Tuesday 26 November 2013

Swimming report

General 

Elliott was good after school today. He said he'd had a good day at school and got 4 house points (2 for letters and sounds, 1 for good ideas and 1 for a good sentence). He also said Cody had been caught smacking his ear and he hadn't reacted or been on the board. He had a jacket potato for lunch again.   

Activities

He bought a cake from the cake stall after school and then we headed off for swimming. He did really well in swimming again and he got his report card back today. There are 12 categories and he'd got a "P" for 9 of them and a tick for the others. When he gets a "P" for all the categories then he moves up from Stage 1 to Stage 2 so considering it says it's normal to spend 3 to 4 terms on each stage I think this is brilliant. It also said that he was much more confident in the water, that he listened really well and that it would be good for him to practice kicking higher when he goes swimming. So I showed him and told him how well he was doing and asked him if he wanted to carry on, which he said yes to so I'll book him in to the same class, same time next term.

Monday 25 November 2013

King Obi-Wan

General 

Elliott was good after school today. He said he'd been upset twice at school, but it sounded like normal playground stuff so we talked a little bit about thinking "that's happened now, being upset won't help, I'm going to think about something else". This went quite well although he did seem to lose interest (probably after we'd talked about it too many times). He had a jacket potato for lunch.   

Activities

He'd made a crown as part of his art class so he was King Obi-Wan with his (returned) lightwaver for a while which was good fun. We also played with Lego and watched some Scooby Doo. After tea he did his writing homework which is really improved in comparison to his first couple of sheets in the book (so I showed him and told him how much better it was getting). He also read "Wet Feet" (one of his school books) really well and then went to bed a little early (about 7.10pm) but he did seem tired and got up quite early this morning (6am).

Sunday 24 November 2013

Wokingham Winter Carnival

General 

Elliott was good for most of today. Unfortunately there was a bit of a melt down after football - they were all noticeably hyper at football today so I'm not sure if that contributed. Anyway when we got back to the flat he refused to get out of the car for ages and this ended with me taking away the lightsaver for the rest of the day as a consequence, which in turn led to some shouting and crying. He did calm down fairly quickly but it was a shame.

Activities

In the morning we went to football. I'm not sure if it was the cold but they all seemed to be having problems listening and there was more messing around than normal I'd say. It was still good and Elliott definitely still enjoyed himself and did some really good things (his tackling in the game was really good today and he did one brilliant pass).        

After lunch and the unfortunate moment we went to the Wokingham Winter Carnival. We started off by seeing Father Christmas like last year. He was really shy again this year and this year he got a little soft toy snowman. He asked for a Lego Star Wars X-Wing Fighter. Then we went into the town and he went on a couple of rides including the Waltzers which he insisted on and seemed to really enjoy. We also had a look at the stalls and won a little ruck sack plus some activity books and pens. Plus we bumped into Charlie, Isla and their parents and they enjoyed messing around for a while together. After we got home he did some colouring in with his new Alien activity book that he won which was really good (we put it up in the kitchen). Then it was tea followed by bath time and really good reading of one his school books again.     


To see photos of today visit 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/elliottsweekends/.

Saturday 23 November 2013

Lightsaber

General 

Elliott was very good today. There was a bit of being silly with Harry Higgins but anytime I asked him to calm down because he was doing something slightly too over the top he responded really well. He had a lot of fun with both Charlie Sladen and Harry and there was lots of giggling.

Activities

In the morning we went to the Sladens where Elliott played with Charlie Sladen (and Alice Sladen a little) really nicely. Lots of Star Wars toys and he took some toys to show Charlie too. They even did a toy swap without any drama - which was great after the last time it had gone a bit wrong. So we have a toy lightsaber at the moment. We went back to Downton for lunch of hot dogs with Granny.        

After lunch he did some baking with Granny and Andrea that went very well and we have some cakes to take to school for the Phillipines cake sale homework. I helped a little bit but also watched the Everton verses Liverpool game. Then we headed into Salisbury where we met up with Matt and Harry Higgins in Elizabeth Gardens where they both played in the park really nicely for quite a while. Then we all headed in to Salisbury to look at the Christmas lights and as we popped in to the toy shop to look around Harry's second wobbly tooth ever came out which was exciting. On the way back to the car we all had a cone of chips each which Elliott really enjoyed. After bath time he read another of his school books really well and we read about dinosaurs before bed time.     


To see photos of today visit 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/elliottsweekends/.

Friday 22 November 2013

Star Wars music

General 

Elliott was good after school today. I spoke to Mrs Pafitt to tell her there was no rush organising our meeting (she'd been asking) and she said Elliott hadn't been on the board. They all missed out on golden time but suspect this was because they were all in home clothes so perhaps the atmosphere had been a bit more crazy than normal.    

