Living 2008

Ms R requested a day at home to play today.

We tried on various summer wear in preparation for our holiday in a couple of weeks and now have a list of things we need.

Ms R played My Little Pony tv games for a while and then they played with the train track together. They played outside briefly with footballs. Upstairs they played dog racing on the double sided chalk board easel and Ms R ‘read’ a favourite book to Master R.

We made mini doughnuts with another Christmas present and talked about the ingredients, how and why they changed and about not being able to change them back again comparing it to water and ice as an example of something that could be changed back. Meanwhile they ate loads and got covered in sugar. Eventually I got bored with pouring tiny amounts of batter into the machine and stuck the rest in the frying pan to make a huge chocolate chip pancake type of cake which is really nice cold.

By lunch time Master R and I were needing to leave the house so decided on a trip to a shoe shop looking for summer shoes. There were no summer shoes but plenty of wellies, duh! We found a book shop full of beautiful books, we filled it with delighted exclamations as the children fingered new books and recognised favourites. The shop was small and empty except for the sales lady and one other customer. Having explained to the Rs quietly that we didn’t really have spare money to buy books but then agreeing to buy Master R a sale book, Ms R then kept asking if this book or that book was cheap enough to buy. As if that wasn’t embarrasing enough at the point that an unsavoury odour wafted past Master R said in his clearest and loudest voice "Aw Mummy, your bottom really does smell". It wasn’t me, no really, it wasn’t! Anyway Ms R came away with the first ‘Secret Seven’ book by Enid Blyton.

Master R requested a trip to the park but as it was after school time I suggested a bounce on Mums trampoline and they liked that idea. We stopped to buy daffodils and purple crocuses (or tulips) to leave in a vase for Mum and we bounced happily together for half an hour as the sun went down and turned the sky pink.

I cooked bolognaise and Ms R cooked spaghetti for dinner and after Daddy and Master R bathed Ms R and I bathed together trying out different bubbles and bath accessories.

In bed I read Master Rs new Thomas book, I don’t find them easy to read and they don’t seem to make much sense to me the first few times but he liked it. I expect after a couple of weeks I’ll get it. Then I read the first few chapters of Secret Seven to Ms R deciding that as the chapters in Mr. Twiddle were more like individual short stories rather than a continuation then it wouldn’t be a serious crime to not finish that one first.  

We had our usual visit to my grandparents to consume biscuits and coffee and exchange pleasantries.

On the way home we stopped at the penny sweet shop for our weekly lesson in money and shopping. Both the Rs had ten pence each and quickly spent it on sweets.

In the car on the way home Ms R told me the phonetic letter sounds for the word ‘bag’, I asked her if she could tell me the proper names of those letters and after a bit of thought she did. She still translates letters into sounds and lower case into upper case so she knows both but is only confident to use one. When I lived overseas often people would talk to each other but both in their own language, in fact often the grooms would speak to me in Zulu and I’d always answer them in English.

After lunch we visited my parents and while Ms R played with train track Master R and I sat and watched/stroked/played with the kitten. The Rs spent about half an hour playing and bouncing on the trampoline with my Mum.

This morning I put a couple of strands of beads in Ms Rs hair, they came as part of a Christmas present. Master R had a short strand too but as predicted it didn’t stay in long. Ms R was relaying to uncle how my Dad would ask why he had beads because he thinks boys shouldn’t have beads and make-up and stuff and even though Master R didn’t seem to be taking much notice when we saw my Dad he commented on Ms Rs beads and Master R asked me to take his out.

We made lunch to take out and at the very last minute the Rs changed their minds about home ed group and opted instead to visit a lake. Ms R purchased us three bags of duck feed and we spent about an hour feeding swans, ducks and various other birds. Master R got through his bag of feed quite quickly so I shared the other bag out between them. Ms R spotted a large fish and we saw three all together. Ms R kindly shared out the last of her duck feed with Master R.

