Favourite photgraph

Was just searching for a photo for my new Facebook account and found this one. I love this picture and will treasure it always. It was taken last year on the same fields as yesterday and  it was just a beautiful day (both  meteorologically  ( is  that even a word ?!) speaking  and emotionally) My ‘babies’ were just enjoying being in each other’s company so much.

Wild and Free… for a while

yesterday morning we decided we would all head out for a tramp across the fields. J and M were obviously filled with energy and what better place to let it out but in huge open fields with plenty of opportunity for bug ( J) spotting and butterfly spotting ( M) It was the first time we had done this without an all terrain pram for M but thought we would try it as we could rest whenever we want and we were in no rush. What a big , clever  girl!

The start of the walk was wonderful – it was great to see my children running through long grass, rolling in clover and searching for ‘ creatures’ in the hedgerows- the look of pure joy on their faces! Then we went to the shop at the other side of fields and treated ourselves to ice cream and this is where things started to fall apart…. J became very upset as his ice lolly was melting…the because it was cold… but he calmed quickly. We set off walking with the promise of hide and seek on the way home. Unfortunately the places to hide were quite a walk away ( as in a big field!) and J became very distressed that he couldn’t hide and kept bolting off in the opposite direction and shouting. I could see tensions were mounting, M was tired and the way we had started to walk is the most difficult route home ( lots of sandy, steep hills- requires alot of concentration that just wasn’t there today) So I had to make the decision to walk with J and explain to him why why we were going another way ( not happy at all, obviously), still upset about the hide and seek issue too. He refused to walk and I had to get both children home as both were tired and the sun was coming out now ( and no hats or sun cream- none of us built for the sun!) so I had to ‘fireman lift J’- he wasn’t happy said he would walk…. ran off:( Had to carry him again. little M very distressed at this point as grossly tired and couldn’t understand why her brother was so upset and angry and also why she couldn’t have a carry too! In the middle of all this , I realised that J’s jacket that had been flung over my bag had got lost:( So we struggled home whilst both children were screaming and j was becoming more and more aggressive and we put up with the stares:(

I have ordered some ‘ business  cards’ to hand out to the ‘ looky loos’ and ‘ tutters.’ It will hopefully give them food for thought and maybe, just maybe, make a few think twice before judging in future:-

J trashed his room on his return and M was distraught. We all needed a big snuggle up together to recover and a tasty cheese sandwich:) The first meltdown of the holidays… I actually think J has done really well as I cannot even begin to imagine how hard it must be to be out of school routine, no matter what visual timetables and prior discussions about holidays have taken place.