School Pickup

I was running late for school pickup. It is at the back gate, so they would be hanging out in the field waiting for my arrival.

Report Cards

In the last week of the school term, we received report cards for R and J.

This surprised us.

It seemed strange not to provide input into the written assessment of their academic performance. We were their main teachers for about 40% of the year to date.

I know at work, if I have to do a performance review for a new team member, I will seek feedback from their previous supervisor.

So here are my comments nobody asked for...

Review: Messenger Kids

Messenger Kids is a new app that is like Facebook messenger, but for kids. Duh.

My twins wrote some books

My twin boys R and J are no longer satisfied with merely drawing pictures, they now have to add words as well...

Fortunately I only own nine books, so there is plenty of shelf space for their literary masterpieces.

Here is one example by each:

Giraffe

GIRAFFE

(a.k.a The Art Gallery V)

The other day the twins were refusing to do something they are definitely capable of doing.

This is how children work. They stubbornly want to do things when they can't, when it will cause you more work to fix their mistakes or mess. They then lose interest at the precise moment in time they can do it themselves.

In frustration, I said:

Why are you guys so hopeless? You're six. Do you know a baby giraffe learns to walk within minutes of birth?

J immediately replied:

Not Listening to the Hottest 100

At midday on Saturday I realised, hey isn't the Hottest 100 on now?

J J J

A quick online search confirmed that 25 January was the #changethedate. Then I decided to go ahead and listen to a bunch of music I've never heard before.

Maybe later, I could even come to the conclusion that all new music is shit because as a middle-aged man I don't like what a youth radio station is playing.

Of course, it was different when my parents did that. They were wrong about new music. This time, I'd be right...

Stuff My Kids Say, Part 23

10 STORIES OF CHRISTMAS EDITION~!

(Because I wanted it to be like the 12 Days of Christmas but couldn't get that many...)

Actual photo of my house lit up for Christmas.

Stuff My Kids Say, Part 22

The other day I called my wife. She answered while driving. The first thing I heard over the speaker was one of the twins yelling, "don't wee, penis!"

"He needs to go the toilet," she said.

It was at that moment I realised it was time to recap some of the shenanigans from the twins R and J, and toddler O too. Before we start, here is a recent picture of them, along with baby L:

Grammar Rodeo

GRAMMAR RODEO

A Real Conversation with Twin J

Pool Party

POOL PARTY

A Real Conversation with Twin R

Injuries

You can't just have a boring accident in my house.

One week ago, it started with a suspected poisoning...

Stuff My Kids Say, Part 21b

Some time ago, I wrote about Toddler O, and promised Part B about twins R & J soon after.

Then I got busy, then a mishap meant my almost finished draft disappeared, and then I got even more busy. And so, soon after became many weeks later.

It's been so long, that before we finally start, I thought I should provide a recent pic of the twins:

They grow up so fast

And now, stories...

Stuff My Kids Say, Part 21a

I now have so many children that I’ve broken the latest edition of Stuff My Kids Say into two parts: A and B.

Toddler O

Part A will focus on toddler O, who is three-years-old, which is a fun and funny age.

He's so funny right now that this blog could've had thousands of entries except for two things: firstly, it would be too long to read, perhaps requiring sub-parts [21a(i), 21a(ii), ...], and secondly, I've got haphazard with my recording of moments. There have been so many funny scenes recently where I've thought, I'll write that down later, and then I forget to do it, or I remember to do it but have already forgetton the detail.

But here are nine where I remembered everything!

Music Appreciation

We were doing a road trip and in conversation with the six-year-olds it somehow came up that the voice of Bluey's dad was once the lead singer in a popular band, and that Dad really, really liked this band.

This was all A Long Time Ago.

A Long Time Ago in our house is defined by circumstances such as:

• only having five TV channels, and not being able to pause any of them;
• telephones being attached to your house by a cord, except for the ones in a box on the street that need coins to work; and 
• watching movies on something called a VCR, or even a DVD.

The six-year-olds ask to hear Bluey's dad. I was happy to oblige.

The Art Gallery IV (Under The Sea)

I've shared my kids drawings a few times before.

I recently enjoyed this one by J, which he explained was "different sea creatures":

Let's examine it a bit closer, starting at the top left and going clockwise...

Stuff My Kids Say, Part 20

This is a late release of the second quarter best quotes for 2019!!

My Homework for the School Holidays

MY HOMEWORK FOR THE SCHOOL HOLIDAYS

(Or: What I have learned from two terms)

BY ROBERT TUCK

The twins R and J are officially halfway through their first school year now. Here they are in their classroom:

Some of the earlier school highlights are HERE.

As a parent, there has been an adjustment from childcare or preschool. Some differences are obvious - it costs less, there are fewer hours, they wear a uniform, and so on. 

But the important differences are more subtle.

One of the main changes in transition to primary school is information supply.

'MURICA~!

To celebrate the anniversary of the most influential democracy in the planet, here is a flag my son J drew about six months ago, when he was going through a weird phase of drawing different flags...

Soccer

What a week for the round ball game. Liverpool! Spurs! Marrickville Red Devils U6's Navy!

Yes, we have recently entered the world of Saturday morning sport.

Stuff My Kids Say, Part 19

I haven't had much time to write lately. It turns out four kids is a lot of kids. It's definitely more than three, although I can't confirm if it's as many as five. The fact that four is many children does consume pretty much all of my potential blogging time. 

Hey Rob, how's the family?

Anyway, here's a bunch of stuff the oldest three have said over the last few months...