More Early Autumn Energy

"So you're not sleepy?" "No, it's just I hungry." And she's also eating like a teenager again. I got comments about it on her first day at playgroup. They marvelled at how much she ate at snack time. Parents get just as proud of how much their toddler eats as they do of their grades when they start school. I'm almost sure of it.

"Be careful, Isabella. There are a lot of pokies [thorns] around the blackberries." "The pokies tickle me." Then later after getting stuck, "Pokies, you don't have to hurt me." This was yesterday, when we took Spartacus for a swim down at the stream. This outing ended up being a hour and a half long hike, and by the time we made it home we were rosy cheeked and ready for hot chocolate! Isabella's first hot chocolate. It was a bit anti-climactic: I was expecting her to go bonkers over milk with loads of warm chocolate swirling around in it.

This week the days have been very full. It's not even 4p.m. but since we've been so active outside, it feels like it should be bedtime. Today we took a long bike ride to another village, then hiked up an old castle mound to see the panorama. I missed my camera every step of the way. Because she fell asleep on the bike on our way home, I missed out on a nap time break. But she has been letting her imagination run wild, and so has been entertaining herself very well.

behind her is the partially sanded table I hope to paint and stencil for her - yet another project

This week I also bought her a grab bag of toys at our Oxfam charity shop - only 99p. My investment in that cheap bag of Happy Meal cast offs and random bric-a-brac is turning out dividends in the amount of time she has spent playing with each new piece of junk. Sure, it makes for a huge mess but it buys me time to get other stuff done around here :).