Grandchildren

We have had four for the first week of their summer school holiday. These were Alison’s two, Ellie and Nate and Frances’s two, Alice and Ben.. It has been interesting and tiring. Their week coincided with the heatwave. Generally we aimed to limit their time in the sun particularly between 11 am and 3 pm. Since we had already had several weeks of the heatwave we were generally fairly well prepared with fans, drinks and sunshades.

Although the children got on well together with no squabbles it was soon apparent that Ellie at nearly 14 is now a young lady and although she joined in to an extent she has outgrown much of younger children’s games. Nate is taken up by reading and listening to audio books. I thought I was a voracious reader when I was young but he easily exceeds me.

Before Nate came he had said his interests with the others would be football and chess. Well we didn’t see a chess set all week. We had bought goals and other football equipment but apart from desultory kickabouts  he didn’t have much interest. I did notice he has become quite skilful with his kicks quite precisely aimed. His tuition after school has paid off. However this was just a temporary interval away from a book. He even insisted on having an audio book when in bed. I was disappointed also that he has reverted to being very picky with food. Alison says he likes simple food not any mixtures.  We tempted him with chocolate mousse which was successful at first only to find that when supplied with a different brand he rejected them part eaten.

Alice and Ben ( aged 9 and 6 ) were simpler. Foodwise Ben could eat for England. He can also drink likewise: if he ever takes to beer then trouble. I felt I  got to know Ben much more this week. Before he had always seemed in the shadow of Alice but he now emerged as a robust, self confident boy with lots to say for himself. I noted how robust he was when he fell and stubbed his toe quite badly. He sat and rubbed in for a bit and then re-joined the activity. He had no problems asserting himself in games.

The big success of the week were pump up water guns. Annette had managed by searching many shops to find 4 identical ones. So water fights were a continual feature. Ben always seemed to end up thoroughly soaked but he didn’t seem to mind. Towards the end of the week the smaller ones were deliberately showering themselves out side from watering cans rather than take the usual indoor showers.

At the start Annette had laid out some activities such as clearing the table and in general this worked well. The routine was that we laid the table and then after the meal the allocated child cleared away ( Alice was teamed with Ben )

Ellie cooked for us a couple of times  ( sort of assisted by Alice ). She did a lasagne one day and a cheesecake another. Both were good.

Annette had a number of craft activities planned. Alice who is quite artistic did enjoy these. Ellie did some advanced work such as silk painting. Ben did a bit of casual sticking and painting but wasn’t too interested while Nate preferred a book.

We did have some DVD’s of Harry Potter films. Ben even has a little Ron Weaseley film book. I had hoped Ben would read with Nate who is fluent but Nate wasn’t interested. I tried to get Ben to read with me but after a couple of times he decided this too much like school.

Todays smile

How do you confuse an Irishman

Lean 5 shovels against a wall and say take your pick.