Tales of the unexpected with The Boy, my pride and joy.
We're so lucky where we live.
So lucky to have miles upon miles of glorious coastline; swathes of golden sand, mounds of perfectly elliptical pebbles, an abundance of rock pools populated with crazy creatures, and a vast tidal range allowing for hours spent on the beach.
Enjoying childhood.
Oh there have been a hard few days this week, it seems very fitting to remind myself of one good and one not-so-marvellous aspect of the past seven days.
Pit:
Ears.
Anyone who really knows us will be only too aware of the terrible times that The Boy suffers at the hands of his ears. Ever since his second Winter, he has been at the peril of many an ear infection, the climax of it came last year when we visited the doctor seven times. We were referred to an ENT specialist who informed us he had glue ear in both ears with a 10% reduction in hearing in his left ear and 5% in his right. Luckily once April arrived, his ears cleared up and I knew he'd be fine until November. [Read more…]
53. Partners in Crime (This is one I had hoped to add by the time the post went live last week, but I had no chance so have added it into this week's batch. We went away to Coombe Mill for a few days with my brother and his family, and this is The Boy and Fiery Cousin – from Wild Family Fun – exploring the grounds.)
54. Simple Things (It doesn't matter what time of year it is, give children a spade and sand and they can ask for nothing more to make them happy! While the adults were making a fire and cooking hot chocolate, the children started digging to Australia.)
55. In Training (The Boy adores driving the tractor with Farmer Nick, and as we were the only people there this week he had plenty of opportunity.)
56. Natural Childhood (He couldn't be happier than one of the pigs in the muck behind him in this photo; he just needs the outdoors and freedom to explore and he is content beyond all measure.)
57. The Wonders of Nature (On the last day of our holiday we called into Boscastle for a few hours before the drive home. It's a beautiful little village, but the plaques showing the flood damage are shocking. We walked up to the point on the edge overlooking the harbour, climbed over the crest and saw one of the most amazing natural sights I've ever viewed. More in tomorrow's My Sunday Photo.)
58. Heston and Jamie (The Boy's friend from school came over to play and have tea, they decided to have fun with his play kitchen. Not sure who was more disbelieving; The Boy's friend or his mum; free play with baking powder, vinegar, shaving foam, flour, lemon juice, alka seltzer, lentils, etc.)
59. Just Chillin' (A busy day rushing around trying to find somewhere, anywhere, that we could get The Boy's holiday photos printed out for school resulted in a fraught mummy. We descended on the park for a calming ten minutes grounding and relaxation.)
60. Dough (The only time we've tried to make pizza in the past ended up in a rush and me not having enough time for it to prove, the result was a gelatinous mess which just wouldn't cook properly. Today The Boy and Mr. TBaM made the dough this morning, kneaded it good and proper, and we left it to prove for an afternoon. I don't think we're going to be buying pizzas again!)
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40. The Boy (Playing on the beach at sunset, plopping pebbles and making sand angels. I love my son.)
41. New Glasses? (The Boy's teacher had expressed concerns about his eyesight so he had drops in to dilate his pupils for an in-depth test. Nothing the matter with them, thank goodness, which is lucky considering how dreadful his paternal family's eyesight is.)
42. Scoot (A scoot along the promenade at dusk to make sure we just managed a small amount of fresh air! We're so fed up of this rain!)
43. Two-can (We've received a Toucanbox to review – good to see how they've progressed since we first reviewed them – and The Boy was getting to grips with all the activities and where to start! It's a great after-school play activity for us.)
44. Cheese (Thought it was a bit different from the standard sleeping Boy shot!)
45. Jump (There are oodles of puddles on the pavement outside of school, it comes from the council being so God-damned awful at repairing the highways and walkways. It does make for fun and games on the way home though!)
46. Destined Besties? (These two here. Born 11 hours and 55 minutes apart. In the same hospital. One room apart. Shared a pre-delivery room. Shared a post-delivery ward. Live one street away. Best friends in school. The absolute best friends. And his mum and I only discovered their connection a month ago.)
