Well today was "Butterfly Day" at school.
Let me just explain that properly.
One of the projects that the Reception age children do, is to raise butterflies from caterpillars.
Then once they are ready to be released, the children dress up as butterflies or caterpillars for the day and they let the butterflies go in the school garden.
At the beginning of the week we received a letter from the teachers informing us that "Butterfly Day" would probably be on on Friday as one of their Chrysalis were moving.
Note the key word there - probably
I asked my daughter what she wanted to be.
"I want to be the Prettiest Butterfly at school." she told me firmly.
We looked through her costumes. The only one with wings on was her white Christmas Fairy outfit.
"That's not a Butterfly, it's a Fairy." She said and looked up at me batting her eyelashes, hands clasped at her waist and head tilted to the right. "You can make me some butterfly wings, can't you, Mummy?"
Remember I called her a Princess-Terrorist? Well, that's the "Princess" look.
I thought I had plenty of time, so I agreed that I would make her some butterfly wings.
I bumbled through the beginning of the week, getting job applications out, doing washing... you know, the usual stuff.
Then Wednesday, the note came home.
Butterfly Day will be on Friday. The Children can come as a Butterfly, a Caterpillar or in brightly coloured clothes.
"Mummy, have you made my Butterfly Wings yet?"
"Not yet, sweetie. What colours do you want me to make them?" I was hoping that she'd just say one or two colours.
"I want to be a Painted Lady Butterfly, like the ones at school. They have lots of different colours."
*pause for internal scream of irritation*
"Not pink then?"
"Pink and orange and green and yellow and red and blue and silver and gold... all the colours of the rainbow!"
I shrugged. How hard could it be? I had two days, enough paint and craft stuff around to do it with. Easy. "Okay Rainbow colours it is then."
Fast Forward to Thursday Evening. I had spent most of Thursday twisting wire into shape, sticking paper onto the wire and painting it. I picked the wings up to check if they were dry and pushed my thumb straight through the paper.
Damn...
Rip the paper off, start again with felt. Sigh.
It was gone midnight on Thursday when I went to bed. I had threads from the glue gun all over my hands, sequins scattered through my clothes and scraps of felt in my hair.
But they were finished...
Today was also the school's open day. Because I didn't get to bed until late, I overslept. The kids were late to school and we missed getting a seat in the hall for the opening speech of the Head Teacher.
The School is pretty proud of itself - and it should be! Rhws got an Outstanding on their Estyn report, so the school was covered with bunting and balloons.
As soon as we got to Kiah's classroom to look around, she grabbed onto us and wouldn't let go. I saw the whole quad - pretend area, the four Guinea Pigs, the painting area, the sand - then we saw her classroom.
The Butterflies were being blown on by the other children to make them flutter - I felt rather sorry for them and was glad that they would be released soon.
After a paper spring Caterpillar and some glitter on a painted butterfly, we managed to extricate ourselves to go and visit my son.
My son is in Year 4. He and a friend were making a box kite.
He just had to choose the most difficult design of the ones he was given, didn't he...
So Daniel hunkers down to "Help"... I spent a bit of time talking to a few people I hadn't seen for a while, talked to my Son's Teacher then went back to my Daughter. She painted me a picture and then had to go for Snack Time. So I went back to my Son.
And found Daniel still "Helping".
What is it about Kites that makes men weak at the knees? I had to physically drag him away so I could get to the doctors!
And that's been my week... I wonder what next week has in store for me?
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