We’re just having a ‘relaxing’ weekend

The Cheetahs decided that the best place for them for the weekend was in the wardrobe, with the Dinos & Banana People, under the snuggly red blanket, asleep.  Apparently Nina on Nina & the Neurons says that you need lots of sleep to have energy for the next day – the Cheetahs are taking this seriously and were therefore going to sleep from Friday night until Monday.  I think the Cheetah Keeper’s father would have been more than happy to join them.

We officially had no commitments – I had to collect the medicine and buy some milk and take the children to trampolining this morning but other than that, we had the weekend to ourselves.  For a ‘rest’.  Here’s a few pictures from our ‘relaxing’ weekend:

Having taken the Cheetah Keeper’s sister into town on the bus (oh the excitement) and still reeling from the cost of said trip I made Butternut Squash soup from scratch.  The conversation went:

“What’s for lunch?”.  “Soup”.  “oooo, out of a packet?”.  “No, I’m making it”.  “Oh”.  Walks off.

We then went off, booked the extended family pre-Christmas lunch out and went to visit the in-laws for the afternoon.  The Cheetah Keeper’s sister also made me a penguin.

“Can we have chilli for tea?”.  Oh ok then.  This is usually one of the most successful ways for getting red meat, beans & veg into the (slightly anaemic) Cheetah Keeper.  Denied.  Refluxed onto the floor.  Joy.

Online Christmas shopping and a tired, emotional and late contribution to NaBloPoMo Day 19.

The Cheetahs then decided that they needed to come to trampolining and, as they can see through fog, were quite useful.  ****Rant Alert****  When it is foggy and you are driving, PLEASE, in the name of anyone significant to you, switch your headlights on.  I cannot see as well as the Cheetahs.  Thank you ******Rant Over****  

A jolly good time was had by all (the Cheetah Keeper is finally getting how fun a bouncy castle is) and the Cheetahs really enjoyed running around, and around, and around… before coming home and going back to bed – the exertion may mean that they can’t go to school before Wednesday

By the time we got home the sun came out and boy, had the spiders in our garden been busy:

The rest of the day has been about ’embracing the mess’.  In some form of caffeine deficient state I agreed to getting the glitter out.  And then the paint.  Despite hoovering and mopping the house is still covered in a fine layer of sparkle – as is the bottom of the bath where I think I managed to get it all off the children…

 

All this and before lunch too (why did I feel the need to do a roast?).

 

The afternoon was slightly more restrained and by 4.30 it was time to throw them in the bath (to de-glitter & paint) with the promise of watching Justin’s House.

Now Mr Fletcher – you do have the ability to have my children throwing themselves around the sitting room like giggling lunatics and I’m becoming more and more aware that they would quite like to invite you, and Little Monster round for tea (although I’m not quite sure what the Cheetahs would think).  The negotiating power that comes with the promise of watching you leap around of a Saturday/Sunday afternoon is one that we are truly thankful for.

So, after our ‘relaxing weekend’, excellent behaviour and all good things that come with it – Justin’s House was duly turned on.  I am not apparently allowed to watch with them because I, to quote the Cheetah Keeper’s sister, am “not qualified” (only Daddy is).  So I took a couple of photos of them.

I’m not sure our ‘relaxing’ weekend was quite a restful as we thought – they were asleep by 6.10pm.

The Cheetahs and the Jellybean Sleeping Bag

It’s been a busy weekend for the Cheetah keeper (and the rest of us!).  Yesterday we went off to review the Family Football Day at Ipswich Town FC for Netmums – now there’s something I never thought I’d be typing 3 months ago.  I’m going to write about that tomorrow once I’ve sorted the photos out.

The Cheetahs didn’t want to come to the big football match – they went and played their own game on their football pitch.  I can understand they were a bit apprehensive about the big pitch and lots of people so good for them to sticking to their guns and not feeling obliged to come.

Today they were up and zinging – all of them, Cheetahs, Banana People and Dinos were all up and ready for trampolining.  Apparently they had a fantastic time on the bouncy castle (first time they’ve been on it with their keeper – first time their keeper has been on it on his own) and running around as usual.  He told me this evening that they’d been asleep all day and was “only kidding” they’d been on the bouncy castle – now I’m confused.

