Blue

Things have been going pretty well at the Shams. The twins are settling in well at school. Kit was so excited to be elected to the SRC he was just about bursting with pride. Hannah and I have begun trying out routines on how to best manage the homework demands of Year 1 - spelling in particular. So far so good.
Saturday was in some ways a disaster - well return to extra curricular activities went famously but those electronic games and Kit are not mixing well at all. We had the most amazing tantrums - to the point were really he was hysterical and Phil and I were totally angry and frustrated. We are slowly working out the best approach so that he can enjoy his games but not be so overwhelmed by the whole thing. Our rules at the moment - no electronic devices Tues - Wed - the exception being if he wants the computer for something 'educational' such as Mathletics. That worked ok - hence it was the weekend where the wheels came off the wagon - honestly if we don't come up with a sound system that is workable - we will consider saying that the 'devices' are only for school holidays. Television is not counted as an electronic device in our house so Hannah has been largely unaffected by the debacles. Weekend strategy was a total failure on Sat - although the turning off of all devices regardless of pleading did meant hat once Kit had calmed down he and I had a wonderful afternoon while Phil and Hannah were at Rainbow CLub. Dinner was a Japanese chicken salad and I happened to have one of those sushi kits in the cupboard - I've never used them but it seemed a sensible Mother & Son activity. Kit was reluctant at first but soon forgot his computer angst and had a ball. Then we had a bath together - and I have those bath crayons in there at the moment so we each drew a Japanese garden. Well had just loved that - and after saying so a number of times he decreed that each Sat when the others are at swimming this is what we should do. I found a coffee table book of Japanese COurtyard Gardens and told him about the small Japanese garden that we had had at our old house. That night as we read one of his favourite kids books about Monet - and saw the bridges he painted it was declared that next week will be French night at our house. I am looking forward to it.
On Sunday it was decided to do some painting:
Hannah was proudest of her nail painting prowess
The actual painting well the painting on paper:
Did I mention that most of this occurred on her father's watch?
Hannah's fine motor skills are really coming along quite well - check out her little lego bus: