Today was Grace’s first day of school for the year, and this year she is one of the “big” kids in her class. Montessori classes have a 3 year range of ages in them, i.e. 3-6, 6-9, 9-12, etc. so she is at the top of the food chain. Her first day seemed to go well, but I do think she is missing Andrew who is now in the junior primary class. She does have other friends in the class, but I think she’ll make some new friends quickly and settle down soon.

Grace and Eli were riding around the pool while we drank coffee in the morning, and Grace had a minor fall and was a bit upset. Donné said to Eli, “Go give Gracie a hug.” Off he goes to Grace, gives her a big cuddle, and then kisses her on the head. All better sis, all better. One of those, that’s-so-sweet-I-could-melt moments.

We had the Stofberg’s and Baker’s over for a get together today, and one of the things that I noticed was the change in how the children all interact as a group. I’m not sure if it is just a matter of having a bigger group of children, or if there is just a different dynamic when there is a wider range of ages, but the kids are starting to self organise and split off into groups, come back together and form other groups and carry on playing and having fun. The whole dynamic of it is just really interesting to watch.

Something else that I see regularly is how Grace likes to go walking along, singing a song, with a friend in tow. She makes up her own words for the song, belts it out and they play as they go marching around.

Thanks to Mike for the photos!

I’m not sure exactly why, but the trampoline seems to be the place to eat ice cream in our house

Food, glorious food!

Eli has been enjoying building puzzles, so when Donné came home with a new 24 piece puzzle, he sat down to build it….then build it again…and again, and again. Each time, as the final piece of the puzzle went in, he would break it apart and start again.

Enjoying some lunch on their pirate ship

Thursday is still one of Eli’s most exciting days of the week….the day that Sam comes. He really loves being out in the garden helping Sam, whatever it happens to be.

Grace has asked why the mosquito repellent stops the mosquitoes from biting her, and I’ve told her that they don’t like the smell of it, so they stay away from her.

So I’m busy putting mosquito repellent onto Grace before bed time and she says to me, “Mommy is a mosquito, because she doesn’t like the smell of this stuff.”

Taking children to the hairdresser hasn’t been on Donné’s list of “Fun things to do”, seen as she usually has to deal with Grace being unhappy about her hair being pulled and unable to sit still, and Eli just not being particularly willing to sit still for long enough.

But today, Donné came home with a smile and a peaceful heart after a happy, successful, Barney and Barbie movie filled hair dressing experience. Happy children, cut hair, and happy mommy.

They had their hair cut at the Wellness Pod in Somerset West.

Grace calls Donné, “Mommy, come look…Ell’s tired and he wants a nap.”

Of course, when he did try to lift his head up she held him down (because he needed to nap) – a little bit of sisterly love.