dottyspots

Blogsome ate my last blog :0( I was really pleased with it too, but typically I didn’t write it off-line to copy in, I wrote it online whilst chatting on MSN and didn’t take the sensible precaution of copying it just-in-case and so it was eaten – and yes, I did make noises resembling Muttley……

It’s been a good few days on the whole – certainly much quieter without Erk around which in a way is nice. R. is thriving on not having his brother around, so I guess they both needed a little space (it may well take a nose-dive again when they have to go back to sharing a room, but TBH that’s just tough ATM). The daily ‘rhythm’ has been fairly ticking along which R. finds reassuring, as he is one for asking what we are next, today, tomorrow, next week, etc. repeatedly. A rough timetable gives him a bit of security and he quite happily moves from one thing on to the next (although there is some blurring when we become engrossed in what we’re doing and don’t notice the time).

Multiplying decimals seems to have just ‘clicked’ with him, so I don’t think we’ll need to spend much time there, so it’s on to dividing and then a quick recap and I think we may get on with the ‘planning the garden’ which I have spent far more time talking about that actually planning. He likes gardening, so will probably be fairly happy to get the tape-measure out and help me measure up and plot it out on some graph paper. We want to put in some soft fruit this autumn and hopefully a couple of fruit trees, although quite what I’m not sure yet, but we can have a look at the options and have a think – just need to get dh to shift the sheds to the back (as he promised a while ago).

I’ve signed up for ‘Reading Classical Greek’ with the OU. When I originally went to college I went to study Ancient History and signed up to do Greek and Latin GCSEs, but decided not very far into the course (a few weeks) that drinking etc. was far more fun and left to do that instead. When looking at the OU I did consider the Early Years courses, after all, far closer to what I have studied (I went back to college years later), and more applicable to the area I have enjoyed working in and the degree I planned to do before finding out I was pregnant with Nin. However, as the past couple of years have gone by I have read so much more on the subject that I can’t help feeling I’d be a little frustrated by it all. Whilst it is without doubt a good thing to have one’s personal beliefs/prejudices challenged, I just don’t think that I’d have the patience for it at present and have a sneaking suspicion that it might be similar to my experience studying Equal Opps., which although I enjoyed, was incredibly frustrating as I had to sit on my hands to avoid landing heavy books on other students’ heads.

So I went back to one of my original interests, Ancient History. The bonus of doing such a course is that I’ve planned for R. and I to look at Greek Myths and then Ancient Greece next year and the OU course, starting in Feb. ties in quite nicely with that because R. can also benefit from it. He’s very excited about the idea (he appears to have inherited an interest in history which is more the good) and I’m feeling really positive about it all.

I was out trimming the tomatoes yesterday. We’ve had a fantastic crop of cherry tomatoes and there are still plenty on the vine, but they’ve been neglected the past week and it’s amazing how fast they can send out surplus shoots, so they needed tidying up to get some sun to the final toms to get them ripened and ready to eat. There’s still a few courgettes for taking and I’ve left the beans to dry on the plant (I hope that’s right, I keep meaning to check, but I want to dry some, basically to see if I can and to make a nice display in a glass kilner jar on the kitchen side :0)

Today has been a hectic day again. The group went well, although Nin was a little off-colour and wanted to stay closer to me than she has done at previous groups. We rejigged the format a bit to have Circle Time before snack-time, which seems to work better. Nin and I popped back to Kris’ for lunch and had a short time to chat about some books I’ve just received before I had to start back again. Erk was a little late back from school (he must have taken a *very* scenic route) and Nin attacked him when he got in (literally, as when they were playing she whacked him in the eye and it looks a bit bruised!) It was hard to tell who was more distressed, Erk because he’d been hurt, or Nin because Erk was crying and she was frightened!

I finished a sleeve on the yellow and green cardi I’m knitting for the baby, so now need to press it, sew it up and pick up the stitches for the buttonband. I’ve been so busy the past few days that I’ve not got a huge amount of knitting done, but baby cardis are a fairly quick and easy knit.

