Another day, another milestone

Yesterday marked the end of Isabel's first year at school - next year she'll be in Year One, starting Key Stage One, and really experiencing proper school life. Reception is really a bridge between nursery and school I think - next year, the work really begins! Finishing that first year has felt truly momentous - she's settled into the school so well, and hugged lots of the older girls goodbye as we left on Friday which was very sweet. She even wished the headmaster a good summer, which was very considerate I thought! It'll be lovely to have her at home for six weeks, although I'm concerned about the state of my sanity after six weeks of looking after two children. Still, Husbandio's got two weeks off in the middle of the hols, and I've already booked Isabel onto a trampolining course and a tennis course, as well as her usual swimming lessons, so we've got quite a few days blocked out already.

The other milestone came today, and that was Emily's three month birthday. She's sprinted through the first quarter of her first year, and even hit that pyschologically important 10lb weight milestone on Friday, much to my relief. She's a slow grower this one, much lighter than Isabel was at the same age, but just as feisty. She smiles at all and sundry, even toys, and is starting to bat things with her hands now. She'll be crawling before I know it and then the real fun starts - I can already hear Isabel's howls of "Mum, Emily's chewing my [insert any toy!]". She loves her little sister now, and I hope that doesn't change as Em grows up!

Emily celebrated her first three months with an afternoon at Isabel's ballet show, and she behaved impeccably. Isabel danced beautifully, and what she lacked in skill she made up for in sheer enthusiasm. She beamed through each dance, and skipped off at the end looking very pleased with herself - when I picked her up from the backstage area she said "did you see my show?" (to which I thought, "no, I've been sitting here for 3 hours but forgot to watch...!") and followed that with "was I brilliant?". Her thoroughly biased parents and grandparents assured her that she was - and I was quite relieved that it was all over, since I always worry that she'll get panicked and fail to perform. But I needn't have worried - she's braver than me, since I wouldn't like to have to dance in front of all those people! While the kids were great though, the best bit was the dads dance - five of the dads (including our next door neighbour) dressed up as Britney and performed in short skirts and blonde wings to Hit Me Baby, One More Time. Classic!