Activities

We droe down to Downton straight after school and he was very good on the journey. We listened to a lot of Star Wars music. After we got to Downton he told Granny all about his day and had sandwiches for tea. He read really well before bed time as well - seems to be better everytime we read together.

Tuesday 19 November 2013

Sharks

General 

Elliott was good after school today. I spoke to Mrs Pafitt as there was some confusion over the theatre trip money and she also told me he hadn't been on the board all week so far and she's working on deep breaths with him. It all sounds much more positive. He had sausage and mash for lunch.   

Activities

He enjoyed swimming again today and they played a kind of piggy in the middle game where different people in the class were sharks. After we got home he did his words homework and also we did some practicing of number bonding for 10. He was really good at the maths. He also read "Meet Han Solo" really well before bed (following yellow book principles) and his reading seems to have come on leaps and bounds to me.

Tuesday 12 November 2013

Counting to 100

General 

Elliott was good after school today. He told me that his name was still on the board but it hadn't been underlined (it sounds like a few of them currently have their names on the board to be rubbed off when they've been really good and underlined if their being bad - that might be wrong though as didn't talk to Mrs Parfitt). He said that Mrs Rajeev had been cross with him because he, Dhilan and Harry had been playing horses indoors but that was the only time he got told off. He said he'd got a house point for his sounds reading lessons. He said he hadn't been frustrated or cross and upset - although he does have a big bruise on the centre of his back from falling off equipment which had hurt and he'd been upset straight afterwards (not surprising, though I couldn't find an incident form). Finally he said he hadn't used his Lypsyl during the day because he didn't want to be teased by Cody which is a shame, but his lips are looking better still.   

Activities

Swimming went really well again and he did kicking with his legs on his back with a shark fin float today for the first time today which was brilliant - before it's always been with a curly float. After we got home he did get a bit upset briefly about a light being turned on and waking up his teddies. However we then had tea (a bagel after he'd had jacket potato lunch) and afterwards we did some more homework and he did really well. We wrote two new sentences ("I saw smoke", there was a bonfire at Cantley Park on Sunday, and "I saw a slide"). He then counted all the way to 100 using a number chart in the homework this week which was really good. And finally he did four of the common words and could read them all. So I gave him a lot of praise after that lot. After all that we did some reading and then he went to bed and seemed quite tired.

Monday 11 November 2013

Poppy day

General 

Elliott was good after school today. Mrs Parfitt also said he'd been good at school and there had been no melt downs or names on board. She did say he didn't focus on the afternoon sentence writing task very well, but she seemed quite happy and he'd had a house point for his reading over the weekend. In the morning I got him using his Lypsyl as well and he promised to use it during the day at school. He did say that when he used it Cody teased him that it was make up, so we talked about ignoring what Cody said and not worrying about it. On the way home he told me he had used his Lypsyl but that Cody had said again it was make up so he'd said no it wasn't and then Cody had got cross that Elliott had said he was wrong and said he'd kick Elliott. It was quite hard to really get to the bottom of and suspect they were as bad as each other, but I praised him for using his Lypsyl and we talked again about ignoring Cody (and anyone else) when they say mean things and just thinking "nevermind" unless they do something very naughty like kicking and then to tell a teacher.  

Activities

We stopped off at Sainsburys on the way home to pick up a few bits and pieces and he was very good about not getting a toy. He talked a lot about it being poppy day (we bought another poppy yesterday) and he told me they had a school meeting where they kept a silence and he thought about his Great Grandad who got shot in the eye by a tank in the second war. After we got home we did some playing and then a bit of his homework for this week which has now arrived. It's describing things he's seen in a park (plus the common words) so we talked about Cantley Park and he wrote down a couple of observations ("I saw a goal" and "I saw a park"). Plenty more to go though. We had crackers and breadsticks for tea and bath and bed time was very smooth with some good reading after his bath. He also had some hot milk before bed while I read him "Harry and the bucketful of dinosaurs".

Sunday 10 November 2013

Free kicks

General 

Elliott was really good today. He got upset twice in football, but only after the actual session had finished and we stayed behind for a bit to mess around with Charlie, Adam, etc. And both times he got upset were understandable (Tyler high-jacked his penalty turn and Adam was know it all with him in a quite a sanctimonious way when he thought a free-kick meant he got to kick it 3 times). He calmed down quickly both times and afterwards we talked about thinking "they're being naughty but nevermind I'll take some deep breaths and then get on with it". He's also been quite good at letting me put Vaseline on his sore lips over the weekend - he started off being very against the idea but now he's quite good at holding his head still and letting me put some on and I've been applying after meals.

