Half-term by Theo

Oh how I was looking forward to half-term. I mean this is what it's all about being a teacher - the fact that you work like mad most weeks is made up for by the fact that you get 13 weeks holiday (or thereabouts) a year. It's one of the perks.

Actually, scrap that, it's the only perk!

Anyway, I had plans for this half-term. Aside from getting to spend time with Rosie and Kate, I was going to go out, see some gigs, meet friends. It was going to be great.

Then I saw the size of my marking pile.
Then I remembered I had an EPS assignment presentation to give the wednesday after we got back.
Then suddenly it was Saturday and, having not left the house for 48 hours in bid to get it all done, I realised I had to teach next week too, so had better start planning some lessons.

This trainee teacher's half-term report thus reads: Issues with time management continue to hamper his efforts to have a life. Must do better.

ironic insomnia

Yesterday (or, more correct, two days ago) I was complaining of being tired, so Kate very kindly let me have a lie-in as a Valentine's Day present. Only til 7.30am, but when you've got a toddler and you're on half-term, you take what you can get.

How very Alanis Morissette then that I now can't seem to sleep!

a sweet story by Theo

Back in the depths of time (2003-2005) I was Music Editor of a local monthly magazine, Decode. Most people give me blank stares when I mention this as they probably never knew it existed, let alone recall it. However today I got a slightly different reaction...

A new PGCE student has started in the English Department at my placement school. He's at a different University, hence the different start date. As we were chatting he mentioned the name of his band, the rather excellent alt-country outfit The Weary Band. He was amazed I knew them (I've seen them a half-dozen times), so I explained my past in local journalism.

Not only did he remember Decode Magzine, but it turned out that on the strength of a review of the band in Decode a Norwegian guy, freshly arrived in the west country, went along to one of the gigs. He and the future-PGCE student became firm friends and, as a result, the Weary-PGCE student now has a Norwegian wife, his best friend's sister.

It's not often I get told that my editorial choices are responsible for wedding bells! A very sweet turn of events...

The wrong trousers - by Theo

Or rather, complete lack of trousers.

It's really not the best way to start the week - cycling through the snow to school and then realising that you forgot to pack your work trousers, so you have to cycle home again and arrive back just in time for staff briefing. Especially when you're teaching Year 11 first period, the supervising teacher is out sick and the printers aren't working.

Although, on reflection, it probably means that the week can only get better!

Not quite what the manufacturers had in mind...

Back when Rosie was a little baby and we were struggling to get her to sleep anywhere except in the pram, Kate bought a Baby-Bjorn bouncy chair in the hope she might take to it. She didn't. However, since she's become a toddler she's found a new use for it...



Not quite what the manufacturers had in mind, I'm sure.

Now We Are Two...

As a friend of mine recently told me, the second birthday is the last one where you can get away with giving them an empty cardboard box as their main present and not bothering to do anything else whatsoever.

However, Theo and I are far too doting on our Precious First Born daughter to stop at a cardboard box, so we got her a few other things as well and arranged a small toddlers tea party so we could celebrate her reaching the grand old age of two.

We kept it small - toddlers can be a lot of fun, but en masse, they are exhausting. We invited a pair of twins and another little girl who are all Rosie's buddies, plus my godson, who, at just over a year old, was the most junior member of the party.

The twins were the first to arrive and Rosie was delighted to see them. Soon all three were tearing around the ground floor of our house, taking turns (impressively, there was hardly any squabbling) with the various toys dotted around and generally having a lot of fun.

The other little girl arrived soon after, but blanched when she saw Theo. Nothing personal, it turns out she has a fear of beards. Which is understandable, I mean some beards are pretty scary. Theo's is a fairly modest beard compared with many, but it's still inescapably beardy, so he did his best to stay out of her way.
We were going to wait until my godson and his parents had arrived before starting on the food, but the twins had other ideas. They managed to reach the plate of cheese sandwiches on the kitchen table and took matters, if not the sandwiches, into their own hands. We took the hint and filled their plates.

The food - which also featured some toddler corn snacks and a mixture of blueberries and raspberries - met with general approval, although a certain amount of refereeing was needed to stop the twins stealing the other two's food. The twins ate at three times the rate of the other two and regarded any morsels remaining on their neighbours' plates as fair game.

All was going smoothly, if not a bit messily, when my godson and his mum and dad arrived. Without warning, Rosie suddenly went into a tearful panic and insisted on taking refuge in the garden with Theo and point-blank refused to come in again, even with the promise of chocolate birthday cake.

It took us a short while to work out that Rosie was fearful of my godson's father - a lovely, gentle chap but very tall - Rosie would barely reach his kneecap. Despite having previously met Al quite happily, Rosie was suddenly terrified of his altitude. I think he must have been sitting down last time she saw him.

The problem was solved by Al tactfully banishing himself to the front room while Rosie stayed in the kitchen. She soon regained her equilibrium with the help of a strategically offered piece of birthday cake. I suppose the wisdom of giving chocolate banana cake covered in gooey ganache to a quartet of two year-olds is questionable at best, but our furniture survived the ordeal unstained, thanks in no small part to the swift dustpan and brush action by the twins' mum.
So, overall Rosie's birthday party can be summed up thus:

Four toddlers and a teething one year-old
Six adults
Ten balloons
One trampoline
One chocolate cake
One cupboard under the stairs (for hiding in)
Six renditions of the "Turn Around" song
Three nappy changes
Eight cups of tea (adults)
Eight straws (toddlers)
A couple of minor bumps and skirmishes
A lot of cuteness.
Happy second birthday, Rosie!

because it's worth it - by Theo

I was asking whether the sacrifices and stresses of the course were worth it, and the answer is: yes. I'm really, really enjoying the teaching. It's hard work, which some of the concepts proving to be an intellectual challenge, while controlling the students is an even bigger one. But on the days when I pretty much just teach, whizzing from one class to another, it is such a buzz, especially when the students come up with something even better than you'd hoped for.

Mind you, I'm not so into it that a day back at Uni -with a 9.30 start and a 3.30 finish- didn't feel like a holiday!

My new life by Theo

I left for work this morning before Rosie woke up, at 7.20am. I helped out in a PSHE class based around living costs, observed a science lesson, taught Animal Farm to Year 10 for a double then spent the rest of the day marking books, planning lessons and preparing resources. I finally left at 5.15pm.

Rosie insisted Kate do bath time this evening - usually I do - hence I've got ten minutes free to write this blog. I'll go up in a bit, read stories with Rosie, then, after she's gone to bed, I'll probably work til 10ish planning lessons, editting one of my assignments and preparing resources.

'Is it all worth it?' I wonder....

(to be continued)