Interesting couple of days for Joey at school.  Not good yesterday, when he was 'fresh' with Ms Hoffman.  Not sure what that means but he was kept in at recess and lost his 'Minecraft' 20 minutes at home.  Today, when I saw her after school, she said he had been just OK, not bad but not great. Interestingly, she said that she thought that he was moving away from the sort of defensive, angry, behaviour in the past to a more sort of normal, group behaviour.  One of the lads, as I might have put it.   Which is interesting and, I think, hopeful.

Izzy;  'Daddy, I love you.   And I am never going to think that you are rubbish.'
I may have to quote that back to her when she is a teenager.

I think that we are even cracking the healthy food thing with Izzy.  She was hungry after school so wolfed down several plates.........of strawberries.  Not having junk in the house makes a big difference!

Izzy took a long time to pick her outfit this morning before her playdate with the neighbour, Lindon.  The colours had to match.  All of them.  Outfits laid out on the bed. Colour-coordinated.  She is only 5!  Where did she get this from?  Not from Anne, certainly, who doesn't really pay much attention to that sort of thing (although still manages to look good, I should add!).  We think it was Luana, who would spend hours getting ready for a night out in London, often with Izzy in her room.  That is our theory anyway.

Anne is still rather sick - serious sinus congestion which stops her from sleeping.  So she went to our new doctor yesterday, the one that has Joey on the new diet.  Came back with Chinese herbal medicine, rather than antibiotics.  It had a really positive impact initially but then seemed to wear off.  It will be interesting to see how she slept.

A new documentary last night, all about Dr Max Gerson who developed nutritional methods to fight cancer back in the 1930s, but who has been marginalised ever since by the pharmaceutical companies and main-stream medicine.  Not sure that it is the right way to go but certainly not to be dismissed.  Should we get cancer, don't be surprised if we go that way.  As we are following at least some of his ideas anyway (ie lots of plant-based foods, including drinks), it will not come to that.

Joey rather argumentative this morning - I lost my temper - and this evening, Anne lost hers.  Not sure why - he did get to sleep late last night, had a long day (rehearsal for the school play after school) and then what seemed to be rather a lot of homework.  Not a great combination.  But also we have started giving him special supplements which are supposed to rid his body of heavy metals.  We did it before over Thanksgiving, and that coincided with a deterioration in behaviour.  So maybe that is the problem?  We will need to plug away and see what it is.

I have said it before, but Izzy will give us heart attacks when she is a teenager.  Latest out of her angelic mouth; 'I just love pulling boys pants down!'. God help us.

Good to be back in the ring with Coach Ahmed, but my 52 year old body is feeling it now.  Joey did good.  Need to get fitter to be able to enjoy it more.  And want to look good on June 15 at the Trinity Class of '83 30th anniversary reunion!

Joey has just gone through the Mark Anthony speech twice, almost word perfect and getting quite a bit of the emotion into it.  Audition on Monday.

Joey offered to get his own snack.  Not a great deal for most kids but in the past he simply would never have thought of it.  And, to be fair, we never pushed this side of things as he already had enough to get on with and we did not want another reason for battles.  And he has also accepted, more or less with reasonably good grace, the new rule that the basement and bedrooms have to be reasonably tidy before the kids can watch any TV.  Basement used to be a depressing disaster zone where the kids just trashed the place and then have a constant whinge if told to tidy, and take an hour over it, continuously whinging and telling us how mean we were etc etc.  Now, still a bit of a moan and Joey does not exactly work with lightning speed, but much, much better than in the past.  And there is some evidence that they actually limit the damage in the first place as they know they will have to repair it.

General progress but also we think a positive impact by the vitamin B12 jabs.

Boxing tomorrow.  For me as well, so no drink tonight.  Back to 202lbs.

Speaking of food documentaries, here a link to a number of them;

http://www.rawfoodia.com/raw-food-documentary.html

Really cheerful evening viewing.  But important if you want to know the Truth!

So Jonny Sexton is leaving Dublin for France.  Bit of a blow, that, but the French simply offered too much money.  Can't blame the guy.  He will, of course, still be available to play for Ireland.  Will this be the start of a widescale move of Irish rugby players to greener, French pastures?  On the plus side, it gives an opening for another young Irish No 10 to develop (eg Madigan) whilst Jonny keeps playing in France.

Speaking of food, I thought that I had escaped a lifetime of restricted, healthy eating when I finished my relationship with Emmanuelle who, lovely woman, was a vegetarian who ground her own food for breakfast cereal.  Anne is now going that way, and watching far too many documentaries about the evils of the food industry and what we should not eat (pretty much everything) and what we should (green, organic etc).

