A Boy, His Dad And Mother's Day

The celebratory days through out the year are the ones kids look forward to and rightly so. Whether it is a birthday, Christmas, Easter or Mother's and Father's day, children love them. They love them and I love them. What I really love though is how children love them.

This past week we have been lucky enough to celebrate Mother's day and my birthday. We celebrated both on Mother's day, although my birthday is actually the 7th of March. Tom is an ambassador for how children should celebrate these events. He looks forward to them, likes the run up with all the excitement and razzmatazz involved and then knows how to celebrate in style.

As it was Mother's day we ensured his Mum had a bit of a lay in, she got up without too much of a lay in as she was also excited. Got the presents he bought ready and prepared a special Mother's day breakfast. We started in style. As a result of Tom wanting to do things in style he wanted to dress for the occasion. For this he wanted to don a bow tie, but settled for a more casual Angry Birds neck tie. Looking good and feeling fine Tom!!!

In the afternoon/tea time we had Nanny O, Auntie Jade, Uncle John, Leah and Ronnie over for a Mother's day and birthday tea. As it was Mother's day Tom and I decided we wanted to ensure each of the Mum's had an extra present. These we laid at the table for the ladies, Rachel, Auntie Jade and Nanny O (my Mum), to open. 

With plenty to eat and fun had by the kids we finished our celebration off in the style I love. Our family parties very often have a group photo. In the past we have set the camera on a timer but with the trend of selfie photos we decided to take this route.

I love these get togethers and I love the way Tom loves a party!!

Parents Evening

This week we saw that time come again, the time parents find out how well or not their children are doing at school. That time is parents evening. I know some parents and children are a bit dubious as they may be getting bad as well as good news. However no matter how critical the news we are presented with as parents, it is great to find how our children are doing at school.

Rachel and myself have never really worried in advance because we have always had good news. This week was no exception. Tom's teacher, ironically also called Tom, was full of praise. Academically he is above average and with no problems. As parents we do not push Tom, but then again we do not let him be slack. We have discovered that to get the best out of him we will let him go at his own speed, which seems to be working.

What Tom excels at is following and being an ambassador for the school code of practice, The Pride Code. We are so proud to hear Tom has always followed this code to a T and continues to do so. Not only does he follow it, he also promotes it in his attitude and actions at school. This can be to other children and school staff. The attributes he displays we have always encouraged but it is a real pleasure to be told by other people that he has these characteristics. Tom often gets school awards for following this code so we know the school values his efforts.

Well done Tom, keep it up!!!

School Awards

Rachel and I love it when Tom gets nominated for one of the school awards. Last week we heard the great news from the school that Tom is going to receive another honours award. Only one child per class per term receives one of these awards. Some children may be regular receivers and some may only receive one in the time they are at the school. Fortunately for Tom and us he has now received one each year.

 The school organises the awards ceremony in a lovely way. The school asks the parents to keep it a secret from the children. On the day of the presentation assembly the teachers and children start the assembly as normal. About half way through the parents of the children receiving the awards sneak into the back of the assembly hall quietly. As the children hear shuffles they all have a sneaky look over their shoulders to see what is going on. When a child spots their parents, it is magical. 

Like all the parents there today both Rachel and I were beaming with pride for our little fella. The award was for showing independence, initiative and having a brilliant humble attitude at all times. It felt a real honour for Rachel and myself to hear this was how a teacher was judging our child. The teacher gave a brief explanation on why he was honouring Tom for these attributes and finished with saying Tom would go far. Great news and we know he has great things to offer later in life. 

To some degree we are not surprised with the attributes the teacher has awarded him for, because we have also seen these in him. Having said that it was for Tom to hear someone else praise him for his efforts and great for us to know he is so highly thought of.

Keep the good work up Tom!!!

The Joy Of An 8 Year Old's Birthday

Tom like all kids loves Christmas and birthdays. From the build up to the excited night before to the ensuing parties, he loves them all.

This year we celebrated Tom's birthday in a style that he has come to expect but is most definitely a pleasure for his mum and me.

We start by trying to get him to sleep at a reasonable time because chances are we are going to be up early. When he is asleep we sneak upstairs and get the presents we have bought him, more will follow from family members on his actual birthday. The presents are laid on the dining room table along with cards in a welcoming pile. We proceed to decorate the room with banners, signs and this year fairy lights, to replace the usual daisy the dog frightening balloons.

As you can imagine he wakes and is eager to open his presents. However, this year he opened them with decorum and read each tag, Rachel is great at writing something different on each present. There was none of the usual let me get through it all quickly like a whirlwind, ultra politeness. He is definitely growing into a great young man.

As this year was a Friday Tom had to go to school. Rachel had the day off work to clean and I finished work at lunch time so I could go home and help with the cooking and setting up of any toys he got that may need setting up.

