Happy (Slightly Early) Halloween!

I have written before about how the UK doesn't celebrate Halloween with as much gusto as the US does, but today, en route to a friend's baby shower, I spied CHRISTMAS decorations in one of the superstores. Come on! Christmas in October? I'd been merrily tuning out the odd mention (people here start talking about it as far back as late August) and now I feel myself turning all bah humbug. There was once a time when Christmassing didn't begin until after Thanksgiving, and I think I liked it better then.

So. We went to Wimbledon Common today, hiked, went into the Windmill musuem (E LOVED it, although the boy loves museums in general), came home, and carved our pumpkin.


Elijah helped with the scooping.


Baby Callie helped with the... um, well.... Baby Callie was the overseer.

She thinks our caution about raw pumpkins not tasting very nice is highly amusing.

Brother and sister examining the finished product.

Test run.

Happy Halloween!

School, Autumn, Life

Life continues to roll on, complete with mild-to-moderate sleep deprivation and busy schedules (mostly B). E has settled in to preschool, and is the youngest in his class by some way (only August-born). I have mixed feelings about school in general... whether he'll be a child who falls through the cracks, gets bullied, perhaps overlooked by adults due to his general easygoing nature and reluctance to rock the boat.

He is not like a "typical boy" running around playing guns, dinosaurs, etc (although he's into vehicles, especially trains) and although he has social skills, they don't extend to defending himself when confronted by someone aggressive (or perhaps even another very assertive child). He takes criticism to heart and is sensitive, but tends not to show it on the outside. For example, he'll come home and tell me an aide was "cross with him" for something or other. He can tell me the context, because he's quite verbal, and these incidents are always, from an adult point of view, trivial. Yet to him they are a big deal, and I'm trying to process how I feel about that - whether it's a "necessary evil" for him to learn about the world, or whether I ought to look at ways to protect him from that kind of thing until he matures a little bit more. I don't like the idea of sending him off to kindergarten at the age of 4 - one MONTH after he turns 4, to be precise.

I would rather, in my heart of hearts, send him to a Montessori preschool until he hits 5. He is reading simple words now - my, no, dog, on, a few others. He is asking "what do these words spell?" every day. He is (and has been) counting with one-one correspondence up to at least five or six, and more if he is in a careful mood. He uses words like "reflection" accurately, in context, and as part of his general vocabulary. He can draw faces although he isn't much interested in drawing in general (he enjoys painting more). He is musical. He is kind.

And I just don' t feel his teachers are seeing much of this (if at all). I had a scheduled 10 minute talk with them on a parent conference day and E sat to color in a picture while I chatted. One on one with the aide, he colored in an "S" and volunteered the sound it made (sss) and also that "Snake begins with S." She was surprised. I wasn't. And I understand that there's a minimum ratio the teachers deal with but I do struggle with knowing that my son is possibly getting overlooked. Not that I want him to be drilled academically, but... it'd be nice if they appreciated what he can do. I get the feeling that the wheels are in motion for preschoolers who need extra help, but no plans in place that recognizes advanced/gifted children. And I will be honest and say that it makes me a little bit angry.

Angry that the school talks about how important attendance is and talks about FINING parents who take their child on vacation when school is in session... yet doesn't seem to recognize each child is an individual. I am fully on board with E learning how to stand in line, wait his turn, etc (actually he does all that pretty well already) but I am NOT on board with him becoming a little lemming and losing the ability to think for himself/outside the box. And I do think school, as a whole, promotes that. It's easier for the teachers, perhaps, easier for "the majority."

Well, I don't know where I'm going with this, but it's nice to put my thoughts down. I'm sure I'll refer to this post later in life. B and I sometimes go back to older posts on this blog to see how we felt back then, or look at pictures, or find the dates of something we all did. So now I've got this entry and down the line, when I need to make a definitive decision about his schooling, I'll be able to refer to it.

I think what I'd most like is a halfway house. If I could send him to school for half-days and then involve him in extracurricular activities a few times per week (sports, language, music) I would be happy. I don't think I'm up for 100% homeschooling, just as I feel leery about 100% regular schooling. I guess the only thing to do is watch how things go and play it by ear.

Meanwhile... life rolls on... we went to Clapham today to the tea place at the edge of the Common.

Father-son matching blue turtlenecks. Pistachio ice cream for the young master.

A nice treat.

Clowning around outside for the camera.
C chewing my ring!

I have a picture of me standing by this fence when I was 28 weeks pregnant with E... life really does fly by!

They love each other.

Going toward the car after a little walk around. We ran into friends about 30 seconds after I snapped this photo!

That's all for now. We are in the thick of autumn and I'm enjoying it despite the cold mornings. It's feeling like a good time to wrap up warm, enjoy cocoa, unwind, prepare for the incoming holidays. We are off to Wales in mid-November and Halloween is soon....

October

We had a great heat wave lately - 70's and 80's, real summer weather - but have now returned to more season-appropriate weather. Since summer was on the cool side, this heat wave has made me less grumpy about heading into autumn/winter. I'm looking forward to hot chocolate... Halloween... Christmas... not so much the idea of darkness falling at earlier than 5pm and the 1385 layers the children will need and not being able to go in and out of our garden at will.

E has been enjoying his preschool. He's been bringing home lots of paintings and other little projects. The joy of having a very verbal 3 year old - he's able to tell me a fair amount of details about his day. I feel good about the place he's going to. It's only 3 hours per morning but it's become important in our lives.