We ate our lunch in the car and talked a little bit about all the photos I’d taken. Ms R has been showing a little bit of interest in photography since getting a kids camera so we went directly to buy printer inks for the printer that Mum gave us last year and hasn’t been used yet (Geez, aren’t inks expensive?), small photo paper and £1 albums.

Once home we set up the printer and Ms R chose and printed some photos, once shown she could do it herself and spent ages at it. She seemed to choose mostly photos of Master R to put in her album. Together we chose a couple of photos to put in Master Rs but he didn’t have the same level of interest.

Ms R and I played with the kids knex for a bit, she’s really good at making things from the pictures. They are just pictures for ideas rather than step-by-step instructions and she was telling me which bits she needed and I was passing them to her while Master R stuck geomags to one of the storage heaters.

We had a lovely roast dinner and I talked to uncle for a bit, he’s now nearing the end of his university course and is looking at jobs to apply for. I find it really interesting and inspirational to see someone who didn’t even manage to finish school gain a medical degree. Further proof that degrees are a) available to those without traditional qualifications and b) passable without ’relevant’ A’levels. 

Today was a short day for me.

The Rs both woke before six excited about Cousin Cs birthday party and the possible arrival of an uncle to stay.

I went to bed and was woken by Ms R informing me they were about to leave for the party and asking if she looked okay which was followed by the arrival of said uncle so I got myself up and dressed and took them to the party myself.

It was a great party held in a hall with a large bouncy castle. It was interesting to see that Ms R towered about the children she would have been in class with had she gone, I never think of her as particularly big. The boys got quite rough with each other by the end of the afternoon randomly pushing each other over. Cousin C is the first baby I ever cuddled so it was nice to celebrate his birthday with him. We missed last years thanks to chicken pox.

Apparently Nana asked if Cousin C would like to grow his hair long and curly like Master Rs and he said yes . Little chance though, the children all looked really fashionable, like mini men in a nightclub with short styled hair, shaped shirts and designer jeans. Almost seems a shame. Three out of the twelve boys invited from his class couldn’t come as it was their Dads weekend to have them.

Once home the Rs recieved presents from uncle. Ms R got a Just Married Barbie and husband in a car (groan) and says she likes it so much she wants the whole Barbie set. Mmmm.

Uncle showed us some instruments he’d made out of wood. Ms R danced to the sounds and Master R just watched mesmerised. Daddy had a go too. They both had a go with his harmonica. We have various blowy things (recorders etc) but all are well hidden away as Ms R never got past just blowing as hard and loud as she could. Master R got the hand of blowing softly and actually trying to make music. He’s a very interesting combination, liking to play football and kill monsters one minute and trying to make music and do fairy twirls (looks like real ballet!) the next.

We finished the day to Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson (author of The Gruffalo). We’ve read it every day since borrowing it from the library and Master R is word perfect (I leave the rhyming words off and he says them). I like it even more than The Gruffalo. And of course, another chapter of Mr Twiddle.

We made birthday cards for Cousin C and Ms R wrote in hers, she’s able to write small enough that it fits but only if I mention it first. 

Ms R made things out of lolly sticks and sweet wrappers while I tidied the lounge and read through two Jolly Phonics board books (we only have two because she never showed much interest before) while I put clean washing away. Both the R’s played with playdoh while I cleaned the kitchen, spent ages playing in the bath together while I tidied their bedrooms, ran around like loonies while I hoovered, watched Tom & Jerry while I made dinner and played with cars and dolls while I hung more washing up.

Ms R can finally keep herself busy although it is always in the same room that I’m in. I think it is the most housework I have done in one go since she was born. Hurrah for a tidy home!

I’m sure there were other things we did as well but I can’t remember now, I remember sitting down to have lunch together and having to fight the urge to switch the computer on.

For some reason we were all exhausted by bedtime.

We had an early morning visit from my sister-in-law, well, early for us in that we were all in a state of dress ranging from pyjamed to naked. It probably felt like mid-morning for her as she was on her way back from the school run. She gave us a party invitation and then we chased her away to get ready for our day out.

