The House of snot

Truely, it is unbelievable. I’m thinking I should count the number of boxes of tissues we have been through since September. Starting school for both Grace and Patrick was an event. My concerns were all around making friends, settling in, separation anxiety etc etc, what I hadn’t factored on was the amount of germs that these kids share. Patrick has been sick since he started school in September. We have had one weeks grace thanks to a dose of antibiotics but other than that the poor little chap has had a constant runny nose, cough and fever. It all came to a head this week and I got him into see his paed whose first words were – oh my goodness, he really isn’t well is he? Anyway, the constant ear infections have won him some more antibiotics and a trip to the hospital for a hearing test with the view that he may need to have tubes. I’m left wondering why there always has to be something with one or other of them? Because you have kids says my Mum!

Grace was also off school on Monday as the cold seemed to really take it out of her. I think she has been fighting it for so long that she just couldn’t any longer. Luckily she hasn’t developed a fever and so was back to school yesterday, albeit feeling a little sorry for herself!

So, its a rainy end to the week but Grace is slowly improving and Patricks antibiotics seem to be kicking in so lets hope they are both healthy for the Santa Claus Parade on Saturday and Daddys birthday on Sunday x

Happy Halloween

Of all the holidays that I never really thought I would embrace Halloween in Canada has been a real revelation to me. The ramp up starts in September which means that I have to be really careful about which shops I take Grace too as some of the decorations are really gruesome. In our house we very much go for the Disney take on Halloween and its all cheery pumpkins and animal costumes. This year I managed to wrestle Grace away from the pink unicorn (it is way too small for her now) and so she chose to be a giraffe. I did buy Patrick a Thomas the Tank engine costume but he didn’t really get the idea and kept ripping it off.

The kids were allowed to wear there costumes to school for the first part of the day and it was really funny (and quite interesting) watching them all line up. It was very easy to spot the kids without older siblings as they were dressed as Giraffes, cowboys, princesses, dinosaurs and firefighters. The ones with a more ‘worldly’ view went as vampire princesses, power rangers and some quite scary witches. It will be interesting to see how Graces view of Halloween dressing up will change next year. We all ent out trick or treating but Patrick only lasted 3 houses before I gave up and brought him home to man the front door. It wasn’t that he was scared or ran off, rather that he wanted to go into every house that we knocked on and then screamed the place down when I wouldn’t let him go in. He didn’t seem bothered about coming home and was instead quite happy to sort out his loot on the front steps. Grace didn’t stay out very long as I think she encountered one movement activity scary witch too many and decided to quite while she was ahead.

I continue to be intrigued by the number of children here that chew gum. Obviously, I haven’t lived in the UK for over 2 years now but when I left I’m sure that I didn’t see 4 year olds with gum in there mouths. This Halloween we have had buckets of the stuff. I’ve taught Grace that it isn’t a very nice habit and its bad for you so we just put it back in the bucket and the bigger kids get it. It set me to wondering though as to why gum is so bad so I looked it up. All the old wives tales from when I was a kid about it staying in your stomach for 7 years are false (clearly!) and there is even a study that says that some of it may prevent cavities as long as it is chewed for more than 20 times. I am left wondering if it is something that I may have to back down on in the future as I just don’t have a good enough reason other than the fact that I don’t like it. Maybe its the old ‘don’t talk with your mouth full’ rule but I do find it repulsive, especially with little kids.

Talking of the difference in cultures. One of Diesels colleagues was talking to a member of the US team who in his ignorance was telling him all about Halloween in the US, what the kids do and what a big deal it is. When he’d finished he asked if it was celebrated in the same way in Canada. Not one to tolerate fools Diesels colleague replied – “oh no, its much more for adults here. We just stand at the door and give out maple syrup and beer.” The american believed him too!

Muskoka ka ka

Phew time is flying almost as fast as Patrick can run! In the thick of school, nursery, gymnastics, sportball, mums group and playdates and my weeks are marching by at an amazing pace.

We have had Diesels parents with us for the last 2 weeks which has been lovely but also busy. We did get the time to take good advantage of our live in babysitters and managed to replace a tap, lay some flags, winterise the garden and go and look at some flooring and even squeezed in a night out. You know how much we adore our children but its only when you have help that you realise just how much you can get done when they are otherwise engaged.

