Heading towards five and a half and I want to get out of the habit of leaving it until they are nearly the next number. Also I have suddenly noticed that he has changed again so now is the right time to do this.
I have always considered five to be a bit of a milestone age. It was when you used to start school when I was a tiny, it was the birthday I got a very grown up present of a watch and a little gold signet ring with ‘N’ engraved on it. Although my earliest memory is of my brother’s christening which is when I was younger than 3 and I have other memories of younger ages I can actually remember *being* five quite well. I can remember the things I used to think and the way I used to feel. I can recall what scared me, what excited me, what I loved and what I loathed. Perhaps in my case this was all down to starting school (plenty of those associations are to do with school) but having watched my son hit and sail past that five year mark I know it to be true that changes occur whatever you are doing with your days and suddenly I could use a whole host of new words to describe Davies as a person rather than just a child.
I feel him growing up and slightly away from me and I feel us both struggling to adjust to that. There had always been a huge amount of Ady in Davies and it seems ever more apparant in all his good points such as his sense of fairness and justice, his ability to be the gentleman and play so well with smaller, more fragile children. He is a kind and considerate child, one who is quite sensitive and worries about what others think of him. He modifies his behaviour to please others and would even go so far as to change himself – which if not carefully handled by him could become a downfall in later life although it is a trait which has served his father well.
He has passions does Davies. His biggest ‘thing’ is probably films. He has always gotten very into the characters of whatever film is the one of the moment for him, he watches them repeatedly but seems to see more and newer things in them with each viewing. He learns the scripts, if there is music (and in all his favourites there is) then he learns that too along with any dance routines. He picks up on subtleties such as incidental music, lighting and inflections in the actors faces and voices which some adults wouldn’t grasp (well maybe they would with such repeated viewings I suppose!) and lately he has developed interests in what goes on behind the scenes. He devours the extras on dvds such as the ‘making of’ bits and even watches things like interviews with directors and seems to glean something from them. He does lots of related activities such as art – drawings of the characters, labelling of them, crafts – he likes to make them with modelling materials such as playdoh, plasticine and even bits and bobs of tissue and paper or geomags! He also leads play based on the stories from the films or the characters in them with his sister, cousins and friends.
He does watch TV but not with the same passion. His favourite TV shows by far are Backyardigans – which he gets a huge amount from educationally in the different things they learn about and adventures they have, musically from all the different styles of music the episodes cover, he loves to dance along to the choriograohed routines they perform and we also have a range of Backyardigan inspired art decorating the walls! And Lazy Town – which he enjoys for the cross over of having human and puppets in it, the goodies and the baddy storylines and of course the repetitive song and dance routines. Both of these shows also give him lots of mileage in using the Nick Jr website with various games and activities based around them on there so the interest in them has helped with his IT skills, not to mention reading and writing/ typing too.
Educationally I am very pleased with the way our Home Ed style is working. To think he would be exactly halfway through his first school year right now is amazing. I am thrilled with his progress in things like numercay and literacy – I can see the beginnings of those skills blossoming and growing (on a good day!) and his general knowledge, his ability to hold a conversation, ask an intelligent question and conduct an argument or case for something makes me continually proud to be both his mother and the person who facilitates the way in which he learns.
I am feeling that he is ready for a bit of out of my clutches time, which I know will be a departure for us both but I think will also do neither of us any harm so with that in mind I am once again in the middle of looking at all sorts of ‘after school’ type activities such as badgers and beavers with a view to him doing the group of same age small children team work type things which I know he lacks from being at home with me. Although we do do a lot of socialising it is all generally with younger children or girls and while I stand by my stance of thinking that is a good thing generally I do not want to deny him the running around with boys yelling his head off thing on a semi regular basis as I know when he does get together with his scattered around the country gang of like minded friends he has a whale of a time doing it!
The key relationships in Davies’ life are all happy and healthy. He has a lovely friendship as well as sibling relationship with Scarlett. They make great playmates and have a close bond which I hope will always remain. I enojy seeing them off doing their own thing when in a bigger group and then delighting in realising that when they come home again they still have each other. 🙂 His relationship with Ady is growing and changing and I think they are quite recently starting to realise they have plenty in common and enjoy each others’ exclusive company every so often. They did a lot of bonding going off together at Melrose and both got a lot out of it.
Davies has a competitive streak which is only lately starting to show itself. To be honest I celebrate this rather as I had thought he would need something a little steely inside to ensure he was not put upon by others and I think it is this which will do that for him. He has to mature to let it become something positive rather than the cause of occassional temper when he doesn’t win every time but I think the hunger to be the best is an admirable trait so I hope he doesn’t lose that.
I spent possibly a slightly disproportionate amount of time dwelling on my children’s quirks and individually and am never sure whether in choosing to Home Educate them I am in some way encouraging them or ensuring that their differences are positive rather than something which could hold them back in mainstream education. I don’t really know what label would have been attached to Davies had he started school last September but I am utterly sure he would have one by now (by that I don’t mean anything SEN related, just that he’d be ‘Davies – the X one’ with some characteristic stuck next to his name). Perhaps his foibles are allowed to magnify here at home whereas at school they would be either homogenised out of him or made to stand out all the more. I have always said I would celebrate my childrens’ individuality and that is what I continue to do really. What I love most about my son is his indefinable Davies-ness and with another passing year he has become even more Davies and long may that continue with each year to come!