Days 82 – 88 of Project 36
Our Special Place: Dyffryn Gardens
Days 335 – 341 of Project 365
335. Poser (Today saw our local pier pavilion re-open after extensive building work to renovate it, mostly funded by local people and organisations, along with a National Lottery grant. We went down for the opening and also a charge around in the brisk, Winter air before heading off to a classmate's party.)
336. Poet Laureate (After school The Boy picked up the notebook that he'd had in the party bag the previous day and started writing in it. I love that he loves to write, and that he's started making little notes. I look forward to the day when I find a book full of made up stories.)
337. Big Moment (The Boy always puts the star on top of the tree, and I always have to correct it afterwards; it's a heavy star that goes on a spindly 'twig'. I love the look of anxiety on his face!)
338. Bed Fellows ('Puntsey' has been a regular bed companion since Children In Need, Oliver Monkey doesn't mind as it means they can share watch duties alongside having plenty of cuddles from The Boy.)
339. Bird Man (We went to feed the swans after school; it was just as well we did because they were starving! The minute we slammed the door shut in the car park, they were clambering up the ramp. We got to the entry gate and they were standing there waiting for us! I deposited The Boy on the boardwalk as it forced the swans back into the water to be fed.)
340. Double (I set up a free craft table after school for The Boy and let him create freely. I adore his double chin in this photograph!)
341. Plees (We went to Dyffryn Gardens today to enjoy the Christmas craft fair; the first to be held there in over two decades. I used to go regularly as a child and it's a special venue to hold one. There was a table set up to write letters to Father Christmas, so The Boy sat down and wrote one all by himself.)
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Days 279 – 285 of Project 365
279. Sunset Splash (Having taken my niece and nephew on their first conker hunting session of the season, the three of us then went down to Barry Island for a chippy tea. We of course had to paddle in the sea, although The Boy had difficulty understanding it would be too cold to take our shoes off at this time of year. He ended up splashing around in his boots instead. And when I say splashing in his boots, I do mean in; there was three inches of water in each boot.)
280. Eye-Eye (Magnifying glasses are such fun!)
281. Construction (The Boy was having a great time tonight constructing an aeroplace. He very rarely constructs anything without guidance or a picture to work from, so I was pleased to see him having a go.)
282. Greedy Guts (A quick after school trip to the local nature reserve to feed the swans, they are very greedy and reach up to grab the scraps from the boardwalk.)
283. Concentrating Mummy! (We revisited the nature reserve to film The Boy tree-climbing for a National Trust project that I'm collaborating on, and were very happy to find a new, perfect tree with low sweeping branches and thick boughs.)
284. Homework (Those who follow me on Instagram will know of my ongoing concerns about when The Boy's school was going to introduce homework, as he has been able to read since May, and I am eager to give him the opportunity to develop his interest. Tonight we had his first homework; a worksheet which he had to practise his 'S' formation on. We decided that was a little boring so got out the shaving foam in the bath!)
285. Wait For Me! (Where Fiery Cousin goes, The Boy must follow! A wonderful afternoon at Dyffryn Gardens, the local National Trust site.)
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Days 132-138 of Project 365
132. Stick it! (After such a beautifully sunny day on Saturday, Sunday saw the doldrums return to the skies over south Wales. The Boy managed a few hours garden play in the morning, then in the afternoon we did some Post-it note art.)
133. End of the day! (A very trying day today. As my car was still poorly with a mahoosive oil leak, I wasn't able to drive to the other side of Cardiff as I wanted to, so we went with my mum. It was a hot and bothersome day, and ultimately boring for The Boy. Mid-afternoon I had a row with the garage who hadn't even started my car, and my dad had to go and help them find the problem. Daddy's girl? Me? Never! The afternoon ended up with a ridiculously elongated dinner time (of well over an hour) and a late bedtime, and a row! Essentially this was all because he was overtired and bored, and it wasn't the best day in my parenting 'career'.)
134. Wet (The garage phoned me at 4.20 to tell me my car was ready and they shut at 5pm. It takes 30 minutes to walk across town to there, it was pouring with rain and The Boy had only just woken up from a nap. Time to test the excellence of the Kiddy raincover. He stayed dry, my Regatta raincoat and jeans were saturated. I made it in time and recovered my car, minus £230 in my bank account.)
135. Sly Fox! (This is a game he's learnt in nursery, a little like Grandma's footsteps or What's The Time, Mr. Wolf.)
136. Sculpture! (I finish work at around 4pm on Thursdays so we've developed a habit of nipping down the beach with my mum for an ice-cream. Today we did a treasure hunt as well for an activity I'm blogging on the 21st May for the '100 Days of Play' activity link-up I'm taking part in.)
137. Rebel! (Just out of shot is a sign saying 'No cycling'. Well I'm sorry but he's 3 and not about to mow someone down so I ignored it. We love this park in Cardiff and took my mum with us, who hasn't been in years, possibly decades. A few drops of rain fell and the park emptied, which I found very sad. We're hardcore and stayed on to see the black clouds off.)
138. Ding Dong ("Mummy, why don't bluebells ding?" The Boy's paternal grandparents came down for a visit today to take us out for lunch, so we took them to Dyffryn Gardens to walk off the pizza and garlic bread after. They were as enchanted as we are with it, and The Boy got to examine some bluebells up close.)
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Days 90-96 of Project 365
90. Rolling, rolling, rolling! (We went to Dyffryn Gardens for the National Trust Easter Egg Trail and had an absolutely marvellous time exploring the recently reopened Dyffryn House. However, the best bit of the day is that The Boy got to cross off #2 of the 50 Things: Roll down a really big hill – really big is subjective when you're only three!)
91. A-maze-ing! (Despite yesterday's beautiful weather and the hint that Spring was on its way, today was blindingly cold and dreary! We spent much of it inside chilling out after our hectic previous week and weekend, with Nanny and Grandad coming to dinner. I'd bought The Boy some new wipe-clean books from Usborne; this is a maze book and he is completely devoted to it.)
92. Spiderman (Having popped up to the local butcher we went for a walk in the main park in our town, a park which has many different 'zones' to it which provide ample play opportunities. We discovered yet another tree that needed to be climbed, although he decided to jump out of this one, rather than climb down. As it was only a foot drop, I let him off.)
93. Hello down there! (Another day, another park! Swing time took on a different angle today.)
94. Nearly there (The Boy is obsessed lately with trying to make different colours and I decided to let him loose with a colour mixing experiment. My sister would be pleased to know he just wanted to make brown – her favourite (boring!) colour – and he very almost managed it.)
95. Cookie dough (Today was dominated by The Boy having his preschool MMR booster in the afternoon, and it appears I may have been quite anxious about it as I was a grumpy mummy most of the day. I managed to summon up the inclination to make cookies with The Boy, but even that was staight from a packet and add two tablespoons of water; how lazy! Turns out that The Boy was fine with his booster, didn't even notice the injection.)
96. Where's the hole? (We returned to Dyffryn Gardens today, as I hadn't had long enough to explore the inside of the house, and get the photos I was after – I still didn't manage it today as The Boy wanted to explore the gardens. The garden rooms are plenty and full of little holes and pathways leading through into a different 'room'. Only thing was, there wasn't a hole in the hedge here, despite The Boy trying his hardest to push through. Look closely and his head had half disappeared inside. It reminded me of Tom in Tom's Midnight Garden.)
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