5. Flutter (Of all the toys that The Boy received at Christmas, the £1.99 plastic men with a plastic parachute attached to their back are his favourite by far. He will happily spend an hour floating them down and then going and fetching them to start all over again. And those aren't Christmas lights still up as I took all my decorations down; those are fairy lights that I put back up to brighten the hallway.)
6. Happiness Is… (… was the topic for his Christmas homework and so in true last minute style we sat down to do it on Monday afternoon. The Boy decided that happiness is Christmas because he likes having people over. He wrote all of that independently.)
7. The Weekly Stock Shot #1 (First day back at work and I didn't have time to take a photo other than once The Boy was in bed asleep; my fall back photograph! I was also demonstrating to someone on twitter how to use a torch light angled and no flash on the camera as it creates a softer photograph than with flash light, and doesn't wake your sleeping child!)
8. Concentration (A little sand art was the perfect after school activity, and I love this photograph because of the concentration throughout his body.)
9. Reflecting (I took delivery of the reflector pack that I'd ordered from ebay today (having read A Party Of Seven's post about bouncing light around). It's a cheap pack but I didn't want to spend much when I'm getting used to the technique of using reflectors. The light in our house is so dim and there are so many shadows that I decided we'd try to bounce some light around. In this photograph I've used the black as a backdrop and he's sat on the gold reflector which adds warmth to his face.)
10. The Weekly Stock Shot #2 (Feeding the swans on a Friday after school has become a habit of ours, they were certainly very hungry tonight.)
11. Oh Mummy! (Again another tip from A Party Of Seven is to have something silly on your head or around the camera lens to obtain a natural shot of your child's reaction. The Boy was clambering all over the old dock machinery in Cardiff Bay today and was pulling some ridiculous faces as I tried to get a decent photo of him. I bunged his dinosaur hat on my head and called him; this is what he thought of my new headwear.)
—
Haha together best toys are always the cheapest or the boxes they come in. Love the reflector one 🙂
Pretty impressed with that writing 😉
You're Reception aren't you? Is he doing ok?
Gosh yes. He has keywords accurate and clearly phonetically plausible writing which is accurately formed AND capital letter, finger spaces and full stop. Top of the class! 😉
I love the staircase photo, it's beautiful. Have a lovely weekend.
What great writing!
Lovely photo's hun, loving the night time photo… I always rely on flash but will certainly be trying the torch light effect soon.
I wondered what the first photo was. It's funny how they play with the things you don't think they will
Love the torch idea for bedtime photos. I have 'Brightest Flashlight' app on my phone and that would certainly be bright enought for these type of shots
I love that last photo, just brilliant! Really like the swans too and the parachute. Thank you for hosting 🙂
Beautiful photos. Love the awe in his face on the reflector shot – and his giggles when sat on the cannon.
Oh gosh, thought he was waving a nappy around in that top shot! Love the last one, gorgeous!
Great tips for getting good photos – I will try to use these, thanks. The last photo in Cardiff Bay is gorgeous – what a beautiful smile.
The reflector shot is great, and I love the last one, such a natural smile x
I love The Boy's hat – it is so cool!!
We spend a small fortune on toys and its always the simplest ones that bring joy
Lovely shots
That first photo took me back to my childhood – my brother loved those plastic men with the parachutes
It looks like you had a nice week together, I love the sand art picture this week, so lovely.
Love his smiley face x
these are all great, I love his christmas sentences 🙂
thats one happy smiley boy on the machinery. love how you got him to smile.
The parachute will get him exercised then. yes you spend a large amount of money and they play with the cheap, lesson to be learnt there maybe.
I love your sleepy pictures.
Love these shots, he has such a photogenic face 🙂
Lovely shots.. love the last one particularly, very joyous 🙂
I love his face in that last picture – absolutely beautiful!
and his drawing and writing are fab!
I love that last shot! He looks like he is having lots of fun laughing at you in his hat! 😉
awww your photos this week are amazing! i love last shot his smile is infectious!
