Winter sports

In the past two days Callum and Declan have had a huge learning curve on winter sports. Yesterday we all had a go at ice-skating. Callum and Declan both made it round the rink twice, the second time, in both cases, with a reasonable proportion without holding onto the side.

And then today, much more successfully, Uncle Bob gave them a two-hour ski lesson (just the two of them and the instructor). By the end of it, they both successfully skied all the way down the length of the Kinderslope without falling over. More promisingly, they were both very, very keen to do it all again, even though their trousers were wet from all times they had tumbled down.

Their German instructor Florian, (with excellent English) was very good with them, being appropriately strict when they fell over and argued with each other. Declan had a tendency to lose focus when he thought he had mastered something, and Callum when he was frustrated, but both could be snapped back by a Germanic "concentrate".

Cold

Beijing has been very very cold. We expected it, but it doesn't make it any less startling to experience it. Callum and Declan have been adding an extra layer each day as their experience convinces them to take the cold a bit more seriously.

Until today, when the day was a balmy zero degrees with no wind.

Declan started shedding clothes at a rapid rate. For a while, he was carrying both his hoody and his ski jacket, while complaining about how hot he still was. It's a welcome return to the Declan we're all familiar with, the one who refuses to wear anything but shorts, even in a Sydney winter.

Callum has been more phlegmatic, although he has been eagerly practicing wrapping his scarf around his face so that you can only see his eyes.


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Location:Tongfu Jiadao,Beijing,China

Chopsticks again

Declan has introduced us to a new game that is all the rage in Year 2 St Cammeray. It is called chopsticks, and seems appropriate that we are playing it frequently whenever we are waiting in queues here.

It involves the fingers from each hand. You hold out one finger from each hand. Each person takes it in turns to tap the other person's hand. They have to add the number of fingers you tapped them with to the number of fingers they are holding out. When you are holding out five or more, that hand is out of play. There are a few complexities, involving swapping fingers between hands, and getting hands back into play, which mean that if you know what you are doing, you can make the game last forever.

Declan is apparently famous, he tells us, for the longest games at Cammeray. He is very good at it. None of us has managed to beat him, and he's beaten all of us quite a few times.


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Location:Chopsticks again

Chopsticks

Now that we are in Beijing, there are no longer forks available instead of chopsticks. So everyone is using chopsticks for real, now.

Callum and Declan have, as usual, learned how to use them differently. Callum spent quite a lot of time in Singapore practicing, gradually getting better. Declan watched with interest as Evan gave him demonstration after demonstration in Singapore, and refused to practice.

Now that we are in Beijing, Declan seems just as capable as Callum. He really doesn't like not doing things well.

Both of them managed to pick up a pine nut with their chopsticks last night, and eat it. The fact that they ate it was the most amazing part.

Swimming improvements

In our hotel in Singapore, there is a nice big pool - probably 20 meters long and quite wide. It is 3.45 m at the deep end. On our first day, we asked Declan to show us what he'd learned at his 2 weeks of swimming lessons before we left. He was a bit scared of the deep end at first, but now he will happily swim a lap of the pool freestyle whenever he is asked.

He's also learned a very useful skill, which is back sculling, so that whenever he gets a bit tired and out of his depth, he can take a rest.

Now both boys are learning how to swim underwater as far as possible.

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Noodles without soy sauce

Last night for dinner we went in search of something a bit local, but after eating non stop for eight hours on an airplane, not too much.

We ended up in the local food court, where we got noodles and chicken for each of us. So far, so acceptable. The noodles were covered in soy sauce, though. Callum decided that he had to wash his noodles in the chicken soup that came with the noodles. Declan persevered for longer, but when he got close to the bottom, declared that he didn't like soy sauce much and revues to eat any more.

They both loved the noodles, though, so there is a chance that we will find something more acceptable tonight when everyone is slightly less exhausted.


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Excitement

The grandparents and uncles have been farewelled, the last day of school is over, a final pizza has been eaten.

Callum and Declan are lying in bed trying unsuccessfully to get to sleep.

Callum: is there any thing special happening tomorrow Declan?

Declan: can't think of anything unless you count TRAVELLING AROUND THE WORLD

School farewells

The last few weeks of term 4 tend to wind down, so we didn't feel too guilty about taking Callum and Declan out before term actually ended.

Declan had two weeks of swimming lessons, which he enjoyed immensely, despite it being pouring with rain at least half the time.

Callum got a day of surf ed (learning about rips and waves, etc) which he had fun at, despite the pool where they had to prove they could swim being very cold.

Declan's class gave him a lovely card and a special lunch to farewell him. Callum restricted himself to telling everyone he could think of his email and blog address so that they would be able to keep in touch with him overseas.

Online friendship

The Langdon Linigens came down from the mountains today for lunch. Callum and Declan have been rediscovering their Lego and toy soldiers, and were very keen to show off their military bases to Tom.

Once the soldiers had been played with and the various Lego characters had been fully explored, they discovered that all three of them were moshi monster fans. Unfortunately Tom couldn't remember his userid, but Declan bravely called him after dinner and they are now friend online.

Celebrations

Declan's speech topic this term was celebrations. For the first time ever, he decided to be keen about it. He explained that he does always love giving the speech itself, but hates the writing and practice.

But this time, he had his own idea for how the speech should go (his whole speech was him trying to decide which celebration the speech should be about) and he basically wrote (or dictated to me) the whole thing himself (with stage directions).

He was so keen that he asked the teacher if he could do it a week early, and according to both her and his report, it went very well today.

Those traditionalists among our readers will be disappointed to hear that Declan decided his favourite celebration is Halloween.

Goons

The boys still have their computers upstairs in the playroom, where we put them while the house was being sold. That sometimes causes us some angst as we hear the sounds of a random YouTube clip drifting down the stairs.

But today, we were very pleased when both boys came downstairs to show us something hysterically funny they had found on YouTube. It was a clip of the goons - What's the time Eccles? A little skit that had me laughing out loud despite having heard that clip at least 100 times during my formative years.

I confidently expect their maternal relatives to be bursting with pride at their good taste.

Halloween

Today was Halloween and the boys had costumes all planned. Declan was Mace Windoo and Callum was a mad scientist.

Cockatoo island

For the second year running Cammeray had family camping at Cockatoo island.




We were pretty well prepared this year, with a book each, a nice chicken salad dinner and breakfast. Unfortunately we made the same mistake as last year and forgot cutlery.

Fortunately though thethreatened thunderstorm didn't eventuate and everyone had a wonderful time wandering the island with their friends, or sitting chatting over a beer, according to taste.


Callum and Declan also got a paddle in the new Harbour pool despite the SMH front page article about dioxins in the area.

Dessert ninja

Yesterday after dinner we had a fleeting visit from the dessert ninja. He delivered our magnums and then mysteriously disappeared.

Online testing

We've almost decided that on our trip away we will be getting the boys do to an online maths course (so we're not entirely relying on our own will power and teaching ability).

Our current favorite is ctyonline from John Hopkins University in Baltimore. To get in, you have to do an online test, which the boys duly did on Tuesday. Apparently they were by far the youngest ever seen at the testing centre, which normally specialises in adult vocational testing.

It was a vocabulary and maths out of level test. Declan's test was a year 4 test, and he was 56th percentile for vocabulary and 86th for maths (out of the year 4s). Callum's was a year 6 test and he was 96th percentile for vocabulary and 99th percentile for maths.

