Art appreciation

Busy doing nothing

We're back home again and back to just going to the park and getting on with life and doing nothing much of any importance.

She's getting bigger.

We're loving that we bought washable pens.

He's finding dens in the park.

Giraffe is erm well being shoved in a glass currently but he seems to be the in toy at the moment and was in bed with us last night.

The chores need doing.

And owls need staring at.

And then it rained

It's been a while coming to this part of the UK but at last there was some rain today. Not sure the holiday makers will be very pleased but the birds were loving it.

So what to do on a rainy day? Well play with balloons (she was heavily supervised)

Do vintage jigsaws.

Blow balloons up and then let them go so that they scream round the room.

Have a snooze.

Play ball on the stairs (a good option with dogs and small boys).

Do some reading.

And blow raspberries on your sister's tummy.

Oh and take a photo of your mum and sister.

Saying yes

We're still feeling our way as to how to live happily with two children but there are melt your heart moments in amongst the stresses. Isaac really wants to cuddle Isabel a lot (although putting her down again isn't always very gentle). Occasionally he lets me take photos of their interactions.

We've been making the most of the parks today. Norfolk really needs some rain (although I'd be happy for it to wait until we've gone home again). The grass in the parks is brown and crunchy and the ground baked dry. Not that the boy cares.

I've been trying to change my reflex responses. Isaac has struggled to share my attention since Isabel's arrival and he's also heading into that threenage stage with the tantrums to match. I'm tired and often achy and it makes me grumpy. My reflex response tends to get more and more negative the less energy I have and then Isaac ends up having a tantrum and it all spirals downwards. It's hard to balance a 'say yes' philosophy - which is where I want to be - with a boy who is testing the boundaries and who needs to know where he stands. I've found it hard to keep the balance of saying yes without being overly permissive. Today I read a great summary of why and how to always say yes and it's helped me to clarify in my head how I want to be and given me some ideas of how to go about it. Now all I have to work out is how to reconcile it all with a boy who still has that toddler need for everything to happen NOW.

Sand in the toes

Florence Day

A year ago today a baby girl called Florence was born and stayed on this earth for a fleeting few hours. Her story has touched many, especially those of us in the babywearing community who knew her mum Jeanette through her lovely baby carriers. I want to say something eloquent and beautiful but the words will not come.

I am thinking of you Jeanette, Woody and family and hoping that the day will treat you gently as you hold your new baby Ernest. Lots of love and tonnes of virtual hugs are winging your way.

Florence Violet. Much loved and much missed.

Babies go to the park

There are a few houses on our street that are being done up at the moment and so every now and then we get an interesting delivery to watch. This morning was the best so far. We heard a big lorry and I sent Isaac to look and see what it was and the excited cry came back that it was a cement mixer. So out we all traipsed to sit on the front wall and watch as 3 wheelbarrows took it in turns to empty a load from the cement mixer. The dog got a bonus of greeting every passing pedestrian as well - he just presumes everyone is coming to see him.

Once the cement mixer had gone Isaac could hear some machinery in the park and so was all for going immediately to see what it was. I suggested we put some shoes on first.

Instead of his bike he wanted to take his buggy and baby so off we went.

His buggy was parked next to mine when he went on the swings and then moved around to the climbing frame and other equipment as he went even though I'd gone to sit on a bench and he could have left it with me.

Although obviously he wanted his baby to take part some of the time.

He didn't get this off me and I have rarely tipped a child out of a buggy (I would like to say never but I'm not very good with buggies and am much safer having my children strapped to me in a sling).

I've been making a big effort in the last few days to put the laptop away and fully engage with my children. In part this is because Isaac has been watching a lot of 'animals' (videos on YouTube) and there have been tantrums when he's been told no more. It has helped to remove it and he's only asked for 'animals' once when the laptop was put away. We've had fewer tantrums too (well from him at least, I've had a rough couple of days). I'm reading Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves when I get chance at the moment and finding it both enlightening and challenging. One of the hardest things is realising that small children need you to be fully engaged and not thinking about other things. Naomi Aldort suggests that thinking of all the things that need doing while you're reading to your child robs both you and them of the experience of reading. It's hard in our busy lives to be fully in the moment and it's making me slow down and try to be with my children (it's hard juggling the needs of both though). I'm not quite sure when Aldort thinks the washing gets done and things like that but we're managing mostly.

Street Party Time

Today was our second annual street party. Last year was a bit of an experiment but there was enough positive feedback to make it worth doing it again and hopefully it will remain an annual fixture. The street gets closed to traffic. All the cars get moved elsewhere (and any remaining ones get decorated) and we set up lunch, bouncy castles and stalls.

We decorated our house.

The boy was a pirate (for all of about 3 minutes).

The fire engine was a HUGE success. One of Isaac's friends didn't want to get out.

And there was fun to be had with the hose (I missed Isaac's turn as I thought he'd just be a spectator).

The biggest hit of all was the bouncy castle which was right outside our house.

The only diversion from the bouncy castle other than the fire engine was our friend Kerry singing.

He's practicing to be a roadie.

Or maybe a set designer.

23cms

Isaac likes measuring things with my dressmaking tape and today everything was 23cms apart from Daddy's head which was 3cms. Make of that what you will.

He's been playing with his baby a lot today. There was much rushing and cries of 'baby's crying, baby's crying' as baby was whipped out of the buggy

And then he sat on the chair and fiddled around a bit

before finally giving baby milk.

The less said about my husband's ideas of babies and buggies the better...