7 May 08, Daddy's Diary

Getting up early is getting to be a habit... a bad habit.

At 4am I woke up a bit overheated from the wool covers...like a Thanksgiving Turkey...I was cooked through. I got up and looked in on the kids. Katie who has kept her radar on in ‘active listening' mode called out.

"Dad!"...a nervous call...an ‘am I getting left behind again call'. I opened her door...the ranch slider was closed by her in the night with the belief that the room would be warmer if it was closed. Her room was so much like a refrigerator that I expected the light to come on automatically when I opened the door.

"What is it Katie? It's early still." ... "Dad can you sit on my bed?" "Sure."

I thought we were in for more questions and answers. Katie sometimes wonders about stuff when she wakes up in the night. Instead she showed me her instant heat pack...she had ‘clicked' the activator just recently. It turns out the nervous call was because she thought she might be in trouble for having her light on. She had just turned it on to find the activator before I came in.

We had a quick mental trip to Grandma Esther and Grampa Earl's place. We were going to take a bike ride to the beach but I decided that sounded too cold. Admittedly it wasn't a very imaginative trip as I was still feeling sleep deprived. I cut the trip short and told Katie that now that she was warm again, and had something to think about she (and I) could go back to sleep.

Tim played rooster this morning. 6.40am and we had all slept in! He was sent on a mission to see if Benny wanted to get up and go to the park. . . . "In a minute." A sleepy call came back. "NOW or NEVER!" was the reply from his Mum. "ok ok ok' and then a frenzy of clothes and kids ensued in front of the gas heater. I told them not to panic as I still had to get my coffee.

10 mins later we were out the door. Tim talked his Mum into helping him get dressed. (Katie also was helped...helped to have her clothes inside out and backwards ...but never mind).

Tim was excited to be included and chased Benny down the street to the start of the hill. I caught up with them again at the bottom and we crossed the busy road together.

A steady stream of chatter keeps me company as we made our way along the row of homes next to the beach. It all gets quiet as a big German Shepard (Alsatian) lopes into view.

Katie is very nervous around dogs so she crunches up close to me as the dog sniffs the three. The owner assures me that ‘she' is friendly so I have the kids put out their hands (fingers down ...palm up) for the dog to sniff.---it is a non-threatening gesture and having the palm presented means a flat surface that is harder to nip...(works for big hands but is probably irrelevant for kids.) Anyway...the pooch gives each of us a good ‘doggie-kiss' on the palm...and Katie gets the giggles. She is able to relax a little and as she was put out that she didn't get a ‘kiss' like the boys did. So I helped her offer her hand again and she got her kiss.

The owner said the dog was a ex-police dog...Benny wanted to know if that meant the owner was a retired officer...but it seems the dog was washed out of the programme for some reason. (I think for taking doggie biscuit bribes...but no proof.) Benny wanted to see some tricks and asked if she could roll over...he told the dog to roll over...but a blank look was the only response. The owner said ‘she sometimes shakes hands.' But not today. Repeated attempts only resulted in worried looks from the dog. Benny offered his ‘paw' and was promptly rewarded with a great big doggie kiss in the face. The kids and I thought that was hilarious and we all laughed outloud. The owner wished us well and we continued to the park.

The ducks got their wake up call...and all the smart ones dove into the pond as soon as they saw Benny heading their way on his bike.

Benny and Katie were anxious to show Tim the ‘Ups and Downs' at the skateboard park. Benny tried to convince Tim that the ‘ups and downs' were... "The UPS...is that for 90% of the Time I don't run over you...the DOWNS is that 10% of the time ...I do."

Katie shows Tim how to run up the ramps and down again...back and forth. They all have a good run and I try to balance walk the ‘grinder's bar' a steel tube about 5M long.

The kids are balance walking the top of the skate ramps...Katie has overcome her fears of yesterday and is showing Tim how to run head long off the top. Tim has a short tumble but rights himself with out fuss. Everyone takes turns to come over and hold onto my metal coffee cup to warm their hands.

As planned...we keep the skateboard park visit short and move over to the ‘play park'. To give Tim and Katie their ‘early risers reward'. They get on the four armed tyre swing and Benny joins them shortly after we discover the flat top ‘spinning wheel of death' is too wet to play on. I brought a cloth nappy to wipe off the equipment...but it was soaked through after an attempt to dry the wheel of death.

