Center Parcs

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I’m a bit behind on blogging what we have been up to – well more or less two weeks behind in fact.  So I’m going to try to follow some sensible advice from Suburban dad and just write something, even if it’s fairly brief, rather than trying to catch up all at once.  Two weeks ago today we were frantically packing for our trip to Center Parcs in France.  On the Friday morning, we set off very early and drove to Dover.  We had breakfast on the ferry, then drove to Laon.  We did a big supermarket shop (food for the weekend and a lot of random stuff just because French supermarkets are so much fun), and then drove to Center Parcs.  We had a late lunch, settled in and unpacked, then went down to the main building to book some activities and explore a bit, before coming back to the chalet for a very late supper.

On Saturday, straight after breakfast we set off with the children on their scooters, and went to the Pony club.  Rabbit and Owl both had a lovely ride, but Monkey and Tiddler weren’t quite brave enough to do it.  We also went to the little farm, the playground and the beach, before heading back for lunch.   In the afternoon, Suburban Dad and Supergirl took Tiddler swimming first and then Owl and Monkey.  Rabbit was still recovering from her chest infection so she wasn’t able to swim, and she was very disappointed.  The big boys played with Lego and Rabbit had a bath so she could play with her Playmobil swimmer – which was fine, but she wanted me to come in the bath with her.  I agreed just to cheer her up, and it was rather sweet but oh it is very cold sitting in the bath at 4 year old depth!   She then asked to play battleships, which was too difficult, but we just about managed it with some help from Owl.  After that she did some colouring, and she and Tiddler watched some French children’s TV.  In the evening we had a very nice supper at the creperie, which we remembered from our visit three years ago, and it lived up to our expectations – good fast food and great service.

On Sunday, after breakfast the children went riding again (Rabbit, Owl and Monkey – but Tiddler was not to be persuaded), then back to the farm and playground.  The boys, Suburban Dad and Supergirl went swimming again, and Rabbit and I played on the beach and made a sandcastle.  We had lunch at another restaurant, and all enjoyed our steak/ burgers/ chicken and lots of chips.  In the afternoon we went on a motor boat on the lake, then to the soft play area.  We had a quick play on the beach, before going bowling, and then back to our chalet for a late supper again.

On Monday we had breakfast, packed up, had a last play on the beach, then lunch at the creperie again before setting off for Calais.  We nearly missed the same boat twice, first because we had to get out of the car for our passports to be checked (they couldn’t see all the children clearly as one of the headrests was up too high) and then because we were waiting in the wrong lane, but realised at quite literally the last minute.  Thanks to Superdad’s quick reactions we made it but only just – we were the last car on the boat.  We had eaten our sandwiches in the car, which was probably a good thing as the weather wasn’t great and several of us felt sick on the boat.  So we spent quite a while out on deck, which was rather cold, but fun to see the lights of Dover as we came into the port.  We arrived home very late at night, completely exhausted but happy after a very successful trip.  Center Parcs, you may not be very exciting but you are reliably good fun, so I think we’ll be back!

Some thoughts about weaning

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I responded to a question about weaning this evening in a facebook group, and my rather long response looked a little like the blog post I’ve been meaning to write on the subject for ages, so I thought I should use it as a starting point.  The question was whether diarrhoea and nappy rash could have been caused by recent weaning, just before six months, on to three small meals a day (of rice, veg and fruit) and drinks of water.  The (only slightly) early weaning was on the advice of a paediatrician, as the baby had lost weight, so it is entirely understandable but it is very likely to have caused the problems that the baby is now having.

I have been through variations of this theme with most of my children and could write a book on the subject, so it’s quite hard to know where to start.  The story of their weaning is inevitably entangled with their breastfeeding stories, and I’m not ready to write those yet.  It’s been over eight years but when I think about writing about my first breastfeeding experience, I just can’t do it and I realise I still haven’t got over it.  I’ll write it one day.  Anyway, Owl was being bottle-fed by the time he was weaned, so it’s a separate story for him in some ways.  I followed some bad advice from a health visitor and a nurse who both told me to wean at four months so I did.  I did the whole baby rice and puree thing, obviously, as he was too young to feed himself.  It didn’t occur to me that he was therefore too young to need solid food.  At best it was utterly pointless and I don’t like to think about the harm it might have done.

