Six day blog post. We have had rest days and full on busy days so here goes:
Bean, 10, has been rediscovering his electronics kit. He spent one full day on it and then it came to grandma's house with us, of course Pumpkin and plum managed to get a look in too. He likes to follow the diagrams in the book but also branched out into creating his own circuits. He has astonished us by riding on rides at Paultons park that went high and fast and reriding them many times. He has grown in confidence swimming in our friend's pool and enjoyed a new game called Marco Paula. He has been inspired by our recent theme park visits and designed three rides and a theme park map. He organised a surprise treasure hunt for daddy with written clues and we recorded together a scenerio of mummy eating breakfast but Bean as my hands.
Pumpkin, 8, enjoyed a bike ride to the park on the new estate. We have played minecraft together, building houses and build battle together. He enjoyed Paulon's park, the spinning pirate ship and the catopillar roller coaster. He has played terreria with his friend A at his house. And he has immersed homself in The Amazing World of Gumball. He instigated doing a 200 piece puzzle with bean.
Plum, 5, has had two chapter books read to her in the last week. Paulton's park was a big hit and we enjoyed all the Peppa Pig rides. She disappeared to play with her friend J at her house, and she enjoyed the pool. She spent an hour playing with pippin in the bath yesterday, followed by a room tidy (inspired by youtube) and puzzles with pippin too. She also helped me choose some party items for Pippin's upcoming birthday.
Pippin, 2, continued her love of thrilling rides at paulton's park. She enjoyed the peppa pig theme but definitley enjoyed the bigger rides better. She has been using a lot of play dough in the last week and making worlds from duplo and wooden blocks to play with the people figures in.
The big three all took part in gymnastics.
A bit of a whistle stop tour of the last six days.
Our Tribe
Showing posts with label swimming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label swimming. Show all posts
Tuesday, 26 September 2017
Wednesday, 28 June 2017
Untitled
We met with friends on Friday. They were one of the first families that i met when we first stepped into the HE community and although we have seen each other frequently at HE events it is not until now that our children have connected. Bean, 10, and Pumpkin, 8, spent more than an hour at their house whilst i took plum, 5, and pippin, 2, to the nearby play park with K, 12. We had a great time at the park and played on the zipline, roundabout, swings, slide, pirate boat and the adult gym equipment before we got a call to return to the boys. We then stayed a little longer watching a film before we left. The plan eas for pippin to sleep, which she did on the return journey but promptly woke when we got home.
Saturday we went to Pilgrim Hall for our church away day. The children played all day with SGG and SGS who did clay models and kite flying and pictures and junk modelling with them. Daddy and i sat next to each other all day and we took the children swimming in the outdoor pool. Pumpkin didn't want to swim so swang on the tree swing a while and then went and played table tennis and table football with a friend.
Sunday we went to church and then collapsed in the afternoon. All the children took themselves to their own corner and lay and played on their tablets. We did the same Monday too. Both saturday and sunday we had had to wake the big three to get them up and out for the day, monday was blessed relief.
Monday their was some Magic: the gathering, playing in the paddling pool, painting, playing mummies and daddies, minecraft, and a lego zip wire. I also took plum and pippin to the park for an hour.
Tuesday we took Archie dog out for a walk in the woods. We had to go and buy him some tennis balls as he didn't have any. It started to rain just as we were leaving. The remainder of the day was spent with water beads and den making, minecraft, youtube, gaming, and film watching.
Saturday we went to Pilgrim Hall for our church away day. The children played all day with SGG and SGS who did clay models and kite flying and pictures and junk modelling with them. Daddy and i sat next to each other all day and we took the children swimming in the outdoor pool. Pumpkin didn't want to swim so swang on the tree swing a while and then went and played table tennis and table football with a friend.
Sunday we went to church and then collapsed in the afternoon. All the children took themselves to their own corner and lay and played on their tablets. We did the same Monday too. Both saturday and sunday we had had to wake the big three to get them up and out for the day, monday was blessed relief.
Monday their was some Magic: the gathering, playing in the paddling pool, painting, playing mummies and daddies, minecraft, and a lego zip wire. I also took plum and pippin to the park for an hour.
Tuesday we took Archie dog out for a walk in the woods. We had to go and buy him some tennis balls as he didn't have any. It started to rain just as we were leaving. The remainder of the day was spent with water beads and den making, minecraft, youtube, gaming, and film watching.
