On the seventh day, He rested.

Bean was the first awake this morning, up at 7am. This was followed by daddy at 9am! Daddy went downstairs to find bean resting on the sofa and Pumpkin asleep on the sofa. Mummy and Plum had had a restless night and daddy woke me with a cup of tea at 9.30am. Pumpkin woke about 9.30 and plum woke at 9.45. Still all full of cold.

Daddy hurriedly got himself together and went to church solo whilst the rest of us stayed at home for more resting. Bean built a den and played in it for an hour, I helped Pumkpin to build one too and put it next to Bean's in their bedroom. This was followed by a long lay down and some tv.

We had a very late lunch and plum had a brief sleep, her cold is really preventing a good sleep atm. The boys had accumulated enough energy to go out this afternoon and we went to t@4. We were out for 2 hours, needless to say it wiped them both out and after eating dinner both went to straight to bed.

Plum had another brief sleep and is having a cuddle with daddy as I type, in the hope that this will be a bigger, all night type of sleep...not hopeful!

How low?

Saturday 10th November

A new low has occurred...all three smalls have a rotten cold and there is very little activity going on just lots of rest. We did take them out this morning for tea and cake. Bean ate very little of his cake and Pumpkin ate many cakes (not one to lose his appetite)

I took Plum with me to a friends birthday afternoon but didn't stay long and came home to find boys resting on the sofa, Pumpkin asleep.

We had a late dinner and a family evening in front of the tv. Plum went to sleep at 8.30, bean at 9.30 and pumpkin at 10.30 all with oils under their pillows.

Ps. Still no photos as my returned phone is not working so is back at the phone doctors

Miss Polly had a dolly

So, it becomes apparent today why this week we have not ventured far (other than the change in seasons) ...plum had a very tossing and turning night (to the point where she fell out of the bed) and woke very unhappily at 10am after 14 hours asleep, Bean is full of cold and Pumpkin has a sore throat...I am fit and well PTL.

This has meant another day at home. Plum has slept mostly after waking for an hour at a time and eating and nursing. The boys have spent a long time playing with apps and I have read a lot of stories with Pumpkin. Bean found one of the body books from the library and asked to do one of the activities so we have drawn our organs today and put them in the right place on his body.

All three smalls have been in pyjamas all day.

Home is where the heart is

Thursday 8th November

Plum slept the longest she has yet without waking for a feed and no tossing and turning as she has been doing lately due to her cold. A good night sleep all round, worth mentioning because with three smalls in the house and one insomniac it's a rare thing.

Another at home date, well, we did venture to town to collect my phone (so there might be photos tomorrow) and a visit to the library.

Bean found some books on the body and choose some story books too. Pumpkin played on the computer. Plum emptied the shelves!

I spent some time with Bean this morning making a guitar which he then gave t o Pumpkin and then spent some time playing guess who? With Pumkin.

I want to play the game with you

who would have thought it? We're getting quite into the groove of staying at home. We did venture out the front door today though. Plum woke earlier than usual which was unexpected as she didn't go to bed until after 10 last night but it meant that we were all up and busy by 9... Although the boys had been up much earlier than this as is usual.

Most notably today the brothers have been getting on really well. You know you have those days when you hear your own voice when your children speak? And it's usually something that makes you cringe? (I would give some examples but I don't want to give myself away entirely!) well, today was sort of the same except opposite. After years of mediating and providing frameworks for discussion and modelling thought processes, today, today, for no reason I can see that is special, we had a whole day of...
'can I go first?' 'yes, you can' 'thank you'
'I don't want to watch that' 'ok. How about we watch ...' 'that's a great idea, let's do that'
'if I go first on the way there, then you can go first on the way back. Do you promise not to push past me?' 'I promise' (and he didn't! )
'would you like me to help you, mummy?'
'I'll get the spoons' 'I'll get the bowls'

You get the idea. And I'm not even exaggerating. It really is nice to have such a lovely day, listening to your children get along and cooperate.

It's a Mystery

Okay, so sometimes blogging on a Monday can be more of the same old same old and as I don't have to put any effort into preparing for Mondays I wonder if there is any new learning going on?

I was asked today by someone very dear to me what we were doing at home with the boys? I'm never quite sure what answer people are expecting especially when they know us so well and know what we're up to most of the time but I took the idea, as I do most times I'm asked this sort of question, that they mean either, when do you sit down and teach your children? Or, What do you sit down and teach your children. And so I take the mandatory deep breath (deep breath for me) and began by explaining that 'we don't follow the traditional school route and therefore don't use a specific teaching programme or curriculum and don't timetable our day in the way that a school does.' Pause....to judge response...All seems well, person in question seems to have computed information without any technical hitches...I continue. 'We spend our days out and about or at home and learn from the world around us, the children have a large say in what we do and what they want to do which at the moment includes a lot of bike riding, playground visits, meeting friends and family, exploring places of interest, crafting, crafting, crafting and watching iplayer.' pause again... 'Oh' is the quiet response 'I don't know much about how it works.' Which is a very gracious response and one which I did not feel requested a response with more information about our lives at this point (as I said, it was someone that I do know well and see frequently so we can pick it up at a later date if they come back to me after processing this information)

So back to the original question, what have we learnt today? Clearly I don't know. Too much for me to observe, too much to write down, and too much that I haven't even noticed that my children are busy processing in their brains as they sleep. Maybe that's a cop-out but that is the way it is and as I haven't sat down with an educational game or worksheet for them to do I have little paper evidence of their development from one stage to the next but I do know that they are busy learning, all the time.

In Christ Alone

Church day bought around daddy leading the service today and me sitting with three smalls on my own. They were all great. Pumpkin sat with a slightly older boy and ate and drank and played with the toy quad bike he had bought with him, bean flicked through the song book and played with the toy quad bike and truck he had bought with him and Plum sat and emptied my bag. After the boys went upstairs for their classes, Plum had a feed and fell asleep for the message, as is becoming the routine- in fact it is the only thing in her life that I can say is routine, her Sunday morning church snooze.

The afternoon saw us all huddle together and watching tele and Bean announcing that, 'this is nice, all of us together' which made my heart sing. It was nice and just as Sundays should be :) daddy also took a sleep with Plum. They have had a lovely father and daughter afternoon to the point that I realised she hadn't had any milk for several hours and even though she hadn't asked for any I thought i'd offer and she guzzled away. It was definitely a daddy day.