Probability rocks

This morning, over breakfast, Isabel and I engaged in a philosophical discussion about the nature of probability. As you do. OK, that's not exactly true, we played heads and tails with a 2p coin, and between the two of us we managed to get five out of six wrong. What's the likelihood of that?

Anyway, I then told her a story, which may have gone slightly over her head, about an incident which happened to me at university. I was at a lecture, about probability, and the lecturer tried to demonstrate what he was saying by flipping a 50p coin, and claiming that the probability of it landing on one side or the other was one in two. Which sounds right. But he hadn't figured with the law of Sod, which intervened to ensure that the coin landed on its side. Even though, according to the lecturer, there was no probability of that!

Thus inspired, we created the following piece of art. I have no idea how Isabel managed to balance the 2p though, that was nothing to do with me.


This was all before school, no wonder we're both knackered before the end of the day! After that of course, we relaxed with a little light reading....

Gearing up for the festive season

Well, the ball has started rolling - my first xmas online order should be arriving any day now (M&S had a 1p delivery on Friday, and loads of nice tops for kids, so clothes and of the course the obligatory book will be the name of the game this year!). I'm also planning a little Christmas party for Isabel - in an effort to make sure that she has more than one friend at school! I very much like the girl she's best friends with, but having a wide social circle (no sniggering in the peanut gallery) never hurt anyone, so I've drawn up a list of about 10 girls and will try to sort out a date near the end of term for some festive fun. I think an after school event will be the way to go, with activities which hopefully won't be too riotous, such as pin the tail on Rudolph, and making little Christmas trees. That, plus a seasonal pass the parcel, a round or two of Musical Statues, some free play time and a bite to eat should suffice.

The challenge is that Husbandio has declared his total disinterest in this scheme, so I'm going it alone. Which should be fine - it's feeding Emily in the midst of all this excitement that concerns me slightly! But it should be fun for Isabel, and may consolidate other budding friendships. Wish me luck!

Sometimes homework doesn't seem too bad

Next week it's Cross Curricular week at Isabel's school Each year has chosen a topic and teachers are planning to teach all areas of the curriculum through this topic (as far as possible, at any rate). Topics include People Who Help Us, The Circus, The Tudors, Ancient Egypt, The Ancient Greeks, and the Titanic. Isabel's class is doing Toys, and her homework this weekend is to research the movie Toy Story. Well, that's our Saturday afternoon sorted while Husbandio is off to watch the England vs. Argentina rugby match in the rain - we shall be doing homework, which will mostly consist of watching Toy Story, with perhaps a bowl of popcorn for added atmosphere. It's a hard life....!

The politics of the playground

I just read a funny mummy blogger post about the types of mothers you find at the school gates, and it really struck a chord with me. I think there are a couple missing (such as the Perennially Late Mother who always parks right outside the school and makes her children run in since they always arrive after the bell has gone), but overall it's pretty accurate.

It's funny how we all fall into a specific pattern every day - parking in the same place, talking to the same people in the playground, realising that despite having written reminders on the calendar we haven't provided our child with any money to (a) buy a poppy, (b) buy a cake from the charity cake sale, or (c) pay for her hot dog on "it's hot dogs for lunch" day. Yes, I have done all three of these in recent weeks. I always seem to take Isabel to school carrying only my house keys and mobile phone, so never have any cash on me. I'm not sure why writing things on the calendar doesn't help - I also forgot to send her in with a toy the other day for some class project, and had to quickly whip a cloth book off Emily's buggy as a last minute offering. Went down OK, luckily.

It's true though, we are such creatures of habit. The same people are late every day (not me - I may not have everything I need, but I am at least there on time!), I park next to the same people every day, and get stuck on the path behind the same slow woman pushing her baby in a buggy while her two year old dawdles alongside. Lord, she's slow. And the path is narrow, and very muddy on either side, so there are very few opportunities for a quick nip round the side. Meanwhile Isabel's ducked past on her scooter and is miles ahead. Luckily she's been trained to stop at landmarks along the way, so I can at least catch up eventually. It's when I get stuck behind the same woman on the way back to the car that I start to get impatient (impatient, me? Hard to believe, I know). Playground rage anyone?

Post #200!

