The Brick House

Sunday I went to the markets at Franklin and then had lunch at Petty Sessions. When I came home, I kept H with me, and Mr Bat took K to the SCA fighter training/baronial day gathering, where she played with other kids and he did bardic stuff.  H and I pottered about at home and read books together. He actually played in the garden or in his room by himself quite a lot of the time, and seemed to be quite happy with that so long as he could check in with me every now and again. In the evening I finished the last of the Just-So Stories with K, although we’re only about halfway through Little House on the Prairie. Apparently Farmer Boy is at the library waiting for pick-up this week.

Monday was HIP playgroup, and supermarket shopping in Huonville. In the evening, Mr Bat and the smalls watched Up on DVD (which led to massive dramas today when Mr Bat wanted to take the disc back but gremlins had stolen the case).

This morning K sat down next to me and read aloud one of the PM readers, Run, Rabbit, Run. She knows the story, but was correcting herself (or following my prompts to check the word) when what she was saying didn’t match up with what was on the page. Really, all she needs now is practice; she has everything else cracked. And with no “teaching”, just me being available to help her over the last couple of years when she asked “What does this letter say?” or “How do you spell such-and-such?” was enough 🙂

Obviously I’ve been aware that all her literacy skills were gradually coming together, but this was the first time she’s sat down with me and actually read through something so I could get a sense of how fluent she is. So it’s not a surprise, but it’s a nice milestone to mark anyway.

Apart from that, she has made various creations from the busy box, helped me take her room apart and tidy up in search (successfully) of the DVD case, and spent quite a while this afternoon dressed up as Snow White and playing with H in the garden. She made presents for Ruby and Abbey: frogs out of sections of egg cartons, sitting on lilypads (frozen spinach boxes). That should be an interesting gift to receive! While she was making that, I sat next to her, helping with the sticky-tape, and also cutting up and de-seeding the rosehips which we had had drying since last week. I can report that it is fiddly and sticky, the little fuzzy bits prickle when you wipe your hands on your jeans, and generally is non-trivially awkward and annoying, but they are all done now and drying further on top of the cupboard. We tried some today and they were faintly sweet, with a slightly odd taste which mellows out when you keep chewing, but the texture is a bit meh. Unless they end up a bit squooshier, I’ll stick to drying them for tea rather than as a dried fruit. But I reckon they would work for chutney if you could be arsed de-seeding enough of them!

Later in the afternoon, K wanted to do some writing but didn’t know what she wanted to write, so I gave her a handwriting book, which she was happy with, and sat next to me at the table powering through a large swathe of it. She also read some of Hop on Pop with Mr Bat at bedtime. After Mr Bat went off to his study to get on with some paid work, I put H to bed while K entertained herself, then read her another two chapters of Little House on the Prairie (only 70 pages left!). After that, she wanted Daddy to put her to bed, but he was preoccupied with some paid work, so she stayed up doing more in her handwriting book and playing with the pattern blocks until he was free.