If you go down to the woods today

Wednesday 26th September

This week has been the first real realisation that wet cold days are coming and play parks and beach trips have ended for a spell, what to do? We can manage maybe one or two days a week at home but we are used to at least an hour of running around and a walk from here to there or maybe a bike ride. A lot of the boys play is physical and energetic and this is not conducive to many days at home.

Today's answer was a trip to the woods, hoping that we caught a break in the rain (we didn't) and that the branches overhead provided some protection (possibly but we still got soaked.) The waterproofs and wellies  did well though. We went to Leechpool woods and did a circuit route we haven't attempted before. It was about 1 mile and very muddy with hills up and down and very uneven ground. The boys loved it. My thoughts today turned towards the way in which Bean assesses his own risk and would judge whether to ride or walk the section of path ahead. Mostly the path looked treacherous but he didn't fall once although he did get stuck whilst pushing the bike through a muddy area. I like the idea of the smalls assessing their own risk (obviously I'm always close to hand in case something goes wrong or the assessment is wrong) but it gives them the chance to give things a go, take chances that they weighed up the options on, test their limits, set some goals and challenges and push themselves when they're ready. In essence they do their own risk assessment! 

Bean is slowly, on and off, doing writing. By this I mean the emergent squiggly shapes writing but he is also asking how to write certain words. What fascinates me is his choice of words. In a Reception class there are 40 words which are selected 'sight words' that are common and often don't follow a phonetic pattern i.e. they have to be learnt. The word 'love' is not on the list but children frequently use this word in there homes and when writing cards and it is one of the words that Bean was asking me about today. We wrote 'love you' on a piece of paper and then he covered it with kisses and presented it to me. So special. This choice of words has come after wanting to know how to write his name, his siblings names and his cousin's name. I'm guessing that it's significant that the words he's inspired to write are words that are important to him and people that are important to him. (And just in case you're wondering Bean can neither read or write any of the words on the Reception list mentioned and it is not something we are concerned about.)

Lazing on a sunny afternoon

We spent a whole four hours in town today whilst the car went in for a service. It reminded me of the question we are frequently asked, 'how do you get anything done?' Today was a necessity. We use our car almost daily and it needs to be functioning. So we use a garage that we've used before and we choose one close to town so that we have somewhere to go whilst we wait. We filled our time with a library visit (always a popular outing,) a lunch out (bit of a treat,) interspersed with some shopping. 

I found a couple of pound coins in my rain coat pocket the other day so gave them to the boys to spend. After much deliberation they both chose a motorbike toy. Interestingly Pumpkin was adamant that this is what he wanted from the off, Bean took more time contemplating his options and only at the last minute changed his mind to the motorbike. Normally Pumpkin would choose the same as Bean and wait for his decision not the other way around, maybe the tide is turning!

The weather was on our side today and the town was buzzing with the market and a musical man. We stopped and snacked and chased the pigeons and read our toy magazines for a long, relaxed and pleasant while, in no rush, I felt truly blessed to have the time to sit. 

Surprise Surprise

Wednesday 19th September

Our first visit to a National Trust site for a while and somewhere new to explore. We rolled up at Petworth House at exactly the same time as some home ed friends of ours and so had a lovely if unexpected time together. We spent the time eating lunch and exploring the house, we will definitely be returning to explore the extensive grounds some more. 

We had great fun in the house dressing up and investigating the many children's boxes throughout. Pumpkin loved this wind up piano which played Brahm's lullaby and spent ages 'playing' the music on the piano. Bean spent a large and very focussed time making this rainforest picture from the fuzzy felt and then took some pictures of the grounds from the window (I have included one above.)

The boys both keen to help with some housework this evening. We hoovered and dusted our living room. Plum looking on.

And a late night request to wear our toys. Fortunately I had some spare scarves long enough for the boys to wrap around themselves and extensive memories of you tube videos demonstrating how to wear babies. Worked very well and the boys were both pleased.

He pulled out a Plum

Saturday 15th September

Toes taste sooooo good

Daddy took the boys to the beach today. They were given some body boards last weekend and have been desperate to try them out unfortunately the logistics of two boys in the sea with body boards plus a baby were an impossibility, fortunately the weekend weather was agreeable to daddy taking them out for the day. We had thought of making it a family outing but decided that the house needed some attention so I stayed behind with Plum to catch up on some chores and sort through the clothing situation. I got almost nothing done!

Plum decided that today she would not let me out her down and I have (temporarily) mislaid the sling. 

Pumpkin continues to nap on and off in the afternoon, especially after a hard day at the beach but unlike Bean, this means he is up late too. I remember Bean sleeping in the afternoon regularly until he was 4 and then at least 2 times a week until he was almost 5 but he still went to bed around 7/30. It interests me how two or three or more children can come from the same genetic pool and yet be so different. Bean definitely sleeps more like me and Pumpkin more like daddy! Plum just has her own thing going on entirely!

Down by the Station

Monday 17th September

The train set makes a reappearance! And it's quite epic. Bean and Pumpkin worked long and hard together on this design and then spent most of the time racing cars around the road section. Sometimes I don't understand or make sense of what or why they choose to do things but am trusting that it is a natural part of the development process.

Checking out the coming conkers

The first time we have known Plum to be under-the-weather. She spent 6 hours crying and generally being unsettled and finally came out in a temperature. Her brothers were both very good as I spent all this time nursing and rocking and walking and cuddling her and they really didn't get a look in except when I put her in the sling to make dinner, she was most unhappy the whole time and it was generally a very upsetting and sad afternoon.

I want to ride it where I like

Tuesday 18th September

Bean playing Policeman and directing the traffic

Riding up and down the humps (or pushing up and riding down the humps in Pumpkin's case)

Pumpkin stops to look at these seed cases every time we pass this way.
We collected a pod today and sprinkled some in the garden.

A trip to the library always stimulates a little more reading than usual.
Pirates and super heroes have been an ongoing theme for over a year now.

Chocolate cake, pineapple and ice cream chosen and made by Pumpkin for dessert tonight.
Bean made the green parcel pie that he choose from watching I Can Cook last week.

A lot of painting occurred today on and off, mostly on the conservatory floor.
Bean is painting a picture of some sculptures.

Happiness

An after dinner game of Snakes and Ladders

Pumpkin built this train track.
He doesn't often have the space, time and inclination all at the same time
but Bean took some alone time and Pumpkin built this.

Summer Sun

A monumentally busy day in which we built a train track and negotiated who would use the one buffer that we have; experimented with lowering toys from the top bunk to the floor using a piece of elastic and then held a (pretend) bbq in the bedroom for the toys; visited friends and read books and rode on wheeled toys in the garden; hunted for bugs in our garden using our bug hunters kit, catching grasshoppers and drawing them, also finding spiders, ants, ladybirds, caterpillars and other unidentifable bugs; we pretended it was the height of summer and played 'beaches' in the garden.

Other highlights included:

Pumpkin helped to prepare both lunch and dinner today.

Bean asked if we could make 'green parcels' (a recipe from I can cook) so we looked it up and put the ingredients on to the shopping order. He later wanted to know how to make pasta, so we looked that up too and are planning on making our own next week.

Pumpkin has been asking if #** and ^** rhyme all day.

And Plum has had very little sleep again but I did enjoy our cuddle in bed this morning very much :)