Manic Mondays…

I’ve had loads of paperwork and phonecalls to make today, trying to switch all my direct debits over to a new bank account – so I have listened to the widest variety of hold music, automated dialling systems, been told how important my calls is and spoken to a wide array of call centres in far flung lands where heavily accented people try to convince you their name is Brian (when they are a woman!) or Mary (when they are a man) – clearly those are names for a quiche or a lasagne anyway! 😆 Finally done the last one, while agreeing to all of the childrens’ most imaginative and ridiculous requests in order to make them go away again so I can hear what the person on the phone is saying to me or concentrate to give my sort code. ‘Mummy, can I cut all the cat’s fur off with your nail scissors?’ ‘Is it OK if I eat a whole bag of lollipops?’ ‘Davies is annoying me – can I hit him with the poker and little shovel from the companion set?’ would all have been met with a nod and a dismissive wave of the hand. 😆

Inbetween such joys we have been to Magical Mondays – as previously mentioned at Green House by the Sea. Excellent time of day – 11am – 2pm which means we are not likely to get there too late as it allows us to adhere to our never getting out of the house before 10.30am limitation and means we are home again around 2.30pm, which is perfect for having a quiet couple of hours to organise early tea before Badgers on a Monday at 5pm. It means Davies gets a nice socialisation sandwich on a Monday too, gives a nice structure to the week with our other regular stuff and prevents that post weekend slump we sometimes have on a Monday.

Very easy to get to as well – although it’s about 15 miles away it’s only about 20 minutes drive, which is the same time I had to allow for travelling to the group I ran myself the other side of my own town – infact the only downside seems to be that I’d really have to change my name to some shortened version of Alison to fit in with all the other Ali/Allie titled folk there 😉

They have a really good space there with a large room for being noisy, kicking balls and shooting hoops in, an open plan room with a kitchen and plenty of seating and a variety of toys etc. Today there was air drying clay (always going to be a hit with Davies that one, can anyone guess what the first thing he made was? 😆 He also made a snowman and then when someone broke out a bag of pipecleaners he made a person with pipe cleaner arms and legs which was really cool. I then suggested a spider using four pipe cleaners pushed through a piece of clay to make eight legs so he did that too. All left there to dry ready for painting next week 🙂 . Tarly made a worm.), pens and paper – which Tarly mostly drew on her hands with :roll:, science experiments with apples and baking of spelt flour and raisin cakes which they both enjoyed the making – and eating – of. Oh and a load of other children, by far the most exciting and used resource! Freya and Ali were there, which was great as I got to chat to Ali a bit and the children got to form a little trio which instantly gave them confidence to join in running with the pack. There was Ali and Leo, with whom we’ve more crossed paths with than spent time with previously, a couple of people who I knew from groups of the past, a few familiar but not placeable faces and some new people too. I managed a couple of brief chats with various people and the children had a great time. There was one incident at the end of a very crazy time which all the adults predicted would ‘end in tears’ when Tarly was a casualty of overexcitedness and games getting slightly out of hand, but I was really impressed with the speedy, effective and non-dramatic way it was dealt with – always a mark of how a group works is how easily a wrongdoing is put right. So that was reassuring. 🙂

We left and both children instantly declared it ‘really good’ and are keen to go again next week. So that’s a good start. In the car we listened to some more of the Horrible Histories cds – Vicious Vikings and Rotten Romans this time. They only really like to listen to the songs – clearly I need to set a whole curriculum to music or verse, which funnily enough was how I used to revise or remember long lists of information when I was at school.

This afternoon we’ve watched a film, they’ve played with geomags and toy animals, while I’ve finished my phonecalls and done some online stuff.

And now, Davies and I are off to Badgers. Back later. 🙂