Hanging out

It's been fairly rainy and grey for the last few days, so we've just been hanging out at home. This picture shows one of the few times we actually ventured out of the house (to replenish our bread and milk).

Merry Christmas

Christmas started at 6 am on the dot yesterday, as Callum and Declan crept into our room to see if they were allowed to go downstairs yet. They made out like bandits from Santa Claus (favourite present for Declan; Nerf gun), and then we had a quiet morning playing Settlers of Catan before more presents arrived (with accompanying relatives - Grandma, Grandpa, Granny, Martin, Kevin, Bob).

As always, they were completely uninterested in the feast of food that had been put together by everyone, content to eat a piece of bread each (although Declan did like the Appletise), and hand out presents while everyone was eating. Callum's faavourite present was the remote control car from us, but the coolest present was definitely the Chumby from Martin and Kevin.

For dinner, we had a second shift, with Angela, Robert and Tom stopping off on the way home to the mountains. The boys all had a bath together, which is not something Callum and Declan get to do very often these days, so they were quite grateful.

Adventure day

Today we went on an adventure to the central coast. The centrepiece was a visit to Treetops Adventure Park. This is a set of treetop ropes and other challenges, graded by difficulty. The boys only had one choice - a course with a continuous belay system (so we didn't have to rely on them to remember to hook and unhook themselves with each new challenge). But they really enjoyed it, and did their course over and over again.

And it was safe enough that we could leave them there to do it while Evan, Bob and I worked our way through the adult courses, ending with the Black course, which was pretty tough!

After recovering, we stopped off at Terrigal Beach for some playing in the surf - it wasn't great surf, but Callum and Declan loved standing around at knee height and daring the waves to knock them over (which they did a lot of the time).

And to cap the whole thing off, we went to the Spanish shop for dinner tonight, where we managed to entice Declan to eat Kingfish Ceviche (a Peruvian way of preparing fish) and Zucchini flowers.

Grandparents

Last night Callum and Declan went to Grandma and Grandpa's for a sleepover. They caught the train down (Callum in charge of the suitcase), made gingerbread houses, decorated the Christmas Tree, and had a tour of the Shire Christmas lighting. Uncle Bob also dared Callum how far he could ride on the exercise bike - 15 kilometres.

I still think the highlight was the opportunity to play with the doorbell and fool Grandma and Grandpa which door they would turn up at next.

Treasure Hunt

This morning, for Evan's birthday, Callum created a Treasure Hunt, almost completely by himself.

It had 8 clues (including a Road Block and a Detour - copied from the Amazing Race), and two pit stops (where presents were located). We had had to do it a week and a half ago (when Evan was out at Tae Kwon Do), so Callum couldn't quite remember the sequence. At one point, he convinced himself he'd got it wrong, and told Evan the next clue, but it turned out that the whole thing was perfectly set up and ran like clockwork.

It was interesting compared with last year, when I had to help him figure out how to sequence things together - he had the whole thing in his head.

He kept the clues in a secret box, all ready for this morning, when he distributed them around the house before Evan woke up.

Shopping

This morning I dragged the boys out with me to get coffee and milk. Declan was very reluctant, and managed to convince me to let him and Callum go and get the milk by themselves. So they crossed Victoria and Thomas St by themselves, and walked up to the corner of Thomas and Union St and bought the milk all by themselves.

When I saw them coming back, Declan was a bit worried he might have dropped the $5 change out of his pocket, but was relieved that it was still there when he got into the house.

Eczema

After this post, in which I claimed some premature victory over Callum's eczema, Callum has asked me to write a new post pointing out that his eczema is now the worst it has been for a while. Hopefully that will tempt the fates in the opposite direction.

Peter Pan

A few years ago, Dad gave me his copy of Peter Pan (edition published in 1933), which had had a long detour via my Aunt Anne, and her children (judging by the various names on the inside cover). Various family members had carefully coloured in all the black and white line drawings some time in that history.

I tried reading it to the boys, because I was thrilled to have a book with such family history, but they had absolutely no interest. The other evening, after dinner, Declan noticed it on our bookshelf, and asked me what it was. I showed him, and started reading it to him.

He loooooved it, and it became very hard to stop at one chapter at bedtime, because he would insist on more. When we finished it, Callum, who had only half listened, so missed some of the good bits, decided to read it himself, and finished it in two sittings.

It must be a very long time since I last read it, and it was interesting to see how well written it was - totally engaging for two small boys, in spite of some very old fashioned parts.

Belts

The boys had their Tae Kwon Do grading this afternoon. Both were successful. Declan is now a Blue belt and Callum is now a Red belt.

(I had mine on the weekend and am now a black tip - still managing to stay one step ahead of Cal for the moment.)

Christmas Party

Today we had Christmas with the proxy cousins up in the mountains. A good time was had by all, with a lot of waterfighting (given it was 32 degrees). In a continuation of previous years, the adults ate heaps, but Callum and Declan ate a bread roll each.

Sleepover

Callum and Declan had a sleepover last night at the Cants' place. They appear to have had a wonderful time as always. Jane took them to a carol service, which was the first time they'd been in a church for an actual service. Fortunately it was aimed at children, and they enjoyed it. Jane said there was a bit of proselytising, but it appears to have gone over their heads.

Illness continues

Cal seemed to improve for a few days last week but is now worse than ever.

There's still no symptoms or evidence beyond what he recounts, but he reckons he now feels worse than ever. The doctor did say to give it a week to ten days so we'll persevere with the current course for a while longer.

Award

Declan got an award for academic excellence at last nights 'A-night'. He was so happy about it.

Goggle fight

This afternoon, while Evan was at Tae Kwon Do, I took the boys to the pool. Once we got there (having walked the whole distance) Callum and Declan could not agree whose goggles were whose. They both wanted the black pair. I had no idea, and managed to get Callum to agree (with much grumbling) to take the unwanted blue pair.

I felt slightly better as a parent when we got home and discovered that Evan didn't know either - I suspect we will find ourselves buying another black pair to keep the peace at this rate.

Christmas Tree

Callum and Declan have been almost unable to contain their excitement at the thought of putting the Christmas tree up, so today we finally gave in to their urgings and decorated the tree.

We had previously been up to Greenwood to see if we could get one or two new ornaments for the year. Declan impressed the shop assistant by urging us all to check out everything in the shop before deciding what he would choose - I think she expected him to want to buy everything he saw.

Cousin visit

Yesterday we had a visit from my cousin Martin, who braved pizza night at the Lang Predavec household (accompanied by my parents, so he wasn't entirely on his own). We had built him up in the boys' mind as a robot expert (which he is) which meant that Declan was a bit too shy to show Martin his fighting robot.

Evan had created a special treasure hunt for the day's Advent calendar, so adults and children alike were amused by Callum and Declan trying to figure out what a "copper and zinc amphibian" might be.

Awards

Callum received a Gold Premier's Reading Challenge Award and his certificate for his High Distinction in ICAS English today.

Dinosaur role play

We had another quiet indoor day yesterday, because it was hot (although not nearly as hot as last week). Declan brought his dinosaur collection downstairs and had a lovely afternoon lining them up on the couch and playing all sorts of games with them.

Chess tournament

The School held a Chess tournament yesterday. Declan took part and came home with a medal having achieved two draws and a win.

Lucky negotiator

Each year the School holds a Peddlar's Parade. Families donate old toys, they are put on stalls and the kids buy stuff during lunch and recess. I gace each of the boys $2 to spend.

Declan came home with the usual pile of rubbish - mostly soft-toys.

Call came home with a magic trick and $3.75. He had negotiated the cost of the magic trick down from $2 to 25 cents and then found another $2 on his way home.

If we ever visit Turkey I know who I'm sending in to do the shopping.

Cubs

I took Callum to cub scouts last night. There is a new pack starting up in the hall literally just around the corner from us. The location made it too good an opportunity to miss, so we cajoled him into trying it out for three weeks.

He had a really good time and ran about with the other kids playing an assortment of cub scout games. The new pack is lead by two highly experiences leaders and they do a great job.

