Big School...

This past couple of weeks has been filled with milestones for our Ava M... her first sports day, her first school report, her first school trip... perhaps its the sheer volume of "firsts" that have kept me from being an emotional wreck about it all... or perhaps its just the busyness of life with a three-year-old, a two-year-old and a three-week-old. Whatever it is, we're about to embark on the  biggest first of all...

Big School.

Tomorrow, my little Ava will be walked up to an unfamiliar school gate, be picked up by her TA at the School reception, and be taken down to her new class, new teacher and 29 children she doesn't know yet.

The thought just turns me into a nervous wreck...

And yet Ava? Tomorrow morning cannot come quickly enough for her. She is so excited to meet her new teacher, is looking forward to making lots of new friends, can't wait to see what she's going to be doing at big school. And knowing her, I'm pretty sure she'll walk through those doors and not look back.

And as she goes, she'll take a little piece of my heart with her.

Because with this step, begins the journey of the next fifteen years and beyond... the gradual letting go... the move to independence... the existence of a pocket of life of which I am not a part.

Ava starting Nursery School last September...

I suppose in many ways it began last September, when she skipped into her school nursery and began the routine of 5 mornings a week in a classroom... but still we were the main environment, time with us was still dominant, our little world at home was still the big event.

All that is about to change.

And so I give myself a little shake, and remind myself that this is all a wonderful opportunity, that this will be the making of her... that this next year will be a wonderful adventure of discovery of numbers and letters and friendship and independence. That this time next year, she will be able to read me stories, and write me letters! That she will learn so much about making friends, and being kind, and sharing... that she will also learn how it feels to have your feelings hurt and what it means to not be the best at everything (one of the advantages of being the eldest sibling). She will learn that other children are different to her - believe different things to her, have other interests to her, are better at some things, and not so good at some things... these lessons will be hard for her, but they will be good for her... because those classroom doors will open wide the world for her in a way I can't do at home.

So as my little Ava M walks through those school gates tomorrow morning, I'll be reminding myself of all the adventures she's going to have, and not focus on the fact that we will miss her sunny little character at home!

My sunny, smiley girl!

Sports Day...

It's a bit of a momentous occasion, your child's first sports day. Ava had been talking about it for quite a while... Giving us snippets of information. On the big day, I packed the younger two into the buggy and we headed up to the school field to greet this happy little face...

She was just so thrilled that we were there to watch her. She literally grinned from ear to ear the entire time as she rotated round the activities and threw herself into every challenge with real enthusiasm!

And her biggest little fan was there too, cheering her on and supplying her with copious hugs and kisses of encouragement (and having one mini meltdown about wanting to go home in the middle of it all which was resolved by the provision of a pack of raisins... Needs must!)

And I watched this little girl running, bouncing, jumping hurdles, throwing, tunnelling and smiling the whole time and I just felt that realisation, that penny drop moment, that yes... This was our little girl. No longer our baby, or our toddler... And soon not even our preschooler...

She just seemed to grow up right in front of my eyes... 

It was a lovely morning with two happy little ladies who toasted Ava's sporting success with a hearty "cheers"...

 ... And a little man who pretty much slept through the entire thing!

Adjusting

She loves to come in to our room in the morning to kiss her baby brother... she gets the wipes and nappies for me, and helps me get him dressed. She chatters away to him in German in this little high voice, asking him question after question...
"Are you tired little Jonas? Are you? Is that what you're telling me? That you're tired?"
She worries if he doesn't have his cuddly giraffe that she bought for him with the money she "earned" from clearing the rocks in Grandpa's garden.
She is a wonderful big sister... and I'm so proud of her. Even when I have to tell her off for nearly smothering him in kisses.

This one is in love. She could not be more smitten. She rubs her little chubby cheek across his forehead and I have to tell her to get her hair out of the poor boy's face! The first question she asks me whenever she sees me; "Where is baby Jonas, Mama?" She will sit and stare at him for hours, and hold him and cuddle him for seconds, before she cries out "finished" and removes her arms. I'm a pro now at being ready to catch him.

