Glasses, Friends, Forest School, Chatterbooks, Sleepover, Drama, Yoga and cat poo

Monday

I went to the opticians and had everything checked and ordered new glasses (£340 - aarrrgggh) - have been waiting for a good pay month for the last 18 months to be able to do this. I am very short-sighted (so the NHS gives me £13 off the price), about -12, so glasses are always pricey. Really would have liked to have purple frames again but have got a nice blue shade so should be OK. Will be lovely to have glasses not held together with pipe-cleaner again and feel 'smart' enough in them to go out places rather than having to use contact lenses for out-and-about times. I do wear my pipe-cleaner bridged ones for local shop but wouldn't want to go any further in them.

After the opticians I had a coffee all by myself in Costa's and then met a friend from Writers' Retreat for lunch, which was lovely. We had a good catch-up chat over soup and bread and then a wander in the Railway Land nature reserve.

Back home, Season 6 of Smallville had arrived and so we watched the first few episodes and had Chinese food I think!

Tuesday

Freya (she has asked me to stop calling her 'F' here and really I think that's fine) had her friend E round for a play. They had a lovely time, mostly playing outside I think. I was working and did a bit of housework.

Wednesday

Freya had Forest School in the morning and Chatterbooks in the afternoong. She came back from Forest School with her web/dreamcatcher made of wood and string and a mosaic that she'd done. She'd been worried about the web thing as she'd missed the session when the others had finished theirs and taken them home, and then it had been half term, so it was good that she got to finish it and bring it home. 

In between Forest School and Chatterbooks she had a bath with some ponies and demonstrated that she can actually be very organized by knowing exactly where her 6 library books were! I didn't have a clue so that was good. Chatterbooks is every 3 weeks so things can go astray quite easily.

She came back from Chatterbooks with an Usborne chemistry book that looks good. She's also been revisiting a beautiful Periodic Table book with sumptuous pictures that J got her.

I was very tired, having had one hour's sleep with a very big deadline that morning, and I went to bed at about half nine. Freya came and gave me 2 dream ponies so that I would dream of horses on beaches and she read me a few pages of Anne of Green Gables, which was just bliss!

Thursday

Livewires was going to be sports/fun day but was cancelled. At least we got a lie-in though! Freya's friend was coming over for a sleepover later so Freya and I sorted her room out a bit, removing some items that were taking up too much room, hoovering and generally improving. Her friend came at half two and they had a lovely time, out on the trampoline with foam tiles making a sort of den, playing with Sylvanians, ponies and Barbies, making impromptu cloudy lemonade and watching Toy Story 3. Gave them pizza and chips for tea and when J was home we all played Battleships - the 3 of them against me because I'm too good at it, apparently. I did win, so maybe I am.

They went up at about 10 and were quite lively for another hour then started to settle, but were still awake long after midnight!

Friday

We were all up fairly early, so girls had had only about 7 or 8 hours I think. Quite tired, and Freya did get a bit teary and remained wobbly throughout the day with little things triggering her getting upset or angry, so we had to have several 'talks' none of which really resolved it all as it was mainly tiredness.

Nevertheless they had some fun in the morning, despite tiredness and pouring rain, and me having to deal with stressful aspects of long-haired cat having poo attached to it's bum-fluff and not letting me decontaminate it.

It was still pouring at midday, even worse in fact, so I took them up to Drama by taxi.

Drama now stops until September, which is quite a loss but I know summer will whizz by anyway. While they were there, I had to go and do some money-juggling cash-machine business to give J some cash at work, which is luckily nearby, so I did that in an absolute downpour, then came back and sat in on the session. They were doing some more work on an extract from A Midsummer's Night Dream, with lots of emphasis on expressing meaning with sound, saying words in different ways to fit the meaning. Was good and the three of them all seemed very engaged. Drama teacher M packs so much in to the time, in a quality way, not a leave-you-behind-if-you-don't-catch-up way. They finished up with some movement games and tongue-twisters.

