December 2006

Juliette
Juliette is in grade one and is being challenged by the school system to acquire some spelling, reading and math skills. I’m happy to say that she has risen to the challenge. It is true that we’ve tried to teach her some of these basic skills before she had to learn them at school and for the most part failed miserably. We are very proud of her hard work she’s demonstrated both at school and at home (doing homework). It wasn’t always easy though. Her first dictée involved a ton of tears. But ever since then she’s become way more comfortable. It also helps that her writing skills seem to improve every week. Dictée is done with daddy, for whatever reasons mommy refused to do it. Other activities include lecture and singing.

Juliette is convinced that she has a loose tooth. This is somewhat wishful thinking and somewhat fact. At least two weeks ago Juliette claimed to have a loose tooth. Considering almost everyone her age has already lost a few teeth, we weren’t all that surprised. So for Juliette she was extremely excited for the first couple of days and would tell us every hour or so that she had a loose tooth. I tried to move it and it was slightly loose (I think). The next time you see her, ask her about it and I’m sure she’ll talk your ear off.

Nicholas
The boy has some temper issues. From discussions with other parents there are two schools of thoughts on this. One is to let the freak out but to provide him with an outlet that is more suitable than crying, kicking and screaming at the top of his lungs. This would involve punching a pillow or smashing a pile of shaving cream. The other treatment is to make it clear that the behaviour is unacceptable and to punish him for it. I think we’ve decided to do the later of the two punishments. The boy is going to have to control his temper in life (we all do), and the sooner the better. He’s also demonstrated that if we threaten him with a punishment severe enough like forbidding him to play video games, he will find a way to bottle up his temper tantrum. It’s obvious to anyone watching that this takes a Herculean effort for him but I think it’s the only way to deal with this issue. The reason I feel so strongly about controlling your temper is because during a casual conversation with grandparent at a child’s B-day I attended recently I mentioned to him that Nicholas had trouble controlling his temper. The grandfather mentioned that he had an adult son like that who ended up as an adult who lost his temper a bit too often with the law and had spent some time in jail as a result. Yikes!

Sophie
The disaster that is Sophie has made our daily life incredibly entertaining and busy. She loves her siblings and worships the ground they walk on. She knows what she wants and still isn’t afraid to yell for it. Her latest tricks include repeating every word you say (with a thick baby accent) and pretending that she can pee like a boy (standing up). Sophie’s favourite game is called “who’s the baby”. If you ask her, she answers “MEEE”. Again like everything she does, it’s very cute.

Sports and leisure
Juliette does tap class. She doesn’t have much rhythm but her heart is in it and as usual, he listens very well to the teacher. Much like ballet, I’m not sure if Juliette’s going to continue with dance but it seems to have entertained her for a couple of months.

All three are doing swimming. Sophie loves the water and is the best in her class at floating on her back. She doesn’t like the songs much though because they usually involve her being thrown up in the air and landing in a big splash. It’s the splash she doesn’t like so as soon as we start singing “Grand old Duke of York”, or “Stick you right hand out” she clings to you like your life depends on it. Nicholas likes to swim. His class is perfect for him since it’s full of energetic boys just like him. If you ask him what his favourite part is about swimming, it will be the fact that the class is all boys. Juliette is swimming laps now. It’s the first time for most of the kids in class and she’s doing OK with it. We are very proud of her for handling it so well. Other activities include gymnastics for Juliette & Nicholas and the odd Video game session for me in the boy at the outlaws house.