That got them both in to the maths course we were aiming for, so now we've got to decide whether it is the right course for them both.

Swimming

For the first time in ages we went swimming for fun at North Sydney pool today. We discovered a few things
- Declan has grown out of his swimming shirt ( we only bight a new one for Callum last time)
- Callum can happily do laps of the 25m pool freestyle (he jacked up at racing me after beating me once, but was quite happy to swim back and forth)
- despite many years of swimming lessons, Declan still can't really swim a good freestyle, although he is quite safe in the water these days
- despite deliberately going to the pool to get wet, none of us really enjoy being soaked by the rain on the way home.

Secular festival

This morning we bypassed the religious festival celebrating Mary McKillop's sainthood and instead went to the much more popular Crows Nest fair.

Their favorite big slide wasn't there this year (possibly because there were so many crafty stalls) but the jumping castle was, and the boys had a very entertaining 10 minutes on it, despite being, in a sign of how big they're getting, the biggest kids on it.

They also collected several balloons from various causes, and, in Declan's case,enjoyed some delicious old fashioned lemonade (Callum screwed up his face and declared it too sour).

Sick

Declan has had a reprise of his illness of a few weeks ago - headaches and vomiting. He's been very unhappy, telling me how much he hates being sick, and missed school on Thursday and Friday this week. He had a tough night last night, but this morning (touch wood) seems a lot better, even enjoying a chocolate croissant from the french bakery for morning tea, but deciding he wasn't quite enough better for a bike ride.

Around the world

There may be a few people who read this blog who haven't heard our exciting news - we are planning a year long round the world trip in 2011. The boys are getting increasingly excited about it, once they've realised that they will be able to take their iPads with them.

Last week we got their backpacks (ordered on line from the US) which made the whole trip much more real for them. They immediately started packing them, to see if everything fits, and had a wonderful time showing them off to their grandparents, and walking up and down the stairs repeatedly to test them out.

We plan to blog here about the boys, but also on a special site about the trip, which I've been roadtesting here.

Island hopping

On the weekend we went island hopping as part of the Crave Sydney festival. First stop was Goat island, where there were redcoats and convicts parading and being flogged respectively. Declan, Callum and Jack got to sign up as redcoats.


After that we hopped to Shark island, where we got to touch all sorts of different animals including a giant cockroach. Declan was very taken with the shark teeth. And the final stop was Clark island where we got to taste some local bush tucker. It was a lovely day and the chance to see islands that you don't normally see.

Reading

Last night I got home from choir and went to check on the boys only to discover Declan still reading at 9.45. I practically had to prise the book from his hands even then as he struggled to keep his eyes open.

For the record the book was Diary of a Wimpy Vampire, a derivative pastiche from the current trends.

In other reading news, Callum has just finished the Harry Potter series.

Chocolate Tart

Maeva, Callum and Declan's French teacher, brought them a recipe for chocolate tart (in French) yesterday. Challenged, we decided to make it together. It was delicious (as Grandma pointed out, it's hard for something with 300g of chocolate, 200ml of honey and enough eggs butter and flour to stick it together not to be).

Here are Callum and Declan showing off their handiwork.

Holiday visit

Declan's friend Finn invited us to visit his family's holiday house near Bundeena today, so after a visit to the grandparents yesterday, today we visited them. They have a fabulous house on the Beach of Port Hacking. We had a lovely walk along the sand at low tide, where we saw big battalions of soldier crabs scuttling away on our approach.

Then after lunch, we walked around to a little bridge where we while away an hour or so playing pooh sticks and throwing rocks into the water.

Finn and Declan had a great time between our two expeditions developing major engineering works on the sand, while Callum continued working through the Harry Potter series.

Grandparents visit

We are visiting Grandma and Grandpa for a night. Callum and Declan were a bit perturbed when they realized that we were coming with them. They usually get the grandparents to themselves when they visit, so they wanted to know why we were coming too.

We've had a very nice visit, with some very complex quantum mechanics discussion over dinner (Callum was pretending to be two different versions of himself by coming into the dining room by two different doors).

Callum and Declan helped Grandma make a chocolate pudding which was very tasty, and had a great time testing out all the other attractions of the grandparental household.


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Location:Tulong Pl,Kirrawee,Australia

Rocket Boat

Declan has decided that we should have a family Rocket Boat challenge at an as yet unspecified date. Each family member gets to make their own rocket boat, and then we compete for which goes the furthest. He's made his own prototype (pictured) but hasn't yet figured out how to stop the paper from becoming sodden and sinking, so the actual competition is still some way into the future.

A show!

Callum and Declan did their usual week of ATYP in the school holidays this week. We managed to sneak Declan into the 3-4 class, which he loved. He went from last term not wanting to participate in the end of week show to this term being disappointed he only got three lines.

We weren't sure what made the difference. One explanation was that he got to play Sir Lancelot, so got to wear his knight costume, and another is that he had a very enthusiastic teacher.

Regardless, he was so excited about the show today that he asked us if he could get in the shower at about 6.15 am.

Callum played a mad professor (his favorite character) in a show about dreams and nightmares. Oddly enough both shows featured time machines.

Making dynamite

For the first time in ages, we met up with sue and Jack for s walk across the bridge. Sue remembered that there was Art on in Hyde Park so we went to check it out.

There was a craft show on, and all three boys got to crochet a stick of dynamite. It looked fantastic, particularly with a specially created fuse and tinsel explosion.

Manic dinner

We had the Gaynor Vincents, Linigen Langdons and the Lees over for dinner on Saturday night. With that many children in the house, the sword fighting before dinner and the dinner itself was quite wild, but everyone had a great time playing with every iPad available.

Declan gets a tip

Declan successfully did his black-tip grading during the week. Now he and Cllum are both one step away from being black belts.

Declan Distinction

A number of kids from Year 2 were selected to sit the UNSW ICAS English and Maths Year 3 test this year (the School simply said they were in Year 3)

Declan got a Distinction in English which means he performed better than 90% of those taking the test - that's 90% of the Year 3s. We're very proud of him.

A day

Declan was very pleased today to get an award at A Day, for chess. He thought it was for his performance in the school competition, but actually it was because his chess team won the local competition.

Author inscription

On the weekend, Callum and I went to a booklaunch. His classmate from last year, Juliette, was launching the second of her books, JJ Halo, Super cool spyling. Callum was thrilled to be the first person to receive a personally signed copy, and had finished it by dinner time. He feels he has some small influence, as Juliette was also a founding member of the Cammeray SC - (stands for Spy Club, but the cover name was Saddle Club) which used to wander around the playground last year pretending to use cool spy gadgets.

Weekend of exercise

When uncle Bob rang to wish Callum a happy birthday on Monday, he asked if Callum was still running with me. Callum and I were shamed into running this weekend.

Saturday, we ran to balls head, and then ran mod of the way to sawmillers reserve. And then on Sunday, making sure we were well hydrated first (callum's words) we ran all the way around balls head and back. We've agreed to keep doing it on weekends.

Not to be outdone, Declan decided that this weekend was the time for his promised ride across the Harbour bridge. The two of us rode all the way across and back (with a bit of walking before we got close).

Shopping

I offered Declan some more afternoon tea if he went down to the shop and bought it. So he took some money, and very responsibly walked down Victoria St to Blues point road and bought some cheese.

