Home Educating the Puddle Girls…

Funny how the blogring has developed its own in-jokes. Oh, and before i forget, apologies to everyone at the end of the ring i am not quite getting to at the moment and the emails i am forgetting to reply to and thank you for all stopping by so often and commenting and keeping me going over the last 6 weeks or so. I really appreciate it. And lastly, most of the people with blogger comments, i can’t comment on, so sorry for that as well. I get brief moments to read and it doesn’t allow for the 10 minutes it takes Blogger to decide to let me in :~(

An apology in advance for my writing style this evening - i was listening to Bad Housekeeping on the radio this evening and fear i may have imbibed a certain amount of literary style…

Anyway. Today was just one of those days… not one of THOSE days (was tempted to link the word in caps to Jax’s yesterday blog for comic effect but not sure if she has regained her sense of humour enough for me to do so *;~) at Jax*)

Don’t quite know how it all worked so well but it did. Actually, it was partly due to Josie sleeping till 2.30pm i suppose. But that did follow a feeding fest from about 2pm yesterday, all through a very fraught parcelling session, all evening and all night. Max had ended up taking my parcels for me and unfortunately saw someone being knocked over at the same time, which shook him up a bit. So no one was in a great mood but he and i pulled it round by sitting and chatting for the evening instead and ended up feeling better for it.

So, back to today. Took Maddy out to nursery, came back and set Ammi and Fran down to computer games. No idea why but our “World Explorer” is crashing if you go south, which is most upsetting, so she moved on to Jump Ahead Year Two for a bit. Ammi was also playing barbies, dollies and various other things plus sitting very endearingly at the bookshelves reading her favourite stories.

While they were occupied i… sorted and put on 3 loads of washing/drying, tidied the kitchen, loaded and unloaded the dishwasher, bleached the sink, cleaned the loo and tidied my bead cupboard. So i felt terribly pleased with myself. And when i emerged from the kitchen, Fran had moved herself from the computer and was sat at the table doing her writing practise. In fact, she did loads today; started the 3rd JP book, did some of her own writing, did several pages of sums (number bonds up to 20, addition up to the hundred which she wrote out in “block” form herself and got right and some other bits.) One page had drawings of base ten stuff, which she was doing the other week too - did inspire me to get out the Miquon. I KEEP saying that! Its been ages since we did anything math-sy so i was very pleased that she had remembered it all, although most of her numbers had turned backwards!!!!

Fran busy working stuff out…

And look!!! I remembered to include Ammi too!!!

We all had lunch together, hot but only easy-girl rice, but hot and cooked anyway.

We had a reptile activity to do but Fran had an urge to “do more about Alfred” so i decided it was as good a time as any to start a Charlotte Mason style Book of Centuries. So we did. I’ve got a pack of playing cards with all the Kings and Queens of England on them so we used the first one to top the page; should make for an interesting project anyway.

So writing and pictures of the great man…

…and another of him burning the cakes. Not ground breaking art admittedly but she tried so hard, i was really proud of her. She is very excited by the idea of making her own book. She wants to write books apparently.

It was time to go and get Maddy then. She had made it through the day without wetting so i was proud of her for that. Charged around failing to buy a replacement phone cable - grrrr…. and then went to tap. Had an odd “changing room” conversation with a mum who also knows Fran from Rainbows; something along the lines of “how will they learn discipline and how to behave in classes and groups if they don’t go to school?” Ummmm… remind me how it is our children know each other…… ? I do find these conversations odd, i really do. Added to the rather condescending attitude from the cgp salesperson today… argh… hmmm…

Maddy had got herself into a pickle in tap, something to do with the other girls not recognising the tune she was tapping out on a tamborine - she was a bit upset about it. Poor old thing. Its all fine until it goes wrong but she just doesn’t “get” that other kids can’t see into her head.

Must come up with a plan for tomorrow - atm though, i suspect its going to involve getting my boobs out a lot. Lol - one bit the bbc filmed was me reading while feeding Josie, from right over my shoulder in fact - does that mean i can say i have got my tits out on telly? And while i am at it, our tv died again and Max has just bought one on ebay - he is getting addicted that man; 4 purchases in a week!

Finish off with my mini Hama creation… i have ACHIEVED!!!!!!


You’re an earth mother! Your friends sometimes
call you Gaea, because you’re the original
earth goddess! You and your kids both have
dirt under your fingernails, and you spend as
much of your time as possible out of doors.
Your kids have an incredible appreciation for
nature.

What kind of a freaky mother are you?
brought to you by Quizilla


Goes nicely with the template though…

Must just blog how impressed i am with this. Nursery are teaching the children to sign this year, i think they have quite a lot of non-verbal children there atm, and Maddy has just come home and shown me the signs for “please” “more please” and “hello.” She did them so beautifully, i was really pleased and she has just taught them to Fran and Amelie.

