Book Week - the result

Since I wrote about the fun I had with making Juniordwarf's Book Week costume, I thought I should post a picture of the result.

So here it is.

Hat by Spotlight. Makeup by Slabs. Cat-like outfit by me.

Unfortunately the photos don't show the tail. The skill, imagination and improvisation used to create the final part of the costume should put me fairly and squarely in the running for Crafty Mama of the Year.

(im)perfection

This week is Book Week. Juniordwarf’s school is having a Book Week Parade and the kids are all encouraged to dress up as a character from their favourite book.
 

Two years ago he wanted to be The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and I did this.

Last year he was a pirate, which was easy because he already had a pirate costume.

This year he said he wanted to be The Cat In The Hat. 

I figured this wouldn’t be too hard, and set about planning how I was going to do this

I always thought one of he fun things about primary school-age kids would be doing stuff like making costumes. You know, in all that spare time I have. Yeah.

I can remember my mother making me a Wild Thing costume in primary school for something our class was doing around the book Where The Wild Things Are.

(It looked like this:)

I assume I could actually breathe in this outfit

I figured if my mother could create such a thing out of an old blanket, I could come up with a cat costume pretty easily. Black pants, a black and white top, a tail and OH MY GOODNESS HOW THE HELL DO YOU MAKE HATS?

(Luckily a nearby craft supply store just happened to stock red and white striped hats exactly like the one the Cat in the Hat wears, which I discovered when I went in to get my supplies for this crafty endeavour. Enormous relief.)

I got out the sewing machine. Yes the very same sewing machine I got for Xmas two years ago and had not actually used. The same sewing machine listed at Number 24 on my 100 things to do in 2013 list (24. Sew something. Anything. Just use the damn sewing machine!).

Once I worked out how to thread it (which could be a whole post in itself – my mother’s old basic Bernina it is not), it was time for action.

The black pants were going to be easy. I based them on the same pattern I used for the caterpillar costume. 

OK, not quite so easy. Fluffy polar fleece isn’t quite as easy to sew as I thought it would be. I mean, it moves when you sew it. What kind of sorcery is this?

Anyway, I got there eventually. The pants were done. I’m totally rocking this crafty mama thing.

I didn’t have any sweatshirt patterns. No drama. How hard can it be? It’s just four pieces right? A front, a back and two sleeves. So I can just trace one of his sweatshirts and copy that.

Seam allowance? Pfft, who needs that? It’s a cat outfit. It’s meant to be tight.

 

See, it fits him.

Oh, you know what? You should have sewed the sleeves into the shoulders before you sewed up the side seams.

Well I’ll just trace the top of the sleeve using the arm hole as a guide, extend it to the length of his arm, and narrow it in at the bottom. Then I can just sew the sleeve in to the arm hole. No worries.

NO WORRIES? WHAT, ARE YOU KIDDING? HAVE A LOOK AT THIS! THE SLEEVES AREN’T WIDE ENOUGH! WHATEVER HAPPENED TO “MEASURE TWICE, CUT ONCE?”

True. In most garments the sleeves actually join up under the arm. 

Bugger.

By this time I was getting somewhat frustrated at this whole exercise. Who said the crafty mama thing was fun? I actually wanted to do this? What was I thinking?

Juniordwarf was watching me. “So I don’t think this is going to be a very good costume,” I said to him.

He looked at me.

Then said, “I don’t mind. It doesn’t have to be perfect. In fact, I don’t want it to be perfect.”

I thought back to where I’d heard this before. It had come from Juniordwarf’s teacher. His class is doing Art this term, and the teacher has been stressing the point very strongly that their art doesn’t have to be perfect and it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t look exactly like what they’re drawing and painting or if it doesn’t look the same as anyone else’s work. The idea is to capture what they see and reproduce it the way they see it themselves – so how one child sees something and draws it will be different to how any other child sees it.

The displays around the classroom are testament to this, and it’s fascinating to see each child’s style in their work.

While I was thinking about this, Juniordwarf then proceeded to quote what I’ve often said to him, right back at me. “It doesn’t matter if you make a mistake. We all make mistakes. Mistakes are how we learn.”

