Outstanding.

Like the scarecrow in his field, we are outstanding.
We had Ofsted at the end of last half-term (just when you need it most...). They spent a fair bit of time with us, and because of Anna's amazing work in the house, they saw that the provision here was 'outstanding'. Their visit to us was pretty key, as we were the first big house visit they did, so we set the scene for the rest of the inspection, but the following visits they did to other houses, and the piles and piles of paperwork they trawled through (who'd be an Ofsted inspector eh?!) confirmed the fact that the school provides an outstanding level of care for its students.
Well done Anna.
(And everyone else, but I'm a little biased...)

More school on its way...

Well, he's still growing... And he's been hassling us for a while saying that his friends get to go to school more than he does, so from tomorrow, he'll be starting school for a second day each week. It's a little bit sad - sort of an early empty nest feeling :( But it's a great school, and he loves it to bits. He's very excited about tomorrow too. Of course that might be linked to the fact that it's a teddy bears' picnic!
So, today we decided we'd have a bit of an adventure, and we went to watch this:











Not exactly high-brow, cultured entertainment, but good for a laugh. It's in 3D too, which meant that Joshua had to wear these:

I was slightly surprised that he was quite so happy to wear them. It's a good enough film. We missed the first few minutes (some traffic-light-related issues...) but it didn't seem to matter too much. Joshua announced afterwards that it was 'a bit scary and a bit good'. So he was obviously content. The next trick was keeping him awake on the journey home (he'd not had a nap...) so that he can have a nice early night tonight :) Here's hoping he crashes out in front of the telly after tea!!

As for me, well, I've got to make sure his uniform's in good order for tomorrow, and then tomorrow, I've got a book to write! We're already looking forward to the summer holidays ...

Hair today, gone tomorrow. And the home help.

Well, I have to say the first week of term hasn't gone to plan. (Well, not ours, anyway) But setting that aside, here's some of what we've been up to...

Tuesday saw the politics society (run by Anna) host a highly acclaimed question time with our local MP-hopefuls (including flying brick, of the monster raving loony party - who happens to be a past pupil of the school!) It went down very well, so I hear!

Joshua and I braved a trip to the hairdresser on Wednesday. I'd been the day before to have mine done, so Joshua couldn't really refuse. As usual, there are the before and after shots. And as usual, the before one is bath time!

In fact, not only do we have before and after photos, we actually have a during too:

This was the point at which he could see again. Maybe that's why he looks happy with life. It was quite an amusing trip actually. When I told him we were going, his first question was, "Will I get a lolly?" Very impressive memory indeed. (He gets them from the hairdresser, I hasten to add, not me!)
Then, we got there at 4.45, and Joshua had not had a nap, with the result that he sat in the chair and was very quite, and a little floppy. I did wonder if he was going to make it through, but he did. I think it was probably the lolly that did it!
Later on Wednesday, we had one of our more odd conversations. We were playing with Happyland, specifically with the church and the fire brigade. Joshua said, "Remember when the sheep got stuck on the church and they asked Jesus to get him, but Jesus couldn't reach so they asked the fireman and the fireman rescued him?" Wasn't quite sure where to start with my response to that. Maybe Fireman Sam should be banned for a few days...

And finally, his haircut seems to have triggered a desire to help around the house. I was wiping tables in the girls' dining room after tea, when it dawned on me that Joshua
a) wasn't there
b) hadn't had the telly put on for him and
c) wasn't complaining.
This was clear reason to be suspicious. I abandoned my cloth to go and look for him. I found him in our kitchen, thus:
Very sweet, very helpful, but not very well controlled. The floor was left looking like this:
And that's after it had had some time to dry :)
Ah well, he meant well!
I've got a couple of lovely shots of playground action (again!) which will go up soon.
I need some more people to follow this, one of my 9 followers has jumped ship *sob* (yes, I know who you are!) ;)

Time flies.

He's all grown up, and we trotted off to school this morning. Ok, so it's only for a day a week, but it's the start of something that'll last for quite some time!

So the question for me is, 'now what?' As it happens, my 'freed' time today was taken over by continued preparation for tomorrow's charity event, with more buying of things to be done (you've got to spend money to make money...). But I can well see why parents (yes - usually mums!) find it difficult when the kids start school. I suspect (though maybe this is just my sexist take on it) that I found it harder to adjust to being a 'SAHD' (stay at home dad - cheers for the terminology Sophie) than mums would, because it's still, in our culture, not the norm. And therefore I wonder if all the effort I've put, and am still putting, into making this my role will make it even harder to adjust to it not being my role. It's only a day a week though, so I've still got loads of time with him, but it has certainly been a big adjustment moving from full-time work to full-time home over this last year and a bit. Maybe that's something for another day and another blog though... I don't want to take over the excitement of today's morning-at-school with ponderings about the state of life.

And you'll be glad to know that he had a wonderful time. They do 'forest mornings' every Friday, where they head off into the forest near the school for a bit of adventure and fun. Sure, he cried when I left, though I'm assured that it was only brief. He made a fantastic rocket (of the paper variety - fireworks theme) and had a great time by all accounts. And from a father's point of view, one of the best things was that he had a 'dry' morning. A requirement of this particular nursery, but not quite a cast-iron guarantee where he's concerned :)