We’ve done a bit of exploring in the last couple of weeks and finally went to the mennonite market at St Jacobs www.stjacobs.com. I have to say it wasn’t at all what I expected as rather than the mennonite crafts and produce that I had expected to dominate, they were all concentrated in one place and the rest was the usual market dross. We did go for a drive around to see the farms and saw lots of horse drawn carriages – shockingly, 1 had pneumatic tyres which we all agreed they didn’t have in the 1800’s!
Next off to Niagara on the Lake where Diesels parents spent a couple of days in a really lovely B & B which was the first house in the town and looked out onto Lake Ontario.

When I went to collect them we went over the border in the US and saw the Falls from the other side. I have to say, completely different from the Blackpool treatment that you get on our side. Instead its a rather nice park that you walk through to look at both of the Falls. The American being much more impressive up close than it is from across the river, still doesn’t top the horseshoe though. I never get tired of looking at it and hearing the sound of the water. Probably just as well, noting the number of times I’ve been in the last couple of years!
We really enjoyed Thanksgiving weekend which we kicked off with a stay at a cottage in Muskoka. We were so lucky with our timing as the fall colours where at there most vibrant. I guess its pretty well known how beautiful the fall is in Canada but I would truely recommend that you experience it. Firstly, you cannot imagine that the colours really exist in nature, Secondly, the contrast of colours in the trees for as far as you can see makes for an amazing landscape. It was a gorgeous sunny weekend and that just makes everything even better. I’ll post all the photos later and apologise if you get fed up of yet another tree. We tried (possibly unsuccessfully) to capture the beauty and majesty of it all.

All the first days are over

I am now officially the mother of a child at school. In fact I have one at school and one at nursery so this week I celebrated my first 2 1/2 hours off in ……………… a long time! Thankfully both seem to be doing really well. They have something called graduated entry into Junior Kindergaten (JK) here and just for the record I’ll precis whats happenned so far.

Day 1 – 30 minute ‘interview’ to meet the teacher. Ms Wenzel was great, she showed Grace around the classroom and Grace got so excited at one point that she said to me ‘Mummy, why haven’t we been here before’. I’m not surprised that she loved it. The room is nice and bright and filled with all of Graces favourite activities – painting, drawing, sticking, playing house, a library ….. the list goes on. In fact, she didn’t want to leave and said that she hadn’t finished playing when it was time to go.

Day 2 – 8.30am – 11.30am with 5 classmates. We walked to school and managed to get there on time (it is only at the end of the road so there should be no excuse!). Ms Wenzel met us at the gate and Grace looked so tiny walking across the playground with her huge backpack. She looked apprehensive but went willingly and then that was it, they closed the doors and my little girl went to school. Obviously, I handled the situation with my normal pragmatic attitude and cried all the way home.

Day 3 – Friday 12th September, her first full day – 8.05 to 2.35pm. Grace seemed to be really excited having told us all about what she did on the 1/2 day. She seems to really love her teacher and despite our concerns over the ratio of kids to teacher seemed to have spent alot of time doing activities with her. Grace spoke about her interactions with Ms Wenzel much more than she did with any of the teachers at Early Years. By all accounts the day went well apart from a brief spell of tears over a lunch mix up. They have 2 nutrition breaks in the day and the kids have to differentiate between their break time snack and their lunch. Ms Wenzel actually got confused and took the wrong one from Grace and as she doesn’t have the confidence to speak up she cried. To be fair to her teacher, she realised and rectified the situation and apologised to Grace but she wouldn’t eat anything. Ms Wenzel actually called me to apologise to which I thought was really impressive. It clearly wasn’t too big a deal for Grace as she didn’t mention it on the way home. We did have a very tired little girl that night and she certainly slept well.

She had a two day week this week and things seem to be settling down well. I get them up at 6.30am and even with the normal messing about we have managed to fit in breakfast, dressing and some playing and still be out of the door without too much stress by 7.50am. On Wednesday Ms Wenzel called me over to tell me that she had had to ask Grace to be quiet in circle time as she was busy chatting with another girl. In itself that seems like quite an innocent statement and even at the time it took a moment to sink in but then …………………. HOORAY! YES! SHE IS TALKING IN CLASS!!!! You can only imagine the worrying that is done in this house over Graces Selective Mutism and to have achieved this breakthrough so early in the school year feels like nothing short of a miracle. I came away that day feeling really confident that we can overcome this and Grace will eventually talk to her teacher too.

