So we’ve had a few more wonderful moments with Monkey over the last few days. More signs of his growing confidence. Yesterday saw hand stands in the pool and a Beavers badge, but the latest steps in confidence took place on Saturday.
It was his best friends birthday party on Saturday, he was having a bowling party. Monkey would know everyone who was going and also knew the venue well. I knew the other parents would be leaving their children at the party and coming back later. Monkey was having none of this idea. No Mummy, if you don’t stay, I’m not going. After telling me how much he’d missed me when he was at Beaver Camp for the day, he told me he couldn’t be without me again this weekend. What could I say to that!
As we got to Saturday, I hadn’t had a chance to take my great niece’s birth sampler to the framers to be mounted and framed. So I told Monkey that I would have to pop into town for a bit during the party just to get that organised. That seemed to be ok. So off we headed to the party and after his second go at bowling, I said I’d leave but I’d be back before they’d finished their game. He was ok and his friend’s Mum was primed. I was gone for about forty-five minutes in the end, came back, and he ran over to me with a beaming smile. He’d been fine, chatting and playing. The first time I’ve ever been able to leave him at a party, ever. A big step forward for him, and his friend’s Nan even commented on how much his confidence has grown since she’d seen him last. It was lovely to see and here.
Monday means school swimming lessons this term and yesterday was his third session. What a difference these lessons are making! He’s happy, confident, listening and following instructions and really going for it. Swimming without a float on his front and back, to the point that’s he’s been moved from the first to the second group of swimmers. There he was doing hand stands in the water and doing what he calls a mushroom float. Face down in the water with his legs tucked up with his arms under them. I couldn’t do that now. I’m so proud of him, and it’s lovely to see the difference from the child who used to run out of the pool in tears in Stage Two swimming lessons. Yes, he needs to work on his strokes, but he’s doing it, he’s actually swimming and enjoying it. He’s also loving me watching him with the other Mum’s, we are both loving Monday mornings now.
There was a school trip last week and he actually got dressed up! Yes, my son got dressed up. Amazing. I was a bit concerned that he’d seemed to have gone backwards with his reading books since moving into Year Three, but yesterday he came home with a chapter book so hopefully that was just a misunderstanding. Maths homework is with My Maths online again this year. To my mind it’s madness, yes very easy marking wise as it’s all done before the teacher sees it. But there’s no way to show the working out that the child has done to get to the answers or to add any comments about how much support was required to get there. I’m not a fan. His writing homework this week is to ‘up level’ sentences. Have you ever heard of that phrase? I certainly hadn’t. In normal terms, it seems to mean to makes sentences that are excessively descriptive. To write sentences that I really don’t believe seven-year olds naturally think or write. I’m not blaming the teacher, it’s the idiotic curriculum and I can see it’s going to drive me insane, let alone my ‘less is more’ son. Anyway, 7 sentences require up levelling and Monkey write our 3 last night and we’ve got 4 more to tackle these evening. I think he’s really going to struggle with this sort of thing this year, but I’ll keep doing our best to get him through it.
After school yesterday he had Beavers, he’s going to be made a Lodge Leader next week as he’s now one of the oldest in the colony. But before that’s all finalised he came home with another badge for me to sew onto his jumper.
Hand stands in the pool and a Beavers badge to start the week, I wonder what other delights await for the rest of the week.
Ahh! Well done Monkey! He is doing fantastic. It seems like something has given him a real confidence boost….My youngest sometimes has maths homework to do online and I don’t like it at all. Anybody could be doing it for her. I have never heard of “Up level sentences”….I am guessing it is something that was called something else when we were at school. lol I have found that a lot with my girls. They come home saying something and then I click on I used to call it something else x
I know exactly what you mean, it all seemed a lot simpler to understand back in the day. Some of the phrases they use now drive me insane
Well done Monkey. I think school swimming must be the way to go. Means they just have to go with the flow. N’s loving his too – although I’m glad he’s still doing the other class because I don’t think the school classes are as advanced – he’s in the bottom group with all but 2 of the year 2s, and a couple of older kids who still have armbands! Bit ridiculous given that they’re in the really shallow end. N loves a mushroom float- bizarrely considering he never used to be a fan of face in the water.
His Saturday class has also now had 1 girl moved up from level 2 who’s coping ok. Another girl has also turned up – she’s taller than the others, so I’m presuming she’s Y3 (some in the group are Y3, some Y2). But she has never had lessons and can’t swim with a float. She can do a few strokes on her front. The first week she was told there wasn’t room, so they moved her to the level 2 class where she was well behind a lot younger children. But now she’s turned up again in ours, I presume because of her age. So we’ve got a packed out class with someone who can’t even kick her legs properly and the teacher is having to give her totally different instructions to the rest of the class. The teacher did tell her mum that she might want to put her in a swim belt so she can get working on body position (N started with a swim belt in the group so it”s not unheard of), so hopefully that will help. Otherwise it’s going to annoy the others hanging around for her when they’ve been swimming in the class for the last year and are a higher level 3 class than the class after us.
That’s madness for everyone, especially that little girl.
It’s so lovely to read these posts on how Monkey’s confidence is growing. I know you have had worries and it really feels like he is just coming into his own more and more. I really hope I read about something else he had done next week #SmallStepsAA
Monkey is doing fantastically well and is growing more and more in confidence with every post, brilliant and your pride shines through. The photo of the two of you together is lovely. Thanks for linking up with #SmallStepsAA x