Just call me Greta Garbo

We had an impromptu after school play in the park with friends today. With the sunny weather it's easier to decide on a whim to detour to the park and I get on with the mum so I have company while the kids run around and keep each other busy.

There were the inevitable tantrums when it was time to leave, but the promise of ice cream at home seemed to quel the worst of it. As we were saying bye I told my friend I'm going away for the night tomorrow. On my own. I had planned to have a night away a month ago, but it didn't happen in the end and as a result I really need the break now.

I am having a rough time with Brown Bear and we aren't getting on that well a lot of the time. I know it's a stage and will be over at some point, but I'm also not at my best so I'm not coping as well as I would like to. Having this bit of time to myself is much needed.

It's taken me a long time to allow myself time away by myself without feeling guilty. It really is the case that you have to put on your own oxygen mask before you can take care of anyone else. I've let myself get tired, run down and have little patience. Just one night to myself isn't too much to ask is it ?

I go to the theatre by myself sometimes and I love it. I don't have to talk to anyone if I don't want to. I'm not worrying if the other person is having a good time. I can immerse myself in the show and at the end of it I don't have to discuss it with anyone. Don't get me wrong I enjoy the company of other people, but sometimes I just want to do my own thing in my own time and without anyone else around. It's a rare treat to have genuine 'free time' where I don't have to pick anyone up or take anyone to a party or have thought about what other people are going to eat.

This afternoon the boys had separate pick up times so I collected Blue Bear and when we got home he sat watching youtube videos of volcanoes (his current fascination is with lava and all things volcanic) while chomping on ginger nut biscuits. He asked me questions about lava and chose the next video he wanted to watch all by himself. It was fascinating to see how much he has grown up.

After picking up Brown Bear we went to the park and the boys went off with their respective friends. Blue playing with his 'girlfriend' and showing consideration and kindess as he helped her learn how to go on the big slide. It was touching and sweet to see how he took care of her. Brown Bear took it in turns to ride his friend's bicycle and kicked his football before joining us in the play park. He was climbing when another kid was behaving unsafely. I looked over and said, "Leave it, let's go now." He got down, came over to me and said, "He's being an idiot Mummy." I agreed and enveloped him in a big hug. He was hot and sweaty and didn't resist my unexplained affection. He just hugged me back and then we walked together to catch up with the others.

A lot of the time it isn't like this. Often it is difficult, tiring, unrewarding and just very, very loud. I love my children and I am so lucky I've been able to be with them so much. However, I also need to have time and space without them. I am sure that having some time away from them helps me be a better Mum.

This afternoon I got it right. It felt lovely and relaxed and fun to be with the boys and their friends. I am sure that knowing I will be away from them tomorrow evening was a big part of that.

Summertime Blues

Did anyone get a memo saying that Summer has been cancelled ?

This guy didn't get it - clearly - as he's still sunbathing on the flat roof most days.

Neo you don't need to tan.

These boys haven't had it as we all went to play football after school earlier this week.

Boys you should have decided which way to shoot first 

I haven't seen it either as I'm still walking through the woods to get home and they can get pretty boggy when it's been raining !

Well, it's July tomorrow and as no one seems to have told the weather that it's offically Summer now I'm keeping these close to hand.

Family welly collection

Just in case.

A sensory walk on an Autumn day with my toddler.

Rushing on ahead to see the ducks

Baby Boy has been gabbling for a while now. He will exclaim loudly and point to get what he wants as his vocabulary is limited to family names and animal sounds. The latter is pretty helpful when I ask if he wants to go and feed the ducks as he makes a quacking sound which I treat as agreement with my plans.

As the sun was out today we decided to go and see the ducks at the local pond. I had a pot of  leftover toast slices in the car to feed them and picked up some coats as I wasn't entirely sure it was really all that warm.

Pesky Pigeons stealing all the bread 

People often ask if Baby Boy is speaking yet and will console me by saying, "it won't be long." as if I should actually be worried that he isn't. I don't worry about it at all. We communicate well enough and I encourage him to express himself and experience the world in many different ways. He is really into sensory play at the moment and today was an ideal opportunity to use all the senses during our morning outdoors.

Visual: We often observe trees and have been watching the leaves change colour for weeks now. Today we also saw lots of colourful leaves on the ground. Then Baby Boy spotted the duck pond and ran ahead to watch the birds swimming contentedly round on the water.