Monday, 15 May 2017
Pagham Holiday
Pagham is on the South coast, West Sussex, right next to Bognor Regus. It is approximately 1 hour from our house. A quick get away. Trip to the coast. And a chance to explore the other end of the county! We stayed in a caravan. Daddy and Pippin, 2, shared a room, mummy and Plum, 5, shared a room and Bean, 9, and Pumpkin, 8 shared a room. Bean turned 10 whilst we were away.
Monday was travel day. We took our time to finish packing and get last minute things done. Mummy went food shopping and Bean came too. We organised the animals and ended up having our picnic lunch at home before we left. The children all packed their own back packs and off we set. We went and enjoyed the arcade games and had slush puppies and ice cream smoothies in the evening. Bean and Pumpkin found a fishing boat game that they liked and gave them lots of tickets. They decided to save their tickets until the end of the week before cashing them in.
Tuesday we all went to the Weald and Downland Museum. There was lots to see and do. Pumpkin enjoyed making a roof segment with roof tiles, Plum made an arch bridge that she could then sit on and Bean put together the timber frames of a model house about 6ft high. We had two staff members helping us out with all these things and explaining how they worked and where we could see them on the buildings around the museum. The chilsren all liked the gypsy caravans and we watched the carpenter and the blacksmith at work. We found a mechanism that needed a horse to pull it and Pumpkin recognised it from Pirates of the Carribean. Bean enjoyed the toilet that led straight below into the outside and we all enjoyed ice cream.
We went for a swim back at the holiday site, which turned out to be a bit crowded. Mummy went and found the nature reserve and coastal walk after dinner and then we all went to the arcade in the evening.
Wednesday was Bean's birthday. I will write about his special day here.
Thursday we took a more restful day and stayed on site. We swam in the morning again and Bean and plum chose to wear googles today. Bean was determined to hold his breathe and used the sinking rings again. We spent a long time counting how many seconds he could put his face in the water for. His record was 9 seconds but he only felt comfortable in the shallow end for this length of time, any further out and it was 3 or 4 seconds. Both the boys went on the slide again, Pumpkin repeatedly. Pumpkin also spent a lot of time moving around the perimeter of the pool.
Daddy took Bean and Plum and Pippin to the play area whilst Pumpkin and mummy went and prepared lunch. Bean caught us up and met us just as we reached the caravan.
The boys had a go at riding the easyscooters in the afternoon. These were motorised scooters. They were very cautious but had fun zooming around the basketball court on them and racing through the obstacle course. We found the coastal walk back to the caravan which was longer than we had anticipated and involved avoiding taking the buggy across stones. We stopped and played skimming stones on the lagoon andwatched the investation of moth caterpillars crawling everywhere. Bean became upset with our choice of route but we got back eventually and Plum had some lovely encouragment for him along the way.
We went to the arcade again in the evening where the boys cashed in their tickets. Bean got a rubix cube and Pumpkin exchanged his for a large pencil sweet for himself and a sweet each for Plum and Pippin. Plum was pleased to see that the show involved the singing of Frozen songs on the stage. We got ice cream for the children and stayed to watch the singing for the next show too. Pippin, Pumpkin and Bean all opted to leave first as they were tired and Plum and mummy followed on a little later.
Friday we packed up and checked out followed by a final swim, where Bean swam a width and almost a length of the pool and spent more time holding his breathe under water whilst wearing googles. Pippin spent large amounts of time climbing out and jumping in, Plum being pulled around the pool by daddy and Pumpkin on the slide and circuiting the perimeter again. Bean and Pumpkin made a pool dare game together. We had a picnic lunch in the play area before heading home.
In between all the activity, there was playing chess and draughts and reading Harry Potter and 'Brown bear, Brown Bear', watching cbeebies and Poptv, discussing advertising and advertisments, twirling ribbons, colouring, playing hide and seek and 'scaredy cat.'
Monday was travel day. We took our time to finish packing and get last minute things done. Mummy went food shopping and Bean came too. We organised the animals and ended up having our picnic lunch at home before we left. The children all packed their own back packs and off we set. We went and enjoyed the arcade games and had slush puppies and ice cream smoothies in the evening. Bean and Pumpkin found a fishing boat game that they liked and gave them lots of tickets. They decided to save their tickets until the end of the week before cashing them in.
