Thursday 26 February 2015
Achieving in Art #3
My daughter's latest artwork. She was inspired after watching the Fade to Grey video by Visage. Bloody brilliant I think!
Wednesday 25 February 2015
Back to school (and not just for Missy)
Monday was back to school, but not just for Missy, for me too! I'll explain more in a bit.
Half term was pretty good. We spent some of it in Northumberland at Daddy's sister's wedding, a very small quite affair in a lovely hotel and Missy was bridesmaid. She did a great job. We had the usual issue of Missy being too clingy to anyone but me or Daddy, and occasionally we had to take some action so she was reminded who her parents are, but on the whole she was great. We had a six hour car journey to get there, same back, and it passed with no problems. Amazing! We played a few games, I was in charge of the music (mostly Spandau and ELO, but that's fine because Missy is fast becoming an 80s music fan!), we had a couple of stops and then we were there.
Last week we also went to see Big Hero 6, the latest from Disney which won an Oscar at the weekend. There is the subject of death when the main character's brother dies early on, and towards the end it is quite sad for a few minutes, but all ends well. Missy cried at these two parts, but then so did I. Mind you, I cried at the blimmin' Confused.com advert when Brian was in trouble at the breakers' yard!
So, onto last Monday. We had a change in usual routine because Missy started at breakfast club, just on Mondays as I need to get to college. I've started a course in Practical Horticulture - go me! It's nice to do something very different and, whilst I like gardening, I don't really have much of a clue so the course will be sparking some of my brain cells that haven't been used in a while.
As I took Missy into breakfast club, I could see she was nervous but as soon as she saw the food, she was fine. Also, anxiety that was evident before half term reared its ugly head again. An issue at school has really been upsetting her, so much that she wanted me to move schools. I had a chat with the teacher yesterday, who was very grateful for brining it to her attention, and will do what she can to help. This has seemed to settle Missy as she was relatively calm this morning before school.
Talking of nervous though, back to Monday and my heart was beating more than usual as I sat in my car in the the college car park, having arrived half an hour early. At ten to nine I took a deep breath and went in. I was comforted to see that almost everyone on the course was my age or older, and I'm not the only one who is very much an amateur. At least now, I can buy gardening books instead of the usual parenting/child development/adoption related books which are my usual read.
So, back to school and all is looking good.
In other news, I've started physio to sort out my hip. Hopefully, in a few months time I'll be running again. Yaay!
Half term was pretty good. We spent some of it in Northumberland at Daddy's sister's wedding, a very small quite affair in a lovely hotel and Missy was bridesmaid. She did a great job. We had the usual issue of Missy being too clingy to anyone but me or Daddy, and occasionally we had to take some action so she was reminded who her parents are, but on the whole she was great. We had a six hour car journey to get there, same back, and it passed with no problems. Amazing! We played a few games, I was in charge of the music (mostly Spandau and ELO, but that's fine because Missy is fast becoming an 80s music fan!), we had a couple of stops and then we were there.
Last week we also went to see Big Hero 6, the latest from Disney which won an Oscar at the weekend. There is the subject of death when the main character's brother dies early on, and towards the end it is quite sad for a few minutes, but all ends well. Missy cried at these two parts, but then so did I. Mind you, I cried at the blimmin' Confused.com advert when Brian was in trouble at the breakers' yard!
So, onto last Monday. We had a change in usual routine because Missy started at breakfast club, just on Mondays as I need to get to college. I've started a course in Practical Horticulture - go me! It's nice to do something very different and, whilst I like gardening, I don't really have much of a clue so the course will be sparking some of my brain cells that haven't been used in a while.
As I took Missy into breakfast club, I could see she was nervous but as soon as she saw the food, she was fine. Also, anxiety that was evident before half term reared its ugly head again. An issue at school has really been upsetting her, so much that she wanted me to move schools. I had a chat with the teacher yesterday, who was very grateful for brining it to her attention, and will do what she can to help. This has seemed to settle Missy as she was relatively calm this morning before school.
Talking of nervous though, back to Monday and my heart was beating more than usual as I sat in my car in the the college car park, having arrived half an hour early. At ten to nine I took a deep breath and went in. I was comforted to see that almost everyone on the course was my age or older, and I'm not the only one who is very much an amateur. At least now, I can buy gardening books instead of the usual parenting/child development/adoption related books which are my usual read.
