A General Update

I’ve been so preoccupied with introspection & navel-gazing recently that I’ve completely failed to update you all on various Real Life happenings that don’t directly relate to me.

Isabel recently had her ‘induction’ day things at the school she starts in September, which consisted of a ‘stay and play’ type afternoon with the other parents + children, and then a half day without parents. I have to confess that I expected to have to peel Izz off my leg to get her into the classroom and thought that she’d freak out when I tried to leave but the reality couldn’t have been further from the truth. We walked past children-parent combos with tears on both sides(!) only for Izz to run to her new teacher, waving me off with gusto. This, from the kid who spent years being too shy to talk to members of her own family! Couldn’t have been more proud of how far she’s come :)

It did feel a little bit odd as I left the school grounds though. There were parents talking about “not going too far in case it went wrong”, people who were planning on sitting on the grass outside for the afternoon; I went straight to my car and shot off back to work without a second thought. I am clearly a heartless parent :p

In less positive news, we lost Big Pig (Ginger) a couple of weeks ago. To be honest, I half-expected to lose him after his skin problems in January so for him to hang on another 5 or so months was a nice surprise. He was 6 and a half, so a good age for a guinea pig :) Karl took him away to bury him with his original friend Afro. Although we’d talked about losing him months ago and had decided that when it happened his friend (Little Pig) would be neutered and placed with the girls, I’ll be honest in that I’m struggling to deal with all of the animals on top of everything else I have to cope with at the minute. Not sure what I’ll do long term with the animals. :(

Oliver has been conversing in full sentences for a while now and keeps up well with his sister. He’s eating well, sleeping… occasionally(!) and doing everything he should for his age. I’m considering trying to get him out of nappies over the summer purely from a financial point of view although I have to say I prefer the “wait until they do it themselves” approach we took with Izz. I guess there’s only so far you can push a kid either way.

So basically most things are OK and we’re just bumbling along as normal… :)