Tuesday we all went to the Weald and Downland Museum. There was lots to see and do. Pumpkin enjoyed making a roof segment with roof tiles, Plum made an arch bridge that she could then sit on and Bean put together the timber frames of a model house about 6ft high. We had two staff members helping us out with all these things and explaining how they worked and where we could see them on the buildings around the museum. The chilsren all liked the gypsy caravans and we watched the carpenter and the blacksmith at work. We found a mechanism that needed a horse to pull it and Pumpkin recognised it from Pirates of the Carribean. Bean enjoyed the toilet that led straight below into the outside and we all enjoyed ice cream.
We went for a swim back at the holiday site, which turned out to be a bit crowded. Mummy went and found the nature reserve and coastal walk after dinner and then we all went to the arcade in the evening.
Wednesday was Bean's birthday. I will write about his special day here.
Thursday we took a more restful day and stayed on site. We swam in the morning again and Bean and plum chose to wear googles today. Bean was determined to hold his breathe and used the sinking rings again. We spent a long time counting how many seconds he could put his face in the water for. His record was 9 seconds but he only felt comfortable in the shallow end for this length of time, any further out and it was 3 or 4 seconds. Both the boys went on the slide again, Pumpkin repeatedly. Pumpkin also spent a lot of time moving around the perimeter of the pool.
Daddy took Bean and Plum and Pippin to the play area whilst Pumpkin and mummy went and prepared lunch. Bean caught us up and met us just as we reached the caravan.
The boys had a go at riding the easyscooters in the afternoon. These were motorised scooters. They were very cautious but had fun zooming around the basketball court on them and racing through the obstacle course. We found the coastal walk back to the caravan which was longer than we had anticipated and involved avoiding taking the buggy across stones. We stopped and played skimming stones on the lagoon andwatched the investation of moth caterpillars crawling everywhere. Bean became upset with our choice of route but we got back eventually and Plum had some lovely encouragment for him along the way.
We went to the arcade again in the evening where the boys cashed in their tickets. Bean got a rubix cube and Pumpkin exchanged his for a large pencil sweet for himself and a sweet each for Plum and Pippin. Plum was pleased to see that the show involved the singing of Frozen songs on the stage. We got ice cream for the children and stayed to watch the singing for the next show too. Pippin, Pumpkin and Bean all opted to leave first as they were tired and Plum and mummy followed on a little later.
Friday we packed up and checked out followed by a final swim, where Bean swam a width and almost a length of the pool and spent more time holding his breathe under water whilst wearing googles. Pippin spent large amounts of time climbing out and jumping in, Plum being pulled around the pool by daddy and Pumpkin on the slide and circuiting the perimeter again. Bean and Pumpkin made a pool dare game together. We had a picnic lunch in the play area before heading home.
In between all the activity, there was playing chess and draughts and reading Harry Potter and 'Brown bear, Brown Bear', watching cbeebies and Poptv, discussing advertising and advertisments, twirling ribbons, colouring, playing hide and seek and 'scaredy cat.'
Tuesday, 7 March 2017
Home on the Ranch
Still at home. Day 7. One full week for the girls. But Pippin, 2, is still sporting fresh spots. Plum, 5, is truely on the mend and now itching to go out.
We started the morning with The Winnie The Pooh movie followed by more moon sand play. We built different shaped sandcastles using the moulds we have and then Plum got her mini My Little Ponies and Pippin got her Bing toys to play with. Plum hid her toys in the sand and then mummy had to find them.
Plum has also signed up to Teach Your Monster To Read and in the afternoon she and Pippin played mummies and babies together using the soft toys, cot, baby blankets, dummies. There was a brief moment when Plum watched SevenSuperGirls on YouTube and then we put on The Heffalumo movie but she didn't watch it all as she returned to her game with Pippin.
Bean, 9, and Pumpkin, 8, played minecraft on the temple map. They built a tree house, tamed two dogs and a horse, played hide and seek and allowed Plum and mummy to play too. We spent some time trying to work out how to take screenshots from Bean's tablet but were unsuccessful. Bean and i read more Harry Potter in the afternoon followed by a deep bath so that he could practice putting his head under the water and holding his breath. We played more of the paper game he made yesterday and then made a couple of flip books together.
Bean and Plum played lego together in the evening. Plum made a race track with action posed runners and a finish line. We read stories and, for the first time since she got chicken pox, she slept in her own bed.
