Another beach visit

Yesterday we went to Greenwich Baths again, this time with the Vincent Gaynors. The moment we got there Declan went up to a boy around his age building sandcastles and started helping, while Callum found his own spot on the beach to dig. But he soon branched out into his favourite beach activity, delivering sand to the ramp near the shop, and then had a great time chasing Declan and Claire around the beach.

They are both very comfortable in the water these days, with Callum actually getting out of his depth a few times and swimming back in without panicking, which I was quite impressed by.

Star Wars fanatics

On Saturday, we all went up to the mountains to see Jodie and Chris' renovation and celebrate Angela's birthday. Aidan was ecstatic to see that Callum and Declan had brought their light sabres, and they (plus Tommy with a cardboard roll) spent what seemed like hours in Aidan's room playing light sabre games.

Then Chris put on the original Star Wars movie, which Callum and Declan had not yet seen, and that held them occupied for another couple of hours. I can trace this Star Wars obsession exactly from when they got the Star Wars game (which occupies any spare time at home unless we drag them away) but its a bit startling, as they've been surrounded by Star Wars obsessed small boys for a few years without previously succumbing.

Hanging out

We've been having a lazy Sydney holiday so far. On Boxing day, we went to Greenwich Baths for what ended up being most of the day with Sue and Jack. Callum introduced Jack to his game (from the previous Greenwich Baths). "We have a mission to take this rare mineral, sand, on our surfboards, without getting it wet to the other end of the beach." They all spent lots of time digging in the sand, playing in the waves, and learning to play softball with Jack's new bat and ball set.

Then on Thursday it was off to the Powerhouse museum with the Vincent Gaynors. Declan and Claire made a team building in Zoe's house before we managed to persuade them to walk back to the ferry (lots of suggestions of the monorail each step of the way from both of them).

And then yesterday was the laziest day yet, with the most exciting activity a visit to Woolworths to replenish our breakfast cereal collection. The highlight, though, was a quick visit to the pool after dinner where we persuaded both boys to pencil jump into the deep end (which at North Sydney Pool is very deep). Callum probably got 1.5m deep some times.

Merry Christmas everyone

Christmas Day yesterday was a feast of food and presents, as always. Callum and Declan were the recipients of most of the presents, as each person present wanted to make sure they had enough.

When I asked them their favourite presents, they subdivided into categories - Callum's favourite present from Santa was a lightsaber, and his favourite present from a person was the box of magic tricks. Declan's favourite from Santa was a toy R2D2, and he keeps changing his mind about his favourite present from a person - current favourite is the dinosaur archeological dig.

But in fact, they spent most of the afternoon playing the Lego Star Wars computer game which they got, so I think that was the most popular.

Anticipation

Although the Advent calendars aren't as exciting this year as last year (we couldn't find any with chocolate), Callum and Declan are still very excited about Christmas. We have managed to persuade them to go to bed quite early (as they haven't had enough sleep lately) but I fear that they will be waking well before the 6 am that they've been told is their earliest limit.

Grandparental visit

On Friday night, a very excited Callum and Declan visited their grandparents in Kirrawee. They had been planning for it for weeks, remembering all the things they loved about Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Their absolute favourite part was the doorbell game, where they rang the doorbell, and then retreated away from the front door and into the laundry, to sneak up behind whichever grandparent was foolish enough to answer the door. The game lost its appeal for Grandma and Grandpa well before Callum and Declan tired of it.

Other very enjoyable parts of the visit included sleeping in Uncle Bob's bed (Callum) and playing with a magic trick made by Uncle Bob, and helping Grandma make a gingerbread house.

When we told Callum that we had slept until 8 that morning (in the absence of someone to wake us up) he (mock) fainted in surprise.

Partying

Today Declan and I went to my work Christmas Party. After a slow start, he ended up having a great time. The clown made him and another boy a balloon sword each, and they spent the whole time chasing each other around the floor and pretending to play star wars.

When Santa came, he shook Declan's hand, and then gave him a present, which Declan was very thrilled by.

Christmas party

Today we had the proxy cousin Christmas Party at the Vincent Gaynor's new place. Ideally suited, as it has a long hall for the big kids (Callum, Aidan, Tom, Declan, Claire) to run up and down and chase each other while the parents (mostly) sat and chatted.

Now we've all eaten too much, and Callum and Declan are actually tired enough from all that chasing to have gone to bed very early (although Callum is now, once again, asking what he should dream about).

Budding actors

Callum and Declan both did ATYP on Saturday mornings this last term. This weekend was their performance, and they both had a great time. Callum's was about Christmas morning, and my favourite part was the beginning, where his role was to wake up, look at his watch, and say, "three o'clock, not time to get up". He also pretended to be a christmas present, the tub for the Christmas tree, and a bowl of carrots for the Christmas lunch.

Declan was a fairy (or possibly a goblin) in a preschool interpretation of a Midsummer nights dream. He did a fairy march, and then turned his mother into a donkey using fairy dust.

It's been a very civilized way of spending Saturday mornings - Callum has his class from 9 - 10.30 (with no parent accompaniment required), and Declan and I go into his class at 9.30, having had a cup of coffee in the Sydney Dance Company cafe for half an hour. We're hoping to do it again next year.

Yellow tip

It was grading day at Tae Kwon Do today. Cal succesfully completed the requirements to get a yellow tip on his white belt.

A-night

Cal received an award for academic excellent at school's award night during the week. Strangely enough so did two other members of his soccer team - I have no idea what, if anything, that signifies.

Piano practice

Callum and Declan are now both learning piano, and doing piano practice for about 5 minutes 3 or so times a week.

Callum, to my surprise, really enjoys it, going to the piano with alacrity whenever we suggest he might need to do some practice. He is now up to using five fingers on his right hand, and three on his left, and using both hands occasionally.

Declan loves the piano, but finds the discipline of actually following a piece of music a bit annoying. So he has to be enticed to do his two pieces (two fingers on each hand, not simultaneously) with the promise of a bit of free play with his mother (I play some vaguely jazzy chords, or as much as my deficient sense of rhythm will allow, and he improvises whatever he feels like with the string sound setting).

Star Wars continues

Callum and Declan are now completely obsessed by the Star Wars computer game. It is a two player game (which is excellent) so they sit side by side working their own bits of the keyboard. They will play at any opportunity, and generally have to be chased off to go to bed. Most of the time, Callum is in charge, so you hear shouts of, "use the force, Declan!" at odd moments.

Shopping

Declan has lately been very keen on clothes shopping - for me. So yesterday while Callum and Evan were out at Tae Kwon Do, we went out and bought me a dress. He has very definite tastes, wanting patterns (preferably flowers) and soft material. And he drags me into shops that he thinks he likes the look of.

Oddly enough, he's not especially fussy about which of his own clothes he wears.

Dec's reading

Declan's reading has suddenly jumped in the last few weeks. The number of letter-reversals has dropped off dramatically and he can sight-read a range of words that's growing apace.

Cal's School Pennant

Callum received a School Pennant this morning. He was pleased as punch.

What shall I dream about?

Every night now, when he goes to bed, Callum asks us what he should dream about. And he's quite picky about the answers, too. Tonight, when Evan suggested Tae Kwon Do, he said, "I'm too tired to dream about that."

Biggles

I manage to wean Callum and Declan away from their Star Wars game to play Monopoly before bedtime this evening. Biggles was most interested and decided a couple of times to settle down on the Board before deliberately walking across.

Because we were just playing near Biggles' corner, Callum and Declan decided to tease Biggles with his toy mice (a present from Marta). That's the first time I've seen them play with Biggles, as opposed to stroking him, so it was nice to see Biggles respond by stalking them and pouncing on them. Exhausted by all that activity, he's now asleep on the couch in traditional cat fashion.

Giddy up

It's fading, but I thought I should record that whenever Declan is trying to run as fast as possible, he does so by chanting to himself, "giddy up, giddy up, giddy up horsey."

Apparently it makes him run faster.

New abilities

Declan, yelling down from upstairs because I told him I would sort something out when he was asleep, "I am asleep! I can sleep and talk at the same time, you know!"

The boy's a marvel.

Election fever

Yesterday was the Australian Federal election; Declan's first and Callum's second. This was the first time we really tried to get them to understand what was going on. Callum decided that the most important policy to decide where our votes should go was hospitals; the party who won should be the party that was going to build more hospitals. Not to be outdone, Declan decided that his party should build more houses.

We had a party last night to watch the election results, with accompanying children, which meant that with all the excitement and company they both went to bed about 10pm. Today they have been very crotchety, but we're hoping that a good night's sleep tonight might get them back to normal.

Star Wars

Having got Callum and Declan very excited by the Lego Star Wars game, we decided that they were probably old enough to watch the movie. So tonight they watched The Phantom Menace, not a bad introduction, as the plot and dialogue are fairly cliched, and follow the plot of their computer game very closely.

They enjoyed it immensely, but did find it scary in parts.

Parenting

As the boys were going to bed tonight, Callum started talking to me about parenting styles. "When I'm a parent, my children won't ever have to sit on the stairs. If they're naughty, they'll sit on the couch and be able to watch TV. And they won't sleep at night, they'll sleep in the day, because at night they'll be busy being spies. And I'll teach them to understand my words as soon as they are born."

I'm not quite sure where that came from, because all evening (not having been naughty) he'd been sitting on the couch, as a special Friday night treat, watching TV while eating pizza for dinner.

Star Wars

Evan bought the boys a Star Wars computer game today. Turns out that Declan is an expert in Star Wars, from his friends Lachlan and Zoe at Kindy. He told me, "there is only one Darth Vader, but lots of Storm Troopers". He is very very excited to have a Star Wars game, and could only be dragged away up to bed with the promise of playing in the morning.

Summer is (almost) here

Callum made me add the almost, as he pointed out that we still have 12 more days until summer is really here.

