Can you imagine the awful feeling in my stomach when I woke in the middle of the night and realised I had forgotten to do Jade's main present!!!!!!! As she's been completely pony-mad for the last 6 months, I decided to give her what my parents gave me one Christmas (only I was about 10 years old, not 6) and pay for some riding lessons. During last evening I was browsing online clip art, trying to find a nice outline of a horse I could arrange the text in and print out, couldn't find anything suitable and shut it down .... and promptly forgot all about it in the rush of finishing wrapping presents, finding all the other things that I'd hidden round the house over the past few weeks, and collapsing exhausted into bed. So that middle-of-the-night stomach-clenching realisation was a bit of a shock to the system, and put the final touch to an already disturbed night of Shannon's usual 2-hourly wakings and Jade waking at some phenomenally early hour and chattering away about how she hates it when her stocking is empty (it wasn't - I don't think she'd even checked it at that stage) and keeping me awake for ages before finally falling asleep again. I contemplated going downstairs to quickly write a card for Jade in the middle of the night, but because I as usual fell asleep while waiting for Shannon to go into a deep enough sleep to leave her, I didn't manage it. So when Jade showed up just after 8am and had to be reminded to go and check if Santa had been and filled her stocking and getting both girls installed in our big bed opening presents, I nipped downstairs, cut out a quick pic from her pony magazine, stuck it in a Christmas card and wrote a few words. Phew!!! One day maybe I'll learn not to procrastinate so much .... but not yet, I'll leave it till later.
Aside from that, a good time has been had by all! Stocking gifts were received with delight and then we all came downstairs. Shannon has a perfect breathy "Wow" that warms the heart, this time at the pile of presents under the tree. As expected, Jade rushed through her gifts one after another, very pleased with each one but then rushing on to see more and more.... whereas 20 minutes after opening her first gift (Charlie & Lola books) Shannon was still sitting looking through them. Jade was thankfully particularly pleased at the Pegasus horse (from Barbie & the Magic of Pegasus film) which was the only thing she'd repeatedly asked for (and bought at a rather high price second-hand off Ebay - it was the one gift I simply had to get) but she wasn't expecting the matching Barbie with her wand of light (bought gratifyingly cheaply brand-new off Ebay due to a poor title in the listing) and she's thrilled with that too. Shannon loves her Talking Upsy-Daisy, her pink and white hobby-unicorn to match Jade's purple one, and both of them have loved Shannon's kitchen from Grandpa, with cooking noises and flashing lights! I can see myself tearing the batteries out of it before too long, but we'll see! Jade hasn't made much comment about the riding lessons, but when the time comes and it's more real I know she's going to be over the moon. As for me, I was surprised and very pleased to find a fab new camera from DH, as I lost my old one a few months ago, kept expecting it to turn up somewhere round the house but it hasn't so must be very careful with this one!
We went out to church this morning, got back and I prepared lunch while everyone else played/tidied and lunch was finally ready around 2.45pm and was excellent! The girls have played like mad for the rest of the day, going from Barbie/Pegasus games to cooking/kitchen games to doll's house games and then back to Barbie/Pegasus again, with not too many altercations along the way. At 5pm we all settled on the sofa to watch Polar Express which I hadn't seen before and I thought was fab, so I'm glad I videoed that one for future use! Didn't bother doing any tea, just nibbles, and then the girls went to bed around 7.30pm.
There's still loads more for us all to explore over the next few days, like the WebKinz toys the girls got from their American cousins, the Pony Club PC game we got for Jade and some craft kits and games, so hoping for a continuation of the nice relaxing holiday feel.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Monday, December 24, 2007
Yes, we have Christmas lunch! (just)
I really must stop being so haphazard about things. Not having got round to planning anything much about Christmas food or gone food shopping till today (partly because I refused to go with the children, and partly 'cos I'm plain lazy), I confidently told Bill to go out this morning and I would go and sort out the food after we'd been out to visit our friends this afternoon. Surely shops stay open late just before Christmas and Tesco would be open till about 10pm? I was a bit taken aback when said friends told me, just as we were leaving at around 5pm, that they thought pretty much everywhere was shutting early... Well, of course they're shutting early, it's Christmas Eve - where on earth was my brain when I needed it earlier??! I dropped everybody off at home and went off to Tesco - got there at 5.15 to find they shut at 5pm. Oh well, I thought, we've got the turkey (no carrots, hardly any potatoes), we've got sprouts, (no Christmas pudding), but we do have one box of mince pies (no cream or brandy butter) ... well it would have been a bit of a disappointing Christmas lunch but we wouldn't starve ..... But thank goodness Budgens was open (till 7pm!) so I spent plenty of money and got us a feast!!!! No croissants or brioche for breakfast, disappointingly, but plenty of other yummy stuff.
The other thing I've been haphazard about is the Jesse Tree. We've frequently missed days and had to catch up 2 or 3 days in a row, and tomorrow we're going to have to do the last 4 days all at once!! (sigh) I never was much good at routine.
Still, presents are purchased and (mostly) wrapped - just stocking stuff to do now. Jade is excited but under instructions not to open her stocking if she wakes when it's still dark - well, it's worth a try even though I don't suppose she'll take any notice.
So, I'd better press on and tie up the last few loose ends. Have a Merry Christmas, everyone!
The other thing I've been haphazard about is the Jesse Tree. We've frequently missed days and had to catch up 2 or 3 days in a row, and tomorrow we're going to have to do the last 4 days all at once!! (sigh) I never was much good at routine.
Still, presents are purchased and (mostly) wrapped - just stocking stuff to do now. Jade is excited but under instructions not to open her stocking if she wakes when it's still dark - well, it's worth a try even though I don't suppose she'll take any notice.
So, I'd better press on and tie up the last few loose ends. Have a Merry Christmas, everyone!
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Nice weekend
To church this morning, where Jade's little group of 5-8 year olds practised for next week's nativity performance - Jade's going to be an angel and I think Shannon's supposed to be a shepherd (aaaahhh!). And there was a lovely moment for me when I was chatting to a woman, and commented that I'd better be getting going because (and then I turned to Jade and said) "What are we going to do this afternoon?" (not expecting a verbal answer, just excited jumping up and down or something, and she shouted out loud "Christmas Tree"!!! In front of someone who was looking at her!!! Wow, I hardly dare imagine her starting to talk to people, but it is so thrilling to see these little steps of progress!