We would have been early ourselves had we not just carried on driving instead of turning off and going twice as far again. We got there in the end though and managed to have discussions on a couple of landmarks which we’d not have seen if we’d gone direct. With three out of the four children being girls who don’t like dinosaurs even Master R doubted his bravado despite his usual random phrases of "I’m not afraid of anything", all four children were itching to hit hysteria at every hint of dinosaur which meant the ‘educational’ part of our visit was over very quickly. Playtime was good though with the children running off to play together. It was a really great day out and on the way home we resolved to try and go somewhere every week.

When we got home we investigated a noise round by the garages and found a man with a pretty big remote control vehicle. He saw us watching, offered us a look and explained how he raced remote control cars and also repaired them. I think he’d have been happy to talk to us for ages about them but with my total lack of interest, knowledge and warm coat we thanked him and moved on.

We are reading a Mr. Twiddle book by Enid Blyton at the moment which Ms. R is really enjoying. It’s predictable enough that she knows whats coming and it makes her giggle and sigh. It’s a little bit irritating that she keeps pointing out words that she recognises and asking me why they are there, what the rest of the sentence says and whereabouts I am although at the same time very reassuring that she has a natural interest and seems to be progressing towards reading without any real effort from me.  

We saw Mum and Nana in the morning for about an hour and shopped in the afternoon.

Ms R did some jigsaw puzzles and then wanted help to do some of an activity book. It had a phonics and reading theme and seemed to be about three letter words which had the same middle letter. There was a wordsearch that she managed to do with me just pointing out the obvious like "You need to find the N first and then see if there’s an A next to it". There were also some anagrams with the words written properly at the top and she did those with similar help.

I got up at five thirty to find Ms R making a puppet show out of a £1 craft set we got yesterday.

We had a quick trip to the post-office and a visit to my grandparents.

We played in a park and Ms R took Baby Annabell on the slide and swings. A same sized boy as Master R blocked his path and looked menacingly at him but between us we asked him politely (and loudly so that his Mum might take notice) to move and he did.

Ms R phoned my Dad (she loves the phone!) to find that he was at home but needed milk so we pulled up right outside the shop and Ms R ran in to buy the milk all by herself.

We had lunch at Dads and played with the kitten which both children were a bit skittish about and stayed to see Mum. Ms R was (unsurprisingly) tired so we all had an early night.

For some reason Ms R didn’t want to go to home ed group today, I’m not sure why because she’s usually really excited about it but I wasn’t too upset given that it is a long drive and takes up enough of the day that we don’t get to do anything else. So instead we attempted to make play-doh. We had to improvise on the oil and for a while it looked like it was a non-starter but after abandoning the original recipe and just adding various ingredients in varying quantities it eventually turned into the most wonderful play-doh ever. Warm, smooth and just the right consistency, and even the overpowering smell of the washing-up liquid subsided after a bit of playing with. They both played with it for quite a long time in their pyjamas, Master R lost interest first but Ms R carried on and made a story out of some animal and Christmas tree shapes.

We made a shopping list for the butcher which Ms R wrote out. She really enjoys writing lists and kept asking what else we could buy but we’d run out of ideas. Her letter ’s’ seem to have turned around so I showed her how I write 2, 5 and s.

Master R got really upset about throwing the dead flowers away and after lots of crying we retrieved them from the bin and put them down the end of the garden ‘to keep’.

Our next aim for the day was to buy some penny sweets with copper. I furnished them both with ten pence and we went along to the post-office. They bounded up to the shop assistant asking for a bowl to put their sweets and then began. Master R chose the biggest 2p sweets, filled his bowl and had paid before Ms R had barely started. She took her time in choosing ten penny sweets and then we were off on our way with Master R scoffing his quick and Ms R still talking about when, where and how she was going to eat them.