Only hitch is that it starts at 6:15 and runs until 7:45 - that's very late in our day, past bed-time actually. Cal was exhausted by the end from the lateness and the exercise. Worse is that it's on a Monday which is the day we do before-school robotics (and normally, though not this week, Tae Kwon Do after School). So that's a very long day. We'll persevere for a few weeks, though.

Vegetables not working

A week and a bit of a regime of fruit and vegetables means Callum can give a whole new answer about how often he does a poo.

Unfortunately he still feels unwell. So it's back to the doctor tomorrow for plan B.

Expedition

Yesterday I took the boys plus Milly and Alice to see Dinosaurs 3D at the IMAX cinema. It was so easy. They really do play well together. Alice and Declan spent the whole movie comparing notes on their dinosaur knowledge, and all four of them had a long discussion about birds and dinosaurs on the way home on the ferry.

Also on the ferry I noticed that we had a nice even age distribution - 9, 8, 7 and 6 - which perhaps accounts for the way they get on (or an alternative explanation is that they each get on better when they are distracted from arguing with their siblings).

Hot

Today was 40.4 degrees at Observatory Hill (forecast 41) so we were prepared. It's interesting how much a hot day is like a horrible rainy day in the available activities. The boys are old enough to help now. Callum, in particular watched the thermometer carefully this morning until the point where it was hotter outside than in, at which point he policed the closed door with cheerful rigour.

There was a lot of television watched, computer games, and Declan and I started a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle.

There were also quite a few water fights in the back yard, but unfortunately it was so hot that they ended in argument quite quickly.

Highly evolved

We visited the dentist this afternoon for a check up.

Declan's teeth are absolutely as expected and the dentist is pretty confident they will all come in beautifully.

Callum, she made umm-ing sounds about and then took a x-ray. It turns out that Callum's six-year molars are entirely missing. That means he'll keep the baby molars for the indefinite future. At some point they'll fail because the baby teeth are not supposed to last forever - but there's nothing under there to either activate them falling out or to replace them.

Cal looked worried for a while; until the dentist explained that missing teeth are supposed to be a sign of evolution progressing.

Fruit and veg

I walked out of the doctor's yesterday, bought a banana and told Cal to eat it. The boys both had a Nudie before TKD. Then half a raw carrot before dinner. Broccoli and spinach with their pasta. Then a tasting plate of fruit for desert.

Cal attached the plate with great reluctance. A piece of plum produced a 'yuck' even when taken with some maple syrup. Nectarine he managed to force his way through. The grape however was a real problem, but he did manage to get it down eventually. Not a great success there.

Declan was about 10 minutes behind Cal in reaching desert and had watched Cal's performance. So he approached the whole thing with shaking hands. He decided to attack the grape first. He popped it in his mouth, his face scrunched up in disgust... and then cleared. His eyes opened, he smiled and stuck a thumb up. And so we discover Declan likes grapes.

How do I know how often he poos?

I took Cal to the doctor yesterday about his continuing nausea. She sat him down and asked a series of questions (culminating in a diagnosis that he is perhaps simply constipated).

She asked him how often he does a poo. Cal thought a moment and said, 'Twice a month.'. The doctor did a double-take, questioned his answer, and then asked me to confirm it. It was at that moment I realised I had no idea. There was a time that quantity, frequency and even quality was one of the mainstays of my life. But since potty training has faded to a memory, times have changed.

OC refused

With a high degree of uncertainty that we were doing the right thing, we turned down Cal's OC offer.

Alarm 2

Waking Declan up with an alarm worked for exactly one week. This week he's used to it an blithely slept right through a noise that i found intensely irritating.

And then we were back to the wake-up argument.

Queasy

Callum has been low level queasy all week, without any other symptoms. He skipped school on Monday and Tuesday, which I was suspicious about, but today he skipped something he really wanted to be at - Angus' birthday party (a Teppanyaki restaurant).

After the first bite of some yummy steak (not the bread he has been eating all week) he felt queasy, and Angus' mother Fiona called me to come and get him. He's been OK (but not right) this evening, and I'm hoping that another good nights' sleep might finally get rid of whatever is troubling him.

Alarm

Following our horrible experiences trying to get Declan to wake up early recently, we tried something new this week. An alarm. Astonishingly it was much better. Declan was so interested in how the snooze button worked that he forgot to be grumpy about waking up early.

The Goodies (apology to Jennifer)

For some time Jennifer has been suggesting the boys, and Callum in particular, would like the Goodies. I've been luke-warm at best about the idea.

I came across the King Kong Kitten sketch on the net yesterday and showed Callum. He was in absolute and complete hysterics. We're now working our way through what's available for download and our house is ringing to Cal's helpless laughter.

Jennifer was sooooo right.

OC info

We went to the OC information morning today. If nothing else it drove home to us how much Cal had achieved in getting an offer. This year was the first time they removed the geographic boundaries and Neutral Bay which has a huge reputation was massively oversubscribed. So Cal's first round offer was against some serious competition from kids two years older than him.

He's currently rating the probability of him going as 3 out of ten - ie not likely. I'm putting the number at zero.

Cockatoo Island

Last night we camped on cockatoo island with 200 other people from Cammeray Public School. It was great.

Here is Declan waiting with the bags (if you look closely you can see the snake from Zoe's party on his wrist):



Callum checking our the ferry timetable and looking for the water taxi.






Callum showing off the view from our tent



And then Evan wheeling our bags and boys back to the wharf



Just as we were leaving it started raining so we timed the whole thing perfectly.

OC?

Callum sat the OC test this year in July. OC is a specialist gifted class for years 5 and 6 in NSW - our closest is Neutral Bay. Evan and I had convinced ourselves that Callum was unlikely to get in, given he would only have had six months in year 4 from having skipped year 3.

But this week, we got the letter confirming he had made it in. We are very surprised (and proud of him) and now trying to decide what to do. Next year the class will be held at North Sydney Boys High School (Neutral Bay is building classrooms with the government's building fund) which is quite good from our perspective, as it is directly on the way to Cammeray. But having trained Cammeray to look after Callum, quite well, we're not sure if we want to take a chance on a new school!

We've got an information morning next week, which may help us decide. We'll see.

Band concert

Tonight was Cammeray's band concert - all three bands (junior, intermediate and concert) plus some assorted ensembles.

I was struck once again by how impressive they are given how little time they have been learning.

Callum's band has been going for 9 months now and they have six pieces, all of which sound like real music. Here is Callum in his concert blacks.




And here is the whole band.



Sadly, after I wrote this piece (at interval) the second half went down hill, for Callum, at least. The three bands each performed, and all the band members stayed around for all the performances. So far, so polite.

And then they had a short piece for the massed bands (150!) at the end. Poor Callum was very upset by that, because they only had two keyboards, and as the Junior band keyboard player, he missed out. So after hanging around for two and a half hours after his bit of the concert, he got to stand there with a music stand valiantly joining in at the bits where the band members clapped or shouted, while everyone else played their instruments.

He came home quite upset with the whole thing (partly because he hadn't had dinner yet - it went an hour overtime), and determined not to do band next year. I'm not sure I blame him, to be honest.

Incipient teenager

Declan is completely unjetlagged now. In fact, he seems to be working his way around the clock again, waking this morning at 8.15.

Yesterday, I had to wake him at 7 to get up for robotics before school. It was not a pleasant experience, as he tried hard to ignore me, and put his head under the doona for about five minutes. It ended up with me giving him a friction burn in a juvenile tussle for his blankie which I am not proud of.

The teenager within doesn't seem that far away at times.

Whale watching

For some time, we've realized that Declan and I are probably the only ones in the family suited to sea based whale watching, due to motion sickness. But we haven't done anything about it.

So when whales were spotted off Bondi recently, Declan and I decided to go, and take Declan's friend Dan, as his (very delayed) birthday present.

This morning we took a whale watching cruise, and spotted three humpback whales - mother, calf and escort, as well as a pod of dolphins. Photos aren't great, because it is much more fun watching than taking photos!

It was great, although after about an hour, Dan and Declan got a bit sick of it and started playing with their toys.

Are holidays good for eczema?

We were quite disciplined about cream on Callum's eczema while we were away. Possibly coincidentally, this is the first time in at least four years that he has no eczema on either foot. He's still got it on his wrist, but I'm wondering if going to a more polluted environment is actually good for him.

