Catch up

It seems like a long time since I last posted. I’ve been ill several times and busy with work. I turned down work for the first time a couple of weeks ago, which felt very strange but I know it was the right decision. My own children need time alone with me and to be honest I’m already absolutely exhausted on my days off. Definitely looking forward to the summer holidays in two and a bit weeks!

The children have been doing lots of building with Duplo and Lego. Aaron still likes to use the Duplo for large scale sculptures of things like dinosaurs, ships and space rockets.

Tabitha and the baby had fun with a puffed rice sensory tray.

Painting has been popular.

Aaron painted a space rocket and a bus.

Aaron has been wanting a skateboard for years so when we spotted these mini ones I finally gave in. He soon discovered that it wasn’t as easy as the teenagers make it look!

We’ve always thought that Tabitha may have inherited dyspraxia, so I was expecting her to struggle with the skateboard. However, she did pretty well and is keen to keep practising, so all that time riding a balance bike and scooter must have paid off!

Tabitha loves to turn on a children’s CD and dance around, making up her own actions. Yes, she’s wearing Aaron’s milo vest so I’m knitting her one of her own, which you can just see in the basket on the right.

I had a scan at the hospital yesterday, then went up to the college to pick up all my results for the year. It’s been hard work but I’m really pleased with my marks, just hope I can keep it up for another two years! As part of my course I have to do a 50 hour work-based learning placement with a specific focus. I chose to focus on outdoor provision in my childminding practice, because not having a garden makes it much more challenging. On Tuesday I spent the day observing outdoor play at Two Rivers Outdoor Preschool, which was a great experience.

We have also decided that Aaron and Tabitha will be starting at Two Rivers for one day per week in September. It is a Steiner-inspired kindergarten, accepting children aged 3.5 – 7 years, with lots of home educating families involved. Based in a yurt in the middle of secluded woodlands, the children have fantastic opportunities to play outside for hours every day. I’ve been following the school’s progress since before it opened, but it is a 20 minute drive away so attending hasn’t been an option until now. We haven’t been able to go to our local home-ed group for months due to the hours I work and Aaron really misses his friends there. When he discovered that his beloved friend Rose goes to Two Rivers, I knew that he would love to go too. At first we weren’t sure about sending Tabitha but she insisted that she wants to go with Aaron. She really enjoyed it there on Tuesday, quickly making friends with a little boy and even talking to the teachers by the afternoon, so we’ll see how it goes.

Today I decided to reorganise our craft supplies by colour, inspired by some of the amazing Reggio photos Ali has sent me! Tabitha helped me to sort things into the right jar.

More happy rainbows in my home! Hopefully having lots of different supplies in each jar will help the children to discover things that get forgotten and not used very often.

Colin’s youngest sister has a birthday this week and his middle sister is coming down to visit. For the first time ever, Colin has the week off work and I don’t! The sunshine is back so we’re hoping to enjoy some family outings in the lovely weather.