We have been mainly.......

10 September 2012

doing lots of different things this week, days out at home and catching up with friends.

On Monday we headed off into the local town early.  We needed to be back for lunch as some friends were joining us.  We found some great books in the library including one by Oliver Jeffers called Stuck, whereby a little boy throws stuff into a tree to free a stuck kite.  A bit of a modern day tale really, throwing stuff at a problem in an attempt to sort it out without really thinking it through, hmm I can think of many people I worked with in my past life who were like that.  It is a really funny book we have had this one and many others by this author from the library and we love them.  We made it back for lunch and our friends arrived just before us and used the key I left out to let themselves in.  We ate lunch together and the children had a lovely play together whilst the adults sat and chatted, a perfect afternoon.  It was lovely that the girls once again played together rather than alongside each other, I know it can take time when they are little but they seem to have really hit it off and my youngest was sorry when her little friend had to leave and go home.  She has been asking all week when we are going to see them again.

On Tuesday we headed off for our regular play date, we gave a lift to another family who we had not seen for weeks it was great to catch up in the car on the way.  Unfortunately our day was not all a good one as it usually is.  Last time we had been to their house, before we went away, there had been some different children there.  They had changed the dynamics amongst the children to a point that my eldest was uncomfortable with.  They were there again but this time my eldest became really distressed at one point and kept asking to go home.   I was happy to, if that is what he wanted but it meant taking the family we had given a lift to too.  It took ages to locate their child and by then the children who were causing his distress had gone home anyway.  One of these children had also accused him of hitting her.  I tried to establish the facts but was unable to, the child making the accusation kept telling me wildly different things that happened so I was unsure what had happened.  I was later informed of another accusation by the same child that had been completely made up.  I was very saddened by the whole situation.  For my own child who was left confused and bewildered by what had happened, but visibly relaxed when he realised they had gone home so he decided to stay, and sad because if a child had been heard making up an accusation what are they feeling to be saying such things.  Talking to my eldest about it later he told me that he did not understand the game they were playing or what they were asking him to do and he felt like they were making fun of him.

The next two days we spent at home.  I was still really tired after my busy couple of weeks and hoped for some quiet time at home to recharge.  For reasons that I still cannot fathom they were a horrible couple of days.  The children could not seem to get on or settle to anything, I was really tired and craving peace and my husband was away.  It was beautiful weather but I did not want to be outside.  On Thursday afternoon knowing that I would be at home again the next day if I did not plan otherwise I decided that we would go out for the day on Friday.  I thought through a few possibilities and presented them to my eldest for him to choose.  It made that afternoon and evening a lot more bearable.

So on Friday we headed out for a long day out to this place which you can read about here.  In retrospect, hindsight is a wonderful thing, it was too far for the day.  If we visit again I will stay in the area and visit other places too.

Over the weekend I was meant to assessing a D of E Expedition on my own and leaving the children with my husband.  In the end he was delayed returning to this country so I ended up, at very short notice, taking them with me on the Saturday when I had a day to remember or forget depending on your perspective!  Sunday I was alone and gladly so as I was really busy.  It was great to do some walking on my own again and enjoy some rare peace and quiet waiting for the groups to arrive.  I have not walked up or down hill so fast in ages.  I am looking forward to a calmer week.....

1 comment:

  1. It's really hard to see them bewildered and upset by other children isn't it. It is wonderful how he was able to open up to you so well and explain his feelings about it all :)
    I love solitary walks too, they are so refreshing :)

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