See the sea swash

Thursday 26th July

Bean writes his first word

Paddling in the sea

Building a castle with a moat and filling it with water

Building a bed (first attempt made on Tuesday)

Playing diggers

A planned day at home turned out to be an unexpected second day trip to the beach in one week. This time we went to Littlehampton. It was quieter and felt cooler today than our trip on Tuesday. We went with SGS and SGG and their grandson. I went into the sea with the boys much deeper than we have ever been previously and I even had a very brief swim. We played diggers and made sand castles and dug ourselves a bed, we buried each other, moved camp to avoid the rapidly incoming tide, we jumped through waves and sat down in the sea, and Bean wrote his first word (other than his name) in the sand...'pop'. I'll be honest, as he wrote it, I was slightly worried his first written word was going to be 'poo.' Very glad it wasn't. 


Bean was amazing this morning. There's nothing like the excitement of a beach trip to encourage some helpfulness. All of his own accord he offered to help pack for the beach and he did it very well. I was amazed at how much easier it was with his help.


All three smalls fell asleep on the way home at 4.45pm. Bean stayed asleep on the sofa until 7pm when daddy came home and carried him up to bed. At this point Pumpkin woke up. We've eaten dinner, played on my phone, brought in the laundry, played Ludo and Snakes and Ladders and read some books. It is now 10pm and I would like to go to bed but can't leave a three year old up on his own. Hoping he will go to sleep soon.

Rock-a-bye Baby

Church day. Always feels refreshing. Had a lovely time with our church family and listened to some compliments about our children. Most notably today compliments on Pumpkin's ability to draw so well, a budding artist, just like his nana and grandad. 


At lunch time Bean asked what letters make the word 'door' so we gabbed some magnetic letters and showed him. We then played around with the letters d o o r to make words, Pumpkin especially enjoyed the word poo (turn the d upside down.) why is it you don't have to teach small boys toilet humour? We spent a great few minutes playing with letters and words. It's the first time Bean has explicitly asked about letters and words and spelling and writing and it made my heart happy. 


Daddy has spent the afternoon fixing his bike ready for his return to work tomorrow and trying to locate a puncture in Bean's bike. The boys helped with pumping and puncture finding interspersed with playing with cars in the garden and Bean teaching Plum how to colour and being bitten by an ant. Poor Bean was quite upset by this and refused to walk for a while. Daddy took the boys out for a ride once all the bikes were in top condition. 


Plum has struggled with her usual sleep pattern today. Not that it's that regular but she does manage a sleep every two - three hours for 45mins to 2 1/2 hours. I was thinking that she would go to sleep in the car on the way to church this morning but she ditdn't and only grabbed half an hour in church (the organ always wakes her.) When she tried for a nap this afternoon we were disturbed by Pumpkin yelling and bounding up the stairs and when she finally fell asleep an hour later she has woken after only half an hours sleep. Poor tired girl.

Teaching Plum to colour

Helping pump up the tires

We're going out to play

Saturday 21st July


After a disturbed night where Plum slept beautifully in her strange surroundings but Pumpkin didn't, I got to lie in until 9 and even grabbed an afternoon nap thanks to the large number of family about. 


 FA#3 played with our collection of slings today and Plum was a very willing model. Plum also demonstrated blw successfully, mostly sucking the topping off pizza and making a mess!  


The boys played happily in the garden with L, 7, and J, 3. Lots of chasing games, hide and seek, moving garden furniture to perform shows to each other and water fun with the hose pipe. This did end when Bean sprayed water at the cat flap, obviously spraying water through it and into the kitchen. There were also a few wet children and clothes about. We sat in the garden and Plum felt the grass between her toes for the first time. 


Bean has made colouring books for everyone today by stapling two or three plain pages together and drawing a picture on the front cover. I find it interesting what he absorbs without explicit teaching, he's worked out that books have a front cover, multiple pages and bind together (usually) on the right. 