It felt exactly like summer at the beach today. We went to Greenwich Baths and the boys had a wonderful time kicking on surfboards from the beach to the ramp and back again (Callum's also asked me to add that sometimes they walked back from the ramp). We also tried out the icecreams, realising that they taste just as good as Italian gelato, but there isn't nearly as much choice of flavours.

And on Friday night we went to our first noodle markets of the season, where much running around and tree climbing was had by all.

Parent teacher

Evan had the parent teacher discussion with Declan's preschool teacher Tania yesterday. She was very complimentary about how he was going, and how ready he was for school, saying that both academically and socially he should be absolutely fine.

Declan brought home his portfolio which has some nice pieces of art and a few samples of his writing, which have clearly improved quite a lot over the last year.

Speech

It's time for Callum's school speech again, this time on "my ideal holiday". Callum doesn't much like practising speeches, even though we've tried to persuade him that it improves his eventual performance. But I found something to keep his interest - videoing his rehearsals. He did some great practice sessions, although I'm still trying to persuade him to pretend to lick the pretend gelato.

Party central

Sunday for us was a party day - after our relaxed, computer game Saturday we went to three different parties! First Callum went to Angus' birthday party - slotcars in Artarmon. Then Declan and I caught a ferry to a post renovation party for one of my work colleagues. Then finally we met up at the Hayes St street party in Neutral Bay.

Fortunately I was the only one who got sunburnt from all the ferry travel.

Geekery

Half life 2 is a computer game that Evan and Callum and Declan love to play. Today, they finished it because they'd worked out all the puzzles.

To celebrate, Declan and I bought some roses, and made a cake. Here is a picture of them.

Stereotypes

With Dr Goh retiring, we've had to find a new doctor for the boys. Not easy, as Dr Goh was around the corner, very patient, and always willing to explain his chain of reasoning to anxious over logical parents.

On various recommendations, we are now going to a husband and wife practice a drive away, up past North Sydney shops. We took Callum there for his recurrent excema. On his second visit, Callum got the female doctor. Both he and Declan were a bit surprised by this, and commented on it to me. But it didn't take long for them to be prepared to believe that both boys and girls could be doctors. I find it interesting, though, that Callum with his recent heavy usage of the health system has managed to get that stereotype. In hospital there were quite a few junior femal doctors around, but the senior one was male - perhaps he didn't notice the difference between the doctors and the (95% female) nurses.

Inventions

Callum's been thinking up so many inventions lately (that he's going to invent when he's a grown up) that he's started a special invention journal to keep track of them all. It has a diagram of each one, with labels. My favourite is the teleporter, although the hologram TV comes a close second.

Friends

When I got home tonight it was to the sound of four children going wild. Milly and Alice from around the corner were here, and they were all playing up in the loft, after having (from the evidence all over the floor) played dress ups for a while.

It took about four attempts before Robyn successfully dragged her two away, but she finally succeeded, albeit to almost tearful protests from Milly. To get to their place, you have to cross Victoria St, but Callum is almost ready for the responsibility that would involve. It would be great for them to have friends that they can visit on their own.

Shakespeare

As the boys were going to bed, Declan and I found a book about Shakespeare on Callum's bedside table (archeological evidence would suggest from about three months ago). Declan was very excited by this, because we've been learning about Midsummer Night's Dream at ATYP, and insisted I read it to him for his "bednight story". It's got lots of fairly grown up concepts in it, including pickpockets, hangings and the plague, some of which I attempt to skip over, with mixed success.

But after I'd gone downstairs, Declan came down with it again. "You've skipped a page, Jennifer". Said page was all about the devil, and how he was represented in 16th century theatre. After I gave him a quick summary he proceeded to quiz me for 10 minutes on why the other actors didn't fall through the trapdoor the devil came up through.

Party fever

Today the boys busy social schedule caught up with us, as Callum was invited to Archie's 6th birthday party while the whole family was invited to Zoe's second. That meant that by the time Callum (and Evan) made it to the Gaynor-Vincents, he was too exhausted to actually party. Declan, on the other hand, pacing himself nicely with only a one party day, had a great time playing with all the gang. A scary number of children were there - Callum, Aidan, Tom, Declan, Claire, Tom (Mitchell), Jemima, Zoe (Gaynor), Zoe (Mitchell), Emma and the latest addition, Zoe's cousin Amy.

The highlight was the inspired use of packing material to create a swimming pool made out of boxes and butchers paper. You probably had to be there to get the full effect.

Playing

This afternoon, Declan and I walked around to the spanish shop for a milkshake, joined on the way by Isabel and Griffin, who needed someone to play with. As I sat with my coffee, the three of them got down from the table, and started playing Toontown. This generation has not grown up with cowboys and indians, but there is a clear need for a simple heros and villains story that can be played with everyone understanding the language.

They took turns being cogs and toons, and throwing wilder and wilder gags at each other, and generally had a wonderful time. Perhaps there is a TV series in it? I'm sure Disney has already thought of it.

Swimming

I took the day off on Friday, which meant I got to go swimming with the boys. Declan has his lesson first, then Callum, so each gets some one-on-one swimming time with a parent. I was very impressed that Callum can now quite easily swim a lap of the 25m pool freestyle (he was puffed at the end, but there didn't seem to be any risk of drowning).

Declan hasn't really got the idea of freestyle yet, but loved the chance to swim around and show off his "somersaults" (sideways not front or back). He's completely at home in the water, but doesn't especially like to try and go forwards (either freestyle or doggy paddle).

Spy company - the latest

When he grows up, Callum is going to have a spy company. The spy company is going to save all the banks in the world, by catching all the bank robbers. It will have jet lifts, one down that can go up and down like a normal lift and one to the side, which will go side to side.

The spies will sit watching screens, with a teleporter next to them. When they see a bank robber on the screen, they will go out in the teleporter, and it will take about a minute to get to the bank robber (using magnetic gloves), who they will catch and teleport back to spy HQ.

School

On Wednesday, Declan got to have his first taste of Cammeray Public School, with an introductory visit to meet the buddy he will have next year - Christopher. He was in a class with a few friends - Alice from around the corner, and Dan and Rowan whose brothers were in Callum's class last year. Alice and Declan put their arms around each other for moral support as they went into their class, which was very sweet.

Christopher helped Declan do some colouring in, and make a book about the Billy Goats Gruff which Declan very proudly showed me when he got home that night. He was slightly nervous the night before, "but what if the teacher asks me to spell a word that I don't know how to spell?" but, as expected, enjoyed it immensely, and is finding it very hard to wait the three months or so until he starts for real.

Sadly, the fish are no more

Biggles the cat spent most of his first few days in our house staring intently at the fish tank, and, when we weren't watching, jumping on top of it.

Today, while everyone was out, he finally figured out how to catch the fish in spite of the lid, and Evan returned to find a lot of water all over the bench, and no fish.

Callum and Declan seem to have taken the loss in their stride. I think they had already transferred their pet allegience.

Composer

Callum has been my "sidekick" playing a totally inappropriate computer game for the last few days. The game ends with one of the characters' father dying. Callum turned his evening piano practice into a composing session and composed a Half Life 2 song. The song, which must be played in organ mode, ends with several beats of the lowest note on the piano to signify the sadness of Alex's father dying. (The rest of the song, before anyone gets too excited, is every other key on the piano played in descending turn - or there's a "short version" where he starts on middle C and works his way down.)

Biggles the cat

Following a long standing promise to Declan, we have a new member of the family - Biggles the cat. He's butterscotchy coloured, and about a year old.

Both boys have been very excited, and reasonably gentle with Biggles, who is still coming to terms with having entered a household with two small boys in it. Biggles slept on Callum's bed his first night, so I think he and Callum are friends forever.

Indoctrination

We went to the Crows Nest Fair on Sunday, and with the election campaign in full swing, the major parties were both handing out balloons. The boys were very excited and demanded some of their own. As luck would have it, we got to the Liberals' stand first, and the boys each got a yellow ballooon with Joe Hockey's name emblazoned on it.

I decided that I should explain to Callum, at least, what it was all about, and why I wanted them to have a red ballooon as well, for balance, so I tried to explain to him about the election, and the different parties. I told him that the Labor party (candidate, Mike Bailey, as emblazoned on the red balloon we collected shortly after) wanted to spend more money on hospitals. Callum was decided immediately that Mike Bailey was his man, and started a chant of "we want Mike Bailey". Evan decided that he would take Callum up to meet Mike Bailey to thank his hero in person. Callum was quite thrilled by the experience (although uncharacteristically shy) but Mike Bailey seemed more taken aback than pleased at having such a young fan.

I should say that I knew that the hospitals example would get Callum's vote. Ever since his stay in hospital, Callum's major comment on any political question (at any level of government) has been that more money should be spent on hospitals, just in case he or any of his friends have to go to one. He's even been toying with the idea of becoming a doctor (in addition to his other careers as spy and archaeologist) to help.

Show

Yesterday, I took the boys to see RabbiT, with Claire and Jennifer, at the Opera House. It was by a dance company that has been specifically created to create works for children, and I thought it worked very well. Based loosely around the Alice in Wonderland story, it was the story of four rabbits who like to play Alice in Wonderland, and their search for someone to be Alice in their game.

Four was the youngest age in the age guideline (age 4-12, from memory), so a fair bit of it went over both boys' heads. But they still loved it, and laughed hysterically at the appropriate points.

Feet update

With summer coming upon us, the skin on Callum's foot has once again got itchy and blistery. For most of winter, it was fine, and Evan had I had almost forgotten the nightly cream and glad wrap on the foot ritual. We've had to find a new doctor, with Dr Goh retiring, and now some new cream. Hopefully that'll knock it on the head.

Lunchbox day

Declan's class at kindergarten, Green Group, has started doing lunchbox days once a week, so that they can practice for big school (they normally provide all the food, which is the only time Declan will deign to eat fruit).

