School update

So it's been a while since I've posted anything about N's school, but we are still loving every minute of it.  N just adores his teachers and still runs right in every time.  Several of you have asked me if he's picked up a British accent at all, and he hasn't really, but he has picked up some of the different terms they use.  We talk a lot about "bits".  "Mama, can I have that bit?"  And we wear "Wellies" not boots.  When he makes cookies at school, he calls them "biscuits" but, at home he still makes "cookies!"  He has actually asked me to make him a "tart" before.... umm, I'm not sure I know how to make a tart!

I've also gotten a chance to volunteer in his classroom a couple of times, and what struck me most was that N doesn't talk!  Like at all!  I think he said like two words the entire time he was in class.  He gets right in and plays with the other kids, joins in all the group activities, and sits down right next to his teacher to read... but seriously, he doesn't talk... at all.  Ummmm, whose kid is this again?  Did I bring the right child home from the hospital... because I don't remember ever not talking in school!

I have noticed that N rarely participates in the craft projects at his class, I have never seen any painting or drawing come home, which doesn't surprise me, because he's not the craftiest kid at home either.  However, he does really seem to like gluing.  So most of his projects involve glue and glitter.  Here is the hat and airplane he created.  

All the other kids in his class made puppets, and when I asked him if he made a puppet too, he responded very emphatically, "No, I made an airplane!"  And he did, we had to take it home that day, he wasn't leaving without it.  His teacher said he was very particular about what pieces to glue on to get it just right.  And that gray bit in the middle, that's him, the pilot.  He drew that himself!  The funniest part is that on the back the teacher wrote "aeroplane" so we would know what it is.  Ah British spellings.

Then last Friday the activity was designed for N.  (They do that, they design activities specific for each student... love it!)  He is totally into cooking right now.  The cooking days at school are by far his favorite, and he loves to sit on the counter and help me cook at home.  So his teacher designed an activity involving cooking and airplanes, just for N.  He was thrilled.  Here is his airplane cookie that he made.  Notice the pilot and the steering wheel.  

I know you're all shocked that he is totally obsessed with airplanes right now.  Apparently one day he corrected his teacher when she called a prop airplane a jet.  Gotta get that right now, come on!

Little e is also going to the same school, just two mornings a week.  At first he hated it, the mere mention of school would send him crying, "No e-i school!"  After about a month of that, he woke up and said, "I no cry at school today."  And he didn't.  And hasn't since.  He still tells me most mornings, "I no cry at school."  He literally runs right in and onto the lap of one of his teacher.  He loves her.  The mere mention of her name brings a huge smile to his face.  When I go to pick him up, he'll run up to me and say, "I had good day mama!"  What a sweetie.  When he started to warm up to his teachers, one of them made a comment that they were surprised how talkative he is.  Yup, I have one that talks nonstop and one that doesn't say anything!

The farm on their school is really coming to life with spring, and on Monday little e saw several chicks hatch from eggs.  His teacher said he was really fascinated with it and watched intently for quite some time.  I saw some hatching too, and I will say, I could have sat there for hours!  I had no idea it took so long for the chicks to crack their way out, and that they were so big!  N is really into the worms.  They have a wormery on the farm, and this is N's most talked about spot out there.  He even wiggles like a worm to show me how they move.  Too cute.

Framlingham Castle

I know, you're kind of tired of reading them, I'm sort of tired of posting them, but it's yet another castle post.  This Saturday we headed a fairly small castle about an hour away.  It was really neat.  

Framlingham was built in the 12th century, and it's claim to fame is that it is where Henry VIII's daughter, Mary, sat to wait and hear if she would be the Queen of England, or if she was going to have to fight for it.  (The problem was she was a girl, and she was Catholic, not a great combo to claim the throne with in those days.)  In the end, she didn't have to put up a fight... and became Queen Mary (Bloody Mary.)  It's interesting, succession to the throne wasn't as straightforward as you might think!  Can you tell I'm working really hard at getting my British history straight?  

Here we are headed into the castle.  (Notice the weather throughout these pictures... welcome to England where a nice day can turn bad in an instant!)

The outside of the castle.  Interestingly, this castle had no keep, just the ring wall, moat and defense towers with a great hall and chapel inside.