We popped in to see Mum who’d hadn’t had an easy morning. Master R wanted to stroke the kitten but it just wanted to play so kept grabbing his hand. He was a bit spooked by it and kept running away when it did its funny pouncy things. Ms R got the hang of kitten play though and spent ages dragging around a fluffy thing on a string for it to grab at. We saw my brother who told us Cousin F had got his place in school to start September coming and went on to ask if Ms R will be starting as well as we’d said we might start her in Year 1 (seemed like a good thing to say eighteen months ago). I told him not at this stage and she started bouncing around me saying she never wanted to go to school ever and he said that it was good to wait a bit as he’d been a child who had cried every day for months going in, then he got a phone call so no more was said. I always want to list my reasons and justify our reasons whenever family ask but it is probably far better to say less.

From there we went shopping. The shop was quiet so Ms R took Baby Annabell in the pushchair. Between the children they did the majority of the shopping, I tend to say lets have a look at veg and before I know it Master R has filled the trolley with his favourite vegetables and fruit and then we potter down the cold section and Ms R grabs milk and sandwich ham and other stuff. As we got to the checkouts Ms R said she might need the toilet and then before I knew it she ran off yelling over her shoulder that she needed a wee and she’d be back in a minute. It’s a bit scary when she goes out of sight but with the security guards, cctv, double set of slow to open double doors and her lightening fast, talk to no-one speed I am confident that she is neither going to get abducted or led astray.

The day ended with Noddy stories again.

Sundays have taken a little turn in direction since we’ve discovered that Daddy has more stamina in the parenting department if he has a lie-in. So I do the early morning shift which today sarted at ten past six. Both children had cuddles, porridge and various other requests met until I could stay awake no longer and went to bed passing the baton on.

While I slept they all went to an indoor play area with Cousins C and F. Apparently it was wonderful and they all had great fun. Master R fell asleep on the way home which somewhat disturbs the only evening I’m not either asleep or incoherent with tiredness. Ms R seemed a bit restless, a sort of ants-in-her-pants jiggleness which I attributed to a certain type of drink refreshment that my brother buys the children. I ranted a bit about that and said I’d rather they avoided them at all costs as certain ingredients in them have been linked to everything from childhood leukemia to behavioural problems. Am I wrong to feel exasperated that my brother is still regularly feeding them to his children despite one being up for diagnosis for behavioural issues?

When they came home Ms R woke me up to give me a Christmas card that she made for me complete with picture of decorated tree, us with presents and ‘Happy Christmas’ still talking about it and expressing gratitude. We chatted for a bit and she relayed the events of the outing in great detail.

Ms R was looking a tad spotty on the back of her neck and shoulders and apparently when she was hot from running around her tummy was very blotchy too so both children had an oily bath and Ms R was afterwards smothered in lashings of cream.

When in bed she told me that she still had a bit of water in her ear and when she laid on that side it made a clicking sound. In order not to be out done Master R told me that when he touched his tummy it felt like it was full of eggs, chickpeas and spiders. After a little more thought on this he asked what was really inside his tummy, as we were half way through a story he got a very brief answer.

Thank-you for the comments!

I was starting to feel totally ignored when I realised there was a whole load of comments waiting to be moderated . Thanks everyone.

Saturdays are usually quiet days and today was no different. I got up late so there was plenty of bed talk, in fact Master R even got back into bed with me and went back to sleep.

After lunch we visited Mum again and watched the kitten. It is cute and very small but also very brave. It seems to be fearless of the dog and oblivious to the children so all being well it will grow into a cat that we see lots of.

There was no milk for coffee so I offered to walk down to the shops and Ms R opted to come with me, we held hands and skipped all the way and it reminded us how much a two year old slows us down sometimes.

I still seem to be not shouting so much.

Next week Ms R would like;

for us to visit the shop where she can buy penny sweets

for us to go for a walk so she can bring Baby Annabell in the pushchair

for me to make playdoh for her to play with. 

I am planning to make our flickr account a bit more private so if anyone wants to be able to see our photos they’ll need to be a ‘friend’.