C is developing in leaps and bounds, although she still only has two teeth. She also doesn't sleep very well. A good night for us is when she's only up 3 times. A bad night can be 9+ settlings. B helps me a lot otherwise I would have crashed and burned by now. But she's a smart little lady so I try and count my blessings. She cruises now (holds onto the furniture and sidles along), claps, waves, sticks her tongue out at you and goes "LEBBLE LEBBLE" in her baby voice, and loves it when you copy what she's doing. Also dances (in a rickety, baby manner) when music is on. And laughs at her big brother. Crawls away at warp speed while sticking forbidden things in her mouth and looking smug.

So... photos... one, at least.

Brother and sister on the little trampoline. She was actually bouncing (not jumping, obviously) but bending her knees and going up and down with big grins.

Ok - one more picture:


Still need to blog about the CA trip. Right now we're counting down the days until Halloween... that's the next fun landmark.

First Day of Preschool

Here's the man himself, ready to go. He did not want to stop and get his photo taken, hence the slight disheveledness of his uniform etc. And that smile is his "smile for the camera" smile.

Preschool!

Today E had his first settling-in day at the preschool around the corner. It takes us about 5 minutes to walk there. B was able to go into work late and come with us and chat with E's teachers and the aides. The nursery is well equipped with a nice outside space that incorporates trees, a big playhouse, grass, a platform for imaginative play, and lots of toys to play on. The inside space is pretty good too. It was funny seeing the boys gravitate toward the airplanes and firehouse and the girls going for the kitchen/play food area.

There was also a little area where the kids could pour themselves a drink of water and have some fruit to eat (today was pear). And several tables with arts and crafts and playdough, and a reading area, and the bathrooms were nicely equipped with lots of soap and even an easel in the middle with pens and paints.

E will be going 5 mornings per week and he is so excited. He will be one of the youngest in the year (if not THE youngest).

C is 9 months tomorrow and crawling all over and pulling herself up to standing on stable objects. Sleep issues abound, but we are coping.

Next week I will have pics of E in his uniform but for now all I've got is a funny pic of C in her bath....

Will do my best to make more time to post next week!

Ok, Ok

Back to the scheduled show. Which probably means pictures. You want pictures? I got pictures. Here's a few from our trip up to Suffolk last weekend.

Off on a walk, in borrowed boots. I did think long and hard about posting this because one of those children is not mine - but due to the angle I decided to put it up. And yes, they love each other. Very much. One of the quotes was "I'm falling in love with E!" which was very humorous and cute.

Tractor. Left lots and lots of muddy ruts in the road. Our walk took us past farmland and lots of pigs, some with piglets.


And muddy puddles.

By this point, Callie was zonked out in the sling and remained so for over an hour. The kids were picking and eating blackberries from the hedges and loving it. I really appreciate being able to stay in the country with these friends and let E run wild with kids his age in the country air. I think he gets a lot out of it. So do I, actually.


Swinging in the back yard. We also went for a boat trip, complete with mooring up at a little island with a Wendy house and exploring the "magical forest" (E's term) before getting back in our boat and rowing to the shore for ice cream.

Today we had a little informal (and belated) 3rd birthday party for him, just a little picnic with some of his friends near the park. It went really well.

In other news, B starts his job in Brighton on Monday so I am bracing for earlier starts and later finishes. The recent riots didn't have much of an effect on us however a bunch of people trashed Clapham, burning stuff and looting and smashing up the train station B passes through. Our local Dominoes chain had its windows shattered as well.

I am behind on 2850825 emails, as usual. Trying to do some writing, mostly failing, but the occasional 500 word spree gives me hope. Counting down the days until E starts preschool. He'll be going 5 mornings a week for 3 hour sessions. It's a proper little school with uniforms and everything. Years ago when we moved to this area we unwittingly landed right next to one of the top schools around - there's a massive waiting list and people speak highly of it. Fortunately they give priority to people who live within the catchment area and... well, that's us.

Well, I'm off to crank out 200 words and then visit the Land of Nod.

Warning: Political Stuff

Look away now if you mind swearing and don't want to get all het up.

If you're still reading - I'll keep it short. I don't think I've ever been so close to such craziness! Local businesses being looted and burned, riot police and vans and dogs just up the hill, our local shops shutting down at 4pm and putting metal grilles over the doors, B's office in Central London being evacuated, train stations being smashed up and closed. This is all a bit nuts.

That being said, I'm pissed off at both sides. The rioters, for opportunistic looting and senseless burning, costing businesses millions of pounds. The government, for not seeing this coming. Colossally so, in fact. I mean, the Home Secretary herself said, back in September 2010: ""The British public don't simply resort to violent unrest in the face of challenging economic circumstances. ... It is ridiculous to suggest that there are not savings that can be made in policing." (source)

You dumb bitch, there weren't enough police on the ground last night to prevent looters from totally destroying multiple parts of the city - including pillaging the hell out of some of our local shops! They were in there for hours, walking out with all sorts of stuff, all because our local cops had to go reinforce other parts of the city due to YOUR budget cuts!

And meanwhile we've got our Prime Minister, who only bothered to return from vacation earlier today, yammering on about how we're all "in this together." Apparently that also means cutting taxes for corporate buddies while putting more pressure on the working and middle classes by screwing with child benefit and shafting low-income working families by cutting child tax credits, which many people depend on to help them get childcare. I'd look for a relevant statement by George Osbourne here, but apparently he's only just curtailing his holiday in California to come back to the UK to deal with the rioting, so he's probably only getting on the plane right about now.

So while Parliament discusses stuff like reintroducing baton rounds, rubber bullets, water hoses, etc, I'm going to sit here and wonder why the fuck democracy is so skewed toward a system that favors slapping temporary bandaids onto a situation over addressing root causes. Because from where I sit, I'm disgusted at both sides. Opportunistic looters - that sums up my feelings. And I don't feel I need to differentiate between either side when I say it.

I'm becoming more libertarian by the day.