 

And you know what struck me most? That while I’m encouraging him not to be hard on himself and not set himself impossible standards, I continue to expect myself to be perfect and to never make a mistake.

It’s not going to be enough for him to hear these messages is it? I can’t really tell him not to seek perfection if I continue to expect it of myself. He’ll catch on to that one day, and how am I going to explain that? 

“Well . . . it’s OK for you not to do things perfectly, but I’m different. I have to.” 

Not really convincing is it? I’m not different. 

So for him to truly embrace these messages, he has to see them in action. That means he has to see me make mistakes and see how I learn from them. He has to see me accept less than perfect. He has to know that I believe what I’m saying. And therefore, I have to believe it.

Maybe I should go back to Grade 1. 

(P.S. Costume is not quite finished . . . but it will fit him and I expect it will hold together for a day. So all is well.)

where has the week gone?

A week has gone by without me posting a single post. So much for blogging three times a week.

I started a post about how Week 2 without sugar went, but then it got long-winded and started to get into arguments with myself about what I was doing. So all I'll say is the experiment is continuing and if I get through today, I'll have been three weeks without sugary treats or (as far as I can control) added sugar in anything.

Juniordwarf returned to school. It wasn't the big emotional event it was for me in 2011 and last year. In fact the holidays flew by so quickly, the return to school almost caught me by surprise. I didn't really have time to think about it, or even do anything to mark it. I took a couple of photos of Juniordwarf in his classroom and that was about it.

I did some work on my Project Life album. 

As a temporary fix, I moved my November and December 2012 pages that were overflowing from last year's album into a new album, where I've also set up my 2013 pages.

I'm still debating whether to keep doing Project Life in the hybrid way I did it last year, putting the physical photos into an album as I do them, or whether to load everything into a digital photo book and print it once. The main obstacle to doing that is deciding what to do with all the chunky memorabilia that's difficult to scan. It would also mean that I didn't have a physical book until next year some time.

So what are this year's pages looking like? 

I'm glad you asked. 

This year I'm not using any of the core kits. I'm using various digital papers to create background cards for the photos, journal cards and title cards. 

I'm sticking to two fonts - one for titles and the other for journalling - and will mainly be journalling in black or white text. I'm also going to try journalling directly onto my photos, so that I can free up the journal card slots for more photos.

I did that a bit last year, but I plan to do it a lot more this year as I think it looks great. I was inspired by some of the lovely pages from Windy Willow, who is creating some gorgeous spreads. 

So this is what one of my pages might look like when I print out the photos and slot them into the page protectors. It's basically six 6x4 pictures, with the middle row able to be cut into the 2.9x4 size that slots into the smaller pockets. (Yes, I forgot about the slightly smaller width for those "cards" when I was putting this together, so the gaps aren't very even. But this is just a mock-up to show the general idea.)

Because I'm doing a monthly approach, rather than weekly spreads, I don't have title cards for pages where the photos are just random things that happened. Only the spreads where all the photos are of the same subject will have their own title card.

As you can see, some of the 6x4 "cards" have journalling and photos, and some are just photos. I have a 3x4 picture on one 3x4 "card" and the rest of them are devoted to journalling. (I had quite a lot of journalling on this page.)

So that's how it's looking at the moment. I'll be able to see what I think of it when I've printed the photos and put them in the album. 

I've kept it simple, with no embellishments at this stage because I know if I started looking for the "perfect" embellishments I'd take forever, and never get these photos done. And getting them done is my main objective. So the "added extras" aren't being added. I might look into this a bit later in the year if I get time.

This year I'll be linking up with Nightwolf's Den for my Project Life posts, so I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of inspiration over there.

Now it's on to February.

another end - and a new beginning

Today was Juniordwarf’s last day of daycare.

He’s been very excited about it, and had counting down the days to his last day since before school finished last year.

