Little hill on my head Mummy

Slight guilts at exxasperatedly ignoring CC's wails as I thought he was once more coming to tell me his brother 'did this' or his other brother 'did that'. Daddy gave him the time of day and upon doing so discovered a true egg sized lump and sent him over to me for a feel. 

There's a true lesson in the boy who cried wolf!

Anyways he was promptly treated in true Waddell fashion, and milked it enough to not eat dinner but still get dessert.

Quiet day at the office!

Weather Bomb!

I'm sitting in the heliport for the second day in a row tentatively waiting for the nod to get on the chopper.

I say tentatively, because the UK has been hit by an 'Atlantic Weather Bomb' ie the Met are getting creative with their description of a storm. It is a pretty brutal storm, but I have seen worse. Just haven't flown in one though!

Our flight got cancelled yesterday because of the sea state, so they made us come back at 6am (which meant a 4:30 start for me). The weather report still isn't good and amid reports of lightning offshore they've now decided to wait until daylight to fly 'so they can at least see where they're going' giving the wind time to build up. Rumour is they may still shift us though - and personally I have to say I'm sh***ing a brick. One upside is - it'll have one he'll of a tailwind so the journey should be over faster than usual - whoosh...

It was a minor bonus getting cancelled yesterday as I grabbed the opportunity for a flying visit to town to pick up some Xmas shopping. Only two weeks to go and nothing wrapped yet. Ironic as this year has probably been the most organised regarding getting gifts. My job when I come home will be to get some parcels under the tree so it looks more festive (along with the one side of baubles it has presently!) I may pop some more decorations on too, just to 'enhance' the kids efforts ;0)

Mickey Bubbles

This Friday I got one of my (increasingly frequent) passes away for the night, so some clothes were thrown in a bag (including a beautiful early Christmas top from BFS) and a dash was made for the train station to meet K and A for a stop over in Newcastle.

The reason?

Our little excited group were on our way to see the handsome crooner himself - Michael Buble (insert squeal here).

The journey down was smooth, the hotel conveniently found a quick stroll from the train station, and the venue so close we were overlooking it from our lovely room. 

The excitement hit us about 5pm, then we went down for our pre paid dinner.

We wish we hadn't!

The first disappointment was that they'd replaced what looked like a decent enough menu with a 'pre Arena' selection of crappy offers (burgers etc) - then despite the hour and twenty minute wait for our measly (slightly burnt) starter, the main was awful and the dessert inedible! A and I downed a bottle of Zinfandel whilst waiting, then we got another complimentary one as even the manager couldn't ignore the fact that we still didn't have any food in front of us. It wasn't even busy!

Anyways - we found the funny side (thanks to the wine) and managed to get the meals refunded from our bill. We then followed the crowds to the Metro Radio Arena in anticipation of a couple of hours of entertainment. 

The support - Naturally 7, got us all in the mood, then the man himself made quite an entrance in amongst pyrotechnic heaven. 

What a total cutie and charmer rolled into one. We were on our feet for the whole gig (despite security trying to get the Geordie lasses behind us to sit down - they refused, so we stated up too!).

At one point he walked right by us to get to the other stage - my hands had a mind of their own, and found themselves stretching out to try and touch him 😆 I got within a centimetre and they were rudely pushed away by Jose, his rather burly bodyguard. I'm thinking though, that technically because he touched me whilst holding on to Buble, that by default I touched him too ;0)

Afterwards we went out on the 'Toon' and had a cocktail before heading to Flares for some cheesy tunes and a couple of hours of dancing. 

A good night was had by all!

Trees and Marshmallows

After lots if earbashing from the boys, today I pulled my finger out and bought our Xmas tree. Turns out it was a foot too big so after attacking the bottom end with a drill, I had to attack the top end with laupers! I put the lights on, hung up the other decorations around the house then waited for the big two to come back from school to let them decorate it by themselves. Needless to say the novelty wore off after about 5 mins and we have a tree with about 5 baubles on and the box with the remainder sitting at it's base!

