London

I really must blog our recent trip to London, if only for our own records. Please don't feel obliged to read on!

Wednesday 7th June - spent the morning packing and got going at about lunchtime to drive to the Travelodge on the M4 near Heathrow. It was the only one near London offering the £10 per night price, so Heathrow it was! We found it OK and unpacked the car, and then drove into West London to get the tube at Barons Court. My Mum used to live there so we know the area well. Jade was tremendously excited about being on the Underground as she absolutely adores trains and had been disappointed that we weren't travelling down from home on the train, but the price made that impossible, especially compared to our frugal Toyota Prius! Anyway we were off to Horseguards Parade to watch the Beating the Retreat. There were major security checks and Bill had his pocket knife confiscated(!) but it was a gorgeously warm sunny evening and the waiting was pleasant. We all thoroughly enjoyed the ceremony, the horses, the marching soldiers and seeing a small royal-blue dot on the dais in the distance which was the Queen! Thankfully we had binoculars so got a closer look at her and Prince Philip. Afterwards we walked up through Green Park and The Mall to look at Buckingham Palace. I reminisced about sleeping on the streets on the night of 28th July 1981, the night before the wedding of Charles and Diana! We got close-up to the Palace and saw they were about to do the Changing of the Guard, so that was fun to watch too. Then we walked back to the nearest Tube station and back to the Travelodge for a late night finish.

Thursday 8th June was Jade's 5th b'day. We had a slow start due to the previous late night and the mountains of prezzies to unwrap! She was thrilled with her pink Maglite torch, her binoculars, telescope, Fun Blox, and the promise of more to buy later with money she'd been sent. There was a slightly tense moment when she asked, "When are my friends coming?" and I realised I hadn't done a great job of explaining that this London trip was instead of a party .... Anyway she took it in her stride and soon perked up again at the thought of visiting the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum. I think we eventually got to the first one around about lunchtime so it really was a slow morning, but we all enjoyed seeing the dinosaurs. Jade was absolutely awe-struck by the size of the big one in the lobby and was rather frightened of the large animatronic one! We also took a quick dash round the mammals section and gasped at the size of the blue whale and cooed over the panda. Must spend more time there when she is a bit older. We then went downstairs to eat, and discovered the 'Investigate' section in the Basement where there were all sorts of hands-on and educational activities to explore. We had a fascinating time there feeling all sorts of specimens like crocodile skin, crystals, lions' teeth and so on. When we'd all had enough of that, we moved on to the Science Museum, and at the birthday girl's request went down to The Garden in the basement, where she had a lovely time splashing and playing and generally spending ages doing her thing. Meanwhile Bill and a sleeping Shannon had a bit of a browse of the space rockets. They chucked us out at 6pm and we went back to where we'd left the car and then drove up and down Chiswick High Street looking for a particular restaurant that we had Tesco vouchers for, but didn't find it, so to avoid imminent starvation we just went back to the Travelodge and ate at the Little Chef. Another very late night!

Friday 9th June was Bill's birthday, so again it was prezzies in the morning after a relatively late start. Eventually we set off for the Tower of London. A few people on the journey commented on the cuteness of Shannon, which always warms a mummy's heart! We paid for the Tower with Tesco vouchers! You probably can't 'do' London cheaper than we did it! Of course there was much explaining to Jade about castles, portcullises, moats, slit windows, wars, attacking, William the Conqueror, Henry the 8th and much other stuff. She was fascinated that people used to travel by river and the Traitor's Gate into the castle. We looked at the scaffold site where several people had their heads chopped off, which she took quite calmly! After a bit more of a wander round, but not much due to Jade's nagging to get on, we went to see the Crown Jewels. That was brilliant. I have the vaguest of memories of going to see them when I was a child, but it was fantastic to see them again and the wonderful short movies they have running while you wait to go in showing the Queen's coronation - again very educational for Jade. We came out and had a wander round the Crown Jewels shop and although I would have absolutely loved to buy Jade the £150 set of miniature Crown Jewels, we settled for just one so she has the cutest little miniature Crown which was far too expensive really but I couldn't resist! It was already getting late on in the day by this time so we went off down the road to see the Monument near Pudding Lane. Jade has been fascinated by the Great Fire of London ever since she heard about it - I think it's something of a fearful fascination as she is quite scared of fire/candles/the gas cooker. But she was keen to visit the monument although I had not bargained for her wanting to go up it! But she did, so she and I went all the way up the 311 steps, waved at Daddy and Shannon from the top and then came back down again. It took a couple of hours before my legs stopped shaking! We then took a gentle stroll back up to Tower Hill and got on a boat for a short river cruise down to the Westminster Embankment. We had a quick ogle at the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben (yes, I know....) and then back to our car. This time round we found the restaurant, so had a fab meal out at the Cafe Rouge courtesy of Tesco vouchers but with two very tired girls by this time we had to cut it a bit short and skip dessert.

Saturday 10th June when the rest of you were setting off for Kessingland was the hottest day of an extremely hot week. After packing away all the stuff we thought it would be great to go to Kew Gardens before going off to the Polka Children's Theatre for which we had tickets. So we drove to Kew, parked down a side street and walked way back up the road in the searing heat, only to find out they charged an absolute fortune for entry, and we only had about 1.5 hours to fill! For some reason, I'd thought it was like the Royal Parks and would be free! Anyway, we walked further up the road and came to an open village-green type space where we settled down under a large maple tree and relaxed. The girls were quite happy tootling about there and playing all sorts of made-up games while Bill and I laid down and relaxed as much as possible. We eventually set off for the Polka Theatre, and got there in the nick of time to see a strange performance called "That's Mine" but Jade had so enjoyed the theatre when we went to see the Gruffalo a few months ago that I had wanted to foster her enjoyment by taking her as often as possible. Well, I have to really seeing as one of my brothers is a professional voice coach who works in acting and the theatre. The other one is an astronomer, hence the telescope we got Jade for her birthday!!

And there endeth the trip to London. We dashed home, unpacked the car and got up the following morning to do it all again for Kessingland. But that's another story.

They're even more disorganised than I am!

Just got a letter from Park Resorts:

"Dear Mrs G,
We hope you had a safe journey home and are feeling relaxed and refreshed after your touring holiday with us at Kessingland Beach Holiday Park."

!!!!!

Still, it prompted me to phone them and arrange to get an £8 refund seeing as they overcharged me for my hook-up pitch!

We're off to London in the morning. Will catch up with many of you at Kessingland when we get there on Sunday (late, probably)!

Another baby in heaven

What can we say about another baby, heartbeat not found in utero at 24 weeks. More grieving parents, my good friends Kate and Mark, who may even now be going through labour to deliver their dead daughter. I've barely been able to stop crying for 24 hours since I heard. And they are one of three couples going in this weekend for the same thing. FUCK, I hate life sometimes.

So I escaped the house this afternoon and drove 2 hours to just north of Mansfield to collect Jade's new bed. After a mega-blowout with Jade this morning, I knew it would just be best if I went out and left Bill with the girls - we had originally arranged it to be the other way round. So, bed is duly collected, and on the way back I stopped off at a large cemetery and found the dead babies section (there always is one :-( ) and sat and contemplated the meaning of everything for half-an-hour.

Got home around 5.30pm to find the next-door neighbour's daughter here - erm, but she was here when I left at 12.00 .... well, she hadn't quite been here all day but almost! And yesterday too..... I guess I feel safer and better able to keep an eye on things if the neighbouring kids come here instead of Jade disappearing round there, but it takes a little getting used to! She's a nice enough girl, though, polite and friendly. It's good to see them playing together very imaginatively and nicely.

And I was just reading in the EO newsletter about how we should just be encouraging playing, playing and more playing ..... so that's a day-full of education really!

And now I must pull together a very specific packing list for both London and Kessingland to make the next few days as straightforward as it possibly can be while packing for 2 holidays simultaneously!

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Drowning, not waving

I've not been feeling well for the past 24 hours - just around the children's bedtime last night I came over all achey - just a cold really but it's made me feel like I'm having an out-of-body experience at times today. And then the weather, good grief, I'm thinking it's about time I wrote and complained to somebody. I am so fed up with rain ruining everything, from planned days out to playing in the garden, my washing and my mood.

