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?