31/01: A Blog. With Lots of Words. And Moderate Rambling.
Are you sitting comfortably? Now I'll begin.
The Thursday Before the Thursday Before Yesterday
Emma had her first 'dance' lesson - this mostly consisted of everyone else dancing and Emma running round the gym in excitement. Hmm. She did start to join in towards the end though, and I think she'll get into the swing of it with time. Jess has taken her Egyptology books with her, so while we waited for Emma we read about Queen Nefertiti and Jess drew some pictures for her lap book. Jess had had an hour-long swimming lesson earlier in the day and was looking very tired by the time we got home, so we changed our plans and sought out some Egypt documentaries on iTunes and watched a couple of those. Jess is really intrigued by the mystery around Nefertiti, so I think we'll be looking into that in more detail. Later on in the day we popped up to Jess's old school to catch up with friends. There was a bit of a panicked moment when I lost Emma, and mums scattered in all directions to look for her. Why we didn't think to check by the bake sale table first is beyond me, as quite frankly that child lives to eat. Sure enough, there she was, chin and fingers perched on the edge of the table. Then off to friends for Jess and Emma to play with MORE friends, so I guess we can tick the 'socialisation' box there.
The Friday Before Last Friday
More swimming, more obsession with long dead Egyptians, then off to Stomping Grounds at lunch time as the Schoolies had early dismissal. They were all turned loose for a couple of hours while I got some much needed adult conversation. Oh, and I lost Emma again, but it turned out that she was stood with her face pressed up against the glass of the chilled food cabinet, trying to will a cookie out of it with her Jedi powers.
The Weekend Before Last
Having managed to break my supposedly unbreakable glasses, we were forced to endure a trip to the Galleria to one of the few opticians in the area that stock that particular (Danish) brand. Now, on the face of it, the opportunity for a bit of retail therapy might seem quite enticing, but visiting the Galleria on a Saturday is about as much fun as visiting hell dressed in a tin foil suit. With a lemon stuck up your jacksie. Seriously. Once you've battled through the traffic, you have to endure the farce that is the car park. Here you join a seemingly endless procession of cars, circulating in the vain hope that someone might leave just as you drive past their car. Every once in a while, you'll pass the third of the car park that has been cordoned off for 'Valet Parking'. That part of the car park has hundreds of empty spaces. Eventually the two adults in the car will get so pissy with each other - "You should have turned down there, someone's just pulling out", "Oh well I'm not PSYCHIC am I?" - that you'll give in and grudgingly drive along to Valet Parking, pull up, disgorge various children and buggies from the car, and then watch is disgust as some guy in a red shirt leaps into your car and eases it a full 6 feet forward into a parking space.
Bastards.
We wandered round for a bit until we found the opticians where they swapped a teensy bit of titanium wire that forms the bridge of my glasses for $170, then sauntered off to see what else we could find. As usual, we gravitated towards the bookshop and the Apple store (which was absolutely HEAVING), then decided to call it quits and went back to retrieve our car. Mr Valet Parking didn't even bother to back it up the 6 feet out of the parking space.
"That'll be $6, sir."
Geoff hands over a $10 bill.
"I'm sorry sir, I don't have any change."
What? No change? You're seriously trying to tell us that everyone has been paying with, perhaps, a $6 bill? Or, more likely, you've been taking a $4 tip every time.
"That's OK, I'll wait while you fetch some change" said Geoff, with his best Tony Blair smile. He's such a pro, I'm so proud.
As if this wasn't enough retail punishment for the weekend, on Sunday we visited the Temple of Blue and Gold, and came back with various items with names such as SNŘT and PÜKEY, or something like that.
Last Week
Swimming, swimming and more swimming. Our car smells like a chemical factory. No sign of daughter's hair going green yet but it can only be a matter of time. Jess was uncharacteristically horrible to Emma, and earned herself a screen ban for the week, though I had to temporarily rescind it the following day so that we could watch the Inauguration of President Obama. We talked about why it was such an historic moment, and I tried to explain the role of the Vice President. I think Jess's summary - "So the president is in charge, like Mummy, and the vice president only gets to be in charge if the president is sick. Like Daddy" - is just proof of how well qualified I am to home educate my children.
