Back to School.

I have missed school.

The summer holidays have been 6 weeks long. We have done so fun things, been some lovely places and I have tried to enjoy every second but I am glad that school has re-started. It gives the children so much from stimulation to socialisation to their independence but it also gives me something. Time.

They went back at the end of last week and both children have slightly increased hours. We decided we wanted to increase them gradually in preparation for my return to work as well as in preparation for school - oldest goes in exactly 12 months time and I don't want it be to a massive shock to his system and my theory is that my increasing his hours over the next 3 terms with pre school will help. Today was the day I got a proper look around at the differences between this term and last. Oldest is in a class with the older children and it is much more structured which has to be good preparation for school.

The biggest difference has been for smallest. She is no longer the tiny child in a class full of those older than her. She is one of the biggest and, because she was there last term and all the other children are new to pre school, she is one of the most confident. It is lovely to see and based on how well she is doing I am hopeful that in the new year she might be happy to do a full day in school instead of just mornings as she does at the moment.

In other news we went on our final camping expedition last weekend. It was another re-enactment event but a slightly different one for us as all year we have been lucky with support from my mum who as helped us look after them and allowed us a little freedom to take part. This weekend she was busy so we had a plan that involved me taking time out to spend time with them and see how it all went. All I can say is that I was reminded that I am blessed with my friends, all of whom have been so supportive and watching the children interact with them brought me so much joy. It reminded me of the differences in them since they came to live with us - mainly in confidence but also in their ability to communicate and play.

But back to my point, my time, I have had 2 mornings to myself and whilst I have loved every second I have been able to collect the children having missed their company and in a better mood to really concentrate on playing with them and not the multitude of jobs that always seem to need doing.