Written by: paul

Bikes…

Jude needs a new bike, so we were hopeful that the Chopper down at the shop at Patmos would do for him. It was also reduced! So, we took his old bike & Eve’s bike down (her bike needs repairing) on Thursday evening… only to find that the Chopper was too big. He couldn’t ride it comfortably. Eve could, but that was not the point really. So Jude needs another – he didn’t have one in the shop, but said he’d try at his garage & over at a couple of other shops he’s friendly with. Jude didn’t accept that well – the ‘now’ thing was praying on him. He cried & needed carrying home (such was his misery).

Friday I bumped into Jack on the way home, just past the newsagents, he having parted company with Thomas & finishing of some chocolate (guiltily). Thomas gave it to him (he doth protest too much) as I pointed out (grinning) that I wasn’t telling him off, was I? Popped in at the bike shop & nothing doing – no bike for Jude at the garage or shops in Nelson or Burnley. Ooooh dear…. Eve’s bike not fixed either because no ‘little chain thing that attaches to the gears’ (can’t recall the name). But I make a mental note it’s an 18 inch wheel that we’re after (as well as one with gears, obviously) when he tells me there’s a couple of other chances he’s going to check. He saw that Jude was upset & he was a little affected – he doesn’t like to disappoint.

Saturday morning I pop to get the paper & dib in… nope – no fix, no bike. I remember that Eve’s front tyre needs replacing as well, so point this out. I suspect he’s basically out of leads, so I say not to worry too much – we’ll look if he keeps his eyes open & what will be will be. Jude is disappointed. Eve is disappointed her bike is not fixed as well – she spends a good deal of her play with Amber over the road playing on bikes. Amber looks to have an 18 inch wheel bike with gears, but this also has pinkness & flowery decals.

It’s a low key weekend. Jack has history homework; they have to do a historical figure. Choose anyone from history & write about them – someone who changed the world also seems to be an important criteria. Jack has chosen Dr Barnados; he’s not sure why, but Louise & I kinda suspect it’s the helping the downtrodden, education & equality which (given his Thursday night dream of converting buses into off road vehicles & driving them to Africa to be used as classrooms seems to chime with his general thinking at the moment). He gets upset that we criticise his lifting of phrases & paragraphs from the Internet wholesale & decides that he’ll do Henry VIII instead as he has his own source material (studies from juniors) on the subject. Digs this stuff out (making a mess of his room in the process) and then complains that Henry VIII is boring (and also one of the suggested characters from discussion in class).

Leave it a bit Jack.

We go to the supermarket (him & me) via the library (no books on on Henry of Thomas Barnado) but there’s a DVD he likes the look of & a couple of books I wouldn’t have minded if I had time for reading at the moment). We chat about things on the way into town & he points out that kids his age would hardly ever have seen a dead body, but in Bernado’s time.. I point out that this is a darn good way of opening his history essay were he doing Thomas Barnodo & we chat some more along these lines & let him mull it over.

At home he’s doing Barnado again & Louise & I outline an approach for him to tackle writing it (research on the internet – print things out – read these & highlight the salient points & then write up in the structure plan he has (he had a structural plan all along he wasn’t sticking to it). He makes some good progress.

Sunday, Eve has borrowed Jack’s bike (against his wishes) & is plying with Amber when Amber’s next door neighbours offer Eve a bike. She comes to tell us, I pop over & it’s clear that the bike is somewhat big for her (it’s bigger than Jack’s) but we tend to not look a gift horse in the mouth, we say thank you very much & she’s off (somewhat shakily) on it taking it back round to the back street.

…continuing…

16/09/08@06:51:55

So, we’re all on the back street checking over the ‘new’ bike – Louise has had a go & Jack has had a go & Jude is a bit upset because he hasn’t got his bike yet… He knows my earlier enquiries have come to nothing because I checked when I was getting the newspaper that morning.

So we’re there chatting away & Brenda over the road pops out for something & overhears us. We tell her of our surprise acquisition & the says she has a new bike. Nice ladies bike – folder. John get it out to show us. John says he’s supposed to be riding a bike for his knee, but the one he has isn’t so good – he can’t get it in the car & he can’t get his leg over (queue gag re asking the man at the bike shop as to whether he could do anything with his bike because he can’t get his leg over, “It comes to us all” is the response from the older bike shop owner.) It’s useless to him & it’s apparently offered to me. I’m not paying attention – Louise graciously accepts & I have a bike as well! How did that happen? ” bikes in one day? Not one for Jude though. Poor Jude is upset.

