Art

X

Fish puzzle

Play

Bernard got a free garden set on the front of a magazine. He has been enjoying watering the pretend carrots. Watering the real carrots has been happening for some time but pretend play is a rare treat. He has also been learning to mix colours in his painting.

reading

It didn't come as such a surprise when, aged 2 years and 5 months, Bernard learned to read.  He has been obsessed by letters since the age of 18 months, and has been able to identify initial letters for some time now.  Last week he read all the animal sounds in his animal counting book: moo, quack, squeak, woof etc, on the page which has no pictures on it (though he may of course remember which sounds are likely to be written there).  But yesterday morning we were fooling around with letter sounds and I said, "What does M-U-M say?" and he said, "Mum," and then I said, "What does D-A-D say," and he said, "Dad," and then we carried on that game in the car, all the way to nursery.  "More letters," he kept saying, and he was able to do phonemic blending on plenty of three-letter words such as "peg", "bed" and more.  That was a step he hadn't taken before.  And so yesterday evening, we read the page in his alphabet book which has three letter words in it, and he was able to read about half.  Well done, little one!

at college

Nicholas and son visit Darwin College, where Nicholas is doing his PhD.  It's so nice there I'm surprised he doesn't spend any time there.

We met up with him for lunch and had a snack from the Snack Box Van, and took it to eat on the lawn at Darwin College.  Bernard has just learned to JUMP and it was very amusing to watch him jump like a kangaroo all the way over the wooden bridge and back.

at the green man

in grantchester.  ong ba ngoai came to visit, and Fenton, and we had lunch at the Green Man.  Must get the fridge more prepared for family to drop in at random moments!

nursery school

17 Oct was Bernard's first day at nursery.  His teacher is called Andrea and his nursery is a tiny Montessori on a farm slap bang in the middle of nowhere.  It seems to be one of the most beautiful places on the planet.  I drive ten minutes away from town and I am there.  There is no sign on the entrance.  Sometimes you can buy farm fresh eggs for £1 a box on the driveway.
Bernard said he had a nice time at the nursery, and he played with a boy called Alex.  The toddler class is also the toilet training class (!), so often when I arrive one or more of them are running around without trousers on.
Bernard is learning to sit on the potty now, and he is doing very well; I was very impressed at how much easier it was this time round.  He is quite proud of his peeing prowess and he has had a few al fresco pees in fields too: all very challenging for the first timer!