August

This is probably going to end up a rambling meandering sort of post - but aren't they all?

We've had some success at house bidding, we have two house viewings for next week. We are second on one house (reasonable size house, HUGE garden: 50+m) and another one but we don't know what position we are (Large house, ok sized garden: 15m). I'm happy to be viewing them but trying not to get carried away. If we are second on both then we may not get either. So we shall see.

Kayne and Lani had a sleep over at grandma's house last night. It's very wierd to be able to go out alone and not have to worry about time and what they are doing. I really blitz the rooms. Threw away 2 bin bags of esentually junk; puzzles with bits missing, paper, broken bits of toys, junk that the kids want to keep. We removed the rug from the living room; we just started to put things in order so it's easier when we move. My next job is to box up our ornaments becuase there are tons of them and we need to get rid of the display cupboard.

I think its funny how i'm alot calmer and productive when things are cleaner. I often look at particular places in the flat and think "where do i start?!" and then don't bother - which is wrong but.

Sadly Chocolate Milk died, in his sleep on Monday night. He was 3 1/2 which is a good age for a rat. Kayne was a bit upset. Lani said "oh no, Comet (never called him Chocolate) missing!" after we took the cage down.

We have had some fun days with friends and Grandma. Zoo, tramplining, park ...lots of pretend play and mostly nice playing between them. Lani has been teething so has not been particually forgiving, and ends up like a bear with a sore head sometimes; which is understandable.

I have read masses of books in the past couple of months. Reading is an expensive habit.

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.

Fairy boy

So we are all better. Lani still has the streaming nose she had before we went to the beach. My nose is sore but not streamy and i can sleep because Mark is no longer snoring. I think it is safe to say we are not the true original hardy Brit's we once were. No more rainy day trips to the beach, well maybe. Everything is getting back to some semblance of what we call normal...which isn't really.


We went to town to put Lani prescription in, Then we went to the library, some of the way he was telling me a story about a mini monkey and a mini mummy - i wish i could have recorded it. Then we saw my cousin and i chatted with him for a few minutes. Kayne worships Jamie. It's kinda cute, he was telling J about Mario Kart.


We carried on and when we got to a bit where the paths split he would stand there and start singing the song about going to work from Me too!

'...is it up or is it down? Which ones a smile which one is a frown?'

...Well, mummy?

Up

..That's right!

(mummy should remember her tone of voice more often)

Every time he did this an old lady was walling past and commented to him 'that's a nice song', 'oh your very smart'.

In the library Lani did the same thing she does every time - yell, squeal and run amok, though she did look a book for 30seconds. We got the stickers that show Kayne has completed the Team Read - he is delighted with his Mr Stretch. We found some math books, with word problems and fun stuff in, and some stories.

We went to the public toilets and as i was helping Kayne, i hear a tiny voice hum/sing Twinkle twinkle little star. Lani really has a good memory for tunes.

In Woolies i looked for a magnifying glass for them both, so they can look at/fry ants, to no avail. In that back corner of WW there are the educational toys. Kayne was looking at a shape matching-lotto type game.

Come on Kayne time to go

ok mummy, anyway this game is too easy for a boy like me...

uh -ok.

Confident or conceited?

Yesterday we were using stencils and he says 'i'll tell you what they are...Square, circle, rectangle, diamond, crescent, star and triangle'......I did not know he know the shape 'crescent'. We made cakes too.

Anyway we had lunch in Woolies and then we bought two boxes of dressing up stuff, (*sigh*) one for 'girls' and one for 'boys' - why can't boys be fairies or girls police women? Anyway - we got it home (somehow) and Kayne dressed up whilst Lani napped;

He is so pretty. He quite likes fairies, he often sees the Rainbow fairy books and asks for them. He just wouldn't understand them yet.

It's raining July

Wow, blogging has got all serious of late.
I was just looking again at the pictures of Kaynes sports days (see below), that middle picture? WOW what is going on with his hair?! Actually both Kayne and Lani's hair is getting so long, i'm glad thier hair is a bit curly or you would be able to see that it it comes to between thier shoulder blades.
I bought a new pc game - Settlers ~ Rise of an empire. It is so much fun. I love this series of games...it lets me get out my obsessive planning side with out driving anyone crazy! I've also been working on these Griddler puzzles. Well on the triddlers anyway. They are good fun, you have to use logic like Sudoku. Good brain stretching, and strangely i've been sleeping better since i've been doing them.
Lani and I went to see Stacy and kiddies this morning. Gosh they are so cute! It was good to just chat and drink tea. Lani had good fun playing with Joshua, and i kept any broodiness away by holding Tristen. Oddly i had no desire for another baby which is unusual for me.
Kayne had a taster day today for reception so was there from 9-3:15. It was very wierd, not sure what i'm going to do with myself when he's gone all day in September. I'm trying not to think about it and think more about the things that i'm going to do with Lani, like swimming and music/dance class things that i know she will like that Kayne never did.
Kayne is gaining confidence with reading, he keeps telling me he is very good at words, or that he is a great reader. He read 'passengers' today with no hesitation. He is improving rapidly and i think i'm getting a little left behind!
Lani is still obsessed with frogs! She can spot one a mile away!! I think i'm going to get her some toy frog things...just have to find some first! I'm so tempted to set my BiUbe up again and get some aquatic frogs...though i'm not sure where we could put it.
Hopefully it isn't raining tomorrow so i can go to the library and get some new books. I ordered a set of ten Corgi Pups from 'The book people' so that should be here in the next few days.

