Archives: jack

Jack not so well today. We went out to Manchester… there was a pretext that I hand in the job application to the GMP that I’d competed at 01:15 yesterday. Thence back into the centre of Manchester – some food, & Louise & Jack went one way with me taking Eve, Jude & Esme down to Paperchase (via the vodaphone shop – spec for Eve’s birthday pressie. loopng back to meet up with Louise & Jack at Watertones.

Jack was sick this evening – bit of a temperature, but he’s quite a bit better at the moment (just right for staying up all night…) He has a new mp3 player that I picked up for him off the market for £8 – was worried that it might not work, but it seems fine – he’s onto some audiobooks.

Train on time shocker.

Not been typing much this week because… well the train was late, (it gets crowded) there was something to read, that sort of thing.

So that weekend past – what was that about? All very low key really – not much a doing as we didn’t have a game plan to be heading out for some reason or another, therefore, it was a ‘staying at home’ weekend.. There was no real snow to add to the general excitement, excepting that empty promise that fell Sunday afternoon & evening & all but vanished by Monday morning (poor Jack). Actually, all but Jack & I are fed up with snow. I’d quite happily see more & Jack actively wants more. Jude was never a bit fan to start with, Louise likes the idea of it to start with, but quickly gets fed up of its presence, Eve got bored of being wet & cold, but enjoys it really, & Esme, well – she’s be happy whatever it did, so long as there was opportunity for play.

Jack’s been getting up a little earlier in the mornings to catch the school bus rather than the service bus, He catches the service bus up to Walsden though, so that he has a chance of getting a seat on the school bus (it gets a bit full by the time it reaches Tod). Not sure of the change of heart – I think he’s wanting to be a little more social…

Um…

Oh, I guess our new overlords are coming into the office today (delayed from last week). I guess we might get a feel for things, but I’ve know this year meant change in some form… I’m not sure in what form, but ( know that my job is not safe, in that it is not going to exist as it is at present… It’s what they decide to do, & what I decide I can do. I know it’s impracticable to move down south – it would be too great a wrench, we wouldn’t be able to sell the house, we couldn’t move Jack from this school (I don’t think there’s anything in the state sector down their way that comes close) .. So, their stated desire to centralise their resources are at odds with the limitations of our lives. A year of change…. I really don’t see the point of worrying about such things though, a bunch of homilies come to mind, but I cannot dread change – it should at lest be interesting.

Esme seems chipper now – she had a sleep yesterday morning – didn’t go to playgroup & that sort of thing; rested as best Esme is able (active fidget). Listening to N.A.S.A track Money bemoaning money being the root of all evil – why does no one remember it’s the love of money that’s the root of evil, not the money in itself…. It’s an important distinction & singing it wrong in a catchy tune… ah well – I sound a fool – it’s a catchy tune & the phraseology doesn’t flow with the distinction. Meh.

I’ll have to give Jack this MP3 player soon anyway.. Hey ho – it’s been good while it lasted.

Yes anyway it’s been snowing – great fun. I dipped off early to ensure I could pick the kids up from school – Louise didn’t want to be taking Esme down to school (or facing some barrage of bemoaning from Jude) . Jack didn’t go to school yesterday; he’ set off good & early & was waiting up Walsden way when a 6th former & mother in car pulled up in a car to advise that the school was closed. He called Louise to report in, she called me checked the school website & Jack was already healing back. Perhaps the buses decided that it wasn’t possible or something. It’s a bit worse (the snow) over Halifax & Huddersfield way (over a couple of big hills).

Jack had a good day.

Jude & Eve had to go to school – the only way that Louise could get Jude to go was not in uniform… Which was OK, because the school ended up going to the park to do sledging. If you didn’t have a sledge you could use a black plastic bag. I think they had fun – Eve said she did… Jude was less committal – he has to keep up this pretence of not liking the snow. He doesn’t like the cold & wet that’s true, but he does concede that it’s pretty. When I met him at school he asked where Louise was – mentioned that Esme was not so well today .. [pause] “Ah, that’s why she wasn’t there at dinnertime” (dinner playtime when Louise would be taking Esme to playgroup for the afternoon) [pause…. pause…] I’m not feeling very well…” I grinned at him & admitted I expected as much. He gave me his sheet of homework & dashed off to ‘the cage’ to slide about & throw snowballs.

