Thursday, July 26, 2007
At last!
I've completed that DfES consultation on Home Education. Been putting that off for ages - glad I've got it done! I was number 470.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Fatigue, floods and being fed-up
I am still in the slump that started last weekend. Maybe even a bit depressed, though I don't know why. Can't be bothered with anything, feel tired and unmotivated and generally blah. So I'm doing nothing constructive with the girls but just letting them free-range with toys and the trampoline and too much but not completely unrestricted TV. Whether it's a cause or an effect, I don't know, but there is a huge amount of sibling jealousy going on especially from Jade's end. They're squabbling and fighting more often than not, and Jade frequently says things like, "I wish I could cut Shannon in half". Charming. I am so sick of dealing with their arguments.
So 30 hours or so of torrential rain starting in the small hours of Friday did nothing to improve my mood. We were obviously stuck in the house all day, though did venture for a 10 minute walk to the post box and back. We ended up with a small lake in the back garden, though nothing in the house. DH got home late, soaked up to his hips, and it was only then I discovered that the main street in our little town was flooded in 4-5 feet of water, and he'd had to abandon his car on the other side of town and wade home. I went out with the dog at about 11.30 pm and viewed the scene - very strange to see streets turned into rivers. Call me hard-hearted if you like, but I really cannot feel that it's such a huge tragedy to have your house flooded several inches. Sure, it's a pain, a nuisance and hard horrible work to clear it all up, but no, it's not a tragedy. Having buried one of my children I really can't understand calling the physical loss of material possessions a tragedy. So there. Having said that, DH has just discovered that the flashing round our chimney has leaked and soaked loads of stuff (maps, slides, electronic bits and bobs) in the cupboard in our bedroom and he's spending ages sorting it all out so he may not agree with me!
Isabelle did her first ever few drops of wee in the potty on Friday, after I caught her starting to go on the floor. I persuaded her to sit on the potty for aaaaaages, and she managed a few drops. There were great celebrations and then I was just IMing with DH telling him all about it when she let loose torrents all over the sofa, cushions and floor!!! Jade was totally dry day and night just after she was 2, so I'm feeling a bit frustrated that it's taking so much longer for Shannon.
Anyway you probably wish you'd not bothered to come by my blog today, so I'll stop before I depress you all any more.
So 30 hours or so of torrential rain starting in the small hours of Friday did nothing to improve my mood. We were obviously stuck in the house all day, though did venture for a 10 minute walk to the post box and back. We ended up with a small lake in the back garden, though nothing in the house. DH got home late, soaked up to his hips, and it was only then I discovered that the main street in our little town was flooded in 4-5 feet of water, and he'd had to abandon his car on the other side of town and wade home. I went out with the dog at about 11.30 pm and viewed the scene - very strange to see streets turned into rivers. Call me hard-hearted if you like, but I really cannot feel that it's such a huge tragedy to have your house flooded several inches. Sure, it's a pain, a nuisance and hard horrible work to clear it all up, but no, it's not a tragedy. Having buried one of my children I really can't understand calling the physical loss of material possessions a tragedy. So there. Having said that, DH has just discovered that the flashing round our chimney has leaked and soaked loads of stuff (maps, slides, electronic bits and bobs) in the cupboard in our bedroom and he's spending ages sorting it all out so he may not agree with me!
Isabelle did her first ever few drops of wee in the potty on Friday, after I caught her starting to go on the floor. I persuaded her to sit on the potty for aaaaaages, and she managed a few drops. There were great celebrations and then I was just IMing with DH telling him all about it when she let loose torrents all over the sofa, cushions and floor!!! Jade was totally dry day and night just after she was 2, so I'm feeling a bit frustrated that it's taking so much longer for Shannon.
Anyway you probably wish you'd not bothered to come by my blog today, so I'll stop before I depress you all any more.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Saturday, July 14, 2007
I saw a fairy in the woods yesterday
Am feeling grumpy and lethargic and have been for over 24 hours now, so this will not be a scintillating blog post but thought I'd better catch up anyway.
