5 Year Old Rockstar

Today was Joshua's 5th birthday and what a full on day it has been to say the least. Very enjoyable but also very stressful at times as both Joshua and Brandon have got a bit excitable at times. Joshua has been very good at letting Brandon open a few of his presents and play with his new toys, but Brandon has been a bit naughty a few times by trying to open presents without Joshua's permission or playing with his toys without asking. He has not quite grasped the concept that it is Joshua's special day.

 

Brandon did start the day on a high though by giving Joshua his first present and probably one of his favourites. Its a game called Doggie Doo which does exactly what it says on the tin!!!! You feed the doggie treats, pump the handle according to the roll of the dice and see who can scoop the most poop out of the doggies bum. Joshua wanted it and finds it hilarious to play.

 

Breakfast time and Joshua and Brandon are having a game of Doggie Doo.

We also got Joshua a toy camper van which Brandon seems to have adopted and played with much more than his bigger brother.

Joshua tearing into another of his presents. He was actually really good today and still had presents to open at around 6pm tonight.

A few weeks ago in school assembly the foundation class got to watch an older child play his guitar and sing a song. Joshua was really impressed by his musical talent and has since shown an interest in playing the guitar himself. I think it is great if kids can learn an instrument or another language at a young age so I was keen to exploit this interest further and hence we got him his first acoustic guitar for his birthday. 

Rockstar JJ.

Probably one of the best birthday bargains was a half price 2012 Olympic scooter. Joshua absolutely loves this scooter and is already trying to do tricks and has had one fall!

Birthday boy riding his new scooter to work.

Waiting in a wet playground for school to start.

Joshua had a good birthday at school. He did get get the star of the day but he took some sweets into class for all his friends and they sung happy birthday to him twice throughout the day. He is one of 3 kids out of the 25 that has already turned 5, so one of the older ones. When Joshua got home from school he opened some more presents. Firstly was some new clothes as he has pretty much outgrown his wardrobe, followed by his first skateboard (Moshi Monster) and a set of elbow and knee pads to go with it.

Joshua wearing some of his new clothes and showing off his new skate boarder look.

Not bad for a beginner, but he cannot grasp the concept of leaning his body weight to turn.

Somehow he has already learnt to kick the back of the skate board to make it flip around in the air.

Another present opened - Pig Goes Pop.

And then a metal detector. He has wanted one of these for ages since watching Norman on Fireman Sam using one. I guess my garden is about to get dug over.

Joshua is very keen on Lego and has really grasped the concept of following instructions to build things. So I was adamant that I wanted to buy him his first Meccano set to get him used to nuts and bolts and constructing shapes. Unlike the Meccano of my day, today they have special sets for toddlers with plastic pieces and much larger nuts and bolts that are little finger friendly. 

Joshua building his first Meccano toy.

The all important birthday cake. This year it was a Ben 10 cake.

Both boys huffing and puffing.

Thanks to everyone who visited Joshua for his special day and brought him all the wonderful gifts. He has far too many presents to mention on this blog and still more to come. For me the star present is his VTech Tag reader which I think is going to be an absolutely amazing learning aid for both boys. The craziest present by far goes to Auntie Nicky and Uncle Paul with this rather large inflatable dinosaur. 

Josh and Brandon set to work on the dinosaur like a pair of thugs at a West Ham vs Millwall  football game.

Looks like the dinosaur is losing this battle.

I think we can safely say this one is now extinct.

 

This dinosaur is friggin huge. For tonight I have carried it up into Joshua's bedroom so lets just hope that he doesn't wake up in the night screaming that there is a big monster in his bedroom! Joshua's birthday celebrations continue into the weekend with pizza hut tomorrow and then bowling on Saturday. So more birthday updates to follow.

Presents Wrapped & Ready

Joshua went to sleep very easy tonight without getting too exciteable about his big day tomorrow. Just wait until he wakes up tomorrow and sees this big pile of presents waiting for him (and this does not include his present from Brandon or anything from family and friends). So having spent most of the night wrapping presents I guess my next job is to clear out some old toys and make way for the new. The challenge for tomorrow morning will surely be prizing Joshua away from his presents to get him into school.

