luckydipdays

It is cold today. And wet. And raining. And windy. So we are stuck inside most emphatically. Mind you, that didn't stop Ianto playing in the sandpit wiht the eldest snowflake while we were there for playgroup this morning!
On the way home we stopped at the supermarket for hot chocolate supplies and have come home, indulged in hot chocolate (made with actual chocolate melted in cream with milk and honey and a vanilla bean), made a big pile of blankets and pillows in the middle of the living room, a cubby in the corner and we are settling in.
Eftb rescued all the data off the hard drive of my old computer and lancrewitch brought it to playgroup today so Ianto is happy to be able to watch the discs that won't work on the DVD player again. That will change again when I have to send it off to be fixed but for the moment he is happy watching Futurama and drawing. His drawings have taken on a real life like quality - his people have bodies, heads, hands, fingers, feet, faces and hair and there are stories behind everything that he draws. I think the fact that Anouke uses her imagination so much has kick started his a bit because this is a new thing for him. He is now practicing his engineering skills by improving the cubby I built earlier.

Anouke has done some drawing too, although she is still in scribble mode lol. She is loving the cubby and has made a nest in it to curl up in and pretend to sleep in between pretending to be various animals. Her current favourites are frogs and horses and when she is tired a monkey baby who clings to my back and wraps her limbs around me.

Later today when Ianto is in a more cooperative frame of mind I want to make up a list of family values with him - I'm not sure he will want to help but I will do it anyway. I really want to have them written up as a reminder for all of us.

Saturday's visit to Lyrebird Steiner Products was great. It was lovely to spend some time with just Anouke wandering around as that doesn't happen much anymore. The owner was very helpful and gave me some food for thought about what I can and can't expect from Ianto which triggered a few light bulb moments.

In an attempt to de google my life here I am :) Still haven't figured out how to bring my old blog over from blogger but I'll get there.
So this is me :) Living the single mama life with Ianto (who is 4.5) and Anouke (who is currently 21 months). Other supporting characters include the parentals (referred to as Mum and Dad), two siblings who I will henceforth refer to as Flying Auntie and Studying Auntie and various other friends and relatives, many of whom have already given themselves internet names so I don't have to think of them for myself...

The biggest thing to happen for us lately is that I have made the firm decision to homeschool the small people. There are many reasons for this which I will go into later. Mainly though it is because of my concern that Ianto will find his spirit crushed at school and I don't want that to happen. While his stubbornness and conviction that he is always right is tricky to deal with now I think that if I can support it appropriately it will be a positive thing - standing his ground against peer pressure as a teen and then forging his own way as an adult. I can see him going to school and getting it supressed and then having to try and rebuild it when he is a teen... Now to just get through this bit...

So in honour of that decision I am reading blogs, researching, reading some more and heading to the local steiner shop to get some supplies on the weekend while Flying Auntie entertains small people.

We spent a good portion of today at the local park with other homeschoolers, bemoaning the fact that because of school holidays 'our' parks are full of interlopers lol. Still holidays will be over soon and we can reclaim them. Ianto had great fun running around with a newcomer to our group who is the same age as him. This was the first time he had met a boy the same age as him and they had a fantastic time. Now sleeps have been had and it is probably time to be thinking about dinner but I can put that off for a bit longer surely?