Imagine My Surprise

Imagine my surprise when  PJ came running out of the classroom at the end of her first week in big school ( Reception class) with a huge gold sticker on her chest and carrying a somewhat chewed but still intact, certificate!

She had been awarded this star award - for trying so hard at listening!
A Super Star indeed!
Very proud Mummy and delighted!
Well done PJ
( I really wasn't expecting it - especially not in her first full week of full days!)

Messy Snow Joke Summer Fun

We have been continuing to have fun and develop PJ's sensory needs in our play activities - the latest fun we have had has been with shaving foam - ideas for summer snow can be found at growing a jeweled rose - we danced in it, squidged it, added food colouring and watched new colours transform it, we froze some and made summer snow and did the same - and then, before not too long, PJ added her favourite activity - pouring - more and more water until, finally, it was just watery liquid to be poured and poured.

First Week at Big School

Fantastic start, so far!
Hooray for Big School!
We have got out the door, this last week on time and proudly wearing the uniform.
She has carried and cuddled her toy that has a special job, to remind her that mummy will be back soon and once, we have left this precious transitional toy, in school!
The teacher returned it, safely to us at tea time!
How lovely was that!
This last week we have stayed for school dinners and yes, there has been the evidence of what PJ has been eating firmly imprinted on the new school uniform top!
We have had a few meltdowns, a few tears and a few loud and ear piercing screams of frustration, I suspect, over this last week - but on the whole, it has all gone exceptionally well and better than any of us could have anticipated.
Transition and change is such a big thing and potential trigger for many behaviours, patterns and responses to rear their ugly heads once again - wet pants, clinging onto me, tears, bouncing on and off furniture and being restless and excitable and tired are all a small price to pay for the joy she seems to have for big school and the big smiles that greet me when she sees me when I pick her up at the end of the day!
So far we have done half days at big school.
Next week, she will do full days!
I haven't told her that bit yet.
Or, that she will be going to big school and then big, big school, for many years still to come.
Some things can wait.

New Starts - Big School et al

This week marks the end of an era and the start of a new one.
PJ will have finished her first year with me - yes - a whole year since placement - and the end of her Nursery years - and the start of BIG SCHOOL.
School transition here we come!
I have mixed feelings - for her - how will she cope with yet another change - and how will she settle with big changes and challenges of going from a key worker ratio of 1 to 6 and into a class of 1 to 30 - and how will she progress or will she regress?
I have mixed feelings - for her teachers - how will they cope with her - how will they help her to settle, to reassure her and set good boundaries in place for her to feel secure and also to help her to rise to the challenge to learn and for her to learn well - how will they take on board all that has been said and written in preparation for her to transfer to big school about her background and complex needs and still see the vibrant and yet vulnerable child?
I have mixed feelings - how will I cope with losing her - a year at home with PJ has gone so fast and there is this sense that I am losing her, irrational I know, but it is there -how will I cope with going back to work as my adoption leave is coming to an end and I will be returning to work - how will I juggle our new and changing work life balance and still retain and maintain some fun and quality time at home with PJ and I together?
Anyone else have my rambling thoughts, worries and concerns with the start of going to big school or returning to work?

The Purple Sparkly Shoes #MemoryBox

PJ loves her Purple Sparkly Shoes.
After all, we chose them together, when she had her last shoe fitting, along with another similar pair, that we got as a backup, spare pair.
Here they are:

Gorgeous, aren't they?
No wonder she chose them and loves them.
Purple and sparkles, who could ask for more in a shoe?

Anyway, I will sometimes give a limited choice to which pair of shoes might wear by asking: which shoes would you like to wear today, your dotty shoes or your purple sparkly ones?
Usually, the reply is: my Purple Sparkly ones.
Usually, it all goes OK.
Except on this day.
PJ wanted to wear her purple sparkly shoes and I couldn't find them.
Anywhere.
I hunted high and low and looked everywhere.
She had to wear different shoes, her spotty ones.
She wasn't happy.
Lots of tears and protests.
Lots.
With the other shoes successfully on, we went out for the day.
I asked her to have a real good look for the purple sparkly shoes with me, later, but we still didn't find them.
The next day, I asked her again if she knew where the sparkly purple shoes were.
Over the fence, came the reply.