Patrick also started nursery (clearly I am a glutton for punishment!) and that seems to be going well. The very large Thomas train table in the middle of the room means that he has gone in every time without even looking back. When I went to collect him on the first day he was still in the same place that I’d left him so I did have to question whether he’d moved at all! Obvioulsy, he can’t tell me how he’s doing so I asked the teacher on Friday. She reported that the class is settling down really well and that they all move between activities with no problems, tidy up when asked and sit and listen to the stories and songs in circle time. “Even Patrick?” I asked incredulously but apparently so! Its a really nice little class with 12 children and 4 teachers with an age range of 18 – 36 months. Its only 2 1/2 hours, 2 mornings a week but we felt that Patrick could do with some independant time away from me and his sister. Also, and this is a really scary thought, because he decided to surprise us in December that puts him into the previous school year so he will go to JK in 2 years so the more preparation we can give him the better.

In other first days we had Gynastics for Grace and Sportball for Patrick. We thought long and hard about the childrens activities to make sure that we found things that they were interested in and would suit their personalities. Gymnastics is a very small class at a small gym with a lovely coach and whilst very anxious to start Grace seems to be enjoying it. Her favourite so far is the balance beam – I’m sure we will see even bigger smiles when they wheel out the trampoline. Patrick and sportball was a bit of a no brainer really. He goes with Daddy on a Saturday morning which is nice for Diesel. They go to a gym and run around with bubbles, balls, hoops, balls, balls and more balls. Diesel was saying yesterday that they are talking about ’stepping up’ the skills that they will be attempting. You almost have to laugh at the enthusiasm and give them a quick reality check – Patrick is 21 months old and has pretty impressive ball skills but I think it is almost impossible for a child his age to bounce a basketball! Still, back on planet earth, they have a really good time together and both come home feeling exhausted – maybe Diesel more than Patrick! We did learn a lesson this week as Grace and I went to watch but when Patrick saw us he cried and wouldn’t play so Mummy can’t go anymore x

Apologies for being so lax on pictures – they are on Diesels camera so I will bug him to upload them later.

Chatty chatty chatty

I am pleased (?) to report that I now have two very chatty children. Patrick never stops and the babbling is gradually becoming identifiable words and phrases. This morning he properly made Grace and I laugh. My children have finally started sleeping properly and will go through the night and not get up until 7.30 / 8 o’clock. Great timing when we need then to get up early for school this week! Anyway, it was 8 o’clock this morning when Grace and I crept into Patricks room to see if he was awake. From the door we couldn’t see him so we stepped in to check when he popped up and announced ‘here I am’. Grace and I fell about and she hasn’t stopped going on about how Patrick was a jack in the box.

So this week we start back into the routine in earnest. Grace starts gymnastics on Tuesday, goes for a half day at school on Wednesday and then has her first full day on Friday. Patrick has a nursery visit on Wednesday, starts properly on Friday and then starts Sportball with Diesel on Saturday. In addition, I have the first school council meeting on Monday night, Newcomers meeting on Tuesday night and Diesel is mountainbiking on Thursday night. Would you believe that is actually a fairly light schedule compared to most canadian families! After a nice relaxing summer I think this week will be a bit of a culture shock for all of us, so next weekend should be fairly relaxed.

The local produce is really bountiful at the moment so we are also going to be busy making jam, chutneys and preparing vegetables for the freezer. Having never made jam before I am quite excited to see how it goes. I’m not sure that Grace is as excited about the finished product but she is certainly keen to go back to the farm to pick raspberries. We’ll see if we can get more in the punnet than her stomach this year!

