Nuremburg Nuptuals

We were lucky enough to go to the wedding of some old friends of Tim's in Nuremburg in September. Stella found the whole idea of the wedding very exciting indeed and loved seeing Kat in a white dress. We also really enjoyed the fantastic German playgrounds. Stella did try some of the local food and as you can see from the pictures, the sausages (above) went down somewhat better than the sauerkraut (below)!

The lovely Lakes

Our second holiday of the year :) was in the Lake District in an idyllic cottage by the western shore of Lake Windermere. It was a small place, but it was so lovely to go down to the lake every day and often to swim - in spite of the cold weather!

Stella loved the blackberry picking down the lane, to make blackberry and rhubarb crumble (rhubarb provided from uncle Aidan's garden). It was nice for us to be in the Lake District and to be able to have visitors. Uncle Bren and Auntie Jackie came one day with Ruth and Conor and Grandma and Grandad for a barbeque by the lake. Aidan and Catherine came one evening for dinner and Andrew, Olga, Ananyo and Kat came and visited for a disastrous walk and a nice evening meal.

Another great holiday at Cergallina

This summer we were at Cergallina with Adrian (Tim's Dad) and Liz (Tim's Step mum) and the with Tim and Angela our friends, and their children Tilly and Danny. We had a fantastic holiday and Stella's confidence in the pool came on in leaps and bounds. The food was as usual a big hit - what five year old would complain about pasta and ice cream every day. We did some of the usual day trips, but generally just enjoyed relaxing by the pool, riding Judith's horses and the gardens of Cergallina.

Stella's Fifth Birthday

May 13th was Stella's fifth birthday. She seemed to have a lovely time. We had a party at home a few days before the actual day. She had lots of friend come over and we played party games, with mixed success! Opening the presents was, of course, a highlight. May 13th was actually a school day, but by the time she came home there were so many parcels from her generous extended family that the excitement began all over again. You can see how pleased she was from the pyjama photo above.



Stella is still loving school and really enjoying learning how to write. Whenever she can she loves to draw and write at the moment. It makes entertainment very cheap and easy.

We're also just back from a lovely week in the Lake District with my parents. Stella and Affy loved playing in the garden. We had some beautiful little walks and even some paddling in lake Windermere (swimming for mummy!). It was just the break we needed from Clapton.

Chasing the sheep in Wales

It seems to hard to get around to posting anything on the blog these days! Ever since Stella started school, life has seemed busier than ever. It's amazing how quickly 3.30 comes around and I'm off to pick her up from school. The weekends are over in a flash. Anyway, it's now the Easter holidays and Stella and Affy have gone for a day out with Liz, their nanny. I was just looking at photos from our recent holiday in Wales and thought that it was time for a post.

Stella has settled into school really well. She seems to have made quite a few friends. Lila, Winnie and Anouscha are the ones who she talks about most at the moment. She happily sets off for school in the morning and they seem to do lots of fun activities which keep her interested. Sometimes she has school lunches, depending on what the menu of the day is, but often she likes to have packed lunches. She's coped really well with the whole transition into big school although she did get lost with her friend Anouscha on the second day of school. "It's the first time I've ever been lost mummy" she proudly told me when she came home that day. "We cried a bit for our mummies and then we went up and down stairs a bit and found a teacher!" is how she recounted the adventure.

She's had friends over to play after school a few times - Anouscha, Lila and Alex at different times - but it's quite tough for them as they're tired after a day at school and I often find that I have to be referee!

Stella is very enthusiastic about colouring at the moment. She spends lots of her time colouring in anything she can get her hands on, and drawing too. Which is great. Her reading and writing are starting to come along. She can blend three letters and can write most of them, with an occasional hint. I was surprised to find other friends' children of the same age who can already read and write, but Stella's school isn't pressurising them into it at the moment and focusses a lot of play. I think that's fine for now.

Stella loves her teachers Rachel and Farrer and they seem to be very good and caring.

Swimming is coming along a treat. We go for lessons every week and now Stella can swim on her back very confidently and does a good doggie paddle on her front. She's happy to jump in from the side of the pool and will put her head under water too. At the end of term she also had her first ballet exam! It was much more serious than we expected. She had to wear white tights and have her hair pinned back in a bun. Also, she was supposed to have learnt a dance, but we didn't realise this, so I'll be amazed if she passes. I think we might try something other than ballet next term for a change!

