Homework

So, Tom has completed his first half-term at school and it has gone pretty well.  No tears, no refusals to go etc.  We have very little idea of what goes on at school as he seems to forget everything he has done as soon as he leaves the classroom!

He does, however, get lots of homework:

+ Sound book: a flip book with all the letters of the alphabet and some words they appear in to practise sounds.

Tom's homework!

+ Reading book with no words - Tom has to narrate his way through this book describing what he sees in the pictures

+ Reading book with simple keywords such as 'a' and 'the' etc

+ Keywords keyring - 50 or so simple words on a keyring that he needs to learn off by heart

+ KIRFs book - with maths targets to Tom to hit.  (Luckily his target this half-term is to count to 20 and recognise the numerals 1-10.  He's been able to do that for over a year so I have just ignored this one).

+ New on Friday - 'Wow Wednesdays' a book which we have to fill each week with something new he has done at home in the previous week, to be illustrated with drawings / photos etc.  

+ Library book

Although this is his homework, it is of course MY homework.  I have comment books to fill in for his reading and maths and of course I now have to write about something 'wow' each week.  Does a 4 year old really need to have this much homework?  It makes me wonder exactly how much teaching is taking place at school.  I have a feeling teachers are spending so much time on paperwork to prove this, that and the other for Ofstead, that they don't actually have time to sit down with the kids in their class to teach them / find out how they are doing and expect the parents to do this instead.

Anyhow, Tom seems to be taking it in his stride and is beginning to recognise some words.  His maths is much better, today he was playing a maths game on the ipad and learnt how to count in 2's to 20.  We were really impressed with him as he picked it up really quickly.  (I am now making a mental note of everything he does to save up for his Wow Wednesday book - first entry will be the 7 mile bike ride, second entry will be counting to 20 in 2's - I'm hoping there will be more I can use and store up from this half term).

Oh hum, I guess it will only get worse...

Oh and he came home with a certificate last week - for 100% attendance.  Fine, but why did they give it to him a week before the end of half term?  

Family bike ride

Although Tom is tired and got a cold, he doesn't let it get him down (although he does get naughty and bolshy when he is tired which can be annoying).  This morning he requested that he went on a bike ride : "all of us on a bike".  Expecting lots of rain, we got up and set to putting the bike rack on the car - a nasty job which involves lots of grunting and swearing.  It didn't take as long as usual to get it on and the bikes on it.  Luckily we can still get Tom's bike in the car - that will change when he grows into his next one.

On the bridge at Crook O' Lune

We all had a good breakfast and then headed out.  Initially we were going to hit the prom at Morecambe, but we were worried about the weather - supposed to get windy and rainy today and there is no shelter in Morecambe, so we decided to ride along an old railway track: Bull Beck to Crook O' Lune.  We have done this before when Tom was on his orange bike, it took quite a while and Matt and I were wobbling quite a bit as we were having to cycle so slowly.  This time it was quite different.  Matt and I had to cycle properly to keep up with Tom and we got to Crook O' Lune in about 15 minutes - last time it was more like an hour!  We were very surprised and decided to carry on which we did.  We got all the way to the M6 road bridge, past Halton which is a decent distance.  We wondered if we should continue on into Lancaster but Tom requested we headed home, and as he isn't 100% we figured he knew best.

Resting at Crook O' Lune

We stopped off at Crook O' Lune on the way back for tea and a bun and then returned to the car.  In all we cycled just under 6 3/4 miles in 1hr 10mins (Matt of course has a gadget that measures all this!).  Very impressive for a tired, cold ridden 4 year old, we were very impressed with him (I was impressed with me too!)  It was very enjoyable and we found some free car parks on the route nearer to Lancaster, so we made a note to return to these and see if we can cycle into Lancaster next time where they have cycle paths alongside the canal which are supposed to be nice)

We headed to a new farm shop / cafe in Ireby just along from Ingleton.  We were surprised to come across a huge wooden building with loads of seating.  We had a lovely lunch (a little pricey but it was very good quality so can't really complain) and then headed back home.

In the afternoon we did a quick walk around the village, (old Neptis is being done up to become a new cafe....) visited the butchers to buy 2 massive rump steaks for dinner (so big that we ate one between the 3 of us and froze the other - very nice it was too), and headed down to the park for a play.  All was going well until I sat on a wall.  I didn't notice the wasp already sat on the wall - he wasn't happy with me and stung me in anger.  I was angry too - and sore!