The Bruce

So we finished our summer with a few days away on the Bruce Peninsula.  Essentially the Bruce peninsula is the top end of the Niagara escarpment which starts by the falls. It juts out into Lake Huron and the geography of the area makes from some spectacular scenery. It is also the most densely forested part of Ontario so lots of lovely walks that end up on the beach. We stayed in a little place called Red Bay and we were interested to discover that its claim to fame is having the worlds 3rd best sunset. Don’t ask me for the criteria of sunsets, I will just tell you that it was pretty amazing. Apparently somewhere in China is no 1 and somewhere in Hawaii is no 2 although we still haven’t found the entry in the Guiness Book of Records to ratify the claim.

Right on the top of the peninsula is Tobermory. Not as touristy as you would expect but still some great local fish (lake whitefish) and chips, ice-cream and the Dempsters introduction to Beaver Tails. Basically a deep fried pancake with your choice of dessert style toppings. Diesel went for banana and chocolate and I’m only grateful that they are 4 hours away as we’d have a heart attack before we were 40!

From Tobermory we took a boat trip to Flowerpot Island, so named for the 2 large stone ‘flowerpots’ on the beach. We had an amazing day, Grace was a trooper and trekked all the way across the Island and then had a piggy back for a little way back. We all went swimming in the Lake which was a great experience, if a little cold. Swimming in fresh water was just the nicest thing and you weren’t left with that horrible salty feeling from swimming in the sea. It was quite pleasant to be able to see the bottom too.

We had a  wonderful few days and really enjoyed the beauty and uncommercialised feel of the area. We don’t feel like we have even scratched the surface of what there is to see and do so will definately be going back next summer. If nothing else Id like to see all the orchids when they are out in June / July.

4 year check

So my amazing Grace had her four year check-up at the doctors and amazed me once again. I don’t mind saying that I have dreaded this appointment almost since her 3 year check as I knew she was due another injection. I started talking to Grace about it a couple of weeks ago and told her that she needed an injection (never did we mention the word needle!) to make sure that she didn’t get any nasty diseases and that it would feel like a pinch on her arm. She seemed happy with that and we agreed that if she was a brave girl we would go and get a treat afterwards.

So in we go to see Dr Fath who asks the usual questions – does Grace know her colours (yep) can she count to 5 (5???? she can almost get to 20!) does she sleep, can she form sentences, does she ask questions (this one got a raised eyebrow as some days I swear the only word I hear is why!, she has also already surpassed my knowledge of the human body and I keep having to hit the internet to remember what various organs do!). Then it was off with her shoes for the weigh in – 36lbs and 3ft 3 1/2 inches so no booster seat this year – sorry Grace x Next she had to take her dress off and hop up onto the bed so Dr Fath could look in her eyes, ears and throat, listen to her chest and feel her tummy. I thought we were in trouble when the blood pressure cuff got a bit tight but no comments from Grace. Finally she got dressed and it was time for the jab. She sat on my knee, I cuddled her in so she couldn’t squirm and covered her eyes so she couldn’t see the needle and that was it. No scream, no tears, no wiggling, no complaining nothing. She was a superstar and I was really proud of her. I think the Dr did a great job and when we phoned Diesel to tell him she just said that she didn’t like the pinch but she wouldn’t get any nasty infections now. You can only imagine how pleased I was because I had imagined a million other scenarios taking place – none of which so easy to deal with.

If only I could find a way to contain Patrick all would’ve been perfect xxx

Gosh …

… the last time I updated was 1st July – how very poor. I’m thinking that you will start to see a trend here that the posts go down as my workload increases. Having some paid employment means that updating the blog has gone even further down my list of daily tasks – whoops!

I cannot believe how quickly the summer is flying past. We started off with a visit from Emma, Marcus and Callum and the Kevin and Joan followed soon after. We had a great time with everyone and really felt it when we were just down to the 4 of us again. We made the most of having Auntie Joan and Uncle Kevin on hand to babysit and went to our very first real drive – in. The sound quality and the picture were fairly rubbish but we enjoyed the experience, mostly the lady in the golf cart who came round with refreshments and lent you her torch so you could see what she had! I also took the plunge and had my eyes lasered whilst we had an extra 2 sets of eyes to watch the kids. Whilst I wouldn’t say that it was the most pleasant way to spend 10 mins and a whole load of money it was well worth it. My eyesight is now plus 20/20 (whatever that means) and so I am glasses and contact lense free. Its a very strange feeling I can tell you and I find myself having to catch myself when I’m driving down the road as it feels odd not having glasses on.

