There's a lot going on

[andrewducker]

Half day this morning. Which ended up stressful because Jim both shut himself in the bathroom in the middle of the night, and was weeing blood this morning, so I had to make vet appointments around going to see the school that Sophia is going to next August.

The school looks amazing. It's brand new, and is an amazing mix of open plan, but with lots of side areas so that kids can move from place to place and have lots of different activities together, without all being on top of each other. P1 is mostly learning through play - which is apparently incredibly effective. A friend was saying that their child would come home every day having apparently just spent it having fun, and then could suddenly read. The P1 classroom is ground floor and directly connected into an outside area, which they can go into and out of at any point, and we saw kids having a lot of fun with that. Upstairs there were some classrooms with older kids, and we could see the structure coming in, with more words pasted up in different places, and kids clustered in groups clearly more focussed on things.

We talked to Sophia about it afterwards and she was grumpy that she won't get to go for ages. We can't really ask for more than that.

The vet doesn't think it's anything horribly serious with Jim - most likely to be crystals or similar in his bladder. So we've been given some new food for him, and some painkillers, and we'll see how that goes.

Tomorrow I have vaccinations in the morning, flu vaccination for Sophia in the afternoon, and in-between I have to put together a bunk bed that's being delivered at 7am! The plan is for her and Gideon to share a room, which she's really looking forward to. She doesn't like sleeping alone *at all*, and the idea of having someone else in with her is very comforting.

Oh - and we finally solved Sophia's painful vulva. Having gone through "It's an infection" and "It's dry skin causing chafing", it turned out that she had got it into her head that she absolutely, definitely, totally, couldn't have an accident ever, and was spending all of her time clenched, with the result that she was getting constant cramping. Once I talked her through some relaxation exercises it almost entirely went away in about three days.

Halloween went well - Gideon lasted the first 40 minutes before getting tired, Sophia had a lovely time for the whole thing. And Jane and I had a date day where we went off to Haddington and had a nice walk around the town, which was pretty, and nice enough weather for a river walk.

Life could definitely be worse, I'd just like to fall over for a bit!

Comments

[mellowtigger]

Large space in schools is excellent! It sounds like a good choice. (I encountered this tweet this morning, comparing square feet per student against absenteeism.)

[andrewducker]

Oooh, that's fascinating!

(I suspect what we're seeing here is a correlation between rich areas that can afford large rooms, and also tend to have healthier kids. But I might be wrong!)

[lilysea]

There'd definitely some of that

but also poor school with plenty of space

is going to have less disease transmission

than poor school that's really crowded

[andrewducker]

Oh yes. Distance is also good for disease control. Although a bunch of plague-bearers in any kind of room will be licking each others eyeballs in no time.

[bearshorty]

My two girls are three years apart and when we put the bunk beds in when my oldest was 5, she was thrilled for the same reason - she really hated the idea that she was alone in the room and everyone else was in the main bedroom (where the baby's crib was as well). She loved it when her sister moved in.

[andrewducker]

I just need to hope that Gideon (2) is also excited. I have a feeling it might be a little while to persuade him to move in, but we'll see!

[channelpenguin]

I shared a room my whole childhood and hated it. Just shows how different we are.

School sounds amazing.

Glad the child seeing issues are solved, let's hope the cat-child ones are also solved. My WeeFee (4 month old kitten Felix) just has a few fleas to deal with - the issue there is that my BF did not do as I asked in terms of washing all bedding at the flat. He did hoover, but did not do the emptying and washing out of the hoover. Maddening, as I'm here for 3 days with the cat and I went through all the pain of washing EVERYTHING and daily hoovering at the farm. Why he won't take it as seriously as I think it needs to be I really don't know.

[andrewducker]

It's entirely possible that one or both of them will hate the reality of it. Bt we'll see!

Sorry that your BF didn't take your concerns seriously, that's really frustrating. Hopefully the fleas have been easily disposed of.

[channelpenguin]

Well, I hope your kids do actually love the bunk beds together!

Thanks. I think he was happy that he hadn't seen any fleas so it could not be a problem. Whereas I'm paranoid. Plus Felix is such a sweet cat (mostly) that I don't want him getting irritated by bites.

[boxofdelights]

I hope your vaccine reaction waits until after the bunk bed is secure!

We tried to transition Phoebe to her own room when I was pregnant, but as soon as Simon was born, Phoebe refused to sleep alone. (She was 3 years & 3 months.) We were too tired to struggle with her about it, so both kids slept on a futon on the floor in our room for a few years. Moving them both into the second bedroom together was much easier.

I wish you all good sleep!

[andrewducker]

How old was Simon when you transitioned them both? Gideon is less verbal than Sophia is, so I'm not at all sure how we're going to open negotiations there!

[boxofdelights]

He was three-ish; this is all more than twenty years ago now. He was also a late talker, but much more cooperative and just a generally happy baby, who adored his big sister, and wanted to do whatever she was doing. He was almost two when she started kindergarten. Every morning when we took her to class, she would take off her coat and hang it on one of the hooks; he would take off his coat, fail to reach the hooks, and drop it on the floor. She would grab one of the activities that were there for children to occupy themselves with before school started, he would grab another and set it on the table next to her, and be perfectly happy until I had to carry him out, crying.

[andrewducker]

That is delightful. Alas, Gideon is regularly amused by his sister, but not so interested in actually doing things with or like her.

[cellio]

That school sounds like a great fit!

I hope all goes well with Jim. It's so hard when they can't just tell us what's wrong.

[andrewducker]

He's doing much better, thanks. I think everything has calmed down, although he still has a few days of the painkillers left, so we'll see what he's like when he's not on the good drugs.

[ljgeoff]

I shared a bedroom with various sisters (I have three) my whole childhood, and I loved it. As an adult, I've always felt more comfortable living with a houseful of family. I could live alone, I've been sleeping alone for over a year now while I travel-nurse, but I can hear my adult children talk to their children, hear the baby babble and the dog bark, and an occasional cat will venture down to the basement and cuddle with me -- I miss my husband, but this isn't bad.

[andrewducker]

Yeah, I like being around people a lot. I am definitely much happier with a partner, and have always enjoyed having a somewhat busy home.