What's the Point?

Inspired by an activity in one of Lily's art books, the girls had a little art lesson in pointillism today. Using cotton buds and paint, they made pictures by building up little spots of colour in complementing shades. I talked about the technique of pointillism and how it was used by Impressionist artists and I then read them "Katie meets the Impressionists" by James Mayhew. The girls had fun and hopefully learned something at the same time!

We were inspired by an activity in one of Lily's books 

We love the Katie books by James Mayhew, which introduce children to famous artists and paintings. Lily immediately recognised the picture on the cover as I have a print of Monet's 'Poppy fields' hanging in our hallway.

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B is for butterfly

This afternoon Emma and I focused on the letter 'b' and butterflies. We made a butterfly by drawing around her hands, cutting out the shapes and then stapling the thumbs together. She then decorated it with stickers. We coloured in a butterfly picture together and worked on writing the letter b. Then I read her 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' by Eric Carle, which, not meaning to spoil the ending, has a butterfly in it! All of which was a pleasant way of passing the time between doing the lunch dishes and going to collect Tom and Lily from school.

Decorating her butterfly with stickers, whilst wearing a fairy costume obviously!

Serious business this crafting!

Emma decided to to do her colouring in the conservatory because "it's nice and warm."

A pleasant way to spend an afternoon. I was quite impressed with Emma's 'b'. This was the first time I have done any letter tracing with her and she loved it. I had to print out several sheets so she could do it again and again! 

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Tom's Violin Debut

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Emma and I had the very great pleasure of watching Tom play the violin in his very first concert this morning. I was positively brimming with pride! Tom's class have only been learning the violin for 10 weeks and have made incredible progress during that time. They played four pieces on the violin and also sang us a song. To perform all that in front of not only their parents, but also the entire school (staff and pupils) after only a few weeks of learning is a testament to both the skill of the violin teacher and the commitment of the pupils. I am very, very proud of Tom for doing so well. 

The sad thing is that, having made such incredible strides, Tom's class now have to pass their violins on to another class, so no more violin for Tom. This is, I think, an incredible shame. Tom has expressed an interest in carrying on with the violin, so Mark and I are going to look into the practicality (and crucially the cost) of a small violin and lessons. It is my great hope that each of the Podlings will want to learn at least one instrument. I know that Lily would love piano lessons (we have been holding off as we think she lacks the patience required at the moment).

Mark plays the piano and I play the piano and the flute, so it would be lovely if the children were musical too. I believe that learning an instrument not only gives great pleasure, it also teaches valuable lessons in discipline, dedication and commitment. I have to confess I had rather hoped they would choose instruments we already owned (piano, flute or guitar...my sister started to teach me the guitar, but I left home before we had got very far. I still hope to learn someday). However, if Tom really is serious about wanting to learn the violin, then it is certainly worth looking into. We would need to be sure that he would stick at it before we rushed into anything, so we will see.

I took some video from the concert this morning. Tom is in the front row, second from the right. I'm so proud of my boy!

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My secret desire

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I am sure most of us have some secret desire or dream job that we like to daydream about. The secret desire of my heart is simply this, that I wish I could home educate my children. Much as I am enjoying the tidier house and quiet times during the day now that Tom and Lily are at school, I can't help but feel that I am depriving them of a better education. You see, here's the shocker, I like spending time with my children and I would love to have the privilege of educating them. I think a love of learning is more important than doing well in tests and exams and I don't think this is something that is of first priority in the state school system.

I often spend my free moments reading about Charlotte Mason and her method of home education. Many of my favourite blogs are those of home-educating mothers and I love to read about what they do in their 'homeschools'. I daydream about book lists, art and music appreciation, nature studies and field trips. I thrill to the idea of my children following their own interests instead of those of the crowd, learning in a way and at a speed that suits them and revelling in their individuality. I think of a world where my children can have their questions answered instead of being made to sit quietly because teacher is talking, where they can play and learn outside whenever the weather permits and where we can learn about the seaside by visiting it instead of reading about it. This is a world where the moral standards my children learn are those we believe in, not those of the state, where we can sit and enjoy books together whenever the mood or an idea takes us and where they know that what they think and who they are really matters. This is not a world that tells a four year old child she can't go and get her cardigan when she is cold, that sends words home when a child isn't ready to start reading yet or makes an almost six year old have to learn in a reception class because the school can't afford a second Year 1 teacher.
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Sadly, this is just a world that I dream about and that doesn't really exist. As we all learn fairly on in our lives, we can't have everything we wish for. I just wanted to say to any home-educating mothers who might read this, you and your children are extremely lucky. I salute you!

