Zlatko Predavec 4:5:23 -- 27:12:06

Partisan, pilot, potter and so very much more.

Missed.

Grammar

Declan talks very well these days, with a wide vocabulary. Something he said yesterday, though, I thought I had to record for posterity, to show where his grammar is up to, "I throwed it fastly." He's gradually learning his irregular verbs, but under stress he tends to revert to regular forms. And he understands how adverbs work, except when they are irregular as well.

Christmas Day

Callum woke up first, and tiptoed into our room to get us, not, as we thought to let him into the room where Santa had been, but to give us the present he had made at school two weeks before, and been secretly hiding in his room ever since.

Then Declan woke up, and we let thme into have a look at their stockings, and the new racing car set that Santa had brought them. Their favourite present at that point, which stayed favourite throughout the day was Callum - a robot claw, and Declan - A Bob the Builder puzzle from Andrew and Amanda.

Then onto Manly where another racing car set awaited, and more presents from doting relatives. Callum got the privilege of handing out the presents to the awaiting throng, which he took so seriously that he outsourced to Declan the opening of his own presents; something that confused Declan mightily ("is this my present now?").

Then finally back here for some intensive playing with the cool presents that Uncle Bob had brought from Madrid - including a remote controlled helicopter. But the best part of this part of the day was the waterfight - starting with the water pistols that Santa had left for Callum, Declan and Evan, and finishing with water balloons that Uncle Bob managed to escalate with.

Adventures

Since the last entry, Callum and Declan have had an exciting time. On Thursday, they went with their Lang grandparents on a train all the way down to Kirraweee for a sleepover. From all reports, the most exciting part of that was seeing a cockatoo close up in a neighbour's garden, but they seemed to enjoy themselves immensely.

Then their grandparents brought them into town to meet me, and they got to go to my work, where there was a party for all the children, complete with painting, chips, and a Santa who gave them presents. Then on Friday night at the noodle markets, The Hooley Dooleys were the guest appearance. Callum and Declan both got to high-five Russell the Kangaroo and Captain Catastrophe.

They were pretty tired, but happy, at the end of all that.

Things they did

Callum swan three lengths of the 25m pool - one each freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke. Declan can spin round and round and round until he reaches the bottom of the pool. He can also do a reasonable doggy-paddle with his head out of the water (he can sort of do freestyle too, but that's more dangerous).

I took the boys to the Wiggles concert with Dan and Isabel. Declan slept thourgh most of it. Callum bopped away with Isabel.

In the car the other day, Callum invented the waterless fire extinguisher from understanding that fires need oxygen and that we take oxygen out of the air and breathe out carbon dioxide.

Yesterday, Declan rummaged around the kitchen and compeltely independently made a bat out of some wooden skewers, sticky-tape and a piece of paper.

Certificate flurry

Cal finished his drama classes last week. They didn't do a staged performance but did demonstrate the skills they have been learning. Cal did a nice job of making up a story about something out of a box and explaining in a loud, clear voice what it was.

He had his swimming assessment on Friday. He's progressing well but is having a bit of a problem with his freestyle stroke. After some discussion it has become clear that he was a bit worried in the big pool and so was filling in the gap between freestyle strokes with a quick doggy paddle, particularly when breathing on the left. We went to the pool again on Sunday and working with him to stick to the stroke. As long as he can hold the stroke he'll move to level 4 next term.

Dec recovered

Declan seems to have completely recoevered from his tonsillitis.

Birthday presents

I asked the boys what they thought Evan would like for his birthday (this Thursday, but we had a small celebration on Saturday). They thought for a moment, and then the conversation went like this:

Callum: a book
Jennifer: what kind of book?
Declan: a book about sailing ships
Callum: one of the Patrick O'Brien series!

They were quite right - Evan is currently gulping down the Patrick O'Brien series, so we bought him the next two in the series, one from each boy. I was quite proud of them for paying attention enough to really know what Evan would like.

Tonsillitis

Declan has been unwell since Monday. His temperature has been spiking up hugely. There hasn't been any other obvious symptom and the Doctor couldn't find anything on Tuesday. However I took him again yesterday and it was then obvious he had tonsillitis. He's started on antibiotics and his temperature has dropped right down, enough that he last night spent the first night in five in his own bed.

Award night

Callum's school had their award night last night at the local leagues club. Callum received an award for academic excellence.

Christmas Concert

Callum's school had their annual Kindergarten Christmas concert tonight (a second performance - the first one was yesterday during the day).

All of kindergarten sang to all of the songs, while each featured class sang their own song with actions and appropriate costumes.

Callum's role was to "play" the didgeridoo centre stage while the rest of his class sang their song about a dingo. He did very well, and also sang along to all of the other songs. His class was lucky enough to have their own original song, created by one of the class parents, a professional musician. It's not every day you perform in a world premiere!

Fever Dreams

Last night, Declan suddenly became feverish for no apparent reason. After some panadol, he perked up during the evening, but then at about 9.30 pm, when the panadol wore off, he woke up screaming from nightmares. Each time he dropped off again, he would wake up screaming, "mummy, there's a crocodile!", "there's a ghost in my bed!", "there's a spider!". It was quite amazing to watch (albeit terrifying to him - watching him gradually realise that if he fell asleep he would see something scary, and hence he didn't want to fall asleep was hard).

After panadol didn't work, I gave him nurofen, which seemed to cool him down enough to stop the nightmares. A disturbed night was had by all.

A family of geeks

Until five minutes ago, when Declan decided he was too tired, we were all separately playing on our own computers. Evan and Callum were both playing a computer game that you can wander around a universe that obeys the rules of physics (Callum particularly likes to blow things up with dynamite). Evan is still trying to get it to work reliably so that he and Callum can both wander around the same universe. Declan was playing Bob the Builder, and I was blogging.

I think their uncles would be proud.

Another party

We've just been to Paul Gaynor's 40th party, which was wall-to-wall children. Well 14, to be precise. In addition to the bouncy castle from last weekend, there was also a roller-coaster. An enormously fun time was had by all. Callum had a great time playing with Isobel - he loves it when someone a bit older than him pays attention to him, and they spent a lot of time messing around with each other. Declan seemed to play with lots of kids at different times, but probably Tommy was his favourite.

Spying

Callum's recently got a book about spying and codes, which he is very into. He's taken to creeping around behind trees, saying that he is spying on people. I think the whole point from his perspective is the creeping; he has no idea what they are actually up to.

Christmas party

On Sunday, we went up to the Mountains to the Lee's place for a Christmas party with all the proxy cousins. There are nine of them now: Isobel, Callum, Aidan, Gabriel, Tommy, Declan, Claire, Zoe and Emma. They had a great time together, particularly because there was a bouncy castle in the backyard which was the focus of attention any time it was working.

There were lots of games of hide and seek in the backyard, and they all sang jingle bells when it came time to smash the gingerbread house.

Callum says that he liked the bouncy castle the best, and Declan liked getting presents best.

Advent

Callum and Declan have been getting increasingly excited about Christmas coming. Callum now understands dates, and has known for a while that December is "the month of Christmas". Declan, while he can't remember the Christmas tree last year, certainly associates all the various symbols (tree, reindeer, santa, three wise men - no, we're not that big on Christian iconography).

So this morning, at 6 am, Callum tiptoed into our room, chatted for a moment, and then suddenly remembered what day it was. He ran down stairs, grabbed both the advent calendars (and Declan), and they each ceremonially opened window number 1.

Info from the wall of sound

We have now used a new babysitter, Joan, for two evenings. The kids are very taken with her. Last night when she arrived she was greeted by both of them talking at high speed telling them everything that they could think of in the shortest possible space of time.

Apart from them liking her, which is great, the other good thing was that I managed to pluck some useful information about Cal out of the flow. Cal was upset after school last Thursday and Friday and has burst into tears a couple of times since - which is very out of character. In telling Joan about the speech he gave at school on Thursday he got upset again and it seemed to revolve around not being chosen to represent his class in the "speak-offs". I had a chat with him about it this morning which seemed to help and also asked his teacher to have a word with him and see if that settles things down.

Declan's report

I had a parent-teacher interview with Declan's teacher today and got his portfolio and report. The report was excellent, literally in fact - the only thing not ticked in the top box was his pencil grip which was one down.

The teacher also discussed our plans to send him to school in 2008 and agreed it was entirely appropriate, necessary in fact, especially given he's so much more social than Cal.

Spot

Declan got a free soft toy Spot the dog, from a bookshop on Saturday morning. Ever since, they've been inseparable. Declan has been talking about his puppy to me, showing Spot things (like the zoo, and the Spot book we were reading) and generally bonding with his new friend.

But when I suggested to Declan that Spot might like to share some of his lunch, he gave me a withering look. "Spot is a toy, mummy. He doesn't have a mouth."

Zoo keeper

While Evan took Callum to two (!) birthday parties this afternoon, I took Declan to the new Darling Harbour zoo. An amazing feat of fitting a good selection of Australian animals into a very small space.

He enjoyed it very much, and stopped and looked at pretty much every exhibit. At the end, there was a zoo keeper showing off too lizards, and allowing Declan and another boy to gently stroke them, and get licked by them. As we left, Declan asked plaintively, "how long will it be until I can be a zoo-keeper?"

I think it will be an ambition of his for a while.

Airship

We have a new toy - a remote controlled airship. It's about a metre long, and say 30 cm high, filled with helium, and has a couple of small propellors at the bottom which allow you to direct it up, down and forwards and backwards.

I think Callum was as excited as I've ever seen him over a toy. His eyes probably lit up slightly more over the train set on his second birthday, but it's pretty close. He's spent a lot of his available time in the 24 hours since we got it driving it around the house. He hasn't quite got how to turn it and make it go forwards, but going up and down is lots of fun of itself.

Cafe society

We went to our new favourite restaurant on Sunday night - one of our cafes has turned into a local italian place (cafe/restaurant, as Callum earnestly explains to me - restaurants make you dinner, cafes make coffee and lunch).

The boys behaved beautifully. They shared (and finished!) a four cheeses ravioli between them, while we had a dish to ourselves. And then as a reward, they got icecream (or gelato, again, as Callum explained to me) for dessert.