We had a good swing and then made our way back home via the beach.

Benny avoided the crash at the end of the little bridge...but proudly showed the crash marks in the sand from yesterday to his little brother.

The treasures from yesterday were gone (little fish and shrimp) and replaced by beer bottles and cans from litter bugs. The kids found new treasures and shouted them out to each other as I made my way at a constant walk to keep the group ‘honest' in our attempt to get home before school was out.

We found the possum bones...mostly buried by the sand at high tide mark...Tim was unimpressed. So Katie showed him a leaf. That didn't seem to be too remarkable either...so she let him find his own treasures. Katie pocketed a broken piece of a mussel shell. It was shiny so therefore precious.

Benny raced on ahead and waited for us at the ‘Red Baron' trail. (He knows exactly one sentence of the song..."The Bloody Red Baron was at it once more..." So it is from the Christmas Bells Snoopy's song...still don't know why it is the ‘Red Baron' path but Katie calls it that too and explains it to Tim. Tim holds my hand as we walk along and tries to learn all the important facts.

{Tim is a little put out that there isn't a giant octopus on the beach...seems the Benny has taken flights of fancy and fiction to tell Tim bed-time porky pies. Benny finds a stick and tells Tim that that is one of the Octopus's wooden legs...I am not certain if Tim believes him or not.}

We get a picture of the Dinosaur skull (see picture below) and then I give up trying to take a picture of the mutton leg bone. Katie hides it where it won't be stolen in the bushes. A dash across the road and we take the back street to the house.

The kids all say "Feee-ooof" as an expression of relief when they see a car pull out of a driveway and then drive away from us. They know they have to stay still and off to the side when a car drives by. The race the last short bit from the corner to the house and I find them all inside when I come in the door.

Their Mum has been anticipating them... Knowing it was a late start she had a breakfast waiting for their return. Warm porridge on a cold day seems to be a good treat. "...Bestest Mum anyone ever had!" I hear from Benny. He likes his porridge with brown sugar and a kiss.

The guinea pigs get fed..hair gets brushed...teeth get brushed twice and thrice (for Benny) and we were out the door again at 20 to 9. The walk is uneventful and we are to school 7 minutes ahead of the bell.

Benny caught me trying to sneak up on him around the big dumpster. Katie had the possum gloves this morning. They did very well when we -form-a-line-right- for a little old lady to pass us by. (The kids have to go single file in order for people to get past us...otherwise they tend to take up the whole footpath.) I had to walk past the gate to the ‘concrete-part' as a compromise of not going all the way to the classrooms.

Three O'clock finds me outside Tim's classroom. Benny's friend Jason bounds up and says "Hi" and I ask him about his day. Tim drags out of the classroom pretty slow...

Hi Buddy...Hi Dad... something is bothering him so I chat about the letter of the week (O) but it doesn't cheer him up like it usually does. Turns out he had an unreturned book at the library...and the librarian held that against him...so no library book. He was both mortified and depressed that he couldn't get a book. The teacher couldn't remember what book...and the librarian was out so I couldn't find out today what book to look for....Tomorrow.

Katie popped up next. I let her know that she was going home with a friend Halley for a play-date arranged by Halley's Mum earlier in the day. Halley is Tim's age but gets on very well with Katie. The two girls skip arm in arm off the school grounds.

Benny groans his way to me. He is holding his head and his eyes are brimming with tears. He has had another run in with Jason's chair it seems. {Jason's desk is right next to Benny's and when Benny puts away his school things in his own desk...Jason's chair has a habit of falling off the desk and hitting Benny. A decidedly bad habit! It is hard... it isn't that Benny has fights with chairs...it is more that he loses the fight with the chairs. I put his water bottle on his head as an anaesthetic. I offer to pour water on his head...and tickle him until he forgets the bump altogether.

In short order Benny Jason and Tim are doing short races around the quad as we wait for Jordan's Mum to arrive. We wait and wait. I suggest to Jason that he could walk along with us to the Park and meet his Mum if she is walking (since it is on the way to his house and we would run into her if she was running late.) He gives me a funny answer, like...nah I can walk home with you guys if you want...or I can walk home to my house...I know the way. Hmmm

"Clare...can you ring Jason's mum (she has her number on her cell phone) and find out if she is on her way to school walking or driving?" I called Clare since it seemed odd that Jason's Mum was running so late.

