Tina Cleans

.Tina cleans at a small child care centre after the children have left. She doesn’t always lock the cleaning liquids away.What type of hazard could this present for the small children?

It makes a change from shuffle trousers I guess.

And no, I have no intention of answering it; do your own homework!

Reading that shuffle trouser link reminds me though - does anyone have an Upsy Daisy cake mould? There's a small girl with a birthday later this month who would be made very happy by it...

Tia

Procrastination

Two evenly spaced slots of time, separated by one trip to preschool to cath a small child.

Two tasks, one pleasant (drink enough coffee to stay awake for housegrouplifegroup tonight and do some reading/blogging/eating of chocolate biscuits), one tedious (clear sitting room to make space for a Team Around the Child meeting, do the washing up and generally make the house appear to be an acceptable place in which to bring up children).

If I do the tasks in the order above, my pleasure in the drinking coffee/eating of chocolate/etc. will be marred by the knowledge that the house is messy and the work still needs to be done. If I do them in reverse order, create order from chaos first and then cover it in biscuit crumbs, I will be able to relax properly and enjoy the peace of mind that comes with a tidy home.

So why is it that in these situations, I always drink the coffee first?

And what are the chances that if I had actually done it the other way around, I might have remembered to go into town and pick up Mog's pads too?

Tia. Hoping not to forget again tomorrow morning.

And so to bed

I think it's safe to say she likes it. Three days in, and she is falling asleep without her sedative, stretching out in the night without hitting the sides, sleeping through until gone 4AM without seizures, waking up happy and refreshed and ready to join in with school and life in general.
Of course I woke her up taking this picture, so we might have scuppered all that for tonight.
Tia

And Death

Wasn't expecting that to follow on so neatly.

Rest in Peace, Comeback.

You will be missed.

Tia

Life

Beauty is

The half smile which crosses my daughter's face when I stroke her cheek.
Peace is
Watching my children sleep.
Sweetness is
A small child pausing to kiss my knees as she whizzes past.
Lightness is
My daughter resting in my arms.
Trust is
A child laughing when tossed in the air, knowing she will be caught and cuddled and loved
Friendship is
Sharing a family time so others can enjoy it too.
Kindness is
An outstretched arm, catching a wobbler before she falls
Family is
Four generations side by side taking Communion together
Patience is
Answering the 673rd "Why?"
Gentleness is
Stroking the cat and avoiding the injuries
Love is
Living for others
Life is
All of these things.

Tia

Bed Beginnings

Mog was not impressed with her new bed. Goway was very pleased with it; whether his presence at the far end was bothering her or whether it was the smell of the new wood, or something else, I do not know, but Mog was distinctly unimpressed.

Into bed at around 8 and quiet for the duration of one CD (Julian Lloyd Webber)
And then fussy and fretty, listened to a little more of that CD before switching to Norah Jones
And failed to settle, and tried some different medicines and a change of position, and a spot of Il Divo
and then finally settled with something on a repeat loop for a bit, but not until around 3AM.

Little Fish was, inevitably, awake at her usual time and demanding breakfast (which she then proceeded to ignore and refuse to eat. She does this every morning. It never fails to annoy me).

Mog slumbered on through the morning, ignoring Little Fish's "Courtney Courtney", ignoring the washing machine, and the noises off from the cats before finally consenting to wake up at around 10. It's alright for some.

Two girls up and refreshed then, and one tired Tia. A lazy day, a pottering around at home day, a catching up on blogs and Asbo Jesus and I can has cheezburger sort of a day, a drinking lots of coffee and chatting with friends (and remembering too late that I have run out of proper coffee once more) kind of a day. And eventually, a throw the girls into beds (having first thrown the cats out of beds) kind of an evening, and a listen to Mog grizzle her way through Julian Lloyd Webber again kind of a night.

But now it's silent, Mog has either decided her bed is comfortable or that she is too tired to care, Julian has put his bow away for now, and the cats are eyeing up the fish. Time to feed the furries and hide the scalies, and then definitely more than time for bed. If Mog really hates her bed, I'll have it; Goway nearly concussed himself earlier trying to jump up onto it without realising the doors were shut; I like the idea of a catproof, childproof space for myself.

Tia

Bedman Bedlam

9.55 and the van pulls up, having narrowly avoided a collision with the departing bed.

All pieces unloaded, all plastic unwrapped, all parts piled into the hallway. Inevitably, this is the moment when Friend called by to pick up a dress, swiftly followed by Freecycler who turned thisinto thisand then this(photo by Little Fish). Freecycler turned up at the same time as our cleaner, who very nearly ran away again but was thankfully persuaded to fight her way through the chaos come in and concentrate her efforts on the kitchen and bathroom. Lovely.

Add in one wheelchair supply company, making Little Fish a very happy Little Girl; she greeted him with a big round of applausewhilst my own joy was tempered by the size of the cheque I had to write. Still, she's got it back; she can be properly mobile at the right height for her age again. And there isn't really a price to put on that.

One bed still being built.This is clever. See those struts in the middle with the extra bits of blue webbing on them? That's the bit of the bed base which sits under Mog's hips. And the webbing adjusts the bounceability of the bed. As they are in this photo, they loosen the struts making a nice bouncy extra soft and comfy base for her to lie on. If she were a more active child then sliding the webbing towards the edges of the bed would pull up an additional strut underneath the frame, strengthening it and making it stiffer. Very cool.

Sadly the coolness was slightly marred by the discovery that there aren't enough connectors in the bed base itself. For some reason it is possible to make the bed profile and tilt, but not at present to adjust the height. This is a minor problem; he set it at the right height for me so we'll just have to only employ carers who are the same height for the next few weeks until he can sort it out.

Base on, sides on, doors on, and finally mattress in.One beautiful and comfortable, safe bed for Mog. Space for her to have seizures without hitting the sides, space for her to snuggle down without her toes hitting the ends, infinitely adjustable and unsuffocatable. And built into her bedroom now, so no need to dismantle it once the building work is done.

Is it bedtime yet?

Oh, and all finished and everything signed for in time to get down to the really important business of the day; lunch with friends!
Tia