High Five to Mr Five

Arlo's 5th birthday today. It was an early start thanks to Ida - 6am bang on, she screamed the house down and there was no way Arlo was going back to sleep knowing there were presents somewhere in the house. Within 20 minutes everything was opened and the day was begun.

Ida was decidedly unimpressed that the presents were not for her but she soon forgot about grabbing them off Arlo and screaming 'miiiiiiiiiiine' at everything he touched when she discovered she could reach the taps in the bathroom sink with her new step.

"Teddy, wet" was her new phrase for today.

Arlo was happy with this distraction as it meant he was able to play with his new toys without fear of being beaten up by his thug sister. For a while at least.

It's been a full on week and I'm actually amazed by how well Arlo's coped. Once again I've totally underestimated him.

Last Thursday he said goodbye to the nursery he's been going to since he was 3, and to friends he's seen almost every day since then. Last Friday he had a night at his grand parents, moved Into his new house on Saturday, felt at home on Sunday, found out he had a place at his new nursery on Monday, started his place on Tuesday, had a normal day on Wednesday and celebrated his fifth birthday today!

All of this whilst being a bit of a cutey and really making me proud of how he's handled it all.

We had a lovely bit of Arlo and Mummy time this morning so when we got to nursery today he had a bit of a wobble. It was very hard to watch him look round a busy room and not light up at the sight of a buddy. He clung to my hand and looked up at me with a pool of tears in each eye and all I wanted to do was pick him up and run out and shout 'sorry we've made a mistake we'll come back tomorrow'....

I didn't though. I figured I'd have a battle on my hand tomorrow and then the day after and so on, so I spent a bit of time with him and quietly left after he started baking his birthday cake with his teacher.

I don't know if I did the right thing but he came home saying he'd had a nice time and seems to have made a friend in a little boy called Harvey.

I hope, hope, hope, hope this is the beginning of the new good times for him.