When you think things haven't worked...

Sometimes you might suggest something and your children make it very clear that they're not interested, other times something seems to work for a while before being firmly rejected for some reason....

In my last post, I mentioned that I had made the suggestion that they could do their own thing with their Lego Creator houses rather than sticking to the instructions that come with the set, and K was very clear that she liked following the instructions and didn't want to do her own thing.  On Sunday morning however, I stuck my head around her bedroom door and found her doing just that!  While I hadn't particularly been expecting her to do this, it didn't surprise me that she prefered to hide away a bit, as she is much more likely to try out new things in private than where others can see what she's doing.

It seems rather a long time ago now, probably a year or so, that K & M had a few weeks, maybe a month or so, of playing Timez Attack before getting frustrated about not being able to quite manage to give the answers fast enough.  I'm not sure what prompted K to return to it, but returned she has and M has joined her.  I have already seen some signs of the frustration that led to them rejecting it last time, but they're both very into it, for now at least!

Today we headed over to Asfordby for a session on Dinosaurs.  Since M has been very interested in dinosaurs since the age of about 2 and a half, we have quite an extensive collection of books which we took along to share.  As always E, who runs the group, had come up with a range of activities linked to the topic.  All three of us 'making fossils', making imprints in clay ready to pour in plaster of Paris.

Tomorrow, we'll break the clay off and see the results.  M & I also had a go at wet felting dinosaur eggs.  M's belongs to Lily, her diplodocus, and when K pointed out that it is the wrong shape for a herbivore's egg (they were round, rather than pointed like carnivores'), M decided that it was that shape because Lily had accidently squashed it!  Lily is taking great care of her egg, which M's help and has even built a nest for it.

A big step towards new boundaries.

Something that I find difficult, for a variety of reasons, is deciding on what is reasonable to allow my girls, in terms of how much freedom to go out on their own.  At 7.5 and 9, there are some things that they are clearly too young for, (and I'm aware that some parents may well consider them too young for things that I already allow) but there are others that they feel ready for and, much as I don't want them to grow up too fast, I think they're ready for too.  For example, K has been popping to the Co-op (less than 10 minutes walk, 2 very quiet roads and 1 slightly busier but with a zebra crossing) to buy something I need when I'm in the middle of cooking usually, since just before she turned 8.  I trust her, we're well known in the Co-op, we've talked through what to do in different situations, for example, she needs to be home by a certain time (she knows that this is for my benefit as much as hers!), so if the queues are more than about 5 people, she's to leave it and come home anyway.  M thinks it's very unfair that she hasn't been allowed to do this yet and soon she will be able to, but not just yet, although she has been to the post box for me a couple of times.  Something that I haven't yet allowed, and probably won't for some time, is let either of them go anywhere like this at a time when most children are at school, as, although it's unlikely to be an issue, I don't think it's fair on them to leave them open to the possibility of being questioned about why they're not in school.  Until today, whenever either of them has been out, it's been for a specific task, straight there and back again.  Today we were, unsurprisingly, making more wands and we ran out of hot glue gun sticks.  I suggested that K & M could go together to get some more, the shop being a little bit further than the Co-op, but with another zebra crossing for the extra road.  It was a new thing for M to go that far without an adult, which she was very happy about, but the really big new thing about it, was that they asked if they could go to the park as well and after some discussion we agreed.  The agreement was that at least one of them need to wear a watch and they had to be home by 2.30pm (not 2.31 which they asked if it would be okay).  They set off on their scooters at about 1.50pm and I surprised myself somewhat by how relaxed I was.  A and I had a cuppa and did some of the crossword and I started clock watching about twenty past and a just gone twenty five past we heard them outside chatting away with our next-door neighbour.  So a successful experiment and at weekends and school holidays I think K & M will be allowed the bit of freedom that they feel the desire and the readiness for.