Jetlag

The experience of jet lag for the boys on the way back has been quite interesting. The first night we managed to keep them up to 7 ish and they slept the night through (Callum pointed out that waking at 5.30 was normal for him).

But the second night they both woke at 2 ish. Amazingly, given that was their first day back at school, they stayed awake until bedtime.

We're hoping they are over it now. It is pretty amazing to see Declan in particular awake and functioning so early.


Mobile post

Shorn

Callum's hair got quite wild while we were on holidays. So when we got back we decided to cut it shorter than we had for a while.

He's practically unrecognizable. I think it will be a while before we cut it that short again.

Museum reprise

On our final day in London, we went back to our two favourite museums - natural history and science. Hopefully walking there and back from our hotel (around 2km each way) has worn the boys out for the journey home.

The boys both managed to find something in the science museum shop to spend the £10 Granny gave them for London.

Now everyone is looking forward to being home.

Last full day of the playground tour of Europe

For our last full day in London, we went to see the War Cabinet rooms and Churchill's museum. Declan is a bit over museums, and so it took him a while to warm up to the whole thing. There was a fabulous long table with an interactive timeline of Churchill's life, though, in which he spent a lot of time looking up family birthdays each year. He was thrilled to find that Churchill became prime minister in 1940 on 9 May.

Callum enjoyed it more, but particularly the part of the war rooms where he got to try on various hats - bowler, army, navy and the latest 1940s fashion for the modern typist.

In the afternoon, after a brief stop in a bookshop, we went to London's best playground (according to the websites) - the Princess Diana memorial playground near Kensington palace. There, we ran into Ella from Declan's class again, which was a fairly astonishing coincidence. It was lovely for both of them to have a non sibling playmate again.

Callum thought that the playground was the best of the whole trip - Declan wasn't so sure, with a soft spot for the other London playground (Coram's fields) where they found some local playmates.

Continuing the playground tour

Today we are in Greenwich, to see the observatory and take the opportunity to stand in the eastern and western hemispheres simultaneously.

But the boys unanimously voted for the playground over the planetarium.



Mobile post

Locals

We caught up with friends from our time in London - John, Margaret and their son Joey. We had first met Joey when he was younger than Callum and Declan are now so it was lovely to see him as a 20 year old playing with them.

We had lunch in a Greek restaurant in which the boys, as usual, just ate bread. They are getting quite short on any kind of vitamins on this trip!

Hamleys

Granny gave the boys £10 each to spend as they wished in London. So we took them to Hamleys, with its six floors of toys to choose from. Callum couldn't decide, but Declan chose a Ben 10 action figure for £7, hoping to find something else later.

Here is a picture of Callum with a Lego Indiana Jones.

Legoland

All through this holiday, we've been promising the boys an unspecified but amazing treat if they were both good, and learned their times tables. They've been pretty good, and Declan is getting close to knowing his times tables (Callum does, properly, but Declan can recite them if he does it slowly enough to work out the next number).

So Monday was the treat - a trip to Legoland UK. It is a theme park with a lego theme - rollercoasters, various other rides, a driving school, decorated at every turn with lego figures - dinosaurs, a safari full of african animals, lots of Indiana Jones, etc etc.

Amazingly, at the front gate, we ran into Ella, from Declan's class. Although we had known they would be here at the same time, it was an extraordinary coincidence, nonetheless.

We spent a full seven hours there, and as designated rollercoaster parent, I got to go on a fair few of the rides. The boys had a wonderful time, and enjoyed every minute, as far as I could see.








I couldn't get Ella and Declan to stand still for a photo together.

British museum

This morning after a fairly leisurely start (it is Sunday after all) we ventured forth to the British museum. In a pretty successful hour and a half we managed to hit a fair proportion of the high points; Rosetta stone, the mummy room, ancient Mesopotamia, roman Britain (including the Mildenhall treasure) and the Lewis chessman.

Here are the boys posing in front of a gold sarcophagus - reluctantly in Declan's case, as he found the mummies a bit spooky.

Soccer in the park

This morning we decided to try some sport - soccer in the park. We went across to green park and kicked a ball around. We got almost all the way to Buckingham palace and then back.




When Callum got tired he had a bit of fun taking pictures.

Science museum

On our second trip to the science museum I'm two days, we found the launch pad- which is the Questacon part.

Here's some pictures of everyone. First, Evan breaks the record:



Then Declan runs the machine.



And Callum checks out the Archimedes screw.

Injury time

Continuing the museum theme, today we visited the Science museum - specifically their Wallace and Gromit Cracking Ideas exhibit. The part both boys enjoyed the most was the chance to submit their own inventions to a Britain wide competition for best invention - I didn't have the heart to tell them that they wouldn't be eligible, being Australian.

Then in the afternoon we went to see Horrible Histories at the theatre. That would have been a great success had Callum not squashed his finger in the seat just before the show started. It was bad enough that Evan took him to a (NHS) doctor, luckily next door, where the nurse bandaged him with an impressive looking bandage that he has been proudly showing off ever since. It's not life (or finger) threatening, but he may end up losing a fingernail. The surgery couldn't work out how to charge them, so they just did it for free (that's socialized medicine for you!).

Then a quick whiz around some famous outdoor monuments (Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben) and that was a fairly full day.

Bathrobes

We're staying in a ludicrously expensive hotel in London. They gave the boys their own bathrobes.

Final day

Our last full day in Paris saw us visiting yet another art gallery at Declan's request.

We went to the Musee d'Orsay and gorged ourselves on the Impressionists, mostly Monet. Declan had committed quite a few facts and paintings to memory from the book we bought him the day before and brought them out at every opportunity. He was particularly excited to see one of Monet's early paintings in which Monet's wife, Camille, posed for all four women in the picture.

For the afternoon, we took a boat trip along the Seine, and then found a square near the Sorbonne with space for the boys to run around while we had dinner.

Next stop London!

Museums, museums, everywhere

On arrival in London, we paused only to drop our bags at our hotel (and visit a small playground en route) before arriving at the Natural History Museum. Callum was momentarily disappointed that we didn't start with the Science museum, but joined in Declan's excitement at the dinosaur gallery, which was pretty amazing. We also spotted two stuffed dodos, an enormous ammonite fossil, and a gallery about our impact on the planet (well a British family of four, but close enough).

We consider ourselves museum connoisseurs, and we were very impressed.

Journals

Callum and Declan are each keeping journals on this trip. This picture shows them writing away in our Paris apartment. Fortunately the picture doesn't show the constant bickering while they write.




Mobile post

Art day

Today was our designated Art museum day - lucky, because it was raining when we woke up this morning. At 10, we met our guide for a tour of the Louvre, cleverly disguised (for the boys) as a Treasure Hunt. We saw Mesopotamian sculptures, an Egyptian sphinx, the ruins of a mediaeval castle that is under the Louvre's basement, learned about the development of perspective in Italian renaissance painting, as well as seeing the compulsory Venus de Milo and Mona Lisa.

The treasure was a children's game book all about Paris, culminating in a choose your own adventure game about the theft of the Mona Lisa in 1911. A great way to see the Louvre, and the boys enjoyed every minute, even though they were quite tired by the end.

After lunch, we saw the Musee de l'Orangerie, which is famous for Monet's final, enormous, paintings of his waterlily garden. Declan was initially disappointed, because they weren't the paintings he was expecting (which have the bridge in the Giverny garden), but in the end enjoyed it, including the other Impressionist painters in that gallery. It's a great size gallery - you can see every painting without feeling like you have run a marathon. Callum enjoyed it also, but mostly for Declan's sake. Declan got a book about Monet from the shop, which he has already read about half of (before the call of television was too much).

Parc de Villette

We are in the parc de villette, which has another great playground for the boys to let off some steam.


Here are Cal and Dec on the bouncy bit.

Bonjour Paris

Two years ago, the highlight of today would have been the TGV from Strasbourg to Paris, with a top speed of 350km/h. Today, however, the highlight of our first day in Paris was the toy boat hire in Jardin du Luxembourg. For 2 Euros, each boy got a toy sailboat (with working sails) and a stick to push it around the octagonal lake (Grand Bassin) in the Jardin du Luxembourg.

