Maths, glorious maths...

I haven't written very much about my maths before, so I thought I might today!

In the last few months I have taken a real interest in maths. It all started when I asked Äiti if I could have a book from the library about subtraction. I read it several times and after that I wanted the other books in the series- addition, multiplication and division. Äiti wouldn't let me have the division and multiplication books- grrrr to her!

I really like fractions at the moment, I also like 3D shapes and their properties. I like weighing and measuring, I like telling the time, I like repeating patterns and money. But most of all I love silly sums!

Here is a video of me doing some silly sums. I normally make up silly sums in the car but it was a little tricky for Äiti to film me whilst she was driving, so she did this at home. I make up sums all the times, mainly about animals having legs falling off or growing new body parts! When I run out of ideas I make Äiti ask me questions!

My swimming lessons

This week I have been having swimming lessons. I started on Tuesday in 'Beginners Level 1'. There were 4 other children in my group, some were excellent swimmers and some weren't (like me)! We started off on Tuesday with some stretching exercises. Then we got in the water, sat on the steps and did some kicking. I splashed really well. We were then given woggles (long tubey things that have a million different names). We had to swim 5 meters, turn around and then swim back to the steps. I did this quite well. We repeated this several times and then we had to swim on our backs- I couldn't stop laughing whilst doing this and ended up going round in circles. We then had to practise getting in the pool safely. I did this well. We then did some jumps and bubble blowing. Then we had to do some swimming without woggles or floats- I tried very hard not to drown and swam a bit. I didn't like the water in my eyes. Then it was the end of the lesson. I named my teacher 'Mrs Irritating' for reasons only known to myself! Her real name is Lorraine.

Wednesday's lesson was much the same. We got given a quoit that we had to drop in the water. We then had to retrieve the quoit by diving down. I didn't! I used my feet and balanced on one leg and used my feet to retrieve my ring! Mrs Irritating laughed at me, so I did it again!

Today's lesson went well. I swam a bit further without any floats. I kept shouting to Äiti (sitting by the side of pool) that I was a Turkish Van cat or a clown fish or an otter. I pushed off the wall today quite well too and jumped in confidently. After my lesson today I met my friend from school and we swam together for an hour.

Tomorrow is my last lesson, I wonder what Mrs Irritating will ask us to do.

I am a triathlete!

Today I had to wake up quite early because we were off to watch Daddy in a triathlon. It was raining so much that we sat in the car and waited for him. I did watch him do the swim and I saw him cross the finish line. It was very exciting.

I drew some pictures of daddy doing his race...



The first picture is daddy swimming in the pool, Little Airplane is chasing him. Daddy has his blue goggles on and a yellow swim hat. The next picture is daddy running to his red bike in the rain. He is looking worried as it is raining, he is wearing his black bike helmet. The last picture is daddy running. I tried to get the arms and legs in a running action.

I spent all evening pretending that I was in a triathlon. I was race number 40, swimming at 9 o'clock in lane 1. I had to swim 3 lengths, then run to get my bike and cycle to the kitchen. After cycling I had to get off my bike and run many times! It was a lot of fun. I picked up lots of new words like transition, triathlon, bike racking and some other triathlon related words!
Here is a video of me taking part in my triathlon!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Camping, Cycling and Siblings

This is a picture of our new tent. We went camping again this weekend in a new, larger tent. It is so big that even daddy can stand up in it. It sleeps 4 or 5 people and has a living area too. Last time we went camping we woke up in an igloo as it had snowed in the night. This time it was so windy and rainy but we were lovely and dry inside our tent. I had a new camp bed to sleep in too so I was extra cosy. We had a BBQ for dinner and my favourite chocolate croissants for breakfast.

Whilst we were having dinner Äiti and daddy were having a chat about how I need a sibling. Äiti said to daddy 'we might get another girl'. I turned to them both and said "Äiti, I really hope you are joking with daddy" I told them that I liked it being just the three of us and that we didn't need any more babies. I don't think they are planning on having another baby just yet though...thankfully!

