My dilemma continues...

Today at the tumble tots class the lady that runs it asked if it was this september or next september that Finn starts school. People are asking me this more and more each day and I just tell them that it is the following september as his birthday is in september. I can't be bothered to explain that actually I am seriously considering home educating him and he is therefore not going to school (I have told family and close friends - although I don't talk about it much as no one shows much enthusiasm about it). I think I am worried that people will judge me and think we are strange in some way for not wanting to send our children to school like everyone else does, and then I guess it is also because I am not totally confident that this is the right decision yet so I figure there is no point in telling people about it yet if he does end up going to school.

Anyway, the instructor then went on to say how she thought it was a shame he wasn't going to school this year as she thinks he could do with "channelling his energies". I just agreed and didn't carry on the conversation. As soon as she said it I immediately began to think I would be denying him of opportunities if I home educated and that I should definitely send him to school. I do respect this lady's opinion some what as she does have kids of her own, teaches kids all day long and seems quite perceptive about things e.g one day she said Finn was really struggling with the balance exercises and she suggested that maybe there was something wrong with one of his ears: a few days later he had a cold and fever and I took him to the doctors, they looked in his ears and said he had an ear infection. The last week or so I had really started to feel more confident that HE was the right option but this has fuelled my doubts again. However, as I thought about it more I began to think "channelling energies" could actually mean suppressing them by putting him in an environment where he has to sit still and stay quiet, wait in line and all the other routines that happen in an institution where supposedly "socialisation" is to be with a group of children exactly the same age as you and where you follow the pack and the strongest personality.

I am just still in two minds about the whole thing precisely because of how out-going Finn is and how much he enjoys being with other children, I don't want to deny him that, and when this lady said what she said today it just confirmed what I had already been thinking. Yet at the same time he does have a strong personality: is very out-going, intelligent, easy-going and I don't want all this to be suppressed as soon as he gets into a school environment. I think he could really benefit from being taught on a one-to-one basis. I know I have over a year to decide but I want it to be clear in my mind and I want to make a decision either way sooner rather than later as it is really playing on my mind.

Pancake Day and the 20-Week Scan

Well, yesterday was a pretty good day for us. We went for the 20-week scan at the hospital. All appears well with the baby, all measurements are average for the due date, and we are having a little girl. I am very pleased as I already have two lovely boys so I was really hoping for a girl, and I feel are family may be complete now.

In the evening we had pancakes with it being Pancake Day. Jacob was not keen on them but Finn loves them and had great fun watching his daddy flip them!

Valentine's Weekend

We had a lovely weekend just the four of us. We normally tend to spend a fair bit of time travelling at weekends to visit family i.e my dad or hubby's parents. I love to get out and about and visit people but I also love spending time with just hubby and the boys and this weekend was really nice. On Saturday I got my first National Trust fix of the year at Ickworth house in Suffolk. My sister-in-law introduced us to the NT a year ago with a yearly membership as a Christmas present and I have probably already said this in a previous post but I think it is one of the best presents I have ever received (apart from the rocking horse when I was a girl or my first car or my engagement ring of course!). Anyway, I am totally into NT places now and only wish there were more in our area. This is what I like about them:

• It makes you feel good to have a walk outside in lovely landscapes and scenery and there are normally sheep roaming the fields and wild deer in woodland areas


• It is educational for adults and children - learning about the history of the old buildings


• It is a great photo opportunity - beautiful architecture and landscaped gardens


• There is frequently a play area for children: outdoors and sometimes a small indoor area


• There is nearly always a tea shop or restaurant that serves locally-produced produce: food is fresh and yummy and they cater for children. Sometimes we have lunch if it is a good-sized cafe or we will take a picnic in the summer and then go to the tea shop for a cream tea and ice cream for the boys in the afternoon


• They frequently have a gift shop that sells local produce and pocket-money toys and good books: I have found some good children's books in these shops before


• And with a membership entrance is free to all NT places in the UK - this is especially useful for us when we go on our annual summer holiday to Cornwall as there is an abundance of NT sites down there.

Anyway, enough plugging of the NT! On Sunday it was Valentine's Day. Hubby surprised me with a dozen beautiful pink roses and a lovely bottle of Cabernet Sauvingnon (I'm still having the occassional class even though I'm pregnant - I am not as pedantic about things as I was with my first pregnancy - this time around I feel I need my daily cappuccino and weekly glass or two of red, everything in moderation is what I say). I gave hubby a chocolate fondue set which I thought would be fun for us all to use as a family as we all love chocolate! The boys gave Daddy a big Toblerone which was so heavy Jacob could hardly carry it! We went out for a walk and then enjoyed the rest of the day pottering aroung the house; Finn and I baked a yummy chocolate cake and hubby and Jacob watched Ice Age 3 on DVD. The only problem with weekends is that they are over too fast.