That's the first time he's done that all by himself.

Callum is nine

Last weekend was the festival of Callum, as he turned nine. He had grandparents and uncle Martin on Friday night, computer games for his iPad on Sunday morning and his actual birthday on Monday.

At nine, Callum continues to love computer games, particularly enjoying puzzle and war games. He doesn't much like losing, though, having to be persuaded to play against real people when he isn't sure of winning.

His best friend is Alex Singhi and they spend long hours over lunch discussing military strategy. He has the most amazing memory for obscure facts, frequently coming out with a germane fact that he first read months ago in a Horrible History book.

And he has just decided that Harry Potter is really good, and is now up to number 5 in the series.

Measurement

As is traditional on a birthday, we have measured the boys' height and weight. Callum is 133 cm and 30.35 kg. Declan is 126 cm and 25.55 kg. Interestingly, Callum has grown 2.5 cm in the last four months, while Declan has grown 3cm - well within measurement error, but judging by his trousers, I would have expected Callum to have grown more.

Callum is 45th percentile for height, and 69th for BMI, while Declan is 63rd for both height and BMI.

Flame wars

We've been playing a few online games with the ipads between ourselves. They all have a chat function, so while waiting for their turns, Callum and Declan have been typing messages to each other. So far they have avoided a full blown flame war but there has been a fair bit of misuse of punctuation marks.

Fever

Declan has been sick for the last few days - he's had headache, fever, and has felt unwell. Watching Declan lying unhappily on the couch has made us realise what a good run we've had lately

When the boys were younger, we reached the conclusion that panadol doesn't do much for their fevers - only neurofen works, and it's been so long since they needed it that we have none left!

Blankies

In the last month or so, Declan has decided he is now too old for a blanky to go to sleep with. After the big decision, he went through a week or so of wanting to hug his blanky when he woke up, but these days it just sits, lonely in the corner, ignored by Declan's big 7 year old self.

Callum, on the other hand, still uses his blanky to go to sleep - he tucks it under his head because, "my head sweats a lot while I am asleep".

Lost tooth

As Declan Callum and I were sitting having lunch yesterday, Declan suddenly looked upset. His tooth had fallen out as he bit on a bagel, and he had swallowed it. He'd only notice that it was a bit loose that morning. He seems to have a very neat tooth replacement process. Not for Declan the days of teeth sticking out at odd angles, instead his teeth just loosen, and then fall out neatly.

The tooth fairy was willing to deliver last night, despite only having a handwritten note instead of a tooth.

Exploration

On Sunday morning, needing exercise, we decided to go for a walk. But the boys were keen for a bike ride, so we walked down to Lavender Bay, and when we got there, they rode. It was quite amazing, as they tore off ahead of us, so that we could barely see them after about a minute. We walked, and they rode, all the way from the McMahons Point end of Lavender Bay to the Kirribilli Ferry Wharf and back again, until we ran out of flat path.

It still seems slightly amazing that a few months ago they were begging us not to take off the training wheels.

Science fair

As part of science week, the abc put on some science talks for kids. We took Alex and Lucinda with us to see "Planet Primes" with Simon the maths man and "Dinosaurs aren't dead" with Dr Karl.

They all enjoyed the primes better, mainly because it had more of a story, but also because it made them think a bit.

But they were almost as thrilled to see a real tv studio. Here are Declan and Lucinda posing in front of it.

Modern boys

We have bought the boys ipads since we have put away their computers while we sell the house. We gave them to them after dinner on Friday night, making them close their eyes before they got to see them.

Callum's face was a picture as his jaw dropped open when he did a double take and realized what he had got.


This was the picture that greeted me this morning as I came downstairs.

Chess champion

Cammeray has a intra-school chess championship this year which has been running for some weeks now. Callum was knocked out after a few games, and Declan's games seemed to have ground to a halt, so I had assumed he had been knocked out and hadn't told anyone.

But last night, I came home to the news that he was in the top 3 in the school! Having beaten a very strong player yesterday.

Today he played one of the other two, and lost in a close fought battle that lasted an hour. Although he was clearly disappointed (and much more willing to replay the winning moves from the previous day) he was still pretty thrilled to be third in the whole school.

Election day and night

On election day, I made the boys come with me to vote. They were reluctant, having seen the early morning queues, but once they got there, they were fine. They helped me check that I had number all 84 squares in the Senate (election geekiness starts early in this house) and each one got to put a ballot paper in the ballot box.

And then we went up to the mountains to see the election in with the Lees, Gaynor Vincents and Langdon Linigens.

The children mostly watched movies (after earlier exhausting themselves playing hide and seek in the garden) but every now and again one of them would come and ask the adults, "who's winning?"

Sadly they were disappointed that we couldn't tell them all night, and astonished when we still couldn't tell them the next morning. I think they are starting to get the hang of the lower house, but the Senate is completely beyond them.

Debating

Callum's teacher this year is in charge of Cammeray debating. So she set up a challenge between her Cammeray class and a neighbouring school (Middle Harbour). After an in class audition, Callum was picked for fourth speaker (the one who sits at the end and writes witty things for the others to say).

But then one of the others got sick, and Callum was promoted to second speaker. He was initially quite reluctant (I think he liked the idea of being the faceless man in the backroom) but got into it, and was judged best speaker of the whole debate by the adjudicator (even though Cammeray lost). The topic was "that books are better than TV" and Cammeray had the affirmative. Callum's best line was: "reading is far more useful that learning where the best position on the couch is!".

Arty

On the weekend, the Lees came to stay. On Sunday morning we decided to be energetic and walk across the bridge to the art gallery. As is usual, despite being desperate for an ice creams as a reward for walking such a long way, they ran sound like lunatics once we got to the botanic gardens.

The art gallery was more successful than I feared. Most children seemed to find at least one painting or sculpture they could appreciate, although Declan was very disappointed that the Monets were in a room with a concert so we couldn't see them.


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Callum's new blog

Callum and Alex have decided to make some money. They're going to set up a games review site, which will review games and get advertising revenue. Here it is. Callum's not quite got the hang of the idea that you have to post things to make people read it, but hopefully it will come.

Nine Men's Morris

Callum had his ICAS English test yesterday - basically a lot of multiple choice comprehension questions on various texts. One of them described the game Nine Men's Morris. He obviously comprehended that bit of the question, because tonight he came home and drew a board on a piece of paper, got out the Go set for some counters, and had a game with Evan.

Cal was a bit upset when he lost - I think he thought his ICAS experience would give him an advantage. I'm keen to have a game myself, now, though - apparently it was very popular in mediaeval Britain.

Keyboard games

Evan has found a bluetooth keyboard which he used to use while traveling. It can connect to my ipad from some distance, so Callum has just had a great time typing an anonymous email to Evan. For some reason he chose to increase the degree of difficulty by sitting half way up the stairs and getting me to tell him if he made a spelling mistake.

Walking on water

On Saturday, for a bit of a treat, we took the boys, plus Callum's friend Alex, to the Entertainment Quarter to try "walking on water". They have big blow up plastic bubbles, that the children get inside, and get to move around a big blow up pool of water. To the observer, the children seem very like hamsters as they try hard to stay upright by walking frantically.

But on the phone to Grandpa this evening, Declan told him earnestly that "it was the best experience I have ever had".

