Ode to the sling

Isaac is nearly 20 months old and I still use the mei tai carrier A LOT! I don't know how people manage without. How do other children go to sleep? How do they have a nap? With Reuben we followed the silly rule of putting him in a cot awake and of course he was awake for ages in the silly cot! So the time wasted going up and down the stairs to check on him would've been better spent with him on my back and with me getting on with whatever I had to do.
Not to mention going out with a very lively nearly 4 year old, I tried taking the double buggy a few times but what to do when Reuben runs off to play with something, then decides he wants to go somewhere completely different, then decides he wants to go down the slide with me and Isaac, and so on... I found myself racing after him with a very bulky pushchair and felt rather silly. So now we just use the buggy if we're going down to London or taking a plane or something like that.

Tired but still here

I have so many lovely thoughts, ideas and experiences during the day that I want to share in this blog but by the time I get to it (it is currently nearly 10am and I've just finished doing a Cohen Kappa statistical calculation for my course...) I'm exhausted. Anyway... the television has not made a return and we're all very well thank you very much, Reuben does do a bit of computer work (the reading website, cbeebies website and some stuff on the ipad) but now it's never more than an hour a day and I don't have to tell him to stop as he decides on his own that he wants to do something else. We watch films on the projector most evening so we get our movie fix (both the kids pre 8pm and us post 8pm), we all love a good film!! So I'm very happy at the way things have turned out, the children are using their imagination so much more, I wouldn't have believed it had I not tried it.

We also started going to Woodcraft Folk meetings and Reuben (who is a little woodchip) loves it. I'm sure I had lots of great philosophical and political things to say, but for now it's over and out. I'll leave you with a very autumnal picture of Isaac enjoying the fallen leaves.

Our castle

Here's some pictures of our castle, it still needs sanding and painting but it's being used already, the children really love to sit in it and read of all (and of course must have a dummy in my mouth when I read...), I imagined great fantasy play including sieges and battles or even attempts at rescuing princesses, but maybe they are too young...

The Outwoods

Thank you Sue and Roy from Charnwood's Play Rangers for a great afternoon at the outwoods near Loughborough, Reuben loved it and Isaac was happy to spend 2 hours in the carrier. You do a great job!

The laptop reappears

Today was a bit of a crappy day, Reuben had a really bad night due to growing pains in his legs and this morning kept falling over, I was zombiefied and Isaac was his usual cheerful self, at least one of us was. We were all so tired that my laptop made a reappearance and Reuben spent about an hour on the reading eggs website. I felt a bit deflated as our tv and computer free days experiment was going very well indeed, on the upside it meant that I managed to do some University work. So what now? I don't want to go back to a computer obsessed child in the house, do I enforce specific times when he can use it? How do I explain it to a free spirited nearly 4 year old? The continuum concept is easier to follow in the jungle I guess...

No telly update

It's been over a week now and the television and computers have not been reinstated yet (I'm writing this while Reuben plays upstairs...) and I think I'll try to keep it going as much as possible. The children have a new wooden castle we have made to play in (a sort of large wendy house but castle shaped, will post our own photos asap) we found the plans here http://www.buildeazy.com/newplans/kids_castle_3_06.html

and there's been a boom in reading books together and listening to music. It's very full-on for me as before I could count on about 2 hours a day when Reuben was either on the computer or watching a dvd, seems a lot now that it's gone down to zero but he is only 3, it was too much in my opinion. And as time goes on I have also found that the boys play more together and that Reuben is a lot more patient with Isaac and actually wants to spend time with him.
I am also concerned that passively watching something or playing a game that has been scripted for them will deaden their imagination and give them a more unconnected relationship with the world around them, I would rather they develop a strong imagination and creative thought now that they are so young.

New Open University course

My module has started today and it looks like a nightmare but it's actually quite fun... it's the research/experimental addition to the exploring psychology module I finished in June, I have no idea what's going on until it is posted week by week by the tutors, no course books, no assignments or exams. If the children go to bed relatively early I might be able to do it!!

The telly has gone on holiday

I've been reminded today that people actually read and like this blog so I apologize for being very slack, it's a combination of extreme tiredness (my two small people are still not sleeping properly) and the fact that for the time being I'm not using computers during the day. This is because Reuben was getting very intense and weird with using the laptop and my ipad, as well as watching a lot of tv, I think he was having some trouble dealing with some things here at home and was escaping to a world much easier to control (the computer or the dvd player). So we are having a break from all of them, no telly or computers at all for the kids and the laptop for me just in the evening. The difference is astounding! Reuben's insomnia seem to have disappeared and the general bickering and bossing people around (and I'm talking about Reuben, even though you might see the similarities with your here writer...) is also a lot less, the children now spend the day playing, using their imagination, exploring, singing and dancing, making stuff and asking lots of questions. It's a lot more full-on for me as I don't get a break now at all (when Isaac had a nap, Reuben would play with the ipad while I had a coffee and used my computer, that is no more!) but it's worth it as I spend less energy managing wild creature behaviour ;) and sleep better. Some people have suggested we have special times in the day when they can watch tv but that would go against my child led philosophy, you either give them something (and let them manage it) or you don't. Can you imagine trying to enforce such a rule on Reuben? God help us!! Sorry Reuben your 20 minutes are up, you have to turn the ipad off now... screaming ensues, the ipad would probably end up flying through the room... and you know what? That's how I would behave if someone gave me something then took it away.

And changing the subject entirely, we spent a nice couple of weeks in Italy recently. Here's a great picture Martin took of me and the boys with my sister and her brood.