Computing Progress

Tabitha has shown some wonderful interest and ability with the computer. She has been using a two-switch scanning system for a while now, and her LSA at school has been working on developing her mouse control. She uses a single button mouse at school, and they have sent it home for us to see how she's doing on our own PC. I plugged it in tonight, and this is what she did.

I think this is fantastic news for her. She can fully explore and use a computer when she masters this skill, and it's going to open so many opportunities for her. I am so impressed with how well she is progressing this year. Mind you, she is being a nightmare while I am on here, so some things don't seem to change!!

Christmas Preparations

I have been being a naughty crafter. I've been buying things, and hoarding them. That's not the plan!!!! When you buy, you must use! Last night, I got everything ready so I could sit in the lounge with my hubby, watching I'm A Celeb, and crafting at the same time. Imagine my disappointment when I'm A Celeb was cancelled for football. Grr. Still, everything was set up, and I got on with the job in hand, which was making Christmas tree decorations. I decided to make them double sided, as these things never hang the right way when you need them to, and here they are.

They are in Rich Razzleberry (which is my favourite colour at the minute) and use the Tiny Tags and Scandinavian Season stamp sets. I sprayed the Razzleberry cardstock with a glitter varnish before I punched out the Scalloped Circles, just for an extra bit of interest. I punched holes with the Crop-a-dile and threaded through the silver elastic cord. I'm really pleased with them and will be making more. By the way, they have chocolates between the 2 halves ;-)

In other news, we seem to not be making much headway with getting Tabitha to understand the significance of her glasses. Some days she'll leave them on fine, others she just throws them. She has 2 pairs, so that if one gets broken, she still has a pair to use......in theory anyway. Earlier this week, I discovered her usual pair were a little twisted, so I have been using her spare pair until I can get her into the Opticians to get them fixed. I put her spare pair on this morning, strapped her into the car, and drove to school. When we arrived, this is what she had done.

I have no idea how, but they are totally trashed. So, after school today, but the Opticians we go. At this rate, I'm beginning to think that laser eye surgery might be the cheapest option for Tabitha's eye sight!

November Madness

Every year, a strange fever comes over us Somerset folk. November comes around, and after we all go through the well known tradition of Bonfire Night and Fireworks, we start Carnival season. Every year, this seems to get bigger and brighter. There are a large number of carnival clubs around the county, and each year they complete to win the prize for the best float in the carnival. The carnival moves around from town to town on a succession of nights, and last night was Glastonburys turn. This is the one that Ellie and I usually go to see, as my sister lives close to the start of the parade route, and it means we can get a really good view without having to queue up and wait for ages. Next year, the plan will change as my sister is planning on moving house, but for this year, we managed to follow the usual routine.

Unfortunately, Tabitha just couldn't cope with all the noise, and all the people, so this event is yet another that involves us having to split the family in half, Ellie and I going to the carnival, and Chris staying home with Tabitha. I do hope that one day things will be different.

I took a video of the most spectacular float but I can't get it to load on here. It was produced by the Gremlins Carnival Club, who seem to have fantastic ideas and win the best float category in most of the carnivals. It is truely amazing to see the amount of work and planning that goes in to producing something like this.

However, I have to say, there must be an element of madness involved for everyone who gets involved in the Carnival Season. Right from the amount of man hours that are involved in producing the floats, to the people who populate the floats and the choreography that goes on with them, right down to the people who stand, late into the night on the side of the roads, in November, come rain or snow to watch the displays. We are all a little bit mad in Somerset.

A new toy

Tabitha has been playing around on my iPhone for a while now. She can operate it really well, navigating the screens, looking for her favourite apps, and opening them. Until recently though, she couldn't operate the home button, as it was too hard for her fingers to press. She can now do it without a problem.

A while ago, Chris go himself an iPad. Tabitha has remained totally in the dark about this new device, until two night ago, when Chris and Ellie wanted to watch something on TV and they wanted her to be quiet. Chris got out the iPad and showed it to her and loaded her favourite app onto it. This is the result. Pretty impressive I think :-)

The only problem now is that Tabitha now knows what this device is, and so she demands to play on it all the time! Poor Daddy has lost his iPad.

Other Children

Tabitha is repeating her Reception year at school. As such, she has restarted the year in September with a class of children who are all a year younger than her, but most of whom are developmentally way above her level. They don't seem to notice though, and are all just very tolerant of her.

Today, one of the little boys had a birthday party, and we went along. While the children were eating their lunch, one of the other boys started to talk to me about Tabitha. I wanted to share our conversation.

Boy: I'm 5 you know
Me: Are you? That's big isn't it, Tabitha is 5 as well.
Boy: Tabitha is very small isn't she.
Me: Yes, she is quite small.
Boy: I have a brother, and he's 2, and Tabitha is about the same size as him.
Me: Is she?
Boy: When is Tabitha's birthday?
Me: January
Boy: The thing is, with her being so small, it's not a problem while she's 5, but when she's 6.....

I wonder how he wanted to finish the sentance? How sweet is that though, a little boy, not noticing that she doesn't eat or drink, not commenting on her lack of speech, just worrying about how big she'll be when she's 6. I thought he was very cute.

Convention Time

A lot of blogs I follow are compiled by Stampin' Up! demonstrators. At the minute, the European Convention is taking place, and this year its in the UK, so most of them are there, including my friend Karen. I can't wait for everyone to get home and start blogging so I can see what they have all been up to!

Good Friends

My very good friend Judith had her birthday yesterday. Last year, I was very bad, and didn't make her a card :( This year I was determined to get my act together. This is what I made.

Judith is an avid car boot sale buyer. There is a large boot sale that is held weekly, very close to us, and she goes as often as she can with a very strict limit on how much she can spend. I couldn't come up with any ideas for a gift that she would really like, so I made the small envelope in the matching DSP to the card, so I could put some cash in for her to use the next time she goes booting. I'm pleased to say she loved her card and the idea.

As for now, I am on here doing this instead of completing the mountain of paperwork that is slowly but surely growing dangerously close to crisis point. Now, where can I find a pen......

The place that I live

We are extremely fortunate to live in a beautiful part of the country, and I thought I'd share it with you. Yesterday, I decided to walk the dog out to one of the local hills, and climb to the top to see the view. We did really well, but because I had a time limit on how long we could be out for, as I had to go and collect my gorgeous girls from school, we fell just short of the top of the hill. In fact, we got this close.

Next time I do this trip, I must remember to leave more time. Anyway, from here, this is what I could see.The first picture shows just how steep this hill is!

Anyway, this walking the dog, combined with some healthy eating and patience, means that I can now report that I have lost a stone in weight. Yey! Go me! Lots more to go, but this milestone means a lot. I am now 5lbs heavier than when I went back to work after having Ellie, and following a well known plan, I made it back to a healthy weight in about 3.5 months then. I can see it happening again now, which is great considering that at my heaviest, I couldn't see how I was ever going to lose all that weight. There is nothing so satisfying as getting back into clothes you used to love, and couldn't bear to throw away just because you got bigger. And I am planning a wardrobe change when I am at my target weight. I keep seeing some lovely clothes around at the minute, and I can't wait to be able to go shopping for new things. There is much work to be done in the mean time though, and still a long journey ahead, but in tiny steps, I am getting there.