Blimey, how times flies.

Well, what can I say, it's been a while.  Excuse me while I blow the dust off.  :-)


Life has been consuming; in a good way.  Rye and I have enjoyed much more peaceful communications; although of course there have been the odd fraught moment.  I'm not a mama that does leaping around and silliness in my tiny lounge, very well; the shoulders begin to meet my ears, the stress levels increase and the urge to yell becomes almost irristiable.  So, to counter that we've been out quite a bit; especially as I've had a 3rd child for 2 weeks, from 8am to 6pm Mon to Friday (Thurs excepting).  Three over excited, silliness and leaping around children...... ***shudder***.    Ah yes the maxim to control the environment not the child.  I should really remember this more, attempting to control children never works anyway; leads to tyranny and a hellva lot of shouting.

Vast reduction in sugar made for a very calm and enjoyable letterland meet with a couple other families, the other week.  I left in the evening feeling buoyed up rather than drained and a pounding stress headache threatening.  The introduction of a craft activity after lunch ensured the calmness continued.   The get together was productive, friendly, and enjoyable for everyone!

There have been proud moments, affirming moments where Rye has suprised and delighted me; joining in forest school, going with the group to collect items without me present.  At home drawing more and more detailed people, visiting my brother and having a whale of a time, and bless him, insisting we take a couple of work books and reading books with us.  We were only staying overnight.  Mind, I did discover that the numeracy workbook he has is far too easy for him.  Still he's enjoying it, and if nothing else it reaffirms what he already knows and helps with his confidence and self belief in his abilities.

Trips to the park, to soft play, to friend's houses.
Gentle parenting being predominant.
And in and amongst all the kiddy stuff I've managed to find time for this:

 Finishing off mits to match Rye's hat and scarf - although as you can see I need to redo the bottom mit.. clearly not paying attention because the "thumb" is too far up the mit.  Not sure I'll be able to unpick this either, the Rico Riot chunky, is quite a fluffy yarn and not the easiest to frog. 

 Playing with my own design for a slipper sock.  Need to pick up some insoles to give these a little more insulation from cold floors.   Just need to make the second one now.. and ooops no, I didn't write down what I did either, so I'll be winging it.

Current WIP, actually, it's a finished WIP, just completed this evening.  I shall leave you all wondering though, as I'd rather take photos in the morning of the finished piece, when hopefully the light will be better.  Again, this is my own design - and this time I wrote down what I did.  The colours of the Anchor magic cotton are sublime.  And this is my very first piece of this nature.  Amazing considering the years I've been crocheting.  It's not perfect, the design needs some tweaks, still I'm inordinately pleased with it, and can't wait to show it off properly tomorrow.

The crafting frenzy is on with a vengence; to my shock it's only just over 4 weeks to Yule!  4 weeks!   And this year Rye is making gifts for a few friends and his dad.   I had planned on crocheting a few decorations/snowflakes to sell too; but I'm not going to have time, so I'll stick with making some for us and a few friends.  One of these years I'll be organised!  lol.



Thanks, Becks for checking in on me :-)

Running Back.

Well, I may have wanted to run away in my last post... but now I'm running back to embrace parenting with open arms :-)

Rye has been at his dad's for 3 days.  Gosh, I've missed him, all the while really needing that break, including an evening with a friend, crochet and natter! 
Rye must have missed me too, because he raced across the front garden and flew into my arms.  He ws so excited to be home.  Somewhat marred by my ex deciding to stick his oar in, after I'd just pulled Rye up for being a bit rude to one of my mindies.  Ex had a go and told him to be nice, and Rye burst into tears and was incredibly resentful.  There was no need for it either, I'd dealt with the matter.  Ex clearly thought he was adding his "weight" to my discipline..but all he did was completely ruin it.  sigh.  Oh well, moving on.

We had a lovely evening, Rye was naturally boisterious - ex had taken him to a fire work display, and Rye did enjoy telling me about that, including the sweets and fish and chips - yet again, that he'd eaten.  Seriously, can't the man think of anything else to feed the boy?  Every time fish and chips!

