Toast, ODD and German

To have got to the third week in January and still having a wonderful year!  I've been making big in roads with Thing One, had a few glitches, made a few discoveries but no major set backs.  I've been taking her out every week for dinner and last week we went to see The Kings Speech.  It was fabulous.  I'm not sure that it was really Thing One's thing but as she has squandered all her History lessons at school by staring into space and fiddling with her hair I'm just hoping that some of it went in.  Colin Firth is wonderful in it and I hope he wins some awards.  Helena B H also fab.  She was also in Toast which we watched over the Christmas Holidays and it has had a lasting effect.  I've always been a fan of Nigel Slater, my plum jam that I make annually is made with one of his recipes but I didnt know much about Nigel the person and it was so sad it made Thing Two and I cry.  Cried all the way through it.  His mother dying of lung disease raised the old smoking issue with thing two and I relented and said I'd give up...have kept my word, think I've had 2 since..when drinking wine. Back to the subject of Thing One, we've been referred to CAMS and I'm hoping that they can help me steer her back onto a more productive path as I'm concerned about her leaving school with no qualifications and stuggling later on.  I'm in process of choosing a private maths tutor and have pretty much avoided any outside family interferance as they criticize me and tell me I'm too soft whereas I know it is not me who is behaving badly but her and there's a limit to how much I can do and yelling and screaming at her to do things is counterproductive.  Removing things from her is also counterproductive and I suspect she may be suffering from ODD.  BUT she is now eating again and she goes to school.  Her German teacher sent me some homework for her to try and catch up and it has become clear that she can't speak a word of German after having been having lessons for 3 years she told me that one of the boys in her class watched an entire episode of The Inbetweeners on his phone during one of her lessons recently.  Very observant teacher...not that I'd want her job...I'd rather share a bed with skunks than try and teach 14 year olds.  

Thought I'd chuck a picture of Helena as the Red Queen in here as well...Thing Two is nuts about The Red Queen and when/if she ever gets a revamped room she wants it done in the Theme of Red Queen.  Might be able to rise to that little challenge.  We shall see. xx