E's grandparents gave us a lift down to Yoga, which I hadn't attended before. Was nice to see C and M and K there. I sat in the corner being a bit of a norty whispering mummy, just because it was that kind of day and I needed to a bit. 

I had thought the Yoga might be aimed very low and be a bit 'silly' because it is always advertised as being for little ones. But it was good, plenty there for Freya and older ones too and didn't seem to be at all patronising or annoying. So that might be something we do more often.

Freya and I walked home in the rain together after buying a couple of books and some felt pens and a few other bits. I was feeling very knackered by then (I'd stayed up late working) and bought some curry from local shop for dinner too. Once we were on our own she was all fine and no more tears or trouble. Sometimes it comes from situations with multiple things going on, too much communication to misunderstand or want to understand all of.

Enjoyed a Friday evening of wine, curry and Smallville, interrupted by an unpleasant half hour of J and I having to deal with the long-haired cat's nether regions. Slept like a log after quite a busy week.

Bees and chats and inks and apps

Yesterday F and I walked into town for a bit of shopping. Had a lovely chat whilst walking, she came up with an idea for a phone app, involving taking photos of objects/toys and then putting them on photos of backgrounds with simple speech bubbles to fill in and sending your creation to friends or sharing them on Facebook etc. She invented something else too but can't remember what it was, oops.

On the way we passed a small exhibition of paintings by this artist. We popped in to see the pictures. Very lovely use of colour. The artist was there in person and very friendly, she showed F the inks and brushes she uses and encouraged her to have a go with some compressed inks she had there too, F tried out the purple and blue, incredibly vibrant colours, lovely to use. F was slightly shy, or not knowing what was expected of her I think.

We got our shopping, including cat collars with bells to try once again to reduce our cats' hunting success. We had a small shocked bird to deal with on Friday evening. And remains of a mouse Saturday morning.  And another, or possibly (poor sod) same small shocked bird Saturday evening. Just hate it. Don't think we will have cats again, or maybe have boy cats I suppose, who don't seem so bothered about decimating wildlife.

After the pet shop, we went round the corner to this event at the nature reserve. It was our first time visiting the pavilion there. Downstairs they had honey-tasting and some crafts/activities that were all on the younger side. Honey tasting was popular though, with about 10 different honeys. Also monitors showing bee activity. 

Then we went upstairs to see the permanent observation hive, which was fab. The professor was excellent, answering lots of questions, I learned loads - pollen being different colours on different plants for instance. He had many questions from children about how queens are produced, what weather is best for bees, etc. F's enjoyment was significantly increased by the fact that her friend E suddenly appeared, with siblings and grandparents, so it was lovely to see them unexpectedly there.

F and I finished off our afternoon with a drink at Costas with books, spent a lovely hour there, just reading and occasionally chatting about what we were reading.

Other things from sometime in the week 

 

F found an abandoned Barbie in the garden and cleaned her up very thoroughly, quite a transformation and was impressed by how she persevered at it, even if a lot of our nicer bathroom products got used up in the process! Oh we had a good conversation about Barbies and why we didn't originally want one in the house and the difference between realistic toys and unrealistic toys, cartoons, etc.

F started reading Anne of Green Gables, seems to be liking it but taking a break for another Jacqueline W at moment.

F went and played at neighbour's house but their little girl behaved horribly to her again. F said she seemed all nice but then punched F as part of 'playing school'. Hmph.

We all sobbed at a Smallville episode called Lexmas where Lex is shown the happy future he could have by being good, but it includes Lana dying, so he has to decide not to be good to save her. We are rushing through Smallville at a bit of a fearsome rate now as we've got a bit of a weekend habit of watching 3 in a row most nights! Think it might be a good bridge to Buffy though.

F made a big box out of some big 2ft square foam tiles we have, big enough to get in. Oh she also did a disappearing trick using a big cardboard box, which she had got into with a sharp knife and carved holes in from inside, think that was last week, anyway.

