Category: Holidays
Monday, Jul 5, 2010 | Holidays, School, Summer |
This summer, I’ve heavily loaded the front end of our summer holiday. Whether this proves to be a good idea or not has yet to be established, but at the very least, it will prevent the early lethargy and cries of boredom that marked the early days of last summer’s holiday.
Albus spent his first few days of holiday at home with us, and he was a changed person. He organized a self-monitoring system (“we all have to be honest”) to keep track of good and bad behavior. With AppleApple, he set up a stage in the living-room and organized a play that they plan to work on over the summer. He was, in short, a suddenly happy, thoughtful big brother, not the surly child we’ve seen so frequently in these latter days of the third grade. I think he must have been suffering more than we’d recognized, at school this year. He and I spent some time together, just the two of us, on Friday, and I asked him what he did not like about school, and he said that he didn’t like sitting still. Sitting still and doing work, because the work was boring–sometimes it was boring because he already knew how to do it, and sometimes it was boring because he didn’t know how to do it. Bit of a catch-22 there.
What most amazed me and Kevin was that these projects that Albus was organizing involved sitting down and writing. We could barely get him to write two sentences for his homework all year, and there it was: evidence of spontaneously occurring, self-motivated, parentally-painless application of literacy skills.
(We see this from AppleApple all the time; in fact, one of our projects last week–hers and mine–was to put together her newspaper, which is now completed! We just need to make copies, and possibly figure out how to post it online and link to it from the blog, to save paper and postage. More info on this soon. If you want a paper copy, send me a message).
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So, was it wise to send Albus off to overnight camp so soon after he was released from the bonds of school? The photos I took of AppleApple at camp yesterday show her busily arranging her bunk with all of her belongings (and she took her journal, so I expect new stories for the next edition of “Family Times” to be forthcoming). The photos of Albus, however, show him attempting to smile, then not even trying. His features and posture are transparent. He looks much younger in photographs. I could hardly stand to look at the photos last night, he looks so lonely and uncertain in them. I hope this was temporary. They were going to go swimming straight away.
I wonder–maybe he’s a homebody?
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I will see them both tomorrow, because I’ll be picking up AppleApple, who is only staying for two nights. She has a soccer tournament all this week and weekend. Albus has the choice of staying on till Saturday, and I really wonder, now, what he’ll choose.
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My two little ones: it’s just like a regular school day, on the days when Fooey is at home. Playing at the counter, colouring, writing. We have hired a neighbour girl to tutor Fooey and Albus this summer. Fooey is very close to reading, and eager to work hard on it–and I don’t have the time to feed her need as much as she’d like. She just spent a full hour sounding out words with our sweet, patient neighbour.
Albus was less keen to hear about the tutoring plan, but surprisingly accepting–we want him to keep working on his writing and reading this summer (which he may just do all on his own–who knew??); they’ll run multiplication tables together, he will read out loud, and work on writing an ongoing adventure story. After seeing Fooey’s appetite for learning this morning, I’m wondering whether half an hour, three times a week, will be enough for her.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010 | Birthdays, Holidays |
Our weekend involved more cake. I had not had time to bake in advance of Albus’s slumber party, so I thought, hey, this could be a party activity. It’s a credit to these sweet boys that they all said, “Yes!” when asked whether they’d like to make the cake. I decided to let them do as much as they wanted–read the recipe, measure the ingredients, dump, mix, beat the batter, work out amongst themselves who would do what. The resulting cake (sour cream chocolate) tasted fresh, light, and airy, and may have been even better than the previous evening’s cake. I should let children measure and stir every time.
The slumber party consisted of two guests (a third wasn’t able to come), no gifts, order-in pizza, cake, pop, a comic book shopping spree (Kevin had a blast witnessing the three boys making their excited decisions), and two movies. The boys set up the basement lair for themselves with three futons, but claimed to have all slept on the same bed, fighting for the same covers. They also reported being up till two o’clock in the morning (parents, I assure you, this could not have been true–we had the baby monitor set up in case of emergencies, and all was quiet after midnight … which is plenty late for three nine and almost-nine-year-old boys).
I got such pleasure listening to their party stories–how late, who had slept where, what they’d eaten for breakfast (chips and cheezies). After the guests went home, Albus appeared to be suffering from something resembling a hangover … lethargic, irritable, bored by everything. It’s hard for the party to end.
