Hi

hello

lovely to hear from you - hope all is well xx

so nice to 'see' you all again... will do some reading and catch up on where people are at the moment... hope the years have been kind... 


we are 7 1/2 years in now... couldn't tell you where the time has gone... 

squirrel is 8, very sweet natured and easy going. just a very nice person. she's in year3 and has recently been diagnosed (after a lot of pushing) with dyscalulia...so maths and worries about maths are a challenge for her, but we are in the process of applying for an ehcp for her to get some specialist support in place for her. but she likes the rest of school and has some lovely friends and I think her default is happy.
howler is 7, is kind, has an enormous heart and wears it on her sleeve. she had two lovely years at school, then this year has been bullied and has a pretty weak teacher who hasn't managed it well, so she's had a tricky year, that has made us think that we need to be very aware of her self esteem and anxiety as she gets older as she tends to bne very harsh on herself when things are hard. she's a beautiful runner and loves animals and the outside world with a great passion.
curious George is 6 and in year 1... he had a very tricky year last year when he got to school and completely fell apart (nursery was very small and child led so he managed that very happily) it was a bit of a battle but he now has a full time EHCP, the worlds loveliest 1-1 and is ina  nurture classroom for most of the school day which suits his needs far more. we still don't have a formal diagnosis, profs are duking it out as to whether its asd or attachment based... we've come to the conclusion that diagnosis are good for releasing funds, but the most important thing is concentrating on the areas where he struggles and putting things in place to work with things as they come up... it's been a battle, but I think he's got a good team supporting him now which is making a difference.

they are all awesome little people. seeing where they struggle and trying to understand what it feels like for them being in a school-world that's always come easy to me has been very eye opening. they've taught me a lot about bravery( and how to find structures that will support them). these little people that keep on showing up to tough situations every day when they are still so small! I wonder whether the school system as it stands will be for them as they get older and i'm open to looking at alternatives to mainstream education. 

still feel like one of the luckiest people in the world that we are a family, with them all in school, I've just done an MA in creative writing and graduated this year and have finished the first draft of my first novel and am trying to knock it into some sort of shape. am writing for adults at the moment, but would like to do some children's books where the children are adopted, but that isn't the topic of the story, its just their background. i'm very aware that the only adopted characters that we come across tend to be all about the circumstances of their adoption. I want them to see different adopted children doing all sorts of different things, so they are used to seeing possibilities and opportunity.

mr monkey was made redundant from a job he hates and now has a job he likes much better, is so mjuch more chilled and gets home much earlier, so is much more involved in knowing all the little day to day bits of the kids lives.

so that's kind of where we are at the moment...

feels very nice to be back


 

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Really lovely to read your catch up Chotimonkey,  it's astounding how fast years flow by once you have children! Really great to hear your three are all doing so well. It's so nice to see and hear from some 'old friends'! x