Lent comes early

If I blog this, it might help me to stick to it, as I'll have all you lot to answer to as well.

I was quite horrified at myself the other day scarfing an entire pack of caramel chocolate digestives, although my choccy biccy habit has been quite substantial for a long time. The next day I picked up a copy of "You are what you eat" by Gillian McKeith in a charity shop, and browsed through it in the evening. Now, in true FlyLady babystep mode, I cannot promise to give up chocolate biscuits, cake and the like forever, but I obviously have a serious sugar habit that needs to be taken in hand as much as possible, so I am taking it 'one day at a time'. I have stocked up on bananas, apples, and dried fruit and nuts and am shunning the 'baddies'. Let's just see how it goes. The temptation is very powerful.

Not a great deal happening educationally - well, it is the weekend. I did spot Tamsin going through the phonics 'folder' thing (that we brought to Melrose) with Daddy yesterday for quite a long time. She's played with Brio train track, and we started this morning with a go at the Egyptian Hieroglyphs game. She had a lesson in how to deal with social embarrassment when I popped into Budgens on the way home from church, bought £28 worth of stuff, opened my purse to pay and found my debit card not there. Hmmm. There isn't enough money in my personal account to cover that amount and I don't know the PIN numbers of the other cards. I can't write a cheque because I still need the appropriate card. I rummaged deeper in my bag and found another cheque book for which I did have the appropriate card. There isn't enough money in that account either but at least with a cheque I have a couple of days to transfer something into it! Actually, I didn't feel particularly embarrassed because these things happen to everyone now and then, but it was an interesting moment or two!

I'm trying to blog but 'The most embarrassing things about the 1980s' programme (or whatever it's called) is seriously addling my brain and I can't think straight - ah, memories..... Let's not go there ... the emotional torments of my late teens and twenties are not worth remembering too much.

Anyway, today I've had my grown-up head on in order to interview candidates for a vacancy at Playschool, and as Chair it was my job this afternoon to phone the successful (nice call) and unsuccessful (hmmmm) candidates. Anyway, it's all done now and we have a lovely new shiny Assistant starting on Monday morning.

This afternoon I dodged the girls while I made the necessary phone calls, but made up for it later by doing a new 'Sound of the Week' poster (on request from Tamsin) covering the ay/ai/ei sound, she's done a beautiful picture of someone walking in the dark in the rain, she's played with Isabelle, built wooden brick houses for Mr Small, Mr Happy and Mr Tall and watched the DK "Human Machine" video. To top it all, among her bedtime stories was "St George and the Dragon" to fit nicely into our low-key United Kingdom project which is ticking along in the background, along with the butterfly one. In the meantime, I seem to have eaten, erm, an entire pack of Caramel chocolate biscuits ..... oops!

ETA - forgot about the face painting! Tamsin wanted to paint me, so all afternoon I've had orange cheeks, a black nose, a green and yellow forehead, one blue ear and one orange ear. I returned the favour and she was a butterfly with orange wings on her cheeks and black feelers on her forehead.

And yes, I am feeling better, thank you!

I'm stuffed.

Stuffed up with a cold, that is. Today has felt like wading chest-high through treacle. And even though I managed about an hour's sleep this afternoon while Isabelle napped and Tamsin watched Mary Poppins, I feel like I could go straight to bed now, but I won't 'cos that's what I did last night. Humph. I hate losing my evenings.

Anyway, despite that we've done quite a bit of reading practice. It is pretty much all child-led, as Tamsin is just totally enjoying decoding words now. Several times each day she is picking up books and either trying to read them herself, or asking me to read her a story but then constantly pointing to words she can read, repeating phrases after me while studying them carefully, or choosing phrases she wants to read while I read the rest. It is all going in at exactly her own speed and she is making steady but sure progress. I explain phonics rules and exceptions to them as and when we come across them, for example this morning I was showing her how 'oo' could be pronounced as in 'kangaroo' or as in 'book'. I am really enjoying going through this process with her, and seeing how it all develops. How sad it would be to have delegated this to a school!

