It's all new

Everything is changing at the Aginoth household.

Mstr A is a junior, and seems to have settled in as well as can be expected to hus new class. His teacher is still a bit confused about how one makes him sit still for more than 10 seconds (i can't help - I've asked that if she finds the answer she pass it on to me!), but he is enjoying the harder work and seems happy with his new class mates.

He starts school swimming lessons tomorrow. I feel terribly bad that at age 7, he can barely struggle accross a width (10 metres). I am, after all, a qualified swimming teacher and adore the water myself. But, he is a natural sinker, was terrified of water as a toddler and still dislikes having his face covered (with anything, including water). Plus, I do not have the time to take him regualrly - they won't let me in with all three kids, they won't let Aggie in at all much of the time, and I can't afford the creche (and even when I have done, they won't keep crying babies (what kind of creche is that?!), so struggling across the width front and back is not that awful:-) But 12 lessons from now until Xmas will do him the world of good! At 8 years old he is allowed to go swimming on his own (regardless of ability - how stupid is THAT rule?), and I had promised myself that I would get him safe to do so by then, so this will help him get there.

LMB started school today. She went for three hours this morning. She happily went running in, and wasn't remotely interested when we left, so it seems to have gone pretty well. She could tell me who and what she played with, what her teacher was called, and what she ate, which is more information than I got out of Mstr A in the whole of his first year! Aggie said she was exhausted this afternoon though:-) Although some of that may be from the playing with another little girl at the re-enactment at the weekend - from dawn to dusk, non-stop running, chatting and dancing:-)

Clever Aggie found a fund that will pay for a new boiler for us cos he's a poor cripple;-) So that was fitted today (well, half of it - it will be finished tomorrow). As well as being quite a bit smaller than our previous boiler, this one has the bonus of a) working all the time (the old one tended to break down every couple of weeks during the winter) and b) being much more economical to run and enviromentally friendly, which will save us a bit of money each year. Yay Aggie.

I've had a letter back from both the holiday company and the insurance company saying they have recieved my complaint and are looking into it. Hopefully one will refund us some cash, and the other will redecorate LMB's room:-) well, they will eventually anyway! Which will be good, because Aggie is currently not working and not being paid anything either. Even civil servants run out of sick pay eventually! My £800 per month will not keep a family of 5 going for long:-( Although at least the nursery fees have halved from £205 per week to £135 per week now LMB is at school. (they put the prices up on 1st sept - Bast***s!), which will help. A bit. Not much really, as that is mostly covered by child tax credit, but not totally, so a bit. Whenever I get really pissed off with the gov't, I have to admit that child tax credit was a great concept. Although sometimes I wonder why I put myself through the stress of going to work for a net income of 0. Then again, when I was a SAHM, I wondered why I bothered not going to work and doing stuff with my kids for all the hassle it gained me! i guess the grass is always greener, and I am never satisfied.....

Which is nothing new:-)