Good Times Keep on Rolling

The kids started their classes two weeks ago. They swim on Wednesdays and have gym on Thursday. They are in separate swim classes. Haley is in a level 1A (entry level without parent) class. She is older than most kids at the 1A or 1B levels. She is picking up on the instructors teachings quickly. Robbie is in a parent-tot class. He is the role model for splashing and putting your face in the water. The techniques used by the instructors are much different than what we’ve seen for them in the US. They seem to be pushing the kids more and using interesting, entertaining ways to keep them going.

They also started a gymnastics, play, project class. They were in separate hours (1.5 yr to 3 yr old class and 3-5 yr old class) but that turned out to be too much for both so they are only in the 3-5 yr old class now. Haley is tops in the class for the gymnastics portion. They start off with singing and moving for warm-up, do a free play on the gymnastic equipment (balance beam, rings, bars, tumbling) and finish with projects and cool down activities. It is a lot like what they did in the US in a tumbling toddler class but with Wiggles and Australian kid music.

The kids have been coloring window clings in the shapes of different Australian animals. I trace the animals onto a flimsy then they use a paint pen to drip and smear color on them. We’ve sent some back to the US and will send more. In the first batch, Haley sent some to her class along with her favorite book and a letter. Her teacher told us that the kids love the book. She also told us that Haley wrote that she is learning addition at Daddy Daycare and all the other kids wanted to be like Haley and learn it too. She is getting quite good at it if you want to test her.

The window clings are the only thing Robbie will color. He doesn’t like coloring books or project books. Instead of coloring we sing the ABCs (he still gets caught in repeating DEFG), the days of the week, and counting (he can count to 20 almost without any errors). Many parents remark on how well he talks for his age - even with his accent. They also comment on how well both of them behave, listen, and play well with the other kids. They both have run after another non-listening kid to try to bring them back to their calling mum. Robbie even does it to kids bigger than him. He is a tough cookie too. He fell the other day and chipped both of his front teeth. He cried but wasn’t outrageous about it so we thought it was a normal fall. We didn’t notice until brushing his teeth. We still need to get that fixed.

Funny story about Robbie…. We were at dinner with Ms. Melanie the other week. As with most dinners, it was long with poor service. Robbie and Haley had had enough and were up from their seat and moving around (it’s really hard to expect them to stay in their seat for two or more hours for dinner). They started crawling on the floor and that’s when I stopped them. Robbie came up showing me his fingers. “Yucky,” he said. I figured it was some goop he pick up on from the floor. Then he told me he stuck his hand down the back of his diaper. I used the cloth napkin to wipe his fingers and then escorted him out to change his diaper. Melanie made me take the poopy napkin with me (I, of course, would have left it) and I had to explain to the host why I was stealing their napkin.

Bedtime is getting earlier for the punks and that translates into earlier wake up time. I no longer get time in the mornings to do email or IM (that is one reason why I didn‘t do this update earlier as I projected in my original email). Can you believe the kids are waking up between 7:30 and 8:00! That’s outrageous! The good thing with that is that they get to see Stacey in the morning before she goes to work.

We are cruising the city less. On the weekends we have been adventuring out and during the week we have four days of planned activities. We are still discovering new playgrounds; two of which have pictures included - Federation Square and the Pirate Ship.

Haley plans on making a big sign for our return. She wants to inform all of you that she is Haley and Robbie is Robbie. She doesn’t think you will recognize them when they get home because they are growing so fast due to them eating so many vegetables. So look for the sign in May.

Thank you all for listening (and hopefully enjoying) our rambling stories and adventures here in Australia. We are having heaps (that’s lots in Aussie) of fun and would do this again without hesitation.