“All good things must come to an end,” I quoted cheerily last night as the children complained, at length and great volume, that “You’re ruining all of our fun!”
“Yup, that’s my job. I signed the parenting contract. I had to promise to ruin the fun, make my kids get enough sleep, force them to bathe and pick up their toys and throw their socks to the basement. It’s all in the contract. My hands are tied. What can I do?”
“Rip up the contract!” (That was Albus.)
The fuss was over bedtime. It was also over the end of the our long weekend. Listen, I was sad, too. Why must the fun end? Kevin and I got so much work done yesterday. I weeded the front bed, and trimmed the lilac (that was way too much fun; it was like giving a good haircut to a kid who really needs it … which, come to think of it, would describe Albus). Is that sad that I just conflated fun with getting so much work done? I even organized the linen closet (thanks, new Chatelaine; that may be the only good thing that comes out of the magazine’s re-design, in my opinion; so much saccharine fluff that I felt ill upon glancing through it, instant sugar-shock; and no Katrina Onstad, though I searched and searched; and this aside will be meaningless to all non-Canadian readers).
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There was more to our weekend. There was another party, and (believe it or not) even more cake. And that’s our new nephew pictured above with CJ and Fooey (photo by AppleApple), who visited from afar with his mum and grandma. And Kevin built that cool-looking box for the front veggie beds, and got the stones partially laid for our new walkway. Among much much else.
But I have a CJ on my lap stabbing me with a pencil, and a Fooey lying on the floor beside the stool shouting, “You’re wasting time for me to get dressed! When I even need you to get me dressed! I want a dress! You have to come upstairs, okay Mommy! Even if you say no, you have to come upstairs! This instant! I’m s’pposed to already be dressed in a dress!”
Yo. I signed the contract. What can I do?
Saturday, Apr 10, 2010 | Holidays |
A few Easter hunt photos from last weekend, at the farm. AppleApple adored the new cat, who was variously named “Snowflake,” “Snowball,” and Albus’s choice “Furball.” At any point during our visit, if AppleApple was missing, we’d just have to ask, where’s the cat? And that’s where she would be. The cat attempted to hide … behind the couch, under a car. And nowhere was out of reach of AppleApple. She came in one afternoon with hair askew and wild eyes (actually, that might have been the cat), and said, “Well, the cat was in a tree, but I got him!”
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Today: Sunny again. The backyard full of spring shoots and flowers. A houseful of restless people. Older kids off with Kev to hunt out a variety of spring and summer footwear. I’m at home with Grumpy and Hungry. My ambition is to clean the house, at least rudimentarily, sort through clothing drawers, and organize on a micro level. And get moving again.
Friday, Jan 1, 2010 | Holidays |
These photos are in reverse order, but hey. It’s late. It’s really really late (for me). First post of 2010. Kids playing in the basement. Jumping into the new year (at 9pm). Impromptu dancing. The two oldest kids got to stay up later than the others. We weren’t feeling the dominoes this year. We tried. We failed. We laughed. We realized it was already the start of another year. We’ve rung in a few together: perhaps a good decade’s worth as couples, and in that time we’ve added, oh, six other people to the mix.
I have this funny feeling that they might start to take over … we’re totally outnumbered.
Friday, Dec 25, 2009 | Baking, Cooking, Holidays |
Our morning, so far: stockings opened and sticky rolls and homemade grape juice and sugar overload, and Christmas pajamas, and music on the radio, and a turkey in the oven, and sleepy parents, and a recycled train from the attic with new batteries that makes the most thrilling noises (if you’re 2o months-old), and a bean bag chair, and enough books to fill a new shelf. Naptime, anyone? Anyone?
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Wishing you a merry and peaceful Christmas day!
Friday, Dec 25, 2009 | Holidays |
Sprinkling reindeer dust. Sticky buns set and rising in the fridge, to be baked for breakfast tomorrow. Stockings hung with care and anticipation. (AppleApple made the one on the left, especially for CJ. “I can hardly believe when I look at it that I made it!” Know what you mean, child. Know what you mean.)
This summer, I’ve heavily loaded the front end of our summer holiday. Whether this proves to be a good idea or not has yet to be established, but at the very least, it will prevent the early lethargy and cries of boredom that marked the early days of last summer’s holiday.
