Some midsummer pictures..

I wanted to take the kids to pick some wild flowers reminiscent of two years ago. I also thought as the weather was so nice that a long walk would be some good exercise as well as much more inspiring than a car or even bike journey. You can notice so many things as you walk along, so many topics of discussion come up. Adventures also happen such as 10 tonne trucks having to swerve as they fail to slow down adequately as we cross a zebra crossing, phew, poor M had told me to wait but I thought I had judged the deceleration of the lorry well enough. For myself yes, but not for M pushing a buggy. I will inshaAllah listen to him in the future!BTW H only pushed a buggy now and again when I wanted to take photos and at one point when M was tired. M never complained, but H found it a bit much walking for nearly an hour (with a break) and then again home. S had stayed at home with his Dad. Anyhow, M was pleased with the flowers and especially liked the playground we found on our way where we had a break from walking. He wanted to go again today, on foot!

Things rarely turn out how you plan ...

It may seem we are going completely against the grain with H's education. Once I had finally realised what home education really was, I was more than enthusiastic to get going with it. But oops, you find you're in the wrong part of the world to let this be possible without a European court battle in Brussels. Secondary level, don't even go there!

H has always been interested in maths and has recently got going with reading. DH and myself have thought for a while he might find the work, especially maths, in the pre school class not enough to stretch him, and he could get bored.

His day care teacher was quite in favour of just letting him be in the preschool class, where it is mainly play. Islam says 7 years is the time to start more formal stuff, and H is just 6.

So he was tested by the special needs teacher and she agreed he was ready, only he needed to practise writing a little. (he has always been averse to drawing anything that resembled anything other than scribbles until fairly recently, and he's left handed)

But in the end, it was H himself who really seemed keen to get going with 'proper' work. He says he likes homework and wants to go straight into class 1. So I think I am being consistent in that I am thinking of what he wants first and foremost. It's funny that in the UK he would be considered a late starter (I started myself age 4!)

Anyhow I hope and pray he will maintain his enthusiasm for learning

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sanity is barely being preserved..

Hz is coming on in leaps and bounds, and my heart is often getting to miss a beat aswell. He is taking more and more steps, and can deliberately throw a ball (and anything else in his hand)
Here was a typical sequence of events:
Grabs kitchen roll (mother tries to find somewhere, with great difficulty ,to put it out of reach)
Plays with toaster (mother unplugs said electrical device)
Plays with plughole where electrical device was formerly plugged in (mother watches out for forks or other metallic objects that could produce fatal results)
Watches sister play with a ball (mother has a 30 second breather)
Tries, in vain, to reach the magnetic letters on the fridge (ha ha, mother had already realised you’d try that one)
Watches mother carefully put hot milk and muffins in the restricted area of the kitchen table, which for this point in time, is out of his reach.
Knowing there is no point going for the snack, turns attention to the Swivel sweeper (hoover thingy), to carry on with mission: its destruction.

Mostly Biryani

Biryani has a pink spoon she calls her own. She’d retrieves it off the floor, takes it to the bathroom and washes it herself (v. impressive mashAllah). It drops on the floor again. I pick it up and wash it. Tantrum – she wipes it on the floor so it’s dirty and she can wash it HERSELF again.
She’s been annoying brothers by remembering a sentence in a Ladybird storybook before he could read it. M has been reading her some bedtime stories (piles of them) a few nights a go. He looked up from the penultimate one and saw she was asleep as was everyone in the house except me and him.
She also likes the Ladybirds ‘Knights’ book. She insists the first page says ‘fight for their country’ another memorised bit of text! I wonder if it’s not too confusing, considering the books mostly about Knights (not nights) and pages (not the ones we’re reading).
She’s also being playing far too much computer. Admittedly most of the games are pretty educational. She pointed out an octagon the other day (a stop sign)I can’t think where else she learnt it from but the internet games.
And today I finally got around to recording myself reading ‘The Billy goats gruff’ All my children and now especially Biryani, love this story. I have read this story so many times, and hence tend to read it ever so fast. I had heard ages ago about Dads who’d be sent to jail being advised to record themselves reading bedtime stories. Then they could contribute something positive to their children‘s lives even while inside. So I borrowed S’s phone and made a recording, only making one error I think ‘Billy boat gruff’. I was still reading too fast even though tried my best to slow down. Since I recorded it (around 7.30 pm) its been listened to 2 times, Biryani turning the pages at(mostly) the right spot herself, and then I was able to get on and pray maghrib. It felt like I had a babysitter in the house for 5 minutes, something better than a TV or computer! Of course it’s not as good as the real thing having a story read to you, you can’t pause and answer queries or discuss points in the story. But as most have already been discussed (the troll needs to cut his long nails Biryani thinks) on the previous numerous readings I don’t think it mattered. I’m thinking of recording some more and wondering if it’s possible to make an MP3 for the car?