Anyway, just to prove that this really was the category chosen for Fran :~) , i’ll blog Fran’s day. If i can coax the zoom into action, you may get photos later.

Day started difficult-ly… hmmm… sure there is a real word for that… as we took Maddy to nursery which always unsettles the other big two and also means Josie can’t feed back off to sleep for the morning. In fact, she was wakeful and grouchy all morning and that after a hungry night too. First, i discovered the phone issue and that made all the calls i needed to make that bit harder, then i had the actual calls… argh…

Anyway. I got Fran to make little name plaques for her and Maddy - yesterday i bought little wooden paper trays for them to keep their reading and writing together in - Fran made them out of hama beads for me and they look lovely. I finished my hama card which also looks good- i’ve impressed myself! Then Fran did her writing and reading and did them really nicely and drew me a lovely Father Christmas and then did a couple of quite difficult Hama designs from the value pack i am selling. And then she found the Kings and Queens book and we read about Alfred the great, who came up in OIS this week and then as it happened we took delivery of our rather delayed Horrible Histories package. So we looked through those and she picked out the various characters and peoples who were familiar. I was chuffed with her! Also managed to read the rest of the reptile I Wonder Why book. Not a bad day actually.

Ammi has played even more Reader Rabbit, done train tracks, looked at books- all Ammi stuff! And Josie has just been weighed and is now 9lb 2oz - good mummy milk!

Edit: Just read the bible story of Elijah- probably a bad choice for the rare night that Ammi joined our story time - caused much hilarity anyway. Plus the taxi people are gonig to try and sort out alternative arrangements for Maddy which might possibly help a bit.

I dropped the camera and broke the zoom but before the insurance company will pay out i have to go into town and get someone to assess it. Blah..blah.. will take forever.

I just tried to use the phone and couldn’t, only to discover that someone/thing has cut/eaten the cable between the phone and socket.

Nearly blamed Ammi, who just looked exceptionally guilty when i found the ends but Max reckons that bad Button the killer rabbit was under the table for a looooooong time the other night.

Argh!

… the tv people being here, it made me wonder what exactly would i say was MY fantasy education for my children? Is it what they are getting? No, probably not. Are they getting the fantasy childhood i would like for them? Not quite… maybe not that far off though, most of what i would improve would be location, somewhere more exciting to live and a mummy not scared of flying so they could visit more places, i suppose that woukd have to include more funds!

What do i wish they were getting? Hmmm.. more languages, although that would come later certainly, more time per child but where do you get that? Not in school but not at home either unless you don’t have the siblings that i wanted for them anyway. More opportunity to explore anything and everything, more art, more reading… i don’t know. There are lots of things i feel like we could be doing better but its great to know we have YEARS to add those things in and do them. One of the great things about HE is certainly that its organic enough to grow slowly, you can change on a whim or in a day. Something i’ve liked since the summer is that i have imposed a structure on myself that means i feel more able to do things fairly consistantly without them being particularly aware that i am keeping an eye on such things. Its definitely in my game plan to add in more science and more art next year in much the way i’ve added the CM reading this year.

But if someone offered me the opportunity to create a fantasy from scratch what would i change? Not a lot. I wish i had been better at keeping the montessori thing going; children trained to actually hang up coats and wash faces properly would be nice. Slightly less lunatic guessing at reading might be cool but hey, there is time. Would they be the same children if i had done it differently so far? Dunno. Actually, if i could change anything right now this second, it would be a piano and a piano enabled mummy in the house. Parents nearby would be good too, they are most certainly an important influence on my girls and i’d love to live closer to them.

Anyway.

Max took the big two swimming again today. I so want them to feel more confident for Centerparcs and it seems to be working. They all had a nice time. Must keep it going, i’ve been horribly lax about swimming. Ammi and i sat and did Reader Rabbit and lots of stories too and then when she took herself off to play babies i managed to do some mini beads for a card design i want to put on BM. Ammi is just So chuffed to have her own game…

We’ve eaten together twice today, something we are making a huge effort to do and i am pleased with the table manners thing, Fran and Maddy really improved. And i have a shed load of work to do tonight but Josie is starving - again - so looks like it won’t be happening. Sigh.

Next week i am going to organise more reptilian stuff and i am declaring a Webland week to try and get a bit more use out of that! Its my first full week with the kids this week. Gulp. By the way, if anyone wants to visit, i’m ready for you, so long as you don’t want to stay the night as we are somewhat unpredictable at nights just at the moment! But daytrippers we can do!

We have Josie smiles!!!!! First smiles… aaaaah. Max was completely undone by getting a beamer from her last night… irresistable!