The boat hire (and nearby fabulous playground) were so good that we've deferred the Eiffel Tower until tomorrow. Fortunately for Evan and me, there was a cafe with nice coffee near the playground, so we got a very leisurely afternoon of peoplewatching, coffee and chat while the boys had an afternoon of playing, with no cultural activities.

Queues

On our first full day in Paris, we decided we had to see the Eiffel Tower. That meant lots of queues. The queue to have our bags checked, the queue to buy tickets, the queue for the first lift, the lift to the top... The view from the top was pretty good, as was the exciting ride to the summit, but by the time we got there, we had two tired and hungry boys on our hands. So our stay was short. Except for a short delay for emergency pain au chocolat on the second floor we went down as fast as we could.

So after that, we needed to find some open space, so went to the Parc de Villette for some running around.

After a touristy dinner (best way to find pizza) we had a short visit to the Notre Dame, which was in the middle of Sunday evening service, so we didn't stay long.

Strasbourg

This morning we all got up bright and early to move to the next phase of our holiday. With enormous personal sacrifice, Bob got up with us to see us off on the 8.02am train from Wengen.

Four trains later, we arrived at Strasbourg train station. A beautiful town with lots of half timbered houses and canals, one of which we were staying on.

We did a boat trip, looked in the cathedral (13th century stained glass!) and marvelled that the coffee was suddenly much better now we were in France.

Declan found us a lovely restaurant (it had pizza) and impressed the waiter with his excellent french accent. Callum and Declan are both very interested in Napoleon as we pass through parts of Europe that have had multiple wars, so we had a lovely dinner conversation covering as much napoleonic history as Evan and I could remember.

More public transport

Today, on our final full day in the mountains, we decided to go on a slightly longer walk - from the top of a cable car (First) to an Alpine lake (Bachalpsee). It was, once again, a glorious day, with clear skies, and little wind. We were walking above the treeline, which felt quite different from our previous forest walks. Most of the way we had a point blank view of the Eiger, with the Jungfrau in the background - quite spectacular.

With judicious application of chocolate and marzipan, the boys enjoyed every minute, and had a great time at the lake giving each other tours of the most interesting points, and making their way around the rocks of the mountain streams without getting their feet wet.

We caught the cable car most of the way down to a way station - Bort, which had a wonderful children's playground right next to a cafe. The boys whiled away an hour or so there, managing to play with some other children without a common language. Then we tried some new transport - scooters. We hired scooters to take us the 4.5km remaining back to the bottom of the cable car at Grindelwald. The boys were in front of Evan and Bob, and had a wonderful time (although their attempts to steer were a little distracting for their co-drivers).

A stop at the chocolate shop in Grindelwald gave us some chocolate fondue for dessert, a very Swiss way to finish off the week in the Alps.

Flying

Bob and. I were determined to have an Alpine adventure, so we decided to go paragliding. We ran down the hillside 1489m above sea level, and then spent 15 minutes floating in the air past several waterfalls in the Lauterbrunnen valley, before landing nearly 500m below.

Evan and the boys watched us in the air, but just missed our landing, having been lured away by some parachutists. Declan was desparate to try it, but luckily our pilot told him that Declan would have to be as high as the pilot's chin before he was allowed.

In the afternoon, we took a boat to a set of caves. Local legend has it that an Irish saint managed to defeat a dragon that was living there, forcing it to the bottom of the lake with his pilgrim's staff. In the reenactment sound and light show (inside the cave) the staff bore a close resemblance to a light saber, which meant that the boys weren't particularly scared by the show.

The caves had been a 20 minute schlep up the hillside from the boat (before lunch), so there was a fair bit of complaining from Declan, who has been living up to his HungryBoy nickname so far.

While we were waiting for the ferry, Evan livened up the scene by starting a waterfight, using the remainder of our water bottles, with Callum and Declan. By some clever paternal sleight of hand, he managed to transfer the fight to Uncle Bob, with Uncle Bob ending up very wet. It was the highlight of Callum and Declan's day - not sure about Uncle Bob, though.

In the evening, Callum decided to play his nightly prank - force some unsuspecting grown up to run ahead of everyone else (up a steep hill) to our apartment so he can hide somewhere after having called the lift away. He seems to spend most of the day planning the prank out - oddly enough, it is always the same.

Alpine adventures

This whole area has an astonishing array of mountain walks, ranging from the very easy 10 minute stroll to the six hour adventure straight up a mountain. In that range, we found a special one for children - called the Children's Adventure Trail. To get there, we caught a cog railway, a cablecar, another cog railway, and then a funicular, to a lovely spot with a view of the whole Lauterbrunnen valley, a playground and a cafe. The cafe terrace overlooked the playground - parental heaven to have a cup of coffee while watching Callum and Declan choose more and more inventive ways to go down the massive slide which was cut into the hillside.

The walk was more of a stroll, really, down the valley back to the bottom of the funicular railway, with a combination of spectacular mountain views, and paths through the cool forest beside streams. There was a section along the way with a series of wooden adventure playground constructions - an enormous see-saw, a balance beam, and a set of forts. It is hard to imagine a better walk.

After a sustaining lunch in Murren, with far too much cheese consumed all round, we found some more public transport to a place called Pfinstegg - a cable car ride from Grindelwald (which appears to be the tourist trap town of this part of the Alps).

Up there, we had an exhilerating afternoon on the summer toboggan - Declan and Callum both had a go with every available adult, and Declan declared after about five goes that he was now addicted - "there must be a special chemical in the toboggan which makes me addicted to it". The advertising says you can go at up to 40km an hour, and it certainly felt it.

This day felt like a perfect Alpine day.

Jungfraujoch - the Top of Europe

This morning dawned astonishingly clear, with not a speck of wind or cloud, so we decided to make the most of it and catch the train up to the Jungfraujoch - at 3454m the highest train station in Europe.

An hour or so succession of cog railways from Wengen took us up there, with the temperature dropping at each stop. During the trip up, the boys were bribed in turn by Uncle Bob and Evan with wilder and wilder promises of how many hot chocolates they would get per snowball thrown at the other grownup.

At the top, we rushed out onto the glacier, so the boys could have their first touch of snow, and the first (of many) ceremonial snowball could be thrown. It was really ice, more than snow, but it certainly served its purpose, and we all had a great time throwing snowballs at each other. It was -1 celcius, and the sun was shining, so we were mostly too hot in all the clothes we had brought with us.

We set out on a walk across the glacier, which we realised afterwards was quite a big walk at that altitude. It took us 200m higher, to 3,650m, to Monschjoch, an Alpine hut, across the top of the glacier. It took us a fairly exhausting hour, so we were very relieved to have the promised hot chocolates at the hut at the end.

After an easier walk back, we explored the best of the attractions - an ice tunnel carved out of the glacier, the astonishing view from the top, and a last chance to throw snowballs at each other from the viewing platform.

We couldn't have had better weather for it - a beautiful day.

Swiss trains

Callum, as expected, woke up around 5, but the rest of us made it to around 6.30ish. Luckily, a Nintendo ds game will keep Callum occupied silently for hours.

This morning was our first try at the Swiss train system - from Zurich to Wengen (in the Alps) we took four trains, each of which had a connection of less than 10 minutes. We didn't think we had much hope, with five people and suitcases between us, but it was very simple. The last train was a cog railway up into the Alps - to Wengen at 1274m above sea level.

In Wengen, we found the annual cheese festival well under way. Highlights included a procession of traditionally dressed Swiss people carrying cow bells, a set of 6 swiss mountain horns being played in harmony, and getting the boys to eat some traditional swiss food - melted cheese on bread. There was also a whip cracking competition, and a stone throwing competition - this last one almost sucked Evan and Bob in, but they contented themselves with watching.

Callum and Declan both nearly fell asleep in their dinners, but we managed to keep them awake until we were back in our apartment (which has a view of the Jungfrau!).

Zurich

Zurich was our get over jet lag day, so we spent the day out and about.

First with Katy and Dan, who live nearby. They took us on a tram down to the lake, and introduced us to a great sausage place - Bratwurst mit Brot und Bier - an excellent way to get over jetlag. After a slightly shy start, the boys warmed up, with Callum realising that in Dan, he had found someone happy to listen to him talk at length about the differences between Zurich and Sydney.

