Bits and pieces

We've been doing all sorts of fun things lately.

I made these trousers for Audrey out of an old tee-shirt of Ian's.

I followed a simple tutorial that you can find here, and it worked really well! I'll definitely be making more.

We went to visit our dear friend Rosemary.

And, of course, the Reverend William.

We've had lots of fun playing at home.

And lots of fun playing with friends.

And going on all sorts of adventures.

We hope you've been having as much fun as we have!

Swim!

So yesterday Audrey took me and Aunty Katy swimming. It was great fun!

Audrey loved the changing rooms, happily splashing in puddles and being very proud of her lovely swimming costume, and very excited to see Aunty Katy who is one of her favourite people. The actual swimming pool, however, she was far less sure about.

She spent a while at first just staring at the very crowded children's pool as if every single person in it had gone stark raving mad. She frowned at the water in a "not in a month of Sundays will you get me into that thing" sort of way.

Aunty Katy picked her up, because she was very clingy at this point (probably more to do with the crowds than the water, really) and I got into the pool. It was shallow enough that Katy could pass her to me and I could easily hold her up out of the water, but it was still greeted with a chorus of "no no no no" and other protesting noises. I wandered about a bit, occasionally dipping her feet in the water to get her used to it, but she was still very unhappy about the situation and kept pointing at the pool side and saying "out!"

We put her up on the side and she pulled and pulled at me to try to get me to go back to the changing rooms, reaching desperately for Katy (who was still in the water) and pleading "out, out" with her, in a "save yourself!" sort of voice.

I was pretty sure at this point that the swimming idea was a complete disaster and was already planning my apology to Katy, when she had the brilliant idea of trying to get Audrey to splash in the water at the side of the pool like it was a puddle. In the children's pool, the water laps over the edges. When Audrey realised she could stamp and splash in this water, EVERYTHING CHANGED.

Splashing was AMAZING FUN. She was absolutely delighted, grinning and shrieking and splashing us all, and laughing when the bigger children splashed BIGGER. Gradually we got her to sit on the side of the pool and kick her legs into the water to make more splashing, and eventually the coldness won out and she happily went into the (heated - children's pools are great) water. She still clung, and she still wanted to go back to the side every few minutes and splash again, but she was having a great time.

She even managed to do some swim-style kicking on her back and her front in the water. Although she most loved to be held and then point in various directions and yell "go!" while we swam/waded her along, or to be spun about in the water.

I'm really glad we listen to Audrey and let her set her own pace with these things and that we never make her do something she doesn't want to do (with a very few health-and-safety exceptions) - and equally glad that we are inventive enough to come up with ways to make things fun so that she WANTS to do them. I love her cautious times as much as her adventurous times, both are skills to help her survive and thrive. I hope she grows up being able to acknowledge her feelings and instincts, and then make a judgement about how to work with them rather than ignore them.

And I hope she always has this much fun!

Ready, Steady, LinlithGOw!

Ros came to visit us last week for a few days, and on Friday we decided to go out of Edinburgh on a day trip to Linlithgow!

Audrey was very excited about traveling on the train. She said "train" a lot, and liked to walk in the bit in between the carriages, and push the button to make the between-carriage doors open and close. Can I just say, no matter how much I may whinge about my back or my sore feet, I love that she's too curious and excited to stay sat in one place for long. When did I lose that fascination with the world around me? When did I stop wanting to know how things work? I hope she never loses that.

That toy monkey? 50p from the supermarket, and Audrey's current FAVOURITE THING EVER. They had an identical one at the library and it took every ounce of my skill as a mother to convince her not to steal it and bring it home with us.

Linlithgow, by the way, is beautiful.

We saw the church, the old palace, the loch, and many many fabric and yarn shops (I was good. Two fat quarters and a new darning needle were all that came home with me.)

Audrey harassed the local wildlife, as usual. She followed this "duck" (pigeon) around with much glee. It was WAY more exciting than the castle.

And did I mention that Linlithgow is beautiful?

Because it is.

We followed a very steep slope (which Audrey tried to fling herself down) down to the loch.

We went on swings by the water.

Every kind of water fowl imaginable was on that lake. Ducks, coots, moorhens, swans, seagulls, GEESE even. There were a LOT of birds about. Audrey loved it.

We ended up at a fun little play park, where Audrey surprised us all. When she goes on the slide, I hold her at the top and say "one, two, three!" and then let her go. Another mama was doing this with her little boy, she said "one, two..." and Audrey yelled "FREEEEE!"

We headed home (with some very loud shouts of "Bye ducks! BYE-BYE BIRDS!") tired and a little grumpy, only to discover that yet another tooth had come through. She's getting quite a collection!

I love the way she can take a place and appreciate the heck out of it, make the most of every good thing and spend ages doing the stuff that's most fun. I love visiting places with her.