We are having a remarkable few days in terms of learning really. My children are not following my intended plan of education at all – far from wishing to learn in a wholesome fashion with wooden manipulatives etc, they prefer to use computer games, but i have to say it seems to be working!!!! Currently they are obsessed with reader rabbit and are using the three in the 4-6 triple pack constantly – I was quite shocked to find Moo,who is 3, ably working through the reading package today – yesterday she walked past the maths one and chose the correct answer for 58+7 – i sort of hope it was a fluke or i am very scared!!!!

Pud seems to be doing quite well with the reading and maths, she sussed number patterns the other day and seems to have a reasonable grasp of the word games – she certainly seems to be getting the idea of sounding out words and listening and picking the right word. Has to be good! Pud is also doing quite a lot of work with numbers up to 100 – i have them all cut out on laminated paper and we are using a base ten set to make up numbers in ten bars and units – its not a bad game at all!!! She finds getting the names of the number hard sometimes even though she knows how to create the number in block – but often we make a number square first and then that refreshes her enough to remember through the game. I need to look up some more montessori activities for this as she is enjoying it. I think she feels a bit frustrated that moo is just as able as she is right now – she needs to move on for herself.

She is also very in to Henry 8th – the bad king, she calls him! We have one queen buried in our town so are going on a visit and i am going to do a little project with her. She drew me a picture of him tonight! Bless!!!

Obviously its seriously pathetic that Mrs MuddlePuddle doesn’t actually have a coherent entry to her blog yet. We have been kind of busy though… here is a quick recap for posterity!

Pud, aged 5 – so virtually official now – has just had her 5th op on her cleft palate/lip – she is now three weeks out of it and doing exceptionally well.
Moo – aged 3 – well we think she is autistic spectrum, the ST thinks she has a semantics disorder but she is also terrifyingly smart – and i think i can say this in an unbiased fashion because i don’t think my elder child is anything more than typically bright and a bit flighty!!!! Moo is doing computer puzzles aimed at 6 year olds, grasping maths without teaching and being generally quite scary. There is much i could type but i will leave it for another day!
Ammi – aged 1 – awful eczema, possibly the only member of the family to be able to control moo – distinctly personality enhanced!!! rofl!!!!

We have just.. moved house, been to devon, been to hesfes and done the op in the space of 3 weeks… we are wacked. Now, like i don’t have enough parenting issues, the rabbit is depressed and we have to get him a girlfriend – who arrives on Monday and i have to say is beautiful.

HE wise.. well… fortunately the children are heavily into the computer at the mo and are donig reader rabbit and dk games with avengence… they are also enjoyng our garden. The have not had nearly enough attention during the move but things are improving. Today we had an extra ice-skating lesson for Pud, an eo trip all about flowers which Moo loved, and went to pick the new rabbit – it was a good, but tiring day. Tomorrow.. we chill!

Will update v soon

I kept a version of this blog before – so for posterity i thought i would put it here – i didn’t last long at this one!

2002
[7/28/2002 2:04:42 PM | Merry Raymond]
well – everyone is out in the garden lots- had a trauma today over a dead bird but we got through it i think. Yesterday we saw all my family, today its going to be all Mx’s family – busy days! Everyone seems to be having fun and looking forward to all the visiting we will be doing next week as well. Only two weeks till we move now – f is very excited but not sure if M really knows or not. She tells us she loves us all the time now and seems a bit happier this week – fingers crossed my worrying is for nothing.

*Frantic waving to my sister cos she reads this!*
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[7/17/2002 11:29:19 PM | Merry Raymond]
Last few days of playgroup this week – and SCHOOL is there with avengence – F plays school, talks school, thinks school and wants to go to school in September. Until you tell her she has to go all day every day and then she doesn’t. Its hard though – when i decided to HE i didn’t reckon on having a thinking questionnig 4 year old – i didn’t reckon on having to explain my choices, justify myself or present a lack of a choice to her. I want to give her freedom but in a way i am taking that away. I thought she would be like me but she is more confident and sociable than i was. (I think i can pat myself on the back for that!) The reasons have moved on from my initial ones to ones based on wider educational issues but its hard to explain them to her – how can i tell her i am giving her a chance to have more when inevitably this next little period she will see it as something being taken away. Its hard. :~(

On the flip side today she told me a girl at playgroup had said her mouth was funny… the dreaded thing has happened :~( And maybe thats as good a reason as any to carry on with what we have decided. Its end of year blues – i think going back to busy bees will change it again – but my little girl is growing up, thats for sure. It was particularly noticeable at her speech therapy assessment – they want to do another op and wanted to listen to her first. She played along for a good while but eventually said ” I’ve had enough now!” – there was no drawing her.