Our big girl starts school!

Stella started school last Monday at Millfields Community School around the corner. It was a snowy and cold day so there wasn't much opportunity to take photos.

It seems to be a very nice school, if a lot bigger than either Tim's or my primary school, with about 650 students. Stella's teachers are Rachel and Farrar and she is in blue class. She seems to have settled in very well and on Friday she said goodbye to me before going into the school (on previous mornings Tim or I had gone into the classroom with her). She already got herself a gold smiley face for doing something good - we're not sure what, and so is suitably proud. She also seems to be making friends already and enjoying playing in the playground. She was delighted to come home and tell us on Wednesday that she had got lost for the first time in her life on the journey from the school dinner hall to the playground at lunchtime! Fortunately she was with another little girl, Anouscha, and she said they both cried for their mummies a little bit and then went and found someone who told them where to go. All quite an adventure I think. Unfortunately, school has been closed for the last two days because they have no water, so Stella has gone back to her nursery! Hopefully she will be happy to go to school again when it reopens.

With the family

It's a time of change for Stella. This week she leaves her nursery after three happy years and heads off for big school. Stella is really excited about this change in her life, but not without a little sadness to be leaving Jocelyn, Christine and Valerie behind. She says she's particularly going to miss Jocelyn. But at nursery, the children her age have long moved on to big school and so I think Stella will be delighted to have some new peers to play with.

Last week we went to school to meet her teacher Rachel and her nursery assistant Farrer. They both seemed lovely and very committed teachers. I feel happy that she will be in good hands. It's a very big school though with about 650 pupils, so I'm nervous too.

The photo is of the four of us from the birthday party of Stella's cousin Martha who was eighteen at the beginning of December.

Halloween!

A busy few months

It’s been a busy few months since I last wrote. We had summer holidays in Cornwall and Italy. Stella and I went to Berlin together to see our good friends Aino, Hubert, Alvar and Ingmar and we’ve all had a couple of trips to the Lake District.

Stella absolutely loved staying in a caravan in St Ives, even though it rained every day. She especially liked the fact that she could see out of her bedroom window!! She loved playing in the sea and bravely came swimming with me one day in an unheated lido in Penzance, which was really quite chilly.

Italy was much warmer and Stella learnt how to swim in the Cergallina pool. This seemed like a really big milestone and was very exciting for all of us. She also really enjoyed just spending time in the garden in her own little world. Most fun of all was playing with cousins Rafael and Joy for the first few days and then Molly for another few days. She also had some time playing with Fabio and Massimo and their cousin Luca, who she loves!

Stella is now the biggest girl at nursery as the final few of her friends of her age went to school. She still seems happy enough but she is looking forward to school immensely. I’m much more nervous about the big city school Millfields which she’s going to which has 650 pupils! Quite different from my own school experience in Poulton-le-Fylde. I’ve met a couple of the children who will be starting in January and heard of a few more. They all seem nice so hopefully it will be fine. For now I’m enjoying the fact that Stella is home on Wednesdays and Fridays to do lots of fun things together that will be much more difficult once we’re tied to school holidays.

We’ve been visiting a lovely farm in Essex which only takes about 35 minutes to get to. And we’ve been doing a few nice walks. Last weekend we went to Epping Forest, also in Essex. Also taking the opportunity to visit friends outside London. Stella seems keen to play with almost anyone whose house we turn up at, which makes it very easy for me to go and see old friends. Flying to Berlin just the two of us was a real treat though and Stella was just brilliant. It was so easy to travel with her and I look forward to more of that in the future.

Here are a few photos from the last few months as it’s taken me so long to get around to blogging:

Stella is four!

Tomorrow Stella will be a big four! She started the celebrations tonight with a pre birthday tea with the family. Tomorrow all her friends from nursery are coming over in the afternoon and on Saturday she's having a party with her non-nursery friends.

She's such a big girl these days. This weekend was Tim and my fifth wedding anniversary and we went away for the night while Stella and Affy stayed with Aunty Carina and Uncle Mark. Stella had such a lovely time playing with cousin Molly that she really didn't want to leave when it came to Sunday evening.

She's very excited about starting school but has to wait until January for the pleasure. She's got a place waiting for her then at the local primary school Millfields. She's really enjoying her swimming lessons at the moment and last week surprised me by saying, watch this mummy, and swimming a few strokes without her floats. This was a first! She's also enjoying ballet classes on Saturday mornings especially now her friend Mercy has started coming along too.