A little later Jack & I set off to Morrisons on the bikes – zooming there in no time (although I have to say I do not like going down Fernley Lee Road – it is just that bit too steep: both brakes on & concentrating on the misshapen road (lots of roadworks) conscious of cars behind & needing to signal direction & you can’t really turn to check the car behind you & you can’t take your hands off the brake to signal. After that the roundabout in the centre of town seemed a breeze.

Coming back we went up Park Rd – less right turns & not so steep an incline (although longer). I was struggling getting a lower gear so really had to push quite hard. As I reached the point of giving up & reached the top of the hill (well – as far as we were going) & turned round to see how Jack was getting on – his bike slips into some delightfully low gears that I’m sure would be easy for even getting up Fernley Lee. I was a little disappointed to see that he was pushing – he’d got off & was pushing! I would have shouted some chastisement but I was somewhat out of breath.

Yesterday – off to the the other bike shop in town – see if he has anything there. Looks to be – 23 inch frame. I call Louise to measure Jude’s inside leg to see if this would be good for him? He has a 21inch inside leg! Ooh. Well – this bike is green & blue, it has suspension& it has gears & it’s £30? OK, yes tiptoes will do fine! I go back to the shop to get it. Ah, but he’s not checked the bike over since it came in… Ah… He checks over the gears & the do not work quite as well as one would expect… hurumph. He’s not going to let me take it away just yet… he wants to ensure all is well (he brakes seem OK). So – now that we have got Jude’s hopes up we have them dashed once more… Bah.

Tuesdays Todmorden closes… It’ll be Wednesday, then…

Jack got homework worry last night… It was Religious studies what done it… They had to write up what Religious Studies was for which is a little bit of a nebulous question, really. It may have been the case that they took notes on the subject class & were supposed to write this up, but it was the last lesson on a Friday & Jack’s notes seem to be a little threadbare on substance. Also: he’s never had to do anything like this before, so he had some troubles with the idea of how to approach the whole thing. It being a tricky question he needed to do more preparation for the writing of this than he was used to doing, but Louise guided him through it well, & by the end of the evening (it took a while settling nerves & discussing things) he had a few good paragraphs which made up a pretty good little essay. Jack’s thought processes always have a tendency to go flying off in the many possible directions he sees… this might not be such a good thing for buttoning down an argument (at the moment) but it is one of his strengths. We decided (as an aid to writing) he could do it on his laptop – the theory being that it would stop him having to worry about having to rewrite things as he was restructuring them & that seemed to help as well. He still wrote everything out long hand before committing it to type & has oddly kept all his notes as well (hoarding instinct?)

Jude’s temper upon leaving school is as bad as ever. I’m not sure what causes all this pent up aggression… probably being ‘good’ at school, as he is good there as he can be at home if his pettiness doesn’t get the better of him. He was up early again this morning as Louise called just before seven to ask where the little camera he was playing with yesterday had gone? Just on the floor by the computer – I saw it there this morning (thinking that he never looks after anything). No doubt that will just have been his first demand of the day.

Eve is doing a lot better. She seems to have pulled herself together a lot following a rocky end to the holidays & start of the new school year. She’s even started reading her books herself, rather than rely on just my reading at bed time to traverse a story. It’s good; her approach to things is generally a lot more stable & certainly a lot better appreciated.

Esme (as usual) is full of life. Her over enthusiasm causes her problems at times – like a sore head she got when she saw me arriving at the playground yesterday & ran across the playground to open the gate, pushed open the gate too hard & when it stopped swinging open she couldn’t stop & bashed her head on the bars of the gate. Tears & screeching ensue so I give her a cuddle & plonk her in the swings (which seemed sufficient distraction). After a few moments all I had left was Jude & Esme but Jude was cross because I refused to push him on the see saw roundabout contraption (no one to balance him out – Esme is not doing it because he’ll be bored with the slow pace) . Jude remains super grumped up all the way home, but he doesn’t attempt to biff me… I wonder why?

