Rachel, Owen and Kathryn

Kathryn Sarah has just achieved her first decade! I thought this would be a good time to refresh the family blog, and relaunch it - especially as I'm not feeling very positive about Facebook at the moment, and want to maintain alternative communications channels (like postcards, for instance!). Unfortunately in the 2 years since I used this platform I've forgotten how much of it works, so until I can link up all my mobile devices, updates may be sporadic. But in the meantime, happy 10th birthday Katy! Here's a pic from the archives.

Full marks to Katy's new class teacher, who has taught them 2 new things in her first week (Katy used to complain that they only taught her things she already knew). The first was metaphor - which has to be the most important thing, in my book (and who knows, in a few years time it may be the most important thing in my actual book :-)). The other was a 'fact or opinion' game, which we have just been playing in the kitchen. You put up a 'fact' sign on one wall, and an 'opinion' sign on the opposite wall. You then read out a series of statements, and the children have to go and stand in front of the sign which they think is right for the statement. I could be wrong, but this looks suspiciously like they are being taught to think critically for themselves! Just a pity that the spelling needs a bit more work.

How many of the Little family can you fit onto a two-seater sofa? More than you can capture in a selfie without a wide-angle lens - the hint of black fur at the edge of the frame is Tsi-Tsa, who didn't want to be excluded from the post-Christmas huddle.

Katy is feeling very inspired at the moment - two new jokes this week. What do you call a person with a genie, who puts out fires? An exting -wisher! What do one-eyed kids read to get clever? An en-cyclops-pedia!

The letter has been written. I think I can spot a Pokémon theme emerging for Christmas 2015.

July 2015 in Chorlton.

Dodgy video of a dodgy choir ... lots of noises off (including a very vocal baby) but since it was made by the doting father of the alto standing next to me, it happens to feature lots of close-ups of yours truly as well! I'm doing the solo intro/outro to I dreamed a dream . (There's a spoken introduction you might want to skip over.) Library summer concert 2015 - Les Miserables medley

Katy and best friend Ben at the Marks and Spencer measuring tree. Actual ages 6 and 7.

We love our big, west-facing kitchen, with its picture window that frames the sunset. Yesterday Katy was walking in a straight line in the kitchen, in a purposeful manner. "What direction am I walking in, Mummy? " - Well Katy, what direction does the sun go down in? "In the west" - And where do we see the sun go down in this kitchen? (Big grin) "In the sky? " - Do you want a slap, Katy? "YES PLEASE! " Katy showing off her strawberry-sweet tongue.

Katy did an intensive swimming course in the first week of the Easter holidays, and enjoyed it so much she asked me to sign her up for another one this week. On the second day the instructor said she should move up to the next class, and today it's official: KATY HAS SWUM A WHOLE WIDTH ON HER BACK. She's very pleased with herself, and so are we. It makes me smile that just like me, she prefers swimming on her back.

The last week of term before Easter 2015 was Brazil week at school. Although Katy has often complained about school of late, she really engaged with this theme - with the result that she got a 'good news certificate' for "super work during Brazil week". Head dress, mask, flag, shaker, and 'good news certificate'.

Katy has always had an impressive memory for details, and a great vocabulary. Once (when she was just 5) Owen asked her how she could remember so many words, and she explained her own model of how her memory worked: all the words were stored on shelves in her brain, and a little eye went along the shelves seeking the word it needed at any one time. My memory, by contrast, is rather less than impressive, and the rest of the family often sigh in exasperation "Your memory is like a sieve". This evening she was trying to make sure I would remember her instruction about something, and suggested "Make the thought so wide that it can't get through the holes in the sieve."

Second ever attempt at roller skating. Katy was very determined indeed and kept getting up every time she fell down - which was quite often!

Day after boxing day 2014

OK so camels might belong more properly to epiphany than Christmas, but Katy was given a lovely cuddly reminder this Christmas of our summer holiday visit to the camel oasis in East Anglia. She quickly labelled the furry creature with a sign declaring "I amle a camle" - which may not be the conventional spelling, but neither is the thinking behind it.

Poor Katy has been troubled by a really chesty cough since the last week of term. Tonight I was worried enough to want to keep an eye/ear on her through the night so I suggested she sleep in the big bed and we send Daddy to her bed (when he gets back from work about midnight). This really cheered her up and she delightedly wrote this triumphant note:

The snowman in the snow globe has got all confused and is singing 'Summer Holiday' instead of wintery songs. Can the children remind him of 'Jingle Bells' maybe? Yes! But has anyone got a song sheet? Katy's hand shoots up. "I have but I left it in my cello case! " Ooh, what a middle class giveaway!