Then home for a quick lunch and tidy up to make space for the imminent arrival of the Tree! Took the girls off to the garden centre to choose an appropriate specimen, and then home for decorating fun. To the accompaniment of Christmas music, of course. I love that bit of christmas! While I was busy doing the bits only I could do, the girls (including L from next door) were acting out the nativity story. We got many of the other decs up in the past couple of days. Just need to do the wreath with the greenery that we collected in our walk in the woods on Friday.
Took a few moments here and there through the day to remember that 9 years ago today, Bill and I went for my 20 week scan in my first pregnancy very excited and looking forward to finding out the sex of the baby, only to find out a whole lot more and ending the day a whole lot sadder and wiser. Dec 16th will be engraved on my heart for the rest of my life as the day I really lost my innocence, I think.
Yesterday the whole family tripped off to Oxford to meet my Mum and cousin to exchange Christmas presents. We had lunch at the Ashmolean Museum cafe and had a quick look at some of the Egyptian artefacts they have there, and then went over to the Museum of Natural History and Pitt Rivers Museum for the rest of the afternoon. So lots and lots of informal and fun learning went on, for everyone! If I was Nic I would describe each and every piece we looked at and discussed, but instead, it's 10.45pm and I just want to go to bed (could do with some matchsticks for the eyelids actually) so I can't be bothered!!
Jade did a lovely bit of spontaneous writing on Friday (we'll gloss over the fact that it was in my notebook where I (sometimes) keep track of our finances). She did a bit of contemporaneous reporting on what she and Shannon were up to: "Shannon's in the box. Now she's out. Now she's spilled her drink. Now she's on the sofa. reading my book! grrrrrrr shannon!! Now we are waching Tom and jerry. Now she's stoped... playing with my book. Like I said I Thingkck i did. eeeek! it's nearly cristmas!" followed by a lovely toothy, curly-haired self-portrait!!! One to keep for posterity, I think!
Then home for a quick lunch and tidy up to make space for the imminent arrival of the Tree! Took the girls off to the garden centre to choose an appropriate specimen, and then home for decorating fun. To the accompaniment of Christmas music, of course. I love that bit of christmas! While I was busy doing the bits only I could do, the girls (including L from next door) were acting out the nativity story. We got many of the other decs up in the past couple of days. Just need to do the wreath with the greenery that we collected in our walk in the woods on Friday.
Took a few moments here and there through the day to remember that 9 years ago today, Bill and I went for my 20 week scan in my first pregnancy very excited and looking forward to finding out the sex of the baby, only to find out a whole lot more and ending the day a whole lot sadder and wiser. Dec 16th will be engraved on my heart for the rest of my life as the day I really lost my innocence, I think.
Yesterday the whole family tripped off to Oxford to meet my Mum and cousin to exchange Christmas presents. We had lunch at the Ashmolean Museum cafe and had a quick look at some of the Egyptian artefacts they have there, and then went over to the Museum of Natural History and Pitt Rivers Museum for the rest of the afternoon. So lots and lots of informal and fun learning went on, for everyone! If I was Nic I would describe each and every piece we looked at and discussed, but instead, it's 10.45pm and I just want to go to bed (could do with some matchsticks for the eyelids actually) so I can't be bothered!!
Jade did a lovely bit of spontaneous writing on Friday (we'll gloss over the fact that it was in my notebook where I (sometimes) keep track of our finances). She did a bit of contemporaneous reporting on what she and Shannon were up to: "Shannon's in the box. Now she's out. Now she's spilled her drink. Now she's on the sofa. reading my book! grrrrrrr shannon!! Now we are waching Tom and jerry. Now she's stoped... playing with my book. Like I said I Thingkck i did. eeeek! it's nearly cristmas!" followed by a lovely toothy, curly-haired self-portrait!!! One to keep for posterity, I think!
Friday, December 14, 2007
I will blog.....
...when I feel like I've got something to say.
I will just note that speech therapy for Jade is still going well, and that all pretence of educating Jade has gone out of the window for the past week or two, and normal service won't be resumed till some time in January. Shannon, however, is speeding along learning Letterland letters (at her insistence) and spending much time poring over books.
I will just note that speech therapy for Jade is still going well, and that all pretence of educating Jade has gone out of the window for the past week or two, and normal service won't be resumed till some time in January. Shannon, however, is speeding along learning Letterland letters (at her insistence) and spending much time poring over books.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Feels like whatever I blog this evening will be boring - just don't feel inspired. I'm sure you can find entertaining blogging somewhere else if you wish. We've been doing the usual stuff - Sonlight, Beyond the Code, a lovely walk in the woods on Monday, and the rest. We had a good visit to Playschool yesterday morning, which Jade thoroughly enjoyed as well as Shannon! I think she would love to go back and is disappointed that she's too old! Shannon played very happily with her friend who already goes there, and I'm sure she'll settle in just fine. She'll start going in January, and I think I'll be sending her on a Thursday morning instead of going to the childminder, who I will ask to go and collect her, and I'll pick her up about an hour later. I may even send her on a Tuesday morning as well, if not straight away then before too long. I'm sure she'll love it, and it will be useful to have a bit of toddler-free time to do stuff with Jade.
We had a good session with the Speech Therapist on Tuesday. In the space of a 45-minute session, Jade was at the end able to say single-word responses to my questions with the ST right there in the room! Quietly, but in a normal voice, not whispering! I thought that was fabulous. She's coming again next Tuesday so hoping for more progress then too, even if it's just speaking in a louder voice. We're planning the next steps, too, along the lines of getting her similarly comfortable with speaking to another adult at church, who could then go with her into her Sunday School group instead of me going with her each week. Need to find a willing volunteer!
While I was at work today, Jade and DH had been talking about doing some sort of treasure hunt, with clues to find things, and after dinner she wanted to start straightaway. It was pretty close to bedtime, but while Jade and I were reading a Christmas story (the real St. Nicholas story), he devised a couple of rhyming clues, and then she had a fabulous time working them out and finding the hidden toys. Then, even more wonderfully, she started writing her own clues and sending me to find stuff! She did several before I finally insisted it was bed-time.
Tomorrow morning is work again, Jade coming with me while Shannon goes to the childminder. I'll get Jade doing Education City, among other things, while I'm working as that all went quite well last week. We may go up to Stratford in the afternoon as there is a book waiting for me at the library about making dolls' house furniture.