The good news is I've just won an Ebay auction very cheaply for the sort of bed Jade wants. He could have got a lot more money for it if only he'd listed it better. Anyway, all we have to do now is get to Mansfield to collect it! Anybody nearby who wants a visit? And then, we have to completely rearrange and redecorate two of the bedrooms, swapping the guest room and Jade's room around and making the bigger room a joint one for the two girls.

As far as HE goes, I bought a lovely set of books about famous artists and we've read a few of those, she's played with her LeapPad, Learning Land CD-Rom and Bill's read her some history stories he's found online - I'll try and remember to get the link - about King Alfred and King Canute. She did seem rather more interested in fiddling about with toys and stuff than listening - but hey, maybe something went in.

And she's chatted over the fence with the new girl who lives next door, so it would be nice if that develops into a friendship.

And now I'm going to drag my aching body off to bed.

New blog title

I never liked 'Trying our best' - far too earnest and serious and worthy. I just couldn't think of anything else. Been meaning to change it for ages, and at last I have. Will also be using the girls' middle names for a tad more anonymity.

This morning I got up at 8'ish with Shannon, while Jade slept till 9.30ish, having had a very late night last night. We just pootled about this morning, while I actually did some tidying up (first time in days!) and Jade did some painting. We have new neighbours moving in today so she painted a goodbye picture for the 2 girls moving away, and a welcome picture for the new family moving in. I'm quite excited about it, actually, as the Mum is a childminder!!! Could be very useful! Apparently they have 3 kids - 2 boys and the youngest is a girl aged 6, so I'm hoping Jade will make friends with her.

This afternoon, we've been over to visit a friend's new house. It's lovely, and throws our messy, run-down place into stark contrast. I just do not know why I find it so hard to keep things in order - I just look at stuff lying around and simply don't know what to do with it, so I leave it there. Not helped by always feeling I am 'behind' with important stuff like our finances, letters, playschool or Usborne stuff, and feeling like it's more important to get on with those than tidy up once the girls have gone to bed. I have a great urge just to chuck everything out onto the lawn and start again. If only it would stop raining long enough to do so. It's an extremely wet drought we're having, isn't it!

Anyway, I have 2 birthdays (Bill and Jade) and 2 holidays to plan (a few days in London just prior to Kessingland) so must dash!

Verbal intelligence test

Here. Pinched from Nic.

I did, ahem, rather well .....!

Not much of anything

I haven't been blogging because we haven't been doing anything educational. It's just been work, playschool and random playing or TV watching. Too much going on, not much of it of any interest. I have, however, resigned as Chairperson of playschool effective from September, so that's one pie I shall no longer have a finger in! I've also been working out what times/days I need Tamsin to go to school in September when we start the flexi-schooling arrangement. We are moving offices at work, next week, to save money and this will give us the chance to re-arrange our working hours. And Bill is applying for flexible working - condensed hours on 4 days per week and spending one day a week at home with the girls. So, if that is successful, the plan is that Bill will be at home on Wednesdays and I will work all day. Then I will work on Thursday morning and Tamsin can go to school that morning. She will also go on a Monday afternoon when they do music/dance and possibly on a Friday morning when they go swimming. So she'll be at school 2 or 3 half-days per week, mostly for non-academic stuff, and the rest at home.

Quick blog

We had quite an educational afternoon, for a change, so I thought I'd better blog. This morning was playschool for Tamsin and work for me, and after collecting her and getting home, Isabelle was asleep so I took the chance for a half-hour lie-down too. After Isabelle woke and was dealt with, Tamsin started playing with the sea-shells she collected in March at Exmouth beach. I suggested she might like to draw them, so she decided to draw round them and compare shapes and sizes. After that, I suggested we Google to find out what sort of creatures the shells were from. We tried good old Enchanted Learning, which came up with some interesting stuff. Then we looked at the Usborne Children's Encyclopedia, and read through about coral reefs, the sea-shore, the deep ocean, plants and more. We talked about gills and oxygen and photosynthesis and fish and mammals and molluscs and shells and skeletons and all sorts! I then followed up some of the Usborne Quick Links for the first time, and was very impressed with the activities and colouring and worksheets they include. We got to some video clips of sea-snails and anemones and all sorts of other sea-creatures feeding.

Then Bill started playing some music to try and keep Isabelle occupied instead of climbing up on my knee, only it distracted Tamsin too and it became PE time with lots of dancing. Tamsin then put on a dance show, spontaneously, which was lovely! And then we just moved on into general playing, TV watching, and dinner making etc.

Sometimes I sit here for ages, trying to think what to start writing about, and other days it just flows. Today is a 'sitting and thinking and coming up with a blank' day... So, with apologies for poor literary style or continuity or flow, here are my random thoughts about the past few days.

Bill had all last week off due to 'you-know-what', and would have gone back to work on Monday in reasonably fine fettle except that, yes, he did break a tooth but I'm not entirely sure it was due to gritting his teeth so hard... anyway he woke up on Monday morning in fair oral agony, phoned the dentist immediately and took some strong painkillers, which sent him so woozy that I ended up having to drive him to the dentist in the afternoon. In Oxford. Where he had a triple root canal filling. And today he looks like a hamster storing his food in a pouch in his cheek ..... poor love!

In the meantime, there have been some nice positive learning times with Tamsin. This morning, for instance, she found her scrapbook and some pre-printed pictures that Granny had given her, and asked me to sit with her while she invented a story with them. So she chose and stuck pictures and dictated the story to me which I wrote. She did manage to write one word - iron - but she's really not too keen on writing much. Still, no rush! She did write a birthday to a card as well today.

Yesterday she pulled out some maths workbooks which we have on the shelf, and I suggested we try the 'Simple Adding Up' one, which went down pretty well - I think we did about 8 or 9 pages of that and she seemed to be getting the hang of it. We've really done very little maths stuff, but I think it would be nice to do a bit more of that while it's still in her mind, to consolidate it, if she's willing. She's done some more Dot-to-Dot, using numbers up to 50. She's counted up to 100 orally quite a bit, but not done much written work with those higher numbers, so it was quite good to go over those and have her actually recognise that thirty-two is 32 and so on.

This afternoon we've had a couple of girls age 4 and 6 and their mum over - we met them at HE group and it was the first time they've been here. It went really nicely, with the girls running down the driveway shouting, "Tamsin, Tamsin ....!" excitedly, which was encouraging! They all played very well and happily together. I showed T, their Mum, my box of Sonlight stuff and she was very taken with Handwriting without Tears. She doesn't have internet access at home but is going to go to the library to try and find a UK supplier - anybody know of one?

Today's most exciting moment, however, came when we went to the local park after dinner because I was roped in to helping to paint the railings round the new play equipment in advance of the Grand Official Opening to be held on Sunday. We met my friend Kate and her girls there, and they had their bikes, so Tamsin had a go on a bike without stabilisers for the first time! She did fantastically well - it was so exciting. She managed 10 metres or so on bumpy grass before wobbling and falling off! She did that several times, and was so thrilled that after the 3rd or 4th time she jumped up after falling off, and ran towards me giggling and laughing so much she just couldn't stop, and threw herself into my arms in utter joy!!!! And of course I had the biggest face-splitting grin and tears in my eyes too! Perfect moment.

You Are Red Orange

You are a very genuine person, although it takes a while for you to show the true you. A bit introverted, you desire respect and affection from those close to you. You are quite empathetic, and you have a true concern for the well being of others. Many people have warm, heartfelt memories of you - even if you don't remember them well.

What Color Red Are You?

Doesn't time fly when you're ......

having fun? Well, I don't know about that, but time has flown anyway.

Last Sunday we went to see the dance show that Tamsin would have been in but decided not to. I thought she was quite brave as she went to sit on the steps right at the front of the audience, so that she could see properly, while I sat nearer the back. She stayed there for most of the performance too. I enjoyed the dance show, and so did she, and she did say later, "I didn't know it would be so easy." So, next year, she thinks she will want to be in it!