F did some maths in the Carol Vorderman books we have. She has definitely got to a stage where she is having to work at maths and look at methods rather than it just being stuff she can automatically do. So a bit of an adjustment. Hard to have to step back slightly from 'just knowing' or feeling it just works for you to having to process and follow instructions. But she doesn't seem to mind and is enjoying what she does, so that's good.

We watched all 3 Toy Story films on consecutive days, which was lovely. I feel better about crying at Jessie's song every single time, now that I have heard that Tom Hanks and Tim Allen did so at the premiere! F planned and stuck to a schedule of activities for her small Toy Story figures - they did bunjie

F went to Forest School on Wednesday and enjoyed it as usual.

F has been doing a 'cryptic crossword' in the back of her JW book. She has also been asking about a lot of word meanings (some of them rude - eek!) too lately.

We all had an interesting conversation, started by F, prompted by Game of Life cards, about whether we'd rather be a lawyer or a mechanic and why. J and I both just about decided on mechanic, for similar reasons, though when younger might have gone for lawyer.

I had a ton of work to do on Thursday and Friday, it was very hard and I delivered right on the edge of the French business day ending. Must deliver next job in better time as I think someone had to stay behind in the office on a Friday to pick up my e-mail. Good to have more work again as May was a bit rubbish after a very good April. Have got more for Tuesday and Wednesday so had better do some today in fact.

Bodiam - Cranbrook - Maidstone - Home

Monday

Off to stay one night with grandpa Chris.

J's dad picked us up at 11ish and we all headed off for a pub lunch (bit Francocentric to be comfortably vegan there but they managed to put something together for us, though wouldn't countenance the thought of making garlic bread using oil instead of butter). 

Then we went on the Kent and East Sussex steam railway from Tenterden to Bodiam Castle - a surprise part of the day planned by grandpa C - we had discussed the castle but not the train, must admit I do love steam trains.  

I've always wanted to go to the castle, but never quite got there before. Very picturesque, had some sunshine. I loved J pointing out the carp to F on the walk on the bridge over the moat and knowing that some of those same fish may well have been there when he visited Bodiam as a child with his parents.

J and F went up the winding stairs to the top together and F stood on the grid with the drop below, though apparently she didn't immediately realize she was doing so.

Got the steam train back, then grandpa C's car to his flat and settled in there. F was very keen to go to the local playground because we had been there last time we visited, when she was not-quite-2! 

We all went over the road to a nice Indian restaurant (much more vegan friendly than Frenchish lunch) and F proved herself now able to properly enjoy an Indian meal, even if she only really had mutter panir and a bit of bread. She was very taken with the array of dishes though and even tried some sag aloo just because it was there. So I predict we'll soon be able to have the odd meal out at local Indian restaurant, rather than always going to Pizza Express or Terre a Terre. 

J had the unpleasant experience of the wrong dish being brought to him and putting a few spoonfuls on his plate then realizing it was bits of corpse (think it was lamb something - ugh). But the error was remedied fairly promptly and the food was delicious. I had a vegetable dhansak and J had vegetable jalousi. Grandpa C had something prawny I think.

We rolled back over the road and watched an episode of that Inside your body prog, which I've been meaning to catch, so that was good. F was enthralled, so might have to check out some more similar soon.

Tuesday morning, after looking at lots of family pics including ones of J as a toddler, we breakfasted on toast and fruit, Grandpa C had bought lots of strawbs and raspberries so F and I ate loads of those. Caught the bus out of Cranbrook. On the bus, we decided it made sense for F and I not to go home but to go straight to mum's from Tunbridge Wells, since the Cranbrook bus was going there anyway, whilst J could head home. Left J at 29 bus stop and waved to him from our Maidstone bus. Gorgeous sunny day for top deck travel, with obligatory (more) strawberries.