On the other hand, I’m feeling a little bit sad and nostalgic about it all. I shed a few tears when we dropped him off this morning – and a few more on the way home after we picked him up. I think his educators at the child care centre were also a little sad that Juniordwarf – and some of the other older children too – would be leaving this week. Apparently one of his friends was in tears last Monday because she thought that was going to be his last day and she wouldn’t see him any more. I think she was pretty upset today too.

Juniordwarf has been going to daycare ever since he was about nine months old. When he was a baby, I stayed at home with him full time for six months, and Slabs was a stay at home dad for the next six months. After Juniordwarf turned one, we both started working part time, three days a week, so we needed to put him into daycare for one day a week.

In preparation for Slabs going back to work, we started taking him in to daycare for an hour at a time, to get him used to being there and not being with one of us. Over the next three months, we gradually built up the time he was there until he was happy to spend a full day there. When Slabs changed his hours, Juniordwarf started doing two days a week in daycare, and last year, once he started 3 day kinder, he dropped back to one day. 

I say happy because, despite the fact that for at least the first two years he used to cry almost every single time we dropped him off, he has seemed to enjoy himself there, he’s done some things he never would have got the chance to do at home and has made some friends. His educators have all been fantastic with him, and he’s been attached to all of them, especially the people who have been his main carers during the time he’s been in their particular rooms.

Now Juniordwarf is ready to start full-time school, and his time at daycare has come to an end. He agreed to give one of his favourite toys to the little kids’ room as a farewell gift – he’s finally outgrown it and it’s time to pass it on to some kids who we hope will get as much enjoyment out of it as he has.

Daycare has been such a big part of his life for the past four and half years, it’s strange to think of him not going there any more. He’s leaving part of his childhood behind and moving on to the next stage of his life as a fully fledged schoolboy.

So while this time last year I was feeling sad that he was taking his first steps into formal education, and into the bigger ‘system’ that is our lives, there was still a lot of his life as a little kid in our lives – daycare, my Tuesdays off as a tryhard mum-at-home, kids under 5 get in free to most places, participating in the various preschool kids activities around the place and that sort of thing.

In just over a week that will all be over and he will be a full-time school kid. Kinder is over and real school begins. It’s an exciting time for Juniordwarf. I know he’s looking forward to it. I asked if he was feeling sad because he wouldn’t have his Tuesdays at home with me any more, and he said, ‘No.’ I asked him why, and he said, ‘because I like school.’ I’m hoping that attitude will stick around for as long as possible!

Several parents have told me it’s a big jump from Kinder to Prep, because of both the increase in the time he’ll spend at school and the more formal atmosphere of the prep classroom compared to the kinder one. It will be interesting to see how he copes.

And it will be interesting to see how I cope too, because with the end of Juniordwarf’s ‘little kid’ days, I feel like part of my identity – that of mum-at-home, which has been part of my make-up since 2006 – will go with it. So in a way I am losing two things at once. It is an emotional time for me, and I want to acknowledge this as a significant milestone in my life. Not as significant as the transformation to ‘mum-at-home’ in the first place (and wasn’t that a shock to the system!), but still an event to be marked and reflected on.

I feel OK about being sad about it, and recognising it as an end, because too often I don’t take the time to properly process things and to recognise and acknowledge my feelings. The result is that those things have a habit of coming back and upsetting me all over again. And again. And, um, again.

Writing it down is part of acknowledging how I feel and celebrating the fact that I’ve had five years as a full time and part time mum-at-home. And it’s been the hardest role I’ve ever had to fulfil. Over the years it’s been challenging, frustrating, difficult, stressful, irritating, boring, aggravating. It’s made me cry, question myself, doubt myself, dislike myself and want to run away and never come back.

It’s also been fun, relaxing (occasionally), and enjoyable, has made me smile and laugh, and has given me the most wonderful moments I never want to forget.

Of course, I know all of this will continue as I continue my journey as Juniordwarf’s mum – and I would have had all of those feelings no matter what type of motherhood role I’d played up until now. It’s all part of being a mum – well a parent really I guess.

