Beetle drive

So it's come to this. Friday night after a hard week of hard thinking and I barely have time to wolf down my tea before taking Sean and Finn along the road to a Beetle Drive at Sean's Beavers/Cubs section. Mayhem! I have to hand it to the ladies who run the section. Why anyone would want to host a pack of lively boys at the end of the week, every week, is beyond me.

Sean and Finn didn't really mix with anyone else, preferring to sponge off me for cakes, lucky dips and raffle tickets. Finn won a box of fruit jellies. We also took part in the beetle drive which involves rolling a dice to try and complete parts of a beetle with a partner, swapping partners as you go. Finn, to his credit, after a reluctant start, was in a different group from Sean and me but kept going. I think he was just thrilled to be up a bit later than usual and out in the dark. He said afterwards he didn't enjoy it because it was all just big people telling you what to do. He doesn't like being bossed about, our Finn.

It was parents' night on Tuesday. Both boys received glowing reports with Finn making a great start to P1. Mrs. Henry is very pleased with him. Certainly his early writing is much neater than Sean's and he is persevering at his reading, keen to practice his letter sounds and blending to make words. He scored off the scale on his reading and numbers tests so, like Sean, he is in the gifted and talented range but the school is reassessing how it treats such pupils, i.e. it isn't really going to give them special attention. So long as neither Finn nor Sean gets bored with the school work and continue to be challenged by their homework, we'll just have to keep them stimulated too so that they don't start to coast.

Rowan could be the brightest of the lot. Sharon phoned me the other day so that Rowan could tell me the letters in his name. He can recognise a good ten or so letters now and is pretty good with his numbers and at counting too. Angus better catch up quickly! Rowan had two very good days in pants at the nursery, staying dry yesterday and just having a couple of accidents today. He seems less keen to sit on the toilet at home (the potty is not for him at all) but we'll see if we can persevere over the weekend. Cutting down on the nappy washes would be great. As we enter the colder months the house begins to resemble a Chinese laundry. If you sit down for long enough you'll end up with nappies draped over you. Not that either of us have been sitting down much of late.

Sharon had a fairly quiet birthday, in terms of celebration. She was due to work but didn't, as she felt unwell. She didn't eat much either, despite Lesley D delivering a birthday cake. The boys cashed in on that, of course. Angus has extended his repertoire to carrot and apple over the last few days. He weighed in at 18lbs 6oz yesterday and is now 69.5cm long at 18 weeks. If only he would sleep through the night...