Declan was mostly thrilled by the swans on the lake, which had the novelty value of being white.

We caught the river boat back up to the Swiss museum, where we whiled away an hour or two in the courtyard with Callum and Declan playing an obscure game involving the cannons which were scattered about. Bob met us there, and we managed to keep everyone awake until about 6ish with another walk down to the lake.

Holiday!

Friday September 25 had been a date of much anticipation in our house, with Callum preparing a minute by minute timetable for our morning up to 12pm, when the taxi arrived to take us to the airport.

In the event, we didn't follow it exactly, but both boys were up at 6, and packed by about 8. After a morning (a trip to the city) designed to tire everyone out before 24 hours sitting on a plane, we took off at 3.30ish.

The less said about the flight the better - although the boys were very good in the air, having a great time with the Singapore Airlines entertainment system, they were both sick on landing in Singapore.

The flight to Zurich was uneventful, and (being Switzerland) there was a very easy trip into town and to our hotel.

Excitement

The boys are starting to get very excited about their trip to Europe. Callum declared to me the other morning that he was going to start a new Google Doc of the timetable for Friday - the day we fly out.

I introduced him to Google Calendar, and showed him how to invite other people to his events.

He invited Evan and me to make breakfast for him at 6 am.

Declan in the speak-offs

Declan was chosen to represent his class in the Term 3 speak-off's (public speaking competition). He did an absolutely brilliant job - speaking clearly, smiling, and getting several laughs form the audience.

He didn't win - but in a moment that really made the parental heart glow he was the only participant who did clap the winner from the stage.

Callum and NAPLAN

Because Cal skipped a year (and perhaps because it would help the School results?) he was allowed to sit the Year 3 NAPLAN earlier this year.

It was pleasing to see he maxed out the scale on everything except Language Conventions (where he came near the top of band 6).

Callum and the ICAS comps

Each year the UNSW runs a series of competitions throughout the country with kids sitting tests for Writing, Science, Maths and English.

Thus far, Callum has got a Distinction for Science, a Credit for Writing and a High Distinction for English. As these are comepting with a huge number of students from the same year in the country we're particularly pleased with the last result as it indicates he's sitting in the top percentile of Year 4 for a core subject.

After the first two results we were suffering some parental angst about the last grade skip - the results were amazing for a 7-year-old but there are no bonus points for being young and he really needed to be achieving at the top of Year 4 if he's to look at a selective school or anything like that. So the English result was calming. (I have to say this was all parental angst, Cal was largely oblivious to the whole thing one way or another.)

Maths is still to come.

Laser Tag

Callum's birthday party was this afternoon - Laser Tag at this spot. Callum, Declan, and 13 of Callum's friends (plus me and Evan) got to play two games of laser tag, plus have some free turns at the video games. Declan (who was officially too young for it - you have to be 8), is now counting down until he is old enough to have his birthday party there.

And Callum is still mad at me for shooting him near the blue base (he was blue and I was yellow). Many of Callum's birthday cards had the words "bang, bang"on them - celebrating the party. The invitations went to a good mix of year 3s and 4s, boys and girls, which was nice to see.

Measurement

As always on their birthdays, we have measured the boys. Callum is 126.5 cm, and 25.1 kilos, and Declan is 119.5 cm and 22.3 kilos.

That means that Callum is 42nd percentile for height, 46th for weight, and 48th for BMI. Declan is 63rd percentile for height, 59th percentile for weight, and 56th for BMI. They seem to be converging.

Creativity

The other night, when Callum was procrastinating from doing his speech, both boys had a burst of voluntary creativity which was lovely to watch. Declan decided to do an "information report" about the Diprotodon (hippo sized wombat which is extinct and the subject of Callum's speech). Instead of putting his speech on index cards, Callum decided to work out what was wrong with the stapler. He got out the book The Way things Work and decided that the problem was with the leaf spring.

Final soccer match

I really thought the gala day two weeks ago was the last match of the season, but we had one more today - the North Sydney Bears' Picnic Day. They all turned up to have a (roughly) 8 a side match against another North Sydney Bears team, have their picture taken, and get a personalized trophy. The match was quite funny, as they are used to only having 5 on the team at any one time, so there was a real cluster of kids around the ball.

It was 27 degrees, so it is probably just as well that this is (finally) the last match of the season.

Walking

It's hardly news these days, as we've done it a fair few times, now, but we did the Spit to Manly walk again today. A lovely spring day, with the sun shining. Declan was keen to go, but Callum would have preferred a shorter walk (he was outvoted).

The boys are getting better and better at it. There was hardly any complaining (except for Declan's earnest scientific explanations of why his black clothes were making him hot) and lots of running ahead.

I trained Callum to say good morning to everyone we met - he's still young enough that you can see form their faces that they think he is very cute doing it.

Wireless DS

Callum and Declan were playing nintendo DS side by side, and shouting at each other occasionally. Evan asked them to be quieter, and threatened them with their bedroom.

So Callum took himself happily up to the bedroom with the DS. And Callum and Declan shouted to each other up and down the stairs. They were politer, but a lot noisier.

Miss Carapina's birthday

Miss Carapina had her birthday on Tuesday with much celebrating amongst the class. There were two slide shows from class members (which sounded quite sophisticated, including photo montages and animations) lots of streamers (contributed by Declan tearing paper into strips, balloons and slime (which was probably going too far). There was also cake, and heaps of other food, contributed by the class (or their parents).

Miss Carapina, according to Callum, was very pleased, although annoyed with the pupil (Jordan) who went too far with the slime.

Gala day

Declan had his soccer gala day on Saturday, the final soccer matches of the season. They had to play three 15 minute matches, and then the winners of each pool got to a final with another team.

Declan's team were thrilled to make the final (they were all jumping up and down for joy, when they realised) and went down in a fairly close match in the final itself.

Declan's half of the team (the red Bears) were the walking wounded - two boys had flu and tonsillitis, one had such a sprained ankle he could barely walk, and Declan himself had a huge lump on the back of his head from the day before at school.

But they all tried really hard, and thinking back to the beginning of the season, their soccer skills as a team had hugely improved.

They got a "runners-up"pennant, and I had to break it to Declan as we went home that their team hadn't actually won the final (which he thought they had, because they got the pennant).

Bumped head

When I got home on Friday night, it was to the news that Declan had missed school after lunch because he had bumped his head. And he did have the most enormous bump on the back of the head.

Evan had been called to school at the end of lunchtime, when Declan had told one of the teachers about it. Declan had actually bumped his head (by being accidentally pushed over by one of his classmates) at the beginning of lunchtime, but had gone on to the computer club for the whole of lunch.

He was absolutely charming over dinner, showing no ill effects, and has seemed fine ever since, even though the lump is still quite large.

A friend (whose husband is a doctor) tells us that the size of the lump and its speed of emergence points to a likely skull fracture, but that there is absolutely nothing you can do about it if there are no other symptoms.

The Birthday surprise

It's Miss Carapina's birthday on Tuesday next week, and Callum has been creating a class-wide conspiracy to celebrate it all week. They plan to surprise her with a slide show on the class smartboard (which one of the class will have ready on a USB stick), plus her favourite drink and cake. It was Callum's job to find out what Miss Carapina's favourite drink and cake were, so he created an elaborate cover story in order to ask her.

The cover story was that Declan had been given an assignment by his science teacher to do a survey of the favourite drinks and cake for a number of teachers.

I'm desperately curious to know whether Miss Carapina knows what is going on.

Singhi visit

Alex and Lucinda, who were Callum and Declan's best friends last year, moved to Brisbane at the beginning of this year. They are down for the weekend, and are here tonight for a sleepover. It's been six months since they last saw each other, so I wasn't sure how it would go, but it doesn't seem as if there has been any gap at all for any of them.

Alex and Callum immediately started discussing the best way to develop weaponry for Callum's company (the one which will be in a secret reef off the coast of Australia). When I asked them for specifics about the submarine they were discussing, they both got very upset with me for listening in.

Lucinda came with me to pick Declan up from the birthday party he went to this afternoon, and Declan immediately started sharing the contents of his party bag with her.