Got home at school leaving time – well – a little later because the train was late – caught up with the family heading home. Broke a grump about something or other just by turning up, but then Jude regrumped as I wasn’t taking him directly to the park (want to drop off my bag at home first) . And there lies a pattern… Jude had a bit of a grumpy evening & didn’t get what he wanted because of it. Louise got the worst of it though. We have to leave the park sometime & Jude didn’t want to – sat himself atop the climbing frame & scowled. I left (Esme claiming that she wanted to go to the toilet forced us to take the action of leaving (but she then forgot this ‘need’ straight away). We left the park & he followed (calling us stupid). Once across the road Eve & Esme dash into 72 (cafe) – they were getting ahead because Jude was reluctantly trailing. When Jude & Louise trail in they are wanting something to eat & a treat is deemed OK. 3 chocolate nest cakes with smarties on top are chosen because they are sufficiently treat -worthy & there are 3 – one for each. Jude suddenly procrastinates after the choice is made & then settles on wanting a chocolate bar… But the choice has been made. He protests (the choice has been made) & he starts to kick off as we leave (the choice has been made). He starts biffing Louise & his choice & his chosen treat is lost to him & he’s in a foul mood. Louise is also somewhat unhappy because he’s been an embarrassing little brat. I eat the cake that was intended for Jude as Jack (who is at home by now) has had his treats for the day (treacle sponge & pudding for school dinner). Jude is in a proper foul mood, but stroking the rabbit a bit before coming in seems t calm him a bit. He pops off to ‘Jack down the road’s on the understanding that it is only for half an hour. Louise & I wonder what to do about his ferocious temper…. After the half hour has passed I get him & he’s somewhat perplexed that tea is not ready of The Simpsons are not on… “We said half an hour”. He refuses to read his school book, so has to sit on the sofa with me & listen to me being boring & lecturing him about what is & is not acceptable, while he punctuates things with declarations of my stupidity & reminding me that I’m an idiot. He’s also reminded that such words are not what we want. Goodness knows if he’s taking any of it in… I try to see it as a ‘sea the shore’ effect: I will keep on like this until something gets through. The rest of the evening is basically OK with Jude, I guess – he has a bath early because he can have one without fuss & with fresh water. He likes that; he’s usually the last I the bath (by his choice).. He plays rather than sitting down to a story (as usual)

Other things

Eve was reading the Lemony Snicket book on her own after coming back from the park.  She must have wanted to get out of the way & she was able to get a bit of peace & actually read. This is good because she is often reluctant to do this or she cannot concentrate because there’s too much a-doing. So – she was able to sit & read & enjoy sitting & reading – a good thing.

Jack worked on Homework for quite a bit of the evening. Design Technology was Food Technology & sorting a collage of differing food types. There was writing up lab rules, there was an online Maths thing. The collage took quite a while as he hunted online for images – printed them out & collaged them.

On a personal note I seem to be managing to shake this cold, although it lingers in my sinuses & deep down in my chest, so I sniff & I cough more than normal. Paracetamol helps as well.

So then – this weekend?
It was more prickly than usual, which was not so good. Bizarrely Jack, Esme & I went off to Manchester together as Jack was sort of determined to get out & Jude was determined to stay in – so that wasn’t going to work. Jude seemed obviously over tired – hard to say why as he seemed to have slept, but then he looked tired & had bags under his eyes & acted the grouch (more than usual; “Stupid, Idiotic” his main phrases). Not a lot we could do for him there really. Esme the whirlwind was fraying at his edges as well – she wants his attention one way or another – she wants to amuse herself & he’s always so willing to react (what better than to get a reaction?).
So – to satiate & to extricate we set off to Leeds (Huddersfield would be no good) . Just as well we missed the train or we would have ended up on the rail replacement service from Halifax onward which would have been no fun at all. Checking through the times online via Louise at home, the Manchester train was obligingly late, so we sauntered over to that platform & went the other way instead (plus I have, my pass – so I don’t need to pay).

Didn’t manage to get Jack a raincoat. The only thing that Millets had that was useful has a blue camouflage style pattern on it – which is not really what we want. Did get French & German dictionaries for school & had quite a pleasant time. I upset Esme a few times because I wouldn’t let her go wandering off in busy shops & so forth. She fell asleep in the end (of course you were tired Esme – there wouldn’t be such a need for the fuss if you weren’t so tired). Jack also managed to get more Terry Pratchet books & a Dr Who book.

While we were off swanning about Louise managed to persuade Jude & Eve down to the park. Amber came along as well – so they probably had a good play. Louise took a couple of snaps with her new phone, Eve managed to get her shoes & feet completely sodden (why she wouldn’t think that grass near a huge pool of water might be sodden & messy… Hmm… Eve & thinking…)

Eve does seem over defensive at the moment. She’s unreasonable & not really wanting to discuss anything. She strikes me as worried about things – especially her appearance & social standing, & yet she continually acts with a lack of thought or maturity (for her age). Then it struck me as we were chatting last night that Jack might have been a similar age to this at the end of Mrs Mitchell’s class (Eve is just starting with Mrs Mitchell). She is a good teacher, it’s our kids self awareness at a similar age which is the comparison point. At the moment Eve’s reaction to most things is to put one her whinge voice & complain about it all – which can get a bit wearing. Her confidence seems to be very low (which is the problem with the additional maths work – no confidence sets yourself up to fail – because you expect to fail) If she’d start it & then ask for help all would be fine – after all – this is what we expect of her, but because she’s worried about not getting it right it’s classed as too hard & not something she wants to think about doing because that just upsets her. How to set the approach more in her favour is something I’m still puzzling over – I don’t see a way as yet… I would voice my concerns to Mrs Mitchell, as (as I say) she’s a good teacher in that way (she cares). Getting past her self pity & getting her more confident in herself seems to be the best tack, but getting past that annoying, annoying whingeing is quite hard.