Election

Callum's class has been talking about government this year. So having an election has been very enjoyable for them. Callum is really enjoying being able to talk about the latest election issue at the dinner table. In the latest news, they are studying political cartoons, and Callum was proud to report that the election is now between red hair, and red speedos. I think Callum is choosing the red hair, but has learned some new vocabulary (budgie smugglers) in the process.

Declan is still trying to get over the fact that he quite likes Joe Hockey (our local Liberal member, who he has met a few times) and we have brainwashed him into thinking Tony Abbott (also a Liberal) is a complete lunatic who shouldn't lead the country. He would quite like to vote for Joe Hockey, if he had the choice, but is starting to understand that that would imply a vote for Tony Abbott. He still doesn't quite understand a system that makes that hard choice possible, and seems quite glad he won't get to vote himself.

Newsflash: Callum becomes hacker

Callum was very pleased with himself last night. He put a virus on Evan's computer. It was a little icon. When you clicked on it, it said "Sorry, but you just clicked on a fake virus", and then turned the computer off. Fortunately his face gave away the authorship of this nefarious attack.

Party

We went to a party at the Vincent Gaynors' local playground and then lunch at their place today - Alex's second birthday. Beforehand I was discussing Alex's status with Callum and Declan. Callum decided that Alex was a big boy, now that he was two, but Declan was quite convinced that he was still a baby. After discussion, they both decided that baby status stops at 3, but somehow big boy status starts earlier.

As part of the later lunch, there were some late birthday presents handed out, and Declan scored three (!) new books from the Lees, which he had been eyeing off the previous day in our local bookshop (not a coincidence, but the result of some mobile phone discussion). He was thrilled to bits, and has now finished two out of three, as he proudly shouted down from his bed about an hour ago.

Tae Kwon Do

The boys got their TKD promotions this week. Callum is now a black-tip and Declan is a red belt (and their Dad is now a black belt!).

NZ Visit

We're just back from a fleeting visit to New Zealand, for my grandmother's memorial. We stayed at my cousin's place - Hamish and Kerry not only said offered us beds at their place even though we were arriving at 11pm, Hamish still picked us up at the airport when the flight was delayed till 1am.

The boys were very excited to see cousins (Joshua and Michaela) who they had only previous met as penguins (on clubpenguin) and meet some more (Holly and Ethan) who they hadn't even met virtually.

Unfortunately Callum continued his habits of poor travel - getting greener and greener as we landed, and then vomiting just as we got to customs.

Fortunately, despite completely inadequate sleep, the boys were very good pretty much the whole weekend, sitting patiently through speeches about their great grandmother, and playing hide and seek around the house when it wasn't full of people.

They were even polite (but uncomprehending) when all around them (including the cousins their age) were glued to the rugby when we went out to dinner.

We took them to Motat this morning, in our continuing quest to visit a science museum wherever we go, which was lots of fun as they got to ride in a "tank" (actually an armoured personnel carrier).

Mountain visit

On the weekend we went up to Yellow Rock for a visit. I had got the boys to sort through their books before we went up, and Declan, particularly, surprised me with his willingness to give away books he had read once. With the result that Tom got a stack of Beast Quest books (it remains to be seen whether he will be as enthusiastic as Declan has been) and the Vincent Gaynors got Geronimo Stilton (among others).

The boys had a good time roaming the landscape (a massive lawn plus the edge of bushland being quite amazing to their city-selves) and then had a great time watching Evan fire off the last of our rocket car rockets - a spectacle that was popular with all.

Callum amused me by pointing out the concrete that we immortalised the childrens' hands and feet a while back (well all the children that existed at the time) and waxing nostalgic for how small his hands had been - normally a parental comment with much childish rolling of the eyes at the sentiment.

Just Macbeth

Yesterday the boys and I went to see Just Macbeth at the Sydney Opera House. Callum had read the book, and Declan is a fan of author Andy Griffiths, so we all had high hopes. After an adventurous trip there (it was raining, so my earlier plan of walking was replaced with a wet ferry ride) we took our seats. Callum laughed hysterically all the way through, and was constantly grabbing me to tell me there was a funny bit coming up. Declan, as is his habit, was quieter, but still enjoyed it (except for the very brief romantic part early on).

With a biscuit each at interval, and a free program each, it was a very grown up theatrical experience. And one which I found pretty good, too.


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Kindle

Evan has found a book in the series Callum is reading on the kindle. So Callum has been very excited for the last two nights to take the kindle to bed with him. He seems to be about 50% enjoying the coolness of reading on the kindle, and 50% enjoying the series of books. So far, so like his parents!

Scariness

Because it is school holidays we told the boys they could stay up late on Sunday night and watch Dr Who if they wanted to. Callum, based on his last experience, declined, but Declan decided to watch with us. It was probably medium level scariness for Dr Who (which is pretty scary!) and Declan was quite terrified at some points. He really enjoyed it, though, and was pleased with himself for watching, as were we.

But fast forward to last night, and Declan spent most of the night having nightmares about the whole thing. He woke up late this morning, having had quite a few moments of being not quite awake and terrified about something unspecific, and calling for me and Evan. I'm not sure if he will be watching next week, even though it is the second half of the episode (so presumably will end better than the first half!)

Sorting

Once we got back into the house, we had to take everything out of boxes. So we gave the boys the task of stocking the big bookshelf in their room. They did well, cooperating and taking turns sorting all the books into series, information and fiction categories, and without too much argument, getting them all up on to the bookshelves.

And now we've realized that they have far too many books for one set of bookshelves! Next weekends task will be to decide whose books get to go back out on the shelves.

Location:Willoughby bike track

Retreat

We're having the house painted. After two days, we've decided that we should retreat into somewhere without the smell of paint. The last straw was when the painters packed up the computers. So we're staying in a little flat in cremorne for a week and the boys are bingeing on Cartoon network.

I don't know how we would cope without any electronic devices!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Harrison St,Cremorne,Australia

Competitive speaking

Callum represented his class in the speak-offs this week. He did an absolutely stunning job and I was so proud of him. He spoke out so clearly and confidently; surrounded and, mostly towered over, by other Year 5s and 6s.

This was the first time the speeches were prepared in class, so no parental involvement or crafting.

Also for the first time, in addition to his prepared speech he had to do an impromptu speech. The kids were given 5 minutes to prepare a speech on a given topic ('celebrations'). Cal made a good fist of it (limited, he says, largely by the fact that his running writing is still slow and so he couldn't get his ideas down on palm cards).

As we went to School on Tuesday, Alice, who were were giving a lift to, was discussing her speech. "Oh yes" says Declan "mine is due today too". This lead to a quick chat with his teacher and frantic few practices that night. He did his speech on Wednesday and obviously made a good job of it as he came third and so was the reserve for the speak-offs.

Modern cousinship

I went over to NZ on the weekend, and stayed with my cousin Hamish and his family. Joshua and Michaela (who are 10 and 8) were playing Club Penguin, so when I got home, Kerry and I emailed, and Callum and Declan just spent a very enjoyable half hour making Joshua and Michaela's acquaintance over the internet.

I wasn't sure if they would be that interested (as although all four cousins have met, it was six years ago so nobody remembers), but Callum and Declan were both very excited, and commented several times how cool it was to be playing Connect 4 with their cousins.

Vivid Sydney

In an effort to get people out of the house in winter, Sydney has created Vivid Sydney, which is a festival of light in June. It got us out of the house tonight, certainly! With Declan's friend Finn and his family, we all caught ferry into town, watched the Firewater show, and then walked up Macquarie St to see all the lights. We had a great time, although the boys were exhausted by the time we got home.

