Monday, September 18, 2006

Progress, Pity and Ponderings…

Although seemed a little slow I put that down to perhaps the ‘Monday’ thing. But despite that all we managed to miss today was History and that partly because of minor change of plan. Boo was supposed to be going to R’s after school, but R’s mum decided to pick Boo up on the way to school instead of on the way back - to give R a surprise when she ran onto the playground :) That was fine by me and as History is a joint lesson it meant that Joel had to miss it too - not that he minded that too much of course! They both enjoy history, but the last lesson of the day is always the toughest to get through.

Both A & J spent some time on BBC Dance Mat Typing today. Boo just tickled the first exercise before R’s mum arrived, but I think she could get the hang of it quick enough - if she can just keep her thumb out of her mouth long enough to keep her fingers on the ‘home row’!
Joel is doing pretty well with it and has got to Level 2 - session 5. I need to encourage him to use his skills when he is using the keyboard on other occasions too, as at the moment he reverts to one finger and hunting for letters. I guess once he’s learnt the location of all the letters it will be a whole lot easier to use full-time. I wish I had gained this skill when I was his age - it’s been a lot harder to learn in my 30’s than I think it might have been when I was younger. I still make far too many errors and use the backspace much more than I would like to, but I’ve definitely improved recently!

Tomorrow is football trials at Jake’s school and I feel desperately sorry for Jacob. He SO wants to be in the team and I actually think he might stand a chance (especially as he is left footed and therefore a rare asset), but without a car to ferry him home from school outside of regular pick-up hours he simply can’t. I’m hoping that maybe his teacher (who happens to be the footy coach too) might have a little sympathy on him and allow him to try out later in the year when hopefully Paul will be driving and we will be running a car. I’ve written him a note to that end. It’s tough on the poor little lad. He’s quite good at footy, but he’s never played in a team and therefore lacks ‘team skills’ and is sometimes unwelcome on the footy pitch at breaks. He could do with playing in the team to make him more acceptable (‘upping his cred’) with the other lads.

What else...?

Tomorrow is the Reading Mission presentation evening at the library. I think everyone is looking forward to that :) That coupled with us hosting our first house-group at 8pm. The group we were attending has over-grown the house it was in and had to ‘multiply’ three ways - one group now to be held here. I guess that now means my house has to be respectably clean two days a week! I am seriously considering a cleaner again, even if just for an hour a week (I don’t think we can afford more than that) as whilst I can keep on top of the house in holiday time, in term-time it is just a little too much to have to teach three primary age children, mother two pre-schoolers and keep house all at the same time. It means I end up spending most of Saturday tidying and cleaning, as well as trying to plan the next week of school and make sure the kids are all ready for their various activities, get Paul a shopping list ready and spend some ‘fun’ time with my family. Saturday is really the only day-off Paul gets and in reality it rarely seems like one. It is most often filled with activity runs, shopping and “Dad’ll fix it” jobs, gardening and such like! At least if we had an efficient trained cleaner she could whizz round twice as fast as I do and get the place looking ship-shape without the interference of smalls at her feet all the time trying to help! If she came on a playgroup morning when there is only C. asleep upstairs and us working downstairs in one room she could have the rest of the house to herself. I think she could probably safely leave the boys room and the dining room to me and I could manage to keep on top of those ( I seem to be able to atm and now that the boys can actually dust and hoover quite respectably when they team-up their room looks quite good occasionally!)

Other bits of news…

Caleb can now climb out of his cot!! I forgot to blog it on the day, but the other day he woke up from his morning rest and before I got upstairs to fetch him was at the bottom of the stairs - calling out to see where I was. I thought he was at the top and guessed he was out of his cot, but jumped when I bumped into him at the bottom! I think that was the first time he has safely descended the stairs alone too - and he did it forwards, much to my horror!! Since then he has discovered he can also ascend the metal rungs of Jacob’s bunk-bed and joins Jake most mornings in his bed! 14 months old and already I think I’m going to have to put him in a bed, as he is simply dangerous climbing out of his cot. He dangled himself on the bars for a while, then climbs onto the changing table (which goes across the cot) and lowers himself down. I could remove the changer, but I think he would simply find a more hazardous route down, so I may as well admit defeat and set him free! Hopefully he will go to bed nicely though as he seems to still not try to get out when he knows it’s sleep times - day or night :-). It’s just the morning I anticipate a bit of disruption to and I am not a morning person - ho-humm!

Phoebe has started attempting to write her own name today :-). It looks a bit like this; Pб∂bp - interpreted that's Poebep - but it’s a good start I think. She was SO proud of herself and I was really proud of her too for having a go - something she is really not that willing to do very often. She is obviously beginning to feel more ready to try stuff. When I picked her up from playgroup today she looked such the big girl - all dressed in denim jeans and jacket, hair tied back and gingham headband, skipping along quietly and running a little with Joel, hunting for feathers and saying very little. Whereas El’s on the other hand looked like the wild flower she truly is (and even Nicki thinks she is bit different to how A & P have been!) - hair madly flying everywhere (she refuses to let me do anything with it except put a brush through), leaping and bounding and chattering loudly about her morning, bright pink doodles (I hate those shoes - she loves them!), leggings and a fleece. They are so chalk and cheese.

I love the way I can have so many different ‘flavours’ of child all in my very own family:
I have Jake; explosive, impulsive, rigid, black & white, hyperactive, sporty, highly intelligent, loud, funny, sensitive, considerate of others when they are finding things tough, beautiful - oldest son, biggest brother!

Joel; bossy, stroppy, grumpy, fiddly, fidgety, witty, imaginative, kind, generous, bright, ‘prince charming’ - playmate brother.

Abigail; little madam, wilful, stroppy, dreamy, zany, witty, image-conscious, tall beautiful ‘blonde’, creative, bright, biggest sister.

Phoebe; wilful, determined, whiney, quiet, internalising, fragile yet resilient, ‘princess’, floaty skirts and jewellery, also imaginative & beautiful - blonder and yet not so!

Elisheva; my ‘wild flower’ - mischief maker, manipulative, inquisitive & curious, questioning (endlessly!!), fiddler, avoider, chatterbox, loud, funny, show-off, wilful, beautiful albino!

Caleb; scary little monkey! climber, screamer, demander, funny, clever, ‘part of the gang’ - handsome, winsome little lad!

So that’s my team. I wonder what I’ll say about them all five years down line? Will the picture have changed any I wonder..?

Got to go now and do some science planning. It’s all a bit too mudding atm and I waste too much time deciding what to do each day.

2 comments:

Classroomfree said...

Oh I love the descriptions of your "team", just wonderful!

Caroline said...

thanks Jules. Been reading your blog too - glad your move went OK and you are gradually settling in :)