The Big Move to France

We had Livi's "School report" today. Bearing in mind she is only four it is very thorough - there are about 50 categories of tasks and for each one she is given a mark of 1 (always does this) to 4 (never does this.)

It all started off quite positively - she respects her work and that of others, she can concentrate for long periods and see a task through to its end. She can hold a book correctly (!), use scissors, recognise and write her name and simple words, repeat simple rhythms and take part in group activities.

But some of it breaks my heart. Basically, it seems she doesn't speak. She doesn't even join in with singing. The teacher wrote: "Elle ecoute, mais elle ne parle pas."

I know most of this is probably a language thing, she's not very outgoing and even a bit behind with English language still after having had glue ear but somehow it makes for quite sad reading. She always seems quite happy to go to school and generally perfectly happy overall, so maybe I shouldn't let it worry me. But I do wonder how her South London primary report would have read, had she gone. I guess I will try and have a chat with her teacher tomorrow and see if she thinks this is normal for kids who aren't French.

Livi

Last weekend was the school fete. All the kids were in a "spectacle" based around the four elements - here is Livi as  little Indian and Toby concentrating very hard with his windmill as part of  a piece about air. It was the hottest day of the year so far - about 31 degrees I think - which is why Toby looks so red - and it was very cute. The final bit involved the biggest kids who I guess are about 11 dancing with the smallest kids some of whom are as young as two and singing "C'est mon frere" which made me cry.

Toby

Night-vision

Pony

We also went to an open day at the local

"Parachuting"

parachute regiment where Toby "jumped out of a plane", went on a night-mission wearing night-vision goggles and Livi rode a pony.

Deer3DSC_0275

I was on the phone to my step-mother earlier this evening when two of these ran across our field.......very exciting.

I got my Carte Vitale!!!!! This might not seem that exciting but to me it means I have successfully navigated some French admin. All by myself, and in French. Hooray! The bad news is this had taken six months and it only seems to be valid until the end of the year, but never mind - I somehow feel very "legit" now.

As we no longer have the luxury of Alex having most of the summer off ("Too much to be done on the house! Got to get on with it before the winter!") and we no longer have any local friends to swap play dates with (still so miss that), the kids are going to have to go to the Centre de Loisirs for a few days over the HUGE summer holiday as I will still have work to do, plus they will drive us mad if they are at home all the time. The French are very well geared up for this though with most towns and even some villages running play schemes which apparently vary as to how good they are. I went to find out about our local one yesterday and it looks quite good - run in a big house outside of town with grounds and a pool etc and lots of nice-sounding activities - so hopefully they will like it. Remarkably good value compared to the UK too - they don't even charge extra for lunch or the trips they do. I think if I had got my child benefit sorted out (which I haven't quite) it might be even cheaper.

The woman in the office was very helpful and gave me some forms to fill in (of course) along with a long list of bits of paper I need to be able to sign the children up. These included a note from the doctor to say they are fit to go and have had their vaccinations and what basically amounts to public liability insurance. This is apparently standard in France with household cover but as our cover is with a UK company we don't have it so I have had to buy it. Fortunately it is quite cheap but we are all now insured should be do anything....in fact I'm not really sure exactly what it insures but the woman in the insurance office seemed quite incredulous that we didn't have it.

That done, we went to the doctors. It was my first time there and I was quite prepared for a barrage of questions about where the kids had had their jabs and when and probably needing officially translated proof etc but actually he just shook us all by the hand, asked me if they had had all their vaccinations etc, checked Livi's grommets, walked us to the door and didn't even charge us! Really nice.

So I was delighted at how much admin I had achieved so quickly and easily on my little trip into town - I'd even remembered puzzle books to keep the kids quiet at the docs. Only problem was - before we'd left Alex had started the car to put the aircon on for us as it had been left out in the sun (isn't that sweet?) before I got in and drove into town. It was only when I tried to lock the car I realised I didn't have my key. So this is a slight failing of these magic keys which aren't really keys (which otherwise I have to say I think are brilliant) - you can drive away without actually having one with you. I'd also managed to forget my phone, which I almost never do, and don't know Alex's mobile, or the home number, off by heart. Even if I did he was mowing the lawn this afternoon so probably wouldn't have heard the phone. So I asked the woman in the insurance office if she had a number for a taxi and she gave me the name and number of one the local ambulance drivers.

