Eloïse turned four a few days ago and we held a big party last Sunday to celebrate it.
The weather cooperated to make it an outdoor event and we had borrowed a bouncy castle for the occasion, so between that and the climbing-frame in the garden, there was plenty for the children to do and little reason to go inside and trash the house.
I took photos, of course, and these have gone into the virtual queue for processing.
A lot of people chipped in to buy Eloïse a lovely orange scooter, on which she is now tearing around the neighbourhood.
Eloïse’s birthday was also celebrated on Friday at Het Speelhol. Faithful to the tradition, Wanda presented Eloïse with her very own afscheidsboek, a farewell compendium of photos from Eloïse’s eighteen months in Wanda’s toddler class. I freely admit that it brought tears to my eyes and, thinking about it now, they’re returning.
It’s hard to believe that Eloïse will leave Wanda behind at the start of July. It seems only yesterday that we were wondering whether Eloïse would cope there and thinking about how many days we should send her for. Little did we know that Eloïse would take to it like a duck to water, never cry when we left for the afternoon — even on her first day — and indicate that she wanted to spend five days a week there.
I was the meedraai parent on Friday, so I got to see my little girl in her element, having the time of her life. Sarah brought a cake at 15:00, so that the children could have birthday cake instead of the usual cookie.
It’s all so touching, it hurts. Growing up is painful, especially when you’re the parent.