Best of friends!

The love-in continues and currently Izzy in particular wants to do nothing else but spend time with Abi. I won't complain, it's lovely to see them so close, I just wonder how long it will continue. I was listening to them in the bath together this evening - they were having so much fun, screaming with laughter as they played yet another game of make believe. This all said, goodness knows what the game was. When I came back into the bathroom after the normal mad pre-bedtime tidy up, Abi informed me that Izzy thinks she's half boy. Apparently on one side she's all girl 'long hair and wiggles' and the other side she's a boy 'with funny hair'. Without thinking I called her an hermaphrodite which prompted lots of questions - when will I learn?!? After me trying to find a relatively simple explanation Abi asked what you can do if you are born a girl and want to be a boy.... She concluded that if you have to make a choice you should wait until you're old enough, 'about 11 or so' she said. Clearly that must still feel so far off that it's almost grown up!

Talking about growing up Abi is very excited about her birthday and the prospect of being 8 - she can't wait! She's not remotely bothered about parties or any of that stuff, just being 8 and knowing what presents she might get. Even more exciting than this is that Glenn is taking her to her first rugby game at Twickenham on her birthday weekend and better - it's an evening game. She's already working out just what to wear to keep warm and more importantly, just how late it will be be when she gets home. Izzy is already lining up things for us to do in Abi's absence - a planned trip to the cinema followed by pizza - and for once seems happy to be the centre of attention.

We had parents evening last week and it's as clear as ever that the girls are different. Abi is very capable but lacks confidence and seeks reassurance before committing to her task. She wants to know everything is right and if she can't be sure then she'd rather not get it down on paper. We set her some tasks at home to write some captions to her favourite photos and there was more angst over spelling and whether her writing was neat enough than the content. Izzy on the other hand has no problem articulating her ideas verbally, but can't really be bothered to commit them go paper.  She finds things easier than Abi, but I don't see her stretching herself much, other than perhaps in her reading which she does beautifully.  Their approach is so different as well. Ask Izzy to read or do her spellings and she gets right down to it, breezes through and is done and can go and get on with whatever junk she's watching / playing. Abi on the other hand spends as much time procrastinating as the task will take so everything takes twice as long and is twice as painful.... Argh! I'm sure it will even out.

Final note to Comment on how much we are enjoying our house being settled and complete. The splash backs are finally in (second attempt, only one minor disaster in a dinged floor tile...), so the dust is all settling and it's so nice. I'm loving having everything in it's place and no massive upheaval every weekend - long may the peace continue!