We had a good session with the Speech Therapist on Tuesday. In the space of a 45-minute session, Jade was at the end able to say single-word responses to my questions with the ST right there in the room! Quietly, but in a normal voice, not whispering! I thought that was fabulous. She's coming again next Tuesday so hoping for more progress then too, even if it's just speaking in a louder voice. We're planning the next steps, too, along the lines of getting her similarly comfortable with speaking to another adult at church, who could then go with her into her Sunday School group instead of me going with her each week. Need to find a willing volunteer!
While I was at work today, Jade and DH had been talking about doing some sort of treasure hunt, with clues to find things, and after dinner she wanted to start straightaway. It was pretty close to bedtime, but while Jade and I were reading a Christmas story (the real St. Nicholas story), he devised a couple of rhyming clues, and then she had a fabulous time working them out and finding the hidden toys. Then, even more wonderfully, she started writing her own clues and sending me to find stuff! She did several before I finally insisted it was bed-time.
Tomorrow morning is work again, Jade coming with me while Shannon goes to the childminder. I'll get Jade doing Education City, among other things, while I'm working as that all went quite well last week. We may go up to Stratford in the afternoon as there is a book waiting for me at the library about making dolls' house furniture.
Sunday, December 02, 2007
There goes another week...
Well, I've been busy! Have had various of my own organisational projects going on, and have mostly left the girls to fend for themselves. So what have I been doing, I hear you ask?!!
Well, I had a brainwave last week that, despite being signed up to Flylady and getting the e-mails every day, I didn't have a permanent list up in my house of what needs doing so that I can look at it whenever I want and see what I'm supposed to be doing today. A bit like I do with my calendar. So I made one! I have no idea how to display it in this blog but there is a list down the left-hand side of daily jobs that need doing, with a little box to tick for each day, and then on the right-hand half of the page there are jobs to do for each day of the week, i.e. the weekly jobs, OK? And the motto (from FlyLady) is "Progress, not Perfection" so even though I'm not getting it all done, at least I am doing better than I did before, so that's progress!
The other thing I've finally done today is to re-hash the menu plan I made about a year ago. I'd made several changes for a summer menu, but we've been back to the winter menu for a while now. However Jade has one-by-one decided that she doesn't like several of my staple meals. I've been in a bit of a dilemma whether to just stick to making them in the hope that she eventually gets to like them, but it's rather demoralising to have her frequently not eating the healthy dinner I've cooked and ending up with just a sandwich yet again (same as lunchtime, usually!). It's also a bit difficult when she's declared she's a vegetarian (with the exception of roast chicken which she loves, and bacon, and sausages!!!) but Shannon is a confirmed carnivore who always picks out all the meat in whatever I've cooked so she can eat it first. Anyway I've found a few different dishes which we'll try out and if that fails I'll teach her how to make her own cheese sandwich and she can do it herself every day!!
We have done some Sonlight stuff this week, including another chapter of Story of the World, a science experiment, some Beyond the Code, (but no maths). We still haven't done any more of the germs lapbook we started before we all got ill. Maybe this week! Last night she read out all the question and answer cards from the Alpha Animals game, and she's done some Education City. And endless reading in bed at night - that goes without saying!
Shannon, in the meantime, is sneaking up on the rails, and when we pulled out the Junior Scrabble board on Friday, totally astonished me by instantly taking the letter tiles and starting to match them up with the letters printed on the board. I had no idea she could do that! Bill tells me she can recognise some letters, such as pointing to 'S' and saying "that's sssssss...". I haven't been paying enough attention, obviously!!! Her counting from 1-12 is very well established, although she's still somewhat wobbly on her colours! When I was tidying up the educational bookshelves this morning, I noticed that I have several books of early play-type learning stuff that I could be doing with her, so I guess I need to start planning that in instead of just palming her off with toys while I do stuff with Jade. However we're also going to be making a visit to playschool on Tuesday morning to introduce Shannon to it, and so that I can meet the new playleader who has taken over since Jade used to go there. I can't quite decide whether to send Shannon there instead of going to the childminder on a Thursday morning, or on a different morning as an addition to it! I love the idea of saving the money I'm spending on the childminder, but OTOH Shannon gets on really well there and is very happy, and I'm reluctant to break up a happy and useful relationship. It's really useful when I need some extra childcare for either or both girls every now and then to be able to ask the childminder. I'll have to keep musing on that one. She's not going to start till January, although as I type that I realise it's only a month away!! Somehow I still thought I had a couple of months to think about it!
Finally, we have started a Jesse Tree for the first time for Advent, which I have been really looking forward to, and started that this evening.
Well, I had a brainwave last week that, despite being signed up to Flylady and getting the e-mails every day, I didn't have a permanent list up in my house of what needs doing so that I can look at it whenever I want and see what I'm supposed to be doing today. A bit like I do with my calendar. So I made one! I have no idea how to display it in this blog but there is a list down the left-hand side of daily jobs that need doing, with a little box to tick for each day, and then on the right-hand half of the page there are jobs to do for each day of the week, i.e. the weekly jobs, OK? And the motto (from FlyLady) is "Progress, not Perfection" so even though I'm not getting it all done, at least I am doing better than I did before, so that's progress!
The other thing I've finally done today is to re-hash the menu plan I made about a year ago. I'd made several changes for a summer menu, but we've been back to the winter menu for a while now. However Jade has one-by-one decided that she doesn't like several of my staple meals. I've been in a bit of a dilemma whether to just stick to making them in the hope that she eventually gets to like them, but it's rather demoralising to have her frequently not eating the healthy dinner I've cooked and ending up with just a sandwich yet again (same as lunchtime, usually!). It's also a bit difficult when she's declared she's a vegetarian (with the exception of roast chicken which she loves, and bacon, and sausages!!!) but Shannon is a confirmed carnivore who always picks out all the meat in whatever I've cooked so she can eat it first. Anyway I've found a few different dishes which we'll try out and if that fails I'll teach her how to make her own cheese sandwich and she can do it herself every day!!
We have done some Sonlight stuff this week, including another chapter of Story of the World, a science experiment, some Beyond the Code, (but no maths). We still haven't done any more of the germs lapbook we started before we all got ill. Maybe this week! Last night she read out all the question and answer cards from the Alpha Animals game, and she's done some Education City. And endless reading in bed at night - that goes without saying!
