My House Got Bigger Today...
- In ACWW World!! And I nearly have enough bells to upgrade again :-)
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Happy New Year -
- albeit rather belatedly!! I'm rather rubbish at this blogging business atm I'm afraid - sorry folks.
So far 2007 is going OK. We started back at 'school' this week and although I decided not to come down too heavy on the kids this first week, we've none the less done 'some'. Phoebe is now at home full time and, having all too keen to do school up till now, has suddenly decided that sitting down and working is not so great after all! So long as all I ask her to do is repeatedly write her name - like a million times over (!!) then that's fine, but I am lost if I ask more of her! I've pep talked her and said that I only really need her to do a little bit each day, but if I ask her to come and sit down for a bit then she must do as I ask. It's not that I'm intending to 'drive' her much atm, it's just that I want her to get used to the idea of not always getting to do exactly as she wishes in school-time. I truely do like 'self-directed learning' to a degree, but there is a point at which I'm afraid I expect my children to 'tow the line' with the directed stuff too! At not-yet 5 I know that P's world should be predominantly about playing, but she needs to get a flavour of 'school' too, because in all honesty I am not an un-schooling, un-structured Mum and I simply can't do it - it doesn't 'fit' with me and running a house with 6 (soon 7) smalls in it! I can do the odd day of 'lets hang loose', but the noise in unbearable when it goes on too long and then I need to add something constructive into the day. Winter is worse - when no-one is that willing to go outside to play and without the car they are cooped up too much and get bored with each other. Structured schooling actually keeps them amused and off each other's backs tbh!! One good thing I have noticed with P of late though is that she has at last begun to pick up books and 'read' them to herself on a regular basis - the first signs I believe of beginning to be ready for the real thing!!
Joel eventually finished his 'Grinch' lapbook, (pictures to follow shortly - when taken), but not unfortunately without much protestation! I had hoped it would be a 'fun' literature exercise for him, but he saw it as me presenting him with too much 'writing' under false pretences!! If only I did consider a couple of sides of A5 to be 'too much' at his age, but I simply don't and that was the most he had to do in any one mini-book! It's mad because he does more in his handwriting practice book and complains very little about that (maybe because of the the pride he takes in that?). I think it was more the having to think creatively and then out his ideas down on paper that was the issue (same old, same old..!) and he did complain about that too. I guess I will not be travelling that 'literature study' road again this year, even in the guise of a lapbook. He loves to read and I don't want to stifle that love by making him think and report on everything he reads. I would have hated that - no, sorry I DID hate that!! Now I don't really read much at all. One good thing though - he can recite chunks of The Grinch to me now without even really having to try that hard. Maybe I should work on 'recital' work instead for a bit. He might enjoy that - would be a new thing here though.
The pregnancy is going well and I'm getting 'fat'! I have my first midwives appointment on Tuesday (yes I know that's late, but that' s how I do it - avoid all the pushing of 'testing' until it's too late - and cut down on antenatal appointments that quite frankly drive me nuts!!). Paul wants to know the gender this time - he says it'll help us plan how we are going to arrange the house and organise where we are focus the attentions of our finances! I do tend to agree with him, but in all honesty, I like the 'not knowing' part - the surprise element! Then again - I would know whether or not it's worth sorting out Caleb's clothes in the loft or not. They have been put up there in a very jumbled fashion and would take some time to organise again (time is a precious commodity!!). Or whether it's the girls clothes I need to sift through! Ho-Hum... I'll have to decide pronto though as I am almost certain Mr L (consultant - I am a 'grand multip' now!!) will want an 'all is well with my soul' scan - like yesterday - if he is to agree without too much contention to my having another homebirth.