Went out & made a snowman when we all got home. Took a while as I need a lot of snow, me. I was a target for Jack & Ethan & Aden for a bit that was tiresome every so often, but I did retaliate every so often, which was tantamount to encouragement. Ethan amused me for a while after I managed to hit him… He didn’t like being caught by a snowball (I made him cry), so although he wanted to join in with Jack he didn’t want me retaliating, so he’d come up to me & throw a snowball about an inch & then in a deadpan voice say, “Oh dear” & bemoan his lack of ability. I did help him out later when the cold sensation of snow in his boot caused him distress (he thought it akin to pain – possibly a little Aspergers coming to the fore) only to have Aiden dump my snow stash on me head as I was helping Ethan put his boot back on. Not only did I get a bit down the back of my neck, but had to empty the boot out again. I didn’t ‘get’ Aiden back I could have & I made a half hearted attempt, but it would be unfair, really.

Got the snowman finished.

duuuuh

Typically, I’ve managed to get the blog thing up to date (yesterday’s typing actually posted yesterday (what’s that about?). And now my nearly rested (nearly feel as though I might have had a quota of sleep) brain would just rather hum jaunty chord progressions.

Went a little earlier again yesterday as I like that train from Manchester that only stops at Rochdale & Todmorden – I’m back home all the quicker with that & was able t catch Louise & Esme up at playgroup again made Esme jump again) . Eve apparently has a bit of homework to do this week which she diligently avoided keeping busy with play all evening. Jude & Jack had a couple of ‘flare-ups’ for petty reasons. We really do have to get through to Jack that winding Jude up is so counter productive & foolish. Never mind it was all handled well enough & I would hope that simmering resentments will be dissipated….

“Well, not until the next time anyway”.

Later in to work because I’ve left my keys there – not that work is starting earlier – reduced hours in place due to the festive season.

So – are we prepared?

Hm – well – that’s a little difficult to say.. I’d say yes.. but only provisionally. I’m not convinced & I’ve been sent out today with instruction to purchase other bits & bobs. At least I’ve basically finished struggling home somewhat overburdened with stuff that needed to be sneaked into the house while Louise is picking the kids up from school. Plans there weren’t helped by Jack, Jude & Eve being of ill. Esme was ill away from playgroup as well, but that’s less … well, less that being away from school. They’ve all had a nasty cough/cold/sore throat/fever/sicky combination with varying degrees of differing seriousness on each symptom. Louise & I have been a little off, but thankfully nothing as bad as they seem to have had. Louise took Esme to the doctors because it included night time fevers, and once past the receptionist firewall obfuscations the doctor was quite conciliatory & understanding that we’d bring her in with fever & cold symptoms (after everything)

We’ll see we’ll see…

Still to finish off wrapping (must remember more paper!) as there’s been quite a bit to do. Jack was muttering to Louise that he always seems to get books or some such. He does read voraciously… It is a good option (on the whole) but then I do understand because he’s a kid & it’s good to have frivolous toys & fun things. He does have.. well… at least one thing… um… Hmmm.

I’m aware that the blog thing has not been updated for a while. I’m concious – I’m aware – I’m… well, no – I’m not especially guilty. I’ve had time pushed from all quarters & I just shrug & continue as there’s no point in worrying about it as that would imply that I think there’s something unjust & unfair whereas that’s just the way things are at the moment.

Here are other things I should worry about as well, but I’ll have time later (maybe).

Fingers still returning to normal after making a snowman on the platform.

Naturally I’m feeling better today – not the bemoaning mutter of yesterday.

Jack was complaining this morning that it never snows at convenient times: he’s either having to go to school or go to bed.