They are adjusting. Gradually. Heidi is learning not to sob her heart out whenever she hears him cry...
"He's not sad, he's just telling us something"

And my heart melts every night, when from the quiet of our bedroom, on my bed, to the sound of newborn gulps as I nurse our youngest, I hear two little girls praying before falling asleep...

"Thank you God for Baby Jonas"

And I say Amen.

Preparing preschoolers for a new arrival...

This pregnancy has been the second time we have walked this journey: the journey of preparing preschoolers for a new arrival. We told the girls after our 12 week scan, and so its been a long wait for them... Six months to begin to get their heads round the huge adjustment that is about to take place in our family (just to clarify... The baby has not arrived yet! The photo below is the girls with their little cousin, and he has provided lots of practice for them!) This time round it's been somewhat different... Ava was only eighteen months old when Heidi was born, and the preparation was much more simplified, but yet we have found the same things have helped our girls to get ready.

I've chatted to a few friends recently about how you begin the task of preparing little ones for a new sibling, and I am by NO means an expert... But I thought that maybe sharing some of the things we've done might help someone somewhere!

1. BABY TIME

One of the most helpful things in our preparations this time round has been the arrival of the girls' baby cousin just shortly after we told them we were expecting. They saw their Auntie go from pregnant, to having a real, live baby - one which they have thoroughly enjoyed cuddling, kissing and generally fawning over! Another friend of ours had twins last year, and Heidi loves nothing more than doting over those baby girls. Exposing siblings-to-be to as much baby time as possible is a great way to prepare them... Explain how you handle a baby, show them how to be gentle, let them help change nappies and bath and feed. All of it will help them get excited about the prospect of their "own" baby!

2. DOLLY LOVE

We've always encouraged the girls to be careful with their dolls. I don't know how much is just their characters, but we've not had to encourage them to love dolls at all... They have instinctively fussed over their baby dolls as long as I can remember. There have been times where dolls have been chucked on the floor, thrown across a room and been a little roughly handled, and I've been pretty strict on that. These may be only dolls, but we have to be careful with babies in our house... Real or pretend! This is particularly helpful with smaller ones... For children of two or under, if they can learn how to handle a dolly gently, you're half way there already!

3. INVOLVE THEM

Show them the scan photos, take them to check-ups, let them hear the heart beat, let them feel the baby move... All of this will help move that baby from the realm of abstract to the realm of reality. Ava has so enjoyed this aspect of the involvement this time round (last time she was a bit too young for this one). At three and a half, one of her favourite things is to lay her little hands on my tummy, chatter away and wait for some response. Baby's been pretty good at giving her a good kick back on most occasions, which she's been delighted by!

4. TALK ABOUT WHEN THEY WERE BABIES

We've had the scrapbooks out a lot the last few weeks... Heidi loves to sit and leaf through her scrapbook... Looking at baby pictures of herself, asking questions about what's going on. They love to look at their scan photos, and see pictures of me with them in my tummy. All of it helps them understand the process that there's a little person in there who will also one day look back at their own baby pictures!

5. READ STORIES

There are some stories that we've found particularly helpful in preparing our girls for what will happen, both when the baby arrives, and what life will be like afterwards. My favourites are below. Za-Za has seen us through both pregnancies and is a fabulous yet simple story which very clearly explains what will happen. The girls both love it. "Clare's New Baby Brother" was the book I was given when awaiting the arrival of my sister nearly 28 years ago! It's proved to be a firm favourite too! And "There's a House inside my Mummy" is just lovely...

I've been careful with the books I've read to the girls though... I have found some of the "preparation" books to be a little on the negative side... You know, how Mummy and Daddy won't have any time for you any more etc etc, and while I recognise these books are trying to prepare the child for the inevitable "sharing" of Mama's time, I've always wanted to keep the prospect of baby's arrival a more positive experience. Why plant negative thoughts when they hopefully won't amount to anything?

