What colour walls should we have?

After having kids I have learnt one thing that is very important (well many, but this one is relevent) ; Do not leave writing implements laying around.
Upon coming home yesterday Kayne informs me that M had got a 'team point' at school. Cue me spending a good 30 mins making team point sheets. Kayne gave people team points - me for washing, daddy for shopping, Lani for 'good talking'. They are now stuck to the living room wall. We put away the pens and things, they start playing with dinosaurs.
After sticking them up I went to sort out some washing. 10 minutes later i hear arguing, as i go into the living they are both stood on the sofa and i see they are fighting over a pencil. Kayne says 'Mummy! I was trying to help Lani put eyes on her faces but she won't let me!!' *sigh* Now she has forced our hand at decorating the living room. There is a meter of pencil wall art above our sofa! We also have the wonderful challenge of trying to pick a colour, i'm not going to attemp wallpaper becausei don't trust any of the walls to be straight or reasonable to hang paper on.
So i go and put some dinner on and then i open the kiddie gate and a few moments later Lani comes wandering to find me. She holds her hand out to me and says 'Oh no, look, blue!' sure enough she hand is completely blue, so are her arms and face, then she says 'oh memma (mummy) look, bear-bear blue'. So obviously one pen didn't go back and i have a teddy to wash again.

Intelligent lyrics.

On of my favourite genres of music is Hiphop/rap, but not the rubbish that some people are coming out with. I like the intelligent lyrics, the artists who have crafted their music and lyrics. I like when it tells a story and describes a scene to me. I love Will Smiths song 'Willow is a player' for this reason; it's great if you understand who Willow is. Another artist that Leo introduced to me is Dan le Sac and Scoobious Pip, his lyrics are just phenomenal so well written, preformed and intelligent. I am struggling to pick which song to link to... so instead i'll link to a review.
Another person who gives us interesting honest lyrics is Tupac Shakur. The subjects he chose to talk about were strong and he did them well. I hate the use of swear words in music as i think it is completely unnescessary but with this genre you can't really escape it it seems.
And Eminem but we could be here for weeks over that guy.

Reading lyrics...

So, again i find myself questioning one of my decisions. Such is the nature of parenting i believe. I know that Kayne is gaining skills and finding joy in being at school but i am not. Truth is i miss him, I feel a bit like we've just lost something important; though i'm not sure what it is. When i fell pregnant with him i vowed i wouldn't put him in childcare so i could work, i felt it was a bit pointless having a child to be away from them 9 hours a day (though i understand people have to do this to survive). Now it feels odd that i have broken my vow because it's normal for kids to go to school. I thought hard about homeschooling but i worry about being good enough.
I guess in a week or so i will feel better. I know that it is good for him, he has friends, is happy, and is alot more confident than a few months ago. Also homeschooling is our back up plan - just in case.

I have been fiddling on Kayne and Lani's webpage, adding info etc. listening to media player. I rediscovered some of the songs i love in Dutch. After searching for songteksten i realised i can read it kinda ok. I mean obviously my vocab is like a toddlers but I can get the jist of a line if i understand a few words. Maybe it's because song lyrics are quite patterned and the words aren't that different through out a song. I find it interesting that i can (somewhat) read in another language yet i can't really speak it, nor can i understand a few simple sentences spoken by a native and i'd also have trouble writing anything because i struggle with learning the grammar.
But even still i love the band; Bløf, and the hiphop artist; Brainpower and a few others. I found this song today Engel voor één dag / An angel for a day. It's a beautiful song. My friend sent me this a while ago Omarm me / Embrace me, it literally made me breathless. The guy has the most amazing voice.
I just thought that maybe i find the reading easiest because i have strong reading skills - i read ALOT. I know why my speaking/writing is poor - i won't do it unless i know it's right. I realised also that i can sing the songs perfectly in my head... not that anyone would like to hear me sing out loud!
A while ago we found a great site for learning Japanese. I thought it was good because they explained why certain expressions are used in certain situations, also they went on to explain the Japanese 'pitch accent', e.g. the pitch variations within each word...which meant i felt i was getting it right more often.
Can you tell i am thinking about too much? I think i'm going to feed music through the T.V tomorrow and fill Lani's head with random songs in foreign languages. I think she needs more signs, she learnt 3 today; happy, sad and coat. She impressed me by using sad appropriately on person in a book who looked sad. I can't remember Kayne ever doing that.