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• A good summary of the Charlotte Mason approach to home education can be found here
• This article pretty much sums up my thoughts about why I think home education is better than traditional schooling

Star of the Week!

Tom and Teddy outside Tesco on Saturday.

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Tom surprised us all by coming out of school with the Star of the Week bear again on Friday. As far as we can see, Tom is the first child in his class to be Star of the Week twice, so we are very proud of him. As much as I worried about sending him to school, he really seems to be thriving there. I attended parent's evening on Thursday and his teacher had nothing put praise for him. He is making excellent progress in his work and is in the top group for numeracy. His vocabulary and speech are apparently excellent for his age and his questioning approach is also serving him well. His teacher said he has a very scientific mind, which is perhaps not surprising for the son of two PhD polymer chemists! Everyone seems to know and like Tom, teachers and children alike, and his own teacher seems to have a bit of a soft spot for him. He is, in short, doing very well at school and Mark and I are so proud of him. Well done Tom!
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Teddy with the gingerbread teddies I made for Tom this afternoon. I made a large batch so Tom could take some to school to share with his class.
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Daddy and Teddy help Tom with his homework
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My little star

We are very proud of Tom for being his class 'Star of the Week' this week. Every week one of the children in his reception class is chosen to be the Star of the week and gets to take home the special teddy and keep him for the whole week. This week Tom got to bring home the bear and his little face was alight with surprise and delight when I picked him up from school. The Star also gets to give the bear a name for the week and Tom has very sweetly chosen to name the bear Lily (the original bearer of the name is burning with envy!). We also have to take pictures of teddy's week and write about it in the special Star of the Week book, which is already full of teddy's adventure's and photos with Tom's classmates. What a wonderful way for Tom's teacher to make the children in her care feel special. It certainly made Tom's day.
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When we got home, I made Tom a batch of his favourite biscuits and cut them into star and teddy shapes in honour of the occasion. I have told him that we will have a special 'Star of the Week' tea for him on Sunday afternoon, so he is excited about that. Teddy went to bed with Tom this evening and as I kissed him goodnight he picked up the bear, gave it a big cuddle and told me that teddy was his best friend. I think he will be sad to part with it next Friday!
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Teddy 'Lily' with the Star of the Week biscuits I made for Tom
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Tom Podling's Schooldays

Tom in his uniform on his first day of school. He looks so very grown up! He loves his uniform and tries very hard not to get it dirty.

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Tom has now completed his first week as a schoolboy and he seems to be settling in well. I've have had a good chat with him every evening about his day and he has told me each night that he has had a fun day. He did make me laugh after his first day when he announced that he liked school, but that he wouldn't go again until he was five! He was so tired after his first day that as soon as we walked through the front door he went straight up the stairs and got into bed!

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I have been making packed lunches for him as I know he wouldn't eat school dinners. I asked him on his first day if he had enjoyed his lunch. "Yes." he replied, "I ate it all up. I didn't want to but the teachers told me to." Poor boy! He has a funny way of eating his sandwiches, involving opening them up, lining up the squares of bread and eating the filling. I suspect he is being told to eat the bread as well now. It doesn't seem to be upsetting him though, so I'm not going to make an issue out of it.

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The only thing he really seems not to have enjoyed about school is music. Tom has a strong dislike of loud noises, and whilst he spends much of his day singing his own little songs, he doesn't like other people singing. It sounds like he got quite upset during the music lesson and was allowed to go back to the classroom and play in the quiet while the rest of the class carried on.