"oh...OH!" ‘ I forgot to tell you...Jason is coming to our house today...his mum called last night and I forgot to tell you!' ...."I'll meet you at the park with Benny's bike...Love ya bye!" Mystery solved.

We take the secret path to the BMX park and find Clare parked just across the street. Biscuits of various flavours for the boys and then a half hour of racing around the park for the boys and then back home to 1.5 hours of play-station for the boys!

Benny has the PS2 on hold during school...except for when friends are over. I suspend the rules on a strictly selfish bent...it keeps all parties occupied for the duration of the visit.

Tim whinges from the ‘cosy corner' where the PS2 is set up. The boys aren't letting him win enough. "Benny let him win!" ..."It's a random type game Dad!"..... "Ok...Let him win it anyway!" "Ok Dad" Benny is learning that even though winning is fun...it is also fun to have people to play with. If they never win...it isn't fun for them...and they don't play.

Katie comes home around 5.30pm with a picture she made at Halley's house. A computer generated girl that she designed and dressed and decorated in a room...it gets taped upstairs in Katie's room soon after it is shown to the adoring crowds downstairs.

Jason's Mum arrives and after a short chat Jason goes home and we start Tea. The kids all eat together with me tonight. The chatter is light as they get through their corn on the cob. The meal breaks up as everyone dives for their homework and reading books.

Benny is struggling with his spelling words. He has ten, and he was unable to correctly spell any of them... sigh. I set him to the task of writing the words down...there is a grid for each day of the week...none filled...so he is given the task of filling in for Mon/Tue/Wed. He interprets this as a sort of crossword challenge and starts putting in one letter for each word for each day...one at a time! Ahhhh what are you doing! You can't learn to spell a word by writing down one letter from ten words one at a time!

Later Clare and I discuss a new strategy. Benny seems to find the whole concept of writing and spelling a bog for the body and soul. The sighs and contortions he goes through indicate a torment that we alone can change. We think that we will move the word list down to one and then go from there...perhaps the sheer number is daunting.

We are also concerned with the poor presentation of the handwriting. My handwriting and spelling are off the charts bad...and it started at Benny's age...so I am very keen to help change history for him if we can. Clare is looking at finding rolls of paper where we can practice just painting and drawing words for the art's sake and enjoyment of writing.

Katie has Clare's trait of loving the writing for the presentation of the words. How nice they look. How well the letters come out. For the life of her half the time Katie couldn't tell you what she just wrote...just that she wrote it nicely! (At 5 Katie had gone back to all her 4 year old school work and corrected the mistakes as they embarrassed her to have them extant for all of mankind to see!)

The kids run themselves through the bath. There isn't any excessive screaming or water streaming...so no UN intervention is needed. They arrive one by one to have themselves properly PJ'ed and then I take Katie and Tim for stories and Clare takes Benny upstairs to enjoy his new ‘Asterix and Obelix' library book.

A short time ago... they all had themselves sorted for heatpacks... it is getting chilly at night and everyone falls asleep faster with something warm to have at their feet. There are three varieties of heat packs and everyone wanted option one! Sigh. Negotiations follow... further negotiations follow...Dad finally decides who gets what... heats up the packs and delivers them to the three beds...tuck them in and ‘hopefully' the magic works and they stay asleep.

There is some mention of more biking in the morning...but I had to prepare them for the possibility of a let down that rain may change our plans... we will see.

Mum's Turn:

Clare:

Tim and Katie both line up to read me their school reading homework. They both love this part of the day because they can show off how much they are learning. They won't let me tell them a word...and if they get a word wrong, or rush over it...I just put my finger on it for them to have another try - and usually they work it out.

Glen worked with Benny while this was all happening, and then off to the bath (and a few moments of peace and quiet downstairs for the adults).

Well Story time followed, and it worked out well for Benny. I got so interested in his Asterix and Obelix book that we read the whole thing together (after the promise of just a few pages)...and then Tim and Katie wanted me to read with them too (Katie had new library books today) - regardless of just having their story with Glen...so the short-cut kinda turned into a marathon!

But they did settle well after that...it seems getting some full on attention from Mum and Dad near bedtime sets them up for a good night. They do need to be Put in bed though - so after duly tucking them all in, and making sure they were all warm - and a final warning "Sleep time now" - not another word has been heard. We were a little late tonight (8.15pm by the time beds were occupied) so I wonder if they will wake in time in the morning...we shall see.