Finding normal

We're slowly finding a new normal for a boy with a broken arm. He's using his arm much more and less tired so it's generally easier. He's raring to run and cycle and generally use up energy though so it's a hard balance to find things that he can do without me constantly worrying and yet give him some freedom and a chance to run off some energy. 

We know the local (and not so local) playgrounds pretty well so I ransacked my brain to think of one that doesn't have too many high bits or bits where I will be on edge and then we took a trip to Chipping Norton. 

It's definitely autumn now so even though it was sunny the ground was wet and it was a cold wind. We had fun though. 

She is a character.

A stroll in the woods

We did a little shopping yesterday. Isabel fell in love with this suitcase and was very sad that we couldn't take it home with us. I think if she goes on a flight she might have to have one. 

The weather has been horrendous the last couple of days. After a very wet morning we went to one of the local woods for a walk. It's hard to find things to do that I don't end up on edge and worried about whether Isaac's going to get hurt again or not. He's mostly unfussed by his cast and wants to do everything he was doing before. It's good that he's not in pain but I do wish he could do a little more future thinking and not just launch into everything.

A MAD museum trip

We took a little trip to The MAD Museum in Stratford today. It's a space that displays kinetic art, automata and steampunk - aka there are lots of buttons to press that start stuff moving. The kids are just about the right age to be able to enjoy it - they could both reach all of the buttons to start the machines off and could see most of the stuff without having to be picked up. Under 5s get in free though so it's still worth going with young children if you're in Stratford as they'll get something out a visit. 

This was a marble run on steroids!

Life goes on as usual

We're being a little quieter and having fewer days out to the park despite some good weather but Isaac is doing really well with his broken arm. He's having a go at most things and manages to use his left hand pretty well. He still thinks he can climb trees and climbing frames and is a bit put out when I suggest it's not such a great idea with only one working hand. I had to take his sword and shield out of his good hand when he'd climbed up to the top of the climbing frame with it again yesterday. I don't know which he's looking forward to most, proper climbing again or being able to use both the sword AND the shield at the same time. 

Dinosaurs on a cake.

A broken arm is not good enough reason to postpone a party (especially when cakes have been baked and the house is tidy!) so with Isaac at the fracture clinic I welcomed the first guests and then the party got into full swing once the boy returned. In the last few weeks we've had requests for many different themes including Angry Birds and Thunderbirds but some dinosaur paper plates were enough to convince him that a dinosaur party was perfect. 

The cake was a Mary Berry slab cake with lots of grated chocolate on top of the icing - bad idea it went EVERYWHERE - and then it had a couple of new Schleich dinosaurs on the top to add to the dino collection. 

We have got into the habit of asking people to bring a contribution to the food instead of gifts - I'm not sure the kids approve but it takes some of the hassle out of the planning and reduces the general party chaos of lots of stuff everywhere.

I still have a few basics and some treats on the table and today's included a big dish of fruit (that ended up with dinosaurs in it by the end of the party), chocolate brownies (Nigella's recipe), salad, olives, cheese, bread and crisps, and big jugs with water with lots of fruit chopped up in it. I had planned to do lots of dipped marshmallows but frankly they were such a faff I didn't do more than a couple of dozen. They looked pretty though and went down well - the tip if you're going to try it is apparently to freeze your marshmallows.

I bought a couple of tubs of small dinosaurs from ELC and some glow in the dark ones for the kids to take a handful home instead of party bags. A tired boy got quite possessive of them by the end though and was rationing them to one per person... He now has quite a collection of dinosaurs!