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.