Moving on, lol.

Today has been a rather successful day.
There has been play at the park with scooters and a ball.
Helping to tidy up toys and clearing aways dishes after snack/lunch.
Circle time - some disruption here and I did have to speak firmly to Rye at one point.  The ideal would be to do Circle Time and for Rye to join in as much or little as he pleases, unfortunately, he's so disrruptive, I do have to rein him in.  There again thinking about it, maybe I need to apply my friend's advice of ignoring his behaviour a bit more and instead concentrating on the other children.  Hmmm, yes I think that might work a bit better. 
Went to Kids Planet, and it was great.  Minor mishap when another parent asked us if the older boy with blond hair belonged to us... unfortunately, Rye had been pushing Bailey around in one of the ride on cars, and accidently knocked a younger child over.  I apologised and had words with Rye to be a bit more careful, while at the same making it clear that actually he's only 4, unfortunately his height means he's often mistaken for being around 6 or 7yrs old.
Stayed till the end at KP, then came home, quick tidy, recyling put out for the binmen in the morning, and then we read some stories, and Rye had a go at reading some of his "Funny Fish" book from the Oxford Learning Tree series.  Bit too tired to really be interested, so I read it mostly and just asked him the odd word....

And then bed.  His own bed; wash, pjs and into bed by 7.30pm, and he could barely keep his eyes open. 

And tomorrow is Letterland Day at our friend's house.  The letter U.  I do have an idea for a U craft; making unicorn horns.  I had thought to use icecream cones, icing and then decorate with sugar glitter... but, obviously these will be eaten, and I'm wanting to avoid sugar............ so dunno, might forgo that, and instead make glitter playdough and ask the kids to make Unicorns?  Or alteratively, square peice of paper curled around to create a cone shape, and they can decorate than as the unicorn horn? 

I was speaking to my friend and we both agreed that we'd like to avoid the sugar binges that some of the Letterland days have turned into; when you've got 11 excited kids in one house... adding sugar to the mix really is daft! lol.

This week.

 Forest School, and pretending to be birds, using a peg as a beak, to create the above nest.  Rye and mindie, won "best nest" category.  They were very proud.

 Learning about making fire, and once the rather reluctant fire did get going the children enjoyed hot chocolate.

 Playing with cut off bits of wood found in the forest school area.  We brought a few pieces home to join our collection of "tree blocks".  (with permission of course)

And some hooky time, a cowl to go with the hat.  Really pleased how this turned out.  Working on a pair of mitts now.  Honestly they should be finished as i did start them on Thursday, but we've been busy and I've had much chance for hooky time.

Thursday was a really good day, forest school was great and Rye participated beautifully, I was so proud of him.  Then in the evening it was the National Autistic Society's evening at kids planet.  I drove over to Ashford and picked up some a new(ish) home ed family, whom are quickly becoming fast friends.  It was a really good evening, the two hours zoomed by!  Rye and C got on so well, and Rye has been asking loads when he will next see C and O.   Wonderful to see my boy making friends so easily and having a whale of a time. 

Time back to normal.

After yesterday's little vaunt with time warping, we're back to normal today. 
It's been a simple but lovely day.
Beef mince pasta sauce bubbling away in one half the crock pot and potatoe and leek soup in the other.  More than enough to freeze too.
Laundry out on the washing line, dancing in the wind.
Children playing cooperatively - most of the time.
Finally getting around to gluing the treehouse together.  Pieces keep getting lost and found again, levels being a little unstable because I had to use shorter dowels because the long ones were lost etc.  So yup, got the hot glue gun out.  Much better and now means the tree house is back down in the lounge rather than being "hidden" away in Rye's room.