Other interesting goings on around here... well E is now at playgroup three mornings and even then I have to virtually drag her out of the door to come home! She simply loves it there. Then when she comes home she finds the biggest mischief she can. Yesterday she decided that watching all the pieces of our wooden 3D O&Xs game float in the fish-tank was fun!! Today - well emptying out all the pieces and cards from at least three games and mixing them all together under the dining room table (whilst everyone else 'took a break') was also really fun - until she was made to put a lot of it away again when she could be heard muttering to herself "I am a very naughty girl!!" She is adorable, but boy is she a little wild!
Caleb too is doing his best to be the biggest pain around atm, but perhaps understandably as he has effectively had to suddenly drop his morning sleep as we now have three playgroup runs a week to do and he simply would not get his sleep out, so it's better for him to get a proper rest after lunch, or sometimes before if he just can't make it through. Then he skips lunch, which he eats little of anyway, and snacks through till tea-time on cheese-strings! It's very difficult to keep him amused in the mornings though - he is simply too young to play by himself for very long and wants to be around the rest of us - preferably climbing right into the middle of the table where we are all at work! We as a family are all working on teaching him to talk right now as currently he says very little and makes no attempt really, other than screeching, which is becoming wearing, but it is interesting to note that he is 'watching' other things around him very closely. Tonight after tea he and I were the last ones sitting at the table and I started singing a couple of quiet songs to him (and he to me!!) before we went to join the rabble upstairs, who were supposedly on their way to bed. He incidentally blew a sweet wrapper across the table and laughed. So I did the same, but so gently he could hardly tell I was blowing - he was fascinated - I could see it in his eyes as he wondered, almost unnerved by this paper moving across the table without anyone touching it! "HOW is that happening?" I did it a few times - very softly - and eventually showed him that I was blowing and you could see him 'get it' and yet still he was wondering, I'm sure of it, just exactly how that worked. I'm beginning to see him now as my most curious child yet - the one who really will ask me "HOW & WHY?" and want to know the meaty answers. That'll be a challenge - a great one! :-)
- albeit rather belatedly!! I'm rather rubbish at this blogging business atm I'm afraid - sorry folks.
So far 2007 is going OK. We started back at 'school' this week and although I decided not to come down too heavy on the kids this first week, we've none the less done 'some'. Phoebe is now at home full time and, having all too keen to do school up till now, has suddenly decided that sitting down and working is not so great after all! So long as all I ask her to do is repeatedly write her name - like a million times over (!!) then that's fine, but I am lost if I ask more of her! I've pep talked her and said that I only really need her to do a little bit each day, but if I ask her to come and sit down for a bit then she must do as I ask. It's not that I'm intending to 'drive' her much atm, it's just that I want her to get used to the idea of not always getting to do exactly as she wishes in school-time. I truely do like 'self-directed learning' to a degree, but there is a point at which I'm afraid I expect my children to 'tow the line' with the directed stuff too! At not-yet 5 I know that P's world should be predominantly about playing, but she needs to get a flavour of 'school' too, because in all honesty I am not an un-schooling, un-structured Mum and I simply can't do it - it doesn't 'fit' with me and running a house with 6 (soon 7) smalls in it! I can do the odd day of 'lets hang loose', but the noise in unbearable when it goes on too long and then I need to add something constructive into the day. Winter is worse - when no-one is that willing to go outside to play and without the car they are cooped up too much and get bored with each other. Structured schooling actually keeps them amused and off each other's backs tbh!! One good thing I have noticed with P of late though is that she has at last begun to pick up books and 'read' them to herself on a regular basis - the first signs I believe of beginning to be ready for the real thing!!
