A world of our own ...

Mamma making a memory through the parlour window, as Ma and Juliet watch the cats - Sylvie, Selsie, and Cooper - devour their meal. Ma is feeling a bit ordinary today, as she had to resort to her stick to cross the road and chat to Hamish.

Wet weather plans

We were betwixt and between on Monday, were Alannah and I. Was it going to rain, or was it not going to rain. As it turned out, for about 30 minutes it teemed. So we did lots of indoor play. And it was indoor play in the morning. I was ready for this just in case, but BoM led me astray, it did.

We read lots of books: Tough Trucks, Roadworks, My Uncle's Donkey, and Waterhole. A number of times in various settings for each book. We did crayon writing, but I think I need more colours in the crayon case. So I set Alannah up on my computer table here, where I am typing this, wrote her name and she picked up the pencil and wrote away herself. Was it wishful thinking that she understood when I said that was her name? Yeah, probably. But she holds a pencil fairly well for someone who is not 18 months until Sunday.


We did our usual sorting with sticks and UNO cards. I added to this another set of cards produced by Usborne which is shape cards. Well, the cards are all large rectanngles but they have about a dozen shapes (4x) showing shape and word, eg circle, square, triangle, rectangle, oval (which she can recognise and say, for some godforsaken reason), spiral, semi-circle, star, cross ... how many is that? Oh and heart. I have only introduced six to start with. We are not doing anything literate with them, just mixing them all up and then sorting them into three 'bins'.

So, now to the final two shots. I asked Kirsten's permission to post these two. Yes, she is upset, and yes, like a good journalist, I recorded the situation rather than go to her aid. So, what were the circumstances. It will not surprise you to know that it involves a cat. And the least obvious culprint - Sellie!

Sellie is the sweetest, most loving cat that I have. Yet she is also the most scared - she is the quintessential 'scaredy-cat'. She spends the first hour of my play-days with Alannah, hiding under the stairs, and I have to eventually coax her out. Once, she realises that all is okay, all she wants to do is come and nose-touch and rub against a leg. Even. Alannah's. leg. This time, however, we were about to go outside. The rain had stopped. It was after lunch. Things had dried a smidge and we had our hatties and our sunscreen on. But.

Sellie. was. atop. Ma's. toy. box. which. is. beside. the. door.

Alannah felt trapped. Sellie had to be coaxed to come to where I was before Alannah got a grip. A couple of times later in the afternoon, Alannah actually put her hand on Sellie's back. She feels most comfortable with the ginger cat, Sylvie, who is fat and old and lies on the sofa all day. You saw them together last week. I think it is safe to say, that the cat's blow Alannah's mind.

More than mere baby-sitting

This is my challenge to myself: how do I ensure that 'ma-care' is more than 'baby-sitting'. If I were providing child-care for a just any child, I would want to ensure that there was a learning component. Learning that was balanced between the skills, learning that was cumulative rather than repetitive. Learning that was fun; that was bonding; that was cerebral. Just because the child is the child of my child, should impact diddly-squat on the equation.

I find it easy enough to set a programme that includes the physical, the emotional, as well as pre-reading, pre-number, our culture, music, and dance. The difficulty is making the programme cumulative. To enable the child to develop over time.

BTW, you need to know that in the first photograph, Alannah is saying the word 'two'.

So, what did today involve?


Sandpit: We played 'Patty cake Baker's Man' then smashed the cakes down. In between time, we had to fetch buckets of water to keep the sand sufficiently moist.

Water Table: We have two basins, and numerous colourful pouring containers, as well as two colourful watering cans. Alannah had to help me fill the containers, carry one back to the clamshell. Then pour directly or via a mug. The day reached 26C so there was a lot of water play.

Culture Studies: Alannah is learning to identify by sight and sound, vehicles which pass by: car, truck, bus and motor-cycle. She can correctly identify the sound of the last two. She is learning to say 'big blue bus' especially the 'b' sound.

Pre-reading: We read "The Very Busy Spider', 'Roadworks', 'Tough Trucks' and 'The Fire Engine Book'.

Music and dance: we listened to a CD of Scottish fiddle music called 'The Red House' and Alannah loves to dance, moving easily to this infectious beat.

Pre-number: We had sticks, buttons, stones and crayons and sorted them into plastic mugs. Sometimes she picked up many, but more often she picked them up one at a time. She sorted and put (new word to replace toss) buttons into an egg carton, one per slot. An engrossing and not easy task.

Pre-writing: crayons on large drawing sheets. Free style.

Singing: I sung nursery rhymes to her at sleep-time as she snuggled into my shoulder.

Physical: This is a very physical day, but just to top it off, we played chasies from room to room, changing direction to trick the other. She tried to trick me more than I her!

And then, there are the cats ... they are coping really well. They all stayed around today and somehow realised that her enthusiasm was not going to actually hurt them.

Eleanor Abernathy - The crazy cat lady

Pretty soon I will be screaming gibberish and throwing cats at passersby. My son warned me. He said 'Mum, stop at two. It is a well-known fact that women over 60 with more than two cats, are in want of sanity.' He is like that, my son. Straight to the point. He also knows many episodes of The Simpsons by heart. Which is a worry. And ripe for riposte. However, he is faster than I. And to be truthful, Maude, I really don't give a damn!

Needless to say, I am now hosting three cats in my courtyard apartment, having taken over the care of my daughter's cat, Cooper, on Sunday. I knew it was coming. Russian Blues are fairly highly-strung and do not take easily to playing second fiddle. When the baby came along, my daughter was around much more, but paid even less attention to him. He took it out on her, lying in wait and biting her legs. Kirsten was terrified that he would do something similar to Alannah. It could not continue.

I have him inside for a week to imprint the apartment and our routine on him, if possible. I am also handling him as much as possible and making sure I know what riles him and avoid that. I want him to get used to my style which is very hands on, with much 'chucking' around the head.

The hassle with keeping him in, of course, is the impact it has on the other two. They are not allowed their usual freedom to come and go at will at all hours of the day and night. They have to ask to be let out - and in. They are coping. Just.