BUSY DAYS

Saturday - our local town's Food Fest, up and parked by 8:50 (a major achievement!). Got several errands completed before meeting D, D and A to browse the stalls. A fun day. Alice and A were very good, we got to see the whole thing, didn't buy much except lunch (which was overpriced and not that great, except for yummy BBQed corn on the cob). In the evening I was looking forward to the first S*tricly C*ome D*ancing of the series - I S*ky + it, luckily as I didn't manage to watch it!

Sunday - I left Alice with M next door and made it into the water for aqua aerobics - lots of new faces with hardly any friends there but the class was good, the exercise exhausting but necessary! Dashed home to feed Alice lunch and get her to bed for 1:30pm - but luckily M had already fed her! 1:30pm, Alice in bed ready for me to meet my new Social Worker (SW) T. New SW as the SW from Alice's adoption (or the process that led to her adoption) is off sick for another 8 weeks, maybe more. I was concerned about switching SWs as I got on so well with J (my original SW). Anyway the meeting with T went better than I could have hoped, I like him and I think we'll work well - there are several more meetings in the diary for Sunday lunchtimes and hope to have finished the face-to-face stuff by early November! This stage of the process is moving a lot quicker this time around (so far!)

Monday - we were due to go out for the morning, but visits and phone calls led to a last minute change of plan, instead I unearthed the bird table (Daisy used to raid the bird food - so it was put away many years ago) and my old F-P school and garage. Bird table, F-P toys and the water table all got a good cleanup before GFN arrived - he was expecting biscuits but was persuaded to stay for lunch! We had a quiet afternoon and Alice had an early supper - as M arrived just after 5pm so that I could go to work!!

(Work - after 5pm on a Monday? I was going to an outdoor pursuits centre to lend a hand for the evening. The oldest pupils go annually for a 3 night stay. I've been for the night most years - but now (with Alice home) I've compromised by going for the evening. I was an 'extra' for the evening, but only 2 of us had been with there before so I thought that I could be useful. Usually there's a chance to sit with the other staff while watching and interacting with the children - this year there was no chance to sit - I was there from 6pm to nearly 11pm and was on the go almost constantly - making beds, chatting to small groups of children, finding extra bed linen, doing the rounds of the dormitories, supervising phone calls, ringing parents, making hot drinks, all sorts - even organising a B*op-It championship! It was non-stop but it was also lovely to see the children in a different environment and to be really useful in a different way!)

Today - Alice woke earlier than I wanted (late night after work) and then we went swimming - Alice was as clingy and tearful as the past 2 weeks, but the instructor saw the giggles and silliness after the class so I think that she might be more forceful next week! This afternoon we had a quiet time at home - playing and pl*aydough!