Bean and Pumpkin spent considerable time building towers with blocks and seeing who could build the tallest one without it falling over. This game then moved on to building a city with different designed buildings in it. It's worth noting that Bean's were always symmetrical. Pumpkin set about putting stepping stones between the buildings as it turned out they had built it on water.

Bean blowing across the top of nan's bottle collection to make music for me

Packing up to go home, Bean wanted a sling for his bear

Eureka!

Friday 20th July 


A trip to nana and granddad's today. We are planning on staying the night too which involves a lot of luggage, mostly because we have to take all our bedding. We all share one room and the boys sleep on the floor, it's a bit like a camping adventure! 


We've had a real science type day today. It's not often I look at our day and categorise it into school defined subjects as so much blurs from one category to the next. But today... Bean asked what oil was as I was cooking French toast (aka oeuf pain) and what would happen if we mixed it with water. Investigation number one. 


Lunch involved chicken on the bone and Bean wanted to find out what was in the middle of the bones so we kept them and cut them open later in the afternoon. Imvestigation number two.  


Nana's garden was well watered by the boys and nana showed them wear to put the water so that the roots of her new fig tree would be able to drink it up. Investigation number three.


Daddy also took the boys to the park whilst Plum and I had a sleep together (precious times) there has been some craftiness (of the sticking variety) playing with Russian dolls, computer games and videoing on mummy's phone. Bean also helped with a large portion of the packing and unpacking today completely voluntarily and although it makes the process a bit longer it is so lovely to have a willing and helpful helper. The boys especially enjoyed taking the bending and suitcase up in grandad's lift, going along for the ride too.

Plum enjoying a story with daddy

Puppets made without following the instructions

Watering the fig tree

Drinks in the garden

Nana's Russian dolls

Making books

Playing with our food!

Cuddles with nana

Croquet, anyone?

Wednesday 18th July 

Egg boxes provided to put collection of natural bits and pieces - another great idea from the NT

 Today we took daddy to Nyman's Gardens. You might be right in thinking that I love it there. Daddy wanted to see what the fuss was about and I don't think he was disappointed! The staff as always were lovely, we did the quiz in the house again and found foxy and learnt some new bits of information from the staff. Bean loves listening to the tales they tell about the house and enjoys retelling them to anyone who will listen. We went on the bamboo trail today which was new for us. Who knew there are so many different types of bamboo? We also hid in the trees, playing the most complicated game of hide and seek. Daddy and I kept being told off for hiding in the wrong places or counting too much, or not enough. We also enjoyed running through the meadow and a role play game where daddy and me were passengers on a ship sailing the sea, visiting an island and travelling home again. We saw a cat dragging what looked like a rat but in fact turned out to be a baby rabbit. They had put up child sized teepees on the green too where the boys enjoyed cooking jelly babies and other such delights. 


Daddy headed home with the boys and I took Plum to meet a new friend and first time mum (someone we met in our unfortunate admission to hospital when Plum was born) I decided to have Plum weighed whilst I was there out of politeness really. It seemed wrong to be at the clinic and decline the service. I wish I had though. Her weight was more than fine, according to their charts and graphs, although it just occurred to me that the charts they now use in the red books are for formula fed babies not breast fed ones, anyhow the health professional (nursery nurse) enquirered how weaning was going. When I explained that we were blw and it was going well, thank you, I got a lovely 'you should purée and spoon feed too' response. The best part was the reasoning. 
 1. We need to make sure that she is getting enough. 
2. She needs to learn to use a spoon (something to do with speech development was mentioned here too) 
3. She needs to experience a range of textures and flavours. 
4. Make sure she is drinking water with every meal. 


