Second Child

Shoe tying milestone, originally uploaded by benlouelt.

Well she has finally done it. Little thanks to us. Poor second child.

I remember so clearly dedicating a lot of time to the boy, helping him learn the intricacies of shoelace tying. He was tying them himself by 4, ready to get through a day of Preschool without being bothered by his laces.

With this one, it has just seemed easier, faster and less stressful to do them myself. Neglectful. Probably. The past couple of weeks though she has been asking to learn and yesterday, success. So satisfying.

Time is definitely less available second time around. Oscar spent endless hours with me practicing writing and learning to recognise those first few sight words.

Poppy is just as keen, but is far more independent. She seems to permanently have a ream of paper nearby ready to copy random words and has taken to basic maths like a duck to water.

I don't know how people with larger families do it. My heroes.