Petits Haricots

ha ha i thought, how shall i make science invigorating, fun and accessible for all [is that being inclusive?]. I know, use sweeties!! but i get ahead of myself. we nearly didn’t make it, as BB had a complete wobble about going out. i am wondering if the family news has made her more wobbly, certainly SB has had uncharacteristic nightmares and sleep disturbance? anyway, wobble resolved and out we went. most of our journeys we are listening to salut serge in the car as both sb and bb like the catchy tunes, and bb joins in. i prob need a volume 2 for sb, but can’t see what that would be? the prob with salut serge is that most of the time at the mo i am singing these blasted catchy tunes!!!

the littlies group worked best, as it was simplified most. we made ‘mushrooms’ with proper filter paper and a wick, placed 3 different smudges of m and m colouring spaced around the centre, and then popped the wicks in the water. hey presto, it worked!! for the bigger group i had given them a proper testtube, filter maper instructions sheet, but their filter paper wasn’t so good, so the ‘affinity for paper’ was much greater than the ‘affinity for water’ but we had a good chat about what should happen, the technical words and the littlies results!! it was a bit difficult for me as bb was being v much attached by the umbilical cord! [a klingon as katy would say!], but as soon as i could give her attention, she skipped away merrily [grr] and did some beautiful sewing with merry, as did SB for their samplers. Also today was music and poetry with gina and latin and parachute games with katy. all v much enjoyed. BB did a clarinet session with gina, and is loving it and getting on nicely. must take clarinet next time we visit mum for a ‘masterclass’ – and today i got to have a good chat with the grown ups too – always nice! was really proud of SB when she sacrificed watching a film with the majority of children to go and keep the child who didn’t want to watch it company – though she said all she got to do was watch him ds, she knows a bit more about that game but i love the sensitivity she shew there. hugs for SB!

we returned in time to get sb to brownies – i drove her to the wrong venue, she skipped in, i drove off, and one of the owls had to take her to the right place and then took her back to judo! ah well, it will no doubt be put on my slate of parental misdeeds!! BB meanwhile was initially doing her k’nex dinosaurs she got for her birthday – she is really careful at joining these together, and v good at following the pattern – but refused to let me play :sob: nor was i allowed to play when she played with her doggies, making up stories for them about rabbitty babbity and turtle wurtle!! [v cute]

curry watching life in the freezer on SB’s return. i have still failed to sort out the personnel thingy crisis at work, coming at it from all angles tho!

monday was a catching up day. both girls did a reasonable bit of formal HE. SB some end of 3B workbook1, some schofield and simms grammar, some galore park science on magnets and piano practice, and BB did some french and before the code. BB then did her rather fab birthday kit of a dinosaur puppet, which i would highly recommend. she glued and painted for ages – though not finished yet, will try and get her to finish so we can show it off!! both had some great fun ds-ing together.

Then Chris took BB to his parents for a sleepover, and I took SB to ballet for her last lesson of the term, which is an open class. She looked really happy and confident, and the next exam is june or nov, so with the occasional extra practice, hoping she will be ok this time. i think last time i managed to go was the one after her broken foot – so obviously not her best one! SB and I then had a girls night in, with her choosing tea, and then we played settlers of catan – which she is currently enjoying a lot, before bedtime stories and then chris back.

tues – well hopefully chris is going to blog his and SB’s day in london and visiting the british museum montezuma exhibition.

it has been ages since we did an RSPB walk. the last one was cancelled due to various ailments, and the current one looked a bit iffy on the weather front. we thought we would give it a go though! we wrapped up v warm, took a flask of soup, and set off! miracle of miracles, the driving rain, biting winds and near sleet of it changed to sunshine! just in time for the manor borns to join us. it was perfect weather for a late autumn/early winter walk. the light was ‘just right’ and SB and C raced away whilst bb and i played hide and seek. its a ‘new route’ and i think we all thought it lovely. it did lead us to a previous infamous route, containing not only the most disappointing toad pond, but also the site of ‘brickie’ who is still there!! SB found some overwintering ladybirds in a fallen down tree, there were lots of mushrooms, some deer markings and just generally a lovely walk with lovely company. BB had a bit of a wail when she got her trousers wet but, bless her, she did recover from this, and she did walk the whole walk. so both girls got an icecream [yes, it was cold!]

we repaired back to the manor for another fab meal by marcus – we hadn’t got ourselves organised enough to remember a desert. C had made some delish focaccia bread as well, and many complements gained. good food, good company and then a retreat home. lovely!

how did that go so quickly! love you, oh wild one!