There was a lot of talking after they went to bed, and I expect that they will all be up on the dot of 6 (which I reinforced at bedtime was the earliest they were allowed out of bed.

Grotty

The excitement of being in a movie meant that the boys woke up very early this morning. And they have been very grotty all day, constantly provoking each other into floods of tears about tiny pushes and shoves.

We were at the Gaynor Vincents for lunch (to celebrate Claire and Alex's birthdays) and had to be sinbinned from the popular game of Doctor Doctor several times. Aidan took on the doctor role (previously exclusively Callum's) several times in desperation.

And tonight I've just talked Declan out of floods of tears because he might lose his blanky ("I love my blanky, Jennifer") on our European holiday.

Movie stars

Callum and Declan's piano teacher, David, is an aspiring film maker. He asked them, and Callum's friend Angus, to be in a short movie he's making for a competition. So this morning they went up to Hornsby to act in David's movie.

David wanted Declan to have the speaking part (one line), but Declan decided he was too shy. Not surprisingly, Callum was very happy to take the role.

They were both very interested in the camera tracks (there was a tracking shot), but Declan's main comment was that there was a lot of waiting around.

Teachers

Callum and Declan have pretty high belt levels these days at Tae Kwon Do. The other afternoon, Callum was senior belt (the highest of everyone in the class) and Declan only usually has a few more experienced kids than him (most a LOT older).

So their job is to teach the white belts (the beginners). It's been really nice to see that they have been making a big effort to do that. Declan, in particular, is quite good at it, patiently explaining the patterns and putting the new people's arms and legs in the right position. It's interesting to watch, as Declan is always smaller than the person he is teaching.

Science competition

Cammeray school enters their Yr 3-6s into these UNSW competitions. Callum got his first results this week - a Distinction. This means (we think) that he was in the 10th-20th percentile (he was 11th percentile). Evan and I really struggled with our initial reaction - why wasn't he in the 1st - 10th percentile (which would have been a high distinction)? All the 3-6s do the same test, and he would (according to the graph) have been somewhere like the 1st percentile in the yr 3s.

But the whole point of putting him in Year 4 this year was to give him challenging things to do at school - it is working.

Southern Cross

Callum and Declan aren't often outside in the full dark - in summer it is too late, and in winter, generally too cold. But on Saturday night we went for a Saturday night excursion to the DVD rental place, as we had forgotten to return the previous week's DVD.

With no moon, a clear night, and a trip through the back streets of Waverton, we managed to see the southern cross, including the fifth star, which is quite hard to see from the middle of Sydney these days. I'd forgotten how to tell where south is, so made up a method which happened to work at the time but wasn't right (extend the cross down to the horizon and that is south). Now I've looked it up again, it'll probably be another two years before we see it again with enough clarity to tell them the right method.

Free rice

Callum and Declan have recently discovered the website freerice. It's a website with various (mostly vocabulary) questions where every time you get a question right, the owners donate 10 grains of rice to feed hungry people.

Callum got up early this morning because he is trying to get to 10,000 grains of rice. He's recently moved to the foreign language section, and is really enjoying that he can figure out the meaning of many words in french and italian from their english language equivalents.

Declan is sticking to the english language section, but is very proud that he got up to level 6 this morning - I thought that was pretty good too!

I think they are both actually learning from the experience, although Callum did say this morning that he could only understand french words if they were written down, not if they were spoken.

Bushwalk

Yesterday we walked to Greenwich ferry. It was one of those lovely Sydney winter days - warm in the sun, with not too much wind, so it was a lovely walk. Most of the way from here is actual bush, with just a tiny suburban part in Greenwich itself.

Then we had lunch in Circular Quay, and caught the ferry home, coincidentally meeting Jacob, one of Callum's school friends on the ferry.

Both boys thought the highlight was the icecream at Circular Quay (to be fair, Evan and I thought the lunch at the Oyster Bar was the highlighted, so food featured highly!), but in second place was sitting at the top of the hill in Vista St in Greenwich watching the harbour, and listening to the birds.

Independence

Tonight we sent Callum down to the shops to get some milk all by himself. He had to cross three roads (one of them Blues Point Road at the pedestrian crossing) to get there. He was very proud of himself, especially that he had enough money left over to buy some fudge, and he didn't because I hadn't given him permission.

Teamwork

Callum and Declan are sitting next to me jointly playing a computer game. It's lovely to listen to. Declan said, "that was great teamwork Callum. That's how you get results, by playing as a team". And then Callum just said, "Brilliant! That's brilliant, brother. When you put your mind to it, you're brilliant".

Last day of the holidays

Today is the last day of the school holidays. So this morning we went to Darling Harbour to do this monorail treasure hunt. It was surprisingly good, with some interesting stops around the Sydney streets to look for clues. And Callum and Declan cooperated reasonably well doing it, as well. The boys found the maritime museum section very easy, but the Paddy's market bit was a bit trickier. Now we're having a lazy afternoon watching a kids spy movie.

Lazy day

Today was the last week day of the school holidays, and Evan Callum and Declan had a very relaxing day, by all accounts. They caught the train to Wollstonecraft, and walked back here via Berry's Island (rock climbing around the shore) and Waverton (video shop, where they hired some Home Alone videos). Then they spent the rest of the afternoon watching the videos. It's probably just as well that Declan is playing soccer tomorrow. There's a bit of excess energy that needs burning off.

Tall

It's been coming a while, but I've suddenly noticed how much Callum and Declan (particularly Declan) have outgrown their pyjamas. We bought them last winter, and they both seem to have a good 10cm of bare ankle from where the bottom of the pyjamas should be.

Declan had his hair cut on Thursday as well, and is suddenly looking very grown up.

Worry

I went to Melbourne today for work. As I was leaving (the boys were up, Evan wasn't), I told them where I was going. Declan was worried. "There's swine flu in Melbourne, Jennifer. Will you be OK?" I told him that I didn't think I would be anywhere near anyone who was actually sick (true) - not telling him that there is just as much swine flu in Sydney as Melbourne at the moment (in fact someone I work with has had it).

Sickness update

Declan had a horrible night last night, vomiting three times. In a new development, he didn't wake up anyone else in the house, instead, tidily vomiting into the bucket beside his bed. We were very proud of him (only a parent would say that!!)

This morning he slept for four hours, and now seems pretty OK, which is a relief, as they have robotics all day tomorrow.

You are so mean!!!!!

The text of a note that Declan has just written about five times for Callum. Callum, indignant, took two copies to show Evan. Evan disappointed Callum by saying, "very neat writing, Declan!"

Sickness AGAIN

We went up to the mountains to celebrate Chris and Jodies' birthdays yesterday. Declan did seem a little out of sorts, most notably by refusing to be hugged by Zoe as she left.

Last night he was awake a lot of the night, and today he has spent the whole day hugging a bucket on the couch (only one actual vomit, luckily). Evan also had a touch of the same disease, so Callum was bouncing around the house while both of them would have preferred a little less noise, and a little more quiet.

I managed to spend the morning working at home, which helped (as Callum had someone to talk at).

Lazy Saturday

After a very successful visit to the Powerhouse yesterday, the boys decided between them that it was only fair to have another trip to Darling Harbour with me today. We caught the ferry across, visited the bungy trampolining, and then played hide and seek in the Chinese Gardens. A visit to Kinokinuya on the way back home and our day was just about perfect.

Lee visit

On Sunday and Monday night this week Aidan and Chris came to visit, so that Aidan could go to Gerric with Declan. All three boys seemed to enjoy themselves, with a visit to Wizzy world on Monday afternoon, and lots of playing of the Wii.

Aidan didn't sleep in Callum and Declan's room, to their disappointment, but some relief from the adults - probably meant more sleep for all concerned than might have happened otherwise.

Trip to Canberra

We're just back from three days in Canberra, which were very enjoyable, and not nearly as cold as we feared. As well as the usual trips to Questacon we spent a morning in the Australian War Memorial, and the afternoon bike riding around the lake - with tag along wheels for both boys - which was lots of fun.