I hobbled home, then we had a lazy afternoon before dinner and a very early bath time for a very tired, very grumpy and quite naughty boy.

Tom had a good sleep last night and woke up much happier.  The weather today was forecasted to be atrocious so we decided to have an easy day.  We headed out to Colne via the Forest of Bowland (not sure why it is called 'Forest' as we saw very few trees.  It was a lovely drive through upland moorlands - we didn't see another car for the whole journey.  Very sparsely populated, but very beautiful landscape.  It wasn't a fast route by any means, but very interesting.  We arrived in Colne to visit Boundary Mills - a huge outlet store - which serves free coffee and croissants on a Sunday morning (half of Lancashire was there).  We did a bit of Christmas shopping, I got some cake things and then we headed to Asda for some more shopping and lunch.

We then headed home via the fast, boring route.  Tom fell asleep which was the whole purpose of the trip - he was in dire need of an afternoon nap.  We then had a useful afternoon - cleaning, tidying, sorting etc (always needed in our house!)

Nice weekend and Tom's first disco

We had a nice stay at home weekend last weekend.  Unfortunately, we didn't take any photos so I'll have to describe it.  Sorry folks!

Saturday Matt and Tom went out in the morning to get their hair cut (both came back with the same hair do) and do some shopping whilst I finished off a birthday cake (for Sam next door - Monsters Inc theme) and made a roast with all the trimmings for Kathy and Paul who eventually came to visit us.

We had a lovely afternoon with Kathy and Paul - they are good company, Tom was on good form - both entertainment wise and good eating wise - he ate a full plate of food.  Time whizzed by - before we knew it it was 5pm - they made their excuses and we gave Tom his dinner before bed.

Babyccino

Sunday we headed into Kendal first thing as Tom grew out of his school shoes last week.  He complained his feet were hurting and on inspection I found the beginnings of blisters - oops.  So he wore is 'out of school' boots for the rest of the week.  The selection process was quite easy - I lined up the available styles he tried them on - if he couldn't get them on by himself they were rejected.  We then looked at the tread and kept the ones with good tread, then he got to choose.  He is now an 11f which I believe is quite big.

We had a quick coffee and a bun after shopping.  The only cafe at the outlet centre is Costa - not a place we would normally go to (prefer to support local businesses).  They do a babyccino - a mini hot chocolate for children which Tom enjoyed.

We then headed back home as we had a date in a pub with one of Tom's friends - Fred and his family.  The pub was walkable so we went on foot, managing to dodge the rain.  We had a proper dinner each and then headed to their yard for a play on bikes and scooters (their yard has a good long slope on it, making it perfect for play)  We also got to have a look around the vehicles they currently have (they are the family with the big gun on the A65 - and deal in heavy vehicles)

We got home just in time for a skype with Grannie and Grandpa and then Tom had tea and went to bed.  A good weekend.

Tom had a very busy week this week:

Rubbish bag wizard Tom

Monday - swimming after school
Tuesday - tea with Finn (another classmate)
Wednesday - home after school
Thursday - Halloween disco in the evening.  I as usual was rubbish with the fancy dress thing - I have always hated fancy dress and try to ignore it if at all possible.  Living where we do, I can't just nip out for something.  After Tom decided he wanted to go to the disco I visited Co-op and managed to find a wizard's hat and orange glow in the dark wand.  I then cut up a black sack for a cloak. He was the only one in a homemade costume at the disco, but he didn't mind at all.  The disco was ridiculously loud: full of kids who just seemed to want to scream!  There was very little music, and even less dancing. Surprisingly it didn't seem to worry Tom, he didn't wander far from us, but he was happy doing his own thing.  He even got two big hugs and kisses from two girls in his class when he left - the little charmer.
Friday - curry in Settle.

He has come down with a cold and is very tired, so it is just as well it is now half-term.  Lots of sleep and snoozy mornings to be had - yippee!

Better Week

This weekend we split up.  I had a 40th birthday to go to down in Warminster and Matt had his friends Michael and Sarah coming up to keep him and Tom company.  So I disappeared off at 9.30 on my 6.5hr odyssey on 4 trains down to Warminster.  I had been slightly dreading this as I have found it hard to sit down with this arm of mine.  However, it was still getting better and I was able to do lots of exercises on the train on the way down.  It was lovely actually to sit back, have responsibility for no-one and nothing and just be me.  I put on my headphones and listened to my music whilst watching the countryside speed past.  It was blissful, except for the niggling pain in my neck.

