Ben had a first Valentine’s card from his friend Imogen.  She made it all herself as well!

Well Ben is now coming up to the end of his 4th week of pre school and he seems to have enjoyed every minute of it, although each week he has been ill so far!  The first week he caught a cold, the second he had an ear infection which caused him to stay home for 3 days the following week after seeing the Doctor. This 4th week he seems to have a cold again and still has his cough from the first week! Of course, he has passed it all on to the rest of us, so we are all infected with one thing or another!  A sign of things to come it seems!

He has done lots of things at school and seems to be starting to make some friends. He has done loads of paintings and exercising and has also been cooking. He seems to love playing with a Buzz Lightyear toy that is there as he is always going on about it!

Next week is the last week before half term, which I think he could do with, as he is shattered each day now! Hopefully he will be able to get some rest and be ready to go for the 2nd half of the term!

We can’t believe that it was Ben’s 4th Christmas this past December  - where has the time gone?

As with every other year, Ben was as excited as ever although he had to be woken up on Christmas morning again! He went to bed early the night before as well, to give Father Christmas plenty of time to visit. He, and Aaron, left out some biscuits, milk and Christmas card for Father Christmas and a rather large carrot for the Reindeer. These were all mostly eaten in the morning and a card was left for the boys from them!

Once Ben had woken up, he went straight for his stocking which was full to bursting point!  He dragged it into our bedroom and started diving in.  There were also loads of presents under the Christmas tree and Ben was very excited when he got downstairs! We had to stop him from diving straight in!

Amongst the many presents from friends, family and Father Christmas he got a large Chuggington Stencil and drawing set, an electric musical guitar, V-Motion Plus and games (bit like a Wii but for children), Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Peppa Pig phonics game and many smaller toys, clothes and chocolates.  He was very happy indeed! Thanks to everyone that gave him something!

By the time the Roast Turkey was ready he didn’t want it as he was too excited to eat and wanted to play with his toys, so there was a little bit of trouble and he ended up not eating anything. He did eat slightly more Roast Turkey on Boxing Day but still not very much. Again he just wanted to play with his toys.

By the time he went to bed on Christmas Day, he was shattered, but he had a great day with only a few little incidents, but he enjoyed all of his presents from everyone!

Here are some photographs -

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Ben had his first day of school today and he enjoyed it very much! He is going to the Woolwell Under 5′s pre-school which runs from 9am – 12pm every day of the week.  He was very excited the night before as he knew he was going to have lots of fun there!

When we got there in the morning, he didn’t seem to have any worries at all, in fact, when the doors opened he went in, hung his coat up and started to run off into the classroom before saying ‘goodbye’ to us! I managed to call him back and gave him a kiss but not sure if he said bye to Kelly or Aaron before he ran off! hahaha

We went back for 12pm to pick him up – half expecting him to cry due to him wanting to stay the whole day – but he poked his head out of the door and saw me, so then got his coat and came bounding out all excited but tired out as well.  We bought him a comic and a drink at the shop to congratulate him on his first day. He is very much looking forward to going back again tomorrow!

We both can’t believe he has started School now, as not so long ago, he was a little baby like Aaron is now, but we are very proud of him!  Sob Sob! How time flies!

We put our Christmas Tree up during the final weekend of November, which got Ben very excited about Christmas! He helped out putting the decorations up and especially enjoyed putting the chocolates on the tree!

A few days letter he wrote his first letter to Father Christmas and told him that he was trying to be a good boy and gave him some ideas for what presents he would like. We will see what Father Christmas brings him! The finished letter was left on the Christmas Tree and whilst we were out at Chaplins 2 days later during the evening, either Father Christmas or an Elf came and picked the letter up. They also left a chocolate Santa behind which had a rip in the paper so we think that one of the Reindeer tried to have a nibble of it!

Of course this made Ben even more excited – if that was possible at all!

Father Christmas also sent a message to Ben which you can see below!

Ben starts pre-school on January 9th for 3 hours per day from 9am to 12pm. He is really looking forward to it but it is a bit sad as he is growing up already.  We both can’t quite believe that he will be off to school soon, even though it is for just 3 hours per day.  He is growing up very fast indeed!

He had a taster session several weeks ago for an hour and loved every minute of it. It also helped that the little girl next door, Ella, was there as well – so he knew someone and they played together straight away apparently! It looks like he will have a lot of fun there!

Well, what a disaster it was this year!

We were looking forward to going to Lee Mill as we did last year to view the Fireworks and the Bonfire, and we even had an early tea and got dressed up to go out.  But before we left, Ben went out the back with Kelly to feed the cats and got frightened by a nearby Firework, so that was that.  We got about as far as the car but didn’t go any further as Ben was too scared to even open his eyes. He didn’t even want to go just for a ride! So we went inside again and that was that. We tried to look at fireworks out of the windows but Ben wouldn’t even do that – he was having a major tantrum.  Was very strange as he was fine the year before!?!  Oh well.

It was Ben’s third birthday on 1st October – no idea where the 3 years have gone!

For his birthday this year, we threw him a proper birthday party. We rented out a local Scout hut for a couple of hours in the afternoon and invited his little friends and some family. We had food and drinks and Kelly made a wonderful birthday cake in the shape of a castle, which Ben loved. Lots of people turned up with the hut ending up being quite full. All the children enjoyed it (we took some of Ben’s toys for them to play with such as his tent, ball pool and skittles) and were boiling by the end as it turned out to be one of the hottest days of the year! Yes, even in October! So you can imagine how hot it was clearing everything up afterwards.

Ben had lots of lovely presents, so thank you to everyone that gave him a card or present!

Some of the things he had included a little Scalextric, Peppa Pig Space Rocket, Jigsaws, Books, Noddy Car, other toy cars, a robot and clothes. Needless to say he has played with everything loads since he received them, and has enjoyed every minute of it!

Here are some photos of the day -

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The day before his birthday, we took him to Jump! for a few hours. We took him fairly early in the morning so it was nice and quiet, and meant that we had the run of the main area for quite a long time. There were events going on throughout the time we were there which included making and decorating a crown and face painting – which Ben enjoyed! We stayed for dinner although Ben didn’t eat much as he was far too excited! Afterwards, we popped in the pub for a drink as we were gasping but didn’t stay long as Ben was completely tired out!

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Whilst we were on holiday in Weymouth, we visited Abbotsbury Animal Park where Ben had a ride on a Pony for the first time.

We didn’t think he would want to do it but he surprised us all by asking for the ride and then enjoying so much he wanted to go around again!

Here is the video of him riding the Pony with Bev and a member of staff from the animal park.

Ben is now potty trained and is doing very well.

We started this at the beginning of August and within two weeks he didn’t need a nappy any more, even at night!  We are very proud of him of course!

He is even standing up to go for a wee now which is great. He first did this whilst in Trispen Pub on Saturday 10th August, as we were caught a little short without his little potty seat, so had to give it a go and it was fine. So he can now take himself up to the toilet and go for a wee on his own which is very good!

It took us a while to get him to want to stop wearing nappies as he was scared for a week or so without a nappy on. But after encouraging him and rewarding him with some new toys after every successful attempt in the potty, he gradually changed his mind and used the potty automatically.  He did still want a new toy each time he went though, so we had to knock that on the head pretty early in.

Hope it is as straight forward as this for Aaron when it is his turn!