St Mary's Cathedral was particularly good, as it had a much better space to sit and watch, even though we saw it last when everyone was tired.

Callum commented that the whole of Sydney must have been there, it was so crowded. I doubt it, but there were certainly far more people out and about than you'd get on a normal Sunday night in Sydney.

Declared victory too soon

Callum was invited over by his friend Angus for a bike ride this afternoon. I warned Fiona, Angus' mother that Callum wasn't a very good bike rider, but she seemed unconcerned, and happy to use the chance to get Angus to be understanding as they rode from their place to a nearby park.

I left wondering how Callum would go (since he really still had trouble starting and stopping last time I saw him).

When he got home, he told me with much excitement, "I learned how to ride my bike this afternoon! All I needed was someone to be patient as I learned!". He was most impressed with himself, even as he was telling us the blow by blow account of every single time he fell off and bruised various bits of his anatomy.

He's promised to show me how he can ride his bike tomorrow. We may even be ready for a family bike ride soon!

Lego cleanout

We're having a cleanout, and have decided to sell our "big lego" (big connections, rather than the more traditional lego that is now popular with the boys) on ebay. We just spent an enjoyable evening sorting it out and displaying it to best advantage. The boys are on a promise that they will share in the proceeds if they help us organise it.

Callum had a great time counting and organising everything, and Declan enjoyed putting the display together and taking the pictures. It turns out we have nearly 1,000 pieces! (including the train track that Callum was given when he had his tonsils out).

Favourite Sunday

We are in the middle of one of our favourite Sunday things to do. A walk across the bridge to the bookshop, buy some books to read and then coffee and reading. Here are Callum and Declan enjoying their purchases.

Next stop the Leonardo exhibition at Town Hall.

Fort Denison

To celebrate Grandma's 70th birthday, and to farewell Granny Marta (who is off to Israel) we had a lovely lunch at Fort Denison today. We were all very nervous about the weather, as we had 50mm of rain yesterday, but today the rain held off until we got home, and there was even intermittent sunshine!

Callum and Delcan had kids-sized fish and chips (but the same quality as the adults), which was very nice, and Declan demolished a grown up dessert all on his own. They did pretty well at sitting with us for a while and making conversation, but luckily there was also plenty of room for exploration as well, while the grownups ate at leisure. Callum was quite fascinated by the tide measurement, several times going back to look at it, whereas Declan has more fun climbing up and down the walls.

Declan's decided that his new nickname should be "Climbing Boy" rather than "Hungry Boy" but I think both names were equally apt today.

Canberra trip

Callum and I went to Canberra for his school trip. Well Callum, me and 220 other kids. Cal seemed to enjoy himself with Questacon being the perennial highlight of course. He survived being in a room with Alex and five year 6 boys - not completely without incident, nor without learning some significant new swear words and concepts which I hope he will restrain himself from sharing.

I came away in a welter of significant flashbacks as the dinning experience and the Canberra Carotel was almost identical to College (first night everyone ate toast in preference to the mass-produced roast beef). I also spent two cold evenings cruising from cabin to cabin and acting out the role of grumpy parent when the whispers got beyond a certain level - but can't complain as the kids were, overall, remarkably good.

A gentleman

This evening, Declan took me out to dinner for my birthday. He and Evan had planned it carefully. Declan chose the restaurant (our local italian) ordered the garlic bread, and his own meal, and paid the bill with some money Evan had left for him the night before. He didn't even take a book, instead making conversation throughout the meal.

The waiter was very impressed at how polite Declan was, which may have almost made up for the fact that we forgot to leave a tip.

The Chess player

This morning, since we had quite a long morning before school (having woken up early, see previous post), Declan challenged me to a game of chess. And he won! He won fair and square too. I made a couple of stupid moves, but not deliberately, and he stomped all over me. He's been smiling inwardly every time he remembers all day.

I think he's got a lot more confidence after beating a Year 6 in his weekly inter-school chess match last Friday.

Excitement

Callum has been in a building state of excitement for weeks now, because Year 5 is off for a trip to Canberra. He could hardly sleep last night, and this morning woke well before his 5.20 (!) alarm woke him. Declan and I drove Callum and Evan up to Cammeray at 6 this morning, and Callum was almost too excited to kiss me goodbye.

Running

In an effort to get us both fit (more me than him!), Callum and I have started running together on weekends. Although he corrects me - we are jogging, because we are not going fast enough to be running.

On last weekend, our second, we went for two runs. On Saturday down to Blues Point and back (with no walking at all) and on Sunday to the whale drawing near Balls Head (but we did walk back up half of Union St).

Callum is doing very well, and well and truly beat me to our walking point on Union St (the bus stop) when I told him we would walk from there. Interestingly, his talking does slow down slightly on the hills, but it never stops.

Cockatoo Island

We decided to go and see the Sydney Biennale today, at Cockatoo Island. We got there about 10.15. For the first hour and a bit, the boys were a delight, loving the opportunity to check out (and criticize) all the different bits of art. But after we'd seen the star attraction (cars in motion - six cars in the turbine hall looking like a stop motion photograph of a car exploding), they decided they'd had enough and it was time we went home.

Unfortunately, we left it another half hour or so before agreeing with them and heading home, and the day deteriorated significantly into grumpiness. But luckily, some food at the Wharf cheered them up, before a ferry home.

Lesson - an hour of art is about right, just don't push it...

In an interesting aside, the boys recognised the cars in motion artwork from seeing it (on TV) at the Bilbao Guggenheim in a Richard Hammond engineering connections special. You can learn about art in the geekiest of places!

Declan at 7

Declan is a delightful boy at 7. His favourite computer game is Spore, closely followed by Rise of Nations. When he finds a book he likes, he loses himself in it (Beast Quest is still his most favourite, although he's run out). He's just discovered the joys of bike riding, and although he has learned that it is not cool to like school, I think he is enjoying school much more this year than last year.

His friends have scattered over different classes at school this year, but in his class his best friends are Finn and Nicolas P and with a much wider group that he happily plays with.

Festival of Declan

We're half way through a weekend Festival of Declan, for his birthday. On Friday night, we had Granny, Granny Marta, Grandma and Grandpa and Uncles Martin and Kevin over for a dinner of pizza and a frenzy of present opening. Declan was in heaven as he pretty much liked every present he got. This morning, he had presents from his parents and brother (books, toy soldiers and a camera) and this afternoon he is having a birthday party with his school friends at Wizzy world.

He has been mammothly excited about his birthday all week, which has been lots of fun to watch.

Measurement

As always on a birthday, we have measured the boys.

Declan is 123.5 cm tall, and 24.4 kg. That's 65th percentile for everything.

Callum is 130.5 cm tall, and 28.5kg. That's 44th percentile height, 59th weight, and 65th percentile BMI.

Chess match

Declan has been learning chess at school. And a couple of weeks ago, they asked for volunteers to join the school chess team. Declan was keen, and so today, he had his first match against Northbridge (or as he would say, "we were versing Northbridge").

All of them, including Declan, won their games, and we were proud of Declan as he managed to use his rooks to get checkmate, not just a resignation. He was very pleased with himself this evening.

Wintry

Callum and Declan are responding to the cooler weather in different ways. Callum is wearing winter pyjamas, a dressing gown, and carrying a doona around sometimes.

