Life with children
Now our age range goes from one to 17, so the variety is very satisfying to live with. At one level they communicate very well. For example today No1[son] tried to comb No5[daughter] hair and pulled slightly too hard. No5 retaliated immediately by sinking her eight sharp teeth into her big brother's leg. I had to tell them both off and soon enough they joined forces at playing with the dog.
This time prelim season coincided with plenty of snow and rather good sledging weather. No1 returned from good days fun with a lens missing from his spectacles. Unfortunately he depends on his specs to see and can neither read or write without them. The special prescription he needs naturally means extra days when ordering a replacement. Last years model was missing and the frame from before that was way too small to his face.
All above saw him taking prelims with his sunglasses, which is not a cool look in mid winter with school uniform, especially not when indoors. Needless to say the results have been poor. I am in two minds whether to blame the lack of vision or the fact that he had not worked hard enough.
Meanwhile No2 [daughter], who had the full two weeks off and two exams to take, enjoyed home life to full. She slept till lunchtime, made pancakes with jam and cream for breakfast and spent the rest of the day playing indoors with No5 or outside with the bull. She has never been one for horses but absolutely loves cattle. Our bull gets treats and cuddles every day as well as his fresh bed and feeding from her dainty hands.
After days of talking about moving cattle I heard Hisself calling for his daughter: "Come now, I need you with the cows!". No2 "I can't come." Hisself: "here, Now!" No2 " I can't daddy, my hair is perfect" Hisself "What??" No2 "It was horrible yesterday, why could you not ask me yesterday?" Hisself "I am asking you now!" No2 "It took me ages to get my hair perfect and now I must put a hat on - it will be ruined." Hisself "What does it matter, you were home all day yesterday and you are home all day today." With bad grace and shaking heads father and daughter went to work together. That is logic at 15.
Ever wondered where the statistics come about teenagers. You know the 70% of 12 year-olds have been bullied during last year and so on. No3 [son] was filling in one of these questionnaires and as the family tradition, was taking the mickey out of the job. The question was "Name 10 things that make you afraid." The plan is to begin with reasonable answers like, getting a poor education and getting a low paid job. Then to the slightly odd; wheat price falling and finding sheep in my room. Next comes bizarre; alien invasion and the Apocalypse and then finishing off with personal disasters like having to cut my hair and in the girl's case breaking a nail. Lesson for adults; never pay any attention to teenage statistics!
In the other end of the spectrum No5 has kept us busy with a campylobacter infection. Last weekend it reached a stage when I saw dirty nappies whenever I closed my eyes. She is better now and regaining her control over the house again. After five months she has made friends with he dog. The dog is very much in love with apples and sits patiently next to No5 whenever she has a slice. Apple is still a bit difficult to handle so delicious crumbs fall directly into the dogs waiting mouth. Finally No5 figured how much the dog loves apple and every now and again she moves the slice to her free hand ans lets the dog lick her juicy fingers clean. We are working on a healthy immunosystem here...