Believe it or not, all the trains were on time, and I was met by the whole Milburn family.  We slid into our usual banter almost straight away (Lou is one of those friends who I don't see very often, but when I do, it is as if it was only a day or so ago we last met).   I even found myself rolling my 'r's, although that was more to give them a laugh than natural.

Lou and Laura

Anyhow, I spent a pleasant hour catching up with them all.  Laura and Jacob of course have grown quite a bit since I last saw them.  They really are very nice children.  Laura had changed the most - she has really grown in confidence and was very lovely - showed me to my room, and happily spoke to me about anything and everything.

We had a quick shower and then put on our party wear (dress for Lou, jeans for me!) and headed down to the local cricket club to decorate it before everyone arrived.  I was slightly dreading the party as I didn't know anyone (Debbie didn't want to drive down on her own and wasn't willing to go by train!).  However, it was fine.  I, of course knew Lou's rather large family and Tim's immediate family - both of whom came straight over for a chat.  Then others on hearing who I was chatted away to me.  In fact Lou was introducing me as the guest of honour:  "This is my friend Nik, I went to college with her and she's come all the way from the Lake District!"  I didn't put her right - it was a good ice breaker.  Bless her - I think she was pleased I had made the effort.

I got straight onto the cider - hoping it would work as an anaesthetic for my arm.  Not so, so I decided to go easy on the drinking to get a good night's sleep.  I did, however, do some dancing which I think helped loosen the arm even further.   We didn't get back to Lou's until after 1am (wow!).  We wound down a bit and then headed to bed.  I got into bed and then noticed a text from Matt - Tom was awake and crying for me!  Oh dear - I sent through some suggestions on what to do via text and then tried to get to sleep.  It didn't go well - so much for a night off!

Had a lovely lie-in / chat with Lou, then breakfast, made a packed lunch and headed to Warminster Station for the trip home.  Once again all trains were on time, I had some lovely me time and I arrived in Lancaster to a very warm welcome from both boys.  Tom was very excited - he had bought me some presents - I was instructed to close my eyes and put my hands out.  Last time I did that I ended up engaged!!!!  A packet of Herdy gingerbread biscuits was thrust into my hands.  How lovely.  It was gorgeous to see Tom so excited to see me.

We headed back to Ingleton, had dinner at The Masons Arms / Old Brewery Inn and got home around 8pm.  Tom went straight to bed.  We weren't too far behind him.

Bad Week

I didn't post anything last week - mainly because nothing of note happened.  We didn't really have a happy weekend.  I was tired and grumpy because my neck, shoulder and arm were hurting.  Tom was grumpy because he was tired from school and Matt was grumpy because he was tired.  We went for a walk on Saturday, but it ended in an argument after the pub we were going to have lunch in was closed for a refurbishment. We made up but the atmosphere of the day was ruined.

Sunday we went swimming - me in the hope that being in water would help my arm - it didn't!  We then went into Lancaster for lunch at a lovely pub by the canal.  That's it.  As you see nothing of note.

On Monday I went to see the Dr about my pain (I was almost crying on Saturday the pain was so bad).  He told me to take paracetamol and ibuprofen and sent me for an x-ray.  He referred me for physio, but said it would take over a month for the appointment to come through.  On speaking to some mums at school I was recommended a private physio in Bentham.  I called her and got an appointment on Thursday.  She was lovely and spent more than the hour I booked with her helping me out.  She found the source of the pain and spent quite a while trying to ease it for me.

Today I feel much better.  I'm still in pain, but it isn't half as bad as it was, meaning I can concentrate on other things.  Phew. I have another appointment with her on Tuesday which I am already looking forward to - if she can work her magic again that that will be great.  Basically it was a combination of one night's bad sleep (too much wine = bad sleeping position) general bad posture (she mentioned that I am having to carry a lot out front which doesn't help (they've always been the bain of my life!), getting old, starting at the gym and using muscles that aren't used to exercise, too many pillows in bed etc etc etc.  Anyway, the pain is now manageable so that's good.  Just as well I didn't have too many cakes to do these last two weeks.

