The last week has been a busy one, filled with lots of sunshine (can anyone else believe how long this spell of good weather has lasted?) and happy memories. We’ve been on lots of outings, including one to A&E for me, but we won’t go into that when talking about weekly gratitude as I wasn’t particularly grateful for a cup of tea in my lap!
Today, my weekly gratitude is as follows:
Park play dates
Last weekend we met up with one of Lottie’s preschool friends. Gary was working, so it was just me and the girls with the other family and we had such a nice morning. The family is really lovely and it was relaxed and easy and the kids played beautifully. They have the most gorgeous dog, who Frankie adores, so she spent much of the morning chasing him around the fields giggling, giving me the time to drink takeaway coffee and have an adult conversation and a catch up. Everyone is a winner.
Theatre trip
Lottie and I started the week with a trip to the theatre to watch Lily and Bear. I’ve wanted to start spending some more one-to-one time with the girls for a while now. Frankie can be quite full on and demand quite a lot of attention and I worry that Lottie loses out at times. It was so nice to have some time with my big girl.
The show was just 40 minutes and designed specifically for 18 months to four years. But I was still a little worried as to whether she would keep still or stay focused, but she was so good. She enjoyed the show, joined in with the audience participation, and was so well behaved. We’ll definitely go again. Meanwhile, Frankie lapped up her time with daddy.
All-clear
Before we headed to the theatre, I had dropped my dad off at hospital first thing that morning, to have his six monthly cancer check up. And just before we went in to the show, he text to say he had the all clear again. Such a huge relief and I’m so proud of him.
Afternoon naps
With a teething toddler, and the shock of burning myself, I’ve actually allowed myself a few afternoon naps this week. I never really feel that I can afford the time to catch up on sleep. I know it’s really important to have time for yourself, but mum life is so so busy, that I rarely actually do. But it was really nice to do so and I feel much better for it.
Park date
Not one to favour one child, I made sure that Frankie and I had some time together this week too. After preschool drop off one morning she and I headed to the park for an hour. It sounds a bit lame in comparison to the theatre, but honestly, this girl loves to climb. She thrives with some attention and we had such a fun time before it got too hot to be out. She explored every single corner of the park and climbed to her hearts content.
Splash park fun
We ticked off one of the family summer bucket list items this week with a visit to our local splash park. Last year, Lottie wasn’t a huge fan of water, but she’s suddenly decided it’s great fun. We turned up and the two girls went crazy. They were running, laughing and splashing constantly for over an hour. I am not sure who enjoyed it more, us or them. It was so lovely to watch them having so much fun. We’ll definitely be going back.
Sports day and picnics
I wasn’t sure whether to include this as a weekly gratitude item as it didn’t go exactly to play. Lottie’s preschool sports day was this week. It was busy, hot and noisy, as most toddler events are. It was also totally out of routine for Lottie’s morning at preschool and she really couldn’t cope with it all, so refused to do most of the activities and spent most of the time shaking her head and on the verge of tears. Meanwhile, Frankie wanted to do all of the activities and had tantrum after tantrum when she wasn’t allowed to.
The reason I’m including the day here though, is that Lottie coped. She didn’t enjoy it. But equally she didn’t have a meltdown, we stayed for the duration, and she even took part in a few of the activities in the end. She could have totally freaked out, but she didn’t. And I’m so very proud of her for that.
Garden time
It’s been so nice to spend more time outside this week and the girls and I have got into the habit of spending an hour or so out in the garden before bedtime. Lottie is a budding gardening and is obsessed with watering the plants, especially the courgettes we planted together earlier in the year. Is it possible to drown plants?
Great friends and family
Amongst the great memories, we’ve had a few dark moments this week. Isn’t that always the way? But do you know what? When the going gets tough, you realise how blessed you are with wonderful friends and family. Our lovely friend took me to hospital. My sister met me there, looked after me, and bought me home. My husband cam home at lunchtime the next day to look after me.
Mum friends rallied around at sports day and helped me with stroppy Frankie so that I could focus on Lottie, and then picked me up afterwards and joined us for a lovely picnic to bring us all back to a calm, supported reality. I’m truly blessed with the people in my life, and I’m always blown away by how lovely people are. Everyone has rubbish moments, but if you have great friends and family, you can get through just about anything.