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If you know Tom, I think you'll agree that it's fair to say that he isn't quite like other children. He definitely marches to the beat of his own drum. This had given me some concerns about how he would fare in a school environment. I'm so pleased to see that, so far at least, he is doing well and actually seems to be enjoying school. I am so proud of him for coping so well with such a big change. I can't believe I am the mother of a schoolboy now!

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Lily on her first day back at playgroup on Tuesday. As you can see, she's still fond of her dummies! She's holding five in this photo.

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She really missed Tom on his first day and wanted to go and pick him up after lunch. When we went to collect him, she insisted on carrying his snack all the way up to school and gave it to him as soon as he came out. On his second day, they greeted each other with a huge hug, saying how much they had missed each other. So very sweet!

Tom went straight up to bed as soon as he got home on Tuesday. He asked Lily to join him and they both got under the covers for a chat.
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Getting ready

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A new school year begins next week, and with it comes big changes for a certain little boy. Next Tuesday will be Tom's first day at school and we've been gradually preparing him for it over the last few weeks. Tom takes a long time to get used to the idea of change and at the end of last term he was adamant that he didn't want to go to school. He would continually change the subject if we tried to talk about it and was obviously worried. Over the summer holidays we have read him storybooks about starting school, talked to him about it and generally got him used to the idea. He now talks quite happily about going to school and no longer seems so worried about it. Part of his coping strategy has been the reemergence in the last couple of days of his imaginary friends Morley and Malley, who show up every now and then. Apparently they will be starting school with him.

Tom was very excited this morning when his new school backpack and lunch bag arrived in the post. He loves red and he loves stars, so I knew he'd love them as soon as I saw them (I got them from The Great Little Trading Company if you're interested). He immediately started pretending he was at school, even taking a break from his pretend learning to have pretend lunch from his new lunch bag. This is such a contrast to his attitude six weeks ago. From being quite obviously anxious about going to school, he now seems almost excited about it. I can't tell you what a relief this is to me!

We are pretty much set for the new term now. We have most of his uniform, but we will be joining the back to school crowd this weekend to buy some shoes (not looking forward to that!). I also have a special treat planned for the Podlings for Sunday afternoon. Preparing to send my firstborn to school is an extremely strange experience and I have such mixed emotions about it. It is quite exciting in some ways though, as I have caught the buzz I used to feel on going back to school myself. I only hope Tom enjoys school as much as I used to.
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Playgroup Leaver's Concert

I didn't get many decent photos unfortunately. This picture was taken at the end of the concert when the Podlings were getting a bit bored with being on stage. I think they enjoyed it more than this photo seems to imply!

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Mark and I went to see the Podlings in their leaver's concert this morning. I was so glad Mark was able to come as he was out of the country and had to miss their Nativity play at Christmas. It was a sweet little concert, with the children having learned 18 songs to perform. Quite impressive for a group of three and four year olds. The Podlings didn't join in all the songs, but I saw them both singing and doing the actions at some point during the concert. I was pleased to see Tom taking part as he had told me this morning that he wasn't going to join in! When Lily wasn't singing, she was generally dancing along to the music. I love seeing my babies in these events!

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At the end of the concert, they had a little presentation for all the children who were leaving for 'big school'. Tom's new reception teacher presented him with a little book from the playgroup and he is thrilled with it. I had worried that Lily would get upset that Tom had something she didn't, but it doesn't seem to have caused any problems.

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Thus endeth the Podlings first 'school' year. September will see Tom starting primary school full time and Lily returning to playgroup on her own, this time for two mornings a week. For the first time in their short lives they will be doing things separately, so it will be a big change for both of them. I hope they both adapt well to their new situations.

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Last day of playgroup

The Podlings only go to playgroup one morning a week, so today is their last day. They are having their leavers concert on Friday, but this morning marks their last normal session before the holidays. For Tom, this means his last ever session at playgroup as he will be starting school in September. To mark the occasion, I snapped a few pictures of the Podlings before we left this morning. We were running a bit late, so I didn't have a lot of time to devote to capturing the perfect photo, but here they are...Tom and Lily having completed one full year of playgroup. Where does the time go?