Some recent quotes

H kicks Biryani's dolly and I say we’ll have to take it to hospital.
Biryani ‘We have no choice’ (I think copied froma Sonic game dialogue)

Alhamdulillah Biryani is for the most part, toilet-trained (she is doing everything herself as I speak, including jug).
Bladder has been successfully emptied and I hand her a piece of toilet roll.
Biryani ‘It’s too little’ I give another
‘It’s too big’
I’ve got to take that Goldilocks book back to the library methinks.

We were talking about the NobelPrize (it’s quite a big deal here)
M said ‘Too bad you or Abu Jaan can’t do it’ !! You never know....

S's outing

Last month S went with his 'friluft' group to a place called Nimis. It was the first time he'd been to something like this without us parents (apart from the odd school trip). He himself was happy to go unaccompanied, although I had worries in my mind, they were going to be climbing around on these 'works of art'. But he managed to think to take some photos with his phone, just as I'd texted him to do so, so I could see what it was like, mashaAllah. Yesterday I finally got round to reminding him to upload them to the computer for me. I tried to get him to write a blog entry for them, but he didn't want to.

With great difficulty..

I have chucked kids off the computer in coordination with Hz's naptime, so I can actually publish a post. I thought that with no TV and DH at home I would have more time for things I choose to do, but this, on the contrary, seems to get less by the day. Maybe it's because Hz's increasing daytime activity and just having more bodies around just takes up more time. We are doing 4 loads of washing about 3 times a week, the dishwasher twice a day (admittedly it's a little one). Alhamdulillah I have all these modern day appliances. I was talking to DH last night about how families managed 100 years ago, without all this technology and probably more kids, and probably all the work at home was the mother's. I came to the conclusion it was expectations that change, leisure time, would that have any meaning for a working class Victorian family?
Ooh and Hz started walking a few days ago. I keep catching him practising when he thinks I'm not looking.

Anyhow some pictures of a few things that have gone on around here apart from housework...


M reading the speech bubble content of a 'Magic School bus' book to his younger siblings
H has been writing some notes, the first was an invitation to M. They were going to have a party together.
The second says 'hot chocolate powder' which was to remind me to buy it. Funnily, in the end DH bought (mistakenly) 2 packets.
I finally got round to making some scones withe the cream of tartar that DH brought back from the UK last year (for play dough making). I don't know how it differs to baking powder but that's what my Mum's recipe calls for. I did enjoy this Swedish cream tea..It's the hörngädda season again and DH and occasionally the boys have been popping out fishing. This one M and DH caught. The next day S went with him and caught an even bigger one, S willingly broke its neck and then cut off its head as it was still wriggling, uuuurgh. It's in the freezer now waiting to be cooked..Sorry any vegetarians...

The last 2 photos truly show men and women are so different subhanAllah...

Do we really need toys?

Here are 3 toys that I would really recommend in terms of durability and play value. They have just about lasted 10 years of play (the odd screw driver episode may have been required), and have never failed to amuse. A little mental development is also involved.

A sister I know has hardly any toys in her home, and thus does not have to spend hours of her life picking them up.. There are days where I think I could live like that:

Bang bang, what fun breaking health and safety regs for eardrums!

Mashed potato contraption also produces lovely hair made of dough..

Are there any purpose built toys that are really worth buying you can recommend, and any things that you just happen upon which give just as much fun?

The shape sorter is particularly a favourite as the game in itself leads to the toy being tidied up. Lego conversely has taken up a disproportionate amount of my time keeping it under control, but its play value keeps it coming in the house. They just now got back from the toy shop, solemnly announcing they hadn't got the set that BIRYANI wants in stock, aargh, and we have Hz to come!!

A few typical moments..

I find the carrot I gave to Biryani to peel (at her request), is rather slim..

That metal thing on the cushion cover, what does it do? Oh, flips left and right. This fine motor skills business is lots of fun..My brothers are always fiddling with these bits of plastic, it must be something interesting...Yes, fascinating..

These children who live with me and those big people, they find these devices with wires equally enthralling. I must get a piece of the action..

My favourite teacher, H, who shows me how all these plastic items function..The arabic alphabet pieces....

and the elder two praying Isha (as its getting late now, so pray with maghrib before bed). Now alhamdulillah getting them to pray is not too hard, especially S who I rarely have to remind. It makes it a lot easier with DH home to gather them in a jammat. However, I'm not sure how to deal with Fajr, it's like waking the dead. How do other people get them up? and then back to sleep again so they can get up in time for school?

