20 things I learned this week

1. If you want to avoid a long wait when shopping for school shoes, the best thing to do is to be the first ones through the door at opening time.

2. It may, however, still take half an hour to get two children measured and fitted.

3. It is possible for feet to measure a totally different width fitting than the one they eventually fit. Which explains 2.

4. Missy Woo has inherited my high instep. See 3.

5. Monkey doesn't care what his school shoes look like, so long as they have an association with a character or dinosaur.

6. Missy Woo cares very much what her shoes look like. Too much.

7. Missy Woo has no colour co-ordination. She is dazzled by it - the more colour, the better.

8. In the future, Missy Woo is going to cost me a lot of money in clothes.

9. Monkey claims not to be bothered, but secretly he likes to dress up smart.

10. Monkey looks swamped in jackets, even if they fit him.

11. On the other hand, waistcoats suit him.

12. Monkey has a longer body but shorter legs.

13. Monkey therefore doesn't fit suit sets. He fits trousers in one size, and shirts, jackets or waistcoats in another.

14. Shopping for a wedding outfit for a 7 year old boy is nigh on impossible because they don't get that they need to try things on to see if they fit.

15. Shopping for a wedding outfit for a 7 year old boy straight after school shoe shopping is a bad, bad idea.

16. The children love The Great British Bake Off so much that they get excited when they see the books in shops. So much so that they were moved to shout, "Mary Berry! The queen of baking!"

17. I have forgotten how much I love reading. Henning Mankell books especially.

18. When I read Wallander books now, the people I picture in my head are the ones who played the characters in the Swedish series.

19. Monkey really is ruled by his stomach and comes home from playing with friends when he is hungry by and large.

20. What excites and intrigues the children most when going away on a trip is not where we are going but the sticker books they get to play with on the way.

Confidence trick - update

I can't believe it was only two weeks ago that I blogged about my concerns about Missy Woo and her occasional lack of confidence with her reading. Typically, and pretty much as often happens, things got better by themselves without much intervention by itself. I had some great comments on here and on Twitter about her. Eventually, I decided to speak to her teacher about it after school one day and she told me she'd got a special book out for her to try that week in addition to her usual book as she felt she needed stretching. Missy Woo loved this as she told me she knew she was the only one who got this treat. We read some of both books together at home and she was way more confident.

Since then, she's got better and better. She loves to write, even if her spelling is not 100% - we've started the Christmas lists, which are a hoot to read, and over the half term, she's written notes to her friends and a list of all her classmates' names. They weren't all correct but we sat down together and I wrote some of them out the right way for her, rather than tell her she was wrong.

Confidence trick

It's fascinating watching your children growing up and watching their personalities develop. The differences between the two are amazing. Where Monkey is volatile and will blow up over the slightest thing sometimes, Missy Woo is calm and relatively pragmatic.

There is one area where I spot a difference in their personalities and it slightly disturbs me. It manifests itself largely when they practice their reading at home with us, and I wonder if it is noticeable at school.

One down, five to go - stumbling over the finish line

Twitter this week has been awash with parents tearing their hair out. Home life can best be described as "tears and tantrums" with a bit of hyperactive giddiness thrown in. Their children have been veering wildly between joy and sorrow, one minute laughing manically, the next in floods of tears over the slightest thing. The dawdlers of the world are dawdling more than ever, and even the placid even-tempered types are awkward and difficult to the point of driving their parents to near insanity. Sibling rivalry has descended into all-out war.

Parents in Scotland will recognise this episode in their lives from a week or two ago. Because the reason for all this is tiredness - half term starts tomorrow for most of the country and the children have had enough. They've been back in school for around 7 weeks now, with maybe some time off for good behaviour for the reception class newbies. Brains are overloaded with lots of new information, experiences and routines. We're all there, stumbling over the finish line, even though it's only the first leg of six.

Butter wouldn't melt, would it?

To top it all in our house, this week has been a busy one. Monday has so far been the only day where nothing was going on after school. On Tuesday, Monkey had golf after school - something he asked to do. On Wednesday, they both had swimming lessons and then went back to school. The school ran a workshop for parents about supporting your children with their reading. It was run by the county adviser on literacy and it was excellent, but it was on from 6.30 to 8.30. Both of us wanted to go so Monkey and Missy Woo went to the creche they put on, meaning they went to bed nearer to 9pm. And Thursday? Well, that was the Halloween Disco (you can tell it's not a church school) which they have been looking forward to for weeks. When I say "disco", I actually mean about an hour of them manically running around a darkened school hall with flashing lights and maybe a few games. Dancing has little to do with it, judging by the reports from the parents overseeing the event. After school tonight, I swear we are going nowhere. I may even suggest pyjamas are put on when they come home. I might join them.

They are shattered. Missy Woo is one of life's dawdlers and has perfected her dawdling skills this week. We're up to 5 mins per sock. Monkey is more highly strung and everything is a drama for him. He blows up at the smallest imagined slight - like asking him to eat his food. We've eased off on thins like reading this week, after we could see that Missy Woo just hadn't got the concentration for her new book. We've been letting them off if they say they don't want to.

And what is it with tired children that makes them wake up so early? They have often been awake an hour earlier than normal, sneaking in and out of each other's rooms, sometimes waking each other up and causing mischief. Don't they know that more sleep is good?!

Of course, coming to an end of the first half term where they are both in school is a time for reflection too.  We're enormously proud of both of them. Missy Woo has taken to school like the proverbial duck to water and has come on in leaps and bounds. She loves it all and has made some good friends already.

Monkey has also progressed really fast this term. In fact, it's been amazing. This has been because he's been part of a group working daily with the deputy headteacher on reading and writing for the last few weeks. If ever there was someone who you would want to teach your children to write, it is him - he has the most beautiful handwriting. Monkey has gained so much from this; his writing in particular has been transformed, but his reading has progressed quickly too. He worships the deputy head and it's a shame that this time is coming to an end, as he'll be working with another group after the holiday.

In addition, they have both been recognised for their efforts at school. Missy Woo came out of celebration assembly after a couple of weeks clutching a class award certificate for "super letter sounds and word building." Then, last week, Monkey ran out of school with the "Star Pupil" trophy in his hands, which was given for "good manners at all times, and for tackling tasks and challenges with enthusiasm". Perhaps not the child we know out of school sometimes but we were so pleased that he behaves so well at school. He was very proud and put the trophy in his bedroom. He earned himself a new kit for that - but unfortunately, it's a Blackpool one. I fear I have definitely lost him to the PNE cause for good now.

But for now, they need to have a well-earned break. Maybe they will get that sleep they need, to process all that extra stuff crammed into their brains these last few weeks. Maybe just having a different routine is going to be enough of a break. I hope so, because it is just going to be a family week at home. Missy Woo has some extra swimming lessons arranged and Monkey a couple of football sessions. We have some friends coming round to test some toys. And that's it.

We're almost there, mums and dads. We've survived the first half term. Hope your little devils turn back into little angels soon and don't drive you all to distraction over the next week.