Today was my Mums birthday. She phoned us so that we could wish her a happy birthday and then told us that she’d got a kitten. The kitten thing has been flitting between maybes and definately nots for ages.

We wrapped presents, signed cards, packed spare clothes and went to Mums to find SIL and Cousin F there already. We gave our present and the cards that we’d made and admired the kitten before heading off for Nanas where SIL provided a cake and candles and we all sung Happy Birthday and ate chocolate cake. It felt odd that Cousin C couldn’t be there as well (he was at school) but he got chance to be there after school.

After a quick snack and change of top for Master R we got a lift to another birthday party, this time for a boy turning five. There was lots of playing between lots of children and lots of chatter between the adults. Both the R’s had their face painted and it was interesting to watch Master R talking to some of the other children. Ms R was happy to see a special friend. There was party food that was both healthy and yummy.

It was dark by the time we got home and Ms R was sad that she’d lost a pencil from her party bag.

Thursday morning we visited a friend and her two year old daughter. This made Master R feel important to be visiting a friend ‘for him’ rather than one who was as big as or bigger than Ms R. He said in a pleased voice "She’s a very little child like me, is she" and when I agreed he said in an indignant voice "But I’m not little, I’m a big boy am I".

Ms R regressed two years and did lots of crawling around the floor making lots of noise which encouraged Master R to do the same. I didn’t leave there with the feeling that my children had been a good advertisement for home educating but luckily I think their decision has already been made.

We raced into a shop to buy their requested fillings for lunch. Master R as usual took charge of the points card and Ms R took charge of paying and recieving the change. We stopped off at home just brief enough to make lunch which we then ate in the car on the way to visit another friend and her two year old son. Having had a lecture in the car our behaviour was more appropriate although there was an uncomfortable few minutes where we got to witness first hand the realities of naughty steps. Master R enjoyed playing with another two year old boy and our friend very kindly gave Ms R some activity books (the education, curriculumy sort) from America.

Then we raced off again to fetch my Mum from work. At her house Ms R started on one of the activity books, filling in the missing letters of the alphabet and the first letter of words matching the picture. She wanted me or Mum to help her but I refused for a number of reasons. Firstly because when I visit Mum I want to talk to her, not do lessons. If I’m going to do one-to-one then we may as well be at home. Also, if I do help Ms R with that sort of thing in front of my Mum I can’t help but turn it into some sort of showing off session and instead of just helping I start doing the whole "What do you think it is?" type of thing, trying to make her do it in the correct order and willing her to get answers right etc. When Ms R chooses to do activity books at home (she goes through phases) she either does what she can and then comes to me with any left over bits that she wants us to do together, or she sits next to me doing it and I just help when she indicates she wants me to. We both agreed that she was clever but while I was thinking that she was being a good example of autonomy Mum was thinking I should be cultivating her interest in writing/reading. I guess the lines between doing nothing, autonomy and child-led are very blurry and hard to define.

Wednesday we house/child sat for friends. This involves us getting up, fed, dressed and out of the house by eight thirty and every single time I marvel at how the majority of families manage this on a day to day basis, they deserve a medal or gold star or something. We had time for everything except teeth brushing which we did once there.

Ms R did lots of writing peoples names on pieces of paper and hiding them for said people to find, her and her accomplice showed each other how they write their names and names of their family members.

Master R and I cuddled and chatted lots.

In the afternoon we saw my Dad. Master R wanted a second packet of crisps without finishing his first packet (having not realised there were those ones in the cupboard). He puts on the cutest, politest little voice full of pleases and negotiations when he wants something, then begs pitifully while declaring love and stroking me before resorting to authoritive shouty "Well I am going to anyway!" behaviour. He stomped off and got the said crisps which he cluctched protectively while I put his boots on him and then when I asked them both to put them back in the cupboard (my Dad had given Ms R a second packet thinking that I’d lost that battle) my Dad offered to hide them in a safe place for next time and Master R willingly gave them up. I’m really trying to solve disagreements without shouting and was very proud of myself. It seems that calmly repeating myself over and over works although I’m aware that there is a fine line between that and nagging, really don’t want to be remembered as a nagger.