I started this blog on January 1st and have written 200 posts since then. I started writing not as a New Year's Resolution but it seemed to be a good date to start something which I'd been thinking about for some time. Until mid-April I posted every day, but the arrival of young Emily threw a spanner, or maybe a nappy, in the works. In the last month or so I've been trying to write a bit more regularly, but daily posting is proving very difficult. However, the one thing that's been a real incentive has been the discovery that I can connect the blog into my Facebook page. This has meant that I feel people are actually reading it since I get a lot more comments than I used to - and, after all, writing without an audience is a bit depressing.

When I started writing back in January I promised that the blog would contain three things: stories about things which amused me, funny things which Isabel has said, and some whinging. I think the whinging quotient may have gone down since I had Emily - most of my whinges were about the various delights of pregnancy, such as indigestion and breathing difficulties. My favourite Isabel-ism must be "Be sanguine" - I've been much calmer ever since, and when I get annoyed at something I just think "be sanguine" and it makes me feels better! And the burnt iron mark on the carpet is hidden under Emily's playmat, so it's out of sight, out of mind.

I've really enjoyed writing this blog even though some evenings I just can't get my mind to produce anything worth reading. One useful aspect is that the act of writing has kept my mind ticking over while I'm on maternity leave, which has got to be a good thing. And I've enjoyed looking back at what I've written - I hope that the kids will be able to do the same in future years. So, here's to the next 200 posts (no groaning in the peanut gallery!).

Just a little thumb thing

A terrible pun, I know, apologies. Or not, I love a good pun, and even the odd bad one!

Today's post, anyhoo, is about getting Isabel weaned. Weaned off sucking her thumb that is (I haven't gone in for extended breast-feeding, don't worry!). When she was a small baby her thumb crept in and we rejoiced - a baby who settles herself at night, how marvellous! And without an ugly dummy! We patted ourselves firmly on the back, until, by the time she was about 18 months, when we realised that getting her off the thumb would not be easy. For years we've been saying "Thumb...!" in a threatening tone every time we spotted her sucking it, but all to no avail. It seems to have a mind of its own, and slips in when she's falling asleep (at night, or when dozing in the car) or, and this is where the problem really kicks in, just when she's tired. Like in the middle of her disco class the other day. She did look a right plum.

So, today was the day - we painted her thumb (and every other finger, since she got excited and thought it was nail polish) with Stop and Go. All went well until we got to bed time. I told her a story about the Thumb Sucking Fairy being imprisoned because she was still sucking her thumb, and said that if she could go to bed with the stuff still on her thumb then she would find a present from the released Fairy under her pillow in the morning. Half an hour later she was still awake, and came downstairs mumbling "I don't believe in fairies". After some persuasion and snuggling she went back to bed and seems to now be asleep. Must remember to slip a little pressie under her pillow before I go to bed - and fingers crossed she's not up in the middle of the night!

Do I need a hobby?

This seems a silly question, since I appear to be quite busy enough at the moment. I'm even wondering how I'm going to have time to get back to work since every second of the day already seems to be accounted for. I am, of course, going back to work despite this problem, but I'm just finding it a little hard to imagine.

The reason I've been thinking about a hobby is to solve a problem which is nothing to do with boredom or having too much time on my hands. It's to do with sleep. Specifically, I have an annoying tendency to put the kids to bed, sit on the couch, turn the telly on, and fall fast asleep. I then stagger upstairs a couple of hours later, perfunctorily brush my teeth, and fall into bed. How boring! However, on recent nights I've had things to do in the evening (sort out some photos, and make a birthday card) and those activities have happily kept me awake while still watching something on TV. Hence the question - do I need a hobby?

It'd have to be something reasonably uncomplicated, so that's probably knitting out of the running. And I'd like to end up with a product I actually want, so bye bye crocheting. I'm not quite artistic enough for drawing, and while I fancy the idea of being able to make a skirt or some curtains I don't want to have to use a sewing machine since that would drown out the telly! The hobby I was thinking of, therefore, was quilting. Does that sound terribly sad? I fear it does. But it could be fun, and I've always been a big fan of a quilt. Perhaps this is an early sign of a mid-life crisis! I think Husbandio may be going through something similar, since he seems to have taken up baking recently. If your husband's going to have a mid-life crisis though, this one comes highly recommended - it's delicious!