Thank you to the Portico

For a really lovely weekend!!!! Everyone had a ball – thank you for having us :~)

Cor – only took 4 years

I typed up Moo’s birth for my VBAC list so i have stuck a link to it on the side. Still not sure i can face typing Frans, if i can remember it! Still Scruff’s should be short and sweet; “wanted an hbac, both of us nearly died, had a section!”

How did my list do?

Tomorrow and the weekend will be busy so i thought i would see how i did with my “focus the mind” list….

Decorate dolls house – yep, made a good start and its really been used since too.
Use those leap pad books – history and smart guide ones have got used lots at bedtime.
Try and read a ladybird book a day – or something similar – PandJ 2b and related word play.
Keep going with “Alice” – every night this week – pats self on back!
Make that fish mobile up – just about to!!!!!
READ LIBRARY BOOKS AND GO BACK TO LIBRARY – oh yes 13 books out this week. GULP!
Rifle through all those workbooks/sticker books and do some if we like the look of them – dinos and insects.
Explore this months webland – yep – got a bit of a play anyway.
Ten Minute test books – not loads but a few pages used up.

Yes – i really think the list helped – and stopped me buying anything new too!!!

Oh and those Twist and Shouts have been a HUGE hit!!!!!

The recurring conundrum of colour

I can’t remember exactly how we got on to this tonight, but Fran and i were discussing this tonight. How pigments all mixed together makes black but all light colours mixed make white and how you can split white with prisms to see the colours separately again. Oh yes, i do now – it was becasue the moon was shining through a thin cloud and consequently fuzzy so we were talknig about blurring the outline the light made with water vapour. Fran “got” the pigments but discussing white as a “non colour” was very difficult. She grapsed “well its not nothing cos that would be clear” but if its not a colour, what do we call it? And frankly – i don’t know! I’m not sure the arguments have ever really convinced me! Light we talked about in terms of rainbows – it was enjoyable – i wonder if i can find some experiments to do? Joyce, wasn’t it you and Hannah who did this topic a while back? Got any decent links?

Apart from that it was a very busy day. I had a bit of a lie in, not asleep but just dozy and warm in bed and all the girls played really happily in the big bedroom. It sounded such a nice game. Then we read a LOAD of books, a beautiful one by Sally Morgan called Pet Problem but i can’t find it on Amazon – such a shame – it was one that really jumped out at me as a good starting point for an idea i have (or a few of us have had rather). And then an Easter book illustrated by Jan Piet… oh the Polish sounding woman! It was the actual bible text and was a bit much for the girls so i “edited” it a bit – but it was Moo’s choice from the library this week so we had to “do” it! its been a HUGE story week – we also read “Can’t you sleep, Little Bear” and Fran requested the Dsiney Ladybird book of The Hunchback of Notredame which i have to admit i feel profoundly uncomfortable reading to her, but she often asks for. Alice has now seen off Pig and Pepper and has met the Cheshire Cat. That girl talks to strangers way too much….

Moo went off and Fran and i looked at a great book by DK – Incredible Earth i think it was – another library book. I think we may have to get it – it was lots on volcanos, earthquakes, glaciers, limestone etc – i was fascinated. Then we did a few pages of the stamp album and found LAOS and HUNGARY on our maps. (I confess to having no idea where LAOS was!!!!! but Fran was delighted it was next to Vietnam!) We finished off with a clock face exercise from the 10 minute test books.

After that it was off to Speech therapy and Fran was amazing; came up with an ENORMOUS list of “P” words which the ST wrote down for her and pronounced all of them really well. She can even do “Poppy” now if she thinks! Much harder were the ones with “p” at the end so our next task is to find some of them and practise them – might also make the list into reading cards to play with. We got the giggles over “pencil” because her brain, which is now remembering to replace her “cuh” sound she used to make for “p” was trying to put a “p” into the middle of pencil too!!!

Then we got Moo and trundled off to return our library books, only to discover we had forgotten the cards! ARGH! Anyway, got them returned and the girls chose a huge pile to have put by for them, then we dashed home, bathed Fran to de tangle her hair (she was INSIDE her duvet this morning!) and picked up the books on the way to Rainbows. She seems to love that, i am so pleased its worked for her. While i was there i met a friend who runs ColourStrings classes and have agreed they can all go to one mixed session on a Thursday from next week. Am hoping that will work well for Moo and Ammi particularly. There is an NCT toddler group immediately after it in the same building we might try out. I don’t suppose it will bother Fran to go to it.

