Half term already!

Laila is on her first half-term holidays, it feels like about 3 weeks since she started school but its been 7 whole weeks already! The children and I are going to mum and dads for a few days next week and then we'll go to Francois' parents next weekend which is a bank holiday weekend (Toussaint).

When I think back to her first day, she has really grown up in these last 7 weeks, that's a bit sad that she's had to, I do feel a lot of guilt but at the same time she makes me very proud. She can tell me what month it is, what the season is and can count up to about 22 in French, missing out 17 and 18 but still its pretty impressive! She draws zigzags, and some recognisable pictures (trees and dolphins!), recognises her name and several letters and tries to read words in her books.

She has settled in well now, just in time for the holidays! She kisses her teacher when we go home, she has a little friend called Elouan that she talks about most days, and she seems to be liked by the other children. Although they do look at her as if she's an enigma! I don't know how much French she speaks with the other children. But they give her the same look her younger cousins do when she speaks, a look of confusion! 

Her French at home is really good now, she just has trouble with masculines and feminines and her personal and reflective pronouns (I had to look that one up!). As in, she puts the me and you in the wrong place but apparently she is making the same mistakes that a French toddler does so it's obviously part of the normal learning process.

I have been putting her in for some full days in the last 3 weeks to see how she copes. This week wasn't a problem, she eats at the canteen and sleeps with the other children in the afternoon. We've changed her routine to accommodate the afternoon nap, as she'd stopped having one for the last few months. Now I'm trying to get her to have one most days, so she then stays up and eats with us at 7/7.30pm and goes to bed at 8/8.30pm. It means she is eating better and trying new things as she's eating what we're eating and she is also sleeping in till past 7am every morning, this is just amazing for us as she was always a 6.30am girl! Of course just as she starts sleeping in, Max is now the one causing early morning wake ups, sigh!
- I'm adding in a note here to tell you that they both slept in till 8am this morning, amazing! Probably a one-off never to happen again!

Her gym class is also off for 2 weeks, which she wasn't very happy to hear about! She is really enjoying it, she is always amazed by the gymnastics the older children are doing as am I! It's a proper gymnastics centre so some future olympians could be there. I think she'll make some good friends there if we stick with it, but I am going to have to find a solution for Max. He wont be in the baby car seat forever, I'm having trouble carrying him in it now!

And she brought home her artwork from this term, mainly painting, here's some pictures for you: