First day of school

Charlie's started school, he's no longer a preschooler he's a schoolboy! His first day was Thursday 4th September 2014 from 9am - 11.15am.

He's in squirrel class and already loves his teacher Miss M and support assistant Miss K. He was excited and scared on his first day, complaining of a stomach ache and when I said it was probably butterflies in his stomach he said "the butterflies are biting my tummy Mummy!". As soon as we got to school and he saw all the different toys his tummy was fine. Eve and I stayed with him for 10 minutes, we found his peg and hung up his bag and book bag and went round the activity tables as he chose to play with a toy farm and a little people train track, he gave the Lego a glance but settled at the farm.

On collection he was still excited but noticeably tired. I brought some apples and grapes for him to eat on the way home and he told me about his day. That he'd answered his name at register but couldn't remember his teacher's name, that they'd played a game - throwing a ball and saying their names - and he was 4th to get the ball and that they'd been out in the playground.

The next day he got a special sticker because he counted to 100 in front of the class with his teacher - he (and we) were so proud!

Nursery Graduation Day

Last week Charlie graduated from nursery. Tom took a half day and I kept C home in the morning to enjoy some more mama/son time before baby arrives. The three of us walked over to the nursery in time for the ceremony, it was a hot hot day with a brilliant blue sky and a few wispy white clouds.

The graduation was a little OTT, they are only 4! But lots of effort had been made to make it as much fun for the kids as possible. The temperature didn't help, with a lot of people sitting on child size chairs in a hot marquee, but otherwise it was a lovely afternoon.

It started off with the nursery choir singing some songs, then each child was called up by his/her key carer to 'graduate' and collect their goodies - certificate, teddy bear, photo of them in a cap and gown and a medal. After we'd got through all the kids, they all went up to the front to sing a special song - it was the goodnight song from CBeebies, but with the words changed to say 'The time has come to say goodbye...' Then it was time to release some balloons and a general melee at kids and parents were released from the hot marquee!

Charlie is actually staying on at nursery until school starts in September. We felt it best to keep his routine as similar as possible with the new baby arriving, as we didn't want to hit him with leaving his friends at nursery (only 3 are going to his primary school and he doesn't play with any of them...), new baby AND new school in just one month. Some of his friends with older siblings on holiday have now left so this last week he's been having fun helping out with the new 3 year olds who have joined the class! I'm also taking him out of nursery at least one day a week to spend some time with him before the baby arrives.

- Drinking Daddy's water in the hot marquee
- C&T with graduation pic
- Proud boy with his medal
- Collecting his medal from carer Daisy (and nursery manager Mandy). Another carer, Ana is on the left and the little girl on the left is his very best friend from nursery, little miss M.
- Admiring his medal and teddy bear
- Released balloons

Seaside holiday 2014

With little bump due in August, we took an early holiday this year and spent the 2nd week of June at the seaside in Broadstairs. Picked because it's only an hour and half's drive away from the house (in case of any emergencies) I hadn't realised what a hidden gem this little seaside town is. It has sandy beaches (hard to find in Kent), friendly locals and a real seaside vibe. We will definitely be going back for day trips, Charlie absolutely loved it.

We went with Nana and Grandad and Uncle A and cousin M (now a 3 year old) joined us for a few days at the start. The boys had so much fun, we went to the beach every day and the weather was really good, a little cloudy at the start and then lovely hot sunshine for most of the time.

C got his 2nd proper haircut! He was a nightmare at the barbers over a year ago so I've been cutting it myself, but we tried again whilst on holiday and he was so much better. C&M spent indoors time watching and rewatching Frozen. M was obsessed by Sven the reindeer and C loves to sing along to Let it Go. There was a 'holiday cat' who lived nearby and visited us most days, he was really friendly and C loved stroking him. We visited Deal castle and T and I had a morning in Canterbury, but pretty much spent the rest of the time on the beach. C got up early EVERY day and we took it in turns for early morning beach walks with him, he loved the freedom of being the only person on the beaches! Charles Dickens lived here (in Bleak House) and nearly all the shops, pubs and restaurants in the town make reference to him and his books.

