for pretty much the whole day.
I was operating completely on autopilot this morning which would explain how I managed to get to the Chesterfield group with only about half of the stuff I set out to take. Hohum. The good news is that there is another woman who has small children who is interested in liaising to organise the smaller children activities, which is excellent.
The bad news is that even though we now have a clearly defined toddler play area, in just one corner of an enormous room, several of us *still* had to speak to some of the older lads to ask them to stay out of it. Still, there were no injuries 😉
Big had a really good time there – I think maybe part of the problem with her atm is that she is cooped up in the house far too much. She has loads of energy, and I think she needs to run about and run it off, or it gets turned to other ends, like winding me up. So she charged about gaily, as well as making a mask and a tiara thing, both covered in glitter, sigh. Small had a lovely time – he loves to run about and is very independent, so I got to have a bit of a natter with Sarah which we haven’t done for ages.
Left group after lunch and headed off to find Kris. Must have still been employing that autopilot, although the multimap directions didn’t help, as they didn’t mention a right turn I needed to take and I ended up in Doncaster. Not quite what I’d planned! Made it in the end though, great to spend some time with Kris. Big likes D, but I think suffers slightly in that D doesn’t do as she is told 😉 – Big is very used to being the leader in all the games, and I don’t think D cooperates with that. Brought a slightly tearful girl away in the end, not helped by Small legging it up the road and screaming blue murder when I tried to get him into the car seat.
Home for tea, bath and bed, for the older child anyway. We’ve only just managed to get Small down – that nap on the way to Kris’s recharged him beautifully. Still, did mean that I got to see him playing pretty much independently with the geomags, which was lovely. He really enjoys them, although I was surprised to come out of the kitchen and discover he’d managed to get them out of the box! I am amazed at how much he understands of what we say – after we’d eaten I said “shall we put those away and you can play with them tomorrow, it’s time for bed now.” He nodded, helped put the geomags away, switched off the tv and headed for the door. Well, I was impressed 😉
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6 responses to “Out and about”
Yes, the natter was good. Dino and A were remarkably good together I thought – first time in ages!
I guess the toddler corner thing will just take some time to get used to and remember.
All these organised groups though! It’s making me wonder whether people expect more of ours 😉
The crazy thing is it’s just us parents who have expectations – the kids simply want to run around shrieking really – some sort of pack mentality which brings out the playground behvaviour in them when you add additional children and open spaces 🙂
Chesterfield isn’t desperately structured. It’s a big hall, and we have a little toddler area, partly to keep them a bit safer, and partly to provide a focus for ppl to sit round. Then there’s an activity laid on for older children, mainly following their suggestions, and an activity for younger children (often involving paint or glue). The children drop in and out as they want to, and there’s lots of running about and shrieking (mainly on the childrens part, though I’m sure the parents can join in if they like 😉 ) My responsibility is just to make sure there’s something for the little kids to do each week.
You will have to get new blog names for Big and Small the rate Small is growing up Jax!
She’ll just upgrade him to Middle and have another Small!!