Framing his shot...

This one :)

Tots this morning, Ben hooked up with his partners in crime mischief fun, Ede and Rosie. Rosie was back after a holiday and Ben was delighted to see her again :) I was happy to see Rosie's mummy as well, her bump is coming along nicely too!

We skipped the pre-school end of term party thing. I just couldn't face it and had suspicions that at soon as we would start walking towards school Ben would get worried that I was going to leave him there. Astrid and her daddy (another of Ben's friends) went along mid-morning but it was so hectic and busy that Astrid caved and they came back to tots! Perhaps when our littlies are nearer to 3 years old and aren't perhaps the smallest and youngest there, and the biggest ones have gone off to primary school, maybe things will be different. I kinda hope so. (Didn't expect me to say that, did you?!) For all its annoyances, I have to concede that pre-school is doing stuff with Ben that I just am not.

The biggest example is this rhyme time thing that Ben came home with a certificate saying he'd completed this month. I still have no clue what it is about! But what I do know is last night Ben sang the "a b c" song with me. Actually sang it with me. Didn't just declare that he couldn't, and that he wanted mummy to sing. He sang it with me! He's never sung with me before. He's done actions to songs with me before, but never sung with me.

It didn't stop there. Today we went round to Rachel's house for lunch, and Ben found the toy guitars that he knew were there. He had one and I had one and we sang together again! Twinkle twinkle, baa baa black sheep, the sun has got his hat on, and wind the bobbin up. He knows all the words. His brain has soaked everything in and now he's happy with it he's happy to let it out again :)

Called in at the supermarket on the way home and had to go to the cafe for a cake, then home for cuddles and to put an exhausted Ben to bed.

Sausages and mash and runner beans for tea, Ben ate the sausages and a few bites of mash but let me and Steve share the rest of his potato - I'd had a brain failure and just didn't do enough potatoes! Not entirely sure what had happened there. Glad Ben didn't eat all of his!!

Been doing a bit of sorting out this evening. Steve finished bashing together the metal frame for a set of basic drawers, Ben was delighted to see his daddy come downstairs with a lump hammer :D and I've been sorting out my art and craft stuff. I appear to have enough to fill several big tubs. (This does include a large box full of kitchen roll tubes and toilet roll tubes, and another large box full of egg boxes, yoghurt pots and bubble wrap...) Hopefully the drawers will go under the stairs at some point but for now it's particularly nice to have the drawers themselves out of the living room and being put to use. I nearly blipped the full boxes but Ben taking pictures of me saved the day ;)

I did take another picture today. The light was almost right up near the skylight at the top of our stairs, I love the exposed brickwork and copper pipes up there. Of course it's not deliberately exposed, that part of the house is very much a work in progress (as is most of the house to be fair), but I do like it. I hope we keep it exposed. Just a bit cleaner, perhaps!