Christmas

If last year Matthew was able to understand enough to enjoy Christmas, this year has been the first time he has properly been able to join in the fun.  For the first time he left out a mince pie for Santa and a carrot for the reindeer last night (with Louise's assistance), and understood when he went to bed that Christmas was coming today.  Despite this, he still didn't wake us early this morning, though as he's still frightened of Santa and has yet to leave his bedroom unaided during the night this isn't really surprising.

 The big difference to last year was the speed which Matthew took to unwrap his presents - he'd opened the three big presents that Father Christmas had left for him in the lounge within five minutes and we'd opened everything well before 10am.  Last year, although Matthew probably did have a few more gifts, we had to help him a lot more and we were still opening presents when we were due to leave to go and see the family.  This year, Matthew had a good chance to play with a few of his new toys before we left, including his new Jungle Junction set (the present he wanted most, and was delighted to open first), his Big City Garage, Thomas Take and Play Dieselworks and his Gator Golf.  I had to help him with the Gator Golf, as he found it quite difficult.  A lot of Matthew's presents were self-assembly, which did cause a bit of dissapointment as we didn't have time to set everything up before we left, though he behaved quite well considering (his Jungle Junction and Big City Garage were pre-assembled and wrapped so he could play with those).

We called in to see Louise's family first, and Matthew received some clothes from Louise's aunt and uncle.  We then went to my parents for dinner, which Matthew really enjoyed.   On arrival, Matthew told us all that Grandma was making a sausage dinner for Christmas - sausages being his favourite - though he enjoyed some roast chicken, carrots and peas as well as sausages.  After lunch, we opened presents from my family and Matthew was excited by his new Bob the Builder construction set which he played with for the rest of the afternoon.  He also received some books, clothes and other toys including a tumbling snowman and Santa that he enjoyed watching climb down the lounge door.

Mid-afternoon we returned to Louise's family to see Matthew's Gramps who had returned home.  Matthew was delighted to receive Red Rover and Pig Goes Pop toys from Gramps - he'd asked Santa for Red Rover though hadn't expressed any disappointment at not receiving it in the morning.  Gramps also bought him a farm, which he initially said that he didn't want but changed his mind when he arrived home and wanted me to set it up.  I was a bit too tired to do the whole self-assembly thing again by then, so managed to persuade him to wait!

Matthew's behaviour throughout the day was generally excellent - he moaned a few times but we had no full-on tantrums, which considering the excitement of the day is a major achievement.  I can remember causing a lot more aggro than Matthew has today at Christmas when I was young (but probably a bit older than 3), so credit where it is due!  Having said that, it has been an exhausting day trying to entertain a 3 year old and prevent any unnecessary fuss...

Thomas Land

A while ago, we received our usual clubcard vouchers courtesy of Tesco and instead of just getting discount on our shopping we decided to exchange them for vouchers for Drayton Manor, the home of Thomas Land.  Matthew has been asking to go to Thomas Land for a while, and we told him that he could go after he turned three.  As I had the day off, and Drayton Manor are running a "Magical Christmas" event at the moment, we decided to go yesterday.

We kept it a surprise, and didn't mention anything to Matthew (just in case we had to cancel) .  Fortunately everything went to plan, and we even managed to have fine weather, so we told Matthew we were going on a trip but didn't say where.  When we arrived, Matthew saw the sign outside with Thomas and started to get excited so we told him where we were.

During the day we went on trains behind both Percy and Thomas, saw the original model railway set from the Thomas TV show, and I took Matthew on a lot of rides including Sodor's Classic Cars, Diesel's Locomotion Mayhem, Rockin' Bulstrode (quite wild - Matthew enjoyed this), Jeremy's Flying Academy, Blue Mountain Engines, and Lady's Carousel (very tame compared to the other rides, but Matthew still enjoyed).  He also had a go at Terrence's Driving School, which featured model tractors with a foot accelerator pedal and a real steering wheel.  He was the youngest on these and we weren't sure if he would get the hang of it, but he did remarkably well and after several crashes was able to steer reasonably well by the time he finished.  He wasn't the only little boy crashing!

We couldn't avoid the "biggest Thomas shop in the World" and came away with a toy D199 diesel which Matthew chose, a Mega Blocks James, an apron for painting, and a door hanger for Matthew's room.

Matthew was very good throughout the day - the only incident came when we had to leave Emily's Adventure Play area, and threw a tantrum because he didn't want to leave; this was understandable under the circumstances as we were only allowed 15 minutes of play and Matthew is used to an hour or more when he goes to Funtazia.