It turns out the ambulance service does taxis too. So we walked to their office and came back in one of their ambulances, which gave Alex quite a shock.

Going to the cinema was like going back to the 70s, except without the smell of smoke. There are obviously no counters selling huge buckets of popcorn but instead a couple of vending machines. The best thing was that before the film there were little local adverts like in the old days - not curry house here (of course!) but things like health food shops and motorbike shops. We all managed the film OK - the kids better than me I imagine - but then again it was only Night at the Museum 2 so not exactly an intricate plot. It was strange to see people like Ricky Gervais and Ben Stiller voiced in French though.

After that we took the kids to the roller-skating club's open day - how provincial are we??!! Toby as usual when he is asked to do anything new said he didn't want to go but he absolutely loved it and is going to join next term, which means nice quiet Saturday mornings for us. Around here kids seem to go to various sports clubs on Wednesdays and Saturdays rather than being at home shouting like Toby and Livi at the mo.

I just saw one of the baby birds hopping about again today (or of course it could be another from the same nest) after not seeing them at all yesterday and assuming they must have been eaten. I hope I didn't kill the other one with kindness - I still feel terrible about it. But I think I will have to put it down to a lesson learned and move on......I'm going to stop going on about it now, anyway.

It is raining today so I am taking the kids to see Night at the Museum II later - first time we will have been to see a film in French. Alex is on the roof trying to sort out the leak in the rain - I hate him being up there in this weather and wish he would come down.

Alex is currently mid-fixing the roof along a builder so half the tiles are off. I was sitting at my computer about an hour ago when I heard a wierd noise from the bathroom - and went in to find a torrent of water pouring from one of the lights. I tried to shove the bathroom bin under the stream which didn't work as the lid flipped down as soon as I moved away (doh!) but found another bin and went up into the loft. Luckily there were already loads of buckets up there as the roof has been rubbish since we got here (hence the fixing.....) and I moved them around to try to contain the water as best I could. It all seems to be under control now but somehow it does feel a bit like camping.

Having done some more reading about baby birds, I'm now not at all sure we did the right thing last night. This afternoon the bird was joined by one of it's siblings, equally small, equally sweet, but with a bit more energy (still not able to fly though.) I feel terrible now that we took the bird in and fed it bread in milk, both things which the majority of websites say you shouldn't do. It is still there, and it is still cheeping, but it still looks so helpless and small and just not quite as.....right as it's brother or sister. It is so tempting to take it back in again and try to look after it but I'm not going to.....by all accounts it is now of an age where it should be hopping about on the ground. Perhaps it just came out a day or two too early, or perhaps it is my fault. I hope it survives, but I don't know that it will (apparently only one in five baby birds survive, I read earlier.) I'm just not cut out for all this nature stuff - it all seems so harsh. 

"I don't know if I want to show you this," Alex said yesterday evening, pointing at a tiny bird hopping about in front of the house. It had feathers, but couldn't quite fly. It wasn't injured though. I had no idea what to do about it, and the internet chose to be down for the evening so we managed to get it into a little cardboard box with a bit of grass and I vaguely remembered something about bread soaked in milk and managed to feed it some. It was so sweet - it would only take it if I held it above its head like a mother bird must do. I rang a friend who seems like the kind of person who would know what to do (handily, our French mobile network also seemed to be down so we had to use an English pay and you go mobile) and he said to take it inside, feed it like we had been doing and put a lightbulb in the box with it.

I got it to eat some more food and checked on it a few times during the night. It was like having a newborn again. We were all delighted that it made it through the night - but I couldn't get it to eat this morning. The internet was back up, so I looked up what to do and there were mixed messages (of course) but overall it seemed the best thing to do would be to put it back outside and apparently its mother will come and feed it on the ground.

So I put it outside and it immediately scuttled under a pallet of roof tiles. I went of the gym convinced I had traumatised it and fretted about it all the way through Body Pump. But when I got back it was out from under the tiles and hopping around - and just a minute ago I saw the mother come down and feed it. So perhaps I did the right thing after all last night. I know it's just one little bird, but I'm so pleased.