46 Months Old

April has flown by and it has been a month that signifies that big changes are coming our way. Changes that let me know you’re not the baby I brought home from the hospital, anymore. Leo you are growing up, it’s plain to see. From the sheer height of you these days, to how you conduct yourself to the world and everybody around you. I can’t call you a toddler anymore because you outgrew that title quite a while ago. Mummy has to face facts that you are now a little boy, a little boy who will be starting school in a matter of months.

Just the other week we received news of your school place, and were over joyed that you got into the school we had dreamed of for you. We have been talking to you about school for months, we wanted you to be aware of the changes that were coming, but we didn't want to over load you. You have been worried, you know that it’s going to be very different, but you know that different isn't bad. It just means that there are new adventures ahead of you, and when has an adventure ever been anything less than exciting!?

Your Nursery being in the grounds of your new school really helps and they are doing a grand job of helping transition you ready for September. Nursery have started to take you and the other school leavers into the school on a Wednesday for a school lunch. I remember filling out the menu selection just before Easter, and with you being such a fussy eater I was worried that you wouldn’t eat any of the selections over the coming weeks and months. On that first Wednesday they took you over you seemed worried. You said you didn't want to go to big school, and that you wanted to stay at nursery. I thought of you more than usual on that day, and knowing it was a double whammy of things that you didn't want to do (Forest School) I thought it may be a less than great day for you. I was so pleased to get home from work that evening to discover that you had had the BEST DAY! You had loved Forest School for the first time ever, and even put your own trousers on (You’re a little bit lazy and refuse to do these things!) and you had enjoyed the activities. I think even Nursery were surprised and pleased with you!

Then of course it was time to head into School for your lunch, which was Tuna Wrap. I didn't think the Tuna would go down well, in fact I thought that meant that you wouldn't eat at all. Instead you picked the Tuna out declaring ‘I hate fish!’ and devoured the wrap on its own. You did so well and didn’t let the Tuna put you off, and I cannot fault you for that. You saw children that you already knew from the school and got very excited. When I saw you that evening you couldn't tell me about your day quickly enough.

The weather has been improving so you and I have been spending so much more time outside. We have been abandoning the car (Because Mummy is still on her health kick!) and we have been walking all over town. What we are really loving at the moment is a cheeky Costa, you have your Babycino and Mummy has her Cappuccino. In fact you relentlessly flirt with the poor barista. Each time you have been in recently you have flashed your blue eyes, lifted up your shoes and announced ‘I have new shoes!’. Of course the lady looks to admire your new shoes, but those shoes you are describing as new haven’t been new for the last 5 months. But you try again each time you see her, just to get her attention.

We take our Costa’s to the park, we sit in the glorious sunshine and then you’ll run off to play on the tunnel slide while I finish mine. It’s so peaceful sitting there and watching you run around, it made me realise that this right here and now, shows me just how grown up you are. I wonder when I suddenly gave you so much freedom? When I stopped having to follow you around everywhere you went, when I became content that you were now big enough to go down the tunnel slide on your own, and climb back to the top again. Of course I am always there watching you, making sure that you’re ok, that no one is being mean to you, but that again is something I am going to have to relent upon when the school days do swing around. For now though I love the days we get to spend in the park while the sun is shining and everyone else is at work or school. Those days are my favourite kind of days, so simple and special all at the same time.

We even took you on your very first camping experience! Ok so it was only in the back garden, and only because Granddad invested in a shiny new tent and couldn't wait to practice putting it up! We very quickly decided to seize the opportunity and make the most of the tent while it was there, we thought it would be a super time to see how you got on with camping, and of course you couldn't have been more excited about the opportunity! We kitted the tent out with your cot mattress and brought out an abundance of blankets so that we would all be toasty during the night. You and I Leo donned layers upon layers, you in PJ's and a Onesie and me in two Onesies! We did look a sight in our Christmas onesies!

We had a camp fire in the garden where you roasted your very first marshmallows with Daddy and then you were more than ready to go to sleep. You went straight off and slept until morning, so excited with your new experience and I know that it won't be long before you want to camp again! But let my back get back to normal first please!

Time isn’t slowing down little boy, and in 2 months’ time you will be turning 4. My head is a mash of all things Mario at the moment, because that is now your theme of choice. For a while you were set on Thomas. Now however…It’s all things Mario! I don’t know how I am going to pull this one off yet, but somehow, someway I’ll make it happen.

Until next month little man…

Back to Nursery

On the 5^th September Leo went back to play school for his very first funded session. In the weeks of Summer that quickly passed us by, Leo seemed to blossom before our very eyes. He began to string more and more sentences together, and he made such an effort to use his words. We used to Summer as a spring board and got out and about to really make the most of the weather and each other’s company. I had a feeling that the nursery would also see a huge improvement in just how far Leo had come over the Summer holidays, and I hoped that I wasn't alone in these thoughts.

With Leo’s funding now in place for his final pre-school year before starting reception next year, I prepared his school bag the same way I always did. I packed a spare change of clothes, some fruit and his juice cup. I woke Leo up from his slumber and a very excited child replaced the sleeping child who had been fast asleep only moments before. Leo was so excited to be going back to nursery again and when I dropped him off on the Friday for his first session, he didn't even say goodbye before he ran off to join his class mates.

When the time came to pick Leo up from school, I arrived and peeked in through the window. The entire class was sat together on the carpet talking, and when I got to the front of the line, they called for Leo to come over ready to go home. The nursery leaders each had some incredibly positive remarks about how they had found Leo’s first day back at school. One said ‘Hasn't he grown up over the Summer!?’ another said ‘I have noticed a huge improvement in his speech!’ and another said ‘I am understanding so much more of what he says!’. I was so pleased, Leo has been taking his time but been improving all the time, and now I feel like we are finally bridging the gap that has stopped him getting his point of view across.

Wednesday 10th September marked Leo’s very first full day at nursery,  we prepared Leo’s school bag and even made up his lunch box ready for that very first session. Leo was even more excited at the prospect of taking lunch along with him, that once he had his Planes Lunch box in hand he insisted on having his Ham and Cheese Sandwich for breakfast. So to save his lunch we had to make him up a second sandwich that he could enjoy at that precise moment in time.

Granny dropped Leo off for a 9am start, and then that was the last we saw of Leo until 3pm that same day. It is the longest Leo has ever been out of our care and it was a surreal moment to arrive home from work for lunch, to not have Leo at home. Leo had gone off as happy as always and found his name badge out of all of the other names and proudly stuck it on his hook. Leo then spent the day at nursery for the very first time.

Leo has come on so much since that very first nursery session back in January, he is more confident and willing to give new things a try. I find it incredibly hard to believe that this time next year, my baby boy will be in reception and 4 years old. Time really has got a wicked sense of humor to say the least, but it is not relenting. Time is speeding by and shaping my little man as it goes, each day he does something new and surprises me in a whole new way.

I am so pleased at how well Leo has just slipped back into nursery life, and just accepted that now he is older he gets to go more. I have put Leo into nursery on a Monday, Tuesday morning. He attends Wednesday all day and then has Thursday off to spend an entire day doing things with me, and then goes back in refreshed for Friday’s afternoon session.

I wanted Leo to do one full day so that when he does begin reception next year it won’t be such a shock to the system. I now that as this year progresses he is going to continue to grow up, and when next September does roll around, he will be more than ready to take on big school with all of his peers.