Declan, on the other hand, wears the shorts of his summer pyjamas with no shirt. Occasionally he has an empty doona cover if it is very cold.

Here they are reading one morning.

Ironfest

Yesterday we went to Ironfest, for the second year running. We stayed Friday night with the Lees, and then drove up on Saturday morning.

Thankfully, the weather was much more hospitable than last year, as evidenced by this picture of Aidan and Declan in short sleeves.

Because it was bearable to be outside, we saw much more than last year - jousting, the Napoleonic Battle of Lithgow (which Declan, particularly, was very interested in, as his Rise of Nations experience makes him quite good at military tactics), Knighte Schoole (also pictured) and the chance to shoot a few arrows at the Archery section.

Declan fell in love with a fake sword at the Armory stall (which also sold real ones) and after much discussion, we let him spend $65 of his pocket money on it. Evan is pictured looking after it for him, while Declan has a go at archery.

Back to school

The boys were back to school after the school holidays today. I asked them how their day went, and Callum was very enthusiastic.

"It was Great!
1. Alex is in my class
2. Alex is sitting next to me
3. It was Tuesday, so we got to play on the equipment
4. We had swimming after school
5. And now we are going to watch mythbusters!"

He is very happy to have Alex back, and was telling me proudly how he could tell Ms Sinclair what Alex's friends call him ("not Alexander, Alex").

Some scars don't heal

Callum and I went to do the shopping this afternoon while Declan was at his chess class. While we were waiting at the traffic lights, we had the following conversation:

"Evan, if you get a cut it might leave a scar but over time that scar will heal and you wont notice it."

"Hmm" I replied not being quite sure where this was going.

"But if you have a mental scar that won't heal at all."

"Well even mental scars will heal over time, it depends on what happened." I said "But what made you think of that?"

"Well I realised I'm still very sad about Grandad dying. And I don't think that's going to get better."

We wont be asked back

So we're at the Powerhouse Museum and they have this show about ancient China. The perky presenter does her intro and launches into her spiel.

"Who knows how to time travel?' she asks rhetorically (her answer involved winking once, blinking twice and shouting out a date). A solitary hand goes up as Callum actually has an answer (hey all those Terrific Science books he reads have got to go somewhere...). Perky presenter visibly pauses, and decides to ignore him and go on.

A little while later she launches into a riddle - going through the steps of which are supposed to move the story forwards. Declan's and one other kid's hands shoot up. Perky presenter asks the other kid who does not produce the desired step on the road. She turns to Declan who promptly answers the riddle (hey, all Grandpa's bad jokes have to go somewhere...).

Perky presenter sees five minutes of perky presentation evaporate. She momentarily loses her perk. Declan receives a strained smile and the show goes on.

Bike riding

We made it a project these school holidays to teach the boys to ride their bikes. We haven't quite succeeded yet, but both Callum and Declan made it most of the length of Webb St today without a parent holding on. Starting and stopping is still a bit trickier, though.

Declan 3rd kup

Declan is now a 3rd kup, or red-tip belt, at tae kwon do after successfully passing his grading.

Spit to Manly and back!

We've just got back from an epic walk - the Spit to Manly and back. We decided to see if it could be done by an 8 and 6 year old, and we are very pleased to report that this 8 and 6 year old more than took it in their stride.

Declan had about half an hour of "do we have to" at Manly, thinking of the journey back, but after a fortifying icecream, we set off and both boys were a delight on the way back - enjoying themselves looking at the scenery and chatting about things that occurred to them (ships and bushfires, among other things).

We realised how much it had taken out of them when we stopped at the Clontarf playground on the way back and both boys decided to sit, rather than play in the playground. That only lasted five minutes, though, and after a quick play, the last kilometre or so flew by. The picture shows Evan, Declan and Callum at the finish point at the Spit.

Now everyone is having a well earned rest at home (parents included, since that's further than we've walked for 20 years or so).

Rocket Car Day

Yesterday, we went to Rocket Car Day, in Marrickville. Evan and the boys had made this car - the Silver Surfer. Design and Build direction: Evan. Decoration: Declan. Building assistance: Callum. Grandpa and Grandma came to watch as well, which added excitement.

We were all thrilled when Silver Surfer won its heat, despite going a little bit off course and falling over (poor silver surfer got gravel rash). Then we had to wait through all the other heats before we got to go into one of the finals. Callum and Declan got to push the trigger for our repechage final (of five), in which sadly, our car went a bit more off course and came third or fourth.

You can see the Sydney Morning Herald report here.

Surreal movies

The boys did a movie-making course today at the Powerhouse Museum. They loved it. The end results can only be described as surreal or psychedelic; particularly in Cal's case, which features spinning spirals and a very Hitchcock sound-track.

School Pennants

The boys both received School Pennants at the A-day ceremony last week. It was pure chance they achieved them at the same time, but lovely to see.

Hoopla!

Today we went to the Hoopla festival in Darling Harbour, and saw the "Dinosaur Petting Zoo". It was a very nicely done puppet show. At the beginning, the presenter asked the audience to tell some dinosaur jokes. Callum and Declan both did great jokes in a nice big voice - Callum being the first to volunteer!

Callum's joke was, "what's the scariest dinosaur?"

"A TERROR-dactyl"

Declan's (which he adapted from a non dinosaur joke) was "Why was the dinosaur's tooth hurting?"

"Because it was tooth-hurty" (two-thirty - get it?)

Probably just as well they went first, as one of the later audience volunteer options was putting your head in a Tyrannosaurus' mouth.

Practical joke

On Thursday afternoon, Evan led his robotics class in something different - a practical joke involving creating fake wounds on every body's legs. When they tried them out in the staffroom, the teachers put on a good show, but weren't really fooled. Diane, the science teacher, though, was distracted enough to be horrified by the first wound she saw. Once she saw a few more, though, she realised what was going on.

The kids were in heaven to watch an April Fool's joke actually work!

Sick

Callum and Declan had Wednesday and Thursday home from school. Callum had a nasty head cold (which probably wouldn't have stopped him going to school if Declan had been well) and Declan had something more flu like, which involved him carrying a bucket around.

On Thursday morning, Declan came downstairs and announced he was "feeling sick in my neck". After a bit of interrogation, I think the diagnosis was a sore throat, to go with being feverish.

They were both pretty much better by Thursday afternoon, but it probably didn't hurt to miss the last two days of term.

Surprise sleepover

A special treat awaited Callum and Declan after school was over on Friday - a sleepover at Alex and Lucinda's. Evan sprung it on them by driving them straight to the Singhi's place after school. Declan was the first to figure out what the surprise was. They had a wonderful time, although (unsurprisingly) they have been a bit grumpy at times today.

And the second part of the special treat is that Alex and Lucinda are coming back to Cammeray school next term, and Alex will be in Callum's class! The boys were very chuffed to hear that.

Speak offs

Declan duly competed in the speak-offs, in the library without a microphone. He gave his whole speech in a nice big clear voice, and added a few gestures he had been working on through the week.

Best of all, he was very pleased that his friend Nicolas (also from 2L) won the Year 2 prize!

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Declan has finally moved on from Beast Quest (at least temporarily) and is now reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Amusingly, though, this evening he came down for another book, "because I am getting addicted to Diary of a Wimpy Kid and I need to mix it up". Probably just as well - this series is of a superior quality (and written by a single real author) so only four have been written so far.

