typical scenes

We struggle to get him to wear his hat outside in the sun, but he's all over wearing it with goggles to play Skylanders.

Role play is exhausting

Yes, sometimes he sleeps with the Xbox controller

face painting

Luke's nursery school celebrates something every month. With this, they paint the faces of the any of the children who want it.  Luke has never shown any interest, but at the last celebration, he not only wanted it, but he asked for it!

spring in guildford

Not long after this video, he decided to run around the back of the pond, climbing fences to do so.  If he wasn't as sure-footed as a goat, it would be a cold, wet lesson.  As it was, the lesson was ours once again; don't take your eyes off the boy.

four years old

He wouldn't eat the cake, but he loved blowing out the candles.  We must have done it at least 10 times.

name that tune

He's playing a video game, which he taught himself to play, while he sings.  His second verse is 'sheep'.  We listen to Beautiful Creatures in the car, a CD from Melissa about African animals, and he sings along to parts of almost every song.  He's like his brother in his love of singing.

horseshoe day nursery and preschool

 

one week of school under his belt, luke's wearing his backpack for the first time and seems quite proud of himself

School has been going very well for Luke.  Tim and I leave well before Paul takes Luke to school, but I have it from Paul that Luke is happy to go to school and gives Paul a hug, kiss and 'eye-eye' every morning. 

The school is .8 miles from our flat, straight down a busy-ish road, around the corner onto a busier road, and then a block to school.  Paul has to hold Luke's hand the whole way, but the walk is pleasant enough.  It's near the train station, so when Paul starts to work, it will be easy for him to go from the school to the train.  Luke can be at school from 8-18.00, and if we pay more, he can be dropped off at 7.30.  We usually collect him around 17.00, and so far he's always playing with trains and happy to see Paul and come home. 

Luke's day consists of things like story time, music, art, indoor free play, outdoor free play, snacks, lunch and tea (dinner).  They have a large outdoor play area with two big rabbits in cages.  His primary care giver is Jodie.  We feel that we've found a safe and nurturing environment for Luke.  Paul did all the work for this and deserves loads of praise.

exploring with dad

enjoying a lemonade (sprite for you americans) in the garden of our local

Luke is a walker, and with little to do in our flat, he and Paul have been doing a lot of walking.   The closest walk is one that we make as a family at least twice a week to our local.  It's small inside and not kid friendly, but the back garden is perfect for families.  There is a tree stump, just a little taller than Luke that provides the most entertainment.  Paul and I can usually quaff one pint before Luke's ready to go.

 taking a break in littleworth common

I gather from conversations I hear with my colleagues that Esher is well known for its green space. Littleworth Common is not the closest of these to us, but it is an easy walk just south of us. On the other side of it is the village of Claygate.

checking out the boats and the thames

Just north of us is Hampton Court. Paul and Luke were stuck at the flat several days in a row because they had to wait for service people to connect the Internet or delivery people to bring things that we've ordered. Ordering from Amazon here has given both of us a bit of homesicknesses for Fort Collins where we can track our packages almost to the hour and where our deliveries could be left on the porch if we weren't home. There's none of that here. Anyway, when they finally got a day free of the flat, they went for a five mile round trip walk up to Hampton Court where Luke got to walk along the river and see the Palace.   

having a picnic at hampton court palace. thanks for the hair cut dad!