So much has happened in Claire's life this year! When we moved to Shrivenham, England she started school at The Cottage Nursery 3 days a week. The British government gives free funding of 15 hours per week for children beginning age 3 to attend local Preschools. Every since big brother, Cal, has been attending school Claire has been so keen to do it as well! On their first day she was so ready!
She would ride her scooter with Laura to drop off Callum at his school and then head to her nursery just a short walk away. She really enjoyed her teachers (Ms. Kate especially) and all the new friends she was able to meet. Our social butterfly really thrived around so many new people and having new experiences!
When she arrived at the school the routine was to change from her outdoor to inside shoes, place her coat and bookbag on the peg and leave her water bottle/lunch bag on the trolley. Most children were clinging to their parents while Claire would always give Laura a huge hug, tell her to pick her up when all the other mommies came, give her a big kiss and then walk confidently into the classroom.
She was so big, wanting to carry her own book bag!
At school Claire signed up for soccer club (with coach James who really enjoyed her American accent) and also French club. She amazed both us and the teacher with her knack for languages, picking up lots of French and using it at home too.
Claire loves horses and since moving to England has been frequently enamored by all the horses we see on the road and bridleways. Laura took Claire to the local stables with her friend Harriet and daughter Aggie for a hour of riding. They saddled a small pony and Claire was in heaven the whole time as Laura led the horse around the base loop.
Shortly after arriving at Shrivenham, Laura went away for a women's Christian weekend retreat about 1 hour away while Tyler looked after the kids. As Claire loves horses he took them to the local stables open day on base. While Claire was watching a horse show and Callum was returning from a short horse ride, Claire suddenly ran up to the horse to get a closer look. Just then, the handler who was leading a horse behind the one Callum was riding made the mistake of letting their horse walk right into the lead horse. It started to buck and kick backwards in response and one of those kicks hit Claire in her arm, throwing her to the ground. The horse then began to jump wildly and by some miracle avoided hitting Claire any further as she lay on the ground. Within moments Tyler had pulled Claire away from the horse and examined her for any injuries, quickly realizing her left arm was painful. A friend offered to watch Callum at their house while another drove Tyler and Claire to the local A&E (hospital). Laura received a cryptic phone message at her retreat saying Claire was injured by a horse but no other info and as cell reception was spotty both at the retreat and at the A&E for Tyler's phone it felt like forever until she was able to speak with Tyler directly and get more information. She immediately drove straight to the hospital to be with her girl who needed her mommy to sing her princess songs while she waited for her x-ray. The doctors determined she had a break just below her shoulder but was too high for a cast so they removed it and gave her a sling before sending her home. All the doctors, and us, remarked at how brave Claire was the entire time - so proud of our girl!!
We were so sad that her arm was broken but very relieved when we realized how easily she could have been more seriously injured by the crazed horse. On the drive home from hospital we stopped at Sainsbury's (a local grocery store) and Laura ran in to buy her a present: princess tiara and shoes. Claire was so excited but not as thrilled with how difficult it was to sleep for the first few nights as her arm was very painful.
We were surprised how well she adapted to the sling and how brave she was through the pain. The sling didn't seem to slow her down much and she was her smiling self all the way until the doctor told her everything had healed up and the sling was no longer needed!!
She still loves horses, though!!
While at the White Horse Show she had her face painted and was super pleased by the results. Her favorite was the pink lipstick as it made her feel super grown up.
At the petting zoo she took the reins of a pony there and started treating it like HER horse. She named it and when other children came to pet the pony she made up rules that she explained to them about what the pony liked and how to pet it correctly. We were in hysterics and she was in heaven.
Claire's two best friends, Heather and Aggie, also happened to have mommies that were Laura's best friends during our time at Shrivenham: Rebecca and Harriet. We all bought season passes to the local "Rove's Farm" and every Monday, when the girls didn't have nursery school, met up there for a day of play. In warmer weather they had lots of outdoor activities to keep the girls busy but the most brilliant part was the indoor fun for the long, dreary winter months. They had a huge indoor play structure with massive slide and climbing frame, swings, ride-on cars, crafts and messy play, ball pit, sand pit, etc. Us moms could sit at a table while having adult conversation and the girls had a blast playing together while occasionally coming by the table when they needed a bathroom break or a bite of their sack lunch we packed.
Claire loved holding the animals (guinea pigs, chicks, bunnies, etc) and going on tractor rides all around the farm.
There were animals inside and outside. They gave food pellets for the kids to hand feed the smaller goats and sheep inside and Claire also enjoyed giving the larger outdoor animals fresh grass.
Our British sponsor family, the Parkinsons, invited us to their parent's home near the White Horse Hill for blackberry picking in the early Autumn. We found an entire hedgerow filled with the juicy and ripe berries. Claire "helped" pick a whole bowl and then promptly ate most of them. Callum, Dad and Mom filled their bowls and we all enjoyed a yummy homemade blackberry cobbler after dinner that evening.