Monkey was breastfed exclusively for six months and I continued to feed him until he was two.  When I weaned him, I started with baby rice and purees but was more relaxed about it.  As he was able to sit up in a high chair, within a short time I was giving him some food to play with as well as offering some on a spoon.  I noticed that when I gave him pieces of carrot he ate them and was less interested in the carrot puree that I offered at the same time.  So I gradually went over more to baby-led weaning, though not entirely.  I sometimes gave him “baby food”, home-made or shop-bought, if what we were eating was not suitable, or if we were out and about, but most of the time he had lots of food to play with and just ate what he wanted.

Rabbit was also breastfed exclusively for six months and I carried on feeding her until around 23 months, though she fed very little after 21 months.   I did baby-led weaning as she was very independent and not interested in mashed up food.  I don’t remember if I made any purees for her or not, though she had shop-bought baby food from time to time when we were out.  By this stage, I had worked out that it was necessary to taste them and rule out any that were horrible (at least 90% of them.)  Why did this not occur to me the first time round?  Most of the nice ones were fruit purees and she didn’t mind those!

Tiddler was exclusively breastfed for six months and is still feeding now at 2.5 years.  I really did not want to wean him early, as there are so many health risks associated with it and no proven benefits, but it was hard to have the courage of my convictions when he failed to gain weight between four and five months. He was otherwise thriving and developing normally, but had been ill at some point in the month.  He may have lost a bit of weight then gained it back but I wasn’t sure. My (lovely) Health Visitor suggested weaning early but didn’t put any pressure on. (She knows I’m a breastfeeding counsellor with strong opinions!) I did give it some consideration, but my gut feeling was that it wasn’t a good idea. I spoke to the Infant Feeding Advisor for two of our local hospitals and she said that the foods it is safe to give before six months (fruit, veg, rice) are all significantly lower in calories than breast milk so it would not be likely to improve weight gain. I found this helpful as I hadn’t considered it before. She also said, as I already knew, that breastfed babies often plateau or even lose weight at this stage and it was nothing to worry about as long as there were no other concerns.  I’m very grateful for her input as it gave me the confidence to continue feeding Tiddler in the way I believed was best for him.  When I weaned him at six months, I did baby-led weaning most of the time with a bit of spoon-feeding here and there, because he quite liked it, though it was mainly things like soup and yoghurt and he only had baby food occasionally.  It was mainly if he’d slept through a meal and I wanted to give him something quickly.  But of course he didn’t really need it and another breastfeed would have been better.  If I had to do it again, I wouldn’t bother with baby food at all.  Looking back it seems to me to have been completely unneccessary.  It only took four babies to teach me that.  I guess I’m a slow learner.

To go back to the original question, I felt that the diarrhoea and nappy rash were quite likely to have been caused by early and fairly rapid weaning, and that going back to exclusive breastfeeding for a little while would be very likely to solve the problem.  I also suggested that baby-led weaning might be beneficial as the baby would be less likely to have diarrhoea if she was able to choose what and when to eat. I then went into breastfeeding promotional literature mode a little I think, and wrote the following: “Babies have an amazing ability to know what they need and also have great appetite control, so they are likely to eat only what they can digest. At first, they will mostly play with the food and then eat very small quantities, which means that their digestive systems get used to it gradually. Breastmilk should be the main source of nutrition until 12 months, with other foods being mainly for fun and getting used to new tastes.”

I hope what I wrote was helpful, but it’s hard to know.  It’s hard to avoid being part of the “breastfeeding mafia” (and its baby-led weaning subdivision.)  On the one hand, I have seen it from both sides and can say from experience I firmly believe that exclusive breastfeeding to six months, baby-led weaning and extended breastfeeding are far better than the alternatives, including the watered-down version of breastfeeding that is often promoted by health professionals.  On the other hand I know how it feels to give up breastfeeding and feel terrible about it, and also to wean early and then regret it.  I am always afraid of adding to anyone’s distress and it sometimes stops me from saying what I think.  Tonight, for some reason, I felt I should say something.  I subsequently found out that the mum who asked the question had spoken to a breastfeeding counsellor who was very rude and really upset her.  That is so sad to hear, although I’m afraid I’ve heard it before so I’m not surprised.  I think for me it is a reminder that whatever my soapbox subjects are (breastfeeding, baby-led weaning, home education, Christianity, to name but a few…) the thing to remember is that people have feelings and they can be hurt, or they can be blessed and encouraged (which I know is Christian jargon but I’m tired and I can’t think of a better way of putting it.)  It’s good to be passionate about what you believe but it’s also important to be nice to people!