We've also covered socialising, by looking after a friend's 2-year old this morning, who Tamsin gets on very well with, and art/craft by doing some glass painting this afternoon.

I keep meaning to record, mostly just for my own benefit, Isabelle's speech at the moment. It is very limited, but so far she can clearly say 'Mama' (apparently aimed at anybody she loves!), see-saw, ta, 'peeeee' for Poppy (the dog), and shush. I also think she was saying 'down' this evening when she wanted to get out of her high-chair, and for the past week or so she's sounded for all the world like she's counting 'five, six, seven, eight...' although I can hardly believe it can be so. Bill has noticed it too.

It's blooming hard work, this motherhood thing, but I love it!

Green fingers?

I can feel a whole new persona coming on, triggered off by Kris and her garden plan. Get this: I, Joanna, the woman with garden weeds past knee-height for the majority of the year, read gardening books off my SIL's shelf on Thursday evening and Friday morning, pulled gardening books off my own shelf on Friday evening, and have been OUT in the garden TODAY (in February, for heaven's sake!) and started digging a vegetable plot! I have also been to the Garden Centre, bought seed potatoes, pea seeds and compost, and have planted up some previously purchased tomato, strawberry and carrot seeds. Arrrghhh!! What is happening to me!!!???

Apart from that, it's been a very quiet and laid-back weekend. Isabelle's cough/cold has got worse and she was running a high temperature overnight, so we didn't go to church today. Tamsin has CBeebied and Nick Jr'd while I caught up on blogs and e-mail; we've played games, been food shopping, unpacked (mostly), done some baking (Snickerdoodles!) and generally just taken it fairly easy. It's nice to be home.

That was the week that was!

Back home from Melrose and as per usual last night I fell asleep while putting the girls to bed, albeit it was around 10pm as they had napped in the car, so no blogging last night.

In summary, we had a good week and I really enjoyed it, despite everything! And I have to say that that is a bit of a personal milestone for me as a confirmed emetophobic with a deep horror of all things vomit-related. In past times in such circumstances I would have been an anxious crying wreck and bailed out at the earliest opportunity as soon as I heard of the first D&Ver, (or in fact would never have booked in the first place after the tales of last year) but thanks to the wonders of modern psychopharmacology (aka a small dose of SSRIs) my phobic tendencies are minimised and I coped with it beautifully, I reckon!!!

The week started in a great way Stepping Off the Path at J&J's, which was a first for us and I was suitably impressed with the location, location, location. Tamsin was scared we would fall down the hill as we drove over the moors, and I was very glad I wasn't doing it in the dark. On arrival Tamsin immediately went off and played with C and M which was lovely to witness as she does have a tendency to cling to me in new places and with new people.

On Sunday I left J&J still packing while we made our fairly leisurely way up the country. We had 2 stops on the way and arrived at the Youth Hostel around 5.30pm, and all settled in happily, Tamsin being absolutely delighted to claim both top bunks as her personal space. If I remember correctly she seemed to do extremely well that first evening with going off and running about with various other girls, which makes me wonder why it became so much harder later in the week. Isabelle of course was delighted to toddle around contentedly and especially enjoyed communing with her triplet sisters from time to time.

After 2 full days of travelling Monday was a quiet day mostly in the Youth Hostel with a brisk walk into Melrose town and a visit to the Roman Trimontium exhibition, which I found educational at least, and I think Tamsin did too. I decided to postpone a walk round the Abbey till it was better weather and not raining, but as that never happened it will have to wait till a future opportunity.

By Tuesday and Wednesday Tamsin was refusing to go off and play with anyone else if it meant going away from me. She was extremely happy playing with SB and Becca especially and has declared that Becca is her best friend and she loves her :-) but nevertheless refused to leave my side most of the time. By Wednesday afternoon this was driving me to insanity, not helped by 2 or 3 nights of pretty poor sleep due to much bed-hopping between Tamsin and Isabelle's beds, and after an altercation where she kept hitting me because she wanted to sit on my knee and I said no (after having had her sitting there for a good 30 minutes already) she was dragged to the stairs for a time out and I returned to the dining room and burst into tears. Three cheers and a gold medal must be awarded to Barbara, who dispensed hugs and tea, and then took Isabelle and Tamsin off into the Common Room and probably stood with her back to the door to refuse to allow Tamsin to come and find me until I'd had some peace and quiet for an hour or two. You're a star, Barbara, and I owe you big time! Especially as she then repeated her fabulous child-kidnapping act the following day when Tamsin had to be prised off me while I was trying to rest in bed fighting off severe nausea having caught a touch of the stomach bug that was doing the rounds.

