New Year's Eve party

General 

Elliott was very good today. Ubnfortunately in the afternoon we lost some videos he'd made to upload to You Tube and he was quite upset. However he calmed down really quickly and managed to put it in to perspective quickly and didn't let it ruin very much of his day.

Activities

After he arrived in the morning he filmed some fingerboarding videos and practiced on his skate board outside. Then we had ham sandwiches for lunch. 

After lunch he finished his Star Wars Lego set and then made a video reviewing it. Unfortunately when we tried to upload it to You Tube we lost that video and the earlier fingerboarding video and he was upset but recovered really quickly. Then we headed over to Barry and Jenny Griggs's house for a New Years Eve party and he went dressed as Spiderman:

When we got there Beth and Emma Griggs were there and Gus and Evan Anderson and he started showing them his fingerboarding kit and R2D2 Bop It (which went down very well). Then the children all went upstairs to a play room and watched Return of the Jedi and had fun. At about 10.00pm he got changed in to his pyjamas, brushed his teeth and went to sleep and later, after midnight, we woke him up and got a taxi home where he went straight to bed with no problems.

Harry Higgins

General 

Elliott was really good today, even with the excitement of Harry Higgins. He did, unfortunately, take quite a heavy fall when out in his heelies and he was a little shaken up for a while, but physically he only has some bruising around his bottom where he fell. 

Activities

In the morning, after we'd had breakfast, he's played some Clarinet and we'd packed up the car, we headed to Durrington to visit Harry Higgins at their house. When we got there everyone was there and Harry, Betie and Elliott played with each other's Christmas toys and had a lot of fun. Then we headed out to the park on scooters and in heelies and Elliott was getting quite confident with the heelies until he slipped and fell on to his bottom. He was quite upset and shocked but after he'd recovered he still wanted to keep practicing, but was just a bit more cautious. After we got back to their house we had cheese and biscuits, bread and crisps for lunch. 

After lunch he made a fingerboarding video with Harry as Harry had very genorously given him two fingerboards for Christmas. They spent over an hour making the video and obviously really enjoyed it. After the video we headed to MacDonalds for tea and Elliott had a Chicken Mcnuggets Happy Meal and some extra chicken select:

After tea we said goodbye and headed home where we unpacked and then he had a bath and brushed his teeth. Before bed time he did some editing of a new fingerboarding video he's started to make and read some more of his current Darren Shan book.

Walk in heelies

General 

Elliott was good again today.

Activities

In the morning he made more of his Marvel Lego set, played with his Batman, Superman and Flash figures, practiced his Clarinet and watched The Gadget Show. My Mum's friend Kate Weale came to visit for lunch and we had a buffet lunch of rolls, ham, turkey, cheese, sausage rolls and crackers. 

After lunch we went for a walk around Downton in his heelies with Andrea and then had a bop it competition with his R2D2 bop it. He also played more Clarinet and made some loom bands. Then it was time for Andrea to go as she has work tomorrow and after she left he had chicken nuggest, chips and about 20 peas for tea. Next I treated his hair for head lice again before he had his bath and brushed his teeth. After bath time he put on his pyjamas and read more the Darren Shan school book before going to sleep.

Pizza Express

General 

Elliott was very good today.

Activities

After breakfast Elliott practiced Clarinet and learnt how to play Happy Birthday with Grandpa so he could play it to me for my birthday. Then he helped me open my presents (he'd got me a Batman bobble head). Then we headed off to Salisbury where we had lunch at Pizza Express:

He had dough balls, pepporoni pizza and a chocolate brownie. 

After lunch we had a quick look around the shops and then headed home. When we got home he started making his Marvel Lego set and also opened his new Star Wars camera to try it out. Then he had an early bath and I treated him for head lice again (I couldn't see any head lice on the lice comb so am hoping his head is now clear). After his bath he had a ham roll, sausage roll and some cheese for tea and we watched a Question of Sport Premier League special. Then he went to bed and read more of his Darren Shan book before going to sleep.en Shan school book and then it was time to go to sleep.

Presents from Father Christmas

General 

Elliott was really good today.