I'm off to Warminster tomorrow for Lou's 40th, Matt and Tom are staying here and entertaining Michael and his girlfriend Sarah.

Weekend away

Broad Marston Manor - not bad hey?!

This weekend was our annual Shell weekend away.  This year it was in the little village of Broad Marston on the edge of the Cotswolds in an old Manor House - all very lovely.

We picked Tom up from school with the intention of driving straight away, but after his 'incident' we had to bring him home to sort him out and then set off.  Nevermind - I felt quite sorry for him as he was so glum.  We headed off expecting to hit traffic at the M62, M54 and M5 junctions.  Not so we sailed through all of them, but got stuck in traffic between Stoke and Stafford.  It took 4 hours to get there in the end which is what we thought, but we weren't the last and made good time considering most of the others came from the Chester area.

Tom, Maggie and Jenny

We were in a very lovely manor house - timber frame, big fire places, creaking, uneven floors etc etc.  We had a big double bed and Tom a z bed in the same room.  Tom was a star.  Believe it or not he didn't sleep on the way down (I can't quite believe it either).  He had a play with the other children, some curry for dinner and then happily went to bed - it was after 8pm after all.  The other kids didn't go to bed until much much later (smug Mummy time!!!).

Juggling fish

We sat down for our usual excellent homemade curries around 9pm.  After promising ourselves we wouldn't over eat or drink too much, we both over ate and drank too much so we didn't have a very good night's sleep.  However, it was very good food and the drink just slipped down too easily.

A good attempt at tennis

In the morning we split into 2 groups - Matt went with the 'adults' for a 9 mile walk, whilst I stayed with the Mums and children and headed to Hidcote Manor (National Trust property) for a look round.  Hidcote Manor is basically a load of gardens, lovely gardens with lots of interesting sculptures (ie not too arty so even I liked them) scattered around them.  It would have been lovely to wander around at a slow pace to take it all in, but it wasn't to be (it never is with children).  We still had a lovely time, the kids ran and ran and ran, the older ones were climbing trees etc, it was a proper outdoor day.  There was even a tennis court where anyone could play tennis - Tom gave it a good go and was hitting the odd ball by the end.

Apple from the orchard

We found an orchard and as we were given the National Trust book of '50 things to do before you are 11 3/4' which included eating an apple straight off a tree, that's what the children did.  It is a good year for fruit this year and they were lovely and sweet.

It looked like we it was about to rain, so we decided to return to our Manor House for cake (this weekend is very much about cake and puddings - I took my banoffee pie this year).

Once Jessica (who is only 2) had had a sleep we then headed out to a very good local playground for another run around.  Tom was on good form this weekend.  He is the only boy in the group (the next 'boy' to him is 13 year old Daniel - who to be fair to him is very good with him playing football etc).  Being the only boy doesn't faze him, he just gets on with it.  I hardly saw him all weekend - he was quite happy playing with anyone who would play with him.  He didn't really need us at all!

Stella, Tom and Sam

We had a BBQ for dinner on Saturday night - once again it was really good food.   I did well by not drinking much and as a result we slept better.  Sunday morning the group went off to Chipping Camden to do a treasure hunt, but we already had plans as Sam and Kamila from Telford now live in Bidford On Avon - just next door to Broad Marston, we couldn't not go and say hello.  So off we went.  We haven't seen them for a while (they moved about a year before us).  Stella is now 4 and very grown up and speaking English with an English accent - which is strange because neither of her parents do.  You would think the English accent would come with school, mind you she does go to nursery.  Apparently she is completely English: her favourite food is Sausage and mash and fish & chips, on holiday she was proudly telling everyone she is English.  I think it has taken her parents by surprise.

We had a quick lunch at a pub 'The Frog' on the river and then had to say a quick goodbye as we had a long journey ahead of us and we needed to pop in to Ikea to buy some shelving for the garage.  The roads were nice and empty (apart from a jam just before we left the motorway for Ikea - a truck carrying a caravan had burnt out).  We got our bits and then carried on home.  We got home at 6pm and went straight to a pub for dinner.  We thought we would try the Masons Arms in Ingleton which has recently been taken over and refurbished.  We were very pleasantly surprised.  The decor was lovely, the service very friendly and the food very good in quality and value.  This is now definitely our pub of choice - lets hope it does well and brings the others up to par as well.

Anyway, we had a good weekend and went to bed pretty tired.