The owner of the cafe has always been impressed with them, because they will eat his four cheeses dishes (it has gorgonzola, so a pretty strong taste, but they don't care, because it's not green), but was even more impressed last night as they both practiced their best italian "grazie" and "prego" with him.

Catching up

We went to the opening of Bradfield Plaza today (a new space immediately underneath the Harbour Bridge that has been landscaped). While we were there, we ran into Emily and her mum, Deb. They were in my mother's group, and we last saw them about three and a half years ago.

It was really interesting to see Callum and Emily interact. Once I'd explained to them both that Emily was born only one day after Callum, they got on like a house on fire. Callum showed Emily his watch that he was wearing, and Emily persauded Callum to clink glasses and say cheers with their glasses of coke and orange juice.

And when we left, they gave each other a big hug, and then, very unusually, we had to drag Callum away as he was still chatting to Emily (normally Callum is the one waiting impatiently by the door while we finish our goodbye conversations).

Treasure maps

The boys have a new game - treasure maps. Not sure how long it will last, but for the last two nights, they've created a treasure map around the house for me to decode when I get home. They greet me at the door with great excitement, and guide me around the house to all the various clues.

Luckily for me, there is no need for me to deciper anything, as they tell me exactly what each new clue means almost before I get there, falling over their words in their excitement.

Last night most of the clues were pictures of eyes (drawn by Callum) looking towards the next clue or piece of treasure. There was one clue, though, which was the word LOFT, written by Declan, under instruction from Callum (totally mirror writing, but otherwise perfectly formed).

Evan started them off with the first map, but now they've got their own head of steam.

Talking

I took the boys up to Greenwood for our regular Saturday morning milkshake today. We went into a children's clothes shop (clearly the demographics of North Sydney are changing if there is enough custom for children's clothes!) and Callum and Declan combined to charm the sales lady. After being told everything about dinosaurs, Cammeray Public School, the merits of the colour pink, and sundry other facts, she said in an aside to me (about Callum), "I bet he enjoys show and tell".

Advertising again

We let the boys stay up late to watch Stuart Little tonight, which meant they got to watch the ads, as well. We explained to them that they were there to persuade us to buy things. Callum got all superior and said that he wouldn't watch the program after Stuart Little (which was being advertised in every break).

But then after we'd watched the ad for wholemeal bread for the third time, both of them said, "we should buy that bread, Evan. I'd like to eat that bread." Even though there was a tomato on the sandwich made to illustrate the ad!

I think they need to watch more advertising so that they get the hang of resisting it.

Catch-up

We've been a bit slack on entries lately, so for posterity:
+ Declan is being incredibly stubborn at the moment. His beetling brows, pouted lips and stamping feet are becoming all too familiar. He has a need to get his own way and we've had several titanic battles of wills.
+ Both boys' swimming continues to improve apace. Callum can now really swim and loves swimming underwater in particular. Declan hasn't mastered breathing yet but is getting there and is terrifyingly fearless. He also loves being underwater but has a habit of staying there until I come and get him.
+ Callum is doing weekly occupational therapy again to help strengthen his hand as he's finding it difficult to finish his work when he's in first class two days a week.
+ Declan can read a few words but hasn't much confidence in his abilities, so usually just refuses when asked to do so.
+ Callum is now eating a lot better than ever before (which may not mean a great deal given the low base, but it pleases me). Declan has now started eating nothing (sigh).

In some countries they don't have...

Callum came downstairs and pleaded to be able to watch television with us for a few minutes (something Jennifer has been doing on nights I am out). We were watching Jamie's Kitchen when the following conversation ensued:
Callum: "Is my five minutes up?"
Jennifer: "Yes, I think so, but you can watch until the adverts."
Callum: "Do you mean advertisements?"
Jennifer: "Yes."
Callum: "What are advertisements?"

Now there's an ABC kid.

Whose child is this??

We had dinner outside this evening and the kids played soccer - which I applauded. Then Declan decided to move on and using a bouncy-ball and a large broom decided he was playing golf - complete with rules. Where he learnt golf I have no idea, but I'm worried...

Going to Bed

Last night, the boys were quite tired after a busy day. But they were still resisting sleep, in their own separate ways. Callum was reading a book, and asked for permission to read until 7.45pm. Declan insisted that although he needed a rest, he didn't want it in bed, so asked to come down and sit next to me for five minutes.

I glanced across at him, and his eyes were closed after three minutes. So I carried him upstairs and put him to bed, only to discover Callum lying on his tummy, book and head in reading position, and fast asleep.

Conversations

Last night at dinner, we were talking about the weather (which is forecast to be rainy today), and Archie's birthday party, which is today at St Thomas' Rest Park. Somehow, we got into a long involved brainstorming session about exactly how and where everyone at the party could take shelter, and how we should protect the most important thing at the party - the cake.

We concluded that we needed to take two separate boxes to the party in the morning, one for the cake, and one for the candles.

Pirate fun

Yesterday we went to the Maritime Museum, which has a pirate exhibition, with the Gaynor-Vincent family. There lots of fun things, but Callum really enjoyed walking the plank and then sliding down the slide to the bottom, where the fun stuff was. They had a treasure map that you could go and stamp in different places, and a pirate school, where you could make your own hat.

Then after a quick lunch at home, the Lees came to visit, so our house was filled with children.

Callum offered a viewing of Asterix and Cleopatra to everyone, so at one stage we had Callum, Aidan, Claire and Declan sitting in a row all watching it, with Callum providing commentary.

1st day back

Cal had his first day back at school today. He appeared to be one of the few kids in his class who was actually happy to be there - I don't know what that says about him, or how poor the comparative entertainment at home is but he was thrilled to be there. He had a fun day and racked up another two good work cards so came out very happy.

Callum the actor

Callum did a drama class for his second week of school holidays. A group of 10 children, roughly his age (including Isabel from up the road) spent a week mucking around and making up a play about pirates. Callum had a speaking part - his main line was to say impatiently "but where are the dancing girls?" which he did very well, as well as miming pulling up the sails and singing a sailing shanty. He seemed to have fun, which is the main thing, and he was very excited to show me and Grandma and Grandpa the video when he got home on Friday night.

Cheering Australia

Last night Evan and I were watching the Australian soccer team playing Bahrain after Callum and Declan had gone to bed. First Declan crept down (as he often does) to spend time with us. And then Australia scored a goal, and Callum had to come down to see what we were all shouting about. So we spent fifteen minutes all sitting on the couch and watched Australia score its second goal.

Luckily, Australia didn't score any goals in the second half after we'd sent the boys to bed.

5 going on 25

Callum and his friend Isabel are doing a holiday course together in Manly. As I drove them there this morning they were chatting away. There was a moment of silence then:
C: I love you Isabel.
I: I love you Callum.
C: We love each other.
I: But you haven't met my friends yet...

Flying

For posterity we'd better record the only real issue with our holiday. Landing in Cairns, Callum's ears started to hurt as the plane descended. They got worse and worse to the point he vomited just prior to landing. (My left ear was also hurting, so I could appreciate some of what he was going through and it might indicate a particulalrly quick change in pressure.)

He seemed to perk up after landing but was exhausted by the time we got to dinner. He wanted to go straight to bed but we insisted on dinner first. We got as far as the restaurant when he vomited again from the pain (yes, that was as much fun as you can imagine). We took him back to bed and he slept for 12 hours. He woke up fine.

He later announced that once we had flown back to Sydney he was never going to get on a plane again.

Lucky our future holiday plans are back on course as he had no problems with the landing into Sydney.

Queensland

We're back from a very enjoyable holiday in Far North Queensland. Highlights (according to Declan) were the aeroplane home (he was in the window seat) and seeing crocodiles. Callum's highlights change every time you ask him, but have included swimming in the surf, the wonderful playground in Cairns, fish and chips at an Italian restaurant, and the Sky train (an 8km cable car over the rainforest).

We had a very relaxing time, and apart from continuing to wake up at 5.30 most mornings, the boys were a delight too. Highlights for me included:

- Watching Callum and Declan being extraordinarily excited to get on the plane up to Queensland
- the playground in Cairns (I think the best children's playground I have seen, and I do count myself a connoisseur)
- both boys hand feeding the kangaroos at Cairns Zoo
- Callum and Declan having a wonderful time in the surf, and getting the hang of bobbing up and down in the water
- the butterfly house in Kuranda, where butterflies were happy to land on our hands (and in Declan's case, heads)
- Mossman Gorge, where Evan piggybacked Callum and Declan swimming around the gorge while I took pictures
- Callum having complete hysterics every time we saw a crocodile looking threatening towards a keeper

It is nice to be home, though.

Eating

Declan has reached a stage where he'd rather talk, than eat, unless he is particularly hungry. So dinner is becoming a bit of a trial. Sometimes (not always) just as Callum before him, he will agree to eat if given a numerical target - "eat 10 more forkfuls Declan, and then you can leave the table".

Used sparingly, French is an even better motivator. "Can you eat ten forkfuls and count them in French?". Declan will happily do so, proud to show off his language skills. I'm afraid to do it too often, though, in case we have to learn another language just to get him to eat.

Leonardo da Declan

For a while now Declan's writing has been improving but he's insisted on writing right-to-left. Recently it has moved forward again with his letter formation improving. However, now instead of just writing right-to-left (something Cal did too for a while) he's also forming the letters back-to-front - creating perfect mirror writing.

Gordon hits the buffers

After school yesterday we went to Balmoral. The kids had a lovely time on the beach and in the water. As we were late getting back, we decided to have dinner at the local Italian restaurant. While waiting to be served the boys played on the open area beside the tables until Declan (Gordon) was chuffing at speed down the line and headbutted the buffers (bollard). Boy, can that train bleed.

(He's fine now.)

The Museum

One of Cal's presents was a block of plaster with some Egyptian things encased in it. The night before last the boys spend a parentely-heartwarming hour (archaeologists work as a team) excavating the plaster. Having freed the relics, Cal decided they had to be in a museum. The cubby is now an "archaeologicalistic museum" complete with labels. The chairs are now labelled "keeper Callum" and "keeper Declan". Oh, and in case you are wondering, entry is free.

