My little shadow

I love this kid, she's so affectionate at the moment. Its her saving grace for her bedtime mischief these days. How can I stay cross with someone who just wants "a kiss, an 'ug, and a nose snoggal"? Dont ask about the nose snoggal...its her own invention.

Found out E got her place at middle school today. I just dont know whether we should take it or not yet. She's currently in a combined school which is right on our doorstep. She'd normally have another 2 years at this school before 'big school'. If she changes to the new school in September, they are just into the next county where they have lower, middle and upper schools instead. It would mean E could have 4 years before 'big school' which I think would do her good. She struggles a bit with focus, confidence and Maths as most of her best skills lie in the less curricular subjects like arts and crafts. This new school has a special Maths department with only 7 kids in the bottom sets and its own art room, design & tech room, textiles room and a cookery room. It also has extra sessions for confidence building.

On paper it looks like a no brainer but in reality it will mean committing to taking J to work every day at 6;30 am and we will no longer be able to walk to school. Also means I'll have less time for them in the afternoon as E will finish half an hour later and we'll then again have the 50 minute round trip to collect J from work. We often do this routine anyway if I need the car during the week, but if E changes school I won't have the option not to do it when the kids are particularly tired.

I can't decide if the benefit to one child will outweigh the impact on the others. I'm hoping another child from the current school will be accepted too as she has a younger brother in M's class and maybe we could do alternate car days. Its quite hard to make the choice as I feel Im having to make the choice for the whole family. J had to cancel his visit to the new school twice due to work commitments, and has also missed both E's parents evenings this year for the same reason. He's happy to support whatever I decide buts it's not a great deal of use in making the actual decision. Gah!

Kids all back to school today, L and are missed them so we went for 2 walks and mooched about the house in between