Monster & Teeny

Monday - a first thing dash to the supermarket followed by the arrival of our friends Barbara and Chris, with children E (6), B (4) and R (2) who some of you know from MP camps etc. B and Monster became firm friends at our first Melrose in 2005 and it has been an enduring friendship over the subsequent camps and get togethers.

Lots of inside and outside playing from the children with lots of chatting from the adults followed by a very late night for everyone with Monster and B still awake chatting at way past midnight.

Tuesday - We’d all been invited to Lucy’s house for the day so we descended on her and made full use of her downstairs kitchen leading into lounge leading into garden set up. We had children aged 1,2,3,3,3,4,5 and 6 with various games going on, some of which included all in a pack, some with them splitting into various groupings and generally lots of rowdiness and laughter. Thanks Lucy

It was interesting to observe while there that some other dynamics are appearing within the five children Monster, Teeny, E, B and R. Teeny and R spent some time together over the couple of days with Teeny starting to see R as a potential playmate rather than a ‘baby’ and I observed Monster and E (who are actually closer in age than Monster and B) playing together a couple of times. There was a particularly nice moment when Monster, Teeny, E and B were gathered round an etchasketch style toy with Monster telling a story and the others taking it in turns to illustrate it.

Wednesday - having waved goodbye to Barbara, Chris and co fairly early in the morning I made a birthday cake for Lucy and we headed off to the park for a picnic. Lucy, R & R, SIL, J & M were there and we had a lovely couple of hours with the children playing and the grown ups chatting. There are several patches of sand or dirt in the grass in that particular park and like magnets attracting iron filings the children were drawn to them, so by the time we got home Monster and Teeny were filthy. I made a deal with them that if they could play nicely and not soak the bathroom floor by splashing they could stay in a bath with all the bath toys until tea time. Which they did

Thursday Having had such a lovely afternoon together the day before Lucy, SIL and I arranged to meet up again and go to storytime at the local library. I went a few times a year or so ago - it happens every week and is for under fives. The librarian reads a couple of stories, they do some colouring and singing songs and it is always pretty popular. Given it was the school holidays it was heaving!

Before we’d gone out we’d gathered all the various library books from all corners of our house and sorted them into piles of ones we’d read, one’s we hadn’t and some we wanted to keep a bit longer. I dug out the childrens’ Reading Mission cards and they both chose one book each we’d already read and two from the not read yet pile. So we sat and read all those and chatted a bit about the stories and the illustrations and then headed off to Lucy’s with SIL following us in a convoy. Parking at the library can be a bit of a nightmare so we all parked at Lucy’s and walked to the library together. 

As storytime was so busy and Monster and Teeny were more than happy to squash in with their friends and cousins without a backward glance at me I was able to have a peaceful browse in the adults section for a few minutes and then I took advantage of getting in there before the inevitable rush when the stories finished and hoiked Monster out to come and talk to the librarian about his Reading Mission books and then did the same with Teeny too. Monster was fairly talkative and with some prompting was able to recount the stories and talk about what he liked about them all - he’d rated all three as ‘Spy High’ which was the best rating available. Teeny pulled her current slightly amusing and slightly irritating act of pretending to be shy and all but refused to talk until the stickers and bookmarks came out when she suddenly found her voice again . So they both got a little haul of RM branded goodies including book marks and colouring in sheets.

By then the library had cleared somewhat so Teeny set herself up on the computer and Monster and I looked at the shelf of brand new books choosing some to borrow and reading several there and then. We then all walked back to Lucy’s for lunch and a play and chat. Another lovely afternoon with the children all getting on really well and some interesting chatter about educational styles, parenting and feasible employment for primary Home Educators.

When we got home the children got out their pretend playfood, a pretend till with pretend coinage and a large oversized calculator from ELC. They played at ‘tea parties’ for a while pouring water from teapots into cups etc and setting up weird combinations of ‘delicious food’ such as a bagel served with peas and a tin of cat food! Then Monster asked me what my phone number was so I told him and he tapped it into the calculator. I explained that he needed to press a decimal point to get the zero to stay at the front which led to a very brief explanation of what one was in the first place. I then showed him how to use the calculator. I wrote out some sums for him and showed him plus, minus and equals so he did those. Then he asked what the times button did so I explained that with the aid of a pen and paper to draw ‘lots’ of things. I was anticipating explaining divide next but he asked about the square root button instead, so I struggled to explain that in context he’d be comfortable with and I think he at least got the gist of it. I then got him to add up the various number bonds to ten and he noticed the pattern so that was a nice healthy dose of naturally occuring numeracy!

They played with the leappad which seems to be enjoying a renewed burst of interest for a bit and then A read Monster a Wallace and Gromit book we’d picked up at the library while I read Teeny a lovely version of Thumbelina I’d chosen for her in bed.

Friday  Over to Ali’s for the day having dropped our still suffering cat off at the vets first. Her eye had gotten infected and needed some attention.

The children were in a fairly boisterous mood, Monster in particular. I think he may have just been overwhelmed with being part of a gang of children all week. They played outside for a while and then Ali made a bath bomb with them which they all enjoyed (particularly Ali I suspect! )

I then read them a couple of Elmer stories before they headed off for a final play before home time.

Saturday Was a very productive day. We spent the morning having a really good sort out, tidy up, chuck out and move around session in our playroom. We now have a pile of stuff ready for photographing and listing on ebay, a rail with all the dressing up clothes hanging up and two units with neatly stacked toys inside. And we got rid of loads more. The children, particularly Monster really want a X box and I’ve said if we can raise enough cash from getting rid of outgrown toys then we will get one. My Mum and brother have volunteered to join in with fundraising efforts for Monster’s birthday so hopefully we will be able to sort that out soon. If nothing else it is now a pleasure to walk into that room again rather than feeling like you have stumbled into a messy cupboard!

In the afternoon we went over to BIL & SIL’s where the children played in the garden. SIL and I took them out for a walk round some local fields and in mentioning in passing that I wanted to get a bike for Monster as the one we had given to us a few years ago is just too small for him and far better suited to Teeny, BIL pulled out one of his famous ‘carboot sale bargains’ he’d put away for J having bought for £3 and is perfect for Monster. So we brought that home and spent a very happy half an hour with Teeny on the old bike and Monster on his new one riding up and down the pavement outside our house.

Sunday My Dad’s birthday! We spent the morning with me baking a birthday cake and some rather lovely chocolate gingerbread while A supervised some birthday cake making and writing. Then we headed over to Mum and Dad’s in the late morning arriving in time to help prepare lunch. My Great Granny (Mum’s Mum) also arrived to join in and we had a lovely lunch.

Mum, A and I took the children to the park with their bikes for an hour or so in the afternoon. Monster did so well riding all the way there and back, completely without assistance using his brakes and pedals and steering. Probably not the hugest achievement for a boy his age when plenty of boys are probably already riding without stabilisers but given he has never really ridden a bike before I think he’s doing really well. I’ve tasked him and A with getting those stabilisers off by the end of the summer! Teeny still has a way to go, but she is very determined and I’m sure once Monster is riding without stablisers her pride won’t allow her to be too far behind him!

Back for tea and more cakes and Monster and I went to have a play on the piano at my parents house. I taught him the first few notes of the Wallace nad Gromit theme music which he picked up surprisingly quickly - wish we had the space for a piano here as I’m sure regular access to play around with it coupled with some correct finger positioning and practice of scales would quickly pay off.