 

Only 1 more sleep

Only one more sleep until Joshua is going to be 5!!! I am not sure who is getting more excited about his birthday out of him or me. I know one thing for sure, he has some really cool toys coming his way which I can’t wait to play with. Tonight’s task is for me to help Brandon wrap up his present for his brother and write his birthday card. Little B is really excited about giving Joshua his present which he picked out himself.

It’s a bit of a shame that Joshua has got to go to school on his birthday, but I am sure they will make his day special for him. I plan to stay at home in the morning to let him open a couple of presents and then take him to school. Then I might see If I can finish work early and surprise him by picking him up from school as well.

His school is going very well. I have to say that the first couple of weeks I didn’t really notice much change other than him coming home very tired every day. But now as we near the end of his first term it seems incredible what he is learning and coming out with. New songs, sign language, parachute games, mannerism’s and expressions from his teachers to name but a few. He is also frequently using his finger draw letters in the air and seems to know the sound of the first letter to most words.

Anyway to end this blog I have some completely unrelated pictures which I took of the boys a couple of weeks ago over the Memorial Park. The wind had blown over a huge tree which gave a great opportunity for some tree climbing practice!

Mr Muscles breaking that big branch off of the trunk.

Forget the climbing frames, the boys preferred the tree.

5 More Sleeps

Only 5 more sleeps until our little Joshua will be 5 and he is starting to get very excited now.  It seems unbelievable that he is 5 already, where do the years go? His bowling party is booked and tomorrow we are out birthday present shopping. I took Brandon out with me today to buy his brother a card and present and low and behold, Brandon comes back with a toy yellow Mini. One day I might learn to say no. 

STAR OF THE DAY



Look at my proud little boy, chin held high and the first to exit the classroom today. First child out of the door means one thing - "Star of the Day". All the Mum's and Dad's give a cheer for the "Star of the Day" as they exit the class room at the end of the school day.

 

Star of the Day - chin held high as Joshua exits the classroom first.

 

The Star of the Day gets their name displayed on the window for all the Mum's and Dad's to clearly see.


One of the good things which Joshua did today in order to earn the "Star of the Day" award was to recognise that another child was on his own and to go over and play with him. We are so proud of him, lets hope he keeps up the good work.

Spare Tyre

Last weekend we took the boys over to Thurrock Rugby Club so that they could watch their cousin Amy in the Essex Rugby trials. I still think Joshua is much more suited to Rugby than football and has shown a keen interest in playing. Unfortunately I have yet to find a toddler rugby club for him. As well as supporting Amy, Joshua got to throw and kick a few balls around and then we had a little go at taking it in turns trying to push the scrum sledge along.

Probably the highlight of the day for the boys was playing with some spare tyre's on the side lines. We made a car and pretended to change the wheels like in formula 1, we made a pyramid or tyres, we made a tyre tower and of course we made a tyre obstacle course. I used the smallest tyre's possible but Brandon's little legs still couldn't quite stretch all the way and he ended up on his bum a few times.

Joshua sets off on his first tyre run.

Going well..........

............and to the finish.

Brandon carefully balances on the side wall of a tyre.

His little legs are not big enough and he takes a fall inside a tyre.

Up on his feet again!

And down on his bum again!

On a different subject Joshua is still doing good at school and is enjoying it a lot. I seem to have trouble getting any information out of him as to what he actually does at school. If you ask him what he did or how was his day then you usually get an answer along the line of "I cant remember". So instead of have started paying real close attention to when he does something different or speaks/sings something new and then ask if he learnt that at school. If he says yes then you can probe a bit deeper and get some answers about what he does at school.

The other trick I have found is that each day I tell him that we will sit down when we get home and tell each other the best and worst things from our day. So I tell him about work and then he reciprocates with his best and worst things about school. This technique works well and gets a bit more information out of him. For the last two days his worst thing has been that they did not have an assembly.

1st Picture in the Paper

Another 1st as Joshua gets his first picture in the local paper. All of the schools in the area get a class picture taken which gets put into the Echo. Joshua's teacher, Mrs Goldsmith is 3rd from the left in the back row of the picture. Joshua is the 4th pupil from the right in the back row. As he is one of the taller children he gets to stand at the back. Hopefully this is only one of many which I will get to collect over the years.

 

Joshua's first ever class photo and his first picture in the paper.