I did try not to get too cross and respond in a calm and adult fashion. I think I did quite well but the nursery nurse didn't argue back. Maybe she realised that it wasn't going to make a difference. So, for reference these were part of my response. 
1. I'm more concerned with developing a life long positive relationship with food not dictated by me force feeding my child to make sure that they 'get enough.' She will manage her own appetite and I will continue to breast feed when she demands it. 
2. Me spoon feeding her does not teach her to use a spoon! She will pick up a spoon when she is developmentally ready and (thank goodness she has older siblings) her brothers have no problems with their speech development because I didn't use a spoon at six months. Do you think Adam and Eve worried about their children using a spoon? -I didn't mention that, just an after thought. 
3. She eats exactly what we eat, giving her a wide experience of textures and disearnable flavours instead of all the same consistency, flavours mushed together.
4. I breast feed. Breast milk gives her exactly what she needs, when she needs it. It's another amazing part of the human body. Water from a cup can wait. (Although she was grabbing after daddy's water the other day so she had some then.)

I can sing a rainbow

Tuesday 17th July Day Two of 'daddy at home' We got busy rearranging the boys bedroom today. Tidying up and moving furniture out ready to put bunk beds in. Both Bean and Pumpkin helped screw and unscrew pieces of furniture using 'daddy's drill' and helped to decide where we are going to put things. I then took the small ones to the family centre for a play session whilst daddy put two dismantled beds up into the loft and brought down the bunk bed sections and started to put it together. By the time we returned the room was lovely and clean and almost ready to start putting back together. The boys helped move furniture around and decide final positions and we are all really pleased with it. They spent a large proportion of the rest of the day playing on the top bunk and making a den from the bottom bunk. At the play session several people we meet regularly exclaimed 'she's wearing pink!' it's not that I don't like pink (although it is not my favourite colour by a long shot) but I do object to the notion that Plum should only wear pink. There are many colours in the rainbow and we like to explore them all. However it is amazing how already the boys have decided that Plum's favourite colour is pink. Often Pumpkin will state, 'Plum will like those flowers, they are pink!' Pumpkin has also announced that his hair is too long and needs cutting, which is great in theory but I think the realisation of a hair cut will be more tricky. I might be wrong, we'll see.

One for the road

The news this week has included an article on how families are faced with summer holidays at home as financial times are tough and the average family day trip costing £80. Dispite the fact that another article in previous months discussing the new outdoors that families are discovering in free trips to local parks etc and seeing the value in this as much as a paid visit. It made me think about the cost of a day trip out. We venture out somewhere every day and it never costs us £80. We are a two adult, three smalls family. It is fair to say that Plum always goes free and Pumpkin is often free in to paid attractions but none the less, we are a one income family, living in the SE England, paying the mortgage and the bills and watching where the pennies go. A £80 day trip is out of the question.

 Here's where our money goes:

 £36 National Trust / English Heritage annual home ed membership This is weekday term time only but an absolute bargain and we have used every penny of it and more in just the two months that we have had it. It includes the whole family and is valid for 50 people! Don't forget that the National Trust also owns lots of sites that are free. Box hill, Leith hill and Devil's Dyke spring to mind as local ones. They do an app listing all their properties, location and openings.

 £10 annual Warnham nature reserve Warnham is brilliant for a quick pit stop or walk around. They only charge £1 per adult over 16 per entry but we pop in most weeks even in the wet weather. The membership card allows two adults in so we can meet another single parent family and all enter on the one ticket.

£35 amberley museum annual ticket Amberley have different membership types. Ours is me (named) plus one (unnamed) this allows it to include Bean but if we go with daddy too then the plus one would be daddy and we would pay a child entry fee for Bean. Having said that daddy took the card the other week and they allowed him in on it even though he did explain that he was not me! This membership only took two visits for it to cover the cost. We have been on three already and we've only had this membership a month.

£8/month rspb family membership also admits us to wetlands centres RSPB membership is a benefit of regularly giving to the charity. With that in mind the monthly contribution made varies because you are not paying for a membership as such. We get family membership for this and similar to the National Trust we love the fact that their are various sites throughout the UK that we can use it at. This means when we are holidaying we get two good days out without the extra cost. Win win. Pulborough Brooks is the nearest rspb site to us and Arundel wetland Centre too.

