A very late good morning Mick and all GN's from a cold dark windy North Yorkshire morning. Have had the very devil of a night with several bouts of cramp. I got very little sleep, and either it was extremely painful, or I darent move about as it would be juddering under the skin, as a warning of one false move and it would begin again!! We normally just do things like showering and dressing on automatic dont we? You can be thinking of plans for the day whilst you carry on. They talk about mindfulness and being in the moment. Well certainly today it was mindfulness, as I had to be aware of each movement, and whilst I have managed everything else, darent attempt to put my socks on so far! Anyway I have finally surfaced, but even missed my Bach before 7, as I couldnt even get the radio on. So have the usual things to do today, but it will all have to be cramp tested before I begin. Tonight I should be going to the games night, and hope to do so, but will have to see if things settle down.
Had quite a busy day yesterday, and it certainly got the little grey cells working! Hadnt had a very good night, but got myself sorted out, made a shopping list for later and got myself off to the new Makaton class in good time. Makaton is not called a language but is a communications system, which uses speech and sign together . So you speak the sentence and sign the important words. With young children the idea is for them over time to connect the action or sign to the spoken word . So you really use anything that helps to communicate . e.g. you might say " Here is a blue plate for your apple" and then as you speak you would show the plate, and then sign for the plate and the apple, so that the learner begins to put the two things together. This can then lead on to them later seeing you with the blue plate and understanding that there is some food available etc,
There was a big class of people and she is a registered makaton tutor so we will be learning the correct things. The make up of the class was interesting. It ranged from a newly retired man who used to do it many years ago and wants to brush up his skills. then two people who work at a place called Chopsticks, which has work experience in things like gardening and woodwork etc., where many of their clients use makaton and they have at present someone who is nonverbal , so they know quite a lot of the everyday signs etc but want to improve their knowledge. So we gave little potted history of ourselves and why we had chosen to do this course. It was very concentrated and needed full attention for the two hours. We were allowed to get a coffee to drink while we worked but no actual break as there was much to learn.
Different skills came into play and I found myself doing quite well in one of our first tasks. So we were paired off, and then one person had to sit facing away from the board, and the other faced the board. Those of us facing the board, had to convey to the other person the picture that they should replicate on their paper. Sounds easy ~ but you could not speak to them, and you had to indicate in a non verbal way, what the picture contained, and confirm or deny what they put down on paper. Having taught people , who had no english, and done mime and sung in opera, I was quite happy to look an idiot, and so there I was miming the shape of the trunk of a tree and then waving my arms up in the air to show the branches etc. Even more odd looks from others as I became a bird flapping my wings etc etc.
But it was a very good exercise, to show the difference in communication. In Makaton it is simpler than BSI, as you speak the sentence fully but sign at the same time the key words. So at the moment it takes a great deal of concentration to do the simplest things and I will need to practice every day to keep up. There are 3 2hour sessions a week apart, and if we complete them all we receive a certificate. That is obviously useful for people like one lady , who works in a SEND school, as a classroom support person, and the other people working , which will add to their qualifications, but more importantly, it will be good to add to the group of people who can use this locally. We have been given workbooks and you can see how much there is to learn, but it will also hopefully lead on to learning more than the basics, Well in my case I intend to keep learning, as sadly I have very few people to use my other languages such as french and german etc and this will be another "country" to learn how to communicate with. It is not only children of course, but many deaf people although they may use BSL will be able to use this, and also I see it as something worth learning for patients who maybe have had a stroke or something and feel very frustrated trying to let people know what they want.
So I plan to do my best to learn. One small problem I have already found, is that naturally I tend to have my thumbs out slightly from the fingers, and I need to remember that for many signs they need to be by the side of the fingers. So to practice that there may be some curious onlookers in the cafe , when I sit drinking coffee and then gazing at my hands , whilst I turn them this way and that, aligning up my thumbs with fingers. Who knows I may discover another user of Makaton to practise with. Actually Heather, another class member that I already knew before , and I have already planned to try to get together to practise in between lessons. A gardening joke - sometimes I call her Erica - (the name for heather)
So did come out of the class, with much to mull over, brain reeling a bit from many things to think about, after such a concentrated effort, and quite glad to just go and do a bit of shopping which needed no great brain power. Spent some of the afternoon still hunting for my newest reading glasses , to no avail and very frustrating, but of course did come across spare biros and a couple of other things I had mislaid. No good putting winter things away as we are forecasted more bad weather after one lovely day on saturday so we shall see.
Hope the bus pass arrives soon Mick. Many years ago I was head of communications at the headquarters of Bass Charrington in Burton on Trent. I could have had free beer every lunchtime, but as I dont like beer at all never chose to have it!! I prefer dry cider , good wine, and single malts. Not all in the same glass, I hasten to add! GrandMattie, I used to knit a lot, usually jumpers for husband and son etc, but never attempted a Fair Isle pattern at all. One thing I found useful, was copied from the portugese ladies. They had their lovely embroidered aprons which you could put your hands in from either size. They were brilliant to hold your knitting, so that when they looked after sheep or whatever they could walk along knitting away, with it put safely back in the apron when they needed to grab a sheep or whatever. I also used one for years , as it was brilliant to wear it for going up and downstairs when my son was young. You could take cleaning things upstairs and pick up toys as you went and dump them all in the apron to go up or down and had free arms for safety , or when he was very little,tocarry him up too.
Bellasnana do hope that your grandson is improving now. My son had bad asthma as a child, but is hardly bothered with it now as an adult. It does more remind him to have a rest, as if he has been burning the candle at both ends, it can happen, so think his body can cope now at normal times. But how good that now we do have these nebulisers that can help so much. Marzipan a lovely bookmark, well done to your grand daughter .
Well I have waffled on long enough and no doubt you are all now out and about, and I still havent even got my socks on! Shall now take a deep breath and go for it and stick my shoes on and go out for at least a very short walk to see a few snowdrops. Hope everyone has a good day