Harmony Day

Declan has come home full of tales about Harmony Day today. His friend Noah, who is Jewish, brought in Matzo for Passover, and Declan told us the story of the parting of the Red Sea (he was quite surprised that we already knew the ending).

Finn's mum came in to do some Irish fiddling, and there were some Irish dancers dancing along (Declan told me that they don't use their arms because in the olden days they would have damaged ornaments in their small houses).

And Declan also got a special Chinese piece of string which is symbolic of something that I have now forgotten.

I'm sure it is one of those days that are scoffed at as "politically correct" but Declan seems to really enjoy finding out about the traditions of all his friends.

Speak-offs

Declan was voted to represent his class in the Speak-offs this coming Friday. He's very excited.

Exercises

Callum has decided he needs more exercise. So at 8 and 8.30 pm, he has taken to doing a plank for one minute, 10 situps, and 10 pushups. He was very pleased when I started to join in on Wednesday. He's very proud of his sore stomach muscles!

Robots

This afternoon Evan and another Cammeray parent, Luke, ran a half day robot workshop for the robotics classes Evan's been doing at the school. The aim was to create robotic ways to distribute easter eggs at a school assembly.

I went along to be an extra adult, albeit one with little robotics knowledge. It was impressive to see Callum's friends Brendan and Felix, who created a self loading robotic catapult. Callum's though (with a lot of help from Evan), was the most impressive - a cable car that runs the length of the school hall, distributing easter eggs on the way.

The assembly is in 10 days time. Potential for mayhem: large.

Visiting the library

Inspired by these two posts on one of my favourite photoblogs the boys and I went for a trek into town yesterday. I told them we were finding a statue of a cat, and seeing an exhibition of a library (the Mitchell Library 100 year exhibition). Unfortunately I didn't sell it very well, so they weren't predisposed in favour as we caught the train in.

The highlight for Declan was seeing my desk at work (we dropped in on the way, just for fun). He was amazed at the size of all the desks, and loved being 14 floors high looking down on Martin Place. I forgot, because I do it every day, that the experience of a skyscraper is foreign to the boys. Callum actually did enjoy the statue of the cat, Trim (who was Matthew Flinders' cat).

Mindmap part II

As part of his preparation for his speech this term, Declan had to do a mindmap on the topic. It was surprisingly successful as an idea generator (normally Declan just wants to copy whoever got into the speakoffs last time).

Here is his mindmap on the topic "why my Environment is important to me".

Chess

Declan has joined the chess club at school. I'm not sure exactly what they do there, but it has made him keen to play chess at home. So I asked Grandpa to play chess with him when he was here tonight.

Grandpa was undecided about how nice to be, and ended up playing a normal game, and trouncing Declan. Declan was extraordinarily accepting. I think Grandpa was a bit worried that it would end in tears, but Declan understood what was going on, and even worked out that he had been Checkmated by himself. I suggested that Grandpa might like to spot Declan a Queen next time, though, just to even things up a bit.

Approximations

When it's time to go to bed, I often tell Callum, "it's nearly 8 o'clock!" when it is five to. He always protests that it is nowhere near, and he has heaps of time left.

But this evening at the school BBQ (when it was pouring with rain, but Evan and I were enjoying chatting with the other hardy souls who had turned up), Callum came and told us both that it was "nearly 7 o'clock" at 6.45.

Airfix

After watching James May's program on Friday, the boys decided they wanted to try Airfix - an old fashioned toy where you put together aeroplanes and tanks out of pressed plastic.

So we walked into town and bought one each - a Spitfire for Callum and a Kittyhawk for Declan. They made them with Alex and Lucinda when they came over for a play this afternoon.

Interestingly, even though Alex is obsessed with aeroplanes, Lucinda and Declan were much more successful at actually finishing their aeroplane (pictured here).

Principal's award

Declan got a Principal's award at school yesterday for "imaginative and creative ideas in sentence work!"

Here's a picture of him holding his sentence. He said he got inspiration from Beast Quest and Jenolan Caves.

Titanic

Longtime readers of this blog will know that Callum was once very obsessed with the Titanic. Well he's still interested, and SBS had a show the other night with new information about all the things that went wrong the night the Titanic sank.

While watching Declan's swimming lesson this afternoon, Evan helped Callum create a mindmap about it on Evan's iphone. Not a bad summary, I thought.

Sleeping aids

Tonight Declan called down, quite upset, because he didn't have either his blanky or his current cuddly toy (a koala), so he couldn't go to sleep. I was a bit surprised, because although he still likes them, I hadn't realised they were necessary. In the end, just the koala was enough (which is just as well, because none of us knows where he put the blanky this morning).

Callum likes his blanky, too, but he largely uses it to put under his head so that he doesn't sweat all over the pillow. I doubt if he needs it go to sleep.

Neanderthal man

I came home tonight to Evan and Declan having a serious conversation about Neanderthal man. Declan was trying to understand why humans had outcompeted them, and how we actually knew that humans had been better competitors.

When Evan explained that the archeological evidence suggested that the Neanderthals had been pushed to the edge of Europe, then Spain, then disappeared, and the evidence suggested that humans had eaten them (among other ways of killing them) Declan was quite shocked.

The conversation had started from Declan's teacher telling Declan and Evan something slightly wrong about the history (that there had been some interbreeding). I was pleased that Declan is still willing to believe that we could be right about something; his teacher hasn't completely supplanted us yet.

Climbing the doorway

One of Declan's favourite pastimes continues to be climbing up the doorjamb (previously blogged here). He has now got much more sophisticated. In the downstairs doorway (between the dining room and kitchen) he will now:

• do star jumps into climbing position on the door
• practice his tae kwon do punching while holding on with his feet
• and climb so high that he is looking through the window above the doorway

His uncles would be proud.

Meeting the teacher

This morning Declan showed me his classroom, as I dropped him off at school. He was standing around waiting, and his teacher came up, just as the bell rang. I introduced myself, and she told me that she was loving teaching Declan. She loves the way he wants to tell her all about the books he is reading and the new things he has learned. Very nice for me to hear, as he tells us absolutely nothing about what is happening at school!

Swimming carnival

Callum had his swimming carnival today, in which he competed in the 50m freestyle. He came second in his heat, after leading for most of the way. His comment was that he ran out of oxygen at the end. Even though he tried to tell himself that he could breathe once the race had finished, he still found himself having to take enormous breaths every time he breathed.

A pretty good result.

Spelling

Homework started this week, and with it, spelling. We were quietly pleased to see that both boys now have the approach Callum had last year - a pretest, which continues until you've got a certain number of words wrong, and then you only have to learn those words. Callum's words (that he got wrong on the pretest) this week include resuscitate, phosphorescent and camouflage.

Declan's include precision, intervention and concise. And I was pleased to see that Declan spelled recycle, observe and disposable correctly in the pretest.

The Black hole of Calcutta

Also known as the playroom.

Callum and Declan have had ugh boots (which they know as "inside boots") for a couple of years now. But for the whole of last winter, Callum didn't wear them, because he had lost one of them. Yesterday, while setting up a tent in the playroom, Callum triumphantly emerged with his second inside boot.

So this morning, in the middle of summer, temperature 22 degrees (95% humidity) Callum is wearing his inside boots.