I seem to have gone off-topic at the end here somewhat, so in case you’ve come here specifically looking for information about weaning, I’ll link to my favourite site for breastfeeding advice, which might be more useful.

Rabbit’s pumpkin soup

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This is a guest post by Rabbit.

I made pumpkin soup with mummy and I ate it and it was really yummy.  This is how we made it.  We fried some chopped onions in the pan, and then we added some cloves of garlic.  I peeled the skin off the garlic.  Then I added chopped pumpkin and butternut squash and some water.  I also put in some mixed dried herbs, some cumin, salt and pepper, and some vegetable stock powder.  We cooked it for about half an hour, then mummy blended it.  We ate it for supper on Hallowe’en.

A mini round up

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I’m blogging this week now because I won’t have time over the weekend, and I’ve already posted about Monday, so just three days to round up.

On Tuesday, I went to Toddler group with Tiddler, leaving Rabbit at home with Supergirl and the boys, as she wasn’t feeling well, again.  I met a lovely mum, new to the area, who is home educating and I enjoyed chatting with her, and some of the other mums.  We spent most of the rest of the day at home.  Among other things, Rabbit made a lovely sparkly door hanger, Tiddler tipped the glitter on the floor and Monkey and Rabbit made an ice cream van, more detailed than Monday’s one but I failed to get a photo.  At the end of the afternoon, Owl and Monkey had their swimming lessons.

On Wednesday, after several nights with Rabbit in our bed coughing all night, I took her to the doctor’s.  Although she was, of course, feeling better by the time we got there, my suspicions were confirmed and she was diagnosed with a chest infection.  At least we now have antibiotics, so I hope she will be better soon.  She has had enough of being ill, poor thing.   In the afternoon, Owl, Tiddler and I went for a walk in the woods with Home Education group.  We had a lot of fun, got very muddy and enjoyed the company of our friends.  The children had fun splashing in puddles, collected a few more (rather damp) leaves and looked at lots of interesting mushrooms.  In the evening, Monkey went to Beavers.

Today we had a day at home.  The big three wrote Autumn poems and did a bit more of their Prehistory project.  Rabbit did some knitting, Monkey did some Hama beads and I read Bible stories to both of them.  In the evening, Owl was invested at cubs.

Over the three days they have done Reading Eggs, Conquer Maths, Mathletics and Spellodrome, and music practice.  Tiddler did some colouring and the big three did quite a lot of Maths.  Owl finished the chapter on Time in his Galore Park book, Monkey worked on the three times table with Multilink cubes, and Rabbit did a page about circles in her Thomas shapes workbook, and continued writing numbers and drawing pictures to match.  Monkey and Rabbit also drew numbers using templates, and did some weighing with the balance scales.  They have also done some French (clothes, days of the week and food.)

I feel that this post needs something more, but it’s nearly 2am and I have to be up in three hours, so I just need to publish it now.  I have photos to add but don’t know when I’ll find time to do it.  So, for now, I’ll leave you with a joke made up by Monkey.

What do you call a pig in the bushes? A hedgehog.

A typical home ed day in pictures

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There is no such thing as a typical home ed day, which is one of the things I love about home education, but this is what we did today anyway.

Owl and Monkey played with Lego in their bedroom after breakfast, and then Monkey came down and joined in with the little ones playing with the wooden railway and Lego Duplo.

After that, we had some Maths table time, and Rabbit continued with a project she started last week, drawing pictures for each number – she is up to number 5.  Then she started playing with the small (unifix? not sure what they are) cubes, and I offered her a sheet with numbers 1-12 for her to add the right number of cubes to, which she really enjoyed.  Monkey did a page from a workbook about telling the time.  I had suggested a different piece of work, about times tables, but he wanted to do the time one instead.  He used the Plan Toys wooden clock to help him.  Owl did a set of questions about subtracting time from his Galore Park text book.  Monkey also made a rather excellent Multilink cube man!

Monkey, Rabbit and Tiddler made an ice cream van and played in it for a while.

