I've got a stain

Declan and Callum were in full flight running down the hill from Greenwood, as they always are, when Declan suddenly stopped, made a face, and then a pronouncement, "I've got a stain". Fortunately we'd had this discussion once before, so instead of a bewildered, "what?"I was able to say, "you've got a stitch, have you? Try breathing deeply and walking for a while".

I have no idea where he got the word from. Possibly because it rhymes with pain? And he knew it was some weird word starting with "st"? Anyway, it seems quite embedded in his vocabulary. After walking some 100 metres, he said, "It's not working. I've still got a stain."

High dudgeon up the stairs

This evening the boys were getting more than usually narky with each other as bed time approach. After Callum shouted at Declan one too many times, I sent them to bed.

As Callum made his way up the stairs, Grandpa commented that he hadn't realised it was possible to flounce without petticoats before.

Anticipation

We're going to the opening night of the Star Wars exhibition at the Powerhouse next Wednesday, and Callum is in a fever of anticipation. Evan showed him the map of the exhibition yesterday (which looks much bigger than the average Powerhouse exhibit, with a Vader pizza bar, among other things). Today Callum has arranged with Alex (from school, not sure if Alex has agreed to this) exactly where they will meet. He dragged Declan upstairs to plan their costumes and lightsabers.

And I've just noticed that he has put labels on each piece of equipment to reflect the characters they are dressing up as. Alex gets a water pistol labelled as Citizen (Alex). Callum has the double pink noodle (double handed red light saber) - Darth Maul (Callum). And I think Declan has gone to sleep with his light saber.

Band

Band starts at Cammeray in Year 3. Callum and most of his friends are very enthusiastic about the prospect. Last week we went to the introduction evening which included performaces by two of the School bands. We were relieved that when the band leader tested the kids for suitable instruments she suggested the keyboard (which if it comes to pass removes the need for double lessons or a choice). However you have to choose a fall back position from the first choice, Callum chose percussion. Which was sort of strange because he spent much of the performance with his hands over his ears because of the noise.

Declan readers

Declan was re-tested for reading at the end of last week. He's now on a combination of level 30 readers and chapter books from Year 1. I must say I like it around this stage because the readers are actually interesting to read with them - did you know tigers' teeth can grow to 9cm long?

Callum a seahorse

Callum is doing swimming with the school every day for two weeks along with all the rest of year 2. He's a seahorse which appears to be the mid-range swimmers.

What I find interesting is that the lessons seem to be be about swimming, in the swimming laps sense. When I was a kid in the UK they had this great program called Personal Survival which taught just that. It taught us how to tread water, how to remove our clothes in the water (even how to make a flotation device out of your pyjamas). At the higher level it also taught how to help others. It was a fantastic program and I think it's a shame they don't do something similar here.

Bad parenting

OK It's bad; I accept that.

The boys have been playing a game called Gary's Mod. In theory its a shared environment where you can build stuff. But because it's based on a first-person-shooter games engine you can shoot stuff and blow it up too. No prizes for guessing what the boys would rather do.

And that lead to the line which I think will live for a while in our household "Callum would you please stop killing your brother!"

TV experiments

Most Saturday nights we have a bit of a TV fest, watching both The Amazing Race (videoed) and Mythbusters (live). Today that inspired two experiments - from Amazing Race's visit to an Indian laundry where everything was done by hand, Declan was inspired to make his own miniature handwashing machine, using a cereal bowl , textas to create dirt and a paper towel for the clothes. He pronounced the result Plausible.

And we all decided to test various ways of beating our burglar alarm. The most successful of which, just as on Mythbusters, was holding up a sheet in front of you as you walked through the house. Who knew?

Reading for pleasure

We just went into town to the Kinokinuya bookshop. Each family member ended up with a book to read. Declan's was a book about caterpillers, butterflies and moths (his current favourite topic). He's sitting on the couch reading it to himself, occasionally reading out his favourite bits to me.

For a family where reading is the major recreational activity, it's lovely to watch.

Youth of today

Uncle Martin came to visit on the weekend and the boys were thrilled to see him. They each had something to show him, but were most excited to play games with him on the Wii. Martin was keen to try out the Star Wars lightsabre game, but after being thrashed repeatedly by Declan, he was very relieved to play them both at Wii Tennis, where the honours were about even.

I was relieved too, but mainly because I experienced the same thrashing the last time I tried a duel with Declan on the Star Wars game.

Cheyenne Mountain and Marilyn Monroe

Callum's been reading a book of obscure facts in his classroom in his spare time. It's labelled "secret do not open" which of course attracted his attention. So this evening at dinner, we had a long conversation about Cheyenne Mountain, its secret military base, and all the clever ways in which it is protected from a nuclear strike. Callum is going to copy them all for his company when it is built in a secret site in Western Australia.

