Erin's First Day in Year 1

Erin had been asking all week when school would start. The day finally arrived. The night before everyone was very excited about putting out their school uniforms and new shoes. Bags were packed with sun hats and jumpers. Snacks made and in the fridge.

It took no encouraging to get Erin into her uniform this morning. She was ready and waiting at the door with her backpack on just after eating breakfast. We had photo's, prayers and cuddles before we headed off to work and school.

Erin was very excited to see her friends Lydia and Myra. Lydia is from UK and was in Erin's class in Reception. Myra is from Lebanon and has been in Erin's class since Nursery Buttercup. Myra is the friend in the picture.

This year Erin is in Year 1 Lilac with Ms Petrovic. Again I used to work with her when I did some TA work. It is nice to personally know the teachers. Erin sits next to a South African boy called Luke. Luke tells the most interesting stories which Erin tells me. He has a big imagination!

I hope Erin has an excellent year filled with fun, challenges and learning. I am really enjoying seeing both Erin and Owen growing into little people with their own personalities. Such a special time.

Dress up

Erin loves to dress up. She has a lot of outfits that she chooses herself. In Oman she was in her element in Muttrah Souq when she got to try on all sorts of bling and then take one home with her. There are various poses that go with the different outfits now, depending on her mood.

Erin the Ballerina

Erin is a real little ballerina. She loves to get dressed up in her ballet outfit and go and dance with Ms. Arlette and Chloe each Monday for half an hour. Erin shows me what she has learned during the class and most of the time it is about characters and stories that they are familiar with. Ballet continues through the week in our villa with Erin being the prima ballerina and the rest of the family being the audience.

Little Miss Messy

Erin loves to play with her toys and really enjoys it when Owen joins her to do role play. They set up a camp, cook breakfast, feed the dolls, doctor the stuffed animals and the list goes on. Unfortunately when the end of the day comes she does not like to participate in the clean up and often there is wailing and finger pointing that Owen did it! Owen and I end up doing 90% of the tidying and Erin does as little as possible in between her seismic meltdowns!

Erin settling into school

The first week of school was very exciting for Erin and she was very happy to explore her new environment. On day 3 she showed signs of a bladder infection so I kept her at home and took her to the doctor instead. She had a 2 hour nap that morning so either she was not feeling well or school was tiring. Week 2 was a little less exciting and she was a little tearful. It did not help that there were other littlies wailing on the top of their lungs when their mums left them. Week 3 has been much better and Erin has been very happy to sit with Owen and do puzzles before we leave her class. She showed me her painting and loves alternate Tuesdays which is baking day. Her phonics skills are coming along and they have learn't "s" and "a". They have also done the numbers 1 and 2 and started on the months of the year. I asked Mrs. Bexon how she was doing and her reply was that Erin is quite and just gets on with it. I snigger because I know when Erin gets into the car each afternoon she grows horns and a tail and let's me have it! 

Erin, the persuader (to put it mildly!)

When we are out at the play ground Erin always find children (known or unknown) to push her on the swings or roundabout. She has a preference for little boys as they are keen to help and can do it physically!

The first dummy has been thrown in the bin!

Erin does not have a toy that she is attached to, she has numerous dummies. Today on the way back from parachute play she did not like something on her dummy and said that it was "yucky". I inspected it and suspected that it did not taste right as it looked fine. I told her that when we get home she could throw it in the bin and get the ones in her bed. She agreed to it and because she is a challenging child I asked if I could have a picture of her doing it and she said yes! So just in case she has a melt down later I have proof that she did it all by herself.

Princess Erin

It is not uncommon for Erin to change 3x in one day. She loves to dress up, especially as a Princess with her "up shoes" (high heels) on. She also likes to raid my cupboard and put my "up shoes" on and parade around like a little lady.

Queen of things!

Erin loves to dress up and have lots of accessories. Today we went to have a look for a present for Carola. I thought something girlie like hair accessories would be a good choice. Erin thought a couple of bags for Carola and a couple of bags for herself would be the solution to the gift dilemma. We did eventually leave without the bags and Erin had to be carried out of the shop over my shoulder wailing the whole time in protest at my decision!

