Skip to main content

More frustrations!

An old one to remind myself how cute they were!
Sunday evening, back to school after half term and the normal shouting match ensues as we ask where all Abi's kit is and she shrugs and says "it's not my fault..." There are a number of aspects that drive us nuts here - first that her immediate response is denial and abdication of all responsibility, the second that she genuinely doesn't care and the third that it still doesn't help is with where her (mostly new) sports kit is! While this is going on we have Izzy sorting her kit out while weeping quietly because she has decided (18 months after we said goodbye to him) that she misses Scooby! We decided it was just easier to suggest everyone gets an early night and packed them off to their rooms - there really isn't an answer for some of this I think!

This week has been a mix of school testing - the kids went of to St Gabriel's for their tests on Wednesday, Abi riding, Izzy doing her gym practice and me trying to land and then start to communicate my news at work.

The tests we think went well, if the kids are to be believed of course. They both had a number of tests, including verbal reasoning for Izzy, more of which in a minute, as well as interviews. The VR was interesting. We pulled an example test off the internet and then started to work through it with Izzy with increasing difficulty. We couldn't believe it was intended for 10 and 11 years olds! The test required pen, much working out paper and even more discussion as to what the questions intended - who knows whether we got it right or not! In the end Izzy said that the actual paper was similar but that everyone said they struggled so maybe we all missed the point. The interviews were conducted in groups of 4 kids at a time. Izzy said she was with one 'normal' girl and 2 'not so normal'. Apparently when asked what they would do with £5000 if given it. Izzy went first and said "I'd give a bit to my sister because she has a rubbish life plan(!), then I would buy a dog and a house in LA" whereas the two 'not so normal' girls went along the lines of charitable donations and solving world hunger!! Leaving apart the fact that Izzy demonstrated she has very little understanding of the value of money thinking she can have a house and a dog in America for less than £5k, I'm hoping she will at least get marks for honesty!

While we are on the subject of honesty, Abi is definitely heading further and further into the pre-teen emotional rollercoaster. This evening she was desperate for a few minutes cuddling up together on the sofa, while also pulling faces every time we ask her to do anything not in her game plan. Tonight the whole school bag discussion ended up with her stomping up to her room with a flounce. When I went up she was muttering into her pillow and I could see that she is at that age where she just thinks the world is conspiring against her (well, us at the very least). We are not but I guess that's what we have to accept - what do we know, we are just her parents after all! How little she realises - I now know that Mum and Dad knew soooooo much more than I did when I was a teenager (of course). Even today I still call them to discuss what's going on - I value their counsel above anyone else's. At least Kerrie at 28 now realises we talk some sense - she and Ryan popped in this afternoon to say hello - she's so grown up now and dealing with life so well, despite some of the bum hands she has recently had to deal with. I hope she gets what she wants most of all, she deserves it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Busy, busy, busy

Full English brunch for these two! Life is VERY busy and I don't feel like we have stopped for weeks (or is that months?) It seems like the 'to-do' list is endless and while I know we don't have to do it all at once, I have taken on the unenviable task of trying to get the Muppet to finish all the work he promised / we have paid for and that has been like pushing a mountain of water up a very steep hill. We've got to the point where I think we have got all of what we are likely to get and the rest we'd rather finish ourselves anyway. The electric gates are clearly a work of his imagination based on the gates / the electric cables he spec'd and the cheapo motor mechanism - there is no way they'll work so we have decided to not bother and source proper gates that do the job and look better as well. Knowing that we are almost at a point where we sever the ties feels very liberating. Looking back this last 6 months has been incredibly stressful and just didn...
Post a Comment
Read more

Decluttering

Girls buying baby clothes - this could get addictive! It's Easter weekend already and we still haven't completed!! However we have made some progress, most importantly with the paperwork which has not been Steve the Builder's forte throughout this process. Stags finally got their act together and got in touch with the planning office and got an update from the Planning Officer. Apparently she is broadly happy with the application, and is prepared to pass it with only a few minor modifications which we are completely comfortable with. The Building Control Officer also came and did all of what he needed to, which means the final certificate should be issued which allows the warranty to also be issued. On our side we finally tracked down the paperwork (or more correctly got the BC Officer to come out again and do a second assessment) for the outstanding BCC on our windows (which went in 6 years ago but due to an admin error were never registered) - nothing is straightforward i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bank Holiday sunshine

Off to meet FiFi and Grumps for a walk  (and yes, she is on the seat) Finally after weeks of rain and cold weather, the tide has turned and we have glorious sunshine for the bank holiday weekend and half term - hooray, it's about time.  Also just in time is half term as the kids were definitely ready for a break. They have both done brilliantly settling into the school, making new friends and finding their feet in an unfamiliar environment. Izzy has just had her exam week and felt it went OK given she hadn't covered all of the syllabus, and Abi's exams start as soon as she is back next week. I hope she's done some revision as she left for Devon with Claire, Adam and Mia today and isn't back until Saturday. There is talk of looking at some of her notes but who knows. My view is that a bit of R&R will probably be at least as beneficial if not more so than cramming all week so she should take the time to relax and have some fun - she deserves it. So we packed Abi o...
Post a Comment
Read more