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rf gun wars has been a favorite this week. The kids decided to bust open their piggy bank to buy more. They had about $40 to spend. Alex says nerf wars are his favourite thing now. He’s also calling everything ‘ferocious’. Vio likes to get involved in this one too.
The days have been warm and so several evenings have ended with the kids running through the sprinkler. In the evenings/bed time we’ve been singing together. one night we sang a CK song “it’s like the sweet sound of the river as it moves across the stones. it’s the same sound as the blood in your body as it moves across the bone.” Alex commented after this “but blood moves through tubes [veins] not straight across bones!” In conversation I used the word ‘narrow’. Alex asked what it meant and I said it was the opposite of wide. Now given this post is delayed, i’ve since heard him using the word narrow in conversation with friends at park day. One of them (younger, but reading) asked Alex what that meant and Alex explained it to him.
We did some floating and sinking experiments with eggs in different mediums. The kids enjoyed the ‘trick’, and getting messy. Daniel broke a few eggs mind you!
Kids spent an evening at their grandparents house, mostly with pigeons and chickens. When I picked them up I drove past this curious yellow machine on the train tracks. Alex said it was a track builder – he saw one in minecraft! Then he told me that it was 9 squares big, furthermore a 3 by 3 square [area].
Alex has been watching a youtuber family that have nerf gun wars, also typical gamer and little kelly minecraft. He came across a tarbosaurus documentary and invited me to watch with him. It was pretty good, and told from the perspective of the tarbosaurus rather than a documentary style narrative. I read some of the captions like ‘5 years later’. Alex kept adding them up to work out how old Speckles was (the tarbosaurus at the centre of the doco). We’ve been playing minecraft together, even trying to include Daniel but he loses interest pretty quickly. Alex has also been doing and attempting to do flips on the trampoline.
Daniel has been enjoying making jelly, and we’ve made lots of flavours now. I remembered how we’d have jelly and evaporated milk or ice-cream a kids. he’s been watching Blaze too as we have Stan on TV and no more foxtel.
We got the planks out and made some cool structures.
Out and About
The first day of the week was filled with errands – we had to buy chicken and canary feed, stop at the council to pick up keys for the workshop the following day, return some books at the library (which led to borrowing more), buying groceries and the much anticipated kombucha, then we stopped at footscray park for a play. Unfortunately we were on a timer given the parking restrictions but we made the most of it with some nerf wars. There were a few variations on the game, and we settled on a favourite where each person had to cross an obstacle course whilst being shot at. The aim was to get to the end and retrieve their own gun for a retaliation! If they were hit they ‘lost’. It was quite fun – Alex came up with it. The kids scooted around the park too – including down an incline, Daniel was surprisingly daring!
We had to return the keys the next day and so returned to the council buildings. On the way in the car, Daniel asked for a banana which I peeled for him. Shortly after he’d taken it, it broke and dropped to the floor. I commented (admittedly unfairly and in annoyance) that Daniel does it everytime. Alex defended him saying ‘actually mum, it’s your fault’. he went on to tell me how I peeled the banana too low and that it wasn’t strong enough, so it falls. He’s referring to instability of a column. He’s so intuitive.
We did a clean up Australia day at Brimbank park. It was a very hot day, and the turnout was disappointingly low.
We were at the Kealba side of Brimbank. Alex found a ‘crystal’, probably just weathered glass but he was excited. We picked up a lot of rubbish, and at the end we saw an amazing spider with babies on it’s back! We headed to the playground at Brimbank afterwards where we met some other families. Alex (without prompting) introduced his new friend to the group and offered his scooter to use. Whilst climbing the tree, Alex found a spider’s nest which was fascinating! They spent some time racing on scooters, and Alex played PokemonGo with another friend. We decided to get an icecream before we left – the kids chose different flavours and then outside sat and shared them! It was very sweet.
Another week at Currawong Kids. They usually use their iPads in the car as it’s a decent drive but this time Alex said he just wanted to think. We’ve had more numbers conversations in the car – Alex asked what number a 1 and four zeroes is (10,000 I told him, he had thought it was a million). Then we talked about numbers with more zeroes – from 1,000; 10,000; 100,000; to 1,000,000. At CK we played fire in the forest (Alex’s favourite), collected some rubbish, and did an ‘eyes only’ activity that involved a short walk to look for out of place things (stuffed animals in the bush). Daniel was not keen today. At the end, Alex drew the lizard he had seen. Daniel was explaining his drawing to Mel.
We went to Sandown Model train Expo – our fourth year in a row I think! Alex really liked the lego display – it was huge! We said we’d need to set up our garage like that! We got to see some model aeroplanes flying too which was really cool. Alex had a play on a flight sim which he loved, Daniel went on a miniature train with me. We bought gliders and learnt of the Air League. Alex really, really wants to join! You need to be 8 though, so something to look forward to! He liked the idea of flying lessons as he doesn’t want to wait 10 years! at home the kids played with the gliders. there isn’t really room for it in the garden, so Alex tried attaching strings to them and pull them along (like a kite I guess), but it didn’t work as hoped. So after dinner we all went to the oval to use the gliders. Alex got the hang of it really quickly, and in true Alex style, he explained it to all of us!
Socialising
The neighbours have been over to play. they’ve played nerf gun wars, football, iPad games, and one even stayed very late for a movie night. the kids watched trolls. Alex was singing and dancing, he makes me laugh! One cool point was finding a praying mantis on the curtains! We took it outside and put it with the garden plants. I wonder how it got inside!?
We had friends over and the kids wanted to play nerf gun wars. Alex wanted to put on a show with me included on how we’ve been playing – I could see it was never going to end so I surrendered and coached Alex in good PoW etiquette!. They also played minecraft together.
We met up with friends at the skate park. Alex’s friend asked him why his handlebars were so low (we offer to raise them but he refuses). He explained to them that it was to make him more aerodynamic, like the shape of a car, so the wind goes over him and he goes faster. Alex was throwing his scooter around, and now it’s bent. I asked him not to, and now he has to put up with a bent scooter! He was very upset.
Activities
I organised another lego technics workshop for the kids, well for Alex. It was good: the kids built a little cart that used gears and a motor to move. Alex loved it and Daniel played with some spare lego which meant I could help Alex as needed. Daniel was a little upset about sharing the toys he had taken along.
Alex had athletics training but no events day on the weekend. He was reprimanded for fighting with another boy (whom he said wouldn’t leave him alone when he asked him to) and ran off upset. He rejoined the group though and still came out at the end saying how much he had enjoyed it. I did offer that we leave, but that upset him more. I kept Daniel busy with races and bubbles as he had no one to play with that day.