A Whole New World

It's been a while between posts.  No surprise there.

Things have changed though. (Well, not on the job front. I'm still searching, but that's another story.)

I'm now the mother of a High School Student !  Yes, it's true.  I'm getting old.

High School. I've had a whole term now to let that sink in.

Cheyenne seems to have adjusted well to the new routines and to reading timetables (both school and bus). She's joined the choir (she still loves singing even though she's given up on playing the flute), tried a new sport (beach volleyball), and she brought home a much improved report card at the end of term.  She even got an A for Japanese, which is one of her favourite subjects.

She has some of her old primary school friends at school with her and she has made a few new ones.

The only blip on the horizon is a certain girl from primary school - who shall hereafter be referred to as X - a toxic little Narcissist who, for the last three years, used to be one of her "besties", although I use that term loosely.  Her particular brand of friendship includes emotional blackmail, manipulation, hot/cold mood swings, "boyfriend" (another loosely-termed label) stealing and just plain bitchiness.  The original Mean Girls have nothing on X.

That girl needs a good slap. Across the face. With a Besser block !

The problem is Cheyenne is too kind-hearted and kept giving X chance after chance to redeem herself as a good friend.  Yet every week or so it would blow up in her face again.

For the past year, I have been consoling Cheyenne with the idea that when she started high school she'd have the chance to make a whole new lot of friends from other primary schools and never have to deal with X again (unless they were in the same subject classes).  The year started out well. The grade 7s had their camp in the fourth week so they could get to know each other.  Cheyenne made a few new friends and things were going great until X broke up with her latest boyfriend and started running him down on the group chat they have on iMessage.  Cheyenne had the - gasp - audacity to stick up for this boy (since he was one of her new friends) by telling X that she shouldn't be so nasty about him.  X decided this was the ultimate act of betrayal - "I thought you were supposed to be my friend!" - and has doled out her usual revenge.  She has systematically turned most of the new friends Cheyenne had made, against her. X has manipulated them all with rumours and/or her fake charm.  Even the nice girl who invited Cheyenne to her birthday sleepover now looks through her as if she doesn't exist.

The sad fact is that none of the new friends know X well enough to know who/what she really is, so they've been sucked in to her web, and by the time they finally realise the truth, it'll probably be too late for Cheyenne.  She's nothing if not resilient, though.   At least she does still have a few loyal friends from primary school who have stuck with her (because they know the truth), and she has overheard some girls in one of her classes complaining about how rude X is, so it seems there ARE still some people out there who don't think the sun shines out of X's arse. Maybe Cheyenne can become friends with them too.




In the meantime, Karma had better hurry up!

Musically Inclined

At the end of last year, the Grade 4 students were invited to apply for this year's Instrumental Music Program.  They each nominated their top 3 choices of instrument (from those available at the school), then were tested for physical suitability and potential ability.  Cheyenne was apparently better suited to flute than to clarinet. Luckily, flute had been her first choice all along.

There were a few pitfalls of course.  There are not enough school flutes to go around, so we had to decide whether to hire or purchase our own.  After adding up costs associated with hiring, and reviewing prices for brand new flutes (yikes!), we decided to buy a secondhand flute from a local music store, for a reasonable price.

Last week, Cheyenne and four other flute students from her school attended a full day Kickstart Music Workshop at another local school, along with students from several other surrounding schools.  Here they learned the basics from flute assembly and cleaning, correct hand positions for playing, and correct posture, through to learning their first few notes (B, A and G) and playing some simple tunes.

Cheyenne was very excited to be able to come home and play Hot Cross Buns.

I'm glad, not only that she chose to learn an instrument, but that she has the opportunity to do so - something I unfortunately missed out on in primary school, as my school was too small to have a music teacher.

Today she has her first flute lesson with the school Instrumental Music teacher, Mr James, so I'm sure she will come home with new things to practice.  I hope she retains her love of music, even in the face of seemingly endless practice.

