How do I start my little family update? The leaves are falling off the trees, days are getting shorter and shorter… Yep, Autumn is definitely here! Here is what my four little ones have been up to in the past month.
Wriggly (3 years 4 months)
- You call preschool “Crispool.” It’s the sweetest sound, and one of your last toddlerisms, so I’m hanging on to it!
- Coming down the stairs one afternoon, you declared: “Look mum, a monster did that!” Huh? You were holding a bath bomb that had clearly been put in water. You claimed you’d caught a monster taking it out of the drawer and throwing it in the toilet. Gosh you’re good! You even had a serious face on and a (fake) genuine surprised look as you were coming down the stairs… you’re not mischievous, you are Mischief impersonated.
- You’ve been so much better with ‘toilet issues.’ Occasionally, you still treat us with the occasional code brown with the dreaded, “Ooooh, I done a poo!” (in your knickers rather than the toilet)
- As we were driving past Heathrow on our way to a friend’s house, you shouted, “I wanna go on a big plane!”
Me: “Where would you go?”
You: “McDonald’s!”
Me: “Is there anywhere else you’d like to go?”
You: “No. McDonald’s!”
Jumpy (4 years 11 months)
- You’ve had your first play date with a school friend. That’s so exciting!
- Your little friend V. and you are so cute. As one of the teacher no assistants said to me, “there is no hierarchy in their friendship. They are so sweet and love being together in a quiet sort of way.”
- You seem to be enjoying school, but every so often, you say things like:
- “I don’t like school. It’s boring. I don’t learn anything. I just play all day…”
- “I don’t like school. I don’t have any friends. I miss you.”
- You’re really keen on homework. You want to do homework all the time, so I give you letter formation exercises or colouring to do. It makes you really happy.
- When I came back home after BritMums Live, everyone but you ran to the door as soon as they heard me knock. You were sat on the sofa, quite lethargic. You were watching a TV programme, with your little eyes all swollen… apparently, it happened after you’d sat on the trolley at the supermarket. I was speechless. You hadn’t had a single allergic reaction in two whole years.
Beanie (7 years old)
- You keep begging for a puppy. Sorry sweetie, but it’s not happening!
- We had your birthday party at home, at your request. About 20 children and 10 adults were mooching around at home, eating lots of cheese and crackers, chatting and having a good time. I heard a few of the children say it was the best party ever, so I’m glad the fact it was at home with very little planned didn’t spoil the party mood for them!
- You’ve earned ‘Star Player’ status at your football club three times so far this year (you’ve only had 4 sessions!).
- You are really struggling to get up in the morning at the moment. I really hope (for your own sake) that you don’t become like me!
- You are loving Year 2. Your teacher has been your choir teacher for just over a year, so you knew her really well before already and that made the start of the year pretty relaxed and enjoyable.
- You are in the top group for Literacy, and you are determined to stay there, practising your weekly spellings again and again and again so you get them all correct when tested.
Crevette (9 year old 2 months)
- We’ve started looking at secondary schools (how is that even possible?) and we have our eye on one that is focused on pupils being happy and feeling part of a community. They also happen to have French, Food Tech, Photography and Fine Arts up to A-Level.
- Your drawing style is changing and the people you draw look more and more like Manga.
- You are really into computer coding. You have been coding games on Scratch and could spend hours following the instructions in your book and creating new game after new game.
- You just joined the ‘Chatterbooks’ club at our local library and you loved it! The first session was all about meeting everyone and pirate stories.
- We managed to go to Art Club once this month (because I woke up too late to take the girls to ballet) and you loved every minute of it!
- There have been some moments this month when you’ve been awkward, and a tad passive-aggressive. I don’t like that and want to nip it in the bud so it doesn’t become a trait of character. Any advice gratefully received!
