Last day

For Squiffany that is, at her nursery school. She had made cards and keyrings for all the staff and strode in ahead of me to put her bag on its peg and rummage around for them. She took each to its recipient and told them it was a little present because it was leaving. I felt all poignantly emotional, which was quite absurd - after all, Pugsley will be starting there in September ... I suppose it's because she seems so little to be starting school in a few weeks. Only half days to begin with, but then she will be only four and a half.

She's really grown up in the past couple of months though and it's been interesting to see. She had been, for a few weeks, tearful (though uncomplaining) when left there, and anxiously asked to be handed over to a teacher rather than left to play or start one of the activities. Then, at a trip to the dentist, she was told that she should stop sucking her thumb (which she didn't do a lot, mostly to get to sleep) as her teeth were starting to push forward. She and her parents talked it over and they bought some of the bitter liquid for discouraging nail biting, and also did a star chart. But it was neither of those things that stopped her, she just decided to and did it. She forgot a couple of times the first day, and then just didn't put her thumb in her mouth again. So the star chart was used for not crying at nursery - and with that little bit of encouragement, she decided not to cry. Being a practical little girl, she chose to start playing with another child whom she liked and she's not looked back. On Thursday, she was so busy playing that she forgot to say goodbye to me and I was left waving to the back of her head.

Tilly is lying on the sofa, wagging her tail at me. She's exerting Power of Tilly, because she wants me to tickle her tummy. Now she's rubbing her head with her paws. She knows I can't resist. The tail is wagging again - I'll have to go.