She is, of course, right.  As was Emmanuelle.  And I will do my best to be a healthy eater.  I promise.  At least I do not have much choice when at home, so that makes it easier.

Yes, we are still alive, and more or less recovered from the various colds and coughs.  Although Anne is still not quite there.   It has been bloody cold, thought.  Not above about 25 degrees F for several days, falling to as low as 12-15.

Joey has been in good form, most of the time.  Despite the fact that three times this week kids have brought cake or cookies into school, food that he cannot eat.  It does affect him, and he shows his annoyance, but in a measured and reasonable way.  It is understandable that he is annoyed, and so are we.  Not that there shouldn't be a place for the odd treat at school, birthdays etc, but three times a week is to much and there is a pattern of kids being awarded with junk food.  With all we know about what goes into processed food now, we should not really be giving our kids it at school.  We shall write to the Director!

Joey, believe it or not, has already pretty much learned his speech, after having read it perhaps 4-5 times.  Wish I had that memory.

 

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;

I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.

The evil that men do lives after them;

The good is oft interred with their bones;

So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus

Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:

If it were so, it was a grievous fault,

And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.

Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest--

For Brutus is an honourable man;

So are they all, all honourable men--

Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.

He was my friend, faithful and just to me:

But Brutus says he was ambitious;

And Brutus is an honourable man.

He hath brought many captives home to Rome

Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:

Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?

When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:

Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:

Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;

And Brutus is an honourable man.

You all did see that on the Lupercal

I thrice presented him a kingly crown,

Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?

Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;

And, sure, he is an honourable man.

I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,

But here I am to speak what I do know.

You all did love him once, not without cause:

What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?

O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,

And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;

My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,

And I must pause till it come back to me.

Joey has a way of giving you a dirty look and smartarsed answer at times, and needs to be pulled up when he does.  But it is never that simple with the kid who doesn't shut up.

Me;  'Joey, take that cheeky look off your face'.
Joey; 'What do you mean?  What dirty look?  How can you tell that it was a dirty look?  What did it look like?  What made it a dirty look?  It wasn't a dirty look!'

Etc etc.

Lids back at school today, thank goodness.  Anne now not quite right.  I am OK - but it is bloody cold at the moment - down to 10F this evening.  Izzy is recovering - by sleeping.  She woke up yesterday at about 1000 and was  in bed and asleep by 1900.  Same today, only woke up at 1100 and back asleep at 1930.    She clearly needs it and certainly seems much better for it.  Joey remains a 'crack of dawn' sort of guy, like me, and so struggles to lie in.   But he had a good day today, so all is well enough.

A kid from the Waldorf School camp last summer came over for a playdate, with his wee brother.  Had a great afternoon with our kids.  Mum - german lady called Uli - seemed v pleasant.  Would be great if Joey and the boy did become good friends.  He needs it.

Strangely enough, after a great afternoon, we had a bit of a blow-up with Joey.  I do think that we have been too soft on Joey as regards his facial expressions, noises and responses when he is being talked to by adults.  With the result that he can be very insolent-looking.  Also, too often he is a bit too mean and nasty to his sister.  These two came together this evening.  Joey then had a major tantrum and ended up in bed.  So I go up to talk to him and he is sobbing, saying that he doesn't want to be mean and needs us to help him.  I tell him that we are trying to help but he has to learn to listen and learn, to accept punishment and learn from it.  That we are not the enemy, looking for fights and that he has to stop fighting us.

All is calm again but it really is heart-breaking.  He has been a lot better over the past several months but we are not there yet - and Anne and I need to do much better.

That time of year again - the beginning of negotiations around Alex's visit to me.  Bit like Groundhog Day - same thing seems to happen every time.  I start off in what I think is a calm, friendly and rational manner, suggesting dates.  And Anna comes back both guns blazing and, often, having missed my main point.  Ah well, I should be used to it by now but it is nevertheless frustrating.

Joey pretty much back to normal - went to school yesterday but it wwas only a half -day - Science Fair.  Joey presented his project on the 'Life Cycle of Maggots'.  Unfortunately, we failed in our attempt to get the fruit flies to reproduce so not much of a life cycle to present.  But he enjoyed it and, as always, was very theatrical in showing it off.
Izzy has a dreadful cough, one that kept her and Anne up most of the night and then in bed until 1pm.  Fortunately, I am still banished to the guest bedroom.  My clever wife seems to haave found a solution by rigging up a tent on the bed with a humidifier inside it, which really seems to help.

