Bragging Rights for a Proud Parent

Sport Boy came home from school with this certificatethis afternoon and I was suitably impressed. You can click on the image to enlarge it but the wording says" awarded to Paul Holt For a Fantastic Attitude towards Everything he does."

This picture is a few years old but at a pinch is the only school photo of him I can find. He's in Year 4 now.


I did a few hours work for Dave at the Glass Factory today, assembling window frames ready for installation in a house under construction.
It was an ignominious night for "Son of Miffy the Cow"- my volleyball team, I was the only player to show up for our game at 6:30! Ross and Magda have a valid excuse, seeing as they are currently in Poland, but Stu and Scott should have been there! We pulled together a team of fill-ins and had a scratch match, which ironically, we won!! Shame the points don't count!!

One of my mates, Cam, let me know about a friend of his, Lisa, who has a blog. She has worked with Aboriginal Communities in isolated places and like Cam, is very concerned about recent events happening in indigenous Australia with the Federal Govt intervening in what is supposed to be an effort to stop child abuse which is a significant issue in some places. It seems the govt's heavy-handed approach goes beyond these issues and threatens land rights, so hard-fought for in Australia over the last 20 years. I'm not across all the issues but am open to hearing opinions from those who know more than me on the subject.
You can check out her blog and keep up to date with news and events here.

Crikey

While we were at the Sculptures by the Sea exhibition Sport Boy did a pretty good impression of Steve Irwin.

I'm easing back into work, not trying to push myself too hard, although there was some strain today when I umpired a football game between some year 9's from Busselton and Forrestfield.
It was the first time I'd run around at all since I hurt my ankle last year. I must have looked like I was struggling because a couple of mates asked me if I was ok during the breaks! Apart from having to send three kids off for fighting it went well. Busselton won very easily.

The rest of the day was spent dealing with bills, insurance, transfers, fringe benefits and repayments!

I skipped my Youthcare meeting tonight so I could look after Sport Boy while Carolyn took Jordan to Margaret River for his rehearsals and Sophie was at work.
When she got home we talked about her plans to travel, where she might like to go, and how much money she's likely to need. I got out the atlas and we talked about Britain, Europe, Rome, Greece, Israel, Egypt, South America, the USA, Jamaica and Fiji. Plenty of options amongst that lot.

For the rest of the night I've been painting and watching Australia play the West Indies in the cricket, Matthew Hayden was on fire.
I bought some canvases this afternoon and as I put them in the car a lady commented that she was jealous of me having the time to paint. This led to a discussion of our respective interest in and passion for art and I was amazed to hear her say things that I've either thought or said, about dreaming of one day having a studio and having the time to just paint, of being inspired to create pieces of art when we see all manner of objects, the relaxation that comes when you zone out and paint etc. It was fascinating talking to someone who echoed my feelings and experience of the last 12 months.

Carolyn has made a few suggestions lately of ideas I could try or techniques I could experiment with. I said to her last night, "You should try it yourself." She agreed but then started thinking of reasons not to. I want to encourage her to just have a go and try it. That's what I did and now I'm hooked.

Back to Work

Sophie and Sport Boy on her birthday. I have a similar picture taken about 3 years ago of the two of them together and was trying to recreate it here. This one below is not the one I'm referring to but it's similar. They have always been very close and often laugh and play together or have snuggles.

I returned to work today and survived the ordeal. I even managed to get a couple of important things done. A few people were surprised to see me, a rumour had gone around that I wouldn't be back till next term. I could handle that, the time off was very beneficial, but there's work that needs to be done, otherwise if I did delay my return important things would become urgent and my anxiety might increase significantly.

I went to a play put on by the year 12 drama students tonight called "Away". It was quite good, but the most impressive part was how well one particular girl did. She's been a ratbag kid for the last 3 years yet she acted brilliantly tonight, with maturity and composure in a demanding role.

Panic

Sport Boy had a panic attack tonight, a very unpleasant experience. I'd gone out to deliver some of Jordan's junk mail, leaving him home watching TV. At 9 years old it's not uncommon for him to be home on his own for short periods. I was out for between 20-30 minutes. When I got back he wasn't here but the phone was ringing. Sue, the new neighbour was calling. He'd gone next door very distressed, "scared" about something but unable to say what. His eyes had been bothering him, possibly as a result of the chlorine in the pool from his swimming lessons. He was crying, shaking and agitated and in a real mess. Even with two of us comforting him he didn't calm down much. He was wobbly and couldn't stand up but after some time he'd calmed down a little bit and I took him for a drive (hoping that looking for the comet might take his mind off it perhaps). We called Carolyn who spoke to him for a long time and prayed for him, both of which helped but he was still very agitated. She suggested I take him round to Noel's place and get him to pray for him. Noel and Steph are the pastor's of our church and great people. Noel taught him some scripture to help him, "God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind" and "Perfect love casts out all fear". This along with some prayers began to see him calm down a bit though it was a slow process. He lay on the sofa for a while saying the verses over and over and the more he did the more settled he became. Thankfully, after about half an hour he stopped shaking and crying and writhing and really brightened up. A little later he was smiling and laughing and back to his old self. The whole episode probably lasted a bit over an hour.
Now he is safely tucked up in my bed and sleeping peacefully.
We don't know what caused it but the prayers and scripture certainly helped it to go away.

