Thomas, Edward, Henry...

...Gordon, James, Percy, Toby...

This is Noodles doing something rather sweet. When I got in from work I could hear him counting...one...two...three...four...etc, and singing 'Accidents Will Happen.' which is a song from the Thomas the Tank Engine programmes (where accidents happen so frequently it's a wonder all small boys don't grow up with a pathological fear of Network Rail). Anyway I traced him to H's room and sneaked around the door to see what he was up to.

He was lying 'reading' H's school timetable, having emptied out all the magnetic letters and numbers from their pots. He was pouring over the timetable looking for certain numbers: 1 for Thomas, 2 for Edward, 3 for Henry etc. When he found the one he wanted he pointed to it, then sorted out the appropriate number from the pile beside him and placed it on the board. He didn't know I was watching at frst but when he spotted me he showed me proudly how he'd also 'spelled the names' of all the Engines...erm...that would be the random mass of letters you see behind him!

I left him to it and he was still at it twenty minutes later.

H had a bit of a moment about his reading book tonight. It's Oliver Twist and he's a bit upset about small boys being starved, beaten and sent up chimneys apparently. It *is* a bit heavy for someone who still finds poo jokes funny I guess! So I've said we'll just read a couple of pages a night and read something more cheerful afterwards. He still threw a bit of a strop...teeth-cleaning is 'Sooooooooooooooooooooooooo boooooooooooooooooooring and it's soooooooooooooo not fair' he has to do it TWICE a day apparently.

Tonight I didn't react. Tonight I just ' smiled and waved boys...I smiled and waved.' You'll either get that reference or you won't !