On Monday, Bill was very brave and underwent a Short Procedure to his Manly Bits. No more babies for us. He's therefore been at home all week, recovering, poor thing. On Monday afternoon I tucked Bill into bed with several strong painkillers while the rest of us went off to HE group. It was so nice to see all the different age groups playing together with no difficulty whatsoever. And I made arrangements with a couple of the other mums with similar-aged girls to mine to come over in the next week or two. So that's good!

The rest of the week has proceeded pretty much as normal - work for me on Weds, Thurs and Friday mornings and playschool for Tamsin. We did make a trip to the library on Tuesday and came back with another armful of early readers for Tamsin, which she is making short work of.

Oh, and Isabelle fell asleep at the dinner table this evening!

That's it!

"Oh dear"

'Oh Dear' is Isabelle's newest phrase, and a very appropriate one too last night, when I would have blogged but couldn't. Because my new (to me, cheap but legal, if you remember :-) ) computer has been behaving temperamentally, and finally spit the dummy last night when it refused to boot up no matter what we did. So, seeing as there was no computer to use and therefore no point to life at all, I fell asleep with the children and stayed there all evening, and got up this morning to find a rejuvenated computer thanks to my dearly beloved :-) !! There was a faulty memory chip, apparently. I'm so glad I don't have to know any of this stuff myself! In fact, I was having a conversation with Bill in the car the other day, trying to make him aware of how little I know about the basics of computers, like backing-up, etc. He does it all, you see! The conversation was prompted by the news that my Mum (72) has ordered a laptop. She's never used a computer. She hasn't a clue. Bill said I could teach her. That's when I revealed I didn't really have a clue either.

Anyway, we've been away. I had a work conference to go to in Cardiff, and as I am still feeding Isabelle, she had to come. And I didn't fancy trying to look after her while trying to be professional and take part in a conference too, so the whole family came, and Bill did kids' stuff while I conferenced. It was good, it's given me lots of new ideas, and the only problem is it hasn't given me any extra time in which to carry out those good ideas. Ah well. Oh, but I love staying in hotels. So tidy! So clean! It makes me want to come home and throw everything away.

This afternoon, my Mum is coming, bringing back Poppy the dog who's been on holiday with her for a week while we've been at the Beans' party and at the conference. We'll then go off to see the dance show that Tamsin should have been in, but refused. That's OK. Being confident enough to perform in public isn't compulsory, and all I want is for her to enjoy her dancing, and it's saved me an awful lot of time and worry getting costumes together, but it would have been so cute to see her up there on stage. Maybe next year!

Catching up

We really enjoyed the party at Chris & Helen's on Saturday! It was good to see everybody again and catch up. I did take pics but haven't downloaded them yet.

Today would have been a good day to do the "home-ed day" photoblog meme but as two interesting things had happened before I had even left the bedroom and found my camera, I thought I had better get more organised and plan in advance to do it another day.

Tamsin went downstairs with Bill while I was still waking up slowly, and came up 15 minutes later bouncing and shouting excitedly that she'd done her first crossword! And indeed she had - in her "Thomas Activity Book" she'd filled in a little crossword with the names of Thomas, Edward, Percy and so on .... - beautifully done! And then while I was trying to get the girls and myself dressed, Isabelle was wandering about naked, and I found her reclining upon a piled-up duvet, thinking, and looking very cherubic - I would have loved to catch that on the camera!

So, apart from that, the day has been full of washing, phone calls, reading, did an Usborne Puzzle Adventure book with Tamsin, receiving and putting away a huge Tesco delivery, e-mails, Tamsin mixed up some flour-and-water 'glue' and then added various other stuff to make a 'cake' - she loves making up these 'recipes' that are inedible! Also My Little Ponies, Fuzzy felt, beads, and other enjoyable pursuits.

7 in heaven

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BENJAMIN!!!

I am so tired, but it's all done! Today's Baby Show went well - sold some books and also got 2 possibles for signing up as my first Usborne recruits! Isabelle loved being a model - she boogied down the catwalk with such verve that she got a spontaneous round of applause! She was utterly gorgeous all morning and was loving all the flashes as the paparazzi took pics! Well, Stroud News, anyway.

And Tamsin's playleader said Tamsin has been positively chatty for the past few days! So I'll try and stop worrying about her non-speaking, anyway.

Incredibly busy

I'm in the middle of one of my busiest weeks ever, I think. It looks like my job is safe for about another year, but we have to move offices to somewhere cheaper. So we've been viewing, negotiating and planning. Tomorrow BBC Radio Gloucestershire is in town and we have been invited to promote our charity on air by doing some sort of challenge event, so have been racking our brains what to do and eventually, after a few false starts caused mostly by the inertia of the local Town Council, we are going to renovate some of the floral raised stone beds in town. And on Friday I have the morning off work, and I am doing an Usborne thing at a Baby Show which is to promote Real Nappy Week, and Isabelle will be modelling! So lots of preparation required for that. Not to mention Playschool and Nursery Grant forms and then, oh yes, I've got 2 children too .....

So I'm looking forward to being at the Beans' party on Saturday, 'cos that will mean I can relax a little bit ....!

So not much HE to report, but then, life's like that, isn't it?!!

Huh?

I just found a biscuit tin, full of potting compost, in my dirty washing basket. WTF? I will never understand a 4-year old's mind.....

Things I must blog

Today we've been to HE group this morning, which was on the subject of printing, and done some vegetable prints, which Isabelle particularly enjoyed, and some footprints which Tamsin particularly enjoyed. It was also nice to meet a new family with two girls aged 5 yrs and 14 months, so pretty close to my two. They live about a 20-minute drive away and we exchanged phone numbers, so I think that might be another lovely contact and friendship possibility for the girls.

This afternoon we have largely been out in the garden. I pushed Tamsin and Isabelle on the swing for a while, and then got on with some garden stuff. I have planted out my carrot seedlings, potted on my tomato seedlings and yesterday we planted out some lettuces that a friend dropped off. So I really am beginning to feel like a proper gardener! Let's just hope that most of them survive. I could easily fail to water them appropriately, or something like that, and lose the lot. My strawberry seedlings have not survived and I've had to buy some potted ones.

There are a couple of other things from the past few days that I've wanted to record too. Isabelle is *definitely* counting! I blogged on 21st Feb about how it sounded like she was saying "five, six, seven ..." but I wasn't sure, what with that cute baby pronunciation, but she has been doing it ever since, and has been heard very clearly to say "one, two three ..." all the way to ten. She doesn't have a clue what the words mean, I don't suppose, but even so it seems pretty impressive to me that a 17-month old can count from one to ten! She likes pushing mine or Bill's fingers up or down as she does it!

There was another lovely moment a couple of days ago when Isabelle got hold of a little Maglight torch, and was fascinated to wave it around, even in daylight, but even more so when she discovered that if it was pointing towards the carpet, the circle of light got smaller and then disappeared when she put the torch on the carpet, and appeared again when she lifted it up. She spent ages just lifting the torch up and down and watching the pattern of light increase and decrease.

And, mostly for my own records, I will just note all that Isabelle can say so far:

Up
Down
Bye
Socks on
Shoes on
Mummy
Daddy
Poppy
Numbers 1-10

I think that's it!

ETA - she also says Beebib, meaning CBeebies!

Just what I thought!

You Should Get a PhD in Science (like chemistry, math, or engineering)

You're both smart and innovative when it comes to ideas. Maybe you'll find a cure for cancer - or develop the latest underground drug.

What Advanced Degree Should You Get?

Happiness is ......

A new computer. So how should 2 new computers make me feel?!

My dearly beloved has provided me with a new desktop and a new laptop. I now have Windows XP (so I can download Skype and talk to my brother in the USA) and a super-speedy computer.

They're not 'new' new, you understand, but obtained in a completely legal but cheap manner.

I just don't know when I'm going to get time to explore all the new features, though, seeing as I still haven't read the instruction manuals for my mobile phone, my digital camera or the new car!

