Elliott was good again today. He did get shy again when we went to the concert at the South Bank as before the concert children could try playing instruments and he wanted to try a brass instrument, but by the time we got to the front of the queue he suddenly got very shy and said he didn't want to any more. So we left the queue and about a minute later he got upset and said he did in fact want to try an instrument again. But by that time we had to queue again and he then got upset about having to queue again. So we talked about how it was actually unfair on the other people in the queue if he just went straight to the front again. Anyway after a while he calmed down and we queued again and he did get a chance to try playing a trumpet before the concert began. On our way home we talked again about how most times when he gets shy and then he does try whatever it is he really enjoys it so it's always a good idea to try things if he wants to.
Activities
In the morning we headed off to London on the train for the concert at the South Bank centre. He enjoyed the train ride and when we got to Waterloo we walked to the South Bank and he was excited to see London landmarks like the London Eye, the Shard and the Gerkin. When we got to the South Bank he tried playing a trumpet with a trumpet player there to advise him:
Then Granny joined us for the concert itself which was really good and was a mixture of short orchestral music inspired by A Midsummer Night's Dream and acting out the story of A Midsummer Night's Dream using the actual Shakespearean lines. He had his Doctor Who annual with him so he glanced at that during the performance but his attention definitely got caught a lot, especially by the louder, faster music and the bits of the story where there was fighting and shouting. It was quite hard to concentrate at times as there were a lot of younger children too so a lot of noise but he talked about what had happened afterwards so must have taken it in. After the concert we wandered over the river to Pizza Express in The Strand for lunch and he had dough balls, pasta burro and a chocolate brownie.
After lunch we said goodbye to Granny and then, as we were close to Trafalgar Square, we went to look at the Van Gogh paintings in the National Gallery:
He enjoyed seeing the paintings but enjoyed looking around the gallery shop even more and I think definitely prefers drawing to looking at paintings at the moment. After the gallery we made the short walk to Covent Garden and had a look in the Forbidden Planet comic shop which has lots of comics and also lots of comic related toys and goodies. We both enjoyed looking around the shop and there were plenty of good ideas for future presents (for both of us). After about 40 minutes in Forbidden Planet we headed back to Waterloo and he really enjoyed looking at the London skyline from the bridge over the Thames again:
After we got home we had crumpets for tea and then it was time for a quick bath, teeth and bed time.