So, back to school and all is looking good.
In other news, I've started physio to sort out my hip. Hopefully, in a few months time I'll be running again. Yaay!
Friday 6 February 2015
Reasons to be Cheerful (One, Two Three)
The theme on The Adoption Social for the latest Weekly Adoption Shout Out #WASO is 'Reasons To Be Cheerful'. Now, those of a certain age will remember a song that's been going round my head all morning - "Reasons To Be Cheerful, One,Two,Three" by Ian Dury and the Blockheads. So, here are my three reasons to be cheerful.
1. I've been going out in the evenings a bit more in the last few months, whilst Daddy has joined a badminton club and is out once a week. And Missy is fine about it! Hurrah! Slowly we are getting our social life back. When I shut the front door behind me, Daddy and Missy usually shout "Paaaartyyy" which always makes me smile. So it seems that Missy now knows that when we go out, we come back. I can't tell you how liberating this is. We always go in and see her no matter the time and give the sleeping princess a kiss. Hurrah!
2. I was at a talk recently by Helen Oakwater, adopter and author of Bubble Wrapped Children. She urged us to find "an industrial strength babysitter" because it is so important to have have a social life. For couples it is important to be able to do things together and not just rely on the other to babysit. So, with that in mind, I contacted a lady who a friend had actually recommended well over a year ago. The lady runs a babysitting and nannying service and we met her last week. Missy was very comfortable with her and in fact she is coming round again soon just to play with Missy, which is all part of the service as she believes it's so important that the child feels happy and safe with a babysitter. We're also pleased that it's the lady herself who is going to be our sitter rather than one of her employees. This means Daddy and I can now have more than one or two nights out a year! In fact we already have a date booked. Double Hurrah!
3. Missy has calmed down and as we go head towards half term, we have noticed she is having less meltdowns than the first three weeks of the year, which made it seem as if we had gone back in time one whole year. Her confidence at school also plummeted in those weeks and she was very hyper vigilant. Really not sure why but I think it was something more than just beginning of term nerves. However, the last week/ten days have seen an improvement at school, she is doing some great work, including maths which is never her strong point and she is calmer at home. Missy also made us very proud last week because, for the first time ever, she swam 25m, the length of the pool, all by herself and then proceeded to do it three times more. So, currently her self esteem pot is looking pretty full which is good news for all. Triple hurrah!
So these are my reasons to be cheerful. What are your reasons right now?
1. I've been going out in the evenings a bit more in the last few months, whilst Daddy has joined a badminton club and is out once a week. And Missy is fine about it! Hurrah! Slowly we are getting our social life back. When I shut the front door behind me, Daddy and Missy usually shout "Paaaartyyy" which always makes me smile. So it seems that Missy now knows that when we go out, we come back. I can't tell you how liberating this is. We always go in and see her no matter the time and give the sleeping princess a kiss. Hurrah!
2. I was at a talk recently by Helen Oakwater, adopter and author of Bubble Wrapped Children. She urged us to find "an industrial strength babysitter" because it is so important to have have a social life. For couples it is important to be able to do things together and not just rely on the other to babysit. So, with that in mind, I contacted a lady who a friend had actually recommended well over a year ago. The lady runs a babysitting and nannying service and we met her last week. Missy was very comfortable with her and in fact she is coming round again soon just to play with Missy, which is all part of the service as she believes it's so important that the child feels happy and safe with a babysitter. We're also pleased that it's the lady herself who is going to be our sitter rather than one of her employees. This means Daddy and I can now have more than one or two nights out a year! In fact we already have a date booked. Double Hurrah!
3. Missy has calmed down and as we go head towards half term, we have noticed she is having less meltdowns than the first three weeks of the year, which made it seem as if we had gone back in time one whole year. Her confidence at school also plummeted in those weeks and she was very hyper vigilant. Really not sure why but I think it was something more than just beginning of term nerves. However, the last week/ten days have seen an improvement at school, she is doing some great work, including maths which is never her strong point and she is calmer at home. Missy also made us very proud last week because, for the first time ever, she swam 25m, the length of the pool, all by herself and then proceeded to do it three times more. So, currently her self esteem pot is looking pretty full which is good news for all. Triple hurrah!
So these are my reasons to be cheerful. What are your reasons right now?
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