He and his Mum arrived home from a birthday party shortly after my return (Amy from nursery for the pedants out there), and following a little coaxing ("No thanks Dad, I want to stay at home and read my books instead") Luca threw his coat and hat on and strode out with me to watch our local Highland League team, Inverurie Loco's, take on Fraserburgh in what was (well, almost) a local derby. Here he is above, posing at the halfway point between our house and the football stadium.
Like time, Luca waits for no man as he strode purposefully on
At the game, where our vertically challenged child found a gap in the barriers which allowed him unobstructed access to the events on the pitch. He held this position for several minutes, until one of the home defenders cleared the ball out of play, only just missing a rather startled 4-year-old. At this point he retreated behind the barrier and stated a new preference to be lifted up instead
Is he watching the game intently here, or was the burger stand in that direction? You decide
With the game won at 2-0, Luca decided it was time to leave and go elsewhere instead. The park proved a popular alternative despite the 20 minute walk to get there. "You should have taken the car silly Daddy" lectured a stern Luca
Yes, he is still rather cautious at times, as he demonstrates above. "I might fall!"
I took this picture on his 17th shot on this particular slide. It's really nice watching your kids play, until your patience wears thin. "Last shot Luca" I called out several times. "Just one more" came the oft repeated fib by a toddler chancing his luck
Different slide, same park. Yes, it does get dark REALLY quickly up here.......
Luca's stomach began growling as loudly as mine at this point, so we took off toward the nearest cafe for some tea at this point. Here he is running as always, albeit in the style of a tortoise having a panic attack.
Today brought the usual early rise, and Luca and I began the now familiar trek toward Culter for his football training. Most of the exercises today were based upon using different parts of the feet, particularly the sole of the foot, and the heel (to backheel). Luca performed quite well - he gets very excited when he does something well - although I am noticing a pattern. He tends to perform quite confidently when I sit at the side of the hall and observe, but less so when I'm right beside him to assist. Parent participation is necessary for many of the exercises so I will have to persist, but it's become very apparent that my close presence causes nerves in the young one, and a faster rate of frustration if he doesn't perform a task well.
It's very apparent that this is due to his desire to impress his Dad, whereas he is much more relaxed the less "hands on" I am. I'm making sure I praise him highly when he does well, and not showing (at least I hope not) any frustration when he shows less aptitude, but it's something I'm going to have to remain conscious of.
I just want him to have fun just now, and not to worry about disappointing Dad. But how do you convince a toddler of such logic?
On a different matter, he's been making frequent mention of his extended family regularly of late. Perhaps it's time to get travelling again! In the past week his utterances have included:-
"I want to go see Granny Jo" (highly predictable!)
"Granda's funny, he tells Granny and me fibs. He does it all the time" (Dad, I'll be having words....)
"I want to go to Lincoln to see Grandma and her cat - it would like a cuddle wouldn't it?"
"Cade and Braeden live far, far away. Can I go and see them?"
"I want to speak to Max on the phone all the time"
These are some of the nicer/cuter/odder (delete as applicable) things he's said lately. However, he has also become inappropriate at times too. Most recently, as a rather portly staff member passed us by in the supermarket he hollered out "That man is really fat isn't he?". What do you do? I waited for a distance to form between said employee and ourselves before admonishing our rude boy and explaining how hurtful his remark was. Was this the correct course of action? You decide - please vote in the new poll.
Finally, I provided a movie for Carole and I to watch this evening. As you're aware, Carole has a strong preference for horrors, so I surmised my choice of "The Tortured" would prove popular. As such, we sat down, snuggled in and started watching......
It turned out to be a film about a young boy, not much older than Luca being abducted from his own garden. Caroles opinion post film? "I really can't stop thinking about it now". What are the odds on nightmares in the Stewart household tonight?
**Useless fact of the day - Only about one in every 10,000 reported missing/abducted children are not found alive**
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