Freaky!!!

I found out something really weird today. It turns out that when my parents had Eddie on Saturday and Bilbo smashed the windscreen with me, Eddie smashed their windscreen too - in exactly the same place as Bilbo did mine (very top left corner)!?!! Neither of them have ever smashed a windscreen before. Isn't that just a little bit freaky???! It's like that identical twin intuition thing or something (not that they are twins)! Eddie did it completely accidentally though - he had been crouching in the footwell while they waited for the rain to pass, then bounced up a bit too far and his head cracked the glass (he was fine, though mortified about the breakage). Has anyone else had experiences of sibling intuition?? It reminds me of the day their dad's brother and his dad had a heart attack on the same day, neither having had one before and one living in New Zealand (the other in the UK), not to mention the fact there's 20 or 30 years between them! Bilbo and Eddie are very close despite their clashes. It's as if it was a subconcious sympathy break - like sympathy pain. Maybe it's a sign of some kind; I feel like it's too weird to not reflect on to some degree at least!

We had our school coffee morning today as we always do on Monday mornings. I love it; we keep it low key - just a warm, welcoming place for parents to stop on in the hall for, for a cake and a chat before going on with their day. It's a nice chance to catch up with parents who I know quite well and to get to know others that I might not otherwise get to chat to properly in the bustle of drop-off's and pick-up's :)

My mum came and took Eddie off my hands at the end to free me up over lunchtime because we were launching a new school club, 'Wonder Club' and I was co-leading the first one :) I'm on a rota so won't have to rely on childcare every week - probably more like once a month, though I am doing next week as it's worked out. We have half an hour. One of the adults is the 'door person' who welcomes each child as they come into the room and directs them to choose a mat to sit on. The children sit in a semi circle where the other leader is already sitting waiting for them at the front. She chats with them as they arrive then starts with a song which moves into a story-telling session where we use a set of figures and little props to tell a bible story. Today I did The Good Shepherd. The kids enjoyed watching, all in their own ways. There were a couple of very lively children which is a challenge in some ways but Claire, who I was doing it with today, and I, aren't easily phased so it wasn't particularly stressful and I think we'll get better with time! Again, the inclussive thing is so important, though I guess also different approaches work for different kids. Having lively children grabbing the story figures during the story time etc is tricky but we can work with them using strategic seating places and suchlike. (Incidentally, Claire is an identical twin and was telling me that when she was little she had to have an operation on her tummy and her sister had stomach pains during it, and when they were babies she had to have a jab in one room and her sister flinched in the other!! She also gets a feeling that makes her think her sister, who lives in another city, is upset and she's usually right.)

After the story we move into a wondering time whereby the story teller asks wondering questions that the children are welcome to respond to or not and there are no right or wrong answers. We don't praise answers either - just acknowledge them in a friendly/playful way. So, for example, I might say "I wonder where the bread and wine could really be" and one child may say "In a field", another "In the future" and so on. I couldn't be sure if they were being serious or a bit silly so I often just echo back what they say - "It could be in a field couldn't it!" It's run a bit like Philosophy for Children which some schools have as part of their curriculum.

After the wondering we have a response time where we say we're going to carry on thinking about the story but in our own individual ways. some of the children played enthusiastically with the story set (three at a time) and others did drawings individually. It doesn't matter what they draw - some may want to use a figure from the story set to trace around, others may draw robots - anything goes!! They are encouraged that it is their time and assured that no-one will ask them what they are doing or pass comment on it but that they are welcome to show us their work if they'd like to. We then finish by regathering in the semi circle to thank them for coming and the door person says goodbye to them each individually at the door. With today being the first it was all a little alien to them but they seemed to enjoy it and we'll get into a rythm I'm sure :) I like that we're facilitating a space for the children to be themselves and to express themselves freely and not be judged or told what to think. I realise that it is a didactic approach nontheless and that we are presenting stories only from one faith but as no-one is told to go and it is a church school - and I am a Christian - I guess I feel ok with that.

This afternoon we had our weekly prayer meeting for the school and I got a call from the martial arts instructor of the after school sessions Bilbo has been attending which gave me the joyous opportunity to tell him Bilbo doesn't want to go anymore as he finds it boring and is happy to make his own belt rather than stick at it just for the sake of getting a belt. That didn't go down well with, let's call him, Mr X, but hey ho - onwards and upwards! Bilbo enjoyed basket ball after school while Freddy and I took Eddie out for bike ride (Freddie in the buggy). We then took Bilbo to his swimming lesson which he loves :) He's like a dolphin - spends almost the whole lesson under the water! It really makes my heart feel all melty when I see him in the water embracing it so much :) the lessons are brilliant. There are only about 5 children in his class and there are at least two pool assistants in the water with them who are always friendly and smiley, and at least one instructor on the side (today it was two)! They take a lovely playful, no pressure approach and there are no assessment weeks. The kids are continually assessed, unawares to them; so whenever the instructors feel they're ready for the next level they just let us know and the kids start the next class up from the following week; i love that!! And it's only round the corner from us so we walk there :)