In other news, we are in the throes of making lots more wands, partly because K & M are making them for various friends and now also mini versions for some of their toys but also because we have decided to make some to sell at a HE Comic Relief meet up.  I have also been continuing to read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, both while K & M are wand making and also while they've been building their Lego Creator houses.  I have suggested that they might like to try designing their own houses, and M has made some minor alterations to hers, but K prefers to stick to the instructions included in the set.  This morning when I came downstairs I found K on the floor in the front room with our big dictionary open in front of her and a small booklet that she'd made.  I'm not allowed to know what it's about as it's top secret and in fact she'd punched a hole in the booklet and put a small padlock through it!  However she had apparently used the dictionary successfully to find out whatever it was she wanted to spell.

More of the same!

I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear that we've been reading more Harry Potter over the past few days.  We've also been making more wands, M announced suddenly at 11.40am on Thursday (we have to leave the house at about 12.45pm for gymnastics) that she needed to finish making a wand for F, a friend from gymnastics.  Given that we need to eat about midday and in order to finish making the wand, she needed to do some hot glue gunning and three layers of painting with time for drying in between, plus finishing off with gold or silver pen, we were cutting it pretty fine.  However, by taking the gold pen in the car, M just about managed to finish the wand for F before gymnastics started!

Today we've continued with both the book and the wand making, and since we're planning to go to a Comic Relief HE meet up I suggested that we could make extra (both K & M already have a list each of friend who they are intending to make wands for) and sell some and give the money we make to Comic Relief, so I have been making more too.  Both K & M have also been doing more Lego making, while I've been reading they both were remaking their Creator Lego houses today.

Well I was busy!

Today I read more Harry Potter to the girls this morning and this afternoon we had friends round.  Making the most of half term, A & J's granny dropped them off soon after lunch and S, their mum, joined us when she finished work.  The four girls disappeared with mounds of cardboard boxes, although I haven't as yet seen what became of them!  Meanwhile I made lemon pudding, used stock and left overs to make chicken & veg soup, pizza for the girls' tea and sourdough bread (admittedly I started that this morning).

A bits and pieces sort of day.

Today was one of those days when we did quite a variety of things, including among other things...

• K & M each made a birthday card for their Uncle M
• M & I went to the playground for a little while, but K didn't want to, so...
• K went to buy lemons from the Co-op and we met up again afterwards
• We popped into our local toy/craft shop where we bought wand making stuff from to show them some of the results
• I read some more of The Order of the Phoenix
• M drew some pictures to go in a double frame she bought a while back from a charity shop
• M finalised her story (which I'd forgotten to mention she's been working on over the past few days), for the 500 words short story competition and we sent it in
• K did some maths in a workbook (on her own, I may be allowed to have a look!)
• M did a 200 piece Where's Wally puzzle
• K made some cheese straws (I said I wasn't going to buy any from M&S but that she could make some)

We're going for it.

The Order of the Phoenix that is.  We finished The Goblet of Fire and both K & M were okay with it, with some snuggling up while I was reading it a couple of times where necessary, I, on the other hand, struggled to read at one point and really choked up while reading "Mrs Weasley set the potion down on the bedside cabinet, bent down, and put her arms around Harry.  He had no memory of ever being hugged like this, as though by a mother." It's very different reading something like that after having children, .  They have both decided (knowing about the up-coming death of one particular goodie) that they think they'll be fine, so today I read the first two chapters.  Our friend C came round this afternoon and she had a go at The Mystery at Hogwarts game with us, which was very close and K just edged it, although we had all just about worked it out. 

 This weekend we had friends come to stay, C, Mt and their daughter Ma who is about 6 months older than M.  C & M are old friends of A's from uni who we don't see very frequently, the last time being over 12 months ago.  M told me before they arrived that she couldn't really remember them much, but she did remember that she liked playing with Ma.  The girls got on really well and we had a really good trip to Wollaton Hall, both inside and out, including going up the climbing tree and for a walk around the lake, incorporating a game of dob.

K up the climbing tree (as was I when I took the photo)

M hanging around in the climbing tree

After the walk round the lake, we were heading back up to the hall, when a group of deer (there are both fallow and roe deer at Wollaton) crossed our path really rather close!

