The Big School Debate

I wonder if I should be concerned? Tonight after bathtime, when both boys had gotten a telling off for heaving huge cups of water over the side of the bath (more flooding anyone?) Egg tearfully prayed aloud, "Dear Jesus, please take the naughty chicken away because I don't want him anymore. Thank you Jesus."
Moments earlier he had screamed in anger at a very insolent Dumpie, "We were supposed to get a '(insert potential girls name)' not a Dumps!" Oh my. (Egg was referring to the fact that last time I was pregnant I was absolutely 100% convinced I was having a girl, and thus we had named 'her' and told Egg all about 'her'...not recommended behaviour without a conclusive scan I must admit.)

We might need to have a little talk about this. Yesterday after breakfast Egg walked into the kitchen and claimed to have just given birth from his tummy to Peter Rabbit. Apparently Peter Rabbit needed to be fed straight away and it was all i could do to keep Egg from lifting up his pajama top to 'feed nipples' to the inanimate Peter Rabbit. Hmmm.

On another note, it seems I am an impulsive idiot when it comes to choosing Egg's school next year. First I tried to do internet research on which of the two potential nearby schools would best suit our darling Egg (who at nearly 4 years old will be going all day in September).

Discovering that they were both excellent, I then set about examining the playgrounds (both excellent) and was still no closer. Finally I began staring down all the mothers on the school runs and tried to judge which might have produced nicer offspring. That clearly didn't work.

The long and short of it is that I chose the school attached to the nursery he currently attends - as much for the darling navy and grey uniform as anything else However, I soon came to wistfully imagine how nice it would be to spy on my little Egg in the playground of the school literally across the road from us. I imagined how simple it would be to feed Eggie breakfast then merely dash across the road to deliver him to school - especially given that we are not the tardiest of families! And you have to admit that in bad weather (of which London has loads) the thought of merely scooping up Dumps and dashing across the road on both the morning and afternoon school runs, without having to disturb his nap times and bundle him up in a pushchair was just too tempting.

So (i sigh as i say this), I rang up and got put on the waiting list for the excellent school across the road (Honeywell), and as luck would have it, two weeks ago we were offered a place there and immediately took it - forfeiting his current school placement (Belleville).

Since then I've had second thoughts, and upon quizzing local parents I've discovered that Honeywell USED to be the superior school, but that ever since Belleville got a new headteacher five years ago it's gone from strength to strength and is now OUTSTANDING and likely to be the better school for our Egg. (I must confess that I was also told that Honeywell is rather 'strict' and Belleville is progressive yet laid-back. It's certainly a serious fact to consider when anticipating Parent-Teacher meetings and all the frowned-upon absences from when we take holidays during term time....)

So with this in mind, I humbly rang up the same school services today, spoke to the same man, and had to admit that I was indeed the same annoying mother who had asked to be put on the waiting list for the other school and now wanted to change my mind (a 3rd time) and go back on the waiting list for my original choice. He was not impressed. Frankly though, neither was I (sigh).

Considering the imminent and relatively likely threat of 'sibling-ocide' and all this scholastic tomfoolery, today has not been the most positive of days. I give myself a D- (and that's being kind).