After party

It was lovely this afternoon seeing Callum, Declan, Aidan and Claire all playing happily together (Tommy was far too focussed on the trains for water-throwing to offer a valid distraction; just as Cal would have been at that age). They are all getting on increasingly well together as they age and have memories that last long enogh to make them all familiar to each other.

Party

We had Cal's Birthday party today. 26 children and all seemed to have a good time; Cal certainly did. He had Explorer Emily leading the entertainment, a pyramid cake and a chance to wrap three volunteer fathers in mummy wrapping kits (toilet roll).

I think Cal would have one of these everyday. For his parents once a year seems more than often enough.

Statistics

I've just measured the boys on Callum's birthday. Callum is 109 cm and 18 kilos - which is the 40th percentile for body mass index. Declan is 101 cm and 16.45 kilo - which is the 60th percentile for body mass index.

Teeth brushing

Declan has a new skill; he's the world champion tooth brusher. He's suddenly become very good at brushing his teeth. If he does it himself, he takes a good minute or two and gets every tooth. If I do it for him, he won't let me stop until I've brushed every single bit of his teeth. He'll make me go back and do bits again if he's not satisfied.

Psychology in action

E: "Time to put socks on Callum." [Cal comes to sit in my lap.]
E: "You need to learn to put your socks on by yourself."
C: "When I'm six."
D: [From the couch.]"I can put socks on by myself."
E: Yes, that's because you're an especially clever young man.
C: [Grabbing socks and scuttling to sit by himself.] I can put my own socks on.

Happy Birthday

Callum's turned 5! He's very proud of that fact. He had cupcakes and the class singing Happy Birthday at school, afternoon tea will all four grandparents and Granny Marta, and fish & chips at Balmoral for dinner.

Although I've been telling people he's 5 for a while, it's still a bit of a shock to the system. A few things:

- He's 109cm and 18 kilos
- He's enjoying reading Rainbow Magic books, and has branched out into other chapter books
- His favourite colour is still pink
- He loves airships and still loves trains
- He's such an urban boy that on the weekend he ordered for the whole family at a cafe - "two flat whites and two chocolate milkshakes please"

Exclamations

Callum told me this morning that his exclamation is "bursting lamingtons!".

Two of his favourite characters, Thomas the Tank Engine, and Tintin's Captain Haddock, have idiosyncratic exclamations - "cinders and ashes!" and "thundering typhoons!" respectively. Callum's decided that everyone needs one, so he made up one of his own.

Fairies

Callum and Declan have taken to being fairies, often. Callum (who leads the game) has been building fairyland, complete with fairy castle, fairy houses, fairies, and.... fairy trains. I asked Callum if there were trains in his Rainbow Magic books and he admitted that there weren't. "but I like trains, Jennifer".

I was comparing notes with Jane, mother of Isabel (who has been obsessed with fairies for much longer than Callum), and trains are an innovation in fairy land that Isabel has not yet created.

Spring

We went to Darling Harbour on the weekend with the Gaynor-Vincents, on a day that was suddenly beautiful and warm. Callum and Declan were very excited when the Gaynor-Vincents got on the ferry (our favourite, Charlotte) at Balmain, and Declan, in particular, seemed to have a great time showing off the delights of Darling Harbour to the less experienced Claire.

They played for ages by themselves in the Chinese Gardens cafe (something to do with stones), which was very nice for all adults concerned.

Athletics carnival

Cal had his first athletics carnival this morning. Unfortunately they didn't have a 4-year-old division and he came last and second last in his two races against the 5-year-olds. He was fine with it and was gracious in defeat. He did find all the waiting around in the sun hard to bear though.

Playing together

When people ask me how well the boys play together, I usually reply, "as well as you can expect for two siblings". But in the spirit of fairness I should record that this morning, they came downstairs together by themselves, and played happily and cooperatively together building a lego city for half an hour until we decided to join them.

And tonight, they decided to make up a fairy story, in which Callum was Ruby the red fairy (because there is no pink one), and Declan was Fern the green fairy, and they acted out making a rainbow.

Marriage

Lately, Callum has been playing with Anna, who is in his class, at lunchtime and recess. When I ask him if she's his friend, he says seriously, "yes, and we are going to get married. Because she's a girl. She wears a skirt." Hard to tell how much of that is because he likes her particularly, or its just a proximity thing.

Anyway, her mother is very amused, and we're trying to be amused out of earshot.

Dinner table conversation

J: "What was the worst thing that happened to you today Evan?"
E: "Someone waking me up at 6 in the morning. Who could that have been?"
D: "Me!!"
E: "Yes, Jennifer and I are getting very tired. Could you just go downstairs when you wake up?"
D: "No I need a grown-up. I can't be by myself."
E: "Just downstairs in our house, that would be OK wouldn't it?"
D: "I don't want to go outside."
E: "No, not outside, just downstairs. Then Jennifer and I can get some more sleep."
D: "If your pillow is wet during the night, you just get up and get another one."
E: "Er.. thanks. And will that help me get more sleep."
D: [with withering look] "No."

Times tables

Callum pretty much knows his times tables now. I haven't tested him lately on 7,8 and 9 (which are often the trickiest) but last time I tried he could recite them.

He and Declan were chatting at dinner last night, and Declan started asking Callum times tables questions. After a few, Callum asked me, "what's 2 times 50?". He couldn't figure it out until I asked him what 5 tens were. He said ,"50", then almost immediately said "oh and 2 times 50 is 100". I'm not sure what process he went through to get there, but he's certainly getting better at multiplication and division.

Water babies

We went swimming yesterday, as I hadn't seen the boys swimming for a while. Declan has suddenly (from my perspective) become a water baby. If he knows he can stand up, he will spend more time with his face in the water than out of it - thrashing about in his version of freestyle, picking things up off the bottom of the pool, waving hello from under the water, launching himself into the water - anything he can think of really.

Callum's been doing that for a while, so the contrast wasn't so apparent. But this summer's going to be quite a contrast to last year when we go to the beach.

Bike riding

We went up to the mountains to visit the Langdon Linigens today. The Lees (minus Chris) were there too, and we partook of one of their favourite pastimes - riding bikes in the turning circle.

Callum decided to try too, and for the first time ever, managed to pedal a bike. He got quite into it after a while, and enjoyed it. We've been trying him on other people's bikes for a while, but this is the first time he's got it.

Bedtime reading

Last weekend, to celebrate Callum's new reading obsession, we bought him a bedside lamp. He's now allowed to read in bed until 7.30pm each night. Declan is desperately jealous, and tonight insisted on having three books that he could "read" himself - i.e. he knows the story well enough that he can tell it from memory using the pictures as a guide. They were Where is the Green Sheep?, the Going to Bed Book, and a book about fire engines. He rejected Mr Brown can Moo, because he doesn't know the words well enough.

Friends

We had a nice relaxing day with friends yesterday. First we went to visit the Gaynor-Vincents, where Declan and Claire seemed to have a great time playing lots of different things. After lunch, Evan found them sitting side by side on the couch, reading a book. Of course, every now and again, Declan needed a train fix, and had to find Callum to play with.

Then we went around to the BP park for some scooting with Jack. Jack is about 10 times as fast as Callum or Declan on a scooter, but has the missing front tooth to prove it, so we're not too eager for the boys to get much faster.

And finally a quick visit to Griffin and Isabel to borrow books 8 through 11 of the Rainbow Magic series. (luckily, Isabel shares Callum's obsessions)

Languages

Declan does an hour each of French and Japanese each week at his kindergarten. Since both of us have learned french, we've learned to recognise it when Declan starts singing in french, and we've been able to help him tell us how to count to 10 in french.

Japanese is a bit more difficult, though. It was only relatively recently that I realised that the "orky, corky" song that Declan often sings is almost certainly in Japanese. And he is now a good enough conversationalist that he occasionally tells us about the new word he's learnt that week over dinner.

Last week it was shinkansen - the Japanese bullet train - which probably explains Declan's sudden enthusiasm for all things Japanese.

Rainbow magic

For a few months now , we've been wondering whether Callum is reading well enough for chapter books, but he's not seemed interested, so we haven't pushed it. But on Monday this week, his reading friend Annie came into school with a book, part of a series called Rainbow Magic - 90 odd pages worth, with a few black and white illustrations each page. Callum seemed interested, so on Tuesday, Evan bought the first one of the series (of 46!) . Callum devoured it in a sitting that evening, with a reluctant break for dinner.

Tonight they got the next five out of the library, and Callum has read number 2, reluctantly agreeing to wait until tomorrow to read number 3. He's not happy with getting them out of the library though; we have to go and buy them, so he can have them all lined up on the bookshelf at home. In our household, it's hard to disagree.

Yugoslav boxes

Yesterday Cal was given an Egyptian scarab ring by Granny. We decided it was precious and ought to go into his Yugoslav box.

We also went through the boys' boxes and my own and looked at all the stufff in there. That includes some photos stretching back a fair way. The boys recognised Grandad but no one else. The photos of Jennifer, me, Rob, Angela, Jodie, Chris and Auntie Jennifer just engendered hysterics.

The boys do not yet seem to have inherited my obsessive sense of history. Declan went to put some of the contents of his into the bin - admittedly the pregnancy test kit is hard to explain, and even I'm not sure why I've kept the half-chewed rusk.

Jack's party

We went to Jack's Birthday party yesterday at Playplanet. The kids had a fantastic time, running themselves into complete exhaustion. I was exhausted after five minutes of watching a hundred kids charge around an enormous echoing converted factory, but was saved by the cheese and biscuits and the high ratio of parents to children.

Visitors

Yesterday we had a visit from Hannah (5) and Holly (18 months). Callum and Declan spent some time afterwards trying to decide whether Holly was a baby or not. In the for side, she didn't talk much, and had to crawl up the stairs, but in the against side, she walked very well. Callum decided that she was half a baby, and she would stop being a baby when she turned 3.

Swimming freestyle

Much to the delight of his teacher and watching father, Callum swum freestyle for the first time (with breathing) at his catch-up lesson yesterday.

