Alder's Tone

Our family is in the process of becoming larger! I'm so chuffed!

Ahh, probably got some people there, it's not an extension to the human
element of the family, but the housemartins. We've had a nest for a few
years now in the top of one gable end of the house, and last year it was
extended by way of a perch (we'd call it a porch) being built alongside.
Now, there's a whole load of activity going on:

- The perch is being extended, possibly into a second nest
- A new nest is being built on the gable end at the opposite side of the
house (facing West) above the kitchen window
- A new nest looks to be started on next door's East gable end facing our
new nest above the kitchen

There are a lot of birds around at the moment, mostly the housemartins. But
we're getting others, a wood pigeon is a frequent visitor picking up nuts
that the bluetits drop (there's one young bluetit with a punk style
haircut), a blackbird that has laid eggs a second year running in a nest in
a laurel - and two years running she's been scared off by our cats, maybe
next year she'll learn it's a blackbird ghetto and look for somewhere safer. 8 eggs
in two years she's lost in that nest.

We're low on finches (green, gold, chavs with Burberry wings) but make up
for it with the odd great tit.

And despite an promising start, the bird box we put up a few years ago has
only been occupied once, and that was by a family of bluetits, within days
of it going up. Shame it hasn't been touched since.

All this flying about keeps our own little guy happy, he's happiest stood on
his bedroom windowsill looking out towards the woods shouting "bird" at
everything that flies past. So long may our family keep growing.

Posted by Alder at 31 May 2008 | Permalink | Comments (2)

It's almost 3 weeks now since we left our boy home alone for the first time.

And before social services kick up a fuss, we had legitimate reason - we were out getting drunk.

Not quite...Congratulations to Richard & Zoë on their wedding, as you'll gather by now that's where we were. And this was the first time both of us have had a night away from the boy together, a whole night where neither of us was on duty. A whole night of peace and quiet - well, scrub that last bit.

Grandma and Grandad did a cracking job of looking after him for well over 24 hours, by the time MOTS was getting ready, heading through on her own (I had the groom to transport in capacity [or should that be incapacity?] as best man). I was also away the night before so got to see Grandma putting the lad to bed.

Well, bedtime on the Friday was funnier than the best man's speech. Let's just say Grandma isn't exactly Naomi Campbell in the legs department. So with fixed cot sides it's not so easy for her to reach down into the bottom level of the cot. It was easier when it was on the top level when he was a baby, but now it's been dropped two levels things aren't as easy as they once were. Teetering over the edge is s ight to behold, but when she's gone out and bought a Blu-Step from JML (available at Woolworths and all good retailers) to stand on so she can reach in.....

Cot - £200
Mattress - £100
Sleeping bag - £23
Blu-Step - £10
Seeing Grandma using a stepladder to reach her Grandson - priceless!

There are some things Grandma can reach. For everything else there's Blu-Step.

The night away was just a total non-event after that, we never bothered, Grandma and Grandad never called for help, the wee guy was all smiles when we got home. Yes, a non-event.

Posted by Alder at 22 May 2008 | Permalink

It was parents night recently and we got the boy's first real report. MOTS when down to get the news, I feared it would be a "please see the head" type moment, but what she came back with was more than pleasing.

The Scottish Executive Government have a birth to three plan whereby any childcare should (it may be must, I'm not sure if it's mandatory of "guidelines") stick to a set of development plans, designed to develop social, cognitive and physical strengths.

One criticism we have of the nursery is that we don't see enough of what goes on, what came out of parents night is that they do far more than can be conveyed at pick-up time, and that is meant in a good way. This week I feel far better about him being there, I've never worried about him (too much) as he's always really keen on a morning and never so desperate to see us in the evening that we wonder why he's eager to leave.

I was also really pleased to learn that he behaves pretty much the same whether at home or in nursery, so he's not playing up to us, and he's not whining at nursery. It was also really comforting to see that our thoughts are echoed almost in perfect symmetry at nursery too, both the positive aspects of the boy and the negative. We thought we knew what he seemed to be advanced in, and what he was behind in, and to see those thoughts written down from someone else's perspective was nothing short of affirmation.

It's taken me almost two weeks from writing the above to getting round to digging the report out to comment on the various sections, so here goes at last!

A Strong Child
Here he's marked down as a very confident child who gets on well with all the other children, brings smiles to the staff, strong personality.

A Skilful Communicator
Comments about his speech having come on recently, being able to communicate his needs and wants to staff and other children alike, and understands what others are asking of him.

A Competent Learner
He enjoys recreating scenes (he's really big on hoovering and sweeping up (down to big brush first, pan and brush next). He's a dancer, gets stuck into all the messy activities and comes off worse than the paper (we got his first big batch of artwork home this week, just how much is there....?)

A Healthy Child
He likes his physical activities, indoor and outdoor, he'd be outdoor all the time if he could be. Not afraid to take risks, as we know by the number of accident reports we have to sign. We almost had a clean sweep last week, one each night, but we didn't get one on Wednesday.

Aim for future
Very happy, very developed for his age, encourage more speech and an understanding of patience and sharing.

No surprises. Thankfully!

Posted by Alder at 22 May 2008 | Permalink

Sorry, I mean a tree for the boy.

Our neighbours have a Rowan tree (native Scottish) at the foot of their drive, which is over the wall from our back garden. It has produced offspring, which has been growing as a weed (a weed is merely a plant growing in an unwanted place) next to our deck. The Rowan sapling as it is now is going to die where it is, it simply can't stay there.

I'd actually forgotten about it until Monday night when MOTS pointed it out to me. So I thought I'd better remove it before it started lifting my deck, or getting too well-rooted. It's now in a pot big enough for it to grow, and the intention is once it has grown on a bit, assuming there wasn't too much root damage or I don't starve it to death, that it will be replanted in the back garden.

The significance of trying to save it rather than dispose of it is less to do with the fact it's a healthy specimen just now and I can't just ditch a healthy tree, but more that fact it sprouted the same year the boy was born.

And we have found another two, sprouting this year so obviously a lot smaller. One has been recovered from the gravel by the love seat, on is still in the gravel under the kitchen window. But it's the one that was next to the deck that's the important one!

Posted by Alder at 08 May 2008 | Permalink | Comments (3)