I can’t believe that this term spells the second half of Florence’s reception year and I literally don’t know where the time is going? My baby girl has done half a year of school! We just had parent’s evening and although I couldn’t be there due to my failed attempt at a driving test, Miss Pretty told Jonny that she is doing exceptionally well. She loves to learn and writes pages and pages and pages of stories which have proper sentences with capital letters, finger spaces and full stops. She spells brilliantly too and I am so super proud of her.
I know that our school is very good, it even got an ‘outstanding in every area’ stamp from Ofsted last year and the environment is something which Florence just thrives in. There’s lots of home-work (not enough for Florence’s liking really), lots of emphasis on phonics and numeracy and they push their students quite hard. It’s not for everyone but for her it works. If anything actually, I think they could push her a little more as sometimes I do wonder from her stories if they just leave her knowing that she can cope while they concentrate maybe on those who struggle.
For the most part I am very happy with the school (proposals of new uniforms with no summer dresses or pinafores, having nowhere for them to go at play time when it’s cold and scooter policing aside) and the most important thing is that Florence is. She enjoys the work every day, adores her teachers and has lots of friends. What more could I ask for?
Her reading, writing and maths skills aren’t the only signs of her growing up and with her first tap exam (Mummy’s little girl) coming up and the loss of her first tooth she is becoming very grown up indeed. My heart melts every time she says something wonderful (daily) like ‘I love you so much, you’re the best Mummy in the world and no one could be better’ and it kind of cracks a little whenever she rebels (very occasionally) with a tired melt down which leaves her saying things like ‘I want a new Mummy, you’re horrible, go away, I don’t like you anymore and I want to live with someone else’. I fear we may have big fires ahead her and I. I can envisage teenage arguments and head locking for the future but I know without doubt that we will be close forever. The bond we have, have had from even when she was just a bump, will be there for always.
My little Jimmy, well, he’s getting big too and at nearly three he is showing me how intelligent and funny he is every single day. He talks, talks, talks all day long and has somehow become a whizz at jigsaw puzzles. He is such a typical boy and karate kicks his way through the days where he tries his hardest to wear as few clothes as possible. I find him challenging in ways that Florence never was at the same stage because he is just so physical with everything and rarely wants to just sit and be calm.
The only time he likes to be quiet is watching Julia Donaldson animations like The Gruffalo on DVD or when at the theatre – both of my children have been exposed to live performance from being very tiny and it means they totally get it and love the experience… The rest of the time he wants to be a super hero with a cape (and not much else) jumping off the sofa… He continues to love diggers, trains and cranes. People say there aren’t natural differences between boys and girls and it’s all conditioned but I simply can’t agree!
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