Declan has been thrilled by this, and commented to me yesterday that Green Group was getting much more grown up, lately.

Back!

We're back from a great holiday in Italy. A week in Venice, with Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Bob, a week in Sicily, and four days in Rome. We all had a great time, but are now somewhat jetlagged...

Highlights:

• the boys becoming more and more confident with trying out their Italian vocabulary, so that they were both saying grazie and ciao at appropriate moments, and occasionally trying out other words
• a different flavour of gelato every day (actually, Callum, reading this over my shoulder, tells me that he had some flavours twice, but he does like precision)
• playing hide and seek in the back streets of Venice
• feeding the pigeons in St Marks Square
• visiting Mt Etna, an actual live volcano, and putting our hands on the steam vents
• swimming in the Mediterranean sea
• catching an overnight ferry from Sicily to Naples and watching it being cast off
• visiting the Colosseum
• counting the Spanish Steps in Rome (there are 136)

It was a lovely holiday, and probably just the right length - the boys were increasingly missing their computer games and toys during the last few days in Rome.

Making movies

Callum was home sick three days this week, and he and Evan entertained themselves by making movies. First they made a stop motion lego car crash, then a live action movie called "Doodle training" (about a pet balloon's tricks) and finally a stunt movie about how you can use a magnifying glass to start a fire on paper.

Callum's very excited by them, and shows them off to all visitors.

Taxi

This morning, as I had to go to Balmoral for work, and Callum was sick, Declan shared a taxi with me to kindergarten. He was totally thrilled, and said to me "this is the first time I've ever been in a taxi!"

I'm not sure that the experience of going to kindergarten with me was that exciting, but the taxi sure was.

Measurements

As usual on a birthday, we measured the boys. Callum is 116 cm and 20kg. That means he is 53rd percentile for height, 39th for weight and 33rd for body mass index.

Declan is 107 cm and 18.4 kg, which is 70th percentile for height, and 67th for weight and body mass index.

Most importantly, they are both definitely now tall enough to go on the Wild Mouse ride at Luna Park.

Happy Birthday Callum!

In an action packed birthday week, Callum turned six. On his actual birthday, he opened presents from family members, and was especially excited by Declan's present, which was a spy-catcher - a booby trap electronics kit which we set up on the play room door to catch any spies and robbers. He tooked cupcakes to school for his class, and then prepared himself for the big one - the birthday party. Before that though, there was anticipation all Saturday, and uncles with more spy gear on Sunday morning

He had been looking forward to it for months, ever since in a weak moment, Evan mentioned on the invitation that there was a risk of becoming invisible* at the party. He had a science presenter at the party, who held the kids enthralled with tricks involving water and sound, and then let them play with lots of great tricks and toys.

And then he got to open the multitude of science and spy presents from all his friends.

At six, Callum would like to be a spy when he grows up (possibly in Egypt) and loves science, too. His favourite books at the moment are about Emily Eyefinger - about a girl with an eye at the end of her finger. His best friend is Scarlett, who plays toontown with him obsessively (over the internet) but he is at pains to point out that they are not in love, just best friends.
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*In a packing mistake, the magic jellybeans got mixed up with the normal ones, and it was impossible to tell which, if any, of the party bags contained jelly bags which might make you invisible.

White belt

Cal and I had our first Tae Kwon Do lesson on the weekend. He did really well and I think it will be good for him - and he looks great in his white outfit. He came away absolutely fine; I'm stumbling about in a welter of stretched muscles.

Catchphrase

Callum's new exclamation is Oh Man! He says that whenever something goes slightly wrong. Except when he decides to say, "what the!" Declan, on the other hand has taken to using "Even" whereever possible. As we were coming back from a walk, he said, "by the way, we're nearly home, even."

Spit to Manly

Today we did the Spit to Manly walk with Sue and Jack. The boys walked the entire, almost 10km, way without complaint in spite of some heavy rain showers.

They were tired by the end but an ice cram soon revived them.

Moral update

Cal quietly explained this evening that he "paid Tim back" by making up a song: "Tim and Tom sitting in the tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g."

AND Tim hadn't told on him to the teacher!

Moral dilema

This morning Callum started writing a poem - "Timothy and Scarlett sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g", again and again. When quizzed about it it turned out the kids in his class had been teasing Cal in this way about playing witrh Scarlett - with Tim the lead-teaser. So Cal's plan was to write this out and give it to Tim.

The problem arose when I pointed out Scarlett might not be any happier than Cal with the teasing, and would feel bad if it looked like Cal was teasing her too. He the wrote a note on the poem "Please don't show Scarlett."

I pointed out that Timothy was unlikely not to show Scarlett in the circumstances. Cal sat and stared at the peom for a minute then got up, tore it in half and stuck it in the bin.

(We've now had a chat about another approach down the ignoring it lines.)

Spelling

Declan can now read most short words, if he concentrates and sounds them out first. He's gradually increasing his repetoire of sight words too (cat and dog came first, but it's getting bigger).

But he is becoming a demon speller. He loves to play hangman, and explained to me the other night that he had to correct one of his classmates. "She thought that you spelt milk m-i-k, but I told her that it's m-i-l-k." If you ask him to spell a reasonably phonetic shortish word, he will almost always get it right. It is still surprising to me that he finds reading so difficult, given how well he spells.

Inventions

Callum and Declan have recently gone crazy with thinking up inventions. This morning, when I came downstairs, Callum explained his latest idea in great detail.

"My next invention is going to be a better way to come downstairs. It's going to be a special button that you press, and my mattress will automatically go downstairs using pulleys and wires. It'll be a green button to go down and a red one to go up."

I asked him whether we would need a hole in the ceiling. He agreed, but thought that all the visitors to the house would be much happier, because they wouldn't have to go up and downstairs all the time.

Favoured phrases

Declan
"D'you know what?" (used constantly)
"Can I have Neutralgrain for breakfast."
"Easy peasy." (used when asnwering any question to give him time to think of the actual answer)

Callum
"Well, well, well." (used when seeing someone - eg "Well, well, well... Evan" when I meet him after school.)
"Hmmmm." (accompanied by tilted head, finger on cheek and impish smile when thinking of an idea which he knows will fall into the rascal category)

Sleepover

Declan is very taken with Isabel, in a hero-worshipping way, so tonight he asked her if she would like to sleep over at our house.

Declan and Isabel, spent a good hour after I had turned their lights off (already very late) making up silly stories about their toy animals that they had taken to bed with them. Callum occasionally contributeda bit of extra silliness.

Toontown

One of the children in Callum's class introduced him to Toontown at the beginning of this year, which is an online game for 4 year olds and up. It's lately had a resurgence, as Callum and his friend Scarlett have worked out how to find each other online. I came home on Friday night to find Callum and Declan very excitedly shouting away, with Scarlett yelling encouragement on the phone which was set to speakerphone.

Tonight, Isabel and Griffin came over for dinner and Callum and Declan helped them to create their own characters so that they could enjoy the fun.

Grooving

Today we went to the Powerhouse museum, and checked out the special effects exhibition again. It's got one exhibit where you can make your own rock video, to a choice of music, with fake microphones and guitars provided as props.

Declan took to the microphone like a born lead singer, crooning into it in time with the music. He was particularly effective in It's a Long Way to the Top, which probably doesn't bode well for our popularity with the neighbours in 10 years time.

Public transport king

Callum has decided that when he grows up he is going to either be the Mayor of Sydney, or the Premier of NSW. Reason? After his visit to the Museum of Sydney, he's decided that Sydney would be much better off if we brought back the trams. And he will be just the person to do it!

He also might expand the train network, but the trams are definitely first priority.

Where is the Green Sheep?

I took Declan to see a show of Where is the Green Sheep? at the Opera House today. He seemed to enjoy it, joining in with the actions, and periodic asking "where is that green sheep?" that the actors asked the audience to do.

At one point, ("this is the band sheep") the actors asked the audience to dance. Declan went all shy and started doing a very subtle rhythmic shuffle of his feet (in contrast to pretty much every other audience member, including Claire, who was grooving away very enthusiastically).

I found it quite interesting, as normally he is a very enthusiastic dancer (albeit perhaps in a Peter Garrett style).

But he did have a very good time, also persuading Claire and Zoe (and Callum who had been to the Museum of Sydney with Evan) to chase seagulls with him while we sat down and had a coffee afterwards.

Collage

Declan has suddenly become very into collages. This week he has made one at kindy, one with me, and one with his Granny. He insists that whoever he is doing it with makes a collage as well, but it's a bit scary as he is a very harsh artistic critic.

While on his own collage, he's quite happy to have fairly abstract shapes that mean something (three furry balls representing a soccer player, for example), his collage-mates must make pictures that are clearly recogniseable to the casual viewer. It's all quite stressful for this artistically-challenged parent.

Auteur

Callum has been very taken with the movies Spy Kids and Spy Kids 2, and has decided that we should make one of our own - Spy Kids 10. He is the hero, and the story will be that he rescues his little brother, (offscreen for all the action, as Declan doesn't want to be in the movie).

He's been wandering around for the last few days thinking up stunts and how we could put them in the movie (making himself invisible with his blankie, using the stairs as a green screen, instead of the usual blue screen, that kind of thing).

He's decided that if we charge $30 per copy, then we will become very rich when everyone in the world buys it. I tried to convince him that people might not be willing to pay that much, but he's pretty convinced that a movie that he directs will be in hot demand.

Cal makes breakfast

I came down this morning and found Callum had made breakfast for himself and Declan. He did an excellent job, only spilling something at the end when the big, three litre milk bottle became too much from him when pouring a drink for Dec.

Claire's 4th Birthday

We went to Claire's birthday party yesterday. There was a bit of gender divide, although that may have been driven by age with Declan following Callum and Aidan. The boys bounced and bounced and bounced on the bouncy castle. They took an occasional break and then bounced again.

