Making it up

…at The Portico party. Thank you Chris, Alison and parents.

We did have very tired children this afternoon on the way back though.

For anyone who wants to know why I rushed back to search for Small’s Fimble.

Small made a very muddy puddle at the bottom of the slide and then dropped his toy fimble in it. He came to find me to tell me all about it, ever so upset.

Never mind, I said, he’ll just have to have a bath later. And went back to reading emails. A few minutes later I heard water running, but assumed it was Tim upstairs. A few minutes after that, Small reappeared, with a much cleaner, and very much wetter, fimble.

Oops.

BBC NEWS | Education | Bad parents ’should be punished’

What with, lines??? Honestly, these ppl haven’t got a clue have they? Comments like - “Many families treated schools as a “glorified crèche” and failed to instil adequate social skills at home.” Um, when? Children are starting education as young as three, you can get vouchers. They are barely social beings before that, and they can’t learn from their parents if they aren’t with them. Even lone parents aren’t immune - there’s a special New Deal for them.

Something needs to change in this country.

And it looks like it’s gonna be another sleepless night….

although it wasn’t Tim talking in his sleep this time (and when he does it tends to be about business meetings!), it was Small discovering that he can sign to me and get me to do things. So first he wanted a drink, then it was a nappy change (which was when I passed a clock and discovered it was 3.52, deep joy ) then another drink. Then I got tired of the game, and told him he needed to lie down and get some sleep, although the damage had pretty much been done by then.

Which presumably is why I feel absolutely awful now. I’ve got a headache, doing the hot and cold thing, and my patience is at pretty much an all time low with the shrieking and screaming which is a part of our every day communication here.

Bleargh.

We got up and out by 10 o’clock which was some kind of miracle, and made it over to lidl to do the weeks shopping and because I wanted some cotton yarn from there. Still got some idea that I might make a shrug although I’ve not really found a pattern that takes my fancy.

From lidl onto Crystal Peaks where we called into the Works again. They are going to get to know me by name in there if I’m not careful! Picked up some history books as requested - cleared them out in fact! - will be dropping emails to ppl momentarily. Also grabbed a small bucket of word tiles, thinking that we might come at reading skills the other way around by making up sentences, and Small got a bucket of cheap bricks, more to give him something to carry and therefore stop him running off that because I wanted the bricks. Bargain of the day had to be card blanks though - they were selling single packs of 50 cards with envelopes for £7.99, but two packs for £9.99! Excellent stuff. Topped off the bag full of stuff with a cross stitch kit for Big, but that turns out to be a bit pathetic. Might have to try to dig out the binka I got from the scrapstore instead.

Big has just informed me that she has nothing to do. I’m a bit cross about this - she has got toys, books, a small brother to play with, there’s a computer in the dining room that she can use, she has a bedroom to play in, and instead she is sitting in here and making my headache considerably worse by moaning and muttering on. Hugely tempted to get a black bin liner and bag up a load of her stuff and see how she feels then!

Think I might go and beg for some time off for a lie down….

like Sarah and Kris

Regular readers have probably noticed a lack of energy and general buzz to this blog of late, and I daresay nobody has noticed me withdrawing from list life, but I’ve done that too. I’ve been struggling to get myself motivated to do anything much really, so Sarah and Kris came around to help me blitz the garden. And blitz we did, after eating the lunch stuff that Sarah brought with her.

The mound of bindweed and brambles quailed before the joint assault of two azadas - Kris used one to strip off the living stuff, and I used the pointy one to take out the root layer. I *hate* bindweed, so filling a bucket with the roots was quite satisfying. And the children were well and truly socialised as well, so that was good

Managed to fit in a couple of sound games with Small - he seemed to quite like playing with Kris’s F alongside, which was rather nice. And it was lovely to have understanding company when I got a less than positive call back from the agency about Monday’s job. Hohum. Shame, I really liked the company, and I know I can do the job. But I haven’t worked with threads, and they felt that was a big area of difficulty for me - going so far as to ask whether you could be a professional programmer without encountering them. I replied I’d managed for several years, which may not have endeared me further

You win some, you lose some.

After we’d gardened we retired to the house and Kris contined with her string bag making (apparently she started this last night - I was well impressed!) I finally started making crochet Hesfes hats with my newest ebay purchase of a *large* crochet hook, and Kris had a quick lesson as well. Tim took piccies, which he may or may not share….

Quiet evening, I’ve been putting a bit of work in on the bookbag order form system, hopefully going live at a puddlers site near you very soon. And that’s pretty much it.