Children helped make their own snacks.
They washed up their own dishes.
They set the table for tea this evening.
We went down to soft play for a few hours this afternoon; they played again mostly cooperatively, and I sat on a comfy chair and enjoyed some hooky time, every now and again, waving and grinning as the children called to me from some unnervingly high spot.  Sorry, but I really am chuffed that they don't need me to follow behind them, I'd be terrified!
Then bathtime.  Who needs bath toys, just take matchbox cars into the bath and sending them shooting down the end of the bath, where it slopes.
Insist not tired, (despite sleepy eyes telling a totally different story), and play on the floor with new farm vehicles...
Story
Sleep.

Not so hot.

No, not in the slightest.  It has rained, and rained, and rained some more.  The garden needs it though, so I suppose I can't grumble, just a bit annoying because the summer months are disappearing rapidally, and it's beginning to look like the hot spell very early this spring was our summer.

It's been an interesting day.  Knee was a bit better this morning, and once I'd been up and walking around for a bit it had eased considerably - then i sat down for a bit, and when I got up, I could barely walk again.  So, when I popped out to the council offices to see the Housing people to give them copies of my contracts, I bought a walking stick.

Not overly impressed with needing one; but needs must, and it is helping a lot.  Mainly with that intital getting up stage where my knee has stiffened up and putting weight on it take my breath away.  The stick also helps with getting upstairs too.  With any luck as the weight continues to come off the burden on my knees will ease sufficently not to hurt anymore.  I really don't know what I've done though, it's normally my left knee that gives me gip - and this time it's my right.  I just stood up the other day, and yelped and had to sit back down.  And then couldn't walk on it properly, so was kinda hobbling along holding onto furniture, walls etc.  Eased and all was good yesterday, until the taxi back from the beach, as I got out of the taxi and put weight on my knee it just went again.  I say "went again" nothing clicked or gave away, it just felt like the top part of my knee and fallen over the lower part and I couldn't put weight on it again and was hobbling and it got progressively worst.  This morning it felt less painful and the arnica gell helped.  Once I'd been up, and tidied round, filled the dishwasher etc it felt fine.

Unfortunately, I then sat down and began a tank top for Rye, and when i tried to get up I had to sit back down because it was so painful again.  I can't stand ALL day, so while out I bought a walking stick, and oooh that's much better.  I'm finding once I've been moving around for a bit, I'm fine, the stick just helps with the initial limbering back up stage... and it's proving very useful for getting otu of my friend's van too, because I can put weight on the stick while I ease myself out, and thus not jarring my knees further.

Despite the knee, it's been a pretty good day.  I was working this morning, and I had to laugh at the kids.  They decided playing in the sand pit in the pouring rain was FUN, and naturally got soaked.  I'd taken the gazebo over the pit down as I was worried it would get damage if the wind got up.  I left the one over the decking up, and so far it's withstanding the rain and wind ok... although, tomorrow I might lower the legs on it so it's protected more.  This afternoon Izzy and her kids came over and played.  LOL five kids in my wee lounge and 2 adults is a bit of a squeeze, but we managed, and then this evening, Izzy took us all down to Kidz Planet for a National Autistic Society fun evening.  Rye had a ball, he absolutely loved it and bonus, he ran off energy and because it was only kids on the spectrum in there, it was pretty quiet.  So I sat and crocheted some more and also chatted to other mums.

I confess my head has gone back in the sand about seeking a diagnosis, in part because I'm not sure if its worth it, in that home eduators do not seem to be able to access much in the way of support.  However, as my knee is bum, and I've decided to get myself an appt about it, I might as well also discuss referals for Rye, and see where that takes me.  Not entirely sure if I'll get anywhere, a friend asked for a referal for her boys and was told by Foxwood, (where kids here are assessed), that they would nto do it unless the she put her kids in school!  And I sure as hell ain't putting Rye in school.  While I think he would enjoy parts of school, I really do think he would struggle with being told what to do; and I've seen how he sometimes struggles when with the Home Ed lot and we do craft sessions.  He sometimes takes himself off on his own because he finds all the children a little stressful, and that can lead to him being resistant to joining in - which I imagine school will only excerbate.  And this is a boy who loves crafting!  One on one he will do anything I suggest and loves sitting with me doing workbooks, of all things, but in a group setting he can get quite upset.

