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...