R. still isn’t back and dh has gone straight from work to pick him up (he’s been over in Sheffield so is later than usual). I forgot to get any meat out of the freezer this morning and really should make a start with dinner as it will take longer to cook with half-frozen mince. So that’s what I’ll go and do now :0)

……wandering in the street. I was having a bit of a rest earlier and heard a small child screaming outside. I assumed that they were having a tantrum and that a relevant adult was dealing. The screaming continued, so I looked out and saw a little girl standing across the road screaming and screaming. I looked up and down the street and couldn’t see anything, so I went out.

I crossed over to her and asked her where her mum was, but she was only around 2 years old and clearly couldn’t talk particularly clearly. I asked her where her house was and couldn’t understand what she said, so I took her hand and walked down the street with her (in my socks). We got to the corner with another street where a load of children were playing - and as children generally know other children (even littlies, as they’ll know the tiny brothers and sisters who don’t go out) I asked them if they knew who she was. There was a fair few of them out and none of them recognised her, which I thought was a little strange.

At which point she pulled a mobile phone (!) out of her pocket. Sooooooo, I had a look in that and tried one of the numbers but there was insufficient credit, so I took her hand again and walked back to my house to use my phone to try a number, now with an entourage of local children. As we were going into the house a young man, maybe early 20s, possibly late teens, ran up and claimed that she was his girlfriend’s daughter.

Trying to keep as calm as I could I commented that she really shouldn’t be wandering the streets. He replied that his cousin had let her out of the garden. I said that perhaps they should keep an eye on said cousing, at which point he told me that she was 25.

?!!!!!!

I took a deep breath and said that such a small child should not be wandering the streets and that perhaps the cousin wasn’t the best person to leave her with and that they were incredibly lucky that I’d taken the time to go out to her (as plenty of other people must have been curtain-twitching) as she had been wandering around next to a road - and did he know she had a mobile phone? To which point he tutted and said she must have nicked it.

:0(

Sadly this isn’t an isolated occurence - it’s not the first time I’ve come across similar incidences and is one of the reasons I found detached youth work so depressing on occasion……

It’s been a nice, if a little tiring, day. Rik took R. to his Gran’s on the way to work and I left the house for when Erk had to leave for school anyway. Nin and I ended up catching a coach to the next village. I was stood at the bus-stop waiting. A coach pulled up and I ignored it until the driver popped his head out the door and asked if I was getting on as I usually went to where he was going. It was then that I noticed in the front that there was a card with a destination. Turns out the coach only runs term-time. It was nice of him to stop and ask though.

Nin was thrilled, she clearly doesn’t remember being on a coach before (she was very, very young the last time she went on one) and was very excited about climbing up the steps – and very conscientious at climbing down them when we reached our destination :0)

She really loved playgroup, as ever, playing with the bricks and painting with her hands and the leaves provided for leaf prints. Unfortunately circle time just didn’t seem to ‘click’ this week – my fault, I wrote it – but it just didn’t seem to sit right, so I’ve had to go back to the drawing board for something that will sit a little better with such very small children. So lots of action-based verses to try to engage their bodies a little more. It’s a learning process for me to and I’ve actually found it a very useful exercise, meaning that I think a little more carefully about how littlies experience the world.

Afterwards we went back to Kris’ for a spot of lunch before I had to get home ready for Erk returning. My feet have been suffering a bit of late and I really wasn’t looking forward to this – not least because Nin was clearly pretty shattered – but luckily Rik phoned to say he was picking R. up early, so could pick me up too and get us all home for 3.30pm.

I have to admit that I don’t like this having to be at home at 3.30pm everyday lark – I’m just not used to having to do that! I am very rarely, if ever, late to anything I choose to attend, but I don’t like *having* to be somewhere when I can think of more interesting things to do.

