I’m trying to put together a backing track for Lauren to use in a dance display at school. I’m struggling to make it sound right. I like to think that’s because I’m trying to mix together “Oopsy Daisy”, “Tik Tok” and “I’m a Believer” (yes, the Monkees one) at points dictated by the needs of the dance, rather than musically cogent ones. “What musically cogent points?” I hear you cry. “Exactly”, I cry back.

It appears Lauren has inherited her dedication to homework from me. She’s on a week without computers because of ‘forgetting’ to do a bunch of stuff, and then yesterday (Sunday) she was working on something that had to be done for sometime this week, without bothering with the thing that had to be done for today. I’ve always stressed when they get good reports that my primary concern is about effort; they got to be smart for free, but making an effort is a decision. I shall try to make the point more clearly in the future.

Someone I know from the US had a child a few years ago who was stillborn, due to many medical complications in the womb. They knew it was going to happen, but I can’t imagine that made things much easier. This person just found out that their other child has a form of cancer that is so rare in children that there’s no real baseline for how to treat it or what will happen. In adults, however, it is about as bad as cancer gets.

I don’t know this person very well – we got on well enough, but didn’t interact too often, so I’d hesitate to say we were friends. I want to say something encouraging to this person, but I’m at a loss for what. I can see no good here. So instead I remember that my children’s health is a gift beyond all measure, and hope that my friend finds some way forward.

I had to have a word with Sam last night to explain that he really can’t be hugging his sister at school any more, as she’s getting a bit big for that sort of thing. I did make a deal that he could still do it at home, and Lauren would have to just put up with it. *bless*

Lauren lost her electrical privileges for most of last week, having forged Claire’s signature on her music diary. Words have been had about honesty, and owning up to what you have or haven’t done. Now I just need to figure out how to prevent the passage of time before she grows up any more.