Happy "Back To School" To You All

Well, despite the Big Wild Wet of the long weekend, and predictions of showers for the remainder of the week, the first day back at school dawned bright and sunny, with barely a cloud in the sky.

No power outages or flood damage in our neck of the woods, so Cheyenne's school was open for business.

Figured we'd make a good impression for the first day, so she wore one of the new style polos. The uniform is in transition, meaning for the next year, the students can wear either the new or the old uniform. As I'd only just bought her two brand new polos (old uniform style) at the beginning of last year, I only bought two of the new style shirts this year.  As you can probably tell, I did not buy a new hat.  I can't see the point in spending money on a nice, crisp-brimmed beauty, when it is only going to be jammed into the school bag during class. Within a week it would look like her current one (although, perhaps less faded, lol).

We had to get a new school bag this year, too.  Her old one only just made it to the end of its second year of use.  Can I just put it out there that I'm unimpressed with the available selection of backpacks at Big W, Kmart, Target, etc.  They are all either too small to put folders in, too humungous for a kid to carry or come in a bundle pack (because EVERYONE needs a new pencil case, ruler, lunchbox, utility case etc that they will probably never use).  Most of the selections this year also seem to come equipped with a laptop compartment and a "wet section".  I'm guessing this is for stashing your togs and towel after swimming lessons... or maybe it's for leaky drink bottles?  Does anyone still sell normal backpacks?

Anyway, Cheyenne likes her teachers - she's in the two teacher (job share) class - and is, for the most part, happy with the kids who are in her class.  She's excited to be learning Japanese for the first time, looking forward to her first school camp later in the year, and, so far, happy to be back at school.  Hopefully she retains this positive outlook.

After 3 days of rain, we actually needed sunnies!

 

Oceans of Fun

“Have you started your project yet? You’ve known about it for a couple of weeks. How are you going to get it finished on time if you haven’t even started?”

Sound familiar? Seriously, I think I’m beginning to sound like my mum. Oh the horror! LOL.

Welcome to 2RS semester 2 assignment. Environment Dioramas. They had to choose between a Natural, Social or Built Environment and build a diorama. The even had the boxes supplied for them. I’m sure Cheyenne chose the biggest box. No shoebox for her. Oh no, that would be too easy. She ended up with a file box. Which then sat untouched on our lounge room floor for about two weeks!

She decided to make an ocean diorama. With that initial decision made, she figured there was no rush to get started. In an attempt to try to motivate her, I raided my craft cupboard for things which she might find useful.

Cheyenne knew she wanted to have starfish made from kitchen sponge (not sure where she got this idea from, but they do look pretty good), rocks, seaweed, coral, anemones, jelly fish, an eel and of course, fish. She didn't think she would be able to draw fish that looked like fish, so we compromised and I printed out some pictures she could colour in and cut out.

This was all well and good, but she couldn’t start putting it together until the painting was done first. After much nagging by me she finally got stuck in.

The bottom and three sides of the box had to be painted blue for the water, and the fourth side was smeared with PVA and covered with sand (from her sand pit). In lieu of real rocks (which may have been a tad heavy and tricky to glue down, LOL), we grabbed a few smallish chunks of styrofoam from the Great Mountain of Styrofoam behind Steve’s brother Brett’s shed. Don’t even ask... Trust me. These chunks of styrofoam were painted a sandy colour and glued into the box. Coloured pipe cleaners twisted together became seaweed, coral and anemones, and poked easily into the foam. Yet another good reason to not use real rocks, LOL.

I’d saved an individual pudding container “just in case” (yes, I’m genetically predisposed to hoarding, LOL) and this became the jellyfish, with kitchen string for tentacles. Cheyenne was unsure how to make the eel. After a bit of thought, I suggested a wiggly balloon, stuffed with cotton wool, with googly eyes stuck on.

Much fun can be had with an assorted pack of googly eyes, LOL.

All that was left to do was to decide where to position the star fish, shells and eel, and where to hang the jelly fish and fish by their fishing line. 