These pics are less than a month old..

but it was still woolly hats and snowsuit weather. But it was sunny enough to be a first picnic, joined by lots of ladybirds. (Which is what they are intently examining)
Hz doing the classic, playing with dust floating in the sunbeam..

and Biryani is now a computer addict since she's mastered the mouse..

and some more photos...

Here are the children having a go at crafting with metal. DH made a whisk and a ring for me. S made some decorative hooks, Biryani and I made a bracelet, and M, some glasses frames!

It had been a busy Sunday as S and DH had been on their first excursion with the Friluft club (outdoor activity(Scouts/ Duke of Edinburgh type thing). S especially likes it because he gets to use his knife to shape bits of wood along with other fellow 10/ 11 year olds.

Gradual recovery of photos..

Spot the difference:
(see 9th March post) Yes, we have no TV. It broke down and miraculously DH agreed to see how we manage without it until after the summer. The TV licence people are persistant, asking me several times, well what are you going to do with the TV set. They could hardly believe we would just let the repair shop throw it away andnot get a replacement.
Bonus points for rhose that spotted the neat bookshelf (a rare moment captured on film)



and my spring bulbs, and do I know it that I need Ramadhan to come around quickly.

Tomato plants have died (there may be hope for one or two (possibly, inshaAllah). They got frazzled on my balcony as I forgot to water them for 2 days and it has been exceptionally sunny. They didn't even get photographed. I think I'll get over it :(

Today the reality of my non-green fingeredness was heightened by a brief trip to a very pleasant herb garden to pick up S. He'd been staying with his friend tha last couple of days. Hz has been ill with a cold/ high temperature so couldn't stay out for long. (M too saw the illogicality of the name of the illness 'cold')

I have been wanting to blog more regularly..

but I've been making excuses as I can't access the photos I've taken recently. DH has done something to the computer (formatted?) so that he has had to reinstall programs which includes the photo editor. So here is one pic, pre-computer-probs: Hz in February

after some fun with Aba's pile of routers.

Life continues in a blur which is why I need my photos to remind me of things.

Err, Hz stood up for about 10 seconds a couple of days ago.

M commissioned S to write out a few mini 'books' for him the other day. They were mini in that they were about the size of a broadsheet newspaper for a lego man, and each had only 2 or 3 sentences in. But this was a self-initiated writing exercise with a bit of cooperation thrown in, as M dictated the stories for Suhayb to write out. Titles ranged from 'Rabbits' to 'Side-kicks'.

Some examples of spellings: S careful- carefull

vehicle- veichle

M had written some titles himself and his spelling also requies a bit more deciphering:

scissors - sizers

near - neer

However considering how little direct English work I do with them, I'm not (too) worried. I'm thinking M can get a bit up to speed when I start something (inshaAllah) with H.

Anyhow school is supposed to be teaching English as well, M has an equivalent of SATS next year in it.

Today it was one of M's friends over, trip to the library (with my usual rant 'We haven't come to the library to go on the computer) and supermarket.

Planted the tomato seeds out into bigger pots. I'm trying cherry tomatoes this year as they have a better chance of ripening inshAllah. I generally tidied up the balcony and it was a nice feeling to see one part of our abode looking neat and tidy, and in quite a short space of time to boot. The daffodils are out and the leaves are just starting to sprout throughout the park, I think a little later than the UK.

We went to a viewing of a flat to rent yesterday, but we are number 6 in the queue so it's unlikely we'd get it. It was very beautiful with 4 bedrooms, but the rent is a bit steep. This feeling of being in limbo is difficult, but I try to remind myself about being in this world as a traveller...

I am still here

Just a quick post, as I haven't had much energy nor opportunity to post recently. MIL went back to Pakistan about 3 weeks ago (so back to reality again with housework/ entertaining Hz) and I've been ill with flu/ colds/ sore throats/ headaches/ eyelid eczema/ backache, Alhamdulillah not everything simultaneously. Hz has also gone from being the best sleeper to the worst, requiring me to lie with him in my bed to fall asleep. This then requires me to wait until he is asleep enough for me to transfer him to the cot, as he's had 2 escapades finding out about falling off beds after waking up, crawling about, and me not being there to realise this. The first time ended with him laughing, I don't know what happened there, but the last (and I hope the very last) ended in tears. So if , no I mean, when he wakes up in the night, he will not sleep if left in his cot. He has an extremely loud and sometimes angry cry and inevitably he ends up in with me. During the day he's Mr Mobile, coasting along the sofa and coffee table. He's now also developed his commando crawl into somthing more conventional (and a lot easier on the elbows I'd think).
So amongst this heavy, cloudy head of mine, I've been mostly preoccupied with trying to find somewhere bigger to live (at least 150 people after every flat I apply for:( ), and trying to get on top of the mess in the house. This feels like I'm going backwards on a treadmill.
H had another trip to A and E on Wednesday. He was a bit too enthusiastic to help me cook some sausages, and threw one into the hot oil, and it splattered out of course . So he has a few burns on his face. It was v painful for him, poor boy. He has to stay out of the sun for a year to avoid scarring getting discoloured, so now I'm hoping for a rainy summer. That made the decision for us that if we go anywhere this summer it'll probably be the UK!
Just finished my bowl of pear and vanilla yoghurt with oats, my treat at the end of the day when all the kids have finally gone to bed (sometime after 11pm). Oh dear what has life come to eh? Tommorrow is another day..

