My little lady is 5. I no longer have babies in my household. I have small children. Small children that are going on tiny grown ups. Isla is not only looking older and just beautiful (biased I know) but she is acting older too. She has lots of emotions at the moment, but on the whole she is polite, kind and very cuddly.
Education
Isla came home with a certificate last week, she got star of the week in her class. She had it for doing some really good work and being kind in class. Well, that’s the version she told me. She felt very proud and you could see it in her face. She has a very expressive face, it lights up the room or breaks your heart – depending on if she is happy or sad.
It was lovely when she turned up at school this morning, all the children said happy birthday to her. It was nice that they acknowledged it and that she has nice children in her class. It’s really important to me that children feel included and I am always encouraging Isla to include others, especially her brother (and vice versa).
Her reading is coming along perfectly. She tries to read all of the time and she writes little notes too. She likes to draw and write, it could be cards or little books. I wonder if she will be an author when she grows up. I can’t wait to find out!
Development at 5 years
My little 5 year old likes to play with her dolls, her soft toys and her imaginative world. She spends the majority of her time putting songs on YouTube and then reenacting the videos with her dolls, dressing up or simply singing her heart out in the bedroom. She loves her dolls, she makes food for them with her kitchen or plays schools with them. I love watching her line them all up and take the register! She is really practicing doing hair at the moment, she has just learnt to do a ponytail. So all of her dollies have their hair in a ponytail.
She has a great understanding of what is right and what is wrong. When she is normal Isla, she is kind and considerate. Always thinking of others and encouraging. There is also another side to her though, where she can press your buttons. She knows exactly what buttons to press too. It’s like she can identify what would cause mischief and does it. I don’t think she does it with any malice though, she is a very caring girl. I think it might be for attention, or for fun, or simply because that is what she learns from other children. I am not sure. There is a lot of learning boundaries too at this age, so testing the limits and working out what she can get away with – is another explanation.
One thing this girl does not lack is sass. She has plenty of it and it can be extremely funny or extremely inappropriate depending on the moment that the sass comes out.
Siblings
The kiddies are playing better together, there is a lot less physical fighting. There are days when all I hear is “Mummy” and that’s followed by a tale about who hit who, or who said what. They seem to have moments of bickering and agitating one another – closely followed by playing really nicely together. They pretend a lot. I love listening to them when they are being creative or using their imaginations. They come up with some funny things, or you can hear Isla replicating Mummy and what I must say to her. It’s quite scary sometimes as it makes me think “Do I sound like that?”. I completely get it though, it’s her perception of what I sound like and she is only 5. So when I tell her off, I probably do sound grumpy like she portrays. I will have to capture it on video one day.