Spiderman



Both boys continue growing faster than my wallet can keep refreshing their wardrobes with new clothes. Today we had a little shop, predominantly for Joshua as his clothes are all starting to get a bit tight again and the cold winter looms, but Brandon still managed to pick up some new gear himself. Here are both boys posing in their new pj's.

 

Spiderman Brandon - notice how good his eye is looking now.

Joshua in his winter football champion pyjamas.

Joshua's 5th birthday is now under 3 weeks away. His party is all booked and today we started getting ideas from him by walking around a few toy shops. If anyone is thinking of buying him clothes for his birthday then make sure they are size 6-7 as most size 5-6 will not fit him as he is so tall for his age.

Bruiser

Following yesterdays surgery to remove his cyst, my poor little baby work up this morning with a very black, very swollen and very closed eye. What with his missing front tooth he looks like a right little bruiser - a cage fighter in the making!

 

Last night before going to bed I wanted to show Brandon his eye in the mirror so he could see what had been done. When I asked him he responded saying "I can't see my eye as it doesn't come out silly"!. Another funny comment he made was when I put him to bed. We finished his story and I said to him "right close your eyes and lets get some sleep". He responded with "I will close my eyes gently so I don't hurt my bad eye!". He is very proud of his black eye and was showing everyone at Joshua's school and his nursery this morning.

Brandon's Eye Operation

Today was the big day for Brandon's eye operation over at Nuffield Hospital. After nearly 3 years of waiting until the time was right he was finally ready to get the cyst removed from his eyebrow. Hopefully this will be the first and last time that either of our boys ever have to have a surgery. So it was an early start to get Brandon all checked in for 7am in the morning.

Brandon all checked into his private room with Winnie The Pooh theme.

The sister looking after Brandon was called Fiona and she did an absolutely excellent job or looking after the little man and trying to comfort him as much as she could. She even gave him this V.I.B teddy bear which he was allowed to bring home. 

Brandon with his V.I.B teddy which he named "Lady".

It was all fun and exciting at the start of the day as we played hide and seek in his room and then took turns hiding "Lady" and playing colder/hotter. 

Brandon hiding under the hospital bed.

Brandon's hospital gown was a little on the large side for him!

Then we had some chill time whilst he watched some children's programs and had his feet tickled.

The anaesthetist came around shortly followed by the doctor who put a little ink mark on the side of Brandon's head to indicate which eye the cyst was on.

Ink marking the eye, this will be most peoples last view of Brandon's cyst as he readies himself for surgery.

Brandon had to have "magic cream" on both his hands in order to numb the pain when the put the needle in his vein. He initially found the cream intriguing and was squelching it around underneath the clear plaster. But when it was time to take the plaster off he was not a happy bunny.

Magic cream and Brandon's hospital wrist band.

At this stage Brandon was still all smiles and having fun.

The early morning started to take its toll and he settled down to relax on his hospital bed for a while.

At about 9am it was time for the surgery and it all seemed to happen so quickly and must have been so daunting for little Brandon. He did not want to be wheeled in the bed down to the theatre and therefore I carried him down there whilst the bed was pushed in front of us. Once there I sat him on my lap whilst they anaesthetised him ready for the operation. At this point my emotions got the better of me and I turned into a blubbering wuss. Nothing can prepare you for how quickly they suddenly fall asleep and then suddenly its all a big rush to get him on the bed and get cracking. The nurse assured me he was in good hands but it was all still very emotional.

An hour later and I was called down to the recovery room as he was starting to come around. The first half an hour or so was awful as Brandon was clearly in pain and very confused. He was crying a lot, arching his back and no amount of comforting, soothing lullabies or tickles seemed to calm him down. Finally he was given some more pain relief and then soon enough he started to settle. Having not eaten or drank since about 7:15 the previous night he was pretty famished and agreed to have his lunch ordered at about 10:30. 

Finally Brandon settles after the surgery and I reward his Bravery with a giant size Monster Jam car.

Short term Brandon's eye looks very swollen and bruised but the doctor assured me all of the cyst was successfully removed.

Nuffield had a great menu for me and Brandon to pick our lunches from. I went for a nice healthy chicken salad option, but Brandon had fish fingers with chippes followed by vanilla ice cream. I was pretty amazed how well he ate and drank so soon after surgery and have you ever seen a kids dinner with 6 fish fingers!!!!

Brandon reaching for another chippie.

This is the only medicine Brandon needs.



