the house is a disaster
I had a really really crap on call [ie < 2 hours sleep] chris feeling rough and gone back to bed can’t find anything, can’t bear the mess, can’t bear the overwhelming need to sleep cat has wee-ed in the suitcases may cancel melrose at this rate
Posted in General
chris has gone to bed very early the last 2 nights as he has a cough and not feeling brill. This means that on Thurs, very little happened while I was a t work. BB went to gym, and SB said hello to all the girls as they passed her, and did a bit of colouring, rather than anything else. I don’t think they did anything when they got home – she has played on the poisson rouge site alot. Then she had ballet. SB wants to restart gym classes.
SO today, before I went to work, I put some singapore maths on the table and getty and dubay and explode the code. SHe did do some maths, looked at a free horrible science cd rom with chris and she and BB did some glass bottle[ok plastic] painting from a kit, which they both enjoyed, and since there are a few of them, those with imminent birthdays may be blessed by a hand decorated gift! They did do something else, I am sure?
OUr singapore 2 books arrived from half moon – hooray, and excellent service. Also arrived was a cheap farm through time from ebay, so we looked at half of that when I got home. Sb also read to me another ORT book – she really is getting far more fluent, and sounding out far less words. she even made a creditable stab at ‘sympathetically’.
She also did a bit of the science leappad on how the body works, or where food goes or something! Then BB got a bit territorial, so they switched to mother goose. BB has lost the only book for her little leappad, so disaster! ‘it is actually mine’ all over the place. [i have a little sister, she is small and funny]
SB’s gone to bed listening to horrible romans – which she can pretty much quote. I have been busy on call, and may get another call shortly, so can’t bake cake, and put off doing anyhting sensible. T-bird may be ready for Melrose, but with Chris under the weather, we haven’t even started. Oh, and the new top i bought from ebay and got sent to Jax is going to be too small! [aargh]
Anyway, tomorrow SB has to make 2 birthday cards, we have to shop for monday food, pack and well maybe tidy a bit?
Edit by Chris:
It’s not so much the cough, that’s been hanging around for a few weeks now, and is probably gradually wearing off. mostly it is just annoying, esp. when I want to get to sleep. On Thursday, some other lurgy came along as I felt pretty dreadful no energy and awful back and muscle aches While I was at toddler gym thing,? i had to sit down on the mats becuase of my back – but then I felt just like lying down on the mats and going back to sleep 8-).
?
We managed to do? Tesco visit, via Tesco’s cafe for a top up breakfast for the girls. But i had to abandon it partway through, as i felt so bad, once we got home BB was asleep, so I collapsed on the sofa with BB, whilst SB amused herself – playing,? ‘putering, looking at a couple of books, not sure exactly.
They insisted that i give them lunch by about 3 
– not really sure what else happened until ballet lesson, which I would probably have given up on but she missed last weeks due to the power cut, and will miss next weeks due to our Melrose camp.
Fed them (and us)? pretty dreadful looking dinner of pizza from the shop and baked pots. It was quite a relief to get BB into bed, as then I could just lie down and go to sleep – bliss – I was out by 9? pm
Friday was better, except I still had dreadful backache,and needed to endlessly rest it, and had to avoid picking up BB if i could.
Helen’s pretty much covered it i think – no i don’t think we did anything much else Helen, though there was fair bit of playing in between, and we did managed to clear the pre-Melrose washing backlog But her maths session did start at about 12.20. encompass lunch, and BB’s entire nap until 3 
She just seems to get endlessly distracted :-)The CD ROM was one of the Free Kellogg’s ones, not bad, but it doesn’t have any sort of narration of the text, so SB needed my assistance to read and navigate it. I did have to chase them out of the kitchen after they managed to un-zero my scales twice helping measuring out for the flapjacks.
Again it was just bliss to collapse into bed with BB 
today, not so bad, backache still there but reducing, not feeling as washed out as I did yesterday?
Posted in art and crafts, Butterbean, Dance/drama, General, history, literacy, numeracy, SB-PE, science
this is the moroccan stew. and will be fairly similar this time!
[note to self - this time 25/33]Have also made some choc fudge raisin brownies – dairyfree and nut free
Chris has made flapjacks, but they have coconut in them though dairyfree
We are making a tea fruit loaf.
not enough to cover a hobbit’s toes though.
bad nights sleep. BB woke early. must get this sleeping lark sorted.
today we did do HE – some singapore maths, addition and subtraction across the 10 in tens and units. SOme getty and dubay – trying to adjust SB’s pen position so it is more comfortable, and getting her to start at top not bottom of letter. Some education city.
We also baked some brownies – ostensibly for melrose, but the top fell off as we got out of tray, so not sure re burnt offerings? The jelly didn’t set either btw.
We went outside and measured up the place for the playhouse. we are getting one of these in the blue and white with heart design shutters mode. Sb played with the snow until her fingers froze.
We did a bit of looking at lions, read our various books, looked at their habitat etc, and downloaded some stuff from enchanted learning. well, the enchanted learning was a pain, cos we haven’t used it for ages, could remember our login details, or email address used – so much palavering. Did it in the end. SB did a bit of reading to me. She did some fiddling about on nick jr and playing
BB and i played marble runs, education city and kneebouncers website. also had some animals pairs cards, so spotted the animals and made them families. SB joined in too.