Highlights: bouncing and the yummiest cake.

Making faces

As they were going to bed tonight, Callum and Declan decided to play a game - making faces. Callum laid down the rules - make the funniest faces you can, and the first person to laugh loses.

After a minute or so, Callum started laughing, and I told him that he had lost. "I wasn't laughing at Declan, I was laughing at my own face!" After some inconclusive discussion, the game ended without either side claiming victory.

From the spectators point of view, Callum's faces were the funniest, but that was mostly because he wasn't wearing any clothes at the time, and he contorted his limbs in an attempt at extreme humour.

Fiction

Evan has, in the last few months, found some excellent talking books for us (the boys, mainly) to listen to in the car. Most recently, he found the beginning of Enid Blyton's Faraway Tree series, The Enchanted Forest (read by Kate Winslet, no less). Declan has been very taken with the stories, and has recently insisted that I read them to him before bed every night. Callum has taken to creeping up and sitting on Declan's bed too. I've been very impressed with Declan's staying power for books which have very few pictures.

So the other night, after he had finished dinner, and Declan was still eating (a very common occurrence) Callum noticed the copy of Peter Pan sitting on our bookshelf behind him. He brought it over to me. I opened it carefully, and explained that it was very old ("older than Grandpa!") and had been owned by Grandpa's sister Aunt Anne. Now I'm reading a chapter of that every night at dinner. This one actually has more pictures, but Declan is usually still eating, so doesn't get to see them. They appear to have been coloured in by Aunt Anne, which I am more impressed with than either of the boys.

Spy Kids

Callum and Declan have a new favourite movie - Spy Kids. It's a thriller about two children who turn into spies. Callum would like to watch it every waking moment, and was a bit disappointed when our visitors yesterday expressed no interest, but instead wanted to watch a movie about cats.

Callum's favourite part is all the gadgets.

Girl toys

I mentioned to Declan this evening that it was Claire's birthday soon, and we would have to think of a present for her. "I think she will want a girl toy", he said. He was fairly vague about that, moving on to Winnie the Pooh with great confidence that Claire would love a Winnie the Pooh toy.

Later that evening, he told me with great excitement that his next birthday party will be a fairy party. I remain reasonably confident that they haven't imbibed too many rigid gender stereotypes.

Matilda Mudpuddle

Callum has a new favourite book character - Matilda Mudpuddle. She suddenly gets superanatural powers - a different one in each book - by eating an unusual food. In the first in the series, she eats a bright blue jellybean, and is suddenly invisible for three hours.

Callum is very taken with this concept, and has decided that the piece de resistance at his birthday party will be handing out blue jellybeans to each guest at the end. And suddenly they will all be invisible! Apparently the occupants of his table at school and several teachers are now clamouring for an invite.

Declan CAN read

After some feedback from his pre-school teacher, who is doing some extra work with Declan, we've decided we've been on the outer-edge of hard-marking regarding whether Dec can read (we've been convinced he can't). This evening he read:
"I pat a cat.
I had fun in the sun.
The cat sat on the mat.
I want a dog.
I gave him a cat."

He got a Mars bar (which he also read).

The octopus attack

Poor Callum's chest looks like he's been attacked by an octopus. His skin reacted badly to the adhesive used to attache the halter monitor electrodes and so he has a range of raised, round bumps across his chest.

Othwise the episode passed without incident. Callum was very calm throughout.

Heart monitor

Callum was fitted with a Holter monitor this morning. This is a portable ECG which he has to wear for 24 hours. It's unexpectedly bulky, especially as it involves several feet of thick wires. Callum has shown great forebearance about the experience so far although he's expressed serious qualms about having to sleep in the thing.

What a line!

Callum has been running around the last few days asking people if they'd like to smell his lips (they smell of strawberries from his chapstick - a current fad in his class). He's remarkably successful. I can't help thinking if he can do it as successfully when he's 20, it'll work as a great pick-up line.

Bruises and experimental logic

Callum has recently figured out what bruises are (your skin looks blue, and it hurts when you press on it). He's taken a leap of logic from there and decided that he has a bruise on the inside of each elbow, except that its a different kind of bruise that doesn't hurt.

I tried to explain to him that its actually a vein close to the surface, and it wouldn't go away in a week like other bruises do, but he clearly wasn't at all convinced. We've agreed to "do an experiment", though - we'll look at it again in a month and decide who was right.

Most improved

Yesterday there was a soccer game for the first time in about six weeks. Callum tried very hard, and got the most improved award. This is a small trophy with a soccer ball on it that gets passed to a different player each week.

He was very thrilled with it and showed it to any available adults (Val from Thomas St cafe, as it happens) and took it to bed with him last night.

The soccer team won 9-0 and Callum got quite a few kicks (although no goals).

A moment

We've been out to dinner at the local Italian restaurant. We're on our way home. The boys have been hiding behind pillars and are now running ahead, screaming with delight, as we chase them. Callum's trousers fall down.

Dentist

Both boys visited a fantastic dentist this morning. She said they're both fine and have excellent bites, Cal's slightly better because he has a little more room between his teeth (important as the second set come in). Both have to brush more thoroughly at the back and we have to watch carefully as Cal's second teeth come in because of the series of illnesses he's had.

Drama in the holidays

The boys have done a lot of drama the last week. Callum spent a week at ATYP and had a great time. Declan also had his first ATYP experience last Friday and also enjoyed himself.

Then Cal has spent the last two days doing a drama and problem-solving course at UNSW based around Alice in Wonderland. His final presentation was he and another boy making a paper hat while joined at the hip and so having only one hand to work with each.

Dec's course

Declan had his first GERRIC course over the last two days about pictures and art. He had an absolute ball and seemed to learn a great many things. We've gone collage-mad in the house today.

Counting update

As we were walking back home from coffee on Saturday morning, Declan began spontaneously counting by 10s to 100. We made much of him once he succeeded, upon which Callum immediately started counting by 5s to 100 (I'm afraid that these boys have competitiveness in their genes).

Then yesterday, Declan sat beside me, with the times table poster as a guide to help him, and counted by 1s to 100. Paused for a moment, then said, "now can we get a cat?" I think we'll stick to our previous promise to wait until after our overseas holiday, although Declan has promised to ask Jane and Peter whether they will look after it for us while we are away.

Dec immunised

Declan had his 4-year old immunisation injections during the week. He was brave but did cry a bit after the first one when he saw the second one coming and then went pale and into a swoon after the second one.

This is the worst age for them I reckon. For the earlier ones the kids didn't really understand what was happening. This one they're old enough to understand but not old enough to be fully stoic about it - but then again, some of us never reach that stage!

Skipping 3

Callum told me tonight at dinner that he is the best skipper in the whole world. He's challenged me to a skipping race, with points awarded for style and speed. It'll take place in the backyard at the weekend - four laps, apparently.

He told me a few days ago that skipping is his favourite hobby.

Skipping 2

Last week the school asked us if we want to consider putting Cal up a grade next semester. We explained we didn't; but this week are going to talk to them about how to cater to him differently in class.

Skipping 1

Callum is skipping everywhere. He loves skipping for a reason I haven't quite yet fathomed.

Last Friday was his school disco. We arrived to find quite a few kids already there, mostly milling about in the middle of the hall. Cal launched himself in and started skipping laps, for all the world like an ice-skater going round and round and round.

Counting to Infinity

A reminder for irregular readers. Declan is on a promise to get a cat when he can count to 100 (a milestone he has seemed on the verge of for months, now).

Declan told me tonight at dinner that we should get a dog. Reason? last week he counted "all the way to infinity. I missed a few numbers, mummy, but I counted all the way to infinity".

But why not a cat? "a cat wouldn't come with us when we go for walks".

We've told him we'll probably get a cat (if he still wants one) after our September holiday, but that our backyard is too small for a dog.

Party activities

I took Callum and Declan to a friend's 40th today. Very child friendly, as they had a trampoline (and two small girls the same age as Callum and Declan. After at least 2 solid hours bouncing on the trampoline (for those readers in Sydney, the trampoline, although in the backyard, had a tarpaulin draped over it to keep the rain out), Callum and Declan finally decided that they were a bit tired of all this exercise, and we wandered inside to find some entertainment.

They were both very taken with the dolls' house belonging to one of the girls, and made up stories very happily about the events taking place there.

Loud

We had the gang over for lunch on Queens Birthday Monday (the Gaynor Vincents, Lees, and just the Linigens of the Linigen Langdons), we were pretty much as loud as you could get.

It was quite cold, so everyone was inside, and at one point I was forced to confiscate the thunder box, toy recorder and two sound pistols that were being used to maximum decibel effect from Callum, Declan, Aidan and Tommy respectively.

It didn't really have that much effect - shouting being a good substitute when no sound effects can be had.

I was pleased to see that there is still a fair bit of play to be had in our train set, even if Callum and Declan mostly only play with it with their grandmother these days - Zoe looks like becoming quite the train addict and made a beeline for all available Thomases. One had to be prised from her hands by her father as she was waving goodbye.

Canberra

We just got back from a weekend in Canberra - drove down Saturday morning, got back Sunday night in time for dinner. Callum's now decided that we should go to Canberra once a year (since it's pretty close to a year since we last went).

As last time, the highlight for Callum was Questacon, but Declan was very taken with the National Art Gallery, which we visited first. He particularly loved the Monet picture of waterlilies, which was similar to one he saw and got to try and copy at Neutral Bay Kindergarten a couple of months ago.

Hard to tell what Callum's favourite part of Questacon was - the water play section got a serious workout on Saturday afternoon, but the Earthquake House was pretty good, as was the new Spy section. Declan put his hand up and answered a question in the balloon show (what is the third "h" that you can make a balloon float with - answer "hot air"), and was so taken with the show that when he got home he immediately set to work to make a balloon bursting contraption.

