Glass half full

Much as it was lovely to get away for a few days, holidays like that are weather dependant and so with an increasingly poor forecast of torrential rain we decided to cut our losses and came home 2 days early. This isn't surprising for us, we often end up missing home sooner than we are due to return, and we are clearly passing the feeling to the girls as well. Despite the lack of sunshine we did have a good time and have some lovely memories of rock pooling on the coast, eating ice-cream and playing cards in the pool house to name a few. Glenn and I both leave with slightly stronger legs having braved the hills to get some running in - there is no such thing as an easy run in Tenerife - you run uphill for half the total distance you want to do, then turn around and run back down again! To date the longest run I have done is 7.5 miles. 26 miles still feels like an unachievable distance but as I keep telling the girls - nothing worthwhile in life is easy and its worth putting in the effort to get the results. 

Much of the effort conversation stems from the girls' first half term effort cards. Both have done reasonably well with a majority of 4's (out of 6 but suspect 6 is pretty unusual having spoken to others). I guess unsurprisingly both scored 5 in PE and Games - I would be disappointed with anything less. Izzy didn't get less than a 4, while Abi got a 3 in English. When we had a chat about this she said "but it's hard", hence the discussion about the fact that this is an effort mark and its all about what you put in, not about what you get out. Good lesson, albeit completely counter to what we say to people in work in these days of flexibility where we talk about everything being output driven. Obviously that is based on a set of objectives where minimum expected outputs equal quite a lot of input...

The glass half full conversation is another common one. Izzy is generally a positive force where optimism rules and the glass is at least half full. Abi, bless her, tends to dwell on the downside and is more often to be staring into a glass which at best is half full. I've had many a pep talk with her about this - including whether it feels better to smile or frown (her answer "frown, it's easier Mummy"... before cracking a massive smile). I hope some of it sticks before she gets much older and stops listening to me completely.

So November has rolled around again so quickly and of course this means it's Abi's birthday in just 3 weeks time. Our baby will be 9 - eek! She's growing up so quickly and when on form (more so when it's just the family or close friends around) she is the most amazing person to be around and I'm so proud of her. Of course there are many times when that's not the case and I despair, but that's parenthood. She and Izzy are still so close despite the fact that Izzy is increasingly her own person and less compliant to Abi's every whim. Izzy now dictates some of the play, albeit it still revolves around the babies, school and nursing someone. Their imagination continues to grow and I love to watch and listen them. Izzy has the more creative streak - she's taken up the cello (I doubt it will last given neither of us play), draws and makes if she gets the chance and is also the one that reads for pleasure, something I hope she will continue given I love it so much. I find her now tucked up in a corner with a book which I am so chuffed about - I guess its something you either want to do or not.

So one more week of half term, most of which I'm back to work for, then Abi and I have our riding holiday. We can't wait - bit of mother and daughter bonding, then a few weeks before Izzy and I head to Lapland - lucky me to have so much quality time together with my babies!!