Notes from the trenches..

A few things the kids have said/ done recently that made me smile:

H - 'Why is it a rock, can't it just be called a big stone?'

M - 'How many more blessings do you get if you say prayers with 3 people. (Thinking if the 'jammah' (gathering) of 2 gives 27 times blessings then it will go up proportionally, rather than just being for any size jammah)

Biryani to me ' Be quiet!'
Me - 'Sorry, are you concentrating?'
B - 'No I'm not, I'm painting'

Biryani - ' C J G T (or some other random letters)
I look bemused, and then spot the non-slip 'TOTES' socks she's examining.

I am praying and trying not to be distracted- Biryani picks up a lego scuba mask and tries to put it on herself, so cute..
I am praying - Biryani lies in front of me and with her recent quirk of using the opposite preposition, announces 'I'm behind you!'

Hz and a little bit of Spring anticipation..

I think this car seat's a little small...

Now sis' has taken to being a bit more tidy it's my turn for trails of destruction...

Really Dr Naik, your memory is astounding...

and Biryani's recent paintings, 'Green' shall we call them. H and Biryani seem to be into blocks of colour as an art form at the moment. But looking at them does make one feel uplifted and the real thing as in plants are slowly sprouting round here..

Maybe English isn't so hard..

Here's some swedish long long words, I hope S doesn't get them in his tests! If you manage to make it to the last one it's quite amusing how the Swedish speaker can't even read it!

Finally got online..

Recently life seems to be one blur of sorting kids out, half-hearted attempts at stopping night feeds, and carrying on with the daily grind of feeding, washing, cleaning (not the feather duster type but the the sort which has to be done. Otherwise it will be more difficult to remove later or just downright unhygenic: e.g. splattered Weetabix, pee puddles, mud brought in on the soles of shoes).
I was thinking of writing something intelligent about bilingualism as little things I'm noticing have brought the subject to my mind. S has now twice had to ask me what an English word is for a Swedish word he does know. M has always mixed the two languages and quite happily talks to me in Swedish, but only now and again. He often comes out with things the teachers say in what sounds like an accurate impersonation of their accent and tone! Some of the things they say when pushed to limits by the behaviour of the kids are quite funny to hear! They won't be able to get away with anything, M has got it in his memory.
H has been going less often to nursery recently. He's always reluctant and the time to pick him up is often when I feel like lying down, so I let him stay at home. So his use of Swedish at home is limited.
Biryani speaks English all the time, although the odd word picked up from M has been used:e.g.'snälla' which means something like 'please' when begging for something like a biscuit. Otherwise she speaks English with a slight American tone, saying the 'r' in car, and a short 'a' in for example 'class'. Too many cartoons methinks.
Most of the other children we know are from bilingual families, but I rarely hear them speaking their mother/ other tongue, it's usually Swedish. Mine are the only ones who openly use their mother tongue between siblings in public, it appears. Is it the apparent status English has as a language here? Is it because both parents are quite poor at Swedish so they hardly use it at home? Does having TV from the UK rather than Swedish on a larger proportion of the time have an effect? (S groaned when he used to have TV homework where he had to watch something on the Swedish kids TV). It's all quite fascinating to me, but I shall have to stop typing now as Hz is proceeding to find out how electricity works (i.e. attack the computer wires and plugs)!

Finally, some photos from half-term

The boys went on a trip to Copenhagen to somewhere that actually had more lego than our house, LegoWorld!

It was quite expensive but they did enjoy it and S and his friend won a building competition which got them 2 free tickets to Legoland (only thing is it'll cost us a lot to get there plus accomodation, and other kids tickets...)

I would have posted a few more pics but DH has done something to the computer as it was working very slowly. Now I'm not sure where all my saved stuff is, maybe on a memory stick Biryani was playing with earlier ?!. So there may be some more pictures later, maybe not.

Other activities they managed to do as DH is home: squash, bowling, indoor play place, visit to a friend's grandfather's big house in a village, crafty things with wool. Finally we got the snow most UK residents will be sick of, and so they were able to do quite a bit of sledging. It's almost completely gone now, and I was puzzled to find random pieces of carrot throughout our locality, then,*lightbulb*, snowmen noses!