Crunch crunch crunch 

Sound: There is nothing like the sound of leaves crunching underfoot, I love it. Where we go to feed the birds they can be very noisy - not as loud as Baby Boy admittedly, but still. He does a pretty impressive duck quack sound which either draws them near or scares them off depending on how screechy he is.

Taste: When we feed the birds Baby Boy always gives in to the temptation to try some of the bread. This is why I have to make sure it's edible just in case he pops it in his mouth before giving it to the ducks.

Quack, quack, quack

Smell: Autumn has an amazing smell all of its own. The freshly cut grass, wet leaves and that distinctive tang of autumnal air.

Touch: On our way home from dropping off Big Boy at school we regularly pick up leaves, conkers and pine cones from the ground. We feel the different textures and compare them with each other. As we were preparing to come home for lunch I felt his hands and they were very cold so I knew it was time for something hot to eat and a nice nap.

Lovely leaves

Autumn is my favourite season by far. In writing this post I can now see why - it really is a feast for all the senses.

Back to school, Park life and Cat napping: my week in photos.

On Sunday mornings I go swimming with some friends and last week the lady who gives me a lift to the pool gave me a gift of some tomatoes that her husband had grown. They were still a bit green so I put them on the window sill and now they are gorgeous and ripe. I can't wait to try these.

As it was the last few days before Big Boy went to reception I decided to take the boys out for some park fun. They both wanted to take their own transport and I followed on foot. It did help tire them out though so that was great. 

Baby Boy was delighted when he spotted this enormous "oof oof" in the window of a shop near the park. He does love dogs, but I think this might be a bit on the big side for home.

Once Big Boy had gone to school me and Baby Boy went to feed the ducks. There is a lady who goes every day and we love to talk to her. She offered some bread for the ducks to Baby Boy and he was about to eat it when I showed him how to give it to the birds. It really is a lovely spot. 

Being at school is tiring Big Boy out, so he needs to get his sleep. The new bedtime routine includes summoning Neo to lie with him. It is very sweet, but I have noticed that Neo is taking up more and more room. Give a cat an inch ...

He can't say Mum, but he can call the cat - pah !

I was dreading the week just gone as it was the only week of the school holidays that I didn't have Big Boy booked into play schemes. He did a swimming crash course every day, but that was only half an hour a day and I had whole days to fill and two boys to keep occupied. I sent an email to the other mums from Big Boy's class and made plans to do things to keep us all from going bonkers with our kids at home. The response was heartening as they all seemed to be in the same boat as me and jumped at the chance to get out and do stuff with us.

In the end we did something every day and I spent more time with the mums than I have since he started at school and it was great. We spent drizzly mornings in the park, a spectacular sunny afternoon at the fire station (more of which in my country kids post later this week) and I had conversations with adults every day. It was brilliant ! As a result I learned some stuff I didn't know before which I thought I'd share.

Samuel's mum told me on Monday that she spends one hour every evening gardening. I thought this was such a genius idea I immediately decided to do the same, so this week I've spent up to an hour in the garden most evenings which means I've already spent more time in one week than in all of the previous months this year. It also means I can do manageable chunks without getting the chronic backache that is inevitable from the 'binge gardening' I usually practice. It has been nothing short of a revelation !

You probably already know I love Waitrose and this week gave me a concrete example of why. I took Big Boy to Asda with me - it was close to where we were at the time, it wasn't my first choice - and as I parked in a parent and child space the women in the car next to me threw a McDonalds bag at the back of my car. I looked at the bag with the remains of a milkshake and various containers in it and looked at them and for a moment considered throwing it back, but decided it wasn't worth the fight that would ensue if I did. The next day I needed to cleanse myself of the experience and while pushing Baby boy in the trolley at Waitrose a man politely pointed out to me that Big Boy had dropped the plastic lid from his disposable coffee cup on the floor. Now I have to explain he wasn't actually drinking a coffee, but he flutters his eyelashes at the ladies on the counter and they always let him have a cup to play with. I smiled and said thank you to the nice man who proceeded to apologise for his presumptuousness in trying to tell a parent how to parent. I told him it wasn't a problem and we went about our shopping trip with Baby Boy pointing at everything in the store and Big Boy going loopy in the aisles. I love that in Waitrose someone would be kind enough to worry about my boy dropping something on the floor and putting it in his mouth that they would tell me.