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Crashing waves.
Frothing, foamy, Neptune's white horses.
Gusting winds.
Sand blowing diagonally through the air.
Squeals of laughter from a gleeful and playful family enjoying the abandoned swathes of golden sands.
All that squelchy sand is a blank canvas for running, jumping and falling over in.
And do you know where he went after he's verified how saturated and sand encrusted his gloves were?
Yep, right to 'give mummy a cuddle'.
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Linking up to Country Kids, Outdoor Play Party and Flashback Friday
33. Timing (You'd think I've called this photo 'Timing' because of the good capture? Nope, it's ironic. I was aiming to get both of them splashing at the same time, but do you know how hard it is to get two children to play ball with a muddy puddle?)
34. Sprinkles (I had a go at making marshmallow from scratch last weekend, and set it up to photograph on Monday. Easy, yes? Not when I'd used pectin instead of gelatin so it was vegetarian but it's not such a good setting agent. When I was trying to coat it in the mixture it started glooping, acting quickly I put it in the fridge, went and set up the shoot and rushed the marshmallow through. Then I had to invoke the emergency spoons to contain it!)
35. Baby-face (A tired Boy after school today, he reminded me just how little he still is.)
36. Quiet Moment (The Boy absolutely loves his Tidy Books book box – competition live over here – and it was so lovely to see him sit down next to the box of his own accord, pick up a book and start to explore it himself. I've looked forward to this moment since having a child. That's after he'd built a tree up the wall out of train track. As you do.)
37. Focus (Bath time is becoming a real battle with The Boy. Not just bath time, but bedtime in general. We've moved getting ready for bed forward by 15 minutes from 7pm as there was just too much stroppiness. He looks really calm here, but dear God when he has to get out? Hell on Earth! He holds on to the bath taps, won't let go and you wouldn't believe how strong he is! Mr. TBaM has to call me to help him, otherwise The Boy is going to hurt himself.)
38. Ahoy there Cap'n (My obsession with ride-ons continues!)
39. Fresh (Today has not been a good day generally. It started well but then I became all depressed and could have locked myself away forever never to be found by anyone. Eventually I 'faked it until I could make it' and we managed to get to Barry Island for a huge blow through. I felt so much better afterwards, which just goes to prove the findings of the UNICEF survey which highlighted children in the UK as the most depressed in the western world in conjunction with the fact that we're the third worst in the world at getting children out doors. We all felt a damn sight better for the 'fresh air' i.e. 50mph+ gales.)
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We love going to the beach at any time of the year, but it's incredibly difficult to find the enthusiasm when it is pouring down, and there's been a terrific amount of precipitation recently! However, last Sunday when the sun made an appearance and reminded us all of how wonderful the Winter sunshine truly is, we set off further down the coast with my brother and his family to explore Ogmore beach.
The main beach was packed but we actually headed around the coastline a few hundred yards to a beach which is a bit tricky to get down to and therefore has less visitors. The point about how tricky (in wet conditions) it is was made when I slipped on the muddy path walking down and ended up with a derriere covered in mud within three minutes of leaving the car!
However once we were down on the beach, the sunshine was warming and the conditions idyllic. We set out our picnic blanket and sat down on the rocks chatting and munching away on pasties and grapes while The Boy and his cousin roamed amongst the rockpools, collecting pebbles and creating some beach art.
As witnessed in many episodes of Doctor Who, this stretch of coastline has a wonderful strata in the cliffs and the beaches are crammed with rockpools galore. The perfect place to find crabs or starfish!
Ogmore beach is well known for the wonderful array of fossils in the rocks and cliff-face, and under the guidance of my sister-in-law who has been beach schools trained, we all set to the task of finding a variety of fossils. Finding what was once a fish, or a barnacle-like creature, is absolutely amazing and so rewarding; it reminds you of your place in the history of our planet.