I cannot blog about what we did on Tuesday, for complicated reasons which I can't go into now, but it was a lovely day, and one which I wish we could have much more often. I will mention, though, that Jade threw a complete strop at the thought of going off with my Dad for an hour while I visited a friend and her new baby. Her separation anxiety is getting worse. I am very sympathetic and encouraging when she's anxious about going somewhere new, but when she's afraid to go with my Dad with whom she's spent far too many hours to calculate over the whole 6 years of her life, well I'm afraid I just got cross with her. It did the trick in the end, although not until it had cut my time down with my friend to about 45 minutes, which is just not enough when she is just getting used to having a new baby after a stillbirth last year.
On Wednesday I went to work, and Jade also moaned and complained that she wanted to come with me instead of staying at home with DH. Apparently she missed me quite a lot that day. Dunno what's going on. Hurry up, NHS, and get that referral going! While I was out, Dh started putting up the new trampoline that arrived on Tuesday, and when I got home we finished it together. Much joy and excitement all round! Oh yes, and we had to go and collect the old estate car from the garage which set us back £370+
I can't remember what we did on Thursday morning, except eventually get everything ready for Shannon to go to the childminder and Jade to come with me to work. I took various 'educational' stuff but she left all the 'serious' stuff in favour of doing a jigsaw puzzle and drawing pictures. That was OK. Worked till 3.15, collected Shannon, visited a friend for half-an-hour, gave a lift to someone to take her cat to the vet, got home, kids played on trampoline etc.
On Friday, Jade begged to go for a walk in the woods dressed as a fairy! Even though it was a bit rainy, I happily obliged and, though I wouldn't have chosen that activity that morning myself, we had a really lovely time and I took several pics of my fairy and my ladybird (Shannon in waterproof ladybird coat) in the woods! We hid in dens, ate a little snack perched on tree stumps, and pretended to be explorers. Pics later, if I can be bothered. Did a couple of errands on the way home, then settled the girls down with some food and a Tom and Jerry DVD while I went upstairs for a nap. That seems to have been a mistake. Ever since then I've felt completely tired and lethargic and very grumpy. I must've put all my biorhythms out of sync or something!
Today I've lolled around in bed all morning and then taken the girls plus L from next door out to the Wildlife Trust nature reserve to collect wildflower seeds - an organised event. I'd never been there before, though, and didn't realise that it would involve a 20 minute hike across muddy and cow-patty fields before we got to the wildflower meadow, by which time Shannon was tired, clingy and waily and it was almost impossible to actually do anything useful. We stayed about 20 minutes and then I left the rest of the group and made a slow trip back, carrying Shannon all the way. Not our most successful field trip! One useful thing was to see a badger sett which the warden says we're allowed to go and watch any time to see if we can spot them one evening. Would love to see wild badgers out playing.
I cannot blog about what we did on Tuesday, for complicated reasons which I can't go into now, but it was a lovely day, and one which I wish we could have much more often. I will mention, though, that Jade threw a complete strop at the thought of going off with my Dad for an hour while I visited a friend and her new baby. Her separation anxiety is getting worse. I am very sympathetic and encouraging when she's anxious about going somewhere new, but when she's afraid to go with my Dad with whom she's spent far too many hours to calculate over the whole 6 years of her life, well I'm afraid I just got cross with her. It did the trick in the end, although not until it had cut my time down with my friend to about 45 minutes, which is just not enough when she is just getting used to having a new baby after a stillbirth last year.
On Wednesday I went to work, and Jade also moaned and complained that she wanted to come with me instead of staying at home with DH. Apparently she missed me quite a lot that day. Dunno what's going on. Hurry up, NHS, and get that referral going! While I was out, Dh started putting up the new trampoline that arrived on Tuesday, and when I got home we finished it together. Much joy and excitement all round! Oh yes, and we had to go and collect the old estate car from the garage which set us back £370+
I can't remember what we did on Thursday morning, except eventually get everything ready for Shannon to go to the childminder and Jade to come with me to work. I took various 'educational' stuff but she left all the 'serious' stuff in favour of doing a jigsaw puzzle and drawing pictures. That was OK. Worked till 3.15, collected Shannon, visited a friend for half-an-hour, gave a lift to someone to take her cat to the vet, got home, kids played on trampoline etc.
