Fire Truck

It's not uncommon for us to see a fire truck outside the local shopping centre around lunch time (I'm assuming they stop by to grab some lunch, rather than there being regular fire emergencies there ;) ). Nevertheless, the sight of a fire truck never fails to thrill the boys. Beanie waved enthusiastically from our trolley and shouted out "Hello, hello!" and the bigger boys climbed up onto the wall for a closer look.

Shmoo and Loo were excited when I suggested that I take a photo of them in front of the truck. I think it says a lot about their personalities - Shmoo leaned coolly and casually against the railing in the background with a hint of self-consciousness while Loo struck an over-the-top pose, hamming it up for the camera :)

You vs. Me

The OH and Beanie reading a book...

Beanie: What's that?
The OH: 'u'.
Beanie: Me?
The OH: The letter 'u'.
Beanie: The letter 'me'?!

... And now I'm so much more anxious about the amnio results. Eight weeks since the amnio was done. Eight days 'til the OB's back from leave. The hospital system does hate me.

Please, please, please don't let him have it too.

Mama guilt overload.

:(

Finally got Loo Bear's genetic results back. He's inherited my balanced translocation. The GP's receptionist sounded so chirpy when she reported the results, "I think that's good isn't it?". I struggled for a moment before replying, "Well, it's not as bad as it could have been."

Truth is, I'm devastated. I know it could have been worse but all I can think about is the heartache the BT has caused me over the past decade and what it will mean for Loo and his future partner if/when they start a family of their own.

I can handle ASDs and related issues but for some reason this chromosome crap is so much harder.

:x

"The Idle Tower"

Image from here

Poor Shmoo couldn't figure our why we couldn't stop giggling when he was telling us all about the Idle Tower. =))

Well, I suppose it doesn't actually do much. Still, I'm not sure the French would appreciate it being called idle.

Or maybe he meant The Idol Tower?

ECIS

My little Bean is doing so well. I can't believe how far he's come. The teachers and TAs at ECIS can see the difference too. He's been attending ECIS for about a year now and the change over that time, particularly in the last couple of months, has been amazing. They've seen him go from clinging to me, not talking, sooo many sensory issues and minimal facial expressions to this incredibly bubbly, chatty, cheeky, expressive toddler.

I am so grateful that he's had access to early intervention. It's something that I'll always regret Shmoo not being able to access. We only had one child health nurse raise any kind of concern regarding Shmoo and by that time I'd had a multitude of health care professionals repeatedly tell me (yet another one of those paranoid, first-time mothers that I obviously was 8-| ) that he was just very shy/quirky/must be normal because he was meeting developmental milestones okay. The early intervention and the (occasionally questionable) benefits of having an extroverted older brother to mimic in social situations has made such a difference to Beanie :)

Science Experiment - Magnets

This afternoon I came across Shmoo playing quietly in the hallway. As I walked past he excitedly said "Look, Mama!" and, with great delight, showed me his latest discovery: the magnets on the end of his wooden train carriages affected the needle of his compass. I asked why he thought it did that and he wasn't sure so I gave him a brief rundown on compasses and the Earth's magnetic core etc.

After lunch and a quick Google to refresh my memory about some basic magnetic facts, we gathered up a few bits and pieces for a little experiment... a couple of magnetic toy train carriages, compass, fridge magnet, pin, sticky tape, craft foam, and a small bowl of water

 

We ran the pin along the fridge magnet a number of times to magnetise it and then taped it to the craft foam. Apparently a cork is generally utilised in this experiment but we didn't have one. I was rummaging through the activity cupboard, looking for inspiration, when I came across a scrap piece off a sheet of craft foam and figured that would do just as well. We floated the foam-with-attached-pin in the bowl of water and watched as it slowly spun and settled into its desired position. I nudged the compass over next to the bowl so that Shmoo could see that both the pin and compass needle were both pointing North.

  

Then I encouraged Shmoo to see what effect the different ends of his train carriages had on our homemade compass. We discussed North and South and the way magnets attract and repel. He was absolutely fascinated.

As we played and chatted conducted our experiment and discussed our findings, I wrote down the key points and results in Shmoo's notebook. I then left him to it and he continued the research on his own for the next half hour or so before he drew a diagram of the experiment next to my notes.

All of the boys were then distracted by the repair man who came around to fix our heat pump. They watched with intense interest as he installed the new bits and pieces.

Once the repair man left, Shmoo examined the dislodged dust bunnies that had been residing in our now-fixed heat pump for the last couple of months. Tut-tutting his disapproval, he promptly got out his vacuum and sucked them all up... and then went back to his magnet experiment :)

I love watching his curiosity and enthusiasm for learning. And it totally blows me away watching how quickly he makes the connection between things. Like when the tape securing our pin to the craft foam got wet and wouldn't stick anymore. He asked if there was anything else we could use and I stuck the pin to the foam with a small piece of Blu-Tack. After observing it in the water for a few moments, he then complained that it wasn't working as well, that it was much slower to move now. I asked him why he thought that was and after a brief pause he confidently stated that it was because the Blu-Tack was heavier than the sticky tape. And there I was thinking he'd just give me another one of his shrugs and a "Don't know."

Proud Mama :D

Puppet Show

 

Shmoo, Loo and their dear friend, E, put on an impromptu puppet show at the library yesterday.

Book - 'How Much Can a Bare Bear Bear?' by Brian P Cleary

Among our recent arrivals we've gotten a few of the Words are Categorical series by Brian P Cleary, including How Much can a Bare Bear Bear?: What Are Homonyms and Homophones? as well as How long or How Wide? which is part of the Math is Categorical series by the same author. We generally don't 'do' textbooks as such but I ordered these as they looked like rhyme-y fun books that the boys would be into and I like leaving stuff like this lying around for the kids to stumble across in their own time. I had a read through them all when they arrived the other week and then stashed them away on a shelf without mentioning them to the boys.

The other day Shmoo Bear proudly presented us with a series of carefully labelled drawings. After the appropriate admiration of the artwork, The OH got Shmoo to explain all the fine details of his drawings and they went through the couple of spelling errors that he'd made. One of the words that he'd had difficulty with was 'plane' and that led to a discussion about homophones and homonyms. Shmoo and I made up a list of all the ones we could think of (and, like any 7 year old, he had a good giggle when he thought of we and wee). I then casually mentioned that one of the new books on the shelf had lots of homophones and homonyms in it and both Shmoo and Loo excitedly ran to explore. It will probably be another year or two before Loo really grasps the concept of homophones, synonyms, verbs, adjectives and the like but he still really enjoyed the flowing rhyme of the books and the illustrations. Both of the boys have been back to the bookshelf several times to explore the new books. ;)

And we've had fun listening out for homophones and homonyms in everyday life since, particularly in the kids' favourite Peter Combe CDs. Gotta love those Aussie classics! :)