Just keep sticking….

Had another good day at the collage today. All the sky is now done – because we decided to swap to a night time scene after we had drawn it, we had already done the white clouds and today Fran said “We need to change them, night time clouds are greyish” which i thought was a good point, so we are going to add grey to them tomorrow. She went through the Winnie the Pooh mags and picked all the ones out with woodland animals in them so we can look tomorrow and decide who to put in our picture. I am charged with finding clipart to doctor tonight! lol… (how come its ME who gets homework????) We also had a good conversation about hibernation and different animal groups – mammals , birds, reptiles etc. Then came the question… “Do ladybirds hibernate?” *blank mummy look!*

Luckily just at that moment i remembered it was time for lunch (!) and while we ate sarnies we got Webland out – i really love that, and having archives of past issues is great. We can always find something that relates to what we are donig. This time proved no exception and rather fabulously we had an issue on ladybirds which told us that they DO INDEED hibernate (as do butterflies… WHERE, you might ask????) We also did one on ants, birds and baby animals and have a couple more of relevance to do tomorrow. So all that was good.

While we were sticking Fran sneezed and i forgot to say “bless you” and got told off. So i told her all about the plague and why “bless you” came about. We also talked about “Ring a ring a roses” and went all through the lines looking at meanings, discussed Eyam and promised to go and visit, talked about fleas, rats, germs, illness, trade and placed the “Great Plague” into history – when we move we must set up a timeline on one of the walls. She has a really good sense of history,its a bit “before Henry or after Henry!”, but at least she has a good idea that its possible to place historical happening into a context.

Scruff had an ALMIGHTY tantrum this morning but it turned out to be mainly related to being extremely constipated again (she gives a new meaning to being “full of sh*t!!!”) – i’ve never seen such rage from her, it was a full on “maddypaddy.” I ended up having to put her into her cot and walk away because she was so angry she didn’t know what to do with herself. But when i went back a couple of minutes later she was ready for hugs and snuggled up for a long restorative cuddle. Shes getting very communicative – new words “hello”, “okay” “nemo” and “hair” and “nose” – mostly i can always tell what she wants when she expresses herself too – which after Fran and Moo is a bit of a novelty. Max is slightly concerned because she has a few obsessions and walks on her toes a bit, but i am not. He sees shades of Moo, i see a world of difference. One of the huge differences is their play. Moo can still only play “object related games” if she is actinig out a video (although her role playing is improving) – so a game with a plastic Nemo and a plastic Dory will only be parts of the script regurgitated over and over again. Scruff on the other hand adores the dolls house and plays long, involved games with that and if she has Dory and Nemo, she is clearly making up her own games and not acting out anything. Its actually quite weird for me, i suppose i don’t realize what i have got conditioned to.

Moo is happier this week because her keyworker is back from holiday. We finally worked out that was what was all the twiddling was about – nursery had made a big deal about her going away for a holiday but hadn’t mentioned her coming back – and i think Moo hadn’t really made the connection. I learned a lot in that meeting and in a way it was quite funny too – they were discussing how if she has a “thing” she wants to tell about she will go to every staff member, every day, and tell something exactly the same to them all. I said “Ah.. you’ll have heard that she wants to go back to holiday…” and her two keyworkers joined in “… with the little house and the swimming!” Moo rather liked Centerparcs!!! ;~))

I’m thinking a lot about what we are going to change when we move. I am DESPERATE to get my Monte shelves set up again – i have REALLY missed that this year – i am keen to make the big girls room very “evening user friendly” for them, i want the kitchen to be easily useable for them so that when babe arrives they are really able to do stuff for themselves – its just been impossible here :~( I also want to take on board something that was said in the meeting which was roughly that “If Moo has to have rituals and routines, make them work for you” which seems like a very sensible plan to me – so i am gonig to sort out things like kid level coat hooks, a linen basket in the loo so if she must dump slightly damp knickers she can do it there with no mess for me to pick up, clean knickers down there for her, a place for shoes, linen baskets in the utility room that she can help me sort and process washing, our toy shelves will definitely help, snacks and drinks that are healthy she can get at – nothing that an organised house wouldn’t have anyway but the last year has been so awful that i want to plan ahead and not take bad habits with me. And i figure a new house is a good time to get them pulling their weight!