Summer Holiday Royal Baby Reading

Thankfully, we love books in our house. Bedtime and let's wriggle and sit on the sofa for a little while time and we there is nothing quite like a little book to read.
PJ came with lots of books and she got some for Christmas and Birthday but I spotted two books and thought they would be perfect for the summer holidays, given our success with the news and the impact this tiny baby has had on our wee household!
We have read the Queens Knickers and it has become a loved book to share and I am delighted to say that we love this one too

 

Our fast becoming favourite one, though is this one. I like the helicopter bits by Wills and the party planning by Harry and Pippa, I have to say.

Have you read any good reads this summer?

Indoor Glamping Summer Holiday Weekend

Does anyone else love camping but hate the trauma of being wet and all that entails? You know the scenario - I have the memory of it firmly imprinted on my mind for a lifetime of camping experiences - you arrive and spend ages pitching your tent and then wake in the night cold and wet, or as once happened to me, you awake to a river seemingly running through your tent, or a storm comes while you are out for the day and your borrowed tent has almost collapsed and now has water on the inside that you have to bail out of all the water and then eventually sleep elsewhere, somewhat defeated. One time, I slept in my parents awning on their caravan but that blew away, so I ended up having to sleep in the caravan. I haven't had great experiences of camping, it has to be said.
Well, I like camping but the memories of getting wet and being miserable, almost outweigh the fun of being with friends, relaxing, turning your friends tent around for fun, beautiful countryside, taking life at a slower pace and singing and telling stories around a bbq and a campfire into the wee hours.....  and then the bit where you have to put everything away, wet, only to have to hang it out inside, at home again, to dry. For days. And then pack it all away. Again.
Only to repeat this, all over again, the following year!
So, now I have PJ and thought I ought to attempt re-new my friendship with camping again, as I haven't been camping for a couple of years - and have even tent my tent to some friends, in denial of going again. I have tossed and turned over it and decided that I couldn't pitch a tent myself. My tent is not easy to put up on your own. Especially with PJ, at the moment, she would try and help for a few minutes, I am sure and then probably run off with some poles and use them to fish with, in the nearest available puddle. I couldn't bear the thought of it all and the stress and the getting wet.... but maybe there was a fun way to do it - at least as a trial - and to stay dry?
Then I got inspired and my creative juices got going....
Indoor Glamping at home!
We both got new sleeping bags, which I found here, and I also got us a funky collapsible bucket and a scrunchy bucket each so we could each practise carrying water to do the washing up outside, just like real camping. the company delivered really fast too - so I had no excuses!

Then I built our indoor tent.
I used 3 x double sheets
2x indoor clothes dryers/airers.
battery LED pretty fairy lights.
I used 1 x sheet over each dryer/airer on each side, which helped cover the sides of our tent and seemed to help the tent top sheet over the top of the dryer/airer to not slip. This top sheet we folded up in top during the day and then hung it over the dryer/airer at night to give a darker effect.
I hung 2x small sets of funky butterfly indoor lights over the clothes airer.
Ta Da!

We used camping lanterns and torches at night.
I cooked on top of the oven as I don't have a camping stove, we used the bbq and ate outside and washed up in a bowl outside, just like real camping.
We even tried smores...

I have to say, the hardest part was the going to sleep part and after the first night we were both tired the next day and for me, the lounge floor seemed to be really uncomfortable. It wasn't as bad the second night!
It was really, really, enjoyable. And dry. Our tent was very easy to put up and to take down and we had our luxury item too - telly - as our special treat - and watched a DVD on the floor in our new sleeping bags at night - which made the settling down and going to sleep a little easier!
anyone else done some indoor glamping?
Or have an easy idea for pitching a tent single handed?
I'm thinking of trying a log pod/wigwam on a campsite.....

