NotSheep

Barney, George and Freddy went off for their first swimming-lesson yesterday (well, not their first ever, except for Freddy, but their first for a while). They’re registered for the 8.30 am class - no more lie-ins on Saturdays for a while! Scratchy took them, and they all came back bouncy and saying it was great

Then Scratchy went off to his tutorial and left us to it. Toby was in permanently-attached-to-the-breast mode, and he’s not quite got the knack of nursing without me holding everything in place yet, so there wasn’t much I could do but sit there and feed him. I don’t mind that, but I do think the others sometimes take advantage of it - they know I can’t get up and intervene, so they try to get away with stuff…I’m kind of “get off the counter….get off the counter now!…if you don’t get off that counter, I’ll….I’ll…I’ll tell you again to get off the counter!” Parenting by remote control…hmmm…not always successful!

They did a bit of work around lunchtime (I know, on a Saturday - I’m an absolute slave-driver!) Barney did some French, geography and Latin and practiced guitar, George did French, maths and Latin, and Freddy did more of his animals book as well as English and science. Jack got out his “books” (ie some activity and colouring books) as usual, and insisted on me looking at every scribble in detail. Oh, and looked for circles in Freddy’s books.

They went off out to play not long after Scratchy got home. He was grumpy for most of the day; I don’t know why he thinks joining in will improve matters when the kids squabble! Anyway, I figured the tutorial hadn’t gone well, and asked - he said it had been okay and then told me all the reasons it hadn’t been okay But he sat down last night and did one of his assignments, which are computer-marked so he usually gets his result immediately, and when I woke up this morning he told me, in a very resigned sort of voice, that he’d completed it. “And?” I said. “And…I got 90%” he said, trying to suppress a grin. So maybe he’ll be cheerier today

Barney says Molly didn’t go out at all today, Scratchy says she did - but either way, I don’t think she went far. She seems pretty worn-out. We’ve no idea where she was for the past couple of nights; I suppose we never will. We’re just glad she’s home