I'm feeling rough

I hate having that feeling when you wake up that things aren't going to go right. I took Kayne to school on Friday, we nearly had a funny because there was a new teacher doing his welcome group and he didn't know her. But i managed to settle him with out him getting upset. Got home and did the normal bits and bobs on the pc and cleaning etc. About 10:30 i suddenly thought 'have i been crying?' which i hadn't but my face had that feeling...then my eyes were itchy and i thought damn maybe my hayfever had come back. No; i woke up this morning with my eye glued shut - i think i have conjunctivitis.

I left the meeting feeling a bit crap. I don't think their plan is going to work and i'm so worried that Kayne is going to bare the brunt of it...i don't want to ever see him depressed again. i have a sneaking suspicion that they don't really know what he can do. I felt like i was being scoped for how much i had 'taught' him. It has removed my confidence that i was gaining in the fact that he is different. I was sure we were going to go to the NAGC weekend but now (again) i'm riddled with doubts over whether he fits the 'gifted' label. I'm annoyed with how secretive all this gifted stuff seems...no one will come out and say X,Y and Z, it's winds me up. They said 'he's at the top of the Early years curriculum in academic subjects', ok but does that mean hes in Yr 1 level or what? I mean i can look it up online but i'm not a trained teacher. I'm also not stupid, i am also pretty good at sensing when people are being evasive or not telling me the whole truth. Which is how i felt about what they were saying. Or at least they were hiding something/thinking something about the situation that they weren't saying (paranoia anyone?).



On the other hand he is ok there as he has 'come alive' again in the past week. He talks about everything non stop right now. He told me today ' if I went to town and Grandma went to town and they we that would be a coincidence.' Which was kind of shocking. And 'if you are going to cross the road you must look around and use your conscience. ' We played 4 games of Quixo and he has won 3 times... and i'm not letting him win. I've been thinking about buying him Rush Hour Jr. because he likes the logic puzzles. I guess i'll have to get Checkers out and play with him again, maybe he'll take a little longer to trounce me with that. He's chosing to pick books up and read them. I've noticed him reading in his head occassionally; i was playing a Wii game and he started talking about something one of the ingame characters said except it was written on the screen and not being spoken, so he must have read it.

A bit of everything

This is gonna be a tired ranty kind of post. I have the knotted feeling in my stomache and i have no idea why.

i think Lani is teething again. She's grumpy at best. The only taking one brand/flavour of medicene is annoying as i can't keep her pain free. She is waking early, then is overtied at nap time. Today she had 45mins instead of the normal 2-3 hours. I'm so worried she is going to drop her nap. There will be no hope for me when she does. I haven't figured her out yet. She gets so frustrated sometimes and i'm not used to it. Or aleast not like she does it. Kayne got frustrated but he had more verbal ability (at the same age) than she does, i could talk to him about it but with her she just screams, stamps her feet and cries.

It's strange that they are so different, some how i seem too think that he had better language than Lani at the same age but i'm not so sure. Maybe the difference is that she NEEDS that thing right now! she MUST look at that particular blade of grass even though we have seen a gazillion in the past 3 steps....maybe this is the intensity i read about in other children that i feel Kayne is lacking in the assigned title of 'giftedness'.
Maybe i am looking at her too closely in comparison to Kayne. So lets see what does she do that is different to Kayne, that is unqiuely Iolani....
~ Pretend play... She loves her bears! She has been feeding them, puts them in push chairs etc, since she was about 13 months. She makes tea for everyone at Grandma's with their tea-set.
~ Mimicary... she repeats words, sounds, and sentance sounds instantly. Diego: can you say larga, lani: lar -ga . Her signing is good too, she understands the concept of signs and so when i show her one she repeats it quickly (the latest one is 'again').
~ Birds... I have just this second realised that she is obsessed with birds. She gets so excited when she sees one. she stamps her feet and shakes herself, shouting birdy! and signing at the same time. Nature i suppose is her big joy.
~ Climb...She is very physically gregarious, she climbs everything, up slides, onto our bed, moves toy boxes so she can get things.

