Breezy Saturday

Today was a breezy, sunny and laid back kind of Saturday. It is nearly nine, but as everyone is feeling calm I’m not rushing to get the kids to bed. The boys are reading and the girls are playing with toys.
I took the girls to the park earlier and while we were there I noticed a couple of middle aged men watching from the adjoining tennis court. After a few minutes one of them spoke to me saying that I must be feeling particularly bad about the newspapers these days. I had no idea what he meant. Then he pointed at U saying “She looks just like her”. Then I realised. Your own child is just your own child, looking like no other (except their twin brother of course), but now someone has pointed it out I suppose U does look a bit like Madeline, it is mainly the hair, but something of the look as well maybe. I was shocked of course, and hurriedly pointed out that U is only two, Ia is four, and obviously bigger. But they kept looking, and asking questions, in a friendly way, discussing the news and so on. In the end they said, “We had to ask”. Later someone else seemed to be looking at U as well, I felt a bit uncomfortable, maybe just paranoid, so we went to join the boys and H in the field, where the boys practised cricket and the girls chased after balls.
I’ve started packing in a slow kind of way and for the rest of the day everyone occupied themselves. The boys had a Quran lesson, and did a little more work on symmetry. Their Quran teacher is making them work hard to cram the tajweed rules into whatever period remains before the move, insh’Allah. We will certainly miss her good teaching, I think it has been three years now. I’ll miss her anyway, maybe the boys will not miss their lessons as much! R says he enjoys tajweed rules, he saw a book on it in the bookshop and asked to buy it. Surprising, alhamdulillah!
Ia is becoming more aware of letter sounds, although I have not been formally working on this at all. On the way to the park today she commented that on the handwriting page about “S” they could have included sandals. She can write numbers to 10 reversing some and struggling with 8. She has become confident enough to try copying some letters rather than just tracing.
U is trying to be helpful. She offers me a turn on the swings and slide in the park, “You turn now!” even offering to push me on the swing. Earlier when H was trying to sort out a problem with the digital camera I must have been hovering by him too much as she said “When Papa finish puter you turn”. She also seems to have a good memory, maashAllah, as this evening she recounted events which happened on Wednesday involving her good friend Hj. She also helps me to type on the keyboard (!) and to put out laundry, wet or dry, either type anywhere will do. She has also become skilled at removing her trousers. Could be useful when it comes to potty training.
I would have a photo of Ia’s painting of Mr Fox with his sad friend each holding balloons, if the connection was working!
Speaking of foxes the girls just spotted the fox coming over the garden fence again. Mr Fox in the picture is apparently a puppet though. He is painted as happy. U looked through a Mr Men book last week, “reading” the pictures by pointing at the characters and saying either “happy”, “sad” or “bored”. Bored was for a flat line mouth. But what does she know about bored?