We started the morning with The Winnie The Pooh movie followed by more moon sand play. We built different shaped sandcastles using the moulds we have and then Plum got her mini My Little Ponies and Pippin got her Bing toys to play with. Plum hid her toys in the sand and then mummy had to find them.
Plum has also signed up to Teach Your Monster To Read and in the afternoon she and Pippin played mummies and babies together using the soft toys, cot, baby blankets, dummies. There was a brief moment when Plum watched SevenSuperGirls on YouTube and then we put on The Heffalumo movie but she didn't watch it all as she returned to her game with Pippin.
Bean, 9, and Pumpkin, 8, played minecraft on the temple map. They built a tree house, tamed two dogs and a horse, played hide and seek and allowed Plum and mummy to play too. We spent some time trying to work out how to take screenshots from Bean's tablet but were unsuccessful. Bean and i read more Harry Potter in the afternoon followed by a deep bath so that he could practice putting his head under the water and holding his breath. We played more of the paper game he made yesterday and then made a couple of flip books together.
Bean and Plum played lego together in the evening. Plum made a race track with action posed runners and a finish line. We read stories and, for the first time since she got chicken pox, she slept in her own bed.
Monday, 6 March 2017
Up
Continuing on the up and up health wise but our spirits are also lifted with daddy being home and those who are fit and healthy (and not contagious) finally being able to leave the house.
Bean, 9, is glad that the weekend is here, daddy is home and took the Bean and Pumpkin, 8, swimming. They were out for three hours and had a great time. Plum, 5, was a bit upset but as Pippin, 2, was asleep we were able to spend a lot of 1:1 time which is always a welcome treat in our house.
I had popped out in the morning and bought a few things for the smalls. I had We're Going On A Bear Hunt on dvd and we watched it three times. We then opened up the origami that i had bought for Bean and had a go at making a giraffe and then then Plum made a card for daddy whilst i made a string of paper hearts.
Bean and Plum slept on the living room floor again.
Daddy went to church solo on Sunday. Bean had an extra long bath and was submerging himself and playing under the water with his goggles. We played Akinator together and Bean read a lot of the questions himself. He played Akinator for most of the day. We read the next chapter of Harry Potter and i remembered that we read a chapter on Friday and Bean had made me his first cup of tea for me...best cup of tea ever. Later we made some origami animals, today was a bat, a fish and a fox. This led to making a paper game that probably has a name but i don't know what!
Pumpkin, 8, spent all day on his tablet, playing games and watching youtube.
Plum, 5, and Pippin, 2, played with home made moonsand for two hours in the morning together and we returned to snuggling on the sofa in the afternoon where Pippin fell asleep on my lap. Plum went and washed Charlie and helped daddy to clean out the hutches. When Pippin woke up her and Plum played watering plants in the garden together.
Bean, 9, is glad that the weekend is here, daddy is home and took the Bean and Pumpkin, 8, swimming. They were out for three hours and had a great time. Plum, 5, was a bit upset but as Pippin, 2, was asleep we were able to spend a lot of 1:1 time which is always a welcome treat in our house.
I had popped out in the morning and bought a few things for the smalls. I had We're Going On A Bear Hunt on dvd and we watched it three times. We then opened up the origami that i had bought for Bean and had a go at making a giraffe and then then Plum made a card for daddy whilst i made a string of paper hearts.
Bean and Plum slept on the living room floor again.
Daddy went to church solo on Sunday. Bean had an extra long bath and was submerging himself and playing under the water with his goggles. We played Akinator together and Bean read a lot of the questions himself. He played Akinator for most of the day. We read the next chapter of Harry Potter and i remembered that we read a chapter on Friday and Bean had made me his first cup of tea for me...best cup of tea ever. Later we made some origami animals, today was a bat, a fish and a fox. This led to making a paper game that probably has a name but i don't know what!
Pumpkin, 8, spent all day on his tablet, playing games and watching youtube.
Plum, 5, and Pippin, 2, played with home made moonsand for two hours in the morning together and we returned to snuggling on the sofa in the afternoon where Pippin fell asleep on my lap. Plum went and washed Charlie and helped daddy to clean out the hutches. When Pippin woke up her and Plum played watering plants in the garden together.
Monday, 28 November 2016
Catch Up
Friday: Bean was exhausted after his mammoth cake making and decorating yesterday so he stayed home all day. Pumpkin stayed home too. I took the Plum and Pippin to the play park for an hour in the afternoon. It was crisp and fresh and cold.