There were a few rides which we thought would be too scary for Matthew, such as the Troublesome Trucks Rollercoaster and Cranky's Drop Tower, and surprisingly Matthew also declined the opportunity to go on Harold's Heli-Tours and Crazy Bertie Bus, and didn't want to go in th 4D Cinema.  We didn't push him to go in the cinema when we discovered they weren't showing a Thomas film, as we were running out of time by that point.  After Thomas Land, we took Matthew in to Santa's Magical Workshop where elves blew bubbles on him, and he saw a snowman and some (model) reindeer. He had a chance to sit with Santa but declined this as he's still a bit frightened of him, so Santa just called his name and waved to him.  He then took away a free gift of a Thomas activity book.

Before going home, we had a delicious meal at the attached Grill restaurant, where I had one of the best steak, chips and beer-battered onion rings I have ever tasted!

Reading

Matthew showed the first signs of starting to read today.  I wrote his name on his blackboard, and asked him what it said.  He replied "Matthew" - good, but he may have guessed that's what I would write.

I then wrote "Daddy" and he correctly told me what I had written.  I wrote "Mummy" and initially he thought it said "Matthew" again, but when I said "no", he correctly identified it as "Mummy".  Finally I wrote "John", and he said "Joel" (a friend at his Cylch).  I was impressed with this because he obviously recognised the start of the word even if he didn't get it right.

He had a chance to dress up in his green dog costume again yesterday when he went to the fancy dress Jambori party. He loves the costume and it's proving good value for money.

Portable North Pole

A friend at work told me about this great website where your child can receive a personal message from Santa.  I showed Matthew his message this evening and he seemed pleased with it: http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/mD01tQqM24i_BYGI1ydOGmQ

I'm not sure if he understood much of the message as he can't yet read, but he did enjoy seeing the pictures of himself in Santa's book!

Father Christmas calls by

Matthew had a surprise this afternoon when there was a knock on the door.  Louise was asleep on the couch, and Matthew woke her up saying "there's someone at the door" and eventually, I'll answer it!".  When Louise and Matthew answered the door, Father Christmas was outside on his sleigh, playing Christmas music.

Matthew was a bit frightened but came outside without crying to see Father Christmas, and received a lollipop.  Father Christmas asked Matthew what he would like for the big day, but Matthew was too shy to reply so Louise told Father Christmas that he wanted the Jungle Junction toy he has been asking for.

The Father Christmas was organised by the Round Table who were collecting for charity.  The sleigh, lit with lots of fairy lights, was being pulled by a 4x4, so I explained to Matthew the reason for the this was because the sleigh can't drive by itself without any snow.

We took Matthew to church for a Christmas Carol service this evening which my parents were participating in, although this proved to be a mistake.  He was good to start with, and excited to see my parents, but started to get bored and tried to push me out of my seat and then threw the hymn books on the floor.  Louise took him out of the service, but he then proceeded to scream loudly in the vestibule so she had to take him out to the forecourt.  I could still hear him screaming in the distance so I left early as well and we then had to drag him, screaming, back to the car.  Apart from the second time we took him to see Thomas, it's probably the worst he's ever behaved, so he ended up going on the naughty step when he arrived home and then went straight to bed.

Pine cones

Matthew 'helped' us to put up and decorate the Christmas tree today.  Once I had put on the lights he decided to add the tinsel and proceeded to drape loads of pieces of different coloured tinsel over the same branches at the bottom corner of the tree.  He then found some pine cones in a box, and took one out shouting "coconuts!".
We didn't retain his unique take on decorating, feeling it may prove to be too radical for any guests who may call round over Christmas. 

Matthew was delighted to retrieve the singing toy Christmas tree from the cupboard which Louise's Dad bought for him a couple of years ago, and we heard it at least ten consecutive times before he was made to give it a rest.  He's also started to try singing along to the words, and if the batteries don't die I wouldn't be surprised if he can recite the entire chorus of "Rocking around the Christmas tree" by the big day itself.

Is that Gary Speed?

We had another reminder how much young children pick up today, when Matthew was watching the One Show and pointed to one of the guests asking "Is that Gary Speed?".  When we said no, and asked him where he had heard the name Gary Speed, he said "mummy, on your mobile".

It turns out Matthew had overheard Louise's conversation with her dad about the sad and untimely death of the Wales football manager at the weekend, and though he hasn't said anything since then, he must have remembered Gary Speed's name.  What made him associate it with the guests on tonight's One Show is anybody's guess!