  6. SHARE THE EXCITEMENT

One of the things Ava has really loved is being able to share her excitement with her friends at school... Taking in a copy of the scan photo, telling them about her trip to the midwife and hearing the baby's heartbeat. All of that "sharing" has helped her to get excited too. Last week, one of my lovely friends, who's a childminder, popped around with her little group to find out more about new babies. The children had great fun learning how to swaddle a baby, looking at my scan pictures, asking questions and listening to stories. They are so fascinated by the whole thing, and Ava and Heidi were thrilled that their new baby in Mama's tummy was the centre of attention.

I think at the end of the day, it is worth saying that nothing really prepares little ones for the newest sibling. But these things certainly have helped our girls to understand what is about to happen, and hopefully have created a sense of excitement and expectation...

I'll keep you posted as to whether they've worked or not once this one arrives!

Any other top tips for preparing siblings-to-be?? Leave a comment and share the wisdom people! We're all keen to get fresh ideas!

Learning Love: Preschool Number Games

Ava and I have an hour a day of "us" time... She is at Nursery all morning, comes home, has lunch, has an hour of "down time" in her room, and then comes down for the second hour of Heidi's nap for "us" time. In September my big girl will be off to school, and one-on-one time will be harder to come by, so I'm treasuring these last few months, and these past couple of weeks we've had a lot of fun.

In the early stages of this pregnancy, 2-3pm was the killer time for me. Ava would come down and snuggle up with me on the sofa and we would read stories... but after a few pages, I would realise my eyes were closed, and what I was "reading" was my random thoughts as I slipped into slumber. I reckon I caught myself doing this a couple of times a week. I realised reading together was not an option for this particular hour of the day!

Things are somewhat different now. I'm into the third trimester, but still feeling pretty good, and so our hour together has become an opportunity to do some fun activity together. Often it will be a little game, craft or a puzzle, and is usually just a good time to chat and hear all about her little world, but sometimes its fun to do some kind of learning activity together. Before I had children, I was a primary teacher... I loved teaching, I have no regrets about giving up to be at home with my children, but I do still take great joy (sad as I am) in preparing little activities for us to do together. And I thought perhaps it would be fun to share them here :-)

So my plan is, once a week, to share some fun, pre-school activities you can do at home with materials you'll have lying around the house...

This week, we had some number fun...

You need:
Paper 
Pen
Scissors
Muffin tin
raisins/buttons/counters of some description! 

Skills developed
1) Counting
2) Recognising Numerals
3) One to One Correspondence
4) Ordering numbers 1-12
5) Writing Numerals
6) Simple Addition 

Game One: Number recognition
Fill each case of your muffin tin with a number label 1-12, ask the child to use the "counters" to put the correct number into each case. This is great practice for them in recognising written number and associating the written number with the amount.

Game Two: Dice Write
Recognising the numbers on a dice is a skill that as an adult comes naturally to us... we look at those six dots and don't have to count them... we recognise them as the number six. Children have to learn dice recognition too! Lay your counters out in the dice formation, and ask the child to write the correct digit underneath. 

Game Three: Ordering Numbers...
Using the number cards from earlier, you can muddle them up and ask your child to order them correctly. From there, you can play games with recognising odd and even numbers, counting backwards, recognising missing numbers and other little activities.

Game Four: Basic Addition...
Lay out some basic sums with the number cards (e.g. 2 + 1 =). Ask the child to lay the correct number of "counters" under each digit, then they can add their "counters" together to work out the answer.

We had great fun on our number afternoon... and it was dead easy, took no organisation and could just be chucked in the recycling at the end... so no need to find storage for scrappy bits of paper and a few sunflower seeds!

What number games do you like to play with your preschoolers? Any other top tips for number fun with three year olds? Would love some fresh ideas in the comments below!