6 months of school!

So Ben has been at school for 6 months and this is his entry to the Miles Franklin Brilliant Writers competition. You might remember that Matthew won a prize in last yearscompetition.
 The story is:-

One day a bugy went to a frens house to play chest his frend beet him so he plaid a gen and wun and they had fun and they plaid for eva.

For those of you who aren't fluent in kindy speak his story goes like this:-

One day a budgie went to a friends house to play chess (or chest as it is known in this house! What can I say it is a house full of boob men!) his friend beat him so he played again and won and they had fun and they played for ever.

We had a hysterical conversation with him over the word 'again' he swears it is two words!
Anyway we are very proud of his effort and wish him well in the competition. Gee I hope there are no rules about submitting previously published work!

Mother of the year

Tonight at dinner we had a discussion around strategies in the playground because Ben got in trouble at school today because he was playing piggy in the middle and when the kids wouldn't play by the rules Ben got punchy. After discussing the various things Ben could have done other than hurt his best friend Matthew piped up with how a bully at school had been asking to play with him and his friends. He then told me how they tell this boy their Mum's wont let them play with him. Which in turn started a discussion about how bully's have feelings too. We also pointed out that if Ben continues to be mean to his friends their Mum's aren't going to want them to play with him either! We then work shopped ideas on how to not hurt the bully's feelings yet not end up having to play with him. My suggestion was ask him to play the waiting game and send him off in search of a long wait! Matthew then pipes up with how he is going to offer to play hide and seek with him and then not bother seeking! Makes their favourite saying when they were toddlers playing hide and seek "8,9,10 Coming or not!" less humorous!
By the way my advice wasn't bad parenting, was it???

Science Scramble 2012

Last year we did the science scramble with Aunty Teesh and had a blast! This year Teesh is too busy gallivanting around Europe with her parents to do it so I dragged Nathan along instead!

 We jumped straight into it this weekend, starting at the Canberra visitors centre, with some swimmer dude in the background. Maybe next year he can come down and do the science scramble with us instead of playing games in London!

 The first stop was Parliament House to answer a question about a female engineer! Talking about females we saw they had portraits up of the first female politician, first female senators etc. but as yet hadn't added the portrait of the first female prime minister! (Unless it was somewhere else and we didn't see it!)

 We had a quick look around and added it to the must come back and do properly list!

 We whipped around The Old Parliament House Rose Garden to answer some horticulture questions!

 From there we listened to our own echoes just down the road at the Magna Carta Monument. Three little boys did not enjoy that at all! Shouting out words like penis! And poo! And boogers!

 A very quick stop in at  the National Library and Questacon. Did you know the National Library has a globe that spins all by itself!

 We lifted the marble ball outside Questacon ourselves and found it weighed 633kgs!

 A short drive away was the Galleries where we got to have some fun with my favourite sculpture. Ryan is spinning it on his finger!

 Ben is holding it with his fingertips.

 But Mummy made a spit bubble! Gross!

 The next morning it was up and at it again early. Only this time we took our bikes and rode to all the points along the lake.

They tried to weigh anchor but it was waaayyy too heavy!

 At the Captain Cook Monument they answered a question on astronomy and then pondered the great waters of Lake Burley Griffin.

 Nice Bums!

 Along the foreshore of the lake is what is called the Australian of the Year walk. The bollards that the boys are standing next to are placed on musical stave lines and all the bollard read as a musical note that makes the national anthem. Cool hey! I learnt that when we did a cruise on HMS Jenny at Floriade one year.

 Now you may think this is just a photo of boys in silly poses but this was a question about the War Memorial in the background. Which means that this is the boys posing as soldiers! Ryan is throwing a grenade, Matthew is shooting a rifle and Ben has a bazooka! Of course! Only mothers of three boys would be able to decipher this photo!

 We had a quick stop for smoko! Thank goodness Nathan had thought to bring a hot chocolate because the breeze on the lake was chilly!

 After a little rest it was back on the bike for a beautiful ride through the sculpture garden. One of my favourite places in Canberra. Nathan tested the boys by asking how many cones they saw. Matthew counted the correct number of cones where as Ryan and Ben counted the number of shapes, which was two cones together, so they were half right!

 Last stop was at the site of their future tattoos! A southern cross at the Munnari Artwork.

Once again we had a great time doing the science scramble. It felt like it was heaps shorter this year, which Nathan was very happy with! If you live in Canberra get out and do it you still have time left, entries close on the 15th October!

The Middle Child

Poor Ryan really is the forgotten middle child. I really wonder if his personality is really moulded by his birth order or if he is the way he is because of nature! Because as a baby he was full on! I breastfed him the longest and he also was the longest to learn to sleep through. (Surprisingly enough I felt I coped the best despite all this!) As a toddler I seriously thought he was headed for military school. For a while we thought a life of crime was his calling! But in the last two years he has really calmed down! Or passed on his hyperactivity and naughtiness to Ben threefold! He seriously gets overshadowed by that big personality. And the bigger other one competiting to the death to be the winner! Not that Ryan minds being in their shadow. Ryan's covert, sneaky ops go undetected in that situation!

Lately I have really been noticing how hard Ryan tries to do the right thing. When we go to the mall I never have to remind him of appropriate shopping behaviour. I never have to chip him on his behaviour anymore. When Matthew and Ben are winding each other up and feeding off each other, Ryan is quietly observing in the wings (or dobbing, one of the two but usually the former!)

He is doing really well at school. He recently got an A for science! He quietly plods along, doing what quiet achievers do. Sometimes I feel really sorry for him. A teacher once commented that he forgets that he is there. He said he didn't notice how well Ryan was doing until he looked at graphed results! It was even more surprising for me because I found out how well he was doing when a classmate of his pointed out how clever he was at maths!

He is my no means perfect but he is well on his way! I still have to rev him because he can be amazingly lazy. He is completely absentminded. I can tell him to put his reader in his bag and he will pick it up, put it on his bed as he picks up his bag, take his lunch box out and walk away leaving his reader behind, never to be thought of again! He is completely obsessed with technology, computers and tv. These three things are his currency, therefor making him easier to punish or motivate, depending on the situation!

I am super super proud of his efforts in saving. Last year we were at our wits ends with Ryan stealing money. Seriously, I marched him down to the police station and they showed him through a cell in the hope of scaring him out of stealing money off us! That didn't work but what has was giving him a savings goal. He is saving up for an iPad. He is nearly there! He knows that if he steals money that entire amount he has accumulated is gone! No second chances. He also knows if he doesn’t do his chores he won’t get paid! Nathan has a graph where he puts in his pocket money, where he is at with his savings and how much longer to go. This has worked wonders as both Nath and Ryan speak the same language....numbers!

Anyway to cut a long story short I just wanted to share with you what a sweet, lovely, kind and generous boy Ryan William is growing into!