I'm reading

Yesterday morning, when I came downstairs, Callum was absorbed in a book (part of a fantasy series that Evan has got him addicted to recently). I sat next to him on the couch, and attempted to engage him in conversation. "I'm reading, Jennifer". I gave up and went upstairs to have a shower.

Crumbs

After the success of his cardboard robot dog, Declan (helped by Evan going wild in the hardware shop) made a sturdier robot dog out of a combination of bucket, mop, and roller wheels, plus assorted other bits and pieces for character.

Declan's decided that this robot dog likes to eat "crumbs". Turns out that if you cut paper up into small pieces, they become crumbs - a use of the english language that has bemused all who have heard it, at least the first time. Often after dinner, Declan will suggest that he cuts up some more paper, "because my robot dog is hungry".

The health report

The week before last we visited the paediatric specialist at RNSH. He confirmed the pneumonia was now clear. He also reported on Cal's EEG test. Apparently it was fine: there was a small "blip" but that was nothing to worry about.

Last week I took Callum to the heart specialist. After a fascinating ultra-sound the doctor confirmed he could find nothing wrong with the physical structure or the blood flow. Cal needs to do one more test to check the electrics, but the doctors are clearly expecting this to remain a mystery.

And while on the subject of health, Declan had a strange 3-hours of vomiting episode on Tuesday Last week. It came and went in a flash and was memorable only really for the great way Declan handled getting himself to the toilet or a bucket as needed.

Finally, both boys seem to have stopped coughing.

Sleepovers

The boys have had two sleepover experiences this week. First, Griffin and Isabel came over to spend the night on Friday night. We had Grandma and Grandpa staying as well, so a very full house! Griffin and Isabel shared a double mattress on Callum and Declan's floor, and it was surprisingly quiet in there after they went to bed. When I looked in on them before going upstairs, I did discover, though that neither Declan nor Griffin had clothes on. When I asked Declan why in the morning, he said that, "I was hot". He and Isabel played very nicely together, making up fantastic stories about their stuffed toys, while Griffin and Callum played with Callum's new computer game obsession Lego Loco (a game that involves creating traintracks on a computer - Callum's idea of heaven).

Then last night, Callum and Declan took the train down to Grandma and Grandpa's place where a plethora of delights awaited them: the next door neighbour's trampoline (and two boys to play with), a computer to play Lego Loco on, some wood for Declan and Grandma to make a stool out of, and making gingerbread men in the morning. They even slept in in the morning! (by their standards - 6.36 for Callum, 7.20 for Declan) which hopefully will mean that they may be welcome again some time.

Robots

When I came home last night the boys had made a fantastic robot, following instructions in one of Callum's readers. It had eyes that were lights, hands that were made out of rubber gloves, and legs made out of soccer training cones. Callum decided it would come in handy guarding against invisible Archie.

After Evan had gone to council, Declan decided he wanted his own robot - a dog. So we made one together, out of a cereal box, a tube from wrapping paper, and a party hat for a nose, and Declan took it upstairs to bed with him last night, "because this robot dog is my friend, mummy."

Negotiation

We went to the Powerhouse museum this afternoon, and got back a little bit late - enough that the boys were actually quite hungry. On the way back from the ferry, Callum and Declan were discussing dinner. Callum told Declan that if he wanted ice cream for dessert, he would have to eat three dinosaur bones (lamb chops) and corn. Declan complained, "but I only want to eat two dinosaur bones". Callum, seriously, said, "in that case, you'll get yoghurt for dessert". Good to see that they've internalised the rules so much that they explain them to each other.

In the event, Declan ate his two dinosaur bones, but said, "when I grow up, I don't want to be a killer. I like sheep, and I don't think we should kill them."

We do seem to be heading down the vegetarian path. The only problem is that Declan doesn't actually eat any fruit or vegetables, which could prove quite limiting to his diet.

Secret Agent

As we were moving things around for the painters, we rediscovered Callum's digital watch (given to him two Christmases ago by Uncle Bob). Callum has been wearing it at all times, and has decided that it is a secret agent watch. He keeps getting contacted at odd times by Agent Anthony (his friend Angus from school) who can also contact him wirelessly by owl (actually the furby which has also come out of hibernation recently).

Mostly Callum tells Agent Anthony to go away because he is busy.

Cuddlies

Declan has been very attached to his "cuddlies" for some time. I thought I'd better write about them when I realised this evening that he had gone to bed with six soft toy dogs. He started with Spot (from the books) and gradually found all the toy dogs in this house (I had no idea we had managed to collect six!) and decided he needs them with him at bedtime and at many other times.

Sometimes he will also deign to cuddle some other animal (he has a few teddies, a penguin, and a kiwi), but dogs remain his favourite.

The other morning he called for me urgently. "Mummy, this is important. Can you look after my cuddlies for me while I do a wee?"

Toys at bedtime

The boys are spending their second night sleeping in the playroom, as their room is being painted. Last night was without incident, but tonight, as we went upstairs to check on them before going to bed, Declan was in bed with a set of scales, a set of babushka dolls and a series of Bob the Builder magnets. Callum had a pottery sheep, and his Sydney Harbour Bridge cap, and the Furby is still missing.

I had thought that there was an unusual level of conversation after lights out. Tomorrow night could involve full scale train set building.

Politics

This afternoon, I was explaining to the boys that Evan was at a budget meeting, and that a budget is when the council decides what to spend its money on. I asked them what they thought the council should spend its money on. Declan had a whole raft of different ideas, but Callum was very definite. "Hospitals. The most important thing is hospitals so that you can make all the sick people better, and stop all the babies crying."

Clearly his recent experiences have made an impression - particularly the long periods spent in emergency waiting for a proper bed!

Heights and weights

We weighed and measured Callum and Declan on Declan's birthday. Declan is 105 cm and 17.5 kilos. Callum is 113 cm and 19 kilos.

Declan is on the 70th percentile for height and weight, and on the 55th percentile for BMI, Callum is on the 37th percentile for weight, the 50th percentile for height and on the 33rd percentile for BMI.

Declan has one more centimetre to grow before he can go on the Wild Mouse ride at Luna Park.

Birthday finally finished

We think we've reached the end of Declan's birthday celebrations. On Tuesday (the day before his actual birthday, which was a very busy day at both ends), Evan, Callum and I gave him his presents from the family (remote controlled car and voice changer). On Thursday, we dropped around to Jane's who gave Declan a pair of Happy Feet (dress up feet that make a sound when you dance). On Friday, Grandma and Grandpa came over with a host of little presents, of which the most appreciated seemed to be the various dinosaur books Grandma had been clearly accumulating. And this morning, Uncles Martin and Kevin brought some more toy dinosaurs with accessory volcanos.

This whole birthday week thing is quite exhausting!

Wet footprints

I was in the shower this morning when the door burst open. Declan dashed in and shouted: "Get out now, Callum is hurt." I dashed downstairs to find Cal in tears from falling over (nothing to do with last week, a trip over a fallen Birthday card).

I was very pleased with Dec's presence of mind in sounding the alarm.

Declan's IQ scores

We now have Declan's full report which is as follows:

Full scale IQ: 151 (>99.9th percentile)

Fluid reasoning: 153
Knowledge: 134
Quantative reasoning: 136
Visual-spacial processing: 146
Working memory: 146

In the sub-tests below the maximum score possible is 19:

Non-verbal tests
Fluid reasoning: 19
Knowledge: 14
Quantative reasoning: 16
Visual-spacial processing: 19
Working memory: 19

Verbal tests
Fluid reasoning: 19
Knowledge: 18
Quantative reasoning: 17
Visual-spacial processing: 18
Working memory: 18

Callum out of hospital

Well Callum is out of hospital. The hospital was great, the doctors lovely. Unfortunately, they have no idea what happened. He's started on a series of tests to check his brain and heart - the obvious candidates. That said, there's no obvious gross signs of a problem with either. That's all a good thing in most senses, but it leaves the collapse as a mystery.

I must say Cal was enormously composed and brave throughout - something that was commented on repeatedly by nurses and doctors.

The picture of Cal having the EEG done is not as bad as it looks - he looks all blue and sad only because of the angle and the light.

Ambulance ride

As we were winding down this afternoon after Declan's party, playing with the toys, Callum suddenly crumpled to the ground, with his eyes rolling up into his head. Evan and I jumped into panic mode, as he seemed not to be breathing, and I called an ambulance while Evan and Angela got him into recovery mode on the ground. He started breathing fairly quickly, and then regained consciousness while I was still talking, at which point they turned the ambulance siren off, but kept it coming.

When the ambulance paramedics came we let him sit up and they checked him out, and agreed that there wasn't anything obviously wrong with him now, but suggested that we should get him checked out by a doctor tonight anyway. The easiest (and most queue-bypassing) way to do that was to get a lift with the ambulance, so Evan and Callum are up at the hospital now. They haven't been able to find anything wrong with him, but are keeping him there for a couple of hours just to check.

Unfortunately Callum only took one book with him, and has now read it twice, so he's a bit bored - something that's quite reassuring for a mother to hear.

I've been searching our archives - I know something like this has happened once before (but recovery was even quicker, before I could get the phone out) but I can't find exactly when it was. Update - here it is - there was a clear collision involved, but the outcome seemed very similar.

Car Party

Declan had his birthday party today. Fourteen children gathered in the BP park to help him celebrate, with Declan deciding he wanted a "car party" - "because I like things that go, go, go!"

They had races, rocket launches and a fantastic car cake, and enough sugar to make up for all the running around. For the first time, Declan had some friends of his own - Matthew, Kiyan, Louis and (another) Declan from preschool, as well as Dan and Rowan who are both brothers of some of Callum's friends, but (particularly Dan) have become friends of Declan's as well. Also there were the usual gang from our friends, including Claire who was the only girl (except for sibling hangers on).

