Casual Sex

Little Z and I were sitting watching "Casualty" on Saturday evening after Big J had gone to bed and while PP was at the computer. I am not paranoid about what the children watch on TV, although I do try to be careful and make sure the programs are not inappropriate. I hope most people would agree that generally "Casualty" is not a program I would have to be concerned about letting Little Z watch. Then this happened:

The male ambulance driver (I don't watch it regularly enough to know their names) was trying to give advice to the female ambulance driver about her life. She, in return, gives him a "How dare you give me advice, when you are cheating on your wife" speech. He then takes her out in the amubulance and parks by the roadside. "over there is my house" he tells her. "That BMW outside belongs to my best mate". (Oh dear, I know what's coming now!) "Right now, I'd say he's probably upstairs shagging my wife." (AAAARRRGH!)

The scene continues and Little Z doesn't seem to have noticed. Great! Or maybe not. A few moments later, still looking at the TV, she asks, "What's 'shagging'". Now, having worked in customer services and sales for 8 years I am usually quite good at blagging my way out of anything. But I have to say, this had me stumped. So, I bought myself time with a "Pardon?" pretending that I was so engrossed in the TV to have heard her. Of course, she repeated the question. As I am not ready to have 'THAT' conversation with my seven year old yet, I told her it was "kissing and stuff". Well, what should I have said? I know I have to give this a lot more thought now, as I don't think it is going to be long before I get more questions of a similar nature. We have already had the "Why don't these eggs have chickens in them?" discussion. I daren't hazard a guess as to what is next.

Are you talking to me...?

Today was my day off, which I allowed myself after working 2 days. Well, I can't be expected to work every day of the week now, can I?

I have had an exhausting couple of days at a school I thought I would never return to. I have taught in year 1 at this school before and a friend of mine has taught in higher yeargroups. We both agree it is not the best school to do supply at, especially in the afternoons. So, why did I go back? Well, I was offered 2 days in Foundation which in a Primary school is usually the Reception class. In this particular school the Foundation stage also encompasses the pre-school children of 3 years and over. I had heard that working in the foundation stage at this school was a lot of fun, so I thought it was worth a second chance.

I was told they were expecting 2 supply teachers, one for Foundation 1 (pre-school) and one for Foundation 2 (reception). I said I thought I would probably have been put into F2 as I am primary trained. But no, they had decided to put me with the pre-school children. I was scared!

Actually, I really enjoyed working with the pre-school children. The most difficult thing was communicating with the children. Many of the children did not speak English as their first language, quite a few were too shy to talk to me as they had never seen me before and some of them hardly ever talked anyway. I was completely exhausted after the first day and wondered how I would feel by the end of day 2, but the 2nd day was easier and much more enjoyable. I learnt (with difficulty) the names of the children in my group and was able to build a much better rapport and find out a bit more about them. The major incident of the day, which will probably remain with me for many years was seeing a child turn blue after sniffing a lego-type brick up his nose and almost choking on it. A few sharp slaps to the back ensured the boy coughed the brick up and turned pink again, albeit leaving him rather bewildered not to mention leaving most of the staff feeling shaken yet relieved. Other noteworthy events include being called a fat sheep and making or attempting to make sock puppet animals. I guess the bottom line is that I got paid for doing very little other than playing all day, so I really cannot complain about feeling a bit tired at the end of it. I was grateful, however, to have planned today off.

I spent most of the day with Big J at Paultons Park., for which we had bought season tickets last Sunday. Most of the rides are for children of varying ages, but there are a few which are just as much fun for the adults, such as the Raging River (log flume) and the Cobra (single cart roller coaster).

We are very lucky with Big J. The rule at the park is that children under a metre don't have to pay. He is about 93cm so we are still getting him in for free. However, most of the rides he wants to go on only require him to be 90cm or over, so although we don't pay for him, he still gets to go on most of the children's rides. I understand that once they are over a metre, the trick is to put them in a pushchair so that they don't have to walk under the measuring barrier! A friend of mine took her son in a pushchair until he was 5, when the staff eventually said, "I think it's about time he had a ticket of his own!"