This is his 1:24 Monster Mutt toy for being such a brave boy.

By about 12:15 Brandon was pretty much back to himself and nagging Fiona that he wanted to go home. So I quickly ate up my lunch and we were discharged. He still has a lot of the sticky pads stuck on his body as he really doesn't like them being pulled off. I managed to get one of them off and he wasn't going have any more of that pain. 

Back home and the swelling and bruising are really starting to show. The scar is in the eyebrow and has been glued together with a butterfly stitch over the top.

Now I just have to figure out how to get the other sticky pads off of his body.

First days at school

Joshua's first days at school are going very well and he is enjoying them immensely. When you consider that his nursery hours were not too dissimilar from his school hours, it is absolutely amazing just how shattered he is when he gets in from school. Arguably what he does throughout the day is similar with the pre-school nursery class to his foundation school class, but something is seriously tiring him out. He comes home of an evening and can barely get through dinner time and is ready for bed. Then it is a case of about 2 pages of a story and its lights out, he is out for the count. I can only assume it is the higher levels of concentration and discipline which is contributing to how tired he is getting. That and maybe the running around during dinner/break times.

Joshua's blue classes first day at school.

First P.E. session playing in the hall with the big parachute.

Brandon seems to have settled into nursery  now and is adapting to the 5 days a week instead of 2 and not having his older brother around. I think it is doing him the world of good not having Joshua around as it is forcing him to finally have some independence and get some friends of his own. Previously I think he hung around his elder brother too much and all of his friends seemed to be the same as Joshua's. Last night we were talking about who they were going to invite to their birthday party's and for the first time Brandon was mentioning his friends names rather than Joshua's

Kite Flying

One thing about having children is that it appears that there is never a single spare moment for the rest of your life. Each and every weekend is spent chauffeuring around clubs, or swimming, over the park, playing, painting, drawing etc.etc. This weekend has yet again been no different. Saturday was full on with Forest Glade Football Club, then the Wickford Carnival, then Wickford Fire Station Open Day. Sunday wasn't any easier as it was Little Kickers Football Club, then swimming, then a bit of gardening before heading over to the Kite Festival over the Wick Park.

 

The Wickford Carnival was great and the boys thoroughly enjoyed the parade. After the parade we headed over to the Open Day at the Fire station where the boys got to wear some fire gear, play with some real hoses and climb over some fire engines.

 

How cool is this miniature fire engine as driven by Joshua and Brandon.

Joshua getting ready to man the hoses and Brandon checks the hand brake is on.

Joshua wearing a real fireman's hat.

The two boys checking out the back of a full size fire engine.

And then riding in the front but under strict instructions not to touch any buttons.

How cool is this, Brandon manning a proper fire hose from an engine.

Pretty heavy bits of kit and even Joshua needs two hands to lift the hose.

The boys quickly worked out the house was heavy and decided to work as a team.

 

Brandon has been a little sporting superstar this weekend. He joined in at Forest Glade Football yesterday and did extremely well against the much bigger boys, then he was outstanding at his own Little Kickers Club today and then to top it all off he did about an hours swimming today with no buoyancy aids at all. His confidence in the water is starting to equal Joshies. Joshua also did well today and is starting to get some good speed with front crawl as he is using his arms a lot more instead of just doing a doggie paddle.

 

Anyway this afternoon we went to the Kite Festival over the Wick Park and both boys were given a kite free of charge which we built up and flew. The kites were amazing and flew very well. Both Brandon and Joshua had no problems handling the kites and were keeping them up in the air so well that I could easily managed keeping an eye on both of them and not having to run around picking up kites and untangling strings.

Joshua and Brandon showing us their free kites. Brandon is tickling Joshua as he did not want to smile for the picture.

As Joshua wouldn't smile for the picture they decided to cover their faces with their kites.

 

After the kite flying we went to the park for a while and something dawned on me as I watched over the boys. That is - just how many fights they are going to get in too! Why? Because they know right and wrong very well and tell other children off if they are being naughty. Joshua was politely but sternly telling much older/bigger children over the park that certain things were naughty, or not to do that etc and I just thought to myself that if I wasn't there to look after him they would probably lump him one. I think I need to teach the boys some tact or to keep themselves to themselves otherwise I will have to face the consequences of the two of them getting into the odd scuffle or two.