Mine adored those parachute men too, lovely photo with the twinkle lights
I wish The Boy had a camera so we could see the reverse shot of the Dinosaur on Head. I found for many years that there was no limit to the number of times I would get a reaction from saying something like "Say Stinky Undies"
I love what he has said he loves about Christmas, it's what I love about it too.
Loving that last pic too, what a great smile he has x
That oh mummy shot is awesome!
The boy's writing is incredible so neat and legible. He looks so peaceful in the sleeping shot, and so grown up in Thursdays shot. I think you would have got that reaction off me too if I'd looked up to see you in a dinosaur hat, but seriously I might steal that idea when trying to photograph the boys.
Love the picture at the docks, even more now you've told us the story behind it!
I love the 'happiness is..' quote – so cute bless him – and the one where he's laughing at your new headgear!
Fabulous writing! And I love the dinosaur hat!
The portrait shots are great – perfect laughter response from your hat.
Oh great tip on the making kids laugh. The Bug is especially unkeen on having his photo taken at the moment so every little helps!
fantastic writing and a wonderful sentiment too. i like his new coat and todays photo of him sat astride the dock machinery is just wonderful he looks so haooy and it is lovely to see sunshine . i like that you have added fairy lights to your hallway!! x
I remember playing for hours on the stairs with parachute men, I loved calling out for someone to pick him up and pass him back through the bannister! Kids love it when we wear silly hats and put things on our heads, I have great fun with friends little 'uns 🙂
I love that last shot! It is so awesome.
I totally agree that sometimes the best way to get good expressions from your kids is to do something unexpected or say something silly. This becomes especially helpful when you have more than one kid you are trying to get to look at you at the same time!
Mine love the parachute men too, sadly our stairs are not the best for throwing them down. I love the last picture…..trying to imagine you with a dinosaur hat on your head now!
He's got such neat writing, brilliant picture of a Christmas tree too! You've reminded me we need to get out and see the ducks 🙂
I love the boy's 'happiness is…' picture – so lovely
What a great tip from A Party of Seven at the end – i shall have to go on over and have a look. We have loads of those plastic parachute men around the house…madness!
I love his writing, and how nice that what he enjoyed about Christmas was having people over 🙂
Also love the expression you've captured in the last shot – I'll need to remember that technique with mine.
what a lovely smile he has, great shots fun on the stair case looks good
again another set of beautiful images, he is growing so fast xxx
Beautiful pictures! His writing is brilliant! I struggle to get mine to write anything down!
Lots of lovely photos. I love the last one, he looks so happy!
Happiness is Christmas…. I love it! Gorgeous pictures, he looks like he had so much fun x
Great photos and fab writing. Hope his ear's better, he looks a happy chappie 🙂
Love the fact that happiness is having people over, he sounds so sociable 🙂 thanks for hosting
I think a dinosaur hat should be standard photographer kit! Love the natural smile on his face 🙂
Lovely pics. that writing is fab, very clever x thanks for hosting xx
Doing something silly for a natural smile is a great idea – I'll keep that in mind. Also the idea of a torch instead of a flash. Great tips xx
More fabulous tips!
Our flat is pretty dim as well, except in our lounge. I may have to purchase some reflectors and I love the idea of looking silly to get a child to laugh. Harry poses but his eyes are always shut!
what lovely writing!!! Some gorgeous photos of the boy this week x
I'm such a doof, it took me ages to work out what the first photo was. I love the lights around the stairs.
He's just so natural in front of the camera.
Great photos as always! Went back and looked again at the sleeping shot and was surprised by how much softer it looked. I do love that happiness is Christmas though! Such a perfect description!
Great photos, I love the boy's reaction to you wearing his hat! It's always the cheapest toys they love the most, that or the card board box 😉
It's the simple things that bring children joy. His homework effort is very good for his age. 🙂
I love day 9's photo and I may have to invest in some of those light reflectors as we have poor light in our house too. I love the homework about Christmas, that is so sweet.