Then I took Owl and Monkey to their piano lessons.  Their teacher is a friend of mine, and while each one had his lesson I sat at her kitchen table and did Bible Reading with the other one.

When we got back we had a very quick bit of English table time before lunch.  Rabbit drew some leaves and traced over the word which I wrote for her, and Owl and Monkey finished off their Autumn mind maps which we started last week.  We are planning to write some poems this week.  Rabbit then went and made a beach scene in the playroom, and played in it with her baby doll for a little while.

After lunch we played the Tell the Time lotto game, and then my friend came to visit with her three children (4 year old twins and a 2 year old.)  We did some French, using flash cards as a starting point.  I asked the children if they could match some of their toy animals and vehicles to some of the cards, and they did a few but then one of the children wanted to match a toy helicopter to a card, but there wasn’t one, so Monkey made one for him.  We then talked about which French words would be most useful when we go to France, and decided that food words were the most important.  I asked Owl what he would like to be able to order in a restaurant, and he said chips, so he made a flash card as well.  The other children mainly played with toy animals and vehicles, and Rabbit made a field out of crepe paper for one of the horses.

Owl did some research about France on the internet, and then he and Monkey and Rabbit made French flags.  The little ones played and the twins did some excellent drawings (a car in a hole, and a fish with lots of faces!)  After that I read some poems to the children, until it was time for our friends to go home.

This evening Owl had his first rehearsal at Strings group, and before, during and after that various other things got done (BBC Bitesize Science, Mathletics, Spellodrome, Piano and Violin practice, tidying up and hoovering.)  Looking back over the photos I can see it was quite a productive day, though at the time it didn’t really feel like it, so I’m glad I did this post, even though I am up at 1.30am writing it!

Ups and downs this weekend

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I feel like I need a ticker across the top of my blog with the names of those currently ill in our house, just to save time.  It seems that every other blog post I find myself writing that someone was ill again.  On Friday night and Saturday morning it was me (feeling sick, tummy pains, couldn’t sleep.)  Suburban dad was heroic, and did breakfast without me then took Tiddler to Dramabuds.  The others decided that they wanted a pyjama day, and had a good time playing, watching TV and doing various Lego-related things on the computer.  They were very happily occupied, so I stayed in bed nearly all morning.  Which would have been more enjoyable if I wasn’t feeling ill, but I appreciated it anyway.

In the afternoon, Suburban dad and I went to the final rehearsal for our choral society concert, while Supergirl and her friend looked after the children.  I was feeling a bit better, though not great, and determined not to miss the opportunity of singing in the concert.  After the rehearsal, we dashed to M&S to buy an outfit for me to wear (I have lost a lot of weight since I last sang with the choir, and the clothes I used to wear have long since been taken to the charity shop.)  We came home, gave the children supper and got ready to go out, and my friend (R) came over to babysit, so Supergirl and her friend could come to the concert.  We sang Durufle’s Requiem and it was hard but I enjoyed it.

Rabbit has also been feeling unwell again, and she got worse last night.  She spent about half the night in our bed coughing and complaining of tummy ache.  This morning, I was feeling too ill and tired to go to church, and I suggested that Rabbit might like to stay at home with me, but she really wanted to go with the others.  I had quite a productive morning of housework at home while they were at church then playing with friends afterwards.  Rabbit was sick again, though probably just as a result of coughing so much.

We had some more friends over for lunch (R and her family), and they stayed for the afternoon.  All the children played very nicely, and did some more Hama beading, while we chatted and carried on with the housework.  R did some ironing (Hama beads and clothes) until her husband arrived, at which point she stopped in case he got any funny ideas about her doing this at home!  I am very grateful for all her help.  She is the best sort of friend – the kind who leaves the house tidier than when she arrived, even when her three children are with her.  Suburban dad built Rabbit’s new wardrobe, having dismantled the old one which we are fairly sure still had mould spores in it from our damp and mould saga of a couple of years ago.  Owl and Monkey also have a new wardrobe, which arrived on Friday, and Tiddler has their old one, so now it is technically possible to put all the clothes away at once there is no excuse…I will have to tackle the laundry mountain.  I have made considerable progress today, and the bottom of the laundry basket is in sight.  There’s a long way to go with the ironing basket though.  (Might have to invite R around again soon.)