A warm welcome to Deb W at NotSheep who has just joined the blogring, and takes the award for the fastest ever joining process - 5 minutes from application to approval!

Damn, we’re good

by answering the door to the speech therapist still in your mismatched pjs, you’d think it could only get better. Sadly not

Small thoroughly enjoyed playing lots of games with her. He will have a go at signs, yet to see if he’s aquiring any permanently. No sounds though, although I get the impression that most of what she is doing is groundwork. She says that often working with young children you spend quite a lot of time working on concentration span and getting them to understand the games, but he doesn’t have any problems in those areas.

She can’t come for a couple of weeks now though, so it’s back to “mummee, mummeee” being the sum total of communication I suspect.

Anyway, that took up most of the morning, and then I eventually managed to drag all of us out to Chesterfield, medieval market day. Didn’t see very much of it as it was very loud - since when did medieval markets have stereos and mechanised rides? We did wander over to the encampment and looked at the armour and weapons, then toddled off with Sarah and co for a drink. Round about that time, Small started to get a bit subdued, and when I picked him up he felt kind of warm to the touch.

He coped with playing with all the noisy toys while Big took nearly half an hour choosing a pack of beads in the bookshop, then dozed on the way home, flaked out in front of the tv for a bit, didn’t eat tea and at bath time, screamed the place down when I tried to pick him up to put him in the bath. His temp had gone up a bit it seems. So calpol and an early night for him.

Big came down, mooched around for a bit, then found a bob book and read that to me. I don’t know what if anything I’m supposed to do to facilitate reading on top of this - it seems to be a pretty slow process though.

smilies.

:rant:

:champers:

:clap:

:x:

(Crochethook) Ferret Hammock

Attempting to motivate myself to get a job. Or do something around the house. Or something!

I’m feeling very grey and slothlike atm, don’t know quite why.

Pleasant morning with just the boy yesterday morning, did lots of speech encouraging activities with him, during which he grunted at me a lot Big arrived back around lunchtime, very cross with me for allowing P to take her to a different sort of church! Um, I did check with her (Big) before agreeing with P’s offer to take her. Oh well.

Actually, she was just cross with me all round. That particular friend is a bit of an early bird, and I think she was

oops - interrupted to deal with screaming Big who has fallen for the second day running, while running into the house, and bashed her shin in exactly the same place as she did yesterday. This time she’s grazed both legs, and bruised one of them quite badly

Where was I? Oh yes, early bird friend. He wakes up early and drags Big out of bed, and she’s fine while she’s there, and then gets back here and is grotty because she’s tired. So it wasn’t a terribly good afternoon, although we rescued it a little by bedtime when we did some reading together. We read Too Small which she then wrote onto her Reading Voyage card.

Then it would appear it’s a year since the portico first visited us, nice to be able to mark an anniversary!

Didn’t get a particularly good nights rest - Small was very disturbed, and I was awake between 12 and 1.30 and again at 5.22 (yes, I did look at a clock!). Alarm went off at 6, and I reset it for an extra half hour, reasoning that sleep was going to be more important to the driving I needed to do before the interview than the java would be in it.

So away for the interview by 7.30. Don’t ask how it went, I’ve no idea. I should get feedback in a day or two.

Was home by two, just in time for my mother to arrive with a possible outfit for the wedding for me. The skirt suits nicely, but the top made me feel rather like a sausage, and the shrug was way too small. So we’re half way there…

and that brings us up to date with the wounded offspring. Right, must go figure out tea for them. And I need to nip out for milk as well, but just can’t face any more time in the car tonight.

BBC NEWS:Education:Kelly to promise £27m free books

For children aged one to two, there will be a Bookstart Plus pack, with a satchel-style bag, two books, a scribble pad and crayons, a booklist for toddlers and information about local libraries.

I am obviously living on a different timeline - could have sworn we picked up one of these last week….

Passengers said that a man - described as South Asian - ran on to a train. They said police chased him, he tripped, then they shot him.

“They pushed him on to the floor and unloaded five shots into him. He’s dead,” witness Mark Whitby told the BBC. “He looked like a cornered fox. He looked petrified,” said Whitby.

Whitby said it did not look like the man was carrying anything but said he was wearing a thick coat that looked padded. (Al Jazeera)

How do I feel about it? This is exactly how I feel.

Jean Charles de Menezes

Success! Not only did I make it to the post office (with minutes to spare) and the bank, but as we arrived home Big’s friend arrived and she has now departed to the cinema, to be delivered back around lunchtime tomorrow.