On the way back from camping we stopped at Toys R Us. Äiti had decided that my old 2-wheeler was a bit too heavy and its set up was wrong. I didn't like the back-pedal brake so they looked at getting me a new bike. I haven't wanted to ride my bike since last May preferring to ride my trike. I have been able to pedal my trike since I was 22ms old. I could ride my 2-wheeler last year but really didn't like it. Anyway, I found a lovely purple bike that I rode straight away. There was a special offer on bikes today so daddy bought me a new one. After Äiti built it I went out cycling. I fell off once when I tried to ride fast down a steep kerb and cut my finger. Here is a little video of me on my new bike....

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Tomorrow I am taking my bike to daddy's triathlon race. I might try and help him win.

Another funny from me, "don't worry Äiti, it is daddy's fault".

Poor tired me and awww, cute little me!

This week has been quite exhausting for me! Here I am flaked out on the sofa recovering from my week. School has been busy. We have had extra rehearsals for our music concert, we have had extra PE lessons in preparation for our Sports Day and we had our 'Toddle Waddle'. The Toddle Waddle was to raise money for Dr Barnados. We had to run a circuit round the school. I did 5 laps! Also, the chicks that we hatched in class have now gone to new homes. It was amazing watching them tapping their way out the egg using their egg-tooth. We had a class vote on what to call the chicks. My name 'Hatchily' was chosen as a name!

I've also made a great new friend this week. She is in my class. We play together, have our snacks together and chase each other. Unfortunately she will be going upstairs to the Reception (K) class after the summer so we wont be in the same class. I'll still see her at playtime though.

I also started playing 'schools' this week. I was teaching the cats how to read, write and swim. I read them books and they had to answer questions- if they got the answer right then I gave them a sticker. I also made a register (roll call) and made them answer 'yes, Mrs Cat'. I took my class to PE, music and dance. One of my toy cats had to wear my school uniform!

Äiti found some very early video clips of me, she has put the videos together....

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I'm very excited about this weekend as we are off camping in our new tent. Hopefully our tent wont turn into an igloo this time!

Next week is half term and I am signed up to do 'level 1 beginners' swimming lessons. That should be fun.

Lastly- tonight I announced 'I am an expert in subtraction'! I think I am very good at subtraction but I prefer addition as it is easier!

Yummy, scrumptious, delicious, tasty and great dinner

Last week I saw a kids TV show called 'Big Cook, Little Cook'. I haven't ever seen it before but was quite enthralled by it. The cooks were making something called a 'Starfish' dinner. I decided that that was what I wanted for dinner. Äiti finally got me the ingredients (she seemed to take her time over this). We looked up the recipe on the 'Big Cook' website and I read then instructions out whilst helping where I could. I had to peel, chop and mash the potatoes, chop the baby sweetcorn, scramble the eggs and make a starfish. You can see the recipe and the instructions here if you want to make the same dinner. The mashed potato made the rock pool, the sweetcorn made the starfish and the egg went in the gaps.

I thought it tasted fantastic and came up with lots of words that meant the same as 'tasty'. Äiti muttered something in French that I couldn't understand about her dinner....I don't think she was being positive! I added some tomato ketchup to mine...as you can see in the above photo I squirted rather a lot of it. I ate loads of dinner as it was so yummy.

Here is my dinner before I ate it...I helped make the fish out of a carrot.

On a food note- I had my first choc-ice today at school and it was very delicious. I am really enjoying having lunch at school.

Bits and pieces plus a very LOUD video!

For the last few days I have had my Granny and Papa staying with me. I was really pleased to see them and had a lovely time. I took them to the Rainforest, they had never been before and seemed to enjoy it. I showed them all the plants, leaves, animals and shop! I took them shopping too, Daddy bought a new tent which I am very excited about. On Sunday we went for a lovely pub lunch. I ordered my own drink and food in a big voice which was a big deal for me. After lunch Granny and Papa went home and I went to Borders.

Today I went to my friend Maya's house. We were so loud together and had so much fun! We made a flying fish out of Lego and flew to Catswell. We also did Playdoh, played in the sand and water tray and danced lots. Here is a short video of us...

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I also weighed myself today. I am now 12.5kg which is 27lbs. I am now 95cm (37.5ins) tall (according to Emily's measuring chart). I'm still wearing size 18-24m trousers and size 6D (very narrow) shoes.

Lastly- Äiti has started her own blog (with her friend Lorraine), please go and have a look... www.tri-mommies.blogspot.com and leave them some comments!