Still, I can but enquire about referals and see where it takes me.  It was quite noticeable being around a lot of children on the spectrum and recognising quite a lot of his traits in the other children there.

And on a completely different note:  I've  picked up a few books from Amazon that I've been eyeing for a while:

Lovely, lovely books and the Master Class one has a lot of advance techniques that I've been interested in a while, plus a few I've not heard of before.  I confess it was the cover of the book that attracted me... I love that piece of crochet it has on the front.  And the freeform one, again attracted by the front cover, and a form of crochet that I find so attractive.  This book basically shows you how the pieces are built up, and has a few motifs and different crafts that can be added to crochet felting, weaving, various sewing stitches etc.  Very pretty indeed.
I also picked up some fiction books too; The Dresden Files, I watched the series when it was originally aired and enjoyed it; apparently the books are quite a bit different but as its been so long since I watched it, I thought I'd get the first four books to read.  Fiction isn't something I read much these days and I've been looking for something and this sounded right up my ally :-)  Oooh, and that cotton I mentioned a while back, that I bought from the local yarn shop for 99p per ball:

I have much more yarn than showing here, the great thing about this yarn is its specifically made to stripe for crochet... so I'm using the two different shades to create a tank top for Rye.  I am following a pattern in a book; but as the book using 4ply and only goes up to the the age of 4 (and Rye is wearing anything up to 6-7yr old clothes), I'm adapting the pattern quite a bit.  Well, basically the pattern is a template for the shape and I'm figuring it out as I go along.  Once I'm a bit further along, I'll pop up a photo.

Right bedtime.  I'm shattered.

Last few days.

A really lovely week.

We've eaten dino and angel toast.

We've been into town shopping, and I picked up some more yarn that was on sale.  My stash has grown expotenitally recently as I was also given a large box of yarns.

We've been to softplay, where I barely saw my son, hence just the one photo. Spent the entire day there - bit much for me, had a blazing headache when we left.  The walk home in the fresh air helped to blow most of  the headache away.  Then that evening I went to a Stitch and Bitch group, which was so lovely.  Rye was so zonked, he fell asleep at 6pm and woke up today just before 8am - I don't think he even realised I went out.

Then after toddler group this morning, we then went onto the country park, and again I barely saw Rye.

We've made new friends at the HE goup too, and it's just lovely to see the group growing and lots of other children there, both littleys and older children.  We caught the train home and of course, as we stepped off the train the clouds burst a leak.  Rye thought it was marvelous, and proceeded to get very wet jumping in puddles.

A very enjoyable few days.

This week so far.

A thoroughly pleasant week.

Lots of time spent outdoor.  I always find my parenting is so much calmer and relaxed when we're out doors, and noise and boisteriousness that would frazzle me indoors, has me smiling indulgently outdoors and just loving watching my boy being free.

Why play in the sandpit when there's perfectly good dirt to play in, mother?

This is what happens when one moves the art supplies down a shelf and leaves a art mad 3yr old downstairs while taking minded child upstairs for a nap!  Supplies have been moved out of reach again... the glitter was everywhere, all over the table, chair and floor... I'll be sweeping up glitter for months lol.  Funnily enough my boy was no where to be found when I came downstairs.  I remained calm, cleaned up, gave Rye a stern look and received a very abashed look in return.

Encouraging Rye to hold a pen "properly".  Being a lefty, he tends to use the fist hold for pens, etc.

So I was pleased to see him holding the pen a bit better, with minimal instruction really.  He does tend to slip back into fist holding, but I reckon if I just keep correcting his hold, he'll get the idea pretty quickly.

Taking advantage of C having a nap to play with the rainbow tunnel and treeblocks, without a certain little lady knocking them over :-)

A beetle, no idea the species, but Rye was fascinated.  I confess I used a kitchen towel to gently capture this little fella and popped him on the broom out in the garden, he seemed a happy chappy on the flowers.  (Just had a look online, seems the fella is a Sheild Bug).

