Journal Entries
Camping - part 2
Posted Aug 19, 2006
Just come back from the camping holiday. It was a bit like the curate's egg. I got the timing wrong, so on the Friday, which I'd taken off to pack, I looked at the joining instructions and found it started that very day. I rang to say I'd be late and was asked if I could make it for the specified time, or later that evening. I said, no, I couldn't as the top box and roof rack were still in the cellar and I hadn't started packing at all. I promised to arrive before morning meeting the next day, by 9am if possible.
I found packing difficult - almost as if I didn't really want to go and I still had a few things to pack the following morning. Nevertheless, we arrived on camp by 9.10am, well in time for the morning meeting. It was raining. After morning meeting, everyone trotted off to the morning activities and I was left on my own to try to put the tent up. The ground was rock hard and I couldn't find where I'd put the mallet so every time I got one side of the tent up, when I tried to put the other side up, the pegs from the first side came out. I got very discouraged and decided the best thing would be to go home, so I went to find little 
, who was understandably upset, as he'd been looking forward to the week. One of the organisers overheard me and took me to the main organiser, who got me a cup of tea and organised some help. We had to wait for quite a while for the heavy rain to stop and in the end I had a couple of people to help put it up, with a borrowed mallet.
The rain continued off and on for a couple of days and I took the time to do some reading. Not little , though. He enjoyed himself whatever the weather.
In the end, when it came to the closing circle, he said that he was thankful for the weather both the bits of sunshine that we had and for the rain, which I thought was lovely.
I didn't do some of the things which I would normally have done. I would have liked to have done the archery and fire-making, but there were too many people wanting to do them and I didn't want to compete to get a bow or a bow-drill. I've never been planted like a tree, which I'm told is a wonderful experience and I didn't feel like the sweat lodge. Another time!
I was asked to do some story-telling while people were going in the sweat lodge to keep the children amused, and I told three Baba Yaga stories and my new Lakota one, 'No Moccasins' plus a couple of other Lakota stories. Very appropriate for a camp based on the teachings of Tom Brown. 
Some of the children also told stories and I got some very good feedback.
I did manage to go the whole week wheat-free and dairy-free, which was a real achievement and the cook was brilliant at sorting out wheat-free alternatives, eg rice instead of pasta. I'd forgotten my pans, so I had to give most of the food I brought with me to the kitchen, but I did keep the eggs and someone lent me a small frying pan so I had fried eggs in the morning. Delicious.
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Latest reply: Aug 19, 2006
Holiday blues
Posted Aug 11, 2006
I'm going on a camping holiday tomorrow with little . Earlier today, I found I should have been there today, but there was no chance of my getting there in time, so I phoned to say I would arrive early tomorrow morning - far learlier than I had intended arriving.
I have massive resistance to packing. I've done little and the main tenty things, but I haven't yet packed any clothes. PUtting the top box on the car and hefting the canvas tent isn't easy and would be so much easier if I had someone else to help. I feel miserable and tearful. I know that when I get there, and I've put the tent up and got everything in place, I'll feel better. Actually, I don't tend to start to feel better until a couple of days into the holiday. Generally, all I want to do is sleep.
I feel bad about it because I know little gets an awful lot out of camping and that it's great for him. There are lots of great activities and loads of other children to play with, plus the opportunity to learn new skills. For the last two camps, he's wanted to stay up far longer than I've wanted to, so I've felt I had to stay up until he was ready to go to bed. I feel like a bad mother and very selfish - and very much on my own.
Maybe I'll use the opportunity once I'm there to do some serious journalling. I don't have to do any of the activities until I"m ready to join in.
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Latest reply: Aug 11, 2006
Kaizen for kids
Posted Jul 17, 2006
Just had an interview with little 's teacher and got a sneak preview of her report about him. It's really good! What an improvement over last year! It's good on all points - reading, writing, social skills, maths, science and even his drawing skills.
His teacher had some suggestions - that I get him to read aloud to me. He's already reading every night in bed - currently he's reading the 'Horrible Histories' series. He also listens to a recording of 'The Magician's Nephew' by C S Lewis (one of the Chronicles of Narnia books).
She thinks he may benefit by being referred to a speech and language expert. He often has ideas he struggles to express (mostly when he's under pressure). I know that feeling! Maybe I can learn stuff too.
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Latest reply: Jul 17, 2006
New ISP - oh, mother!
Posted Jun 7, 2006
I've changed my ISP. I thought nothing would happen until I contacted my old provider, however just after 8oclock, my on-line connection went, and I had to look at my letter from my new provider and entered that, and everything was fine. In theory, it should be 16X faster than my previous one - time will tell.
Oh, there's such a lot to do. I have a lot of subscriptions on my old one, and I don't even know how many there are. I suspect this is an opportunity to unclutter from a lot of automatically generated e-mails. This is a good thing, as at present I'm somewhat overwhelmed by them.
It does feel a bit scary though.
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Latest reply: Jun 7, 2006
Cyclng - at last!
Posted Jun 1, 2006
Little had a 1:1 cycling lesson this afternoon. He's been frightened of cycling since he had a spill and did a somersault over his handlebars last year. So I decided to hire a professional cycle trainer (well, actually he is a firefighter who works for us as a sessional cycle instructor).
About an hour before the lesson was due to start, he told me that he didn't really want the lesson. I told him 'No way, he's agreed to come and I can't tell him not to at this late stage.'
Anyway, the hour came, and the instructor called and we went up to the common at the top of the road. He started with some stretching and balancing exercises. First rule, he was told was 'Do what I say' - later on in the session, rule number one had changed to 'Listen' and rule number two was 'Do what I say'! Then drills about getting on the bike - keeping the brakes on whilst cocking a leg over, sitting down, getting 'pedal ready'. It took a really long time for this to become established. Then was the job of riding up and down the path whilst being supported by an arm on the seat and an arm on he back. This gradually reduced to an arm behind the back, and finally, the instructor took his arm way briefly. First little didn't notice, then a bit of panic. During the training, he regularly fell off - well falling off isn't quite what happened. If the was a football striker, I would say he took a dive.
Part way through the training, I went back to my house for some water for little . On my return, I found the insructor a bit distraught, as someone had stolen his backpack with his first aid pack, tools and change of clothing. He disappeared for a few moments to try to shed light onto what had happened, but there was no sign of the missing backpack.
I felt really awful about it.
In the meantime, I found out that little had managed to cycle along the path in both directions without support! YAY! But he hadn't managed to start off himself. More work on starting off - this was a really difficult thing for him and he went over the drill time and time again. Finally he did a couple reasonably well. Then came time to put it all together. It took a really long time for him to do it - lots of false starts and lots of 'dives'. Finally, he started off and cycled off the path onto the grass - still keeping going and finally he managed to turn in a graceful circle and come back to the start position. Success! 
I was really proud of him for keeping going and very pleased with the instructor for his patience. The really good thing about it is that little now is keen to keep on cycling and his confidence is high. Great! 
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Latest reply: Jun 1, 2006
Zarquon's Singing Fish!
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