We were semi expecting Mark The Plumber today although he didn’t actually turn up, so we planned to be around for most of the day. In the end it was a grey and miserable drizzly day anyway and I’m anticipating February being an expensive month to muddle through so staying home was a good plan.
Following on from a conversation about war and bombs and how the Hiroshima bomb had been dropped on my Dad’s seventh birthday we’d been talking recently about nuclear bombs. Apparently there is one in one of the Indiana Jones films (I’ve not seen them) so Davies and Scarlett were telling me what they already knew about them and I was reminded of (well I was reminded of a film with some connection to The Snowman about an old couple and a nuclear bomb and google was my friend ;)) so I borrowed a copy from work.
Davies and Scarlett both sat and did drawing while it was on, I bobbed in and out with laundry, cups of tea and some very fiddly toast made with the last two slices of bread from a homemade loaf which proved incredibly hard to slice and netted me three different cuts from the breadknife – none serious, infact only one required a plaster although they are all sore and have had me questionning since whether it was worth messing about trying to cut the bread.
The film had stood the test of time I thought, infact if anything some of the concepts such as the two helpful leaflets from the county council and the government being at odds with each other and Jim and Hilda’s unshakeable yet misplaced reliance on the powers that be sweeping in to make everything all right are probably more pertinent now then ever. We talked about it afterwards and watched the making of dvd extras which were good. Davies, as ever, appears unfazed by the whole thing, Scarlett has been asking about the possibility of war but seems appeased by my assurances of it being either unlikely or life ending straightaway, so neither worth losing sleep over.
A parcel arrived at that point from Merry of the outlawed Bindeez which was very gratefully recieved and led to a flurry of creativity. Davies made some Simpsons (current passion) figures and Scarlett made Elsa the lion and her cubs. Following patterns simply doesn’t appeal round here.
Next Born Free was put on. That has predictably gone down very well here. Ady once met Joy Adamson although he confesses he didn’t appreciate how big a deal it was at the time.
There was a request for popcorn for lunch so I went to pop some corn while D&S chose a dvd to watch. This led to some arguments which we quickly settled with me reminding them just how lucky they are on so many levels to be at home choosing dvds to watch while I make them popcorn. We covered ‘you could be in school’ right through to ‘you could live in Haiti and not have a house or a mother let alone one in which to choose films to watch while she makes popcorn for you!’ Suitably shamed they fell over each other to be kind and accomodating and we watched Nim’s Island.
And that just about took us to swimming time. So we gathered up swimming stuff and headed off. I’d decided not to swim today as it was the first real go at getting Tarly to Brownies – half an hour from Davies getting out of the pool when his lesson finishes to getting Tarly there, it’s tight! So I watched Tarly’s lesson which went well, then she got dressed and sat with me eating a banana and rice cakes to keep her going til a late dinner and Davies had his lesson. In between he’d come over to say he didn’t feel like going to Sea Scouts but I’d said we’d talk about it later. He had a good lesson and we left the pool promptly then discussed Sea Scouts on the way home. I’d thought he had settled there and the issues with being teased about being Home Educated (less teased, more flat out refusal to believe he is telling the truth) had abated but whether they are now only in Davies’ head or are an actual issue each week there is clearly a problem for Davies.
I mentioned the various activities and events I thought he would enjoy and said I would never force either of them to be doing anything they don’t want to do but I’d hate for them to make a decision they later regretted and was clear about how being HE does make them different and will be something they have to explain / defend / deal with just the same as Ady and I do fairly regularly. As Scalrett and I had to go straight out having dropped Davies and the car off at home I left it to Ady to talk to Davies about it properly and make a decision.
Scarlett and I walked round to Brownies. She recognised some girls who had moved up from Rainbows in the last year or so and two or three who have also just moved up. I’d said I’d stay this week so sat in the corner and watched. Tarly struggled to begin with but is pretty good and going and hanging out near people and gradually joining in with them so within a short while she’d infiltrated a small circle of girls. The first activity was writing down your favourite Guiding moment. I saw this coming from way before it happening and started to feel sick on Scarlett’s behalf over the whole writing thing. I watched her facial expression change as she realised what was happening but she coped really well and just drew a picture instead. She was then directed to one of the adult helpers as all the others were to ‘write it out for best’ and she got the helper to write down what she wanted to say and then copied it. Phew.
She chatted to the small group she’d been with and seemed to have made friends – I overheard her telling them about Home Education :). They then played a game which was surprisingly boisterous for Brownies and poor Scarlett who was doing very well ending up colliding with a bigger girl and bumping her head and hand. Sadly this was all too much and she ended up in tears on my lap for the last five minutes. 🙁
Depsite all this I think she’ll fit in fine and will enjoy it. The girls seem nice, friendly and caring and there’s a very high 1:4 ratio of adult helpers to Brownies. She says she’s not decided yet if she wants to start but I strongly suspect she will.
Meanwhile Davies and Ady had had a long heart to heart about Sea Scouts and Davies has decided not to carry on. He does feel there are elements of it he would have enjoyed but not enough to warrant being there with boys he doesn’t feel he can get on with. I really respect his ability to make decisions like that, think and talk them through with strong reasoning and maturity and come to a conclusion. He says he feels happy and relieved and knows he has made the right choice so I’m proud of him and quite happy with that. He has done well enough at Badgers and is popular with his own circle of friends and indeed at Wildlife Explorers and YACs that I don’t feel he is missing anything by deciding Sea Scouts isn’t for him.
Late dinner and several chapters of Ted Hughes followed by incredible non-sleeping children til far later than I’d have hoped. We watched Survivors and the Selective Mutism documentary. Early start for one and all tomorrow so am off to bed.