Ruby Reads

Ruby is really getting into reading at the moment and even though she can't read every word, she gets through with a combination of remembering the story and making bits up as she goes along. Which I think is all very clever and very adorable. This is her, reading me a bedtime story on Monday 29th September.

Saturday Lunch

It was a huge pleasure to see Jess, Adam, Lani, Jeff, Justine and Lola, last weekend, for a slap up Saturday lunch.

Weekend

Well that was pretty much a perfect weekend for me. A night in on Friday with a nice music documentary on BBC 4 about Pink Floyd. Pancakes for breakfast on Saturday followed by cream cheese and smoked salmon bagels for lunch. I took Ruby to her second ballet on Saturday morning followed by Roundwood playgound and cafe and some catching up with other local Mums and Dads.
After lunch, I got in a spot of gardening, while the little ones had a nap, and admired all the spiders who've made their home in the garden. We then had a quick trip into town to see Hungarian Photography in the Twentieth Century at the Royal Academy, which was absolutely superb, accompanied by Misha, Paloma and their Dads.
We rounded a great Saturday off with Prossecco, curry and Saturday night telly.
On Sunday, Ibolya went out with Ruby while Lucas and I went food shopping. We then spent a really lovely afternoon at Stephen and Christophe's, who made a truly superb Sunday lunch.

Ruby

I was going to add these pictures of Ruby to my weekend post but just thought they demanded a little post of their own. So here's my remarkable and beautiful little girl on Saturday morning, before I took her for her second ballet class, (where she did exceptionally well and made me feel incredibly proud) helping me make pancakes, doing funny things with a funnel and making me laugh doing 'raspberry fingers'. She also does 'olive fingers' which is equally funny.

Tsiakkos

We have a wonderful film student called Irene, who was born in Mexico and raised in Paris, staying with us at the moment and when we were invited out for diner on Saturday night, Irene volunteered to babysit!So for the fist time in many moons, we had a grown up, night out, with other adults. We had diner at Tsiakkos on Maryland Road. A legendary place, I've hearing about for years but never quite making it to go.
The menu in the first picture tells you everything you need to know about the place, except that the food is absolutely magnificent.

Saturday and Sunday at Sara's

It's always a huge pleasure spending the weekend with my sister Sara and her family in Bedfordshire. And this weekend (which was actually last weekend) we had a lot of fun at Sharnbrook playground.

First Day Of Nursery

It's a very big day in our household today - Ruby's first day at Nicoll Road Nursery.
After two years with our wonderful childminder Mary, it's an anxious and transitional time for us all, although Ruby seems to be taking everything in her stride and she does have many friends there already. It also means I'll no longer be taking my Fridays off to look after Ruby and Lucas which I'm really going to miss.

It's also Lucas's first day being transported to Mary's on the back of my bike, which we're both very pleased about.

Mary wrote this really lovely letter to the nursery, which tells you how much Ruby has prospered under her care and how much Mary thinks of Ruby.

'Ruby has been in my setting since she was five months old. She settled in well, and from the beginning it was clear that she thrived with routine. Ruby eats well and loves all fruit, especially mid morning. As I have already mentioned, routine is very important to Ruby. If there are changes in her day, it’s best if Ruby is aware in advance. She quite independent and likes to be in control of what she is doing. She only needs to be told something once and she will remember as she is very intelligent and mature for her age.

Ruby is fully toilet trained, and has a large vocabulary for her age. She knows her colours and recognises numbers and shapes. Ruby enjoys looking at books and loves been read to. Some of her favourite books are The Tiger who came to Tea, Ruby Bawled and Down by the Cool of the Pool. Some of her main interests are dolls and the home corner. She likes dressing dolls and putting them in the push chair and putting them to bed. She also enjoys painting and sticking with glue and mark making. Ruby draws circus and lines. More recently, Ruby has developed an interest in music and dance, requesting to do such activities daily. When ruby is tired she likes her comforter Mi Mi, her rabbit.

Ruby is a loving an affectionate child, especially towards her younger brother, taking on a protective role making sure he is ok. She is very aware of the world around her, often commenting about events and parts of our routine. She will be greatly missed by everyone in our setting as she has been an absolute delight to look after. I wish her the best in her new nursery; she will be a wonderful addition to your group.