Schools out for summer...

Who will have that song stuck in their heads now? Hands up?

It's Big Cuckoo's last day of his reception year today and I feel very wobbly about it. I was fine when he started school back in September, I was excited for him. Of course I was nervous, what mother isn't? But  as mum of a little boy with very specific needs because of having a dodgy chromosome, I was especially concerned. Yet on that first day he walked in to the class room, lay down on the mat and kicked his shoes off. He then high fived me instead of a good bye kiss and I knew he was alright. Today I feel emotionally fragile, how will he cope with the big change in routine? How will he settle back in September in year 1 with a new classroom, a new teacher, and real proper learning as opposed to purely play based learning?

He has fared brilliantly, ok so he can't very well count to five but he can write his name quite neatly and he does recognise numbers and letters. But he is confident and well liked, he is kind and well behaved. He has settled in and it's more than we hoped for.

For his teachers leaving gift I made an apple cosy, I expect there are lots of teachers receiving one of these from crafty mums across the country.  Big's teacher is a whipper snapper of only 21 years old so I got her a few other more appropriate gifts too. I just felt it was important to properly thank her for being the best teacher we could have wished for for our boy. The rest of the team were given some cookies and homemade tissue holders. The whole class has chipped in to a kitty and there will be a little presentation later this afternoon but I wanted to add our own special thanks since they have spent a lot of extra time nurturing Big.

So now the chaos of summer starts. I think there are two camps when it comes to the long holidays.  The camp where the Mums are desperate for the holidays, to be able to slow down, to avoid the school run, to actually get away on a holiday away from home. Then there's the camp that is slightly dreading it. I'm afraid to say I am a bit worried about it. 6 weeks of chaos with 3 kids five years and under. Big is very destructive (scroll to the last part of that post for an example), his brother follows his lead, the baby needs attention, the boys need entertaining, there's all the householdy stuff to keep on top of. I find that while I am straightening out a mess the boys have made they are off somewhere else making more mess, emptying cupboards and then filling them with toys and cushions, I run around in circles getting more and more frustrated that I can't get on top of everything. That's there's no let up and not enough time for crafting, blogging... We also have  two* separate weeks away from home so there's all the packing, unpacking and washing to be done. We have house guests coming too which is just lovely but it all adds to the general feeling of losing track...but I shall try to go with the flow and when Mr C comes home to a house that looks like it's been burgled and says "What have you done all day?" I shall take it for what it is,  a request for information about how we have filled the hours since he left for the (neat, tidy, quiet, organised) office, not an exclamation of horror at the state of the place.

"Sorry about the mess!" I shall say "We've been busy making memories"

xxx

*Possibly just the one week away for me and Mini as I have totally forgotten to get him a passport. We have an emergency appointment on Tuesday next week in Newport Passport Office. Fingers crossed it arrives in time... What a fool.