Activities

After I picked him up in Salisbury we drove home to Downton to Granny and Grandpa's house where we had Turkey sandwiches for lunch. 

After lunch he opened his presents from Father Christmas which included a Dark of the Moon Leader Class Bumblebee Transformer, a Spiderman figure that fires silly string, Valerian DVD, a book called Millions, a Bumblebee Transformer Pez dispenser, Star Wars and Doctor Who annuals and chocloate coins. Then we watched the Christmas Doctor Who while he played with his new Bumblebee Transformer. Then we had Roast Gammon for tea and Andrea arrived. After tea we opened more presents and he got two new Lego sets (a Stars Wars set and a Marvel set), a Star Wars t-shirt, some pyjamas, a Smartphone Movie Maker kit, a Sonic Screwdriver, some more books, some heelies, Transformers pencil case and a calendar. Then it was time for his bath and brushing teeth. After his bath he read some of his Darren Shan school book and then it was time to go to sleep.

Choir carols

General 

Elliott was really good after school today. He said he'd almost been in trouble but someone else had blamed him for something he didn't do and this time Miss Allen believed him.

Activities

After schoolwe popped in to ASDA to buy some more Christmas presents before going home for ham sandwiches and toast for tea. Then it was back to school for the Christmas carol concert which was more serious than I was expecting (and previous years). But he said afterwards that he'd really enjoyed it and wanted to carry on in choir and was learning towards his Grade 1 on Clarinet. After the carols we headed home and he had a quick bath and cleaned his teeth before reading some of his new Doctor Who book out loud to me (and his observation of grammar and showing he understands meaning is really improving).

Christmas shopping

General 

Elliott was mainly good today. However he did drag his heals getting ready for hockey in the morning and in the afternoon I asked him to tidy his room and it took a while to get him to do it.

Activities

In the morning we went to the South Berkshire Christmas hockey tournament which was really good and I thought he really gained confidence playing up front and dribbling the ball. Afterwards he was really pleased with how he'd played. We had toast and ham sandwiches for lunch. 

After lunch he had a bath and then we went Christmas shopping in Bracknell where he was really well behaved. When we got back from shopping he played his Clarinet and worked on his latest animation. He also watched some Spiderman on the iPad. Then he had a mild chilli for tea before (eventually) tidying up his room. Finally he got ready for bed, brushed his teeth and read some of a new Doctor Who book before going to sleep.

The Last Jedi

General 

Elliott was really good today.

Activities

After I picked Elliott up we went home and had ham sandwiches before getting the train to London. When we got to Waterloo we headed to Leicester Square where we met up with Matt and Reuben Hyde, Henry Black and Tom, Alex and Lucas Dawson and Paddy and Finn Griffiths:

We went to Planet Hollywood for a meal and the boys got on really well. Elliott had a hot dog with chips to eat. 

After the meal we all went to The Empire, Leicester Square to watch The Last Jedi in IMAX 3D. Everyone enjoyed the film, although the general concensus was that it wasn't quite as good as The Force Awakens and Elliott said he preferred Justice League. However everyone was very quiet for the whole two and a half hours so I think the film captured everyone's imaginations. After the film we got the Underground back to Waterloo and got the train home. He finished reading his latest Darren Shan book on the train. After we got home he brushed his teeth and went straight to bed because it was getting late.

Star of David

General 

Elliott was really good after school. I was a bit late picking him up because of traffic but even though he was late to swimming he got changed and joned in for the remainder of the session.

Activities

After school I picked him up a bit later than hoped and then when we got to swimming he joined in with the class. After swimming he had a shower and got changed and we headed home where he did his English homework with Andrea and had some toast for tea. After tea he made a Star of David with his lolly sticks and then got ready for bed and cleaned his teeth. Before it was time for sleep he read his latest Darren Shan book and read out loud for a while until it got to a passage about Darren Shan's girlfriend and he got a little embarassed. Before he went to sleep he talked about possibly wasnting to give up choir so he could have his lunch break back but being worried that I might not like that, so I told him that was fine with me if that's what he wanted, but he then said now he'd talked it through with a parent maybe he wanted to keep going for a bit longer to just check that's what he wanted to do and that maybe he wasn't sure. So I told him I wouldn't mind either way and to think about it.