Activities

He got up at about 7am and we had breakfast and played with cars before football. We also got his first watch out and we talked about how to tell the time - in terms of the big hand and the little hand and he started talking about which hands pointed at which numbers. He also picked up that 10 minutes is 10 times counting to 60. Football went really well, even though we were 5 minutes late and they'd already started (an unexpected road closure). He did heading and shooting really well and also did three really good passes in the game at the end.       

After lunch we watched some Sonic and then he asked to go and play football again so we went to Cantley Park and kicked a ball around for an about half an hour before playing on the play equipment there. After we got back we had a Roast Pork dinner that he ate very well - he also tried a green bean and mashed swede, though he didn't take to either, but we praised him for trying them both properly. After dinner we did lots of reading (3 school books) and he did really well with these before I read to him (he chose Planes tonight).    

Saturday 9 November 2013

Pirate swimming

General 

Elliott was mostly good today. We did have two moments where I asked him to go to his room, calm down and then apologise. The first was when he broke a pair of Halloween pumpkin glasses. This was completely accidental and would have been totally fine except he was trying to hide what had happened and blame other people (Jake - his soft toy poppy). It happened late afternoon after we'd been out so I think he was a bit tired already. We had a chat and he was only in his room briefly before he came out and apologised and I emphasised it wasn't about breaking the glasses as that was an accident it was about how he took responsibility afterwards. He was also calm throughout. The second moment was during tea. I cooked us sweet and sour chicken and cooked a blander version for him (no peppers, onion or pineapple and reduced version of sauce). I wasn't totally expecting him to like it (had fish fingers up my sleeve in case) but he started out saying he did and we called it "chicken like sweets". However after about a third of the bowl he suddenly said he didn't want anymore because he didn't like it. So I asked if it was because he was full, but he said no he still wanted crisps. He then got quite babyish about discussions. Again I asked him to go to his room and come back when he was ready to eat something healthy and that there were definitely no crisps if he hadn't eat his tea. I explained this wasn't about not liking food but how he behaved and communicated. This time he was a less calm, although there was no melt down - he was upset for a minute or so but did take deep breathes and start calming down. After about 5 minutes I went into his room and he was much happier and in fact did eat more of his original tea and he had strawberry fruit bits for pudding, with 1 crisp afterwards.

Activities

We had a lazy morning playing with Lego, reading a new Lego Chima magazine and watching CBBC (a programme about deadly animals) and Takeshi's Castle.       

After lunch we all went swimming to Coral Reef - the "pirate swimming pool". We had a lot of fun and Elliott now seems totally fine with water falling on to his head (there are lots of features at Coral Reef that mean water falls on your head at different times - like a canon on a pirate ship that fires water sporadically). We did use arm bands because  some of the pool is a bit deeper than the training pool at Carnival Pool, but we took them off when in some of the smaller pools and he was practicing swimming underwater and touching the bottom of the pool. After a shower we popped in to Sainsburys and Homebase for some shopping and then went home for tea, reading and bedtime. He read some of his Lego Chima magazine and I read The Magic Faraway Tree to him - he's chosen this as his new bedtime book.     

Friday 8 November 2013

Ewar

General 

Elliott was good after school today. He did tell me he'd had his name on the board at school and then began by saying it was for tidying up last. However I suspected it was possibly more than that so when I asked him if Mrs Parfitt would tell me that was why if I asked her he looked sheepish and said "Daddy, I didn't tell the truth" and then explained it was for running around inside with Dhilan. I told him he was good for telling me the truth in the end and for telling me his name had been on the board. He also had some work he'd done with a house point on it (colouring in a person in different sections with different words in each section that had to match a key of colours with words in them). 

Activities

We went straight home after school today. We had a look at a new Lego Chima magazine I'd found (with free Ewar mini-figure) and read some of this. We also watched some Empire Strikes Back. he had sausages in rolls again for tea with strawberry fruit flakes for pudding and said he'd had pizza for lunch at school. Before bed we did some more reading and we read another Star Wars book together. He did pretty well, but also seemed quite tired so I didn't worry too much about the few words he wasn't getting. 

Tuesday 5 November 2013

Hot dogs

General 

Elliott was good today apart from one moment when asked to put a cushion back on the sofa he at first refused before throwing in back on to the sofa. I asked him to go to his room and come back and apologise when he was ready and he did and apologised very well identifying that throwing was bad. 

Activities

Swimming went well with only 4 participants again. We had sausages in rolls for tea even though he had a veggie hot dog for lunch - he still wanted more sausages. He also did some really good reading with a school book ("Four Green Monsters") and one of his Star Wars book ("Meet Jar Jar").

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