243. Loomer Extraordinaire (The Boy absolutely loves making loom bands and decided to make one entirely on his own for me. I wore it all week apart from in school; the children can't wear them so it's not fair for me to.)
244. K'nex Begins (We bought The Boy a K'nex set several months ago and I've been avoiding starting it with him because it looked a bit scary. There was no avoiding it on Monday as he'd been begging, and those manuals are not easy to understand.)
245. Fast (Please excuse the motion blur, but that hoop and The Boy both move pretty fast! Also, it was taken on a camera phone and they take photos weirdly so moving objects never photograph well.)
246. First Day (The first day in our school together, he's doing so well and I'm so proud of him. It's also really wonderful having him on site, I can see the playground from my room so I can spot him at breaktimes and lunchtimes. On the first day a colleague nipped out to check on him of her own volition, but couldn't spot him. She ended up finding him in the lunch hall, the last child eating while the dinner ladies cleaned around him. However, the reception teacher was sat with him chatting away. My colleague let the dinner ladies know who he was, and funnily enough he's not been last since! Added to this, my colleague brought him out onto the playground and they waved up at me, so fabulous to see him so happy and smiley during the school day.)
247. Second Find (We've found a few conker trees that are ripe, they really are the best treasures for children; imagine no-one else ever having seen that conker ever.)
248. K'Nex Ends (We finished it! Good God it was hard work! Even though it had an age of 7+ on it, I still think it was a bit tricky but we did manage it in the end. Although this does mean yet another kit which has been made and now needs to be displayed.)
249. Enthralled (I bought The Boy an encyclopedia a few days ago and he is captivated by it, I love finding him reading it and discovering things about the world.)
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So pleased to hear the new school is going well for The Boy
I'm really pleased I moved him, but it's easier for me as he was lower down in school.
Great job with the K'Nex! Love seeing them so busy and concentrated working on projects like these… Miss 6 has been engulfed in lego friends for two weeks now! Significantly complicated by the fact that the pieces from 4 kits were all thrown into the same big box π
Loving lego hand-me-downs from big cousin!
Ha! It makes it more fun to sift them all out π I try to get The Boy to colour code the Lego pieces but, of course he's a child so is having none of it!
So pleased it's going well for him at your school. My 10yo son is a whizz at K'Nex, but it looks very complicated to me!
I think it's complicated too, I don't like the way they grey out the made bits in the diagrams, it confuses me.
Great to hear the new school is working out well. I love knex, used to build it with kids in holiday club when I worked there all the time.
I'm thinking of buying a set for my classroom as it is so much fun, and a good collaborative project.
really pleaaed that he has settled into his new school so well – the yellow really suits him! I spied one of those Knex packs the othet day and contemplate buying it, but with a little brother in tow pieces would be bounfd to go missing sadly!
I LOVE the conker finding photo best, i love his happy face x
There are a *lot* of little pieces, and they don't give spares like with Lego unfortunately. I'm trying to spot a few more sets to put on his Christmas list.
I love the hoop shot, looks like he is having so much fun! I am really glad The Boy has settled into school well. My daughter loves her encyclopedia too, so much to discover. #365
It's really important to give them a good range of reading material isn't it?
Love the tongue poking out on the looming photo! Pure concentration there! The Knex toy looks good but difficult! We've not had that here yet! The boy looks fab in his school uniform and happy too π
He's ever so happy in the new school, definitely think I made the right decision.
Well done to them for completing their ice bucket challenge, I seem to have escaped this, thank goodness. Thomas Land looks awesome, hope to take The Boy there one day.
Yes I know what you mean about K'NEX, it is fantastic but it does take some serious thinking about. Finding conkers already! That is impressive. I'm so glad that he has settled in so well at school, it is a worry when you move them.
It feels like they miss out steps in the instructions, I'm sat quite often trying to work out how they got from that point to where they want us to be! Thanks for your words about the school move.
Your boy sounds very much like mine – he loved Knex and still loves encyclopedias and non-fiction fact books. I'm pretty sure we had that knex set too – is it a big wheel? It really was tricky! Glad The Boy seems to be settling in well to school – fabulous news π
It is the big wheel set, very tricky indeed! Thanks for your kind wishes.