So, overall, more ups than downs this weekend.  Even if, at the end of it, two of us are still unwell.  And counting…

Hama heaven and the MP who came to tea

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I recently ordered some more Hama beads and they arrived before we went away last week, but we didn’t have time to do it until we got back on Friday.  When I opened the parcel, the children were in Hama heaven, and it kept them quiet for about an hour.

  When I placed the order, I thought it would be enough to last a while, but they already have a list of certain colours they need, so I expect we’ll be back to order more soon.  It was a very peaceful way to spend an afternoon and it occupied the children very well while we talked to our MP (Tom Brake) who came to visit us.  We talked about my Select Committee appearance, and the issues around support for home education.  Owl then asked him how he was going to save our local hospital, and he explained about the campaign he is running.  We also talked about his role as Deputy Leader of the House of Commons and what that involves.  It was an interesting afternoon and a lot of learning went on (not just the children!)  The Hama beads kept the peace throughout the conversation, and I was very pleased with the results.
  Rabbit made the Maxi bead square by herself and then the butterfly with a lot of help from Supergirl and me.  Monkey made the house, the crossed arrow heads and the heart, and Owl made the pine tree with pine cones.  They had so many other ideas that they didn’t have time to complete, so I think they will use the beads as fast as I can buy them.  It looks like they will be on the Christmas lists this year.

Friday round up – 19th October 2012

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Another week has flown by.  Last Saturday, Tiddler went to Dramabuds, Owl went to football and the other two had a quiet morning at home.  I think they have all given up on ballet, for the moment at least, which is a bit sad but makes Saturday mornings easier.  In the afternoon all the boys had haircuts, and we did a bit of shopping.  On Sunday after church, the little ones went swimming with daddy, and the big ones stayed at home with me.  They hadn’t tidied their bedrooms despite being given ridiculous amounts of time to do it, so they weren’t allowed to go swimming.  Instead we spent the afternoon trying to sort out their enormous jumbled up Lego collection a bit, and we made some progress.  I think we’d probably need about a week with no interruptions to finish the job though.

Monday started off badly, with lots of small things going wrong, then it got better as the boys had their piano lessons, enjoyed themselves and had made lots of progress.  The day got dramatically worse with the scooter incident (in another post), and the rain which made us abandon the park as soon as we arrived.  However our friends came home with us, and the children had a lovely time, so it ended well.

From Tuesday to Thursday we were at my mum’s house, which was very restful.   On the first day Rabbit was ill again, but she recovered quite quickly.  The children played with Lego, cars, puzzles and games, decorated some teddy cutouts, drew pictures, listened to stories and made biscuits.  They also did a fair bit of Maths (time, times tables, doubling), English (handwriting, alphabetical order and using a dictionary, reading, a mind map for an Autumn poem) and Science (space, rocks and volcanoes).  Owl did a bit of History (the Bronze Age)  and some Latin.  We fitted in violin practice, Reading Eggs, Conquer Maths, Mathletics, Spellodrome and BBC Bitesize Science.  We had two trips to the swings at the village green, and they played in the garden.  They collected leaves and conkers, played Stuck in the mud, Grandmother’s footsteps, Hide and seek and What’s the time Mr Wolf?  On one of the trips to the green, a friend (an eight year old boy) came with us, and the children had a good time playing with him.

       

Today we came home, and I took Rabbit and Tiddler to Musicbox.  The big three did Reading Eggs and Mathletics, Maths, English, History and Geography, and studied the Lego Christmas catalogue in great detail.  We spent the afternoon peacefully Hama beading, while chatting to our MP who kindly came to visit us after he had to cancel an arrangement to meet with us on the day we went to Parliament for the Select Committee hearing.  Some excuse about having been made deputy leader of the House of Commons the day before, I believe.  This evening we went for supper at our local restaurant, which is very good, and properly child-friendly in an Italian way.  It was a very good end to the week.

How my children see me meme

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I suppose it’s only fair that I should join in, having laughed at appreciated the others so much.  This meme was started here and I was tagged by Merry.  This is what happened when I asked my children to draw me.  First I asked Tiddler, but he said “No, you draw me!”  So that was that.  Well, he is only two.  Then I asked Rabbit, and she said “Can I draw daddy?”  I managed to persuade her to draw me in the end.  It was touch and go.  She started several attempts and threw them away, so I thought she was going to give up but in the end she drew this.  She even asked me what colour I would like my dress to be.  I think I could live with looking like that.

