I am feeling particularly blessed at the moment - dare I say that everything seems to be chugging along nicely (hmmm, am I setting myself up for a crazy weekend by daring to voice such bliss?). Although both this week and last I was doing the solo-parent thing, with a brief and busy appearance of Grant on the weekend, the boys and I have had a great time. A friend and I have arranged to do a child swap on Gus' kindergarten days, so once a week I have two hours of blissful time for me and for another two hours Felix and I get to enjoy the company of a sweet little lassie. Last week we wandered off to the library where both of the children tottered around exploring the spaces and eventually choosing a couple of DVD's and books to borrow. Felix really seems to relish the opportunity to be the alpha child, despite our wee friend being older than him. He takes her hand to show her where to go and what to do, and gets right close to her face when he's explaining something as though it is of utmost importance. One of the best things about having our little friend visit us is that it has reminded me of the importance of stopping and just playing with the children. I often find myself dashing around madly, trying to fit in as much as possible on Gus' kindy days and then feeling guilty because I know that I should be making the absolute most of the time and just sitting and playing with Felix. It is such a struggle to find the time to just 'be' with the children whilst also finding the time to get everything else done. Oh my, will parental guilt never end?
However, the weather has been incredible these last few days, so I decided this morning that as soon as the washing was on the line we were off to the beach with picnic in tow. Needless to say, getting everyone and thing to the point where the washing is on the line is usually an incredible effort, and today was no different. Gus did a great job of helping me to pack the picnic, applying his usual sensible judgement with food choices which meant that if I hadn't of sneaked in a couple of jelly babies it would have been healthy, healthy and more healthy food because even the stuff that doesn't look like its good for you is, and that includes the Annabel Langbein Carnival Cookies which were both gluten and (mostly) dairy free . It was an incredible day at Days Bay and I snapped many gorgeous photos, but my favourite was this one of Gus pretty much dragging Felix down the wharf in anticipation of the wonderful things to explore.
Gus collected all kinds of 'treasures' as we wandered along the beach, which as soon as we made it back to the wharf, he and Felix quickly returned to the sea.
I threw all caution in the wind today, resisting the urge to get Felix home by midday to ensure he was asleep in bed by 12.30 pm and just have fun with the kids. I reasoned to myself that I do really need to be a little less rigid about ensuring that bedtimes are adhered to at all times and that he'll probably fall asleep in the car. Hmmm, well no matter what planning and reasoning you come up with it never works out does it? Felix didn't sleep today and so both he and Gus were beside themselves with exhaustion tonight as I tried to shovel food into them before a quick splash in the bath and into bed. Not a peep from Gus as he went down but Felix, not being used to having his sleep needs put before all else was not happy. In fact I've just had to pop in and give him a wee cuddle now - that is what over tiredness does. I hope its not going to be a long night ahead of me! But look at the smiles on their faces - it really was all worth it.
I have concluded today that despite my most stellar efforts, both my ginger beer bug and my sourdough starter have karked it. I think it was the cold snap a couple of nights ago that did it as since then they both have completely lost their spark, or bubble in this case. So I am going to start again with my ginger beer bug and just not worry about the sourdough for a while. Instead I'm going to try making No Knead Bread which my lovely friend Annabel sent me the link for a while ago but I hadn't got around to trying. Here's hoping I'll have more luck!
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