I don't think it will be very long before we go again.

Can you believe it?

I was just browsing around the internet looking for something good to post on my blog relating to Friday 13th (as I'm sure no one else will be doing that today! Original hey?). The more I read about it the more I realised there was not an interesting post to be had about the subject, so I started to broaden my search into superstition etc. when I came across a site quoting this:

"Seeing an ambulance is very unlucky unless you pinch your nose or hold your breath until you see a black or a brown dog".

WHAT?

I live 3 minutes from Southampton General Hospital and Princess Anne Hospital. I see about 15 ambulances a day. Surely it would be more unlucky (or plain stupid!)to keep holding my breath every time I saw an ambulance, especally as I really do not like dogs (Finally, she admits it in black & white!.) and would have to go looking for one.

I decided this was a one off and that there can't really be people out there who actually believe this. Can there?

Oh yes. Almost all the sites about "superstitions" I visited had this one listed. It appears millions of people (I use the term loosely) believe in this or at least are not brave enough to disregard it just in case something bad happens.

The scariest bit? Most of these people have driving licences!

♪ ♫ Food, Glorious Food ♫ ♪ ♫

I started my diet (again!) today. I subscribed to WeightWatchers last September and it worked really well for a couple of months. Eventually, though, I lost my will power and gradually have put on most of the weight I lost in those first few months. After visiting my friend K on Tuesday, and seeing how much weight she had lost on WeightWatchers, I decided to try to get back on track. After all, I am still paying my monthly subscription charge for the online service, but just not using it.

It is not easy when the children still have Easter eggs piled up in the kitchen, but I have done my best to hide them from sight and have asked them not to eat them in front of me.

I usually leave the shopping to PP. Most of my friends would not dream of letting their husbands do the shopping (neither would most of the husbands want to) but PP is actually very good at the shopping and at planning the meals for the week. However, I decided I needed to take control today and did the shopping myself. I spent about £25 more than he would have done (I generally do!) but feel that I have planned some healthy and tasty meals for the week.

It is hard to plan meals that we will all eat. Little Z and Big J both left most of the chicken salad I made tonight. I am not willing to cook 3 different meals every evening like my mum did when I was a faddy little 7 year old (as opposed to a faddy 32 year old!) but I don't want the children to leave all the food I put on their plate. I think the days are gone when you can threaten a child with "if you don't eat it, you'll have it for breakfast!" but I am going to have to find meals which the children like and which are healthy too. I have a feeling I am going to be up late with the cookery books!

Friends Reunited

Today was the last day of the holidays for Big J. He goes back to day nursery tomorrow after 6 days off (including the weekend). So, with a great sigh of relief, I can now put the prozac back into the cupboard until the next time I have him at home for more than 2 days!

Bless him, I am actually doing him an injustice. Although he is very lively which makes him difficult to keep occupied on rainy days he is well behaved when I take him anywhere and is very good at getting on with other children.

On Friday I got back in touch with a friend I have not seen for almost two years. Her eldest daughter is the same age as Little Z and her son is the same age as Big J (we met when we were expecting the boys)and she also has another daughter in between. As a teacher, I have the unusual trait of disliking other people's children! Well, I don't actually dislike them, I just don't like them in my house!These are about the only children I will allow to come to my house as they are well behaved and their mum makes sure they treat my house with respect.

We arranged to meet up today at their house and were all quite excited. Little Z and Little N had been best friends at pre-school until they both went to different infant schools and they moved house. We all had busy lives and although we didn't mean to lose contact we just did.

I am so glad we got back in touch again. We had a lovely day today and although K and I spent hours (in between sorting out various squabbles) chatting, I feel like we still have loads of catching up to do. The boys played together really well. The last time they saw each other they were only about a year old and didn't really acknowledge each other. Little Z and Little N loved seeing each other again and now Little F (this is going to get confusing!) is older she was able to join in with the older girls too.

It was so nice to see them again and this time we will definitely try harder to stay in touch.

