A great weekend

We have had a great weekend with the boys. Yesterday we went for lunch with Uncle Rob and Auntie Sheri and introduced the boys to their new cousins. The kids loved each other, lots of fun and giggling, perhaps a little manic but there was only one other table with people on, so we didn't worry too much! The manager of the pub bought out a four day old chicken which the kids got to stroke. It was lovely seeing the children together, although looking at how hyper they managed to make each other, I am not quite sure how grandma is going to cope when we all take our kids home for the weekend next month - better get the valium in mum! On the way back to home, we stopped off at some good friends, James and Sarah (who read this blog so I know will appreciate the name check!) to meet them and their three children. J&S have been great providers of moral telephone support throughout, always phoning if I have posted a slightly stressed blog post, and the boys have been invited to Emily's birthday party in a couple of weeks, so we wanted them to meet first. Plus we needed to take a thank you card for the very generous gift they had sent to the boys during the week! Again it was lovely to see the children all playing together and it actually gave us a bit of time to sit in the lounge and have some adult company. The best bit for the boys though, was meeting and bottle feeding the two baby lambs in their back garden! Yesterday Charlie was being a bit stubborn and pressed my buttons a couple of times, and before bedtime we had a few words with Joe too. However last night we had friends round for dinner, and chatting to them (at midnight with lots of wine!) really helped. We have been fairly well 'social worked' for the last year and as a result I think we sometimes over analyse some of what the boys do, worrying about what things mean. Actually what Steve and Laura made me realise last night, is actually, they are often just normal 4 and 5 year old things, and our frustrations at times, are the same ones every parent has. I don't know if it was that conversation, or the lie in till 830 the boys let us have today, but today has been probably my best day so far. The boys have been delightful, and I have felt completely chilled out. The result has been a huge amount of fun. We have spent most of the day at home and we have had a house filled with giggles. The boys have been great company, we have been silly, we have had rough and tumble play, we have chatted and just had fun. This afternoon I have brought them to Soft Play, leaving G at home for some time out, and they are playing so nicely that I am even having time to write this blog entry! I have seen a change in Joe's attitude to work this weekend too, he has suddenly been really keen to read, I have him five words earlier thinking that wears enough and he just kept asking for more and more. We also downloaded a great Maths app to the iPads earlier and again, he just wanted to do more and more. My approach today has felt quite different, I feel more laid back and I think the result is that we are all having more fun. Let's hope it lasts!