My book is finished!

A few weeks ago I went to the library. As we walked in I told Äiti that I wanted to find books on the brain, the eye, ladybirds and Catswell. We found the first 3, but not a book on Catswell. In the car home I announced that since I couldn't find a book on Catswell I would write my own. I have worked on my book for the last few weeks.

The title page- Catswell Stories, by Ceta Cheetah 5 (that's me)!. I designed this page myself. I love using 'Word Art'...as you can see!



The next few pages are questions and answers. I told Äiti what to write. I had to keep checking to make sure she was writing it correctly!



The next story is one that I dictated to Äiti. I added in the 'Word Art'!



I then decided the book needed a short story, so wrote this one myself.



I then wrote some 'Funny Noises'. Odd spellings = orange, airplane, chair, who, abacus, whispered, leaf. I thought it was so funny that an abacus would say ABCDEF! I also added a menu.



I wrote a story about Blue Cat. Translation- One day blue cat went to the shop. He got salmon fish fingers because it was his birthday. his daddy got him a present, it was a trunki (ride on suitcase). Blue cat fell off it, he cried 'boo hoo'. He jumped, he was really happyyyyyyyyyyyy!


My newest favourite thing to do is make up silly sums. I made up the questions, Äiti typed, then after I'd worked out the answers I typed them in using 'Word Art' again!


There are a few other pages but I haven't included them in this post.

Flutterly the Butterfly Fairy!

This afternoon I have been 'Flutterly the Butterfly Fairy'.

I made some butterfly wings and stuck them (with copious amounts of sellotape) onto my chest. I then ran round the garden fluttering my wings!

Butterfly

Butterfly

Gifted

gifted

tterfly

I then saw some butterflies being made on the TV so I asked Äiti if I could do the same. I needed clothes pegs, baby wipes and some paints. I then made these butterflies.

The clothes pegs gave me an idea and I stuck them onto the butterfly on my chest. They were antennae. I then found some feathers and used those too, they helped me fly higher.

I then decided that I needed some butterfly food so I found some flowers and used my proboscis to suck the nectar out the flowers.

When daddy was around I said "daddy, follow me, I need to show you the leaves I hung on when I was a pupa".

Here are some photos of me being silly today and trying out some different faces.

On a final note, my book is nearly finished! A few weeks ago I went to the library and declared that I wanted books about 'the brain, the eye, ladybirds and Catswell'. Unfortunately the library didn't have a book on Catswell so I went home and started one myself. It is now up to 16 pages.

A fun weekend away in Scotland

We have just got home from an excellent weekend up in Scotland. We flew up to Aberdeen and then drove a long time to get to Susan and Stuart's house. Daddy and Stuart have known each other since University. Susan and Stuart have a lovely huge house up near MacDuff (and yes, it does have a brewery for all the Simpson fans). We landed at Aberdeen and Stuart picked us up in his Jaguar car. I was so excited to go in a car named after an animal!

Once we got the their house we had a guided tour of the house. Next we went and looked round the garden. Stuart and Susan have an amazing garden and I loved running through it. I liked the fish pond even though I couldn't see any fish. I also loved the chickens that they have. We had a look at the paddock and the outhouses. There is a holiday cottage that they rent out.

On Saturday I fed the chickens, collected the eggs and ran round the garden. We went for a long play on the beach and then to a castle for some lunch. When we got back to the house everyone did some gardening. I helped build a bonfire. Watching the fire was a lot of fun, I was quite fascinated with the flames! I also helped plant and water some new bushes.

On Sunday I fed the chickens and collected the eggs again. We then went to the MacDuff Aquarium which was very good. I liked the Cod fish! Then we went to a different beach where I collected loads of beach stuff. I wanted to make a collage of a coral reef. After a lunch of fresh eggs we played in the garden again. I helped water some plants, make another bonfire, collected snails and grass to feed to the chickens and played with the dogs.

Today we went for a walk, but I was a bit slow, so I found some feathers and pretended to fly instead! We then drove to the airport, on the way we got a puncture. Daddy and Stuart changed the tyre very quickly and then we got on our plane and flew home to see the cats. We had such a fun weekend and I really enjoyed myself.

Here are a few photos of my weekend!