Summer Holidays Fun Days

We have been having fun dressing up as pirates at a local Fun Day!
A brilliantly run drop in day, with lots of activities to try and to join in with.
I didn't have to plan anything.
I just went with the flow.
We went with friends and had a picnic in the park.
And it was free.
And no tidying up to do.
Yippee!
Brilliant.

Royal Garden for a Prince or a Princess

Pj loves gardening. Well, she loves digging, to be precise. We went to a local Gardening club and came home with this lovely wee garden that we made together!
It has a cardboard turret tower covered with foil, which is then decorated with a permanent marker pen.
We put soil in the base of the seed tray and then placed our tower into the garden.
We added some ivy for the princess ladder and another flowering plant in the garden.
We used gravel to make a gravel path and added some bark chips and some grass seed.
PJ loved the digging and adding the soil and needed a lot of persuasion to complete the rest.
It is fit for a Prince or a Princess.
Beware of the dragons, though!

Watch this space and I will try and post a photo of the garden as it grows!

#Memory Box - Happy Day

The phone rang - it was PJ's social worker 25 minutes after the court hearing for the Adoption Order Hearing was scheduled. Congratulations! they said, It is all done!
Who is it? PJ asked and then asked if they were coming. No, not today, I said but added that they called with some very special news.
Can you tell me?
Yes, I can tell you.
It is very exciting. Every one really does say yes. You really are PJ and you will be forever. I really am your Mummy and will be forever. I will always be your Mummy and you will always be with me now.
Wow. That's amazing, you say.
I love my beautiful name, you say.
When I am a grown up, I won't be PJ anymore. If I get married. Well, yes, you might change your name if you get married, yes, but I will always be your Mummy.
When I am grown up, I will live in a big house and you will come and stay for 6 sleeps and then go back home to your own bed.
We then choose some biscuits together to take to our toddler group to share.
Everyone will be so happy that I really am PJ.
Today is a happy day, you say.
When we get home, you run to stroke the cat, Smudge.
You sit next to him and tell him that we are family now.
Smudge just stares but stays, obligingly, perhaps a little in shock.
Family.
We are a family now.
A very happy family, indeed.

Summer Holidays with the Family

We are embarking on the long Summer Holidays, our first together, with our belts fastened and buckles tied. I have decided that with the transition to Big School being imminent, that I would maintain a level of consistency with PJ and so she would still go to Nursery for her usual Nursery days for the few days a week that she goes, throughout the usual 5 week summer break.

My method for this madness is to not break the routine I have fought so hard to create throughout this year, particularly in the areas of getting dressed and getting out of the house and also the routine of being used to having some days without Mummy, as we are about to embark on another change for PJ - the transition from Nursery to Big School.
I have told her, alongside all the visits to Big School, that she will still be living with me when she goes to Big School, that she won't be going to another new family. Oh, she said. She had clearly, and sadly, associated the talk of going to Big school with the move from her previous nursery being with a move to a new Mummy.
We will have some special days out and I have the flexibility to swap a nursery day or to pull her out of a nursery Day if I wanted to, whilst still maintaining some sense of continuity, consistency, routine, the familiar in amongst the hype of change that the school summer holidays brings.
We have days out planned with friends and family and friends coming to stay and we are going to friends to stay for a few overnight stays. I have also planned an indoor camping night which she is very excited about, too!

This summer, our first summer holidays together is not a time to rock the boat!

Day trip with some family, on a boat that was pulled along by a horse along the canal. A great day trip - almost relaxing - added to with the merriment of PJ yelling over the side of the boat excitedly to her cousins that she could see sharks!

Storytelling Narratives: Our Story.