But it has been a bit of a 'lost' week, which is a pity.  ML King Day Monday so, again, no school.

Sent email off to Alex's Mum re the summer holidays, and also asking her to let me know if she has plans to move again.  Hopefully the response will be reasonable and measured!

The Cambridge School Talent Show will take place on March 15th.  Joey has decided not to sing, but rather to do a Shakespearian reading, the 'Friends, Romans, countrymen speech from Julius Caesar'.  We had a run through today.  Very good, very theatrical.  And, for some reason, he puts on a real English accent which the Americans will lobe!  Our own wee Laurence Olivier!

We are all slowly recovering and hope to get Joey back to school tomorrow.  By coincidence, I had my check up with my new doctor yesterday. No problems, including after the always pleasant colon check,  so looking good.  Although I don't think that he drinks very much.  If you know what I mean.

Apart from, unusually, Anne, we have all come down with some sort of flue/cold this week.  Kids have been off school and neither of them are great patients.  Joey, somehow, combines being on death's door with an inability to sit still for more that 2 minutes.

Snort, snuffle, wheeze, cough, kick, snore, grind, fart, kick, grunt, blow, moan, snore, kick, shuffle, snuffle, sneeze, twist, kick and so on.  Yep, sleeping with my 5yr old princess who has a cold is an experience!

Joey and Izzy both off school with some dread lurgy.  I was OK until Anne put me in the spare bedroom at 0400 with Joey and he proceeded to cough his germs all over me for the next few hours.  Ah well, we will all live.

Anne had a good time in Philly.  I went down to neighbours house last night to play Texas hold'em with a bunch of guys.  Lost $40 and got home at 0300.  Good night.

Getting a bit worried about becoming a grandfather earlier than I expected.  Izzy is obsessed with having a baby.  At least she know that she has to get married first.  And has finally understood that she can't marry Alex or Joey.  When she heard that Jenn was bring up Jess for a playdate, she asked if she could marry a neighbour.  When Anne said yes, she started dancing and going 'Oh yeah!  Oh yeah!'  Lord help us when she is a teenager.

We started, on doctors orders, giving Joey injections of vitamin B12 yesterday.  And he has been in great form ever since!  Jen down the road does it to her kid, with autism, and says that it makes a real difference to his mood.  Long may it continue.  On second thoughts, we do not want to have to jab Joey every 3rd day for the next 20 years so hopefully he will not need it.  But does make  areal difference.

And I am in good form.  0600 telcon with a company and then some real, concrete work.  Good workout in the gym.  Joey in good form.  Izzy v affectionate as always.  And Anne on a high as she is off to Philly for the night with an old friend, Kristen.  We won't see her until tomorrow afternoon.  She is looking forward to a break.  REALLY looking forward to the break!

I see from the stats of my readers that my Russian and Chinese readers have stopped reading my blog, but that somebody in Germany now is!  Wellkommen!  Also somebody(yes) in Brazil (Richard?), Ireland, the UK and the USA.  Not exactly a massive readership but then I am writing for myself and for the kids to read in the future.  It does rather restrict what you can say, know that your kids will read it - Joey, for your benefit, all the obstacles we have faced with your dyslexia and ADHD etc have been well worth it and I know that you will be able to read this easily and happily one day.  Indeed, what you were reading today - all about the US Civil Rights campaign - is a million miles away from what you were reading only a few months ago - the cat on the mat sort of stuff.  Well done!  As for you, Izzy, the fact that you are not mentioned so much does not mean that we love you any less but you are such a lovely, easy, affectionate child and one tends to write more about the challenges than the easy bits of life.  But I should note here that you are going through a rather unlady-like phase where you think that farting and burping are the funniest things on earth.  And we are going to have to watch your diet, young lady.  Your love for all things 'tasty' is quite worrying!  I know that you like to think of yourself as the Cooky monster' and the 'chip monster' but these are not really part of the healthy diet that you need!  And we shouldn't encourage you by laughing when you come out with this.

Although Anne did exceed even her high culinary standards today by not only producing a delicious lamb stew with chick peas but also fabulous scones.  Not that hard, you might say, but not easy when you cannot use anything containing dairy, gluten and yeast!  We were all bowing down in praise of my wonderful wife after dinner.

Went to the Princeton Photography Club this evening.  I am, I think, happy that I have done some of these classes and gone to presentations.  My photography has improved.  But the standard is very high and it does mean that I now know how much I need to do and learn to be a really good photographer.  And the reality is that I simply do not have the time to dedicate to it.  Just to take good photos, I need to be able to get away somewhere for several hours where there is no time pressure.  And then there is the mastering of Lightroom and Photoshop.  And then the using of it.  Not surprising that the vast majority of people attending the PPC are of an age where they are either retired or, at the very least, no longer have young kids!