Dinner was some very nice pork chops from the farmer’s market, with courgettes (from the garden) fried in butter and garlic and a mix of tomatoes from both Kris’ and my garden mixed in with couscous. It was lovely :0)

Nin went up to bed early as *still* hadn’t had a nap by this point and so clearly needed some sleep, closely followed by an overtired Erk too (judging by the level of giggling, burping and general impoliteness which finally went past the point of my patience). He was asleep shortly afterwards, so he obviously needed to go.

R. is still pottering about in the background (having polished off two minneolas) so I suppose I better start ushering him towards bed.

…. went very well. I had a brief word with the teacher just to fill her in on the basics we’d covered in maths and literacy - as I hadn’t even looked at the National Curriculum until very recently to see whether there was anything Erk might’ve missed here. She seemed a little surprised that I’d bothered to do so.

In maths they were counting in various different numbers, so Erk, having just started decimal fractions at home said that this was a bit easy. They also looked at different states of matter - which Erk said he remembered well enough too. He could explain what made solids turn to liquids and then gas but couldn’t remember at what temperature water froze or became steam. Apparently the story being read is The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and he seemed very impressed with that (as I got a brief history of the story so far). Although he couldn’t remember the title, I managed to piece it together by the names of the children, the fact there was a wardrobe and a snow witch/queen.

Then it was a quick back home and chill before he went off to Cubs on a night walk around the village.

R. was a bit ‘off’ this morning, but I think he enjoyed the extra attention. He’s just finishing up on Norse Myths and I’m planning to have a bit of a whizz through basic form drawing before returning to Botany in October. I’ve been busy putting together a new schedule and have uploaded it as a word doc: Schedule 2005. I’ll be adding to it (as ever) as more ideas come to me and doubtless I will stumble across useful bits online. I showed him the plan for a general ok and he seems fairly happy with it so far.

Apart from a bit of knitting, that was about the sum of it today, just hope I can keep the earlier mornings up ;0)

We ventured over to Ikea today for the first time in a very long while (and the first time to Leeds). Did the usual Sunday afternoon *thing* in there, checking out what sort of wardrobes and drawers we eventually hope to buy (so we’ve somewhere to put our clothes) and also a nice bureau-thingy to go in the space the big fridge left. Also on our shopping list is a bed for Nin.

Of course, we couldn’t actually *buy* any of these things today but it was nice to look :0)

We came back with glasses, a few kilner jars, some prints and storage boxes for the bedroom.

Dinner was a very nice roast chicken (the first for ages due to lack of fridge), followed by an apple and blackberry crumble - blackberries picked by us and apples given to us by a couple of neighbours - it was wonderful and so much a taste of autumn!

For the second night running Nin has gone directly to her own bed. Admittedly it’s directly next to ours, but as my rapidly expanding girth has been causing some space issues in our bed even without the magical expanding toddler in it (how do they fill an entire double bed?) her timing is great.

She still wakes up and panics if I’m not in my bed, but even with a 2am wake up flop on me and snuggle, she still finds her way back to her own bed by the time I wake up again in the morning.

I must take some more photos, but as this blog is looking a bit bare, thought I’d post the one of Nin trying to knit:

On the HE front it’s been decimals and converting fractions into decimals. Both boys seem to be really enjoying this and even R. has managed to muster up some enthusiasm for a previously disliked subject (sometimes it just takes something to ‘click’ into place and the rest doesn’t seem so bad after all). It’s been a funny few weeks anyway, what with Erk deciding to return to school, leaving me a bit unsure of what to suggest to do in the meantime. So planning to start fresh with R. on Monday once Erk starts back. It will be very strange not having Erk at home, but I suppose this might benefit R. a bit and atleast it’ll be one less person for him to argue with, so day-to-day life might become a little more peaceful. Might be good for all of us :0)

Despite the very heavy rain (that only really kicked in as I was getting off the bus in the next village to go to the parent & child group I co-run with Kris the day went very well.

The group had lots of freeplay with finger painting and ‘making leaves’ on offer, followed by some lovely homemade ginger biscuits made by one of the mums, apple juice, banana and apple, followed by lots more play and finally circle time. Nin loved it again!