Yummy and super quick, pizza for tea.

And today has been very busy indeed.  Began with walking, (Rye on his balance bike), down to toddler group, then onto soft play, where I met up with the Home Ed lot to discuss places to go in the next few weeks, as we are now meeting outdoors at parks and what not more.  Once back home, some friend's popped around, including Sarah, Jason and the twins; and I snapped Rye giving Joshua rides in his tractor's trailer.

Issaac taking Rye for a ride :-)

I am so looking forward to the weekend too, the weather is going to turn much warmer, (southerly winds, instead of the chilly northly ones), and so I'm having a bbq on Sunday, and usefully, Rye is visiting his dad tomorrow coming home Saturday evening.  So once my charge goes home tomorrow lunchtime, I'll be able to get on in the afternoon with some baking and food prep for the bbq.

Love Thursdays.

Thursdays are a ridiculously full day; but I love em and so does Rye.

Today I woke just after 7am and no little man snuggling so I legged it into the bathroom for a blissfully child free wash.  I actually got to wash my hair without Rye poking my bum and giggling - cheeky monkey!  It wasn't long though before the boy himself was awake and running riot.

Tried to pay the rent and nearly had an heart attack as I appeared to be £100 and odd quid short.. then realised that a cheque that's suppose to be clear today; wasn't showing up as funds available.  I guess quart to eight is too early for the Halifax!

Packed the bag for the day, using my new bag from the Lactivist, which I "won" because I joined the facebook group.  Then unpacked and used a rucksac because I realised it was raining really hard and the library books would get wet.

Set veggie tomatoe sauce slow cooking for tea,  (will add veggie balls once back home).

Walked to toddler group.
Walked to library, apologise for the state of a book and was a little disturbed that the assistant said I may be charged - every library I've ever belonged to before has accepted that books for littleys will get chewed and it wasn't in great condition when I got it out!
Walked to soft play.
Walked home afterwards

Popped on pasta, added veggie balls to the slowcooked sauce - ate tea; finished muffins off.
Quick tidy up and then upstairs, Rye requested to watch Captain Pugwash - but then fell asleep... I don't have  heart to move him into his own bed, so he can sleep in with me tonight.

And tomorrow;  there's a one off muscial and messy play event on at a kids centre in town, so we'll probably go to that.  The weekend tho, will be spent at home... oohhhhh preparing for our guests arriving next Friday and we will all be attending the Faery Festival in Canterbury!

Thursday.

Phew, what a day Thursday was.

Season swaps to package and send off; and the realisation I HAD to take them to the post office in the morning because I have deliveries coming on today (Friday), and there was Home Ed group in the afternoon and I really needed to take Rye to run off some energy to increase the chance of him going to bed and sleeping, so I can go on the HE social evening.

So began the mad rush.  Poor Rye had several melt downs, I had a few semi ones myself and eventually we made it to Kids Planet.  Where actually, some lovely plans are in the wind where another mama and myself are going to try and get together regularly and create a waldorf styley playgroup - and just talking in general on how we should meet up more rgularly as we live very close to each other and while her boys are quite a bit younger than Rye; he's use to playing with kiddies younger and older than him and doesn't seem to care either way lol.  Plus, the HE group is now chatting about starting to move our meets outdoors; in a couple of weeks and some meets happening at folk's homes etc.

Rye enjoyed Kidz Planet, although we ended up leaving slightly earlier than I planned because Rye decided it was too much bother to take himself to the bathroom; and just peed where he sat in the plastic rideon car.  I was rather motified, I must admit.  The staff were good about it though, however, because Rye was sitting down when he peed, his t'shirt got wet too.  Spare trousers I have for these eventualities - a t'shirt I didn't, so we had to leave, Rye just wearing his coat.  He wasn't overly happy and dragged his feet all the way home.