Shannon, in the meantime, is sneaking up on the rails, and when we pulled out the Junior Scrabble board on Friday, totally astonished me by instantly taking the letter tiles and starting to match them up with the letters printed on the board. I had no idea she could do that! Bill tells me she can recognise some letters, such as pointing to 'S' and saying "that's sssssss...". I haven't been paying enough attention, obviously!!! Her counting from 1-12 is very well established, although she's still somewhat wobbly on her colours! When I was tidying up the educational bookshelves this morning, I noticed that I have several books of early play-type learning stuff that I could be doing with her, so I guess I need to start planning that in instead of just palming her off with toys while I do stuff with Jade. However we're also going to be making a visit to playschool on Tuesday morning to introduce Shannon to it, and so that I can meet the new playleader who has taken over since Jade used to go there. I can't quite decide whether to send Shannon there instead of going to the childminder on a Thursday morning, or on a different morning as an addition to it! I love the idea of saving the money I'm spending on the childminder, but OTOH Shannon gets on really well there and is very happy, and I'm reluctant to break up a happy and useful relationship. It's really useful when I need some extra childcare for either or both girls every now and then to be able to ask the childminder. I'll have to keep musing on that one. She's not going to start till January, although as I type that I realise it's only a month away!! Somehow I still thought I had a couple of months to think about it!
Finally, we have started a Jesse Tree for the first time for Advent, which I have been really looking forward to, and started that this evening.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Glad to see the back of that week!
I just lived through my worst nightmare, which thankfully turned out not to be as much of a nightmare as I'd feared, but still bad enough not to want to repeat it again ever, please!!!
All four of us, sick with D&V at the same time. In a house with only one toilet. And I am v-phobic. I'm sure you don't want me to go into all the grim details, which involved lots of towels, the porta-potti from the caravan and a very stoic and understanding husband who took over until he finally keeled over on Thursday, by which time I was beginning to recover and the girls were lots better.
However, let's look on the bright side:- I am not currently locked up somewhere for the sake of my own safety; and I threw up, yet the world didn't end. Wow!
Funnily enough, the girls had both started with runny noses on Monday morning, so I thought it an appropriate time to start doing a lapbook on germs. Apart from colds, I hadn't really planned on doing the practical, though!! We didn't get very far with it so must try and continue that this coming week.
What else? The girls have watched endless Tom & Jerry, "The Way Things Work", "The Prince of Egypt", "The Horse Whisperer" and a fair bit of CBeebies. Jade and I have read a couple of Magic Tree House books - about the Titanic and the Lakota tribe. Shannon has enjoyed lots of books, and does her best to memorise them and read them back to herself.
And now, just as I was typing up this blog, a neighbour rang on the doorbell and offered us a large doll's house!! No furniture or anything, but even so! It is one of the things I'd been contemplating getting for Christmas, but as Jade seems to want horsey-related stuff even more, it was probably going to not happen. The Lord doth provide!!!!
Finally, today Bill has gone to collect another funny little car, although this one has much more of my approval than the last one! (Okay, I just spent aaaaages looking for the link to when he bought the ahem, ahem, still can't bring myself to name it, little car and can't find it, but did have a good laugh reading this year's new year's resolutions!!!). Anyway this one is the poor-man's (French) version of a Smart Car which runs on diesel or vegetable oil! The plan is he'll commute to Oxford in it and save enough money on petrol to pay for the loan we've had to take out to buy it!!! Fingers crossed!
All four of us, sick with D&V at the same time. In a house with only one toilet. And I am v-phobic. I'm sure you don't want me to go into all the grim details, which involved lots of towels, the porta-potti from the caravan and a very stoic and understanding husband who took over until he finally keeled over on Thursday, by which time I was beginning to recover and the girls were lots better.
However, let's look on the bright side:- I am not currently locked up somewhere for the sake of my own safety; and I threw up, yet the world didn't end. Wow!
Funnily enough, the girls had both started with runny noses on Monday morning, so I thought it an appropriate time to start doing a lapbook on germs. Apart from colds, I hadn't really planned on doing the practical, though!! We didn't get very far with it so must try and continue that this coming week.
What else? The girls have watched endless Tom & Jerry, "The Way Things Work", "The Prince of Egypt", "The Horse Whisperer" and a fair bit of CBeebies. Jade and I have read a couple of Magic Tree House books - about the Titanic and the Lakota tribe. Shannon has enjoyed lots of books, and does her best to memorise them and read them back to herself.
And now, just as I was typing up this blog, a neighbour rang on the doorbell and offered us a large doll's house!! No furniture or anything, but even so! It is one of the things I'd been contemplating getting for Christmas, but as Jade seems to want horsey-related stuff even more, it was probably going to not happen. The Lord doth provide!!!!
Finally, today Bill has gone to collect another funny little car, although this one has much more of my approval than the last one! (Okay, I just spent aaaaages looking for the link to when he bought the ahem, ahem, still can't bring myself to name it, little car and can't find it, but did have a good laugh reading this year's new year's resolutions!!!). Anyway this one is the poor-man's (French) version of a Smart Car which runs on diesel or vegetable oil! The plan is he'll commute to Oxford in it and save enough money on petrol to pay for the loan we've had to take out to buy it!!! Fingers crossed!
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Big blog postponed
I was all set to do a lovely catch-up blog last night of all we've been up to, but Shannon put a stop to that by developing a sickness bug just as she was about to go to bed. Suffice to say it's been an awfully long night and I have an awful lot of yucky washing to get done. She's doing OK, though still throwing up every now and then. I'm a nervous wreck in fear of catching it.
However, despite that, I have it officially that we are not a completely dysfunctional family in need of therapy!! The psychiatrist from Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services has phoned up this morning to say that the only treatment they think Jade needs for the selective mutism is the standard 'small-steps' exposure treatment which the speech and language therapist has started with Jade already (in fact she should have been here today but we cancelled her due to all the sickness). The psychiatrist will keep a kind of watching brief and have a couple of meetings with DH and I to chat over how we think things are going, but at least they haven't suggested family therapy or anything else!! We must be (fairly) normal!!!!
However, despite that, I have it officially that we are not a completely dysfunctional family in need of therapy!! The psychiatrist from Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services has phoned up this morning to say that the only treatment they think Jade needs for the selective mutism is the standard 'small-steps' exposure treatment which the speech and language therapist has started with Jade already (in fact she should have been here today but we cancelled her due to all the sickness). The psychiatrist will keep a kind of watching brief and have a couple of meetings with DH and I to chat over how we think things are going, but at least they haven't suggested family therapy or anything else!! We must be (fairly) normal!!!!