Was very chuffed to sneak up on the car after taking Fran into Rainbows and see Moo and Scruff playing some very cute game together and laughing uproariously! They are such sweeties :~) Have also been most impressed this week by several “books of writing” Moo has made, all squiggles but she can write her name without copying it – i had no idea she could do that!!!!! She has also brought home painting for almost the first time ever, paint and mess being an anethema to her generally. She is growing up so fast and is really ready for more input. I need to work out worknig her into the day i think. On the other hand, the bed time Alice reading has settled her much better than recently and she goes straight off to sleep again now.

Have been mulling over the possibilities of how i will approach getting this babe out when and if the time comes and am very surprised by how much i have changed. I don’t know whether is resignation or maturity but somehow the process seems to matter much less this time than the idea of the end result being alive and well. Maybe the very near miss with death over Scruff’s birth had am ore profound effect on me than i really took on board at the time.

Blergh
Cold is developing nicely – i have a sore throat, but its remarkably satisfying to just have a sore throat and be able to deal with it, rather than degenerating in a few hours to a sweating, infection ridden, pus filled blimp. To much information? Well anyway, i have a sore throat but i am not “really ill.” Tis good. They may have said the implant had nothing to do with it, but the last time i was on anti-biotics was the day it came out – and it had been every fortnight before that.

Anyway. Everyone is off colour apart from Moo, so i felt a bit bad taking them off for their jabs – but there is measles and german measles about and i really CANNOT face going through the chicken pox scenario of last year again. They did very well, especially Moo who had to have two and polio, most of which she spat out. But i couldn’t blame her really :~) Everyone got a “I was as good as gold at the doctors” sticker – i’m not sure Scruff stripping off to her nappy in the reception room, running riot in the nurses room and then kicking one needle across the room REALLY deserved that.. however… ;~)

Went in to nursery to see Moo’s “cord of ‘chievement” – really the bizarre things they use to group and type children are amazing (apparently Moo works to a trajectory, rotation and projection schema…..*rolls eyes*) – however, it had some nice stuff in there about her and good photos of her doing stuff, so i left feelnig it had been a good decision.

Fran wasn’t up to much but we did read her volcano library book, talk about deforestation, greenhouse gases, rainforests, natural disasters and so on. Then we did some more of her word cards and she remembered loads – she also sounded out “can” and “go” on her own and her favourite word is “jump” – funny that! Lol!

Doing pancakes tonight as we were a bit disorganised yesterday….

Belatedly occurred to me….

…to try ringing Hasbro to see if i could get replacement cards for the Guess Who game that Scruff chewed to bits after only 3 days in the house.

I can – for £1.50

Shame its too later from Scruff…..growl….

Proper today entry

I have a cold…. *fixes mrs hojo and/or scruff with stern stare* I have a fizzy nose and I can’t take sudafed – NOT fair!

So – today we started early with a large quantity of fights and teasing – fortunately Auntie Kate came round and largely dispelled such unpleasantness. Then i loaded up a Winnie the Pooh toddler game i “acquired” a while back and Scruff ADORED it. It always makes me laugh that our girls various speech quirks have produced such variations on his name – Fran called him “Coo Gare”, prissy prim Moo calls him “Winnie Ta Pooh” (maybe because his song has been her song since she was a tiny baby, Winnie the Pooh and Madeleine Moo fitting perfectly and interchangeably) and Scruff calls him “Pooh Dare.” Her little face at having her own game was a picture and the other two sat each side of her and helped her move the mouse, which she mainly just clutched to her chest. Not that that seemed to spoil the enjoyment for her! I was very proud of them for not barging in on it.

Then Moo went out and Fran and i did the house, including elements of IT, Dersign and Technology, Personal and Social Development and Art (Sniggers….) She just played with it after that.

Our (free!) addition and multiplication Twist and Shout’s also arrived after that and much fun was had – Fran has gone to bed clutching one :~)

Alice recited “You are old Father William” tonight – its odd you know- i remember ADORING this book – but i hardly recall any of the bits i have read out so far! Nutty caterpillar though!