There's only two weeks left of the year left, so I thought it was time I wrote a little post about Lilah's experience of starting school. I shared a similar post for Indiana and Parker when they started school, so of course I had to do the same for when Lilah started this year too. It really is surreal that my littlest baby is now in reception and now at home with me all day. But she's absolutely thriving and loving school already!

When Lilah started preschool she really struggled to settle, so it was a big worry of mine that the same would happen with school. But I think most of the worry with preschool was down to a mixture of lockdowns, and struggling to separate from me. So with that now mostly behind us, she really has settled in to school life wonderfully.

Every morning she jumps in to my bed for a cuddle, and then tells me all about her day ahead. Who her friends are, what she's learning, and of course how excited she is for me to come pick her up at the end of the day - she's still my baby girl after all! 

It does feel extra bittersweet this time around though. Lilah is my last baby, and so now she's at school every day too, I feel like I've lost a little part of me. She really was my favourite little shopping and coffee date companion. But I'm so excited to see her blossom and grow over her school journey. She's already got a lovely little group of friends, and although this is my third time around, it's still amazing me how quickly they learn to read and write!

At the end of last month we had her first parents evening, and from the sounds of things she's doing really well, and it's clear she's going to absolutely thrive at school. We have her first Nativity to look forward to next week (she's a shepherd with the iconic line "I'm bored"),  and then we're already a whole term completed of her reception year. Time really does fly when you're having fun doesn't it?

Staring School | Parker's First Term in Reception

We're now a term into Parker's first year at school, so I thought I'd share a little update on how he's settling in and getting on, now that those first weeks are over with. I wrote a similar post for Indiana last year, and it's so interesting to see how different they are already!

As you know Parker only turned 4 in August. With Indie she was almost 5 when she started, so I wasn't too worried about her, but I was really nervous about Parker's school journey starting with him being so so little. But actually, he has taken to the big change incredibly well. From his first day (when he was only doing half days) he has come out excited and full of stories of his day. He loves both his teacher and his TA, and has already formed lots of little friendships within his class.

Parker is also learning so much already, and can already recognise lots of his phonics and spell his name. He had absolutely no desire to learn before starting school, so this has been so lovely to watch, and his teacher has told us that he's keen to learn which is great. We even got his very first reading book home last weekend which seems like a big milestone! For me sometimes it does feel like history is repeating itself, as I only did the whole reception year last year. But it does still feel exciting and special because Parker is loving it and learning so much.

The last few weeks haven't been all smooth sailing though. We've had a few little issues with behaviour and listening, but honestly that's nothing new for us. He's got a group of boys he plays with, and I can definitely imagine them getting into mischief and messing around in places like phone booths in the future. He is still so little though, and as each week passes his behaviour is improving, so here's hoping we have a much better term!

We have Parker's first parent's evening this week, so I cannot wait to hear more about how he's getting on and see his books and work. We are so proud of how well he's settled into school life, and I just hope he keeps his excitement for school for a long time yet. 

This is a collaborative post.

Starting School | Indiana’s First Term in Reception

With October half term over, and the countdown to Christmas well and truly on, I thought I'd take the time to write about Indiana's first term at school. Although I'm still in a bit of denial that she's a school girl (she's still a baby in my eyes!), Indie has settled into the routine of school really well.

At Indie's school they staggered the reception children's starts. Half of her class did morning sessions and the other half did afternoons. Indie had just over two weeks of afternoons, before she actually went in full at the end of September. And although these were great for easing her in gently, they felt far too long in my opinion. Indie is one of the older children though (she's 5 in a few weeks), so maybe that's why she seemed ready a lot earlier!?

Despite being ready, those first few weeks of full days were still rather exhausting - for all of us! The school day starts at 8.30am (8.45am if we're running a bit late!), and I collect her at 3.10pm, so it's a much longer day than preschool ever was. I don't think she ever stops when she's there either; with so much to see and do, she doesn't want to miss out! It has meant plenty of overtired outbursts in the evening, and keeping weekends as simple as possible. But we're hoping as the weeks go on, she gets used to the busy weeks a bit more.

I can tell she has already picked up and learnt so much over this first half term though. From her very first day, she has been coming home and telling me about the phonics she has learnt - pointing out the letters, singing the little phonics songs and always, always writing and drawing. I think I could decorate our whole house with the amount of artwork she comes home with - it's impressive she gets anything else done during the day!

We are so pleased that Indiana has settled into school life so well, and so quickly. Despite not knowing anyone on her first day, she's made lots of new friends already, and there's no issues with her eating her school lunches either! We have our first parent's evening this week, so I cannot wait to hear about how she's getting on even more.

I really hope she keeps her love of school for a long time - we are just so, so proud!