Grace and Patrick continue to thrive and both seem to be really enjoying there summer. I made the decision (possibly selfishly??) that I wanted to spend some time with them over the summer and so didn’t enroll them for any camps or summer schools. I think it was the right decision and we have had a great time going on adventures on the bike (we saw snakes!!), making lots of trips to the library, exploring a bit more of where we live and playing with our friends. The weather on occasion has not been kind to us and so we have also made lots of cup cakes and cookies.

Much to Patricks delight we also managed a trip to see Thomas at a classic railway in St Thomas’s. Both children had a ball, Patrick almost didn’t get through the gate as he was so excited just to see a picture of Thomas. He seems to really love all things trains and will say Thomas and choo choo if we see one. His vocabularly seems to be expanding daily and he can now confidently say Grace and is pretty much repeating everything you say which is fun. Tonight he also fed himself his dinner from start to finish – not unusual for Patrick except this time he did it with a spoon!

Grace seems to have grown in confidence a bit this summer which is nice to see. She is a really energetic kid and loves to jump and bounce. To save our new bed I have taken her to the local trampolining club a couple of time. She absolutely adores it and seems to really light up when she bounces. They don’t do classes for 4 year olds so she will have to wait until she is 6, that is unless I can persuade her to do what the coach says in the meantime!

Today we went to Rattlesnake point and got our season pass for Halton Hills. Diesel has been there on his bike a few times before but this was my first time and I’m sorry I didn’t do it sooner. Being close the the Niagara escarpment has its bonuses – one being the most outstanding scenery. I truly couldn’t believe that I was less than half an hour from my house. The camping spots looked really niec too so I think Grace and Diesel will try it out soon. She seems very up for it, Diesel is keen for us to take Patrick too but at the moment he doesn’t stay in one place very long so any images of a relaxing meal around the firepit would be short lived!

The Great Outdoors – by Daddy

As you already know from reading these pages, both Grace and Patrick are fascinated with nature. Our regular walks to the park via the creek trail which runs at the back of our house feel more and more like they were planned by David Attenborough as a new documentary rather than a means to get to the swings. What should be a 5 minute walk can often take half an hour due to the many stops we are obliged to make in order to examine interesting fauna, flora and insect life along the way. Not that I am complaining of course, those of you who know me will be aware that I would much rather be outdoors than indoors and I am delighted that the kids are showing such an interest in their surroundings rather than wanting to sit in front of a wi-box station thing playing video games. Ever since Tara first told me she was pregnant over 4 years ago, I have been excited at the prospect of one day going camping with my kids and so I have been growing increasingly excited for the last few months as Grace has been showing an interest in tents and camping in general. This started when Tara pitched our tent in the living room about four months ago in order to show Grace and Patrick what it looked like. There is something quite strange and quite wonderful to come home from an average day at work to find your wife and kids ‘literally’ camped out by the sofa!

 

As Grace is now a big 4, she and I decided that a celebratory expedition was in order, After all if it’s appropriate for Johnson to traverse Africa in honour of Queen Victoria’s birthday then Grace’s birthday,  we felt, should be marked in a similar fashion. Admittedly traversing Africa seemed a bit ambitious and also a bit far from Canada so we decided to plan something closer to home, much closer to home actually, for our inaugural expedition, Grace and I decided that we would set out to conquer the farthest reaches of the back garden.

 

The trip started with a visit to the equipment store, which is a grand way of saying we went into the basement and cracked open the stacker box containing all of my camping stuff. Some of the stuff in that box like my lantern and stove dates back from teenagerdom when I used to go camping every weekend and it was nothing short of magical to see Grace’s eyes light up with wonder at all the interesting gadgets and paraphernalia that Daddy has accumulated over the years. Of course you don’t take everything on every trip; the required equipment of each individual expedition has to be carefully considered. My equipment list was as follows, Tent, Sleeping bag, Thermal mat, stove, food supplies, water, and my trusty Swiss army knife. Grace took her winnie the pooh sleeping bag, Catherine the doll, A stuffed pink Pig (dressed as a ballerina), her new camping lantern with bird sound effect and the bumper book of Disney tales.

