Monday with Luca & Eben

This cyanotype, made by Ruth recently, hangs in their living-room and came in handy for a blip during a busy day.
Luca's recently been offered a place for Mondays and Tuesdays at the pre-school attached to Eben's school, where we hope L will get a school place for September. Today was the first of two 'settling in' sessions.  Ruth and Josh both had to work, so I went with Luca and stayed with him for the two hour session.
Luca was so keen to go that we arrived nearly half an hour early. I think that L loves the idea of being in the same place as Eben - even though they often scrap with each other, there's an intense bond there.
And it was a good session: an excellent balance between a structured framework and plenty of space for exploratory play. Luca was extremely quiet at the beginning, but came out of his shell bit by bit. I think he'll be fine there. So our routine may shift from having him with us for a whole Monday to doing the after-school pick-up. It feels like the right time for this, to help him to get ready for the full school routine in September.
Later I brought L back to our house for lunch with Richard, and some relaxed playtime. On the way back to his own house later, we passed an osteopath's practice, where they always have a skeleton standing outside during opening hours.  Luca asked about it, and I went into a rather rambling explanation about what osteopaths do.  He digested this for a bit, and asked me "what would you call the skeleton?" Thinking he meant something about a name, I said "Sid the skeleton!" More quiet reflection, and then he replied "I'll call him 'bone fixer'".  This was interesting, as I hadn't used the term 'fixing bones' at all in my description of osteopathy. 
So we picked Eben up together, and later I took E to his weekly drum lesson. Although his practice sessions are generally short and intermittent, he's really doing well - it's lovely to hear.