Team Blandix: So many things to catch up on

19 November 2011

So many things to catch up on

So.. I'm a "bit" late on this update...

Since the last blog post, several major events have occurred.... Here's the short version of each..

1. The kids turned 4 - we had a great day at the National Army Museum - they have an amazing climbing frame that is covered in a 'castle' motif so it's like you're crawling around and through all the nooks and crannies of ye olde castle... And having just looked at the website, they have apparently updated it quite a lot. The picture below shows the kids when they were 1 week old and when they were 4. The newspaper is the same size.

2. We survived the meeting we were organising for our society. It was held in Greenwich at the University which is where the Palace of Henry VIII used to stand. Greenwich is also where the prime meridian is and also the Royal Observatory... I posted about it previously. It took up most of our time from May to the middle of August.

The kids went for the annual holiday to Auntie S and Unca P's during the meeting which was a big help for us. And they had a great time going to the beach every day..

After the meeting, we took a much needed holiday to Italy. We spent a glorious 2 weeks just outside Sienna. We had lots of fun meeting up with our friends, the Foldinos, swimmming in the pool, traveling to Montepulciano and Siena. We even got to go to a fabulous tree top adventure park called Saltalbero (the webpage is in Italian, but you get the idea) where Phil and I got to climb a bunch of trees and zipline from the tops to the ground. The kids got to play on the starter climbing and zip line apparatus. They picked it up really quick and were ready to go onto the adult stuff, but unfortunately weren't allowed.

3. The first day of school has come and gone. We've made it through half term (kinda like spring break but it happens in every term) and are headed into the home stretch before the xmas break. I must admit that the first 3 weeks were difficult for me, but not for them. Although A did take a bit longer to settle than L.
It took me quite a while to figure out why I had such a hard time adjusting and I think it just comes back to the fact that they had barely turned 4 and were going to school. And school at this age is a bit more than just playing around to get used to the idea of school. They are assessed on their knowledge of letters, phonics, reading and handwriting. I'm not sure what the assessment results mean for the kids, but it is sometimes difficult to 'force' someone who's 4 and doesn't really want to focus on what a letter sounds like, much less read or write them. But on the positive side, the school we are in is using a fantastic new phonics scheme (Read Write Inc) that is great at getting and keeping children's interest (even the boys) and teaching them letter sounds and reading techniques in fun ways.. So I'm coming round..