Eve has ‘Star Of The Week’ in her class thus week for “not complaining”. There was some indecent in the playground where she was accidentally hurt & she was brave & stoic about it all (apparently). Ironic that she spent a good portion of the evening (when not playing) howling like a banshee about some injustice, discomfort or difficulty. Having said that she & Amber & Jude did play well together. Esme was louder with her complaints… I’d say she’s feeling better as she’s trying to assert her presence somewhat with various tactics… most of them noisy.

Jude was a little tired & hotheaded from time to time, but then that seems to be his nature at the moment… Ah, aside from flashpoints around tea he was fine.

So then – how do Eve & Jude’s teachers perceive that they are dong at school?

Well, Eve’s teacher: she likes Eve; confident, able considerate & all that sort of thing; lovely girl, “Another bright one there”. Louise brought up her lack of confidence at the moment & teacher was a little surprised. Two edged… Eve is uncountably seems more confident at school, so it’s not odd that she’s a little surprised by this. She’s also the same teacher that didn’t spot Jack’s confidence crumble while he was in her class… So… we either are worrying unduly or not worrying unduly… but it’s too early to tell. Eve may just have had a couple of ‘off’ weeks, or as is more usual has different responses to different situations. She has quite noble ethics, does Eve & the hurly burly of our family life does take it’s toll on her sense of justice now & then (thus the ‘not fair’ weekend when there was little that could be declared unfair).

So then Jude… Jude is with a teacher Jack just didn’t get one with… for one reason or another. Jude seems to get on with her fine though, so this is good. She says that Jude is a bit of a dark horse. He (like Eve) is in the ‘top ability’ group & he can do anything that she gives him. He also seems to be canny enough not to do too much; it seems he can pace himself so that although he gets everything done, he doesn’t do it too quickly & thus be given extra to do. She doesn’t seem to indicate that he’s not pushing himself, it sounds like she’s indicating that he’s figured how to ‘work the system’ that she operates; ‘dark horse’, indeed. Jude does have ’11+ type’ books at home for maths & verbal reasoning & Louise does set these & he does enjoy dong them. He’s not by any means scared of school work. I was being jumped on by Esme yesterday evening (Esme did a lot of jumping on me yesterday) & he asked if he could read me his reading book. He ended up reading it to Louise, but it was pleasant to have been offered.

Jack had a homework overload a little bit again last night. Bad day at school was foolish enough to try to catch a bus up the road to catch the school bus, but caught the wrong bus leaving him having to dash back to where he wants to catch the school bus. The school bus could be more… civilised. Being ‘Year 7’ (youngest in the school) they are lower in the packing order & therefore find it harder to get seats on the bus. Therefore Leila, Cleo Thomas & he have been travelling further up the bus run to catch the bus where seats are less sparse. Jack is presently walking quite a way to catch the bus at an early stop at the moment. So yesterday as he has a bus pass he tried catching a bus to get further ‘ahead’ & failed miserably because he didn’t think things through properly. He’s been chastised at home for even trying because he does run the risk of missing the bus altogether if he keeps takes this approach. Next bungle involved rushing from Food Tech without first ensuring his bag was well done up & his school bags spilling into a muddy puddle. He has some seriously damp books & he was not allowed to go out of German to go back & retrieve a couple of books he (somehow) missed – including his German, which (…hmm – this all sounds so less likely as I type) included his German book which meant that he could not hand in the German homework that he was supposed to have done. Hmm… anyway – he did get a merit in German because he only got one wrong in his spelling & that was because he wrote ‘s’ rather than ‘z’. Homework next lesson. Jack seems to miss noting down all the homework he’s has due sometimes. Stressful day for him though.

I wonder why he was up in the night & left the hall light on & left a chair from his room in the middle of the hall? The lights on is nothing new – he does that when he get up to go to the toilet – it’s just part of who he is that he doesn’t manage to turn the lights off, but the chair was odd.

Voom! – Hey! -it’s Friday? Ah well – not unexpected, I guess, but there never seems enough time; it just races.