Inside the castle walls, playing on the giant chess board in the courtyard.  He's just so cute!  It was fun to let the boys run around on the grass while we learned a little more about the castle.

We walked around the top of the walls and looked down into the court below.  Take a look at all those chimneys sticking up from the top.  Those weren't original, and were added in the Tudor period to give the impression of wealth... lots of fireplaces.  In reality, only about three were attached to working fireplaces, the rest were just for looks!  Tudor faux finishing!

Headed out for some lunch in the village... N is modeling his "I'm too cool for this castle" look.

Quite the little trip!

N's imagination has been in overdrive lately and we have been playing some really fun role play games.  Yesterday he took little e and I on quite the trip!

First we got into the car (the couch) we had to pretend to open the door, climb inside, close the door and then put our seat belts on "click"!  Then we backed out of our parking space, (complete with "beep beep" sounds... I knew the van was big, but did it really warrant reverse beeping?!)  Then drove to, where else, the airport, complete with all three of us steering!  Then N opened the door for us, we all climbed out, closed the door, and then for security, N locked it.  (This cracked me up because he pretended to use the keyless entry to lock it... not the key!  "Beep" and the van was locked!)  We then went into the airport (the stairs) and got onto our airplane (the upstairs hallway.)  N was the pilot so he sat in front and little e and I sat behind him.  Being the thoughtful little guy that he is, even gave little e and I toys to play with on the airplane!

Then we "pushed back" (more beeping) and I asked if we were on the taxiway.  N responded, "No, we're on the ramp!"  Oh, I see.  "Now we're on the taxiway mommy... now we're on the runway, we're taking off!  We're flying!"  (He gets more excited with each step!)

"We're coming in for a landing, we're on the runway, we're on the taxiway, we're in our parking spot!"  Through all of this he has been pretend flying with his hands on the pretend yoke.  I asked him once if his wings were out and he said, "No mommy, I'm not the airplane, I'm the pilot!"  Oh sorry, my mistake!  I also asked him where we were flying too, and he responded "Heathrow to see Mickey Mouse!"  Ah, it's all so clear now.

Once we got to 'Heathrow' we got off the plane and went back downstairs to where Mickey Mouse was hiding out (the playroom.)  After spending a little time with Mickey, who apparently was on one corner, and all his friends, who were in another corner, we reboarded the airplane and flew back home.  Somewhere along the line little e got bored with the game and decided to stay and hang out with Mickey Mouse!  At first N was concerned that we were leaving little brother behind, but he got over that pretty quickly... hmmmm.  It was really fun. 

He played this same game with E this weekend, and tonight he walked around on all fours roaring because he was a dinosaur for the evening.  It's just such a fun new phase, and we all love to join in!

How to get your dad out of bed...

... according to little e!

1)  Open the door to mom and dad's room that neither mom or dad thought you could open.

2)  March right in

3)  Go directly to the bed where dad is hiding from the day

4)  Yell, "Get out of bed dada!"

5)  Run downstairs for breakfast.  

Oh yes.  No communication issues with this one.  He can say pretty much what ever he wants too when he wants too.  Sometimes I refer to him as "stream of consciousness boy."  I've got to start writing more if it down!

So very wrong...

N still doesn't have all his pronunciations quite down yet.  For instance he sometimes has a hard time saying a hard "c" sound, as in "crackers."  It often comes out as a "p", as in "prackers."  Bear this in mind when I relay the following conversation we had yesterday when I made Mexican rice with corn in it for dinner.  Oh yes, you can see where this is going!

N:  Hey, I found some corn!

me:  Yes, there is corn in the rice.

N:  I like corn!

me:  (trying not to laugh), yes, you do like corn

N:  Hey, I saw a little more corn!

It went on this way for a bit... with him repeating his pronunciation of the word "corn" and me trying not to laugh.  Yes, I have the sense of humor of a high schooler... (or a pilot!)

Remove Before Flight!

Castles and Cathedrals

This past weekend we headed out for yet another adventure.  This time we stayed a little closer to home and went to Canterbury and Dover for the weekend.  I could have spent an entire weekend in either town, so we are hoping to get back to see some more of the sights.  