 

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After the excitement of the fireworks and the football we’ve all been a tad tired today and it came about that we all needed to get our sleeping bags out and snuggle up together.  The Cheetahs have taken a shine to their keeper’s sleeping bag with jellybeans on it – because they do like to have jellybeans for breakfast, jellybeans for lunch and jellybeans for tea.  Their favourite ones are the white ones and, just so you know, they clean their teeth after every jellybean meal.

 

When the lovely Aisha (Eid Mubarak to you my dear!) on expatlogue awarded me the Liebster blog award she happened to mention to the world that I like to bake.  So, when at 4.30pm I’m struggling to stay awake and thinking a quiet evening is in order I remember that I have to send in goodies for the school Eid parties (our school celebrates everything, it’s fantastic!) tomorrow, what do I do?  Make these.

 

You’d do the same.  Wouldn’t you?

So how do you explain the Cheetahs to the football coach?

The answer is you don’t. When there’s a load of other kids to deal with, the chances of a quiet word to someone who is essentially there to spend an hour trying to a)teach football whilst b)maintaining a degree of crowd control are almost non-existent.

I have been determined to keep the Cheetah’s blog rant free, but today I’m struggling.  Whilst both Giles and Alice have “additional medical needs” there is absolutely no need for them to be excluded from mainstream activities and, despite coming from stock that is most definitely not built for speed, their participation in gym/football/trampolining is an integral part in keeping them fit and therefore able to go to school.

To enable both children to partake in these activities I first must form fill.  It’s the same form I filled in last year but it must be done again “for the system”.  This year the completion of the initial form necessitated the completion of another medical form.  One written for adults, although this is no surprise – why would a parent want a child with additional medical needs to enjoy sport – especially when sport is part of their prescribed treatment?

I’ve written 2 sides of A4 about each child, explaining their conditions, what additional support they may need and what to do if something (heaven forbid) goes wrong. Only then could they ‘officially’ take part in the sessions.  Now, I’m not expecting every member of staff that could possibly come into contact with my kids to be briefed on their needs – I completely appreciate that there are significant numbers of other kids in those classes who all need to get the most out of each session in order for the parents to feel that their child is achieving to the best of their ability and getting some form of value for money.

However…

Is it too much to ask that the person in charge of the session has at least read the medical form?  And perhaps has taken what the form says into some form of account when planning the session  – or at least considered the impact of what they will be asking my kids to do on their health?  As it is, I find myself sitting in on the session, nosebleed wiping up kit at the ready, supporting Giles as he struggles with co-ordination, keeping up with the others and everything that being the youngest in the class brings.  In the meantime I’m missing Alice master new skills in gym (the classes run at the same time, in theory I could watch both from the gallery) and am both achingly proud and desperately sad when she tells me to stay with Giles so he isn’t sad or scared.

So am I over-reacting?  Am I wrong to expect that a large(ish) community sports centre could communicate something so basic (and necessary) to their staff?  As long as I’m there ‘it doesn’t matter’ – and as long as I renew our membership (again) next term they’ll be filling their classes and making money.  Should I just be grateful that they can participate?

Rant over.

The Cheetahs had a fantastic time playing hide and seek in the long grass on the way home and I’m informed that the big Cheetahs have put the Cheetah Crisps (some salt & vinegar, some cheese & onion) on a very high shelf so that the little Cheetahs can’t reach them.  They’re only allowed them as a treat if they’re very, very good…

 

Cheetah Enrichment

The presence of the Cheetahs seems, at the moment, to be proportional to the happiness of their keeper – the more we’re in the wonders of the imaginary Cheetah-land, the happier he is with the world.  Although it can be questioned whether the encouragement of imaginary friends is healthy, at the moment I’m quite happy if they stay – the world according to the Cheetahs is fun, engaging and providing a wonderful way of processing the world…

We still have the 9 groups of Cheetahs, they went to school in his lunchbox on Friday and although caused a bit of trouble whilst dancing on the piano during choir (still in the lunchbox) they seem to have had a good day.  He’s apparently very busy creating a new table for them in the junk modelling area – complete with a little step so the the little Cheetahs can reach.

