Christmas 2019

Christmas Eve

Christmas Morning

 

(featuring a special breakfast of pancakes, cream & chocolate!)

Christmas Dinner

And the rest...

Halloween 2019

This year, you got to go out trick or treating for the first time. Your cousin Grace came over too and you brought home a bucket full of chocolates and sweets!

My little mermaid.

Swimming is one of my favourite things to do. It can be relaxing, it's good exercise and it's an important life skill. Your brother began his swimming lessons not long after his 5th birthday but you... well you were 3 1/2 years old when we got you started.

We'd been away on holiday in July earlier this year and after spending a week in the water, you absolutely loved it. Your confidence grew each day and you would enjoy getting in the water every day... jumping in, splashing, being thrown about. Loved it!

So in August we got you started in your very own classes. Because you were under the age of 4 you had to have daddy come in the water with you, but still it was a good start to the basics and within a couple of weeks you had gone from 3 armbands on each arm down to 2. You've now been going for just short of 3 months and today, you earned your first swimming badge & certificate.

We are so proud of how hard you try each & every lesson. It helps that like Dexter, it's something you really enjoy. And we don't doubt that you'll be speeding through the water without armbands in no time!

Moving to big school...

You have gone to Waters Edge nursery since you had just turned a year old. You have absolutely loved it there and have learned so much! But at the end of August we waved goodbye to your 'little' nursery...

...and you prepared yourself for moving to Old Earth (aka big girl school) just like your big brother. You were so excited that you got to wear a uniform like he does & go to the same school he does.

I'll be honest, I expected there to be some stubbornness at being moved to a new environment or a transition period of settling in, but from the very first day you came home you said you had such a good time and had made friends - and you haven't looked back since!

Your first holiday :)

Majorca 2019

 

Potty Training

When Dexter was fast approaching his third birthday and still not potty trained, me & daddy were a little worried. It seemed that everyone around us with kids of a similar age had already got over that hurdle and Dexter just wasn't interested. I know, I know... all kids develop at their own rate, but it's hard not to think 'is there anything we can do to encourage this?' so we tried a few things to get the ball rolling but after all the failed attempts we gave up and eventually learned that kids potty train when they are ready and not before. A week before his third birthday, he took his nappy off and told us he didn't need them anymore and that was that. No fuss. No struggle.

Fast forward a couple years and with your third birthday slowly approaching, you'd think we wouldn't have any reason to doubt that you master this. But as a parent, you still assume stupid stuff - even the second time around. We figured that Dexter was quite late in potty training and that actually being the younger child, having a sibling to copy from, being encouraged at nursery, being so grown up for your age... well, we thought you would do it so much sooner.

We were wrong!

We knew you could, you just didn't want to. And Rayna only does what Rayna wants, when Rayna wants to :)

Your third birthday came & went. Not even a hint of you showing interest. Well, not at home anyway. We had been told on a few occasions by nursery that you had been making progress there but you wouldn't for us. The potty we'd had lying around for about 12 months was mostly used for hiding toys in.

So Easter came around and I had 4 days at home for us to have a really good try. Out came your big girl pants, your stickers & reward chart. I was really hopeful. I shouldn't have been. It wasn't that we had 'accidents', it was more that you just refused to show even the slightest bit of effort. After two very unsuccessful days, I gave up. You didn't want to and you weren't going to.

However, nursery continued to tell us more and more how well you were doing there and around came the next bank holiday weekend with 3 more days for another attempt. It couldn't harm to try. So once again, out came all the big girl pants and stickers and reward chart.

And guess what.... no accidents! Three days & NO ACCIDENTS!

The Tuesday that you went back to nursery you were learning to deal with distractions and that day you came home with 3 wet pairs of pants.

On Wednesday you came home with 2 wet pairs of pants.

On Thursday you came home with 1 wet pair of pants.

On Friday... you came home in the same pants you went to school in.

I was so proud of you.

3 Today!

My adorable little Rayna. What can I say that I haven't said before. Today you are 3 years old and every day you continue to amaze me with how clever, confident and articulate you are for your age.

• You can count past 20.
• You can recite the alphabet & recognise letters.
• You know your colours & shapes.
• You can sing full nursery rhymes.
• You can recite your favourite books.

And your bond with your brother remains so strong!

The past year hasn't been an easy one what with mummy going through a cancer diagnosis, but having you and your brother being a constant light in my life has made it all worthwhile. You will never truly know what strength & motivation you gave me through it all. If there was ever a reason to fight, it was for you & Dexter.

I love you baby girl xx