Harry and Jack's birthday party

General 

Elliott was very good today. He did get upset at the Sladens but this was because a tennis ball hit him in the face while we were playing cricket and when it was time to go he left without complaining. We also lost the ring from yesterday and he was a little upset at first (understandably) but he moved on quite quickly and didn't let it spoil the day in any way so I told him how good that was.

Activities

In the morning we visited the Sladens, who were all there. He played football in the garden with Charlie and then everyone (including Poppy and Alice) played a game of cricket. Apart from being hit in the face accidentally by the tennis ball Elliott seemed to enjoy cricket and when we left he'd had good fun running around:

After lunch we set off for home and stopped at MacDonalds for lunch. Elliott had a chicken mcnuggets happy meal. After we got home we watched some episodes of "Officially Amazing" before heading off for Bulmershe gym for Harry and Jack Jenkins birthday party. This was good fun and Elliott did a lot of running around, climbing and jumping and was very pleased to get a water pistol in his goodie bag:

After we got home we skipped the bath and just did teeth and face as it was getting late and he wore a new Angry Birds pyjama onesie we bought for bed time.

Old Sarum

General 

Elliott was really good in general today. He did get down hearted at one point during our afternoon visit to Old Sarum because he couldn't walk through stinging nettles like a ninja would, but after looking like he might get in a sad mood for a while his mood lifted quickly.

Activities

In the morning we went to Salisbury with Granny and Grandpa. We visited the toy shop where he spent his pocket money on a spiderman figure with motorbike and we went to Waterstones where he enjoyed looking at Lego Star Wars books. Then we went to Pizza Express for lunch where Elliott was really well behaved and had dough balls, pasta burro and a chocolate brownie for pudding. 

After lunch we all went to Old Sarum to have a look at the castle and cathedral ruins. Elliott really enjoyed running around Old Sarum and seeing all the views:

While we were there we also had a chance to observe quite a lot of mini-beasts for his homework. He also persuaded Granny to buy him a cheap children's ring from the gift shop and seems very happy with his first ring. After we got home we wrote up the mini beasts we'd seen for homework and he also decorated the dog as in the toy shop we'd bought some glitter glue for doing this. He did talk a bit about Adam and how his dog would be better but we talked about how good his dog was (it is) and how winning isn't everything and if he'd enjoyed decorating the dog that was a really good thing. After honey toast for tea he had a fun bath and then read Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs really well to Granny before bed time.

Downton

General 

Elliott was good in general today. There were a couple of moments where I said we couldn't do something (e.g. buy a toy at lunchtime) where he was disappointed and I wondered if he was going to get really upset but he didn't which was really good.

Activities

In the morning we watched some Deadly 60, packed and then left for Granny and Grandpas. We stopped in Wokingham and got our hair cut before setting off properly. Then we stopped at Tescos in Camberley for lunch and had a Tescos kid lunch (chocolate milk, cheese sandwich, crackers and orios) and also bought some Despicable Me 2 t-shirts for Harry and Jack Jenkins as they're having their birthday party at Bulmershe gym on Saturday afternoon.

After we arrived at Downton we had a fun time giving Granny her birthday present (a photo book of Salisbury), playing with toys and watching television before sausage and mash for tea and some post tea scootering. Then it was a good bath time and some really good reading from a Ladybird dinosaur book before bed time.

Rockhopper penguins

General 

We had 2 moments today that were a little fraught. The first was at breakfast time when Elliott was upset that there was no white sugar for his weetabix (we only have brown sugar) and spent about 10 minutes sulking and not wanting to try the brown sugar. Eventually he tried the weetabix with brown sugar and said it was still nice but not as good and then eat his breakfast and got ready for school nicely - so on the way to school in the car we talked a little bit about trying things before deciding they weren't nice and why sulking wasn't the best use of his own time for him. He also got upset at bath time because a Lego hat disappeared down the plug hole, but this was understandable and he cheered up quite quickly.

Activities

After school we went to swimming and he did really well and at one point looked like he was doing a pretty good front crawl with no swimming aids. After we got home he had more weetabix for tea and a sandwich before we watched a Deadly Pole to Pole about rockhopper penguins and sea lions. He read "I am Batman" at bed time really well and also said he was now on Turquoise books and I told him how good that was and how good his reading is. 

Fantastic Mr Fox

General 

Elliott was really good after school today.

Activities

After school we went cycling at Palmer Park oval and then played some frisbee and football. When we got home he had bagels for tea and then was good for bath and bed. He enjoyed talking to you and then read one of his Ben 10 books very well before I started reading him Fantastic Mr Fox (as we've now finished the Planes book). 

Binfield football tournament

General 

Elliott was very good all day today except that he wouldn't eat his broccoli at lunch time after saying he would - so I took away his new Omnitrix for the rest of the day and told him it was because we knew he liked and could eat broccoli and he'd asked for it.

Activities

In the morning it was the Binfield football tournament. His team played 4 games and in each game they improved, although they didn't score a goal and were beaten each game. However he didn't seem to be too upset by this and by the time you arrived for the last game he really seemed to be getting the hang of defending and was really pleased you'd seen him play: 

After you left there was a presentation ceremony and Elliott got another medal before we had a go on the bouncy slide and then headed home. He really enjoyed himself I think which is brilliant, especially considering his team wasn't all that successful:

After we got back we went to Andrea's Mum and Dad's house for a Roast Chicken lunch to celebrate Andrea's Mum's birthday. He ate really well apart from not having any broccoli. After lunch we played frisbee and football in the garden with Andrea's brother and Harry and Jack. Then we headed home and did this week's homework - filling different containers with cups of water to record and explore their capacity. Then we had cheese rolls for tea followed by bath, bed and story time.

Dinton Pastures

General 

The only bit of bad behaviour today happened just before we were due to go out shopping in the morning when Elliott decided he didn't want to go shopping and so was sulky. However it didn't last long and a game of I Spy in the car helped distract him and he was good when we were shopping.

Activities

In the morning we had a lazy time for the first part and then we went shopping in Wokingham and Tescos. After we got home we had rolls for lunch.

After lunch we went to Dinton Pastures to see the new play equipment which is really good: 

While we were there we bumped into Harry and Jack Jenkins and their parents so we played with them:

We also brought a football and a frisbee and played with those as well as on the equipment. After we got home we had chicken fajitas for tea and he was really good for bath and bed time.

Wipeout

General 

Elliott was very good after school today.

Activities

After school we picked up a new school book bag from the school office and then went to Tescos where we had ham and cheese toasties for tea. Then we went home and we made the new Lego police chase set I bought as a present from the trip to Denmark. He made almost all of this by himself from following the instructions which was brilliant. Then we had a good bath and bed routine including watching some Wipeout which he found hilarious. 

I am Batman

General 

Elliott was really good after school.

Activities

It was swimming lesson after school today and this went really well. After we got home we watched some Deadly, had some toast and yoghurt rasins for tea and then read some of a Batman for beginners book called "I am Batman". 

Kerplunk

General 

Elliott was really good after school and had sausage, mash and beans for lunch. He said he didn't have the mash because it was yellow, but he had everything else and he has mash when it's normal / white.

Activities

We went swimming after school and this went well, although he was a little disappointed that there was no time to play this week. After we got home we played Kerplunk before tea and then did some reading after bath and bed time. 

Hoth monster

General 

Elliott was really good today for the time he was with me.

Activities

In the morning before we went to meet you at the cinema we raced each other at Sonic Racing (he was on the iPad and I was on the iPhone). Then we did some homework (drawing a monster and describing it in sentences - a task inspired by the gruffalo). He drew a Hoth monster and we did 2 sentences which were good sentences. His writing was a little erratic and he lost concentration a bit, but when he was writing slowly and quite large it was really good and I praised him at those points as much as possible. We also read a Ben 10 book together and he did really well reading, especially as it was quite long.

After he got home we played with the new Arctic Mission Batman and then it was bath and bed time. Before bed we did one last monster sentence and some more reading and his last sentence was much more consistent.

Josh's party

General 

There was only one small bit of upset today which was before football when Elliott thought it was the match today and decided he didn't want to go. This didn't last long though. He also fell over right at the end of football taking a penalty and hurt his bottom (and pride as well) and was really upset at first, but we got an ice pack to apply to the bruise and this did the trick cheering him up.

Activities

In the morning we went to football training. He was really good for the first 40 minutes or so and did the drills well but then lost concentration a little I think and didn't seem as engaged. When they finally played a game unfortunately he was in a team that didn't stay on very long as it kept conceding goals (they had 3 teams with the waiting team replacing any team playing that conceded a goal). However afterwards he did say he'd enjoyed it and was looking forward to the game.

After lunch we went to Josh's party which was at Wokingham Megabowl. I left him on his own for the first hour while they played laserquest and then arrived while he was doing some bowling which he was doing really well (the barriers were up but he seemed to have the hang of it and wasn't using a slide). Then they all had a meal and he had fish fingers, smiley potato faces and beans which he ate really well. Charlie and Adam were also at the party along with quite a lot of other children (some of whom I recognised from his class). He had a really good time there and declared it his new favourite place for his party next year. After we got home we watched Despicable Me together and then he had a good bath and bed time again.

Tinkerbell and the Pirate Fairy

General 

Elliott was good for most of today although there was a lot of excitement from all of the boys during Cody's outing especially in MacDonalds. He also got quite upset just before we left for the cinema because he decided he didn't want to see the film afterall. However he did move on quite quickly and by the time we got to the cinema and saw the others he seemed very pleased to be there.

Activities

In the morning we went to see Tinkerbell and the Pirate Fairy at Reading Vue with Cody, Adam, Josh and Freya. The boys were quite excitable in the cinema when they first met but were quiet and engaged during the film - even though it was quite girly and afterwards Elliott said he did enjoy it but it was a girl's film. After the film we went to MacDonalds for lunch where the boys were excitable again as we waited for Charlie and Isla to arrive. They also had balloons there so there was some balloon fighting and general shenanigans and on two occasions Elliott started crying, though very soon stopped. After Charlie and Isla arrived everyone ate and Elliott had a cheeseburger happy meal. Everyone ate very nicely, although after finishing there was some excitement again.

After lunch we all had a game of Dinosaur Crazy Golf by the Oracle which was good fun and by the end Elliott was putting really well and got a hole in one on the last hole. After the golf we headed off to Snappy Snaps to get his passport photos done and he which he was a bit grumpy about, but that worked out quite well as you can't smile in passport photos now. Then we headed home and had a quiet evening and a smooth bath and bed time.

Robo fish

General 

Elliott was really good after school and had fish and chips for lunch.

Activities

We went shopping after school to the supermarket but also to buy a present and card for Josh's birthday party on Sunday. We also bought a robo fish with Elliott's pocket money. He was well behaved while we shopped though he did take a long time looking at the toys. When I hurried him up he went a little quiet and sheepish, but as soon as he'd made his decision he seemed happy again. After we got home we had bagels for tea and he did some reading of his Star Wars books before a good bath and bed time. We both enjoyed playing with his robo fish in the bath.