No more playgroup for Tom.

I can't believe my little boy is off to school in September!

Lily has grown up so much since she started playgroup last year.

Walking up the lane to playgroup

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A taste of things to come

Stopping to enjoy the flowers on the way to school.

Tom had his school visit this afternoon. We took a slow walk up the lane after lunch and Tom was quite excited about going to see his new classroom. However, he lost his enthusiasm a little when it came to leaving my side and actually going with his new teacher. He hung back slightly and said he didn't want to go, until his teacher smiled, held out her hand and asked him if wanted to go and play with them today. When she said they would be doing something about dinosaurs he walked towards her, took her hand and quietly walked off down the corridor without a backward glance.

I had slightly more upset from Lily who called out "My Thomas!" and fell dramatically to her knees as the doors closed behind him. They are best friends and she was quite upset at the prospect of being without him. She cheered up when I suggested we go to the park for a little while and pick Tom up later. Lily and I spent a happy hour watching the tractors in the fields, admiring the horses and playing in the park. It was lovely to spend some one on one time with her. It was very strange only having one of the children with me though. Lily seems much quieter without her brother to play with.

Enjoying a lovely afternoon

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As we walked back up the lane to go and collect Tom, Lily decided to pick him a bunch of flowers and collected a handful of cow parsley heads. They were looking slightly worse for wear by the time she gave them to him, but I thought it was so sweet of her to think of picking flowers for her brother.
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Tom came out of school with a smile on his face and a painting in his hand. I get the impression he had a nice time, but I'm short on the particulars. Tom isn't one for talking about what he's been up to, so I just have to piece things together from the snippets of information he does part with. I know they did painting because he gave me the end result (he tells me it's a daytime picture and he wants us to paint a nightime picture tomorrow). He told me that they had a story, that he had to listen during the story and that "I don't like listening" (oh dear!) Oh yes, and he also washed his hands in the sink. However, when I asked him if he thinks he will like going to school, he said 'yes', so that's reassuring. In a few short months, he will be spending a great deal of his time in school, so I'm glad his first experience of the place seems to have been a positive one.

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Starting school

Last night the four of us attended the parent's induction evening for Tom's new school, which he will be starting in September. I still can't believe I have a child who is about to start school...it doesn't seem like that long ago Tom was sunbathing under UV lights in an incubator and now we are measuring him up for a school uniform! There was a short talk about the reception curriculum and school uniform and then we had a chance to look around Tom's future classroom and playground. The classroom he will spending the next year in is really lovely. It is bright, colourful and a really child-friendly environment. Lily immediately made herself quite at home and anyone would think it was her starting school in September. She will have no trouble making the transition to school when the time comes! Tom, on the other hand, was a little unsure of everything at first. He needs time to adjust to new situations and it was a lot for him to take in. However, he immediately warmed to the idea of going to school when we came to the reception class playground. It is a small courtyard, but is full of ride-on cars and play equipment. He certainly brightened up when he got to play there and started making friends. In fact, we had a terrible job getting him to leave and he actually cried the whole way home (only five minutes in the car) because he wanted to stay. I hope he is that enthusiastic about actually going to school when the time comes. I really loved school when I was little and I want so much for my children to enjoy their education too. Tom will have a chance to spend an afternoon in the classroom with his new teacher next week, so it will be interesting to see what he has to say after that experience.

It certainly helped me to be able to see the school and get a feel for the type of environment and people that my little boy will be spending so much time with. I've heard nothing but good things about the school and teachers from people who have (or have had) children in the school. Now I've seen it for myself, I'm happy that he is going to a good school. Now I just have to hope that Tom makes a smooth transition to full-time education. It will be a big change in his life and I hope it will be a positive experience for him.

"Starting school" by Ethel and Harry Wingfield. Image available from http://www.ladybirdprints.com/.

