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!"