His first proper school trip (and I tagged along for the ride)

We've had days of excitement building up to this first proper school trip and several very late nights before he'd go to sleep but today was the day.

It's been lovely, if a little wearing, to watch the mounting excitement but this morning we headed out to school all ready for the off and with me tagging along for the ride.

The idea was that I should be one of the four parent helpers joining the class teacher and school staff to shepherd (yes, pun intended) the 30 children around Big Sheep Little Cow Farm.

Lots of head counts later and we were safely on the coach heading towards Bedale and this farm attraction that I haven't visited for very many years. The last time will have been with the teenager when he was around six!

On arrival and being split into groups we embarked on our adventure with a fun play in the soft play barn before farm staff member, Fay, took us off on our guided tour of the farm. This is something I remember from previous, long ago, visits and a farm tour is great because it means you get to meet the animals and ask whatever questions you have.

The children were fantastic, joining in, asking questions and actually showing that they remembered quite a bit of what they're learning at school at the moment about the life cycle. They even have eggs in an incubator that they're waiting to hatch!

I was amazed when one little boy immediately responded with the correct answer of 31 days when asked for how long a goose would sit on her eggs. They're a bright bunch.

We were all ready for our packed lunch before heading out to play on go carts and to enjoy a barrel ride. No, I declined the barrel ride but the class teacher was very fast to strap herself in. I wonder whether she's regretting that now!

It was a tired group of children who climbed back on the coach to take us back to school but I think they had all had a great time and I know I had loved watching them have fun. A2 is adamant that I have to go on the next school trip too and I wonder how long it will be before he's too embarrassed to have mum tag along too. I suspect that will come all too soon.

Tissues at the ready for the first public performance!

I know it's pathetic but I always well up whenever my boys are taking part in a school performance. It really doesn't matter how small a part or how mundane the event each and every one is a special memory.

A1 is past the nativity plays, harvest festivals and so on. It's all football and rugby matches now and I'm not quite so bad that I sob with pride through those.

But as I dashed out the door yesterday for A2's very first Harvest Festival I made sure I grabbed a handful of tissues just in case.

He's only been at school, along with all his Reception class friends, for just over four weeks and he was really excited about being allowed to join in with the whole school at the local church.

As I took my place in the church, carefully positioned to one side - my thinking that if I couldn't see A2 properly I'd be fine - I was all set for 30 minutes of charming singing and speaking by other people's children.

What I hadn't expected was that the Reception class was going to sit just to the side and I had a perfect view of A2 walking down the aisle, waving excitedly at me when he spotted me and trying to wriggle across the pew for a kiss and a cuddle. When I tried to encourage him to carry on walking with his friends he just grabbed my hand and kissed it. So sweet!

And throughout the whole performance, there he was jigging along to the music, singing the odd word when he could remember them and turning round to give me a big beaming smile. He's a monster at times but, boy, he can be gorgeous too!

I didn't sob. Honestly, I didn't! But one of those beaming smiles meant just for me really brought a lump to my throat and almost set me off. That's my first proud mummy moment now that he's at school - and here's to many more!

Welcome to homework

Three days into A2's new school career and he has brought home his first piece of homework. Really!

Maybe it's not such a bad thing - at least it lets him know what is expected of him right from the start. And it's not a massive piece of homework. In fact, calling it homework is a bit ridiculous. All he had to do was draw a picture of our family.

A2, is going to be just like his older brother. I can see that immediately. He didn't want to do his picture. Neither of my boys have ever been that keen to draw creatively. Give them something to make and that's a different matter. We've created all manner of models, painted pictures and decorated birthday and Christmas cards but when it comes to actually drawing that's just not their thing. I can't even get them colouring!

I didn't actually drag him down the stairs but you could see he could think of other things he's rather do. And he informed me as soon as we sat down that he didn't want to draw a picture of our family.

"Go on," says I. "Show me what I look like."

"But I can't draw circles," he informed me.

