Bournemouth aquarium

General 

Elliott was really good for all of today. 

Activities

In the morning we had a lazy time watching cartoon network before we went to Bournemouth with Granny. We went to the aquarium which we all really enjoyed and Elliott especially liked the crocodile, sting rays and sharks. There were otters there as well who were play fighting and playing with balls which we found funny. We also saw them feeding the giant turtles, sting rays and sharks which was interesting. He also bought a new pirate play sword and plastic fish set from the shop with his pocket money on our way out of the aquarium.

After the aquarium we had sandwiches for lunch by the beach. It was so hot after lunch that Elliott played on the beach and even went paddling in the sea:

On the way back to the car we popped back in to the aquarium to see another feeding session before driving home. After we got home Elliott played with Transformers while I cooked tea and we all had spaghetti bolognese for tea, which Elliott ate very nicely. After tea he had a bath and he read the first part of his school book "Battle with the Beast" before another good bed time. 

Finkley Down Farm

General 

Elliott was really good today. He did get upset briefly when it was time to leave Finkley Down Farm and I said he didn't have enough pocket money (until tomorrow) to buy something from the shop. However he didn't get too upset and calmed down quickly. 

Activities

In the morning after breakfast at Granny's we set off for Finkley Down Farm. Unfortunately due to an accident in Salisbury the traffic was very bad, but Elliott was patient and good. When we arrived we met up with Harry, Bertie, Matt and Lara Higgins. Elliott had dressed up as Anakin Skywalker and both Harry and Bertie had come as Halloween skeletons. The farm was really good and the boys saw lots of animals - goats, rabbits, horses, pigs, chameleon, snakes, chickens, etc. There was even sheep racing and they fed the goats and practiced milking cows with a dummy cow:

As well as the animals there was lots of outdoor play and trampolining, including some pedal carts to play on and some soft play indoors. There was also a wizard doing magic for Halloween which they watched for bit. And everyone had lunch there and Elliott was very good and ate his cheese sandwiches very sensibly.

After we got home we had sausage and mash with Granny for tea and then a bath. He read his school book "Ant's Pact" to Granny and watched some toy reviews on the iPad before bed time.

Sparkly poppy

General 

Elliott was very good on the journey to Downton and after we arrived.

Activities

After we got to Downton Elliott said hello to Granny and gave her the sparkly poppy he had made for her which went down well. He went to sleep very quickly after getting in to bed. 

Honey toast

General 

Elliott was good after I picked him up from the child minder.

Activities

After we got home Elliott had a snack of honey toast and then it was bath and bed time. 

Parents evening

General 

Elliott was good again after school today and well behaved for Andrea during parents evening. On the way to swimming after school he did ask me if we used to be married, so I explained we did but weren't anymore. He then asked why, so I explained that when we lived together we weren't making each other happy. He looked a little down about this and said he wished we lived together and that we liked each other. So I said that we did like each other and because we both loved him and when we saw each other it was to do things with him and that made things much easier now we don't live together. This seemed to help and he cheered up and we moved on to what Transformer I'd like to be most.

Activities

After school we went straight to swimming and he did well as usual. Then we went home for tea and I shot off to parents evening which I thought was really positive. I know handwriting is a bit behind track, but I think that will sort itself out and I'm really pleased to hear his ideas and creativity are really good and I enjoyed seeing so many house points in his Maths book. I also think it's really encouraging that when he does get upset it's not lasting for long before he moves on. While I was gone he finished off his homework with Andrea, read the whole of his school book "The Trap" and practiced his spellings. After I got back I told him how well parents evening had gone and how Mrs Davies had said his ideas were really good and his Maths and general work was good. I did mention that his handwriting was getting lots better and he needed to keep trying to improve it even more and that it was really good he was calming down so quickly after being upset and be good to practice not even getting upset and he seemed fine with this and generally quite pleased. I also told him that you were really pleased.

Poorly hand

General 

Elliott was very good after school today. Unfortunately when he got in to the car after being collected from school he trapped his hand in the door of the car and this must have hurt. I considered taking him to accident and emergency but he could still move all his fingers and wrist with no problems and still said he wanted to go to football training. After he'd got over the shock he was fine and a plaster at home apparently made it feel much, much better. So we did go to football training but unfortunately, even though his hand was fine for football, it still hurt too much to do any writing homework before football training - even though it was his left hand, not his writing hand.

Activities

After school we had some honey toast and sandwiches and bear fruit and then did some reading. Then he got changed and went to football training. This week Fabio took his group of 6 and they did shooting and heading drills for most of the hour including half volleys and using the "wrong" foot. They did also do some dribbling practice and some tackling practice. Elliott did really well this week and some of his shooting was really improved. He also concentrated really well until the last 20 minutes when they all started messing around a bit. After we got home we had a quick bath and then it was bed time.

Measuring

General 

Elliott was good for the most of today. Just before bed time he got upset because I wouldn't let him watch the iPad as it's school tomorrow. He did calm down though when I gave him the option of either reading or watching the beginning of Strictly Come Dancing results show instead (and he went with the Strictly Come Dancing results show option). 