Books by women meme

Just BOLD those you’ve read, ITALICIZE the ones you’ve been meaning to read and ??? the ones you have never heard of.

Alcott, Louisa May – Little Women
Allende, Isabel – The House of Spirits???
Angelou, Maya – I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Atwood, Margaret – Cat’s Eye???
Austen, Jane – Emma
Bambara, Toni Cade – Salt Eaters???
Barnes, Djuna – Nightwood???
de Beauvoir, Simone – The Second Sex
Blume, Judy – Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret???
Burnett, Frances – The Secret Garden
Bronte, Charlotte – Jane Eyre
Bronte, Emily – Wuthering Heights
Buck, Pearl S. – The Good Earth???
Byatt, A.S. – Possession???
Cather, Willa – My Antonia???
Christie, Agatha – Murder on the Orient Express
Cisneros, Sandra – The House on Mango Street ???
Clinton, Hillary Rodham – Living History
Cooper, Anna Julia – A Voice From the South ???
Danticat, Edwidge – Breath, Eyes, Memory ???
Davis, Angela – Women, Culture, and Politics ???
Desai, Anita – Clear Light of Day???
Dickinson, Emily – Collected Poems
Duncan, Lois – I Know What You Did Last Summer???
DuMaurier, Daphne – Rebecca
Eliot, George – Middlemarch
Emecheta, Buchi – Second Class Citizen ???
Erdrich, Louise – Tracks ???
Esquivel, Laura – Like Water for Chocolate
Flagg, Fannie – Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
Friedan, Betty – The Feminine Mystique
Frank, Anne – Diary of a Young Girl
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins – The Yellow Wallpaper ???
Gordimer, Nadine – July’s People ???
Grafton, Sue – S is for Silence???
Hamilton, Edith – Mythology ???
Highsmith, Patricia – The Talented Mr. Ripley
Hooks, Bell – Bone Black ???
Hurston, Zora Neale – Dust Tracks on the Road ???
Jacobs, Harriet – Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl ???
Jackson, Helen Hunt – Ramona???
Jackson, Shirley – The Haunting of Hill House???
Jong, Erica – Fear of Flying
Keene, Carolyn – The Nancy Drew Mysteries (any of them)
Kidd, Sue Monk – The Secret Life of Bees ???
Kincaid, Jamaica – Lucy ???
Kingsolver, Barbara – The Poisonwood Bible
Kingston, Maxine Hong – The Woman Warrior ???
Larsen, Nella – Passing???
L’Engle, Madeleine – A Wrinkle in Time
Le Guin, Ursula K. – The Left Hand of Darkness???
Lee, Harper – To Kill a Mockingbird
Lessing, Doris – The Golden Notebook ???
Lively, Penelope – Moon Tiger???
Lorde, Audre – The Cancer Journals ???
Martin, Ann M. – The Babysitters Club Series???
McCullers, Carson – The Member of the Wedding ???
McMillan, Terry – Disappearing Acts ???
Markandaya, Kamala – Nectar in a Sieve ???
Marshall, Paule – Brown Girl, Brownstones ???
Mitchell, Margaret – Gone with the Wind
Montgomery, Lucy – Anne of Green Gables
Morgan, Joan – When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost ???
Morrison, Toni – Song of Solomon???
Murasaki, Lady Shikibu – The Tale of Genji ???
Munro, Alice – Lives of Girls and Women ???
Murdoch, Iris – Severed Head ???
Naylor, Gloria – Mama Day ???
Niffenegger, Audrey – The Time Traveller’s Wife
Oates, Joyce Carol – We Were the Mulvaneys ???
O’Connor, Flannery – A Good Man is Hard to Find???
Piercy, Marge – Woman on the Edge of Time???
Picoult, Jodi – My Sister’s Keeper
Plath, Sylvia – The Bell Jar???
Porter, Katharine Anne – Ship of Fools ???
Proulx, E. Annie – The Shipping News
Rand, Ayn – The Fountainhead ???
Ray, Rachel – 365: No Repeats ???
Rhys, Jean – Wide Sargasso Sea???
Robinson, Marilynne – Housekeeping ???
Rocha, Sharon – For Laci ???
Sebold, Alice – The Lovely Bones
Shelley, Mary – Frankenstein
Smith, Betty – A Tree Grows in Brooklyn ???
Smith, Zadie – White Teeth ???
Spark, Muriel – The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Spyri, Johanna – Heidi
Strout, Elizabeth – Amy and Isabelle???
Steel, Danielle – The House???
Tan, Amy – The Joy Luck Club
Tannen, Deborah – You’re Wearing That ???
Ulrich, Laurel – A Midwife’s Tale???
Urquhart, Jane – Away ???
Walker, Alice – The Temple of My Familiar ???
Welty, Eudora – One Writer’s Beginnings ???
Wharton, Edith – Age of Innocence???
Wilder, Laura Ingalls – Little House in the Big Woods
Wollstonecraft, Mary – A Vindication of the Rights of Women
Woolf, Virginia – A Room of One’s Own

Okay, so I'm not very well read. I've been too busy reading about metabolic biochemistry, OK?

Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy

It's been a nice day today. Went out fairly early (i.e. 10am!) this morning to visit someone we've met at HE group who has 2 girls aged 4 and 6. We had a nice time there and Tamsin got on well with her girls, and T and I chatted about all sorts of things including jobs, laziness and disorganisation in HE, homes, lack of money, and the trouble with older boisterous boys at the group, so that was good. She'll come here to visit in a week or two, and we hope to arrange a get-together with another woman and her 5-year old girl too so hopefully there are some nice links and friendships being set up there.

However, I was again concerned to note that Tamsin literally would not speak a word while this other adult was in the room, even to me. She would only whisper to me. When the girls all went outside in the garden she was talking and laughing with them, but not in front of another adult. I came home and made an appointment to talk to the doctor, about selective mutism. If it really is a serious anxiety problem like it appears to be, then she's going to need some help. I would appreciate comments from anyone else who's BTDT, like Joyce, as I am feeling a bit wary about calling in 'the professionals' who may sit in judgement on our lives in some way, or is that just me being paranoid? I could be tempted to cancel the appt, but I just don't know.

However, in other better news, yesterday while I was browsing round WH Smith I noticed their sets of magnetic words, one set being the target words that children should be able to recognise by the end of their Reception year, and three sets totalling the words they should recognise by the end of Year 2. Tamsin wasn't with me, but I know from the reading she is doing that she could easily recognise all of them. I know comparing isn't really the name of the game, but it does make me feel good anyway! Of course, if she was 'behind' in something I would be strongly challenging the necessity of any such ridiculous goals anyway!

The purpose of my sole shopping trip (what luxury!!!) was to try and spend my remaining Christmas presents - £20 M&S vouchers and a £10 Smiths voucher. I thought I'd treat myself to some new underwear, but after trying on 10 or more bras and not being able to get a decent fit in any of them I gave up, went to Smiths and bought a display book for my Usborne stuff and some plastic storage boxes for the kids' toys. Not a great shopping success, then. I didn't know whether to consider the afternoon had been lovely for just simply being on my own and browsing without interruption, or miserable for achieving nothing much. Still, I guess it means I'll have to go again sometime!!

Most of all, though, I've just been loving the sunshine of the past couple of days. At last!!

Easter

What to say? It's been mixed. One of these years I will remember that I always get to Easter and feel spiritually unprepared and disappointed, and think about it earlier. Now that we're here, I remember I felt like this last year, and wished I had spent more time thinking about the real meaning of Easter. I think I like it better than Christmas overall.

Two or three nights ago I made all sorts of plans for stuff to do over this weekend with Tamsin - craft stuff and faith stuff. The bits we've actually done have gone wrong (crafts not as easy as they look!) and I set a very bad example by behaving more like a 4-year old than my 4-year old did! So we have a feeble four little eggs hanging on our Easter 'tree', and nothing else. They just took ages! I boiled several real eggs for decorating, and about half of them cracked. And Tamsin was more interested in CBeebies than egg-decorating when I was ready to do them. So there are still 5 hard-boiled eggs in the fridge undecorated. I didn't do the Easter Egg hunt at home this afternoon as they did one at church this morning. And the other stuff I got out ready remains untouched.

