More school stress!

Just when we thought Matthew was sorted for school, we received a letter on Saturday which offered him a place at a different school - the second choice school we had put him down for on our new application once we'd heard about the problems at our first choice school!  Louise phoned the council yesterday, and was told that they hadn't yet processed the applications for our first choice school yet as the person dealing with them had been away ill, which explains why we haven't heard back about our initial application through the school.

Anyway, Louise was told not to panic and Matthew may still be accepted at our first choice school, and then we can just refuse the place at the other school.  It all seems very complicated considering we just want to send him to the nearest school, which is five minutes walk from our house!

Matthew went to his last Jambori session today, as it's the Easter break next week and we're changing our routine after Easter.  Louise is changing her days in work to Wednesday, Thursday and Friday which means that Matthew will no longer be going to see his Grandma on a Tuesday, when Jambori is held.  The group leader said that she would miss Matthew, who has gone from being too shy to say his name to being very talkative and the first child she turns to in the group when she wants questions to be answered.  He's had fun at Jambori and has learned lots of songs and participated in plenty of activities, such as identifying different coloured balls and jumping in hoops.

Grandad has brought Matthew a miniature table football game home from his work.  Matthew had a game with Grandma this afternoon and apparently won - but also cheated!  It looks good fun, so I'm looking forward to having a go!

Matthew has learned to say "na, na, na-na, na" - I assume from other children at his nursery or Cylch - funny how they pick these things up even if you never say them.  He's also now getting very good at recognising sequences of letters, though doesn't often put them together to form words.  He said the other day, pointing at the TV, "look Daddy, there's an S, and an A, and an M, and S, then U, then N and then G!"  He also  recognises his name on the case of one of our home DVDs.

Matthew is also officially out of nappies, though as of this week he is in "dry nights" pants at bedtime which aren't much different.  The largest size of nappies don't fit him very well any more, so we have to buy these special padded "pants" which are marketed at toddlers and are basically glorified nappies which cost twice as much!  He does now occasionally use the potty in the night, which we leave in his room, but not every time.

The final bit of news is that Matthew can now climb in and out of the bath by himself, using his toddler step.  He got in really well today without me holding on to him at all, though I had to hold his hand when he came out as the bath was a bit slippery. 

Sports Day

Sport Relief Certificate

Matthew took part in his first Sports Day at nursery yesterday for Sport Relief 2012.  He was on the yellow team, so went to nursery in a yellow T-shirt, and came home with a gold medal for coming first in the egg and spoon race.  He also competed in some other events, including running.

Reward chart

Over the last couple of weeks we have been trying out a reward chart for Matthew to encourage him with some basic tasks: going to the toilet rather than the potty, undressing himself, and drinking a whole beaker.  Although Matthew has seemed excited by the prospect of earning stars and the rewards he can get (chocolate buttons, a trip to the park and stickers), it hasn't gone too well as he's still not carrying out the tasks at the moment. 

He has drunk a full beaker on a couple of occasions, but has only gone to the toilet once instead of the potty, which we thought would be quite a simple task for him to earn stars quickly.  To be fair we knew undressing would be difficult as it's a new challenge for him, and until tonight he hasn't really tried, but I did give him a star today for trying to take off his top with some help from Louise - he can do his trousers, socks and shoes himself.  I'm now wondering whether we need to reduce the number of stars he needs to get to earn a reward, or increase the incentives...

School stress

We had our first taste of parental school stress this week, when Louise heard at the Cylch that there were problems with applications to Matthew's chosen school and that, even though we had completed the required form and submitted it, he may not have a place.  Louise spoke to some of the parents afterwards who had applied to the same school and are so furious with the mix-up that they are planning on taking the school to appeal.

The confusion has been caused by a new system where parents are supposed to apply online via the council website, though nobody had told us this, and so the school has one list of children and the council has another.  The Cylch advised us to apply online, which we did, but when Louise telephoned the school they confirmed that Matthew's name is on the list for September and that there shouldn't be any problems.  The problems have affected children who are starting school after Easter rather than in the Autumn.  Even so, it is still a little worrying given the problems the other parents have experienced, and we will be relieved to receive the confirmation letter from the council which should arrive this month.

Louise asked a member of staff in Matthew's nursery if he plays with other children, and apparently he is now part of a 'crowd' of friends who hang around together.  There is also a particular boy who Matthew often talks about at home, and when Louise mentioned his name to the nursery they said that Matthew and this boy "seek each other out" because they are both "very intellectual".  Matthew told us a particular fact about the boy's family which, although the nursery can't officially confirm because of confidentiality, seems to be correct and the nursery staff were surprised that a child of Matthew's age had managed to discover through conversation.

Sick!

Matthew didn't get to wear his rugby shirt again after all today, as he's not very well.  He's been coughing for the last couple of days, and today he developed a fever and was sick twice this morning.  Despite this, he's not been too bad in himself and during periods when he's felt alright he has been trying to convince us "I'm well now", "I'm not ill any more!".  He obviously isn't well, though, as he fell asleep on the floor in the lounge this afternoon and cried for Louise when he woke up.

He has been quite comical at times - for example when I asked him if he was feeling ok for about the third or fourth time today, he looked cross and said "you ask me that all the time!", and when Louise tried to take his temperature this evening he said "not temperature! You take it all the time!".

Edit, 9th March 2012: Matthew was better by Monday, but Louise and I went down with the bug - a great way to spend my week off work!  I was better just in time to go back yesterday!

Eisteddfod

Performing a song

Matthew took part in his Cylch Eisteddfod (Welsh festival) today for St. David's Day.  He took part in a couple of songs - he was meant to sing more, but went to sit on Louise's lap after two - and also won second prize in the picture competition with his handprint dragon that Louise helped him to make at the weekend, following a design we found online.  My Mum went with Louise to watch him sing.

He wore his Welsh Rugby shirt for the second time this week; he also wore it on Monday at Nursery in error, and will have to wear it for Nursery again tomorrow (Louise had been told they were to dress up all week, but it turns out that it's just tomorrow).

Certificate for participating

2nd place in the Collage competition