Ms R asked about The War today, to which I took to mean the second world war, so before we’d even got dressed this morning we spent half an hour sprawled across the bed reading the relevant chapter from a CPG book. I was quite pleased to get a chance to use the book as I’d been questioning my sanity on the purchase, and of course very pleased that when she asked the question I had a book to wave at her. It seemed to cover the few points that I remember learning about; the blackout, evacuees, rationing, the blitz and the fact that many women had to go to work for the first time. Ms R was very indignant about women earning less money than men but was reassured when I explained that it wasn’t so much the case now.
A couple of days ago we collected a small fish tank from a Freecycler and have made a sort of eco-system in it to demonstrate the water-cycle. We filled a lunchbox with water in the tank, some soil borrowed from Nanny, a couple of small plants from B&Q and some seeds of cress and grass. It is in direct sunlight and during the course of the morning the water collects on the clingfilm top, forming larger and larger drops until they rain down again. The cress has shot up and looks ready to cut already, no signs of grass or flowers yet though. This has inspired some interesting conversations and while Ms R is more interested in the rate of growth of the cress Master R took more time in trying to understand the whole process.
Both of the Rs have been swimming in Nannys swimming pool. Master R is out of his depth but is very confident in his swim jacket, Ms R can touch the bottom. I’m hoping that she’ll be able to have some more swimming lessons during the summer.