7weeks on.......

and if you're looking for something coherent, then try elsewhere...
Here are a few snippets of life with 4 kids and brain approaching simultaneous dementia, neurosis and the odd bit of psychosis thrown in for good measure. It’s not so bad really but I’m sure people who accuse single mothers of having children to get more benefits know nothing about real life…I’m a part-time one and it’s not easy…
Actually it’s not the kids in the day so muchas the sleep deprivation. Hafsah doesn’t wake up too many times at night, in fact she slept 7 hours the other night. But then you get woken up by the others early in the morning or during the night for some other liquid requirement or evacuation and the brain goes numb.So here' what I've managed to note recently..

Hishaam learning some phrases by rote and using in slightly the wrong way e.g. He said to me ‘Stop lying!’ when he heard me saying something he disagrees with and doesn’t want to hear e.g. ‘no cake for you’

Muhammad had a few funny comments recently: When I had mentioned I was desperate for the loo he said ‘Hold it in Mimi!’
He asked me what would happen to water if you left it, like milk turns to cheese. This was prompted by the cheese making factory Muhammad has down the side of his bed where he casts his anywayupcups with milk left in them when he’s finished with them. We are currently missing at least 2 cups and I dread to think what stages of development they are in.
SubhanAllah he just asked me to show him some pictures of Hafsah coming out from you no where when she was born, to which I replied I don’t have any, and he said ‘can you take some next time ! I just want to see’ Oh the innocent inquisitiveness of childhood….
Muhammad wanting to learn to count in tens, so using all ten fingers, enjoyed flashing them up as we counted up in tens. I was thinking that home ed/’unschooling style’ can often seem to get straight to the point of why we learn, e.g. pinball scores, computer game scores (I have to find some justification for letting them play ?!) or milometer in cars need to be understood via maths. But they can learn directly by talking about these practical examples, I think more effectively, than by learning in the abstract. So Muhammad starting to grasp bigger numbers (100s 1000s) when playing with Suhayb’s pinball game. Still would feel better if he'd completed some work book or other but then he'll not be doing this in swedish schools for at least a year or two.
I was trying to decide which I can feel less guilty about, letting them watch kids TV or playing computer games. The former at least keeps up their English skills (?! I read that in a book about bilingualism) and the latter does require some kind of skill, hand eye coordination and is not passive like TV. All I can say is sometimes I just HAVE to lie down and sleep and it seems the only way to stop them doing some serious harm to each other while I’m unconscious.

Suhayb was interested in making a sun dial with a stick in the sand in the park, and then we discussed how the shadow can be used to calculate Asr prayer time..

Had a slightly stressful time with Hafsah as the 6 week check with the doctor had us sent to the hospital for checks re her noisy breathing and the following day X rays which was distressing for her as she had to be held still while they took the pictures. In the end they found nothing untoward, but think it’s due to her having a soft windpipe and she should grow out of it. She’s also supposed to be checked at the ENT clinic which will involve having a tube down her nose and I tried to get out of this, hmm we’ll see… On the positive side Hafsah can now roll onto her left side so you cannot just leave her and guarantee she will be in the same spot 5 minutes later. The same goes to say for the boys who are still not bored with her, and try to pick her up and give me palpitations on a regular basis. Resort to carrying her in the sling to protect her but then they try to pull her legs off aaah. Snapping at them a bit, weird protective instinct seems almost to be a reflex action?
Oh yes and she's actually lost some weight last week, but th ehealth visiotr is not calling us back for another weighin for over 2 weeks, weird I thought she'd be more concerned. May be it's all the wriggling she does, as she seems to be feeding regularly enough ?! Or maybe it was her haircut which we finally got round to doing. She was getting a rash on her face and head with the heat, and DH didn't want to do as she's a girl, but now he's away it's done and that's it. Anyway lots of proper smiles to me and anyone else who pays her attention.

Have had to do some ‘proper’ home ed with Suhayb funnily enough put on me by school as he is skipping a class. So we have 8 weeks to do a years work. However he’s already done most of the maths. At least it keeps me up with my Swedish. So did ’geographi’ and telling the time ‘quarter to’ the other day.

Hafsah's progress and a whinge about last night

6 Jun 2006-06-06

Hafsah’s 5 weeks now and edging towards normality as regards nappy fillage (is that a real word ??) and vomiting. Normality as in what the other 3 were like. Still feel she sleeps slightly (emphasis on slightly) better than the others but then the 4 hours of semi darkness that constitute a June night here in Sweden may be giving me just an illusion of her sleeping through the night !!
Wind still a major part of her waking life so much so I’m surprised she doesn’t float up to the ceiling but now it's less silent but deadly and more the machine gun loud ones that vibrate the whole nappy ……… May be my diet of keema and chicken soup being slightly reduced is helping this as the 40 days are almost up and I am allowed a normal diet !
She just did a cute little noise, sort of like the coos you’d expect. Social smiling is increasing although the bathroom tiles get the same warm beams , they are nice and shiny and white !

Had a nightmare of a time getting the kids to bed last night (more than usual) . Somehow I think post traumatic stress has blanked it out of my memory as now, the morning after, I can’t really remember what all the fuss was about. But as I can recall if it wasn’t for my MIL protecting her, Hafsah could have been pretty badly damamged by the hurtling objects and jumping around children. I think I shall have to get a lock for the outside of my bedroom door so she can at leat be safe while I attend to the boys getting them into bed. Sometimes I just think, let their teeth have fillings and sleep in your dirty clothes, it seems such an effort just to get teeth brushed PJs on. Once that’s achieved then its usually downhill froim theron as a story calms them down, and sleep ensues. However my voice by that time is rather struggling to read after all the yelling I’ve had to do over the previous hour or so !