He's not four yet, but he's starting to feel almost four!

Testing times

After quite an internal struggle about whether to do this or not, we had Declan IQ tested today. While we don't have the acceleration issue we did with Callum, Cal's results have been such a useful tool with dealing with the school that we finally decided it was the best approach. (I must record for posterity and honesty though that we had real qualms about both having a comparison point and, honestly, how we'd feel if the results were markedly lower.)

Anyway the tester's verbal report suggests Declan's result is significantly above Cal's. His reasoning and visual-spacial skills tested particularly high although the tester emphasised he, like Cal, was fairly consistent across the range of sub-tests.

Declan had a ball 'playing with Fiona' for two hours. The only problem now is convincing him that no, we are not going to be seeing her every week.

Visiting

Yesterday we visited friends for dinner. They have two girls (Ella and Amy) pretty much the same age as Callum and Declan. A wonderful time was had by all. Ella and Amy have a trampoline in the backyard, which was a huge hit. Then, when it got a bit colder, all the children decamped to the dress-up box, where Declan found a very fetching pink wig, and matching tutu.

The highlight for me, though was when the remote controlled dalek came out, and Callum decided to chase after it with a rollerskating barbie.

Anzac Day

Yesterday was Anzac day, and to celebrate we made Anzac biscuits. Callum was in charge of the recipe and the ingredients (checking that we had the right ones) and Declan was in charge of mixing and putting the biscuits on the baking tray.

They turned out well (albeit a little overcooked - my responsibility), and we took them with us as we walked across the harbour bridge with Jack and Sue (during the breaks in the rain). The rain held off until we got off the ferry to come up the hill on the way home, but luckily the assorted raincoats and umbrellas kept us mostly dry.

First soccer game

Callum had his first soccer game on the weekend. Not the next Beckham, but he had fun while runnning around in soccer strip that was like a dress on him.

Theatre

Callum did another school holiday theatre course this week, with a performance at the end of the week. As he has the previous two times, he loved it, wanting to do it every week if possible. His performance had less narrative flow than previously, being the classes response to a combination of music and learning about right and left brain thinking. That meant that only the performers understood it, I think. But they had a great time, nevertheless.

As part of the course, they got to see a piece of live theatre - Emily Loves to Bounce, at the Opera House. By coincidence, Declan and I went to see it today. Both Callum and Declan really enjoyed it - I think they prefer something with a bit of narrative flow and action to a more musical event (like the Wiggles).

The Christmas Fairy

Today Callum and Declan both went to Declan's friend Dan's birthday party. The instructions on the invitation were, "dress in your favourite costume", so we gave the boys the choice from the dress up box.

Declan's choice was a santa hat, and a pair of fairy wings. Declan showed off his fairy wings to a number of adults at the party, who were duly impressed. One of them commented to me that she didn't think many children could carry off that costume, but Declan was clearly managing it. I think it was the addition of the purple balloon sword (acquired from the party entertainer) that really made the outfit.

Inside boots

I've owned some purple ugg boots since before Callum was born. Callum and Declan (particularly Callum) have been very taken with them, first because it was fun to dress up and clomp around in them, but then more recently because Callum noticed that he quite liked having warm feet as winter started appearing.

So the boys (with my support only in the background) have been campaigning for some "inside boots" of their very own for some time. Today Evan was worn down, and they went out and got some, and Callum and Declan took great delight this evening in clomping around in their "inside boots". They're a manly khaki green colour, I hasten to add.

Rainy easter

Easter is back to its traditional Sydney weather - grim and rainy. So, even though we have two boys who are not entirely well, we've been trying to figure out how to avoid the resulting cabin fever.

Yesterday, we (excluding Evan, who has the flu) went to Darling Harbour with Sue and Jack. We were trying to see the free circus entertainment, but unfortunately in dodging the rain, we missed all of it (if it was on at all). But the boys had a ride on the miniature ferris wheel, which was the highlight of the visit, even though Callum said he was bored after it had gone around six times and he'd figured out how the cogs worked that made it go around.

Today, we went to the Australian museum, which had a special predator exhibit (for kids a bit older than ours, I think, although they did enjoy it). The highlight was a three-d film from the inside of a shark cage, although Declan did think the highlight should have been the shop, if he'd been able to convince me to buy anything.

This afternoon, the Gaynor Vincents came around to help us with our cabin fever, and Declan and Claire had a very enjoyable time playing hide and seek all over the house, while Zoe did her best to climb the stairs at regular intervals and join in.

Tonight, both boys were asleep almost as soon as their heads touched the pillows.

Learning

This morning, Declan showed me the sign language he is learning at Neutral Bay Kindergarten. It seems to be just learning the alphabet, rather than words, but it certainly got Callum interested.

And last night he sounded out several words (cat, dog, fox) while reading with Evan. It's still fascinating to see the different learning styles; by the time Callum could sound out words like this, I'm pretty sure he was reading (very) simple sentences - he's always relied much more on visual memory with his reading.

Declan's turn

Declan has been a bit feverish and coughing for the last 48 hours. After a visit to the doctor on Wednesday, Evan and Dr Goh agreed the plan - if it lasted longer than 24 hours, then Declan would get the same antibiotics that Callum has, in an attempt to forestall another pneumonia experience.

The strand of pneumonia that Callum had isn't particularly infectious, but tends to be infectious for people who are living in close proximity, and particularly if they are sleeping in the same room. And it has a 1-2 week incubation period.

Declan's still not right, but his cough hasn't yet got worse. Fingers crossed...

Much better

Yesterday, Evan and Callum went out and bought a trainset as a present for Callum being in hospital. So when I got home last night from work, I was greeted by two boys delirious with excitement at the chance to show a new person how their very exciting new toy worked. Callum is recovering well, and two quiet days at home have not left him climbing the walls (as he would if he were well) but with a nice surplus of energy to be very cheery each evening.

Declan was so excited by the train set that he's taking the empty box to show and tell tomorrow. Don't know what his class will make of it.

All out

We've just all got home from hospital. Callum was allowed out after a night where his oxygen levels stayed up nice and high. We thought he must be allowed out, because after Declan got there for a visit, they spent the time racing around the ward chasing each other.

He needs to have the week off school, and take antibiotics for another week, but no other treatment necessary (except to figure out how to keep an increasingly energetic boy quietly and sedately occupied for another week).

Evan out, Cal still in

Cal had a fairly good night last night although his oxygen levels fell badly during the night. They dropped to the low eighties which is actually significantly worse than it might sound and a serious concern. After spending some time back on oxygen and Ventolin they came back up, and he's been fine all day. But the fact they fell is keeping him in for another night at least - he needs to get through a night without oxygen before they'll let him home.

He's been cheery all day but is fragile and increasingly stir-crazy - a bad combination.

Jennifer has is staying with him from tonight as we're not sure my back will ever recover from another night on a camp bed or my brain from yet another game of Guess Who (something I don't think I ever want to play again although Cal seems to find it endlessly, and I mean endlessly, entertaining.

Swimming

Declan has been very taken with the swimming championships. For the last couple of days, he has been very happy to demonstrate his dry land butterfly stroke to anyone who would watch.

When we went for his swimming lesson today, he demanded a swimming cap (which I bought him - green, of course). So our little boy in speedos looked the complete professional as he sat by the side of the pool in cap and goggles seriously taking instruction.

When he was playing around in the pool beforehand, he also did three strokes of butterfly before sinking; probably about as good as most adults I know.

Recovering

Callum has been much better today, following a confirmation of which pneumonia he is dealing with (Mycoplasma pneumonia if that tells you anything).

He's now being treated with antibiotics that treat it specifically (as opposed to the more general set of antibiotics) and spent this afternoon off the oxygen entirely. When Declan and I visited in the morning, Callum was sitting quietly watching TV, with oxygen. When we visited in the afternoon, Callum ran down to the garden at the end of the ward, desperate to point out its excellent features to me, and to get Declan to join with him in sneaking up on me.

After about 15 minutes of running around, he sank into, "can you read me a book, Jennifer" but it was a wonderful contrast to yesterday's disinterest in even talking.

Best estimate is that he will be home on Sunday, once it's confirmed he doesn't need oxygen any more.

I just want to talk to you...

I think Declan is missing Callum, particularly at bedtime, but he's also enjoying having me to himself. He spent a long time going to bed tonight, finally saying, "but I want to talk to you all night, mummy." Out of Callum's orbit, he's quite the chatterbox!

We went out to dinner at the Italian restaurant tonight, and he did a very good job of charming all the waiters, saying "Grazie" and asking very nicely for gelato.

A day in hospital

Callum has spent the day in hospital. They were very busy last night, so last night was in emergency, in a pod in a corner, but at lunchtime today he got to a proper ward with a bed.

The doctors think that it's not normal bacterial pneumonia, but some less usual bacteria causing his main symptoms, so they've switched antibiotics, and are also giving him nebuliser drugs every three hours. He's also on oxygen. Hopefully as they get closer to a diagnosis the things they try will make more of a difference. Right now they are more treating the symptoms.

Callum just wants to lie in bed - even a visit from the Clown Doctors barely raised a smile (although that could have been because there was a train movie on TV at the same time).

Mummy dance

When I went to pick Declan up from Jane's last night (she'd been looking after him until I could get home from work) he did a little dance as he often does when he's happy about something.

Later I asked him if that was his mummy dance. "No," he said scornfully, "this is a mummy dance" and demonstrated with egyptian handmovements.

Worse

This evening Evan took Callum to see Dr Goh, as he seemed worse. Amateur diagnosis confirmed; Dr Goh suggested that Evan take Callum up to hospital to get him properly checked out.

They confirmed that he's worse, that he's not breathing well, and lethargic, and admitted him. So Callum and Evan will spend tonight in hospital; Callum on industrial strength antibiotics through a drip and oxygen, and Evan on a campbed, which is probably supremely uncomfortable.

