Well I don’t know about you but we are well and truly into autumn up here in the north. The boys are back at school. Strictly and The X Factor are back on the telly and I’ve even had to turn the heating on this week!

Of course this week’s Living Arrows for Toby couldn’t be anything other than his first day back at school picture. He looks very happy here, and actually day one back at school went really well – despite saying he didn’t want to go back to school he ran into the classroom with hardly a backwards glance.

Unfortunately the rest of the week didn’t go quite so well. Although when I pick him up he’s always had a good day, the mornings are a different matter. Toby is finding the adjustment to Year 1 quite difficult I think – there’s a lot more sitting down and quite a lot of writing (which he isn’t a fan of at the best of times). He has been tired this week too after the lazy days of summer, and every morning since the first day has involved tears and protestations at the classroom door. I’m really hoping he settles down soon because the mornings are exhausting at the moment.

Gabe is settling into his new nursery well at least. He’s cried when I’ve left him but I expected that. Apparently he’s settled down fairly quickly after I’ve gone and has been fine for the rest of the day. He seems to like his new key worker too so that’s good. I’m confident that after another couple of weeks he’s really going to love it there, there’s so much for him to do and explore.

Of course adjusting to his new nursery has meant Gabe hasn’t really wanted to do much when he’s been at home. He’s absolutely obsessed with playing Lego Batman on his Kindle at the moment – so much so that it’s starting to cause a bit of a problem. We were almost definitely too lax with screen time during the holidays and we’ve had to bring in some rules now the boys are back at school – and Gabe is struggling to cope with the new limits. I really don’t want to have to take it off him altogether so I’m hoping he’ll get used to not having it as much soon and lose some of his obsessiveness.

I hope your kiddos had a good week back at school if they went back – and if you’re having settling in issues then please know you are not alone!