There was excited talk of future craft projects (amongst other things) and then I popped to the little bakery across the road to pick up some bits for lunch at Kris’.

I may have mentioned before that Nin has a habit of sticking her hands down my top (and up on occasion). Kris’ youngest watched this and stated, “Nin is sticking her hand down you top.”

To which I replied, “Yes, she does that sometimes.”

Nin moved off to the side and then Kris’ youngest clambered up and thrust her hand down my top too (blush), followed by the gentle,

“Thanks but no thanks.” and gentle removing of said child :0D

I hasten to add at this point that for those that don’t know, both Nin and Kris’ youngest are just two and almost two, so haven’t quite grasped the social niceties (or rather lack of) of doing such things. It was rather funny then.

It was obviously a day for affectionate climbing as later she wanted to sit on my lap next to her mum (who was on the PC), the bouncing was a little uncomfortable and Kris explained that she needed to be careful as there was a baby in my belly.

This caused quite some confusion…… lifting up my top she demanded, “I want to see the baby.”

“Well, you can’t, the baby is inside my tummy.”

“I can’t see it!”

“Well no, it’s under my skin.”

She did not look convinced….

I then kept catching her staring at my belly.

Hmmmm, that might lead to some very *interesting* conversations for Kris (LOL)

Was rather impressed that Erk remember that you could get syrup from trees and had a discussion with Kris and her eldest daughter about tree sap. Learnt that the berries which my mum didn’t know the english name for, but which are fairly useless for eating anyway are called crowberries and also the history of Fat Hen (the plant). I didn’t bring my knitting as with the rain and other bags that needed carrying it would’ve got soaked.

I hid from the pouring rain all afternoon until Rik picked me up and we went over to pick R. up from his nan’s, then home for a ready-cooked meal (slap my wrists - but I had just picked up frozen stuff from Kris’ and it was all frozen meat etc. as I generally cook from scratch , but that wasn’t going to happen tonight) and then catching up on over 500 e-mails (most of which I did delete - that’s what comes of not checking last night and also reading them this morning) and trying to get a few bits done, so I’m off to continue and chat on MSN.

Broadband is dead.

I don’t know what happened - I haven’t been fiddling, there’s no obvious explanation, but broadband is not working :0(

Soooooo, I phoned my service provider.

First technician suggested something, it didn’t work and so said he couldn’t help.

I rung off, tried a couple of things and phoned again.

Next technician tried different things (funny there were other alternatives when the last person said that there wasn’t) and then said that they’d exhausted their possibilities and that the tcp/ip needed to be reset and I should phone the Legion of the Damned.

Sooooo, I phoned them to be told the OEM in the serial no. (or whatever) meant they needed to refer me to manufacturer.

I phoned the manufacturer, who told me I’d been given the wrong number for that problem and could I phone a different number.

So I phoned the different number and then spent about 5 minutes how to spell most of my address (which was rather frustrating) and then had a painfully slow person who didn’t seem to register me saying I’d done something 3 times (!)

Over an hour into this the doorbell rang and two men stood on the doorstop with my new fridge. It was 12pm. I had been told that delivery would be after 2pm. Of course I hadn’t emptied the existing fridge (which even thought it was broken we were still storing things in) or the freezer (which was still working) and I hadn’t shifted the pushchairs out of the hall, etc, etc. because I DID NOT EXPECT THEM FOR ANOTHER TWO HOURS.

Naturally they weren’t interested in this and informed me that my phone had been engaged for over an hour and they had attempted to phone me to notify me that delivery would be earlier than originally stated.

Sooooo, I tried to explain to the *technician* that I needed to go and could I possibly have some sort of reference number to call back with.

The technician didn’t appear to understand this, despite me explaining it a number of times.

I gave up and spent the next 10 minutes trying to talk to technician, type and empty the hall/fridge/freezer with help from my eldest whilst Erk kept Nin upstairs.