Tonight was also my first attempt at making marshmallow. It actually turned out okay, although a nightmare to cut. Now the practice run is over myself and the boys can make some to pop in with their teachers gift. Plan for this year is a nice mug, with a homemade chocolate stirrer and homemade marshmallows. I think we may have to make some for ourselves ;0)

First Nursery Report for CC

It amazes me still that three children brought up in the same environment can have such different character traits. Is it nature over nurture, or do we unconsciously actually treat each child differently (albeit in a very subtle manner) the lecture from Carol Dweck still has me mulling over this....

Anyways it was finally the turn for child number three to have his first 'parent interview' at the school. I was met by a 'superhero' at the door. I've been trying to think back to when his big brothers stepped through those doors, and how they handled the experience. From memory BB stepped in quite confidently, took instruction well and looked up to the older children already settled in place. LL had to be helped out of his shell, and sat back soaking it all in and played an 'observer' role for the first year, I distinctly remember feeling pride when we had been told that he'd started interacting well and began putting his ideas forward. CC as it turns out has started two steps ahead of his brothers! He has settled straight in and it has been related that most of the 'child led' activities have been initiated by him. He is quite fatherly and looks out for the safety of others and is vocal and communicative (it was emphasised that this wasn't in a bad way!). All in all it seems that there is nothing to worry about. My 'baby' certainly is no more!

What I wonder is - had they been born in a different order, would they still have had the same approach to this new 'parent free' environment?

Proper characters.....on ice!

This week has been literacy week in school and the boys have had lots if activities including having me go in and read with them and visits from librarians and authors. It culminated today with them all dressing up as a favourite character from a book. 

BB went as Hiccup from 'How to Train Your Dragon'

LL went as Batman

and CC went as the Gruffalo (too cute!) using a costume borrowed from a friend :0)

They all bundled into school/nursery feeling quite pleased with themselves wearing their costumes.

The sun even decided to break through for the first time in about a fortnight, and a rainbow spread across the sky as they went in.

I had to pull over the car on the way home to take a picture as the light was just amazing. A great start to the day.

Later that day I set my mind to finally driving CC through to Forfar to give him a try of ice-skating at a special session for under 5's. He had the option of going onto the ice in his shoes, but I strapped on a pair of double blades and threw him in at the deep end. As BFS would say he was truly like Bambi on ice - but not put off he alternated all of the toys on the ice, including getting pulled along in a sledge. True to form I was informed that he wanted to do it 'by my own' and practised the little baby steps the coach told him to do. He had a ball - and we'll definitely be going back.

Fixed or Growth Mindset?

Today was the day where I was introduced (not literally) to Carol Dweck and learned a new thing about my children.

I've always been exasperated at the way that as soon as BB is faced with learning a new skill which he does doesn't automatically 'get' then he just switches off, dramatically states that he'll never understand (mostly with tears) and doesn't even try. The dramatics also come at any opportunity that he sees in which he may fail (losing at a game e.g), with him being such a bright kid it is so frustrating as you know that if he just listened and applied himself that he could progress himself and move on. 

Well, tonight I had a 'lightbulb moment' at a Parent Information evening at the school where we watched a lecture by Carol Dweck when I realised that he is a child if Fixed Mindset (as opposed to his little brother who is of Growth Mindset) and a lot of it may come down to the way in which we have been praising both of them. To summarise - BB is often praised on his achievements (well done - you're so clever to have done that!) as most things have come naturally to him and he doesn't really have to try hard in most areas, whereas LL gets praised more on the process. We know he's always had to work at things a bit more as he's been in his brother's shadow (well done -you must have worked so hard to manage that!) and I was oblivious until tonight about the subtle difference between the way the praise has been delivered and the massive impact it has made regarding the way that they approach learning and new challenges. 

One will only attempt something if it guarantees success (Fixed -BB) the other relishes the challenge as they appreciate the reward at the end! (Growth - LL)

The former is actually counter productive as it is slowly limiting the amount of things BB is willing to work at, and completely laughs in the face of the simple 'praise culture' which we've had imposed upon us in the past (positive praise creates confident learners) I now realise that it's not just the praise which important, but the way in which it is delivered!

I'm glad I've learned this while my children are so young, and I can put these tools into use, and hopefully change our Fixed mindset boy into a Growth one and he can reach his full potential :0) 

I'm off to gather together as many articles written by this brilliant woman as I can for some bedtime reading....

End of Easter

BFS handed over to myself for the tail end of the Easter hols.