This made me really sad:
My Dad brings along the weekly 'Family' section of the Guardian. I've got rather behind and had a big pile of them to read, and just found this article which was in the 25th August paper. I thought it was desperately sad that it is accepted as necessary and normal to do this to such little children.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Real birthday pics
These are a few pics of Shannon on her birthday - the ones I posted below were earlier ones as I couldn't download the proper birthday pics straightaway.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Ramblings
Firstly, a big thank-you (in an awed 'how-does-she-do-it' tone of voice) must go to Nic for being such a fabulous camp organiser, chef, hostess and everything else. My first NicCamps experience had its highs and lows for me but I'm glad I went, and certainly the girls had a great time. For me, Wednesday was the best day, when everybody went to the beach, where the kids had a fabulous time and I enjoyed sitting in November sunshine, eating chips and chatting. It was lovely.
I don't shine in groups, though, as I do much better in one-to-one or very small group situations, once I've got to know people well and can trust them, and I do feel very self-conscious about being quiet and feeling not fully integrated into the group. I'm not good at being funny or joining in lively banter, and I so envy those that are. I'm not a quick thinker; I am a deep thinker, and that takes time! So I feel a bit out of place in the evening chats, not to mention that I am always tired and longing to go to bed by about 10pm!!
On Tuesday I promised to take Jade swimming, as Tuesday is our normal swimming afternoon and she was longing to go. So we missed the walk which sounds as though it was great fun, although it would probably have been difficult as both of my girls would have wanted carrying after about 15 minutes. Instead we drove off to find a swimming pool. Nic directed me to two - the first one I found quite easily but it was shut for staff training followed by lessons; the second one I couldn't find, despite clear directions. (It turned out to have been only about 20 yards further on than the place where I turned round and went back.) So we ended up on Shoreham beach, but without coats, so we didn't stay long. Despite that, Jade had a fabulous time jumping the little waves for about 5 or 10 minutes, and then 5 minutes in the nearby park, and then I was too cold and insisted we went back to the hostel.
I was tired on Thursday, having tried to put on a better show and stay up till midnight the night before. It does not suit me, when Shannon is still waking several times per night. If I had 7 hours straight I would probably be OK, but as it was I was tired and grumpy on Thursday morning The kids' cabaret was fantastic, though - I loved, loved, loved it! After that I thought it would just be hanging around the hostel until the party at 4pm. So it was a big surprise to me when the place pretty much emptied at 2pm and people disappeared off in all directions apart from those staying to prepare the party. So I disappeared to my room, with accompanying girls, of course, who got busy on a computer CD-Rom while I dozed or read my magazine. At 3pm Jade reminded me that I'd promised we could go out and get some strawberries for her, so we went down to the supermarket, wandered around a bit, got some strawberries, and some new pyjamas for me (I only had one complete pair of pyjamas and I bought them when pregnant with Benjamin!!) and then back for the party. Which was fabulous. And extremely well organised!! And great fun for everyone, I think, even Jade who does not like joining in party games. I was impressed that she had a go at the 'acting out the phrase on a Love Heart' game, with my help.
Took the slow way home on Friday, firstly going to visit some old friends, a retired couple who used to live in Stratford-on-Avon, who I absolutely adore and it was fabulous to see them for the first time in about 4 years. Then on to my Mum's in Alton to pick up the dog. We left there about 4pm and called in to see Bill at work in Oxford on the way home. We eventually got home at 7pm, though Shannon had slept in the car at lunchtime so neither of them went to bed till about 10pm.
Today has been rather gloomy at home with various pressures and strains rising to the surface and not being dealt with very well. The word 'congruence' keeps coming to mind, which apart from its maths usage is the psychological term for being integrated inwardly and outwardly, i.e. what you feel inside is the way you behave outwardly. I'm not good at it. Actually I'm rambling, but I'm bloody miserable so I can't think straight. I'd better stop.
I don't shine in groups, though, as I do much better in one-to-one or very small group situations, once I've got to know people well and can trust them, and I do feel very self-conscious about being quiet and feeling not fully integrated into the group. I'm not good at being funny or joining in lively banter, and I so envy those that are. I'm not a quick thinker; I am a deep thinker, and that takes time! So I feel a bit out of place in the evening chats, not to mention that I am always tired and longing to go to bed by about 10pm!!
On Tuesday I promised to take Jade swimming, as Tuesday is our normal swimming afternoon and she was longing to go. So we missed the walk which sounds as though it was great fun, although it would probably have been difficult as both of my girls would have wanted carrying after about 15 minutes. Instead we drove off to find a swimming pool. Nic directed me to two - the first one I found quite easily but it was shut for staff training followed by lessons; the second one I couldn't find, despite clear directions. (It turned out to have been only about 20 yards further on than the place where I turned round and went back.) So we ended up on Shoreham beach, but without coats, so we didn't stay long. Despite that, Jade had a fabulous time jumping the little waves for about 5 or 10 minutes, and then 5 minutes in the nearby park, and then I was too cold and insisted we went back to the hostel.
I was tired on Thursday, having tried to put on a better show and stay up till midnight the night before. It does not suit me, when Shannon is still waking several times per night. If I had 7 hours straight I would probably be OK, but as it was I was tired and grumpy on Thursday morning The kids' cabaret was fantastic, though - I loved, loved, loved it! After that I thought it would just be hanging around the hostel until the party at 4pm. So it was a big surprise to me when the place pretty much emptied at 2pm and people disappeared off in all directions apart from those staying to prepare the party. So I disappeared to my room, with accompanying girls, of course, who got busy on a computer CD-Rom while I dozed or read my magazine. At 3pm Jade reminded me that I'd promised we could go out and get some strawberries for her, so we went down to the supermarket, wandered around a bit, got some strawberries, and some new pyjamas for me (I only had one complete pair of pyjamas and I bought them when pregnant with Benjamin!!) and then back for the party. Which was fabulous. And extremely well organised!! And great fun for everyone, I think, even Jade who does not like joining in party games. I was impressed that she had a go at the 'acting out the phrase on a Love Heart' game, with my help.
Took the slow way home on Friday, firstly going to visit some old friends, a retired couple who used to live in Stratford-on-Avon, who I absolutely adore and it was fabulous to see them for the first time in about 4 years. Then on to my Mum's in Alton to pick up the dog. We left there about 4pm and called in to see Bill at work in Oxford on the way home. We eventually got home at 7pm, though Shannon had slept in the car at lunchtime so neither of them went to bed till about 10pm.
