Stepping up to sight words

Eli has been working on his sight words. The teachers from his class have sent home a bunch of them (my, this, like, here, and, am - for those of you playing at home) for him to practice and we decided that it would be fun to place one on each of our steps and have Eli say them as he goes up and down each day - as demonstrated in the video below. The penalty for getting any wrong, that Eli came up with himself, is that he has to start again (from the beginning). Effectively this could mean that Eli could be marooned upstairs (or downstairs) for a long period of time, but thankfully that hasn't happened thus far. In fact he's now so accomplished with this lot that we're eagerly awaiting the next shipment of sight words from school. 

Eli's School Fete!

It turns out that 2012 was a fete year at Eli's school (they happen every two years) and as you can imagine, Eli was super keen to go along (and spend the best part of the day there). He also had a pretty good idea as to what to expect since we'd been to Alora's school fete a few months earlier. 

  

 

I'd decided to buy Eli a ride pass, although I was a bit sceptical as to whether it was good value for money, and more importantly, whether Eli would use it enough to make it worth the expense. As it turns out, I needn't have worried. As soon as we got to the fete, right on opening time at 10am, Eli got straight onto the super slide - unfortunately he burnt his arm (friction burn) on his very first go, but urged on by his mates and with some more protective clothes on (he put his jumper on to avoid more burns), he quickly got back into the swing of things (and easily covered the cost of the ride pass on the slide alone!). He also became more reckless with his sliding as you can see in the second photo here...

 

Eli was enjoying the slide so much that he was a little bit disappointed when he had to give it a rest and get ready for his performance on the big stage. Having said that (and as you can tell from these photos), he was also pretty happy to perform with others from his grade. He's hardly a shy retiring type.

 

 

After dancing and singing up a storm (thanks to a couple of High 5 songs, just in case you were interested), Eli and a couple of his colourful mates decided to partake in an impromptu dance in front of the main stage. The photo shows Eli running away from his 'scary' friends (the face painting stall must have made a lot of money that day!) and the video shows Eli and his friends dancing along to a song that was booming out over the loud speakers in between the year-group performances.

 

The school fete even had an animal nursery, so Eli spent a bit of time patting/chasing (in a friendly way) the animals. He was particularly after the ducks ("because their feathers feel so smooth") and a small piglet that was doing it's level best to avoid contact with just about everyone - at one point the piglet even jumped over Eli's outstretched hands.

 

 

Eli's class was down to run the 'ball toss stall' this year, which meant that for just $2, kids (and adults) could have three goes at throwing the football through the bullseye. Better still, everyone won a prize of some description or another, with the prizes better for the more skillful players. Eli himself was very keen to contribute to the takings - he ended up having about 8 goes (I'll have to remember to raid his piggybank!) - and he was actually very good. He always got at least one from three through the bullseye and on his last go he got three from three!

In addition to playing the game, Eli volunteered to help me during the hour or so that I had volunteered to help run the stall. I had asked Grandma and Grandad to be on hand to mind/entertain Eli while I was busy, but he really wanted to be involved in the running of the stall. And he was great, retrieving the ball, cheering on players and generally just being a helpful little fella.

I mentioned earlier the popularity of the face painting stall, but as Eli has never been very keen on face paint - I don't think he has ever had his face painted actually - he opted for the 'crazy hair' instead. Not surprisingly, he had some blue hairspray added to his hair - just a subtle tint really...

After spending about 4 hours at the fete we were both pretty knackered. Eli had hardly had anything to eat or drink in that time - he was just too busy - so we headed off home, but not before I took this photo of Eli 'owning' the fete. I'm pretty sure I don't stand around with my hands on my hips like this all the time (so I don't know where he got it from), but it is one of his favourite poses these days.

Sprint King!

Eli and I had been preparing (mentally) for this day... his first ever school sport's day. At first, at least for me, the preparation was all about telling Eli that he had to run a race (60m) against some of the other kids in his grade. After that I focused on reminding him that all he had to do was try his best and, if he didn't win, he really shouldn't cry (he does tend to turn on the waterworks when he doesn't win things). 

I'd locked the date into my diary, so I could seem him race and offer him whatever support he might need before and after his race. Of course all of my good planning was for nothing, as the weather gods intervened and sport's day was postponed to the following week - and on the only day that I couldn't attend (work always gets in the way!). This change of plans required some more preparation for Eli (and I), but he seemed ok with the fact that I wouldn't be there cheering him on. I'd mentioned my disappointment about not being there to some of the other parents at school and fortunately, his friend's Mum offered to video his race for me. As you will hear from the audio, she also cheered Eli along - so it was great that he didn't run without some support on the day. 

As you can see in the video, Eli was fast and very focused (certainly compared to some of the other kids that were running all over the place). I'd been drilling Eli on the need to stay in his lane, partly because it would slow him down if he weaved his way to the finish line, but mostly because whenever he and I race each other he makes sure that he runs interference in front of me, in a bid to slow me down. After watching the video I was impressed with his effort - and I was also glad that there was no need for tears! Some of the other parents from school have since mentioned how focused he was, which is either a tribute to my coaching or a nod to his super-competitive personality. Either way, it turned it well and you can tell from the video that Eli was mightily impressed with his first ever sprint race and his first place ribbon.