With not a backward glance...the tinlids went back to school.
I can't say I'm sorry. The last two weeks they have been tormenting each other, goading each other, kicking and nipping...generally being little beasties.
They were not so bad when the weather was fine.
Himself would take them off down the park after lunch and they would run some of their excess energy off.....they came home with faces looking as red as a newly boiled lobster.......damp with sweat.
On the wet days they played in the house....... a huge cardboard box in my front room was imagined to be a variety things....a house, a den, a spaceship, a submarine.
It had bits added onto it......cardboard tubes made a periscope......bottle tops covered in tinfoil for control knobs.
A hole was cut into the top and a plastic salad bowl was inserted to make a viewing tower.
Lights were stuck to the 'roof' and a large dark throw was put over the box to make it dark enough to need the lights on.
It was played with a lot.....and fought over too.....and it is looking decidedly worse for wear.......it has become battered and a bit 'tumbledown'.
I am going to wait another week and then I am going to break it up and reclaim the front room again. I'm sure there will be anguished cries of 'It was alright, we were still playing with it'.....but they will get over it.
At the end of last week they both asked that the stabilsers be taken off their bikes.
I was a bit reluctant...even though I can see children in our street much younger than them, whizzing up and down the place on two wheels.
I could imagine broken arms, skinned knees(I know that no-one dies from getting their knees skinned).....fat lips, bust noses.......and I just didn't want these things to happen on my watch.
It is so different when the children you are looking after are not your own.
Anyway, after a fair bit of head pecking, Grandad got out his wrench and took the stabilisers off. He told them that once they came off they were off for good...he wasn't going to be putting them back on.
I couldn't settle to do anything while they were in the yard, trying to ride their bikes......I was stationed either by the kitchen window...or out in the yard.
Their first attempts on two wheels were not encouraging...but to be fair they were both very persistent. You could see the concentration(their tongues were poking out) and their determination.
I couldn't see them learning to ride the bikes before they went back to school...but blow me down. After just a day and a half they were both riding the bikes...Ok still hesitant, but they were on two wheels.
This prompted Grandad to promise them a new bike each.
Spindles also learnt to tie his school tie.......he has gone up into the Juniors and they have to wear a proper tie...not one on elastic.
So two fairly important lessons learned.
I can't say I'm sorry. The last two weeks they have been tormenting each other, goading each other, kicking and nipping...generally being little beasties.
They were not so bad when the weather was fine.
Himself would take them off down the park after lunch and they would run some of their excess energy off.....they came home with faces looking as red as a newly boiled lobster.......damp with sweat.
On the wet days they played in the house....... a huge cardboard box in my front room was imagined to be a variety things....a house, a den, a spaceship, a submarine.
It had bits added onto it......cardboard tubes made a periscope......bottle tops covered in tinfoil for control knobs.
A hole was cut into the top and a plastic salad bowl was inserted to make a viewing tower.
Lights were stuck to the 'roof' and a large dark throw was put over the box to make it dark enough to need the lights on.
It was played with a lot.....and fought over too.....and it is looking decidedly worse for wear.......it has become battered and a bit 'tumbledown'.
I am going to wait another week and then I am going to break it up and reclaim the front room again. I'm sure there will be anguished cries of 'It was alright, we were still playing with it'.....but they will get over it.
At the end of last week they both asked that the stabilsers be taken off their bikes.
I was a bit reluctant...even though I can see children in our street much younger than them, whizzing up and down the place on two wheels.
I could imagine broken arms, skinned knees(I know that no-one dies from getting their knees skinned).....fat lips, bust noses.......and I just didn't want these things to happen on my watch.
It is so different when the children you are looking after are not your own.
Anyway, after a fair bit of head pecking, Grandad got out his wrench and took the stabilisers off. He told them that once they came off they were off for good...he wasn't going to be putting them back on.
I couldn't settle to do anything while they were in the yard, trying to ride their bikes......I was stationed either by the kitchen window...or out in the yard.
Their first attempts on two wheels were not encouraging...but to be fair they were both very persistent. You could see the concentration(their tongues were poking out) and their determination.
I couldn't see them learning to ride the bikes before they went back to school...but blow me down. After just a day and a half they were both riding the bikes...Ok still hesitant, but they were on two wheels.
This prompted Grandad to promise them a new bike each.
Spindles also learnt to tie his school tie.......he has gone up into the Juniors and they have to wear a proper tie...not one on elastic.
So two fairly important lessons learned.