Jealousy

Declan is a bit jealous of Callum. He keeps telling me, at odd moments, that he's very sick. He's not, there's absolutely nothing wrong with him, but he sees Callum getting to sit on the couch, avoid setting the table, and generally getting pampered and he'd like a piece of the action.

So I let him sit up with me and watch the Australian swimming championships tonight. I asked him if he'd ever be able to swim that fast. He thought, and then said seriously, "yes, but with my noodle."

More coughing

Callum did stay home from school today, and went to visit Dr Goh. After an X-ray, the diagnosis was bronchial pneumonia. I hasten to add that the addition of the adjective "bronchial" makes it not quite as bad as it sounds, but still, it's a week off school, some very strong antibiotics, and lots of quiet time.

Callum's quite keen to take the X-ray to show and tell next week when he gets back to school. He told me, "nobody else has ever taken an X-ray to show and tell before!"

Bu he's quite sick. The toughest thing is that it's quite hard for him to talk - it sets him off in a fit of coughing. And, knowing Callum, not being able to talk is a pretty severe disability.

Coughing

Callum's been sick for a few days now. He went to school on Friday, but rapidly faded to feverishness and coughing in the afternoon and evening. On Saturday, we went to Greenwich Baths with the Gaynor Vincents. Jennifer, watching him run around like a lunatic splashing people ("I've made up a new gag, Jennifer, it's a squirt gag with a watering can"), found it hard to believe he was in any way sick, but he faded rapidly again in the afternoon.

Today we went up to the mountains for Emma Lee's first birthday celebration, and Callum once again had a great time playing with the steam train, soccer in the backyard with Aidan, and general merriment (as did Declan in case you're wondering). But this afternoon when we got back here, Callum lay on the couch and coughed so hard he threw up all the birthday cake he'd eaten that afternoon.

Not sure if he'll go to school tomorrow.

When I see girls

Declan and I left the house the morning to get me a coffee. There was a young woman walking past our door as we left.
D: "When I see girls my eyes roll."
E: "Why?"
D: "I like girls."
E: "Oh?"
D: "Girls who are not in our family are lovely."

When I was a kid

Cal was home from school yesterday as he had a temperature. We were watching TV in the morning and Playschool came on. "Ah", he announced, "I used to love this when I was a kid."

Apart from the decision that he's no longer 'a kid' the funny thing is he's always hated Playschool.

Meet the daughter-in-law

When I went to pick Declan up this afternoon he introduced me to Holly who, he announced, he is going to marry. What really amused me is that Holly agrees.

While I was waiting for Declan to finish his afternoon tea so we could leave, he and Holly looked deeply into each other's eyes and smiled at each other, for all the world like a courting couple out for a romantic dinner.

Tantrum

Declan has been acting a bit strangely the last 10 days. He vacillates between being sweet and being very naughty. He's also wet himself a few times at pre-school with rather strange excuses.

This culminated (I hope it's a culmination) on the weekend with the tantrum from hell. On Saturday we went shopping and he completely lost the plot when we refused to get him the book he wanted. He chucked a complete, screaming tantrum. I ended up stomping out of Dymocks carrying him under my arm while he screamed out that he didn't like me. we then had another 15 minutes of unrelenting screaming and shouting.

Then almost as quickly as it came the cloud passed. He took a breath and started smiling.

We don't really understand what's going on and are desperately hoping it is a short-lived stage.

Across the bridge

Today we all walked across the bridge (with Jack and Sue) to celebrate its 75th birthday. Callum and Declan were quite taken with the fact that we were walking where the cars go; Callum going so far as to say, "I'm glad we walked on the road today, Jennifer. Walking on the footpath is so boring." as we were walking home from the ferry.

We also got free souvenir hats, which Callum wore to bed tonight. I had to take it off him and put it on his bedside table, otherwise I'm sure he would have worn it all night.

I had been thinking that Declan would be one of the youngest walkers (as opposed to children in strollers) but he didn't stand out particularly from the other small children walking. Everyone else has caught up with us, I think.

Experiments

Callum has been doing science after school every Thursday this term. He's really enjoying it, and is starting to talk about everything in terms of experiments (with a tiny bit of encouragement from his parents, I have to admit). Tonight he and Evan decided to do an experiment to work out whether the chocolate brownies that Evan and Declan made were yummy or not. So they gave everyone a chocolate brownie, and then asked each person their opinion. Result: yummy!

After dinner, Callum, Declan and I did an experiment in making ice. We mixed salt and water in one batch, and sugar and water in another batch, and put them both in the freezer. In the morning, we'll have a look at the results. I have no idea what they will be, so we'll see if anything interesting happens.

More career ambition

Declan has suddenly changed his mind about what he wants to be when he grows up; now its a train driver. I don't think it's a coincidence that I was telling Evan the other day (in Declan's hearing) that Tom Linigen wants to be a train driver when he grows up.

I don't think he'd ever thought before that there might be a career involving his favourite thing; trains. He does have another ambition, though. He's going to have a motor boat and go to Antarctica in it. There's one issue, though, "do they have shops in Antarctica, Jennifer?"

That's my little consumer.

Staying put

We bid but failed to purchase a house in Cammeray today. We'd shown it to the boys on Thursday night, and they had both been very keen to buy it. Callum particularly liked the bed hidden in the cupboard that you could pull town, whereas Declan was keen on the cuddly toys on the bed.

But when I asked them whether we should buy the house today, they both said that we shouldn't, because then we wouldn't go on any more holidays. Our brainwashing has been very successful.

Better

Declan has been very grumpy the last few days. He's also been complaining that his tummy is sore, and eating very little. This evening, he wolfed down a full set of Gozleme at the Noodle markets, and then spent the evening running around like a mad dervish with a broad smile on his face.

Clearly, something was wrong. It's so easy to blame his grumpiness on general preschool recalcitrance, that we tend not to give credence to his almost certainly justifiable complaints about not feeling well. Oh well, at least he's better now.

Toons and cogs

The boys have a new (non computer game) - toons and cogs. Entirely derived from their new favourite computer game (toontown), it involves standing face to face and throwing things or phrases at each other. It's very funny to listen to, because the villains in toontown, the cogs, have names like "micromanager", "pencilpusher", "telemarketer", and they say things like "you'll be sorry you answered the phone!"

Callum is constantly making up new gags (which are the weapons) out of any vaguely interesting thing he can think of - the latest one is the spare telephone which is sticking in the dressup box.

Probably a symptom of our inner city lifestyle that it does not involve anyone chasing anyone else.

Cooking

This afternoon, the boys and I decided to make scones. It was a fully participatory event. They both did things (whisking eggs, crumbling butter into flour, cutting out scones and putting them in the pan). We tried ringing both grandmothers for a recipe, but in the end had to find one on the internet.

After they were cooked, Declan decided we should invite someone over to help eat them, so we rang Claire. After a bit of warming up, she and Declan had a great time, playing on the bikeboards, running out onto the playroom verandah, and then playing hide and seek and shopping in the playground next door.

Callum was too busy playing Toontown to join in.

Reading in my brain

A year or so ago, Callum made the big step of learning how to read silently - i.e. not out loud, when reading books. He calls this "reading in my brain", and is happy to do it whenever reading a big book, or not reading to a parent.

Declan has lately got very interested in Callum's Rainbow Magic books, and has been demanding that I read them to him. They're about 100 pages long, so I've been saying no, that he's too little, and that they take too long. Tonight, he demanded one again, and said that he would "read it in his brain". So I read him his (short) bedtime story, and he dragged out "Holly the Christmas Fairy" and started to turn the pages.

I'm hoping that this won't stop him properly reading to himself, when he can actually read.

(he's reading an increasing number of single words when asked, but hasn't yet taken the step of reading any simple sentences)

Toon town

Callum and Declan have discovered a new game (actually from one of Callum's new classmates in 1D) - Toon town. I overheard Evan describing it to a few of his gaming mates, "it's a first person shooter for 4 year olds". They both love it, but it does depend on you being able to read some instructions every now and again, so Declan doesn't like it quite as much as Callum does.

Jargon

Declan's got a couple of words that he uses that I need to record for posterity - "Back yarden" and "Bednight Story". Soon he'll probably work out the real words and it will stop being so cute.

Grown up plans

Callum and Declan have been planning their future a bit more. Callum still plans to have a company in Egypt. He's going to search for the Sphinx's nose 24 hours a day. There's a complication though:

C: I'm going to have 10 children - 5 boys and 5 girls.
Me: Who is going to look after them when you're looking for the Sphinx's nose?
C: I'll lock them in the Great Pyramid where we live. There'll be cameras.
D: When I'm at the zoo looking after the giraffes, Grandma and Grandpa will look after my three children.
C: No, they can't! They'll be in Egypt visiting me. I'll have to lock the door of the great pyramid, though, so that the children can't get out.

Declan's ears

We had Declan's hearing tested the other day. He has perfect hearing. That means any inattention is not due to his ears... he's just not listening.

Observations on Declan

The following is a transcript of a note we had home from pre-school today entitled 'Observations on Declan':

Declan sat down at group time, crossed his legs and waited. He turned to the teacher and said “What are we doing?”. Teacher replied “WE will be writing sentences”. Declan said “like the things we did the other day”. The teacher wrote “My name is…” on the board and Declan said “but we have to put our own name on it, not your name.” Declan picked up his texta and started writing his name first on the bottom of the page. Teacher said “let’s start with the first word”. Declan pointed to “my” and said “Is this it?” He started on the right side of the page and moved across. He said “I cant fit name in so I will do m and e up the top.” Declan went on to finish the sentence. At times he would hold the texta in a more pointed grip so he would have some control. However all the letters are recognizable and Declan showed good focus on what he was doing. Declan remembered the concept from yesterday and was able to relate it to the activity today. Good to see Declan writing in lower case letters, he was writing what he saw. A little confusion as to where to begin so we will discuss the importance of putting words in the correct order and where to start on the page.

