Thursday 19 September 2013

Indoors

Boys have temporarily been banned from the grass, or what is left of it.  There's a huge bare patch which is either dust or mud, depending on the rain levels.  I've sprinkled some grass seed over it, but I have a feeling it might not be germinating.  In the meantime there is football on the patio and lots of inside stuff.  The chess set is back out after a long break.



There's also been lots of drawing, making, writing and reading.  I look out for old classic books for the children when I can.  I remember loving Paddington bear when I was little.  I read it to the boys the other day and we all laughed so hard at his decorating disasters.


Also loving Beatrix Potter.  This is a particular favourite of the littlest boy, who is all about the Flopsy Bunnies.

The oldest has a new i-Spy book, so we're also a little bit obsessed with leaves at the moment.  We were thrilled to find an Indian Bean tree on the way to school.  Twenty-five points!


The littlest boy needs a bit of encouragement to read.  (By encouragement I of course mean bribery).  He has been promised a small rabbit soft toy from the local country park when he's done a good amount of reading.  While he loves to look at books, reading the actual words isn't for him.  He resists almost every single time.  Yesterday he received a postcard from the rabbit.


It said, "I am typing this with my paw.  Please do lots of reading so that I can come and live with you.  I really want to come and be at your house, so read everything you can so that I don't have to wait too long to be your rabbit.  I don't want to live in a shop any more.  When I come and live with you will you take me out on adventures with you please?  Lots of love from Rabbit xxx".  As you can see, the typewriter ribbon got away from Rabbit a little...  In case you were wondering, the postcard is propped again a jar of hamster food, it's not my breakfast muesli.  The little man is planning to send a postcard back saying, "Dear Rabbit, I love you and you can come and live at my house and have adventures".

For the grown-ups a little collection of P G Wodehouse is being amassed.  I had forgotten how utterly wonderful his writing is.


I'll leave you with a delicious quote if I may.

“Freddie experienced the sort of abysmal soul-sadness which afflicts one of Tolstoy's Russian peasants when, after putting in a heavy day's work strangling his father, beating his wife, and dropping the baby into the city's reservoir, he turns to the cupboards, only to find the vodka bottle empty.” 

Hope you have a good day. 

22 comments:

  1. I love that the "rabbit" sent him a postcard:) What a wonderful memory he will have of this in the future! Wonderful books and wonderful quote!

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    1. Thanks Kari. I think Rabbit will have to be writing again soon with a bit more encouragement.

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  2. What a clever rabbit. :) I think that's really wonderful. I can just imagine life with three young boys; I've only got the one and he's plenty. He likes to play chess too, and he's already much better than I am. I'm sure he'd love to have one of yours for an opponent. :)

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    1. My eldest can beat me most of the time too, he needs someone better to play.

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  3. I used to read Paddington to my class at school and found that some of the humour was quite adult and went over their heads. Like Paddington complaining to the bank that it wasn't his pound that they had given him back and how he didn't want to see a dentist who was just practising.

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    1. You're right, some of it does go over their heads, but it does make it enjoyable for the adult reading. And the littles love giggling about the disasters he gets into.

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  4. Awwww, how lovely to receive a postcard from Rabbit, I hope your littlest gets lots of reading done so that he doesn't have to live in the shop much longer. How I wish that my children were still little. Chess used to be my son's favourite game, he joined the chess club at school. It's a long time since we've had a game. I've never read P G Wodehouse but I've heard good reviews so I may just have a read of it myself.

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    1. I can wholeheartedly recommend PG Wodehouse, every page is a delight, he really is a genius in stringing words together in the most delicious way. It makes you constantly want to read bits out to people, it's so wonderful you need to share it. The littlest still isn't reading enough. Rabbit is a bit disappointed.

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  5. I love this post, CJ. The ups and downs of life with three boys. Bribery works very well with boys, I have found. The same as reward charts - they like a competition. It satisfies their inner cave man!

    I wish my boys played chess. I love board games, but my older boys are not so keen. Olly is too young, and there are only so many games of Bus Stop I can cope with...

    Have a lovely weekend. xx

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    1. Oh yes, bribery, where would I be without it?! Mine like board games, but the littlest tends to get a bit bored after a while and then the trouble starts.

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  6. What a cute idea. Maybe he isn't quite ready for reading yet, I am sure he will get it eventually if he loves being read to and looking at pictures. Your allotment looks amazing by the way, mine is all covered in black plastic now ready for winter.

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    1. You are so right I think. My other two just suddenly started noticing words and being happy to try and read, but before that they weren't really very interested. I think the littlest one just hasn't got the point where he actually wants to do it yet. Unfortunately school think he needs to.

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  7. A delightful post and terrific pictures.
    If the grass seed doesn't germinate very lightly rake over surface and sow some more. It might be worth waiting to the spring to do it.
    I think that I need a copy of the I-Spy Trees book as I'm useless at identifying them, and well done spotting an Indian Bean Tree. Flighty xx

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    1. Thanks Flighty. I noticed today that the seed has germinated, but I only had a bit left, so it's fairly sparse. I need to get some more down if I can. I only have a small window in which to get grass growing, as there are complaints if the lawn is out of bounds for too long! I'm useless at tree identification too, so hopefully I'll learn something. We're filching Indian Beans at varying stages of ripeness to see what happens to them. I'm not sure what the other mums on the school run think of me when they see me trying to pick them. No-one else does it.

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  8. Hurray for PG Wodehouse, and for rabbits that can type!

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  9. I love the note from the rabbit and the response that will be returned to him. It made me smile and I'm not in the best mood today, so that's saying a lot. Also, thank you for that smile. It's very nice that you busy your family with such enriching activities, in and out of the house. I hope you have a great weekend CJ!

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    1. Sorry you weren't having a great day Devon, I do hope that things are better today. Sending you a cyber hug.

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  10. Love the rabbit postcard message! That's precious, what a lovely idea. I hope the rabbit comes soon. I've never read any PG Wodehouse but I did stumble upon a really old episode of Jeeves and Wooster (with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie) last weekend and was quite transfixed, chuckling away to myself. x

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    1. Fry and Laurie did Jeeves and Wooster beautifully I think. I must have another watch of it.

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  11. Beatrix Potter and Paddington Bear were among my children's favourites too, when they were younger. Life seems to be so dominated by computers these days it nice to see children still enjoying the things that past generations have enjoyed too.
    Sarah x

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    1. I completely agree. If there are no screens to look at, they are happy to spend hours looking at books though. And it's wonderful for me to rediscover things that I enjoyed when I was little.

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