What has been a doing in this old week? Jack had a day off school on the Wednesday – I suppose that might be the weekly anomaly. He also started helping Eve with some of that ‘Home maths’ stuff – the sort of thing Jack was doing… This approach seemed to work well for Eve, she was calm enough to deal with it. I don’t quite know why she protests so much & gets so upset when we help her – well- when I help her in particular because I take it calmly, ut she seems to dig her heels in about it & not I a good way – she starts to believe she cannot do something & therefore puts up mental blocks to actually doing it (rather than staying calm & focussed). This becomes a little galling, but I just try to reiterate the point that I don’t think she’s talking in in a slightly different way. That said there’s usually some form of noisey distraction as well – perhaps she’s not so good with those either… it’s not like Louise or I could remove ourselves from the noisy Distractocons to assist Eve as they would just follow & persist; they are difficult to ignore & dismiss. I guess the difference with Jack helping her was that they were able to go to Jack’s room & close the door…. hmmmm

Eve also did her homework OK last night (although I had to remove Jude from sitting on the table Eve was working on; he was complaining about some or other injustice that he perceived the world had dealt him. He was not in a good mood last night – not sure why… he had been better on the whole these last 2 weeks (quite delightful at times) & there were little bits of ‘really good and helpful’ behaviour seeping out from him from time to time, but on the whole he was argumentative & stubborn.

Mind you Esme was wild & wilful yesterday evening as well… She’d been playing with Lilly since they got home & they are always getting themselves all hyped up; such is the intensity of their playing.

Low key weekend… he kids played & we got the shopping… or did we play & the kids get the shopping? When did Louise & I last get to ‘play’? That’s silly. The kids did go shopping though – both on Saturday & Sunday Jack, Eve & Jude set out to to Morrisons on their bikes. On Saturday I cramped their style & turned up as well (as they only had a portion of the shopping to do. Caught up with them (on my bike) just as they got to the shop, so they couldn’t nip into the cafe to get themselves some toast. On the Sunday they tried to get toast, but they were refused by the very fickle staff there as they were supposed to be 15 or over to be able to have toast. Not that I haven’t seen younger kids being served there – they’re just fickle. Things went a little wrong then because they’d already done their shopping & thus headed back. Stopped off at Heals to get some drinks & Eve was supposed to stay outside (as Jude had the day before when they stopped by the newsagents) to look after the bikes, but Eve though this grossly unfair & said that they would get her the wrong kind of drink, had huff & headed home on her own (they are supposed to stick together). Jack mutters that he probably won’t take Eve again, but it’s been more her general attitude this weekend. Very ‘half empty glass’ & apt to shout about things being unfair (when they aren’t really) & that we don’t understand (possibly all too well) & generally being rude & wailing. We put iyt partially down to being tired still from being so late to bed on Friday….

Friday we went to the Parents Evening up at school. It was not so much a .. hmmm – well – I knew it wasn’t a parent’s evening like ‘meeting the teacher to see how your child is doing’ but more an ‘open evening’ affair. I’m not sure what I envisaged, but parents got to sit at large tables & even buy a beer or wine while the kids went off to one of the halls to be entertained by some sixth formers. We were given a similar lesson to one Jack will have had toward the beginning of term in his ‘learning to learn’ lessons. A little self assessing quiz to see what type of learning strategy would work best for us? I turn out quite high on kinaesthetic; which I guess kind of figures. I discussed with Louise that she would be higher on the aural/verbal learning were some of the questions not skewed to assume you had huge self confidence, but both Jack & Louise scored highest on … oh the ones about being able to take stuff in just reading it. Discussion on all these types of learning & it was interesting enough to stop me doodling & sketching – so that was something. It was also supposed to be an evening where we could socialise with other parents, but .. well we didn’t – we stuck to our table & didn’t attempt to try. We enjoyed it though. Got a brief chat with Jack’s teacher so she can put adults to the child. All went as well as we could have wanted. Must have just missed a bus home because we had to wait a while & Jack & Eve got bored. Eve looked the part – she had her new blouse on, her calotts, her glasses & her hair in bunches. She brought along her colouring books in a small shoulder bag that also added to making a good impression. Jack’s teacher had noticed her. Eve enjoyed herself & likes the school a lot. We need to try to capitalise on this & try to get her to apply herself instead of digging her heels in & telling herself something is hard when she just need to calm down, look at something & get on with things evenly.