I’ve noticed that every conversation seems to be a minefield – how to explain things without frightening her, confusing her or setting up future trouble – she remembers everything these days and will often latch on to something until she has it – it can go on forever.

M is even more of a worry – her tantrums are verging on the disturbing now – yesterday i had to stop the car and sit for 10 minutes on the roadside calming her down. Its not naughtiness, its more like extreme distress over really tiny things – she simply can’t handle slight deviations from the norm – even trying on knickers is a no-no – even thoguh she can use a potty with no trouble at all. It so hard ot cope with. I could handle Fs terrible twos – they were just that – but this is something far deeper and i don’t know what…..

A slept the night through last night – hurrah!
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[7/8/2002 3:24:58 PM | Merry Raymond]
Not a lot ot say really but thoguht i would check in. Met a HEer from MP last week which was loads of fun (*waving frantically!*) – its nice to find new pals.

Got a house we think and girls are all good. Nothing major happening but M is talking loads (where, yes, no, help me, i luv ya mom (that would be the barney video)) Its lovely to be able to really communicated with her. She’s still pretty frustrated by life though and if anything her quirks are getting weirder! Strange child!

F is excited about moving and is into… argh!… BARBIE!!!! *shakes head in disbelief!* And A is just HUGE and smiling too!
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[6/30/2002 11:52:22 PM | Merry Raymond]
Kind of a stressful weekend – one house was nearly right but not quite, another looked excellent but the people before us took it. Sigh….

So no one is feeling that great really. Have a few to check on tomorrow.

However.

Went in to town today and F did the coolest thing. We let her and M take their dollies and pushchairs in with us. All of a sudden F announced hers was hungry, sat on a bench and pulled up her tshirt to feed her. And we sat there for 10 minutes while she did! Then she burped her, asked for a wipe to clean the sick off her shoulder (this does of course mean shes noticed i wear sick like a fashion accessory!) and changed her nappy. It was just so ADORABLE!!! She was totally into it – no pretend feeding – it had to be skin to skin and properly positioned! Very very funny!

F got a pocket dragon with a splinter for beig brave about having one taken out of her hand (splinter not dragon!) M just mooched – as she does!
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[6/29/2002 12:19:50 AM | Merry Raymond]
The summer holidays are creeping up and if we move away from the playgroup then we will be officially HEing in the autumn. Now thats pretty scary… i wouldn’t really want her to start at a new one, i think it would be a bit much for one year. Unless we found another really good one. At the moment i would drive across town to take her back to Busy Bees. House hunting not going well – i am pretty worried about it all.

On the up side we are having nice days – the big two are lovely with their little sister and seem very relaxed about life. We are having lots of nice days out and have visitors most days – Laura still comes once a week to play with them while i clean the house and they love the change. F made fairy wands with her today. The playdough crazy hair thing is very popular – funny – i remember having one i hid in my wardrobe that was “just mine” – i also remember my very small sister creeping in and playing with it!!!!!

I hope we can get somewhere with a garden – they would miss it so much – that was the problem with the house today, the garden was across the road – it would have been hopeless.

M is just adorable – she seems to have decided, since A was born, that she had better speak – and she talks LOADS!!!! She can ask “Where?” anything is and she says “i Luv you mom” to me – it melts my heart. She also counts with F and can sing anything – she even sings Fs french songs and she has only heard them a few times. Today she was singing 12345 once i caught a fish alive – not always the right words – but perfectly to the tune… awwww… bless her.

As for A – well – she is smiling and doing that lovely “oooh ahhh ohhh” talk that babys do at you – its SO sweet – she won’t be new much longer…….