Saturday: The smalls had a day with daddy and went to the library and Pokemon hunting.
Sunday: is Church day in our house. Pumpkin, 7, was especially tired but we all made it out in the morning. The Bean, 9, and Pumpkin played upstairs afterwards with R, 7, under a set of tables. Plum, 4, and Pippin, 2, played with K, 10, and then played upstairs with T, 8, and daddy for a while. Pippin slept when we got home. We had lunch and the Big3 watched tv and played and creating things with pipe cleaners. Plum used paper and scissors too which evolved into a drawing session and then me selotaping pipecleaners, that had been shaped and curled, onto paper.
The animals came in for a play whilst their hutches were being cleaned out and then we went swimming together. Bean was swimming a little on holiday and has lost none of his confidence but needs more regular time in a pool. We even went outside into the cold and dark. The boys enjoyed the slide and the girls enjoyed the toddler pool with it's toys and activity boards and fountains and bubbles.
Back home the smalls put on a film, Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the WereRabbit. Plum and Pippin played dollies together.
Saturday: The smalls had a day with daddy and went to the library and Pokemon hunting.
Sunday: is Church day in our house. Pumpkin, 7, was especially tired but we all made it out in the morning. The Bean, 9, and Pumpkin played upstairs afterwards with R, 7, under a set of tables. Plum, 4, and Pippin, 2, played with K, 10, and then played upstairs with T, 8, and daddy for a while. Pippin slept when we got home. We had lunch and the Big3 watched tv and played and creating things with pipe cleaners. Plum used paper and scissors too which evolved into a drawing session and then me selotaping pipecleaners, that had been shaped and curled, onto paper.
The animals came in for a play whilst their hutches were being cleaned out and then we went swimming together. Bean was swimming a little on holiday and has lost none of his confidence but needs more regular time in a pool. We even went outside into the cold and dark. The boys enjoyed the slide and the girls enjoyed the toddler pool with it's toys and activity boards and fountains and bubbles.
Back home the smalls put on a film, Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the WereRabbit. Plum and Pippin played dollies together.
Tuesday, 28 May 2013
Friends
Day 4: Tuesday
Weather report: hot
Is it possible that we are the only people who come all the way to Florida and pick up a cold. Feeling quite grotty!
A trip to Walmart today. The boys bought a toy each. Bean choose lego and pumpkin chose an Angry Birds launcher. We bought Plum a t shirt with the American flag on it. We also stocked up on snacks and after sun and I bought some wool at bargain prices. So glad we have lots of room in our suitcases for the return journey as I'm sure these won't be our only purchases!
The afternoon saw us joining our friend's friends at their house. The children had a lovely time in the pool and Pumpkin, after a lot of concern that he might sink, was really proud of the fact that he hadn't sunk. (Did I mention we had an incident on Saturday when Pumpkin literally jumped in the deep end and sunk gracefully and calmly to the bottom of the pool? Thankfully we saw him only moments after he jumped in and our daddyR pulled him out and passed him to daddy who sorted him whilst he was coughing and spluttering. All was well and he got back in the pool, with daddy also, shortly after) We also ate and the kids played and we over cooked Bean again and he struggled with tiredness a little.
We left after 7pm and only Plum feel asleep in the car but then woke up when we got home. Daddy had to return the hire car this evening so left the mummies to put smalls to bed. Pumpkin went willingly first but Bean, who was very tired wanted to wait for daddy to return (this was going to take an hour and half at least) but he managed an hour or so before he asked me to read him stories and ask daddy to come and say goodnight when he got home. He prayed for daddy when he went to bed which was precious. And it's also worth mentioning that we had several amazing moments with him during the day. He voluntarily helped clear the lunch table and gave us a whole discourse about not undoing his and Plum's seatbelt in the car because they are both important and we must look after each other.
Another beautiful day with friends :)
Weather report: hot
Is it possible that we are the only people who come all the way to Florida and pick up a cold. Feeling quite grotty!
A trip to Walmart today. The boys bought a toy each. Bean choose lego and pumpkin chose an Angry Birds launcher. We bought Plum a t shirt with the American flag on it. We also stocked up on snacks and after sun and I bought some wool at bargain prices. So glad we have lots of room in our suitcases for the return journey as I'm sure these won't be our only purchases!