So here's my favourite pics:

From T-B, L-R:

Viking Beach - the sandiest beach with lifeguards and a mini fairground, but we preferred...
Lousia Beach - C & T digging a pool by the sea - the next bay along from Viking, with rock pools and a little quieter.
Viking Beach in the early morning.
C&M sharing a hole.
Mini fair on Viking Beach.
Our windbreak and fishy wind sock - C chose this from a holiday shop with Nana.
A cheeky boy next to a stripy beach hut.
Bump shadow on the beach.
Paddling boys.
Boys at Deal castle - with Robbie the nursery holiday rabbit.
Windbreak.
Charlie.
Our super 'train track' sandcastle.
Bucket boy.
Sunrise boy on the beach.
Starfish and C.
Viking Beach and purple flowers.
Icecream from Morelli's icecream parlour
Early morning Broadstairs.
Shark! at the mini golf.
Boys.
Beach boys digging together
Digging.
Charles Dickens' Bleak House (in the distance on the left).
Beach.
Holiday cat.
Digging holes.
Splash!
Divers, sharks and whales.
Digging in the sand.
Boys.
Sunrise on Louisa Beach.
Starfish and little M.
Bump on the beach.

Charlie at 4 years

4 year olds are fun... and full of beans, highly strung, argumentative... I could go on. C knows his own mind and lets us know. The best days are ones where we've given him plenty of time to run around and burn off all his excess energy. He is very loving, giving hugs and kisses unprompted and will most times say please and thank you without prompting.

He loves his friends, little miss M and little master B at nursery are his best friends and it's lovely watching the three of them play together. There's lots of hugs, kisses and chasing round and round.

He's pretty much grown out of Thomas the Tank Engine, no longer wanting to play with train tracks - a fixture of our living room for the past 2.5 years! But he still loves going on train trips and reading The Little Red Train books. Toys he loves at the moment are - mini plastic dinosaurs, castle, knights and dragons he got last week for his birthday, play house and shop - pouring tea in the tea set, selling toy food through his new toy till and cooking toy food on Mummy's old toy cooker at Granny and Grandad's house, the alien hammer game (like whack'a'mole) and Dino Bite (taking eggs from a dinosaur nest before the dino bites!). Plus scooting on his scooter, he's not got he hang of his bike yet and prefers scooting in the garden or on the way to the park. In the garden he loves having a bowl of water and washing his plastic animals or pebble collection and he adores blowing bubbles for the cat to chase.

He still loves reading, our book choices at the moment are those about having a new baby and starting at school. He also likes Peter Rabbit stories and haunted house books, including Funny Bones and Creepy Castle. On TV his favourite shows are Wooly and Tig, Alphablocks and Peter Rabbit, films he loves are The Frog Princess, Rapunzel and Totoro.

He loves our cat Baxter, it's a love/hate relationship between the two, but it's nice to see the two of them interacting, first thing in the morning Baxter will weave around Charlie's legs as he gives him a nice stroke.

He seems to like the idea of having a baby sister and will kiss and hug my bump. We talk a lot about when the baby get's here and the different type of things we'll do.

He's still a fussy eater but manages to get a balanced diet. Carrots and cucumber are vegetables I know he'll eat, along with apples, grapes, orange and melon. Tomato and cheesy pasta is one of his favourite dishes and he loves a good old ham sandwich with ketchup.

He recognises lots of letters and can say the alphabet, he also recognises some words, his name and 'no' being the main ones. He can count pretty much up to 100 and can do simple additions.

He sleeps from 7pm to 6am and we've just got a sleep trainer clock. He knows that he needs to stay in bed when the stars are showing and that he can get up when the sunshine comes out.

Toilet training is pretty much complete, he has a very occasional accident, but now get's through most days without needing to change his pants.

He can be painfully shy at times, he's fine with his friends at nursery and family,but if there's lots of people in one place (at birthday parties, or the parents coming to the nursery Easter parade) he doesn't like it. He'll become hidey and clingy and stick to me like glue.

Favourite clothes are his turquoise Verbaudet hoodie (it has velcro smiley or sad faces and says 'This is how I feel today' - C loves choosing, but ALWAYS chooses the very happy face :)'. He also has a spiderman hoodie he likes to wear, stripy socks, a pink and a white long sleeved T-shirt and a grey top with dog faces on. He has a pair of cream coloured cargo trousers which say 'Beware the Lions in Africa' which he is crazily attached to! He likes his green dinosaur winter coat and navy blue gilet with grey hood. He has navy blue clarks shoes with flashing red lights and little red trainers with stars on from M&S. He's a shoe size 7.5 and has moved from an F-width to a G.

His memory is excellent, often talking about things I would have expected him to have forgotten.

4 may sometimes be a trying age, but he's still at heart a polite, loving little boy. He has a killer giggle and is happy most of the time.