Thursday photo #331

Just like that, the children are back to school. It is becoming increasingly clear that this whole thing isn’t really diminishing. Lockdown measures are already beginning to tighten again but I live in hope that they won’t have to close all schools anytime soon. Children have suffered so much due to a virus that has such a minimal impact on them. For the time being though, we are continuing to carefully enjoy a bit of freedom. I’ve had some hot cups of tea and a couple of river swims. Lockdown has definitely made me reassess what’s important.

The pantomime that wasn’t and the ballet show that was

For as long as I can remember, Libby has been asking to audition for the local pantomime. Whilst they do use children in the chorus, they have taken the strange decision to only use pupils from one local ballet school. This isn’t the ballet school my girls go to and we have no intention of changing. Both of them are progressing really well with ballet and love their lessons. I wouldn’t consider moving them for the sake of one show.

In recent years, I have followed Sarah’s posts about her daughter taking part in their local panto. They live relatively near to us and the theatre puts on a professional pantomime each year. I had it in my head that children would need to be nine years old to audition. Surprisingly though, earlier this year we realised they only had to be eight. So, Libby was able to audition.

Until Covid struck. For months we have been checking the website to see whether the panto would go ahead. Sadly but unsurprisingly, they recently revealed that it was cancelled for 2020. Libby was disappointed, but I had already told her that it was unlikely. Then yesterday, she was asked whether she wanted to play a little part in her ballet school show. Of course, the answer was yes. To say she was pleased is an understatement. I suspect Macaulay Culkin was less excited when he landed the starring role in Home Alone.

The joy of packed lunches

Being back at school has been a real game changer for my girls. I’m not saying I made a terrible teacher, but they skipped out of the door like spring lambs on their first day. The week of school that has since passed hasn’t remotely dampened their enthusiasm. If anything, they seem happier and more settled every day.

For Libby, there is an added bonus that goes along with being back to school. She gets packed lunches. For those of us who had packed lunches pretty much every day of our school lives, they become a little bit dull. I always felt like I’d won the lottery if I got cheese and peanut butter sandwiches. My parenting skills aren’t up to remembering to pack a lunch every day. So, the girls have school lunches which are excellent and always have a vegetarian option that they enjoy.

For the first week back at school though, Key Stage 2 have been unable to have school lunches. Despite my rather rubbish packed lunches, forgetting to get anything exciting in and generally being a bit useless, Libby is delighted to have packed lunches each day. Lia is even a little bit jealous. I suspect if it went on too much longer the novelty would soon wear off. Thankfully, they’ll be back to their nice, nutritious school lunches next week. And I’m off the hook for making sandwiches.

Thursday photo #231

I published last week’s post before the girls went to school for their first day, so here is the traditional back to school photo. Better late than never.