I know everyone says it, the days are long but the years are short...but my goodness, how is it possible that my baby girl started school last week already?! It was definitely a shock to the system how fast it came around!
I still feel like we were just at the hospital last week, fitting her in her car seat, with the nurses telling us we hadn't done up the straps tight enough - but actually the straps were on the tightest setting and she was just that small!! I remember I sat in the back with her on the car journey home - watching her sleeping away so beautifully and care free, and realising that she was mine now, and once we got home we were going to be responsible for raising this tiny human. It was an overwhelming thought, but I had also longed for this day, and I was ready to devote my life to being 'Mom'.
In Scotland if your baby is born in February, as Ella was, you can choose if you want them to start school at 4 or you can defer them and let them do one more year of nursery. Since their school year runs a bit different to England, February is the cut off, and so February babies are the youngest in the year. I know several mums who chose to defer their Feb babies, but for me it was never an option - Ella was so very ready for school and so excited to start her new chapter!
and so with that, she set off on the morning of August 21st to start her first day at Edenside primary school which is in Kelso - the town we live in.
Daddy came with us, and we met her best friend 'other Ella' at the school gates before they all went in. They were very pleased to see each other and gave each other big hugs!
They held hands and in they dashed, you could sense the excitement with a hint of nervous anticipation in the air! We had to all meet in the school hall on their first morning.
They all had to line up with a partner - enter other Ella! and their teacher Mrs Whittaker took them off to the classroom. I was a bit sad I don't even get to see her classroom! so I can't even picture where she is every day all day! but that is how it had to be done. Ella was so happy about going that I didn't shed any tears, but I definitely felt a lump in my throat waving her off. It feels like the end of all our daytime adventures has come around far too soon! but at the same time it's nice for me to have some 1:1 time with just baby Addison each day so I think that has softened the blow, meaning Ella's transition to school hasn't been as emotional as anticipated!
I couldn't wait to pick her up that first day, and hear all about what she got upto! She was full of it all - where they have to sit on the carpet, how they have to sit, what the tidy up song is like, which playground they got to go in, who she played with and most importantly for Ella - who got time out that day! She very much likes to discuss the 'naughty' ones in the class, and why they did what they did to get themselves in trouble! and how she will never do those things!! Although since then she has been moved once for chatting on the carpet - which definitely didn't come as a shock, and certainly won't be the last time - Ella is the biggest chatterbox out!
We arrived home, and I told Ella I'd baked her a treat while she'd been gone, some choc chip cookies as a 'well done on your 1st day of school'. She was mega excited! (and apparently according to this picture, so was Addi! Little did she know she wouldn't get to taste said cookies!) She even pushed her luck and took 2, but I let it slide because we were having so much fun catching up on all the playground gossip!
I've been so proud of the way she's taken to it so well, there haven't been any tears at any point and she just seems to have picked up all her new routines perfectly! I told her the other day how I really miss her when she's at school all day but I know that she's having fun and so that makes me happy and she replied 'well I don't miss you mum'!! which was very lovely, haha, but then she went on to say that she knows I will be there at the end of the day to pick me up and so she doesn't miss not being with me and I'm actually really relieved about that! It definitely makes it easier leaving her there knowing she's not thinking about me, and that she's just having great fun!
So I wanted to record, for memory sake, a little update of all Ella's favourite things...at almost 4 and a half!
Colouring in is her new all time best thing to do - when we were on holiday in France, any spare moment she got in between waiting for dinner or waiting for Addi to finish up a nap you would find her colouring in her various Princesses in her Disney colouring book. She is also very into rainbow things and so often the objects she is colouring in have to be done the rainbow way - using a different coloured pen for every stroke! it's definitely time consuming but she can entertain herself for ages this way so we don't complain!
and she still loves all other arts and crafts too! Painting, play doh, stickers, making cards! Give her all the arts and crafts bits and she will keep herself busy and very happy!
She also still loves her little Lego play sets and really enjoys pulling them all apart and building them again over and over!
She also loves the water. She told us she wanted to live in France forever and ever and never come home, and the main reason was because of the swimming pool at the campsite and the water slides which she was a big fan of!