I have been reading this book book on story narratives and found it really helpful and inspiring. The principle is building in story into our lives to help children piece together their story and to re-build some of the broken pieces and bring healing through the powerful medium of story telling.

I have done some stories with PJ around the theme of when you were a tiny baby, I would have held you like this and we have role played with her baby dolls, feeding and done nappy changes and had hours of inter-mingling the feeding of dolls to regressing to feeding PJ too, with a piece by piece approach to re-building her understanding of love and care and meeting her needs as well as modelling how to care for others through play.

We have told and re-told the pieces of the jigsaw of how she came to be in foster care and how she then has come to me and she has loved telling and re-telling her story. This is her story and it is our story of how we found each other. She will soon have her Life Story Book as well, that will help add to these narratives, we are beginning to tell with a frequency and familiarity that they will be great traditional family stories.

PJ came to me with a story narrative that her social worker had given her about a family of bears who lived in the woods, where her social worker is the giraffe who was worried about the little bears and how they didn't have enough food and were sometimes frightened and how the giraffe took the little bears to live with some other animals who would be their foster carers while the giraffe searched all over the woods to find a new Mummy animal who would look after the bears forever and love them and care for them and to keep them safe.
This story was read to her during the transition of her being prepared to meet me for Introductions. The social worker had also used a family of animals to help
I have tried to tell this story, printed on the laminated sheets of paper with pictures but it has been flung across the room.
I have stuck to telling our story, together, for these last few months, without using the family of bears book, successfully until a few weeks ago.
I now have the set of animals passed on to me by PJ's social worker and we are beginning to use them with a renewed fascination. I am not using the laminated sheets at all and am just using the figures, which is working really well.

The Family of Bears in the woods.....

 

The Giraffe, who is the social worker who was in charge of all the babies and children in the woods...

 

the Giraffe was very worried about the little bears so she found other kind animals in the woods, foster carers, to take good care of little bear whilst she searched through all the woods for a new Mummy for little bear.

 

I now need to bring the bears family in the woods to it's conclusion with the introduction of what animal I will be?

I think this:

and of course, little bear and Mummy Elephant were very happy together and little bear had nice food and lots of fun with her new Mummy. And she was safe.

Do you do any story narratives with your children?

Royal Baby #Memory Box

I was, along with many in the nation and indeed the world, waiting with bated breath for the news of the birth of the new Royal baby last week. I couldn't help but to keep my ear to the ground and to listen for the announcement on the radio. The next day, I also couldn't resist the urge to turn the telly on every now and then in the hope for that first glimpse of  Kate and William and their new baby to leave the hospital. I remembered when Diana and Prince Charles had left with their tiny bundle, William, those years ago and how it had impacted me and so was delighted when I sat on the sofa with PJ and told her that we were about to see a new baby, who would one day be a king.
She sat still with interest and we waited and watched and then the moment came.
Is that the new baby Mummy?
Is the new baby king now?
No, not yet, this baby is tiny and has just been born, but one day this baby will be a king.
As the camera zoomed in on the baby wrapped up in a bundle and was held in his proud new Mummy and Daddy's arms, I said to her:
If you had been my tiny baby and if I had had you as a tiny baby, I would have held you like that in a tiny blanket and I would have held you all wrapped up nice and safe and all snug bug, just like that tiny baby that has just been born. You were born in hospital too and if I had had you I would have carried you out of hospital just like that baby. ( well minus all the zillion photographers!)
Really?
Yes, I would.
Can you carry me like that now?
She crawled onto my lap and lay in my arms.
I carried her in my arms upstairs, cradled in my arms, like a tiny baby.
The next day, she said:
Is the new baby a king now?