On Friday, Jade begged to go for a walk in the woods dressed as a fairy! Even though it was a bit rainy, I happily obliged and, though I wouldn't have chosen that activity that morning myself, we had a really lovely time and I took several pics of my fairy and my ladybird (Shannon in waterproof ladybird coat) in the woods! We hid in dens, ate a little snack perched on tree stumps, and pretended to be explorers. Pics later, if I can be bothered. Did a couple of errands on the way home, then settled the girls down with some food and a Tom and Jerry DVD while I went upstairs for a nap. That seems to have been a mistake. Ever since then I've felt completely tired and lethargic and very grumpy. I must've put all my biorhythms out of sync or something!
Today I've lolled around in bed all morning and then taken the girls plus L from next door out to the Wildlife Trust nature reserve to collect wildflower seeds - an organised event. I'd never been there before, though, and didn't realise that it would involve a 20 minute hike across muddy and cow-patty fields before we got to the wildflower meadow, by which time Shannon was tired, clingy and waily and it was almost impossible to actually do anything useful. We stayed about 20 minutes and then I left the rest of the group and made a slow trip back, carrying Shannon all the way. Not our most successful field trip! One useful thing was to see a badger sett which the warden says we're allowed to go and watch any time to see if we can spot them one evening. Would love to see wild badgers out playing.
Monday, July 09, 2007
In brief...
Today we have:
* Done cuneiform writing on clay (well, I did cuneiform, Jade did normal writing and decorations, and Shannon just mashed it up!) Pics are available but, erm, prob. not till Weds or Thurs as I don't think I'll have time before then!
* Revised chapter 3 of Story of the World about the earliest writing, covering the relative merits of stone, clay and papyrus.
* Made paper, or to put it more accurately, recycled paper using a paper-making kit. 2 sheets came out very nicely.
* Jade has coloured in Egypt and Sumer on a photocopied map.
* Been out for a walk with the dog.
* Got the living room tidier by the end of the day than it was at the beginning.
* Put Milton-y water through the caravan water system.
* Got one load of washing done.
* The girls have played 'schools' with their dolls and soft toys.
That'll do.
* Done cuneiform writing on clay (well, I did cuneiform, Jade did normal writing and decorations, and Shannon just mashed it up!) Pics are available but, erm, prob. not till Weds or Thurs as I don't think I'll have time before then!
* Revised chapter 3 of Story of the World about the earliest writing, covering the relative merits of stone, clay and papyrus.
* Made paper, or to put it more accurately, recycled paper using a paper-making kit. 2 sheets came out very nicely.
* Jade has coloured in Egypt and Sumer on a photocopied map.
* Been out for a walk with the dog.
* Got the living room tidier by the end of the day than it was at the beginning.
* Put Milton-y water through the caravan water system.
* Got one load of washing done.
* The girls have played 'schools' with their dolls and soft toys.
That'll do.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Do ya think I'm sexy?
No, please don't answer that!!! But just a reference to Rod Stewart whom I saw in concert last night!! Great fun. A friend had a spare ticket due to her DH having had emergency knee surgery, so I went along to the Cardiff Millennium Stadium and we had a blast! Wouldn't have particularly called myself a fan, but it was a really good evening and it's got to be impressive when someone can sing 31 songs, nearly all of which were Top 10 or Top 20 hits!!
Tons else been going on here - some nice Story of the World reading and we're going to do some paper making and cuneiform writing on real clay in the next day or two when we get the chance. Also some nice number work (I borrowed tons of lovely resources last week from the Learning Resources section at Oxford Brookes Uni Library (teacher training section) thanks to Bill's staff ticket! And reading books about poo with Isabelle in a so far vain attempt to persuade her to use the potty (several wees on the floor, none in the potty) ....... but no time to blog. 10pm and girls are still up due to an afternoon nap - must put them to bed, and probably myself too!
Tons else been going on here - some nice Story of the World reading and we're going to do some paper making and cuneiform writing on real clay in the next day or two when we get the chance. Also some nice number work (I borrowed tons of lovely resources last week from the Learning Resources section at Oxford Brookes Uni Library (teacher training section) thanks to Bill's staff ticket! And reading books about poo with Isabelle in a so far vain attempt to persuade her to use the potty (several wees on the floor, none in the potty) ....... but no time to blog. 10pm and girls are still up due to an afternoon nap - must put them to bed, and probably myself too!
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