Although next year we'll probably arrange some babysitting, this time round I am glad that we took our 3 little monkeys along with us. If we hadn't, I suspect Andy & I would've simply sat side by side and blubbed. The reasons being;
Pride
1. L - She is doing wonderfully with her work, which we'd guessed was the case. The one aspect of her school life we were keen to hear about, was her confidence and social skills. Where she has, for quite some time, demonstrated a natural ability to concentrate and learn, she has struggled with shyness and a wish to play with others but not being confident enough to do so. Her confidence took a huge bashing when we lost Polly & my Dad, and even more so when we had our house fire (more about that another time) - she developed an awful stammer, and was utterly terrified of smoke/steam/loud noises for months afterwards. Even leaving her at pre-school was often fraught. She's come a long way since then, and we heard tonight that she seems happy at school, and has plenty of friends. We're delighted.
Pride
2. H - When H was born, he had to fight to live. When he left hospital it was predicted we could expect some form of physical and/or learning disability. He had close monitoring and support for the first 2 years of his life... and faced other predictions along the way, about his his future. One by one, he has surpassed every expectation made of him from his early days. His determination and a lot of luck has won through. We have never pushed him; we have simply tried to support & encourage him... and tonight we heard he's doing great in some areas, and is even ahead in some others. We're delighted.
Shame
3. Baby M - As we unloaded the children out of the car, we realised she'd done a poo. With no time to change her, we did what any parents would do (wouldn't you??), and hoped for the best that we'd "get away with it". We almost did, but allowing her some freedom in the school hall so that we could vaguely concentrate on the conversations that we were there to have, she proceeded to scrunch up any errant papers that she found - one of the teacher's post-it notes; part of the wall display, etc. With a brief interlude whilst she threw herself lovingly at every adult in the vicinity, as though they were her long-lost parents *rolls eyes wearily*... and then, just as we thought we'd got away with the whole poo situation, the teacher swept Baby M up for a cuddle to distract her from another act of "your card is already marked" vandalism. Baby M's bottom was far too close to the teacher's nose. We left shortly after that.
Like I say, we'll sort out a babysitter for next year.
Our chalk & cheese twins may have trodden the same path in life...but each of them have had very different and individual journeys. We are very, very proud of them both. X