Tennis

Finn goes to tennis class on a Thursday. It has moved indoors now due to the cold weather but is out on the tennis courts when the weather is good. I took my old digital camera today and took this photo of them all as they stood in line for the register at the beginning. The camera then decided to stop working so I plan to take a few more with my Nikon camera in two weeks time after half term. The instructor has said that she would like some photos for the website so I'm hoping I'll get some good ones next time - that actually involve rackets and balls as it is a tennis class after all (although for Finn it is just a social event!). I have also included a few that I took on my mobile - but the quality is not very good so I will add more soon.

Ways to amuse ourselves without a car...

Our car has annoyingly been out-of-action for two days now so we have had to find ways to amuse ourselves at home or within walking distance. Yesterday we went swimming as luckily we have a leisure centre 5 minutes walk from our house. Both boys had a great time and Jacob slept through the night for the first time in months - think I will do that more often! It is hard work taking two under 4s swimming but I am trying to make the effort and make the most of it before number three comes along and we will have to wait until the weekend then and go swimming with hubby.

Today we walked to the local shop for a few supplies and this afternoon I put Jacob down for a nap and Finn and I made jam tarts. He absolutely loves baking and helping me in the kitchen. I love cooking and baking too, although I'm not so keen on the cleaning up afterwards when Finn helps out! I made myself a nice strong cappuccino though with hazelnut syrup and cinnamon sprinkled on top as a change to the usual chocolate. Finn had a babyccino and we sat down with our drinks and a jam tart each before I tackled the tidying up!

We are lucky that we live in a nice rural town so it has a village feel to it yet we can walk to the High Street and find all the amenities we need really: banks, small supermarket, library, post office, card shop, deli, children's shoe shop, bakery, tea shop, weekly market and we walk to the doctor's surgery which is a 10 minute walk not far from the reservoir which is good for walks in the summer. However, there are some drawbacks. All our family and some of our friends all live in the main county town which is twenty miles away, so I often wish I could live nearer to them; and the bus service here is appalling. To get to a village just ten minutes away (which is where we need to go tomorrow for tumble tots) involves catching a bus that only runs every two hours! So hopefully hubby will be sorting the car tonight - fingers crossed.

What we do on a Wednesday...

My smallest boy has now started Tumble Tots. I go in with him to his class compared to his older brother who is in the 3 years -school age class and goes in on his own. Jacob is only 16-months but wants to do everything his big brother does - from climbing to role-playing with cars and even drawing (which Finn at the age of 3 and a half has only just got into!).

Jacob is still a little nervous about climbing the apparatus at the moment though and the instructor commented last week how he is not as confident as his older brother. This has surprised me as at home he climbs the stairs in seconds and drags chairs over to the sofa so that he can climb up onto it and then climb onto the window sill, and generally shows no fear at all. Physically he is a lot more advanced than Finn was at that age. I can only assume that the lack of confidence at tumble tots is the environment which is intimidating him a bit at the moment. It is a big group with over fifteen toddlers and mums and there is a lot of equipment to look at - it must be quite daunting for a 16-month old. He seems to enjoy it anyway, and I'm sure his confidence will grow in time.

So this is what we do on a wednesday. As they are in different classes we have an hour to kill in-between and so I normally treat them to a trip to McDonalds for lunch. It is a once-a-week treat as I don't normally let them eat fast food. In fact, I don't think Finn stepped foot in a McDonalds until he was three. I used to be a bit obsessed about not feeding him anything that wasn't organic or that had refined sugar or salt in it. I think you become more relaxed once you have your second child though and you learn not to worry about things quite so much. Everything in moderation I say. Anyway, Finn certainly knows what MDs is now though and recognises the big yellow 'M'! I think he looks forward to this day all week as he loves Tumble Tots and McDonalds! We are vegetarians, although we do eat fish so the boys normally have fish finger happy meals, or recently Finn has taken to asking for a Filet-O-Fish (as that is what mummy normally has!) so he will have that, Jacob will have a small pot of Plum Baby food and they will share a happy meal. Luckily there is not a real fight for the toy - yet!