NotSheep

It’s been quite a lazy day here. It’s been rainy and cold and in keeping with the wintry weather, we’ve got sick children: both Henry and Jack have been coughing, Henry has complained of a sore throat and Jack has been wailing at the top of his voice every time he remembered he wasn’t well. I gave everyone a multivitamin this morning, and have been tossing vitamin c at them all day every time I thought about it.

Because of that, and because we were busy yesterday, and because we’ll be out all day tomorrow (assuming the sickies are no sicker), we took things very easy today. Or rather, the boys did more or less what they wanted, and I limited myself to moving the table in the conservatory so I could add another leaf (and thus seat eight people more comfortably), drying one mammoth load of laundry and washing another, vacuuming the kitchen floor, and doing the usual daily essentials required for the care of a house and six children

Barney and Henry spent part of the morning playing computer games, but at least they’re sticking to games which will help Henry improve his English. We read together, with me reading each sentence out loud and then Henry repeating it - one of En Famille’s suggestions - and he asked if we could do that again tomorrow. Lunch was leftovers, but then I remembered I’d plain, cooked pasta in the refrigerator, so I made some pasta salad - which worked out quite well because I’d a bowl of it for lunch, and there was enough left to go along with burgers and hot-dogs for dinner. Henry polished off a large burger and two hot-dogs as well as some onion-rings - obviously he doesn’t lose his appetite when he’s ill (he must take after me then ;-)) He was very pleased to discover he’d be getting pocket-money from us too - I’m not sure what he was expecting, but he certainly seemed very cheery when he heard about that, and if the speed with which he worked out that the amount we’ll be providing in pounds is more than the amount he’s used to getting in euros is any indication, there’s nothing wrong with his mental arithmetic

I think he’s still in “best behaviour” mode: every time we ask if he’s okay, if plans are all right, if there’s anything he needs, if he likes the food… he responds that it’s all fine. I haven’t noticed any more tearful moments, and I’ve been watching out for them - but I know it can’t be this smooth… I tried to tell him today that he should always tell us if there’s a problem or if he needs anything, but I wasn’t quite sure if he understood or if he was smiling and nodding in order to be agreeable Still, I have five children of my own five other children and I know that on-your-best-behaviour eventually goes away, so I won’t be surprised if we get a massive tantrum or meltdown at some point - in fact I’d be surprised if we didn’t, and I’ll be quite glad when it happens, because it will tell me that he’s feeling secure enough to throw that at us! I will admit, though, to having taken advantage of his current willingness to please: when he asked if he could be on helper-duty like the rest, I promptly re-wrote the schedule to include him

George is at Cubs now, and Barney and Henry are on their way to Scouts. Freddy is entertaining Toby on my bedroom floor, and Jack is asleep - best thing for him, I think. I’ve just had an email from the DVD rental company who last week refused to give me two months free because I’d already had a free trial with them - now they’re offering me three months for the price of one if I come back - so it looks my evening’s activity will be listing the DVDs we want to rent