Excellent day. I’m REALLY enjoying forcing myself to be liberated from the computer, it didn’t go on till 3pm today, and that was only long enough to download a bead order for local delivery.
Amelie is 3 tomorrow, but in long Puddle tradition, we decided on a birthday weekend. So she got her presents this morning; mostly Happy Street from ELC (or ebay in fact!) plus some Dora bits, a bath toy since she is currently doing a Moo on us over baths, so i hoped it would coax her in, and some little figurines. She ADORES figurines of TV shows, she has quite a collection. She was delighted and she has been centre stage all day really. Such a lovely girl, bless her.
I was so pleased by Fran and Maddy sitting down last night while Max and Ammi were out and making cards for her without any asking or help. Fran wrote out “Happy Birthday Ammi love from Fran, Maddy, Josie, Mummy and Daddy” all on her own then helped Maddy to do her message in her own one. Both were really lovely and very typical of their own style and Maddy bequeathed a much loved ring to Ammi as a special gift. What was almost even lovelier was how thrilled by them Ammi was; she could see a big pile of presents to open and ignored them so she could give proper attention to the cards. Awwww… love those girls.
Josie has completely altered in the space of a few days. Last week i had a baby, this week i have a sitting up playing mini-child who is constantly entertained by her sisters. Made me cry last night… my baby!
I’ve had so much time for everyone today and its been lovely. Maddy was a bit on the wibbly side; i’m really hoping she is going to recover for HESFES because at the moment i’m having quite a lot of trouble getting through to her. So today, Max pretty much entertained everyone else (with help from Fran who read Ammi a Dora book) so i could give her some full on one-to-one. First of all we sat and read the next Peter and Jane book… she can definitely read those, she doesn’t seem to be having any trouble with look-see as a method. Then we sat with a ELC letter pegboard and worked on some letter names (she knows nearly all those) and letter sounds (pretty shaky) – lovely cos we could do it while cuddling and she really came on. Her recall is SO short, its quite an effort. However, building on that, i dragged out my home made moveable alphabet which was full of bits of plaster and beads and she and i cleaned and sorted it out together. Then we spent some time using it.
Seemed to work for her in a big way and i’m hoping that will continue as even more than Fran, i think reading will be something that opens up doors for Maddy and gives her a place to retreat to. Anyway, she was so much happier after all that and went off to play in the garden, dodging pea sized hail and boiling sun alternately.
Fran and i had been talking about the recent lapbook craze and while she stitched her 4th money box panel and i read her the Labours of Heracles, we came up with a plan to do a lapbook on them. She was deserate to start immediately but i thought that some research might be useful first!!!! Having just popped over to Aisha’s and seen two that she and her children have done, i’m now quite keen to have a go. Max made me laugh; he was listening to me reading the (entire) Labours stories to her (again!) and after she had gone said “I can see her studying Classics at university” – actually, if she is anything like me, i can well see her continuing the fascination in myths but.. well… KEEP MY BABIES YOUNG CAMPAIGN!!!!!!! *argh!!!!*
This is Josie, proving she is already well up for a “literature-rich” curriculum!!!! 😀
After that Ammi, Josie and i spent a couple of lovely hours together in town buying Fran’s birthday presents, then it was home to do Fran’s normals, Tangrams, that ridiculous Japanese Its a Knockout tv game and more of the Pocohontas book we’ve started.
Such a great day.
Yesterday was nice too; TT was here and so it was mainly tidying but the girls had a lovely time with her and i felt much better for getting straightened out. Ended up feeling mildly saddened by the Election; oddly, not that i’m currently mad keen on the man, i just felt a bit sad to see how crushed and old Tony Blair looks after 8 years. Tired, drawn, old, battered – what a way to become because of your dream career. Like Football Managers, who come in in a blaze of hope and glory and leave with a boot in the bum, i wonder why he does it? Can it be worth the years its added to him? I know how it feels to be hated at work and undermined and i know how it feels to have your hopes taken away from you and know you made bad decisions with hindsight and i just wonder, when he gets to the end, whether he will think it was worth what its cost him physically?
Ho hum…. my girl… 3 tomorrow. Gosh.
