Yesterday I had such a LOVELY day. One of those magical days where everything is easy and enjoyable. A day during which Little R and I enjoyed the simple things in life and one another's company. I was feeling so content and appreciative of my little family I ended up taking plenty of photos to capture the wonderful moments in our day.
Snack time: Little R and I do require a mid-morning snack. My tummy announced the necessity to EAT NOW at about 9:30, so I trotted off to the kitchen to make us a snack plate. I love this kind of snack. Always some cubes of cheese (Little R is such a cheese fiend, and actually, so am I!), always some kind of fruit and usually bread sticks, but today I went for oat biscuits. Although we actually call them M-biscuits after a little friend who always has them at toddler yoga. Easy, wholesome and tasty.
We were only a few mouthfuls in, however, when Little R's ears pricked up (I think I genuinely saw them!) and he said "'Ear dat, Mummy? Bin van!" Hurray! It was time for a Thursday ritual of chasing the bin men around our little cul-de-sac, admiring their big wheels, flashing lights and waving enthusiastically. I love that they always wave back and say hello. Little R has even been complemented on, on a previous Thursday, on his stylish hat. We have lovely binmen in our village.
While we were out watching the binmen, a neighbour we are friendly with waved us over for a cuppa, so we nipped over there for a while. Little R was greatly impressed by her whistling kettle and we even spotted a squirrel in her back garden.
We returned home and sat in a patch of warm sunlight, reading book after book after book, while Little R demolished the rest of his snack. I love this little story. 'Pig's Egg', it's called. Pig feels left out that everyone else has laid and egg and hatched a chick, but then he discovers he has laid his very own egg. I don't want to give it away, so I'm just going to say turnipcaterpillarbutterfly and see if you can work out the very cute ending.
Snack scoffed, it was time to walk round the village for some peppers and mushrooms, since we'd depleted the vegetable drawer already. Little R eats a lot of raw salad vegetables, which is fantastic, but means peppers are often in short supply in our house. It was nice to be taking a relaxed stroll, rather than hurrying round to set up for Baby and Toddler group. I could enjoy watching him dance with his own shadow...
... and check to see if there are ANY gaps in this fence by the library big enough for his head. He's tested several of the gaps. Then Mummy had to test with her head... and the the buggy. Nope. We just don't fit! ("No fit, Mummy! Hand fit. Tree fit.")
I thought Little R might fall asleep once I popped him in his buggy for the walk back, but he was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, so when we got home, so I put on some lunch. I've just discovered the sheer ecstasy of a giant couscous and feta cheese salad, so that's what was on the menu for me, but Little R is NOT taken with the texture of giant couscous, so I whipped him up some pesto pasta. And the obligatory plate of veggie sticks and houmous, or as he puts it "pepper 'oumous, pease!".
Mmmm... good nutrition for the body, bright colours for the soul and wonderful flavours for the mouth. Bliss.
I managed to convince Little R to have some milk and therefore a nap, and then, although my body was crying out for a nap too and my brain was keen to make another of Little R's compilation videos, I went with my conscience and spent an hour doing planning and marking for school. By the end of it, my eyes were sore and I could just have drifted off to sleep. But Little R stirred, so I fetched him and gave him a cuddle... then I sat on the sofa with him because he didn't quite seem ready to wake up. It's like karma was giving me a pat on the back, because he slept for another hour in my arms, enabling me to drift off for a few minutes. Just what I needed. We woke up to discover that it was snowing outside. The same useless snow that we keep getting, which is all very beautiful to watch, but doesn't actually settle very well or for very long. I keep hoping for some proper snow so Little R and I can finally build a snowman, but I think we might have to wait until NEXT winter. Ah well, it was pretty while it lasted.
A peaceful half hour followed, tucked up under a crochet blanket, while Little R watched some Shaun the Sheep (still referred to as "Jaun the Jeep") and I did some drawing and cutting...
... creating a pile of these hearts. Next week at Baby and Toddler group we will be doing Valentine crafts, so I was testing out my plan...
Ta-da! Valentine heart suncatchers. Bit of card, two sheets of sticky back plastic and plenty of sequins and glitter. Marvellous. We'll have potato and hand printing too, for the teeny-tiny ones with less developed fine motor skills too.
Later, we got some playdough out. I was instructed to make a cat, which I duly did. Then, while I was out of the room, Little R added this adorable nose all by himself. Cuuuuuuuuuuute!
I also had to rise to the challenge of creating a whole bunch of horses...
... and a bus. He's just learnt to sing "The Wheels on the Bus" all the way through so it seemed appropriate.
Even dinnertime was delightful yesterday. Not that it isn't always, but it was particularly enjoyable, because I'd whizzed up (at the last minute, having forgotten!) a proper bread base for our pizzas, then Little R had helped to roll his and add the toppings. It's fantastic now he can genuinely help with the cooking - he is more excited to eat food he's helped to make. (By the way - how bizarre was my rolling? Because I'd made two accidental pear-shapes, I had to make a long thin pizza to fit the space left! Must practise rolling perfect circles next time we are playing with playdough!)
And they were delicious. Little R scoffed his. And finished his pesto pasta from lunch. I rather suspect he ate some more raw pepper too!
I love days like this. I think I'm relishing them more because I'm increasingly reminded by the jiggling and dancing in my belly that soon, while Rachel is at work, we will be three, and that's going to be a whole other wonderful challenge. So for now, I'm making sure I enjoy our Mummy and Son time.
P.S. And I haven't even MENTIONED how the day ended with some crochet and Daim chocolate in front of the Great British Sewing Bee! I nearly floated away on waves of contentment!