But despite it feeling like a loss now, saying goodbye to mum-at-home is not so much a loss as it is another change in my role as Mum.  That role has already changed and evolved many times as Juniordwarf has grown and changed, and it will continue to do so as he continues to grow, reach milestones and face the many challenges that are before him. But perhaps this feels different to the more subtle changes that have already happened, because, unlike the gradual changes, it will be a sudden stopping – much like the end of breastfeeding was for us. I guess it’s like the feeling that some mothers have when their children start high school. It must be a similar sudden and clear-cut change.

I really don’t know, but I’m glad I had the opportunity to spend as much time at home with Juniordwarf as I have over the past five and a half years. Despite how hard it’s been juggling work and home, I don’t think I would have done things differently. It worked for us. Mostly. So as well as farewell to mum-at-home, this is a time to celebrate everything she has done over the past five and a half years.

________________________________________

Juniordwarf’s educator very kindly took some photos for us today of his last day at daycare. Thank you K. They are great, and are a wonderful memory of his last day.

Thank you to all of the wonderful people who have worked with Juniordwarf both at the centre and through Family Day Care. We will miss you.

Walking out the gate for the last time.

the year in review - 2/12

Since my Project 365 is rapidly coming to an end, I'm going post a link to my favourite post from each month this year over the last 12 days of the year.

It’s fitting that today was Juniordwarf’s last day of school for the year, as February’s ‘back to the future’ post is about how I was feeling the week before he started school.

http://sleepydwarf.blogspot.com/2011/02/p365-day-40-countdown-begins.html

This is a chance to look back and reflect on how much has changed since then and to look forward to next year when he will be a full-time school kid.

I suppose in one sense, this year was a practice for next year when he starts his first year of compulsory schooling and attends five days a week. Dabbling his feet in the water to get a feel for how it works.

Next year he will well and truly be part of the system, just as Sarah Macdonald wrote in her post that I quoted in my post

I have a touch of sorrow that my son is entering the first institution of many he’ll encounter in life.  From now on he must fit into the system and join the mass of the mainstream. Soon he’ll be assessed, ranked, judged and assigned marks. For his own good, he’ll be part of a system that increasingly likes to test and rate and label – ‘gifted, talented, dyslexic, hyperactive, challenged’ etc.  My son will have to negotiate a microcosm of society; a zoo where he’ll have to fit in, be cool, make friends and not lose them within the frenzied hive of the playground. He’ll have to wear a uniform, he’ll have to eat when he’s told, sit when he’s told, put his fingers on his lips and repress his rambunctiously annoying ways.

I fully understand Sarah’s ‘touch of sorrow’. I felt it too.

But I suppose ‘the system’ is not necessarily a bad thing. We live in a society, and a society needs rules and structure in order to function. And people need to live and behave in accordance with those rules and boundaries for the same reason.

Of course there will always be the rule breakers and boundary pushers in both beneficial and harmful ways – if not, society wouldn’t evolve – and for everyone to always live safely within the system would create a much less diverse and interesting world. (I can feel myself going way off topic here . . .)

What I think I’m trying to get at is that while I want Juniordwarf to be able to fit in and live in the society of the day, I don’t want him to blindly follow ‘the mass of the mainstream’ if he believes it’s not right for him. I don’t want him to accept everything he’s told without question, but I want him to be able to be able to make judgements about what should be challenged and to believe in himself strongly enough to challenge it.

I want him to learn for the sake of learning, not for the sake of getting a good mark. (I know. This is all very well in principle, but you often need good results to get anywhere. I wonder how you find the balance between the two?)

I look back on my school days and my university days and – even though I didn’t notice it at the time – everything I did was focused on getting a good result at the end of the year. No wonder I didn’t enjoy studying.

Even as I write this, I wonder whether what I want for him is really what I would have wanted for myself, if I was able to take myself back to the start of my school days and begin all over again. I wonder what would have happened had I not strived to be so ‘good’ and ‘smart’.

What sort of person would I be now? Would I have spent so many years putting myself down for never being good enough if I hadn’t gotten into the mindset that I could always do better very early on?

And ‘good enough’ for what, exactly?

Or would I be in a totally different position if I hadn't done as well at school and at uni as I did?

And were those good results really that important in the grand scheme of things? 