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19. Silhouette #1 (The most glorious day in weeks and we met up with my brother, sister-in-law and their daughter further along the coastline to spend the afternoon at Ogmore Beach fossil hunting. We even had a picnic on the rocks with a blazing sun overheard and minimal breeze to drop the temperature.)
20. Silhouette #2 (An after school trip down to the nature reserve to feed the swans, and the sunset cast an impressive backdrop.)
21. Scarecrow (The Boy was very keen to do some painting, specifically mixing brown. Once he'd not quite managed to do that, he decided to paint a scarecrow. I'm not entirely sure that this is a particularly effective scarecrow, but hey-ho!)
22. Froggy Legs (The Boy has brought home spellings for each week, his school uses the 'Look, Cover, Write, Check' method which he seems very happy with and he was keen to make a start on them.)
23. Numicon (I've borrowed a maths resource from school which The Boy absolutely loves. Numicon helps to develop number bonds, counting and adding skills. If anyone is looking for something like this for their child then, while pricey, I'd really recommend it.)
24. Maestro (I had to go to the dental hospital today for a root extraction from a botched molar extraction 16 months ago; they snapped off the fourth root but as most molars only have three they didn't think to check for a fourth. By the time I'd arrived home I wasn't fit for much but managed to sneak a picture of The Boy playing on the piano before bedtime.)
25. Mad Science (We finally managed to have a go this afternoon at a science activity that I've wanted to try for ages, more on the blog next week!)
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12. Lego Head (The Boy is getting quite good at deciphering the LEGO instructions although he does need some guidance as they seem to miss steps often. Sunday was a quite day of playing in the house.)
13. The Big Bear (After the CBeebies Stargazing focus last week, The Boy has been passionate about stars and the constellations. I sent Mr. TBaM into the loft to retrieve my grandad's constellation globe which is around 35 years old. We spend a good half an hour examining the different 'people' in the sky.)
14. Astronomer (I gathered together all of the resources I could think of in the house, and set up a stargazing den for him in the corner of the dining room complete with a battery-operated orrery.)
15. Hello! (Wednesday evening, I couldn't bear to put another sleeping child photo in, no matter how cute he is asleep. This is him using the slinky as a megaphone. Because he's 4.)
16. The Boot (We bought The Boy a globe at Christmas as he often asks where some countries are, and he was eager to find out where Italy was after school on Thursday.)
17. Dusk (After a relatively mediocre day at home on my own feeling very meh, I decided that we were going down the beach after school. We togged up in wellies and waterproofs and went and enjoyed the most beautiful sunset while throwing all our energy into plopping pebbles.)
18. Mr. Fix-it (Mr. TBaM fell over cycling home from work and damaged his gear slightly, which completely fell of into the spokes causing more damage! The Boy helped him fix it this afternoon following a busy morning at a new soft-play centre.)
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It feels like weeks since the weather has been anywhere near pleasant enough to enjoy when out and about, indeed it was last year for us! The last day of 2013 saw The Boy and I pop down to the beach for a scoot and cycle. As we curved around the hillside road leading down to the beach, I saw that the tide was at its lowest for quite some time, and so we drove home again to pick up my wellies as I didn't feel that my trainers would survive the beach.
I was right.
After a quick cycle on the pier, where The Boy discovered why cycling down a ramp at speed into a pole isn't a good idea, we picked our way across the smooth, round, grey pebbles and over the swathe of sand. I thought that we'd be stopping to examine the rock pools which are visible at low tide, but the lure of the squelchy mud at the water's edge was too much for a four year old boy to bear.
And that's when it happened.
In the one second when I didn't have my camera trained on him, he went and did the winning Candid Camera moment.
Thank God I'd put his waterproof trousers on him!
And it didn't just happen once, he seemed to have balance issues that day and he fell over another three times.
After a joyous two hours on the beach, it was time to squelch our way back to the car for the big clean-up operation. But look how much fun we had!
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Linking up to Flashback Friday, Country Kids and The Outdoor Play Party