Once I had assured him that no one can draw great circles freehand and it really doesn't matter he sat down with his gorgeous pencil case set that a friend gave him for his birthday last year. Using his pencil set seemed to spur him on. We've not used it that often simply because he's never been bothered about drawing. He'd rather pick up a paint brush.

And so our images emerged. First, his big brother, the biggest head and the biggest hair, smile and eyes. Followed by a picture of himself, then me and Daddy too. Noses were forgotten, eyes were nothing more than dots on the rest of us other than A1. It's quite cute but nothing like those pictures you expect to see children draw of a family outside a house with smoke coming out the chimney and a nice tree in the garden. I wonder what this says about A2. Probably just that he's going to be the sort of child who just wants to get his homework done so he can get on with more fun things! No doubt, the sign of things to come!



Not a backward glance!

We walked into the school playground on Wednesday with both our hearts aflutter, I think, but for very different reasons.

I was worried I might sob whilst A2 was just excited.

There was the usual confusion as everyone tried to find pegs, file away their bags and then I turned to see A2’s back disappearing into the classroom to find all his friends without a word of goodbye!

Er… I felt abandoned and really hard done to. I was at the very least expecting a little bit of a hug. I confess I did have to hurry out of the playground at that point just in case a tear spilled from my eye but by the time I got back to my car my equilibrium had returned and, whilst I wasn’t jumping for joy, I was focused on getting home and getting as much done in the following three hours as I could.

On my return to collect A2 after lunch there was a pleasant schoolgate chat with other mums. I’d quite forgotten just how sociable those little gatherings can be. And then A2 wandered out with a little less energy than he had gone in with earlier in the day. Just half a day and he looked quite shattered although he managed to revive himself by the time we were home once more and still wasn’t too keen to go to bed at his usual bedtime hour.

We’re reading something I found online at the moment for a bedtime story. It’s about miniature spacemen who fall to earth and it’s really quite fun. I open it up on my tablet and read. There are new chapters appearing every so often so we’re not reading it every night but A2 is enjoying it. You can find it here www.piggyinthemiggle.wordpress.com  I still don’t feel it’s quite the same as reading from a book, having the feel of a book in your hands, but I suspect that before long A2 will be asking for his own e-book reader once he’s learned to read. His will be the generation that grows up more used to reading from a screen than from a book.

Funny then that all the boxes under his bed are full of books that we’ve read cover to cover and that he can repeat word for word in most cases. He does enjoy flicking through the pages of those books but I’m quite convinced that once he can read himself he will choose to do so electronically.

So school has passed the first day test and has been pronounced much better than nursery because nursery is boring. We’ll see how long that lasts!

The countdown to the first day at school

The countdown has really started now that we're in September!

Just two more days and my youngest son starts school. He can't wait which is great. I've been looking forward to it for most of the year and now that it is finally upon us I am starting to get a little wobbly about it.

Yes, I'm going to have more time to get work done without interruption but, actually, I'm going to miss that little voice piping up and insisting I play lightsabers or go on a treasure hunt in the garden.

A2 is almost beside himself with excitement. His enthusiasm is in marked contrast to his older brother's cynicism. A1, aged 13, has adopted a been there, seen it all attitude and remarks every so often that it's all a con. It seems like great fun until you've been there a while and then they make you work, he has told his little brother. Fortunately, Angus ignores him.

I know I'm not alone. There must be thousands of mums sending their youngest child off for their first day of school this coming week with lumps in their throats.

Like me, you'll have been sitting labelling clothes, school bags, shoes, anything they might take off and lose, filling out those seemingly endless forms that school just has to have before the first day of term and feeling a little bit sick about sending the little one out into the big wide world.

I know it's silly. A2 has been going to nursery since before his first birthday. He's a gregarious, social child who just can't wait to start learning how to read, write and do more maths. And for the first week and a half he'll only be at school in the morning so there's plenty of time for lightsaber duels when he comes home.

Right, I'd better go and finish off those forms and labels now because I know the one thing I forget to label will be the first thing he loses!