Jack’s
1st term year 7 timetable

Times

doodle from my pad at work, again:

And a little summary – I’ve been a little under the weather this week (& there’s been some weather to be under) – head cold & bad chest: pretty boring, & make me even duller edged than usual.

Jack has coped well with his first week at school – he’s been doing French & German (seems quite taken with French).  We popped out to Manchester today as he needed to get german & French dictionaries for school; just Jack Esme & myself.

It seems a while since I was on what I consider to be my ‘normal train’ . Perhaps things have been more lax than I was leading myself to believe? I have a head cold – that probably assists in promoting this disjointed feeling I have this morning.

Despite better efforts I was not especially earlier to bed, but I did fall asleep somewhat after reading to Eve, so that might have helped (amount of sleep) & not helped (took a while to actually get to sleep properly when went to bed).

Perhaps I think about sleep too much? I think Jack went to sleep OK – he did get up in the night to go to the toilet (which woke me up: the ‘thump’ as he hops out of his tall bed) but when I popped down to turn the bathroom light off (he left it on) I checked in on him & he was jolly sleepy – so I think he’d actually woken up to go to the toilet. It would seem his body still has bad habits even if he’s trying to sleep better now.

So what was his first day at school like? It’s difficult to get any really deep impression out of him, but he’s most definitely happy. It was outside PE (& they should have had their outside kit (yet to be delivered by the school) so when he said that they should have had their other kit Louise & I were worried that we had made a mistake, but it seems that everyone else had made the same mistake; Jack said everyone was wearing their indoor whites outside, In a tremendously heavy shower from which they may have had to retreat. All his kit was damp in his bag; we’d not thought to supply a plastic bag for these events. I’m not sure now what lessons he’s actually done, but it might not be the case that at this early stage there hasn’t been too much in that way. All he’s had to do in the way of ‘homework’ is to copy his timetable into his log book; nothing too arduous to start with.

After all this I didn’t really get info from Jude & Eve as to what their new classes were like. Jude is with a teacher that Jack didn’t get along with, so we’re needing to keep an eye on that one & Eve s with a teacher that Jack really got on with, but then had a really bad year with his classmates… So again, it may be a case of keeping an eye on Eve, because there area lot of (shall we say) ‘competitive’ girls in her class; not necessarily academically competitive.

Esme has Lilly (from across the road) in playgroup with her now, so she likes that. They were making a noise & fuss upstairs on their own yesterday when I got home, so I went quietly up too see what nonsense they might be getting up to & they had set themselves out with a play picnic & were ‘reading’ Pingu books to each other. I slipped quietly away again – that’s the sort of play to encourage, not disturb.

Later setting out to work this morning, because I’ve seen Jack to the bus stop. I was going to see him onto the bus, but as there are 3 others he knows there it seemed a little gooseberry for me to hang about bringing to tone down , so I’ve scarpered to get my train. He’s probably travelling by now… on his was to his new school. Crikey!

I’m sure he’ll do fine.

It’s not been so bad all this getting ready. Louise’s most stressful point was ironing on the school badge to the blazer – think she was just so worried about getting it wrong. The badge was also to big for the blazer pocket & therefore overlaps the bottom of the pocket a bit… I was quite pleased to see that Thomas had the same arrangement on his blazer, so I mentioned that to Louise (quick call to say alls OK)..

It was quite nice to see all the kids this morning as well – we set off (Jack & I) with everyone waving at Jack down the backstreet. Naturally Esme wanted to come, but she made less fuss (in the end) than I thought she would. She wanted to go to school as well, & ‘m not sure what she’s made of Jack going off at a different time. I wonder if she’s expecting to see him at National when she goes to playgroup this afternoon?

Eve is now the oldest Schroeder at the school.

She was trying a little math work the other day & was finding it a little hard. She didn’t like it not being easier & complained about it (badly) Hm – when I say badly, I mean that she didn’t complain well; it was more like it was unfair than than it was something to be resolved & she’ll need to work on that approach to things if she’s to get a grip on it all… we’ll see – it might just take a little more maturity…