Showering

Callum has become completely addicted to the shower. He has to have the second shower, as he just likes to stay in there as long as possible, and enjoy the water.

But Declan is the more stereotypical; the other morning he said, "no, I'm not ready to come out yet, mummy, I have to finish singing."

Party, party

We went to Claire's third Birthday party this morning - a beautiful day for a party in a park. Cal, Dec and Aidan played soccer (Cal got marks on his knees from falling over on "the green stuff" - ah, my urban boy). The Cal and I zoomed off to North Sydney so he could go to Angela's 6th Birthday party (more soccer and a pinata). Then back to Leichhart for lunch and more soccer in the back yard. A huge and very fun day.

Sickness

Callum has had a cold all week, and stayed home from school on Tuesday (at our suggestion) and Friday (his own suggestion). I was a bit worried that he'd realised after Tuesday that school was optional if you were sick, and decided to take matters into his own hands, but Evan assures me that Callum was pining after school during the day.

Courtesy of this latest cold, it seems he may have finally learned how to blow his nose.

Cal's big effort

Many things about Callum choke me up, but over the last few days he's surpassed himself as he tries so very, very hard to stop saying 'f' for 'th'. He's been saying 'free' for 'three', 'fick' for 'thick', and so on. A few days ago I really noticed and showed him where his tongue should be. Since then he's just tried so hard (and if you've ever tried to change the way your tongue does something automatically, you know how hard it is) to change. With great effort he's got it down pat as long as the 'th' sound is accompanied by a vigorous nod of the head which, in endeavouring to teach him the tongue movement, I fear I've convinced him is part of the communication process.

Parties

I think Declan's been noticing that Callum's been to quite a few birthday parties lately (it seems that most of the kids in his class are inviting the whole class). Today he asked me plaintively whether Claire was his friend, so that he would be going to Claire's party, and not Callum. I'm not sure if he was satisfied with my answer that Claire was Callum's friend, too, and so both of them would be going.

Declan events

Declan's swimming is improving significantly. While he can't breathe he's doing a good job of kicking and moving his arms.

His reading seems to be more than a flash in the pan too, he's added several words to his range and is making a fair fist at the beginnings of sounding things out.

Shocked

Callum has a favourite phrase when he learns something he deems amazing: "Evan, I'm shocked at that information." It is invariably accompanied by his shocked look of wide-open eyes and rounded mouth.

Fort Denison

We took the boys to Fort Denison on the weekend. We've been pointing it out to them while walking across the Harbour Bridge and catching the ferry to Manly, so we decided it was about time we took them there.

It was a beautiful day, and both boys enjoyed it. The guide gave a few set piece speeches, and after the last one, when she asked, " any questions", Declan put his hand up, politely, and waited with his hand up while she answered Evan's question (he got in first). He got a bit shy when being asked what his question was, but he was quite chuffed (once we'd figured out what it was) to have it answered.

When we got home, both boys decided that they had to draw Fort Denison, and Declan made his drawing into a book, to be taken into Neutral Bay Kindergarten for Show and Tell the next day.

Rapper C

I went to the School's assembly yesterday. Cal's class performed for everyone. They did this wonderful rap about the class and their day written by one of the class parents (who's a professional musician). They were all utterly cute in their jeans, white shirts, sunglasses and caps (although Cal's clearly inherited his father's sense of rhythm).

Cal also got a merit certificate and two good work cards, much to both our delight.

D read red

We have pretty tough rules on when the kids started reading as opposed to recognising the shapes of a few words. I've been uncertain on which side of the line Declan has fallen with reading 'yes'.

During the week Declan has managed a couple of more words without much reference point. Last night we were reading a lovely, but obscure, book which has some lyrical text to a series of Van Gogh pictures. I asked him and he read, and he sounded out, the word 'red': which falls solidly on the reading side of the card for me.

Reading

Last night Declan and Evan were reading a book, and Declan read the words "yes, yes, yes" without any help. I think he's worked out that word from computer games. So that makes two words he's read without pictorial help - no and yes. Unfortunately the word "no" is the word that most often gets used in conversation.

Why left to right?

Something to muse upon. Declan has been doing a lot of writing letters recently. He writes them right-to-left which is a thing a great many kids seem to do. Which raised the question why do we write left-to-right when there seems to be a natural tendency to go the other way and many alphabets go the other way. A bit of research has revealed no answer although early alphabets all seems to go right-left a fact that seem to be attributed to the use of scrolls (although I also wonder if it is easier to chip a rock in that direction if you're right handed?)

Mr Contrary and cutting to the chase

Declan boggles my mind. He is unbelievably stubborn and mulish. He simply will not do anything when asked, in fact asking is a good way not to get a thing done. This doesn't apply to his whole life just anything that looks either time-sensitive or like a chore: getting dressed, getting undressed, tidying up, etc, etc. Only one tactic seems to have any impact: the compressed narrative.

It goes like this. "Declan, if you don't put your shoes on I'm going to have to ask you again. The I'm going to raise my voice. Then I'm going to shout at you. Then I'm going to send you to the stairs and pretend to leave the house without you. That's going to make you sad and you'll cry. And then you'll put your shoes on. So why don't we just pretend to have done all that that and you put your shoes on?" At this point Declan generally gives a Hmmph and puts his shoes on.

Routine changes

We've been fiddling with a routine that had been set in stone for a long time.

A couple of weeks ago we decided, as it was school holidays, to try putting the boys to bed later in the hope that they might wake up later in the morning. Nope. Just meant they went to bed later: it makes no difference to the morning, so they're back to 7pm bed-time.

The second change has been much more successful. We've moved from an evening bath to a morning shower. It gives us more time in the evenings, uses less water and is probably a better clean for the boys. I'm hoping it will withstand the change back to a school-term regime.

Sore ...

Poor Declan is a bit unhappy. He has an infection - I'll refrain from saying where as I don't want people searching for bad things to hit this site, but it's awkward. He's responding well to antibiotics after a highly dramatic trip to the doctor.

Writing

Last night, Declan decided to have a go at writing a letter - "Dear Granny, love Declan". After getting my advice on the letters in dear, and writing G, he decided to cut to the chase and write "Declan". He's been able to type it for a while, but this was his first attempt at writing it. I was very pleased with him. Although he wrote from right to left, and a few letters were also backwards, they were all clearly recognisable and in order, and without any help from me.

He was also very chuffed with himself, and demanded to immediately post the results to Granny (I'm not sure I want to give away such a milestone piece of writing, myself).

Holiday

We just had a mini-holiday - a trip to Canberra. We mainly decided to go there because of Questacon; we thought (rightly) that the boys would love it. But we also went to the Canberra Zoo, the Black Mountain Tower, and a fairly ridiculous place called Cockington Green (miniature english villages, but also a ride on steam train).

Everyone had a great time, and Questacon was indeed excellent - the standout gallery was the one about geology, which had demonstrations of earthquakes, landslides and cyclones. Also a lot of fun was the preschoolers section, which had fabulous set of different ways to play with water, including sluice gates and an archimedes screw.

The other reason we went there is that we thought cold might be fun; it wasn't. The excitement of seeing frost on the grass and being able to see your own breath was outweighed by freezing cold walk to the cafe around the corner from our apartment. Still, it was fun, and when we got home tonight, Declan asked if we were going on another holiday tomorrow.

It's genetic

We were stopped at the traffic lights in North Sydney when Callum pointed to the painted advertisement on a shop window and exclaimed with great disgust: "Evan, they've forgotten to put in the apostrophe!". His grandmother must be proud.

Swimming update

The boys finished their swimming term on Friday. They both appear to be doing OK but not spectacularly. Callum continues to show willing but has not quite mastered what's required. Declan does not seem to like his teacher and refuses to cooperate during the lesson and then goes on to do all the things when we play afterwards.

Egyptian mythology

Cal just did a two-day course on Egyptian Mythology. He had a great time and was completely unfazed by the more gruesome aspects. He appears to have a very firm grasp of something being true and something being only fiction or a story.

He now knows a frightening amount about Egyptian gods (did you know there are two jackal-headed dogs, and Anubis is the one with pointy ears, the other less-interesting, but apparently scary, one has the points chopped off. No? Well now you can join the Lang-Predavec family in having gained this useful knowledge.)

What am I?

We have a game we play anywhere the boys are trapped without entertainment (a car or public transport) - "what am I?" When we first started, Declan wasn't very good, but now he likes it so much that he usually initiates it.

Declan's favourite animals are a giraffe - "I have four legs, and a very tall neck, and brown spots, and I live in Africa", and a blue whale - "I am a very big animal and I live in the ocean". Callum's favourites are a shark "I live in the sea, and I am grey, and I chase other things especially fish", and a rhinocerous beetle "I am small but I am the strongest animal in the world".

We were playing it on the ferry this afternoon, on the way back from an expedition to Darling Harbour, and Declan and Callum were anticipating fast enough that they were working out each others' animals even before Evan and I had time to figure it out and pretend we didn't know.

Situational logic

We got Callum's portfolio presented to us at the parent-teacher meeting. This is a great idea and shows all his work so far. His teacher pointed out a few things he had got wrong. One of those was in a maths exercise which was to identify things you do at various times of the day. The question asked what do you do in the morning and had four different possible pictures as answers. Callum coloured in the one which has kids watching television with stars outside the window. That was the wrong answer technically. But that is exactly what Cal does do in the morning - he gets up in the dark and watches television.

It put me in mind of something I read a while ago about a flawed test where there was a picture of a telephone and a handset. Kids were supposed to add the missing cable between handset and telephone, but of course modern kids don't do it because for them there is no cable.

Award

Jennifer and I attended Cammerary's A-day (assembly day? award day? we don't know)ceremony this morning. Callum received an award for his attitude and approach to learning, which was lovely.

Listening to all the kids singing the national anthem and the school song and the seeing the school band and choir in action was just fantastic.

Egyptians

Callum has become interested in Ancient Egypt (a nice change from transport disasters of the 20th Century). We've built some pyramids and he's made himself a lovely pharaoh's ring. He's also very taken with a website that translates words into hieroglyphics - although trees the world-round are wincing at all the printouts.