Her favourite pastime is still without doubt reading books. She also spends hours telling little stories to herself with figurines.

Easter Fun

This is Stella relaxing on the sofa at her friend Abbie's house. Abbie has a brother Joseph who's just the same age as Affy so we like going over there to play. Stella loves playing with Abbie's dolls house and Abbie's dad, Ben, is always good at organising the girls to do art projects when we're there, so that Abbie's mum, Natascha, and I can chat and have a cup of tea!!

Yesterday we had a lovely day after visiting Abbie we went kite flying with Fabio and Massimo on Hackney Marshes. The boys and Stella all went on their bikes. Stella's getting really good at balancing on her Likabike now, and hopefully she'll be able to move onto a proper bicycle soon. Kite flying was a bit crazy because it was so windy. Tim said it was the first time he'd flown a kite too. We must do it more often as it was lots of fun.

This is Stella and Abbie


This is Stella and Massimo and Stella and Tim kite flying:

Three and three quarters

This is Stella hugging a tree in the lake district where we visited Grandma and Grandad this weekend. It was so cold while we were there, we didn't really get to go outside much, although Stella is always delighted with Grandad's big TV anyway so she didn't mind that much.

Stella's really looking forward to being four. I'm not sure if it's the birthday presents, the party or the fact that I suggested I might build her bunk beds once she was four. I'm now beginning to regret this promise as Africa is a real climber and her history of accidents makes me very nervous about building such a tall object in their bedroom.

We're still waiting to hear which school Stella is going to go to, but in the meantime, in spite of my worries about her being the oldest at Little Buds she still seems really happy there.

Stella's getting really good on her likeabike and can balance quite well so I'm wondering if we might graduate to a proper bicycle soon.

In Springfield Park

We had a lovely afternoon in Springfield Park last week with friends, Tash and Jovin and their daughter Frieda who is the same age as Africa. It was a really warm afternoon for February and Stella had lots of fun running around and rocking on the wooden animals there.

Stella is getting really interested in writing now. She can write her name and recognises most of the alphabet. I have to admit to not having spent much time pushing this, but they do help her a lot at nursery and I can tell that she will start to get the hang of reading very soon, whether I like it or not!!

Daddy has been busy the past few weeks with his book tour but Stella has really enjoyed watching where he's been on a big map on her wall. She also likes watching video clips when he appears on TV, although the messages are not always age appropriate...

She's being a really lovely big sister these days too. She doesn't like to sleep in her bed but on the floor next to Affy. Affy seems to like this too and they both sleep better as a result. Finally, I've got them to go to bed at the same time too, which is a result!

Why?

"Why?" questions have been Stella's favourite for quite a while now, and they are not always easy to answer. To take a sample from the past couple of days (about as far back as I can remember!) "Why did I grow out of my coat?" "Why is fire hot?" "Why do people have to die?" "Why did the Lion King's Daddy speak from the clouds?" It keeps us all thinking! Unfortunately, I rather misjudged the power of the Lion King over a three year old and Stella got very upset by it. I'd like to put this down to her emotional maturity rather than parental incompetence, but fortunately Tim was able to pick up the pieces before bedtime and hopefully there won't be too many nightmares tonight!

What other news does Stella have? To my delight her nursery, Little Buds, has moved onto our street and so now in the morning it takes us about three minutes to get there. Stella keeps suggesting that she could get there herself, which she probably could, but I suspect I might be getting more than a visit from social services if I were to allow it!! I admire her independence though. I'm still trying to get her into the local school nursery as she is now one of the oldest at Little Buds and I'm worried she's getting bored there. She keeps telling me she is, but I'm hoping it's just a three year old thing and she's experimenting with the words rather than it being a real concern.

We're filling in our school application forms at the moment, and wondering whether or not Stella will get into the school of our choice, Millfields. It's only about 5 minutes walk away, but it's had some great reviews and so everyone is trying to get in there... We can but wait and see. I'm trying not to get too stressed about it as there's nothing we can do really other than move house, and currently we're not likely to move more than two doors down the street.

Stella is still a big fan of being read to, and looking through books. She's started writing her name now and some numbers too and she seems very excited about that.