At Questacon, we had gee'd the boys up to do the Free Fall - hang from a bar 6.7 metres above the ground, to fall (totally safely) onto a slide which nicely slows you down. Both of them balked at the first attempt (not helped by a woman ahead of them also balking). On the second time, Declan had a go, and loved it, but Callum balked twice more, and then again a few hours later when he tried again.

Declan went on to keep going around and around until the queue got too long - in the end he did it 7 times. Callum, on the other hand, was very upset with himself, getting himself in tears each time because he was too scared once he looked down.

Fighting

On Friday evening, Grandma tempted fate by commenting to me that Callum and Declan weren't fighting as much as they used to. Murphy came and fought back with a vengeance on Sunday, as they spent what felt like the whole day niggling and arguing with each other - mostly keeping their voices slightly below the point at which we would lose patience and send them both to the stairs for a bit of peace.

The only (small) upside was that because they couldn't agree on what to watch on TV, the TV stayed off the whole day.

I think it is because Declan is now reading obsessively each night - and then not getting enough sleep, so he is not willing to let Callum get away with as much as usual. I suspect we're going to have to police his reading light.

Marbascular Fantastica

For some reason (possibly grandparental influence) this afternoon Callum and Declan got out the marble run and had a play with it. Callum was particularly keen to show off his marbascular fantastica and came (very politely) every 3 minutes or so to the dinner table to see if we were finished and could watch in it action.

We were very impressed with his italianate showmanship.

Reading, not sure what happened

For ages Declan has refused to read anything but fairly basic books even though we've known he could read them. We attributed this to his ceding the ground to Callum.

Then last week he wanted to read an Andy Griffiths book (The Pencil of Doom). He promptly devoured it and then another in the same series. This week he's reading 39 Clues - a book designed for 9-12 year olds. He just seems to have made a bewildering leap forward in his reading and it's not clear why (not that we're complaining, of course; but it'd be nice to understand what's going on).

Declan's award

We got a letter today to tell us that Declan will be receiving an A-Day award for a "Positive Attitude and Approach to Learning" next week.

The SC

Callum is a founder member of the "SC" at school - which stands for Spy Club. Its cover name is Saddle Club - he explained to me that that was a club just for girls, so that nobody would expect it to really be a Spy Club (which has a mixed membership).

His code name is Gadget Guy. He went to Juliette's (one of the other founder members) birthday party last weekend, and labelled the birthday card, "this card will self destruct after reading".

One of the girls in his class, Emmanuelle, has started a rival club, just for girls, which spies on all the boys. I was worried that she might have "turned" Juliette, but Callum thinks it is OK because Juliette is a founder member of the orginal SC and would always stay loyal.

Speak offs

Declan came home yesterday in high excitement - he had made it into the speakoffs! He was still excited at 9.30 last night - savouring the memory of when Mrs Havercroft had told him he had made it in.

It turned out on further enquiry today that he had only made it to first reserve - but he is still thrilled nonetheless, and hoping that one of his classmates is away that day ("not sick, Jennifer, just away") so he gets to compete.

Rainy weekend

This weekend was mostly rainy, which led to some interesting highlights:

Saturday, when the highlight was Declan being covered in mud because his soccer match still happened. I wasn't surprised by the muddy legs and arms. That made sense. But I couldn't quite understand how he got so much mud on his face!

Sunday, when in an effort to find something to do when Callum and I were out at another band competition (they came third!), Declan and Evan went out to the hardware shop, and bought equipment to make a working pair of scales (pictured) designed by Declan.

A Capella

This morning we gave Milly and Alice a lift to school. Callum and Milly were sitting in the back, and started singing their band parts together. Callum has been singing their pieces around the house all week, but this was more special - they each did their own parts, in time, and vaguely in harmony! It actually sounded quite good - particularly one section which seemed to be a call and response between the clarinets (Milly) and the bass (Callum).

He's got our genes after all

Last night when Evan came back from the P&C at 9.20, I thought I should check on Declan, just in case he was still awake. He was, and avidly reading his new Andy Griffiths book. We told him to turn the light off and stop reading. "I'm not tired at all! I'm up to Chapter 23! This book is really interesting!".

We eventually persuaded him, and he turned the light off and stopped reading. Despite our stern looks, Evan and I were smiling as we went back down the stairs.

Watching a burning ship

Last Friday we went into the City after School and watched a re-creation of the sinking of the Three Bees in 1814. It was a lovely evening and the boys appeared delighted to be trying to work out how the burning ship worked.

Desert in the chocolate cafe in the rocks went down well too...

Another test

Because we've been talking to a range of Schools recently and Callum's IQ test is out-of-date for practical purposes, we had him tested again.

His basic test results turned out to be the same as Declan's although with variations in the sub-tests. He hit the ceiling in most of the sub-tests which means that that without doing a seperate round of testing with a different 'instrument' the actual numbers only give a baseline.

More band competition

Callum had another band competition today, which I got to go and watch. It was the Yamaha Band Festival, and their teacher was so confident that she entered them in the second bottom category, not the bottom! (which is not bad, since they have only been playing their instruments since February, in the vast majority of cases)

It was very well organised, so we only really had to be there for about an hour and a half, for a 15 minute actual performance (given there were about 20 bands in their section, it could have been much worse). Their band was about twice as big as the others (58 children to get playing in time), and (to my prejudiced eye) looked a bit younger, so they did very well to be up there in the standard.

This one doesn't have winners - you just get a grading - gold, silver, or bronze, so we'll see how they go.

Best and fairest

On the ride to soccer yesterday morning, Declan was commenting that he hadn't won the best and fairest award yet, "And Nick O has won it twice! That shouldn't happen". I told him that he needed to run after the ball more, and try his hardest, and he would get it one day.

In the game, he played one of his worst games at the beginning, wandering around in a bit of a daze and kicking the ball if it happened to come near him, but in the second half, when the coach was watching, he had a burst of energy and started tackling everything that moved.

So he duly won the best and fairest award. He was very pleased, but I thought it was a bit of a shame that it was on one of his worst games! We had a bit of a chat about the contrast between the two halves, so we'll see what happens next week.

Band Competition

Callum came home from school very chuffed. He had been in their first Band Competition, and they had won through to the finals! There were seven schools, one of which was North Sydney Dem, and some of which had their intermediate or even concert bands entered.

That means they get to go to a final on 21st June.

There has been a lot of band practice lately - four practices a week last week (2 mornings 2 lunchtimes), which Evan and I have been groaning about, but Callum seems pretty happy about. He said tonight at dinner that he definitely wants to do it next year, too.

Captain

Declan's soccer team (of 12 boys) gets split into two teams to play five a side soccer every week. That gives a fair opportunity for touching the ball, and also for various positions of responsibility.

This week, Declan was captain of his half team. That involves wearing an armband the whole game, and also conferring with the coach afterwards to choose the best and fairest on his team. He took his responsibilities very seriously.

Sadly the team lost 9-0.

Coughing

Callum has been coughing fairly heavily for about two weeks now, ever since he had a nasty cold which kept him home from school. Evan and I have been having flashbacks to when he got pneumonia, so Evan took him to the doctor on Saturday (while Declan had soccer). Turned out that his chest his clear, and the cough is his body's attempt to keep it that way.

It's still painful to watch Callum, though - every time he has some intense exercise (like a fight with Evan over a doona, for example) he ends up in paroxysms of coughing.

Sleeping

In contrast to the beginning of this blog, when sleeping was one of my obsessions, I haven't written about it lately. But patterns are changing, and I should record the current state.

Callum doesn't need much sleep. He goes to sleep sometime around 9-10 most nights (having read in bed since around 8). And he wakes up very early. He knows he isn't allowed out of bed until 6, so if it's before that when he wakes up (which is at least a third of the time) he will turn the light on and read until 6. When I get up early for Bootcamp, and he's awake, I go in to say hello, and he will pretend to be asleep, but fail utterly, because he has a broad grin on his face (and of course, the light is on).

Declan, on the other hand, is an incipient teenager. He will got to sleep pretty quickly after going to bed (8- 8.30), and we frequently have to wake him up around 7 on weekday mornings so he can get read for school in time. Last weekend he set a new record (he proudly told me) by waking up at 7.55!

Long lunch

It was my birthday on the weekend, and to celebrate, we all went out to a lazy Sunday lunch. It was the first time we've managed to go to an upmarket restaurant as a family for a reasonable length of time.

