Settling in

Today

I had a deadline mid-afternoon so was increasingly tied to the laptop as the day progressed, but nevertheless we had a look at the birdfeeder (still full of seeds), chatted a bit in the garden about the seasonal changes, especially cold feet/wet grass! She watched a bit of telly about Isombard Kingdom Brunel and the Clifton suspension bridge and we chatted about that, played with beads a bit before saying they were too fiddly, watched some Shaun the Sheep, went on the internet and successfully googled for pictures of Viva Pinata Party Animals, having asked me to write names down for her and asked for help in how to use Google.

What else? She was a bit restless/tricky as my deadline approached, sensing my attachment to my laptop and challenging it! Then at half four we were off out to pre-karate at the leisure centre, had a nice walk over there, good-humoured and chatty, her concentration in the session wasn't great but she was fine, just sometimes a bit behind others, and definitely enjoying herself. She has asked if she can do the Friday sessions too, and after a bit of discussion, we have decided that it seems a good idea, as this is just the kind of activity that helps her balance among other things. If she's keen, why not, really? So we should make it over to that tomorrow. The group is also having a Hallowe'en party in a few weeks time and she will probably go to that too. We got a lift back with R's dad, which was good as she had done a lot of running around by that time.

Back here, Chinese food, wine and no work this evening!

Yesterday

F and I attached the chains to the birdfeeder she had painted the day before with grandma, took it up the garden and hung it off a branch at the back. We aren't lucky with birds, have tried before, but she really wants to feed the birds regularly like grandma. Too many cats around here and plenty of trees, etc. so birds don't much bother coming in the gardens. So we put seeds in the bowl and also some bread on the grass to entice them. You never know. I thought squirrels might come down and eat the seeds, but no sign of anything at the moment.
Talked about seeds and how nutritious they are. Our current regular bread has tons of seeds in too, so we looked at all the different ones in it: poppy, sunflower, linseed, etc.

Looked at a dinosaur footprint nearly as big as F on BBC news site and chatted about that briefly.
F and I looked at some entertaining videos on YouTube, kittens chasing their tails, etc. Then I did a proper clear up in the kitchen, including finding homes for a few more things that have been adrift in there since we moved.

C from over the road came over with her mum S after school at 4ish. S and I downed tea (well I did and S had her baby to look after so won't be seeing a hot cuppa for a few years) and chatted and the girls seemed to get on fine, they played with bats and a ball out in the garden and did a jigsaw together in the living room, listened to CDs in F's room and investigated the Happy Land stuff just before it was time for C to go. Coming over again on Monday after school.

After they had gone, F wanted to know about Noah (jigsaw is of Noah and ark and animals), so I gave her a bit of Bible (via wikipedia) and that entailed a brief discussion of what 'righteous' and 'good' mean, also the agreement that 600 is awfully old for a person.

At bedtime she asked for Rapunzel (we have a rather fancy illustrated book of the story), so I read her that, which led to a discussion of why it was so significant that the ladies felt their dresses becoming tight around their waists and how that meant that the sorceress knew that Rapunzel had seen a man! F also did a bit of reading from 'I am not going to read any words today' but isn't so much in the mood for that at the moment, generally.
I stayed up till half three or so working.