Monkey gets a name!

Monkey has never had a proper name, he has always just been Monkey, but the way Grace says, "monkey" it often sounds like "Mikey" (or "maatjie" for the Afrikaans speakers, which I've always thought was appropriate). So I was swinging her today and Monkey happened to be around, so I said, "What's monkey's name?" to which she answered, "Monkey" (or "Mikey", I'm never really sure). So I started to joke around around and say, "What's his name? Monkey?" and she would answer, "Monkey" and I would ask, "Mikey?" to which she would answer, "Monkey" (or was that Mikey?) and the game would start again.

Round and round we went, backwards and forwards playing with the word, and then, "Michael" and a huge smile. And it stuck. So Mikey/Maatjie the Monkey is now Michael the Monkey.

We had our first feedback session with the principal at school today and it seems like things are going pretty well. Grace is engaging and participating, the only thing she is not really doing is interacting with the other children, although today she did engage with another little girl, Emma, and had a conversation with her (there are photo's to prove it!). She is very excited about group time, and we both loved the story from today: when it was time to pack up before group Grace starts shouting, "Pack away everyone! Pack away everyone!" Get a move on peeps, it's time for some group fun.

While we sat and chatted with Janine, Grace was having loads of fun pottering around the class. She was painting, pushing the gate button when parents arrived to fetch their children, playing with the number outlines, and just having fun. It was lovely to see her so relaxed and enjoying the space. We are really, really happy with the school and how Grace is handled by everyone there.

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