On Sunday, there was a trip to the local park in the morning and after lunch we introduced them to Carcassonne, which they really liked as we'd anticipated.  They left mid-afternoon and after a bit of a tidy, we watched Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire.

Guess what?

We made more wands!

We started them yesterday afternoon, after ice-skating, and finished them off this morning before gymnastics.  I think that if I don't decide to invest in a hot glue gun then either K & M will be doing so and they've already got plans to manufacture lots for the next Fun Club table top sale!

We had a good skate yesterday, although I somehow seemed rather strange to be getting the bus and walking there and back in the snow, only to go inside to go on the ice.

Today at gymnastics K & M both passed their British Gymnastics Proficiency Award Level 7 (it goes backwards from 8).  They're both still really enjoying it, which is the main thing and are still very keen on stopping for the second hour.

We've also, naturally, been continuing with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  We've just about reached the point where it's going to start getting properly dark and scary, so I'm quite interested to see how K & M will deal with it.  My gut feeling is that we'll have to stop at the end of this book, which we will do if either of them deem it too scary, but we'll see, they might surprise me...

Wand making!

Today, thanks to the wonder of the internet (the idea, along with the link, came from L on Facebook) and the help of a friend, E (who loaned us a hot glue gun) we made our very own wands.

Well first we had pancakes for breakfast, since it is Pancake Day and, according to K & M it is 'against the law' to eat anything other than pancakes on Pancake Day.  Then we needed to go out to source a few more things we needed to make our wands (double sided tape, spray paint and acrylic paint).  Once home we started wand making.

We rolled and stuck (double sided tape and PVA glue) the paper.

Sealed the ends with the glue gun.

Then we added some more interest with the glue gun, K & M both needed a bit of help with this bit as it was slightly fiddly, and we left them to set while we had lunch, which was, of course, more pancakes.

After lunch we spray painted them and left them to dry, while I read a chapter of Harry Potter.

M using the acrylic paint for the main colour

K doing the same

(At this point I decided to make another one!)  Then, as they were drying, I read more Harry Potter, before we returned to 'distress' them.  To do this we used a wash of black acrylic paint with a bit of water, painted it on and then wiped it off with kitchen roll.  We left that to dry while we had tea - pancakes and then did the final stage, picking out the glue detail with gold or silver pens.

I hope you agree that the results are pretty impressive!  As L said, you have a go at an arts or craft project hoping for a result like the one you see on the TV or in the photo, but so often you are disappointed.  Here we weren't in the slightest and I would thoroughly recommend having a go at this to anyone, particularly any Harry Potter fans!

M using her new wand

This one!

K's wand.

My two.

Snakes and duels

Today, after a morning of (unsurprisingly) Harry Potter, we went along to Asfordby for a session with the theme of Snakes and the Chinese New Year.  It's always a bit of rush, just because of the time it starts and how long it takes to get there (I think when the weather gets better we'll probably take a picnic to eat there before the session), and unfortunately we forgot to take M's newly purchased Severus Snake (a toy she bought at the table top sale at Fun Club).  There were plenty of things to do and indeed taste, with some exotic fruits on offer.  K & M had a bit of a go at a couple of things, but mostly played Harry Potter games with friends, found twigs to be wands and fought duels with each other!

The children weren't particularly interested, but some of us mums got really into the tangrams!

A pretty quiet weekend

We've had mostly a quiet weekend, partly due to the weather and the stinky cold (now mostly fought off I hope!).  Yesterday M went to a birthday party, while K had a friend round to play and I curled up and watched rugby with tea while feeling sorry for myself!

Today when I got up both K and M were busy at the kitchen table, K doing some colouring and M doing something secret that I wasn't allowed to look at.  All became clear shortly when she gave this to A and me.

I read a couple more chapters of Harry Potter while they were working away and later in the afternoon a couple more while they did some knitting, M finishing off a scarf and K a toy blanket.  Then while K & M were having tea, I had my first solo attempt at making filled chocolates.  Not a bad effort if I do say so myself.

