Still Going...

And still raining....

Lego

This is what our playroom looks like today, Lego everywhere...

 I love Lego. If I could choose just one toy for our children that is what it would be. Today the weather is brutal; howling wind and lashing rain. Non-stop. So the guys have been ensconced in the playroom in a sea of Lego. Happy out.

The best thing about Lego is it can be anything they want it to be, there is no limit to what they can create. Sometimes one child plays on their own but more often than not they get a game going as they have today. As the day goes on the games have added layers of complexity with an on-going dialogue from the various different characters.

 For the last few years most birthday or Christmas requests from the 4 younger children have been for some kind of Lego or another so they have a fairly extensive collection. It is kept in two large shallow boxes, the idea being that they can find what they are looking for without upending it all. That idea was ours however not theirs, so when we hear the unmistakable whoosh of thousands of tiny bricks cascading everywhere we know it's a Lego day. I just have to try and have hoovered the carpet first because it's not going to be seen again for a few days until that particular game has run it's course. We now have a system of scooping up the Lego with a dustpan, hoping the hoover did get a chance first so there's not too many dog hairs too. Mind you, I may have to remind myself at that point how much I love Lego!

Doggy Days

The last couple of days have been all about the dogs. Poor Holly went in for spaying on Wednesday and has been feeling very sorry for herself. She's been wearing an old baby vest held in place by her harness to try and stop her worrying at her stitches. She's demanding the full princess treatment and if she's left on her own at all she whines until someone goes back to sit with her and pet her. 

As Holly was out of action we offered to look after another AADI puppy, who's currently waiting for a foster home, for a few days so Bramble would have someone to play with . He's a 12 week old Chocolate Labrador called Chester and is a real sweetie. He and Bramble get on very well and they are certainly keeping the guys busy looking after them.

 

Amber managed to injure herself while playing with the puppies so we ended up taking her to the vets yesterday as well. Her leg is much better today but unfortunately she seems to have associated the incident with Chester and is laying all the blame on him. She now won't go anywhere near him so that's making things a bit tricky. Anna has been reading up on a bit of canine psychology to try and resolve the impasse!

We also had an amazing double rainbow last evening which had the children running over to the windows to see. This photo doesn't do the amazing depth of colours justice at all but I thought I'd post it anyway.

Light Evenings

With the changing of the clocks we have now resumed our evening walks after tea instead of driving the dogs to the field or forest. Anna usually comes with me and often Beth too. They sometimes find it frustrating that many conversations we start at home get interrupted with a more pressing 'need' so it's good to have this time together. I enjoy the mental wind down at the end of the day and a bit of headspace before going home to take on bath/bedtime which is a major production in our house. An hours exercise does wonders to get rid of that sluggish tiredness I otherwise give in to at the end of the day as well. We just need the self discipline to keep  it up now!

We have a community field about 20 minutes down the road which gives the dog a chance for a free run.

Home again!

Teenage Talk

In our family as each child turns eight we take them out to dinner and have the big 'eight year old talk', (see here) . This has worked really well for us so we decided we would take each child out once they turned 13 too. Our motivation for this is that we felt it was really important to celebrate them becoming teenagers. Teenagers often get a bad press and Justin and I both remember our own teenage years as a time of angst peppered with frequent rows with parents.

We want to embrace this time though and start off this potentially rocky period with open communication and a real commitment to keeping our relationships with our teenagers as close and positive as possible. 'Connection before Direction' has become my motto and I try to remember to put our relationship first when deciding what issues to tackle and how. Justin and I also try to keep cognizance of the fact that the part of the brain which allows you to put yourself in someone else's position and understand their viewpoint doesn't develop until the early twenty's. Teenagers are therefore by nature more self orientated so we try to keep our expectations realistic. I also try to understand their need to vent occcasionally and rather than take it personally see it as a sign of their trust in our relationship which gives them the security to 'let it out' when they are frustrated. That said we set a high store on respect in our family so it's a constant balancing act.

Anna, bless her, gets all the 'firsts' in our house and has to put up with the most amateur parenting as we learn our way with her. As it was Anna we were taking out we also had to bring Bramble, our foster assistance puppy in training, as she goes everywhere with her. 

Bramble settled down quietly under the table, thank goodness,and we had a really lovely evening. It was wonderful to be able to give Anna our full attention without the usual hundred and one interruptions. She is very special and we love her company. I feel very grateful that as she is home educated I get to spend so much time with her. 

When we got home the younger children had had a fun evening watching Scooby Doo and eating popcorn with a good friend of ours. A definite success all round and a tradition we now intend to continue.

Spring at last!

Yesterday we visited my parents and for the first time this year the children could play out all afternoon and actually be warm! Mum and Dad are keen gardeners and have a brilliant garden for children, full of little pathways and places to hide. They also have trees to climb and slopes for riding down on the gardening trug so it's a lovely place to play.

Over the last few years the children have been giving Grandma and Grandpa a new resin animal at each birthday and Christmas so they now have a managerie of little creatures ( and a couple of not so little ones like the cockeral and hen and even a lamb!) which the children run around finding each visit. Apart from one trauma when a squirrel hidden in the grass came to blows with the lawnmower, these animals have been a huge success and provided hours of play. Yesterday they were recipients of a meal of daisy soup followed by a bath.