Emma continued her distraction tactics by breaking into the pantry at every opportunity. I thought I had her foiled when I moved anything that might be tempting to the higher shelves, but how was I know that Bisto gravy granules are just DELICIOUS to a one year old. I tell you, once she figures out how to open ring-pull tins, we're screwed.
Jess stormed through more of the Kindergarten Singapore Maths book - she's on the B book already and at this rate she'll have finished it in another 2 or 3 weeks, so I think we'll look at moving on to Primary 1A. Apparently, maths is her favourite subject at the moment (music to her father's ears), at least until we start blowing things up in science experiments. The advantage we have is that, if she's working on some maths and wants to carry on, that's fine. She can do maths all day if she wants to, and we just pick up the other subjects another day. This has already happened quite a few times.
We made it to the library, finally reopened after Hurricane Ike blew the roof off, and collected some audio books. We also had a chat with the librarian who suggested that we might get around Jess's reluctance to try 'proper' books by reading the large print copies. We brought home Little House in the Big Woods, and Jess has had her nose in it every since, so it looks like that tactic is working nicely.
Friday was the final day of everyday swimming lessons, and Jess was promoted to Swordfish, after just 3 weeks as a Dolphin, which we were all very pleased about. I'll have to get another frame for the certificate, and add it to the pile that are waiting to be hung on her wall. After swimming we piled into the car and headed for Dallas (all those audio books came in very handy) where we had booked tickets to see the Tutankhamun exhibition.
Last Weekend
was absolutely freezing. A cold front arrived in Dallas a couple of hours after we checked in at the hotel. On Saturday we shivered our way around the stockyards in Forth Worth, saw a guy ride down the street on a longhorn, and almost got thrown out of the kids-go-free all-you-can-eat barbecue when Emma consumed several times her own body weight in pork ribs. Despite the desperate cold it really was a very interesting place, and we also picked up some Native American artwork at the market. I have no idea what was going on in Dallas on Saturday evening, but when we got back to the hotel it was full of younger versions of J R Ewing, complete with stetsons. On Sunday we trooped off to the Museum of Art for our appointment with Egyptian Antiquity. Jess was suitably fascinated, though Emma suffered an early eviction when she started her regular campaign of whooping at the resonant frequency of each gallery. Must work on her museum etiquette.
This Week
will have to wait until tomorrow.
The Thursday Before the Thursday Before Yesterday
Emma had her first 'dance' lesson - this mostly consisted of everyone else dancing and Emma running round the gym in excitement. Hmm. She did start to join in towards the end though, and I think she'll get into the swing of it with time. Jess has taken her Egyptology books with her, so while we waited for Emma we read about Queen Nefertiti and Jess drew some pictures for her lap book. Jess had had an hour-long swimming lesson earlier in the day and was looking very tired by the time we got home, so we changed our plans and sought out some Egypt documentaries on iTunes and watched a couple of those. Jess is really intrigued by the mystery around Nefertiti, so I think we'll be looking into that in more detail. Later on in the day we popped up to Jess's old school to catch up with friends. There was a bit of a panicked moment when I lost Emma, and mums scattered in all directions to look for her. Why we didn't think to check by the bake sale table first is beyond me, as quite frankly that child lives to eat. Sure enough, there she was, chin and fingers perched on the edge of the table. Then off to friends for Jess and Emma to play with MORE friends, so I guess we can tick the 'socialisation' box there.
The Friday Before Last Friday
More swimming, more obsession with long dead Egyptians, then off to Stomping Grounds at lunch time as the Schoolies had early dismissal. They were all turned loose for a couple of hours while I got some much needed adult conversation. Oh, and I lost Emma again, but it turned out that she was stood with her face pressed up against the glass of the chilled food cabinet, trying to will a cookie out of it with her Jedi powers.
The Weekend Before Last
Having managed to break my supposedly unbreakable glasses, we were forced to endure a trip to the Galleria to one of the few opticians in the area that stock that particular (Danish) brand. Now, on the face of it, the opportunity for a bit of retail therapy might seem quite enticing, but visiting the Galleria on a Saturday is about as much fun as visiting hell dressed in a tin foil suit. With a lemon stuck up your jacksie. Seriously. Once you've battled through the traffic, you have to endure the farce that is the car park. Here you join a seemingly endless procession of cars, circulating in the vain hope that someone might leave just as you drive past their car. Every once in a while, you'll pass the third of the car park that has been cordoned off for 'Valet Parking'. That part of the car park has hundreds of empty spaces. Eventually the two adults in the car will get so pissy with each other - "You should have turned down there, someone's just pulling out", "Oh well I'm not PSYCHIC am I?" - that you'll give in and grudgingly drive along to Valet Parking, pull up, disgorge various children and buggies from the car, and then watch is disgust as some guy in a red shirt leaps into your car and eases it a full 6 feet forward into a parking space.