Towards the end of that day (Thursday) Barbara told me they wanted to leave because R was ill but she was only considering staying to help me out (see - told you she was a star!) so we hatched a plan that she would help me drive to Bill's sister's house that evening, but in the event, by the evening I was feeling much better and was quite fit to drive myself. So it was an early finish to the week for us but I am quite glad now as it gives us the whole weekend to unpack, sort out and generally return to normal while the girls maximise their Daddy time to make up for the past week.

The nausea returned in full-force as I drove south from my SIL's place, to the extent that I prepared towels next to me on the seat and had a pretty rough time at one stage when the feeling was at its height just while I was driving through roadworks and all the lay-bys were blocked off but thank heaven for some reason it all subsided and I managed to drive home, albeit with three longish stops, and arrived here around 7pm on Friday. In fact one of the stops was a bit expensive (but I won't say exactly how much because Bill will read this) because I stopped off at Meadowhall, never having been there before but thinking it would probably have a children's play area, and entered through Next and a bit of impulse-shopping later and my bank balance was noticeably lighter, but anyway, kids need clothes, don't they?!

My highlights of the week:
- Making and strengthening relationships, long chats with Leandra (very warm and funny woman!) and Kris's vegetable-plot planning session;
- Barbara - 'nuff said!
- Watching Tamsin play and giggle with lots of girls, and listening to their play-time conversations as they all gathered in our room;
- Watching Isabelle just toddle around contentedly like the gorgeous girl she is;
- The great food!
- Tamsin counting past 30 for the first time, and reaching all the way to 112, with only a little help!
- Quote from Tamsin on the drive home - "We're *starving* for Daddy, aren't we?"

It only remains for me to unpack the car (yes, still!), and insist that Bill comes with me next year, and we'll be all set!

I wonder how long it will be:

... before this happens here? We have been discussing the dilemma of what to do if bird flu comes to the UK. I would be very sad, but I think we would have to get rid of the chickens - I have already lost one of my children and I'm not prepared to gamble with the lives of any more for the sake of some chickens, no matter how enjoyable they are to have in the garden.

So 'bird flu' has been part of the educational conversations we have been having with Tamsin in the past couple of days. Other stuff has included reading "The wonderful way babies are made" at bedtime tonight, some CBeebies website games, some lovely painting this afternoon, and ..... er..... complete mind blank about everything else, although I know there has been more.

I am too tired again to think clearly about the past couple of days. Blurgh.

Miracles do happen!

Bill hates London. He said to my nephew a couple of weeks ago that he'd really rather never set foot in London again for the rest of his life. Tamsin loves London. She wants to go to the Science Museum again, and to the Natural History Museum, and the Tower of London, and see Buckingham Palace (but she doesn't want to see the Queen!). She really wants to go for her birthday treat (in June). The odds of fulfilling this dream were not looking good.

But, somehow, Bill seemed to think it was a good idea. And agreed.

And then, I got a £10 per night Travelodge booking, on the M4 near Heathrow admittedly, but even so, £10 ......!

So Tamsin will get her dream birthday! Amazing!

Probably fairly true!

You Are a Prophet Soul

You are a gentle soul, with good intentions toward everyone. Selfless and kind, you have great faith in people. Sometimes this faith can lead to disappoinment in the long run. No matter what, you deal with everything in a calm and balanced way. You are a good interpreter, very sensitive, intuitive, caring, and gentle. Concerned about the world, you are good at predicting people's feelings. A seeker of wisdom, you are a life long learner looking for purpose and meaning. You are a great thinker and communicator, but not necessarily a doer. Souls you are most compatible with: Bright Star Soul and Dreaming Soul

What Kind of Soul Are You?