Although the idea that you should just be able to wipe rather than wash the moulds afterwards is some way off still...

Stinky cold and seeing things.

Today was set fair to be one of those days that just drift along and we don't do any overtly 'learny stuff', which given my head feels like it's stuffed full of mouldy cotton-wool due to a really stinky cold would have been fair enough quite frankly.  This morning I read a couple more chapters of Harry Potter (and the Goblet of Fire if you've forgotten and are interested), while K & M played with playmobil (dinosaurs for M, something she hasn't done for a while, new campervan for K).  Then after a quick and easy lunch, I suggested we could have a look at a couple of videos on The Happy Scientist.  K & M were up for this and we watched one explaining the difference between mass and weight and then a couple of others including this free one (it's $20 for the year for lots more videos, which I think is very good value), which shows that you can trick your eyes and brain into briefly seeing a black and white photo as colour.  I suggested that we could have a look in our non-fiction books (which I've got back out again in the hope that we might get back into our body project!) after we'd been out to the library and shops (M needed new trainers).  M decided she wasn't interested but K was, so we had a look at the section on eyes in one of our books, including the part about the rod and cone receptors of the retina, the latter being the ones you trick in the video we watched.  We also looked at the anatomy of our eyes and showed that there is a blind spot, where there aren't any of those receptors because it's where the optic nerve leaves the eye to take the messages to the brain, by doing something similar to this from the book.  After A picked K up from ballet, we were eating our tea and telling him about what we'd been up to today and K demonstrated very clearly that she'd understood what we looked at when she clarified and corrected things I told him, having decided that she'd rather I told him instead of her!

A glimpse inside her head.

Those of you who know my K will know that she's not one to do what's expected of her.  She's marches to the beat of her own drum as the saying goes, I believe.  This generally isn't a problem, mostly she will happily engage in activities in her own way and it's generally a way that doesn't particularly inconvenience others as she'll often just sit back and observe or use the materials provided for a craft activity to do something of her own design rather than that intended for example.  Frequently, however, I have not got a clue what's going on in her head and on more than one occasion during a post-altercation cuddle I have told her that I sometimes struggle to understand her, to which she has replied that sometimes she doesn't understand herself.  It can be difficult when trying to help her understand how to do something, I'm thinking particularly of maths here, when she has been unwilling or unable to explain how she has reached an answer to something.  I have found this frustrating at times, particularly if she's got something wrong and I can't work out whether she's just made an error in calculation or if she's misunderstood the question or if she's completely failed to grasp a concept.  Yesterday we had a bit of a break through when buying milk.  We'd done a bit of maths, calculating change, in another shop and I said that the reason we buy our milk from M&S is because they frequently have a good deal on their organic 4 pint cartons, which are £1.79 each or two for £3.  I asked K & M how much you saved by buying two at a time rather than two individually and said that I would add £1.80 twice and take away 2p to get the answer and K said that she would add two lots of 29p.  A little bit of questioning showed that she used the fact that she knew half of £3 was £1.50 and was working from there.  This may seem like a little thing, but for me it was really helpful as I was able to use it to talk about different ways of finding answers and how when she tells me how she gets to answers, I can see how she's worked it out and therefore if she's right how she got there and if she's made a mistake I can help her see where she went wrong and so avoid that mistake in the future, which since she hates getting questions like this wrong is a good thing!  She's now 9 and has matured a lot over the past few years, I couldn't have imagined having this conversation not all that long ago.

In other news, today we had a couple more chapters of Harry Potter.  I'm being strict about only two chapters per day at the moment because I've got a stinky cold which has brought a bit of a sore throat with it.  K & I had a look at our one of our body books, when she asked where our noses and mouths are joined.  So we looked at that and also at what happens when you breathe and when you swallow and also how I saw my own vocal chords on a screen when I went to see an ENT specialist recently.  M and I played a game of Carcassonne, she won despite moaning that I was doing too well during the game!  And of course, our busy Thursday afternoon meant a couple of hours of gymnastics and a half an hour swimming lesson.

