No Beach...

Hi All

No beach...boo hoo.  The day turned out just fine though, and plenty busy enough.  A friend took two of the children to play at her house, another went out with another friend, and a bit later another friend took the last child out to play with hers...  I have done my share of helping out other people with childcare over the years, and I am reaping the benefits now.

Actually, it was quite nice to be on my own in the house with my elder son for a little while.  He is the best behaved and quietest of my four, which means that he gets the least attention, and he was very happy just to help me peg out the washing.  Then he went off to his room and came back with the Monopoly set, which we played companionably for a while.  I am amazed how well he knows the game.  He seems to be growing up without me noticing (he is too good for his own good) and I am going to make a concerted effort from now on to be sure that he doesn't get sidelined.

This afternoon my friend came with her baby, who was excessively cute.  We had a good chat about all sorts of stuff, but not mental health - I have had enough conversations about that recently, I decided.  Toddler was a bit unnverved by the baby - perhaps I made too much of a fuss of her - and once I gave her back he climbed on to my lap, where he then remained.  Probably to make sure I didn't pick her up again.  And then after a while he fell asleep!  That hasn't happened for as long as I can remember - maybe two years.  I didn't move for an hour and a half - I would rather have backache than shorten what may be my last experience of one of my children falling asleep in my arms.

We were intending to go to the beach once Paul got back from work, but by then the sun had gone in so he took them to the park for a play instead.  But we have lifts arranged to get there tomorrow - hurrah!

So that is it for today.  More of a diary entry today than a public blog, but hey ho.  I have looked up a lot of stuff about mental health recently and will do a sensible blog with some proper useful links again one day when my brain is in gear.  Hope all of you are well and happy.

Louise x