Education, education, education

We found out yesterday that Tom has been allocated a place at our first choice school, which was something of a relief as I hadn't put down a second choice! We are really pleased as it is one of the best primary schools in the area (based on league tables, which is all you have to go on) and nobody I've spoken to has anything bad to say about the school, which I take to be a good sign. It also happens to be about a ten minute walk up the lane behind our house (twenty minutes at Podling pace!), which is wonderfully convenient given that I'll be having to get three children up, dressed, fed and out the door come September. We were reasonably confident that he would get a place there as it is our catchment school and he already attends the playgroup one morning a week, but it is nice to know for certain. My only disappointment is that it is not a Church of England school, which I would have preferred. Obviously my children's religious education is very important to me, but they will continue to get this at home anyway.

So there you have it. When September rolls around this year, it will herald a whole new period in my mothering career. During the school week, my first born will be spending more of his waking hours away from me than with me. I will, for the first time since I became a full-time mum four and a half years ago, have to get everyone up and out of the house by a set time every morning. I will be trusting the care and education of my child to people I don't know for 6 1/2 hours a day. I have to accept that there will be parts of Tom's life that, unless he chooses to tell me about them, I will not know about. It is the first stage in the whole 'teaching them to be independent' thing, but it seems like such a young age to have them out of your care and influence. I can't say I'm looking forward to it and I'm going to have a hard time letting go!

Image from "Going to school" by M.E. Gagg (Illustrated by J.H. Wingfield). Image available from http://www.ladybirdprints.com/

Feeling sheepish

We had a bit of a sheep theme going on this morning. No particular reason other than that I've had an idea for a sheep craft in my head for a while and wanted to do it with the Podlings this morning. The craft is incredibly quick and simple to do, and requires a paper plate, cotton wool balls, cardboard, googly eyes (of course!) and, in Lily's case, excessive amounts of glue. I drew out the head, legs and facial features and cut them out. All the Podlings had to do was assemble the sheep. Lily really enjoyed doing this craft and couldn't stop looking at her sheep when he was finished. I had trouble getting it off her to allow it to dry as she really wanted to play with it. Tom opted not to take part again and wandered off to play at being a postman instead. Because the projects we do at home are supposed to be for fun, I tend not to push Tom into joining in if he doesn't want to. However, I think he will find the transition to school quite difficult once he realises that he will have to do things he isn't necessarily inclined towards! I guess that's something we'll need to work on over the next few months.

After we'd finished making the sheep, we sang a few sheep-related nursery rhymes (Baa Baa Black sheep, Old McDonald, etc.) and talked about what sheep eat and where wool comes from. After that we read a few sheep-based stories, including one of our family favourites, 'Marvin wanted more' by Joseph Theobold (I wrote about this book here).

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Nativity play

Lily spent a good deal of time waving at us from the back row. This picture was taken after the concert was finished and the children had 'broken ranks'

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The Podlings are at their playgoup Christmas party this afternoon, so I have a few moments to post about the Christmas play they were in last Thursday. Tesco came up trumps with the costumes and I was able to get a little angel costume for Lily and a sheep costume for Tom for very little cost. Lily had to have a short angel dress as the the longer dresses were only available for ages three and up, but she looked adorable and was quite happy to dress up. As you can see from the pictures, though, her halo kept slipping...should I be worried?
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I really didn't think Tom would dress up at all, but he started out in full sheep regalia, complete with head. He soon got too hot though, so one of the group leaders took his hat off and he was a headless sheep for the duration of the nativity play! I was completely amazed that Tom sat on stage and didn't even attempt to run off for the whole concert. If you know Tom, you know what an amazing achievement this is for him. I think he was so fascinated with watching the audience he was too mesmerised to move! I have to say that I stand in awe of the playgroup leaders, who were able to get fifty or so 2-4 year olds to perform a Nativity play. Incredible!

After the concert was finished and the children were allowed to mill around on stage, Lily went straight up to Tom and gave him a hug.

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Although there were a few tears from both Podlings before the concert began (they were kept waiting for a very long time), they soon cheered up. Tom didn't sing a note (he doesn't like to sing!), but Lily joined in with gusto and appeared to be having a great time. I was so proud of them both! The appalling thing is that I barely glanced at the other children, I only had eyes for my two! Isn't that shocking! Mark's parents were able to come and watch the play with me and a good time was had by all. I was able to get some video footage, which I will always treasure. No matter how old they get, I'll always have a record of their first nativity play. Isn't technology wonderful!
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NB. You may notice that I have blanked out the faces of other children in the background. Whilst I am happy to put pictures of my children on the Internet, I know a lot of parents would be uncomfortable doing so. I didn't feel comfortable putting pictures of other people's children 'out there' without permission.