I've had a relatively 'child-lite' day today as I worked this morning, so Tamsin went to playschool and Isabelle was looked after by Grandpa (my Dad) as is the case every Thursday. I left work at 1pm, came home for lunch and a play with the girls, and then out again at 2.30pm as Kate and I were doing a talk to the Women's Institute about our work in the Time Bank. It went well :-) I'm not good enough to earn money as an after-dinner speaker or anything, but I can do a 45-min presentation to the local WI ;-) (youngest member aged 71....).

I was home again about 4pm so my Dad left and I went into the kitchen to decide what to make for dinner. I switched CBeebies on for Tamsin and we caught a snatch of Balamory featuring a lovely chocolate cake. "I want to make a chocolate cake", said Tamsin, and despite it being 4.20pm and nothing yet for tea I thought, "Why not?" and launched forth. So we now have a yummy chocolate cake, and the girls had the warmed-up remains of yesterday's home-made quiche for dinner! At least, Tamsin did. I can't remember a single morsel of solid food passing Isabelle's lips today, despite my best attempts to tempt her with all sorts of things. Ah well, she's certainly not wasting away!

I did notice by about 5pm how very significantly less tired I was than when I have been with the girls all day!

I only have one thing to report educationally and that is I noticed what a beautiful pen grip Isabelle has! Yes, she has a perfect 3-finger hold, to contrast with Tamsin's 4-finger preference. Isabelle has added "bee-beep" to her vocabulary, when pressing her nose, as well as the original "shush" addressed to Poppy the dog. I also noticed, a little sadly, that we no longer see that idiosyncratic crawl any more - she is truly a walking toddler.

Sleeping late

Hmm, dosing the children up with various medications had mixed results during the night. Tixylix dealt with Tamsin's cough very well, but Medised didn't completely do the trick for Isabelle and she was still wakeful and stuffy-nosed for quite a time. And someone forgot to set the Teasmade alarm properly, so we all overslept again!

Anyway, Tamsin decided she didn't feel well enough to go to Playschool, which is a good enough decider for me! Isabelle was still very snotty and clingy too, so I phoned around, cancelled work, cancelled playschool, cancelled meeting a friend to deliver my birthpool to her and cancelled the babysitter for Isabelle, and we all settled in at home for the morning. As usual, though, however ill my kids are during the night, they behave as if in the rudest of health during the day and refuse to take things quietly. Lots of bouncing, running, pretending and shouting ensued as normal. But while they bounced noisily on the bed, I cleaned the insides of some windows. This is not, however, another step towards domestic goddess-ness but just an attempt to be able to see out of windows that haven't been touched in far too long.

I normally hate playing 'pretending' games with Tamsin and cut them as short as possible, but then she suggested one which I loved! "Pretend you're the girl, and I'm the Mummy, and it's your bedtime," she said. Aha, time for me to get my revenge! "Mum", I shouted, every 2 minutes, "I need a drink/cuddle/nose wipe/toy/wee .....". She called my bluff, though, when I 'got out of bed' and went to her and said "I don't want to go to bed, can I stay with you?" "Yes," she said. "I'm never going to go to sleep again," I said. "Okay", she said! Right, so she doesn't know my script off-by-heart then!

Anyway, time to get down to some work. We went downstairs and, following our UK theme, drew and coloured a UK flag. Not wanting to overdo things though, after that I put on some music for a dancing break, lunch and a bit of CBeebies. After taking Isabelle out in the buggy and failing to get her to sleep, a quick car-ride did the trick and while she slept, Tamsin and I read through her newest Dora magazine, the February and March pages of "A Year at Maple Hill Farm" (Sonlight Pre-K book) and then Tamsin read me the first 6 Bob books. She did really well!

Isabelle woke, then we just did loads of playing, washing folding, dinner making and other misc stuff. We ended on a moral high note, though, by reading several stories from "The Children's Book of Virtues" (another Sonlight book) at bedtime. Hope they sink in and permeate her dreams!