I had to smile to myself as I listened to him talking to Carolyn on the phone. She must have asked what had happened when he went to the neighbour's house. His reply was, "She hugged me and nurtured me." Even in his distress he had an impressive turn of phrase!
I'm glad and thankful that he's ok now.

Jordan and Sophie got away safely to Planetshakers though one of them left behind their crockery and cutlery, not sure which one. I rang Big Brother the Accountant who is going to Planetshakers with my niece Amy and arranged for him to provide them with a replacement set so they've got something to eat with.

Hoops

Mum and Walter dropped off Sport Boy's Christmas present yesterday, a basketball pole, they got it in Perth for us and it was too big for us to bring back at Christmas. We set it up this afternoon. That makes it sound easy. It wasn't. Now, in real terms it wasn't a difficult job, but a job only needs a few nuts and bolts and unusual parts to start stretching my capabilities. What made this one tougher was the awkwardness of it and the hot weather we were working in. We being Sport Boy and I. I did the heavy lifting, he did the holding, steadying and encouraging. Actually I was impressed with a couple of his suggestions which showed an intuitive understanding of what I was trying to do, not sure where he got that ability from, possibly his grandfather, maybe the dna for mechanical tasks skipped a generation? We finally got it erect, I dug out some lawn to allow it to sit level, filled the base with water to counter-balance it, and Bob's your Mother's Brother, we were away. He even convinced me to come out and shoot a few hoops with him just before bed time.
He's happy, and when he's happy I'm happy. He is a very easy kid to love, he's demonstrative, encouraging and grateful, all endearing traits.

We collected my paintings from Vasse this afternoon, which sadly means they weren't sold! Rats! Here I was dreaming of my burgeoning art career taking a positive step forward and my bank balance receiving a boost, but neither happened. I have booked a stall at the Petticoat Lane street markets that are part of the Busselton Festival in a couple of weeks though so perhaps I'll have better luck there.

We also retrieved the rabbits from Laurie and Sonia's place; they'd been bunny sitting them for us while we were away at Augusta. The rabbits survived but the exercise served to convince Laurie that they won't be getting any pet rabbits for their kids, something about chasing them round the yard trying to put them back in their hutch deterred them apparently!

I cooked a BBQ for dinner and we ate al fresco, the kids complemented me on the food. Sophie prepared the salad. She's looking for a new job but in the meantime may go to Planetshakers this week with Stu and Deb and a small group from Down South.

Jordan as usual left his junk mail delivering until the last possible moment, finishing it just as the (daylight saving assisted) light gave way to night. He did however find time throughout the day to read for several hours, watch Smallville dvds and chat on MSN.

I've just finished watching Mission Impossible 3 on dvd which was ok, typical Hollywood style action movie. Casino Royale was much better.

Swimming lessons start in the morning so I better get some sleep!

Sport Boy's Dilemma

We went down to The Goose for a coffee this afternoon. Sport Boy had been bugging us for a while to hit him some cricket catches so before we went home we found some shade on the beachfront and I hit him some catches. All was going well until a high ball got stuck in one of the Fir Trees. I threw the bat up in an effort to dislodge it and the tree saw it's opportunity to completely thwart our game by grabbing the bat too. No ball, no bat, no game.

I lifted Sport Boy up so he could climb the tree and get them down only to discover that he had never climbed a tree before!!!

How can this be?

How can an active little boy reach the age of 9 never having climbed a tree?

Greg and I both commented that we spent much of our childhood climbing trees.

I took it for granted that my kids climbed trees too but obviously I was wrong.

This was a call to arms. An immediate response was required to further my son's education and broaden his horizons.
I hoisted him up into the tree and he began his tentative ascent, questioning whether the branches would break and what if he slipped and various other comments borne of nervousness and lack of experience.
We coached him further up until he reached the branch he needed and he hesitantly began shaking the it in order to dislodge the ball. We persuaded him to move a little further out from the trunk in order to get more leverage and pacified his concerns with reassurances that the branches would not break. Sport Boy weighs about 20 kilos ringing wet so there was no danger of his weight being too much for the tree to bear. Eventually he knocked the ball and the bat free.

How do I get down he asked?

Same way you got up, climb and I'll lift you out when you get to the bottom branch.
He managed quite well, even pausing to pose for a photo as you can see.
Back on terra firma he exclaimed a number of times and confided his fears and his excitement at his adventure.

I won't assume again my kids are familiar with the value of such a simple childhood pleasure as climbing a tree.

A pox on you PlayStation!