Urban cowboy

It seems to be birthday season in Callum's class. Last weekend it was Juliette's party. A straighforward affair with a great animal show about reptiles.

Yesterday was Darcy's party which was cowboy themed. After pricing some proper cowboy costumes I, instead, went to Wear it Again Sam and bought a nice pair of jeans, a belt, a shirt and a denim jacket for less than the cowboy costume. Paired with Jennifer's leather bush hat and a pair of $2-shop pistols he looked the image of a modern cowboy; admitedly more Brokeback Mountain than True Grit but certainly good enough for the afternoon. He enjoyed himself and got to shoot things to his heart's content for the afternoon along with his classmates.

Modern boy

I'm not sure what brought it on, but after having a bath tonight, Callum decided he had to send an email to Cafe Bono (the cafe he and Evan usually go to in the mornings before school). So he went downstairs, googled cafe bono (he needed to ask me what the second letter in cafe was, but otherwise needed no help), and clicked on the email address on their website and typed in an email.

Unfortunately, Callum's emails at the moment consist solely of webdings (a font of pictures), so the email will make absolutely no sense to the cafe!

Declan's first report

I had a meeting with Dec's teacher at NBK yesterday and he got his first report. He's doing well on all fronts and has settled into Yellow Group without any problems. No surprise that his numbers and letters are seen as a strength and they think he's very social.

Car Talk

Callum: "You must always stay inside during an electrical storm."
Declan: "There is a storm on Jupiter."
C: "Yes but you can't see it."
D: "Yes I CAN! We can go in a rocket!"
C: "Nooooo Declan. Jupiter is made of gas."
D: "Jupiter has a moon. We'll go to the moon."
C: "We'll need bridge."
Evan: "Is that a bridge from the rocket to the moon."
C: "Noooo Evan. That's a bridge so we can visit each other's rockets."
D: "The bridge will have windows and we'll see the stars."

Knock, Knock

Callum and Declan have taken to knock, knock jokes recently. Declan's come complete with the opening line: "Evan, I've got a knock, knock joke for you.". Unfortunately Callum has memorised only a couple that make sense and Declan hasn't a single recognisable one. The current standard goes something like this:

Knock, Knock
Who's there
Fell
Fell who
I fell in a hole [gales of laughter].

Part of the problem is that it's impossible not to laugh with them no matter how lame the joke as they're having such fun telling them.

Truth

Callum has recently started understanding the difference between fiction and non-fiction. So he will often comment on something that he's just learned (like a particular fact about volcanoes), "and that's true, Jennifer". Conversely, if we're talking about Bob the Builder, or the Thunderbirds, he will comment that, "it's just a story". I'm not sure if he's figured out where Thomas the Tank Engine fits on the spectrum; really he'd like it to be true, even if, in his heart of hearts, he knows it's fiction.

Telepathy

Most Sundays, we do something with Jack (and his mum, Sue). Today, when Evan asked the boys what they wanted to do today, they were both adamant that they wanted to go and play at Jack's house. So when Sue rang 10 minutes later to ask us if we wanted to do something today, I was quite amused to hear that Jack wanted Callum and Declan to come and play at his house.

It was far too nice a day to spend indoors, so we walked the Cremorne Point walk, which was very nice. Callum was, again, very taken with MacCallum pool, and Declan very much enjoyed the stone animals in a little grotto along the way. Then we went to Manly, and Callum played a game of chess with his grandad, which was his highlight of the day (I think he's since forgotten that he got checkmated by his grandad).

Soccer

The other morning, we were watching the tail-end of a World Cup match (Croatia vs Brazil, if you're interested). Callum and Declan were quite interested, telling me the rules (you can't touch the ball with your hands, Jennifer) and asking the names of the teams. I think Griffin has brainwashed them when they spend time at his place - Griffin knows the name of pretty much every player in the World Cup.

Then they each decided to play themselves. They grabbed toy rugby balls out of the toy box, and started scoring goals with them. Callum got 12 and Declan got 11. It'll be a while before they'll be troubling the Australian selectors, I think.

Chuffing

Whenever Declan runs anywhere, he does it by chuffing. He chuffs his arms around like pistons, and mostly does sound effects.

In fact, if you are trying to get him to run somewhere, all you have to do is ask him if he would like to chuff, and he will run as fast as he can.

Sleepover

Callum and Declan went to Griffin and Isabel's house for their first sleepover last night. By all accounts it went very well. They slept in Griffin's room (Callum in the top bunk), because they decided that they had to sleep in the same room so they could talk to each other. They went to bed very sensibly, and Declan had no accidents (which we were all a bit worried about).

As usual, they both woke up around 6, but fortunately Jane didn't mind because there was a World Cup game to watch. When I got there this morning, Declan was very happy to see me, but Callum was too busy having a game of battleships with Peter to acknowledge my existence.

And, wonder of wonders, both Evan and I had 10 hours of sleep last night!

Chemistry

Evan has been reading up on simple chemistry in the kitchen. He's discovered that if you mix vinegar and bi-carbonate of soda, you get a very satisfactory fizz. Further, if you put a balloon over your mixture, you can blow up the balloon. Callum and Declan are very taken with this, and Declan in particular has been begging for further "experiments" at half-daily intervals.

Chess

We've found a computer game that teaches kids chess. Callum is loving it, and will play it at every opportunity. Tonight, he decided it was time to play a proper game, and challenged me to a game. Apart from problems with occasional Declan exuberance sweeping pieces from the board, I was thrilled with how well Callum thought through some of the ways his pieces might be threatened by mine.

Unfortunately, I have been talking too much to Evan about how hopeless I am at chess, lately, so didn't make any allowances for the fact I was playing against a four year old. I won, handily. Callum spent a good five minutes, first in tears over losing, and then continuous foot stamping and door slamming over the fact that he had lost.

I hope I haven't put him off. He immediately challenged me to another game, which is a good sign.

Zoo

I took Declan to the zoo this afternoon. We saw lots of different animals, but from observation, Declan was most fascinated by the black swan (which he saw from water level, at a nifty observation station) and the lions (who obligingly yawned and posed menacingly). When asked, his favourite animals were the giraffe and the camel, so shows how much you can tell from observation. He did insist on not leaving the zoo until he had seen the camel, though, in spite of my best efforts to distract him with tigers and leopards.

He commented that he's decided that when he gets older he would like to be a zoo-keeper. I'm not sure whether that came from noticing that there were many places that were off limits unless you were a zoo-keeper.

Homework

Declan has decided that he needs to do homework when Callum does. So he's been sitting down with a piece of paper and drawing, or his colouring book (which he demanded to buy - Thomas of course) and colouring in.

He's doing pretty well - choosing colours as appropriate to the picture and making a reasonable attempt at staying within the lines.

He's also attempting a few letters as the spirit moves him - F, X and 1 were his last attempts, clearly recognisable (when pointed out).

When I grow up

Being a Daddy is second string now for Callum. He's decided he's going to be a helicopter pilot for the NSW fire brigade (thanks Fireman Sam).

Two Friends

When I picked Cal up from school yesterday, Tom F shouted out as we left: "Callum, Callum, goodbye best buddy." They have decided they are best buddies which is lovely.

Last week we met up with another family at the Powerhouse Museum that has kids almost the same age as ours - Jake is exactly the same age as Cal, Tom is five months younger than Declan. Callum and Jake got on like a house on fire. It was actually great to watch, partly because they are like light and dark images of each other - they are about the same size and build and have the same floppy hair, but where Cal is white and blond Jake is dark and black haired.

Although they hit it off immediately, the friendship was cemented when they realised that they could both recite not only the names of the Thuderbirds but precisely who pilots each one.

Negotiation

As they were going to bed tonight, Declan said, as usual, "mummy I need you!" as I walked out the door. But tonight he said, "I need to tell you about my day". Charmed into submission, I told him he could tell me one thing about his day. "no, three" he replied. So I agreed to one, but as I sat down to listen to it, he said "I did painting, and played with cars, and did painting again.". So he won, after all.

Update: Then nearly an hour later, Declan called me. Thinking he had had a bad dream, I raced upstairs, and he asked me to tell me all the letters on the wall. Obviously had far too much sleep at Neutral Bay Kindergarten.

Commemoration

Callum's latest project was to make a necklace in memory of all the people who died in the Hindenburg disaster. He decided to do this all on his own - it was a piece of paper with a picture of an airship, captioned Hindenburg, with swastikas on the tailfins (so far we've only explained that they're a symbol of Germany, rather than anything more sinister). He then got me to cut a hole, and put some string in it, so he could wear it as a necklace.

I'm torn between pride in his understanding of the concept, and concern that he clearly understands the death and destruction part very well.

Pole dancing

Callum has worked out how to slide down poles. Now, whenever he sees something that could be loosely described as a pole (the support for an umbrella at cafe, for example), he makes a beeline for it so he can slide down it. So far, he hasn't managed to bring anything down on his head, but I think it is only a matter of time.

Archie Parks

Archie is over tonight for a sleepover. We tried our best to tire our boys out beforehand by walking over the harbour bridge, and then taking a side trip to Manly before forcing them to walk up the hill home. They were pretty tired by the end of that (as was I, and I didn't carry both of them for 500m along Blues Point Road, as Evan did).

And, going to bed has gone pretty well for having three excited boys in the same room. As usual, Declan was the source of most of the noise, but mostly because we'd misplaced his main teddy bear, so understandable.

For the half hour or so before bed, Archie and Declan had a wonderful time playing together - we'd hear "Archie Parks! Come here!" from Declan from all parts of the house. (Callum was playing computer games).

Writing

Declan decided tonight that he was going to write a letter to Uncle Bob. The result was a picture of a snail (you could see it was a snail if you were told), and the letter "m" for mummy (also readable only with prior warning). He then folded the piece of paper randomly, and handed it to me (for when we visit Uncle Bob - I think the skype video phone is giving him false ideas of distance).

I suspect that once he gets the hang of it, Declan will be much keener to write stuff than Callum. He seems much more interested in drawing things already.