Today has been rather gloomy at home with various pressures and strains rising to the surface and not being dealt with very well. The word 'congruence' keeps coming to mind, which apart from its maths usage is the psychological term for being integrated inwardly and outwardly, i.e. what you feel inside is the way you behave outwardly. I'm not good at it. Actually I'm rambling, but I'm bloody miserable so I can't think straight. I'd better stop.
Sunday, November 04, 2007
"I'm not birthday girl, I'm Shannon!"
Yes, my baby is 3!!! I can hardly believe it's 3 years since that unexpectedly early home-birth. From that tiny baby, she's grown into a funny, feisty and formidable character, who goes from lecturing me ("don't you do that!") to affectionate cuddles and kisses in the space of just a moment or two. She so knows her own mind, is fierce with her anger and her love, and is in no doubt at all about who she is ... her favourite statement is "I'm not (gorgeous/a monkey/cuteypie, whatever's just been said to her), I'm Shannon!!" She's a dancer, a comedienne, a story-teller and a book-lover. She loves to turn the pages of the Sonlight Instructor Guide or any other folder of paper, and she loves to bounce anywhere and everywhere. She adores her big sister, and so wants to be like her, but doesn't want anyone to be like she is - "stop copying me!!" being her second-favourite phrase! She has brought such a lot of joy and laughter into our lives and we're all completely in love with her, even Jade, though she'll only admit it when Shannon's asleep. We're so glad we got to have her in our family! Happy Birthday for yesterday, Shannon - I hope you never grow out of those kisses and cuddles!
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Working Wednesday
Not much to report from yesterday as I was working all day. Girls stayed at home with Bill. I think the most enthusiastic learning took place in the early evening, when I was at my computer and Bill was in the living room, looking at a book about the Titanic, with Jade. They spent ages looking at it together, with Jade asking many questions and Bill answering. It was lovely to hear her so interested in it.
Today I had offered to give somebody a lift to our Gloucester office, so had to be up and out by 9am to collect her and drive her over. Took the girls too, and borrowed the work cash-and-carry card for the first time. There were definitely some bargains to be had if you have sufficient storage space for bulk buying, which I don't. I did get some stuff, but have not yet compared prices to see how much cheaper it is than Tesco's. I'll have to muse on how much it's worth trying to clear storage space to be able to buy stuff in bulk.
After that we were starving, so we went to the nearby Sainsbury's for lunch, followed by a quick shop. Most needed item was new socks for Jade, but I was also delighted when I saw a dress reduced from £22 to £2, so I grabbed that! I wasn't sure how 'me' it was, but for a couple of quid it was worth a try, and actually it's pretty nice! We'll skim over the fact that Jade commented this evening that I look like I'm going to have another baby .... thanks for nothing, kid! So I may have been enjoying chocolate and crisps a bit too much lately......
Anyway, then we drove back home to spend an afternoon with my Dad who came over to deliver Shannon's birthday present (it's on Saturday) and to collect some printouts from the web I'd done for him. So that was a nice couple of hours.
And then we sat and watched "March of the Penguins" which I'd rented to follow up a little on our viewing of "Happy Feet" which we saw a couple of weeks ago during National Schools Film Week. Jade sat all the way through it and watched with interest, I was pleased to see. I thought it was amazing.
Then the usual dinner, a little TV, a bit of playing, and a lot of procrastination about bedtime. But now all is quiet.
Today I had offered to give somebody a lift to our Gloucester office, so had to be up and out by 9am to collect her and drive her over. Took the girls too, and borrowed the work cash-and-carry card for the first time. There were definitely some bargains to be had if you have sufficient storage space for bulk buying, which I don't. I did get some stuff, but have not yet compared prices to see how much cheaper it is than Tesco's. I'll have to muse on how much it's worth trying to clear storage space to be able to buy stuff in bulk.
After that we were starving, so we went to the nearby Sainsbury's for lunch, followed by a quick shop. Most needed item was new socks for Jade, but I was also delighted when I saw a dress reduced from £22 to £2, so I grabbed that! I wasn't sure how 'me' it was, but for a couple of quid it was worth a try, and actually it's pretty nice! We'll skim over the fact that Jade commented this evening that I look like I'm going to have another baby .... thanks for nothing, kid! So I may have been enjoying chocolate and crisps a bit too much lately......
Anyway, then we drove back home to spend an afternoon with my Dad who came over to deliver Shannon's birthday present (it's on Saturday) and to collect some printouts from the web I'd done for him. So that was a nice couple of hours.
And then we sat and watched "March of the Penguins" which I'd rented to follow up a little on our viewing of "Happy Feet" which we saw a couple of weeks ago during National Schools Film Week. Jade sat all the way through it and watched with interest, I was pleased to see. I thought it was amazing.
Then the usual dinner, a little TV, a bit of playing, and a lot of procrastination about bedtime. But now all is quiet.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Another good'un
It felt like another positive day today, despite not getting much underway till after 11am. Before that it was breakfast, showering (me), bathing (girls) (Jade loves baths and always wants one after I shower and stays in for ages!), second breakfast, Jade and I both spending ages reading the Bright Minds catalogue which arrived in the post and marking up various interesting-looking things, getting the dry washing in, the wet washing on the line, another load in the machine, and brushing a cushion's worth of fluff from the dog!
After that I persuaded her to have another go at some copywork she (deliberately) messed up yesterday, then she did a couple of pages from the Letts Maths (5-6) workbook, and then we had lunch!
I read some more chapters of "My Father's Dragon", and then we had a quick look at "Everyday Things" or whatever that Usborne book is called, which was a couple of pages about trees, then she answered a few questions about what we'd read.
Meanwhile Shannon spent a LOT of time turning the pages of the Sonlight Instructor Guide. For some reason, she finds this absolutely fascinating and can spend ages doing it!
I thought there was something else at that stage, some more reading or something, but I can't remember what. Whatever. Afterwards, we started carving our pumpkins!! I went online and found a free pattern that I liked (cat sitting on the moon, + stars), and Jade stayed with the traditional grinning toothy face. Both girls helped scoop out the gunk from inside - er, actually no they didn't because Shannon didn't like the feel of it and was wailing that it was 'gloddy' when she got some gloop on her arm and foot - a lovely word, I thought! She did help clean the top of the hob, though! Then I carved, and cleared up, and roasted pumpkin seeds, while they went off and played. The pumpkin seeds were ready, and none of us liked them - they were too woody.
