Idris at 7 months

I am sitting here late at night writing this - I put the pictures on days ago ready to write this post but never got time. My house is so busy, the girls seem to need or want things often, they whirl in and out of the house, ever busy, ever noisy, ever wonderfully 'themselves'. And when we try and concentrate on something and Idris is testing out his mighty lungs at full volume and cackling at the dog, I sigh at how the girls struggle to concentrate because of the noise he makes. But I never once, til now, wondered about how he might struggle to concentrate because of the noise THEY always make!

It is nearly eleven pm and Idris missed his afternoon nap because there was just too much going on so he went to bed early and now he is up and playing. And guess what? Yes..... it is PEACEFUL - and he is sooooo focused, sitting on the floor and intently exploring a set of eggs and spoons that Faith was playing with today, after half an hour of eggs and spoons he turns his attention to his treasure basket - he can hear the sounds the items make, a soft rustle of kite fabric, the ting of a metal bowl touching wood, he coos softly at the harsh sound of the bear bell, then passes an egg cup from hand to hand.

There are no adoring sisters to leap in front of him and pull faces to make him laugh or grab him up for a cuddle and he is relishing the freedom! I must make more room for him to have this kind of peace!

This little bottom wiggles a lot these days, and those little knees pull up and then the arms give way and another belly flop ensues and I hear that frustrated sound of a thwarted baby! In the meantime he has discovered that he can fidget his way around the room on his bottom - I'm not even sure how he travels in that way but then I hear the clang of the wood bucket from behind me and yes, he's managed to move five feet across the room again!

Idris loved exploring the music basket - I showed him what sounds the xylophone made when you hit it and he really worked hard at hitting it himself! This xylophone was bought from a second-hand sale and it is really daft as two of the notes make the same sound as each other! I love the cheerful colours though and can't bear to see it go!

Balloons? Now they're fun! I remember Eve playing with balloons at this age too - and just look at that dimple!!

Here he is raiding my laundry baskets - baskets that were previously full of pants and socks sorted into neat piles ready for drawers!! Sigh!

Tonight he noticed that Daddy was in the mirror as well as in bed when I went in to wake him for work. he looked in the mirror then turned back to the bed, then back to the mirror. we laughed and laughed as he whipped his head around ever faster to try and catch Daddy out, but there were still two of him! He was so puzzled!

Well it is 11.40pm and I'm off to bed as Idris has finished wrecking exploring the lounge and is ready for some 'Daddy's at work so Mummy and I get the whole bed to ourselves' snuggle. My sweet boy really does consider that sleep is for wimps - night time is a wasted opportunity in his eyes if he hasn't fed at least five times!

Home-made Bath Paints

We had some fun with these last week - it was an idea that I 'pinned' to my pinterest board (which was the only reason I joined facebook in the end, so that I could use pinterest! I can actually find links to things again instead of plodding through umpteen saved links!). The original idea comes from The Imagination Tree. They are very simply made by mixing a small amount of food colouring into shaving foam...

Then add paintbrushes and voila - bath time fun........ Eve is very taken with the idea of painting her nails at the minute, so she painted her nails with it!

Faith meanwhile painted as much of the bathroom wall as she possibly could - I can only show you a small part of it though as after the Winter in my little old and cold house, the grout needs scrubbing clean again!!!!!

We tried to make red, blue, purple and green too but they went amazingly wrong! When we added the red and blue to the shaving foam, it turned the foam a pale grey and formed capsules of red and blue colouring. We pulled the capsules out and they were powdery inside - a fascinating reaction with the foam and just as entertaining as the bath paints but left us with a sadly depleted colour palette!! The green simply went yellow!

Making Wildflower Seed Bombs!

Faith and I tried making a batch of these yesterday so that we were ready pre-pared for the Home Education group today where we are running this as an activity for others to try out! They don't look that attractive in the pictures but they are packed full of British Hedgerow Wildflower seeds, varieties that will grow in semi-shade, and so carry the potential to be really beautiful! I can't remember where I saw the idea but it comes from the 'guerilla gardening' movement where people go under cover of darkness usually to garden derelict areas and make them beautiful and more useful for wildlife. I believe the original bombs were much larger and made from clay and compost but our version is made from recycled paper pulp! Here's how we did them:

Sheets of newspaper torn into small pieces and soaked in water (we found that four sheets of a tabloid sized paper filled one of our ice-cube trays)......

We then blended a large spoonful at a time with about a half-pint more water so as to be kind to our blender!

