Egg on face

That little girl in the blue is something else. Lol

Last Thursday, after only a day (well 3 hours) of being at pre-school my youngest daughter informed me, that she didn't get any snacks and she wasn't listened to when she asked to go to the toilet at pre-school. I thought nothing of it and just put it down to it being her first day and her maybe not speaking up enough. When she told me the same thing for a second day in a row, I thought I'd have a quick word with the teacher just to clarify what was going on for my own piece of mind.

So the next morning, after walking her into her classroom I went over to the teacher and asked her what the procedure was for going to the toilet and snacks. She said the children are able to go to the toilet whenever they like except for during story time when they have to put there hands up to ask. OK nothing out of the ordinary there. I then asked her about snacks, and she said pieces of fruit were left on a table at one side of the room where the children could graze at their leisure throughout the three hour session. Oh. Again nothing sounded amiss. I mentioned to the teacher that my daughter had told me she wasn't getting any snacks or being allowed to go to the toilet. She said she'd remind her of the process and let the other teachers remind her as well. 

I went over to my little girl and let her know that it was OK to go to the toilet whenever she liked except for during story time and she could eat the snacks whenever she liked as well. She responded loudly; 

'Yes, I know that'. 

Sorry what?? The teacher looked at me and laughed. Apparently children do that quite often, tell their parents one thing, when really they mean something else. *scratches head*

Ahh well you live and you learn.

Pre-school girl

So happy!

This little girl has been patiently counting down the weeks, days and hours until she starts pre-school. Her big sister started reception three weeks before and in those early days she was not a happy bunny. She missed her big sister terribly, so much so she couldn't even bring herself to kiss and hug her goodbye as we dropped her off to school each morning.

As her own start date began to draw closer, I noticed a change in her attitude. She became happier and she even started walking her big sis to the school doors, giving her a big hug as she bid her farewell for the day.

Today it was her turn. Finally. She could hardly contain herself, my youngest daughter is transforming in front of my very eyes and there's nothing that can stop it. Every morning I'll be dropping off both girls now and it'll just be me and little brother for a few hours, until I pick little sis up.

They really don't stay little for long *weeps silently inside*

My big girls.

New beginnings and School uniforms

We attended an open day for our daughters primary school last week. As of September our four and a half year old will be in reception and our three year old will be in pre-school nursery five mornings a week. I feel relieved and sad all at the same time. Parenting is nuts.

It was good to walk around and get a feel for the place. It took me right back to the days when I was at primary school more than 25 years ago *shudders*.

The deputy head talked about the school rules and regulations such as; no wearing jewellery to school, no taking children out of school to go on holiday during term time, bad behaviour is not tolerated etc, etc. We were also given information on the 'settling in' process (which will take three weeks by the sounds of it) and drop off/pick up times. All very meticulous. I did balk at the massive class sizes. Thirty children per class. That's a lot of children.

I attempted to buy the girls school uniforms. That in itself was a task. You have a choice of two colours and you can mix and match with jogging bottoms, skirt, pinafores, cardigans, sweatshirts, polo shirts, cocktail dresses, dinner jackets (I made the last two items up lol), but it's mind boggling how much you have to remember. Unfortunately most items were out of stock. So we have to go back in two weeks, but even so, what I did buy came to £30 - two polo shirts, one sweatshirt, one PE kit, one PE bag and one book bag. I still need to buy a lot of the uniform for my eldest and I haven't even included school shoes, coats, plimsolls....

We're undecided as to whether our eldest will have school dinners. Apparently there's a system in place whereby parents are given an account where they can pay the fee. It works out at £10 a week. I always loved school dinners, but they're not always the healthiest. Although who knows, maybe Jamie Oliver really has turned things around since the days I was at school.

The girls seem pretty excited about this new chapter we're soon to embark on. I am too, despite the crazy schedule which is rapidly on its way.