Making it up

for the television on so that he could watch the signing.

How did he know that Something Special was on just now???

Have just been on the phone to Future Publishing, attempting to cancel our subscription to PCPlus. Was told that they couldn’t do that as their database is down.

My answer was that that is their problem not mine, and I suggested that they might write the details down on a piece of paper, if they remembered paper? I know it was a bit rude, but the guy was being very rude to me. Then he said I was on the phone to the wrong department anyway and gave me a different number.

I went through the same routine to the cancellation department - apparently the database is down because they’ve bought some new magazines and it’s locked while they add details. Poor design methinks, but again, not my problem. I was still getting the royal run around until I mentioned the magical word complaint, at which point she suddenly remembered how to write…

gotta love it.

And then when I came to blog it, our ADSL was playing up, so Sarah said I should write it down so I didn’t forget :lol

Oh, and while on the subject of food, some Tasty Morsels

why the library was shut an extra day.”

It wasn’t me agonising over it, but Big. I was irritated, to say the least, it took us nearly two hours to get library books read, rest of them found, library cards located, right shoes with right socks (sigh), and so on and so forth, and then driving past the library on the way to the carpark, it was all locked up!

Rude words. Big is needy atm, so anything going wrong is a trigger for much repetition of pondering and wondering as to the reasons, and I’m short on emotional energy to deal with it. Not a good combination.

Anyway, we made it to the post office and posted more bookbags (bookbags, lovely bookbags, get your bookbags here!) and Small was very good and didn’t try to leg it out of the open door. Grumpy woman behind the counter told him not to run about in case he fell over and hurt himself - not impressed. I mean, yes, he was running about, but I was keeping a very close eye on him, talking to him constantly, attracting his attention to things, getting him to put other things back - if she had a problem with him, surely it was obvious that she should address it with me as I was paying attention to him. Then another woman came out from behind the counter and we got into a conversation on signing, as he was discussing the cars in the display.

That reminds me, he was playing with his cart this morning, and we had a lovely long conversation about the various animals. He is now correcting his signs so that I think they are probably beginning to be clear to ppl who don’t know him - even banana is coming along. And the spoken words Bye and Daddy are definitely part of the vocabulary. So we’re making progress, slower than I’d like, but definite progress.

Oh, and Big’s quote of the day was when she got annoyed while watching a documentary about the jungle this afternoon - “why does the woman keep getting in the way, I can’t see the jungle!”

Shopping then home. Big was ever so helpful while out shopping - I went back to find eggs and left her getting things out of the trolley on to the conveyor belt thing, and got back to find the checkout woman had come round to help and they’d pretty much emptied the trolley. Well impressed with that kind of help from her - especially as there was another woman going round the shop with two children behaving atrociously and as they’d passed us the little girl had announced “I’m six and he’s 4″, and there was my five year old actually being helpful

Home, and Big very excited to go to bed in her new bedroom. We haven’t moved the second bed in yet, and Small was distraught to be put to bed in his usual place. Guess we might not struggle to move him out after all! Coo, could be about to get my bed back

child despatched upstairs to rediscover bedroom floor (difficult to move bed if you can’t get to it).

I can do this. No matter how completely washed out I feel, I can do this.

Beautiful sunshine, that I’ve been wasting all summer, and now have no time left to enjoy.

Seize the day folks.

Small has done a sticker book and built himself most of a train track. He’s got some difficulties with levels but it nearly meets Now he’s playing with a musical Bear in the Big Blue House book.

Big and I have read her last two Reading Voyage books, then had an argument about which bits of the author name she needs to write down. I won. The whole process, including finding the missing easy reader took an hour. But her reading is coming along, which surprises me, as it isn’t daily by any stretch of the imagination that we’ve been reading recently. When we do read though, it tends to be a bit of a binge, like this morning, doing two books.

Right, more kitchen to clean, washing to put on, nearly lunch time (kept bread in freezer overnight!), then after we’ve eaten, library and shopping. I need to get to Lembas, but I’m not sure I can face it today with two children. Hm. Might see if I can go later in the week and leave at least one with Barbara

that it really isn’t your day?

Your turn to look away Sarah

Bollocks.

Or indeed anyone even slightly squeamish, houseproud or mouse phobic.

Gave the game away there, didn’t I? I’ve never been a woman who screams at small furry things, but I have to admit that I did today when it ran across my work surface as I was making lunch.

Yeuch.

So in the midst of everything else I have to do, now I have to empty everywhere in the kitchen and frantically disinfect everything. The evidence looks to me that it moved in when we went away this weekend, and presumably may have been scared off when we chased it round the kitchen this lunch time. Although I’m probably never going to know that for sure

I’d say the cat is in disgrace, but given he’s out when we’re out, I think we have to let him off on this. Although I am thinking of shutting him in the kitchen overnight tonight, just in case….

so you’ll excuse me if I’m not around much tonight. And I had so much to blog as well!

Quote of the evening:

You should be aware, however, that an Au Pair should never be expected to take sole charge of children under the age of 3 years. Only a Nanny has sufficient skills and experience to take such responsibility.

Drat. I don’t recall getting any qualifications, or having and skills or experience when they first handed me a baby and kicked me out of hospital…

I’m obviously too tired. I’d better go to bed.

My sister got married this weekend. It’s been a while in the planning, this wedding - they booked the hotel a year ago. Got to say that it was very good - it’s an incredibly picturesque location, the hotel staff were outstanding, and I saw lots of ppl that I haven’t seen for a very long time.