This was the result - sloppy paper pulp that Faith had fun playing with!

We mixed a tablespoonful of the wildflower seed into the pulp and stirred it in well then tipped the mix into a muslin cloth tied over a large pan. We twisted the cloth up and hand-squeezed as much water as possible out of the mix.

We took small amounts of the pulp and pushied it into the ice-cube compartments, squeezing any more water out as we went. They were a little tricky to get out of this ice-cube tray - I think that a silicone one would be easier to use, and it would make some fun shapes as well! Once popped out we lined them up on the radiators to dry as they need to be completely dry for storage or the seeds will try to germinate prematurely!

I remembered too late for this batch that when we made paper we added coloured tissue paper and it turned the paper purple, so tomorrow I'm going to try adding yellow and orange tissue paper for a Spring-like look!

Once dried these can be put into a bag and carried with you on a walk or drive and chucked into the base of a hegerow where the seeds will hopefully germinate and the flowers will grow! This was why I chose the native wildflower seeds as so many hedgerows have been lost, reducing the number of habitats for insects, birds and animals and particularly affecting butterflies. This is a fun way to try and redress the balance - we are going to try and 'bomb' our local canal-side hedges with these!

Mini Daffs For Mother's Day!

I have had this packet of miniature daffodil bulbs tucked away for months, ready for when I went back to work. I returned to work as a child minder later than planned for various reasons and so late that the bulbs were growing in the bag! We finally got them potted up and I hope that they will flower in time to give as Mother's day gifts but if not then all good intentions were there!



We started by hammering holes into the bottom of clean food tins with a hammer and nails - Dewi did this with them and had his thumb hammered a few times by accident!

The girls filled them almost full with compost then added the bulbs before tucking a little bit more compost around the tops and sides of the bulbs to make sure that there were no air pockets. A little bit of water and a sunny window sill finished them off for now and we will decorate the tins nearer to Mother's Day before giving them to various Mummies and deserving others!! There were a few left over so I tucked them in my garden to keep the crocuses and snowdrops company!!

A Visit To the Firestation!

We had a great visit to the firestation on Tuesday! The girls got to have a go at working the hoses and Idris and I got a gentle shower of fine water droplets as we were trying to take pictures!

One of the fire men put on a silly wig and a coat and hid up the tower pretending to be trapped by a fire. The fother fire men put on the lights and sirens and drove around the corner to the back entrance to the yard then put up their big ladders and 'rescued' him!

The children were all really keen to see the hydraulic cutters in action but the fire men weren't so keen! Maybe next time!

All the children had a go in the fire engine - on the promise that they didn't press any of the tempting buttons!! Faith just about resisted!

In the afternoon I printed out some beebot mats of town buildings on fire from Primary Treasure Chest and a fire engine jacket for the beebot. The girls really enjoyed learning how to programme the beebot to get around the town!

Comparing Balls From the Treasure Basket

It was fascinating to watch Idris with his treasure basket the other night. he sat for about 45 minutes before bedtime, absolutely engrossed in it. He seemed to be most interested in the wooden balls. He spied them sitting together and started to investigate.....



The red one was small enough to be picked up in one hand..... quick taste......

Feels nice and smooth and it rocks back and forwards from hand to hand....

I can hold it in this hand too.......oh and I can pass from one hand to another - now that's a handy skill!

Oh look..... another ball, I'll just scoop this one up in my other hand.....

Oh......erm.... it won't scoop, why not? Come on ball, come on (add in frustrated noises and a scowling face here!).......

I wonder if I use both my hands if it might work....... it's hard to grip....

It's hard to keep hold of this one..... if I don't concentrate it plops back onto the floor.... and it's really heavy..... it helps if I use my chin as a third hand to help hold it!

Hey check me out.... I got it..... look no chin!!!!!

A Valentines Cake Shop

We whipped up a batch of pink play dough and made cakes and biscuits embellished with sequin hearts in little tiny cake cases. After that we sold them to each other in a cake shop. I put out the play panels and together we stuck up the valentine cake shop signs from Primary Treasure Chest. I have discovered this site recently and I'm really impressed! The role play resources are thoughtfully put together, with a small number of different variables that don't overwhelm the children. Some simple 'open' and 'closed' signs plump it out, and literacy and numeracy are neatly catered for with 'order book' signs, a choice of price labels and a clock with movable hands.

There was some great role-play including counting and adding real money, making up cake names, sharing, using 'shop talk' and much more. It lasted a long time all things considered, but the play panels are huge and I've packed them away again for next time!