The end of birthday week

We had Declan's birthday party today, in Watts Park. He's been anticipating it all week - getting all excited every time we remind him. In recognition of his new, mature state, we had an activity - a treasure hunt - which seemed to go down quite well.

For us parents, the strange thing was having, for the first time, attendees we had never met before, from Neutral Bay Kindergarten.

The party marks the end of what has been a quite protracted birthday for Declan - starting two weeks ago with lunch with Uncles Martin and Kevin, continuing through celebrations with grandparents, at NBK, and a present from us, and finishing with the birthday. Hopefully Declan will survive the baton being passed to others.

Heights

I measured the boys yesterday. Declan is 97 cm, Callum is 106 cm. That means that Callum is now officially required to pay more at Luna Park, but he still can't go on the rollercoaster (his ultimate aim).

Declan is 67th percentile in height, and Callum is 46th percentile.

Made in...

Callum has lately become very addicted to the printed word. So he's been reading labels. He commented to me, "they have a lot of cloth in China to make clothes from, Jennifer".

Then he said, "and we make lots of toilets in Australia!"

I tried to explain to him that we do make other things here, but so far the only "made in Australia" label he's seen has been on our toilet.

Happy Birthday Declan

Declan turned three today, and is very proud of that fact. Whenever you mention it, he gets a big smile on his face and says "I'm three years old". A few Declan updates:

- he's now talking in very full sentences, using adjectives, adverbs, and generally correct pronouns. He still has difficulty with irregular verbs, making them all regular - "I hided"
- he loves hiding at every opportunity
- he loves playing with his friends, and tells me that night whenever he's played with Oliver, or Jack, or Archie, and knows the names of quite a few of his schoolmates at Yellow Group
- he's not very fast at waking up in the morning, and generally needs a bit of a hug to get him started
- he's toilet trained, day and night, but occasionally has accidents through inattention on the toilet
- he can count to 10 (and count up to 6 or 7 things), sing the alphabet, recognise all of the letters, at least in uppercase, and type his name (a new achievement last night!)
- although he follows Callum through fads (Titanic, airships, etc) his first love is still trains, and he often takes one to bed at night with him
- his favourite colour is green, and he is very insistent about it.

Happy birthday Declan!

Snakes and Ladders

We've recently bought a game of Snakes and Ladders. Callum loves the idea of it - he's totally capable of playing, and understands both the snakes and the ladders. But he finds it very emotionally difficult to play. When his opponent goes up a big ladder (or even a little one, if he's already behind), he bursts into tears. When he goes down a snake, he bursts into tears. And when his opponent goes down a big snake, he breaks into harsh, delighted, laughter.

I'm afraid he needs more practice in losing. It's not going to be much fun for his opponents.

Working Dad

Yesterday, after eating three bowls of cereal for breakfast instead of his usual half-a-bowl, Declan vomited copiously. (I must say he was very civilized about it, informing me it was going to happen and politely asking for a bucket.) So he couldn't go to school - and I had to go to work for a series of meetings. The first time this problem has hit.

I did what all sensible parents do in these circumstances - I called my mum.

Declan had a lovely day with Mum with absolutely no further signs of a problem. I really wonder if the problem was eating too much rather than anything else. Although given how jealous he was of Callum staying home the last few days, and how thrilled Declan was at the idea of staying home, I also wonder if this was advanced malingering.

Yellow group

Declan moved from Blue Group to Yellow Group on Monday at Kindy.

Teenager?

Evan: "Callum can you please put that scrap paper in the bin."
Callum: "Evan, I'm not your slave!"

Holiday

We've just had a very nice weekend in the blue mountains filled with fun for machine loving boys. We went to Scenic world, which has a skyway, cablecar, and scenic railway (the best part, as it goes down at around 50 degrees), and also visited Aidan on the way up, and Tommy (with guest appearance from Aidan) on the way down.

Callum actually thought the highlight was the boardwalk at the bottom of the scenic railway (unusually for him, not a mechanical item), and Declan liked the HUUGE backyard of our mountain holiday house.

For the parents, the highlight, once again, was the Post Office Restaurant at Leura, which is so child friendly that we had two meals there with both boys sitting quietly for an hour and a half, devouring their meals of fish & chips and ice cream. Rachel the waitress was still there and remembered the boys from January, even asking Callum if he was still obsessed with the Titanic.

Spoke too soon

Bedtime escalated after a while, so it took about half an hour before Declan stopped being disruptive. Only stopped after I carried through with the threat to take him to bed in our room.

And then Jack decided after getting very upset with Declan for making too much noise that he was missing his mum, so had to sit with us for a while before going to sleep.

Still, we had a very civilized evening with all three boys, which they enjoyed immensely.

Visitors

We have Jack visiting for a sleepover tonight, and it has been very civilized. They all three sat at the table and ate dinner together, and took turns telling me about their day. Best of all, the combined effects of peer pressure that all three of them ate all the baby spinach leaves in their dinner, when not one of them had ever done it before.

Reading

Declan has learned how to read a word - "no". So far, it's his only one, but whenever he sees it, he proudly points it out - "N O, no". I think it's because he's learning to read from traffic signs.

He can now also read all the numbers up to 10, and has a reasonable amount of success with those up to 20 (even though he can only count up to 12).

A new obsession?

Callum has become interested in airships the last couple of days. We've now watched the Hindenburg crash a great many times and the whole family now knows a lot of obscure airship facts.

The history of airships does seem to be a series of mishaps, which is leading me to question Callum's obsession with great transport disasters of the 20th Century.

The week

Callum's first school holidays. Monday was a public holiday and Jennifer took Cal and Dec to visit Sam and Rowan, after the obligatory finding Easter egg excitement (I remained sick in bed).

Tuesday and Wednesday saw Callum with Elizabeth the babysitter for the day. On Tuesday he went to the Maratime Museum and came back proudly loaded with things he'd done including making a Viking necklace. On Wednesday he had a similar experience at the Powerhouse Museum. I actually think he got to do more with Elizabeth than he would have done with me, and he certainly seemed to have enjoyed himself.

Thursday we went to Manly and visited grandparents in the morning. We met up with Sue and Jack in the afternoon and the kids had a great time jumping in the sea and then rolling in the sand - talk about caked with sand. In the evening Jean and Don came for dinner and stayed the night.

Friday Jean and Don took Declan to the Maratime Museum for his own Viking necklace. Callum went to a medieval day in Merrylands. He had a good time learning about knights and castles and making his own flag and shield. It's in interesting indication of his literalism - others had flags with something representative on it, Callum just wrote his name on each flag (his shield does, however, feature pink dots and aboriginal flags).

Yesterday we went to Oliver Bachus's third birthday party and then to Martin and Kevin's for lunch. The boys thoroughly trashed the Boys designer flat and had a good time doing it. To finish off the family theme we had a long video call with Uncle Bob from Spain in the evening.

Hiding

Declan has a new obsession - hiding. When out walking, he will run ahead if he spies the least sniff of a hiding place, and cram himself into it, pretending he isn't there, and never has been (sometimes while looking right at you!). And at home, he has been exploring the possibilities of curtains, wardrobes, doonas, and cushions at every opportunity. He's getting better at understanding he needs to hide his whole body, and alternates between staying there for ages, unless you spot him, or jumping out and saying boo! at the first opportunity.

Walking

This afternoon, we walked down to Blues Point, just to get a bit of exercise in the afternoon. Both Callum and Declan decided to run the whole way down there. I realised about half way that it is no longer possible to keep up with Declan just walking. You have to run a bit, too.

I thought we might have a bit of trouble with Declan walking back up the hill, but apart from a small bit of whinging at the beginning of the climb, he was pretty happy going back up.

On looking up the old archives, we discovered that it was at about Declan's current age that Callum first walked down to the ferry and back by himself, so they're pretty even.

Drawing

Lately, Callum and Declan have become addicting to drawing and writing things. I'm not quite sure what brought it on, but we've had a goodly stack of A4 paper sitting on a shelf in the kitchen, and it's mostly been used up.

Callum likes drawing pictures of particular things (often the Titanic, but this mornign it was a castle and moat), whereas Declan does this less often (although this evening he drew a ship on Evan's request - possibly not recognisable to the uninitiated yet). Callum also loves to write words if he can work out how to spell them independently (usually from finding a book that have them) and Declan is just starting to try a few letters independently (usually a D, but the other day he tried an A).

Letter from the teacher

Today's was the last day of Callum's first term at school. His teacher sent home a letter to us:

We've had a exciting term 1 in KT. Callum has been a delight! he is always sharing interesting information with his friends and teachers!

He's made quite a few friends this term and really enjoys playground days!

Have a great holiday break!

Mrs Barnett

After a term, Callum is certainly loving school and thriving there, and we're very glad we decided to send him this year.

Huge day

Yesterday (Sunday) we decided with our usual partners-in-crime Sue and Jack that we would visit the Thai New Year festival at Darling Harbour. When we got there, we discovered that it consisted of a lot of Thai food stalls and boring political speeches. So instead, we had a maritime museum and playground day. Various activities:

- pretending that the pirate ship playground was actually the Titanic and that everyone had to get into the lifeboats
- climbing up to the top of a lighthouse (77 steps, plus a 2 metre ladder)
- dressing up as Vikings in the maritime museum kids section, and creating runes of the boys' names
- visiting an actual working naval patrol boat (with guns!)

Then, to top off the day, when we were on the ferry home we had a call from Angela, Robert and Tommy who were stopping off for a visit, and waiting for us in our playground.

A wonderful day, which makes us appreciate the beautiful Sydney autumn weather even more.

In memorium

Sadly, Declan's fish, Ice-cream-cone Ben, is no more. We don't know what happened, but after a day of swimming in what looked like a very unhealthy way, he was dead one morning last week. Declan seemed completely unfazed, just saying that we would have to go down to the fish shop and buy another one. So unfazed was he, that this morning, when Jane gave him a glove balloon, with a face drawn on it, he said that its name was Ice-cream-cone Ben. Good to see that his memory lives on.

Daylight saving update

I'm afraid daylight saving is still cursing our household. We've resorted to bribery - if they stay in bed until 7, they get an easter egg. There is no danger of that happening. This morning it was 6 before they came into our room, but before 5.45 when we heard them. We'll just have to tough it out.

