Sharilyn over at lovelydesign wrote a post way backin May about a film called After Life. I still haven't seen the film, but watching it is on my list of things to do. It is about taking one memory with you to heaven, only one; people who have recently died are asked to look back over their lives and make a choice. Now I think that is a pretty tall order, and one that I've been pondering for long time.
Like many who have had children, my choice would have to be one that includes my daughter. Today I've settled on the way she used to curl up on my chest in the early weeks of her life. I used to call her my dormouse - tiny, warm and sleepy. She would pull her legs right up under herself, and gently burrow into me, and either sleep or just lie there tucked in for a while.
What would yours be?
Friday, 4 December 2009
Thursday, 3 December 2009
we have lift off
After several months of watching her buddies jumping up and down, Scarlett has finally managed her first two feet off the ground not holding on to anything jump.
A day or two before she did it I noticed her watching one particular friend quite carefully, then there were tentative efforts at copying, followed by a beaming smile and requests for us to watch her.
Since then she's only managed to do one at a time, they are still quite self-conscious and seem to require a real effort on her part, unlike most of her peers who seem to bounce around like Tigger.
Alongside this she's begun to clamber over everything and generally be much more physical in her play. Latest favourite games are horseriding - with me as the horse, bouncing on Daddy, and going round and round in circles in the kitchen listening to her nursery rhyme cds.
After a lot of this sort of activity today she was in bed asleep by 6.30.
A day or two before she did it I noticed her watching one particular friend quite carefully, then there were tentative efforts at copying, followed by a beaming smile and requests for us to watch her.
Since then she's only managed to do one at a time, they are still quite self-conscious and seem to require a real effort on her part, unlike most of her peers who seem to bounce around like Tigger.
Alongside this she's begun to clamber over everything and generally be much more physical in her play. Latest favourite games are horseriding - with me as the horse, bouncing on Daddy, and going round and round in circles in the kitchen listening to her nursery rhyme cds.
After a lot of this sort of activity today she was in bed asleep by 6.30.
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
Tuesday, 1 December 2009
S is for sponge...
...and surprise and smile and splish, splash, splosh.
They say children are sponges at this early age, and it is so true. Every day we hear them repeat things they've heard us say whether they understand them or not, and often they actions mirror ours too. Sadly not necessarily the things we'd like them to copy, like saying 'please' and 'thank you', sharing with their friends, or not trumping in public but hey ho, we persevere.
Anyway last week we were reading Kipper's A to Z. Kipper and his friend Arnold have a box and are collecting things beginning with each letter to go into it. They have an ant which they promptly lose, the bee gets away, a caterpillar finds them, the duck won't fit, the elephant is too big and the frog too fast. Later on it starts to rain so the friends splash in the puddles and discover six slugs.
It was on this page that my little girl surprised me once again. I pointed out the first s's in 'S is for...splish, splash, splosh'.
And she then said "and this and this and this", pointing to the second 's' in each word.
S's everywhere now get this special treatment, recognition of that familiar shape has been embedded in part of her magical brain. I'm sure it's all because her name starts with S, I'm also sure it is no different to recognition of circles, squares or triangles, but the fact that it's a letter makes it feel all the more amazing.
They say children are sponges at this early age, and it is so true. Every day we hear them repeat things they've heard us say whether they understand them or not, and often they actions mirror ours too. Sadly not necessarily the things we'd like them to copy, like saying 'please' and 'thank you', sharing with their friends, or not trumping in public but hey ho, we persevere.
Anyway last week we were reading Kipper's A to Z. Kipper and his friend Arnold have a box and are collecting things beginning with each letter to go into it. They have an ant which they promptly lose, the bee gets away, a caterpillar finds them, the duck won't fit, the elephant is too big and the frog too fast. Later on it starts to rain so the friends splash in the puddles and discover six slugs.
It was on this page that my little girl surprised me once again. I pointed out the first s's in 'S is for...splish, splash, splosh'.
