NotSheep

There have, as usual, been lots of things going on here. I’m not sure where to start, so, in no particular order, here goes.

Yesterday we attended a print-making workshop along with a bunch of other home-ed families. Jack and Toby had a good time, but Freddy was busy practising his teenage grumpies, and Louie fell asleep in the car two minutes before we arrived, so wasn’t really in the mood. They all enjoyed the tour of the linen museum afterwards though.

Last week, we spent a day at the science centre, including a show at which we were the only audience members, and the poor bloke giving had only been working there for three weeks and had no idea that my lot had probably seen it twenty times before. He would get half-way through a sentence and they’d provide the answers to the questions he was about to ask. On our arrival at the centre, Louie headed immediately for the giant jigsaw pieces thingy – his jigsaw obsession continues. He spends about a quarter of his waking hours doing jigsaws, about a quarter folding paper airplanes, and about a quarter making music. He’s added Nickelback’s “I wanna be a rock star” to his singing repertoire, which until now consisted largely of Jingle Bells and “I am the one and only”. He belts away on the drums – either the blue drums he got for Xmas, or the set that goes with the Wii – or waves the guitar around, and sings at the top of his voice. In fact music has been quite a theme throughout the household lately. One recent afternoon I found Barney and Freddy on Wii Guitar Hero along with Jack’s friend J, Toby and Louie accompanying them on Louie’s blue piano and blue drums, and George in his bedroom doing his cornet practice. It’s lucky we don’t have any attached neighbours, really. Music lessons for the boys continue, and Freddy has started to learn piano too. George continues to improve on the cornet, and P, the conductor of the Junior Band has even mentioned moving him up to the Senior Band – that’s the one that consists of adults and goes and plays in parks and concerts and stuff. However they have practise on Tuesday and Thursday nights – and there’s no way George will be willing to give up Sea Cadets. P has also mentioned the possibility of moving Junior Band practise time from Saturday mornings to Tuesday nights, and I’m really, really, hoping he doesn’t, because it just won’t work for George and Freddy. There is another local band they could join instead, but I like ours…

Last Saturday, George was playing in a concert, which meant me driving a couple of hours each way. The big Chinese New Year event in Belfast was on the same day, so George missed most of it, although I dropped him off there afterwards so he made it for the last couple of hours. Barney and Freddy volunteered at it all day, as well as handing out promotional things beforehand, so they were there from 10.30 in the morning until after 7 p.m. They all seem to have enjoyed it, despite Freddy losing his bank-card – I think he probably left it in a bank machine, although as I write that, I’m thinking most bank machines don’t dispense the money until you’ve taken the card, do they? Maybe he dropped it before he put it away. Anyway, it’s been reported lost and a new one has been ordered.

Speaking of lost things, George’s DS went missing just before Xmas. He let Jack borrow it when he was in hospital. I was certain that I’d packed it in the bag when Jack was discharged, but then it wasn’t seen again…until a couple of week ago, when I was in the cupboard under the stairs looking for something else, spotted one of the bags that had been at the hospital with us, and thought, “I’ll just check…just in case…” And voilà – one DS Lite George was a very, very happy camper when he got home from school that day.

Jack’s been back to the hospital for an appointment with the Asthma Nurse. She’s really pleased with how he’s doing – as am I: his asthma hasn’t been this well-controlled for a very long time. I don’t think he’s even used his blue inhaler (the reliever) since Xmas, despite the cold weather and lots of time running about outside. The hospital admission was, I think, a blessing in disguise. He and I have spent quite a lot of time in the last week sorting through his bedroom – a room in which the floor is rarely seen. This makes dusting and vacuuming quite difficult, and I know the dust-bunnies won’t help his breathing. We threw lots of stuff out, gave some stuff away, I did many loads of laundry (all those clothes under the beds and down the backs of chests of drawers…!) We still need to sort through a couple of large boxes of varied toys, but most of the boxes for his Trofast units seem to have walked, so I’ll have to find or replace those first.

I took Freddy to one of the Open Nights at Barney and George’s school, to let him have a look around and think about whether he might want to go there at some point. George was singing in the choir at the Open Nights, so he found us after that and acted as our Tour Guide. It wasn’t a Parent/Teacher evening, but I still got to chat with several of his teachers. They all seem to like him, and are pleased with how he’s getting on (and I was quite chuffed when one of the teachers said to me, “Whoever has taught him science up until now has done an excellent job!”) His exam results were good – he was in the top three for French and Maths, first in his class and second in his year in Physics. His school report, which arrived on Saturday, was good too, and I was impressed by how specific and detailed the teachers’ comments are. The main thing he needs to work on is writing enough – his History, English and RE teachers all told me that his ideas are good, and that what he writes is good, but there isn’t enough of it. I spent some time on Sunday helping him plan and frame essays for History and English, and I think the resulting essays are good, so let’s hope his teachers agree.

Barney went to help out at the second Open Night and ended up on Traffic Duty. He’s spending most of his time studying these days, and I don’t see much of him He’s right in the middle of several courses, and the work is piling up. He managed a weekend away during January, on a leadership training thing, and last weekend as well as volunteering at Chinese New Year he went to a birthday party (well, a meal out and then a movie) with some friends from school. He didn’t have school exams in January – just the A-level maths one – so no school report for him yet this term. The only negative I’ve heard from his teachers is that he isn’t quick enough to ask for help or support where he needs it – this comes as no surprise to me.

Barney and George had a day off school between the two Open Nights, so I took advantage of that and a coupon I’d acquired, and booked us in for a session with a photography studio. The photographer was great and put the boys at ease right away – the coupon covers one mounted print, but I’ve a feeling I’m going to be spending quite a chunk of money on buying extras.

Both of them will also be missing a week of school later this term – in Barney’s case, for a week of work experience (he’s going to the science centre – his brothers are threatening to show up and mock him!), and in George’s case, for the annual Sea Cadet ski trip. He had an amazing week doing that last year, and both he and Freddy are going this year. I was prepared to have to do some convincing to get permission from the school for the week off, but in fact they okayed it without any hesitation at all.

I’m stuck at home for the next day or two, because my car is in having some bodywork repaired, and the courtesy-car I’ve been provided with is a Citroen C1. It’s tiny, has no space for anything, but the biggest problem is that it only seats four – so even with Barney and George away to school, I can’t fit us all in! It is, however, much, much cleaner than my own car…

And before I finish up, a couple of recent conversations:
Toby: “I want to learn how to go on the street on a scooter!” Jack’s friend J: “It’s easy! Except for all the grunting.”
Toby to Louie: “When you were a baby, you…” (add various things babies do). Louie: “When I was a soft toy, I….”
Toby: “When I grow up I would like to be a zookeeper.” Louie: “I would like to grow up into a Batman.” Toby to me: “Does that mean I have to go to work every day?” Me: “Yes.” Toby: “Hm, I’m not going to be a zookeeper. I think I’m going to be…I don’t know any jobs except for zookeeping, police, ambulance, doctors, library-er…”
And finally, Louie – watching Big Bang Theory: “Sheldon’s got a costume that’s the red sparrow.”

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