FUD: Fear/Uncertainty/Doubt

Conversations with an Amy June 20, 2008

Just now.

Amy is being very chatty at the moment. I said to Mike, who just got home, “She didn’t even have a nap today!”

Amy: You said no nap, Mummy! Teachers said no too.
Me: That’s right, I said no nap.
Amy: Jae pushed me into the doors.
Me: Which doors?
Amy: The sleep-room doors.
Me: When? Today or yesterday?
Amy: Yesterday.
Me: And what did you do?
Amy: I tolded him STOP DOING THAT.

Ethan is in the University of Canterbury’s alumni magazine today. They have an article about multiculturalism in the classroom, and came to Ethan’s school and took a photo of his class, which has at least half a dozen ethnicities represented, maybe more. His face is half-obscured by another child but his face will be half-seen by, I’m guessing, one or two thousand alumni.

Let me explain, no, let me sum up April 30, 2008

* Placement starts next Monday. I am underprepared in terms of paperwork right now. Woo! However, I am well equipped wardrobe-wise, thanks to my mother.

* Over the past week we’ve had gas-powered hot water installed and ripped out an interior wall, as our new heatpump made the gas fireplace redundant. Renovation is fun, in an unexpected “oh crap, no one said there was a huge lump of concrete behind this wall” sort of way. Our bank account is unimpressed.

* Mike may be allergic to our new kittycat, who is tentatively named Kira. We’re going to hold on for a few more days. If things don’t work out (as in Mike doesn’t stop sneezing or wheezing), then she will hopefully return to her previous owners.

* I took Ethan to Horton Hears a Who today. He loved it. It was very spur of the moment and not conducive to my placement preparation [see first note, above].

(Renovation photos will undoubtedly follow.)

“Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.” - E.L. Doctorow April 13, 2008

“My name is Spongebob,” said Spongebob.
(more…)

“Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose.” - Tennessee Williams

Ethan has become a big schoolboy fish in a small daycare pond. When we pick Amy up after school, the four-year-olds rush to gather around Ethan, hug him, ask to play tag with him, show him the cool cardboard-box truck they’ve made that day. I caught him being hugged and kissed by two girls the other day in the middle of a game of Duck Duck Goose. One of the girls in lives just down the street from us, and seems to really like Ethan, so I invited her to our house last week (via her mother).

The two of them, and Amy, had a fantastic time playing, riding their scooters, eating ripe figs and grapes and Kit-Kat bars for afternoon tea (the chocolate bars being a gift from our visitor (via her mother)) and playing board games when it got cold outside. After they’d eaten and returned outside, I came out to put a jacket on Amy. Ethan came up to me in the middle of a race with his friend, and leaned to whisper in my ear, “I like her!”

It was adorable. I think he was taken by surprise; he tolerated her at daycare because she was one of his adoring fans, and I don’t think he cared one way or the other that she was coming to play. But then it turned out that she liked scooters and Megablocks and playing BiJingo just like he did! She was actually kind of cool! And so they could be friends. Aw.

…

Also, Ethan has written a book. About Spongebob. I will follow up with photos and translations of his phonemic-style spelling.

“You might be a firefighter if your kids are afraid to get into water fights with you.” April 7, 2008

I don’t know what the Firewise mascot’s name really is. I hope it is Krispy Kiwi, with a sort of singed-around-the-edges look. We went to the Rangiora Volunteer Fire Brigade’s open day yesterday at which the kids saw a car get cut open, an airport firetruck, a, well, a guy dressed up as a firefighting kiwi, and Ethan ran an obstacle course to save a giant stuffed bear from a fire. The bear survived, thanks to Ethan’s courage and dedication to the safety of bears everywhere.

“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” (Mark Twain) April 4, 2008

Yesterday I had a parent-teacher meeting with the erstwhile Miss T (who is now a Mrs), to discuss Ethan’s first two months of school. Here’s the highlights:

* Scored perfect on the six-year sight word test
* Knows his alphabet and all the associated sounds
* Needs more work with numbers, especially counting backwards from twenty-something
* He’s a leftie! This was actually a surprise and is a fair indication that I have not actually looked at Ethan since he was born. Hence he has a terrible pencil grip and can’t hold scissors. Am trying to find a place that sells left-handed pencils online
* Thrives on routine, something we have taken advantage of FOREVER

The sad story that followed is this:
There is a huge influx of small children hoping to attend Ethan’s school this year. Huge. There are only two new-entrant classrooms, and a third opens up midway through term 3 when numbers in rooms 1 and 2 get too high. Miss T said last year before room 1A opened, she had a ridiculous 31, THIRTY ONE YES YOU READ CORRECTLY children in her class. This year is looking even worse, so the syndicate is hoping to pre-empt the overcrowding by sending some of the more competent kids up to a year one classroom.

When? I asked.

At the start of term 2, she replied. That is IN ONE MONTH.

But, she said, he’s academically ready, sure, but not really socially. I agreed most vehemently, but after consideration I have to agree that if anyone does have to move up, it should be him over someone who will be lost in a classroom with bigger children. I just wish we didn’t have to think about it already.

The upside is that some of his friends will go up too, so he won’t be the only new kid. He’ll be challenged and he’ll meet new children, and admittedly a lot of the room 1 kids are less mature and prepared for school than him, while room 3 kids are probably more on his level.

But we really, really like Miss T. Apparently the other day, Ethan went to her and said he had to give her a super-huge cuddle in case he ran out later, and did so. He adores her and she loves her room 1 kids. Children from other classes come to visit her. She has a great rapport with the parents and I enjoy hanging out in her classroom and doing little chores when I have free time, playing with her laminator and NOT SETTING IT ON FIRE OR DAMAGING SMALL CHILDREN.

Ethan’s not allowed to know about it yet because it’s not foregone, only a possibility right now. I think he’ll be quite upset when he finds out, at least until the excitement of a new classroom and new teacher and bunch of kids kicks in. And he’ll have been very lucky to have had such an awesome teacher for his first term at school.

A six-week catch-up. January 29, 2008

Ask me what we’ve been doing, go on ask me ask me ask me!

Actually no. Don’t, because it’s not as exciting as such an enthusiastic buildup would imply. But we did leave the house for a while there, which for us these days is as exciting as wandering around Mexico was ten years ago. Also up there for excitement is the return of House to TV tonight. I can barely focus on my typing, such is my exvcwfvvwhuhtement.

What did we actually do that filled us with joy and fulfillment? Um. We…um. I forget. Wait! We went to Blenheim! For Christmas! Before that we did some pre-Christmas stuff here, like cut down a perfectly healthy tree and prop it up in our dining room. And we had the kids’ preschool end-of-year breakup, which had a fancy-dress theme:

As you can see, Ethan was a fairy.

And Amy went as a rubber chicken.

We headed to Blenheim a couple of days before Christmas, where it turned out we were inducted into the local builders’ union and indentured to build chairs.

I still have all my digits and both eyes, although I can’t say the same for our children. At least they look happy!

Christmas was awesome. Amy and I got a doctor set:

And we got snow!

We spent an afternoon at Marfells Beach, past Lake Grasmere and the saltworks (a network of ponds where seawater is left to evaporate and expose the salt), and the kids chased seagulls and threw rocks and collected shells and ran around a lot. And I took my favourite photo of the trip:

We came home for a pretty uneventful January (I went to summer school) and then Ethan turned five on Saturday. We threw him a pirate party.

It went well.

My kids are weird, part 17 November 27, 2007

Yes, it’s true. Biking with a bucket on your head is the new black.