A Long Day

What a fantastic day out. We spent the day today at Longleat Safari Park and although it cost us £56 for 2 adults and 1 child (we don't pay for Big J) it was worth it. We only managed to visit half of the attractions in the main grounds before driving to the Safari Park. Luckily, the "Passport Ticket" we bought allows us to go back within 12 months to visit all the attractions we did not manage to visit today.

There is no way we could have crammed any more into today. We got to the park at 10.30 (it only opens at 10am) and left at 6.30 (it closes at 5.30 - not sure how we managed that!)

By far, the highlight of the day was seeing an outgoing, confident (words never previously used to describe Little Z) Little Z running around the adventure playground, climbing rope ladders, walking across high bridges and going down long tunnel slides. These are all things which a few months ago she would not have contemplated doing. The mere thought of going down a big tunnel slide or climbing apparatus by herself filled her with fear. I never used to see the point in taking her to these adventure playgrounds as she never wanted to go on anything by herself. Now, I will definitely take her to theme parks etc as she seems to have gained some courage to try things out even if she's not quite sure if she's going to like it.

Other great moments of the day included feeding some fallow deer. We bought a cup of deer feed (looked like rabbit food) and let the deer eat out of our hands. We also gave a ride to a monkey (other than Big J) as he jumped onto the campervan and climbed up onto the roof taking a little peek in at the top window.

It was all too much for Big J and by half way around the Safari Park he fell asleep. He missed the Rhino (his favourite animal at the moment!), and the deer and woke up just as we got to the lions and tigers. I would have been more comfortable if we'd had a childlock on his door as we went through the lions enclosure, but luckily he was too sleepy to try to get out and play with the lions.

The only disappointment was that the traffic queues at the Safari Park were very long and we had to wait quite a while sometimes to move onto the next area. It usually takes about 1.5 hours to drive around the park. We were there for about 3 hours. It did not spoil the day though and it's a day out I would definitely recommend.

Happy Easter!

This morning began, as it does every Easter Sunday, with a mad rush to tidy up so that the children could do their Easter egg hunt in the living room. It did not occur to me until afterwards that it would have been much easier to do the egg hunt outside. After sorting out the squabbles over Big J picking up any eggs and not just the ones with the blue stickers on (Little Z's had a red sticker on so they would know whose were whose) they found all their eggs. We had to encourage Big J to keep looking, as once he had found an egg he wanted to eat it straight away. The baskets were hand made by myself a couple of weeks ago. I thought basket weaving looked easy and decided to give it a go using strips of coloured card. Apparently it is not as easy as it looks. I have since been told it is a therapy used for people admitted to mental institutions. Well, I got that right then!

We looked at all the gifts we had been given for Easter and it was obscene.



Apart from two eggs for PP and I, all the eggs on the left are Little Z's and all those on the right are Big J's. Who got the most this Easter? Cadbury's, I reckon! Apart from all the chocolate there was one really cool toy I just have to tell you about which came with a "Milky Bar Egg". It's a Milky Bar Kid Mr. Potato Head. It officially belongs to Big J, but I think I will have hours of fun with it!



Before anyone asks, the "true" meaning of Easter has not been forgotten by Little Z, who has spent much of the last week asking about how Jesus got out of the cave and how someone can come back to life after they have died. If you have a good explanation for this I would be very pleased to hear it. I am afraid her questions remain unanswered.

Have a great Easter everyone. Eat chocolate and be merry.

Sally Settles

Just a quick update on the goldfish situation. We have moved the pump so she cannot wedge herself behind it as she seemed to be doing to hide from her tankmate. She still tries to hide behind the plants and to the side of the pump, but I think she is settling in. She is swimming around more and I think she is getting used to co-habiting with a monster. Well, we all have to come to terms with that!

For Our Amusement

Today is hot and sunny, so staying in to watch TV with the children was out of the question.



I decided to take the children to the amusement park at the sports centre where there are about 15 different rides plus a few coin operated ones (which we just didn't have time to go on "on the way back"!) It has just reopened for this year and is super value for money. The price has gone up this year for the first time in at least 5 years, but I paid just £10 for 16 tokens which works out at just over 62p each. I don't think I can complain about that.