And gosh productive afternoon; tidied and cleaned the lounge, kitchen and bathroom, gave Rye a bath, as is our bedtime ritual we lit two candles to read the story by; one candle is the blessing candle and Rye wanted to send blessings to Toby and Izzy :-)  Story was superquick, lots of kisses, candles out and then I sat there hoping he would fall alseep.  He did, quickly.

Which gave me a few minutes extra to pop on a bit of eye makeup lol.  The evening was a success, we had a good gab, chatted home ed, lives in general, suggested plans.  Indeed we were gabbing so much, the waitress had to come back 3 or 4 times before we were ready to order lol.  And I had my first Eaton Mess for dessert.  Hmmm, very nice indeed.  Came home, paid the babysitter and after a quick nosey online (I'm addicted lol)  I falloped in bed and sank into deep, blissful sleep.... Rye did wake me up around 3am trying to sneak into my bed.  I popped him back in his own room.... he sneaked back through this morning for cuddles :-)

So yes a fraught Thursday - but a productive and fun one too :-)

,kimjnuy8jiklmjhhhhhhh
<~@''''''''    (message from my charge lol)

Terrific Thursday :-)

Phew, busy day.

This morning we were out of the door for just after 9:40pm to walk to toddler group.  Lovely morning, Rye had a fantastic time and my charge seemed to enjoy herself too.   Until today I don't think I'd really appreciated just how important it is for Rye, especially now I'm childminding.   He generally plays lovely with C; there is some taking toys off her, sometimes being a little too precious, sometimes being a bit too rough and boisterious, in the main though he does play well with her, and looks forward to her arrival on a morning.  I think perhaps it was so noticeable too because for the past few weeks we haven't been to our usual groups because first of half term and then last week because of chickenpox.

Toddler group and Kidz Planet afford Rye with the opportunity to be a 3yr old without me continually refereeing his play because of C being younger and smaller; and he gets to play with kiddies of similar age to him and older too.  It was rather plain he relished zipping around the hall at toddler group and in the main, being left to get on with the important business of riding a tractor around and around the hall.  Similarly, C clearly enjoyed playing without Rye butting in and taking over. 

And he was in his element at Kidz Planet; racing around, climbing up, sliding down, chasing after the other HE kids, making friends with other kiddies his own age and running around playing "chase me".  And C enjoyed playing in the under 2 area on the slide and the play house etc.  Lovely for me too because my friend with twin boys has started coming along too so we both get to have a natter while also keeping an eye on our kids, (well, charge in my case).   I relish Thursdays a lot, as does Rye :-)

Ohhh and now Spring is making her presence known; (although according to the forecast we might get some snow on Sunday), I shall venture down to the beach again; whole days out of the house - wonderful; and of course days spent in the garden too - looking forward to that because it makes it easier to invite people over - the house is too small; the garden tho, is a pretty decent size :-) I already have plans for play dates and bbqs rattling around in my head lol.




Ohhh and a new weekly activitiy will begin from next Tuesday too.  I have organised swimming at our local pool for the HE group.  Really looking forward to that :-)  Next week will be busy - Monday Fossil Hunting with my local pagan community, Tuesday Swimming, Wednesday - hmmm, haven't decided which grp to try out yet, Thursday Toddler group and then Kidz Planet and Friday... lol, I think Friday we might just stay home.

Chickenpox.

Received a panicked call this afternoon from my charge's mum.  She'd taken C into A&E because of rash that had spread quite alarmingly.  Docs had asked if C had eaten anything unusual - hence the call to me.  Later, C's mum called me again - and it's chickenpox.

Later Rye's dad dropped him off; and as we sat and ate a rather delicious tea, I noticed, what at first I thought was a cut above Rye's eye, a mark... then I noticed a little red mark on his neck.  Once he was undressed it became apparent he has chickenpox too.  I can only assume the kids picked up the virus from Kidz Planet because I've not been anywhere with them this past week as all the groups etc don't run over the school hollidays.. and a few of us HE parents now have kiddies with chickenpox. 