Old fridge was picked up, new fridge was installed and I was left free to continue with the now INCREDIBLY annoying phone call. It went on for some time before I finally managed to explain that I’m pregnant and really had to take a break to go to the loo. I managed to get a ref. number, phoned Kris in a panic for freezer space to store my defrosting food, narrowly avoided bursting into tears, made a cup of tea, had a biscuit, sat down and phoned back to try again.

To be told I need to do a system restore.

hmph

This computer is only a couple of months old and I haven’t done a back-up (wail). I know I should’ve done, but I haven’t and I haven’t got any spare CDs till I can get to a shop that sells them (and also remember to buy them). The technician didn’t appear to understand that I couldn’t do a system restore till I could back up my files, so, as politely as I could muster I said goodbye and hung up.

I think my midwife might have had something to say about my blood pressure at that point.

I decided that I honestly cannot cope with the stress of trying to get the problem fixed and decided to phone the service provider to cancel broadband and reinstate dial-up until I’m in a place of tranquility that can deal with the incredible patronised annoyance of bloody call-centre technicians when I have to spell basic words like ‘avenue’ and have to wait 5 mins despite saying repeatedly that I’ve either got to where they want me to go or that I know that the ’start’ button is in the lower left hand corner of my screen.

ggrrrrrrrrrrrr.

So I am on dial-up, which is slower, but for the time-being is avoiding any further stress (or possible breakdown) from dealing with the broadband problem.

I found this whilst reading here.

Everyone says that my life is the way of a simpleton.
Being largely the way of a simpleton is what makes it worthwhile.
If it were not the way of a simpleton
It would long ago have been worthless,
These possessions of a simpleton being the three I choose
And cherish:
To care,
To be fair,
To be humble.
When a man cares he is unafraid,
When he is fair he leaves enough for others,
When he is humble he can grow;
Whereas if, like men of today, he be bold without caring,
Self-indulgent without sharing,
Self-important without shame,
He is dead.
The invincible shield
Of caring
Is a weapon from the sky
Against being dead.

Lao-tzu
Tao Te Ching

Made me think :0)

…. I also got a rendition of Sultans of Swing, followed by Tunnel of Love and Walk of Life (I’m guessing he likes Dire Straits) and something indistinguishable but possibly Rod Stewart again - this final one at around 02.15. I kept hoping he likes the Doors or similar and would put something mellow on that I would have a better chance of getting to sleep to (possible as I seem to remember hearing something similar earlier) - I did also get to listen to Sunshine of Your Love by Cream, so that was a small perk amongst the stuff I’m not so keen on.

He doesn’t usually have the music on so loud so late, but it sounded like he had company (as occasionally the singing was in stereo). I have even listened to Nirvana (during the day) so he seems fairly eclectic in taste.

We finally received a credit letter from Samsung, so after over 2 months of no working fridge (which I could rant about for hours, but TBH I’m all ranted out now) we finally went and ordered a new replacement fridge from Currys - unsurprisingly it was not a Samsung.

The wonderful bonus was that the fridge we chose was cheaper than our original fridge so we had money left over (the credit note had to be spent at Currys) to buy a breadmaker and a fryer - plus, because there was nothing else we could think of that was needed, the completely frivolous surround sound system that Rik has asked for every time we’ve gone near an electrical goods shop and I have repeatedly told him we would not buy because why should we spend money we don’t have on something we don’t really need. As there really was nothing else we could think of to buy in there I finally conceded that yes, he could use the remaining money to buy one - and we still had money left over!

The sound system is still completely frivolous as I usually watch a grand total of 3 programmes a week: Lost, Tales from the Green Valley and Scrubs, plus the occasional Horizon or Dispatches etc. We do not have the TV on before 6pm in the week (unless dh is home and then we do have a TV elsewhere which he can watch) and sometimes not at all. TBH it is only Rik who watches much TV, even the boys aren’t particularly bothered, R. is usually busy elsewhere (although he does like history programmes and dramas like Sharpe or Hornblower - he has a developing *thing* about the Napoleonic Wars) and Erk likes Malcolm in the Middle and that’s about it. Rik watches football, cricket, golf and snooker (depending on what’s on) and the occasional programme on history too, so generally the only thing that is ever on is sport of some description (makes me wonder why we pay a license fee really).