...Oh, and write up a materials list and draw up the plan (which, of course, was supposed to be done first, but hey, whatever, it’s grade 2 not high school).

 

The finished product.

As practising in front of Steve and I was deemed to be “too embarrassing”, I was unsure how her presentation would go. They were to be marked on how well the construction "followed the plan" (ROFL), their discussion of their strengths and weaknesses and general oral speaking skills.

This afternoon I asked her how she did and what she said. Her reply? “Good. I just said some random stuff.” Good grief!


Her teacher reassured me that she did do quite well, apart from not making eye contact. Apparently she was too busy facing her diorama, pointing out its features, LOL.

Back to School

Well, we've survived the first four weeks of Grade 1 without any dramas. Homework and the learning of sight words has commenced, and home readers are now being brought home for reading practice. PE, Library and Music specialty classes have also started, as has Junior Choir practice. Cheyenne has settled into the routine fairly well, and even with the new earlier starts, we've only been a little bit late once. She loves sitting at her brand new desk and pink swivel chair in her bedroom to do her homework. So far, so good.



She was ready early for school on the first day. We found her classroom, met her new teacher Miss Wilton, and looked for her name on the desks to find out which group she was in. She loved being able to put her stationery things into the tidy tray of her desk, as they hadn't had allocated desks in Prep.

Another cause for excitement on the first day of school was that another wobbly tooth fell out. My little Gummy Bear is definitely keeping the tooth fairy in business! The good news is that just this last week, her missing top front tooth has finally made its appearance! (Typically, only AFTER I'd made her an appointment with my dentist, but isn't that just the way life goes, lol?)

School's Out For Summer...

Well, the school year is over. Prep is done and dusted, and we're into the first week of Hell... er..., sorry... the Christmas Holidays!

Six weeks of "I'm hungry, Mummy! Mum, can I have an iceblock? Can I have some fairy bread? Can I have a Nutella? An apple, a sandwich..?" It's only Tuesday, and already she's devoured almost an entire box of Tiny Teddy biscuits (which were bought as a treat), is about a third of the way through a 12 pack of individual Nutella snacks and has consumed more Zooper Dooper ice blocks than should be deemed necessary, considering the overcast (and therefore cooler) weather. Clearly I will need to buy another truckload of apples, and reintroduce her to stone fruits, now that they're in season.

This, from a child who has spent the better part of her life eating like a bird. I also know for a fact that she survived quite well every day at school on the two standard breaks, morning tea and lunch. So where has this sudden need to continuously graze come from? Maybe it's a growth spurt, but I hope it doesn't last. She's eating us out of house and home... and she isn't even a teenager!

Maybe I'll just have to sidetrack her with holiday activities. There's plenty of things she wants to do. The problem is getting her to understand that she has 6 weeks to do them in. We do not have to do every activity TODAY. We can swim in our pool any time we like. The park and duckpond is only 5 minutes away - she can even ride her bike there on the nice wide bike path. (Maybe we'll even get those training wheels off if she practices hard enough!) We can visit friends, have sleepovers at Grandma's and Nanny and Poppy's, do crafts, go to the movies... we just don't need to do it all right now, this instant.

Perhaps she's right though. All too soon it will be the end of the holidays and we'll be covering books, ready for Grade 1. Maybe we should be trying to cram in as much as we can.

Cheyenne's "Prep Graduation" photo.

(They didn't actually have a Graduation ceremony, this was just a posed shot included on the Powerpoint slideshow that each child received on a CD at the end of Prep. Kind of like a report card with photos. Excuse the grainy quality of the image - we didn't get access to the originals. I just copied it "as is" from the slideshow.)

Goodbye Mrs J

Cheyenne's Prep teacher, Kelly Johnson, left last Friday to go on maternity leave, so as of this week, PKJ has had a new teacher, Miss Crabtree.