Got to my mum's about 3ish on Tuesday, intending to stay till Thursday morning (but...)

At my mum's we played cards (me, F and mum, with me very much micro-managing to keep it going as F didn't know how to play and mum had forgotten!), ate too much (me, F and mum), sat in the garden (mum and F), played a role-play game devised by F (mum and F - it was almost dramatherapy like, involving games with memories, role-play in restaurants with friends played by F, all sorts, very complex and well thought out and mum seemed to be enjoying it!). Mum isn't doing that well really, her short-term memory continuing to deteriorate bit by bit, making it very difficult to do anything e.g. forgetting sometimes now how to operate her tv, forgetting how to use her phone. It's very sad to see, I am not good with any of it really. F was brilliant though, bringing giggles and snuggles into the house. Though poor girl did get very upset when mum just really couldn't remember her name - until recently mum has remembered with a nudge but it just wasn't there any more. Felt sorry for F as she cried about it, my mum calling her by my name. In comparison my own struggle with having bits of the Daily Mail read out to me many times over was not so hard!

Anyway, F and I had a lot of time together too, especially on the Wednesday - went for a walk to get some shopping in the morning, and a geocaching walk in the afternoon - semi-successful! Two new caches had been hidden fairly near to mum's so that was exciting. We found one, took out a little bracelet and put in two blue glass pebbles. Couldn't locate the other one but tried very hard and amused ourselves with various comedic interpretations of the clues.

Back at mum's I had got all our dinners going when suddenly got an e-mail from C in Lewes asking if F was still going to an activity day locally the next day! (this is the 3rd thing in a week that has come up double-booked - am really not doing well with it, must get a decent calendar and A System). This activity day had been booked weeks and weeks ago. 

Had to decide quickly what to do, so we ate our dinner and then headed out at 8pm to get bus and train and train. Travelling at that time, of course, it turned into one of those epic journeys as we hit a long gap in direct services and had to do weird routes that don't make sense. But there was a glorious sunset and we were both in good spirits, so it was fun, though we were very tired after 2 nights in 2 different strange beds.

Arrived home via Hove and via Brighton at about midnight! Was lovely to get into my own bed with lots of space (J and I shared a small double at his dad's, F and I shared same size at mum's). Think F must have slept very well.

Thursday

Woke F up early for her activity day - at local animal sanctuary focusing on cats. She had a really good time, and it sounded like they had done loads. She came back with a 'kitten mitten' she had made - not sure how much of it she did but it is long traily bits and bobs attached to a glove, very good idea and can tell she really enjoyed it. Also she and her friend had had quite a bit of time with kittens and cats, been in the little cat pens, etc. Very pleased it was so good as the woman who was doing their children's stuff there is on maternity leave and we weren't sure. 

Friday

F had drama - I was going to walk her up but then had to be available for contact from mum's doctor or his receptionist about mum's iron pills, so C kindly agreed to take F there and back. Drama was apparently also good, they did some Shakespeare, working on a small piece from A Midsummer Night's Dream. I think F gets quite a lot out of working with text now, especially the ways that M deals with it in these sessions, focusing on the sounds, using visual ways to explore different voices.

When F came home, I was still finishing a bit of work, then she ate a couple of platefuls of fruit and we watched Toy Story 2 and Monsters Inc. She got some small Toy Story figures at my mum's and had brought the two Jessie figures down to watch with her, as they're very much her current favourites. We had never realized that there is a Jessie figure in Monsters Inc, in Boo's room when Sully says goodbye - F spotted it as we were watching and we had to rewind to be sure! The Jessies on the table were highly excited of course. F is very good at spotting those details/references in films and remembering things, but we must have watched that film a dozen times and never noticed it before. What a coincidence that we picked it today.

And am hoping for quite a restful weekend again, hayfever is bad so not much energy or desire to be out and about. A long lavender bath will do me, some Doctor Who, some Smallville and a glass or two of ginger wine and something to read.