Tom's first joke

Tom came out with his first joke on Friday:

Tom: "How do you start a pig race?"

Matt: "I don't know, how do you start a pig race?"

Tom: "Ready, steady, OINK!"

This he got from his friend Finn.  Thanks Finn.

Tom's first full-time week at school

Usual after school activity

So Tom completed his first week of school.  It went well - he came out bouncing and very happy Monday to Thursday.  Once home, he was ravenous so the snacks came out.  Then he demanded a session of cycling on the car park before getting ravenous and tired again.

As a result the routine has changed, we have had to bring dinner time forward to 5.00 and then bath and bedtime forward to 6.00 as he has got so tired.  

He already has reading books (with no words, he just has to turn the pictures into a story) and a sound book which we have to practise (not easy - Tom hasn't worked out the link between sounds and words yet so it can be frustrating). 

Friday didn't go quite as well, unfortunately he did a poo in his pants towards the end of the day (first time in over a year!).  Luckily the staff sorted him out, but he came out quite sad and sorry for himself.  I hope it was just one little accident resulting from the stress of all his new experiences this week.  Fingers crossed...

Blackberries galore

After our walk last weekend, we were itching to get out again to collect all those lovely blackberries.  We were somewhat thwarted by the weather as it rained every morning - very frustrating.  However, on Friday it dawned bleak but not raining so we donned our wellies and headed back out to Austwick.  We are glad we did as managed to harvest 6lbs of fruit in under an hour!

Notes for future blackberrying:
1) Wear wellies
2) Take secateurs
3) Take hardy gloves

There were many berries we couldn't get too because of thorns and nettles!

Bagpuss

Tom did a very good job, wasn't that bothered by the thorns or the nettles and was quite diligent.

We got back home and Tom got changed and went to school for the afternoon.

Saturday wasn't a very nice day (again).  The boys went into Settle in the morning taking a lot of rubbish to the tip (we have finally taken delivery of a new bed - our one has been broken since Telford), and to give me time to finish off a cake - this one in the shape of Bagpuss.  I got quite attached to him - even though he took an age to finish.

Scruffy pirate

In the afternoon we headed off to Eli and Adam's for Adam's 4th birthday party.  We dressed Tom up in his pirate attire - his ragged T-shirt is now really small - so I cut the collar and put it on him.  You could see his belly button - but I think he looks more like an authentic pirate than the shop bought costumes.

Luckily Finn (one of Tom's classmates) was at the party too - Kate and Eli are friends.  This made a huge difference to Tom as he didn't know anyone else there (made a difference to us too!). The two of them played really nicely together and Matt got a chance to question Kate to death about motorbikes and the TT.  We had a good time:  a treasure hunt, pass the parcel and a fantastic slide with a tent on top which all the kids loved.  We had such a good time we actually stayed longer than the official party time - sorry Eli.  Thankfully for the first day in ages it didn't rain - hurray.  Especially as Eli's garden is such a fab garden for little ones.

Sunday finally dawned nice, so we took Bagpuss to Seasons for them to pass on and then headed back to Austwick to do another new walk, this time via Feizor where I had been told there was a lovely cafe.  

Carefully crossing the cattlegrid

Me and Tom

We headed off and enjoyed another wonderful walk around some low dales.  Once again the walk was along old cart tracks which I find quite lovely.  It wasn't too strenuous and we found the cafe without any trouble and it was as lovely as we had been told.  The owner took time out to make sure we were being well looked after and the food was good - it just had a general good atmostphere.  Feizor is at the end of a dead end, so you won't find the cafe by accident, you have to know it is there to go there.  As a result it was full of walkers and cyclists, oh and some horses brought their riders here as well parked up next to the cafe and they ALL tucked into bacon sandwiches and chips (and I thought horses were vegetarian?!)

Lovely scenery

Whilst we were sat outside we were treated to farmer cabaret.  A very angry farmer was shouting manically at his sheepdog who was obviously not doing as he was told as he drove some sheep through his garden and then up past the cafe.  His language was, shall we say, flowery.  Luckily Tom didn't hear / take it in.  Was quite funny though.

We carried on around the walk, taking in the view.  We finally came out on 'blackberry alley' as we now call it and managed to pick another 1lb of fruit (the ones we missed on Friday).  Then back home for a roast dinner and a blackberry and apple crumble (well we had to after all this picking!)