The Tidy Fairy

Yes, indeed, the tidy fairy has visited our home, and for once it wasn't me or Jon in disguise. Emily woke up this morning and announced that she wanted to tidy up. And so she did. She spent all morning tidying her bedroom beautifully, including clearing the top of her chest of drawers which had been several inches deep in "stuff", and even finding sensible homes for all said stuff. Not content with that she then set about clearing a rack of stacking baskets in the corridoor outside her room - something that's been on my to-do list for, oooh, since they were put there - and again found sensible homes for everything. Then she cleared her computer desk, again inches deep in homeless items. All the while happily chunnering away, except for the odd, highly indignant "What on EARTH is THIS doing here?" Bless.

I did wonder what an LEA bod would make of finding Emily knee deep in dust, polish and piles of stuff instead of "being educated", but decided we could always mark it down as citizenship and/or Home Economics (do they still do that??) ROFL!

This afternoon we've been out to a soft play area with Romy and Hazel; judging by the colour of the girls' faces after over 2 hours of non stop rampaging, I guess we can also tick PE. The pub we were in already had it's Christmas stuff up, for heaven's sake!

A conversation with Romy in the car on the way home prompted Emily to go off and write a Christmas/Birthday wish list when she got home (her 7th birthday is a week after Christmas). Child after our own hearts - top of her list was "interesting non fiction books". Well, OK, top of her list really would be the assorted Barbie & Magic of Pegasus junk, but having explained that we are NOT getting them this year, she didn't bother writing that on her list, and the rest of the list was refreshingly and entirely free of other assorted plastic one minute wonders, too. An Elizabethan dress features highly, as does a journal, more jigsaws, artists pastels, real "grown up" paints, craft stuff, a sewing machine, a curtain on a rail to go under her bed, and more artist software, among other grown up, wholesome things. Aaah - our little one's growing up. Mind you, this mature and interesting wish list may yet change once she's been subjected to a whole three months of the adverts on the kids channels......