Still, we do like to watch the odd film and the sound from the thing is stunning, so I suppose it’s as close to the cinema as we can get (bearing in mind that we can’t take Nin and R. will sit there holding his ears, knees pulled up under his chin :0(

The fridge should be delivered on Wednesday, so really looking forward to that (and being able to get a delivery from the supermarket - as I’m not supposed to be pushing trolleys around or anything like that, but I couldn’t justify the delivery charge for only a few things from there as I couldn’t order other items due to non-working fridge, so I will be able to keep the physio happy too).

So here’s hoping there aren’t any further snags as I won’t completely rest until the fridge is safely ensconced in the kitchen and the big ole’ broken one has been taken away.

…..is singing to Maggie May, loudly.

On the plus side I think I know how to integrate my other web pages so I can get rid of the frame on the MP list and just stick to this basic blog (with added pages).

These were posted on a forum I’m a member of (Waldorf_Craft) and I thought that some might really enjoy them:

Felted Apple

Knitted Gingerbread Man

Knitted Pumpkin

Knitted Meringue Pie

Knitted Strawberry

Misc. Knitted Baby Fruit & Veggie rattles

Various crochet patterns for food

Just in case any of you were stuck for stocking fillers…….

Now I must learn to crochet……

Classroom role-playing limited
Young children are missing out on imaginative games in school because of the demands of the curriculum, a study suggests. Playing pirates, princesses or mums and dads can be very good for a child’s development, says Dr Sue Rogers of the University of Plymouth.

But she found the set-up and demands of the classroom mean opportunities for such role-play are limited.

The government insists young children in school are learning through play.

Dr Rogers studied 144 four and five year olds in three areas of south-west England in a year-long study funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

She watched children in reception classes doing role-play games and canvassed them on what they liked to do. Dr Rogers found that the classes were not always designed to meet their needs.

“‘Children of this age learn to make friends as well as to use their imagination through role play,” she said. “We know that they are capable of sustained and complex imaginative play and that capturing and engaging their interest is essential. Unfortunately, pressures on time and space, as well as the need to teach literacy, means that playing at shops, pirates and hospitals is difficult to fit into the timetable.”

She said children were often frustrated to be called away from a game with their friends to do more structured school lessons. Boys might find their games are seen as too boisterous for the classroom setting.

The children’s games tended to follow gender patterns, she said, with girls often opting for a nurturing-based game such as mum and baby, while boys were more interested in being action heroes, despite teachers’ efforts to ‘de-gender’ role play.

Her report says role play is valued highly by both children and adults and that it can make “a significant contribution” to learning and development.

“However, the intervention of certain pedagogical factors often prevents children from realising its potential.”

It suggests there is a need for more outdoor play spaces so that children could have more choice over materials, locations and playmates.

This could encourage girls to take a more active role in building activities and allow boys’ play to develop without disrupting people around them.

A spokesman for the Department for Education said: “It’s completely wrong to suggest that children are missing out due to the national curriculum. On the contrary, the foundation stage for three to five year olds is all about learning through play with enjoyment and challenge - enabling children to develop the key skills needed for all future learning.”

Margaret Morrissey, from the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations, said many parents were concerned about a lack of play in school.

“We would like to see less emphasis on keeping small children focused on classroom working,” she said.

“We know as parents that young children learn at their best when they are learning through play. We are putting too much emphasis as a nation on formal learning for very small children.”

Link to article (and video clip)

******

Well ’spokesperson for the Dept. Ed’, I beg to differ…

Suffice to say - let them play, in your heart you know it makes sense!

It appears that making comments on the last blog was a little difficult - so I’m trying blogsome to see if that makes any difference……