On Friday, when I arrived back from work, early (supposedly so Rachel could go out on a social outing), I had a bit of a surprise. A lot of a surprise, in fact. The house was all packed up and ready for us to leave immediately for a weekend in Cambridge, in honour of my impending 30th birthday! My wife is VERY good at surprises.
The weekend was everything a family weekend away should be. Close enough not to involve too much travelling, busy enough to be exciting and lazy enough to be relaxing. Here are just a few of the wonderful moments we shared.
Our very excited boy playing in an unfamiliar bath after his dinner out. He was so thrilled by the events of the day that he didn't go to sleep until we both lay down in bed and snuggled him between us, at 9:30.
The next day, we spent a whopping eight hours exploring Cambridge. We enjoyed shopping in the unique shops. We rested in the library while Little R had a nap in the Tula. We relaxed in a punt on the river... under a blanket, since it was pretty cold.
Bus rides, which are so much more fun with a two-year-old. I wanted to capture his feet, comfortably splayed over the edge of the seat. One day, he'll grow out of these little blue and green boots that I love so much. One day, it'll seem laughable that he ever fitted onto his feet. But right now, they fit his chubby, pink little feet just perfectly.
New toys, from a rather marvellous Aladdin's Cave of a Scandanavian shop we found (Tiger). Is it just me that loves Scandanavian packaging? Just plain white with some words on in black. So much more appealing that the garish colours splashed all over British merchandise. Little R also ADORES his plastic watering can in the shape of a lime green rabbit. He keeps introducing himself: "Hello, my name Little R. What your name?" Then he replies on behalf of the rabbit. "I rabbit water can!" You can't argue with it - it's a sensible name!
A Napoleon Bonaparte moment!
A catastrophe with a puddle. We were SO excited to splash in muddy puddles at the Wimpole Estate Farm, since we all had our welly boots ("Mummy welly boots! Mummy splash puddols!"). But the second puddle Little R gambolled cheerfully into betrayed him in the cruellest fashion, making him slip down onto his knees. He wasn't hurt at all, but he was covered in thick mud and quite devastated by the shock. Luckily we hadn't even closed the car boot yet, so we sat him on the edge of the boot to change his trousers. And his socks. Thank heavens he didn't sit backwards onto his duffle coat!
A long walk, with lots of stick action. Little R's current obsession is choosing nicely sized and shaped sticks to carry. He likes to poke things with them. He enjoyed giving myself and Mummy Rachel a stick each. Then swapping them around lots. Simple pleasures!
Intriguing textures.
This was a brilliant idea. And upstairs floor in a barn, filled with little hessian sacks containing hay, and miniature sack barrows. Little R LOVED carrying the bags to and fro, sorting the bags into the appropriate area, for OATS, BARLEY or WHEAT piles. He'd have stayed there all day, I think!
This is where it all started to unravel though. Little R was very excited to sit on this huge tractor, wiggling the steering wheel and pushing the gear lever. But he was devastated beyond compare to have to get off. Tiredness for his late night and long day in Cambridge was swiftly catching up with him and he completely lost the plot.
We tried to cheer him up with some bees. We tried to tempt him into the barn with the sheep, but he was wailing so loudly that we thought he'd scare them. We tucked him up in the Tula on Rachel's back and he fought, cried and begged to be let out for ten minutes as we frogmarched (where DOES that phrase come from? Frogs don't march... do they?) to the car. I nursed him to sleep, then tried to transfer him peacefully to his carseat. Epic fail. I spent the next 20 minutes trapped in a circular conversation about how it would be illegal and dangerous to cuddle him in a moving car, and how if we stopped to cuddle him, we'd never get home for lunch. Eventually he gave up and hiccuped himself sadly to sleep. Oh dear. Being two is fun, but it's also really hard.
Despite the tricky end to the weekend, we all thoroughly enjoyed it. A long nap for Little R and I upon our return and we were both bright eyed and bushy tailed. (Actually, that's a fib. HE was bright-eyed and bushy tailed. I was still exhausted and slightly stressed because I had a massive pile of emails to catch up with, but there you go!)
I feel very lucky. I have a gorgeous little man, a generous and sneaky wife and a growing baby in my tummy. Life doesn't get much more marvellous.