We shopped and found some moist wipe things in the bathroomy aisle that I suggested to Ms R might help her be a little more independant in a certain area, and much to her delight they have although her pretty detailed narrative of it all makes me feel like I haven’t moved very far from the situation. I’m not sure if that mirror in the bathroom is a good thing or not.

I read stories downstairs again but Ms R is finding it too tempting to wander off and do something else instead. I accepted this for a bit after a discussion on a certain list about some children needing to move around while listening to stories. When her lips started to move I stopped reading and listened. She was saying ‘hand’ over and over again, fast and then slowly and then she was dissecting it so it went a bit like this; "Hand, h-and, haannd, h-a-nd, hand, h-an-d, h-a-n-d, hand" and then she realised I’d stopped reading and asked me to start again. I’m not sure if she was just separating out loud the sounds in the word or if in her mind she could see the letters that made the word. It’s irrevelant I guess but interesting and very reassuring from my stance.

The rain and winds continued.

We left late for my grandparents as both children decided to share Colins bath but that was probably a good thing. I think that when the weather is bad and the children are excitable then an hour is possibly too long for my grandparents. We’ve been going weekly for over a year now and I’m really pleased at how comfortable my children are there, happy to kiss greetings and farewell and able to chatter to them about what they’ve been doing. Occasionally age shows in my grandad, I’m not sure how long people live for after they start being old. He’s in his eighties.

We popped by to find Mum home so stayed there for most of the afternoon. Master R ate fruit (apricots, apples and oranges) and they both had a flat egg for lunch. Ms R wrote us all a To our names From her with lots of kisses, she doesn’t need help with any of our names anymore but still asks for help writing From. She also played with Baby Annabell. Master R did some general running and jumping around and a bit of scribbling. We played ball together for quite a while, his ball skills are amazing. He can catch the ball when I throw it to him and when he bounces it on the ground, he also seems to have a good aim when kicking it and just gets so much pleasure and laughter to see where it will go next. They both watched a bit of tv and Ms R played on the computer a bit with me dictating what letters she needed to type into google to find relevant sites.

We stopped off at the library to return old books and find new ones. I couldn’t find anything that really took my fancy. Ms R chose a book about a rescue centre and puppies which seems to be part of a series but on reading the first chapter reveals that the main (human) character is twelve so might be a bit old for us. She also chose a big book that seems to be a compilations of chapters from various fairy tales which meant we read one chapter of ‘The Snow Queen’ and one chapter of ‘Peter Pan’ none of which really made sense. Master R chose a storybook which we may have had before about a witch. The problem I’m finding with the toddler/young childrens story books is that alot of them seem to be about or aimed at other cultures and while I think it is great that our local library can offer a diverse range of books to suit every religion or culture we actually live in a predominantly British town. I know we do, most of the kids I went to school with still live here and are now grandparents. I don’t have an issue with books about or aimed at other cultures except that I don’t find them very easy to read and often don’t understand the story. As horrifying and possibly rascist it might seem to some I’d rather read a story about a fairy who is worried about her first day at school than a man who creeps through villages talking to worms. Master R also chose an older childrens book which I read the first couple of chapters of and might finish on my own before bed, it didn’t engage either of them so that one too was probably too old but I can’t wait to find out what happens next. It’s called The Butterfly Lion by Michael Morpurgo.

Mum gave us a cauliflower that she was otherwise going to throw out and on the way home we stopped off to buy chips so we had cauliflower cheese and chips for dinner (Colin was working late hence the cheap, cheesy and meatless meal).

I read stories downstairs tonight knowing that I wouldn’t fall asleep reading on the sofa. Master R curled up and closed his eyes after his story so I carried him up and put him to bed. Ms R was a bit more resistant but eventually managed to fall asleep in her own bed with the help of Baby Annabell and with me popping up to her for a cuddle every couple of minutes. I’ve heard footsteps since though so suspect she is already in my bed.