I know it's unpleasant for the kids; however, I am relieved Rye's caught it now.  I had chickenpox as an adult and it was horrendous.   I hadn't realised just how dangerous the virus can be for vulnerable groups, including pregnant women and newborn babies; so that's definitely put paid to plans to pop out in the morning for lotions and potions.  My friend has kindly agreed to pick a few bits up for me.

At least he will have company; I'd already told the mum she could drop of C tomorrow as usual. With any luck it will distract them both from their illness a bit.. and if not I have plans for marathon sessions of cuddling and dvds :-)

A fun day.

The morning started with chucking all the left over veg from my veg box in the slow cooker and then bolting out of the door with the kids and trundling down to Kidz Planet to meet up with the Home Ed group.  Rye was quivering with excitment, barely touched his porriage - indeed when I asked him if he wanted porriage for breakfast he said, "I don't want porriage anymore, I want to go to Kidz Planet", bless him.

Cor, it was busy though, so we've decided to avoid Friday's in future and try to stick to Mondays or Thursdays when it tends to be quieter.  No pictures I'm afraid, Rye was so busy having fun I barely saw him, every so often he woudl appear for a drink, or come and find where I was with my charge and stay for a few minutes before rushing off again to find the older children, or playing with kids around his age that weren't a part of our group.
My little charge had a lovely time too.

And before we knew it, time to come home.  Rye was exhausted and sat on the buggy board all the way home.  Once tea (the chuck everything in soup was delicious), was over and my charge had gone home, Rye asked to paint, too tired though, so I gave him some crayons and paper... it wasn't long though before he sat on the sofa with me and fell asleep.... In bed not long after 6pm :-)
I did snap a photo of him zonked out on the sofa:

Christmas Party.

Firstly, very annoyed with myself, I forgot my camera!  Particularly annoyed because it was Rye's first Christmas Party.

The toddler party was great, Rye had a fantastic time, he particularly enjoyed the food, a LOT of sweet stuff.  Poppet seemed to really enjoy the party too and tucked into her food, (just savoury for her).  The magician was a big hit with the kiddies and Santa was a bit mute today lol.  It was my ex-childminder's daughter, she did really well and the kids loved their pressies.  The party didn't cost a thing - well apart from the wee presents for each child the parents brought with them.  And ok it was bog standard kiddy party food - i.e. looks of junk but then, as my whole philosophy is based on everything in moderation; I didn't fret and just let him tuck him - with gusto I add lol.

After the party we then walked down to Kids Planet, Rye wanted carrying, so I popped him on my back and pushed Poppet in the buggy - hehe, wish it was the other way round, she is sooo light.  A great time was had at Kids Planet too, first hour I played with poppet and just followed her around to observe how she was getting on.  She's a bright spark, bless her, very sociable and friendly with a lovely sunny nature.  It was very cute watching her follow Rye around and much to my suprise he did sort of "take care" of her.  I expected him to run off and play with the other HE kids - and sure he did, but he did keep coming back to check on her. 

Shattered again - lol at this rate I won't be suprised if the weight drops off me; I'm so busy running after my charge and Rye that, apart from a few nibbles at the party I'd not eaten until I got home - which was lovely sweet potatoe casserole, which Poppet seemed to really enjoy too.

Bath tonight, I ache lol.  I hate to admit it, but Rye is really getting to heavy for me now.  It feels fine when he's on my back, later though I do ache, particularly my lower back, which I have problems with anyway.  So yeah, I think I may need to look into a double buggy.

A full day - tomorrow we are staying close to home and chilling. 

Tempestuous Tuesday

Tempestuous, a fine adjective to describe today's weather!
The walk to Kids Planet was gusty and wet; well worth it though.  Rye, yet again, had a fantastic time and we met up with yet another HE'ing family in the area and quietly asked a couple sat on the sofa if they Home Ed'ed too.. and they do!  Tell ya, Home Edders are coming out of the woodwork here in Folkestone! lol.