Anyway, BB has been a pain this eve at sleeping, Chris just taken her up to try again. I haven’t been able to sew as fingers still numb and tingley [not too bad now though] and SB wants a bunny tail on the fantastic fleecy sleepsuit that Katy made.
Posted in Butterbean, Cooking, General, geography, literacy, numeracy, online resources, writing
SB today:
‘Daddy, you know you say you get tired later on in the afternoon, well, if you went to bed an hour earlier, then you’d have an hours more energy for playing with us.
And if you went to bed 2 hours ealier you have TWO more hours energy.
AND if you went to bed when me and BB go then you have LOADS of energy all day’
So, on that note, I think I’m going to bed. If I don’t faff I could be in bed before 11, which is pretty much unheard of.
Posted in General
Enomous was Butterbean word of the day. We had an ‘enormous poopy’ when I changed her nappy , and we had an ‘Enormous Orange’ at lunch time, and a couple of othe ‘enormous-es’, which i’ve forgotten exactly what they were. Quite amusing listening to her say it really.
Other than that, I seem to fell a lot at the moment that time slips through my fingers, without almost noticing, January seems to be rapisly approaching the end already, and the middle of the afternoon seems to appear where I imagine lunchtime at the very most should be resting comfortably.
So, today, me and BB were up first thing, but I let SB sleep in a bit as she had a busy weekend. But me and BB went and woke her up at someshere between 9 and 9.30 am.
Sleeping in itself doesn’t bother me exactly, but I think it’s probably one of the reasons she can’t always get to sleep (left to our own devices, both me and Helen are got to bed at 2 am,get up after 10 am sort of people anyway). also it tends to mean that the morning can be well on it’s way by the time she has faffed-breakfasted-faffed-dressed-brushed-faffed etc. We just seem to be missing out on a useful amount of time becuase of this. so there is plan to wake her up if she doesn’t get up anyway somewhere 8 – 8.30, with the aim to be ready for action an hour later.
So somehow the morning then evaporated, a bit of reading with SB, breakfast, a bit of magic painting for both of them, then getting dressed etc. – interspered with the normal domestic tasks, of washing up, sorting washing, a bit of tidying etc., before you new it it was getting near 12 and time to take BB to the docs. Of course docs appointment > chemist > home (probably a 5 minute walk at the most to do the circuit) at BB speed took a good 1/2 hour or more probably.
Lunch of left over soup, 1/2 hour of the little toe show and then settled SB down with a bit of maths (an exercise from a singapore Maths revision book) which moslty managed with no problem – though struggled with a subtracting 4 sequence in the 70-80′s range for some odd reason. But she spent probably getting on 1 1/2 – 2 hours doing it ! – Helen came back just as she was finishing it.
I took Bb back to docs for a jab, SB helped Helen finish of the Grape jelly she started at the weekend – with a bit of added redcurrant it has a lovley colour, and quick finger-dip tasted good. She also did some bits out of the SOTW activity book re the Romans, and Hannibal I think. Whilst tea was cooking, SB was sent off to tidy the playroom, she was somewhat hampered though, because BB was in their and kept demanding that SB do ‘Education city’ and ‘lola’ (cbeebies site) with her
We talked with SB about the idea of doing projects and would she like to do one. Not sure she really understands what a project might actually be though. anyway she said, animals, which we then narrowed down to Lions, so they piled up a few books with potential stuff about Lions in. Try to have a start on that tomorrow, see how it goes.
While I put BB to bed, Helen and SB did a bit more ello, as demonstrated here :
[vimeo]131609[/vimeo]
Posted in Butterbean, history, literacy, numeracy, Stringbean's HE, video
got home from work to find SB and Chris engaged in the longest ever maths sum [46-18 I think!!]. I don’t think they had spent all 90 minutes on that one sum though! There had been a bit of a lie in and some painting and some tidying I believe, the a romp to the doctors about BB’s eczema-ish dribble chin, for which we have a steroid and antifungal cream. She’s had it on and off for a while, but just looking work at the moment.
Oh, and BB – what on earth are we going to do at Melrose about her potty training – it is going to be a nightmare unless we persuade her to use nappies, and that seems very retrograde. Though today has not been a good day!
Actually, for SB I think we need to work on number bonds again for a bit, as its 6-4 of it that often gets her.
Anyway, BB then went for her pneumovacc and SB and I finished the grape and spare redcurrent jelly. She then did lots of colouring in of her roman SOTW sheets. including a map of roman control at julius caesar. i remembered about our roman emperor book, and read from that about julius[we had already done the sotw chapter] she – thank goodness – could tell me rome fought cathage – wayhay – as she did the hannibal maze!
She wants to learn about lions this week – so rootled through the shelves to find likely lion books. I was wondering whether we could have a proto try at a baby lapbook??? [a real home-edder!!!!] partly cos I was so impressed at Kath and M’s. I am going to try and sort the desk for her tomorrow.
She has done some listening to little toe, and showing BB various websites. BB has been gorgeous, mostly running about, dancing [weeing] and had an early restorative bath to get her to bedtime! She really is adorable, even when she wee’s on you! [oopsie]
SB had a slightly later bedtime, as we did more of that jungala ello, which we are both finding fun. [design and technology!]
Posted in art and crafts, Butterbean, Cooking, General, geography, history, numeracy