She also loved riding on the Pedalos on the campsite lake, and paddleboarding with us when we were in Annecy.
She goes to swimming lessons every Saturday morning and her water confidence is growing and she loves to show you how she can put her face in the water now and blow bubbles!
She LOVES Addison. Oh man, does she love her sister. It brings a tear to my eye just writing this, but really you've never met a more smitten sister! I thought there would be some jealously or some unkind actions towards baby Addison at some point in the journey but so far, almost 4 months in, there's been nothing but love! The first thing she does in the morning is come running into our room to see her baby sister, and she just loves to make her smile! Addison is a super smiley baby and in reality anyone who pays her attention or looks her way will be on the receiving end of some gorgeous smiles but Ella likes to think she gets more than most - and she loves to report each and every smile Addi gives her!! At night she always tries to give her double kisses and snuggles before she heads off to bed as she just can't get enough! Every Sunday we record our highs and lows of the previous week in this little book we were gifted. It also has random questions each week. The question for this week was 'if you could relive one day in your life which would it be' and Ella said, without hesistation, the day that Addison was born! It made my heart swell with joy, and I can't wait to see their bond flourish even more as Addison grows older.
She likes to be asked 'random questions' when she has to do tasks she doesn't enjoy to take her mind of what is happening - like having her fingernails cut or having her knotty hair brushed! I often ask her things like if you could only have chocolate or ice cream for the rest of your life which would it be - or I pit other yummy treats vs ice cream and ice cream wins out every single time! That girl will be ice cream obsessed for life! We certainly ate some good ones this summer (see above!) Although, she is definitely a chocolate lover too - everytime we would go to a supermarket in France before I even had a chance to open up the handles of the basket she had already picked and chosen out 6 or 7 slabs of chocolate that she wanted to try! it made me laugh - so like her mom!
Her favourite movies after a lot of iPad watching on our beastly car journey's this summer are Hercules and The Incredibles. She also likes to watch Barbie, Hotel Transylvania and PJ Masks on Netflix, but give her some T.V time and Youtube is what she loves the best! Watching random little girls paint their faces and turn themselves into my little pony's or watching bath bombs get made or unboxings of little character blind bags are her jam!
She loves her friends! It has been a sad few months, saying goodbye to her friend who she has had since she was a toddler, Skye, who moved upto Pitlochry...then saying goodbye to her best friend from nursery, Te Maia, who moved back to New Zealand, and then having to say goodbye to a whole heap of friends from nursery as they all went their separate ways and moved on to new schools. She also loves to make new friends though, wherever she goes! whether it's dancing with random girls she just met at her cousin's birthday party, or playing a splashing game with a Dutch girl in the swimming pool on holiday! She always loves to be around other children and so I know she will enjoy making new friends at her new school.
...and she loves to help! Whether it's washing the car, or getting an outfit together for Addison, or helping me move my feeding pillow between rooms or rushing to get a muslin when she sees Addi has been a little bit sick. You are happiest when you are helping, and it is so very sweet to see!
The final thing you love is the mountains, and this makes me so happy! You declared our day in Morzine in the French Alps your favourite of the whole trip! You loved riding the gondolas and chairlifts...
checking out the 'beautiful views' which you kept marvelling at...
having a picnic in the most scenic spot...
and best of all the toboggan run down the mountain which you got to have 5 rides on!
I love that I've passed on my biggest passion to you, and I can't wait to one day see you skiing on those mountains too!
Ella Bella, you make us laugh so very much. You are a born entertainer! You are also a deep thinker (especially with spiritual things) and sometimes catch me off guard with the conversations we have and things you come out with! You are a kind and caring and loving girl, who always wants to make others happy and people please! You love to help, even more so when we praise you for being so helpful! and it is so handy when you do these little helpful things around the house without me even asking that help make getting ready to leave the house etc so much better and easier with a baby and you in tow! You thrive on learning..and love to soak up new information so I know you will grow so much in school, and I can't wait to see all the ways you will develop and progress!