Small didn’t seem to notice her going, which was a bit surprising. Will spend some time with him doing sound games now I think. He chose a book in the Works (they do still have that 120 History project book if anyone else is after a copy) which he was making up signs for, so had to have that. His signs are really coming along now, and I’ve spotted a couple of extra animal sounds, but no more words. Tim reckons if we leave it long enough we’ll be able to communicate by text message

Right, washing, washing up. Then I think I might excavate the living room.

was so proud of myself yesterday afternoon. Checked the times of the local big post office. Found all the paperwork, finally filled it in, put it in an envelope. Parcelled up some stuff to loan to one friend, and a book to return to another. Grabbed yet more crochet squares, got children ready, Tim’s cheque and headed off to the post office.

Which is in a temporary hut in a carpark (???) and had shut two hours previously Grr. Have obviously complained via the postoffice site, so that’ll will be as much of a waste of time as the trip was. Oh, and missed the bank by two minutes having stopped to buy food with both children tantrumming their way around the shop, and the machine in the wall outside doesn’t take paying in. Double grr.

Home for tea, which Big wailed about (wrong kind of pizza, she only likes home made now apparently) long bath, and then Small had a winnie the pooh story, and Big did more maths book. She also had a story - Emma’s lamb and then took her workbook up to bed with her. Strange child.

Quiet evening spent considering revising my java and instead chatting on Feminist Parents and getting a couple of little bits of work done.

I’d like to go to the post office now, but I’ve got rebellion in the ranks. Don’t know when I’m going to make it in that case

Had completely forgotten that Big has been invited for a sleepover tomorrow night. Thankfully P just called to check it was still OK, which means she is going. And what’s more, they are going to the cinema to see Madagascar. So Big is now at the puter doing the Film Education stuff we were sent on Madagascar for free - must have somehow made it onto a pretty good mailing list there We’ve found a bit that involves doing mosaics, so that ties in nicely to our activities the other day. Don’t you love it when a plan comes together?

New blogring member - welcome to Debbie!

Big did indeed want to do her times tables book last night. She did half of it, and I nearly tore my hair out throughout - she has nothing like a logical approach to mathematical problems, I guess it is a learnt thing? Hohum.

Anyway, Small went to bed very nicely - for the first time he didn’t throw a screaming fit when I came downstairs, instead just waving me off and going peacefully for his story time with Tim. This is a bit of a breakthrough.

However, not quite sure what happened later in the night. I know that there were a lot of disturbances, and I feel absolutely dreadful this morning, with a dull headache and a distinct lack of patience. Aargh, and I’ve just noticed it’s raining, and my washing is still out! Oh well, maybe it’ll wash the smoke of one of my neighbours *two* garden fires off….

So, we’re in damage limitation mode today. Small is very tired and grouchy, although he’s had a wonderful time dancing along with Boogie Babies. He’s really taking off with his signs - came to find me this morning to tell me “want food” - usually he just signs want and then waits for me to find the right solution to fix the situation! Will no doubt be back later. Off to visualise myself answering java questions by the bucket load!

Describes the day fairly well, although it wasn’t what I was thinking as I entered the title box.

Yesterday afternoon I made a superhuman effort to detach myself from computer chair and got down on the floor and we did mosaics. This seemed to go down well. The bedtime routine went well as well - Big requested that we finish the Elizabeth book (does anyone know of any fiction suitable to be read aloud set in that time period?) so we did that, and then started to copy some of the timeline into her folder. We didn’t get very far with that, and I think perhaps we must find a way to do some writing practise at some other point in the day. She also read her questions out loud, so that wrapped in some reading as well (and of my handwriting at that!)

Spent the evening watching tv and mugging up on the company I was to talk to this morning, very interesting ppl.

So, this morning. Slightly better night, Big woke just before the alarm went off, and woke Small in the process, but I can cope with that. Honest. Tim pottered off to his meeting, and I had put the keys in the locked door so that Big could let Grandma in while I popped off for a shower.

Company director called promptly just before 10, so I retreated to the office for a chat with him, which went well enough that I now have a full interview set up for Monday. Will be doing some revision this weekend, as it includes a written java test, and he asked me a couple of techy questions on the phone that had me struggling slightly. I know this stuff, I know I know it, but as soon as someone asks me something, my mind goes completely blank. My confidence is very low atm, so I need to do something practical to boost it.

Can’t remember whether I mentioned that tomorrow’s interview has been postponed for the foreseeable future due to illness at the company concerned, but tbh, this morning’s opportunity, in the words of the agency guy who has set it up, “blows it out of the water” anyway. We shall see.