Kayne is his uniform on his first day.

I was really pleased to get kayne's reading age, i thought it would help. But it seems weird, the books at his reading level he won't touch. The school ones he gets are good so far, i've noticed that they are slowly getting more lines on a page. Hopefully then he will be more inclined to pick books that aren't 'learn your ABC's' or something similar.
We've had a wobbly school week, 'i don't like it', 'it's got too much playing' 'i don't like it when they call me a star', comments which threw me a bit until i found out that the boy he likes is away at the moment - so i'm hoping that it's all to do with that.

I think i need to reconnect with my children. It sounds weird but i think that when you get comfortable with how things swing you forget that they grow, change and become new people right infront of you and in such a small space of time. I think that i have been trying hard to look at whether i am parenting the way i want to. I have needed this time to adjust myself and my goals - now though i need to be involved and relax (not that i've been letting them run riot, just been very introspective).

Adorable

Anyway on with a new day...

November

So here we are nearly another month on and i haven't been keeping this up. The main reason being is that we are at Marks parents and so it's harder to get on etc. Hoping that our christmas present is a new flat away from the noisy upstairs.

So Kayne is doing great, has become a bit more boy-ish, resists things he doesn't want to do. Has a new friend in nursery so it's now a breeze to get him in in the morning. His reading is coming on massively, He is reading different things now, not just books, things like shop signs, the sky information box. If he doesn't get it right he gives a good estimate. I have just bought him some encyclopiedia type books as he is asking questions like 'Where is space?'

Lani will be 11 months in 2 days time. She has seemingly grown up so much in the past week or so. She obviously understands so much. She also knows her own mind. She signs; Where, all gone, hat, clean, milk, clever girl, waves (hello and goodbye), and squeezes her hand in the air for 'press'. She says (in her own way) hiya, mum (mmummm), dad (dada), grandad (ga dad), ta (ta/da), kayne (brrrbrr), no (nuh), bear (bah). She's started doing some 'peg-puzzles'. She some times makes brumming noises when playing with cars. She also has really poor blood circulation, just like me. We have just had an awful week of teething, but still no more teeth.

On the 2nd of December we are going to Paulton's park to see Father Christmas in his winter wonderland, they will get a present and we can go on the rides. It should be good fun. It's just the getting there early that will be the hard bit.
Christmas is coming and we have shopping to do....For just about everyone. I have got a few books for Kayne, but thats just because its easy to buy a few things in one go, and i wanted to get him one about Space.
Got to get Bart a birthday and SinterKlaas pressie. Mum a birthday present, Lani a birthday present.

Another monday...

We got back from Clair's this afternoon, we had a good time. Kayne got really travel sick on the way there so he will now be dosed with travel sickness pills before we go on any longish journey. I love Clair's house it was very nice, lovely nooks and crannies for things and places to hide. It was quite easy to relax and just watch Kayne running in and out. For his bed time story Kayne read, himself, about 4 pages of 'Big Pig on a Dig'.
I got my book on gifted children, it has helped me feel a little more 'normal'! I'm not so worried about him having/not having this assessment - i don't think he has asbergers, i think it's just because he finds the other kids 'boring' and they seem a bit alien to him.

I'm in love with music again :) i mean i have always loved it but i crave it at the moment - loving Brainpower all over again, i bought Justin Timberlakes' album. what i find is that i like one or two songs on an album and it seems a bit pointless buying an album for a couple of songs - i might have to get on to Tesco to download some - the only problem with that is they are probably only mainstream songs - not likely to have dutch rap on there are they?
I need to print our photo's through snapfish so i can do some scrapbooking. I need to do things for me - to find me again. Mark was saying that i always seem to need to have my likes/dislikes validated by someone else - maybe thats because i've lost myself?

Going to Reading on wednesday with Kirsty - baby shopping!! :D

Week 2 of the Summer Holidays...

Lani has almost cracked crawling - i mean very nearly. she can move her arms forward and her legs but she doesn't get very far. But it will come with time. She gets very annoyed when things aren't going how she wants or when i leave her view. We have had some da-duh noises and some ai ai oi kinda things going on, so her vocal noises are increasing. She learnt to clap today in about an hour - she is so sweet. She also can play peek-a-boo with a cloth and pull it up and down over her face and she blows bubbles/raspberries sometimes. She gets bored very easily she will play with a toy for a few minutes and thats it for the day - So different to Kayne, who would play with things for 20 odd minutes at the same age.

Kayne is starting to get a bit stir crazy without nursery. We've got him the last of the Jolly Phonics books so we can have a go over the next few weeks. Also we are going to try and continue the 'number pairs' but i need to work out a way of making sure we do them properly/in a sensible way. We believe he can read/recognise 20-30 words now. I'm beginning to wonder whether he has a photographic memory. He doesn't seem interested in trying to use his phonics to sound out words he just wants to know what they say now. Maybe he doesn't know how to use them properly yet and also he doesn't know the doubles which makes it hard. I'm going to try and make him some books to learn to sound out the words. like 'fat cat on a mat' and 'dog on a log' Some thing kinda easy and also with things in it he likes.