I wish I knew what this low mood was all about. It's very annoying, and I've been giving myself a stiff talking-to but I'm not sure whether it's helped.

Anyway, we had fun this afternoon doing some yoga poses, and I took lots of photos and have Flickrd. Can anyone tell me how I just get a few of the pics to insert into my blog and link to the rest on Flickr?

Running on empty

Feel like I'm really struggling at the moment. I don't know why particularly except the threat of job loss (which has receded till end July but is otherwise still there), and maybe the time of year, as it is approaching Benjamin's birthday although I feel a bit impatient if it is that after 7 years. I seem to feel constantly tired and only the very very bare minimum of vital things is getting done both at home and at work. I feel like I need a week's retreat in a Trappist monastery, with silence, total silence. Don't suppose that'll be happening anytime soon, though, what with a breastfeeding babe and all .......

Cold front passing over, depression looming ....

Plumber still hasn't got back to us so we're still sitting in the cold with the exception of one fan heater. Nevertheless we've managed to have a decent enough day HE-wise, if not behaviour-wise (mine!!).

We started with a leisurely getting-up and going off to the group at church, during which we listened to a tape of an amazing meditation on Isaiah 61, which was very moving and powerful and which I must borrow to listen to more. Had to leave a little early to get to the surgery for Isabelle's 3rd immunisation. Tamsin had said beforehand that she didn't want to listen to Isabelle cry because it was upsetting, so she put her hands over her ears. Strange how it doesn't stop her pushing her over, or taking the toy Isabelle is playing with, or anything else that makes her cry at home! Then a quick dash into the local supermarket to pick up a couple of things which turned into a £40+ trolley-full, and then home, going just slowly enough for Isabelle to fall asleep in the car.

I know for many HEers, the time when the baby sleeps is when they get to do some serious stuff with their older one, but as far as I'm concerned it's time for me to get some rest, so Tamsin got to watch CBeebies and I had a lie down on the sofa and maybe even a little snooze. The tasks of the afternoon have blurred into a muddle, but I know we went through the little 'workbook' thing in the magazine that I bought for Tamsin while shopping, so that included some writing, counting, matching, spotting the difference, and easy addition and subtraction. It was interesting to note in the 'counting' section that she didn't have to count 1, 2, 3 to count to 3 and 4 - she just looked at them and saw how many there were. That's the first time I've noticed that happening. Tamsin then picked up a library book - Usborne Beginners "Dogs" - and read the first few pages of that to me, only needing help with one or two words on each page. While I was making the dinner she sat at the table and read a Red Nose Reader. She's also played with her animals, but really it was just the hardest thing to get her to move more than about 3 inches away from me and actually get on with anything on her own. She's just wanted to sit on my knee the whole afternoon, and Isabelle has pretty much wanted to do the same, and it's just driven me batty, so I'm afraid there's been a fair bit of yelling "just go away" and "leave me alone" going on. I do have to say that this is not the sole tone of our communication today, there has been plenty of positive comment, loving interaction and good stuff, but some days I just can't bear the feeling that they're both just trying to get back inside my skin one moment longer!!!

Didn't manage to blog yesterday (fell asleep at the girls' bedtime again and was very cross to discover I missed ER and the programme about Selective Mutism) but I must just record that a friend came and finished digging the vegetable patch for me, then hoed it, and then guided me in planting the potatoes, so we have our first home-grown stuff planted!! Very exciting!

Aaaaarrrggghhhh!

As I write, Tamsin insists on being so close to me that she is sitting behind me on my computer chair; Isabelle is whimpering and trying to climb up on my lap, and the dog is scratching at my leg wanting to be stroked. It's been like this ALL AFTERNOON!!!!! I know one day I will wish that they wanted to be close to me instead of off with their friends, but at the moment I just wish they'd GO AWAY a bit!!!!!

Wow, and Damn!

Wow! Bill found my folic acid dissertation for me, and bloody hell I am good!!!! Literature research and review is so my strong point, and I love it. Reading as much info as possible on a subject, assessing all the competing and conflicting claims, balancing the strengths and weaknesses of different studies, bringing in some aspect that hasn't been looked at before and coming to an overall conclusion about a subject is such fun! I know I said that being at home with my girls is better, and overall it is, but I would truly love to be doing some nutrition research too - it really lights my fire, as they say. It's just a great shame I don't live anywhere near the major research centres where there might be the possibility of it. (And I love living here and don't want to move).

Ah well, I was talking to an 82-year old gentleman the other day, and afterwards realised that he is exactly twice my age, so I have a whole lifetime still to live and maybe the nutrition research can fit in later sometime!

The Damn moments have come both at home and at work. At home, our boiler has gone kaput so we have no heating or hot water. Bill had a go on Saturday, but unusually for him he cannot fix it, so we're going to have to call in a plumber, and you know how much they charge! In the meantime I'm sitting at the computer wrapped in a big towel to keep me warm, and the wood-burning stove is back in action.

The work thing is even worse. I may lose my job at the end of May. The charity depends on grants from other charitable foundations and trusts, and despite using a professional fund-raiser there just hasn't been any money coming in lately. If nothing comes in shortly the charity cannot keep going after May. And then we are truly up the creek without a paddle, as we simply cannot manage without the money I bring in. Especially as we've just taken out the car loan. Oops!

Like Merry says, I really MUST do some education this week!!

The Guardian: Folic acid may be added to bread

You know, if only they'd taken the time to ask me, I could have saved the Food Standards Agency an awful lot of time and money. I did a phenomenal dissertation for my degree on the pros and cons of folic acid fortification of flour, and concluded that it would be a very good thing, preventing not only many neural tube defects but also vascular disease, some cancers, some psychiatric disorders and some other congenital defects and with very little basis for the fear that it may mask B12 deficiency if doctors are given basic education on what to keep an eye open for.

It won me a prize for the best student project in the Biological Sciences in my year.

I could be a famous and celebrated nutritionist by now, but instead I am at home with my 2 girls.

I know which is best.

First shoes

What a lovely day we've had today! Not a cross word said by anyone, I don't think, just relaxed and enjoyable. I have several memories today of Tamsin and I looking at each other sharing laughter about something or other, often one of Isabelle's funny little antics. It was all so sweet.

Not that we've actually done much. I had promised swimming today, which was planned for the afternoon. We had a lazy start to the morning, nobody waking before 8am, and all of us still in our pyjamas at 11am! Pulled finger out after that, and piled everybody plus dog into the car for a (short) trip into town, a visit to someone for work and to walk the dog. Bought fish and chips for lunch, then came home and ate it. Relaxed for an hour, then went off to Stratford for shopping and swimming.

Isabelle needs her first pair of shoes. It's funny how I could hardly wait for Tamsin to have been walking for 4 weeks before I got her first pair, but Isabelle has been walking for over 3 months now and it just hasn't seemed that important! But she is growing out of her cute little soft leather baby shoes, so we went to Brantano to get her measured. I had in mind how Tamsin's first shoes cost £31 and lasted only 4 weeks, so I thought I'd get some cheaper ones, but I didn't like the way there was no width measurement and then we were just left on our own to try on and choose shoes. I try that toe-squeezing move but just can't tell how much space there is in there! So we abandoned that and went next door into Boots for me to try (once again) to spend my Christmas vouchers. Had a lovely time browsing round, and eventually chose a smart aqua/brown coloured laptop case for my new computer (not yet quite set up for me but nearly there!). I feel so cool with it! I shall have to carry my laptop round town just to pose a little.

Found out that by now it was 3.30pm and swimming closed at 4, so had to break the news gently to Tamsin that there wasn't time to go (Bad Mummy!). Promised to go later this week though, and she took it extremely well. Went down to the Town Centre to visit Clarks and got a gorgeous pair of black patent shoes with tiny little pink hearts cut out all round for Isabelle - suitably cute for her to keep forever as "My First Shoes"!

