It's all about Meg

Meg in Dartmouth, Devon - April 2012

So what has happened since the last post. So much, but where to begin?

I seem to come back to the blog in June each time so that seems as good a place to start as any. Meg has just turned six. She has gone from being a little girl to a young lady. She is growing incredibly fast and it is very true what people say about them growing up before you know it. She is now in her second year of school and has taken to it brilliantly. She seems to be nurturing a strong reading and drawing ability and keeps earning recognition from her teachers. Theresa and I are so proud of how she is getting on.

She is still very active and loves running around and dancing. She is swimming every week and has been swimming unaided for nearly a year now. Saturday mornings when I take her swimming is one of the highlights of my week as I can watch her. I don’t think she knows that I do follow what she does and I probably don’t acknowledge it enough.

Meg’s character is well and truly to the fore as well. She is definitely a leader and not a follower. She is very caring inside and does feel others’ pain. That is masked by her gregariousness, but it comes out when someone is hurt or if you need something from her. The other side of her strength of character is she is very pig headed and determined to do what she wants. This manifests itself in stomping off when she doesn’t get her way or a proper tantrum. I worry that part of this (not sure how much of a part) is down to me expecting so much from her. I have to remember she is just six years old and emotionally she is still so young. I think because she does achieve such great things at times I expect that all of the time. I understand that is not fair and not right and I am trying to change to allow her to be a child. I find that if I don’t concentrate on letting her be a child sometimes then I start to expect the unreasonable.

Meg still has her beautiful auburn hair and beautiful blue eyes. She has managed to lose some of her baby teeth (one fell out, one got pulled out by me, two got knocked out by her brother!) which is again changing her appearance significantly and which she sees as a significant moment in her life. She is starting to get interested in programs like Hannah Montana so she is well on the way to getting interested in clothes, phones, etc.. We are trying to stop her from watching young teen American dramas as we don’t want her being pressured subconsciously into growing up any faster than she has to. It’s difficult though as the exposure is everywhere.

Megan is brilliant with her younger brother. We were concerned that she might resent him being in all our lives, but the opposite has proven generally true. Luckily I think the age gap has helped as Joel is not a threat to her and doesn’t want her toys. But she is playing very well with him. She can be heavy handed of course, but I am very proud of how she has adapted to him. And you can see that he adores her which is so nice.