It was while we were driving to Asda that I heard one of my favourite of Big Boy's latest malapropisms. He is usually a pretty eloquent conversationalist, but he does say some funny words. There's the usual lellow for yellow of course, but when he asked, "why are we going to Asbo ?" I had to laugh. Others that I've spotted include, Teenage Newton Ninja Turtles and when he finished watching Cinderella he told me that it was the garden mother who sorted out her dress for the ball. In fairness to both boys I should also point out that Baby Boy is now saying a few intelligible sounds. His clearest word to date is Neo (of course, they always learn the cat's name first !) and he is also saying something like Hello and Bye Bye, both of which make him sound like a Minion. It's hilarious, but also really cute.

So I'm not saying it's rocket science, but what I've learned this week has given me a laugh and my garden looks a little bit nicer as a result. I call that a win.

An egg hunt, some tree climbing and an offer we can't refuse :)

Over the Easter weekend we had hoped for warm weather - but not too warm - so that we could do our annual Easter Egg Hunt in the garden. With two boys taking part this year I bought new collecting buckets in fetching yellow and we made an early start to ensure there was plenty of time to eat the finds and to prevent any animal pilferage. As it was a little damp underfoot they put on outdoor shoes and matching hoodies to seek out the tiny chocolate bunnies, the beanie filled eggs and finally the big eggs they all got - yes even Daddy.

In the afternoon the weather was so nice that we decided to take a trip to a local park so with one boy on his scooter and another in the buggy we trotted off down the hill and saw that a lot of other families with children were doing the same - probably also trying to wear off the effects of chocolate overload I imagine ! You may recall my big boy has a thing about climbing trees at the moment so he was delighted when we spotted this massive tree with enormous exposed roots and lovely, crunchy pods underfoot.

The next morning was a lot sunnier so Hubbie kindly took the boys outside to kick around a football so I had the house to myself for a little while. I did nothing more exciting than a bit of washing up and sorting out, but it was much easier - and faster - without the small persons around.

While the boys were outside I heard a jangling sound and I was puzzled what it was. I did wonder if it was a rag and bone call or something similar so I went out the front of the house to look and imagine my surprise when I saw a fire engine a few doors down from us ! My boys love fire engines and I called them to come and see the real life one that was in their road. I have never seen my big boy move as fast as this when I've asked him to do something.

The kind chaps on the engine were checking fire hydrants in our road and they were more than happy to show my boys all the equipment on the fire truck. As a devotee of Fireman Sam my boy asked to see all the axes, tried out a hose and even checked out the ladders. We were invited to pop over to the fire station any time to see more engines so with a few more days of school hols I think we might just take them up on that :)

This post is being shared with the #countrykids linky hosted by the lovely Fiona of Coombe Mill 

  

Getting a green workout before the Easter carnage begins !

At the weekend we were hoping for good weather. With the start of the school holidays we didn't want to be stuck indoors with bored children and chores to do, so it was great that the sun made an appearance on Saturday morning and we were able to take the boys to the park for a play.

Playing with shadows

All the boys love football so when they spotted a group of young men having a kick around it captured their attention. At this point they had their backs to the swings, slide, climbing frame and roundabout. Ah the magic of the beautiful game eh ? 

Watching the footie

In a lot of our local parks we are lucky enough to have 'green gyms' provided by the local authority. They offer gym equipment in local parks for community use and my big boy loves them. He asked when we arrived at the park if he could go on the gym machines and we told him he could before we left.

Spin-a-disc

In the early days he was too small for most of the kit, but now as he is much taller he can actually reach the handles.

Ski training

His legs are pretty long too, but they need to grow a little bit more before he will be able to properly use this one.

I just need slightly longer legs

Finally he found this tree trunk and insisted on climbing it. I can't believe how much energy he has, but I'm glad we found a place to run it off. He certainly slept well afterwards.

Tree climbing made easy

I'm not for a minute saying that any of this activity will in any way counteract the sheer gluttony that typifies Easter, but at least we made an effort :) 

This post is being shared as part of the #countrykids linky hosted by the lovely Fiona of Coombe Mill.