And then we had quite a detailed conversation about the death of Marilyn Monroe, how she was killed (according to Callum) in a locked room, after several mysterious telephone conversations, and with sleeping pills by her bed, and not found by her housekeeper until many hours after her death. John F Kennedy wasn't mentioned, which I was quite relieved about.

Unusual to have those two topics in one dinner conversation.

Star of the Week

Declan's class has a "star of the week" each week. The Star has a number of privileges, including leading the class line into and out of class, sitting on a chair instead of the floor when the teacher is talking to them, and wearing a badge proclaiming their status.

But the reason that Declan is floating on air this weekend at being chosen the star is that they get to take Gertie the Gorilla home with them, and write up a story with pictures about what Gertie has been up to on the weekend. Gertie has been everywhere with Declan. He even took Gertie to bed with him last night.

Today Gertie went to Zoe's birthday party, and had his picture taken with the birthday cake, pretending to eat a slice of birthday cake, and with a very bemused Zoe, who clearly had no idea why Declan thrust a gorilla at her momentarily.

Level testing

Cal's teacher took me aside yesterday and explained that she'd been giving him year 4 maths tests to check he was OK to do year 5 next year and to see if there were any gaps. In her words, he 'aced' the tests and 'it would be criminal to do anything other than have him do year 5 for maths next year'.

She also said that in her view we were going to have to consider accelerating him another year soon - an issue we agreed we'd deal with some other time.

Cal's lucky to have Nada Carapina as a teacher. She's incredibly conscientious and concerned about the kids in her charge. If only he could have her next year as well.

Fighting

Callum and Declan have had a destructive pattern for a while. Callum will goad Declan with words (not insults, exactly, just pushing his buttons). Declan will retaliate by hitting Callum. Callum will get righteously indignant and tell on Callum. And then we will have to try and make peace.

It's very tricky. Nothing Callum says is individually objectionable. But he's clearly trying to upset Declan. And Declan's hitting is prima facie, worse. But, still, Callum started it.

So we make them both sit on (separate) stairs until they can go back to whatever they were doing without fighting.

Spelling

Evan and the boys have come up with a new innovative way to do Callum's spelling homework.

The method used to be that Callum had to "look, cover, write" the week's spelling words once a day. He didn't consciously cheat, but he didn't get 100% very often at the Friday test either.

So the new method is that every Monday, Callum has to type his spelling words into the computer, and print them out. Then on the drive to school, Declan reads them out (good practice for him!) and Callum spells them, with both Declan and Evan telling Callum if he's right. Callum doesn't like the pressure, but his spelling has improved...

As an aside, they have a good system for choosing the words for the week. They have a pre-test on Mondays, and only have to learn the ones they get wrong. And the words get harder and harder to make sure they've got something to learn each week! Callum had "psychology" this week - not sure how well Declan went on reading that one on the first attempt in the car...

Swimming

Last week, at their swimming lesson, the boys had a substitute teacher. A fresh set of eyes (or suggestions) has made an enormous difference to Callum. She pointed out to Callum that when you are swimming freestyle, both arms should always keep moving, and always be at 180 degrees to each other.

Suddenly, he has figured out how to breathe without having to almost stop and tread water each time. So this morning, he almost kept up with the women swimming their laps in the next lane. He suddenly looks like a real freestyler.

The Burglar's Breakfast

The other night, when he wasn't tired, Declan decided to read his new book, the Burglar's Breakfast to himself. He called down with a progress report, "I've read three chapters!" but it wasn't until the next morning that he unveiled the full glory... He had read the whole book.

He was very very chuffed with himself, and has been telling us at intervals, for the last two days, how he read the whole book. And it had eight chapters! And he's been making sure that the whole of the family reads it, too. Because he's convinced it's the funniest book ever written.

Seeing Sculptures

Two weeks ago, we tried to go to Sculpture by the Sea with the mountain folk and the Vincent Gaynors. We spent two and a half hours driving to Bondi, driving around Bondi trying to find a place to park, and then driving back to the Vincent Gaynors for a play, without actually seeing any sculptures.

We're keen, so this morning, we decided to try again. This time, we left the house at 7.15am. We spent two and a quarter hours driving to Bondi, wandering around the sculptures, and choosing our favourites, and then driving home again.

The moral of the story... never try and park in Bondi on a Sunday afternoon.

We had a really good time. The sculpture that Declan liked the most was the bird sculpture. It had very flappy wings, flapping slowly in the wind. When you looked at it, it looked like it had sunglasses.

But I actually thought the boys were most excited when we found a parking space.