I loved Canterbury.  I mean loved it.  First of all, it's a walled city, so you still have to drive through the old city wall to get into the town center.  We parked right inside the wall by an old castle... that didn't even show up in my guide book!  I mean, really, when a castle doesn't even warrant a mention in the guide book, you know it's a good town.  

There were two main attractions to the town for us.  1)  Shopping.  I needed a dress for a ball we have coming up.  Yes, I said a ball.  I'm not sure I've ever attended a ball before, but we're going in a few weeks.  I did find a dress, and shoes, and a necklace, and a clutch... and the list kept seeming to build.  I'll be sure to put up pictures.  And N needed pants, (or excuse me, trousers... here "pants" means underwear, we mess that one up quite a lot!)  Literally every pair but one of his pants had holes in it!  After much trial and error for UK clothing and shoe sizes, we found most of what we were looking for.  

The other attraction was 2) The Canterbury Cathedral.  Again with the big churches.  The boys were so good inside though, we were way proud of them.  The Canterbury Cathedral is basically the center (centre) of the Anglican Church.  Prepare yourselves for a history lesson!

So in 1170 Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury was murdered inside the cathedral by some knights of King Henry II.  The king and the archbishop had very different ideas of the roles of the monarchy and the church at the time, and were frequently at odds with each other.  The story goes that the king exclaimed in frustration, "Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?"   Apparently his knights took his words literally and murdered Becket inside the cathedral.  Since then thousands of pilgrims have come to the sight of the famous murder, and a candle still burns there.  In fact, all the stairs leading to the shrine are worn by the footsteps of all the visitors over the centuries, and a tunnel was built in the 1400s under the choir to lead people straight to the shine, and keep them separate from the monks.  

Here is a view down the nave of the church, which is only about half the length of the whole building.  It's huge!

That night we stayed in a hotel in Dover, and had a horrible, I mean, horrible night's sleep.  I had no idea my three year old snores like a truck driver!  It was so bad that E actually got up an put in ear plugs so he could get some sleep.  Ear plugs, to block out the snoring of a three year old!  Poor little e, he sleeps with that every night... no wonder he's sometimes crabby in the morning, I would be too!

In the morning we were greeted with the worst shower I've ever experienced.  The water was literally trickling from one little hole in the shower head... definitely not as they say here, "a power shower!"  But, the hotel's fantastic breakfast made up for it all.  By himself little e ate an entire Full English breakfast (two eggs, sausage, ham, toast and beans) and a container of yogurt, the kid can eat!  And in case you were wondering, yes, he does weigh more than his big brother... Hmmm.

Our stop for the day was Dover castle.  Dover is the town on the point of England closest to France.  These days it is where the ferries all leave from to cross the English Channel.  Obviously in the past it has been an important point of national defense, so this very imposing castle was built on top of the huge white cliffs of Dover, overlooking the channel.

What impressed me most about the castle was how it has been revamped and reused throughout history, right up to the 1960s!  The first part of the tour we took was of the secret war tunnels.  These were originally dug in the 1700s to house weapons in case of attack by Napoleon.  They were expanded during WWII, and were used as a nerve center as well as barracks and a hospital.  These are tunnels literally dug into the cliffs under the castle.  In fact, from the ferry boat we could see the windows and balconies at the end of the tunnels, right in the rock!

Then we walked up the hill into the castle structure.  This is one of the outer walls of the castle.  

Looking down over the moat.  You can see how high up on the cliffs this is.  In the background there you can see the water of the English Channel, and you can barely make out the coast of France in the very back. 

I was quite taken with this draw bridge.  An actual drawbridge.  It was really neat to see.  Not only could the bridge be pulled up, the the large door above E's head could be lowered down as well, making a double barricade for potential attackers to go through, all the while dodging arrows from the many arrow shoots above!

Here N is looking especially cute sitting on the steps of the keep, or the big building in the middle of the castle complex.  This keep is gigantic and was built by the same King Henry II as in the Thomas Becket episode.  N wanted to go up and explore the top of the stairs (as he always does) I told him I'd go with him as long as he let me take a picture of him.  Ah, bribery.

Our last stop was lunch at this cafe with a nice view of the keep.  Not too shabby, huh?

A castle, an egg and mayonnaise sandwich, and a cup of hot chocolate the size of his head... N is one happy boy, and loves living in Europe!