Over the hump

From Jun2014

On the radio driving into work this morning, I heard that today is the middle hump day of the year. Half the year is officially over. We've reached the metaphorical peak and now it's all downhill from here. The rest of the year will go quickly and Christmas will be here before we know it. Yikes!

This is pretty much true for us. In two days, half the school year will be over for Nicholas. We've had a challenging start but it has seemed to peak and settle down. He's ended on a high note, receiving a merit certificate at the last school assembly for a "well constructed recount of the St John's School excursion" and receiving a good progress report. His writing has taken off and he enjoys creative writing (check out "The Big Camp Out") and writing in his journal. He's gained more independence and is happy for me to drop-off and pick-up without having to come into the classroom. He's also started making his own toast at home and has surprised me a couple of times with his responsible behaviour of putting things away. He's matured a lot in the last six months.

Last weekend Nicholas had another personal milestone and saw a live musical without much trouble. He hasn’t really enjoyed the watching movies in the cinema as the volume tends to be too loud which makes scary scenes even more frightening. Anyway, he really enjoyed Moonflower and has since been randomly breaking into song. So he and I have decided to book tickets to see the Lion King in Sydney next month. We're very excited!

Both children have grown in different ways. Catherine can now draw faces and ride her bike with training wheels. She continues to entertain us with her singing and dancing. She's a girly girl, always declaring pink and princesses are her favourite. We've learned recently that she tends to be on the shy side at childcare, which surprises us as outside of that environment she is outspoken and she talks to everyone. And she doesn't hold back when expressing her big emotions (see my last post, Abandon shop). Here's a recent video of Catherine singing:

Finally, apart from finding fraudulent charges on our credit card, we've had a good month. We've been on a few outings when winter started off mild, enjoying clear sunny days until a couple of weeks ago . Now the cold has well and truly arrived and I’ve been finding it hard to stay warm. There's snow in the local mountains and walking from the car park to work isn't very pleasant these days.

At home I've had fun decorating and organising our new bedroom and play/guest room. Phil and I were also able to go out to the movies recently to watch The Edge of Tomorrow (3.5/5), a good movie to watch in the theatre and despite the violence, it was surprisingly entertaining and amusing. Coming up for Phil are a few work trips and choral performances between now and the end of the year.