The afternoon saw us joining our friend's friends at their house. The children had a lovely time in the pool and Pumpkin, after a lot of concern that he might sink, was really proud of the fact that he hadn't sunk. (Did I mention we had an incident on Saturday when Pumpkin literally jumped in the deep end and sunk gracefully and calmly to the bottom of the pool? Thankfully we saw him only moments after he jumped in and our daddyR pulled him out and passed him to daddy who sorted him whilst he was coughing and spluttering. All was well and he got back in the pool, with daddy also, shortly after) We also ate and the kids played and we over cooked Bean again and he struggled with tiredness a little.
We left after 7pm and only Plum feel asleep in the car but then woke up when we got home. Daddy had to return the hire car this evening so left the mummies to put smalls to bed. Pumpkin went willingly first but Bean, who was very tired wanted to wait for daddy to return (this was going to take an hour and half at least) but he managed an hour or so before he asked me to read him stories and ask daddy to come and say goodnight when he got home. He prayed for daddy when he went to bed which was precious. And it's also worth mentioning that we had several amazing moments with him during the day. He voluntarily helped clear the lunch table and gave us a whole discourse about not undoing his and Plum's seatbelt in the car because they are both important and we must look after each other.
Another beautiful day with friends :)
Sunday, 10 June 2012
The Runaway Train (and other steam powered vehicles)
Saturday 9th June
A slightly unusual day today as daddy and I went our separate ways and split the children between us. I went off to spend the day with our church family, taking Bean and Plum with me and daddy headed off with Pumpkin.
I mostly spent the day with the adults from our church family and Bean headed off to the children's group. It was one large group today with Bean being the youngest member up to the 16 year old girls. He settled into the group very quickly (obviously knowing all the others from church) and was keen for me to leave him there. I think I was probably more nervous than he was. The great thing about a group like this is that it is not age defined (one older boy waited when the group went off so that he could take Bean with him,) there is the freedom to join in with what you want to and not participate in the things you don't want to (unlike school) and that if he had wanted he could have left the group completely and come and found me (that's more than one thing, isn't it?)
I did go swimming with him however in the lovely outdoor pool. Plum had just fed so she sat pool side wrapped up in someone's fleece in the arms of friends being blown by the cold breeze whilst Bean and I played around the shallow end (about 1m deep.) He was really very confident and loved the time we had in the pool.
Pumpkin spent the day with daddy, requesting a swim too when he saw me packing our swim things and after spending over an our at the Pavilions, jumped on a train down to Amberley Museum to enjoy the steam day. Which, according to daddy, he enjoyed very much.
A slightly unusual day today as daddy and I went our separate ways and split the children between us. I went off to spend the day with our church family, taking Bean and Plum with me and daddy headed off with Pumpkin.
I mostly spent the day with the adults from our church family and Bean headed off to the children's group. It was one large group today with Bean being the youngest member up to the 16 year old girls. He settled into the group very quickly (obviously knowing all the others from church) and was keen for me to leave him there. I think I was probably more nervous than he was. The great thing about a group like this is that it is not age defined (one older boy waited when the group went off so that he could take Bean with him,) there is the freedom to join in with what you want to and not participate in the things you don't want to (unlike school) and that if he had wanted he could have left the group completely and come and found me (that's more than one thing, isn't it?)
I did go swimming with him however in the lovely outdoor pool. Plum had just fed so she sat pool side wrapped up in someone's fleece in the arms of friends being blown by the cold breeze whilst Bean and I played around the shallow end (about 1m deep.) He was really very confident and loved the time we had in the pool.
Pumpkin spent the day with daddy, requesting a swim too when he saw me packing our swim things and after spending over an our at the Pavilions, jumped on a train down to Amberley Museum to enjoy the steam day. Which, according to daddy, he enjoyed very much.
Thursday, 5 April 2012
Playing is the answer
I'm having problems publishing a reply to those of you who have kindly commented. Thank you for doing so and just to prove I've read them, I've stolen one of the comments as today's title! I'll try and look at why I can't reply but I'm not technologically minded so it might take a while!
This week has been the school holidays and I feel like we've had a little taste of what it must be like to be out the house early. Bean has had swimming classes every morning at 9am. We have managed it on time every day but what a stress! Let's not pretend that there aren't stressful moments in our lives especially when there are multiple smalls involved but we aim to achieve a calm household and unstrained relationships. I'm not sure I could manage that if we had to do a school run every day. Crazy. This morning was complicated even more by the fact that I had arranged for Plum to spend an hour or so at a friends house whilst I took Pumpkin for a swim.
