Thursday photo #258

With our school breaking up a little later than elsewhere in the UK, the Easter holidays were long awaited. What has also been long awaited is that feeling that things are getting a little easier. It is notable that since the last school holidays, the girls have become more independent.

When things start to fall into place

Over the past few months, Libby has started to show more of an interest in helping in the kitchen. She’s gradually taken over making breakfast for her and Lia. This varies in quality. Sometimes it’s jam or chocolate spread on toast. Other days it may be cereal with or without milk. One day this week, she even persuaded me to let them have a chocolate muffin for breakfast.

Occasionally, the girls help me to bake something, or even cook dinner. They make a decent rhubarb crumble and can make a pasta sauce and cook the pasta. I do the difficult bits like putting things in the oven and it does involve a lot of supervision. This week though, they wanted to make the lunch. Cheese and pickle sandwiches and salad were on the menu, so I saw no reason why they shouldn’t do that themselves.

We have a cheese slicer, so there was no need to use a sharp knife. Libby happily put together the sandwiches and salad while Lia made them a drink each. By the end of that day when I was cooking dinner, I realised that was the first time I’d made anything to eat or drink for them all day. It’s amazing how much more relaxed the school holidays feel now that I don’t have to do everything for them.

Be more naughty

After Lia’s parents evening was delayed last week, we finally managed to chat to her teacher on Thursday. I wasn’t sure how it would go. She is generally a very polite, well behaved little girl. However, she does have a temper and she can be a little work shy. Whilst Libby tries hard at everything, Lia looks for a way to avoid doing too much.

Luckily though, her desire to be good at school has taken precedence over her desire to avoid doing much at all. In fact, her teacher said that she always looks so worried about doing the right thing that she wished she would just be a little bit naughty occasionally. She’s doing well with her school work and is where she should be on all her subjects. It’s lovely to hear that things are going so well for both girls at school.

Thursday photo #258

We had a lovely weekend seeing family, particularly my cousin’s son who is just a couple of years older than Libby. The three of them get on so well together and always look forward to spending time together. On Monday, Libby had a hospital appointment, so afterwards we went out for lunch and spent time playing in two different parks. It’s great being able to spend so much time outside at the moment and we enjoyed seeing the bluebells that are starting to appear in the woods near the park. This isn’t the most natural photo I’ve ever taken of the girls, I don’t think Lia was actually trying to escape but Libby seemed to feel the need to keep her in a headlock.