Mike's musings

Celebrating - with Jojo

(backposting) Jojo came with me to the team service at Gosfield. It was a bit of a toss-up, as I was celebrating, and that's not always gone well before, but we agreed some rules, and she was absolutely fabulous. It wasn't the most interesting service in the world for a not-quite-5-year-old. But she did some writing/drawing, and lots of cuddling of me during the lesson, gospel and sermon. I'd said she could join me in the sacristy for the consecration as long as she didn't interfere, but in the end she decided to stay in the nave and do some colouring. I was very, very proud of her.

Labels: eucharist, jojo

Jo's school Nativity

She was a lamb (_not_ a sheep). It was very sweet.

I may be heading to Reston early next month. And maybe Dallas.

The girls are so tired, particularly Jojo, poor little mite. Sleep's what she needs. And lots of it.

Labels: jojo, travel

Maths

(backposting) I was in London during the day, and got back in time to take Jojo to her primary school maths evening. The school had the kids in their classrooms while we had a talk from the headteacher and a couple of others, and then we were encouraged to wander the classrooms finding out about various methods they're taught for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

They introduced one method of subtraction that I'd not come across before: subtraction by rounding up. For example: 83-47. Round up to 50 (+3), round up to 80 (+30), round up to 83 (+3). So that's 3+30+3 = 36. Nice technique. Never used exactly that method before, but it's obvious (once you know it) and very quick.

Labels: jojo

Remembrance Day

Our first parents' evening, more work, and preparing the prayers for Mo's funeral tomorrow. The latter went well, and I'm pleased with them. They raised a few tears, but it's better now than during the service. She specified that she wanted bright clothes, people are going to wear hats, and the bells will be rung out unmuffled. It should be a great occasion.

The work went well again, so that's good.

The parents' day? Well, she's a very clever little thing, is our Jo, and her teacher is pleased with her progress. She can be a little silly - we've seen that, too - but she's made amazing progress since she started school about 8 weeks ago. We're very proud, and if I carry on, it'll just be boasting.

Labels: funeral, jojo, work

What a day

Worked till 1030. Partly because things are very busy, partly because I had to take breaks during the day to: 1) let the electrician turn off all the power in order to finish off fitting the new radiators 2) deal with the fact that my main server died, loudly (*phzzzzzzzzzt* + ozone smell) when I turned it on, necessitating emergency DHCP procedures 3) pick up Jo from school, where she'd come down with severe stomach pains (fine by bedtime) 4) fail to have a haircut (see 3 above) 5) meet other members of the clergy and reader team for prayers, discussion and lunch (though I ended up using Sally's office for 45 minutes for a work call) 6) the realisation that I had a computer that I might be able to cannibalise for a new PSU, which just _might_ be all that had broken on my main server (and was). So, a busy day, and I'm not quite sure why I'm still awake. Time, in fact, for bed.

Labels: clergy, geekery, illness, jojo, work

Frustration

(backposting) Not on my part, but on Jojo's. She's really got the hang of reading, and really wants to be getting books from school that will stretch her, but they don't seem to have picked up on this. She was sent back with yet another book that is almost insultingly easy for her to read: she goes through it once, and that's it. Not very interesting, not at all challenging. Luckily we've got lots of books at home she can read, and she's now reading books that we've been reading to her, and sometimes reading them, in fact, to Miri, which is lovely. She'll need some help with some words, of course - "caribou" was one today - but then again, Moo sometimes struggles with words like Caribou, and Jojo's not yet 5.

Labels: jojo, reading

Car sound - and reading

(backposting) A few weeks ago, I had a bluetooth handsfree set fitted in my car. My previous phone had voice recognition, so when I had my bluetooth headset on and pressed the button, I could say "Home", and there was a good chance that it would dial the right number. However, my new one, nice as it is, is lacking this feature, so use of the phone in the car - if being legal - is restricted to receiving incoming calls only. So I went to Halfords, and got them to fit a bluetooth handfree set.

It's very good, and I'm very pleased with it. I noticed, however, that I was losing sound on the right front speaker. And then I'd go over a bump, or brake sharply, and it would come back. And sometimes the left speaker would go, and sometimes I'd lose both front speakers and only have the back ones. And reception seemed pretty awful.

So, as I was back in Huntingdon for a day (and that's where I had it fitted), I went in and asked them to sort it. As it was clearly just a loose connection, I was expecting it to take 2 minutes if they had the right tool to remove the head unit. They had, but it didn't, and after 35 minutes, I got a mate to pick me up. It took them a couple of hours, and involved removing most of the fascia. The guy who did it explained it to me when I went to pick it up spent some time explaining it to me, in the mistaken belief that I might feel confident enough to do it myself.

Bigger news - the reading

I don't often use a second heading, but this is big news: Jojo has suddenly "got" reading. Long words, sentences, full comprehension, rather than just single words. She'll try different pronunciations for awkward words until she gets the right one, and remembers "sight words" really well. It's fascinating, and I'm so proud!

Labels: car, jojo, phone, reading

Family

(backposting) Well, we used to be able to leave early on a Friday - assuming work commitments can be managed - to go to see friends or family. But these days Jojo's at school, and that's not an option. So we left after the girls' supper, and drove off down to my parents' in Somerset. Jo took rather a long time to get to sleep, though, so after interminable games of "I spy" (with various, interesting rule changes instigated by the younger player), I taught her the rudiments of algebra. "Let's pretend that letters are numbers. Let's pretend that "tuh" ("t") is 2, and that "ss" ("s") is 3. What's "tuh" add "ss"?" Jo then failed to add them up correctly on her fingers, but she certainly understood what was going on. I'm quite (no - very) impressed.