Big School Uniform #Memory Box

I've hunted high and hunted low and asked friends for advice and ... drum roll please - Ta Da!
I have found non scratchy tops and non scratchy skirts and pinafores for Big School Uniform.
Very pleased and impressed with my discovery and lovely purchases!
We have lots of sets - ready and waiting to be spare sets for the days when we are a little overwhelmed and don't quite make it to the bathroom in time.
We have spare sets for after muddy days, puddle jumping in the rain days, I've enjoyed all my lunch days, paint all over everything days, glue stick it all like it is your last glue stick days and spare sets for when I haven't caught up with all the washing and drying days.
Big School has a rather attractive school logo, which PJ has shown interest in, thankfully and we have talked about the school cardigans and the school sweatshirts and made our choice.
I wanted to try some of the big school uniform on before I iron in all the name labels and did this with PJ standing in front of big long mirror in the bathroom.
She obliged and was intrigued to try her new big school uniform on. As she twirled in the skirt and spun out of the bathroom, I asked her what she thought of her new Big School Uniform:
It's fabudiculus, Mum!
Phew!
I just hope that I get some cooler evenings over the summer holidays to iron in all the labels and that the big school uniform is still just a bit too big in September!

Pets

Ahh, the chance to talk about our well loved cat, Smudge, for this weeks #WASO - The Weekly Adoption Shout Out - over at the Adoption Social. I love my cat - he is very gentle and loves to lie in the sun and be next to me on the sofa and he also loves being outdoors - and yes, he does hunt - and therefore brings me all sorts of treasures as presents for me. I have had him since he was a kitten and he has lived relatively peacefully with me for the last 3 years, being extremely tolerant of small children visiting, who have shrieked with delight at him, stroked him, and who have tweaked his whiskers when they can no longer contain their excitement - and he has sat obligingly, played hide and seek and peek a boo and jumped up high for his toys, with them all and loved it.

Then PJ arrived.

First came the visits and she shrieked with delight when she saw him and he sat next to her and let her stroke him. She had seen lots of photos of him in her Introductions book, so she was very excited to meet him. He just looked stunned. Before Introductions started, I had put a safety gate on her  bedroom door as recommended, and to follow the same pattern in the foster home. When Introductions started and I saw how PJ was in the foster home and the layout of the house, I realised that it would be a great idea to have another safety gate fitted onto my bedroom - to keep my room as my room - and therefore provide a bolt hole for the cat.
I am sooo glad that I did!

Smudge is a very tolerant cat - and she is very excitable and changeable little girl.
They say she will learn empathy.
I work on it with her but it is a s-l-o-w process with some days of her being very gentle and loving towards him and other days where she is not at all.
I watch them like a hawk.
I model how to stroke the cat gently and use a soft voice to call his name.
We talk about what he likes and doesn't like.
Come here my lovely sweet boy she says and goes to give him a hug.
Then, moments later she pulls his tail, yanks his fur and picks him up and lugs him around as he finally meows and even hisses, occasionally at her.
She takes no notice.
Mostly he just stays limply in her arms as he is carried around, with an expression which seems to say, if I lay still, it will be over quickly.
Don't worry she says, I will just take you to my Mummy. It's OK, she says, gently.
Then, as he finally squirms and makes a bolt for it, breaking free, she growls and hisses at him and says Raaaah, making her hands like claws in the air towards him.
Occasionally, she has been as quick as him and I have intervened as he is half in the house and half out of the cat flap, as she has grabbed him by the tail.
Other times he will lie down next to her as she strokes him, purring.
Sometimes, she has sung him lullabies, and played her guitar to him and he has lain next to her, pretending to be asleep.
Several times, she has read him her story books and he seems to listen, attentively.
She tries to engage him in her play activities.
Would you like a cup of tea she asks him?
would you like and ice cream?
And gives them to him. Here you are Smudge, she says.
I think he understands.