At play time Declan moved over to tracng the numbers. He looked at them all and pointed to each saying “one, two…” up to ten. As Declan traced around the numbers, he said, “that’s a five so now I have to draw five circles.” Declan drew the circles quickly and at times would draw one too many as he would draw faster than he counted. However, he said, “Oh no, that’s not right” and would cross out one of the circles. Declan completed all the numbers and didn’t move away until then. He brought it over to the teacher and said “I did it”, obviously proud of his achievement. Declan showed a good understanding of numbers and then quantities, good control of his pencil, the ability to correct his own mistakes and not become frustrated when he made them, as well as good concentration on what he was doing.

Declan was then put in a group of children to create a collaborative drawing of a garden. Declan turned to a peer and said, “Now what can we draw in a garden?” The peer said “Flowers and trees”. Declan said, “Okay, you draw the tree and I can draw the flowers.” His peer said, “But I want to draw a tree. “ Declan quickly said, “Well how about we both draw them. “ As they were drawing Declan looked over and said “that’s a very good tree”. Declan showed some great social skills. He has the ability to work successfully in a group as he offers ideas, listens to his peers, negotiates and shows kindness towards his peers. Great skills.

Callum's alphabet

Callum had to write a word and draw a picture for each letter of the alphabet. They were:

apple
boom
cannon
declan
elephant
fish
go
house
india
jelly
kite
lichen
money
n?? (callum didn't do this one)
octopus
p?? (callum didn't do this one either)
queen
reader
snake
ten plus game (game for people 10 and over)
umbrella (with a whistle)
v - the v key on a keyboard, which is used to go up in Gary's Mod (callum's favourite computer game)
water
xylophone
yacht
zero

He didn't write the word on every one (but he did write on some!), but he drew pictures.

Unwell

The boys both woke up vomiting this morning. Luckily they pretty much took it in turns, so that we only needed one bucket. After three or four pretty ugly hours, they both fell asleep on the couch, and seem better (if fragile) this afternoon.

That'll teach them

We had Grandma and Grandpa over for dinner tonight, and were eating in the backyard. Callum, aided by his partner-in-crime Declan, created a new game which involved squirting water at all the passing cars. They found it hilarious, particularly when a passing taxi honked at them.

Once the car had passed, Callum would yell at the top of his voice, "that'll teach them!" Grandma enquired a couple of times what exactly they would be taught. "to cool down their bonnet!" was the reply.

And then...

We play a game every now and again (often in the car or over dinner)... and then. The game is that each person tells a little bit of a story until they run out of steam, and then they say "and then..." and turn to the next person.

It's interesting to watch different storytelling styles emerge. Callum has lately taken to very derivative imitations of whatever book he's reading (mostly Tintin). So he'll talk about some tricy thing the hero of the story did, and then say, "I got that from Tintin". Declan, on the other hand, likes to spice things up a little. We were retelling the story of the Titanic, and Declan change the whole story so that monsters came and attacked the survivors.

Mountain party

Today we went up to the mountains for Aidan's 5th birthday party. It might have been a party made for Callum. The first attraction was the unveiling of the train tracks in the backyard, complete with wooden trestles; and then the piece de resistence was the Titanic birthday cake, which Callum was pleased to note had four funnels.

The boys had a great time, playing in the swimming pool, on the jumpy castle, and urging Aidan to play with all his new birthday presents.

Isobel was looking forward to seeing Callum again, as he loves to play with her, but this time the attractions on the train won out, and they weren't quite as inseperable. They did have a good time shooting each other with water pistols, though.

Happy birthday Aidan!

Does it hurt

I took Declan to a behavioral optometrist yesterday. She started by asking some questions.
BH: "Do your eyes ever hurt?"
D: "Yes"
BH: (thinking she's on the track of something) "When do your eyes hurt?"
D: "When I do this." [pokes himself in the eye]

Later she wanted him to put on an eye patch:
BH: "Do you like pirates?"
D: "Yes"
BH: "Let's play pirates."
D: "No thanks"
BH: "You put on this patch."
D: "No thank you"
BH: "I'll put one on too." [she puts one on] "Now your turn"
D: "No"
Evan: "Declan, she wants you to put on a patch so she can look at one of your eyes."
D: "OK" [pops patch on]

After 90 minutes of testing, the end result is that he is at, or above, his age level for almost everything (his drawing is way above his age level). The only issue is a borderline problem with focusing. However, the method of testing for this is poor with a young child and so she was very uncertain about the results and we agreed she would re-test before he started school just in case. We hadn't really expected to find anything but it's good to know there are no problems.

Wishes

Declan and I were having a conversation tonight. He pointed to his n*pples, and commented that they were small, but that mine were big. He said, "when I'm a grownup, mine will be big, like yours!".

I had to break it to him that because he was a boy, that wasn't going to happen. They would stay small. He broke down into tears, and was inconsolable for five minutes.

________________________________________________________
* asterisked to avoid googling.

Tricks

Callum got a new book today, to celebrate the first day of school (which he appears to have enjoyed). It has tricks in it, and he was delighted to try one on me when I got home. A glass of water with a straw in it was waiting for me at the dinner table.

Sadly, the straw had pinprick holes in it, and didn't work! Callum's face as he tried (mostly successfully) not to laugh as I tried to figure out what was wrong, was hilarious.

The Archie trap

A few weeks ago Callum's friend Archie announced that he had a magic cloak of invisibility and came to check on Callum and Declan each night. This has absorbed the boys somewhat. On the weekend the boys and I made a basic pressure switch attached to a light. Cal then made a siren with his electric kit and we attached them together. Now anytime someone stands on the second step of our stairs a siren goes off.

The weird thing was that the night before last I was sitting at the computer, the kids were in bed, and the siren went off all by itself. All by itself, believe it or not.

Grandparents

On the weekend we had Grandma and Grandpa and Granny and Granny Marta over for lunch (the Lang grandparents stayed the night and gave us parents a sleep-in, which was very pleasant). A good time was had by all, with both Callum and Declan taking full advantage of the opportunities to show off in front of people inclined to tell them how wonderful they are.

Callum got much better at balancing on his bikeboard (which we practiced at the BP park some more after the grandparents had gone) and Declan got the chance to boss around many adults so that his train set was just to his liking.

Australia Day

We went down to under the Harbour Bridge today to watch all the Australian Day activities. First we watched the ferry race - the boys were disappointed when their favourite ferry, Charlotte only came second. Then we went up to the Celtic festival with Milly and Alice. Declan very much enjoyed the highland dancing, while Callum tried unsuccessfully to get us to move on to our next stop of the day...

the swimming pool! The swimming pool had a special family day, with an inflatable slide, and Callum was in seventh heaven. He queued for the slide as many times as possible, while Declan had a great time mucking around with Jack playing with floating rubber mats.

It was a beautiful day - not too hot, and lovely and sunny, and we've sampled the best Australia Day has to offer.

Boating stories

I bought a small rubber dinghy the other day and Cal and I took it to the beach this morning.

Vignette 1: Callum at the front of the boat directing while Jack is at the back half-in, half-out and kicking up a storm. Boat flying across the water. Two minutes later: places reversed and Cal kicking ineffectually. One minutes later: places reversed, permanently this time.

Vignette 2: The boys return from a 'voyage of discovery' and proclaim they now deserve cinnamon toast.

Vignette 3: Callum at the back of the boat repelling a great many boarders (how to make friends at the beach: bring a boat) by shouting "only two persons on the boat at any time please... and I'm ONE".

Tom's birthday

We went to Tommy's fourth birthday party on Sunday. In spite of it being ridiculously hot (mid-40s) in the Mountains, the boys had a great time; especially sliding into the pool and jumping on the bouncy-castle with the hose on.

Heart-melting moment

Callum's theatre course last week was a great success - he had a wonderful time. He also did well in the performance at the end.

The heart-melting moment came at the end when, the performance over, Cal rushed back out from the wings and called out: "I love you Evan."

Swimming

In spite of only being able to make some small headway on the surface, Declan has joined his brother in discovering the delights of underwater swimming. He now loves nothing more than jumping in the pool and retrieving diving toys. And he's become amazingly proficient.

Speaking up

We went to the Flying Fruit fly circus this morning, and at the end, the director asked the audience (of a few hundred people) if they had any questions. Declan's hand shot up immediately, and stayed up. When handed the microphone, he said, "ah... ah.... how do they swing on the ropes?" and seemed satisfied with the answer that the boy who did it had trained for six years to learn how.

Not a shy boy.

Proud of my boys

When we visited the doctor yesterday, Callum noticed a poster on the wall showing the human body. He proceeded to describe some of the bits he knows and then explained to the doctor that he didn't know how joints work (this accompanied by a head-tilt and finger on the cheek to indicate deep thought). The doctor explained how tendons are like strings pulling on the bones.

Declan listened with interest and then, very politely said "Excuse me Dr Goh, I saw a puppet show at yellow group."

Callum's skin again

About a week ago Callum cut his nose and eyelid with his fingernails while wiping his eyes. It seemed OK at first, but then the last few days started becoming deomstrably a problem. I took him to the Doctor last night and he confirmed impetigo. So now poor Cal is on antibiotics and an anti-bacterial cream. His skin is definitely his achilles heel.

Dec at the bottom of the pool

Declan the fearless has for some time been leaping into the pool with little regard for consequences. He can swim well enough to generally make it to the side and I've made a point of making sure he does just that, while hovering over him in case of problems.

Yesterday he reached a new milestone. He can now leap into the pool, stop at the bottom and pick up the diving toys and then make it to the side. I'm not sure ifd all this is a good thing, but it does help in that it means both boys are undertaking the same activity at the same time - and that stops me splitting myself in two.