Another lost evening

Yes, yet another evening slept through, slightly different this time in that we all (kids and parents) fell asleep together in the big bed and nobody moved until 11.30pm... at which stage Bill and I got up to do some of the stuff we hadn't got done.

Anyway, yesterday had some notable stuff. Firstly, Tamsin didn't request TV at breakfast time as usual, but generally tootled about and got interested in her Learning Land CDs and magazines again. After breakfast she got on with some of the CD-Rom learning activities, including a 'spot the difference' puzzle which is so important in learning to read, but which isn't one of her strongest skills, so it was good she got some practice on that and I saw some improvement after she had done several of them. Cutting with scissors is another of her weaknesses, so I printed off some practice pages (can't remember where from (maybe Donna Young?) but one of the sites recommended on the MuddlePuddle e-mail list recently). She didn't do very well! The first page I showed her had horizontal lines printed across the page to practice cutting, and she insisted that she couldn't do it that way, but cut one big vertical cut instead and then just chopped the rest into little bits. Perhaps a little practice everyday is called for. It's another skill that indicates fine motor control and therefore helps with writing later on.

Mid-morning we took the dog out for a walk, and practiced careful listening. A couple of times I stopped and asked her to shut her eyes, and then tell me all the sounds she could hear. She got most of them - normally 4 or 5 different sounds at a time - but strangely she missed what to me was the most obvious which was the grand orchestra of birdsong! Later on (when we were far from anyone in the fields, LOL!) we practiced copying the sounds we could hear. Both these skills are recommended in the recently-received Fundamentals course.

She did of course watch Dora the Explorer in the morning (NB Isabelle slept nearly all morning - in the sling!) and then, after a quick lunch, we went off to Stratford-on-Avon. I wanted to get some summer shoes or sandals for her, and some slip-on trainers for me. Success for Tamsin but not for me. Then we went off to the swimming pool which was only the second time for me taking both of them. I had got some arm-bands recently, so although it seems a retrograde step to start putting Tamsin in inflatable stuff when she's never been used to it, it helped me feel a bit more confident in dealing with both of them on my own.

When we got home, Tamsin had Isabelle absolutely screaming with laughter by jumping over her repeatedly - a move which I felt was somewhat risky but it was so funny to hear Isabelle laughing so much that I didn't stop them, and no injuries occurred!

Then came dinner, which Tamsin refused (brown rice instead of white ...) and the somnolent evening.

This morning (Tuesday) Tamsin is back at playschool, so I'm really enjoying the peace in the house as so far Isabelle is still asleep and I can get some stuff done!