Another week flashes by and there did seem to be a hint of Spring in the air but that seemed to go out the window on Thursday and we are back to bed socks in bed and forcing Polly to keep gloves on for 5 minutes. We’ve had an alright week though. We caught up with our friend Sophie on Tuesday afternoon who Polly adores which made for a nice afternoon. We’ve had fun at the toddler groups and went on a playdate yesterday morning. The highlight of the week was a trip over to Prickly Ball Farm on Wednesday with Pati (one of Polly’s Godmother’s) and her other half George. It was a great day where Polly roamed free in her wellies petting any animal that dared come close to her. She was very unsure about the actual hedgehogs though and much preferred the lively ferrets who she actually told off for some unknown (well only the toddler knows) reason.

We did have one moment of sheer terror though on the outdoor play equipment that she had been confidently playing on supervised by 4 adults until she did something very out of character. Polly has been pretty good about obstacles and will pause at the top of stairs and fling her arms out waiting to be carried or assisted down them, she even demands 80% of the time for you to hold her hand when she goes down slides. I think also having more adults about lulls you into a false sense of security that between you, you can keep said child out of danger as there are always a pair of eyes on her, but this of course means that everyone is thinking the same way. So when Polly went up on the platform for the tenth time we all presumed she would walk across it to the slide where Pati was waiting for her little hands. Parenting mistake #428- toddlers are as unpredictable as the great British weather. She went to the right and walked straight into the abyss of the metal ring tunnel thing that has huge gapping holes between the bars (not sure what it’s technical name is and google doesn’t seem to know either). I have no idea how Pati moved so fast but she leapt round the corner and grabbed Polly’s last disappearing arm, while catching her with the other arm. It was an awkward catch with a metal ring in between the two of them but it was one of those catches worthy of making a YouTube near miss compilation video. I have no doubt she saved us from an afternoon spent in A&E and instead after a quick cuddle on the bench with me she was actually squirming to be let loose on the playground again- which of course we did as we don’t want her developing the fear of anything that scares her the first time. I mean all 4 of us were literally following her every move after this and I definitely got the ok from the universe that following her around the park is very much a necessity still.

I was thinking this week about writing another ‘parenthood reality post’ and I promise I will do another one soon but as I was trying to think of some new ideas for it a little scenario played out that sums it up in one story. I’m not sure of many other reasons why a couple would be working like Henry and I do where we can’t work the same shifts and do a toddler trade off a couple of times a week in the bar. I’ve decided to share with you what happened yesterday afternoon as a taster of what this can really look like in reality. Pre-children if I’d had a text from Henry 45 minutes before I was due to start saying that he wouldn’t be home and we would be swapping at work instead of with an hour’s crossover I wouldn’t have battered an eye much- I had no real reason to. 45 minutes is plenty of time, right? Let’s throw a toddler in the mix and the answer soon becomes a frim no. I was over half way through doing tea for us all thinking we would get a 10 minute window for a meal together at the table. Here’s what actually happened, firstly Henry received an expletive filled reply before I ran upstairs and threw my uniform on, redid my hair and put my contact lenses in when I really should have done a quick oven check. If I had I would have realised the temperature needed to be up a few degrees. Instead when I got in the kitchen to plate up I realised the pork needed another 5 minutes, so I sat down with a plate of new potatoes and broccoli and a very confused toddler at my knees wondering why hers was still in the kitchen. I then ate my pork steak stood up in the kitchen with a wailing cat who suddenly thought he hadn’t been fed in 6 weeks- his emotional blackmail worked and he finished off the bit I didn’t have time to eat as I needed to plate up and foil up the other 2 plates of food. I then headed back into the living room to get the toddler ready for the winter wonderland outside- roll on summer where I don’t need to wrestle gloves and a hat onto a octopus mid exorcism. She shared her frustration by wiping a trail of snot across my work top. A few minutes later we  were actually by the pushchair, sadly as I was putting my shoes on Polly heard the familiar tune of Peter Rabbit coming from the living room and proceeded to run back in to watch it while bouncing up and down like those mischief making bunnies do. I then literally had to run, rugby tackle her and wrestle her into her pushchair before doing a fast walk down into the town. I was fairly impressed at myself for managing to clock in 2 minutes before 5. That story alone pretty much sums up what it’s like having little people in your life- you have to find different ways of doing things! A snap shot of Henry’s experiences trying to do weights for example!