Called round as pre-arranged to see a friend after that, and Tamsin really enjoyed playing out in the garden with her 2 boys. It was quite funny to see a little pink fairy kicking a football! Home late, dinner late and bed late but all is quiet now and it's bliss!

Ar-war-wot!

I think we may have solved the mystery of Isabelle's favourite utterance. It goes "Mummy?" (questioning tone) "Mummy!" (very demanding) "Ar-war-wot!" She says it many times a day, in all sorts of circumstances. And the only thing I can think of is that she's imitating Tamsin and I ..... Tamsin when she repeatedly says "Mummy? Mummy!" a hundred or more times a day and then I irritably shout "Oh, what?!!!"

It's been Tamsin's turn to be ill the last few days, with a quite high temperature and just wanting to sit around quietly watching TV or having stories read to her. It's a bad cold and sore throat, so it won't last long, but she's been feeing quite rough at times, poor thing. It has led to very disturbed nights for all of us, so Bill and I have been quite shattered and I've fallen asleep early in the evenings, hence no blogging.

Yesterday I was supposed to be helping at the local NCT Nearly New sale, but had to take Isabelle with me so wasn't quite as productive as usual. We did help out, though, and then got the chance for the preview shopping that is the perk of helping and why I do it! I was somewhat surprised when I ended up spending £46, and on thinking more clearly about it when I got home and checking the clothes and stuff I had bought, decided I had been overcharged by about £20. This morning I was checking the labels on the last couple of things I hadn't brought in from the car prior to phoning to complain, and discovered that the two boxes of Playmobil I'd supposedly bought for £1 each (thought it was a bargain!) were actually £10 each!! They're nice but I wouldn't have bought them if I'd realised. Still, I did buy a nice telescope for £3.50 which I am saving for Tamsin's birthday.

Today Tamsin has done pattern blocks, we've made and played with pink, mint-smelling playdough, Playmobil, and lots of CBeebies. She's pottered around in the garden while I have cleared out the old car for Bill as I am going to be driving the Prius now. No church as the girls are not well enough to go. I tried to retire to the sofa with the latest copy of the EO magazine and a bad headache, but demanding children do not allow such things.

I have a long list of urgent and important administrative tasks such as doing the petty cash for work, deferring my student loan for another year, several important Playschool forms to fill in, and telling HM Revenue and Customs that I earn so little from Usborne that I should not be liable for self-employed NI contributions. Quite when I'll get them done I do not know.

From little acorns ......

Autonomous education is going on apace here. I generally feel as though I am failing to provide anything much at all, but fortunately Tamsin is mostly just getting on with it on her own. I mean, I don't get up in the morning with several resources planned and close at hand to tempt her with, or ideas of what we are going to do, but stuff happens anyway, thank goodness!

So this morning we got up in a relatively leisurely fashion after another rough night with Isabelle - she's got a laryngitis sort of thing with high temps often at night and much coughing and hoarseness, so she's been fed at night again a couple of times (well, I can't refuse a poorly sick baby) and is already expecting it more and more ... CBeebies accompanied breakfast as usual but Tamsin also found a Letterland alphabet sounds activity book which she started working through (too easy for her really, but it gave her a little handwriting practice for each letter) and then off we went to the mums' group at church where I and T both stayed in the creche.

I must digress here to comment on the newly-politically-correct version of Letterland. Has anyone else noticed? Fireman Fred has become Firefighter Fred (okay, I can see why they've done that); Hairy Hat Man has become Harry Hat Man, (mustn't comment on personal appearance???); Lucy Lamp Lady has become Lucy Lamp Light (huh?); Naughty Nick has become Noisy Nick (mustn't damage children by labelling them as naughty!!); Poor Peter has become Peter Puppy (erm, too sad for our delicate little children?); Robber Red has become Red Robot (originally a poor role model??); Ticking Tess has become Talking Tess, Vase of Violets is now Vicky Violet, Water Witch is Walter Walrus and Max and Maxine have become Fix-it Max!!! So what is that all about? I think we'll just stick with the originals - I don't see Tamsin having been very traumatised by it so far!

Isabelle fell asleep on the way home and I wasn't feeling too great what with the mastitis etc so I had a lie-down for 20 minutes until she woke herself up coughing and had to be retrieved.

After lunch I felt I had to actually engage with the girls a bit, despite still feeling naff, so I got a big lump of clay out that we were given when we visited friends who own a pottery a few weeks ago. Tamsin was more interested in carrying on with the Letterland activity book, but when I launched in and started making a clay Easter Bunny, she said she wanted to make a horse, so I helped a little with that. I also took a hand-print from Isabelle, although it's not very deep so I don't know how it will cope with drying out. I then provided Isabelle with some 'sensory play' in the form of some gloop, which she wasn't very interested in and merely dipped one finger in, looked at it curiously, offered it to me to suck (I declined!) and went back to trying to grab stuff off Tamsin. So in desperation I gave her a little bowl of uncooked rice and she happily took her time gently sprinkling it over the carpet. Ah well, it kept her quiet for a bit. Then the "whatever one sister has the other one wants" hormone kicked in and Tamsin just wanted to play with the rice, so she decorated her clay horse with it, sprinkled it into the abandoned gloop, and generally entertained herself with it a good deal more than Isabelle had, who by that time had got down and wandered off to other pursuits. I did however squeeze one more educational moment out of the clay by getting Tamsin to press her finger into it next to mine and then giving her the magnifying glass with which to study our fingerprints.

After a bit of miscellaneous playing (Isabelle is loving her stacking cups at the moment) we attempted to visit the Library, only to find it closed due to the strike, so went on to a charity shop instead but found nothing of interest there. We came home and there was one lovely moment while I was in the kitchen making the dinner when I poked my head round the door into the living room to see both Tamsin and Isabelle engrossed in their own respective Usborne books (Farmyard Tales for Tamsin, a touchy-feely one for Isabelle). Tamsin made repeated raids into my Usborne boxes and made a very good stab at reading much of the stuff herself, although she did appreciate it when I looked through the Children's Encyclopedia with her. Looking at the front cover she pointed to the picture of Tutankhamun's mask and said "I want to look at that", so I turned to the Ancient Egypt page and while telling her that it was all very old and happened a long time ago, she said "I want to learn all about everything old!". She wasn't into much of a long attention span at that point of the day, though, and we flipped on through Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, the Incas, Vikings, Edward VIII, the Victorians, WW2 and the atomic bomb, and then into the "How People Live" section with a brief discussion of different cultures and how they eat different foods, dress differently, decorate themselves in various ways and so on. It's all very much skimming the surface but at least it shows her that all these things are there to be looked at, wondered at and talked about when and if she is ready to.

Isabelle crawled up onto my knee to be fed at about 6.15pm and promptly fell asleep while I was reading "Treasure Island" (Usborne Young Readers edition) to Tamsin, so she was popped straight to bed and then Bill came home just in time to do bedtime stories with Tamsin, so he finished Treasure Island and "Tom Thumb" that he got half-way through with her last night, so I had a nice easy bedtime stage tonight.

Bill has come home with a lovely Dell laptop which is going to be all for me (cheap; perk of the job), and he's currently searching Ebay for a WiFi card so I'll be able to blog in bed soon, yippee!

My beautiful girl

On Saturday, we stopped on the way down to Cornwall to go to the beach, and I just love this pic of a windblown Tamsin. There are some other nice ones too, but it's after midnight and I haven't got time to do all the rest!

So much to blog, so little time...

Tamsin's at playschool, Isabelle has just gone down for a nap, but after two appalling nights with her as she is not very well, I simply must have a quick nap myself before collecting Tamsin, otherwise I will *never* make it till the end of the day, or more importantly, the children may not survive till the end of the day!! A touch of mastitis doesn't help, either.

So we've been down to Cornwall this weekend and got the car! A lovely Toyota Prius, which averaged 56mpg on the way home, so that's a result! It will be interesting to see how it goes round the doors. Bill and I are going to have a battle royal as to who gets the majority use of it, but I am regarding it as *mine*!!! He is distraught at the thought of the mess and dirt that will result from carrying the children in it. Anyway, he's driving it this first week, just for one week, you understand, to check how much money he saves driving to Oxford and back everyday, and then I will have it. Yes, I will.