She still has really blue eyes too, maybe with a hint of grey but you know, i am not at all convinced she is going to be brown eyed at all. There will be talk…

(Waving at Zoe too - i removed your email address Zoe. I’ll text you about it.)

I did a good thing :~) Maddy, Josie and i went off for a quick jaunt to my mum and dads and we had a lovely time. She really revelled in having their full attention and a bit of space and seems much better for it. And of course i liked it too. Josie behaved well too so it was very relaxing.

There are good things to do up there, in a relaxed sort of a way, cello and piano and running about, indoor bikes, lots of rooms to choose from, different videos, lots of cuddles and silliness. And Max, Fran and Ammi had a nice time too with quality film watching and snuggling. Should probably do it more often.

This afternoon we have done castle jigsaws, Faraway Tree, Max is really Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to them too, A King Alfred story and Ammi started the Reader Rabbit Toddler game that Kirsty sent. Thanks ever so Kirsty, she is one thrilled little girl.

Now off to catch up on email and STUFF!!!!

I’ve obviously got a blocked duct/mastitis type thing. Yesterday my boob felt sore and heavy on one side and underneath. I did all the obvious things, massaged it gently, expressed milk as best i could, changed feeding position (actually managed the rugby ball hold too), wore very supportive bra, fed differently last night etc etc.

I’m not a good expresser so i had to feed her really or make it worse. Its actually “feeling” a lot better today and i don’t feel ill at all but i do have a pinky patch in a circle on that size, about 1-2 inches across. Like i say it seems to feel a bit better but josie has just thrown up her whole feed. So should i have stopped feeding her on that side? And if so, what on earth will i do - my milk just stops if i express with hand or pump, i’ve never been any good at it and i will just get fuller and fuller. What should i do?

Well, that was lots of fun. Heaven knows how it will come out on tv but we all enjoyed ourselves anyway and it was nice to see Katy and Becca too.

Film crew arrived at 9.30 (well actually 9.15 but i was still in my jamas so they had to wait!) and we spent the day with them. They’ve just all left.

I really hope it will be okay - we didn’t do anything we don’t normally and after feeling a bit weird initially, i have to say the day felt sort of paced fairly normally really, at least normally for a “not just had a baby” day. I didn’t feel we had to fake anything. The kiddies all played a lot, i read a just So story, we did a felt reptile collage all round the table, they filmed Fran doing her reading and writing practise (and promised that they wouldn’t only just use that bit! lol!) we used the DWN stuff for various reptiles (i copied the reptile-y pages and laminated them to make it easier!) and we managed to get the Africa map and some hama-beading in too! The weirdest bit was having a Katy/me interview in the kitchen and the various “set up” shots of Fran or whoever doing things, presumably for them to use as pictures to bits of conversation and so on. Fran and Maddy utterly revelled in it (rofl’ed to myself at Maddy acting up to the camera!) Amelie gave cuddles to the entire crew and there was one very funny moment when Katy and i walked away from the table while they were all drawing and the kids pulled this incredible “surely you must have set that up” perfect HE moment out of the bag! Oh how we laughed.

Anyway, all the kids were highly adorable, i was very proud. It remains, of course, to be seen what they actually make of us on camera but i doubt we will be more than a moments worth anyway. Becca and Katy are obviously in decent hands anyway, they were all nice people so far as i could tell. Oh, i now realize i need better lighting, the room looked much nicer with their big filming light in it!!!

Maddy and i are off for a one night jolly tonight- see ya tomorrow.

I love having a mobile hairdresser. She did all four of us today (well all four girls with a reasonable quantity of hair!) in our kitchen and it was such a stressfree experience. We still haven’t managed to recapture the haircut from “The Cast” photos that belongs to Maddy but she looks nice anyway. And Amelie was a complete star about it - sat beautifully still and was SO good. Must take a photo. The photo of Maddy below is from February by the way. I’m still stunned by it.

Day felt a bit too much to start with, left over from last night i expect. But i did have everyone bathed and hairwashed by 9am (impressive!) and even if most of the morning was Nick Jr and hair, with Zoe cuddling Josie, they all behaved very well. Fran even did her writing, tidied their room and kept everyone playdoughing. I was well impressed with her.

After that we managed a cooked lunch and then Zoe took them out to weed the garden and plant bulbs. So that was fresh air for the day. They love Zoe, not sure what we will do without her tbh, its two nice smooth days midweek i really appreciate. Plus it really helps the girls to have someone else about, someone to do activities with and i get bits and bobs of housework and so on done too. Today, Max came home too and cleaned the kitchen but Zoe kept them all busy while i did the mass of parcels that were ordered yesterday. Christmas shopping is really picking up now. House isn’t particularly tidy but hey “its a home ed household” - the BBC will have to take us as they find us! lol!