We are considering whether or not to move Joey from Cambridge school.  He has made so much progress academically, but it is a very structured place and there is a lot of pressure on him.  In addition,  it is a relatively large school so even though Joey is in a small class (only 3 for some subjects) he finds himself in a large group during breaks and lunch.  This is often where the problem lies.  Joey finds it hard to accept doing what others want but instead of being a shy, wallflower type, he tries to get the others to do things his way - and can be over-insistive. The result is too often conflicts which he cannot win and which makes him unhappy.  I don't want to exaggerate this - usually he is fine but he simply has not really made any real friends there and this is combined with what we regard as a very heavy workload for a 9yr old.  The result is that he is simply not enjoying school.  There is a new school in Princeton - New Grange - which is very small, just beginning.  Anne and I went to see it last year.  We think that Joey might be happier in a smaller school environment, where there is less opportunity for conflict.  We are reluctant to move Joey, yet again, and will not do so easily, but it is an option that we must keep in mind.

Portugal went well.  Weather was great - only in the low 60's but blue skies and it was warm enough for me to walk around in shorts during the day.  And for the kids to play in the sand in a protected part of the beach for an hour or two, only in bathing suits and even running into the water occasionally.  Much to the amazement of the watching Portuguese.  I went in as well, and into the unheated swimming pool at the house.  But came out very quickly!

It was lovely to see the Brazilians again.  Jo and Juarez are the same.  Maury is growing up into a lovely young man, bright, kind and capable. albeit still very innocent and child-like, especially compared to 13 yr olds here or in England.  Samuel is 4yrs old now and a nice wee kid.  He and Izzy got on really well together, playing v nicely despite not speaking each other's languages.  Izzy can still understand some Portuguese but will not really speak it anymore.  She did attach herself very closely to Jo and the two of them slept together every night.  Both of the sobbed their eyes out when it was time to leave.

Joey and Maury got on well together, as always.  Joey was generally in good form but, and I hate it when the 'but' comes in, still does not know how to react in certain circumstances, or how to behave.  Take football.  First day, the four lads played together - Juleffs v Aurajos.  Joey not good - little tantrums when he made a mistake, walking off the pitch, not being very sporting etc.  Before the next game the following day, I had some words with him and he was brilliant, at his best.  No tantrums, lots of 'well dones' etc, tried his best and really enjoyed it, as did we.  Next day, back to the bad behaviour, crowned with me accidentally kicking the ball in his face and him running off screaming.

We are not sure why he does this.  He wants to be happy.  He can be a great kid.  Funny, affectionate, smart, energetic, imaginative and a good playmate.  But there seems to be this deep insecurity and unhappiness at times, allied to a lack of sensitivity and social skills, and immaturity.  Things are generally getting better, the diet has helped but there is still a way to go.  

OK, 0630 and a bit of time.  First, had a great couple of days in Manhattan with Alex.  He really is the easiest kid in the world.  Did a bit of shopping, saw Spiderman (pretty good, actually, although none of the songs are at all memorable), ate some good meals and generally had a good time.  Not cheap, though!  We had two good meals on the Spiderman day - one in a steakhouse (he was thrilled to know that a Mafia gangster had been murdered on the pavement outside Sparks - typical kid) and on in 'The View' on the 48th floor of the Times Square Marriott.  At in the region of $75 per head for each meal, plus the show, a few purchases on 5th Ave and taxis and you can imagine how expensive it was.  Ah well, won't happen very often.   In the end, his favourite time was just wandering around Times Square and taking it all in - for free!

What made it all worthwhile and very enjoyable was the fact we were able to spend time with just the two of us together.  He is at an age now that we can have a chat over various things.  Nothing too profound but he is smart and has a good sense of humour.  All in all, a good trip.

Need to write something up after the last week or two but finding it difficult to get the energy up.  Not really busy as such but too much flaffing around doing this, that and the other.  Then wondering where the bloody time goes.  If you have something important that needs done, give it to a busy man.

Sorry folks, been in Portugal for the last week.  Couldn't get access to the blog, for some reason, but also wary about saying that we are away on an open site.  You never know who might be reading!
But we had a good time and I will write a bit about that in the next few days.  Prime concern now is Joey's first day back at school.  He is, again, unhappy at the prospect.  He is not happy at school.  We really do not know what to do.  Too tired now to discuss any further and am off to bed early.