By now it was around 4pm so I got the girls dressed (usual barely-clothed state most of the day) and we gathered up most of our library books and went to get a new batch, ready for being away next week. Then the girls watched more Tom & Jerry on DVD while I made dinner. Shannon took ages to fall asleep and I got cross with her, and Jade is still awake (10.45pm).
P.S. 2 soggy accidents today from Shannon plus 3 successful potty visits.
Oh, and FWIW, as a PS to yesterday Jade spent quite a while (with my help and encouragement) on Education City and I got her doing some of the literacy activities she hadn't done before and she did really well. She hasn't done any of the maths. No surprises there then!
After that I persuaded her to have another go at some copywork she (deliberately) messed up yesterday, then she did a couple of pages from the Letts Maths (5-6) workbook, and then we had lunch!
I read some more chapters of "My Father's Dragon", and then we had a quick look at "Everyday Things" or whatever that Usborne book is called, which was a couple of pages about trees, then she answered a few questions about what we'd read.
Meanwhile Shannon spent a LOT of time turning the pages of the Sonlight Instructor Guide. For some reason, she finds this absolutely fascinating and can spend ages doing it!
I thought there was something else at that stage, some more reading or something, but I can't remember what. Whatever. Afterwards, we started carving our pumpkins!! I went online and found a free pattern that I liked (cat sitting on the moon, + stars), and Jade stayed with the traditional grinning toothy face. Both girls helped scoop out the gunk from inside - er, actually no they didn't because Shannon didn't like the feel of it and was wailing that it was 'gloddy' when she got some gloop on her arm and foot - a lovely word, I thought! She did help clean the top of the hob, though! Then I carved, and cleared up, and roasted pumpkin seeds, while they went off and played. The pumpkin seeds were ready, and none of us liked them - they were too woody.
By now it was around 4pm so I got the girls dressed (usual barely-clothed state most of the day) and we gathered up most of our library books and went to get a new batch, ready for being away next week. Then the girls watched more Tom & Jerry on DVD while I made dinner. Shannon took ages to fall asleep and I got cross with her, and Jade is still awake (10.45pm).
P.S. 2 soggy accidents today from Shannon plus 3 successful potty visits.
Oh, and FWIW, as a PS to yesterday Jade spent quite a while (with my help and encouragement) on Education City and I got her doing some of the literacy activities she hadn't done before and she did really well. She hasn't done any of the maths. No surprises there then!
Monday, October 29, 2007
Pants!
Yesterday, Shannon wore pants all day for the first time! relatively successfully! I think there was one 'accident' in the mid-afternoon but the rest of the time she did very well. And we even went out for the morning, to church. She is very good at using the potty/toilet when naked, but previously whenever clothed she would just assume she had a nappy on and use it! I decided to persist with the pants, though, and just keep checking/reminding her to use the potty.
Today hasn't been quite so good as she said she needed a poo but refused to go on the potty, or have a nappy on, so just made a horrid mess! I put everything she was wearing in the bin! Ah well, on the whole we're making progress of a sort.
I hadn't meant for last week to slip by with no 'work' going on, but with L-from-next-door round here most of the time it was difficult to get on with anything much. We decided to get back to it this morning, and I had just settled down with everyone on the sofa to get on with the story of Moses when the doorbell rang and there was L again! One of those dratted Inset days! Anyway, I just made her sit and listen too, and she and Jade both seemed to really enjoy the story, read from two different books, from Moses' birth all the way through to the Ten Commandments, all territory which we haven't covered before so that was good.
By then it was lunchtime! OK, so before the Moses stuff we had done some tidying, dancing, and general procrastination!
After lunch I had to do something about the dire lack of food in the house, so took all 3 girls to the local small supermarket where they were incredibly LOUD but at one point we all had a fit of the giggles so I thought that was an improvement on the demeanour of most people when shopping!
The rest of the afternoon the girls have played with another girl from across the road, mostly on the trampoline. In fact L and J just appeared downstairs naked except for towels wrapped round them and announced they were going to do a 'naked dance'! Sadly L's brother then called for her to go home for tea, so that delight will have to wait for another day!!
Today hasn't been quite so good as she said she needed a poo but refused to go on the potty, or have a nappy on, so just made a horrid mess! I put everything she was wearing in the bin! Ah well, on the whole we're making progress of a sort.
I hadn't meant for last week to slip by with no 'work' going on, but with L-from-next-door round here most of the time it was difficult to get on with anything much. We decided to get back to it this morning, and I had just settled down with everyone on the sofa to get on with the story of Moses when the doorbell rang and there was L again! One of those dratted Inset days! Anyway, I just made her sit and listen too, and she and Jade both seemed to really enjoy the story, read from two different books, from Moses' birth all the way through to the Ten Commandments, all territory which we haven't covered before so that was good.
By then it was lunchtime! OK, so before the Moses stuff we had done some tidying, dancing, and general procrastination!
After lunch I had to do something about the dire lack of food in the house, so took all 3 girls to the local small supermarket where they were incredibly LOUD but at one point we all had a fit of the giggles so I thought that was an improvement on the demeanour of most people when shopping!
The rest of the afternoon the girls have played with another girl from across the road, mostly on the trampoline. In fact L and J just appeared downstairs naked except for towels wrapped round them and announced they were going to do a 'naked dance'! Sadly L's brother then called for her to go home for tea, so that delight will have to wait for another day!!
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Okaaaaaay.....
Don't know why I've been MIA, really. Been quite busy but also just got out of the habit of blogging, I guess.
I really don't think I've got this HE thing quite right for our family, TBH, but not really got time to work out anything much different to what we are doing. We have Sonlight K, which officially we started in January and we are currently on Week 6!!! Obviously we get very sidetracked. I've been trying to stick to it more recently, just to see what it's like to have a definite programme to follow and to see if it works for us, and I'm not sure that it does. We are doing a fair bit of non-SL stuff, e.g. Story of the World, and Miquon maths (which isn't listed in the schedule even though a maths programme is part of the SL plan) plus all sorts of other bits and pieces I have picked up here and there, and yet I feel a great pressure to do as much of the stuff listed for each day as possible, regardless of whether it's working or not. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about this yet, except keep a kind of 'watching brief' on it. I do feel I'd like to get significantly further into SL K before dropping it. Maybe we will find a way of using it without me feeling so compelled to either follow it or feel as though we are 'behind'. I do feel it is helping us (Jade and me in particular) to get into the habit of sitting down and doing a bit of formal work each morning, and then I feel more relaxed about just letting the rest of the day unfold.