Mrs J has been a fantastic teacher and will be missed very much by Cheyenne and her classmates. The children are sad to see her go, but also excited about (hopefully) getting to see her new baby when it is born. Mrs J is hoping to be back at work sometime next year to see her Prep class "all grown up" as Grade 1 students.

Cheyenne may not know it yet, but your first teacher makes a permanent impression on you, which will shape your attitude towards your education. She is very lucky to have had a great teacher like Mrs J for Prep, and it seems like Miss Crabtree may be just as lovely.

Cheyenne with Mrs Johnson at her Going Away Party.

Everything begins with E !

...E block, that is.
Ah yes, the place where I "belonged" throughout my senior years at high school. A place for the "outcasts" who didn't really fit in with the other usual groups - the nerds, the sporty types, the artists, the "popular" crowd... It hasn't changed much in all these years - pretty sure the seat used to be painted brown, and the bin did not have a fancy stand... but it did have a lid! (Where are the hygiene standards these days??) The basic school layout hasn't changed, although as the school population has grown, they've needed to add some new buildings and an indoor sports centre, and the landscaping seems to have been improved as well.


Saturday 4 April was a day full of school memories. It was the 50th Anniversary celebration for Wavell State High School. Students and teachers, past and present were there, including all but two of the past school Principals! The crowds were huge, although not so much for our year level. As pointed out by Nick Lawton, we came all excited to catch up with old school friends and discovered that the ones who came were just the "usual Facebook crew". It was a little bit disappointing, considering there were around 240 in our Grade 12 year. I know some have left the country or live too far away, and some were working or had family commitments and were unable to make it, but some were just plain "not interested", which is a shame. It was still good to catch up with the ones who could make it, though.

Kristen Bird, myself and Jodi Wormington (Jo Rossow, now that she's married) met up and went in search of other school mates.

Each year level throughout the years had a designated room and specified time to get together. As our year wasn't to meet in F10 until 1.30pm, a couple of people (Adrian Gibb and Derek Moo)missed out on the group photo as they'd had to leave earlier, or had not yet arrived (Glen Donaldson).

In this photo we have (L-R) Darren Mackay, Troy Scholz, Nathalie Dilanian, Nick Lawton, Shay Gordon-Brown, Keith Sullivan, myself, Sue Berrill, Jo Rossow (neé Wormington), Conrad Maul, Kristen Bird and Kirsty Burkett (neé O'Hare). All the group photos taken with my camera turned out blurry, so thanks to Sue for this particular photo.

We haven't changed much despite our careers and/or families - a few grey hairs, the odd wrinkle or two - but otherwise, still pretty much the same.

Wouldn't have missed it for the world!

Freedom at last!

At last the big day has arrived! For the first time in her entire life, Cheyenne bounced out of bed at 7.30am with a smile on her face.

Usually, the process of Cheyenne waking up and getting out of bed could be more accurately described as a sluggish ooze. An eyelid drags open, a hand snakes out to grab the sheet and pull it back up over her head and she invariably rolls over to bury her face in the pillow. Five minutes later we repeat the process... usually with more success the second time around. Or not. Sometimes it takes several attempts.

Not today, though. Today is the first day of Prep. Cheyenne is so excited to finally be at "big school", that she was up and ready for breakfast before we could blink. After a bowl of Nutrigrain and a glass of orange juice, she cleaned her teeth and put on her uniform, as she says, "my own self".

I know I am going to struggle with the age old question of what to put in the lunchbox. Yeah, yeah, we all know the basic food pyramid stuff. Gotta have the piece of fruit, the dairy and of course, the sandwich. No lollies or sweet cakes, but apparently the occasional snack-sized packet of chips is OK. Even a handful of Tiny Teddies is allowed, as long as there's healthy food too. So, how to keep variety, avoid potential allergy dramas (of other classmates, thankfully not Cheyenne) and provide things she'll actually eat... for five days a week... for the next 13 years ???

