Twenty-Ten

Saturday we shopped in the morning and visted Nana in the afternoon to show her the holiday photos. The Rs made rice krispie cakes with very little help from me, Ms R had been asking for ages so I told her when out shopping to get what she needed for them and she did.

Sunday we all went out with my brother and the cousins. It was great to see all four children running around playing together and nice to have reached the stage where we can have a day out without tears from anybody. I’ve yet to see Cousin Cs behavioural problems, it seems they’re mostly triggered by stuff that happens at school but despite this he is still doing well and was only the fifth child in his class to recieve a certificate for knowing the alphabet.

On the way home we stopped off and picked up a freecycle gift. A bike with a childseat on the back. By the time we got it home I was already feeling guilty about it and was sure I wouldn’t be able to use it but after a little practice today round by the garages I’ve fallen in love with it. The childseat is big enough for Ms R so I tried with her first and was surprised how easy it was, I expected it to be hard with extra weight on the back. Master R cried when it was his turn, said he was really frightened but by the time I’d strapped him in he was smiling and he enjoyed the ride too. Our journey speed will be dictated by Ms Rs peddle power and I quickly realised that what seems fast when I’m running along behind is actually very slow when I’m on a bike with huge wheels. She already looks too big for her bike which was on the large side when we got it last summer. I’ve spoken to her about taking the stabilisers off as we’ve seen same aged friends ride without them but she’s not sure yet.

Today we met with someone I knew from school. She has a daughter in school who was having an inset day and all three children went off to play really nicely while we had a catch up. Interestingly about half way through the visit after she’d mentioned a bullying incident she asked how I thought Ms R would cope with bullies when she did eventually go. I always find peoples very first question on the subject interesting. As we’d both been in a similar position at school, both felt that we were heaps more confident as adults and both blamed our previous lack of confidence on being in school then it was easy to agree that maybe starting later as a self assured, self respecting child would be easier than having started when she was shy and easily intimidated.