Drama, Dampfross, Talent and Challenges

I hibernated a lot last week, with an achey shivery virus that kept nearly going then landing back on top of me again with a thump, especially if I dared to do anything like put bin bags out or hang washing up. Wearying it was.

Still there were nice aspects - time spent watching films, watching and helping F with games, etc.

On the Thursday she went off to a new drama group, which she enjoyed, though not sure how much of a long-term thing it will be for us, for various reasons.

 I continued sewing - er, I have nearly finished my daughter's Christmas present, go me. Am so enjoying having a semi-creative project on the go.

By Friday J was coming down with a different thing or the same thing and on Saturday he was not only feeling rubbish but on cover and got called out, so an anticipated weekend all back together after his working week didn't quite work out that way.

He had to have a snooze in the afternoon, he was feeling so rough. F and I played half a game of Dampfross (Railway Rivals, which J and I used to play with some very good friends back in our alcohol and substance enhanced late youth). 

F also played a lot of Kinectimals and finished the whole game, she's really enjoyed it and hopefully will go back to it for mini-games, with friends, etc.

We also all had a go at 'Fitness Evolved' (what a dumb name) and I really liked it - predictably I don't seem to have done it 'every day' - won't I get fit just having it in the house? The Kinect is really a very cool piece of kit.

Apart from that, we watched various family things and hung out and I had a long bath on the Sunday with a book, nice.

Today was back to Monday group, via a successful welly-buying trip into town, and it was a good session, ending with a talent show that the children had suddenly decided to put on and had organized rather well. F was a princess in a very brief play.

F spent some of the session a little out of step, wanting something more structured, engaging or challenging I think - she has been working out areas and volumes the last couple of days. I confidently said 'I expect there'll be some exercises on that in the Galore Park Maths book' but there weren't! So she's obviously ahead of where expected to be in terms of interest. Or something equally meaningless. 

So at group, although she spent a lot of time playing she also did a bit of measuring things and working things out and also some of her writing. She is writing pretty much every day at the moment - either in her diary or in her novel or both. Her novel is inspired by her recent reading of many Jacqueline Wilson books. The voices in it are well characterized and she knows her plot inside out, I like it very much. Sometimes she makes me mark it on originality, vocabulary, reader engagement and other categories.

She definitely wants more challenges, all this tells me. But it's difficult to fit them in when busy with groups and trips and all that.

We will find our way I'm sure.