Also timeless.

Know how you feel Debs!

Yesterday, having parcelled all weekend, i didn’t have a lot to do, so i was very much looking forward to spending time with the kids. But they shunned me for more interesting pursuits involving games, learning French, modelling, hama-ing, reading, emailing people (!) and a variety of other things. Not one to be left twiddlnig my thumbs, i made use of the time by doing stuff i can’t normally get done and we all runbbed along nicely. Everyone did normals which all went well; Fran has a Bond No Nonsense maths book that we got in Smiths and she is sailing effortlessly through the 9-10 year old level. I REALLY need something to stretch her problem solving skills, but for now i’ve settled on some verbal/non-verbal reasoning books. Suggestions welcome. Maddy continued with ETC2 and is really enjoying it; tonight she told me that learning to read is “exciting” 🙂 Yesterday i got them to do the reading test on Joannas blog; Fran got a reading age of 9.2 years and maddy of 5.11 years. Given Maddy is a better reader now, with far less help, than Fran was at just under 7, i think that bodes fairly well 🙂 so i’m not worried. (Joanna, thought you were away, will reply!)

I made some biscuits with Fran; hampered this slightly by not reading the ingredients before i started and so was lacking the egg, brown sugar and syrup that they required. So i substituted soya milk, honey and white sugar and they came out like delicious macaroons! Yum!

Today i did need to parcel but again everyone got on really well without me; Amelie is very into beads, Maddy is loving modelling and Fran spent the early morning making dinner, almost completely single-handledly. It was slow-cooker stew and she peeled and chopped the carrots and potatoes, added the meat, peeled the shallots, seasoned it and got it on the go all on her own. The only help i gave her was topping and tailing the shallots and opening a can of tomatoes. It was also completely delicious – what a result 🙂

Max managed to leave with my phone today, as well as his, i’ve melted my cash cards (don’t ask) and as i was about to leave for my counselling appt, i realised my keys were locked in the car. :wall: All of which meant i had to take £25 worth of cab with money i didn’t actually have in my pocket (argh) I had to go though, i really needed it this week. Very, very draining session this time, the hardest it has been. But probably the first time i’ve really got my teeth into myself too and been able to talk properly. Need to stop all this internal criticism of myself and start accepting that sometimes things just are and when they are that way they are truly sh*tty.

When i got back Aunty S’s daughter was here with her 3 month old, who oddly enough didn’t pull any of the strings that Ella did, perhaps cos she isn’t actually related to me and doesn’t look at all like any of mine ever did. Also handed over a load of baby toys and rather enjoyed seeing an old pair of our trackies on Mini-Violet too. Found myself offering some clothes for Baby-Flower that i’ve kept very close to my heart up to now. Sign of a shift in feelings? Or am i just in declutter mode…

This afternoon me and the girls sat on the sofa and had long read of a book called Our Earth, a question and answer book on the affect we are having on the planet. REALLY interesting and produced loads of talk and questions; Fran then did a SchoolExpress unit on “Damaged Planet” while Maddy looked at some activities. We’ve got plans for a big topic. When Moo and i went out later, she and i talked about Ethical Trading and Ethical Industry for the whole time; really fascinating.

Last news; Fran’s gap tooth, the little mis-shapen ingrowing one, came out, amid rather a lot of tears. Turns out she’s rather attached to it (buh-boom!) and didn’t want to give it to the tooth fairy; told her the tooth fairy didn’t have to come anymore, to which she hastily told me that she wants her to come for all but this tooth, but this one is special – but there was clearly a tugging issue (buh-boom!) which turned out to be the £1 causing all the tears. So in the interest of world peace, i paid her to keep the blimming tooth!!!!!

Motherhood, eh?