Rest of today was spent at M’hell, in the company of my mother, shopping for wedding outfits. Didn’t get anything for me, but managed a new pair of shoes for Small in the sale, which we need to keep nice til the wedding. We also went into just about every shop that could possible carry wedding type shoes for Big and she tried on countless pairs, which were all either too big or too small….

Popped into the cheap bookstore and got a bag of books to keep Small out of mischief, which was nice, and essential supplies for Tim from the nutbar. Then we abandoned mall, after spending 20 minutes in Claire’s accessories, as they couldn’t find the stand that the small hairgrips had come from, so couldn’t find a card with 10 on instead of 9 (took three members of staff to work this out mind!) In the time we were waiting Small tried on lots of those foam animal masks and eventually made a run for it out of the shop with a dog mask on, much to the amusement of an old chap in the doorway. His first attempt at shoplifting, I’m so proud!

On the way home stopped in Asda (oops, I think I’m supposed to be boycotting Asda? Ah no, not yet, phew.) where they do a wedding outfit range considerably cheaper than the set mother bought in BHS. And they had wedding shoes in Big’s size! And when we went through the checkout they charged half price for them…

And finally home, for a quick cuppa before we dashed back out to ballet. Which was a completely wasted trip, as Big refused point blank to go in to her lesson as there were parents watching again, and there was no way I could take Small in there. Grrr….

Home for tea, and now it’s bath time. Finally! Although I suppose after bathtime I’ll be having to read the new Knights and Castles book that Big chose in the bookshop, that’s if she’s gone off doing the timestable workbook that she’s puzzling over now

while the going was good

So let’s concentrate on that then.

We had some painful reading sessions - painful as in forgetting the word she read the line before and not recognising it again. Nevertheless, we staggered through three pages of Witchy-witch. Then in the afternoon we went to the library, where Small picked up his bookstart+ pack - well worth going out for, as it had two very nice books in it, as well as a drawing pad, set of crayons and the bag itself is a nice red bookbag. He was thrilled with it and carried it ever so carefully back to the car

Big chose another beginner book, and I also found a very nice book on Elizabeth I which she was thrilled with. Meant that the afternoon was filled quite nicely with the trip out, and then they occupied themselves while I cooked tea.

After bath time Tim read to Small and Big and I came downstairs and by her request started on the Elizabeth book. We read 19 pages, and she thoroughly enjoyed spotting many of the portraits that we’d looked at the other night. No idea how much of what we’re talking about is going in, but I’m really quite chuffed with the level of interest she’s showing. Also quite amused that it’s the Tudors again, seems to be the in thing with five year old girls!

Today has not been so good.

Big woke up with a nightmare and came into bed with us. Unfortunately, she woke up Small in the process, who was convinced it was morning, and took a long time to be persuaded otherwise. Which meant I slept in and was woken by my mother on the phone wanting to organise a shopping trip.

This morning has not been good. It keeps raining, so we’ve mainly been inside, and Big keeps building tents, which Small wants to share and which then fall down. We’ve had any number of arguments over any number of little things, ending in a full scale tantrum which led to me warning her not to slam the door or we wouldn’t go out this afternoon….

Damn. Ever had one of those moments when you really really wish you hadn’t made a particular promise? Doors don’t get slammed in this house. Tim particularly hates it happening, and Small has had his fingers trapped at least twice I can recall because of it, so it’s something we crack down on. So we aren’t going out this afternoon, and it’s looking like it’s going to be a very long day.

Big is hugely disappointed, as am I. We had arranged to go to a fellow puddlers house for the first time, and I was very reluctant to cancel it, but felt I had to.

So, how to reclaim the day? I feel that right atm I am deferring success in a few too many areas and I’d rather like to reclaim it. This is not who I thought I was, iyswim.

Oh, and in the morning I’ve got a phone interview for another job. Tim is at a business meeting all day, so I’m hoping Grandma can come over a bit earlier than previously arranged so that she can childmind while I’m being business like.

Anyway, I’m sure there was lots more about yesterday that I wanted to blog - Small is really taking off with his signs, and he cracked me up completely when he suddenly recognised that his soft toy fimble, bought at Christmas is the same as something on the tv. You’ve gotta laugh, haven’t you?

Prior to the election I mentioned the replacement of our long-standing MP, Harry Barnes, with Natascha Engel, a ‘Blair babe’. Just as a recap, I have been to see what we are actually getting out of this person.

Let’s see, Harry Barnes was a frequent rebel, his replacement never rebels, still, she hardly ever turns up to vote, so maybe that isn’t too much of a surprise. What a complete waste of space.

They Work For You has the full SP.