And I wrote another sermon. I'm going to be preaching at St Andrew's, Cheddar, on Sunday, when my father will be taking the service. This is scary, and I wasn't happy about the one I had prepared, so I started a new one. And completed it, but I'm still a little worried.

Labels: family, jojo

London, school, and design

Starck - interesting guy, and amazing designer. There was a good programme on the TV this evening - Design School or similar - about a bunch of young designers battling for the chance to work with him. Very, very interesting. We caught it by accident, but we'll try to watch it again next week.

I was in London today, and had a very good meeting with the rest of the team. I'm really, really enjoying the chance to think architecturally and to apply some of the skills and experience I've gained over the past 15 years of work. There's dull stuff, too, but also the opportunity to think and debate with clever colleagues. Good stuff.

And it was Jo's first day at school for an entire day. She loved it, and particularly having a school dinner. I'm very keen that she should do this: it will encourage her to eat a wider range of food, it will allow more pupils to eat better food, and I think it builds better social cohesion. So I'm very pleased that she enjoyed it.

Labels: jojo, school, television, work

More school

How tired is Jojo? Very, very tired. And she's only doing afternoons at the moment. But she's enjoying it very much, and getting good at "b" words. That's words with the letter b featuring in them, and the reading thereof.

Not feeling great today, and although I drove all the way to Witham station, I got out of the car, walked 20 metres, turned back and drove home (and got the parking fee back). Headache, gout, feeling not good. But got lots of work done, which is something.

Labels: home, jojo, school

Hmm - one of those days

A good day, and lots of things to say, but I really can't. Not for now.

In the morning, Moo and I visited the school that Jojo will be attending next term, and a meeting about the form of phonics that the school uses to teach the children to read. It was interesting, and pulled together what we're doing anyway with a few extra bits and pieces.

Labels: jojo, work

The end of a good day

I took Jojo to Gosfield church for the team service at which I was preaching today. It's the first time that I've had either of the girls with me when I've been involved with taking a service. She did very well, and Ashley, a girl in the choir was very kind in looking after her. I was so proud, and was close to tears as I walked up to the altar with the host, having just administered the host to a member of the congregation at the back. It's difficult to explain, but it was all part the thinking I've been doing about reverence and the sacraments. It's just such a privilege to administer the elements of the Christ's body. And I've been waiting so long for Jo to be able to join me at a service, and sit next to me as I used to sit next to my father.

I preached about following Christ, and not just Jesus. I really care about this. If we just follow Jesus, we follow a man, and we deny the title that he earned by dying and rising for us. And if we call ourselves just Jesus-followers, and not Christians, then we deny the sacrifices - small and great - that others have made in the name of Christ over the ages, and that we make, and that our children will make. It is absurd to follow a man. It is maybe more absurd to follow a man who was God and man, and died, but it is right.

We went swimming in the afternoon, and Jo swam for 10m in the big pool, all on her own. I think she could have done more, if she'd wanted to, and I was proud all over again.

Labels: jojo, preaching, sacraments

The first show

(backposting) Today was Jojo's first dance show: it was lovely. I cried at the end of her first appearance, I was so proud. I cried during the middle one, as I was nearly wetting myself with laughter. It was only a dress rehearsal, and was great. Jo didn't really get the fact that she should have been concentrating on remembering what to do, rather than (for instance) chatting to her friends or waving at me and Miri (or mouthing "where's Miri?" as she peered past the stage lights).

Moo managed to see all of Jojo's four routines, I'm pleased to say. I even managed to get one of them on video on my phone. Everyone who sees it laughs, despite the fact that it was one of the less, um, shambolic routines.

Miri managed the entire 2 and a half hours, and was a star.

Oh - and in the morning, we watched Monsters vs Aliens in 3D, which was excellent. Miri slept through some of it, of course, but Jojo enjoyed, as did we. I'd strongly recommend it: it was very funny, and had enough adult bits to be diverting.

Labels: films, jojo, miri

Ballet tomorrow

I'm going to give the theology a break today - we're getting some more interesting comments, and I'll let those accrue before returning to it. The weekend's main excitement is Jojo's first ballet show. Officially tomorrow's show is a dress rehearsal, but Jo doesn't know the difference, and it's the one that Miri and I are going to (Moo's going to be backstage for a fair amount of it). It's all very exciting, and I suspect that Jo's going to be absolutely shattered by the end of it.

Labels: jojo

My clever Jojo

(backposting) we decided today that Jo needs more stimulation, so as she's really getting reading proper words (and digraphs such as "sh" and "ai"), we offered to let her read a complete book. Moo had bought some in the "jolly phonics" series, and Jo managed to read 2 of them. She needed help, and it was slow, but she read every word on her own! What a star.

Labels: jojo

Crying

Jojo is just fantastic when she's good, but can be a real nightmare when she's not. This morning, I was trying to convince her to come upstairs to get dressed so that she could go to ballet with Moo. She wanted to say downstairs and watch TV, so I came downstairs and calmly asked her to come upstairs, at length. In the end, I had to pick her up (gently, gently), and carried her upstairs.

When we got there, she turned round to me, screamed in absolute rage, and pushed me away. She's never done that before, to me or Catherine. It was the rage, and the open-mouthed scream. And the rejection.

I was tired (in fact, I was about to go back to bed, as I'd been low on sleep _before_ Jo had us up at 0515), and that's part of the reason I cried, but it was horrible. Moo comforted Jo, and Miri came straight over to me and gave me a lovely cuddle. She's a real Daddy's girl at the moment, and it was lovely that she came over. But it was hard.

Labels: family, jojo, miri, sadness