In the meantime, yesterday, Callum had to have a nap at school because he was so tired at lunchtime from getting up at 5.30 (woken by Declan). That's the first time ever.

Why can't we just keep the clocks forward?

Daylight saving

We have been dreading the end of daylight saving, because the boys will continue to wake up at the same time - it will just be an hour earlier. And sure enough, that's what happened this morning. Declan woke up at 5.30 am this morning. Yesterday, when that was 6.30 am, that seemed civilized. But this morning, far from it (although I can't really complain, because Evan was the one who got up).

Callum, on the other hand, said yesterday morning, "I'm really excited because today we put the clocks back one hour". It's frightening how many different things he picks up from school these days.

Publishing

Callum's desk-mate at school, Mary, has been giving him pictures that she has drawn. She slips them in an envelope into his school bag, in an envelope which says "Callum love Mary". He's not the only one, I hasten to add - she's clearly an artistic kind of girl.

So I suggested to Callum last night that he write Mary a letter (thinking that words were more his forte than pictures).

He decided to make her a book. He got a sheet of paper, cut it into six pieces (after drawing lines so he knew where to cut) and drew a set of pictures of the Titanic, from proudly sailing across the sea, to sinking, to sunk. Each one had a caption, describing the events ("Titanic sinking"...."Titanic sunk"). Then he demanded a stapler to put it all together.

A publisher in the making.

Declan OK

Declan seems to have recovered fine from his drama.

Rather cutely he came into our bedroom yesterday morning and announced, "I can breathe in the bathroom now!"

The only permanent change is that he is now completely attached to the trauma teddy-bear he was given in the ambulance. Strange given he's never shown the slightest interest in soft toys before.

Declan, croup, hospital

Declan woke us before 2 this morning with a classic croup cough. He was unable to get his breath or talk. We were scared enough that we called an ambulance, which duly transported Declan and me to Royal North Shore. By the time we arrived he'd calmed down but retained enough of the symptoms for them to verify croup and give him some oral adrenalin. Two hours later he seemed fine and we came home.

This morning he's a bit tired and little sniffly but there are no other signs of a problem. (His parents, on the other hand, are very, very tired.)

Writing

Callum and Declan both wanted to write their own blog posts. Evan and Callum have just tried to fix the tap upstairs, but it didn't quite work. So Callum and Declan both wanted to write about it. I'm not quite sure how "Dear Aidan" got into the post, but they are thinking about him, because we're about to go up to the mountains to visit. Callum and Declan both typed all the letters, and Callum worked out which letter needed to come next (hence the capital letters at the beginning of all of the words).

callum's post

dear Aidan
We Didn't Fix The Tap.

declan's post

Declan is writing his first blog post:

dear aidan
we didn't fix the tap

Sleepover

Isabel came over last night to spend the night with us. Callum and Declan were thrilled to see her. Amazingly enough, once sent to bed, they all just went to sleep! (unlike previous episodes with Jack where there was an hour or so of silliness first). Before going to bed, they had a puppet show and drawing session (clearly Isabel makes them more arty).

Swimming progress

Callum dived into the pool yesterday by himself. He's also making good progress with the swimming although less so with breathing.

Declan wore goggles for the first time which should in turn lead to some more marked progress with his swimming in the coming weeks.

Missing Callum

Declan has started saying that he is missing Callum while he's at school.

Conversation

Tonight, when I got home from work, after a bit of conversation, Declan stroked my arm, and in a very serious voice, said "how was your day today, mummy".

Tintin

We've recently discovered that there is a TV cartoon version of Tintin, and Callum and Declan have been watching it avidly. So yesterday, when we went to the Kinokuniya bookshop, they were excited to find that the rocket bookshelf they've always used as a landmark is full of Tintin books! Sadly, even though they are cartoons, there are far too many words for reading aloud, or for Callum to read himself just yet.

Evan and I have been looking forward to having an excuse to buy Tintin and Asterix books for years!

Stolen voice

Ironically, Callum has lost his voice tonight. I got to the noodle markets a bit late tonight, and he was so tired he was lying on the picnic rug instead of (as usual) manically doing the circuit of the stage chasing Jack.

On the way home, he said that the sun had "taken his voice away" - his loss seems to have coincided with the sunset. It was certainly quite strange to hear him croaking in the back seat.

Talking underwater

Callum and Declan went to visit Juliette, who is in Callum's class at school today. When I got home, Callum immediately went into a 10 minute exposition of all the wonderful things about Juliette's house without drawing breath. I thought it was going to be all about the Thunderbirds (as Juliette has Tracy Island), but actually it was about a door which is only for children because grown ups are too big for it, morphing seamlessly into a discussion of the fishpond.

Eventually, Declan got a word in edgeways.

Stop reading

For some time Declan has been recognizing stop signs. Today he surprised me by reading the word 'stop' in a completely different context.

Now class...

Callum and Declan has a series of posters on their bedroom walls showing the letters of the alphabet.

I went into the boys' room this morning to find Declan sitting in the middle of the fllor looking up at Callum who was walking about the room; well, jumping from bed to bed. Using a wooden spoon as a pointer Callum would tap on a letter, explain it to Declan and then ask Declan to repeat the sound.

It was so cute.

Star of the Week

This week Callum is the Star of the Week, which means he gets to wear a star all this week, and gets to be at the front of the line when KT is going somewhere. He was also interviewed by his classmates. Two sample questions, one I can't remember exactly(something like "what do you like doing in your spare time") - the answer was watching the Adventures of Tintin. The other was "what do you want to be when you grow up?" Answer - "a daddy".

Pronunciation

I never notice when the boys improve their pronunciation normally (I'm too used to correcting in my head), but Declan has just learned to pronounce "l". So he's now saying "Callum" properly, which is nice for all concerned. Callum used to have days where he earnestly correct Declan every time he said "Cammumm", which of course Declan had no chance of saying properly.

Friends

We went to the noodle markets tonight for dinner, and Callum and Declan each ran into a friend from school. It was really nice to see them ineracting. Declan's friend Katherine kept running up to him and asking him to dance with her. They'd boogie for a while on the dance floor, and then Declan would run away back to us for some more food. Callum and his friend Mary just wandered around together exploring.

Visit

We went and visited one of Callum's friends from school yesterday: Sam. Sam has a brother only slightly older than Declan and the four of them seemed to have a great time.

Management not good luck

Declan had a second night without accident as Jennifer and I dared each other into trying again.

Luck not good management

Jennifer had had real problems putting Declan to bed on Monday and Tuesday. I circumvented the going to bed argument by having a complete meltdown with him about brushing his teeth. By the time he got to bed a very subdued Declan went to sleep without a murmur.

But the battle meant I forgot to put him into a pull-up. The result was a his first night without an accident!

Obsession rewarded

Callum got a certificate of merit at the school assembly today for "teaching KT about the Titanic". It's nice to know that the obsession can lead to good.

So much for good intentions

We caught the bus to school today. It did not go well. The bus was late; the kids were not happy waiting a long time by the side of a busy road; the bus was crowded to bursting point; the whole process took significantly longer and was significantly less fun than taking the car.

I'm glad we tried but I'm not going to make a habit of that for some time to come.

Eras ending and beginning

On Sunday we threw out Declan's change table. It was one of the first things we bought before Callum was born, so we were a bit sad to see it go. We're not sad to see the end of the nappies it represents.

Then last night, prompted only by Callum, Declan decided to start using the toilet instead of the potty.

Settling in

I went to a settling-in interview with Callum's teacher yesterday. She's completely happy with the way he's settled in and feels he's keeping up with the class in every way, and more than that in most.

Naaah

Callum asked me tonight, after using the word, "what does 'naaah' mean". I did my usual lazy response to give me time to think and asked him where he had heard it. He told me
"naaah means no in north america - in the united states of america". It's good to to see him improve his understanding of obscure dialects of the english language.

Fish naming

We decided that the boys needed a pet. The best combination of low maintenance and actual animal that does things we could think of was fish. So this morning, Callum, Declan and I went to a fish shop and bought two fish. They each got to point out the fish they wanted, and luckily they look different.

Callum had already decided that their names should be Sarah and Ben. But since one is Callum's and one is Declan's, we told Declan that he could name the second one - it didn't have to be called Ben. He's decided that his fish is called "ice-cream-cone-Ben".

Teasing and other people's standards

I don't know if this post is about Callum or different parenting standards or both.

This morning Callum was sitting on the silver bench waiting for his teacher, together with his classmates. All the parents were milling around in front of the kids.

From a couple of places down Tom and Oscar started teasing Callum. Cal just ignored them; I'm not sure he even realised they were trying to get a rise out of him. I wasn't terribly happy but didn't intervene, even when they tossed a few taunts directly at me.

What left me a little flumoxed was that their parents didn't say anything. They not only didn't intervene but smiled at their children when the kids laughed after shouting out a comment.

I was more than flumoxed when, not getting a rise out of Callum, they turned on Oscar's Mum. "You've got poo on your head.", "You've got wee in your mouth." and so on. Each time they did this they burst out laughing and she joined in, which encouraged them to further heights.

I may be missing something but I just don't get it. To me it's rude and it's the thin edge of bullying.

Wet bed

Declan has been playing games the last few nights. He doesn't want to settle down in bed (thanks to a midday nap at school) and as he can't use the potty with his pull-ups on by himself has been using this as an attention-getting delaying tactic. That said, his pull-ups have generally been dry in the morning.

So last night we thought we'd try a new tack. We didn't put on the pull-ups. The theory was that he could then get himself out of bed an use the potty and so could delay but not get the attention. It worked well enough for the early part of the evening but I had to change his bed at 1am.

Back to the drawing board (and washing machine).

Puzzles

Declan is really into puzzles. He enjoys doing them, and figuring them out. But so far, only with adult help. Tonight, for the first time that I've seen, he did a puzzle completely by himself. It was a 25 piece one with a play school picture. He'd done it before with help, but this time, there was no help from anyone.

