Full days for Finn

Finn made the big step up this week, following the September holiday weekend, and is now in school for the full day, taking his lunch and finishing at 2.50pm. By the end of the week he was rather reluctant to get up and dressed, saying he didn't want to go to school, so I suspect he's finding the longer days a bit tiring. He's had a fair bit of homework to do too, although this is mostly one letter to write out eight times and, as of this week, his first reading book. The challenge with Finn is to make sure he isn't reading from memory or guessing words. I can remember being accused of that when I was starting school, but, like Sean, I was well able to read the words. When he is in the right mood, Finn works hard and is getting on very well. He sounds out his letters and can read four-letter words and guess at longer ones if he gets the starting syllable.

I'm into quite a packed lunch routine now. Around 10pm in the evening I prepare Sean and Finn's lunch for the following day, and my own. There just isn't enough time to do that in the morning and prepare and eat breakfast too. Sean at least gets himself dressed and Finn does too, albeit with cajoling, but Rowan needs to be changed and dressed (recent attempts at Fairmile Kindergarten to interest him in the potty have resulted in a litany of "accidents" to the extent he has been coming home dressed in all sorts of clothes) and with Sharon tending to Angus it's all a bit chaotic first thing.

Similarly chaotic was our family visit to the dentist on Wednesday. Rowan was first up and passed off fine. The challenge is then to keep him from opening cupboards and drawers or wandering off into another surgery. Sean is to get a protective coating on the fissures on his molars, to reduce the risk of needing fillings and Finn is going to get a scale and polish as his teeth have tended to yellowing more than the others. I got off scot free! Maybe next year Angus will make his debut in the chair!

Angus is still variable on the sleeping front. With Sharon in Ireland last weekend I decided to sleep in with him but not lift him at 11pm and he surpassed all expectations by going till 6.40am! He's not kept that up however, and can waken early or later in the night and, on occasion, be fed at midnight and still waken again at 5.30am. Whether he needs a lot of feeding, is bothered by his nascent teeth or wind, or is too young to settle into a night-time pattern, we cannot tell. I'm sure the others were all going 7 to 7 by this stage, 16 weeks. Baby rice is just around the corner!