The lessons themselves were fine but I think Bean struggled with being instructed what do when he wasn't feeling confident, secure or able. He actually plucked up the courage to tell the instructor today that he was only going to watch, which in our house is perfectly acceptable. The instructor was pretty good and seemed to offer him a lot of encouragement and support, so Bean did make it in the water. The thing that brought it all home to me was taking Pumpkin for a swim. We went in the leisure pool to start and he was adamant he wanted to go in the toddler pool so off we went. here he splashed happily amongst the sprays and bubbles and jumping under the water. He then asked to go back to the bigger pool where he was more relaxed and made me take him in the ever so bubbly jacuzzi and under the waterfall, things which 15 minutes earlier he was avoiding! In his own pace and in his own time he had become comfortable in the pool. Definitely, play is the answer.
We were even more tired after all this and a rather unproductive morning followed. We gave Plum a bath and played a game of Snakes and Ladders, Bean's suggestion. I notice he's now able to know how many dots on the die without actually counting. And a well eaten lunch was followed by some down time watching various programmes on the iplayer, I think I may have nodded off. Plum slept for a marathon 2 1/2 hours!
And then, as if by magic, a flurry of activity ensued. I suddenly found myself being torn between Bean who wanted to do colouring and Pumpkin who wanted to make a den, and Bean wanting to make soil (an idea he got from a gardening book he picked up at the library) and Pumpkin wanting to know if worms cry. I was also trying to get the dinner which was shepherd's pie tonight. One of Bean's favourites and we haven't had it for 'ages' as he keeps telling me. Bean also found a disc with some photos on it from his birthday last year and he kept saying he wanted to make them a jigsaw. I wasn't quite sure what he meant or where he had got this idea from but we used publisher to make a collage of the photos and this seemed to satisfy him. We played for about 2 hours, practising our colouring and name writing, building a den together and shoving vegetable peel into a bottle. I often find that their activity is a bit piece meal, we tend to have lots of activities on the go at once which the boys move between seamlessly. Sometimes these activities intertwine but sometimes they are separate pursuits. Often they will involve both boys, either separately or together. Sometimes they'll concentrate on one activity for a moment and other times it will be a lengthy engagement. This afternoon was the totally opposite of our morning; relaxed, fun, full of activity and laughter, comfortable, calm and full of learning. Playing is the answer.
This week has been the school holidays and I feel like we've had a little taste of what it must be like to be out the house early. Bean has had swimming classes every morning at 9am. We have managed it on time every day but what a stress! Let's not pretend that there aren't stressful moments in our lives especially when there are multiple smalls involved but we aim to achieve a calm household and unstrained relationships. I'm not sure I could manage that if we had to do a school run every day. Crazy. This morning was complicated even more by the fact that I had arranged for Plum to spend an hour or so at a friends house whilst I took Pumpkin for a swim.
We were even more tired after all this and a rather unproductive morning followed. We gave Plum a bath and played a game of Snakes and Ladders, Bean's suggestion. I notice he's now able to know how many dots on the die without actually counting. And a well eaten lunch was followed by some down time watching various programmes on the iplayer, I think I may have nodded off. Plum slept for a marathon 2 1/2 hours!
And then, as if by magic, a flurry of activity ensued. I suddenly found myself being torn between Bean who wanted to do colouring and Pumpkin who wanted to make a den, and Bean wanting to make soil (an idea he got from a gardening book he picked up at the library) and Pumpkin wanting to know if worms cry. I was also trying to get the dinner which was shepherd's pie tonight. One of Bean's favourites and we haven't had it for 'ages' as he keeps telling me. Bean also found a disc with some photos on it from his birthday last year and he kept saying he wanted to make them a jigsaw. I wasn't quite sure what he meant or where he had got this idea from but we used publisher to make a collage of the photos and this seemed to satisfy him. We played for about 2 hours, practising our colouring and name writing, building a den together and shoving vegetable peel into a bottle. I often find that their activity is a bit piece meal, we tend to have lots of activities on the go at once which the boys move between seamlessly. Sometimes these activities intertwine but sometimes they are separate pursuits. Often they will involve both boys, either separately or together. Sometimes they'll concentrate on one activity for a moment and other times it will be a lengthy engagement. This afternoon was the totally opposite of our morning; relaxed, fun, full of activity and laughter, comfortable, calm and full of learning. Playing is the answer.
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