The amusement park is (as far as I can work out) run by one man and his dog. The dog wanders around the park among the people and the regular visitors get to know him. Of course the man does not run all the rides himself. He employs teenagers to help with running the rides. They are good with the children and very polite and helpful. For example, I went on a little train with the children and wanted a photo of us all on it. The young girl running the ride took lots of photos of us as the ride was running.

As always, it's the little things which make the difference with this park. Aside from the good value, I like the fact that the man running it does not appear to 'do it for the money'. Two years ago Little Z and I went there and we were the only ones in the park. The man was there more or less by himself and as I went to pay him (it was £5 for 12 tokens back then) he said, "no, don't pay yet. Let her have a few goes on things to make sure she likes it. Then you can buy your tokens." Again this year, I went to take Big J on the Astraglide, gave the man two tokens (one for each of us) and he gave me one back saying I didn't have to pay as I was taking Big J on. Somehow it makes the day more fun (see photos!) if you know you are not being fleeced by the park owners.















Okay, the rides are quite small and it's not Alton Towers, but as local attractions go, it is one of the best around here.

Hiding

I am a bit worried about our new fish. She(?)keeps hiding in the corner just above the filter pump. I am wondering if she is a bit scared of the big fish. There is a significant difference in size. I don't know if fish do get scared of bigger fish like that. I will give it one more day and see how she settles in. I have a smaller tank I could put her into, but then that sort of defeats the object of getting a new one to keep the old one company. I never knew Goldfish could be so complicated!

Swim, Sally, Swim!

A few weeks ago (actually it may be longer than that but I have a memory like a... oops, I've forgotten!) our pet goldfish died. We'd had him for about four years so he was quite old. Little Z was unconsolable (as she generally is about anything!) whereas Big J wasn't really bothered by it. He just kept saying "Our fish died" to random people.

Big J and I found ourselves in the petshop this afternoon after I had picked him up from day nursery. Pets At Home is next to Halfords where we had to go to buy a couple of Easter pressies for the kids (alternatives to chocolate from their Granny & Granddad). We only went into the petshop to look at the rabbits. He has not stopped talking about bunnies since visiting Toby my friend Sarah's house bunny.

We started off by looking at the rabbits and guinea pigs, when a little girl came along and shoved Big J out of the way. I was secretly hoping he would shove her back, but he decided to do the sensible thing (good job I can rely on my 2 year old to do the right thing!) and walk away to look at something else. We had a look at a few other animals before ending up by the aquariums where we found the horrid little girl with her (pregnant!)mum. (What will she do when her horrid little girl kicks off after she's had the baby!!!!). Big J was looking at a catfish stuck to the side of the tank. He was saying, "It's not working". The little girl came up to the tank and Big J pointed to the catfish saying, "Look. It's not swimming." Well, I think she was trying to agree with him, but had misheard what he had said, so, to my great amusement and in front of her mum and the shop assistant who was helping them buy a goldfish, horrid girl replied to Big J, "It hasn't got a willy!" I grinned even more when my lovely son replied. "No, it hasn't got a willy!" This was an opportunity I could not miss. I turned to the mum and shop assistant and said, "Goodness, where do they learn to talk like that?" The mother looked horrified. Well, she had better get used to it as I am sure she has worse to come. During my PGCE I read in a book that however annoying a child is you should remember he or she is someones precious son or daughter. I can do it in the classroom, but in my own time when I'm not being paid to do it, it's just not that easy, is it?

Anyway, Big J and I went over to the goldfish and decided to buy one for our big lonely goldfish at home. He looked quite a big one in the shop and we took the advice of the "pet shop man" who said it would be okay to put a young goldfish in with an older and bigger one. When we got it home we introduced it to the tank following the instructions they had given us. The old fish is massive in comparison to the new one. I hope they will be okay together.

I made the mistake (as I have before!) of letting the children decide what to call the fish. Big J had sort of decided on "Doodles" (the dog from the Tweenies) when Little Z talked him in to calling it Sally! Oh dear! So, 'Sally' it has to be.