Once Claire's arm healed we signed her up for a ballet class in Highworth, a market town just North of us. She loved having class with her friend Heather and her teacher, Ms. Lisa.
When we took a vacation to Cornwall, the southern tip of England, we visited a historic tin mine. Children as young as 5 worked at the mines with a hammer above ground using a hammer to crush the tin ore. Claire took this role very seriously and would have stayed all day smashing the rocks containing tin ore if we would have left her.
While we were there the sun came out and we enjoyed a hike along the ocean. Claire is always up for a photo with mommy.
Claire has become much better about going on long walks with our family and does a lot less whining, for which we are thankful. She still asks to be held frequently but after a while of being held we can set her down and she runs off ahead. She still does her best to keep up with big brother, Callum, and made us both proud with how brave she was climbing this tree on a walk at Badbury Hill.
This is the same Badbury Hill where we visited in Springtime to enjoy the wild bluebells. It was such a beautiful scene with the tall trees towering overhead and a carpet of blue flowers everywhere you looked.
We can still find Claire most days dressed up in one of her princess dresses, decked out with tiara, clip-clop shoes and laden with jewelry.
While we visited a church at one of the many English villages we tour, they had some dress up clothes. Claire is always our child who is excited to try on the costumes and on this occasion Callum also agreed to dress up as a knight. Laura was really pleased!!
At school, Claire's nursery put on a Nativity play at the local church before Christmas. She was an angel in their rendition of "An Easy, Cheesy Nativity." She learned all the songs and was even given some lines to speak because most of the other children were too shy to speak. The weekend before the play she came down with an ear infection. When it became worse we took her to A&E but they said she had to be really poorly for 3 days before she would be given any antibiotics. (The UK is very anti-antibiotic) That weekend she couldn't sleep at night because the pain was so bad and the over-the-counter pain relievers weren't helping her. Eventually on the morning of the nativity play she was so miserable and had so much pain medicine in her body, we felt so bad for her. It didn't stop her from doing a brilliant job in her play although she looked like she was in so much pain and struggling through. That afternoon we had an appointment at the local surgery (Doctor's office) where we hoped to get her antibiotics. Before that appointment her eardrum ruptured and when we met with the doctor they prescribed her antibiotics because the hole in her ear could really cause damage going forward. We were so upset with the UK medical system (NHS) and their silly policies that we vowed if our kids had another infection in the future and the NHS tried to deny them antibiotics we would take them straight to the American doctors for a second opinion. Poor Claire.
At Christmas, we stayed in England as we had just been in America visiting family before we moved 6 months prior. We had a great time enjoying all our family traditions. Claire and Callum helped mom bake Christmas sugar cookies.
She received a LEGO Frozen castle and really enjoyed putting it together. She gets her love for LEGO from Callum and Daddy but it's a great way for her to spend time with them so we are thankful she has such a growing interest.
We took a trip to Stonehenge. It isn't far from our home and it was the first time the kids had seen it.
When we took Callum for a trial day at his new school, where we were moving after our school year at Shrivenham ended, Claire and I went to Odd's Farm to meet up with some Amerian friends who are currently living there. Claire had a great time with her son, Torsten, and her favorite was their tall slide.
When Claire turned 4 we held her party at Shrivenham Station's (Military base) Cricket Club. She wanted a princess party so all her girlfriends came dressed as princesses and we played party games. Laura baked her a rainbow cake and took care of all the decorations and preparation.
In the Spring we visited Wales with Laura's Dad Steve and Noni Suz. We saw lots of blooming daffodils all around a cathedral we toured. Claire enjoyed posing for photos near all the beautiful blooms.
We visited Oxford with our neighbors, the Yarker family. Kathy had gone to university there and showed us all around while Claire and Callum talked the ears off their two boys, Oliver and Henry. Oliver is especially caring with Claire, holding her hand all over the city as we walked.
During Easter break we flew to Sicily to visit Laura's cousin, Nikki. Our first stop was a secluded cove where we made good use of the wetsuits Tyler thought to purchase online before we left home. It was amazing because the weather was so perfect but the water hadn't warmed enough to swim comfortably that early in the year. With a wetsuit the kids and Tyler swam happily for hours without getting cold.
We took a boat ride around one of the Sicilian towns and the kids had such a great time seeing the city from this perspective instead of walking through it on street level as we usually do.
At the end of our year living in Shrivenham we spent more time as a family playing tennis at the courts near the school building. Claire surprised us with her hand-eye-coordination and made contact with the ball and racquet on most attempts.
In late July, during the last week of school before summer break, Claire's nursery had their first sports day. They did a great job coming up with games for the children to play that was low in competition but high in fun and personal achievements. Claire surprised us with her concentration, speed and accuracy in most of the games.
She has done so much growing during our first year in England and we are so proud of our little girl!
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