This is all such new territory for me. Trying to help my son navigate his way through this world so that he can form his own opinions and develop his own values, can develop a strong sense of respect for himself and can take responsibility for his actions. Giving him the guidance and help he needs without over-compensating for the things I think I’m missing and without being overbearing.

It is such a huge responsibility that sometimes it completely overwhelms me and I want to retreat back into the system.

But I simply can’t let it overwhelm me. This is real and it’s happening now. And all I can realistically do is what I think is best here and now, based on the information I have.

To stop questioning myself and get on with being Juniordwarf’s mum.

Tomorrow: March

P365 - Day 355 - the end of school

Today was Juniordwarf’s last day of school for the year.

When I dropped him off today, I took a few photos of him in his classroom, the room he’s been in for the past two years – last year in pre-kinder and this year in kinder. A room that I’ve come to know very well and that we will see, but no longer be a part of, after today.

I took some photos of him with his teacher and his kinder aide, who have been wonderful - encouraging and supportive of Juniordwarf in his first year of formal school. I remember the doubts I had at the start of the year as to whether he was ready (is there anything I don't doubt?), but he has proven them to be completely baseless, and the staff in his classroom have contributed a huge amount to his development this year. I can’t thank them enough.

As has come to be normal when dropping him off these days, I waited with Juniordwarf in his classroom until the bell went, letting him lead me around the room, showing me things he’d done that were proudly on display. I read him one of his favourite stories and watched his classmates dance around the room, clearly excited that the year was almost at an end.

What a contrast to his first day – which sometimes seems like a whole lifetime ago, and at other times feels like it was only yesterday.

The uncertain, nervous excitement of the first day in a new school was replaced by almost a party-like atmosphere, with kids who were comfortable and relaxed in the school environment. There were no anxious parents waiting to see how their child would react, no uncertainty as to who puts what where, no nervous ‘hellos’ and wondering how we were going to remember everyone’s names, no tearful goodbyes.

Oh except for me.

As I watched how well adjusted Juniordwarf and his classmates had become, how comfortable they were in the environment and with each other, I started to feel a bit teary that this was the end of another stage of his life.

Just like on his first day.

This post still makes me cry.

And leads me into . . . the year in review - 2/12

P365 - Day 350 - report day

Juniordwarf got his end of year report today. 

It spoke of his enthusiasm, his willingness to do what is asked of him and his curiosity. Of all the ‘core markers’ for Kinder students, there was only one that he didn’t meet, so he has made a lot of progress since the middle of the year. That’s been really obvious to us, especially over the last couple of months.

Slabs and I are both so pleased at the progress he’s made this year.

His teacher mentioned this morning how much Junoirdwarf's drawing had improved.

From this at the start of the year:

A face

To this in June:

Juniordwarf

And, just this week, to this:

Juniordwarf's Teacher

It’s exciting to watch him grow and change – sometimes it seems to happen overnight.

I love the way he is now. He has his moments where I would gladly ship him off to his Grandmother’s for a day (or a week, or . . . no, not really), but I’m sure all parents feel like that sometimes. I’m learning that feeling like that doesn’t mean I love him any less, that it’s OK to feel like that every now and then, and that it doesn’t mean I’m a bad parent.

He’s so curious about why things are the way they are, and what would happen if  . . ., and what is this for. And how do you spell that, and what does this word say.

I’m trying to encourage him to figure stuff out for himself and to instill in him the confidence that he can do it, but also to make sure he knows if he needs help his Dad and I will be there.

Despite the difficulties I’m having, this is a wonderful time in his life – one we won’t get to experience again – and I can’t wait to see what he does next.

P365 - Day 307 - parent help

After having such fun last term doing parent help with Juniordwarf's class, Slabs and I decided we'd go in as a team again today.

Today we worked with the children generating word clouds using Wordle. They had to pick an Australian animal - building on their Bonorong Park visit - and then choose some words connected to the animal. Once we (or they) had typed in the words, we generated the word clouds, scrolled through the different versions until they got a pattern they liked, and then they printed them out.

