Oh well, I’m feeling better anyway. Unfortunately Maddy has raging earache and Josie has raging snot and a cough like i’ve not heard on a baby before :~/ Roll on pox. Grumble.
Today was a haul in the reins, pull up the sofa day. We had biscuits, cuddles, sofa, biscuits, dvds and so on. I cuddled Ammi a lot and actually feel a lot better for not really attempting anything. Actually, i did put away most of the washing so my room doesn’t look quite such a pit, but i went for the “contain everyone in one room and entertain them digitally” approach today. Worked as far as mess went anyway. Fran has played Zoombinis Maths Adventure for most of the day and has done really well at it. I haven’t helped her at all and she is suddenly playing most sections on the most difficult level – which considering she used to be utterly stymied by even the bottom level of the Bubble Maze, is pretty good. Her concentration and stickability really pleased me and she seemed to get a big kick out of it. So all was not lost i suppose. maddy and Ammi watched a lot at times, other times they played or watched films. It was just a slow day.
We did have a dentist trip which was a rather mixed experience. Credit to Fran who was utterly cool about it: she does have intermittent experiences of having to sit in a chair for about 15 minutes while 6 people stare into her mouth and has had since she was 6 months old but i must admit i was impressed by how cool she was. Ammi threw a fit and had to be held on my lap while i prised her jaws open, by which time an already predictably unhappy Maddy was backed up against the wall and weeping silently.
Now (minor rant coming here) i had gone to the trouble of warning them about Maddy beforehand, out of her hearing so i was a bit pissed off by how well they managed the situation. I had specifically asked for them to follow my lead and not push it so an opening gambit of “this is the autistic one then?” didn’t over please me. Eventually i coaxed her (with the promise of stickers) on to my lap and said loudly “he will not touch, he is only going to look.” So she obligingly opened her mouth, whereupon he jammed both hands in there. With fairly predictable results. Given he had already said loudly, about Fran’s teeth, “yes they look really odd but that is just the way of things with clefts” i was not over impressed. Ho hum. Its not even as if he was really awful, he just wasn’t great. And both those two need great, iyswim.
Anyway, i’m much more upbeat that i was yesterday. We’ve just made it through Week 20 of Yr 1 AO so that is over half way. I’m going to bite the bullet now and plan it out for the last 16 weeks and then plan out the used material i also have to take us up to Xmas. We had a really long story session tonight (with Ammi sat on Max’s knee which worked better) and i’m just so thrilled with how much they all engage in the stories. Its been the saving grace of the last 6 months.
Josie – little update deserved. She can now sit on my knee and hold herself up, not “unaided” but with very little support, she is very strong. Exceptionally dribbly, fascinated by peoples food (tiny taste of ice-cream last night which she was bowled over by!), I’m just sitting here watching her rub her feet together exactly as i rub mine when i am tired which is really funny. Here eyes are still grey but going more brown i think, probably gonig to be like Fran’s i expect. She has really found her hands now and chews them, pushes away at me if i clean her face, grips the girls’ fingers and she is hugely engaged in relationships with them all. She still looks ever so like Maddy. Still stupidly sicky, going more blonde and starting to wear real clothes occasionally. talks to me lots in a “hoo haa” fashion. I said the other day that i could never get bored of babies, its true. I WAS bored with babies for my first two, now i just adore their uncomplicatedness. Why do they grow up so fast?
had an interesting conversation with Muhammad’s mum the other day. She was saying how they avoid books with pigs in, due to their religion. I was trying to think of anything that i unconsciously assimilate into my own culture without thinknig about it. The best i could come up with is that i would probably avoid creating artwork with a crucifix style cross in it unless it was intentionally religious. I couldn’t think of anything else really. I’m still on the look out for “the perfect children’s book of Islam” but from my conversations, i’m not going to find it. Still, i’m learning loads – apparently, in the Koran, Jesus was born under a fig tree. Its those pieces of religion that fascinate me, the mutations and differing understandings and tellnig of what is essentially the same story…. must get back to doing OU… (maybe not just now though.)