A budding bookworm

We are big readers in our family. We have books all over the house and Christmases and Birthdays always involve a large stack of new books to add to our already large collection. Reading is one of my greatest pleasures and I have spent countless hours of my life curled up with a good book. I want so badly for my children to inherit this love of reading, and, so far so good, they both love books and story time.
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Tom has been wanting to read independently for some time and seems almost to be teaching himself! He constantly surprises me by reading words out to me that I may have told him once, weeks ago. Tom is a child who learns easily and rapidly when he is interested in something, so we thought that now would be a good time to introduce him to some first readers. You have to be very careful with Tom because if he thinks he is being taught, or is being led towards a certain goal, he will refuse to continue and run off. However, it is incredible what he will retain when we 'play' at reading and maths. Goodness knows how he will fare in a classroom situation, but at least we can give him a good start now.
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My mum started teaching me to read from a very young age. She started off by making some flashcards and used the Ladybird Key Words scheme. By the time I started school I could easily read all the usual books and was, frankly, a bit bored with what the school were giving me.
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(As an aside, the school apparently didn't believe my mum when she told them I could read, so I was bored and...ummm...somewhat disruptive when I first started. One day Mum went down the school and had me read a book to the teacher who was, apparently, somewhat surprised. I distinctly remember reading a book called "My House" aloud to my class and wondering why they all seemed so impressed. I just thought everyone my age could read!)
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Anyway, back to my own children! We were excited to discover that the Ladybird Key Words scheme is still available, so my Mum and Dad got some flashcards, the first few Peter and Jane books and a few early readers for Tom for his birthday. I was surprised to find that I still remember them nearly thirty years on.

Mum sat down with Tom and the books and the look on his face when he started to realise he could read some of the pages was precious. I loved watching my mum teach my son to read using the same books she used with me. I wonder if we looked like that 28 years ago.

Autumn fun

Today is the first official day of autumn, so the Podlings and I had an autumn themed day today. We started off with some gluing, which always goes down well with the Podlings. I drew some freehand leaves on green paper (see below) and gave the Podlings some red, yellow and orange paper to tear (though I ended up tearing it up myself) and some red and yellow glitter. I talked to the Podlings about how the leaves on the trees are green, but in the autumn they change to red, yellow, brown and orange. I then told them we were going to change their green leaves to autumn colours and let them loose with the glue. They had a wonderful time doing this and Lily enjoyed it so much I had to give her a second leaf. I later cut the finished leaves out and glued them on different colour background paper.

Let the sticking commence! I wrote 'leaf' on each picture because I find that Tom only needs to be shown a word once (sometimes a couple of times) and he knows it. He seems to be learning to read the 'see and say' way. Whatever works for the individual child I always say.

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After naptime, the Podlings did some autumn colouring. I printed some leaf pictures I found online and put out some autumn colour pencils for them to use. I cut out their pictures and added them to the autumn display board I've put above their table in the kitchen.

Leaf colouring

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The colder months are all about cinnamon and spices for me, so our next activity was baking some leaf-shaped spice biscuits. Tom got bored and wandered off (he's not into baking), but Lily was there till the end (and beyond...she was 'washing up' for half an hour!). I quickly iced the biscuits while I was getting their tea ready and the results were quickly snatched up for pudding.

Autumn leaf spice biscuits

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After tea, we played with some leaf shapes I had cut out of paper earlier in the day. We pretended to be trees in the autumn and dropped dozens of paper leaves all over the carpet and each other. We also played 'who can find a red/green/orange/yellow leaf', which is good colour practice for Lily (not that she needs it!). We learnt a new autumn song, read some autumn poetry and generally had a fun day.

