NotSheep

We went to the second regular meet-up of our home-ed group today – same place as last month, same time, different day of the week. There has been lots of activity on our local email list since the last meeting; it really seems to have spurred a lot of people on to become more active in the group. We’ve had talk of creating something that would allow new people to spot us when we have outings – people have discussed putting the group logo on t-shirts, keyrings, badges… Today I arrived at the community centre to find that B, the Chair of the Community Association Committee, had already opened up for us. He took me into the kitchen and pointed out the tea, coffee, juices etc – they provided all those things last time too – told us they’d bought more juices so we’d have more of a selection, told us to help ourselves to the boxes of crisps and the boxes of biscuits. And then he took me to the store-room where all the craft-type resources etc are stored, and pointed out the huge box of white t-shirts on the floor. “We got these in,” he said, “and there’s fabric paint there, so if you want to use them to do something, go ahead.” After picking myself up off the floor and expressing how grateful we were for all they were doing, I asked if they’d have access to badge-making equipment (there’d been discussion on the list of hiring some) and he said “Oh yes, we have a couple of places we can get that from – I’ll arrange to have it here next month for you.” Just when I think they can’t do anything more for us, they do something more for us!

Injury number one occurred as the boys climbed out of the car – Cyril was climbing past the back of my seat and as I turned my head to look back, his hand came around and swiped my cheekbone, just below my eye. It hurt, but not enough that I couldn’t laugh at his face when he realised what he’d done. Once he realised I was laughing, he laughed too.

We’d a good turnout again today, and again, a few new families – it’s really good to see so many people getting involved. George had planned an origami session and had brought along an origami book, a book on paper planes, and some paper and scissors to use. (Oh, and when he saw that, B went back into the resources store-room and brought out a box of more coloured paper and other bits and pieces and told George to go ahead and use it!) We set up a table at one end of the hall, and the origami session turned into a general crafts session, with all sorts of paper creations going on. One of the mums brought a rounders set, and some of the kids went out to the playing-field and set that up to play. According to J, one of the other boys, Freddy “throws really well”. And according to Freddy, J “hits the ball really well with the bat” – and indeed we got evidence of these skills. Injury number two: Freddy bowled, J batted, and the ball smashed straight back at Freddy, hitting him in the mouth. There was plenty of blood and plenty of wailing, but it turned out to be just a couple of small cuts on the inside of Freddy’s upper lip. I told him he’d have a fat lip for a day or two, but in fact by mid-afternoon he said it didn’t hurt at all anymore, and by the time we got home, his lip wasn’t even swollen.

Someone had brought a game of Uno and a few of the kids gathered to play that. At another point a few of them split themselves into teams (no need for adults to organise these kids!) and threw a ball around for a while. Later, when some families had left and there were fewer kids around, they did something similar in the hall. Injury number three: George threw the ball a bit low, Freddy tried to stop it and stubbed his little finger, resulting in a very sore and slightly swollen finger-joint.

Despite the injuries, it was another very good day. Again, the weather was good to us – it was sunny and warm all day. (I think we might have had our meetings on the two best days since the end of June!) Barney took the train to the meeting this morning (I still don’t have a car with enough seats…) and this afternoon, George and Cyril joined him for the journey home. That left me with actual free space in my car, so I was able to bring home M, one of Jack’s best friends. They bounced around in the back garden while I organised dinner (sausages from the fridge, and chips from the chippy, because we were supposed to have mashed potato, but although I can do lots of things one-handed, peeling potatoes whilst carrying a baby is not something I can manage). The conversation at dinner was an absolute riot – M in particular made us all laugh when he described what his father does for a living (I’m not going into details, but according to M, it involves fingers and orifices and when his dad – who is in fact a highly-respected doctor in a specialty which has nothing to do with said orifices – collected him and heard about the conversation, he left saying they’d have to have a chat about his job

Freddy decided he was too tired for fencing tonight, and too wary of hurting his finger again. George was hesitating – he was also tired, and was undecided about going to fencing, but then Cyril begged…leaning in towards George with his hands up below his chin and saying “oh yes yes yes yes” and making the most pleading face I have ever seen – we all burst out laughing and George exclaimed, “He looks just like a puppy!” and “Oh all right then!” with a big grin on his face.

So that’s where Barney, George and Cyril are: at the fencing-club. Freddy, Jack and Toby are watching a DVD, and Louie, who is finally a mobile boy, is making the most of his mobility on the floor and occasionally laughing at the television when his brothers do. I think that even taking into account the blood and the wailing, today has been a very good day for all