On the way back, we dropped in on the tworedboots family which was great although I must apologise in public for being 3 hours late, or was it 4? That has to be a record. Partly due to the change to BST, which despite being a relatively intelligent person, befuddles me completely and I struggle to work out what time my body thinks it is, or more importantly, what time the children's bodies think it is. And partly because the car seller changed his mind at the last minute at coming up to St Austell to meet us to hand over the car, and we had to drive down to the back of beyond to collect it. The most beautiful section of the back of beyond, mind you, with the most stunning views from high up on a cliff over a river inlet and their own private beach, but envy isn't becoming so I will stop there.

So I now have half-an-hour before going to collect Tamsin, so it's snooze-time.

Back to HE

Aha, at last it feels like we've done something worth blogging today.

This morning, Tamsin's breakfast viewing request (normally CBeebies) was the Dorling Kindersley video The Human Machine - the second time she's watched it. So much of it must be over her head, but it was interesting that she wanted it and as a result we briefly discussed brains, bones, blood cells and much else of a biological nature.

Unusually she didn't want to go to Playschool, so we stayed in and read books, walked the dog and then I took both girls off to work with me from 11-1pm. I took some Learning Land CD-Roms and Tamsin worked on a couple of them.

This afternoon she has looked at a lot of Usborne 1000 First Words, reading the words round the edge and then spotting the items in the main picture; we have (ta-da!) done our two first Miquon maths sheets although I was rather annoyed when I left her to continue filling in the blanks in a number square while I went to see to the dinner and came back to find she had scribbled over it; she's played with her farm and both girls have spent a fair amount of time outside, Tamsin pretending to be a dog and running on all fours to fetch the ball, and Isabelle toddling about generally and having a few goes on the slide. Tamsin was struggling a bit with writing some of the numbers so I have made her some number cards to have for reference, with a big dot where the writing of the number should start. Just before serving the dinner I put the Cuisenaire rods on the table and suggested that Tamsin should think which rod should go with which number card, and came back to find them totally randomly scattered! I pointed out that she could count the number of squares on the rods, and maybe match them to the numbers like that ....!! She did :-) She has also, as usual, done lots of word-spotting and sounding out all over the place.

When I sit at my computer and think about blogging, there is so much going on and it's all in such a complicated jumble in my mind that I can't think where to start, hence the blank week. Not that any of it is particularly major, but tiredness and too-much-to-do just get on top of me.

On the HE front, Tamsin's reading is still coming along amazingly. We've done another 'Sound of the Week' poster today with the ch/tch sound and she just loves going through those. She's happily reading words which I think are quite complicated and has a good stab at any new ones. I'm very impressed. I have to confess to a fair amount of relief that she's 'keeping up' with one schooled friend, but also pleased that it has been very much at her own pace and only done as and when she's wanted to.

However, a conversation with her Playschool leader yesterday has given me food for thought. She pointed out that it is so difficult to get Tamsin to say anything to the adults at playschool that it's very hard for them to assess her attainment. Now, in one sense, that doesn't matter at all because I know her level of attainment and I know it's perfectly good, if not better than normal, at this stage. But it did highlight this extreme shyness she has with adults in particular, that extends even to those whom she likes and has known for a year or two, or even in one case, all her life. She will not speak to them, even in a setting where she is happy and enjoys going. Even my friend Kate who has looked after Tamsin since 9 months old finds it hard to get her to ask her directly for something. And on Googling last night about it, I find that these symptoms, which approach but do not quite meet the criteria for selective mutism, are signs of anxiety and possibly low self-esteem, and I admit I'm worried about it. If there is a genetic component to such things, then she's a good candidate for having inherited my tendency to anxiety, and of course maternal guilt is only too quick to rise up and fear that I have been over-protective and not built up her self-esteem enough. None of it is comfortable thinking, anyway.

Nevertheless, the muddle in my head is more than matched by the muddle in my house, so I must go and do something.

Woke in a hazy fashion after a rather disturbed night from Isabelle, and while I tried to work out what day it was, I realised I had a nagging feeling that our car insurance ran out yesterday. I was right. So first job of the day was online to a 'screenscraper' service to get about 30 quotes all at once. Managed to save ourselves a creditable £50 p.a. on that premium, which on top of last week's £100 saved on the other car insurance premium is well worth a little time at the computer! I love the internet!

Today has been a day of much repetition. From the time she joined me in the bathroom to watch me shower, right through to bedtime, Isabelle has been singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" over and over again all day. Very sweet! Mostly just a recognisable tune, which in itself I think is amazing, plus a few distinguishable syllables. And Tamsin has done pretty much a whole bookful of dot-to-dot puzzles, going back to it again and again until this evening when she got quite a tricky one that went up to 48 and zig-zagged about, she found it difficult, threw the book on the floor and declared she didn't like dot-to-dot (rolls eyes!).

We've also done lots of 'art' ("I am an artist" Tamsin proclaimed yesterday) although our watercolour over wax crayon effort didn't turn out like it did on the telly! But she's painted flowers, sky, sunsets, Jack and the Beanstalk (yesterday), and various abstract works, while Isabelle has mostly painted herself. Yes, I know this needs a photo, but I didn't think to take one, sadly!

Also I bought Tamsin a little packet of little craft pom-pom balls from the Post Office this morning, so while sitting together making 'dandelions' with said pom-poms and pipe-cleaners, I sneaked in a little maths by playing about with 9 little balls and doing the various number-bonds up to 9, with addition and subtraction. Then Isabelle woke up from her nap in the car, and because I was just trying to finish a quick e-mail, I waited a couple of minutes, and surprisingly the calling out for me turned into wailing, so I *ran* out to get her and fell dramatically on the wet concrete path, so I now have spectacular bruising developing on my right hip, leg and arm. At the same point, my Tesco delivery turned up so all in all it was rather a manic 10 minutes or so, but it was nice to catch up with the delivery-person who used to be our milk-delivery lady back when I was pregnant with Benjamin and then all the trauma that followed. She's a very hearty country-woman but lovely with it and we had a nice chat about kids and dogs and chickens and life in general! I fielded the usual question to Tamsin, "Oh, aren't you in school today?" just by saying she'd be going in September, so a bit of a cop-out there but there are some people it's worth trying to debate with and others it isn't, I reckon.

I am having pangs about the absent chickens every time I open the back door or gate, but I guess I will get used to them being gone soon, and I certainly am looking forward to not stepping in chicken-shit everywhere I go.

Tonight I have done a little sorting-out of papers and finances (much more still to be done on both fronts) but at least it feels like a little progress has been made. And I can see some of the wooden bits of my desk, not just a sea of papers! Very rare.

The chickens have flown ....

Well, one did, as we tried to catch her to be taken away by my hairdresser's mother at 9am this morning. But she came back later, fortunately, though it is sad that they have now all gone. Mostly because they would not stay in their corner of the garden and there is chicken-poo everywhere, and with Spring coming the girls will want to be running about out there. Slight nerves about bird-flu too, though. Will hope to get some more chickens when we can afford to put up 9' high fences to keep them in!!

I'm feeling very frugal at the moment as I have just done an online Tesco order and found a code to get £10 off, and have ordered some clubcard Deals tokens to pay for various meals and sight-seeing tickets for our trip to London in June. I've sold my Amby baby hammock on Ebay this weekend, plus a bundle of baby clothes, so that'll be over £100 to pay off the credit card.

The girls have been happy and lively this weekend, which is more than can be said for their parents as Isabelle has had somewhat disturbed nights and I have ended up feeding her just once during each of the past two nights, to stop her waking and crying every 5 minutes for what felt like an hour or more. I'm determined not to feed here more than once per night, though, and hope this stage passes and she starts to sleep right through.

Plenty of HE has been going on of the reading, painting and Hama beading variety but I can't remember enough detail to blog it.

Catch y'all later.

Mmmmm, Snickerdoodles

Katy, you've got a lot to answer for. Made a batch yesterday and, erm, they're all gone.