We were at Le Kiosk, next to Shelley Beach, which meant the boys could run around between courses, and Evan had also thoughtfully brought books for them. It also helped that there was a children's menu.

Still, I was very proud of them, as they were very well behaved, and let Evan and me have a nice 2 hour lunch with three courses!

I'm was amused by the desserts - we got a tasting plate, and Declan loved every bit, while Callum turned his nose up at pretty much everything (except biscotti). The lad does not have a sweet tooth.

Sleepover

Tom and Angela came down from the mountains for a sleepover last night. Angela and I went out while Evan looked after all the boys. They all seemed to have a good time, although Tom stayed awake very very late (quietly, without fussing) until Angela got him to sleep when she got home.

In the morning, Declan got Tom to help with his latest movie making venture - here is the result:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9gyRMfGc2w

Not sure how clear the plot is from the result, but it's basically a battle in which everybody dies.

Sick

Both boys were home sick yesterday - Callum has a horrible cold, and Declan managed to convince Evan he was a bit sick as well. Today, it was just Callum, although Declan tried hard to cough convincingly this morning.

Callum is still feeling very sorry for himself, coughing and spluttering all over the place, but he perked up enough this evening to put on some great German and English and Scottish accents as we were playing Go Fish with the deck of cards that Declan got from Uncle Bob for his birthday.

I think Callum may be watching too much bad 60s television!

Aeroplanes

Declan has been making paper aeroplanes last night, and insisted that I send Evan (who is out at the P&C) some emails describing them.

Declan Predavec has invented a new aeroplane called the scrapyard jet.It just looks like a scrapyard piece of paper, but it's actually an aeroplane. It's easy to fly. When it flies, it swirls around, and it can even go upside down. When it lands, it can land upside down with little feety things.

Spit to Manly

On Sunday, which was a gorgeous day in Sydney, we did the Spit to Manly walk. Not much wildlife (probably too many people) but wonderful views, and great landscape.

After a break in Manly for coffee/milkshakes/chips, Evan persuaded the boys to walk back again - I picked them up half way. So I reckon they did 12 km that day - perhaps I should take it back about them not being that fit.

Fragile week

This week both boys have been hovering on the edge of illness, with Wednesday being the worst, with Declan home sick from school, and Callum only going in long enough to do his Naplan test for that day (year 3 testing of maths, grammar and writing - one each for three days).

Declan's sickness seemed to mostly manifest itself in extra stubborness. For the first time he sat at the table from dinner time until bedtime, refusing to eat any vegetables (usually he gives up after about 20 minutes and scoffs them down).

Callum just became more liable to get angry at any moment - particularly as he seemed to have gathered from those around him that Naplan was a Big Deal, so he was entitled to feel stressed about it.

But tonight, they were charming as always for Grandma and Grandpa - obviously deciding to ration their limited charm this week for non parents.

Declan at 6

At 6, Declan would like to be an inventor when he grows up. His favourite books are Zac Power (but only new ones, not hand-me-downs from Callum) and he loves drawing and making things - out of lego or paper, or anything else he can find. His favourite fish is a shark, and he also loves butterflies. He is obsessed with Bakugan, which is a set of toy balls, which pop out into monster like creatures - hard to describe, and the latest craze among the under 10s.

His best friend is Dan, from his class, but he is a member of a nice coterie of boys at school, most of whom are also in his soccer team, who play together most lunchtimes.

Measurement

On Declan's birthday, we've done our regular measurement of the boys.

Declan is 117 cm (almost exactly the same height as Callum on his sixth birthday) and 22.5 kg. That makes him 60th percentile for height, 70th for weight, and 75th for BMI.

Callum is 125 cm and 24.15 kg, which is 45th percentile for height, weight and BMI.

Happy Birthday Declan!

Yesterday was Declan's 6th birthday, and, as it was on a Saturday, the whole birthday excitement was compressed into a single day.

It started (for Declan) at 5.30, when he and Callum (who had woken at 3!) started doing commando raids into our room to steal presents. They managed to get and unwrap three or four before 6 without us noticing them coming into the room.

Then an early morning skype call with Uncle Bob, where we managed to get Declan unwrapping his present in front of Uncle Bob.

Then a soccer game, a birthday party with 12 other excited 6 year olds at Wizzy world (an indoor play centre) and then dinner with Grandma, Grandpa, Granny, and Uncles Martin and Kevin.

Declan made out like a bandit on the birthday present front, and has been having a great time today putting together all the different star wars lego kits he got.

Excitement

Declan's excitement at his impending birthday has been building for some time. It probably made a giant step up when he realised some time in April that his arithmetic was up to working out the number of days between then and his birthday (knowing that April has 30 days).

This week he's been finding it hard to get to sleep without counting how many more days there were.

And tonight he and Callum made an elaborate apparatus with the aim of waking Declan up as soon as a present appeared at the end of his bed (deposited there by Callum) at 6.01 am. I made a feeble attempt to point out that as he hadn't been born until after 7 am, he should wait until them, but he saw through me, telling me I just wanted to get some more sleep.

Spy phones

Inspired by the millions of Get Smart episodes he watched through the school holidays, Declan has taken to pretending the most unlikely household objects are actually telephones. This afternoon it was a texta (with lid for mouthpiece). This evening, before bed, it was a tin whistle, which you dialled by blowing into it.

Train comeback

For some reason (probably obscure to them also), the boys have broken out their lego train tracks this week. So the living room floor is a complex set of train tracks, including bridges over the top of each other, a station and an ink factory.

It's ages since they last played with them, but there is life in those toys yet.

Hand-me-downs

With the onset of wintry weather in Sydney, we've done a partial clear-out and transfer of the boys' clothes. And that includes buying Callum some new ones and transferring a whole bunch of clothes into Declan's drawers.

This morning, Callum got to put on a new outfit, and Declan got to wear a new-to-him outfit made up of Callum's hand-me-downs. For the first time, he got upset at the lack of new clothes, and actually refused to wear them - he's still in his summer clothes in protest.

Grandparents back

Grandma and Grandpa have been in NZ for most of the month, and the boys were quite happy to see them again tonight when they came over for the regular Friday night pizza. Declan was very keen to play our new Board game with them, so we played a game of it which Declan won (although not before he had burst into tears at a few reversals during the course of the game).

Back to school

School went back on Wednesday (the schools got the Anzac Day holiday that wasn't gazetted, and then Cammeray had a pupil free day). Callum and Declan seem totally happy to be back into the swing of things, starting up with band at 7.45 am on Wednesday morning.

Only downside is no TV in the mornings any more.

Ironfest

This weekend, we went up the mountains to stay overnight with the Lees, and further today , to Ironfest, in Lithgow. Ironfest is a festival "with a metal edge", and featured the Battle of Lithgow (as it may have happened in the time of Napoleon), and a full jousting tournament. Many people from near and far choose to come dressed up in historic garb - ranging from mediaeval to WWII soldiers - leading to some eye-popping anachronism moments.

It was also, as Callum described it, "howling cold", with the 9 degree temperature further lowered by a serious windchill factor that meant that none of our clothes were warm enough!

Despite that, we all had a great time, with both the boys saying that they'd like to do that every weekend (especially the sleepover part). The jousting (which was as authentic as possible without the aim being serious injury to the opposition) probably won the vote as the best part of Ironfest, possibly because most of the time we were watching the sun was out.

Evan is taking the boys for new winter woolies tomorrow.

ATYP

The boys have been doing ATYP this week, at the Powerhouse museum. Declan did a course with a space and alien theme, culminating in a show where they all pretended to go on a space trip, and Declan pretended to be a Pokemon alien. In a major change from a year ago (where he got out of doing the show by pretending to have a stomachache for the day) he thought the best part of the whole week was the show.

Callum did a course on acting for the camera, also with a space theme. To help them understand pretending to be aliens, they got to watch a big segment of the Men in Black movie. Notwithstanding all the great choices illustrated by the movie, Callum decided to be Mr Freeze, an alien inspired by the Batman Nintendo game. They actually seemed to be learning a bit more about acting - each of them having to do a scene to camera in which they pretended to be desperately asking for help.