A laid-back day with a life lesson.

After breakfast while waiting for me to get dressed, after which I had agreed to read some more Harry Potter, K pointed out that the laundry basket was quite full.  So today's lesson was a life one!  I pointed out that she could do somehting about it, so she did.  She sorted a load, put it in the machine, then with a bit of supervision of adding powder and a reminder which buttons to press, she set it going.  After a couple of chapters of Harry Potter (which K & M both continued with the sewing they'd started yesterday) it had finished.  Then M did her part in helping out by clearing the dry things off the airer and K hung up wet things.  More sewing was done this afternoon while I did some batch cooking and then we all played Carcassonne (for the first time in a while, partly because we'd lent it to friends although admittedly we hadn't played before that for a some time).  Considering how rubbish I'm feeling having had a really bad night's sleep and having come down with a horrible stinky cold, I think that was quite productive.

And a lesson in politics!

Just after I'd finished my last post, K heard something on the radio which sparked a conversation.  I'm not entirely sure why, because K & M have been aware for years of civil partnerships and during the Game of Life obsession occasionally chose to have one instead of getting married, but she hadn't registered the words homosexual or gay (apart from in our Enid Blyton readings, but that's not quite the same!).  So having explained the words, we started talking about today's vote in parliament about the legalisation of gay marriage.  It's a subject that has come up at our (RC) church, as we've been asked to send postcards asking our MP to vote against gay marriage, and I had told M (K had chosen to stay at home with Daddy) that I had no intention of doing so because I didn't agree, which M told me she was happy about.  So having established that we agreed that people should be allowed to marry whoever they want to, we moved on to democracy.  So we then talked about:

• How we vote for MPs who represent us and vote in the House of Commons.
• Occasionally there is a referendum when we vote directly on something.
• 'We' at the moment means people over 18, as that's how old you have to be to vote.

Owls, selling and sewing.

At Fun Club today we had a visit from the Owl Man.  He brought several different types of owls, talked to us about them and flew them.



The Owl Man with Charlie the Barn Owl

Everyone was really engaged and lots of the children had a chance to hold one, as did some of the adults since the European Eagle Owl was too big and heavy for the children!

M with Milligan the African Eagle Owl

After the talk, the owls were put on their perches and we had the chance to draw them and there were also a couple of related craft activities organised by some of the older children as part of an award they are doing.  There was a collage activity aimed more at the little ones and a wire sculpture one.

M's picture of Ronnie the European Eagle Owl

M's picture of Gismo, the White Face Scops Owl

K's picture of Milligan

K's creation

M's end result

Both K & M really enjoyed making the wire owls and were really engaged the entire time and girls who'd organised it were really good at explaining the process and helping the younger children when necessary.

After lunch it was the Fun Club table top sale and we'd taken quite a lot of things with us, mostly books (plus a few toys and games) that K & M have grown out of or have decided they aren't going to read again (or at all in the case of the Horrible Histories, which I really liked but neither of my girls will touch with a barge pole).  I also took some of my chocolates and truffles to sell and some workbooks, some we'd bought, some we'd been given, that had barely been touched, to give away in the hope that someone else might find them more interesting!  We all did pretty well with the sale, making over £20, a cut of which we gave to charity.  K & M also came home with a few new to them things, both from the sale and from the scrap store where we headed afterwards.

Once home, the girls immediately started making use of some material they'd picked up at the scrap store, making clothes for some of their toys.  It mostly involved cutting and sewing buttons on, but also sewing pretty lace ribbon onto the bottom in some cases.  K's making of a dress for her teddy Ginger has determined that, while previously an 'it', she is in fact a she.


M's Nala in her new cloak.

M's Christopher in his new waistcoat

K's Ginger in her new dress

Now we've had tea and K & M are getting ready for an hour's korfball.  All in all a rather busy and productive day!

A good buy.

