Celebrating becoming a big boy with a small party

Jasper turned 3 which he has self defined as being a big boy.  Suddenly he remembers his age whereas he actually never mentioned being 2. As we had literally just flown in from England, I didn't have much time to do a big party for such a big boy. I decided on just inviting one friend with his family. As he has a brother Thomas age and a little baby sister, it already turned out a nice big gathering of people and kids.

He loved opening all his presents in the morning. Its so soon after Christmas, he hadn't forgotten how nice it is to open presents! His main present was a doggy that barks and reacts to you. Its like having an instant friend and I also think he feels older because he has someone to look after. Thomas also got him a present (the one in the big FAO Schwartz bag) which interestingly Thomas himself managed to play with the whole day. I don't think he quit gets the idea yet of thinking about what the other person might like. There were a suprising amount of present ideas left even after Christmas.

In the afternoon we had Flynn and his family visiting. Flynn was excited to see his friend turn the same age as him. Pass the parcel with 5 kids was interesting and even tough they all got stuff - there were still some sad faces. That's life I think and they have to get used to it.

After Jasper's favorite meal of chicken nuggets (and stuffed chicken breasts for the adults), time for the cake. As I still don't have proper tools and cookbooks available as they are on the container, it had to be cake from a packet. It was nice and fluffy so that was good in terms of taste but a bit too fluffy for the icing. The icing they have here is fool proof as you scoop it out of the pack onto your cake.

Finally opening all the cards which lasted well until the end of the next week. He really appreciated them especially the one with the song. Not only the fact it had a song but specifically the text and the funny ending. Happy Happy Happy birthday to you to you... and now give me a big piece of cake! Jasper has always been our smiley happy baby and he is still very humorous and makes himself and other people laugh which we love!

one 5 year old and daddy off to New York

It's been nice to spend Christmas holiday in England. Thomas had to come out of school for 3 weeks as we had to go back early for visa renewal. Also as we are selling the house, it was prefect to have some extra time to tidy all our stuff up that we hadn't used for a year.

So I contacted the teacher and we agreed I would home school Thomas. We both actually really enjoyed it. He couldn't concentrated all that long with me but usually enough for one big subject, a reading workshop and some maths. The reading workshop for example would involve trying to figure out whether it was fiction or non fiction and what the characters are, the problem and the solution. Interesting that most books are structured that way. Mrs Stephanie (the real teacher) had come up with this idea for him to keep a travel journal so that's what we did. We wrote about our house and how old it was, the Christmas tree decorations, the English food and our trip to the Netherlands and the car train. All things really normal to us and Thomas but very interesting for the kids in his class. It was a great way for him to share his experience with his class.

Thomas in the Virgin lounge

So the school year started again but Mummy had to stay to clear the house for selling. And it was decided Paul and Thomas would go back a few days early on their own. Sounded like a logical plan at the time but when it came to it I realised how hard it would be for my son to be an ocean away at only 5. In the car to the airport the only thing I could think about was my own mother and what I was doing to her every time I leave for the US. But I am hoping it will get better when your kids are older, but its hard to b without them. Thomas was really brave, in fact he was really looking forward to having his daddy all to himself. What works with Thomas is to talk to him a lot about what is going to happen, how many days, what he will be doing etc. What helps for daddy was an email from mummy with very specific instructions about lunch preps and snacks, notes for the teacher and the new after school club.



After 4 days apart with hardly any contact (due to time difference and school its actually hard to find time to catch up), I finally picked him up from school yesterday. He said he didn't like being away from me but he sounded very enthusiastic about all the things he had been up to. Daddy let me play the Wii each night I came from school, was one of the revelations! He also started saying something but then said no he couldn't say. I still don't know what it is but presumably daddy said not to tell me!  When will I notice something is broken, missing or something really expensive has been ordered?

Burger and chips and a jetlag