My Little Vampire

We had a better start to this morning because we didn't have any interruptions this time! We have finished The Science of Discworld and started a little book of stories by Terry Gillian that were put together as a freebie for a cereal company.

As soon as we got up though Ram was back onto the computer. He was playing Popcap games all day! Some of them are very educational so I don't mind from that point of view, but I would really like him to get outside a bit! Usually we spend all summer outdoors getting lots of nice vitamin D to last us the winter!

On of the games he was playing today was Bookworm Adventures. This is not only a spelling game, but it also involves Greek myths. Basically, the bookworm has to attack all these monsters with words to try and kill them. Each monster has information about it on the screen, written in an amusing way. You wouldn't pass a GCSE in Mythology, but it is great for reinforcing what we have already learned, and is useful as a starting point for getting into all those wonderful monsters of the Ancients.

The way the game works is you get a grid of 16 letters which you use to make words. The longer the word, the more power it has. Once you submit the word the bookworm goes over to the monster and bashes him according to how much power the word has. Then it is the monsters turn to bash the Bookworm. Each has a power bar and the loser is the one that runs out of power first.

In the afternoon the boys came to cut the grass. I usually take them out a glass of squash (or tea when the weather is normal English weather) about half way through. Ram was playing Bookworm Adventures and I was helping him, when I explained that it was time to take the boys a drink. I got up and went to prepare it, and Ram, on his own accord without me having to tell him, went out to tell the boys that their drink was ready!

While we were out there I suggested that Ram stay out and get some sun, but he went straight back inside. I stayed out for a few minutes to have a chat with them, and suddenly Ram came out in tears. He said that his word wasn't long enough because I wasn't there to help him and he had lost all his power in one go!

I quickly excused myself from the boys and went back inside, as I know that if I don't things only escalate and get worse very quickly. If he needs me, he needs me and me delaying things only makes his need to have me beside him stronger!

But it was too late and his heart had gone out of the game. So it was back to his new game bashing the Gnomes on the head! Oh well, more eye/hand coordination practice!

I am really beginning to think that Ram is a vampire. Not only would he not go outside today, but when he came out of the study for supper he even closed the patio doors which we normally leave open all summer!

But I did get a chance to get outside myself today. About the only things that have grown in the veggie patch this summer are the nasturtiums. I pick their seeds and buds and pickle them in vinegar to use through the winter as poor man's capers. I put them on pizzas and make tartar sauce out of them, as well as using them in things like fish or chicken pies. So I hulled a load of the plants from the veggie patch and sat in the sun and picked all the seeds off.

Then in the evening I had six pounds of plums to stone. I need to freeze them as I don't have the time or the sugar to turn them into jam at the moment, so I sat at the picnic table on my own with a glass of wine stoning plums. I wish that Ram would have come out and helped because the village was really quiet and it was funny watching the jackdaws rousting in the trees. It reminded me of the song 'There was 10 in the Bed' because every so often one would suddenly squawk and fly away, and then they would all fly up, wheel round the tree, then settle back down again until the next one squawked and flew off.

But Ram will find out about it anyway. When the Dxh comes tomorrow I shall tell him about it at lunch time and Ram will be there and will listen and learn. Purposive conversation can work both as a reinforcer of previously learned material, and as a way of introducing new things too!

Too Many Interruptions

As Ram has been so tired lately I let him sleep in this morning. I managed to do two loads of washing, make a loaf of bread, answer a load of emails and send off Skippy, our Renault Kangoo, to the garage for some major work, AND get dressed all before he woke up!

Once I was back in bed reading aloud to him (I usually don't get dressed until he does) I thought we would have a lovely day, but not so. The first interruption was someone knocking at the door. I was expecting the Veggie Box delivery so I thought it would be that, and jumped up straight away and ran downstairs, but it was only someone selling tea towels door to door. I explained that my son was disabled and I had to go back to him so I couldn't see his tea towels. I don't think he believed me as he gave me one of those 'looks'!

Ram wasn't very happy when I got back upstairs but we carried on reading. Until the phone rang! This time it was the garage. Skippy is in to have his cam belt seen to, and as they took it apart they found that the water pump was leaking. They had to explain that it might last six months but that they would have to do the cam again when they replaced the water pump and it was cam driven so it would mean double the expense in six months time, or just an extra £100 to do it now. I gave my permission for them to do it now.

All through the call Ram was shouting 'who is it'. He still doesn't get that I can't talk to business people at the same time as to him, so I had to ask the garage to wait while I explained to him that it was the garage and was important. He still didn't accept that and kept shouting. But when I put the phone down he wouldn't talk to me about it, just wanted me to carry on reading.

Then the one interruption that I was expecting came. The veggie box was finally deliver to the right place. I had to talk to the man to tell him that where they have been leaving it for the last four weeks was the incorrect place. Then he started talking about older dogs and their troubles! He was a lovely man, very chatty, but not what I wanted just then.

By the time I got upstairs to Ram he was in a state. He was crying and very angry. It was also getting late by then as he kept refusing to get up due to his anger. I read for another 30 minutes and he was finally calm enough to get up just after midday!

Never mind, he just had lunch instead of breakfast! He got straight onto the computer again. He is enjoying The Sims and I read out an email from a friend about what her daughters get up to with Sims, and he actually helped me reply back to them! Communication by proxy I call it!

This evening we watched Mock the Week and I am always amazed at how many news stories he has picked up. I sometimes try to fill in the background for some of the jokes and he gets that look in his eyes and says, 'Oh mum, I already know that!'

Afterwards I said he could play on the computer again until he finished what he was doing. I decided to play the Popcap game Venice. We really enjoy Popcap games and there is a lot of hidden educational stuff going on with them. Aside from the usual eye-hand coordination, they also help with tracking and focusing, and they often have other educational things going for them like the classical music in Insanaquariam, and spelling in Book Worm Adventures, just to name a few. They even have ones for typing practice! You can play them for free on line, or download them as a trial for one hour's worth of play, or pay a modest sum to buy them outright.

Anyway, I still had 30 minutes of play in Venice before I had to enter the code to carry on playing it, so I decided to use it up. Ram looked at what I was doing, and decided that he wanted to have a go, so he loaded up his free 60 minutes.

I wish he hadn't! Within a few minutes he was at the same level as I was! He was really very much better at it than I was, and even told me about some of the power-ups and techniques that I didn't know about!

I had told him that we could play until my free time ran out. When it did I was half way along level 11 and he had just started it. But I was on my last life and he hadn't lost any yet!

While we were getting ready for bed he said that he decided that he was going to carry on for the rest of his free time today to see how much further ahead of me he could get, before entering his code. He felt that was a fair completion as we would both have had the same time to play.

So he not only is he competitive, he has learned something else from Popcap games: how to be competitive and act fairly at the same time!