Anyway, after all of that preamble, yesterday we started some Miquon simple addition and subtraction. Now, we've done this a few times before, but there's been quite a gap since we last did much maths. It's amazing to me, though, that a girl age 6y who has a reading age of somewhere between 9 and 10 (last time I checked) has such trouble with very simple numbers. For example, at one point today I asked her 1 + 1, and it took her a good 5 seconds to work out the answer! After coming up against this problem yesterday, though, I got out the Cheerios to use as manipulatives. Maths is much more fun when you get to eat the answer when you get it correct! We were just doing very simple addition and subtraction up to 10. I think doing this for several days in a row just for 5-10 minutes at a time should help, and she enjoyed it so much yesterday that she actually asked to do it again today! She really does seem to find the simplest mental arithmetic surprisingly hard, though.
We then went on to do three pages of 'Beyond the Code', which she has no trouble with at all. We did a couple more pages of that today too.
At lunch time yesterday we continued with her current passionate love of all things horsey by showing her the 'Join Up' video with Monty Roberts, aka 'The Horse Whisperer' - the original! It's absolutely stunning, and I would have thought that even the non-horsey couldn't fail to be impressed and amazed at the man's learning of equine body language, and what he does with it. It always moves me to tears when a wild horse moves towards him to 'join up' with him - it really is almost spiritual and deeply powerful.
I also attempted to make her a 'woollie' horse (link supplied by Sally) which came out looking more like a giraffe, and she wasn't motivated to have a go on her own!!
In the afternoon we went out to do a bit of food shopping and visit the Post Office, and she nagged me into buying her a 'Pony World' magazine because it had a free 'angel pony' on the front, which she has played with ever since. After we got home, it was time for next-door-neighbour L to come round and play, so that was that!
Today we've done the Cheerios/miquon maths, a bit more Beyond the Code, I've read a library book 'Tarquin the Wonder Horse' and looked at a Trains book, both before we go to the library this afternoon and change them. I've also got her whizzing quite quickly through one of the free Letts workbooks picked up free through that St Ivel Advance Milk promotion - oh I see that all the free books have gone now but you can still get 50% off Letts workbooks. I got an age 5-6 one seeing as she finds it such a struggle, and also to check if we'd left any gaps in her early maths! She did 9 pages of that this morning, and most of it was pretty easy but there's nothing wrong with making her feel that maths is easy!!
Meanwhile, Shannon was sitting with us at the table, looking through her BBC Toybox magazine, doing a bit of colouring, a bit of playdough, and a bit of being a nuisance!
They're currently watching Tom & Jerry and we're off swimming this afternoon, and then to drop in to the library on the way home.
I really don't think I've got this HE thing quite right for our family, TBH, but not really got time to work out anything much different to what we are doing. We have Sonlight K, which officially we started in January and we are currently on Week 6!!! Obviously we get very sidetracked. I've been trying to stick to it more recently, just to see what it's like to have a definite programme to follow and to see if it works for us, and I'm not sure that it does. We are doing a fair bit of non-SL stuff, e.g. Story of the World, and Miquon maths (which isn't listed in the schedule even though a maths programme is part of the SL plan) plus all sorts of other bits and pieces I have picked up here and there, and yet I feel a great pressure to do as much of the stuff listed for each day as possible, regardless of whether it's working or not. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about this yet, except keep a kind of 'watching brief' on it. I do feel I'd like to get significantly further into SL K before dropping it. Maybe we will find a way of using it without me feeling so compelled to either follow it or feel as though we are 'behind'. I do feel it is helping us (Jade and me in particular) to get into the habit of sitting down and doing a bit of formal work each morning, and then I feel more relaxed about just letting the rest of the day unfold.
Anyway, after all of that preamble, yesterday we started some Miquon simple addition and subtraction. Now, we've done this a few times before, but there's been quite a gap since we last did much maths. It's amazing to me, though, that a girl age 6y who has a reading age of somewhere between 9 and 10 (last time I checked) has such trouble with very simple numbers. For example, at one point today I asked her 1 + 1, and it took her a good 5 seconds to work out the answer! After coming up against this problem yesterday, though, I got out the Cheerios to use as manipulatives. Maths is much more fun when you get to eat the answer when you get it correct! We were just doing very simple addition and subtraction up to 10. I think doing this for several days in a row just for 5-10 minutes at a time should help, and she enjoyed it so much yesterday that she actually asked to do it again today! She really does seem to find the simplest mental arithmetic surprisingly hard, though.
We then went on to do three pages of 'Beyond the Code', which she has no trouble with at all. We did a couple more pages of that today too.
At lunch time yesterday we continued with her current passionate love of all things horsey by showing her the 'Join Up' video with Monty Roberts, aka 'The Horse Whisperer' - the original! It's absolutely stunning, and I would have thought that even the non-horsey couldn't fail to be impressed and amazed at the man's learning of equine body language, and what he does with it. It always moves me to tears when a wild horse moves towards him to 'join up' with him - it really is almost spiritual and deeply powerful.
I also attempted to make her a 'woollie' horse (link supplied by Sally) which came out looking more like a giraffe, and she wasn't motivated to have a go on her own!!
In the afternoon we went out to do a bit of food shopping and visit the Post Office, and she nagged me into buying her a 'Pony World' magazine because it had a free 'angel pony' on the front, which she has played with ever since. After we got home, it was time for next-door-neighbour L to come round and play, so that was that!
Today we've done the Cheerios/miquon maths, a bit more Beyond the Code, I've read a library book 'Tarquin the Wonder Horse' and looked at a Trains book, both before we go to the library this afternoon and change them. I've also got her whizzing quite quickly through one of the free Letts workbooks picked up free through that St Ivel Advance Milk promotion - oh I see that all the free books have gone now but you can still get 50% off Letts workbooks. I got an age 5-6 one seeing as she finds it such a struggle, and also to check if we'd left any gaps in her early maths! She did 9 pages of that this morning, and most of it was pretty easy but there's nothing wrong with making her feel that maths is easy!!
Meanwhile, Shannon was sitting with us at the table, looking through her BBC Toybox magazine, doing a bit of colouring, a bit of playdough, and a bit of being a nuisance!
They're currently watching Tom & Jerry and we're off swimming this afternoon, and then to drop in to the library on the way home.
Monday, October 15, 2007
The Mom's Overture
One of these days I will blog properly, honest, but for now, here's another one of these:
Monday, October 01, 2007
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