Trusting

This was what the Easter Bunny brought Levi last night.  He was very happy with some of it but was a bit disappointed that the Easter bunny hadn't hidden any eggs outside for him to find.  I didn't remember our Easter bunny ever hiding eggs outside for him to find but he insisted.  I think that he was confusing the hunt with the bunny but you know six year olds are always right and their mothers are consistently wrong. 

Today we spent the first part of the day doing nothing.  Actually that is not correct.  We spent most of the day doing very little.  Until three in the afternoon, I was unable to get Levi to do anything really.  He watched TV and played on the floor.  He adamantly refused to do anything.  I went out to the dump and to get a newspaper and he didn't even want to come for the ride.  Pete called to say that the water slide was back up and that we should come and play.  Levi wasn't keen until about three in the afternoon and then suddenly as a light switch he wanted to go.

When we got to Pete and Cheryl's place we went for a walk up the back of their place to check out a snakeskin and try to decide if it was a regular carpet snake or a brown.  We decided that we didn't know.  Then with one kid on a motorbike and two on regular bikes with walked around the perimeter. 

The kids all wanted the slide on!  They are all very relaxed and independent kids, so we turned on the slide and let them go, watching from the top.  They had so much fun and went down on the inflatables, on their tummies, on their backs and any other way that they could think of.  I am sure tomorrow, they will all have bruises along their spines where they bumped across the hard ground.  They slide down with an almost identical look on their faces.  They pretty much close their eyes and just let loose.  I don't remember the last time that I did that.  I haven't just closed my eyes and let things go, trusting that there will be a soft landing.  I wonder if we lose that ability somewhat as we get older; the ability to just let go.  The ability to trust that someone or something will catch you at the end there.  It is very much a child's ability.  I envy how easy it is for them.  I am going to try to find it!

Then the boys started to swim.  Well they used the pool anyway.  It was about jumping.  They hammed it up for the camera and it was just a blast to watch them.

And still they would land, eyes closed and trusting.  Ah kids!  They are fantastic!  I need to go play another fantasy creature tonight.  Levi lost another tooth today.

Miracle

 Today I got up to a miracle.  I came around the corner of the sofa and Levi was reading, by himself, by choice.  He was sitting on the sofa, playing with his lip and reading quietly by himself.  In a blog post only a few months ago, I despaired that he would ever learn to read.  Now he is reading without saying out loud.  Six months ago, I thought that he might have even been going backward in his reading and today he is a reader.  Not just a reader but he is choosing to read, for fun.  It does my heart good to watch him this morning. 

Actually I had inklings that this was coming.  Suddenly the notes he writes are more accurate and he is writing 'books' complete with 'chapter pages'.  I don't know what was the switch but it has definitely been turned on.  I suspect that some of it was just the way his brain works.  He needs to find the pattern in something, but when that pattern emerges, he is insatiable.  Some of it may have been, that I relaxed.  I didn't 'give up' but I definitely relaxed.  I read to him at night when he was tired, rather than being frustrated that he was struggling to read to me.  We got through all eight books of 'Deltora Quest' and have started on the 'Stories of the Shadowlands'.  I just read two chapters and we go to bed.  I don't qualify it anymore, making him read his book to me first.  Now I just chilled out.  Maybe I should have thought to do that months ago! 

Today was busy and all over the place.  I had to take a baby goat down to the vet, which took forever and tried to get at least a little yard work down.  Today was mowing, tomorrow is whacking weeds.  It is getting hotter and hotter and I am starting to think that the weeds are going to win this summer.  I keep thinking that if I can just stay on top of them I should be fine, but as the days get hotter earlier and summer really takes hold, there is a panicky feeling that I will lose control.  Ah well, some things just can't be done.  And weeds can be pretty too!

 Di came over with her boys and we were going to the pool but this was delayed due to the excursion taking the kid to the vet.  Di was lovely and looked after all the human kids, so I could take the four legged kid in.  Then we went to play in the pool.  Levi just loved it and both Di and I commented how much easier it is to go to the public pool when the kids (human) are completely confident swimmers.  Di and I sat in the shade and planned the trip to the coast, glancing up to check on them.  One year ago we had to stand on the side, or knee deep in the water watching them.  Two years ago we were in the water with them and they had life jackets on!  My, it is incredible how fast and strong and independent they grow without noticing it.

Waterparks and Ambulances

Today we went to the water park.  Well yesterday anyway but I am blogging in the early morning so it is close enough!  We went to the water park and the water was freezing!  OK the water wasn't freezing, it was heated but it wasn't heated much!  The water was 27 C/80 F.  That is way too cold for me.  The boys all had a blast because they had turned on the water slide.  We put them all into wetsuits so they would last longer and the frantic sliding, running around and climbing stairs helped to keep them warm as well!

 There are a bunch of other water play things as well.  Most of them are 'too young' for the boys now that they are confident swimmers, but Levi and Luke played a really fun game of hide and seek.  Well fun for them!  It is a little hard to be the one who was watching them and they kept disappearing! 

The mood of the day changed in a heartbeat though.  Natey had a big allergic reaction to something.  Who knows what and he went red and welty and then progressed fairly quickly to lethargy and disorientation.  This was followed fairly quickly by unrelenting vomiting.  It was well above our level of comfort, so we called an ambulance.  I took Luke for the rest of the day and Cheryl took Nate to hospital.  It is at moments like that I recall what is really beautiful about a Public Health system!  No one ever asked if he had insurance and he went straight to a hospital! 

Nate did fine in hospital and they kept him long enough to make sure he didn't have a second response.  He was very tired when I saw him in the afternoon but I think that a good long sleep will restore him.  Now all we have to worry about is the random allergy.  The most likely suspect at the moment though is an allergy to the Cold.  He was freezing but nothing else was really new.  We shall see.  That is in the allergist's hands now anyway!

Today Levi and I are going with Zac and Alex to play on the bike track.  I am hoping to get some great 'jumping' photos but regularly, my mind thinks that I am a better photographer than my shutter finger does!

Swimming

Today I had some of Levi's friends over for the day.  They played beautifully and had a picnic on the floor of the living room.  They rode bikes and jumped on the trampoline.  They played 'surf school' (Don't ask!).  They all played without needing parental intervention most of the day while I helped one of their parents with things that she needed done.  The kids all just acted as if they were on holidays.  They were and they deserve this time of freedom.  

The weather is still suddenly summer.  It remains hot and muggy.  Queensland continues to burn.  The 340 fires that were burning across the state a couple of days ago have been reduced to a mere 40 but the air is still ashy and cloudy.  I hope they get them under control soon.  It is hot enough that the kids wanted a swim so this afternoon, we went to Ty's house and they took turns jumping in and climbing back out again.  They swam in the pool until dinner and consequently Levi is sound asleep again.  Oh do I love holidays! 

There were other spectators at the pool this afternoon.  This kookaburra watched the kids for a long time until a flock of little birds drove him away!



Sunday

Today, we played, and played and played!!