Activities

In the morning he watched some episodes of Penguins of Madagascar and then he did his measuring homework. He measured the remote control, a Transformer, my phone and various other objects and wrote down their length. Unfortunately we then realised he was meant to measure the lines on the page we'd been writing the objects on and he sounded worried that Mrs Davies would tell him off for getting it wrong. I did ask him more about this and he said he hasn't been told off by Mrs Davies, only Mrs Parfitt last year. I've written a note to Mrs Davies to explain though and asked for another copy of the homework. Especially as he found measuring and writing down the the lengths very easy. After homework we counted the money he's saved in his piggy bank together so we could go shopping for a toy in the afternoon. He'd saved up £7.00. Then we had chicken fajitas for lunch and he eat them really well. 

After lunch we went to Asda and used the coin master to turn his saved coppers into a voucher to spend on a toy and he chose to buy an Optimus Prime Flip Transformer. On the way home we visited Andrea's Mum and Dad again as Harry and Jack Jenkins were visiting and we had fun playing with them. Then it was back home for crackers for tea and some reading of his school book "The Secret Whirlpool", before bath, watching the first part of Strictly Come Dancing Results show and then bed time. 

Man of the Match

General 

Elliott was really good today and there was only one moment of upset when he banged his head. 

Activities

In the morning he played really well in defence in the football game and was rightly rewarded with the Man of the Match medal. After we got home I gave him his present from the Lake District which was some fossilised sharks teeth. These went down well along with the slate stone for his stone collection. Then we had sausage and mash for lunch and he had some broccoli too which was brilliant. During lunch we talked about time and different times of meals and bed times and getting up, etc for this week's home learning.

After lunch we went to the cinema to watch Box Trolls. He did get scared during an advert for the new Paddington film before Box Trolls began. I think this was because Paddington is like a live bear. But fortunately he really liked Box Trolls which did have a dark side but was well made for children. After the cinema we popped in to Andrea's Mum and Dad's house to say hello on the way home. Then we went home for an early bath so he could have honey toast for tea while watching the first bit of Strictly Come Dancing. After Steve Backshall had danced he went to bed really quickly and well. 

Kinder Surprise

General 

Elliott was very good after school today again. 

Activities

After school we went straight to swimming where Elliott did well. He had a shower afterwards so I treated him to a Kinder Surprise Egg which came with Bumblebee transformer which went down well. After we got home he watched some "Dragons" (television series based on "How to train your Dragon") before having toast with honey and cheese sandwiches for tea. Then he did some more homework maths questions (there are a few left but they are mostly done) and read some of his school book "Harry and the Dinosaurs United" before bed time.

Attack verses defence

General 

Elliott was good after school today. 

Activities

After school we had tea in Asda before going home to change for football. He did 3 more maths questions before football training as well. Football training was split again by 2 pitches and the Panthers practiced attack against defence and shooting. Elliott seemed a bit distracted this week, although quite a few of them were and it was Jake coaching them this week and I don't think he's got the same knack as Bertie. On the way home we talked about not always shouting which practicing and concentrating more and I said Optimus Prime had suggested this (as he was watching from my pocket). He understood I think, but it is good he enjoys training. After we got home he had a quick bath, did some reading of "The Trap" and then it was straight to bed.

Ten pin bowling

General 

Elliott was good today. He did get a bit upset at the bowling alley when we had a go at trying to win a soft toy Skylander from a grabbing arm machine and couldn't after 3 go's - but he did calm down quickly though.

Activities

In the morning we did some more maths homework and we also decorated the box for harvest festival. I wrapped the box in some wrapping paper and then Elliott stuck on some pictures of gingerbread men and cans of food we found in a free Waitrose magazine. After we'd finished the box we set off to Mortimer to see Dave, Jo, Alice and Fi. When we arrived Elliott showed the girls his Transformers and they showed him their hex bugs and they all played together. Then we all had burgers and chips for lunch before we headed off to the bowling alley for some ten pin bowling. This was really good fun and Elliott did really well without using the slide at all. In fact he ended up winning the game, although he did have the rails up at the side:

After bowling we all had some fun playing on the arcade machines, including an epic game of air hockey. Then it was off home for tea and we watched some of last night's Strictly Come Dancing - in particular Steve Backshall who we're supporting. Then it was bath time and he read some more of his school book "The Trap" to me..

Hair cut

General 

Elliott was really good today and went to bed really well for Andrea after I left for London at 6.30pm. 

Activities

In the morning it was the big football game which he really seemed to enjoy despite how wet it was and losing. We both thought Panthers played well and as a team. 

After football we had sausage and mash for lunch which he eat well. Then we did some homework - more maths questions practicing number lines and deleting 9 and 19 from various numbers. We did the first 3 sums before heading in to town. In Wokingham we had a snack and smoothie at Waitrose with Andrea before we went for hair cuts and then shopping to buy bits and pieces to decorate a harvest festival box with (making a harvest festival box is his home learning for this weekend). After we got home he had a bath to wash off the itchy hair from the hair cut and then some toast and honey before I left for London. After I'd gone Elliott read "The Trap" to Andrea and watched some iPad and went to bed well.

The Magic Faraway Tree

General 

Elliott was really good after school today and had a good day at school. He had fish and chips for lunch.

Activities

After school we practiced football for tomorrow and then had toast for tea. After tea and bath he read his school book "The Trap" which is a sci-fi book and he really enjoyed explaining it to me. Then I started reading him the next Faraway Tree book - "The Magic Faraway Tree". He watched Transformers toy reviews on the iPad before sleeping time.