Go-faster stripes

The Boy Wonder being three, and living in Wales, he now receives ten hours per week of free nursery school education, and R and I collected him from school for the first time today. Seeing him rush towards us, beaming with excitement, was a real highlight of the day. For lunch we took him to the café near his house ("The normal café?" he enquired. "Where I normally go?"), fully (and correctly) expecting that he'd be sampling ours as well as eating his own. In the end his lunch comprised pancakes, maple syrup, bacon, sausage, smoked salmon, apple juice, and a small ramekin of baked beans. This covers most of the major food groups, I think, and even if it didn't include any green vegetables, he informed me that he likes peas now that he's big, which even though they're sweet and delicious are vegetables, ackshully - and that pretty much counts as eating some.

The best Boyism of lunch came after he'd cursorily asked the server for some apple juice. "Please," I reminded him. "Please can I have some apple juice?" he amended. "Yes, she said. "You may." B then turned to me. "What juice do you want?" he asked. "I'd like some orange juice," I replied. "Then you have to say, "Please can I have some orange juice?" he instructed. After I'd done this, he said to R, "What do you want?" "I'd like orange juice too, please," said R, smiling at him. "NO," said B sternly. "You have to say it to HIM." Luckily she knows the Boy quite well by now, and found this entertaining.

After lunch we went to the park, taking with us the scooter B recently received from our co-grandparents. Unusually, he wanted me to photograph him using it, so I've come home with several dozen images of him scooting towards me with great concentration, tongue protruding from one corner of his mouth. He's already getting the hang of it, and before he gets very much better (and quicker), I think he's going to need a helmet. When we got back to the house we found that L was just setting out for a walk, with B minor in a front sling inside her coat, so B major and R went along too.

A day of quality time with the Boy Wonder, and a few sneaky cuddles with B minor on the side, counts as a thoroughly happy one, and R and I both came home feeling very lucky.