Bastards.
We wandered round for a bit until we found the opticians where they swapped a teensy bit of titanium wire that forms the bridge of my glasses for $170, then sauntered off to see what else we could find. As usual, we gravitated towards the bookshop and the Apple store (which was absolutely HEAVING), then decided to call it quits and went back to retrieve our car. Mr Valet Parking didn't even bother to back it up the 6 feet out of the parking space.
"That'll be $6, sir."
Geoff hands over a $10 bill.
"I'm sorry sir, I don't have any change."
What? No change? You're seriously trying to tell us that everyone has been paying with, perhaps, a $6 bill? Or, more likely, you've been taking a $4 tip every time.
"That's OK, I'll wait while you fetch some change" said Geoff, with his best Tony Blair smile. He's such a pro, I'm so proud.
As if this wasn't enough retail punishment for the weekend, on Sunday we visited the Temple of Blue and Gold, and came back with various items with names such as SNŘT and PÜKEY, or something like that.
Last Week
Swimming, swimming and more swimming. Our car smells like a chemical factory. No sign of daughter's hair going green yet but it can only be a matter of time. Jess was uncharacteristically horrible to Emma, and earned herself a screen ban for the week, though I had to temporarily rescind it the following day so that we could watch the Inauguration of President Obama. We talked about why it was such an historic moment, and I tried to explain the role of the Vice President. I think Jess's summary - "So the president is in charge, like Mummy, and the vice president only gets to be in charge if the president is sick. Like Daddy" - is just proof of how well qualified I am to home educate my children.
Emma continued her distraction tactics by breaking into the pantry at every opportunity. I thought I had her foiled when I moved anything that might be tempting to the higher shelves, but how was I know that Bisto gravy granules are just DELICIOUS to a one year old. I tell you, once she figures out how to open ring-pull tins, we're screwed.
Jess stormed through more of the Kindergarten Singapore Maths book - she's on the B book already and at this rate she'll have finished it in another 2 or 3 weeks, so I think we'll look at moving on to Primary 1A. Apparently, maths is her favourite subject at the moment (music to her father's ears), at least until we start blowing things up in science experiments. The advantage we have is that, if she's working on some maths and wants to carry on, that's fine. She can do maths all day if she wants to, and we just pick up the other subjects another day. This has already happened quite a few times.
We made it to the library, finally reopened after Hurricane Ike blew the roof off, and collected some audio books. We also had a chat with the librarian who suggested that we might get around Jess's reluctance to try 'proper' books by reading the large print copies. We brought home Little House in the Big Woods, and Jess has had her nose in it every since, so it looks like that tactic is working nicely.
Friday was the final day of everyday swimming lessons, and Jess was promoted to Swordfish, after just 3 weeks as a Dolphin, which we were all very pleased about. I'll have to get another frame for the certificate, and add it to the pile that are waiting to be hung on her wall. After swimming we piled into the car and headed for Dallas (all those audio books came in very handy) where we had booked tickets to see the Tutankhamun exhibition.
Last Weekend
was absolutely freezing. A cold front arrived in Dallas a couple of hours after we checked in at the hotel. On Saturday we shivered our way around the stockyards in Forth Worth, saw a guy ride down the street on a longhorn, and almost got thrown out of the kids-go-free all-you-can-eat barbecue when Emma consumed several times her own body weight in pork ribs. Despite the desperate cold it really was a very interesting place, and we also picked up some Native American artwork at the market. I have no idea what was going on in Dallas on Saturday evening, but when we got back to the hotel it was full of younger versions of J R Ewing, complete with stetsons. On Sunday we trooped off to the Museum of Art for our appointment with Egyptian Antiquity. Jess was suitably fascinated, though Emma suffered an early eviction when she started her regular campaign of whooping at the resonant frequency of each gallery. Must work on her museum etiquette.
This Week
will have to wait until tomorrow.
SallyM wrote: