Still ill

I'm getting very tired of this. Am still feeling distinctly rough and discovering that my pelvic floor muscles are not up to the challenge of all this coughing :-o ! Mind you, looking on the bright side, the last time I was this bad, I was 8 months pregnant with Benjamin, and that was no fun at all. At least I don't have to try and sleep sitting upright this time.

So, my Mum has come on a mercy mission, at least as much for the dog's sake as anybody else's ;-) She hasn't been walked much lately, poor thing.

Have managed to achieve one or two things though - moving at one-tenth normal speed, I excavated our bedroom of the pile of clothes that was threatening to smother us all, have read Tamsin a few stories including the lovely Usborne Nativity lift-the-flap book which we both love, played "Tummy Ache" board game and attempted to get Tamsin to stick to the rules (rolling eyes icon required!), done some 'rhythm' games where one of us (Bill, Tamsin and me) would tap out a rhythm using a selection of kitchen implements that Tamsin brought out for us, and the others had to copy it. Which reminds me, she wants drums. Real ones. OMDB, I think! Or at least, not until she has a playhouse down at the bottom of the garden we can send her to.

I've been wrestling with the Christmas present issue. Have bid on a few things on Ebay for her but not won them (My Little Pony stuff and a ballet dress just for dressing-up fun) but what she really wants is everything she has seen advertised on Nick Jr (rolls eyes again!). Yes, we've had the "all they want to do is sell you things so they can have all your money" conversation, but she's not convinced yet! I am discovering that I could easily become one of those indulgent mothers who buys her child almost everything they want .... so it's a good job we haven't got much money! Not that that stops some people, I suppose, but it does me :-)

Isabelle is perfecting her standing alone, and continues to be thrilled at herself! She can also walk being held by only one hand, so solo walking can't be far away. She's discovered the delights of flinging her arms up in dramatic gestures just for the fun of it, chucking stuff off tables onto the floor, and opening and shutting the drawers in Tamsin's bedroom and throwing all the clothes onto the floor.

This evening my Mum asked about what regulations or curriculum we had to follow in home-educating ..... and I thought I detected a slight tightening of the lips at my joyful answer that the LEA, all being well, wouldn't even know we existed! I expounded enthusiastically about their lack of rights and used several snippets from the latest MP list (have to still call it that :-) ) discussion. She made no particular comment. I may hear her opinion by some roundabout route or critical comment in months or years to come!