We got given this by a friend of Little Nanny’s (Helen’s Nanny), as they didn’t want it anymore.
I love it, I could never go and buy such a wonderful piece of Christmas tackyness, but every time I see it it makes me smile.? Though I don’t get the butterflies.
It needs video, a photo would never do it justice
[vimeo]123156[/vimeo]
Posted in Daft Stuff, video
Just realised that there was a draft I started last Monday morning, but never really any further than that blogging last week….. Mostly after the disaster that was the week before with BB being ill, it was nice to be back to normal, though I think it has taken a while for BB to get back to her normal sleep patterns. It’s slightly awkward at the moment though as she finds it hard to get through the day without nap (yesterday, she fell asleep while we were reading on the sofa at 4.30 and didn’t go to sleep until we went to bed.) Even if I get her to take nap earlier in the day she still takes awhile to get to sleep at night. If you wake her up in the middle of her daytime nap to stop her sleeping to long then she is just grumpy for about an hour until she wakes up properly.
The girls spent ages this morning putting glitter onto the cards they had made with Helen last week. Well, SB mostly, BB spent ages spreading glue over the sheets of newspaper. (BTW, those upside down squeezing ketchup bottles make good PVA bottles). This seemed to take up much of the morning. Other than that, in the afternoon, spent a good while on the sofa with SB reading and looking through one of those cutaway type books about modes of transport. So much talk about motorbikes, engines, the Orient Express, ships, why the Titanic sunk
In between there has been lots of playing – esp. the animals and the toy shop stuff, though there do tend to be arguments over the till, they are both playing together very nicely a lot of the time now, and SB has spent ages playing with various decorations from the playroom Xmas tree, standing by the tree whilst long impenetrable stories are enacted
Posted in art and crafts, Butterbean, geography, science, Stringbean
“Pider”
“Nake”
“Efant”
“Chips”
“Biccie”
“Cake”
“Dairyleeeee”
“I want more chocat”
“I want more orange”
“I need tuddle”
“Breakie”
“Bumpy de head”
“Pardon-dee – burp/bottom”
“Hama-deeds”
”I like gannet” – came out with that one the other day - gannet = Pomegrante
“I like Mudder Goose” (Leapad book)
“I hadding…..” (whatever- as in I had)
“I do it, I do it” (most likely something quite impractical)
Don’t yer love toddler-speak 
Posted in Butterbean
It was our 2nd blogiversary on the 20th November and our 1000th post all the way back in September.
| 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
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
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
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
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
BB has been very poorly the last couple of days. She has had a cold for a littlewhile, which seemed to turn into something more Flu-y. Yesterday she had a very high temperature (high 38′s sometimes 39+ – even 40+ at one point – eek!), and spent all the time pretty much snoozing on the sofa or in someone arms, she isn’t eating at all, though drinking plenty of milk – though sicked that up afew times – curds anyone :-). Lots of doseing up with Paracetomol and Nurofen (Nurofen always seems to be much better at bringing down the temp – but only 3 doeses a day, but she can have both so alternate them for maximium effect )
Still a high temp when she got up this morning. So took her to the docs (luckily, literally just round the corner). checked her chest, ears etc. – as expected he said just to carry on. Kind of unneccessary really, but some how having someone else confirm that things are ok helps – sorry Jan if we were just one of those time wasters 
Of course as soon as we got there, the magical doctors effect took hold, and BB got off my lap and was playing with the bead frame toy there 
They are both now watching TV – I am going to try and sort out some of the disater zone that is the kitchen – but right now am zoning out a bit. BB has basically woken at 4 am or so the last 3 mornings and not really gone back to sleep properly – poor little Bean. And as Helen is working she has been in the spare room while I have BB.
SB has been very good really, and mostly very helpful. She did get a bit grumpy yesterday afternoon/evening with lack of direct attnetion for her – combined with knackered parents. We even got some HE in.
She did one of the sheets to go with the SOTW 1 chapter on Romans, Some maths – numbers to 100 – tens/units etc. Easy stuff for her really, but she seems to like workign through all the bits in the books, so just going with it – i’m sure it’s all good practice. She found some dinosaur stickers that came in the paper a couple of weeks ago, so she started on big picture to put those on. Played on BBC Jam and Ed City. Measured our temps with the thermometer. Watched a couple of episodes of the Trials of Life. – so not so bad I guess.
Missed out on going to the library this morning, but my parents are coming round this afternoon, so I can take her to her swimming lesson.
Now – about that kitchen……
Posted in art and crafts, Butterbean, numeracy, science, Stringbean's HE