The Rs slept mostly in their own beds last nights. Both appeared sleepily at some point before midnight needing to be directed back and snuggled up and Ms R joined us in our bed at some point so I carried her back. She’s asked for a Baby Annabell canopy which is currently residing unbeknown to her in the boot of the car, I don’t like using bribery as such but I have discussed with her the possibility of having nice things for her bedroom (such as a Baby Annabell canopy) once she starts actually sleeping in there. This morning when she woke up she woke Master R up and they both came to tell me in very proud (and loud) voices how they slept in their own beds before going downstairs for breakfast and Cbeebies. Ms R told me she’d dreamt that we were out shopping with the whole family for Christmas when we saw red daleks, we weren’t scared because they looked like they were inflatable or something but they were moving around and were friendly. Master R got the wooden puzzles out and Ms R made me a card with ‘zero, one, two, three, four’ written on the inside copied from the puzzle board that just happened to be next to her at the time. It’s the first time she’s been interested in copying things, usually she likes me to call out the letters. Her letters are starting to be similar sized and are quite box like.

We had high winds and heavy rains but that didn’t deter us from heading East to home ed group. We’d barely left when Master R listed the friends he knows who are in possesion of a Dr Who sonic screwdriver. That in itself was fine (bearing in mind we’ve never actually seen Dr Who) but then he went on to say that Ms R doesn’t have one because (drum roll please) "…she’s a girl" . Erm no, she doesn’t have one because she doesn’t want one,

"But she plays with girls toys because she’s a girl and I don’t because I’m a boy"

What? Where’s he getting this stuff from? I asked him what things are ‘girls toys’ and he said

"Babies and stuff like that" but didn’t know who said they were for girls or why they were girls toys, he just knew they were . So we talked to them about that for a bit but I’m sure they were just thinking that I didn’t have a clue what I was talking about, I told them my brother used to play with dolls with me which had them asking why in surprised and disbelieving tones. A little later he asked me if he’d be a lady after he’s been a man, he’s asked me a few times when he’ll be a lady. I’m surprised the whole boy/girl, man/lady stuff is coming up at this age but it seems important to him at the moment.

We all did some lego and then they did some drawing. Master R did a quick scribble on the corner of a large piece of paper, asked me to fold it in half for him and then gave it to me as a card. While Master R and I started on lunch Ms R spent ages doing a chalk picture, folding it in half to make a card and writing ‘To Mummy’ on it. She declined several invitations to make pasta necklaces and one to make scones and then wished all the way home that she’d made a necklace, I wished she’d made scones. She was a bit lost without her usual friends although spent some time pushing a little boy on the ride-on, lounging on the chairs in the sports hall watching with interest the behaviour of the older boys and playing ball with another boy. Master R spent our time eating and chatting. By the time we came out the rains had gone and the sky was blue.

Once home they settled into some train track playing with Colin and then I helped them both make birthday cards for my Mum. Together Ms R and I made a 3d butterfly card with some of the printed card she got for Christmas. I told her she’d have to write smaller to fit all the words on and she did, her writing looked less all over the place smaller and it meant that the second half of words didn’t have to go underneath the first half. Every so often I feel like I should be ‘doing’ something with regards to her writing, a little bit of that ‘catch it [interest in writing] quick before it passes’ attitude but then I remember that I’ve decided not to think about formal education until she’s seven so shove that worrying thought and all it’s implications (what sort of ‘doing’ would I/should I do?) out again. Master R stuck Ms Rs left over bits of card haphazardly onto a bit of paper.