It was fun, and very interesting to see the words (or phrases) that some of Juniordwarf's classmates came up with. My favourite was the little girl who included the phrase "dingoes eat wombats" in her word cloud.

I'm not sure what grade parent help stops at, but I'm really enjoying it. It's great to get a first-hand look at what Juniordwarf does at school. I hope to be able to continue to go next year - and as long as he's happy for me to go - at least one day each term like we've done this year.

P365 - Day 287 - banking (14/10/2011)

A couple of years ago I set up a bank account for Juniordwarf, and each week when we went up the street he’d deposit a small amount of money into it.

Last year we didn’t do it as often because our schedules changed and we didn’t do the big tour of the main street like we used to, so we didn’t get to the bank very often.

Now he’s at school, I thought he should change his account over to a school bank account and get back into the habit of saving some money. When he did his kinder orientation at the end of last year, the application forms for the bank were included in the information pack we got.

Being the organised person that I am, I put in the application for his new account last week.

Today everything arrived in the post, so it’s all set up and he can start banking next week.

School banking has changed a lot from when I went to school. As far as I can tell, now the kids just take their money to school with a deposit slip and the school does it all electronically.

Back in the olden days, one of the bank tellers used to come to our school once a week and sit in the hall, and we’d go out with our passbooks to do our banking. We’d hand over our money, which, from memory, for me started out at 10 cents, but then went up to 20 cents, and the teller would enter that amount in the passbook, so we’d always know exactly how much money we had in our account.

I think that somewhere in my clutter stash of memorabilia I still have my very first bank book. 

And I can remember taking out the grand sum of $25 to buy my very first budgie, cage and accessories. That put a fair dent in my savings!

P365 - Day 285 - excursion (12/10/2011)

Juniordwarf's class went on its first excursion today.  A bus trip to a nearby wildlife sanctuary, Bonorong Park.

The school asked for parents to go along and help out, and I decided to volunteer.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from a day with 40 or so kids, other than that there would most likely be a fair amount of noise, and a lot of coordination would be required to make sure everyone was where they were supposed to be!

It was a lot of fun. The kids were very well behaved, and they had a great time.

I'm glad I went. I enjoyed the chance to talk to some of Juniordwarf's classmates and to share their excitement at seeing all the animals. It was the first time I'd been there, and I'd like to go back another day to show Juniordwarf the areas that we didn't get to see today.

Our tour guide and the wombat

Wombat

Banjo the koala

Koala mum and baby (hidden by leaves, but it is there!)

Koala on the move

Tasmanian Devil

Tasmanian Devil and feeding babies

Juniordwarf feeding a kangaroo

Juniordwarf feeding a kangaroo

'Kanga Country'

'Kanga Country'

Blue tongue lizards

One of the highlights of the trip - the peacock

P365 - Day 247 - fathers day

When we picked Juniordwaf up from school on Thursday he had a wrapped present in his bag, which was for Slabs for Fathers Day. I had a pretty good idea of what it might be, so I couldn’t wait to see it today.

Juniordwarf made Slabs’ card at Playgroup on Friday, and yesterday afternoon we wrapped the presents we’d bought a couple of weeks ago. Juniordwarf was very excited by all the wrapping and he took all the presents and lined them up on the lounge room floor. (He is really into presents at the moment – we made a DVD of his first Xmas, where SantaMe gave out all the presents from the Santa sack and we opened them all – he likes to act the whole thing out, including reciting the comments that people make and their laughs. He does the same thing for his first birthday DVD. So anyone in my family who has a distinctive laugh, beware: he can imitate it!)

I told him he’d have to hide them from Slabs, so he took them into his bedroom – and lined them up on the floor.

I managed to convince him that he needed to actually hide them so Slabs wouldn’t see them when he put Junoirdwarf to bed, so we found a hiding place in his room and stashed them there.

I told Juniordwarf that when he woke up in the morning he had to come and wake me up first, so we could get the presents and surprise Dad.

He didn’t, and when I went into his room at 8 o’clock this morning (yes! 8 o’clock!) he was awake in bed. I asked if he wanted to get the presents for Dad, and he said yes, got up and went to get them. They were in a completely different (and better) hiding place than where we’d put them yesterday.