By Rabbit (aged 4)

Monkey and Owl took it very seriously and spent a long time observing me carefully.  Which meant Supergirl had to start cooking the supper without me in the end as it was getting rather late and every time I tried to move one of them shouted “Stand still!”  They both drew me in the clothes I was actually wearing, which were (as always) jeans and a hooded sweatshirt.  I was impressed by their attention to detail.  Monkey asked me to take off my patterned slippers (too difficult to draw) so he could draw my socks instead.  I did try to explain artistic license, but he wasn’t interested.

By Monkey (aged 6)

When I told Owl the title of the meme, he said “How I see you is with Tiddler clinging to you, which happens quite a lot.”  Poor boy.  It made me want to go and cuddle him, but I wasn’t allowed to move.

By Owl (aged 8)

I’m tagging The Adequate Parent.

Support for Home Education

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At the beginning of September I was interviewed as a witness by the Select committee on Support for Home Education.  I wrote briefly about the day in this post, but intended to follow up with a more detailed summary of the session.  I thought I would be able to come back and write more about it after taking the time to process it, but what has happened really is that I have forgotten a lot of the detail.  I could watch it but I have no desire to see myself “on TV” so that’s out.  I could read the transcript – I have skimmed through it once, and really meant to come back to it, but it never rises to the top of my to-do list.  But I know that some people have expressed an interest in hearing more about it, and I really appreciate that, so I shall do my best.

In July I wrote a written submission in response to the Select committee’s call for evidence, after discussing the issues with other local home educators.  I went into a lot of detail on the first point, “the duties of local authorities with regard to home education”, because I believe that many LAs, mine included, don’t have a clear idea of what their duties are and tend to make it up as they go along.  I spent several enjoyable hours picking apart our LA’s website, highlighting areas where it misrepresents the law on home education, and fails to follow the Elective Home Education Guidelines for Local Authorities (2007.)  I then rather hastily put together the rest of the submission at the eleventh hour, but there must have been enough in it that was useful for them to consult me further.  Let’s just say that in exam terms I did enough revision the night before to scrape through.

The legal basis for home education in the UK is found in Section 7 of the Education Act (1996) which states that

“The parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him to receive efficient full-time education suitable ;

a) to his age, ability, and aptitude, and

b) to any special educational needs he may have,

either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.”

It is quite clear that the legal responsibility for the education of children rests with their parents.  They may or may not choose to use schools to deliver that education, but there is no legal requirement for them to do so.  The 2007 guidelines make it clear that “Parents are not required to register or seek approval from the local authority to educate their children at home.”  Many local authority websites directly contradict the law and mislead parents to such an extent that the widespread ignorance about the legality of home education is somewhat understandable.

I think most home educators would agree that innaccurate legal information on Local Authority websites is unacceptable.  The issues get more complex, though, when you look at the question of what, if any, support should be offered for home education.  There are many in the home ed community who are completely opposed to any form of registration, even if it is voluntary, and therefore do not want any support at all.  There are others who feel equally strongly that there should be financial and other support available to all families who wish to home educate.  I found it difficult to do anything other than sit on the fence on this issue, especially as I was trying to represent the views of our very diverse local home ed community, but I did find that being involved in the discussion helped to clarify my views a little.  While I believe that mandatory registration would be unacceptable, I think that there may be a case for voluntary registration to access support.  I know that some home educators believe it would ultimately lead to enforced registration, which is a serious concern.  However, I feel very strongly that the right to home educate should be available to all families.  I believe that single parents and families on low incomes should be able to make this choice freely, and it should not just be another form of private education for the privileged few.

One thing that came across clearly from the discussion was that there is a postcode lottery, with some LAs adhering to the law and providing useful support and others offering nothing but misleading information.  Although there are some examples of good practice, there is such a long history of negative attitudes from many LAs that it is doubtful that support could come from them and be welcomed by the wider home ed community.  One of the witnesses suggested that a neutral service provider such as the library service would be a better way of delivering support, and I really hope that this idea will be followed up.

The next session of the committee will take place this Wednesday morning, when some of the LAs will be giving oral evidence.  It should be interesting to watch, but if you are a home educator you may find this helpful to get you through the morning.  Enjoy!