And that's why school libraries need junk books

Declan got a Pokemon chapter book out of the library after school today. I'm not sure that those books even have a plot, but they have Pokemon characters, that's the main thing.

Tonight he sat reading it all through dinner at the Italian restaurant, having to be told to put it down when the food came, read it half way home while walking (until I told him to stop) and finished it just before bedtime. Even more amazing, he read it silently!

First match

Declan had his first match with the North Sydney Bears today. He was very very excited about it. He put his boots and shinpads on two hours before we had to go, and asked me every five minutes from that point when we would have to go.

He really enjoyed the match, and the high point for me was when he passed the ball to someone else to get a goal. His friend Patrick ran very fast and got three goals. Declan often hung back at the back so that when the teams turned around, Declan could be ready to defend.



Here he is in his soccer uniform.

I'm busy solving world hunger

Every now and then Callum remembers the free rice website. This is a website which asks you to define words. Eeach time you define a word correctly the website owners donate 10 grains of rice to various world hunger programs.

So when Declan wanted to play something in the backyard just now, Callum was able to say, "Can't you see I'm busy feeding the poor people?"

Earth Day

Last night was Earth Day, when we turn off the lights for an hour from 8.30 to 9.30. Callum couldn't possibly go to sleep that early, so he kept reading by the light of his head torch.

So last night when Evan checked on Callum last thing at night, he found Callum fast asleep with a book open in one hand, and the torch still providing illumination.

Speak offs

On Thursday afternoon, Callum met Evan with the very very exciting news that he had made the speak-offs. Callum has been wanting to make the speak-offs since his first speech in Kindergarten, and this was his first time!

The speak-offs are for the best two speeches in each class. In this case, each of the three classes in Years 3 and 4, so there were 12 speakers. They make the speech with a microphone in the school hall, in front of all six classes.

Evan and I both went along on Friday morning (after giving Callum two practice goes that morning - it had been a couple of weeks since he did the speech in class).

He did very well - as well as I've seen him make the speech. Although he was nervous, I think excitement carried him through. He clearly belonged in the group, but wasn't one of the two winners (which disappointed him for a nanosecond, but not much longer).

His speech was on the topic of imagination.

Balloons

Last week I went along to Callum's band practice, to see what happens. Because 95% of them are playing wind or brass instruments Tara (the bandleader) was teaching them all to blow balloons. Callum was quite upset, I could see, at being one of the two who couldn't quite get the hang of it, and has been trying periodically, at home, ever since.

But tonight it was Declan who got the hang of it, after I showed him how to seal off the balloon while he took another breath, so he didn't have to take enough breath for the whole balloon at once. Once he'd seen Declan do it, Callum's competitiveness kicked in, and soon he could do it too.

So they spent a very happy half hour taking turns blowing up a balloon, and then watching it whiz around the room as they let go. Now they can't wait to see Granny again, so they can creep up on her and scare her with the balloon, the way they used to with Grandad.

Fitness

We took the boys for a walk a weekend or two ago - train to Wollstonecraft station, walk down to Berry's Island, and then a walk back. We were a bit appalled by how unfit they seemed - they always whinge a bit, but this time they actually seemed to mean it.

So we've been trying to do a bit more incidental walking during the weekend. Today I took them up to the library. Declan teetered on the edge of melting down several times during the walk up, not quite getting there but pretty close. But on the way down, they raced ahead of me the whole time, running towards every green pedestrian light, and generally behaving like the fit young boys they should be.

Possibly proving that you should always have a drink of water before starting out - because we did that on the way back - or else that a downhill walk is always easier than an uphill one.

Prototype this

We've been watching a new show by the makers of Mythbusters - Prototype this. The team prototypes some weird and wacky invention in two weeks. Callum got right into the concept this afternoon, creating a prototype of the "Club Penguin cooling system" - a set of gears with a propellar (aka fan) attached - with a handle as its "power system". He set us a task after dinner tonight - Herbert (the villain of club penguin) had taken away a vital part of the cooling system, and if we didn't fix it within 10 minutes the whole of Club Penguin would help.

Luckily, with the aid of Callum's subtle clues (mostly involving breakfast) Evan found the part next to the weetbix. Phew! Catastrophe averted!

Pentultimate

We were watching Scrappy racers (a series of races between people who put vehicles together using scrapheaps - you had to be there), and the host said that this was the "penultimate challenge". We explained penultimate to Declan and he said, 'that means that pentultimate is the 5th last race'.

Secret hot cross buns

Today Callum and I decided to make hot cross buns in secret. While at Greenwood, we bought some special ingredients (mixed fruit) while Declan was having his hair cut, and made another emergency ingredient shop during the morning (for yeast), with the cover story of buying coffee.

We also barricaded ourselves in my room while phoning Grandpa for the recipe (Grandpa appeared to be very amused).

Then after lunch, Declan went off to see some model trains with a friend, and Evan went off to Tae Kwon Do, and we settled down to make the hot cross buns. They appear to have been pretty successful (at least the yeast worked), and Callum very much enjoyed kneading the dough and punching it down.

Movies

Tonight Declan insisted on making a stop motion video of his own. Apart from some help setting up the camera and tripod (and then at the end downloading to the computer) he pretty much did it on his own.

Here's the result (once youtube has decided it's legal).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DveL8jNzjNA

Confirmation

On Thursday afternoon Evan and I met with Callum's "learning support team" - to check (after six weeks) whether skipping year 3 had been a good idea. His teacher started by saying it was the best decision we'd ever made, and followed up with some more superlatives about how well he'd risen to the challenge of year 4 - even writing stories! (something Evan and I found hard to believe).

He seems to have started making some year 4 friends, which is good, too.

We had a moment of doubt, after we'd asked how well Callum was coping academically. Nada, his teacher, started saying that she wouldn't be sure until after she'd had a chance to test out all the students. Evan and I immediately leapt to the conclusion that Callum might not be coping that well. It turned out that she just wasn't sure yet whether the full year skip was enough - perhaps Callum should be doing some more Year 5 work!

He will sit the standard Year 3 Basic Skill tests at the beginning of next term, so that he has some results on a piece of paper should he ever need them (and for practice in doing tests), but for everything else, he's in Year 4 for good.

Another tooth gone!

Declan's first tooth came out tonight, after dinner. He'd been complaining about how hard it had been to eat his pizza, and a simple pull was enough to get it out straight after dinner.

He's very thrilled to have a gap (bottom front right, to be precise), and insisted on checking himself out in the mirror before bedtime.

Clean up Australia

This morning, while Evan took Declan to his third party for the weekend, Callum and I went down to McMahons Point to help to Clean up Australia. Callum was quite shocked by how many cigarette butts he managed to find, and after about three quarters of an hour decided he was too tired for any more.

Parties

Declan has had a social butterfly weekend, having been to birthday parties on both Saturday and Sunday - quite the social whirl. We also had the Cants and Binneys over for dinner on Saturday night until very late.

Callum didn't seem to feel particularly left out, enjoying the one on one time with each parent in turn.

Tooth gone

I should update that Callum's ridiculous front tooth has finally gone. He's now missing both his top front teeth, so looks quite like a vampire. The new ones are both visible, so he won't be a vampire for too much longer, I should think. But the shape of his face is definitely changing.