And she then said "and this and this and this", pointing to the second 's' in each word.
S's everywhere now get this special treatment, recognition of that familiar shape has been embedded in part of her magical brain. I'm sure it's all because her name starts with S, I'm also sure it is no different to recognition of circles, squares or triangles, but the fact that it's a letter makes it feel all the more amazing.
Thursday, 26 November 2009
update
We sat in the waiting room. Every once in a while a child's name was called and shortly after cries and kerfuffle were heard coming from the room they's gone into...
All the children waiting had cute little pairs of glasses on, their eyes magnified behind the lenses...
All the parents looked anxious...
After the brief trip into the room a teary child would emerge, being cajoled into smiling again by a kind lady offering a sticker...more frogs saying 'two good eyes'...
When it was our turn to go into the room Scarlett duly did her share of crying as eyedrops were administered, and her share of smiling as she was given her sticker.
Gradually her pupils dilated and half an hour later we were called in to see the specialist.
To a point my prayers have been answered, her vision is fine thank goodness. She does have a lazy eye which will need to be corrected through exercises and probably a patch, but it's a relief all round.
All the children waiting had cute little pairs of glasses on, their eyes magnified behind the lenses...
All the parents looked anxious...
After the brief trip into the room a teary child would emerge, being cajoled into smiling again by a kind lady offering a sticker...more frogs saying 'two good eyes'...
When it was our turn to go into the room Scarlett duly did her share of crying as eyedrops were administered, and her share of smiling as she was given her sticker.
Gradually her pupils dilated and half an hour later we were called in to see the specialist.
To a point my prayers have been answered, her vision is fine thank goodness. She does have a lazy eye which will need to be corrected through exercises and probably a patch, but it's a relief all round.
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Tuesday, 24 November 2009
idiot box
I read this post over at Mother Magazine and am left wondering. Is a little bit of Kipper on DVD really that harmful? Scarlett watches some every few days and far from sitting glued to the screen in some kind of zombie state she is animated, excited and continues to be just as talkative as ever, letting me know what's happening, laughing and giggling, and clearly enjoying this form of storytelling as much as the books.
'Mummy look, they are going up Big Hill....Tiger is on his bike...look Mummy they are camping' etc. etc.
I think the suggestion that using the 'idiot box' to entertain our children is arresting their development a bit of an over-statement. As with all things a modicum of common sense and balance are the essential ingredients. If television were the only form of entertainment Scarlett got I'd have to put my hands up and say I failed as a mother. If it was the only thing she seemed interested in, the only thing she wanted to do, it would be a pretty sad state of affairs. If she was becoming troublesome, difficult, tantrum-y I'd have to think again.
I've yet to detect any changes in her behaviour after watching; all that happens is snippets of the stories come out in her imaginative play, just as parts of our day, and bits of stories in books do.
The article links to a book written by Martin Large called 'Set Childhood Free'. It's not in our library but I'm going to see if they can order it for me. Perhaps after reading the book I'll be switching off until Scarlett is at least 8 or 9 years old...
'Mummy look, they are going up Big Hill....Tiger is on his bike...look Mummy they are camping' etc. etc.
I think the suggestion that using the 'idiot box' to entertain our children is arresting their development a bit of an over-statement. As with all things a modicum of common sense and balance are the essential ingredients. If television were the only form of entertainment Scarlett got I'd have to put my hands up and say I failed as a mother. If it was the only thing she seemed interested in, the only thing she wanted to do, it would be a pretty sad state of affairs. If she was becoming troublesome, difficult, tantrum-y I'd have to think again.
I've yet to detect any changes in her behaviour after watching; all that happens is snippets of the stories come out in her imaginative play, just as parts of our day, and bits of stories in books do.
The article links to a book written by Martin Large called 'Set Childhood Free'. It's not in our library but I'm going to see if they can order it for me. Perhaps after reading the book I'll be switching off until Scarlett is at least 8 or 9 years old...
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