The children loved it - was talking to Small about it tonight as I put him to bed, and got lots of smiling and nodding as I asked him whether he’d had fun. He particularly liked the bouncy castles (one yesterday, one today), his posh clothes, and his monkey. All the bridesmaids/ pageboys got a present, and for the younger ones it was a Bear Factory toy, Small has a monkey called Cheeky, and Big has a pink elephant called Flower. Since he got the monkey, he’s carried it around with him most of the time, and as he’s previously not really been attached to any toys, I’m assuming this means he’s very pleased with it.

Big decided that she would go back to the house with the other children, so she left about 8ish. Small kept going for a little while, then keeled over at 9, so Tim took a plate of food up to the room and went to bed himself. I stayed in the party room and danced I like dancing, and I don’t get much opportunity.

I did finish the shrug, but it didn’t look much like the piccie, so I didn’t wear it in the end. I think I’ll frog it (I think that’s the right term) and work out a slightly different pattern, looser around the back, with a little more coverage in front. Hugely disappointed by that as I worked really hard on it (didn’t I Barbara?), but it really didn’t suit.

Weirdnesses of the weekend included standing in the middle of the dance floor with a bottle of red wine in one hand and a glass in the other talking to my sisters employer about home education. She, M, had specifically come to find us, having heard about our interesting ways on the grapevine. Then there was dancing with my youngest sister and a Bon Jovi track came on, that we’d heard live when I took her to a concert when I was at uni and she was, um, about 14. She got sunburnt Think I might have got Big a spanish penpal - family friend of my parents was there with his 7 year old daughter, and the girls hit it off pretty well.

I’m sure there was lots more that I was going to say, but I’m really tired, so I’ll be back tomorrow.

I’ll even try to blog what’s going on in our day to day lives.

Just registering on a family seeking au pair site (don’t ask) and got to the bit where it asks if we would provide references. Mind blank for a moment as I pondered, then suddenly realised that I know a couple of doctors, teachers, management types, not to mention any number of successful small business owners. Didn’t we all ought to be proud of ourselves

I haven’t a clue what he’s trying to say to me. So he’s thrown himself on the floor and is screaming his head off. At this moment I’m looking forward to going to work…

How many children in this country would need to be introduced to Tony Robinson? I mean, honestly.

We’ve just watched an episode of some weird programme (The Teaching Challenge) where they stick a celebrity in front of a classroom and make them teach a lesson, then a trained teacher savages them for their efforts. Tony Robinson stood up and rabbited about wee and poo to some rather transfixed early teens, who were quiet throughout, obviously absorbed lots of it, and didn’t make the slightest whimper throughout. And then the teacher criticised him for not introducing himself, for taking his coffee into the room (a health and safety issue it would appear, that no one had mentioned to him beforehand) and because his talk wasn’t relevant to their exams.

Aargh! Mr R then left the school muttering about how difficult teaching is and how he couldn’t do it, and how important teachers are to our society.

Tell you what, he can come round and do home education here any time, I thought he was absolutely excellent. I’d let him drink his coffee as well. I bet I know what would happen though - I’d end up with a really big hole in the back garden…

Ever wondered what the point of the 2001 census was? Well without it, Brighton would have been unable to establish that it has more Jedi than anywhere else in the UK.

“……The property has maintained some period features including windows, …..”

from estate agents particulars.

How quaint, how novel, good Lord, fancy that. Windows! And there was me thinking they had gone completely out of fashion.

would be better left unblogged, but that would be being a wuss

I’ve got two weeks before I start work. Unsurprisingly, I have huge amounts to do in that time, in terms of bits of work for ppl, paperwork, decluttering and general preparation (childcare kind of springs to mind). I also want to savour my last couple of free weeks with the children.

So obviously yesterday was terrible. I got next to nothing done, and Big had a severe attitude problem that meant I didn’t dare risk leaving the house, even though one of the multitude of things I needed to do was go to the post and the library. Hm. The only thing we managed to do between us was her recorder lesson and even that was less than successful as she rowed with me about the names of the tunes and so on. I know I should let it go, but I find that incredibly difficult to do. We didn’t even manage to read a whole chapter of Ballet shoes at bath time, although she did take her maths workbook to bed with her again.

Hohum. 1 day down, 9 to go. (I refer to weekdays rather than weekends, as I’ll still get them).

Today has been hectic. Started with mother picking Big up to take her out for a haircut, so I’d finally got around to taking her hairwrap out. Only took about 40 minutes, it really did not want to come out at all. It did rather need to though. Shortly after mother left, leaving Small in tears, the SALT turned up, and set to playing games with him which was good. Then Sarah arrived with her two, to remove a bed. SALT left, having timetabled a session with Tim, and Sarah reappeared to have lunch.

Big arrived shortly after and had a quick lunch, while mother had a quick cuppa, then Sarah carted the elder two off to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The smalls have trashed the living room three times now, but get along pretty well. They both looked like they were about to pass out earlier, so we went for a walk to the post office, and now they are vegging to Pablo while I catch up online and send snooty emails to ppl whose newsletter management software is obviously malfunctioning. I do not need 7 copies, although the fact that the newsletter is entitled double take does make it slightly amusing…

This page is extinct…

Swedish library launches ‘borrow a person’

small JPG

my little boy.

New word of the day is “Daddy”.

Big went to bed with a maths workbook. Sometimes I worry about that child And that was after yet another chapter of Ballet Shoes. I’m really enjoying reading that to her, it was one of my favourite books as a child, and I’ve read and reread it since. I could get into read alouds if I get to read things like this