She talks about him at nursery as if he is her little brother and sometimes this is a love hate relationship.
Once, in the early days of beginning to go to Nursery, PJ was really struggling to get in the car in anticipation of going to Nursery. No, not Nursery, she screams and cries. After half an hour of screams and cries and failed attempts and soothing and getting in the car, PJ sat on the front door step and howled. In desperation, I called for the cat. He came from over the fence and she seemed to calm. I suggested we take him with us in the car and said that she would go in her car seat and he would go in his car seat (cat box) next to her.
She, mercifully, calmed considerably and I got her safely into her car seat and gathered up the cat into his cat box and put him in the car and there was a few moments of calm, with the occasional sobs as the tears subsided, gradually.
We were halfway along the road to nursery, when PJ announces that she doesn't like Smudge in our family.
Meow, replies Smudge, immediately and loudly.
They both went quiet and I supressed my giggles until I finally got back home after successfully getting PJ to Nursery.
Yes, their friendship and bond is growing.
She watches him jump over the fence and waves him off in the mornings saying have a nice day at cat school.
She thinks he is very cheeky when he comes home with a present of a bird or a worm or a mouse.
Especially, if it coincides with one of our birthdays.
He buys her presents for birthdays and Christmas and she thinks he goes with his backpack to the shops and wonders if he always remembers to pay.
Of course we made cake and sang happy birthday to him for his birthday and buy him a new toy or some Smudge treats.
It is early days, for them both.
He really doesn't settle down until evening, when she has gone to bed.
He just knows that then all is calm and all is quiet.
Then he sleeps in heavenly peace.

#Memory Box - Sunday Lunch

Roast!  you exclaim.
You love roast.
With Oxter Puddings. (that's Yorkshire puddings, to everyone else)
After grace you say tuck in.
We eat: roast dinner complete with roast potatoes, veg, Yorkshire puddings and gravy.
Sometimes, you pick the plate up and put the plate to your mouth to consume the gravy.
With loud slurps.
Delicious! you declare as you set the plate down and grin a big gravy eared grin.
Yesterday, I was rather glad you didn't lift the plate to your mouth to lick the gravy from your plate.
We had guests.
Friends. Our friends.
To be honest, I don't think they would have minded, even if you had lifted you plate to your mouth.
They are fabulous friends - you and I wrote the list together of who to invite.
When we did the list initially, we had one space left.
I asked you who else we should invite - you said in response, with no hesitation: scrappy the dog.
I have to admit, I was rather pleased that scrappy the dog's owner and I decided that scrappy the dog would be unable to attend for Sunday Roast and you and I invited someone else instead.

The P.E. Bag #Memory Box

We just purchased the new P.E. bag for big school.
You know the style, the one with the drawstring that hangs on a peg.
In the olden days, when I was a child, my Mum made me one and threaded old dressing gown chord through it to hang. Then she chain stitched my name along the bottom in the same colour.
I had a brown bag with gold/mustard yellow chord and gold/mustard yellow letters, that lasted for years. Very retro. Vintage now, I think.
I hated it but hated sewing more and I needed a P.E. bag for my hockey kit, which I loved more.
So the brown and gold P.E. bag lived with me for many of my Primary school and of my secondary school days.
It seems that, in the modern days, you buy a P.E. bag with the school logo on.
Ta da!
Simples.
I tried to big up the idea of a P.E. bag to PJ.
I talked about her needing this lovely bag to put her P.E. kit in.
I tried to explain that her P.E. kit would be worn when she did lots of running around times at big school.
I tried to explain that at big school when you all do running around times you get changed into shorts and t-shirt.
I tried to explain that at big school she would keep her shorts and t-shirt for running around times in her new P.E. bag.
We talked about the colours she would wear and she nodded in agreement that the new P.E. bag was, indeed,  rather lovely.
Yes, and Mummy? she said: Do we put PEAS in it?

The Uniform Challenge is on.