Birthday Cake Test Run

I wanted to create a rainbow cake mixture for Erin's birthday cake so bought a Betty Crocker box for the trial. The colours came out beautifully but unfortunately the cake was too soft to cover in fondant! Never-the-less Erin and I enjoyed our time in the kitchen and the unlimited slices of cake without icing on it. The party is on Saturday so I had better come up with plan B quickly!

Erin is 3!

It is Erin's birthday! Time has flown and I cannot believe she is 3 already. Last night I wrapped presents and staged them in our bedroom ready for her this morning. She was very happy with the set up and with the help of Owen set about opening all her gifts. She got plastic glasses for her kitchen and a Hello Kitty outfit from Owen and from Brendon and I she got a picnic hamper with fabric food and drinks. She was very pleased with her presents and took them all on the school run!

Erin the "creator"

Erin is very pleased to be out of nursery and home with me again. We have a lot of fun in the mornings once we drop Owen off at school. She loves being able to play with the toys in his class for a few minutes before we say goodbye and head off. She has also been accepted into Nursery at Parkhouse English School after the summer. I am sure that she will be more than ready to get down to some serious play with her classmates some of which I already know. I have requested that she be in Mrs. Bexon's class as Owen was with her and he still he misses her, Mrs. Holmes and Mrs. Baker.

Our daily routine: The deal is that when we are at home the dishwasher has to be unloaded and repacked and the washing loaded and hung first before anything else happens. If this is not done then we live in a perpetual state of chaos. Otherwise it is just "our time". Our days are filled with structured playdates at other peoples compounds, play dough, drawing, painting, music time, creative kitchen time, making lunch together before we fetch Owen, grocery shopping and the odd errand.

Potty training is very successful for no.1 but I do insist on her wearing a nappy on school runs as the traffic is unpredictable and one never knows when one has to wait on the motorway for an extended period. She dislikes this but I have no other choice at this stage of the training.

She has a mind of her own and is sharp as a tack often with a hidden meaning behind her questions. Her talking has come along well and she can form a sentence with up to 10 words sometimes. She counts to 13, knows all her shapes but colours according to Erin are all pink!

Erin's Nursery Concert

It was Apple Tree's Holiday Concert today. Erin has been singing her Santa Song the past few weeks with actions and today it was action time. The parents sat on little chairs armed with cameras, iPhones and iPads. It was a little too daunting for some who went hysterical. Erin could see me sitting in front of her but went into a trance like state at the overwhelming Paparazzi! She was mute during her group singing but perked up in the car and decided that is when she would sing. A lovely effort by the nursery though. 

Expressions of Erin

A productive day with the Mommy

After having to spend time with a sick Owen, Erin was very pleased to spend some quality time with me after dropping Owen at school. We baked 24 cupcakes which were to be decorated later that afternoon with Owen. Then it was painting time. Erin is very keen on cats and so lots of them had to be drawn and painted. Then Erin demanded I draw her in her pretty dress. I thought it was a tall order seeing as I am not an artist in the natural, but what got produced was beyond my normal ability and totally surprising to me! In actual fact I have copy righted it and this afternoon will be photocopying it so that the cherubs can colour in my work of art. The original will be stored in the memories box to be looked at in a few years time. You see before Owen was born I was a career girl. Just give me some numbers and a spreadsheet and I could analyse and pie-graph just about anything you asked me. I could hardly cook, didn't draw and found cleaning and ironing an arduous chore. Once Owen arrived I thought I had better get myself sorted or else he would only be breast-feed for the rest of his life. Now I have most domestic things mastered, except for face painting. And at this point I will admit defeat on it. Any way, back to Erin. So after nap time we went to pick Owen up from school. Erin thought it would be a good time to learn how to apply make-up, which is my usual morning routine in the school car park. In the afternoon the cherubs decorated, iced and ate the cupcakes and then played nicely together until, like every afternoon, Owen had to endure a beating from his sister. I look forward to tomorrow :-)