He took them in very proudly to Dad and announced that he’d help Dad open them. Which meant that he’d open them himself, which he proceeded to do, with very little input from Slabs.

He opened his school present first, which was, as I’d thought, a hand-made photo frame with a picture of him from school. Very cool!

Then he opened the rest of the presents, and handed over his card, which he had written ‘Dad’ and his own name in.

Slabs seemed very happy!

Juniordwarf decided to wear his pirate outfit today (good to get some wear out of it), and we went to our favourite coffee shop for morning tea.

After coffee we went outside so I could try to get a photo of Juniordwarf and Slabs (I try to get one good photo of him with the relevant parent on the relevant day – it is not an easy task).

We were going to go out for a picnic lunch, but it rained, so we had the picnic inside, which Juniordwarf really enjoyed (not that you can tell from this picture).

I tried again to get a decent photo of the two of them, but Juniordwarf really wasn’t cooperating today. This is the best I could do! 

P365 - Day 224 - parent help (12/08/2011)

Slabs and I did parent help at Juniordwarf’s school today.

Last term we both did a morning each, and I really enjoyed my time with the class, so I was looking forward to today. This time we thought it would be a fun thing for both of us to do together – a team effort!

Our first task was to cut out cardboard circles so we could help the kids make pom poms. Our other job was to help them finish off their fire fighter helmets that they’d made to go with the fire fighting theme they’d been learning about after their school was visited by a fire fighter (and we've been told an endless number of times since then, ‘water and electricity DON’T MIX!’).

We were lucky enough to go with the kids to see another class’s dress-ups for some work they’d been doing, after which the class was informed that it would be Book Week dress-up day in two weeks and that the kids should start thinking about a favourite book character to dress up as.

Time to put my Crafty Mama skills to the test!

But back to school . . . we had a great time. It was cool to see what goes on in the classroom, and to see for ourselves what Juniordwarf is actually doing when he acts out his school days at home.

Juniordwarf was a lot less clingy than he had been the first time I was there. He kept turning round to look at us while they had ‘mat time’, but didn’t sit right up against my legs like he 'd done the first time.

He’s a lot more confident in the classroom now. I think most of the kids are. They were quite fascinated by us, and most of them were very keen to work with us. Slabs called one girl over to finish her fire fighter helmet, and she was amazed that he knew her name.

‘How did you know my name?’ she said, in this absolutely flabbergasted voice. 

‘Magic,’ was his response.

She couldn’t get over it, and we both thought it was hilarious.

Slabs was fantastic with the kids. He seems to really enjoy interacting with them, and seems to know exactly how to talk to them. In contrast, I’ve got no idea what to say most of the time, and I have to try really hard not to freak out when they talk to me.

We were kept very busy, and at one point I ended up with three girls making pom poms, while I was trying to fix up Juniordwarf’s which he’d half done and left with me, saying he’d finished. I wasn't going to do it for him, so I handed it over to the teacher aide for Juniordwarf to come back to later on.

I marvel at how the teacher and the aides are able to calmly deal with the demands of so many kids all at once. They are brilliant! I enjoyed myself today, but I think part of that enjoyment came from the fact that I knew that at half past ten, I’d be out of there and back to my relatively quiet day job, where I (sort of) have some idea of what I’m actually doing.

I can’t wait to do it all again next term.

P365 - Day 216 - home readers

This term Juniordwarf has started bringing home ‘home readers’ from school.

The explanatory note from his teacher said that the books have ‘simple and often repetitive texts’ and that the aim is ‘to encourage children to develop a positive attitide to reading, develop confidence in their own ability and develop a belief that they can read’.

Juniordwarf has loved books ever since he was a baby, and we’ve spent a lot of time reading to him. As his interest in and understanding of the letters of the alphabet has increased, he’s learned to point out letters in the books we read, and even before he developed any reading skills, he was able to recognise words that he saw regularly. Words like the days of the week, ‘open’, ‘closed’, ‘Dad’, ‘Mum’, his own name, and other simple words.

Now he’s started Kinder it’s time to take that a step further, which is both exciting and terrifying. The challenge is going to be to encourage him to look at the words and work out what they are, instead of reciting the story from memory, while still keeping it fun for him. The last thing we want to do is force him, and for him to stop enjoying books.

P365 - Day 187 - disco fever!

Juniordwarf had been anticipating today for a couple of weeks.

His school had a disco for all the kids after school – littlies at 3.15 and the big kids at 4.15.

For $5 the kids got entry, pizza, a drink and a disco with a DJ – and a glitter ball and a bubble machine.

Juniordwarf was really looking forward to it, and kept telling us all about how he was going to have pizza and a drink. He seemed more excited about the pizza than the actual dance.

I went along to help set up beforehand, which involved cutting up fruit and blowing up balloons.

I’d love to say that Juniordwarf had a wonderful time, danced himself into a frenzy and that I got a lot of cool photos, but that’s not how it went down. He had a good time, he danced a little bit and he was one of the first in line for the pizza when it arrived (and tried to sneak back for a second piece, but was cruelly intercepted by his eagle-eyed mother).

Most of the time he spent following his ‘best friend’ (who has been his best friend for about two weeks) around, and I’m not sure if his friend was trying to get away from Juniordwarf or was just not interested in dancing, but they spent a lot of the time walking through the throng of jumping noisy kids.

The times Juniordwarf actually danced, he looked like he was enjoying himself, and it was great to see him smiling. He particularly loved the bubble machine.

So my picture today is the disco ball shining on the ceiling.

Groovy hey.

P365 - Day 148 turn your ears on please (28/05/2011)

Slabs and I are often entertained by Juniordwarf playing out various scenarios from his school day.

One of his recent favourites is to announce that it’s now story time and one of us (me, usually) has to come and sit on the mat. He then sets up his chair and proceeds to ‘read’ a story.

Often before he starts reading he says to me, ‘turn your ears on Mum’, usually followed by ‘click click’.

If it’s not us he’s reading to, it’s one of his teddies (usually the long-suffering Big Teddy), who has to sit on the mat and have his ears turned on by an enthusiastic ‘teacher’.

Today story time was a bit different.

Instead of setting up the mat for Teddy to sit on, Juniordwarf set up his two little chairs next to each other, sat Teddy on the red chair and himself on the brown chair, told Teddy to turn his ears on, and then read the book.

He takes the education of Teddy very seriously.

P365 - Day 133 helping out (13/05/2011)

I signed up to do parent help at Juniordwarf’s class today. I had no idea what this would involve, other than that I’d be turning up and helping some of the children with an activity.

I was the second cab off the rank. One of the other mums had her turn on Wednesday, and she said she’d had a great time. She'd only had to work with a small group of children, and had helped them with their cutting.

I didn’t really imagine that the teacher would leave me in charge of more than a couple of kids at a time, but still, the idea of spending an hour and a half in a room of 20 or so four and five year olds was slightly overwhelming.

On the other hand, I was excited to have the chance to sit in on Juniordwarf’s class and see what they did and how he behaved. I didn’t tell him until Wednesday that I’d be in his class today. He told me how his friend’s mum had been at school that day, so I told him that I’d be coming to his class too, and he was really excited about it.

I told him that I’d be there until recess and then I’d have to go back to work. I was desperately hoping that he wouldn’t cling on to me the whole time and refuse to do anything the teacher said, or that he’d get really upset when I left, given our experiences earlier in the year with school dropoffs.

Neither of those things happened – by now he knows that he has to do what the teacher says. I had to remind him a couple of times to pay attention, but other than that he was great. He stuck very close to me until it was time for him to go off and do something else, which was really sweet.

My job was to work with one child at a time – perfect – and help them threading wool through holes. The kinder aide was doing the same thing so I could check in with her if I had any problems, but I didn’t and I really enjoyed it.

I loved seeing what they did at school, but I was pretty busy, so I didn't get a chance to take any photos. Here's one I took when I picked up Juniordwarf this afternoon.