Thursday photo #263

ByNatalie Ray May 23, 2019March 13, 2020

Hasn’t the school holiday come round quickly? I don’t remember such a short half term since the girls started school. It’s been a busy one here too, so I won’t be sorry to see the back of it. I’ll be crossing my fingers that the next half term is a bit quieter.

Ballet exams

Lia had her ballet exam yesterday, which marked the end of tests and exams for the girls this school year. Libby got honours in her exam last week, with Lia achieving Highly commended in hers. Both girls had a certificate with a sparkly wax mark on and moved up a group. They’re already throwing themselves into their new classes and looking forward to the next exam. I have no idea where they got their strange love of tests and exams from, but I’m glad they’re happy.

Trying new things

Both girls do a lot of activities, but I’m always keen for them to try new things when they have the opportunity. At the weekend, there was a free children’s lesson at our local tennis club. The girls were delighted to go along, and Libby got on a lot better with it than I thought she would.

When Libby first had her squint corrected at the age of two, we were told she’d never have perfect depth perception. Her eyes work independently of each other, so she doesn’t really see in three dimensions like everyone else. This made complete sense. She was clumsy, she fell over a lot and if you threw a ball at her, it would hit her in the face every single time. No matter how much we tried to gently coax her into learning to catch, she never managed it.

Over the past few months though, something seems to have clicked. Her catching is better. Not what you’d expect from a (nearly) seven year old, but occasionally she’ll catch a ball. We played rounders with a cricket bat on the beach and sometimes, she managed to hit the ball.

Then on Saturday, she lined up at the tennis net and completely missed the ball. Once, twice, three times. Then, on her fourth go, she hit it squarely back over the net. From then on, she connected with the ball every time. Of course, by the end of the session she was desperate to take up tennis. We said she could, but she’d have to give up something else. Predictably, she decided to stick with what she does. We’re going to have a hit around at our gym’s tennis courts instead.