Free Children

The homeschooling group activity went off very well. Ms 9 went off with her group quite happily and Miss 18months and I met up with the rest of the parents for morning tea and a natter. I managed a coffee and a muffin but Miss 18months was distinctly unwilling to stay put for the nattering part, so I spent most of the time following her along the paths. We saw three different water dragons, and lots of ducks, and a rainbow in a sprinkler, as well as following some of the paths which we haven't taken her on before. She had heaps of fun, but eventually got tired and grizzly and in need of a nap.

Ms 9's group came back from following the bush tucker path with the volunteer guides, and she disappeared immediately to explore with her best friend J. Miss 18months was OK with sitting still for a little while so I got to catch up with most of the other mums, but eventually she was just too grumptious, so we went off for a walk in the hope that she would go to sleep in the stroller. She didn't, but after fifteen minutes or so J's family had to leave, so (after visiting the gift shop to buy postcards) we went home too. Miss 18months was asleep in her carseat within three minutes of leaving the gardens *g*

A quiet afternoon is definitely in order, I think. I'm knackered...

Today has been quite productive, although it doesn't look like much written down. Ms 9 did some maths revision - we're going through a workbook written for kids about her age, and just giving her the practise in translating mental arithmetic into standard written forms. She's breezing through it quite happily, which doesn't surprise me. We may buy the next book in this series when she's done with this one, since it's an easy and non-stressful way of keeping up with What She Should KnowTM. After that, she wrote about her rats, then decided to turn the idea into a comic about homeschooling. She spent nearly an hour drawing and carefully writing the dialogue. Her handwriting has improved enormously this year: she is hardly reversing any letters at all, and she is managing to keep her lines straight when she's writing on blank paper, both of which were very hard for her not too long ago. Then she decided to call it quits for the day and hang out in the garden.

Since we've had plants waiting to be transplanted since Sunday, I got on with that while she and Miss 18months pottered around. I planted a bottlebrush along the back fence, which should be small enough not to interfere with the power lines, but big enough to act as a screen when it is fully mature. Since the garden of our back neighbours (a respite care house) is completely bare, it will be nice not to have a direct line of sight into their back windows in a year or two. I also put in some more groundcovers into the side bed, and tomato and petunia seedlings into the big pots beside the deck. I plant out these pots every year, and almost every year forget to water them sooner or later. We shall see... now that Ms 9 has developed a passion for gardening, perhaps she will help me keep them alive! I added to my mental plans for the back garden, adding a hardenbergia to climb over the dead treestump beside the new bottlebrush. They grow very slowly, but eventually it should disguise the stump, and possibly even add to the screening effect of the bottlebrush if I train it onto a trellis on the fence. But it shouldn't get in the way of anyone needing to carry out maintenance work on the power pole. In a previous house I lived in, the owners had planted a fig tree right next to the pole, and one year power company staff cut it right back to bare bones just as I was anticipating a luscious, drool-worthy crop. Waah!

Other than that, I've caught up with the laundry and the washing up (thrilling, I know), and worked on getting our postcard trading up-to-date. Since we got involved in trading in July, Ms 9 has been diligently filing the cards away in a folder in order to work towards her Collectors Badge at Cubs. She was awarded that last week (her first badge!), and has decided to work towards her Collectors Badge Level 2, which involves a further six months of collecting. Suits me, since I definitely enjoy arranging all the trades and sending out the cards. And, of course, getting lots of mail! *g* But I'm currently way too far behind in sending out cards, so I need to get to a newsagents and a post office this week...

Miss 18months, in addition to wreaking havoc and destruction, has enjoyed pottering about the back garden, and getting extremely muddy and wet after I let the hose run into the sandpit for a while. She woke up late, so Ms 9 and I had quite a while to get stuff done without her, but after she had watched Play School and had breakfast, she got very frustrated that we were still insisting on sitting inside on such a nice day! Once she was outside she was much happier. She's been asleep for nearly two hours, so I anticipate receiving the pleasure of her company again quite soon... I'm enjoying the peace and quiet right now, as Ms 9 went off with her grandmother this morning to go swimming and then spend the night out at the farm. We get her back tomorrow, in time to go on a field trip with the homeschooling group. Thursdays are always hectic! There will be a lot of kids along tomorrow, but her two particular friends will both be in the same group she is in for the activity, so she is looking forward to getting to hang out with them some more. It's nice to see her making new friends...

Miss 18months found her elder sister's reading glasses this morning (which is more than we've been able to do for months now). Unfortunately, we didn't discover this until she had twisted both arms into interesting shapes *wince* That's several hundred dollars of optometrical accessorising down the drain...

Miss 18months has just turned her first somersault. Pretty much since she started walking (7months ago), she's loved to turn herself into a little croquet hoop with feet, head and hands on the ground, and balance there waving her tush in the air. I've recently been watching her waver back and forth, and wondering when she was going to give enough of a push with her feet to go right over. She has just done precisely that, then got up, looking very pleased with herself, and attempted to do it back the other way, which would have ended with her lower anatomy inserted into her dolls' house. Luckily she wobbled over onto her side instead, and lay there giggling.

Are we going to have an acrobatic prodigy on our hands? Her sister was 8 before she got the hang of them...