With or without eggs

Jimmy bumped his head on the in side of the bath on Sunday.

He slipped over trying to grab a toy. We have a bath mat to stop him slipping, but he must have stepped off it in his hurry.

He should have cried.

I waited for it.

But he didn't. He kept playing. Crying would slow down his playing too much I guess.
(And then there are days that the smallest thing from me or Sam sends him in tears.)

So I checked for blood and eggs. All good.



Perhaps we choose our reaction to something, more often than we think. Perhaps we need a little something to help us move on, with eggs or without eggs.

What's got more energy?

How do you explain energy to a class of kindy students?

I'm going to try it at Sam's kindy this Friday. Sam is very excited about me visiting.

I can't wait either.

First I'm thinking of talking about the various sources of energy. Starting from what they ate for brekkie. Then energy from fuels, like burning trees. And battery energy. And kinetic energy (moving stuff). And potential energy (stuff from high up falling down). And the ultimate source of our energy.

This will be the last time I get to don my refinery work clothes, so I'll definitely be talking about OIL.

Which kid does not want to learn how diggers need diesel, jet planes need jet, passenger cars need petrol, and great BBQ chefs need gas?

Oh and it turns out the kids are learning about recycling. So I'll somehow tie it in with saving energy.

My dream is to hear that kids went home and and told their parents about how we get oil out of the ground and into their world. 

Last time I did this one of the boys, Tom went home and went on and on about diesel and petrol and how they are made from oil. 

Watch this space to hear about how I go.

Steamy steam trains

Hats off to the people who do what they love, for the sake of what they love.

----

Sam is turning 4 and last weekend we had a party for him and his friends at the Brisbane Bayside Steam Railway. The railway itself is a miniature sized station and a few kilometres of track. You get on at the platform, sit on the trains. You smell the burning coals that they put into the boiler, or hear them start the "diesel". And they take you for a ride around the bush.

It was a stinking hot day! The car thermometer read 40'C as we drove in. I couldn't stop sweating.

Still Sam's friends turned up. What champions. And the kids loved it! I was anxious about the heat - and whether we should have changed the venue given the heat. Then seeing the kids not phased - I relaxed some more. And the parents - who battled on too, enjoying the moment for what it presents.

I am heaps thankful for them.

Around and around on little tracks, the electric and steam trains ran. Up the hill, backwards to the remote station and back to the platform. There was even a "diesel" train (actually, it's a petrol). From what he's seen, Sam thinks you can pull start a diesel train haha.

It made Sam's day. 

----

The guys who show up twice a month to put on the rides, and throughout the month to maintain the track - they are amazing. They commit themselves to a place for the benefit of others.

I am heaps thankful for them.

Don't break our tower!

It was a spur of the moment on the day. 

Then again, I've been waiting for this day for a long time.

Sam NEEDED to build a lego tower. One that uses every piece of lego we have.

First we sorted the bits.

We built a heavy foundation. I built one side and Sam copied what I was doing.

We built the beams brick by brick. We even graded them according to their colour.

And when it got tricky, I gave Sam more sorting tasks.

And then needed to use up all the train tracks. 

By the end I had to rob bits off the tower because there were not enough bits to build the pylons for the scenic bend. This is the scenic bend on the right. You can see the spire is now a little shorter.

And then we had an idea. What would it be like to go for a ride on the train?

 I cannot wait for real Lego.

Scooter, Museums and all that Frass

We took the boys to the museum and to the parklands for a swim.
Afterwards, I asked Sam what was his favourite part.

Looking for the eggs!

In the museum, there was an area where you could see stuffed Australian animals and touch some fossils. One display was a glass cabinet of stick insects.

And then near the help desk, there was a sign that said something like:

"Help us find eggs in the frass!"

Sam responded to the call for help.

Sam loved it.

Sorting through poo with some tweezers and sometimes without, Sam looked for tiny stick insect eggs and put them on a petrie dish.

It looks like many others before him enjoyed it too.

What a great lesson for motivating people:
Make it voluntary.
Make it slightly tricky.
Disguise the disgusting with fancy words.

When you're ready

I had to make a decision - to keep trying or to give up.
Sam had to make a decision - to keep trying or to give up.

Sam gave up.
Then I gave up.

Giving up was the best decision I made in a while.


...

Sam loves hearing me read.
I've been wanting to "encourage" him to take the next step.
Sam is at the stage where he is so close to being able to sound out words by himself.
So this evening, while I was tired (yeah, Mistake #1) I thought he could have a go.

So the book a Thomas the Tank Engine book. It was titled "Sir Handel".

Sam got "S-i-r".
Before he tried the second word, Sam then gave up.

I tried to nudge him to try but he would not.
For some reason I decided that he had to at least try, or we would not read the book tonight.
Mistake #2.

To me, this was an important lesson too! You've got to at least give it a go!
(It seemed so reasonable at the time.)

...

Sam was distraught. He wanted to go to bed. He didn't want to "Read", at least not how I was showing him.
I was over it too. I knew he could make every one of those sounds.

When he eventually settled down, I asked him, and he said he didn't like reading!

Warning. Danger. Warning. Danger.
I stopped in my tracks.

Moments later, I decided to do a complete backflip on my decision. I perked up, smiled at him and said, "Sam, let me just read this story to you tonight."

NO! Sam didn't want to go through the trauma again.

I read the title of the book out loud. "Sir Handel".  "S-i-r H-a-n-d-e-l".
Sam laughed. A laugh of relief.

I kept reading. And Sam sat with me as I read.
We finished the whole book. He loved it.

...

For a moment this evening, I was about to trade in the boy's delight in reading for a stupid challenge I made up on the spot.

I didn't mean to exert pressure to push him along. But I quickly found myself doing that exact same thing.  

...

Sometimes it's better to let things go at their natural pace. And that's the fastest way.

"No I am not your children"

I had the most bizarre argument with Sam the other day.

As per our evening routine, I was reading a picture Bible to Sam. On this particular day, we read about Abraham. God had promised Abraham lots of descendants, as many as the stars in the sky.

I proceeded to ask whether I had any children. Sam paused. He didn't say anything.

So I said,

I do have children. You are one of my children, Sam.

No, I'm not! 

(what???) Yes, you are. And Jimmy is too.

But I go to kindy and Jimmy goes to Gymboree! I am not your children.

You can still go to kindy and Jimmy can still go to Gymboree, but you are both our children.

But I don't like to go to work. I go to kindy.

!!!




Baffled and not keen to confuse both of us even more, I called it for the day.