I'm trying to involve Stella more in the cooking in the hope that she'll start to be a bit more adventurous with what she eats. Default response to a new dish is "I don't like that" and except for a few favourites (avocado, green beans, carrots, sweet corn..), vegetables are a bit of a struggle. She'd eat pasta every day if I let her!

Stella loves her bed time DVD watching session and is currently (at least prior to the Lion King experience) addicted to The Grinch. She has been watching it for days and now knows the song "Where are you Christmas" off by heart and sings it with surprising similarity to the original!

Life is busy and it's almost impossible to capture her and Africa together, but here's an attempt!

Autumn Leaves

Umbria!

We've been lucky to have lots of holidays this year - although we've realised that sometimes holidays with two children are not as relaxing as holidays used to be, and that being at home is more restful! Anyway, we had a lovely time in Umbria for Hannah and Ian's wedding. Stella made good friends with Ella and Rosie, two second cousins of Hannah and cousins of each other, who were staying in the same Agrotourismo as we were. She loved the food of course - pasta, pizza and gelato heaven! Unfortunately the pool was freezing cold so Stella took to being my coach and running up and down the poolside as I swam! Both she and Affy were brilliant at coping with all the late night dinners which surrounded the wedding. At around nine, Stella would just go and sit in her buggy and go to sleep - Amazing!

In Wales

We've had a lovely summer of UK holidays including a trip to South Wales for a week. I think the highlight for Stella was sleeping on the top bed of a bunk bed at one of the houses which we rented in St Davids, but we also had a great time visiting the National Welsh Botanic Gardens where I took these pictures. We're already having to start thinking about which school Stella will go to as we have to make our application at the beginning of next year. She won't start until January 2009 though. In the meantime she's still enjoying Little Buds three days a week.

Stella has entered the phase of devotion to all things pink (do all girls go through this??) and having persuaded me to buy her a pink tutu a few weeks ago has now started ballet too (at her own request!). On the first day before we got there she announced that she wanted to go in on her own and for me and Africa to leave her there. So, I did as I was told (eye's misting up!) and she got on just fine. The second time I was a bit surprised that she was less gung ho about heading in, but after a few minutes watching she still went for it. Fortunately for now, ballet seems to mainly involve jumping around being a star and running around pretending to be a car. This seems pretty harmless! I must get a picture of the tutu soon..

A beach holiday in Whitstable

It's a busy life being three and there's not much time for writing blogs. But, today, thanks to Stella's sister waking me up for the day at four thirty, I find myself with time a the computer and an inability to think straight. So, instead I can post some pictures up here and write about what Stella's been up to.

These photos were taken during a little holiday we took in Whitstable in May. We stayed in a beach hut which Stella loved. In fact she wanted to stay there forever and never come home. Fortunately we did come home though and I think, in the end, she would have missed her cousins next door, her friends and her toys. Books are still probably Stella's favourite thing in the world and it's a rare occasion that an offer of being read to is turned down. She also spends lots of time playing with small figures, chatting to them and making up stories. Once a week I try and take her swimming, either in the new lido at London Fields or the local pool and she absolutely loves it. Her confidence is growing in the water, and who knows, maybe by the end of the summer she'll be well on her way to her first doggy paddle!

She's getting interested in letters now too and can recognise quite a few - S is a favourite obviously, but also M (for Mack, her friend at nursery), and F for Fran and P for Pearl another friend and A for Africa. Lots more too, I'm sure.

She still loves going to Little Buds and amazingly for me is one of the big girls now. Tim and I are off to visit a potential primary school tomorrow. It's all coming very fast!

Stella is Three!

Grizedale Forest

We spent a wonderful couple of weeks in the Lake District at Grandma and Grandad's house recently while Tim was in America on a book tour. OK, Stella did wake up a scream the house down at 5 am every morning and one day, when I refused to get up, she proceeded to decorate Grandad's office with highlighter pen... but apart from that we had a lovely time! Here's Stella running on a bench in Grizedale Forest where there's a great walk with wooden musical instruments along the path.



Here's a picture of Stella's art work from Grandad's wall which has thankfully been painted over now.

Scary pair

Stella loves to pull faces these days. Here she is taking lessons from the expert...

Potty Training

This little girl may look like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth but I have to say that potty training her has forced me to discover new levels of tolerance!! Hopefully it will all be over soon and we will be able to go out of the door without a hundred changes of clothes once more...