I enjoyed today, we sat, drank tea and nattered while our children raced around and wore themselves out.  Rye was so pooped by the time we left, he wanted carrying, and within minutes of going into the mei tai, on my back, he was fast asleep. 

Rye is laid on the floor looking at his book with the magnetic animals, nice and chilled, whereas yesterday at this time he was running around like a maniac, leaping on me, screeching..

Ohhh yorkshire puds done :-)

Murky Monday.

A stay indoors day.  The rain was incredible, at one point it was coming down so hard I could barely see the other side of the street!

Rye has been quite content to play with his train, tracks and various cars and lorries, and it seemed a day to just veg and get on with it and when he asked for the plastacine, I thought, "why not," and so we enjoyed making multicoloured trains etc.  I really must make some more saltdough up though.  The plastacine leaves a waxy residue on one's hand that's not pleasant.

I had planned to take Rye to the Library this morning for Rythm Time; my thought process went something like this; raise head wearily from pillow, look out of the window and think, "sod that!" and go back to sleep, cuddling Rye.

Why was my head weary at 7:30am in the morning?  Well, because I'd stayed up crocheting the hair hat based on a pattern I saw on Ravelry:  Head Hugger  It only took an hour, but I didn't go to bed till late because I'd also been crocheting some more of the pinfore, while watching a few US series I enjoy on Latest Episodes , Once the head hugger was finished, I naturallyhad to try it on and liked it a lot so I spent a fair amount of time in front of the mirror playing lol.  The only design flaw that I need to address, is the slowly sliding off one's head.  Hair slides fix it a little, but I think hair slides that clip might work better, hope I can get some that will blend in.  I really love the head huggers and plan to make many more, playing with colours and stitches.  I reckon a really lovely lacy stitch would look fantastic!

Tomorrow Kids Planet with the HE group come what may.  We both need to get out and breath some fresh air! 

HE Group

Woke up to a very blustery, wet morning.  Thankfully, the HE group had arranged to meet at Kids Planet at 11am.  So once we were up, washed, dressed and breakfasted, we donned our waterproof coats and set out.

Naturally, there was much jumping in leaves and splashing in puddles

I love the stocking cap - he looks so adorable in it :-)

Kids Planet was rather busy when we first arrived, by lunchtime it was virtually empty again, and we mums enjoyed drinking tea and chatting away while our little ones ran around, climbed, slid and generally had a fab time.

Rye was particularly taken with a "motor"bike ride on in a fabulously hot pink. 

We leave around 3pm so we avoid all the schoolchildren coming to the centre.  The walk home was blustery, thankfully dry, especially as Rye wanted to go in the mei tai and promptly fell asleep.

It can be expensive though - I spent a tenner today and it's just Rye and me - I shudder to think how much the place must cost the other mums with more kiddies.

Shattered now though - early to bed tonight I think.

Kids Planet

Oh, Kids Planet was fun. Rye loved the slides and ride on toys. He was rather taken with the ball pit too. It was lovely to see him running around and enjoying himself so much.

I had hoped to sit and crochet while he played, nope, he wanted me to join in the fun and admittedly I did enjoy myself too. Although a tad nervous when he wanted to go in the section for older kids. It's fine but parents have to supervise, which means climbing about with him and not been a fan of heights did make me a tad nervous.

Only had tears once, when a little girl shoved him because she'd heard me calling him and she told him imperiously to go to "your mum", other than that he had a fantastic time.
He did want to play with the other kids and he loves pushing them when they are in the little tike police cars but the kids didn't want him to, he had such a wonderfully grumpy face lol.

And he didn't go on the moving training in the end. Sat him in it and initially it seemed fine; but before it started to move he panicke and didn't want to go on it. So we stood and watched and I thought he might want to then, but he didn't. I think the noise frightened him a bit. Perhaps if I'd been able to get on with him he might have been ok; but I'm too big for kiddy rides like that. :(