Non Manic Monday

We were supposed to go to the regular local HE meet at Pulborough Brooks this morning but when Scarlett woke me at 730am I made an early decision that the weather was looking far too wild and wet and windy to be traipsing round outdoor nature reserves. Tasha had sent me a text yesterday to say they wouldn’t be coming so in the back of my mind it was already a maybe. I went back to bed and told Tarly to come and see me if she needed me and she reappeared again just after 9am to get into bed for a chat and a cuddle with me. The landline and my mobile (which was downstairs) rang at the exact same time – the mobile was Ady so Tarly went to answer that while my Dad was on the landline asking for a jump start on his van when we could get over to him.

We woke Davies and had breakfast, let the chickens out and got dressed then headed over to him to get his van going and follow him to the garage to sort a new battery out. The kids stayed in the car with DSs and we were home again within half an hour. I got loads of washing processed (outdoor drying is totally out of the question so there was much draping over radiators and airers) while the children DS’d some more, I put on a dvd about The History Of Britain in the background which we all dipped in and out of until Tarly deemed part of it ‘too scary’ so we turned it off. We then watched some How do they do it? which was about the dancing fountains at Las Vegas Bellagio hotel (one of Ady’s favourite things in Vegas) and the stuff used to make things white.

I’d sent off for a Climate Action Awards pack each for them from the RSPB when their latest magazines had come last week and they arrived today so we spent some time looking through those and then we worked our way through some of the challenges. Davies had to complete 6 out of the 12 and Scarlett had to do 4, they both did 9 out of the 12 and plan to do at least another 2 each over time aswell :). Some of the activities included:
Checking all things in the house on standby to see if they could be turned off. We decided the microwave and the radio in the kitchen could definitely be turned off and did so. This is something we’ve been getting better at with our new energy meter thing anyway.
Checking all bulbs are energy saving or low wattage – every bulb in our house is low energy except the kitchen fluorescent tube. We are all pretty good at turning lights off and I’ve been researching online about whether it is cheaper to leave a fluorescent tube on or keep turning it off.
Reducing food miles – Davies was chuffed to note we already do this and is already a keen searcher for British flags on the food we buy.
Wildlife friendly habits – another one we’re pretty good at although we talked about getting a bird table and bird bath to improve even more.
Walking or using public transport – we were proud that we share our car by offering others lifts as often as possible and try and walk if only going somewhere nearby but we did pledge to try and learn to ride bikes / cycle more next spring and summer.
Make a poster – they both made a couple of posters with climate change action messages and got really into that.
Making a nature diary – this was something they both liked the idea of even though it would require some writing so we said maybe we’d get nice notebooks as Christmas gifts to make a start on that from January.

We all learnt something (me included) and are both proud of what we already do and keen to do more in various areas too. We ticked off what they’d done, I signed it off and we got the forms in the post for them to get their certificates for that. We’re also going to sign up for the Wildlife Action Awards too and they can start working their way through those activities. 🙂

That all took us up to just after 3pm when it was time to go to the dentist. We walked and Ady met us there. Ady went first and needs a bit of treatment which he has booked for just before Christmas. Davies was next and was commended on his teeth being lovely and clean and well looked after. She thinks he may well have some overcrowding as his adult teeth come through which may need later attention but is very happy with him for now and says they all look strong and healthy and clean :). I was next and also had a clean bill of dental health. Tarly went last and was also commended on having beautifully clean teeth and the first adult one errupting looking good but further mention of her dummy was made and the impact it will be having on her adult teeth.

We’ve talked about it so much and once again tonight it was the topic of much debate. We all have different ideas about what would help Tarly give it up – Ady thinks some sort of reward / prize, Davies is working on a fantastical story involving pussycats who need dummies to be sent to them via a portal in his bedroom and I favour convincing her of the reward of simply giving it up and helping her achieve that one small step at a time (eg 15 minutes at bedtime without it and then a review to see if she feels she can go another period of time without). I think she is now of an age where the only reason she’ll give up is because she wants to give up rather than because she is wanting to give up for the aquirement of something else. Tonight we tried a combination of all of the above and she had it for about 5 minutes before she fell asleep. I’m very proud of Davies for his efforts in helping for and his compassion and understanding that it is so hard for her though :).

Ady nipped back out again after the dentist and the evening sort of ran away with us really. He spent some time plucking some pheasants (we now have a freezerful and some for dinner tomorrow night too) but saved one each for the children to do with him tomorrow at their request.

It hasn’t really stopped raining all day but I’m hoping tomorrow will be better weather so we can get out in the morning before swimming in the afternoon.