T-Bird Anni Rides Again

no really, we thought he had! 

I spent a lovely weekend away with a group of Guiders (wonder what the collective name for Guiders is?  a gossip?) where I had my usual Guiding induced identity crisis - you see they know me by my internet name, and for the benefit of those of you who hadn’t already worked it out, it’s not actually my real first name!   Anyway….

we had a BBQ in the evening and it was really misty and all of a sudden this apparition emerged out of the mist in Baden Powell style clothing (complete with the silly hat) and just for a moment all conversation ceased, only a short moment you understand but still!  We were all somewhat relieved to find out it was just a normal Scout leader with a sense for the dramatic and he turned out to be a really nice guy who was coming to sort out arrangements for the campfire cos his Scouts had got double booked with us (story of the weekend really)  The scouts had an hour of pyromania then we joined them and then they ambled off to bed (and we even sang them a bedtime song as they dissapeared back into the mists…..) and then we indulged in some serious pyromania to the point of it being too hot to safely toast our marshmallows on oh, and we helped restore the scout leader’s sanity slightly by demonstrating how you are meant to sing certain campfire songs (mainly LOUDLY with lots of silly actions) and that Gin Gan Goolie really is a genuine song and not something smartarses come out with to torment Scouts as he was having trouble convincing some of the boys of these facts!

Other highlights since I last remembered to blog are…. erm…… ahhhh….. I dunno, I’m sure I’ve done something worth mentioning????  hmm nope, not that I can remember now!

has anyone managed to beat "up the hump" on fantastic contraption yet?  what am I doing wrong????

we took MIL to the craft shop and non of us spend more than £5!  Well, not quite true, I spent £10 of Rainbows money on blank cards for doing something with the girls at some point because they were on offer and I’ve now got enough to keep them in cards for years!

Aprilia has continued to discover that she can read and did various other clever bits today too, although most of it was done in a selection of silly voices for some obscure reason.

I learned how to do Turks Head Knots to make woggles for swaps on a Guiders convention I’m going to at the weekend (it’s traditional to take "swaps" to these sort of things adn I figured that a bunch of woggles would work out mucho cheaper than buying badges etc)

I didn’t learn any more stuff for the exam though.  Seems that revision really does happen much better away from the distractions of home!

from feeling like I had ages before the exam, suddenly I only have 3 weeks.  And I’m away with Guiding next weekend and I did bggr all this weekend cos I’ve been knackered.  Am hoping I can get loads done this next week!!!!!!!  I need to have pretty mind maps scattered round teh house NOW otherwise I don’t hvae time for them to infiltrate my brain!

Every now and then someone gets on their high horse on some forum or other about how Lord Baden Powell was on some kind of army recruitment kick when he founded the Scouts and that by association, Guiding is also militaristic.  It really hacks me off (not to mention creating a bizarre mental image of us defeating the enemy with a hoard of shrieking, giggling Rainbows….)  If you are going to point the finger at any organisations for being formed for or by war then it’s the St John and Red Cross you should be vilifying but no one seems to…… anyway, from BP’s own writings…

 Baden-Powell’s speech at the first Jamboree in August 1920 

"Brother Scouts, I ask you to make a solemn choice. Differences exist between the peoples of the world in thought and sentiment, just as they do in language and physique. The war has taught us that if one nation tries to impose its particular will upon others, cruel reaction is bound to follow. The Jamboree has taught us that if we exercise mutual forbearance and give and take, then there is sympathy and harmony. If it be your will, let us go forth from here fully determined that we will develop among ourselves and our boys that comradeship, through the world-wide spirit of the Scout Brotherhood, so that we may help to develop peace and happiness in the world and goodwill among men. Brother Scouts, answer me. Will you join this endeavour?" And from every corner of the vast building there came back a great shout of ‘Yes’.

 Some call to arms hey?

studying has used up all my word-allocation for most of the week, even stories have suffered as there really is only so many words I can read in one day before my brain explodes   but anyway, a brief round up….

Lots of studying, surprised at how much I did actually remember, alarmed at the bits I didn’t even recognise!

Lots of her running round the soft play place

Lots of smoothies bought at aforementioned play place, she’s had her whole year’s worth of 5 a day!

Rainbows was great, the week before although they had all enjoyed it I came home fed up with bloody minded parents etc, this week all the parents were lovely, appreciative and on time…..

Thursday evening Aprilia suddenly decided she wanted to try to do a school routine sort of day, you know, get up early, put on some uniform, have breakfast grab a bag full of books etc, walk to school (ie walk round the block back home!) and have a full day of "school"   I wondered if this was some sort of plea for more routine in her life……  Friday morning I dutifully woke her up early-ish, she slumped into my room, curled up on my bed and went back to sleep   Eventually she decided that really school wasn’t going to happen that day so could we just go to the play place again, have a smoothie and have a chill out afternoon.  Well, you know, I can live with that!  I do wonder if she needs a bit more of a routine though.  I downloaded a Spanish workbooky thing which seems to have met aprooval so I’m planning on doing a few different bits with her on the lines of a daily dip into Spanish, restarting the Drawing With Children at least 1 day a week, restarting some regular music practice, pushing the basic workbooky and reading bits so we get a bit of momentum back with them, reinstating science experiments (which seem to slip because i’m not organised enough to have everything to hand and hunting for it just doesn’t float my boat), encouraging her to do more productive crafty bits and doing some regular "PE"  In fact getting back to our original "structured" philosophy that I drifted away from because I just love the idea of autonomy and having a self-educating child despite the evidence that I don’t have one!