Colin again cooked us a nice dinner. Beef which turned out to be lamb. Master R didn’t think he could wait any longer for dinner (it had been at least half an hour since he’d finished that carrot) and had an angry moment where he stomped around hitting things (like the wall and the sofa) and grabbing at things with the intention of throwing them. He managed not to throw anything and quickly picked up the one item that he had dropped when I intervened with a loud ‘Oi!’ It slightly concerns me that his anger gets so big that it displays itself violently and aggressively but I’m reassured that he knows he shouldn’t be behaving like that and modifies it so that it’s not as bad as it could be, ie he’s not completely out of control, just very physically expressing himself. I like to think that if I can help him to deal with his feelings at this age as opposed to passing them off as ‘being two’ or ‘being a boy’ then it’ll help when he’s a teenager and he’ll manage not to do those daft teenager boy things like breaking windows, punching walls and graffitiing that they all do around here.

We finished ‘The Faraway Tree’ by Enid Blyton the other day so had short stories again. Ms R chose a Noddy book which was mine and has an inscription on the inside cover ‘To Sylvia from Grandma 1955′. By the way, I’m not Sylvia and it wasn’t given to me in 1955! I wonder who she was and if she realises that something that was new and treasured by her is still bringing joy to young children today. It’s not bringing a lot of joy to me though, much as I like Noddy I’m not great at reading a longer book more than once so with the incentive of not having to finish it we’ll be at the library tomorrow.

I waited up for the Rs this morning and both woke early. Master R before six for cuddles and looking at flickr pictures and Ms R before seven for breakfast and Cbeebies. They got the puzzles out again which are proving popular but will probably make a fairly rapid return to the kitchen cupboard as the games have progressed from doing the puzzles and then putting them away to emptying them out and kicking the pieces around the floor. They played together taking it in turns to be a baby needing rescueing and they ate plenty (cereal, bananas, apples and hot cross buns). Ms R spent a bit of time sitting with me while I was on the computer. She’s started recognising and pointing out odd words and asking why it says that word there which has led to us talking about search boxes and blogs.

Colin got up at about ten and I went to bed.

Apparently they went to the dog races where they cheered the dogs and ate chips and then onto shopping where they chose strawberries and grapes (instead of sweets) and remembered to buy all the things I forgot the other day. Apparently Ms R took command of the shopping trip darting back and forth fetching everything we needed while Colin and Master R dashed around trying to keep up with her. She likes being in charge sometimes.

They came home, I got up and Colin cooked us all a lovely dinner (ham and leeks in cheese sauce). Ms R did some colouring in of stickers and then sticking them to a folded piece of paper to make a card and writing ‘To Mummy’ in it with loads of kisses. Master R did lots of snuggling in my lap stroking my face and saying "My Mummy. I love you, my Mummy" and hugging me tightly.

By bedtime tiredness had caught them up, Master R played in the shower and then we had three quick stories before they both fell asleep in my arms.

As a child I nearly always got a new diary for Christmas and I used to look forward to the new year just so I could start writing in it. On New Years Eve I’d carefully fill in the bits that I could, like birthdays and personal info in my neatest handwriting and then at the end of the first day of the year just before I went to sleep I’d log the events of the day before slipping it under my pillow or down the side of my bed. Some years I’d have a special pen and use the same one until it ran out, other years I’d carefully colour co-ordinate the days of the week or have a different pen every month. There was something special about writing a diary back then, it seemed to give a meaning to everyday and I’d try to live every situation, remembering every little detail and feeling so that I had something interesting to write about. There were months at a time where the focus would centre around one person or one passion and I’d rate the days according to how good or bad they were. Seeing the pages fill up gave me a satisfying feeling of achievement and also a grip on where my time had been spent, never could a week pass me by without me wondering where it went, it was all there on paper.

I don’t keep a diary anymore. It stopped around the time I was fifteen when I felt my thoughts and actions needed to be a bit more private, but I did start a blog back in the summer of 2006 after our first attendance at a home ed camp and this year I decided I wanted a new blog for a new year to recreate that fresh feeling of new beginnings that I used to get when starting a new diary.

This blog will be mainly about our days from a home educating perspective. The stars will be Ms R who is four and Master R who is two. Our aim for this year, our resolution if you like, is simple. To live.