It's that tongue of concentration again! Hope he had a fantastic first day of his new school and hope he settles in well. He really is a clever boy, KNex foils Isaac – he gets frustrated and leaves it!
It was very much a joint effort with me breaking down the steps in each diagram even more for him, I found the manual quite tricky.
Great photos. Love the action shot with the hoop. Z loves a good encyclopedia too. It's amazing to see them reading and learning new things about the world.
And to think that just a couple of years ago, they had difficulty moving their arms around and picking things up! Amazes me how quickly they learn in the first five years.
How lovely that you're able to have little glimpses of The Boy throughout his school day, glad he's enjoying it.
Love the conker pictures, I've spotted a fair few trees loaded with them and leaves are starting to fall – autumn is well and truly on its way.
Well done with the K-Nex, toys like that scare me, I find them far too stressful! x
It's very reassuring, and I know the standard of teaching is consistently good in the school.
You've inspired me for some Christmas gifts there! Lovely to hear the two of you at school is working out π
I've been looking up other K'nex sets too, trying to work out whether to buy a basic set of 'bits' or another kit.
aww so pleased he is settling in lovely, it looks like he is certainly smiley this week π
Very much so, very reassuring to see him being comfortable in his surroundings.
I really love the motion blur of the hoop shot. I agree camera phones do weird and unpredictable things but sometimes it works well
Husband explained to me that they take a photo differently to a camera; they kind of take it from side to side whereas a camera freezes it all at the same time. Hence sometimes you get this ghosting image.
Ah I'm so pleased the Boys settling well π I love the yellow on him. Things seem to be ripening so much earlier this year, conkers, slows, blackberrys! x
I know! I think we might be in for a harsher Winter than last year.
Pleased to hear school is going well. I bet you love having him on site. I worked for a Children's Centre before having the twins and I loved my eldest being in the nursery there x
It's very reassuring, most definitely.
The hoop shot is brilliant – I love the motion blur on it π
I am a big K'nex fan – fairly sure my parents still have all of mine for when the Smalls are bigger…
This is another reason they're ace, last so long!
School sounds perfect for him. We've yet to spot any conkers this year!! x
Absolutely love conkers and can't wait to find some more.
Great that he's enjoying school. Blimey that knex looks complicated.
Love the conker photo – I know what you mean about treasures. N's still got his from last year!
We've still got all of ours from last year too, we soaked and cooked them.
Very fancy K-nex building going on there, I love it
I do too, just hope it's not going to stand on the side gathering dust like all the LEGO models.
He has the most infectious smile!
Glad he settled in well, Emmy starts on Friday and I'm dreading it
You'll be surprised at how well they settle down. It's us that struggle with the separation! Hope it goes well.
I used to love reading my encyclopedia as well π
We were more of a fiction family, very few non – fiction books in our house as children. I want to make sure that he has a full range available.
We love K'nex, but we've only ever had it second hand without instructions, so H has always just done his own thing with it. Glad the change of school is going well.
Looks like a productive week. He always looks like he's having fun x
Ah bless him! He's the same age as my twins yet seems so much more advanced! I like to see what he's doing π Fab that he can loom by himself and looking at the encyclopaedia… (going to copy this idea and give one to the twins!!) x
A potential Engineer!! Loom bands… gotta love them!
I vowed they'd never come in my house, I failed that then!
the knex is great fun, can be fiddly for little fingers and the diagrams are not the best, but the kids love them, Bob plays with ours regularly, he is happy to break it down and rebuild into something else, lego never gets broken down it stays made.
I actually liked the hoop shot a lot, I love the movement on the hoop.
That conker is a great find
Love that look of concentration on his face with the loom! Also it's *far* too early for conkers… it absolutely cannot be what you found! π
I can't believe you've already found conkers, that's bonkers. See what I did there….next year BiBs in Poetry.
I hope the boy had a great start to the school year.
Aww he looks so happy in his school uniform!
The K'Nex looks great, we'll have to try that sometime. Glad he's settled in at school!
Glad The Boy is enjoying his new school.
It is great when they start reading for themselves.
So glad The Boy is settling in well at his new school. Love the conker photo π