The only thing on the calendar for today was ballet for K at 5pm. Generally days like that go one of two ways, often we do very little but occasionally we do loads. Today was definitely towards the doing lots end of the spectrum.
I think one thing that helped was getting the (currently obligatory) game of Phase 10 out of the way this morning, which admittedly started rather late (how do people get children to school on time!?).
We'd agreed that we would give Feed yourself Friday a go for lunch time. I did help with cutting bread and opening tins (they both had a go, but we discovered that both using a tin opener and opening a ring-pull type of tin are rather tricky for small hands). M had originally decided on 'cheesey toast and beans', but, on finding a tin of spaghetti in the cupboard, changed her mind and that with toast. K had chosen tomato soup with toast and stuck with that. Both girls went for the microwave over the hob when offered the choice, and both rinsed out the tins (having put what was left in a container in the fridge in M's case, and I'd had the rest of the soup in K's) and put everything in the dishwasher afterwards. All in all it went rather well and we will stick with this. I have said that I would like them to use the opportunity to try new things at least some of the time, rather than having the same every week, and we agreed 'new things' can mean either things they haven't got for themselves before or completely new things.
After lunch we went out to the library to collect the book that they had got in for K (both K & M have been enjoying the Witch Baby and Me series). After a disappointing visit to M&S - H the lovely lady who is usually there with things to taste on a Friday and Saturday wasn't there - we came home.
We'd talked about getting out our Science Experiments book and choosing something to do. As it turned out we chose three things to do.
M decided she wanted to make paper aeroplanes (again), so she and I made one each (and K has decided to join in and is making one as I type!) and flew them against each other.
We also now have two other experiments on the go. On the side in the kitchen we have a pint glass with oil, golden syrup and water (with green food colouring in it) mixed up and various small objects (chocolate drop, screw, plastic counter, button & balloon shaped sequin type thing) dropped in. At the moment there are two distinct layers, but I think we may have mixed it a bit too vigorously and created an emulsion. It's supposed to show density, which we have talked about, so we'll have to see how it looks in the morning.
We also have three containers of water in the freezer; one with tap water (very thoroughly shaken), one with filtered water (again shaken) and the third with filtered, boiled water (very carefully poured). We're hoping that tomorrow we will see some cloudy ice and some clear ice!
As I may have mentioned just a few times, Phase 10 is hugely popular here. M only plays with me, and K if she wants to, but K likes to play on her own or rather with an imaginary friend (she plays both hands though!). She has been talking about making up a variation of the scoring rules and today she played her new way. In the classic version you get points for any cards left in your hand at the end of a hand and points are a bad thing. In K's new version points are good and if you do manage to put your phase down, you get points, but if you have any cards left in your hand you subtract them from your score and additionally you get the points of any cards that are 'hit' onto your phase. If you don't manage to complete your phase you don't get any points, but you don't lose any, and get nought.
In addition to all the above, M has read one of the books she got from the library already (Dino Dog), and started another one. Both girls have had another go at touch typing. K has been to ballet and meanwhile M made the batter and in fact most of the rest of the work for the toad-in-the-hole that was for tea, as well as pulling carrots from the garden to go with it. We've also talked about laughter releasing endorphins, which are pain relieving, when I made K laugh when she stubbed her toe and she's just gone to look up 'endorphins' in the index of our new Human Body encyclopedia. Hmmm, it's not there, but 'laughing' is and endorphines are mentioned in a paragraph about laughter: 'Laughter triggers the release of brain chemicals called endorphins, which make us feel great.' Finally, M & K are going to a cycling party tomorrow for a friend's birthday here, so A has got the bikes out and checked them over with M helping.
Looking back at all that - we've done even more than I thought! Very annoying not to have a camera at the moment though, the shutter is not working, and it's going to take weeks just to find out if it can be fixed. :-(
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