Freezing

Callum has been experimenting with freezing things. Two nights ago he made an "iced lolly" (a term I'm pretty sure he made up) which was a block of ice with a paddle pop stick in the middle of it.

Last night, he put a Star Wars sandtrooper in a cup and froze that, and had a great time commenting as the sandtrooper gradually emerged from the block of ice on thaw this morning (he got lost on Tattooine, and then transported to the Planet Hoff, where he got hit on the head, then more snow fell on him, and storm troopers marched over the sand and it turned to ice, and the sandtrooper became embedded in the ice).

Tonight, they both got into the act, with Declan freezing his favourite toy from our Europe trip - googly eyes - a rubber octopus like creature, and Callum trying a storm trooper for variety.

Beast Quest

Declan has lately become addicted to the Beast Quest series of books. A week or so ago, he read the first one in 24 hours. He was immensely proud of himself - and I think he may have enjoyed the book also. Since then, he has become increasingly addicted to the books (not just proud of finishing them quickly). Last night I had to tell him to stop reading at 9 pm, after he got thoroughly scared by the exciting story. And he started out wanting to read some to me, but changed his mind when he realised that he would be slower reading out loud than reading "in his brain".

It's lovely to see him obsessively reading.

New teachers

Callum and Declan now have their new teachers and classes for the year. Callum has Miss Sinclair, and is in 5S. He's very pleased that one of his good friends from 4C, Brendan, is in his class. And Declan has Miss Stephenson and is in 2L. Declan's little cluster of friends from 1H has been broken up, a bit, but he still has Nicolas Palmer and Patrick in his class with him.

So far, it all seems to be going well.

Keyboard letters

When I came home last night, Callum sent me out to the front gate to see something he had put there.

Diane, his science teacher, had helped him make a supplementary number sign for the house out of bits of a computer keyboard.

Back to school

Callum and Declan went back to school this week. After both of them being quite sad the holidays were finished, they seem to have enjoyed their first two days. It probably helps that they aren't yet in their new classes for this year, but have been doing makework with last year's class (Callum got to do lots of puzzle sheets, which are one of his favourite things) while all the classes are sorted out.

Declan got to be a buddy to Lachlan who has just skipped Year 1, and joined his group in Year 2 (and will be in his class this year), which he seems to have been enjoying because he gets to show off his superior knowledge of Year 1. Amusingly Lachlan is actually a month older than Declan.

And on Monday, Callum will get to be a buddy to a new Kindergartener - Luke, and came home today with Luke's name written on his hand so he will remember it on Monday. Callum is looking forward to that because he will get to see the Kindergarten playground again (one of the jobs of a buddy is to look out for them in the playground for the first few weeks in case they don't have anyone to play with).

Spit to Manly

After Declan declared yesterday that his favourite walk was the Spit to Manly, we decided to do it today.

Here are the boys having a play on Clontarf beach.

Chasing Monsters

We just had a very postmodern morning - we chased monsters around the Botanic Gardens on our iphones. We played this game. Here are Declan and Callum in danger of being eaten by a dragon.

Illness update

After we had successfully stopped Callum talking about his illness (only symptom, feeling nauseous) Evan took him back to the specialist this week, because when we permitted him to talk about it, he claimed to be feeling just as bad as ever.

After checking Callum out, the specialist said that he wouldn't do anything more, but asked Callum to stop thinking about it. Callum admitted that in the last few days, a new internet computer game he found on the internet had put all thoughts of nausea out of his head, so hopefully he'll keep forgetting.

A poor educational experience

Well for the first time ever Cal hated a Gerric course. In fact I think it's the first time he's hated any educational experience.

He did a course on public speaking. The problem was not so much the topic but the abysmal presentation. He came home on Monday having truly detested the day. It took a bit of cajoling to get him to return on Tuesday (on the basis it was an investment to ensure he didn't get blacklisted by Gerric).

The highlight of Tuesday was the chance to give Gerric some feedback. The feedback form had only one positive on it - lunchtime.

Untraining wheels

The boys have had bikes for a while, and, though I admit we've not used them much, they've been a fairly comprehensive waste of time. The big problem has been training wheels - they simply prevent the boys from learning how to balance.

So with the application of a bit of thought we've taken another route. First: lower the seats so the boys feel relatively safe. Second: remove the training wheels. Third: repeat the mantra "steer towards the direction you feel yourself falling". Finally: affix parent to back of seat to help out.

Over the course of a few days the boys have leapt forward. They can't ride yet but they are now very close - both have managed a few meters on their own. It will just take a little more practice.

I've now become a great fan of those wooden bikes without peddles you see around for little ones. I regret not having the kids learn to balance on those as a starting point.

(As an aside, the other problem with the kids bikes is that they are so heavy. The kids bikes are heavier than mine, which makes manipulating them a real pain for both child and parent.)

The wonders of technology

Aidan is staying the night tonight as he is doing a Gerric course at UNSW today and tomorrow. He and Callum are sitting in adjoining bedrooms sending each other handwritten notes on their Nintendo DSs.

Certainly quieter than the usual sleepover.

Caves

We're on our way back from the Jenolan caves with the Langdon Linigens and the Lees.

We've had an action packed few days, with adventure cave tours for the children, complete with headlamps, atmospheric tours for the grownups, and lots of running around like lunatics in the evening (children mostly).

We stayed at some cabins nearby and as well as seeing lots and lots of stalactites and stalagmites. We also swam in a couple of rock pools and climbed an enormous number of steps (including Emma who did all the steps without being carried).

Callum and Declan had a great time being with their friends for three days, and I suspect they also learned a bit of geology also.

Walking with Beasts

Declan is obsessively watching Walking with Beasts on DVD. Not only is he happily recounting what occurs, he's turning some of it into stories. Yesterday on the ferry he told me an absolutely wonderful story about a series of animals and their pack. I so wish I could capture the various expressions he used (and that he'd do that when doing his speeches at school!).

Circus in town

We went to Circus Oz yesterday. It was a great show.

In an almost perfect example of the difference between the boys, Callum laughed his head off at the slapstick elements; Declan didn't raise a smile. When asked, Declan simply said "It wasn't funny, it was exciting.'. Fair enough.

New Year Measurement

On New Year's Day, we measured the boys' heights, as always. Declan is 121 cm, and Callum is 128cm. In the last few days, I've also measured both their weights, so Declan is 22.5kg, and Callum is 25.5kg (roughly).

All Callum's measurements (height, weight, BMI) are on the 40th percentile, and Declan's height is still on the 60th, but his weight and BMI are down at the 50th.

Happy New Decade!

Happy new year to all our readers! And, Callum will tell you, Happy New Decade! Both boys were very excited at the thought of New Year, Callum because it was a whole new decade, and Declan because he was keenly looking forward to New Year at North Sydney Pool. We had all the mountain folk down - the Langdon Linigens and the Lees.

The boys were thrilled to find that there were new pool toys this year, as well as the usual fantastic water slides, and spent the best part of two hours swimming. Then we had a picnic dinner, and Declan had his face painted (as Batman). And Tom lost two teeth while eating dinner! Then at 9, we got to watch the fireworks which seemed even better than previous years.

And finally all the cruise boats on the harbour lit up with special maritime designs.

We walked home past all the revellers still waiting for the midnight fireworks, and all the children stayed up until midnight to watch those fireworks from our roof (the picture is Declan after we got home).

This morning there were some very tired children, but they all had a wonderful time.