D'Arcy Developments

Dylan, do you want me to tell you what happens at school?

Sometimes you have to play on your own.

You don't get to see the teachers very much

The teachers don't have to tell you when it's inside time 'cos there's a bell that goes [klaxon]hoot[/klaxon]

MUMMY!!
I picked D'Arcy up at lunch time on Wednesday last week, and when he saw me he ran across the quadrangle and launched himself into my arms. *sigh*

I don't want to go to school, I'm too sick
Most days he says this. Most days I say "nonsense" and send him on his way. I'm so hard.


Campbell gave it to me
Except that Campbell didn't give it to him. Campbell gave to the teacher to mind, who put it on the edge of the whiteboard, where D'Arcy liberated it, and brought it home.

I'm going to be a teacher. It's more fun than being a kindy
Goes without saying really. He's still profoundly disturbed at the disappearance of the teachers at recess and lunch. His solution is to find whichever teacher is on playground duty and hang out with them, and help them. He may never get over this one, but I hope he starts hanging with a peer group soon. Actually, maybe I hope he doesn't. I don't know, It's all confusing.

We did go to play at a friend's house on the weekend, which was fun. The boys had fun, and so did the mums. It's a weird dynamic though, meeing new people and becoming friends with them, not because you've chosen them, but because your child has chosen their child. I guess it's a bit like being a child, where you don't alwys choose your own friends, but there are some friends you have 'cos your mums are already friends...

We're off to the circus tonight. We were supposed to go on Sunday, but there was a mishap with the human cannonball, requiring hospitalisation, so the Saturday and Sunday perfomances were cancelled. With any luck D'Arcy will have a disco nap and not fall asleep half way through.

Today's photo was taken by the beloved on his new (wanky) Palm treo, and i didn't have a chance to crop it, sorry, but I like the wierd cartoon figure on the right. The jumping castle was outside the massive new hardware store where we went on the weekend.

So the first week has passed now. the first day was slightly traumatic, as you'd expect, but we all acquitted ourselves pretty well.

D'Arcy was with his dad on the first day, so I went there early in the morning, and we all walked together. We found which of the three kindergarten classes he was in - fortunately the one with the other two children from his child-care centre for the last 2 years - and got him settled. Interestingly, there were a lot of kids who had brought both parents along for the big day, and after we'd left our children we trooped up to the staff room for the morning tea that the P&C had put on for us. We met the father of a set of twins in D'Arcy's class, who I knoew when i was tiny - I went to school with his youngest brother, and my best friend's family was good friends with his family, so that was fun (re)introducing myself to him.

I had to go off to work, so didn't stay too long at the morning tea, but also met a woman who had worked in my workplace for a few weeks while I was away, but by mutual agreement didn't stay on. She is a bit odd. Amusingly, when i asked D who he'd played with on his first day, the person he named first was this woman's daughter.

D'Arcy likes his teacher, but isn't too into school. The days are a bit long, and going every day is a drag, he thinks. His current attitude seems to be"but I've been for a week, surely that is enough?"

They seem to do a lot of playing, especially at the beginning and end of the day, and D is enjoying filling us in on all the rules (where you line up to go into class). He's also liked going to the library and meeting the grade 6 buddies, who come and read to them, and generally be friends with them - a good thing for the littlies I reckon.

The picture here is a worksheet for "writing all the words and letters I know at the end of my first week". D'Arcy's is,of course, very much an abstract work, but things will change soon. We know he can write his name, and count up to 275, so it can't be all bad!

in other news, the beloved arrived today. This is good. he has gone to bed, exhausted by a hard evening of watching the winter olympics opening ceremony. I will be joining him there as soon as I get this post done. Some guy is singing "nessun dorma" prob'ly the Pav, i guess. Yep, just went to look at the telly, and there he was in all his glolry.

D'Arcy is at the coast with his dad this weekend, which is pretty good, and we have him next weekend. We'll ease into life a bit, but we're going to the massive Bunnings tomorrow, and then to a BBQ. What fun! Yep. I'm tired. I'm off to bed. the broadband isn't perfect - one of the sockets is buggered, and we can't seem to use the airport magic device, so stuck with cables at the moment. blech.

Finally!!!! I have the internet at home at a sensible speed.

Expect more news soon, specifically a school update.

D'Arcy took this photo of his tree the same day we put the rope up for swinging. He's been having a ball with it, but refused an offer to help him get up into it for a climb, for fear of spiders.

On Thursday last week we went to the pool and ran into everyone we knew, including Ampersand Duck and Bumblebee, much to D'Arcy's excitement. They ran away together to paddle in the baby pool where they met up with a buddy of D's from pre-school.

I've now also bought a ridiculously cheap wading pool for the back yard so that we can get cool without paying vast sums of money, we sat in it on friday evening, and golly, did it make a difference!

We're counting down the days until the beloved arrives (6), and still fielding regular cranky moment of "i don't want to go to school on Monday" I'm fairly sure it will all pan out OK though.

Not much else to report, I tried to write an entry on Friday night when things were fresher, but Blogger had a spazz and so it didn't work.

Finally, the big day arrived - the guys came to install the phone, broadband and cable tv....after an hour and a half they had the phone functioning, but bugger all from the cable box. So still I wait for the internet access of my dreams.

Other news, this is a photo of D'Arcy swinging from his rope in the tree in the back yard. Since the swinging the rope has stretched and his back scrapes the ground, so we need to fine tune it all, but he seems to like it. Notice the asbestos/cement sheet roof on the house.

He starts school next week, and is not looking forward to it at all. He doesn't like the idea of all day every day, and says he will miss me, and his dad, and Nippy (the cat). I believe him too. I'll miss him. I reckon I'll do some volunteering at the school once life calms down a bit. The beloved arrives at the end of that first week (not the best timing, but that is how it is I guess.)

I've had a house guest a few nights a week - Phil from work who has a house in the mountains, but whose town house arrangements recently fell through, so I offered him a few weeks of 2 nights a week in the spare room in exchange for some work around the house. He has excelled himself by fixing the 'asbestos cupboard' as it is known (laundry cupboard with big holes in the asbestos sheeting). He's covered it with new cement sheet, sealed and painted, with help from D'Arcy who asked all day today "when is Phil coming back?" He loves a project, my boy. There are some photos of that at Flickr.

Bloody hot here 35+ for days on end, somebody make it stop!

D just wandered out of the bedroom down the hallway to find me. 10pm. First time he's ever done it at night, but usually I'm reading in bed with him. So I'd better get off to bed anyway.