Taking it easy

Wow, what a difference a week makes! It would appear that monsoon season in Manchester is over, or at least we're experiencing some kind of interlude.  The past couple of days have been super sunny and HOT!  Today i put actual suncream on my children! And sun hats! (They took them off almost immediately after, but hey, the thought was there).

I'm acutely aware however that isn't really supposed to be a weather blog, and yet i spend such a lot of time blathering on about it, so going to stop talking about the current climate right about NOW.

I feel like i mostly blog when things are hard, like when i've had a bad day/week/month and need to vent, or at least just get all my thoughts OUT THERE instead of IN HERE where they'll send me crazy! So i feel a bit bad about that and even though it's late ish and i'm mega tired, i really wanted to even things out by writing an entry today, as i've had such a great day.

Now before anyone gets their hopes up i want to explain that by great i don't mean, those days that are super-awesome-but-totally-removed-from-reality, like birthdays, christmases, weddings, general parties and celebrations, holidays, and to a lesser extent perhaps, trips out to exciting places.  I just mean, great, ordinary, fun and easy.  I feel like I haven't had a day like that on my own with the boys in aaaages.  Almost from the minute we all woke up it just went ok.  I kept thinking that any minute something would happen to shatter the illusion of easy normality...but it just kept on going along fine.  I had to resist the urge to pinch myself to check i wasn't still half asleep in bed feeding Rudy or something.  Chris was up and out early for work, we spent the morning at home playing (Toby and Rudy) napping (Me and Rudy) and doing chores (just me), then after lunch we slapped on the suncream and headed out to the park.  Rudy fell asleep on the way and subsequently spent almost the entire afternoon like this:

I think he was just wiped out from the heat and the fact he'd been awake a lot during the night (again, from the heat, but also because he spent between 2am and 6am feeding pretty much!)

Toby and i on the other hand, were busy playing football/ball catch and hide and seek.  This is how you play hide and seek with a toddler by the way...

Me: "Ok, i'm going to close my eyes and count to ten, you go hide and i'll come look for you"*
Toby: Runs to most immediate and obvious 'hiding' location, i.e. behind nearest tree, or bobs down behind a shrub
Me: Finish counting, then walk around a bit "looking' for him. Pretend to be really puzzled and surprised, talking loudly to myself about "Oh dear, i can't find Tobias ANYWHERE, i really do think he is actually and COMPLETELY MISSING!" Do an exaggerated lean under the pram "Perhaps he's under here?"
Toby:  Jumping out "BOO!"
Me: Feigns shock "Oh there you are! You were hiding behind that tree the whole time!"

Then, when it's my turn to hide...

Toby: (Covers eyes with hands but spaces fingers wide and keeps eyes open so he can watch where you're going to hide) "One...two...three..." (waits for me to prompt)
Me: "Four..."
Toby: "Four...READY OR NOT HERE I COME!" Runs immediately over to where i am "hiding" and shrieks "Boo!" at me and starts laughing.

It's pretty hilarious.  Especially "Ready or not here i come!" because i have no idea where he's got that from and it's SO cute how he says it like it's all one word!

He also sat in a tree as you can see (he didn't climb it, but wanted to sit in it, so i lifted him up there!) and lay down in the grass, which i actually a pretty Big Deal for him (hence the photographic evidence) as he can be a bit funny about textures, and in particular grass, and it's taken a long time for him to even be comfortable sitting down on it, so yeah, that was new and unexpected!

I am struggling to explain how easy today was or to come up with reasons why (so i can try to replicate it).  There was almost a tantrum from Toby at one point but i miraculously managed to diffuse it, and there were tears from Rudy on the way home when he wanted out of the pram and to be fed, but we were in the middle of the street and very nearly almost home so i ploughed on, and there was a little bit of snatching and whining but it all felt very manageable, and very normal...not overwhelming or explosive as it sometimes can.  Definitely the weather and being able to spend 3.5 hours outside in the afternoon helped, but even before that, the morning passed without incident, and it was just so nice.


One of my many tasks this morning was laundry, and in particular, to wash Toby's toy Lapin.  This is a long-legged, dangly rabbit he was bought as a baby and Fell in Love with.

For a long while last year it was forgotten about but i sensed it had that something quality about it that would make it a timeless piece so put it away in his memory box and sure enough, since moving house it has been very much Back in Play after he re-discovered it.  So much so, that it even has to come with us places now, and yesterday took a trip with us to Lottie's house and was involved in a slight incident involving the spitting out of a raspberry (Toby was not a fan) which left poor Lapin looking very much like he had a port wine stain across the majority of his face. Toby was distressed but understandably hesitant about putting Lapin in the washing machine, but at the same time, was dismayed every time he looked at it's face to find that no, in fact the raspberry stain had not magically disappeared in the last 10 minutes since you last checked, kinda thing.  So in the washing machine he went, and i just had to hope he'd come out a. clean and b. in one piece!

So imagine my delight just over an hour later when i was able to triumphantly peg him out on the line to dry :)

Footnote
* I do not actually close my eyes.  Not because i am a cheat, but because i've watched far too many episodes of CSI, and know for sure that i do not want to be THAT cliche, opening my eyes to say "ready or not, here i come..." only to discover that while i was counting to ten, someone snatched him away, or he ran outta the park and in front of a car or some shit like that.  No thank you.  I have some anxiety issues.  I'll be keeping my eyes open just a slit whilst playing hide and seek...until he's at least...oooh, say...sixteen?