Life learning and our 2E kid.

Life has been too busy for posting lately, so much has been happening, (not major dramas, just life with four children) and I mostly feel overwhelmed by it all, and just try to cope with the day to day things like meals and washing, in the little time I can find!


Isaac (7 almost 8) has just been learning to sew, by making a pair of pyjama pants, he made a great job of them. He used my overlocker and my sewing machine, and because he's not tall, we put a K'nex box on the floor as a platform to bring the foot pedals to the right height for him to reach. A little afterwards, he came to me with a piece of paper with a few design sketches on, which where his well thought out ideas on how to make the next pair with pockets!

This made me laugh, as it's very much the type of thing I was doing at the same age, but with skirts, dresses and tops, not pyjama pants. I had my own Singer sewing machine with a winding handle..... I left it behind in England when we moved to New Zealand.


He has also devoured in the last couple of months every title in Enid Blytons "Famous Five" and "Secret Seven" series. There has been a noticeable amount of settling and maturing in Isaac in the 12 months since his 7th Birthday, it is great to be able to reach reason in him at head clashing moments.

He started Gymnastics along with his brother Reuben (6), and they are both loving it. I had a conversation with the teachers, and they were amazed that niether had done gymn before, as they are very strong; I mentioned we lived on the rural fringe, and they are always climbing trees, and they agreed that must be the difference, suburban kids just don't have trees to climb, and are discouraged from doing it in Parks.

Reuben has come to the point of having some determination to master this reading thing....... It doesn't come easy to him, and we think he has some difficulties that fit the dyslexia label. We prefer not to label things as learning disabilities, and see it instead as learning differences, that need us to change the way we meet his learning needs. So drawing from the wealth of experience out there in the world of right brain styles, we have begun to work together on it for a few minutes every day, and he is making progress slowly. I think Zipporah (4) and the way it comes easy to her is firing his sense of competition, and helping him find his own motivation. From what we see, Zipporah is learning to read naturally like Isaac did; no teaching from us, just playing along with what he wanted to do.

It is good for me to rise to the challenge of helping Reuben, as I can empathise with other mums whose children share similar struggles. Especially in the gifted childrens community where giftedness and learning differences go hand in hand quite frequently (also known as asynchronous development).

Zipporah has started dancing and has made two little girl friends, one lives up the street, and one in the neighbouring village. Dancing is on Saturday mornings, and I couldn't take my two older Spirited boys along and expect them to behave for an hour, so they now go to work with daddy on Saturdays, and Zipporah and Raphael and I go to dancing in the morning and have some peaceful time at home together in the afternoon........... a real breather, and a real blessing.

Raphael at 15 months can climb up the trampoline ladder, have a good bounce, and then safely dismount off the side, even finding his way between the safety net and the mat in the process. A couple of weeks ago I chased him along the hallway and then said in surprise "hey, you're running", he laughed and said "yeah!" as I swooped him up. He loves animals and when the Ducks waddle through the garden or we see Dogs at the park, he points and makes the woof or the quacky sound....... the duck sounds very realistic, but then he hears them everyday lots of times.

While I sit here this evening, they are all enjoying the movie "Whale Rider" it's been a big hit, and it offers so much to talk about and explore.