Time. Is there ever enough of it? Between the boys, home ed, trying to fix up the house and. Now I’ve thrown in an Open University course into the mix is it any wonder I am sleep deprived. Evidentially this blogging malarkey has been on the back burner for now so this will be a bit of a recap post. Despite the ever growing to do list we are making progress.

Moo Boy and the Wee Man have enrolled in a martial arts programme. As a result I’m pretty skint but when Bod is old enough both he and myself can attend without paying any extra although that is a long way off. Wee Man is loving the classes and the man child is relishing having an outlet to release the tensions he brings home from work. Quite odd for us to have an actual scheduled activity to stick to each week but we’re getting used to it.

Wee Man is also busying himself every day, mostly independently of me. He’s been plodding away at his Reading Eggs and absolutely relishing his Bob Books. After a long period of showing little interest he’s slowly getting back into drawing and painting. This week he has even started to form letters whereas before any suggestion of writing was met with a blank refusal. Think that means the child led approach to education is working. I bought him some iOS apps (I think those could deserve a blog post of their own) for him to explore and we still don’t have enough shelves for his ever expanding book collection.

But the past few weeks with Wee Man have been tough. We tried a new home ed group a few weeks ago where the other children were part of quite a close knit group and seemed to find his energy overwhelming. Some things happened there with the older children that have made him hyper-defensive ever since. I’m not quite sure how to help him through it as talking only seems to help so much so for now I am giving him support as well as some time to process and move on.

Even so, when he’s calm and in control he’s been fantastic, especially with his brother. Infact even when he has lost it his frustration has never been pointed at Bod. I’m trying to make a special effort so that, at the very least, we spend one entire day a week out somewhere, preferably outdoors if the weather allows.

And then there is Bod. Happy, smiling, giggly Bod. Now he’s rolling and sliding across the floors, sitting for what seems an unbelievably long time and his personality is beginning to shine through. Very odd, at least to me, to have a baby that doesn’t mind being held by other people and mostly lacking in separation anxiety so far. Again we’ve gone for Baby-Led Weaning (even though Wee Man ended up a picky eater) and he seems to much just about anything I leave within grabbing distance. Infact he started BLW by just chomping down on a banana I was eating at the time. With the hot weather I’ve been giving him lots of high water content fruit and veg and so far nothing has been rejected. No teeth through yet just huge lumps in his gums. He’s slowly getting this crawling thing figured out and he’s managing to partly pull himself up on low bits of furniture.

So somewhere in amongst this family there is some time for me. Like I said, I started an OU course a few weeks ago. It’s only a short course but it means I will qualify for their transitional fee arrangements so won’t have to move to another country or sell body parts to afford to study in the future. The course is called Living Without Oil and being a short science course is completely different what I studied after school which was music. Speaking of music, no I’ve not been playing, no I’ve not been teaching and yes one day I will get back into it.

I did buy a couple of new toys when I had money in the bank (you won’t hear me say that often). There’s my iPad so Moo Boy is celebrating having his laptop back again and then my DSLR camera which I’m slowly getting used to. Even in auto mode it been providing some wonderful shots but there’s a lot to learn yet.

So yup I’m one busy lady for now so excuse me if the blog and social media presence takes a nose dive or becomes a tad fragmented. I’m sure some sort of balance will be struck shortly.