Then Fran went out to Rainbows and i collected her and took her shopping. Got Maddy the first JP workbook so she can “be like Fran” if she wants to be so. Grabbed a few bits and bobs, including The Enchanted Wood and The Wishing Chair. Kate’s dh came and weeded my front garden today so i went to get him some beers etc. They are such great friends to us and there is so little we can do back for them really.

Anyway, got a few bits of stuff done to “do” tomorrow - looking forward to it in an odd way.

Who is who?

Edit: This was the whole picture that threw us both - somehow its more confusing when its whole!

Mmmm….. things i must learn to do… change wheel on car. That way, next time i leave my new baby for the first time, nip to collect a prescription, pull over to let an ambulance past, bump the kerb, rip a hole in my tyre on a large main road in a bit of town i never ever go into and have to drive half a mile on a wheel rim before i can find a fairly non-vital bit of double yellow line to pull up on to, i might have half a chance of helping myself.

Admittedly, even if i had known what to do (actually even if it had occurred to my shaken self that what was needed was to change the tyre!) its not a place, nor was it the time of day, nor am i physically fit for changing a tyre… but it would have been slightly less embarrassingly girly if i had at least remembered i had a spare/needed to have it changed. I was so astonished by the whole thing that i couldn’t for the life of me work out what anyone was going to do to fix it. Doh.

Must become less girly…. only having a car since onset of boyfriend/husband scenario has not been good for this side of my nature.

Anyway. I’m safely home now. Car wheel has a hole the size of my fist in it and i can’t for the life of me work out how such a small bump did it but there you go. Not an experience i care to repeat, specially as the hazard lights flattened the battery and i was somewhat freaked by where i happened to be too. Don’t know it at all, very closed off area of town with nothing familiar at all. Kate rescued me by turning up, having originally gone to our house to bring Josie to me if she woke up needing a feed and let me follow her home because i was stupidly shaken by the whole thing and don’t think i could have found my way home! lol!

She is a bit of a good friend is Kate.

Rest of the day. Bit fractious really. Everyone seemed to cry a lot, including me. I’m hoping i am just having a hormone/Maddy wobble but i’m feeling a bit sad/ frustrated with myself over the choice i made to have Josie’s section. Its not really that i think things might have gone differently, so much as i, me, myself, did the one thing i didn’t want to do - i made a snap decision in no time at all, without talking it through with Max, and there was no need to. It wasn’t an emergency, i could have thought it through more and i didn’t. And i can’t blame anyone but myself for that. And i don’t know why i did it and i can’t go back and change it. Which probably means its pointless to pontificate on it.

Fran went skating, which cleared the way for me and Maddy to do something together. So she and i sat and did a Letterland workbook. She did really well and so enjoyed it - plus she knew when she wanted to stop too which i felt was really good. She still doesn’t seem to remember letters, apart from a few very obvious ones - should i be worried by this? Who knows… another blog post sometime on that one i suspect. Anyway, it made both of us feel good. We decided we would make a chart to help her remember the letters she had worked on.

Then she and Ammi did playdough and then Zoe made salt dough and they all made fossil imprints (reptiles made way for dinosaurs temporarily!) - which all went well till Maddy had a meltdown over sharing a rolling pin, which resulted in her storming to her room to hide under her duvet. Sigh. I’m sure other things must have happened but all i can really remember now is making them all sit in a row and not hurt each other to watch Brother Bear. And even the sitting down and not killing each other proved too hard for Ammi. Thinking of having a “Little Miss” book commissioned, based on her personality i thin it would have to be “Little Miss Weapon of Mass Destruction” - what do you reckon?

And then, fatefully… i decided to pop down the road.

I’ll try to do better tomorrow. Didn’t even manage stories or normals today. Ho hum.

I phoned my midwife this morning to get her to get me a prescription for oral/nipple thrush for me and Josie to save me going into the docs when i knew what it was.

A bit later the receptionist phoned back to say that i had been prescribed canesten for me by a female locum doctor, an oral remedy for Josie but under no circumstances must i feed her from the affected nipple while using canesten on it. i said “well that’s no good, its both sides!” and the receptionist said “oh, well you’ll have to swap to bottle feeding then.”

Now fortunately i’ve had this twice before, i know perfectly well there is a applicable nipple treatment, i know its name and i made her go back and get it prescribed by the dumb doctor who ought to have known better.

But if that had happened when i was feeding Maddy, it would have been the end of breastfeeding her. What flipping awful, stupid, useless advice. Its not even nearly on for that sort of thing to be happening. How many peoples breastfeeding get ruined by that sort of idiocy?