 

We decided that it would take us two days to fully explore all of the back garden and so elected to begin by securing a base camp mid way between the house and the flower bed. It was decided that Patrick would accompany us to base camp as support, before Grace and I would move forward. Almost immediately the adventure was faced with peril. No sooner had we left the civilisation of the kitchen and abseiled down the steps from the deck at the back of the house than it started to rain. To my shame I suggested that we may wish to abandon the trip and return to the house, but thankfully my team was made of sterner stuff than me. “No way Daddy” was Grace’s reply to my wimpish suggestion, while Patrick showed the true metal of his adventurous spirit by letting out what can only be described as a primal scream before running headlong into the now rain soaked grass fists flying as he went.  Thankfully the rain never became truly heavy and the tent went up in no time thus establishing a solid base from which to explore. The first thing Patrick and Grace wanted to explore was the tent itself and so it was largely left to Daddy to set up the beds and prepare lunch. Once we had eaten, it was decided that the team would split, Grace, Catherine (the doll) and I would form an advance party with the object of charting the surrounding area while Patrick would remain at base camp in order to launch any necessary rescue missions. In order to be at peak physical preparedness for any such mission Patrick decided that he would conserve his energy by taking a little nap and so returned to the house. After a brief planning session Grace and I decided that we should extend the expedition beyond the boundaries of the back yard in an attempt to investigate the legend of the dinosaur park. Specialist transport equipment would be needed to cover the distances involved and so Grace thought this would be an excellent opportunity to test out her new bike. I am overjoyed to report that Grace took less than 10 minutes to master both the peddling and braking of her new ‘big girl bike’ and the dinosaur park was ‘discovered’ in record time. After thoroughly exploring the playground, we headed back to base Camp where our expedition hit on its first real obstacle. During the time that Base camp had been left unmanned it was attacked by the local wildlife ‘Canine Boxerorious’ otherwise known as ‘Rosie’. It seems that the empty Kit-Kat wrapper left inside the tent had been too much for the stupid dog to cope with and not content with having once eaten a bunch of grapes that nearly killed it the dog decided to try and finish the job by eating through the tent. Understandably Grace was pretty upset as she figured that this would bring a premature end to our adventure, but I was determined to show her what the real spirit of camping is all about and so a hasty and temporary repair was fashioned and we were back in business.

 

Patrick and Tara joined us at base camp for dinner, the highlight of which was the toasted marshmallows. Then with bed time approaching Grace and I said goodnight to Patrick and Mummy and set about making ourselves comfortable in our tent. Now it’s fair to say that what I expected was for Grace to have her story and then tell me that she wanted to go to bed in the house. In fact, after several story’s from the Disney book and a chat about all that had happened that day, Grace turned off her lantern and settled herself down to sleep. I had to chastise myself for doubting that she would be prepared to stay in the tent all night. In the event, she was asleep in no time and didn’t wake up until 7:00am the next morning. So there was me thinking that Grace might not be ready for ‘proper’ camping and yet I am ashamed to admit that it was me that had to call Tara from the house at 9:00pm in order to ask her to bring out my lap top and a drink. Grace was even a little disappointed that I had not planned suitably by bringing breakfast out with us, ensuring that we had to return to the house early the next morning ‘But that’s the end of our adventure Daddy” she reprimanded. Next time we camp I may have to hunt a deer for breakfast to make up for it, or alternatively we could go to the coffee shop at the bottom of the road I suppose. Either way we will be going camping again very soon.

Fabulous at 4

This week has been Graces birthday week as she turned 4 on Thursday. We started last weekend when my Mum, Dad, Kelly, Anna, Emma, Marcus and Callum arrived for her party on Sunday. This year we decided against the indoor playground option as Grace doesn’t seem to like big groups and instead we asked her who she would like at her party. The usual suspects (Emma, Leah, Freya, Paige, Alex, Priya and Heidi) were consistently who she wanted so I avoided the pressure to invite her whole class and just went with her invites. It was enough for her to know that she was having a party so I managed to arrange everything as a surprise without too many questions. So this  year we hired a school bus! All of the girls have been wittering on about going on a schoolbus for the last year and so I thought it would be fun and it was a riot (maybe more for the Mummys – particularly those who bagged the back seat???). The girls all came to our house first and amazingly none mentionned the bus outside. We then had Graces cake (more of that in a minute) and said we were going for ice-cream before going outside to try and decide how to get there. It was fun to see the kids faces and I think they all enjoyed the bus. The ice-cream parlour was really hospitable and had put some of Graces photos on their big screens. You don’t realise but it is the simplest things that seem to get the biggest response. Unfortunately, we have had alot of thunderstorms this week and so the rain prevented us all from going to the park but I think it was fun – Grace certainly seemed to enjoy it.