Interestingly, all the children around this age I've seen do puzzles can't get the idea of edges and corners. Adults sit down to help them, and try to make the edge; the children try to make a part of the picture (like one of the characters).

My first day in school

I've volunteered to spand some time each week in Cal's classroom and this morning was my first time. There was six parents helping with a weekly session called "recount writing". The kids have to recount what they did on the weekend in writing.

It was great getting a view of how Cal's class works and how they all interact. I was sad to have only half-an-hour with them.

I think he gets this from the Lang side

Callum was telling me about his day at school today. He said with great glee, "I tricked Ms Barnett. She asked me to hold up seven fingers. I held up (demonstrates) four on one hand and three on the other, and she thought I was going to hold up five on one hand and two on the other!". I wouldn't have thought much more of it, except I asked Callum whether Ms Barnett thought that was funny. He said, "she said Callum", which sounded pretty exasperated to me in Callum's imitation of her.

Heartbroken

Occasionally, Declan does something to remind us he's still only two. Tonight, he was sobbing inconsolably half way up the stairs, because I refused to turn the house upside down looking for the toothbrush he had bought at the shops this afternoon. He probably would have held it together, except that we found Callum's...

Green

For reasons that elude me, Blueberry yoghurt (as made by Gogurt) is a blue-ish shade of green. I was very worried, when we opened it, that both boys would refuse it with contempt. But luckily, they both scoffed it with gusto. I doubt if that will change their view of vegetables, though.

Wee standing up

As well as a lot of rules (that he loves to share with us) Callum has learned a new skill at Cammeray. He now wees standing up at all times. He's still pointing this out every time he does it, just so we realise how clever he is.

Reproduction

Callum: "When I am grown up I will have to go by myself and find a mummy of my own. Then I can have two boys too."

Swimming free

Declan did his swimming lessons in trunks today - imagine the freedom of not swimming in a water-logged nappy!

The Plan

I went to a meeting with Callum's Learning Support Team yesterday. This is a group who monitor Cal's progress and tailor a curriculum for him. Everyone is pleased with the way he's settling in. In two weeks he and a couple of others from across the K year will start enrichment classes each morning - they'll look at additional areas in detail (solar system and dinosaurs as a starting point). Cal will also get some different homework to the others and the teacher will make a point of stretching him in class. Then the aim would be once everything else has settled down in term 2 after May he'll move up to year 1 for a selection of classes.

Scripture

I went to Callum's school last night for a parent-teacher introduction evening. It was good to have the teacher explain what the kids are doing and so on.

We also had to make a decision about scripture classes which start today. My first inclination was to say that Callum shouldn't attend. The teacher was pretty negative about this option (my evaluation of her opinion was, I must admit, influenced by the fact she's American) saying that the kids end up spending an our colouring-in. (As an aside, it's shameful they don't have an ethics class as an option.) Anyway there were a couple of other families in the same boat so we agreed to rotate the kids through the different denominations available.

Then I had to sit down this morning and explain God and an open mind to Callum before breakfast.

New babysitter

Sarah is the boy's new babysitter. The boys get babysat for an hour or so one-to-two afternoons a week when I have early meetings. They used to look forward to these afternoons with Miah who they had known from before they could remember. Unfortunately Miah moved to Newcastle and so we had to find someone else.

We seem to have lucked out with Sarah who is a slightly older, ex-flight attendant, Canadian with lots of experience. I'd warned the boys she was coming and she spent the first ten minutes I saw them together having the whirlwind introduction to Thomas, Thunderbirds, the big features of our house Callum's uniform, Declan's underpants, and on and on. She's coming back tonight so I think she survived happily.

Got the potty thing

We've now had several days without accident including his naps at school and so I hope it's safe to say that Declan has 'got it' for the daytime at least. We'll leave him in pull-ups for the night for a while.

This morning I got up and for the second day found him walking about without anything on from the waist down. He'd got up, removed his shorts and pull-ups, put the pull-ups in the bin, and then used the potty. That's pretty independent so there's hope he'll get the night-time thing soon too.

I'd forgotten this bit

1 am and a voice comes out of the darkness: "Daddy I need to go toilet."

Stagger out of bed, take Declan to potty, stagger him back to bed where he falls instantly back to sleep, stagger back to my own bed, lie awake for an hour.

Still, I'm very happy he realised he had to go. He also managed all day today at school, including his nap, in underpants.

Premier's Reading Challenge

NSW has a thing called the Premier's Reading Challenge, where school children read a certain number of books from a long list appropriate to their age group. When they've done it, they get a certificate from the Premier. In Callum's age group (K-2), he needs to read or have read to him 40 in a year (it's more for younger kids, as their books are shorter). Evan checked out the list, and we already own about 20 of them, so we showed the list to Callum and told him we could tick off one every time he read it to us.

I was worried we were pushing him too fast.

This morning, Callum had a tantrum at about 7.15 (well as much as he does these days - he retreated into the bedroom in tears) because I refused to let him read one to me before I got dressed. He'd already decided (from seeing the list the night before) which one he was going to read.

Potty moves on

Declan has had an accident-free day, including a walk over the Harbour Bridge and a fair bit of time on my shoulders (sign of relief from me, but luckily not from him). He did well, very well, telling us when the potty was required and had a nice al-fresco potty experience in the Rocks.

Contact social death

Callum brought five textbooks home from school yesterday with a request to cover them in clear contact and return them on Monday. I've just been covering the books - and we have BUBBLES. Will all the other kids have bubble-free books? Will Callum's bubbles be laughed at? Will there be whispers and pointed fingers amongst the parents?

Oh, the angst.

Potty progress

Declan has been through most of the last two days without a nappy. He even managed the car trips to and from Manly, which was really flying without a net. He really seems to have grasped the idea.

Precision

I drove Callum to school today, and because it worked out, drove through one parking space into another one (so I could go out forwards). Callum was very perturbed by this. He insisted in walking all around the car, and pointing out all the white lines. "Jennifer, you must not cross a white line in a parking space. And you should always go backwards out of a parking space."

He does like his world to be ordered. I felt a bit better as he pointed out all the other cars in the parking lot that had been badly parked as he walked past them...

Energy

Everyone has warned us that Callum might be very tired now he's going to school. All children get tired when they start, and Callum is particularly young. Well, he hasn't had a full week yet, but it hasn't really been our experience. He's certainly tired (and often hot) when we pick him up, but as soon as he has had a cold (not cool!) drink of water, and something to eat, he perks up amazingly.

This afternoon we walked down to the doctor (just the usual foot stuff - needed a new ointment prescription) and Callum ran the whole way there and the whole way back. He got upset with me when I asked him to wait for Declan and me.

Toilet training

I shouldn't post this, given the risk of jinxing things, but Declan does seem to be doing better with his toilet training. He's just had the third evening (from 4 - 7ish) in a row without an accident, and, even better, has started to ask to go to the potty. Regardless of whether it continues, it's been nice not having to change poo-ey nappies!

Bus madness

I've been thinking we might catch the bus to take Callum to school on some days. It's feasible on the days I don't have to coordinate Declan's activities - which means Wednesday and Friday.

So I got the application form to get Callum a bus pass and it turns out he's not eligible - he's too young. Not unreasonable you might say given that he is young to be going to school. BUT the age does not match up either with the starting school age or with when you have to start paying for a child on public transport, it appears to be an arbitrary point between the two.

Teacher feedback

We had a chat with Callum's teacher this afternoon. She says he's doing absolutely fine, there's not a problem of any sort. Not a surprise but a relief to have what we thought confirmed.

Pronouns

Declan's speech, as we've said a couple of times, has come along in leaps and bounds. He's talking in very full sentences and using quite a sophisticated vocabulary. The one thing he hasn't quite got a handle on yet is pronouns. He's still inclined to talk about any character (real or from the Island of Sodor) as "she". And possibly in a related issue, he uses "him" as a possessive pronoun instead of "his". I was struck by this as he said the other day "Thomas has a truck. She pulls him truck along behind him."

Aidan's party

We went to Aidan's 4th Birthday party in the Mountains today. The kids had a wonderful time running round like lunatics with their friends.

As we left Callum declared: "I'll miss Aidan when I go to Cammeray on Monday."

Schools

Callum seemed to have another good day at school. He was certainly happy when we left and when we picked him up.

Declan had his first music lesson today. We're doing the same thing we've been doing with Cal for the last year so it's strange that now Dec gets to participate instead of watch. He enjoyed himself immensely.

School reactions

When we went to pick Callum up, he was happily drawing a picture of the bubbler, and another one of his buddy Alex. He seemed to have really enjoyed his day, although he did tell us that he was very tired. His teacher agreed that he'd had a good day, and said he was telling everyone all about trains...

He's been gradually telling us about his day all evening, and it all seems good. He told us that you have to go down the stairs on the left, and that he isn't allowed in part of the playground because "his arms aren't long enough". He and Isabel had a phone conversation comparing notes ("where did you put your schoolbag", "who were your new friends") and they both seemed very enthusiastic to each other.

Cal in uniform

The back seats have ears

When we got Callum into his uniform this morning we found we'd lost his uniform socks. A frantic time was had searching the house for them. We didn't find them and he's off to school wearing a pair of roughly green socks (which do at least fit, which the uniform socks didn't).

As we parked to drop Callum off I made an aside to Jennifer about the "sock trauma". There was a pause and then Declan pipes up from the back: "What's a sock trauma?". Callum joins in: "Yes, what's a sock trauma?". Suddnely my aside becaome a major conversational topic.

We really do have to watch what we say in their hearing now.

Callum off to school

Callum positively bounded to school this morning. We reached the gates and he charged off leading the way to the assembly hall. He greeted Alex, his buddy, with enthusiasm and went off with him to the classroom. Jennifer, Declan and I trailed along after. On the way in the car Callum had said he just wanted to go to the class with Alex and he didn't need us there. So a good start.

Callum is in KT and his teacher for the moment is Courtney Barnett. Sue Trisic, is the usual teacher of the class but she's acting Deputy Principal for the first few months of the year. We're pleased he is in Sue's class as she was the teacher we met when we went to discuss Cal going to Cammerary and who made an effort to follow things up for us. She also recognised Callum in the playground.