The weekend has been devoted to enriching the lives of the Cheetahs – with much detail and planning in the process.  Never did I think that a box of building bricks could be engineered into such complex buildings, let alone provide a full 48 hours of family entertainment.

Initially the Cheetahs, Banana People and Dinos needed somewhere for a morning nap and a bit of play area for when they were awake so this was created:

There are magic doors (the orange triangle bricks if you hadn’t noticed) that can ping down and slide over if necessary.  The Dinos, Banana People and little Cheetahs sleep at the back, the bigger Cheetahs sleep by the door.

 

The obstacle course is mainly for the little Cheetahs and has a very clear starting point.

The rollers in the middle are for the big Cheetahs to roll down the slide on and the plank area is a like a see-saw – you go up on one side and then it flips down – possibly inspired by the dog agility course we saw over the summer?

So, leaving the whole load of them tucked up in their new snuggle den we set off for the joy that is Saturday morning chores – mainly a trip to Tesco’s.  Assured that they definitely didn’t want to come shopping I was somewhat surprised to discover that the Cheetahs were waiting for us in the carpark (how did they know which Tesco’s we were going to?).  Seemingly I was not to be trusted with my choice of fruit for the obligatory fruit salad and we ended up following them around the fruit & veg section as I was told in no uncertain terms that they only wanted Watermelon (£2.99 each) and that Galia or Canteloupe (2 for £3) were completely unacceptable.  We had reduced blueberries instead.  They didn’t want to drive home so popped their car into ours and came back with us; I think they needed to keep an eye on the fruit.

The Banana People no longer want to live under the house – it’s too cold and damp in the winter and there now only seem to be 3 of them.  The Dinos are around and about but the Cheetahs have definitely been taking priority in the building construction.  Seemingly the morning creation did not have a big enough sleeping area for overnight snoozing (“when you have to sleep until the clock has gone all the way round”) so a rebuild was necessary.

Whilst I can appreciate the need for more sleeping space (although the Banana People have had a separate annexe built for them) I’m not sure their sudden need for a security system is entirely necessary.  However, if you’re going to have fingerprint recognition for your school library, it is completely obvious that “pawprint entry” (I quote!) is an essential feature to include in a new build as is a safe play area (so the little Cheetahs can’t escape) and a swimming pool – with partial roof, so they can swim inside and out, which is very, very important.  Of course.

They all seemed to sleep well in their snuggle area and were up and ready for trampolining bright and early.  The Cheetahs went off in their car (which now lives between the van and car on our drive and moves forward when we need to pull out) to their own trampolining class this week – they’ve found one with a trampoline bed with no holes and that they’re all allowed to bounce on together, the Banana People stayed in bed and the Dinos came with us.  The Dinos feet have grown sufficiently to be allowed a quick bounce at the end of the session (and thrashed us all at the weekly races) and the Cheetahs joined us at the end – to be introduced to their keeper’s new instructor who was even allowed to stroke them – what a privilege. 

A visit to the relatives this afternoon allowed the Cheetahs to have another trampolining session – although concerns were raised about whether their claws would get stuck in the safety net, I am assured that their claws (and paws for that matter) are very soft so there wouldn’t be a problem.  Tired and happy Cheetahs who then ‘needed’ new sleeping accommodation.

Their keeper and his sister could have spent many more happy hours together on the rebuild but bedtime won – they Cheetahs have gone to bed in a new snuggle area with their new snow play area (the beloved snuggly blanket with the hood for warming up in!), sledges and bumps to jump over and do stunts.  The builders will be back on site tomorrow…

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Cheetahs go Trampolining…or rather they don’t

The excitement of the return to trampolining lessons spurred the full register of Cheetahs, Banana People and Dinos to leap out of bed (unlike me) and prepare themselves with a breakfast of weetabix and passion fruit (of course) ready for the early morning trip to Gosling Sports Park in Welwyn Garden City.  The enthusiasm was such that they all got out their own cars and strapped themselves in rather than just bundling in with us.