Graces birthday was Thursday and she actually needed some convincing as she thought her party was her birthday. When she woke up in the morning we had to tell her what day it was and then she got all excited and wanted to go downstairs to tell baby Callum. The look on her face when she saw her presents in the living room was just priceless.

Some sort of transformation had taken place with Grace during the night before her Birthday because she definately went to bed 3 and woke up 4. Unicorns are her thing at the moment and Patrick had cleverly sourced a gift bag with a unicorn on it which he then filled with a number of Graces favourite things. We know they were her favourite things because when she openned the hairslides with unicorns on them she said ‘ oh Patrick you are a genius, I love it!’ – I kid you not!!!! She was so excited that she didn’t stop talking and managed to have very long conversations with Omi, Grandad, Nan, Kelly and Anna when most days she won’t even talk to Diesel on the phone. In the afternoon we took her out to practise riding her new bike and then went to the chicken nugget shop for tea. Again, 4 Grace appeared when we were playing air hockey and a little boy tried to push her off the game she said’ no – I’m playing with my Mummy right now’, a little girl tried to pull Patrick and she told him that wasn’t kind and then she actually introduced herself to someone before we left. I nearly cried xx To top off the week, this morning she tried pancakes and maple syrup ……….. long may acting 4 continue!

So I’ve just read Graces 3 year update to see what has changed. Her likes and dislikes haven’t changed much but although she isn’t the greatest eater her diet is much better. Mostly due to the Deceptively Delicious book that my Mum bought me for christmas which includes ways to disguise vegetables in almost everything. She has a small group of friends who she plays with and will be quite assertive and bossy one on one. Groups still provide a challenge for her and she completed pre-school still not talking to any of her teachers. We have taken advice and will be working with her over the summer to help overcome this ‘Selective Mutism’. The suggestion that she will just talk when she wants to is something that we are not happy with and we agree with her doctor that if left untreated she could experience self esteem problems in class which could then interfere with her ability to make friends and do her school work. It is heartbreaking to see her in situations where she is uncomfortable but we are confident with some directed effort we can help her through this and let the outside world see some of the Grace that we have at home.

She still adores her brother and the feeling is entirely mutual. They do fight as Grace will take things from Patrick if she wants them. I am not sure this is a situation that will continue for much longer and I think Grace might be in for a shock when he starts to fight back. She does tend to mother Patrick and I have to remind her on occasion that I am the parent. One day as I was about to open my mouth she said ” I know, I know – you’re the Mummy” – funny xx

Despite the lack of talking at nursery she has learnt an enormous amount over the last year. I wouldn’t say she knows the whole alphabet but she probably has 60 – 70% and she can write both her own name and Omi’s. She can tell you all about the habits of a ruffle necked lizard and seems very interested in science experiments much to Diesels delight. Recently she is very interested in how her body works and will say things like ‘don’t worry my skin will protect me’ if she bumps herself. She is fascinated by the fact that we have bones in our body – Grandad saying that he has a bone in his leg adds to that. She still loves to create things and most days will draw, colour, paint or make a cake. Recently she has started to draw people and we have a house full of mini pictures of each of us. Patrick has crazy hair, Mummy has glasses etc etc.

Emotions are a big thing with Grace now and she is a real little actress on occasion. We are never in any doubt how she feels about something and will express herself using her hands, words and face. Often we get ‘look at my face Mummy, what do I look like’. I would say that mostly she is happy and it is only when wicked Mummy won’t allow TV or treats that she gets sad.

Baby Grace is definately growing up quickly and we are all excited to see what JK brings in the Fall.