Mark is off next week and we are hoping to to some things out and about. Go to the beach and maybe to the Didcot railway museum, just have family time and relax and getting Kayne happy with things of interest, to bolster him and his self confidence and do some 'home education' in the fun way.

Kaynes 'report'

Oh! i'm a bit gobsmacked. I went to see Kaynes' teacher at nursery today to discuss him because i didn't get a report she said 'there isn't enough space to write about him'.
So i went with mum this afternoon while ill mark looked after ill kayne and grumpy lani.
She said he's gorgeous and polite and very bright.
Very very bright. Admittedly I can't remember all that she said.
Firstly the 'negitive-ish' comment : That he doesn't interact with the other children very much, i said he's always been like that, she was like as long as i'm aware of that and ok with it (e.g not worried) then that was ok.
She hadn't assessed him in anyway not pushed him or expected him to do anything so he could settle in - which i was glad to hear.
Apparently then; of thier 6 or so learning catergories he is near the top end of them all, things like mathematical dev, language dev etc. Read about them here (a PDF file):
http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/primary/publications/foundation_stage/eyfs/eyfs_framewk1307_v2.pdf
She said that if he continues like this she will be considering putting him up for the Gifted and Talented register (in YR1 i assume), in his prefered/best subject or all of them! Also that they will start looking at appropriate parts of the Yr1 National curriculum if he surpasses the foundation curriculum.

She's going to 'test' him on some words to gauge what reading level he is at and then tell me what books will be appropriate for him. Also next term they may send him home with some words to learn. Aswell as getting him 'going' with some sum's and writing.

She said that if he isn't interested with the things they are doing he gets up and walks off and uses the computer, it is noted that he is completely competent with the computer eg. can turn it on, select and use programmes, use the keyboard and mouse with ease. Also when the are sat on the carpet learning together he is so intent on listening to Miss House that he seems oblivious to the other children.

There was probably more but i was reeling so i can't remember anymore. It's wierd having all the things that you thought about your child realised to you. It's made me feel a bit more proactive. Now i can stop thinking that i've imagined all of it and we can make some pro-active 'plans' of things to do and do things that we may have thought may have been inappropriate.

Dumbfounded

I spoke to a nursery team member about getting some stuff to do with Kayne in the afternoons as he gets bored/is just watching the TV.

She said 'talking with Kayne is like talking to a Year 1 pupil'. :O !! a 5 year old! what? is she saying he's mentally 2 years ahead (in so many words)! He knows a few more words ; On Off. I think i need a website to catalouge some of these things.

I'm shocked, she said that they are having to get other things out for him as he just looks at some of the things and is like 'uh no way thats boring'. I am so glad that they are providing him with things more suitable for him. I have my reservations about Wincombe but maybe it will be ok. Will still be checkingout other schools, as it is quite far at the moment (eg until i learn to drive).

Kayne and words

Some excerps from today...

he just went to the fan and said turn it off... i said it is off. and he was like move it there (the dial). he was pointing at the off i said what does that say? he said 'off'


i just got paper out for kayne, and it had writing on it. he said 'whats that say?' and i said 'i don't think it says anything'... he said 'yes it does it says Thomas'....and it did

Kayne

hmmm... i find today in the bath that Mark has been teaching Kayne simple addition... 1+2= 3 etc. = pronounced - ocwals lol.

I'm struggling to comprehend how to go about keeping him interested as he gets older. I hope we can keep him going. He can write lots of numbers and many letters. he can recognise all his letters and 'spells' c-a-t is cat but only if the picture is there. he's doesn't know that the word 'cat' is the fluffly thing with four legs unless the picture is next to him.

He can sight read some words.... Rabbit, Thomas, Edward, coach, smoke, nest. Lol sounds like a story from Thomas the tank engine, well ... it is really. Gosh, he's 3 in 2 weeks and he's starting to learn to read!? What do i do? Well obviously what we are doing but (and i rarely swear) SHIT!

I'm so worried about school etc. i know that i should switch my brain off to it but it keeps jumping in. we have 2 years to decide. At the moment i REALLY want to homeschool/unschool but i feel that its too 'out there' for people to accept, along with all the 'is it legal' and 'socialisation' and 'don't you want to get rid of them for 6(?) hours a day?'... argh! on my train of thought it's '6 hours with out me when it was only 2 before' 'crap schools' 'bullying' and 'He's f*ing reading already', makes me think that school isn't a good place for a child to have a childhood.

Tasha
xxx