 

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The usual running commentary from their keeper was however curtailed by the spotting, very early on into the journey, of a Lamborghini Murcielago and resulted in the rest of the journey (we’re talking the best part of 6 miles) being turned into the Lamborghini chant/song ie “Lamborghini” repeated over and over and over again.  It’s a good word … (and a pretty tasty car too)

Our normal ‘spot’ this time of a Sunday morning is for Eddie Stobart trucks – a pastime in which the keeper, his sister and the Cheetahs take great enjoyment.

 

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The Eddie Stobart Song: “Eddie Eddie Eddie Stobart, Eddie Eddie Eddie Stobart, Eddie Eddie Eddie Stobart,He’s got lots of trucks, DOOBIDOO” ( think Glory Glory Hallelujah)is a firm favourite so the Lambo song was a break from the norm – and the cheetahs didn’t even get checked for out the window.  Poor Cheetahs.

It transpired that the excitement of trampolining turned out to be a bit of a damp squib in the end – when you’re small enough to live in shoes, the holes in the webbing that makes the trampoline ‘bed’ are big enough to fall through.  Ah, hadn’t thought of that one although I’m sure the Cheetahs managed last term.  Still the opportunity to run round and round a trampoline seemed to make up for the lack of jumping and did make for interesting viewing for the rest of the parents.  The Cheetahs and Dinos were clear winners, Giles next, then me (not a pretty sight!) and the Banana People last.  The Banana People were far too interested in the bouncy castle and using their springy feet to bounce all the way up to the ceiling.

After this and the normal Sunday morning trip to Tesco’s, the family then got their Sunday luxury of picnic lunch with the F1 racing cars.  Much discussion over whether Jensen Button would get his trophy to take home, or whether he had to give it back – and what were the racing drivers doing with those big water pistols (champagne!) and why were they getting each other and everyone else wet?  Oh, and any chance I could email Father Christmas to ask for a new Scalectrix set with red and green cars as he (Giles) has been cleaning his teeth so nicely.  I’m not sure I entirely agree with ‘nicely’ however, I appreciate that when having your teeth clean makes your reflux, conceding to the whole process is a pretty big deal – but nicely?  Hmm – I think that may depend on whether red and green scalectrix cars are available on ebay.

And so to bed – very early after a very refluxy afternoon and flat refusal to eat.  Part of the parenting programme that kicks in when you bring children into this world is that you have to feed them at regular intervals.  Them refusing to eat is something that should then send you, the parent, into a whirl of stress, self doubt and general frustration, especially if you’ve broken the 20minute rule (which states that the greater the time spent on preparing a meal the less chance there is of your child eating it – anything over 20minutes and you’re asking for trouble).  Now we’re getting to the stage that we put it on the table and if he eats it, all well and good, if not, well so be it.  I’m not prepared to turn it into a flashpoint and suspect that after a day at school he’ll be coming home ready to eat the curtains.

 

The Cheetahs seem to be sleeping in his slippers tonight – I think he needs to keep them close by ready for school tomorrow.  He’s ordered rain all day so that they can all go and play jumping in muddy puddles at school.  What I hadn’t realised is that there had been a massive delivery of waterproofs this afternoon – the Cheetahs, Dinos and Banana People now all have rainbow wellies and rainbow waterproof coats (I’m assuming styled to fit) so they can play in the rain all day.  Sounds fun.  Giles is also arranging for new doors to be put in the garden for the Banana People (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, pink, purple, orange and red and yellow ones – we’re having lots) so they can get into our house more easily and don’t have to walk through the wet grass in the morning.  Kind of loses the point of the rainbow wellies – or maybe they’re just for school.

I think the Dinos and the Banana People are staying at home tomorrow – the Cheetahs will be up and ready for Breakfast Club – they’d like their fruit salad (with passion fruit) cut up into little pieces so they can drink it like a smoothie please – and although that’s very polite asking, I suspect they may be a little disappointed.