This year has been a big year in our household. Ethan’s turned one and learnt to walk and Kayleigh has been potty trained and started preschool. I’ve also had a ‘new baby’ – my blog.

Kayleigh and Ethan always went to both nannies houses when I returned to work. This arrangement has many benefits such as one to one time with extended family and a lot of love and attention that might not necessarily be available through a nursery or other childcare avenues. But, there was one huge drawback to this set up and that was their lack of confidence around other groups of children and adults.

They have been to many classes and groups and sometimes it was three or four a week when I was on maternity leave, but it was never the type of class for them to spread their wings and become a little more independent as they were very much classes that the parents were involved in.

So, Kayleigh started pre-school when she was 2 ½ doing seven hours a week, which I paid for. It wasn’t much but it was enough time away to become that little bit more confident in herself. It also benefited Ethan to have one on one time with his nannies.

It was expected that when I dropped Kayleigh at pre-school, those first few weeks were going to be hard – and as expected, it was just awful. The first day she screamed so much, I had to go in with her and sit with her for a little while. Then I could hear her screaming as I walked away to go home. She would cry too when I picked her up. It’s possible that those first few days all she did was sit and cry.

Slowly things got easier and Kayleigh started to come out of her shell much more. She became that little bit more independent and although she will tell me that she has no friends or she did nothing at school, the pictures prove otherwise! Sports day was a little traumatic earlier this year, with so many adults around to distract her, she just cried and refused to take part insisting on sitting with her dad and I. However, to prove how far she has come, she had her preschool nativity production last week and although the crowd was packed full of proud parents and it was obvious she had been crying, she remained seated with the other children. 

She has also come on in leaps and bounds in other ways, like knowing her shapes, colours, numbers and being able to sing the alphabet song. Simple little things, but they make me so proud. She had gone from being my little baby to being my little girl. This combined with her little brother now walking and attempting to talk, this year has been a good year!

So let’s end the year on a positive note, what has made your heart swell and be so proud of your little ones in 2011?