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.