Joel eventually finished his 'Grinch' lapbook, (pictures to follow shortly - when taken), but not unfortunately without much protestation! I had hoped it would be a 'fun' literature exercise for him, but he saw it as me presenting him with too much 'writing' under false pretences!! If only I did consider a couple of sides of A5 to be 'too much' at his age, but I simply don't and that was the most he had to do in any one mini-book! It's mad because he does more in his handwriting practice book and complains very little about that (maybe because of the the pride he takes in that?). I think it was more the having to think creatively and then out his ideas down on paper that was the issue (same old, same old..!) and he did complain about that too. I guess I will not be travelling that 'literature study' road again this year, even in the guise of a lapbook. He loves to read and I don't want to stifle that love by making him think and report on everything he reads. I would have hated that - no, sorry I DID hate that!! Now I don't really read much at all. One good thing though - he can recite chunks of The Grinch to me now without even really having to try that hard. Maybe I should work on 'recital' work instead for a bit. He might enjoy that - would be a new thing here though.
The pregnancy is going well and I'm getting 'fat'! I have my first midwives appointment on Tuesday (yes I know that's late, but that' s how I do it - avoid all the pushing of 'testing' until it's too late - and cut down on antenatal appointments that quite frankly drive me nuts!!). Paul wants to know the gender this time - he says it'll help us plan how we are going to arrange the house and organise where we are focus the attentions of our finances! I do tend to agree with him, but in all honesty, I like the 'not knowing' part - the surprise element! Then again - I would know whether or not it's worth sorting out Caleb's clothes in the loft or not. They have been put up there in a very jumbled fashion and would take some time to organise again (time is a precious commodity!!). Or whether it's the girls clothes I need to sift through! Ho-Hum... I'll have to decide pronto though as I am almost certain Mr L (consultant - I am a 'grand multip' now!!) will want an 'all is well with my soul' scan - like yesterday - if he is to agree without too much contention to my having another homebirth.
Other interesting goings on around here... well E is now at playgroup three mornings and even then I have to virtually drag her out of the door to come home! She simply loves it there. Then when she comes home she finds the biggest mischief she can. Yesterday she decided that watching all the pieces of our wooden 3D O&Xs game float in the fish-tank was fun!! Today - well emptying out all the pieces and cards from at least three games and mixing them all together under the dining room table (whilst everyone else 'took a break') was also really fun - until she was made to put a lot of it away again when she could be heard muttering to herself "I am a very naughty girl!!" She is adorable, but boy is she a little wild!
Caleb too is doing his best to be the biggest pain around atm, but perhaps understandably as he has effectively had to suddenly drop his morning sleep as we now have three playgroup runs a week to do and he simply would not get his sleep out, so it's better for him to get a proper rest after lunch, or sometimes before if he just can't make it through. Then he skips lunch, which he eats little of anyway, and snacks through till tea-time on cheese-strings! It's very difficult to keep him amused in the mornings though - he is simply too young to play by himself for very long and wants to be around the rest of us - preferably climbing right into the middle of the table where we are all at work! We as a family are all working on teaching him to talk right now as currently he says very little and makes no attempt really, other than screeching, which is becoming wearing, but it is interesting to note that he is 'watching' other things around him very closely. Tonight after tea he and I were the last ones sitting at the table and I started singing a couple of quiet songs to him (and he to me!!) before we went to join the rabble upstairs, who were supposedly on their way to bed. He incidentally blew a sweet wrapper across the table and laughed. So I did the same, but so gently he could hardly tell I was blowing - he was fascinated - I could see it in his eyes as he wondered, almost unnerved by this paper moving across the table without anyone touching it! "HOW is that happening?" I did it a few times - very softly - and eventually showed him that I was blowing and you could see him 'get it' and yet still he was wondering, I'm sure of it, just exactly how that worked. I'm beginning to see him now as my most curious child yet - the one who really will ask me "HOW & WHY?" and want to know the meaty answers. That'll be a challenge - a great one! :-)
One last thing - I got a DS Lite for Christmas (a pink one) - with ACWW!! I haven't set it up on the net yet - not quite sure if I can atm with the 'router' we have which is a Wanadoo one and it doesn't seem to recognise the DS ( :-( ), but when I do I want some visitors!! I caught an Octopus today :-) Any tips re the turnips? And how do I bury things - like the shovel?
That's it for tonight me thinks.
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