Swimming

George is on an intesive swimming course this week, to prepare him for his proper swimming lessons in September.

Yesterday he needed armbands and a float strapped to his back. Today he no longer needed the armbands. I'm so proud of him for trying so hard.

Baby Fish

George's tropical fish have had a baby. There is only the one, but he seems to be holding his own. We've called him Nemo....

Busy Year

I haven't had much time to update George's 2010 blog. School has kept us ticking over - George has learned to read and has just received an excellent school report which I am very proud of considering what happened just after he started school.

Last month we went on our first family holiday without George's dad. Aunty Mandy, Aunty Fiona and cousins John and Daniel came too. We had a fabulous time, and all three children would love to go again.

This is George and Ben the school bear in Whinfell forest.

Easter

I took George away to a caravan in Rhyl for the easter weekend. He told me that his daddy had come too, and even pointed to where he was sitting. When his daddy died, I downloaded the photos from his sd card, then deleted them all. Since then I have used the sd card constantly, and downloaded many photos. The first photo I downloaded today when downloading our holiday photos was one of the ones of Paul that I had deleted. Maybe he came with us after all.

On easter Sunday George asked me if I was born before chocolate was invented, or after. I wonder how old he thinks I am?

Ambush

George's naughty cat thought of a new game tonight while George was in the bathroom brushing his teeth. She hid in the linen basket, and as he walked past, she jumped up, bopped him, and dropped back down into the basket. George was a bit taken aback, but I thought it was funny, and so did the cat apparently because she did it twice more. She never uses her claws, she just pats him and runs away. She has always liked creeping up on people and gently boxing their ears - now we may have to watch out for cat hiding places too.

Parents Evening

Tonight was parents evening at George's school. My friend minded George for me while I went for my 10 minute chat with his teacher. Apparently he needs to concentrate more, but is coming along nicely. I can see the improvement in his reading myself, and his vocabulary is extensive, but he needs to practise his writing.

His teacher says he is friendly, chatty, and a pleasure to have in the class room. Yay for George !

Busy Day

We have had a busy day today. We have been swimming, had lunch at McDonalds, been shopping and we have seen art.

We live fairly close to Port Sunlight village which has an art gallery founded by William Hesketh Lever, soap producer extrordinaire. After we'd had lunch I suggested to George and his friend M that we should call in there on the way home. They were fascinated by the sheer size of some of the paintings and pieces of furniture. The two of them are like human question marks, so there was a fair bit to answer, but the male marble statues caught their attention the most - for all the wrong reasons I hasten to add. M's eyes were like saucers (she's 10).

The piece that had the most attention was a statue of a hermaphrodite. "But mum, it's got boobs and a willy" said our hero in a voice that could well have been a tannoy broadcast. He wasn't wrong.