We were out this morning at an LLL Toddler meeting, but this afternoon have been quite busy.  I have made more chocolates and made the truffles with the ganache that I made yesterday, I'm really looking forward to making filled chocolates again as soon as the last part of my birthday purchase arrives. 
M has made the both of the other designs of her new lego house (photos below by M), which is the good buy referred to above.  She is really pleased with it and after a bit of a hiccough the first time she attempted to make the house, when she went wrong but being rather overtired was unable to cope with that, she has followed the instructions and built all three designs perfectly with the occasional addition that she has deemed an improvement.

Design #2 with sliding French windows

Design #2 from the back

Design #3 from the front

Inside design #3

 All three designs, although quite small (inevitably given the kit) are really well done with lovely details and they all swing open, so can still be played with.  Very clever!

 

We've also had a bit more of a clear out ready to take out-grown books and toys along for the table top sale at Fun Club.  I must admit to struggling with the hoarding tendencies of K in particular (especially when what she's hoarding, while treasure to her, to most adult eyes is clearly rubbish!), so was quite pleased that she's letting go of quite a lot of books and games.  The idea of selling things rather than giving them away to charity shops or throwing them away certainly helps in the matter!

 

We've also continued with some more Harry Potter, which they're still enjoying greatly.  They've also both finished the food diaries which they've been keeping for a week for Brownies, although part of me wishes it hadn't been the week my Mum had been to stay as it looks an lot more 'treaty' that it would otherwise have done!

A catch up.

As I mentioned, Granny has been here for a few days, so apart from the usual weekly activities (gymnastics and swimming for both and ballet for K) we've had a fairly relaxed time.  We had a sort out of clothes, finding out what they've grown out of and finding what fitted from a new bag of hand-me-downs (some really lovely stuff!), as this is something that for some reason K & M both insist is only possible when Granny's here.  We also went into town and all three of us spent some of our Christmas/birthday money.  I bought a spatula/thermometer to aid me in my continuing adventures in chocolate making, to go with the moulds that I'd ordered and arrived Saturday.  K has finally bought the playmobil campervan that she's had her eye for months if not a year or more, and apparently had gone down in price from when she last looked at it, so she was very pleased.  M couldn't decide for quite a long time and considered another dinosaur to go with her rather large collection, but eventually settled on this lego creator house.  Today she completed one of the 3 designs and is very pleased indeed with it. 

Front view

Front view but with man on skateboard

Side view

Back view opened up.

It's really well designed, I particularly like the little 'sacks of flour'! 

K & M have both been writing their food diaries for Brownies.  It's really quite interesting to see how much neater K's writing is, and how she has naturally come to use upper and lower case letters correctly, rather than randomly as M still is, despite little or no input on the subject from me.

Today has been quite a busy day, M has made her lego house.  While M & I were at church this morning K went on Pottermore.  They have both watched some Life of Mammals.  I introduced K (and then M joined us) to Khan Academy as I thought she might like to use it to help practise her tables, but she's really rather taken with it, although the videos she's watched so far have very much been consolidation rather than anything new.  She found it particularly funny in one video when the lecturer suggested that since 9x11=99, 10x11 might be tenty ten and insisted on watching all of the videos on basic multiplication and basic addition and subtraction.  While it was on, I suggested that although the number line they showed isn't necessary for them at the moment, it may come in useful when we talk about negative/minus numbers for example.  When I gave the example of having £5 and spending £7, K immediately came up with the answer of having -£2, which she thought was very silly because you shouldn't spend money you don't have.  Both A and I agreed with this idea, but pointed out that occasionally it is useful, for example when you get a mortgage to buy a house.  Other than this we have finally started Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, after a bit of a break.

In other news, I used my new thermometer and moulds for the first time and had a go at tempering chocolate again (no fancy filling this time, just kept it simple).  I did some in a silicon heart shaped ice-cube tray we've got, but they didn't come out well at all (the silicon's not smooth enough for chocolate), but the ones I did in my one of my new professional moulds came out rather well.