Black eye

General 

Elliott was very really good after school. When I went to pick him up at the end of after school hockey club Mr Maker explained that he'd got a black eye after a clash with Harry's hockey stick so we didn't go to swimming. He said he'd been upset after getting his black eye at first but after a while he'd just carried on with hockey:

He was also really pleased because Miss Allen had shown everyone his Spiderman animation and everyone had liked it.

Activities

After we got home Elliott got going with hiis new animation as challenged by Miss Allen. He stopped to have some toast for tea and finished his new Spiderman animation before having his bath. Then he brushed his teeth and read more of Darren Shan before going to sleep.

Frosty the Snowman

General 

Elliott was very good after school and had a good day. He showed Miss Allen his Spiderman animation at break time and she liked it and has challenged him to do a new story that's longer now.

Activities

After school I picked him up and we went home. He started making his new longer animation straight away and then we had tea before Clarinet Club (he had toast). Then it was off to Clarinet Club (last one of this term) which he enjoyed and played a duet with George while he was there. They also played Frosty the Snowman. Then it was back home for a quick bath, brushing teeth, a bit more animating and reading Darren Shan before going to sleep.

Arborfield Christmas Fayre

General 

Elliott was very good today.

Activities

After Elliott got up we went straight to the hockey tournament at Wellington. South Berkshire did really well drawing the first and last games 0-0 and winning the other 2 games. They were so dominant in most of the games that Elliott didn't have much to do at the back and, even though Tony told him it would be ok to push up a bit, he was quite cautious about leaving the back. He played well when the sides did attack but it did feel as though he was quite happy on the peripheries today. We had a chat in the car afterwards and he sounds like he's lost a bit of confidence (he didn't take any 16s for example) but I'm hoping this will come back soon. After the tournament we went to Subway for lunch and he had ham, pepporoni and cheese 6 inch sandwich. 

After lunch he a had a bath and practiced his Clarinet. Next went to Arborfield Village Hall where I played a couple of songs with a friend John as part of John's Christmas concert for his guitar teacher. He listened to us and the other people playing and was quite interested. After about an hour the concert finished and we went to Arobrfield Community Hall for the local Christmas Fayre. He took his scooter and practiced stunts on our way there. When we got there we found lots of Christmas stalls and we joined a lantern parade to the Christmas Tree where the Mayor turned on the lights. We also sang carols while a brass band accompanied us. After we got home he helped decorate our Christmas Tree and put up the decorations. Then we had pizza for tea before it was time for teeth brushing, reading Darren Shan and going to sleep.

Justice League

General 

Elliott was very good today.

Activities

After breakfast Elliott made a really good animation with his Spiderman and Marvel figures. This took him a few hours but he was really pleased with the finished version:

He also drew soe pictures of Spiderman. Then he had sausages and toast for lunch. 

After lunch he did his homework (long division on Study Ladder and getting ready to write recount text by writing down details of his visit to Paultons Park). After his homework he watched some iPad and then we went to Braknell to do some shopping. After the shopping we went to see Justice League in the cinema and both thought it was much better than critics have said. After the film he had a hot dog for tea and we went home. After we got in he practiced his Clarinet and then had his bath and brushed his teeth. He read some more of his new Darren Shan school book before going to sleep.

Christmas Fayre

General 

Elliott was really good after school and had a good day.

Activities

After school we went to Wokingham and went to The Hope and Anchor as there was a leaving party for someone I used to manage. He had some lemonade and enjoyed talking to one of the graduate developers George. Then we headed back to school for the Christmas Fayre (he had some ham sandwiches in the car). He really enjoyed the Christmas Fayre and went round with Isaac and Cameron as well as spending time with Charlie, Adam, Thomas and George. He won some sweets and a tin of peas and went to some Year 6 stalls. When we got home he skipped his bath and brushed his teeth and got ready for bed as it was after 8pm. He briefly read some of his next Darren Shan book before going to sleep.