books while the bear sleeps. Chris also picked up something called christmas soup for the soul, with a small story for each day of advent, and we started to catch up.
The girls had a wild bath with the jacuzzi bit on and then have done a dancing show, eaten curry for tea [tea was running late] and now BB has done some more sticking Xmas cards. SB is still eating – she is very slow at eating! Bed any second now. Am contemplating reading The Hobbit as a bedtime story now she has finished Charlie and the chocolate factory. [BB shrieking that she 'Hadding a bath' - as in she has already had it] . yep bedtime. just finished in time!
raterh cutely BB has been singing a Josie song – as in for josie i think! SB said we were supposed to be sharing pomegranates, so that is what all 3 of us are doing before bed. really juicy pomegranate too
Posted in art and crafts, Books, Butterbean, Cooking, Dance/drama, General, history, numeracy, science
very very tired
something to do with a game of risk.
last week did have some redeeming moments – one of them being SB saying we were best friends… like Becky and Barnaby !!! And actually, we have had lots of spontaneous home -ed type activities and conversations all over the place, from ordering counting and using multiplication to work out how much money she had in her purse, to how to make money! Bits of history, science and anatomy thrown in for good measure.
But the week really got to its high point when we went off to Barbara’s. We went fri rather than thurs due to an appalling night. this did mean that her and E missed skating, which was a shame. Lots of adults nattering and children playing with all sorts. i liked their showing off what they had learnt! They conversed in French, did multiplication tables, counted, read danced etc, all not quite competitively beacause of the year gaps between B, SB and E [youngest to oldest] Though SB was a bit panic struck when she thought the maths on the table was E’s, when in fact it was from an A level tutoring!!!!!! [that would have been scary]. BB and R got on very well most of the time as well, though BB seems to be acquiring a delight with scratching that we are going to have to deal with.
the next day Jax and co popped over in the afternoon as well and stayed for dinner – I have to say we were treated to gourmet vegetarian – yummy – from someone who said she had only one dish to her repertoire. SO anyway, lots more adult chatting and children playing.
Having access to children’s channels on freeview, SB also watched a fair number of adverts whilst we adults had a lie in, so now she HAS decided what she would like for Xmas [a baby Annabel and accoutrements] . Humm, so I told her all pressies bought, so she needs to think earlier what she might want for her birthday [not really that far away] whether it be towers of doom and knights or yet another baby. [oh, her hair tangler had arrived when we got home - fab!]
they mostly played imaginative games, with the dolls house, pattern blocks, hama, lego, trains and infact everything and anything, and without fuss[much] on tidying! so a great time was had by all. I was impressed by E’s handwriting books. We must get on with handwriting – our getty and dubay is languishing in a cupboard!
Us adults were not AT ALL sensible though, as we started a game of risk [which I had never played before] at 9.30, and at 4am decided to just all retire!!!! TBH, I think Barbara had a slight edge, but after a rocky start from me, and some mistakes – and some appalling dice throwing! – there wasn’t much in it, though the lads [helped also by appaling dice throwing] were in decline.
Unfortunately we woke BB going to bed, so i am fairly sleepless, as Chris was driving back I elected to be the early riser – aarrghhh. So, am about to watch some Robin Hood with SB and then to bed.
oh, education city is being a real hit at the moment, and they have added lots more since we last trialled it. I am going to buy it this time when the free trials run out!
Posted in General, Out and About
It didn’t get much better……
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 :roll:)
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 
Posted in General
reduced to tears
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…
Posted in art and crafts, Butterbean, General, history, literacy, numeracy, science, Stringbean's HE
i hate laptops
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.
Posted in art and crafts, Butterbean, Dance/drama, General, IT, literacy, numeracy, online resources, science, Stringbean's HE