Today's lunchbox contained an apple and some chunks of Devon (woohoo for cheap luncheon meat knobs!) for morning tea, and jam sandwiches (currently the only filling she will eat) and a packet of rice wheel snacks for lunch. Hopefully her frozen water bottle will have thawed enough by morning tea time... OK, lunchbox packed, and we're off.

It wasn't a very nice morning for it, so not only did we have the new uniform, but we also had to break out the new raincoat as well, for the walk to school in the pouring rain..

"I can put my shoes on my own self!"

She looks so tiny in her uniform because it's so big on her.

Steve asked his boss for a late start so that we could all walk to school together for the first time. Once there, her teacher Mrs Johnson, pinned on Cheyenne's name tag and told her she could do some puzzles after she'd unpacked and put her bag away. With her art folio placed on one shelf and her ring binder on another (along with everyone else's), she found her pigeon hole, put her backpack away, and settled down to do some puzzles.

At 9 o'clock the bell rang, there were hugs all round and we left them to it. Some families were a bit teary-eyed, but not ours! Cheyenne is off to school without a backwards glance. In fact, she had to be reminded to give Daddy a hug goodbye!

I'm sure today the country is full of sobbing mothers, distraught that their babies have grown up and left them... but not me. I'm not saying it's a bad thing. It's just not my thing! I'm ecstatic! I can smell the freedom from here.

What will I do with myself for six hours a day? Hmmm.... well, I think that for the first week at least, I will do absolutely nothing. Maybe read a book or two. I've got a few Kathy Reichs novels that are sitting on the bedside table, waiting to be read.

Steve told me that once Cheyenne started school I had to get a job (what? being a mother isn't a job?? Oh, you mean "paid employment" ! ) and I will. After I have some "me time" first!

I'll let you know how that goes...

New Uniform

I couldn't resist posting these because they are just so cute. As mentioned in my previous post, I decided to go with the shorts (although I may still buy one pair of culottes just so she can be "girly" occasionally). I had to buy size 6 shorts so that you can actually tell that she is wearing them under that long shirt! I may have to hem it up a bit...

Cheyenne has had her Orientation Morning up at Prep, where she got to meet her new teacher, and her kindy has had a couple of "uniform show and tell" days so they can get used to wearing their new uniforms.

They grow up so fast...

...It's the ultimate parent cliche, I know, but it's just so true!

It seems like yesterday that we brought Cheyenne home from hospital as a tiny baby, and today I bought her first school uniform shirts.

My baby is starting Prep next year and she's very excited to be a big schoolgirl. I'm excited too...I've been looking forward to it for the last five years! I'm definitely NOT going to be one of the "blubbering-mess" mums, teary eyed about sending their babies off to school alone. I'll be the one doing the "happy dance"...you can count on it!

The Prep kids wear the same uniform as the rest of the school - thank goodness, since it'll probably take her until Grade 1 to grow into her polo shirts!! The smallest size they sell (size 4) is so long that the hem hangs down past her bum, about halfway to her knees! I've only purchased the shirts so far, as I'm still debating the merits of shorts versus culottes. The culottes are definitely more "girly" but due to the material and number of pleats, I can see a whole lot of frustrating ironing in my future if I get them. The unisex shorts are microfibre - wash, shake, hang, sorted! - and also have a drawstring waist as well as the elastic, which is a bonus when your child is a little skinny-minnie with no bum to hold her pants up. Both the culottes and the shorts are school emblem-free, so maybe a trip to Lowes or Big W could be in order. I'm sure they must be cheaper there.

Her orientation day is next week. They only spend an hour and 15 minutes there, but that is probably enough to learn the important stuff - what the teacher looks like, where the toilets are, the general routine, etc. While they are having orientation, there is a coffee morning for other Prep mums to get to know each other. [Note to self: Must make an effort to remember names...]

We've ordered the items on her booklist, so soon I'll be covering and labelling books, like mums all over the country.

When I get around to figuring out the bottom half of her uniform, I promise to post a picture of her in it...just because she looks so tiny and cute and all grown up.