As those of you who have read my blog before will be aware, PJ is preparing to go to Big School in September as she will be starting school and her Reception year.
She has already done a huge transition to move to be with me in this last year and then to start at a new Nursery for her and now she faces another transition: big school.
We are getting to grips, s-l-o-w-l-y, along with the idea of uniform.
PJ doesn't do clothes well.
She used to scream with every item of clothing change. Every time.
She is getting much better.
We have worked hard at lessening choices of clothes to wear.
I set out her clothes for the day and we change in the same place.
I used to layer her vest and t-shirt and sometimes a pinafore dress too, so that it could go over her head as a one-er, to ease the amount of times I was having to go over the head and in the arms of a distressed child.
It hasn't been easy without our battles.
At worst, for me, she lay screaming and crying in protest for 45 minutes as I sat next to her with a handful of clothes for the day. We ended up in just 2 items: pants and a pinafore dress.
We have worked hard at doing coat or hoody options and in the colder winter days have managed coat and hoody - and even, occasionally a hat and gloves as well.
We are now pretty good at socks and shoes, although sometimes we have to wait until we have reached our destination in the car or the buggy, before we do these!
She doesn't like jeans, or cardigans, or anything scratchy.
We have come a l-o-n-g way.
I have been worrying about the whole school uniform thing, to be honest.
I have narrowed down the clothes we wear on Nursery days to dress or skirt option, for this half term.
I have pre-rolled up bundles in a drawer, ready, complete with vest and pants, ready to go.
Skirt = skirt and t-shirt top.
dress option = pinafore style dress and a t-shirt.
She is doing well with this, idea although we are still wearing leggings too.
I console myself by reminding myself of how far we have come with the whole clothes wearing shebang and that we still have a few more months before we start big school and actually begin to wear the uniform.
This week, our 2nd visit to big school, we tried on the school uniform tops and sweatshirts and cardigans for size. Briefly but just about long enough to get an idea of preferences and size.
I think we will going for the cardigan option - a hoody without a hood, I said. She smiled. It's a winner. Phew.
A big relief, as she doesn't really like buttons or pockets either, but perhaps in the excitement, or in the bewilderment, she didn't notice.
I think we will stick to my hunch that the sweatshirts will be too much around the neck for PJ's liking.
I found to my complete delight some "knitted" t-shirt type material skirts and pinafores - the non scratchy material!
So now, as well as practising with getting dressed and with getting dressed as calmly and as quickly as we can and in the either skirt or dress options for nursery days, I am ordering PJ's school uniform.
Eek.

Mud #Memory Box

Mud.
Thick, oozy, scquelchy mud.
You love mud.
You saw a puddle at the weekend and jumped in.
Squelch squerch you called as you waded in.
The mud on the outskirts of the mud oozed over and into your doodle pumps.
The muddy puddle - possibly the only one in the park - was deep.
In you went.
Right in.
Up to your knees.
Even if you had worn your wellies, I don't think they would have helped.
Not in that muddy puddle, that's for sure.
You lay down in it and kicked your legs, shrieking with delight and joy.
It was on your nose and in your hair too.
On the squelchy and squirchy walk back up the hill towards home, we passed a family.
The Mum's mouth dropped wide open as she stared.
The Dad smiled and said: that looks like you had brilliant fun.
A lovely Muddy Day, you said.

Holiday Success

We had a fantastic holiday!
A roaring success by all accounts.
Sun, sand and sea.
We built sandcastles and paddled in the sea.
We watched the seagulls and the boats.
We ate ice cream and fish and chips.
We wrote postcards and brought some sticks of rock for friends and family.
We wrote in the sand and threw pebbles in the sea.
We played at our holiday home with our familiar toys we had selected together and miraculously crammed into the car.
Brilliant.
The ups by far outweighed the downs.
PJ coped extremely well, for our first holiday together.
The few days of unsettled behaviours before and since returning and the few later nights of settling to sleep and the earlier mornings whilst on holiday fade into insignificance.
With all the excitement and unsettled times the holiday created, I did have to do a load of washing whilst we were away - and had to do it all again when we got home!
12 sets of pants and leggings = 2 days!
Memories created.
And the sun shone, gloriously.
It has been worth it.