£50 Leeds castle annual ticket This is an hour drive from us and is the maximum distance time wise I will spend on a day trip except for high days and holidays. We tend to meet my sister/s here as it is close to them too. The tickets we hold are for two adults and one fee paying child plus two tickets for non paying children. The tickets are valid for a year and unnamed. It includes entrance into both the castle and grounds. And we have used it twice already even though it is only this months membership purchase.

 And when we're in the mood we can go to the park, woodlands, public footpaths, river walks, south downs national park, museums, beach, library and many more places for free admission.

 Other home ed bloggers have posted similar helpful posts:
 macgregorspatch
Thegallivanters

We always take a picnic and reuse any guide books or maps that we pick up at each place. The only cost we incur per trip is the expense of petrol. A day trip out never costs us £80, home ed really would be that if it did!

Don't be stuck at home unnecessarily, go out and play :)

Pitter patter rain drops

Daddy's home for the week, which is a nice add on to our weekend away. He took the boys out to a very wet (indoor) teddy bear's picnic and gymnastics and a play in the park in between the wetness.

I spent 6 hours straightening out the house and cleaning, interspersed with feeding Plum and settling her to sleep. Today I discovered that she really does love music and is very calm when a song is being sung. Really enjoyed listening to some favourite tunes, cleaning and singing with my girl. 

Plum also did a poo today which is the first in a week (at least, as I can't remember exactly when the last time was) It was a great relief to us as we were starting to wonder if she was okay. Other than not going she has been happy and well so wasn't too worried but was beginning to wonder how long it would be. Definite evidence of change of diet.

A flurry of activity occurred after dinner and Bean got busy building with bricks and requesting one game after another. We happily played snap, grasshoppers and dotty dinosaurs with me and Pumpkin. The adding cards (which he got for his birthday) didn't go down so well when he realised that you couldn't play snap with them. I'm sure their day will come.

What a difference a day makes

Friday 13th, Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th July

I don't often bundle days together on the blog but these last few days have been different. This weekend saw the annual anniversary weekend away for daddy and me. It began with grandma and pops meeting me, Bean, Pumpkin and Plum at Amberley Museum. This is the third time we have been in the last month and therefore reclaiming our membership fee already. Grandma and pops haven't been before but we knew they would love it! As always, having the extra pair (or two) of hands helped even with only practicalities like toilet trips and supervision whilst feeding Plum. 

Highlights of today's trip included a bus and train ride both on vehicles we haven't ridden before. Watching the wood turner as he polished his latest creation (some mice) and pops finding some wild orchids and a ringlet butterfly.

The boys went home to our house with grandma and pops and I took Plum to meet daddy from work and travel to grandma and pop's house for the weekend.

Saturday consisted of us lazily milling around the house, a trip to the supermarket and baking. We made the most wonderful looking chocolate cake I have ever made as a thank you/ birthday cake for my parents. This sadly meant that we only got to look at it. I hope it taste as good as it looked. We also baked a white chocolate and almond cheesecake... delicious. 


Plum enjoyed her brother free time and slept for an amazing 2 1/2 hours in the afternoon. This was then followed by a early evening nap and then up with mummy and daddy to share our 'dinner and a movie' night. Completely out of her own rhythm, she didn't go to bed until 10.30pm. 

Sunday we ventured out into the world a little further and after lazily milling around the house in the morning we went to find somewhere to eat. We had lunch out and then a wet boggy stroll in the New Forest. Our journey home saw us picking up daddy's bike from work and Plum having lots of cuddles with grandma and pops. The boys were already in bed. Plum then decided that she rather liked our company and stayed happily awake until 10.15 tonight. 

Bean and Pumpkin have spent the weekend enjoying Southwater Country Park and Warnham Nature Reserve (where Bean spotted a newt by himself.)

I am glad to be home and be with my family again but I am very glad we went away and did nothing! Pops sounded a bit disappointed that we had spent Saturday doing nothing but it was the bestest bestest for us. The running around, busy, busy, busy is great and completely what Bean and Pumpkin need but it is good to stop and for me and daddy just to have 5 minutes. It felt like a weeks holiday.