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We're having a great time doing this and hopefully the Podlings are learning something at the same time. I have some more autumn-themed activities planned for the rest of the week. Hopefully the weather will dry up and we can go out and get some real leaves!

Our autumn display board in the kitchen. There's still space for some of the projects I have planned for later in the week.

Changes

Tom's big day

As I peered at my tiny baby boy in his incubator, it never would have occurred to me that nearly four years later I would be in perfect agonies over sending him to something that he would enjoy. After much worrying, stressing and praying, I decided to let Tom go to a playgroup for one morning a week. For the uninitiated, the difference between a toddler group and a playgroup is me. In short, the mothers stay at toddler group, but the children are in the care of qualified staff at a play group. The other main difference is that I enjoy going to toddler group, but I HATE leaving my children in the care of others when I am a stay at home mum and don't think it necessary. However, older and wiser heads than mine have assured me that most children love playgroup, that it is important socialisation and that it is good preparation for school. Doesn't mean I have to like it though!

Right up until the day before, I wasn't going to send him, but at the last minute I worried that I was just being selfish and rang up the group to say he'd be going. It was a hard thing to do because it goes against all my natural instincts. I told Tom about playgroup and explained to Lily that Tom would be going, but she was too little and would be coming home with mummy. On Tuesday morning, the three of us set off up the lane for Tom's big day. It quickly became apparent that Lily hadn't fully grasped the situation. Every single time anyone walked past us in the lane, she announced "Hewo, I going to playgroup!".

Walking up the lane to playgroup

We arrived at the playgroup and both Podlings immediately ran off to enjoy the play equipment. I went into the kitchen to fill in some forms and Lily popped her head in a couple of times to check on me. Tom was far to busy to worry about where I was, which was a great relief at least! When I'd filled in the forms and had a chance to watch Tom for a while and make sure he was happy, I said goodbye to him and went to get Lily. Her response:

"Not yet"

I explained to her that mummy had to go home and couldn't stay at playgroup and that she was coming with me. However, her take on the situation appeared to be that there was an awful lot of fun to be had at this place and she didn't see why Tom got to be in on it and not her. She's always had trouble accepting the fact that she isn't the same age as Tom. To cut a long story short (well, slightly shorter anyway), I made sure she fully understood I was leaving, but would be back later and left empty handed. She waved me off with a cheerful "Bye Mummy!". Lily, if you are reading this in the future, just so you know, I REALLY didn't want to leave you. You're only two for goodness sake!

I was stunned! I had been in perfect agonies over sending Tom, but could just about see the argument for doing so. To come home with neither of them, especially when I'd been looking forward to some mother/daughter time with Lily, was a shock. I don't mind telling you that I nearly cried when I walked into the house...it was just so empty without them! I don't understand this 'time to yourself' everyone says is so great when your children are at playgroup/school. I HATED not having my Podlings home with me. My one consolation was that at least they were together. Whilst I think it important that the Podlings make friends with other children, I always want them, first and foremost, to be friends with each other. They are very close and I took comfort in knowing they were together.

Stopping for a rest on the way home

I left far too soon to go and pick them up and arrived ten minutes early. I noticed I wasn't the first one there either. All us anxious mums commiserated with each other, whilst our children, clearly having a great time and oblivious to the anguish they were causing their mothers, played inside. When the time came for them to leave, Lily was happy to see me and ready to come home for some lunch. Tom, on the other hand, didn't want to leave! I had to pick him up and physically remove him from the premises!

Lily clearly had a great time and chatted quite happily about what she'd been up to on the way home. I think Tom had a good time, but getting him to talk about it was like getting blood out of a stone! I was a little concerned that he seemed more clingy than usual coming home, so I'll see how he is in the next couple of sessions before I'm completely convinced that he's happy there. He wants to go again though, so he must have enjoyed it.

This post ended up rather longer than I intended, but I guess this has been quite a Big Thing for me. Don't get me wrong, I'm really happy the Podlings like playgroup...I just wish I could be happy about them going. I know it is my job as a mother to raise them to be independent and that one day they will have to leave my side and make their own way in the world. Just, in the words of a certain precocious two year old "not yet!".