Monday evening

I picked Little Prince up from school, and started to prepare him for the fact it was Parent's Evening at his school tonight, and that he would have to stay with Drama Teen AND behave!! He was more bothered by the fact that I wouldn't take him to the school book fair, but I've had to pay out for a school trip, school photos and various other things for school so something had to give!! When he'd finally got the idea that he really wasn't going to the book fair, he started to tell me that him staying with Drama Teen was NOT going to go well!! He insisted that he wouldn't be able to behave, so I told him he would have to go to his room and read Harry Potter (he has finished the first one and is now reading the last one - he says it takes him so long to read them he would never get to the end if he didn't do it this way!). When Drama Teen came home from college she offered to make hers and the littlies tea. Which was a great help, as I could carry on looking after Little Prince and reiterating what he was and wasn't allowed to do when I went out. Just before their tea was ready Mr Messy arrived home, he had left work early so that he could attend Little Prince's Parent's Evening with me. He has always tried to be as involved in the children's education as his working hours will permit, and luckily school are very co-operative and schedule appointments for as late as they can in the evening.

Mr Messy went for a super quick shower while I supervised Princess Lollipop eating her tea. She is eating a lot more independently now, but needs supervision to stop her flicking everything (especially peas!!) all over the place!! It did occur to me while I was watching her eating, that she was learning so much faster than Little Prince, and she will have overtaken him in ability very soon :-(

By the time the children had finished their tea and Mr Messy was ready from his shower it was time for me and him to go to school. We only waited five minutes or so before seeing his teacher. And we were THRILLED at how well he is doing :-) In recent standardised tests he scored a 2a for Maths and a 3a for reading, knowing how he can lose interest and concentration his teacher was worried when he returned from the hall after his reading test well before the other children and saying he had finished! However, when she looked at his test he had done extremely well, she got him to try the extension to the test and although he said it was hard he tried his best and got a fantastic score :-) However, in his spelling test he scored lower than he should, we and his teacher think because he probably got bored and lost concentration. She says he should have got a lot higher score as his spelling is generally spot on. His writing is improving slowly too, most things he writes are now fairly legible, but it still takes him a long, long time to complete written work.

When we got back home Little Prince came running down the stairs, we both gave him a huge hug and told him how well he was doing and how proud we were of him :-) He is learning though - he asked if that means he can have a treat!! I took Little Prince to bed and then put on mine and Mr Messy's tea, Drama Teen went for a shower and then went upstairs to get on with her homework. Me and Mr Messy watched a new episode of "Toddlers and Tiaras" about kiddie beauty pageants in America, there are some scary Stage Mums out there!!! And after the poor little girls have had their wigs put on and styled, their tans sprayed, their make up caked on and their flipper (false perfect looking teeth they put over their own teeth) they look more like identical Barbie dolls than individual little girls, and some of them are so beautiful before they are "Barbie-d" :-( And there is a whole industry based around these pageants - coaches, dress retailers, flipper makers etc!! Weird!! But weirdly entertaining to watch!! Drama Teen came down and watched the last few minutes of the programme with us, and Mr Messy was telling her she would be banned from entering if she tried!! Because none of the other girls would stand a chance :-) And he's right :-)