Feeling rather sick about finances atm as I have had to find a childminder for Isabelle, and assumed I could claim on Tax Credits for 70% of the cost and now find I can't. Shit.

I did well at the charity shop today, with a few educational books (mostly 50-75p each) plus a cardigan for myself, then we've been to the library for more books and got a package from Bookstart with yet more books. So it's a good job I organised the HE bookshelf yesterday and put everything into subject order, so I know where to put them!

Not much to report

Bill was off sick yesterday with some vague bug and I've got it today. Nausea, fatigue, light-headedness, aching ... and all this on a day when I was driving to near Abingdon to meet my Mum. She's offered to have the dog for a week or so, and we often meet at a mid-way point to do the changeover. Anyway it all went a bit pear-shaped and I ended up dropping in on Bill at work in Oxford, he drove us all to meet Mum and then brought us all home again whereupon I went to bed. Tamsin did impress her Granny with her reading though.

Isabelle is night-weaned (again)! Like last time, she's not particularly sleeping much better yet although she does go for a longer stretch before waking for the first time. She's still waking and complaining a bit a few times during the night, though usually settles after a while. I think my next step needs to be to give her a bedtime feed downstairs, or otherwise not so close to going to sleep, so that she doesn't connect the two at all.

Apart from that, she is just heart-meltingly cute at the moment, especially when she puckers up for a kiss ...aaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!

Learning all the time

HE seems to be really flying at the moment, without any planning or organisation by me! Tamsin is very keen on reading, and every time we pick up a book she is reading as much of it as possible, and picking out words or phrases that we read to her and checking out what they look like. We're doing almost no maths, but I'm happy that that will come in time. At the moment, she just wants to read and is concentrating nearly all her efforts on that. She even read the first 3 paragraphs of her bedtime story this evening with minimal help.

She's also asking for lots of books to be read to her. So this weekend we've read the first couple of pages of "What's Under the Sea?", "Berenstain Bears Book of Science and Nature" all about Spring and started on Summer, "New Toes for Tia", "Letterland Maps Activity Book", more Flip Flap Body Book about how babies are made, plus some stories. Some of you will spot there is much of Sonlight Pre-K in here; I haven't been systematic about doing Sonlight consistently at all, but the box of books is in the living room and we dip into it intermittently. I would like to be more consistent with it, but knowing me I probably won't. I have left the Guide booklet out, though, to try and prompt me to do more this week. Even if I don't, it's all going very well autonomously, so perhaps I shouldn't interfere with the process!

Yesterday morning we visited the school she will go to just 1-2 days per week in September. She enjoyed playing with the doll's house, and then read about 3 of the Oxford Reading Tree books which were out on display. We also browsed through their maths resources (Heinemann) and she had a play on a computer game (educational of course!) that was set up. She met a girl who will be in Yr 1 next year, so knows one classmate's face and name at least. I was struck by how the other parents I talked to didn't just like this school, they totally raved about it and adored it. I definitely don't want to send Tamsin full-time - I can just see so many reasons not to - but I am glad she will get the chance to be there a little of the time.

Today we've spent quite a bit of time outside. I washed the car again as I am fed up of getting dirty trouser legs all the time, and then did a bit more vegetable patch digging. It's horribly hard work - I do wish I could afford to hire a rotovator but it's just way too expensive - but I suspect I will be extremely proud of myself when it's done! Isabelle just loves tootling about outside and frequently wanders round in any state of undress she happens to be in when I pop out to get the washing in or feed the chickens. So she had a lovely time all wrapped up in her thick winter suit-thingy just wandering round and watching what we were all doing. Tamsin helped me with the digging using a trowel, but quickly moved on to making a hole for the ants to live in!

I've made a decision which I think might save me a great deal of time and hopefully some money too. Now that we have taken out this loan to buy the car, things are going to be even tighter than before and we have no slack in the system for buying luxuries like upgrading computer bits (Bill, please note!!!), fancy shoes or books. Uh, hang on a minute, books are essentials, aren't they? Like air and water? Anyway, I have decided to give up reading catalogues!! No more Book People, Boden or Lakeland. And definitely no Rainbow Resources! And no browsing Argos or Amazon websites either. If I don't see it, I won't miss it, and I won't long for it. So there. Does that count as my Lenten self-deprivation? Even though it will have to last for 5 years?

Oh what a beautiful morning!

I'm full of the joys of Spring, here, which is strange considering the broken night's sleep we've all had. Isabelle was intermittently very unhappy at not being fed all night, and Bill did sterling work soothing and comforting her. When it was light-ish at 6.30am I fed her, but she never went back to sleep after that, and neither did Tamsin and I.

However, we've had a really lovely morning so far. Normally so early on a Saturday morning I'd veg in front of the computer while the kids vegged in front of the TV, but today we didn't get onto either till now (9.45am). I've tidied and scrubbed the kitchen so now it is vaguely respectable again. We've eaten a healthy breakfast of porridge with mashed banana, during which we read more of the Flip Flap Body Book, all about what happens to your food. I've had a shower and got dressed, and then we've come downstairs again with one of Tamsin's word puzzles which she's spent ages on. They're little mini-jigsaws of animals with a letter on each piece to spell the animal's name. She told me which one she wanted to do next and I got her to tell me which letters she needed to spell the words. When they were all made, she told a fantastic story about all of them, broke off in the middle into a complicated version of Old MacDonald Had a Farm, and then continued the story. I only wish I'd been able to write it down or otherwise record it, but I was feeding Isabelle at the time. It's just been so not an activity or lesson that could have been pre-planned, but it was a beautiful demonstration of literacy and imagination all in together.

Soon we're going out for an Open Morning at the school that Tamsin will be attending 1-2 days per week in September. They're threatened either with closure or 'federating' with another school a few miles away, so they're drumming up public support in advance of the public meetings to be held over the next couple of weeks. After that we'll go to Tesco, and then to the library! And then I'll go to bed while Bill takes over!

Today's chocolate biscuit count = 10

Hmmm, not so good then. Perhaps due to stress...... 'cos we've just bought a car off Ebay. So now we can be really eco-friendly (well, maybe just a bit) with our hybrid electric/petrol car. Can't wait to get it, but hyperventilating a bit about taking out the loan......

Apart from that, we've done lots of reading this afternoon. (This morning was work/playschool). My Usborne order which I placed on Wednesday morning arrived this morning! Very impressed, I was. So we've read the Flip Flap Body Book, Night-Time (all about animals that are out at night), On The Farm, Going to School (!) and she helped me read the Farmyard Tales 'Camping Out'. At bedtime we've read the Letterland ABC from front to back and spent ages, together with Bill, spotting all the objects in the pictures that start with the appropriate letter.

Tonight we're going to try and resist Isabelle's calls for night-time feeding, and Bill's going to do his excellent baby-comforting routine. Fingers crossed!

Split personality

I've been having this inner conversation with myself the past couple of days. "Two days! That's hopeless. I should have done better than that." Or, on the other hand: "Two days! That was really tough going, and I did really well! Managing not to eat any biscuits, cakes or other sweet stuff for two whole days. Wahay!!"

Yeah, day 3 I caved, but at least I still only had 2 choc biccies that day, instead of my normal 10. I reckon if I hold myself to only 1 or 2 per day, that's not too bad! I've been snacking on dried fruit and nuts, bananas and cereal instead.

I've been feeling a bit of split personality about Tamsin today, too. I've been seriously unimpressed with her treatment of her best friend from playschool, Shelley, who came over this afternoon to play. Tamsin was quite horrible 2 or 3 times, and made Shelley cry, and I had to talk very seriously to her about her behaviour. On the other hand, her reading this evening has seriously impressed both Bill and I again. She's been working out words like 'loving', 'difficult' 'clean', 'remember' 'Prime Minister' 'growing' without any help and words like 'important', 'healthy' and 'should' with only slight help.

In 'other news', the house is out of control again, I've fallen off the FlyLady wagon, I can't decide what to do with the chickens and money is disappearing scarily fast. Where's that bottle of Baileys?

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!