An end; a beginning; and no middle?

Day 106

04 September 2009

Today marks the end of the school holidays. In the seven weeks that have passed, we have seen fireworks (five or six times, I have lost count), a carnival procession, the Red Arrows, the Red Devils, Punch and Judy (twice), a magician, a fun run; played on the beach a countless number of times, stayed up way past bedtime on too many occasions, played at the swings, trampolines, bouncy castles, fayres, fetes, festivals and had picnics on the Downs at least once every week. We've run along the pier, the seafront, in fields, along the beach, along pavements; cycled along the length of the seafront as far as the Lobster Pot and back; had lunch playdates with friends, played and picnicked at Durlston; been to Mudeford for a sleep-over; got caught out walking in the rain a few times; and watched a significantly excessive amount of CBeebies. My son has grown four teeth, found a passion for cucumber, banana and chicken, and this week has said his first word (Dada, whilst looking up at him and smiling at his surprised and happy Daddy), and has started to crawl. I have shared several bottles of wine in the summer evenings, and have enjoyed myself, as well as torn my hair out a good few times with the frustration of having a four-and-a-half year-old who believes she is the fount of all knowledge and can convincingly stand her ground when it suits her but dissolve into tears and whines at the drop of a hat. Clever, eh?

But now the summer holidays are over. On Monday, my little baby girl will start her first day at school. My little baby girl whose toes I used to tickle to keep her awake during a feed, my little girl who used to laugh if I pulled faces at her and who now just rolls her eyes and frowns at me and makes me feel just a little bit silly for imagining she would still enjoy that sort of humour. My little baby big girl who is so excited about her first day at school that she starts jumping about like a mad thing when we count how many sleeps there are left before that Monday morning comes.

I am really excited for her, too! I look forward to seeing her start her next big milestone, and watch her learn and grow. All I can say, is that she had better make sure she works hard and doesn't think she knows it all!

Also to come this month is the next stage in the consultation for the Purbeck review. Dorset County Council are going to change the current three tier system down to a two tier schooling, which means that Swanage and Wareham will lose their middle schools.

May we all live in interesting times.