One of those delightful things about a small girl learning to write is that occasionally she takes it upon herself to communicate to us when we’re not there by writing a note and leaving it about the house somewhere for us to find. Often there’s sweet sentiments being expressed along the lines of ‘I love you Daddy’ or ‘Thack you Mum and Dad.’ (Let’s face it there’s still some work to do on the whole spelling thing!)
Of course, the fact that she’s seven and subject to the whims and mercies of her parents means that there are times in the little girl’s life when what’s best for her doesn’t happen to coincide with what Emily wants.
Fortunately for her on such occasions, when she’s alone and isolated and we’re not obliging her with being the object of a pointed and somewhat loud verbal ‘correction’ she can now resort to pen and paper. Instead of sleeping and resting her tired little head, recharging the brain and enjoying some down time in the land of nod, she can leave a little message for us so that we know what she was thinking before she went to bed.
Little things like, “I hate you.”
Gotta love ‘em eh?
Oct 24, 2010
twelve
Two weeks after Thomas has his birthday, Sam has his. Its been that way for the last 10 years and will of course continue ad infinitum. Sam was very excited to have his birthday in Australia this year. He, more than anyone else had expressed this desire whilst we were still in Canada. The thought of having just one more birthday on the wrong side of the ocean was really too much for the poor little bugger to bear.
At twelve, Sam is still possibly the most emotional of the boys. He’s a bright kid and has his own independent streak, choosing his own way. There’s still a bit of his fear to try something that he doesn’t think he’ll be good at, but he has also been happy to tread a different path, choosing volleyball in Canada and now, rather than taking up cricket, he’s going to give tennis a go and is playing indoor soccer with some friends.
Sam is still happy to offer a hug and was taking great delight in standing one side of you and tapping you on the other shoulder so that you’d look the other way. Having realised that people tend to pick up on this, its now evolved to be a tap on the shoulder and a duck down such that it doesn’t matter which shoulder you look over, you’re not going to see him there until you glance down to see him smiling up at you from around your knees.
It has been great to see how happy Sam has been since he’s returned to Oz. He’s reconnected with some friends and has settled nicely into school. He hasn’t been too forthcoming with how he’s going with the whole friends thing with me thus far, but he’s coming home happy and heading off to school each day with a smile on his face, so one doesn’t like to push too far.
Happy 12th Sam!
At twelve, Sam is still possibly the most emotional of the boys. He’s a bright kid and has his own independent streak, choosing his own way. There’s still a bit of his fear to try something that he doesn’t think he’ll be good at, but he has also been happy to tread a different path, choosing volleyball in Canada and now, rather than taking up cricket, he’s going to give tennis a go and is playing indoor soccer with some friends.
Sam is still happy to offer a hug and was taking great delight in standing one side of you and tapping you on the other shoulder so that you’d look the other way. Having realised that people tend to pick up on this, its now evolved to be a tap on the shoulder and a duck down such that it doesn’t matter which shoulder you look over, you’re not going to see him there until you glance down to see him smiling up at you from around your knees.
It has been great to see how happy Sam has been since he’s returned to Oz. He’s reconnected with some friends and has settled nicely into school. He hasn’t been too forthcoming with how he’s going with the whole friends thing with me thus far, but he’s coming home happy and heading off to school each day with a smile on his face, so one doesn’t like to push too far.
Happy 12th Sam!
Oct 16, 2010
Ten
The 2nd of October was Thomas’ tenth birthday and the first one that he’s managed to have in Australia since we left in 2007. He was pretty happy about that, as were all of his siblings (and possibly those of us that make up the rest of the family as well).
A year on, Thomas has achieved a lot. He’s competed in ski-racing at Jasper, he scored honour roll at school and he continues to develop into the sort of delightful young man that a proud Dad likes to boast about.
One of the things that has stood out lately is what I like to refer to as Thomas’ smug grin. It appears every now and then and always brings a smile to my face.
It comes out when he knows that he’s said or is doing ‘the right thing’. He’ll announce some little tidbit of wisdom, knowing that he’s saying exactly what a parent would expect their good son to say and then it appears, the little self satisfied, smug grin. I do adore it. It shows the intelligence lurking behind his sparkly eyes. It probably means that we’re in for trouble, because its that sort of intelligence that shows he knows full well what is expected whether that happens to be the path that he’s chosen to take or not.
It also means that he shows enough forethought (at times) to know that if you say the right thing, you might just escape the consequences that go with saying the wrong thing on the back of having done the wrong thing. I hope that makes sense in translation. I know it does to me, it was one of the lessons I managed to learn fairly early on in life!
Thomas retains his sense of humour and his willingness to persevere to succeed. As he embarks on the journey back into the Australian school system (not to mention finally getting a chance to start to play cricket) it will be critical for him to maintain both of these and hopefully with some extra support, he’ll continue on the hard earned path to success that he’s begun on so far.
A year on, Thomas has achieved a lot. He’s competed in ski-racing at Jasper, he scored honour roll at school and he continues to develop into the sort of delightful young man that a proud Dad likes to boast about.
One of the things that has stood out lately is what I like to refer to as Thomas’ smug grin. It appears every now and then and always brings a smile to my face.
It comes out when he knows that he’s said or is doing ‘the right thing’. He’ll announce some little tidbit of wisdom, knowing that he’s saying exactly what a parent would expect their good son to say and then it appears, the little self satisfied, smug grin. I do adore it. It shows the intelligence lurking behind his sparkly eyes. It probably means that we’re in for trouble, because its that sort of intelligence that shows he knows full well what is expected whether that happens to be the path that he’s chosen to take or not.
It also means that he shows enough forethought (at times) to know that if you say the right thing, you might just escape the consequences that go with saying the wrong thing on the back of having done the wrong thing. I hope that makes sense in translation. I know it does to me, it was one of the lessons I managed to learn fairly early on in life!
Thomas retains his sense of humour and his willingness to persevere to succeed. As he embarks on the journey back into the Australian school system (not to mention finally getting a chance to start to play cricket) it will be critical for him to maintain both of these and hopefully with some extra support, he’ll continue on the hard earned path to success that he’s begun on so far.
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