Ben's last day at Adventures

November was a traumatic ............. hold on, maybe traumatic is too strong a word ...... but it certainly was an anxious month for Marguerite and Jude as they saw the date creep closer that they would remove Ben from the wonderful Adventures Nursery School.  More about that later. 

Here is Ben having a laugh with his cool Man Utd scarf.

Jude:  So Ben, what do we say when Man Utd score?


Ben:  Yeahhhhhhh!!!














Here are various pics of Ben taken over the month of November.  A dander around the garden is a common occurrence these days .....














...... Ben just loves to get outdoors.















Cheeky chappie!













For the first time in 6 months Ben has taken a shine to the 'wee golfer man' as he is affectionately called.  A couple of moments later the poor wee man was in 5 or 6 pieces!

Jude did quickly fix him up though ..... and promptly placed him back under the amazing rose bush ........... and he has told Ben that he is not allowed to touch the wee golfer man anymore under any circumstances!  Do you think Ben will listen? 
  



From September to mid December Saturday night is X-Factor night ...... these two lads love it!!

Can you tell from this pic who the boss is?












The table and chairs may have cost a 'right few bob' but Ben does not mind ..... he just uses it as his train track!!












In the Autumn months Ben really discovered a fondness for building blocks ..... he builds them up..... then knocks them down (repeat twenty times over next hour or so)!











'Wha?  Who me?  Nahhh ...... wasn't me'.














It's breakfast time on a Saturday and Ben has his buddies all lined up to help him eat his porridge.  Ben has names for all these buddies ....... left to right ..... Mouse (not Mickey .... just Mouse), Jeff Green (named after a Boston Celtics basketball player), Ted (the first Teddy Ben ever received - from Granny Crossan), Max (household member since 2003), and Ruby!!!!    







Another amazing thing Ben has discovered lately is this wonderful hiding place where no one can find him ....... it's like he just disappears into thin air, as if by magic!!!!

Normally he disappears like this when he hears the words,  'do you need your nappy changed', or 'do I smell poop?

Can you spot him?  Clue - he's not on the right side of this pic.





Did you guess right?














So for his birthday he got a bike ..... by now he is going great ....... he's not quite Bradley Wiggins yet, but he's getting there.  Here he is scooting down the laneway at a speed where you need to run pretty fast to keep up with him!!










Dandering down the Pigeontown Road. 
    

Jude is always trying to teach Ben how to play football .......














.......... but it looks like Ben could teach Jude a touch or two judging by how he can kick a ball.













Summer or Autumn .........
















........ it makes no difference to Ben as he just loves to get a go on the swing and have a giggle.












 
Ben's little cousin Ruairi called up for a recent visit ......... that's him at the end of the tube/cone/thingmabobber/tunnel/thingy.  Ruairi will be one in January and soon he will be doing ........











......... this, just like his big cousin Ben. 














Talking of cousins ........... here is Emma who is due to have a little baba in a few weeks time, and so Ben and Ruairi will have a new wee cousin to mess about it.











As mentioned earlier November was an anxious month for Marguerite and Jude as Ben was spending his last days at Adventures Nursery School before moving to Little Cricketts Nursery School in Glenavy.   Ben is normally happy going into school but maybe today he could sense that it was his last day.  Here is with his Roisin his teacher after being dropped off by Jude.







Soon Ben got stuck in like any other day ........ building the big blocks .....













...... demanding 'Mooorre', at the dinner table .....














..... playing music and dancing .....














......... drawing ......














..... and even helping out in the real Kitchen ....














.... and the toy one.















Ben has been at Adventures since 10th June 2013, that's a year and a half and in that time he has learned a lot from the staff here.  Thanks to them all.  Here he is with the manager of Adventures, Maria.











Placing your 7 month old child in Childcare is daunting and it was no different for Marguerite and Jude ..... but Ben was so well cared for and loved by his teachers at Adventures they needn't have ever worried at all.  Here he is having fun with Paige.









Ciara gives Ben a big hug on his last day.














Ciara, Paige and Roisin (Ro-ro) hugging Ben as the clocked ticked towards 5.00pm.  Not in this pic but equally important to Ben were Julie, Michelle and Collette.











'Upset .................. who me?  

'Don't go Ben, don't go', said Roisin.  But that was Ben done at Adventures and he quickly started in Little Cricketts' where he took a week or two to settle properly ..... but settle he did!













A couple of days later and ben is trying on Jude's welly boots.














And falling over laughing in the process.

So there you have it, Ben has officially moved School and has settled in well in his first few weeks.  It's the little things like that that are ..... well they're not so little ...... they're massive really.     

It would be a shame not the share the next pic with folk even though it has nothing to do with this post ........ wait ...... it does ......





....... if you look hard enough, somewhere behind those nice trees ...... well that's where Ben's new school is ..... in Ballymacrickett, Glenavy.