It's a game of two halves…

And naturally, there were good things today as well.

Fran wants to do the Toymaker badge for Brownies so we started off the morning by trying to think of some things she could do that were within her capabilities; she suggested a jack-in-a-box and a series of jointed dolls with clothing accessories, i talked her down to just starting on some decorated blocks 😆 So we tried making some design sheets and looked on google for styles of baby blocks and then she had a go at drawing out some of the ideas she’d collected. She did try but she is a very different kettle of girl to Maddy and they just weren’t coming out of her pen how she wanted. So we quit on that and dug out some serviettes i had stashed away and had a go at those. She tried really hard with that too, though i tear my hair out at her slap-dash style. But i bit my tongue and worked with her. Tomorrow i’ll take her out to get some better serviettes i think because we did manage to have some good chats about themes and making things match and look good. Felt like a nice, grown up sort of project. The teething troubles of this stage of HE for me and Fran are mainly that i’m a control freak, well either that or i want ot be totally hands off. I’m the perfect mother for Maddy and she’s my ideal daughter in many ways, i’ve got a lot to do to become the ideal facilitator for Fran.

Still, we try.

Maddy meanwhile was making cut out linking ballerinas; she did it all herself, they worked beautifully and she cut out clothes, hair and all sort of bit and bobs for them. She is so great. Yesterday she did drawings of feet for Illustration Friday and i loved them. She is really up for being set little projects and sent off to do them. She always produces the goods.

While Fran and i did blocks, Maddy and Amelie had a load of sticking stuff out and enjoyed that. Maddy did an ace drawing of a red pom pom planet with aliens, Earth with buildings on it, the moon and the sun. i loved it. Must take a photo.

This afternoon and Aisha and L came over and everyone played. And then i packed 8 million more parcels and finished off with making a start on Danny the Champion of the World.

And now i need an early night to ward off these hormone swings.