My goodness, today was a joy and a gift. The plan was for us to go up to visit youngest son and family at the farm where they live, but for various reasons that plan changed to them dropping granddaughter off to our house so we could look after her while the parents did some jobs they needed to get done. Not much hardship there for us! We were of course delighted.
Despite wondering if she might have forgotten our house in the 6 months (6 months!) since she last came here, she was clearly as pleased to be visiting us as we were to have her. She settled straight in to playing with the toys we kept from when her father and her uncle were her age, then decided she needed to explore the house and reacquainted herself with all the different rooms. We went for a walk up to the local shops, did some jobs there, walked back the long way so she could help collect the eggs.
She’s a great combination of a girl who knows her own mind, and (thank goodness!) a girl who can be easily distracted by her bubbe from what she shouldn’t be doing to something acceptable. She was clear she definitely didn’t want a nap, but was happy enough to go out for another walk with us later in the morning along with the pushchair, and sure enough at the point when she’d had enough walking and was happy to ride, she was also happy to drop off to sleep. So bubbe and pappa got our walk (down to the river and back), bubbe popped into Lidl as there wasn’t a queue and picked up a few things we wanted, and granddaughter had the nap she needed.
In the afternoon there was more playing, we read some books and sang some songs, and just enjoyed being together. Although I think it’s fair to say that she’s more into playing with the dolls and the duplo people and animals, leaving pappa to play with the duplo ferry boat and train set mostly on his own.
When her parents arrived to collect her she was pleased to see them, but hadn’t missed them at all while they were away. We’re looking forward to the day when she can come to stay overnight. It was meant to have happened several weeks ago, but of course all that went by the board in lockdown. She’s already booked in to stay with us for Glastonbury week next year (her parent’s normally work there. They missed being there this year, and are hoping it will go ahead in 2021).
And really, that was the extent of our day. When they left, Malcolm cleared all the toys away while I went out to the allotment to collect the rest of the eggs, pick salad for supper, and pick fruit to make a cake. When it came to it, I was too tired to back the cake so I weighed everything out ready to mix and bake it tomorrow morning.
Another busy day ahead tomorrow. Jobs to do in the morning, then a zoom meeting for the farm, then off to meet a friend at a nearby garden.
I count my blessings every day, and know myself to be very fortunate indeed. I hope you have some blessings to count, and that I’ll see you tomorrow xx
the magic jug 