Harrison is about to start his second term at nursery, and I am so incredibly proud of the way he settled in his first term, especially as he also moved house and had a new baby brother. That’s a lot for anyone to deal with, let alone a three year old.

It does help that he goes to a fantastic school based nursery. I chose a school based one rather than a private one as I wanted him to get used to the routine and structure of school, and I knew he would flourish more in that sort of setting. It was also the nursery and school that both my brothers and I attended as kids.

On his very first day he walked in without tears and without looking back. In fact, he actually cried on the way home because he wanted to go back to school. Straight away he made friends, and it is lovely to see them nattering away in the playground like little old ladies.

Most days he comes home with a picture or something he has made, although if you ask him what he has done that day, all you get from him is ‘I played’. Luckily, the school uses an online learning journal which we can access at home to document what they have been up to. I can then download all the photos to my computer.

He is always surprising us by singing new songs and showing us the actions. There are children in his class with learning difficulties so they use a lot of makaton, which is lovely. The ones we hear all the time at the moment are ‘Please and Thankyou’, ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’, and at Christmas, ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’ – hearing him sing ‘Good tidying we bring’ instead of tiding was adorable!

Just before they broke up for Christmas, the whole school put on a traditional nativity play at the local church which was lovely. His class wore little star crowns which they had made, and sang ‘Twinkle Twinkle’. That is another benefit to school nursery – they get to take part in the special assemblies. In October they were involved in the Harvest Festival and sang ‘Dingle Dangle Scarecrow’. Harrison didn’t actually sing – just smiled and waved at me like a maniac!

School does tire him out. Most afternoons after lunch he flakes out on the sofa and has a good couple of hours nap, so it is stretching him both mentally and physically. He absolutely thrives on it though – if we have a lazy day on a weekend or during the holidays we do get some silliness from him.

As he starts his second term, I have absolutely no concerns or worries about him. He has settled in better than I could have ever hoped or wished for. Let’s just hope his next fifteen years at school goes just as smoothly!