School Day 4

We are on day 4 of school and everything so far is going great. Kayne had a little wig out on Friday because daddy did his shoe straps up too tight. We got his feet measures on Saturday and he's now a 8F, so a half size in 6 months? and we got a choice of 1 shoe...
On the way home on saturday Kayne started to count in 2s up to 30, then tried 5s but got a bit confused with it. On Sunday after going to Grandad's 60th party, he tried 3s and got to 21. He told me Mrs. J told him how to do it.
Everyone got reading books on Monday i felt a bit emotional at the fact the he wasn't the only one to have a book, is that wierd? I looked the book up (as you do) and discovered it was for a reading age of 7.5 - 8!! I think they may have tested his reading age again. The last test we did said that he was about that so it feels nice to have it kind of confirmed. Today's 'book' was actually a play, which he didn't find that interesting. I spent more time explaining everything than listening to him read. I'm sure some of it went over his head. He got stuck on words that were not phonetical - 'concentration'.
He also got a 'sound book'. I had to laugh as he not only knows all the basic phonic sounds but he knows what order they come in in the Jolly Phonics scheme.

Lani is ok, she misses Kayne when he is at school. I tried to go to a toddler group but it's not on for another couple of weeks.

1st Day Back

Kayne started his first day of reception. He was hyper from the moment he got up, literally galloping all over the flat and could not sit still.

We walked over to school, waited for a while until we went in. A tense moment when Max wasn't there yet but Kayne looked on the group list and said 'Oh Max is in my group - i just read his name up there'.
He just went off and tried to find a place in the circle, came running back and said he couldn't find one. I helped him find one and then that was it, Lani and i went home and read a ton of books snuggled up on the sofa.

When we went out to buy a few bits at Waitrose, Lani started yelling 'Ayne where are do? find oo'. So sweet!

Lani and i drew and read more books and she had a nap.

When we picked him up he said 'oh mummy i was so worried because you didn't come back and get me'. I said 'well i'm getting you now aren't i?' , he said 'oh yeah!'
He said they played letter snap, he made a fan from some card, and they did something with numbers. I laughed when he showed me the sheet. It had blank squares on the end of a row of pictures. He had turnt them into sums by putting a number in the box, then an equals and the answer! (adding the pics and the number he added on the end) ... Can't turn him away from maths!!

Lani smothered him when we got home. She missed him alot.

So the 1st was a good day but he has a habit of being fine for a week or two then it goes down hill, so we shall see.

Back to school

It's back to school on Thursday. I'm trying to stay relaxed about it but honestly, i'm not. I am having trouble sleeping, or if i get to sleep - i have trouble staying asleep. I feel a bit stupid ... period. I don't know why i am so worried about it, well i do but i shouldn't be. Last term was good, he had fun, they recognised his needs and challenged approapriatly. Why do i feel like something is going to go horribly wrong this term?
Maybe it's to do with what he has learnt this holiday. His reading is much improved from when they tested it and his maths is just super. I hate how school never tell you anything straight. I want to know where he is not 'he has completed foundation stage maths', ok but does that mean he is on par with YR1? I know it sounds pedantic but i want to know/gage where he is so i can be prepared for/to deal him.
What am i doing letting him learn this stuff? Although it's not like i can make him unlearn it! I think i'm going to have aplace in my mind that reads 'He can learn what he likes, if you don't like it -screw society i'll teach him at him!' Seems a bit drastic but it is going to be my / If all else fails / motto.
All the previous half-terms and holidays since this time last year have been horrible. This summer has been nice, he's been happier, busier and more relaxed than he was before. This summer has given back the little boy i lost when he went to Winchcombe.

Sigh breath and let it go.

Last Thursday we went school uniform shopping with Grandma. I found 2 pairs of P.Js for Kayne for £5 in M&S, i was impressed. His current ones are becoming too small, meaning he is finially out growing his 2-3yr sized ones! I managed to buy all his uniform in age 4 which is a first. the trousers will need to be taken up though.

At the weekend we went to Nannies house. Lani refused to eat anything other than scotch eggs. She is a complete meat-eater at the moment. I'm not too worried about nutrients as she still has formula. But it's infuriating sometimes and embarrasing when she finds something she doesn't want on her plate and preceeds to *throw it* somewhere away from her.

Sunday we bought a new bookcase and put all of our books on it. Surprisingly there was a free shelf and so we put all the board books on it for Lani.

On Monday mum came over and we went to town. I bought some new books to read to Kayne at bed time. I haven't bought any bedtime books for a long time. Mum bought us some too. We bought a few for Lani - ones with out tabs or flaps that she can rip out.