Random Things
So here I go again, trying to remember what has happened in the last week or so. Given my current brain-fuzziness, this is going to be a random assortment of anecdotes, I think.
The big news was, of course, Barney’s achievement of an A* in his French GCSE. We’re very proud of him - and he’s very pleased with himself too. I knew his French was good enough to get an A*, but I was concerned about his laborious handwriting and lack of organisation letting him down - but the kid done good. The process was, as I’ve written before, as important as the result - but it’s great that he got a good result too. We all went out for lunch on Friday to celebrate, and once again did our best to put a local Pizza Hut into bankruptcy. One of these days they’re going to ban us from the all-you-can-eat buffet 
Freddy ate heaps of pasta, George ate lots of pizza, Toby ploughed through an impressive amount for one so small, Jack ate huge piles of nachos and coleslaw(!) and Barney ate masses of everything on offer. He commented that Pizza Hut was “better than McDonald’s, because at McDonald’s they give you a limited amount of food” - all of this with hand-gestures demonstrating just how little food that was, a tone that said “and why?“, and a baffled look on his face.
We also made it to the library for the first time in months, and returned a pile of books and apologised for the two we can’t currently find (one of which has now turned up) and repeated that we’d returned the two that they still think we’ve got which we’re sure we returned. I was surprised by how busy the library was, but I’d forgotten it was the school holidays.
Freddy found a muffin recipe in the back of a story-book he’d read; it wasn’t an amazing recipe in any way, but he wanted to make them, so we munched on those all day on Sunday. I traded with someone on Freecycle: she got some of my huge pile of plant-pots and I got her folding bicycle. I don’t know if it will ever get used - I can think of times when it would be useful, but I don’t know if we’ll be organised enough. If it’s not used by the end of next summer, I’ll put it up on freecycle again. I also acquired, again via Freecycle, a double stroller. I have good intentions of getting out walking, since will be about the only form of exercise available to me over the next few months, and walking with Toby alongside is a bit slow to count as exercise!
Over the weekend I let Barney try my electric toothbrush - with a new head on it, of course - and he realised what we were right when we said that he doesn’t do a very good job of cleaning his teeth. Having experienced what it was like for them to be genuinely clean, he agreed when I suggested buying him a rechargeable toothbrush of his own - but then all the others said they wanted them too. I investigated and found that there are indeed rechargeable toothbrushes for children, and that they aren’t cheap. Figuring they might cost less on ebay, I went ebaying - and indeed I found someone selling them at a very good price. And then, even better, I discovered that the seller had a shop/warehouse only a few miles from here. So yesterday we all went off in search of toothbrushes. Barney and George got rechargeable ones that pause and buzz at you after one minute and again after two minutes - the idea being that you clean your top teeth for the first minute and then your bottom teeth for the second. Freddy got one that plays a tune after each minute, and which came in a package containing a baseball cap. Jack and Toby, not wanting to be left out, got battery-powered ones (at half their usual price). So yesterday I had several episodes of children begging to clean their teeth. Long may it continue…
Barney, George and Freddy have made manga versions of themselves on FaceYourManga - which emphasised how much they all really do look alike, because in trying to replicate their own faces, they kept choosing all the same features 
I’m hoping Barney’s grumpy mood this morning improves - he was up late last night because of Air Cadets (he’s still keen on that, despite the summer camp being cancelled). We’ve got a friend of the boys coming today - R, who came a few weeks ago, when it was the first time he’d socialised with anyone in a very long time - and he’s happy to return 
And then, later this week, we’ve other friends coming (and staying overnight) - all of these children are schoolies, so we have to do our best to get to see them while they’re still on parole
In: conversations, education, family, food, life, putering, social stuff
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To reinforce the “it’s important to brush properly” message, we got those plaque staining tablets. Very visible plaque motivated her to do more concentrated brushing. For a while anyway. We may need to repeat the exercise. It’s been a while.
When she was a toddler and it was difficult to persuade her to brush at all I put up a picture of a lovely little girl beaming away showing her rotten stumps of teeth in her mouth.
She now has a selection of 5 toothbrushes, 4 toothpastes and two mouthwashes. The brushes I boil sometimes to keep them less bacteria ridden as it’ll take her even longer to wear them out when she has a selection to choose from!
Yep, we did the plaque-disclosure tablets - the kids hated them, and to encourage them to do a better job, I occasionally threaten to attack them with them without warning
Ooh, you’ve touched on one of my obsessions, and now I shall grumble about toothpaste being called toothPASTE when it’s a gel which doesn’t clean half as well as a paste IMO. We’re favouring Euthymol at the mo, by gum it’s strong, but it does the job brilliantly. I know you were talking about brushes not toothpastes, but I felt the urge to comment.
And what a result Barney. I know what you mean about the process bit, but all the same…
E
xx
Is it all gel, even the stuff that’s white and, er, um, paste-y? What’s the difference? I know some of them are definitely gels - but some of the stuff we’ve got is what I’d call paste. But it’s not something I’ve ever even thought about, so what do I know?
(had to use that particular smiley there!)
The kids have the Tooth Tunes ones that play when the head gets bent in contact with your teeth. Not that they use them any more often *rolls eyes* I used to have a rechargeable but always forgot to charge it or change the batteries in one of those other ones so now I just have the ones you can’t change the batteries in and buy new ones. Terrible for the environment but I do use them once the batteries are gone to clean round the taps etc so I get my monies worth! I must remember to upload my pic of DS3 at Pizza Hut, its the first time we’ve eaten there as only 2 of the 5 of us eat pizza and he heaped his bowl so full of pasta it was indecent!
We have no electrical sockets in the bathroom, so my charger lives on top of the dresser in my bedroom, right beside the door to my bathroom, and always plugged in - so if I notice it slowing down a little, it’s easy for me to drop on the charger as I leave the bathroom. I’m not good at remembering to charge things generally, so I have to make it as easy for myself as possible!
Re Pizza Hut - I’d love to see your photo, but I’d put money on it that my lot fill their plates and bowls just as full!
WELL DONE BARNEY! What a fantastic achievement!
Well Done Barney :o)
Well done Barney!
Any chance of posting the link to the ebayer you found?!
kenco0_2 - but click through to the website; it’s generally cheaper than the ebay auctions, esp when you take p&p into account