Today I displayed my hormonal side at Kung Fu and wobbled pathetically through various bits, the instructor gave me a knowing look and told my training partner to be gentle on me cos I’m a girl and even tough girls can be fragile some days.  How true……   I’ve spent the rest of the day drinking chocolate milk (well, it’s less calories than a whole bar of dairy milk and it does hit the spot!) and pootling in the garden with Aprilia.

The start and end bits were a bit rubbish but the middle was fine!  Started off by savaging a small, round child for having the temerity to greet me not with "good morning mummy" but with "these trousers don’t fit" whilst sporting a pair of brand new, age much older than she is but the same age as all the other trousers she owns that fit her fine, trousers without any labels on meaning I couldn’t just whip them back to Asda as they were creased and unlabeled so I can’t prove they aren’t just grown out of.  Hardly life threatening but obviously I was blunt as she then wailed for 5 minutes.

In the middle we played in the garden, went on a bike ride and had cuddles.  It was very lovely.  Just what a lazy Sunday should be.

Towards the end on of the neighbourhood urchins knocked her bike off it’s stand whilst rushing from our house to a more atractive playdate which is anoying but sadly her bike helmet was on the handlebar (yes, I know, I keep telling her not to!!!) and it is now scrap as it cracked on impact.  Not impressed.

Anyway, I’m planning on mucho revision this next week so have a season ticket for the local play place and will be taking her most mornings so she can play and I can scribble in books and look like I know what I’m doing without being distracted by more worthy occupation like surfing the web, knitting and even, when desperate for something to save me from studying, cleaning.

Brownies started back today.  She’s been counting down teh days for weeks.  I forgot.  How rubbish am I??????

In my defence, we had a busy morning and Duke was late home so I lost track of time.

this morning I had her at the doctors as she has a large mole that has suddenly started itching.  She got all tearful about the whole thing whilst we were waiting, didn’t want to go in to the Dr, was frightened about what he would do etc. Thankfully he thinks it’s okay but wants to keep an eye on it.

So, in celebration for it not being a full leg amputation job  I took her to soft play for a while before going to the library, grovelling for being a day late and paying my 13p fine!  Then we found they had 2 more HP audio books in stock and grabbed them and I will remember to take them back on time……

This afternoon she listened to the dulcet tones of Mr Fry whilst I hunted for interesting but easy tatting patterns, I found a lot of very lovely stuff but not sure how much of it is for her and how much is really for me!

By way of educational stuff, SL is still ticking over, Mrs PiggleWiggle has been added to the great book list so I suspect there will be very little of SL 1 to sell on when we finish (no shocks there really)  She was actually interested in the history page today, it was Stonehenge which is something vaguely relevent, up til now we have been in the Middle East (cradle of civilisation and all that) which really hasn’t floated her boat but at least it’s only a quick read.  She did a 10 minute test in about half the required time amid much giggling and then a page of Stile where she reminder herself that reading is getting easier.  I do like Stile, just wish I could lay hands on the Maths part at some point before it becomes redundant by dint of being too easy for her….. In fact, I’m tempted to get someone else to order it for me and see if they have any more luck!  We also finished MuddleEarth which was fab, I’ve really enjoyed it and she wanted me to start it again straight away!

today has been a day of them!  First we discovered how great the audio comentary is on Harry Potter, the woman who does it is obviously a gold medal winning storyteller, she really put her all into it!  I’m wondering if you can pull just the sound track off the DVD and have it as a "story CD"!

Then we discovered that Aprilia can tat, it was my shuttle that was not right for her, I found a smaller, flatter one lurking in a craft box and she has happily tatted for several hours making very few mistakes.  Tomorrow she wants to do a little butterfly and I think she will manage it just fine if today is anything to go by!  

Unfortunately, just a few minutes past closing time I discovered that the books needed to go back to the library today, ah well, the fines aren’t too high…..

And then, at bedtime we discovered that someone has waved a wand over her and installed the next bit of reading in her head.  She has suddenly "got" long vowels without having to do the sounding it out wrong, noticing the second vowel, going back, trying again business.  Darn it, I may even have to buy the next set of ****** Fairy books some time soon!  (and at this rate she will be reading the ***** things soon too….. phew, never again will I need to read what Rachel and Kirsty are saving the world from this time!

it dawned on me the evening why she is so keen on us being in the tent in the back garden.  Not only does it mean she gets more stories as I tend to just snuggle down and keep going in comfort as I’ve nothing better to do but she gets me, by her side, all night.  I have, however, put my foot down tonight as it’s blowing a gale and if the tent is going to blow away I’d rather it didn’t do it with us in it!  Funny girl, on the surface she is Little Miss Independent but then at the flick of a lightswitch she’s Little Miss I Want Mama.