Tom likes nothing more than a party and every year we throw one that is as much for the adults as it is for the kids. Our birthday parties for Tom have become a tradition that he loves as much as anything else on his birthday. We had all of his grand parents, aunts, uncles and cousins that live local enough to come and some additional friends. Tom loves it!!! We don't go made but he has a great time and so do his guests with everyone living at a reasonable time because of children.

The next day was Tom's second party for his school mates. We did a trip to see the Snoopy movie with three friends and then tea with playing after. Poor little fella was pooped by the end of the second party and was asleep by 6:30 on the Saturday night, something unheard of usually. Although he was tired he never once complained and loved both parties.

Next weekend the birthday celebrations come to a peak with us all going to Shreks Adventure followed by the musical Wicked in London. Another fun filled full day that Tom will love.

Happy birthday Tom, love you!!!

The Tooth Fairy

As all parents know there is a procedure that must be followed when a child starts to get a wobbly tooth. This procedure we have had to perform over the years, in actual fact most recently two days ago. It always starts with Tom discovering he has a wobbly tooth. Then there is a bit of wobbling, well a lot of gentle tooth wobbling until the tooth comes away. It can be really funny watching Tom roll around trying to gentle but so desperate to get it out.

When it does finally come out children get so excited and want to show everyone the tooth and the gap. I love his and all children's enthusiasm for something that if it happened to an adult would be a tragedy. The fact is, to a child it is one step closer to getting a new tooth and to some degree growing up. So the tooth is out and we plan what happens next.

Some children put it under their pillow for the tooth fairy. We have a special tooth fairy pouch that hangs on the door. This makes it a bit easier to remove the tooth and replace it with a financial reward. I cannot believe the going rate for a tooth is £2 per tooth from the tooth fairy. It was only 10p when I was kid. In the morning Tom woke and immediately investigated the pouch for his reward. Sometimes we may include a note as well. He is so chuffed when he finds something there.

These events are special moments that you cannot buy. These special moments make you realise what true love is. Happy days.......

Dad I want to build a mobile phone....

Like all children Tom sees his family and older cousins tapping away at mobile phones and tablets. Also like most people Tom's age he has a tablet and use of the laptop under supervision. However for some reason he has always wanted one, but at the age of seven his Mum and I feel it is too young. This has resulted in much debate. The debate originally was what you would expect from a kid, "why..." and all derivatives of this argument.

In recent months I have seen Tom mature and his debates generally give a good argument. Recently the debate was back to why can't he have a mobile phone and I would give the reasons behind our decisions. I am glad to say that his response was very thought provoking for someone at such a young age, but still now. His plan was that Tom and I should build the mobile phone suitable for a seven year old child. I could not fault his reasoning, what he would miss out from it and what he would put in it. He is a little genius in my eyes and although I am not sure it will work we are going to give it a go. What it turns out like I am not sure.

It will consist of the following:

1. Able to make calls to family and adult authorised numbers only, at present this will be the emergency services.
2. Not able to access Facebook or any other social media, unless we find something age specific.
3. A direct chat service to his family members. These are me, his Mum, Nanny O, Nannie Pam & Grandad, aunts, uncles and cousins.
4. Only able to access games that age specific.

It amazed me the thought someone so young can put into something like this and coming out with a winning argument. After agreeing to do this I asked if he would like to make other projects, to which he said yes, which delighted me.

So we are going to do a mobile phone of sorts in the new year. As his birthday is January it will not be finished before he is eight years old, but the criteria will be the same.

Details of this project and other projects will follow in the new year with a page on this blog and detailed instruction links on other websites, e.g. Instructables and Youtube.

Stay tuned for more on this exciting project....

School Dress Up - From The Parent's Perspective

Over the years since the lad started school we have created dress up costumes for school plays, class assemblies and book days. Last night we created two costumes. One for book day today and one for the class assembly next week. I know it can be a nightmare for some parents and indeed it is for us until we get an idea that we run by Tom. Once the planning is done we enjoy it. In actual fact Rachel, Tom's mum, and myself get more from it than Tom.

When we have this type project I always inevitably make some prop at work and Rachel gets the clothes that help create the look. Sometimes the work creations even involved my work mates. This time it was a couple of badges for Tom to be a character from 13 o'clock for today and some arm guards for him to be a historical character next week. Both these props were easy to make.

1. 2 x Badges. I searched the internet for pictures to do with the Enid Blyton book 13 o'clock. The cover came up the most. I printed a small copy of this, laminated it and then sticky taped a safety pin to the back. For the second I wanted to fuse a dandelion with a clock dial that went up to 13 o'clock. Using some computer trickery it was achieved. Followed by the same lamination process as badge one.
2. The second prop for the assembly next week was the arm guards as per an Iceni character 2000 years ago. For this I used 2 x pop bottles with the ends cut off and covered them in silver tape. Job done.

With my props done and Rachel's organisation of the clothes now the real magic comes. Rachel dresses Tom and transforms him into the character. Once Tom has adorned the full dress up he becomes that character. He has been Huck Finn, the gingerbread man, an angel and Pinocchio to name but a few. These times we love. It is great being Tom's parents.